Ever the Survivor

Kat didn't know what to do. She stepped off of the remaining catwalk stairs onto the floor of the roof, the men following behind her. They were all still staring at the scene in front of them that was getting closer with each step. Rick and T-Dog walked around her so they were on her left, Glen still hanging back behind her. Seeing his hand laying on the ground was too surreal. She had liked Merle, as unlikable as he could be at times. He could be a real asshole when he wanted to be but was Daryl's brother. Daryl. They had formed a half circle around him. He had stopped screaming by now but was still upset and pacing. He was breathing heavy. With a shout, he spun around, bringing the stock of his Horton to his shoulder and aiming it right at T-Dog, who was standing behind him. Rick, on Daryl's right, reacted fast, holding his Colt Python revolver up to Daryl's head, pulling the hammer down. Kat and Glen just stood there, off to Daryl's left, for a second. No quick movements. She didn't want this to spin out of what little control they had left. She slowly inches closer to Daryl, her hands slightly raised. He could see her out of the corner of his eye. He spared her a quick glance before he locked eyes with T-Dog again. Daryl's breath was labored. He was teetering on the edge of tears again. The 3 men stood there for a few more seconds. Rick's gun to Daryl's head, Daryl's crossbow at T-Dog's.

"I won't hesitate. I don't care if every Walker in the city hears it." Rick said to Daryl, who still refused to look away from T-Dog. Kat who was now close enough to touch him raised her arm up. She put her hand on Daryl's forearm, which caused him to tense up, and gave his arm a gentle push downward. Silently asking him to lower his weapon from the man. He hesitated for a moment before his face twisted in sadness again and he let his arms fall down. His crossbow, in his right hand, he let rest against his leg. He looked to the ground in front of him as T-Dog let out a breath he'd been holding. Rick released the hammer on his gun as he brought it back to his side. Daryl brought his eyes back up to the man in front of him. He blinked the tears from his eyes as he looked at T-Dog.

"You got a...Got a do-rag or somethin?" He asked him. T-Dog reached to the side of his cargo pants, pulling up the velcro pocket on the side of his thigh and reaching inside. He pulled out a blue bandanna and handed it to Daryl, who shook it out. He walked forward, setting his crossbow up against the pipe his brother had been cuffed to. He let out a breath and kneeled down in front of the hand. Merle's hand. Kat could hardly imagine it as such. Daryl laid the bandanna out flat on the ground. He was quickly processing in his head what must've happened.

"I guess the, uh, saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs." Daryl said to the group, as he picked up Merle's hand by it's pinky finger. He held it up, looking at it for a minute. "Ain't that a bitch." He said, before laying it in the middle of the bandanna and began folding it up as he let out another deep breath. The 3 other men all looked away in various directions, not knowing how to handle what had happened. Daryl stood up and turned around, quickly looking at the 4 behind him. Glen was the one with a bag around his back so Daryl walked towards him. Daryl gave a come here motion with his hands as he got closer to the young man. Glen took a couple steps forward letting out a breath as Daryl pushed on the back of his shoulder. Making him turn slightly so he could open up the backpack. T-Dog ran his hand over his smooth, shaved head, as Daryl closed the backpack his brother's hand was now in. Glen had a look of mild disgust on his face for what was now resting in the bag he would be carrying around for the remainder of the trip. Daryl walked back towards the handcuffs, picking up his crossbow and scanning the area. This was tracker-Daryl now.

"He musta used a tourniquet, maybe his belt. Be much more blood if he didn't." He said, following the trail of blood across the roof. Kat started following him while the others stood there looking at each other for a moment. Rick nodded to them before he led the other 2 men to follow Kat. T-Dog climbed over the pipe to his right, going to grab Dale's tools that had been left behind the day before with Merle. He grabbed the box and slowly started following Glen.

Kat followed Daryl to an open door on the other side of the roof, still following the trail. Daryl brought his crossbow back up to his shoulder before walking in. Kat unsheathed her combat knife and held it ready in her right hand while reaching behind her and pulling the serrated Ulak out of its sheath behind her back. She held it in her left hand in front of her while she made her way inside behind Daryl. Rick was behind her with Glen and T-Dog. They all slowly made their way into the small employee locker room and out another door that was left open, leading to stairs. Daryl was the first to slowly make his way down the first few steps.

"Merle?! You in here?!" He shouted, leaning over the rail, looking to the floor below.

"Shhh." T-Dog said as he entered the room at the end of the group. Everyone followed Daryl down.

As they got to the bottom, they came to a door that was slightly open. Daryl pushed against it with the stirrup of his crossbow, opening it the rest of the way. He looked around the room with Kat peeking around him. This must've been the employees part of the building. The following rooms were offices. Kat whispered behind her to Rick, telling him to take the other men and go through the door on their left to check the rooms there as they made their way around. Kat and Daryl would continue forward through the rooms ahead and meet up with them. He nodded and held his Python at the ready as the 3 made their way to the door. Kat and Daryl walked forward and over to the door in front of them. They pushed it open. Empty. Aside from the desk and few couches in the room with papers scattered everywhere. They slowly made their way to the next room. There was one Walker in the room ahead. Hearing the door creak open, it turned around towards them. It had been a woman once, but the lower half of her jaw was missing. All that hung there was shredded, rotting flesh now. Daryl pulled the trigger and sent the bolt he had loaded flying right to it's target. Daryl walked forward to retrieve his bolt as Kat looked around the room behind them. He made his way to the open door and found himself in a hallway. Kat came up to his side as Rick and the others rounded the corner. With all of them regrouped, they continued down the hallway. Peeking into open rooms as they passed them. They were still following the trail of blood.

As they came through a walkway at the end of the hall, they entered what looked like an employee lounge area. They passed by the desk at the front and went to their left, further into the room, noticing the dead Walkers on the floor.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches." Daryl said walking past the first body. "One handed." Kat stepped over the first dead body, towards the second and noticed a bloody wrench on the floor.

"Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother." Daryl said as he set his crossbow down. Stepping on the stirrup to hold it in place, he drew the string back to the latch with a low grunt. "Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails." He said, lifting his Horton back up and sliding a bolt into the groove. Rick looked around the room before walking forward.

"Any man can pass out from blood loss. No matter how tough he is." Rick said, looking quickly at Daryl before continuing past the bodies.



Dylan had finished setting up their three tents across from the Dixon brothers' area and was standing next to Lori, when he heard Morales.

"Oh, baby. Will you look at that? Hey, check it out." Morales said. Amy and Andrea, the blond sisters were making their way back into the camp with two big messes of fish. The man laughed.

Andrea held out her batch of fish to the man with smile. Lori, who was sitting around one of the fire pits with Carol, mending clothes, started clapping at all the fish the two had brought back.

"Ladies, because of you my children will eat tonight. Thank you." Morales said.

"Thank Dale. It's his canoe and gear." Andrea said, giving a high five to Jacqui. Amy put a bottle of water up to her mouth and did a little happy dance, wiggling her hips. Dylan pulled his mouth into a half smile at her, which she returned with a wink.

"Mom, look! Look at all the fish." Carl said, coming up to the dead fish with Blake, Kaleb and Sophia behind him.

"Yeah. Thank you." Lori giggled, trying to duck out of the way of the fish as Morales swung them around, showing them off.

"Whoa." Carl said as he got closer. He poked one of the fish with his finger.

"Ew! Don't touch it." Sophia said with a disgusted look on her face as she walked over to Sam who was standing by his older brother.

"Yeah, whoa. Where did you two learn to do that?" Lori asked, looking over at the blond girls.

"Our dad." Amy answered with a smile.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" Carl asked with an excited look on his face.

"Sure. I'll teach you all about nail knots and stuff. If that's okay." She said, leaning over to look at Lori.

"You won't catch me arguing." The mother said, eyebrows still raised at all of the fish.

"Well damn. We'll have to go fishing sometime." Dylan said in Amy's direction. She looked at him with a smile and bit her bottom lip a little.

"Hey, Dale. When's the last time you oiled those line reels?" Andrea said to the older man who was making his way back into camp. "They are a disgrace." Morales held up the two bunches of fish to show the older man.

"I, uh, I don't want to alarm anyone," Dale said. Shane got up from his seat he had in the doorway of the RV and made his way over to the group. "But we may have a bit of a problem." He pointed up the hill that led to the camp from the quarry and everyone could see Jim in the distance. He was digging. Like he had been for the last few hours.



Daryl looked to the ground and led them on the path Merle had left for them. The bleeding had slowed slightly by now, but was still enough that they had a trail to follow. They made their way through the lounge and through a break room before coming up to another opening. The blood was now easier to see on the tile flooring. They stopped in the walkway ahead before going any farther. Daryl peeked in, crouched down.

"Merle!" He yelled. Kat was standing behind him. Rick came up beside him and leaned towards Daryl.

"We're not alone here. Remember? " He said quietly before glancing in the room they were about to walk into. It looked like a kitchen area.

"Screw that." Daryl said, making sure the area of the room to his left was clear before walking in. "Could be bleedin out. You said so yourself."

They made their way into the kitchen. Kat's eyes saw the flickering of a flame on the stove top a couple seconds before Daryl's did. It was also where the trail of blood ended. Sitting on the stove were several Sterno fuel canisters Merle must've lit when the stove didn't work. Next to them on the counter were dirty pots and pans and a belt. The group came closer to the flames. Rick picked up a piece of metal that had blood and bits of burnt debris on it. Kat and Daryl came up beside him as Glenn and T-Dog hung back. Glenn looked around Rick to see what he was holding.

"What's that burned stuff?" He asked. Rick was staring at the piece of metal in his hand.

"Skin." He answered. "He cauterized the stump." Looking over at Glenn, who looked away. Rick set the object back on the counter.

"Told you he was tough." Daryl said looking to Rick. He quickly glanced back to the fire before looking towards the Sheriff again. "Nobody can kill Merle but Merle." Kat shifted and stepped back, sheathing her serrated Ulak behind her.

"Don't take that on faith. He's lost a lot of blood." Rick said, looking to the splatters of red that were on the counter, belt and floor in front of them. Daryl turned and looked around. He spotted something off to his left and started walking again, going further into the kitchen.

"Yeah? Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap." He said, the others following him over to a broken window at the end of the room. He leaned down looking outside. There was a fire escape out the window that led to the street down below.

"He left the building?" Glenn said coming up behind Rick. "Why the hell would he do that?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Daryl said. T-Dog leaned around Rick to get a better look at the window. "He's out there alone as far as he knows. Doin what he's gotta do. Survivin."

Rick stuck his head out the window as Daryl talked. There was no sign of Merle other than the bloody towel that was left outside of the window. Daryl turned around and walked away from the window, looking around the small pantry room in the back.

"You call that survivin? Just wanderin out in the streets, maybe passin out? What are his odds out there?" T-Dog said, looking at Daryl.

Daryl turned around and headed back into the kitchen with the others, looking at T-Dog. "No worse than bein handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks."

T-Dog looked away from the hunter as Glen rubbed his eyes. Daryl turned around and looked at Rick who was behind him, slightly in front of Kat.

"You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard." Daryl said.

"What about 1,000 dumb dead bastards? Different story?" Rick said, raising his eyebrows at the hunter.

"Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want. Ima go get him." Daryl said before going to walk past Rick. Rick put his hand on Daryl's chest to stop him.

"Daryl, wait." He said as he pushed him a couple feet back.

"Get your hands off me! You can't stop me." Daryl said, getting in the cop's face. They were inches from each other. Glen looked to Kat and mouthed 'Shit' before returning his gaze to the face off.

"I don't blame you. He's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine. I know exactly how you feel." Rick said to him. There was a short pause as he let that sink in."He can't get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head."

Daryl stared at the cop for a second. "I could do that." Rick nodded and looked over to T-Dog, who had taken a seat on a cart.

"Only if we get those guns first. I'm not strollin the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?" The black man said holding his hands up.

"He's right." Kat said, causing Daryl to look at her next over Rick's shoulder. "If we're gonna be walking around in the streets, each of us should have a weapon we can take care of them with quickly if we get in a jam." Rick nodded his head.

"Let's get out of here and work up a plan." Rick said to the group. They all walked out the back door of the kitchen and continued through the building.



Everyone in camp, except for Morales' wife, their 2 kids and the 2 younger Carsen boys, made their way up the hill across from the quarry trail. Shane and Dale were in the front, leading. As they came up to the clearing they could see Jim. He was sunburnt and digging away. Not paying the large group in front of him any bit of attention. He was soaked in sweat and his hands were blistered, but he didn't stop. Shane put his hands in his pockets and just looked around for a minute. Giving Jim the opportunity to acknowledge him. When he didn't, he stared back at the man for a second and spoke up.

"Hey, Jim." Shane said, looking at the man. No response. Just the sound of the metal spade hitting dirt, again and again. "Jim, why don't you hold up, all right? Just give me a second here, please."

He finally stopped and stood up straight. He held onto the shovel's wooden shaft, standing it up next to him and looked towards the Deputy. "What do you want?"

"We're all just a little concerned, man. That's all." Shane said.

"Dale says you've been out here for hours." Morales said, coming up behind Shane. Jim looked back and forth between the 3 men in the front of the group.

"So?" He said.

"So why are you digging?" Shane asked. Jim just looked to the ground and wiped the sweat away from his mouth. "Are you headin to China, Jim?" Shane chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

"What does it matter? I'm not hurting anyone." Jim said, picking the shovel back up and going back to his task.

"Yeah, except maybe yourself. It's 100 degrees today. You can't keep this up." Dale said.

"Sure I can. Watch me." Jim lifted another shovel full of dirt out of the ground and set it in a pile next to the hole he was digging, before doing it again. Everyone in the group looked at him with concerned faces. There were several other holes already around the whole area. Lori stepped forward, standing between Dale and Shane.

"Jim, they're not gonna say it so I will. You're scarin people. You're scarin my son and Carol's daughter." She said, causing Jim to stop once again.

"They've got nothing to be scared of." Jim said, looking towards Carl and Sophia who were standing back with Carol. She had Sophia's hand in hers and her arm around Carl's shoulders. Lori just shrugged and raised her eyebrows at the man.

"I mean, what the hell, people? I'm out here by myself. Why don't you all just go and leave me the hell alone?" Jim said, spreading his arms to his sides, referring to the area around him that had been unoccupied before they came up. He began digging again. Shane looked to his left at Dale and Lori before looking back to Jim.

"We think that you need to take a break, okay?" Shane said, taking a few steps towards Jim, who was still a good 4 feet away. "Why don't you go and get yourself in the shade? Some food maybe. I'll tell you what, maybe in a little bit I'll come out here and help you myself." The man didn't stop. "Jim, just tell me what it's about. Why don't you just go ahead and give me that shovel?"

Jim stopped and held the shovel in place next to him as he looked at Shane. "Or what?"

"There is no or what. I'm asking you. I'm coming to you and I'm asking you, please. I don't wanna have to take it from ya."

"And if I don't, then what? Then you're gonna beat my face in like Ed Peletier, aren't ya?" Jim said, causing Shane too look at the ground for a minute. Causing everyone to think back to what had happened earlier that day by the quarry after the others left for the city. The women were washing clothes when Ed started causing trouble. It turned violent when he slapped his wife, Carol, across the face, making Shane grab the man and throw him to the ground, beating the crap out of him. Ed came back to camp and went straight to their tent. His face covered in blood and the start of a nice black eye forming.

"Y'all seen his face, huh? What's left of it." Jim raised his voice, addressing everyone in the group. "See, now that's what happens when someone crosses you." He said, leaning towards Shane.

"That was different, Jim." Shane looked at the man, who started digging again.

"You weren't there. Ed was out of control. He was hurting his wife." Amy said from behind Dale and Morales.

"That is their marriage! That is not his!" Jim said, raising his voice again as he stopped. He pointed in Carol's direction as he spoke to Amy. Carol put her arm around Sophia's shoulders as she turned her daughter away from the man. "He is not judge and jury! Who voted you king boss, huh?" Jim said, looking to Shane again.

"Jim, I'm not here to argue with you, all right? Just give me the shovel, okay?" Shane said, closing the distance between them. He walked to Jim and started reaching for the shovel as Jim held it back behind him, out of the officer's reach.

"No, no, no." Jim said, taking steps backward, but Shane kept coming, reaching for the shovel.

"Please, just give me the—Jim!" Shane shouted as the man pushed him away. Jim brought the shovel in front of him again. Holding it with both hands, he took a swing at Shane with it. The deputy ducked out of the way as the shovel cut through the air where his head had been a second earlier. Before Jim could bring the shovel to his side again to wind up for another swing, Shane tackled him to the ground.

"Okay, shh shh. Stop, shh." Shane said, laying on the man's side as he tried to turn him to his stomach.

"You got no right! You got no right!" Jim shouted. Shane got the man to turn onto his stomach as he kneeled above him. He brought Jim's hands around his back.

"Jim, just stop it. Hey hey hey hey hey." Shane said, trying to restrain the man.

"Don't!" Jim yelled, his face against the ground.

"Jim. Jim, nobody's gonna hurt you. You hear me? Shhh." Shane said as Jim started sobbing. "Jim, nobody is gonna hurt you, okay?" The man stopped struggling but Shane got his handcuffs out and started to cuff the man.

"That's a lie. That's the biggest lie there is. I told that to my wife and my two boys. I said it 100 times. It didn't matter. They came out of nowhere. There were dozens of em. Just pulled em right outta my hands." Jim said as he looked up at Lori. No one had heard the mechanic's story yet. "You know, the only reason I got away was cause the dead were too busy eatin my family." The man let out a breath and closed his eyes. Lori brought her hands up to cover her mouth. Dylan had subconsciously put his arm around Sam's shoulders and pulled him a little closer to him.



"You're not doing this alone." Rick said to Glenn. He was standing in front of a desk with his hands on his hips looking down on the floor at the young Asian man. They had made their way into a computer lab.

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you much." Daryl said. He had his butt against the edge of the desk next to Rick and was leaning forward, his hands on his knee and crossbow in front of him, holding himself up. Kat sat on top of the desk across from him, while T-Dog sat on the floor to her right, facing her. His back against the desk Glenn was next to on the ground. Glenn looked up towards Daryl and then to Rick.

"It's a good idea, okay, if you just hear me out." Glenn said. Rick looked at the young man and kneeled down next to him. He had drawn out a small block by block map of the area the guns were at on the tile floor of the lab. "If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast. Look." Glenn said to the sheriff, he grabbed a large black, plastic paper clip and set it down on the floor on his drawing, in between a couple squares. "That's the tank, five blocks from where we are now...That's the bag of guns." He said as he took a rolled up piece of sticky note paper and set it in front of the tank. "Here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met." Glenn said, he pointed a block away from the tank down the street that was supposed to be the alley. He looked to the hunter. "That's where Daryl and I will go."

"Why me?" Daryl asked. Looking up from Glenn's map to the young man.

"Your crossbow is quieter than his gun." Glenn said, nodding at Rick. Daryl scrunched his face up for a second before letting it fall again. Oh...Right. He was too busy thinking about how dumb this was to think of the obvious reason. Glenn looked back to his map after grabbing a page marker and setting it down where Daryl and him would be. "While Daryl waits here in the alley, I run up the street, grab the bag." He said as he made a line back to the tank and bag with his finger.

"But you got us elsewhere?" Rick said, looking at Glenn.

"You and T-Dog, right." Glenn said, grabbing a big pink eraser and placing it on the map. "You'll be in this alley here."

"Two blocks away? Why?"

"I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won't go back to Daryl." Glenn said, pointing to the places on the map while he talked. "I'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me."

"What about me?" Kat said from her place on the desk. She had turned away from Daryl to face the map on the floor when Glenn started talking. She had brought her knees up to her chest with her arms over them, her Beretta in her right hand.

"You'll be in this alley, next to me and Daryl. Making sure we have a clear path back to the lab. Afterwards, we'll all meet back here." Glenn said, placing a highlighter cap marking Kat's location in another alleyway on the block next to Daryl's location. Kat nodded. She admired that he told them he'd be better by himself. She was the same way. She didn't like being slowed down and a big group would do that. It used to be her job to be quick and she acted alone unless on missions with Leon. A like-minded individual that never got in the way, only helped.

"Hey, kid, what'd you do before all this?" Daryl said, looking between Glenn and his plan on the floor.

"Delivered pizzas. Why?" Glenn said, pulling his eyebrows together. Makes sense. He'd needed to figure out the fastest way to get around before. Kat thought with a smirk. Rick and Daryl both raised their eyebrows.

After they had all gotten to their positions, Daryl and Glenn made their way towards their alley using the rooftops. Once there, they went down an emergency ladder to get to the alley. After they were both on the ground, Daryl swung his crossbow around to the front of him as they walked towards the street. Crouched down, they both quickly moved in between two dumpsters at the street's entrance. There was a chain link fence that was about nine feet tall. Stretching from the ground, up, it closed off the alley from the street. But the side of it have been lifted from the asphalt so it could be swung either way to get in and out, since the gate was securely locked.

Daryl drew the string on his Horton back as Glenn removed his open, short sleeved button down shirt so he was left in only his dark blue t-shirt.

"You got some balls for a Chinaman." Daryl said as he held his crossbow up.

"I'm Korean." Glenn said to him as he eyed the opening in the fence for any Walkers.

"Whatever." Daryl said to him as he pulled a bolt out of the crossbow's quiver and loaded it. Glenn quickly went over to the fence. He leaned out of the opening and looked both ways down the street before darting out. He stayed crouched down and moved quickly, car to car, using them as cover. Much like Kat and Dylan had done in their trip to Atlanta earlier that day. Glenn slowed his pace slightly as he let a Walker stroll past the car he was behind before running down the rest of the street. He dove over some sandbags next to the tank and hid behind them.

Back in the alley, Daryl was squatting in between the two dumpsters with his back to one of them, still facing the fence Glenn had gone through. He heard the quiet sound of a paper being stepped on several feet behind him and quickly spun around with his crossbow at the ready. He looked down the sights at a young Hispanic man.

"Whoa, don't shoot me! What do you want?" The boy said.

"I'm lookin for my brother. He's hurt real bad. You seen him?" Daryl said, not lowering his Horton.

"Ayúdame!" The kid yelled loudly out towards the street behind Daryl.
"Shut up! You're gonna bring the geeks down on us. Answer me."

Back out on the street, Glenn reached the bag that was several feet in front of the tank. He was making his way back towards the sand bags, but quickly groaned and turned around to grab Rick's Sheriff hat. As he bent over to grab it, a Walker spotted him and started towards him. He picked up the hat and turned around, darting quickly around the sand bags and around the corner that would lead down the street to Daryl's alley.

"Answer me." Daryl said to the kid in front of him.

"Ayúdame!" He yelled again. "Ayúdame!"

Rick and T-Dog heard the screams from their position and started running towards the back entrance of Daryl's alley, knowing the fence was at the front. Kat too heard the screams from the next block over and started the same way. But her path was blocked by two Walkers.

"Ayúdame!" The kid yelled again. Daryl brought his Horton back and swung the stock of it across the boy's face, sending him flying backwards on the ground. He started to scream again but the sound was muffled by Daryl putting his hand firmly on the kids mouth.

"Shut up. Shut up." Daryl kept repeating as the kid kept moving and trying to yell. Just then, two older Hispanic men entered the alley through the fence opening behind Daryl. They rushed him from behind, the bigger of the two kicking at Daryl's back causing him to shout out in pain and drop his crossbow. The force of the kick caused him to roll a couple feet away from the boy. The other Hispanic man ran over to him with a baseball bat and started beating him as the other man came up and kicked him over and over again. Daryl kept grunting and shouting in pain with every hit from the bat and kick to the ribs.

Glenn ran into the alley from the gate to see the beating Daryl was being given and stopped in his tracks. He was starting to back away to return to the street when the man with the baseball bat spotted him.

Kat was running at the Walker closest to her as she grabbed one of her throwing knives and sent it flying into the one behind it about 20 feet away. She unsheathed her hidden blade and grabbed the one in front of her by its shoulders. Putting her weight into it and driving the blade through its head, she sent it falling backwards on the ground, her legs braced at its sides. She quickly got up and ran towards the one she hit with her throwing knife. She leaned over to grab it as she ran past.

"Thats it. That's the bag, vato. Take it! Take it!" The Hispanic man with the bat yelled to the bigger man. Who turned and lunged at Glenn. Glenn turned around and tried running for the fence but he was too late. The man grabbed Glenn by the back of his shirt causing him to turn around and have a fist to the face, sending him to the ground. He dropped the bag and Rick's hat. The man with the baseball bat had come up and was now hitting him in the back with the bat to keep him on the ground as the bigger guy grabbed the bag. They were too distracted by Glenn and the guns in front of them to see Daryl scooting his way over to his crossbow behind them. He brought himself up on a knee and held himself up with one of his hands as he held his crossbow towards the men. He sent the bolt flying and hit the man with the bag right in the ass, causing him to yell out in pain and drop the bag. He reached behind him as the other man turned around. Daryl loaded another bolt in record time and took aim again as he kneeled up, but the man with the baseball bat had hauled Glenn up and was holding him in front of him as a shield. The man that was already impaled wasn't even concerned with the bag full of guns anymore. They pushed the fence open more as a car pulled up in front of it.

"Get off me! Get off me!" Glenn was yelling as he was being dragged out into the street with the 2 men. The car was drawing in even more Walkers than all the noise already had. "Daryl! Daryl! Daryl!" Glenn was yelling as they got closer to the car. Daryl got to his feet so he would have a better shot but it was too late. The 3 had got inside as the car was surrounded by Walkers.

Kat was at the alley and could see Rick and T-Dog running at her down the street. She rounded the corner at the back of the alley and started running towards Daryl as she saw a car pull quickly pull away, tires squealing. She saw a young man lying on the floor obviously in pain and bleeding from his mouth as she heard Daryl yelling.

"Come back here, you sumbitches!" He yelled as he grabbed onto the fence with his free hand. Kat ran up beside him as the Walkers turned towards the fence. She and Daryl grabbed onto the fence and hauled it back towards them to shut themselves into the alley before any of them could get through the opening.

Rick and T-Dog were in the alley quickly running towards them as Daryl and Kat backed away from the fence and spun around. The young man Daryl had smacked in the face with his crossbow was getting to his feet, still a little wobbly. Daryl ran at the boy with a shout that Kat almost thought sounded like a growl and pushed him, causing him to stumble backwards. Daryl was getting ready to come at him again as Rick put himself between the two. He put his free hand up towards Daryl, he had his Python in the other.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Stop it!" Rick yelled as he put his forearm across Daryl's chest, his hand gripping his shoulder as he pushed him away from the boy. Rick continued pushing Daryl backwards because the man kept coming at him. Kat stepped out of the way so he wouldn't push Daryl right into her.

"I'm gonna kick your nuts up in your throat!" Daryl yelled and pointed at the boy as he tried to push back against Rick. T-Dog put his hand against the boy's chest and pushed him against the wall of the alley.

"Let me go!" He yelled, pushing against T-Dog's muscular arm.

"Chill out!" T-Dog yelled at him and pushed him back against the wall harder.

"They took Glenn. That little bastard and his little bastard homie friends!" Daryl shouted as he still tried to get around Rick, who kept his grip on Daryl's shoulder, taking a fist full of his shirt just to keep a hold of him. Rick looked back behind him towards T-Dog and the boy. "I'm gonna stomp your ass!" Daryl yelled and pointed at the kid over Rick's shoulder. Rick tried to back into him again as he pushed forward. The man almost became superhuman when he was pissed off, he'd give him that. Rick was having a hard time containing him.

"Guys! Guys! We're cut off!" T-Dog yelled and with his free hand, pointed to the fence behind the other 3. Rick turned back around to look behind Daryl to see the Walkers piled against the fence. He turned back to T-Dog and pointed his gun down the alley.

"Get back to the lab. Go!" Rick said.

"It's clear, hurry up!" Kat said as she quickly walked past Daryl and Rick towards T-Dog. T-Dog grabbed the boy by the arm and the 3 of them started running down the alley back towards the computer lab. Rick released his hold on Daryl and holstered his revolver as he turned around to grab the bag of guns.

"Come on. Damn, let's go." Daryl said as he looked to Rick. Rick stopped and turned around to pick up his hat before they turned and ran down the alley to catch up with Kat, T-Dog and the boy.



Lori and Carol were sitting a small table in camp with Sophia and Carl. They continued to make the kids do school work during the days to make them feel 'normal'. Dylan and his brothers sat back behind them on a log next to one of the tents. He wasn't going to make them suffer any more than they already had to and make them do math problems on top of everything that was happening now. He was cleaning his Long Rifle as he felt Kaleb tug on his t-shirt sleeve.

"Dylan, why did Shane tie him to a tree?" Kaleb whispered to his older brother while he looked at Jim, who was staring off into space.

Dylan glanced up at the man before looking back towards his gun. He didn't agree that the Deputy had tied him to a tree like an animal and voiced his opinion on the matter when they got back to camp. But Shane did nothing but scoff at the young man.

"Cause he's an asshole." Dylan said, loud enough for Lori and the others in front of him to hear. Lori didn't even look up but Carol shot him a disapproving look since there were younger children present. Dylan gave her a half smile which she returned. She had taken a liking to the edgy, oldest Carsen boy. He rolled his eyes and looked back at his rifle as he saw Shane walking towards Jim with a bucket. Dale was behind him, his rifle slung over his shoulder like it had been since they arrived at this camp. Jim was sitting on the ground, his legs spread out in front of him. He still had his hands cuffed behind him, but since that apparently wasn't enough for Shane, around his chest and under his arms was a rope, tied around him and the tree a couple times. Shane bent over and kneeled down next to him causing Jim to look at his face.

"Jim, take some water?" Shane said as he pointed down towards the bucket in front of him between his feet.

"All right." Jim nodded.

"Yeah? All right." Shane gave the man a slight smile as he reached into the bucket and pulled up a cup that was filled up with water. Jim looked ahead of him at the table Lori, Carol and the kids were sitting at.

"Here you go, bud." Shane said as he brought the cup up to Jim's lips so he could drink, being that his hands were still cuffed behind him. He gladly drank the water down, not realizing how thirsty he had been.

"Pour some on my head?" Jim said as he pulled his mouth away from the cup.

"Yeah." Shane dipped the cup back into the water to fill it up again. "Cooling you down, huh?" Shane said as he poured the cool water over the man's head.

"Yeah." Jim nodded a little. "How long you gonna keep me like this?"

Shane raised his eyebrows. "Well, yeah." He looked away from Jim for a minute, bringing his eyebrows together before looking back at the man. "Until I don't think that you're a danger to yourself or others." Jim looked back in front of him at everyone.

"Sorry if I scared your boy and your little girl." Jim said to the mothers. Shane looked over his shoulder at them.

"You had sunstroke. Nobody's blamin you." Lori said as she looked over at him.

"You're not scared now, are ya?" Jim said, looking at the children.

"No sir." Sophia looked at him. Shane looked back to Jim, but he was looking at Carl.

"Your mama's right. Sun just cooked my head is all."

"Jim, do you know why you were digging?" Dale asked looking down at him. "Can you say?"

"I had a reason. Don't remember." Jim said, looking at the old man. Dale nodded at him as Shane stood up. "Something I dreamt last night." Dale nodded again as Jim looked back over towards Carl and spoke up a little. "Your dad was in it. You were too. You were worried about him. Can't remember the rest...You worried about your dad?"

"They're not back yet." Carl said shaking his head. It had been hours since the small group had left for the city.

"We don't need to talk about that." Lori said, rubbing Carl's back and nodding to Jim.

"Your dad's a police officer, son. He helps people. Probably just came across some folks needin help, that's all. That man, he is tough as nails. I don't know him well but...I could see it in him. Am I right?" Jim said, looking towards Shane at the end.

"Oh yeah." He said, looking back down at Jim.

"There ain't nothin gonna stop him from getting back here to you and your mom, I promise you that." Jim said, nodding at him. Lori gave him a smile.

"All right. Who wants to help me clean some fish, huh?" Shane said as he picked up the bucket and turned around to face the group behind him. He started walking into the camp more as Carl got out of his seat.

"Sweet! Come on, Sophia." He said as he and Sophia both got up and ran after Shane. So excited that they could get out of school work, Carl stumbled a little but quickly got up to catch up with the man.

"Stay with Carol, all right?" Lori said putting her pencil down and looking back towards the kids. Carol got up out of her seat and followed after them.

"Go with them. You already know how, you can show em the ropes." Dylan said to his younger brothers. "Stay with Carol." The three younger boys got up and walked with the woman into camp. Lori got up and walked over to Jim, kneeling down next to him. After a few seconds, Jim looked at her.

"You keep your boy close. You don't ever let him out of your sight." He said to her. Lori nodded and stood up. She walked back into camp as Jim turned towards the forest again, staring out into the trees.



"Those men you were with, we need to know where they went." Rick said to the boy. They had him sitting in a chair behind one of the desks in the corner of the room. T-Dog was leaning on the right side of the desk as Rick stood to the left of it. Kat was leaned against the wall behind T-Dog. They were back in the safety of the lab for now. Although, Kat wasn't sure how safe it was in here for the boy, with Daryl pacing back and forth in front of the desk like a caged animal. His eyes glued to the kid in the chair.

"I ain't tellin you nothin." The kid said, as he wiped a bit of the blood off of the corner of his mouth with his thumb. Daryl had to have knocked a couple of his teeth loose.

"Jesus, man. What the hell happened back there?" T-Dog said looking at Daryl. Daryl's eyes were locked on the kid.

"I told you, this lil turd and his douche bag friends came out of nowhere and jumped me." Daryl said, still pacing back and forth in front of the desk. Walking in a line behind Rick, then to T-Dog's side. Over and over.

"You're the one who jumped me, puto, screaming about trying to find his brother like it's my damn fault." The boy said. Rick took a seat on the edge of the desk.

"They took Glenn. Coulda taken Merle too." Daryl said as he made his way back to Rick's side of the desk.

"Merle? What kinda hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle." The kid said looking at Daryl. He picked the wrong time for a smart ass remark. Kat thought. Rick was a little more prepared for Daryl's outburst this time. He'd gotten to know Daryl's temper quickly over the past several hours. As soon as Daryl grabbed the sheriff's shoulder in an attempt to get around him, Rick stood up and grabbed at Daryl's sides trying to push him back. Daryl kicked at the kid's face but Rick pushed him away far enough that his boot didn't make contact and the kid ducked out of the way.

"Damn it, Daryl. Back off." Rick said pushing the younger Dixon back in front of the desk. The kid sat up in his chair again. Daryl looked at him for a second before walking over towards Glenn's book bag. He opened up the top of it as Rick put his hands on his hips. Oh god, he isn't. Kat thought as she stood up straight from the wall behind T and took a few steps to the front of the desk. Daryl reached into the bag and pulled out the blue bandanna. He is.

"Wanna see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?" Daryl said, unwrapping the dismembered hand. The kid looked to his left at Daryl, but couldn't see what he was doing since his back was towards him. Daryl looked at Rick and glanced at Kat as she came up next to the sheriff, then he turned around. He held his brother's hand in his palm as he walked over to the kid and threw the hand down in the kid's lap. The kid looked down and saw what had just landed on his legs and pushed it away, getting up from the chair with a scream. He fell backwards in his hurry and pushed himself as far away from the hand as he could, which was only a few feet, before his back hit the metal cabinets behind him that were against the wall. Daryl quickly went over to the kid and grabbed him by the front of his tank top on either side, pulling him up a bit.

"Start with the feet this time." He said as he got closer to the kid's face. Rick was walking over to the 2. He came up behind Daryl and grabbed his shirt as he yanked him up off the kid. He pushed Daryl back behind him and put his arm out, silently telling him to stay put. He quickly backed up a few more feet with the leftover force Rick had pushed him with and bumped into Kat who stumbled backwards a little. Instinctively, Daryl put his arm out behind him to steady her. Rick looked back to the kid who was eyeing Daryl now with fear in his eyes. The sheriff knelt down next to him.

"The men you were with took our friend. All we want to do is talk to them, see if we can work something out." Rick said to the kid. He wasn't as cocky as he was before and nodded his head. They spent the next few minutes talking about where their hideout was and how to get there.

Rick had the kid leading them as the went through the streets. They came to the back of a brick building awhile later. Rick looked around the wall they were hiding behind towards the building. He didn't see anyone outside but that didn't mean no one was looking.

"You sure you're up for this?" Rick said, looking up to T-Dog who was standing across from him holding a rifle at the other side of the broken window they were looking through.

T-Dog nodded at him. "Yeah."

"Okay." Rick said as he loaded the shotgun he was holding onto. T-Dog picked up the bag of guns and took it with him as he walked away from the others.

"One wrong move, you get an arrow in the ass. Just so you know." Daryl said, looking down at the kid they made sit on the ground in front of them.

"G's gonna take that arrow out of my ass and shove it up yours. Just so you know." The kid said, quickly looking to Daryl who was leaning against the wall to the boy's left. Rick looked at the kid.

"G?" He asked the boy.

"Guillermo. He the man here."

"Okay then." Rick said as he cocked the shotgun. "Let's go see Guillermo." He looked up to Daryl and Kat and stood up slightly from his kneeling position. The kid rose to stand up and follow, with a kick in the butt from Daryl. Rick made his way through the broken bars that once were over the window to the courtyard they were walking into. Rick climbed through and onto wooden pallets they had under the window before hopping down them to the floor. The kid came through after him, followed by Daryl. Daryl looked behind him as he stood up from the window to see Kat come through. Rick motioned for the boy to walk in front of him as Daryl and Kat both hopped down from the pallets and followed Rick. They all had their weapons raised as the boy led them through the yard and to the large, wooden double doors at the back of the brick building. As they came to a stop several feet away from the door, they heard locks being undone seconds before the creak of a door. Kat had her AR held to the back of the boys head while Rick and Daryl had the shotgun and crossbow on the man that walked into the yard. There were several other men surrounding the door's entrance but they didn't walk out just yet.

"You okay, little man." The Hispanic man, who they assumed was Guillermo, asked the kid.

"They're gonna cut off my feet, carnal." The boy said, making Kat smirk.

Guillermo looked to Rick, who had on his Sheriff's get up. "Cops do that?" He asked.

"Not him. This redneck puto here." He said as he turned and pointed behind him to his right at Daryl before turning back to Guillermo. "He cut off some dude's hand, man. He showed it to me." The kid whined.

"Shut up." Daryl said. Two men made their way out of the building, and Daryl recognized them as the two that beat him earlier.

"Hey, that's that vato right there, homes. He shot me in the ass with an arrow, man. What's up, homes, huh?" The bigger man Daryl had shot said as he came out of the building with his small handgun aimed at Daryl.

Guillermo put his hand on the man's arm to lower his gun. "Chill, ese, chill. Chill." He looked back to Rick. "This true? He wants Miguelito's feet? That's pretty sick, man."

"We were hoping more for a calm discussion." Rick said.

"That hillbilly jumps Felipe's little cousin, beats on him, threatens to cut off his feet, Felipe gets an arrow in the ass and you want a calm discussion? You fascinate me."

"Heat of the moment. Mistakes were made on both sides." Rick said.

Guillermo looked around to the small group in front of him. "Who's that dude to you anyway? You don't look related."

"He's one of our group, more or less. I'm sure you have a few like him." Rick answered him, motioning with his head to the men behind Guillermo, still inside the building.

"You got my brother in there?" Daryl asked.

"Sorry, we're fresh out of white boys. But I got Asian. Interested?"

"I have one of yours, you have one of mine. Sounds like an even trade." Rick said.

"Don't sound even to me." Guillermo said.

"G." Miguelito, the boy, said. "Come on, man." He said, a pathetic, pleading smile on his face.

"My people got attacked. Where's the compensation for their pain and suffering? More to the point, where's my bag of guns?"

"Guns?" Rick said.

"The bag Miguel saw in the street. The bag Felipe and Jorge were going back to get. That bag of guns."

"You're mistaken."

"I don't think so."

"About it being yours. It's my bag of guns."

"The bag was in the street. Anybody could come around and say it was theirs. I'm supposed to take your word?...What's to stop my people from unloading on you right here and now and I take what's mine?" Guillermo said as the two men beside him raised their guns at Rick's group again.

"You could do that." Rick said. He looked to his left to the roof of a building that had a view of the courtyard, causing Guillermo to look in the same direction. On top was T-Dog, staring at Guillermo through the scope of the rifle he had. "Or not."

Guillermo smirked at Rick. "Oye!" He yelled, leaning his head up slightly. On cue, there was movement on the roof of the brick building they were all in front of. As they looked up, they could see 2 men leading a struggling and blindfolded Glenn to the edge of the roof. As they got right to the edge, one of the men pulled the bag off of Glenn's head. Glenn started whimpering and breathing fast behind the duct tape that was over his mouth as he realized where he was. He took a few quick steps backward, but the 2 men held him in place.

Rick looked at Kat as Guillermo spoke up.

"I see two options...You come back with Miguel and my bag of guns, everybody walks. Or you come back locked and loaded, we'll see which side spills more blood." He said.

"It'll be you." Kat said, looking back up at a terrified Glenn.

Guillermo looked at her, then up to where T-Dog was again with a smirk and shot his eyebrows up once, as he backed his way into the building, the 2 men outside with him doing the same. None of Rick's group dropped their weapons, even as the doors were closing. Once they were shut and they heard a lock they made their way back over to the window.

The group made their way into a nearby mechanic shop and were in a small office. Rick set the bag of guns on the desk and unzipped it fully.

"Them guns're worth more than gold. Gold won't protect your family or put food on the table. You willin to give that up for that kid?" Daryl said, standing in front of the desk Rick was behind, who was checking one of the handguns to see if it was loaded. Rick didn't say anything. He just continued pulling out guns.

"If I knew we'd get Glenn back, I might agree." T-Dog said, with his back against the wall on the side of the desk. He looked up at Rick who was in front of him. "But you think that vato across the way is just gonna hand him over?"

"You callin G a liar?" Miguel said. They had him sitting on the ground again next to T-Dog, a small chair between the 2 of them.

"Are you part of this?" Daryl raised his voice as he stepped closer to the boy. He slapped Miguel upside the head. "You wanna hold onto your teeth?" He said leaning towards him, bracing himself against the wall with one hand before standing up straight again and backing away. T-Dog looked at the two for a second before turning back to Rick.

"Question is, do you trust that man's word?" T-Dog asked.

"No, question is what you're willin to bet on it?" Daryl said, coming to stop in front of the desk again. He leaned his back against the wall in front of the window next to Kat. "Could be more than them guns. Could be your life. Glenn worth that to you?"

Rick checked to make sure his Python was loaded before he put it back in it's holster as he looked at Daryl. "What life I have I owe to him. I was nobody to Glenn, just some idiot stuck in a tank. He could have walked away, but he didn't. Neither will I."

"So you're gonna hand the guns over?" Daryl said as he pushed himself off the wall again.

"I didn't say that." Rick said, he looked at Daryl, Kat and then T-Dog. "There's nothing keeping you 3 here. You should get out, head back to camp." He said as he went back to the bag.

"And tell your family what?" T-Dog said as he closed his eyes and ran a hand over his head before looking to the sheriff. Rick looked at him, then Kat and finally Daryl. There was a pause as the men looked at each other Daryl, with a brief nod to Rick, leaned forward and grabbed a shotgun. T-Dog got up from his seat and did the same.

"I'm in." Kat said as she came forward.

"Come on, this is nuts." Miguel said as he stood up. He was quickly stopped when Daryl turned around and pointed at him, causing him to sink back down to the floor. He sat back down and held his head in his hands before looking back up to the group. "Just do like G says."

No one listened to him, they continued taking the guns out of the bag and making sure they were all loaded. They each grabbed what guns they could carry and loaded the rest back in the bag before they put a rag around Miguel's mouth and tied his hands together behind his back.

They made their way into the yard once again, with Miguel leading them. Only this time he was bound and gagged and Daryl had the barrel of the shotgun he was holding at the center of the kid's back, pushing him forward. T-Dog and Kat were on his left and Rick was on his right, the bag of gun's over his shoulder. They were stopped in front of the door again before they heard the locks being undone and the door opening. Daryl pushed Miguel inside when they were opened all the way, then the group followed in after him. Daryl, T-Dog and Rick all had a shotgun in their hands as Kat had both her Beretta and Smith & Wesson in each of hers. Daryl also had a handgun tucked into the back of his pants and one in the front. They walked to the middle of the room and were surrounded by men on all sides as Guillermo walked up to greet them.

"I see my guns...but they're not all in the bag." He said as they met in the middle of the room.

"That's because they're not yours. I thought I mentioned that." Rick said as he pointed his shotgun at him.

"Let's just shoot these fools right now, ese. All right? Unload on their asses, ese." Felipe said who was at Guillermo's side.

"I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation." Guillermo said.

"No, I'm pretty clear." Rick said, looking away for a moment as he lowered his gun and reached to his side to pull out his pocket knife. He flicked it open and stepped towards Miguel and cut the bind that held his hands together behind him. Once it was cut, he put a hand on the kid's back and pushed him forward towards Guillermo. "You have your man. I want mine." Rick said, as he put his pocket knife away.

"I'm gonna chop up your boy." Guillermo said, stepping closer to Rick. "I'm gonna feed him to my dogs. They're the evilest, nastiest man-eating bitches you ever saw. I picked em up from Satan at a yard sale...I told you how it has to be. Are you woefully deaf?"

"No, my hearings fine. You said come locked and loaded." Rick said, the group cocked their shotguns and aimed at different men in the room as Rick aimed right at Guillermo's head. "Okay then, we're here." All of Guillermo's men raised their guns at the group and the room was filled with the clicking of hammers being pulled down and shotguns being cocked.

A few tense seconds passed, none of them lowering their weapons, when the sound of an old woman's voice met them.

"Felipe! Felipe!" The old Hispanic woman said, coming into the room.

"Abuela, go back with the others, now." Felipe said.

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire!" Daryl said.

"Abuela, listen to your m'hijo, okay? This is not the place for you right now." Guillermo said, glancing behind him at the old lady in a nightgown and sweater with finger-waves and pin-curls in her hair.

"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing." The old woman said, who came to stop in front of Felipe and looked up at him. "He needs his asthma stuff. Carlito didn't find it. He needs his medicine."

Guillermo looked back at Rick, his big bad plan obviously falling apart right in front of them. He turned to Felipe. "Felipe, go take care of it, okay? And take your grandmother with you." He quickly said to the man.

Kat let out a laugh. Felipe started speaking in Spanish to the older woman as he tried to lead her away, but she was fixated on the group of people everyone was looking at.

"Who are those people?" She asked as she pushed Felipe's hand down. She made her way around Guillermo and walked up to Rick. Felipe was still speaking in Spanish trying to lead her away.

"Don't you take him." She said, coming up to Rick.

"Ma'am?" Rick said as he looked down at her.

"Felipe's a good boy. He have his trouble but he pull himself together. We need him here."

Rick looked around the room for a second before turning back to the old lady. "Ma'am, I'm not here to arrest your grandson."

"Then what do you want him for?"

"He's...helpin us find a missing person. Fella named Glenn."

"The Asian boy? He's with Mr. Gilbert. Come. Come, I show you. He needs his medicine." The old lady said, grabbing Rick's hand and leading him past Guillermo.

Guillermo sighed as Rick walked past him. He looked around at his men. "Let em pass." He said as he looked at the ground. All of his men lowered their weapons and backed off as the group followed Rick. The old lady led him through the building that looked like a garage and back outside. They passed through a small courtyard and went up a small fleet of concrete stairs before she led them around the side of another building. They went up to the front doors and walked inside to what looked like some sort of hospital. Each room they passed they could see older people inside, with hospital equipment.

"Abuela, por favor. Take me to him." Felipe said, coming up to Rick's side. She let go of Rick's hand and continued down the hallway with Felipe behind her. Rick stood in the doorway of one of the rooms for another second, looking at a girl helping an elderly woman drink a cup of water. They had all lowered their weapons by now. Rick removed his hat from his head as they followed Felipe and his grandmother down the hall. After passing several more rooms with people inside they came into a large open room. The cafeteria. A bunch of people were surrounding an old man who must've been Mr. Gilbert.

"All right. All right." Felipe said to the old man as they got closer. "Nice and easy. Just breathe. Just breathe. Just let it out. Just breathe." Felipe brought the inhaler to the old man's mouth. Rick looked to Glenn who was standing around with the people looking at Mr. Gilbert.

"What the hell is this?" Rick asked Glenn.

"An asthma attack." Glenn said, not knowing Rick was referring more to the building they were in rather than what was happening to the old man. "Couldn't get his breath all of a sudden."

"I thought you were bein eaten by dogs, man." T-Dog said, looking at the young Asian man.

Glenn looked behind him towards a leopard print dog bed with pink interior. Inside were three small Chihuahuas. The one in the middle just looked and barked at them.

"Satan's dogs, huh." Kat said, and looked at Guillermo with raised eyebrows.

Rick turned around and looked at him. "Could I have a word with you?" He said as he leaned in towards the man. "You're the dumbest son of a bitch I ever met. We walked in there ready to kill every last one of you." They walked away from the crowd of people, back towards Kat and Daryl.

"Well, I'm glad it didn't go down that way." Guillermo said, looking up at Rick.

"If it had, that blood would be on my hands."

"Mine too. We'd have fought back. Wouldn't be the first time we've had to. Protect the food, the medicine, what's left of it. These people, the old ones, the staff took off, just left em here to die." Guillermo said. Rick stopped and looked around at all the people in the room. "Me and Felipe were the only ones who stayed."

"What are you, doctors?" Rick asked.

"Felipe's a nurse, a special care provider. Me, I'm the custodian."

Rick looked at the man for a minute. Guillermo told his group to follow him into a room so they could talk more privately.

They all walked into the room as Guillermo sat down on the arm of a couch. Rick took the bag of guns off his shoulder and set it on the couch next to it.

"What about the rest of your crew?" Rick asked.

"The vatos trickle in to check on their parents, their grandparents. They see how things are and most decide to stay. It's a good thing too. We need the muscle. The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kind. Plunderers, the kind that take by force."

"That's not who we are." Rick said. Kat and Daryl leaned against either side of the door they came in from. Glenn standing in front of the wall a few feet ahead of Daryl.

"How was I to know? My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage...Appearances."

"Guess the world changed." T-Dog said from his spot in a chair against the wall across from Glenn.

"No. It's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken. So we do what we can here. The vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathroom by themselves, so that's just a dream. Still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something. So we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut except for one entrance. The vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait. The people here, they all look to me now. I don't even know why." Guillermo said, shrugging his shoulders at the cop.

"Because they can." Rick said to him. Rick was a good judge of character when it came to people, and he could tell this man had a good heart. He was only trying to keep his people safe, just like he was. He handed the shotgun he still had in his hands to Guillermo. He took it from him as Rick leaned over to the bag of guns and started pulling more out.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun was setting as the 5 of them that originally left the tracks that afternoon were finally walking back over to the hole in the fence. The had the guns, or at least some of them, but they failed the other half of their objective. They didn't have Merle. Kat could tell Daryl wasn't happy about it or the fact Rick had given away some of the guns and ammo.

"Admit it, you only came back to Atlanta for the hat." Glenn said to Rick as they all were walking under the tall bridge that led to the hole in the fence.

"Don't tell anybody." Rick said.

"You've given away half our guns and ammo." Daryl said, not even bothering to take part in the attempt to lighten the situation.

"Not nearly half." Rick said to him.

"For what? Buncha old farts who're gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously, how long you think they got?"

"How long do any of us?" Rick said as they made their way around the bus that would give them a view of the fence their van was parked behind. Only they all stopped in their tracks when the van was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh my God." Glenn said.

"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl said, looking around the area the van had been parked, near the tracks.

"We left it right there. Who would take it?" Glenn said.

"You left the keys in it? Really?" Kat whined next to Daryl.

"Merle." Rick said. Everyone looked at him.

"He's gonna be takin some vengeance back to camp." Daryl said, glancing towards Rick before looking down at Kat. This is gonna be a long walk.



Dylan was sitting at the table in the RV with his and Kaleb's handguns in front of him. He had a box of bullets on the table and was loading the empty clips he'd grabbed out of Kat's bag that she left behind. Andrea was in the RV looking through all the drawers next to Dylan in the kitchen area. He gave her a confused look as Dale walked in.

"Wrapping paper, color tissue, anything?" She said, looking at the old man.

"Seriously?" Dale asked as he set his rifle up against the side of the chair Dylan was sitting in.

"How can you not have any?" She said, looking in the cupboard above the sink.

"Had I been informed of the impending apocalypse I'd have stocked up." Dale smiled at her.

"It's Amy's birthday tomorrow. I've been marking days on the calendar just to make sure." Andrea said as she pulled out the necklace she had got her younger sister the day before on the groups trip into Atlanta.

Dale put his glasses on and picked the necklace up to inspect it. It was on a simple gold chain and hanging from it was a golden mermaid.

"You don't give a gift unwrapped." Andrea said to him, shrugging.

Dale looked back at her with a smile. "Deep breath. I'm sure I'll find something here." Dale said as he walked to the small closet across from the bathroom. "Dylan, would you look around in the back for me, son?"

"Sure thing." He said as he put the clip in his hands down and squeezed his way around Dale in the small space.

Out in the main area of camp around the fire pits later on, some of the group was setting up all the chairs they had around one of the pits.

"I, uh, built up the rocks all around. See? So the flames can be a little higher and have em be hidden." Morales said, smiling proudly at his idea.

Shane was walking away from them with Carl, towards Jim, who was still tied to the tree. It had been hours now.

"Hey, Jim. How you feeling, man?" Shane said as he walked closer to the man. Kneeling next to him as he reached him.

"I'm better. More myself now." He said.

"I hope you understand the need for this, this timeout. I mean, I've got others I've got to think about and, I just want to make sure there's no, uh, there's no hard feelings."

"There's not. I do understand."

"Okay." Shane said with a chuckle. Jim briefly smiled at him. "Why don't you come join in with the rest of us. Big ol' fish fry." Shane said. Carol and Lori were already cooking up the fish over the fire with what they could. The sun was low in the sky now and they wanted to get it done with the light they had left.

Jim looked over Shane's shoulder at Carl with a smile, "I'd like that very much." Carl nodded at him, smiling.

"Okay." Shane said as he stood up and walked around the tree to cut the rope before uncuffing Jim.

Rick and his group were on the gravel and dirt road that led up to the quarry area that the camp was in, but it was still almost 2 miles before they would get there. The sun was even lower in the sky by now, only giving off the last bit of light it could before it would disappear over the horizon. The 5 of them were running back to camp, all panting from the long run they'd already done out of the city to get to where they were now. It would be about 20 more minutes before they would reach camp. They just hoped it wouldn't be too late.

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Everyone sat around the fire enjoying the fish and beer. The sun had been down for a little while now.

"Pass the fish, please." Sophia said.

Carol grabbed the pan of fish that Dylan handed to her and held it to Sophia. "Here you go."

"Man oh man, that's good." Shane said as he let out a breath and laughed. "I miss this." Everyone was passing the pans of fish around, making sure everyone got some. Dale had some spices in his RV that the women had used, so it was delicious.

"I've got to ask you, man. It's been driving me crazy." Morales said to Dale with a smile from across the fire.

Dale smiled back at him as he rested the side of his face against his closed hand. "What?"

"That watch." Morales said, pointing to Dale's wrist. Dale took his hand away from his face to glance at the wrist watch he had on his arm.

"What's wrong with my watch?" Dale asked with a smile as he messed with it.

"I see you every day, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass." Morales said, making Andrea nod her head, she'd noticed it too several times.

"I've wondered this myself." Jacqui said with a smile as she scooped up another bite of fish from her plate.

"I'm missing the point." Dale said, holding his hands out to his sides.

"Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while." Jacqui said.

"But there's you every day winding that stupid watch." Morales said.

"Time. It's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least. Don't you think, Andrea? Back me up here." Dale said, looking at her. Andrea just chuckled and sipped her beer.

"I like, I like what, um, a father said to son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations." Dale said. Everyone was sitting around the fire, eating and listening to the old man. "He said, 'I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me. I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it.'" He finished with another smile. Everyone was smiling and nodding towards him. All for Shane and Lori, they gave each other a quick look. Both were still worried that the group that went to Atlanta still weren't back. They had been gone since this afternoon.

"You are so weird." Amy said from her spot between Dale and Andrea, causing everyone to laugh.

"It's not me. It's Faulkner. William Faulkner. Maybe my bad paraphrasing." He said to the young blond.

After a few more seconds, Amy set her cup of water down and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Andrea said looking up to her little sister.

"I have to pee. Jeez, you try to be discreet around here." Amy said, looking at her sister, who was 12 years her senior before walking away towards the RV. Bringing another round of laughs.

Dylan brought his beer to his lips and shook his head.

"Can I try some?" Sam said, nodding his head towards his brother's beer. "You used drink that stuff at home a lot."

Dylan looked at his 13 year old brother with a smile and handed over his beer. Sam took it and brought the bottle to his mouth, taking a small sip.

"Ew! That's nasty! How can you drink that crap." Sam said, a disgusted look on his face as he wiped his mouth with his free hand, handing the beer back to his brother while everyone laughed.

Dylan's smile widened as he took the bottle from his little brother and took a drink. He shrugged his shoulders. "Better cold."

"I doubt."

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Ed Peletier was still sulking in his tent. He refused to come out or talk to anybody. He hadn't left his tent all day when he had come back from the quarry after the beating Shane had given him. He told his wife and daughter to leave him alone the rest of the night, so he was annoyed when he heard rustling outside his tent.

"Thought I told y'all to leave me the hell alone, didn't I?" He said, laying in the darkness of his tent with his eyes closed. The rustling continued.

"Hey!" He said as he sat up and crawled over to the tent flap. "What'd I say?" He said as he pulled the flap back. He expected to see Carol standing there with a plate of fish in her hands, but was greeted by another female. Her mouth open, growling at him. "Oh!" He said, as the Walker came closer. It grabbed him and sunk its teeth into his neck as it pushed him to the ground of the tent. Two more Walkers piled in the opening to the tent and started devouring him.

Amy swung the door to the RV back open only a few seconds after she had gone in.

"We're out of toilet paper?" She said towards the group. No one heard her over their talking around the fire. A Walker came out from behind the open door and grabbed Amy's arm that she had on the door's handle. It ripped a chunk of skin out of her arm as she let out a scream. Hearing her cries of pain, Andrea was the first to turn around. Everyone looked up and saw Amy being attacked. As soon as the Walker had ripped away from her arm, she pushed away from it, falling to the ground a few feet away. The Walker started towards her again, she had her back to it. Everyone at the camp dropped their plates and started screaming as they got up from their seats.

"Mom!" Carl yelled as he ran over to his mother.

"Carl!" Lori yelled as she got up and grabbed the boy. More Walkers were coming towards them now. They were coming out of nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

"Lori, get him down!" Shane yelled from a few feet behind Lori and Carl as he cocked his shotgun. Lori, with her arm around Carl's shoulders pushed them both down as Shane aimed in front of them and fired his gun, sending the Walker closest to them to the ground. He took 4 more shots sending more to the ground, but they were still coming.

Rick and his group were closer to the camp by now. They decided to take a shortcut through the trees when they heard the gun shots and people screaming.

"Oh my God." Rick said as he glanced towards the top of the hill where the camp was. The 5 of them picked up their pace.

"Go! Go!" T-Dog yelled.

Jim swung his bat at the Walker in front of him, sending it flying backwards. Kaleb and Blake had run off towards the tents as Sam and Dylan pulled out their guns. They started picking off the ones closest to them, they were everywhere. Dale had his rifle to his shoulder and was trying to fend off the Walkers that approached the fire pits that most of the people were still around. Carol picked up Sophia and got behind Dale. Over by the group of tents Blake and Kaleb stopped, seeing two Walkers ripping into one of the other group members. They both screamed and ran into the woods.

Behind Shane, Carl was yelling and crying, watching everything happen in front of him.

"I'm right here." Lori said to him. "Shane, what do we do? Shane?" Lori said, panicked. Her hand on the back of Shane's shoulder. Another gun shot.

"Follow me!" Shane shouted.

Amy screamed again as the Walker that was behind her grabbed her by the shoulders and it's teeth ripped the side of her neck open.

"No! No! No!" Andrea screamed, running towards her sister. Jim, who was nearby, saw that she didn't have a weapon and ran in between them, pushing Andrea away. He brought the bat back and swung at the Walker standing behind, above Amy, blood dripping from it's mouth. He swung as hard as he could and it fell to the ground behind Amy. It was still moving as Jim turned away and made his way over to the fire pit where more Walkers were starting to gather. Dylan aimed his gun to the downed zombie behind Amy that was still moaning and put a bullet in it's head before he turned around and shot one that was right behind Sam.

Andrea made her way over to her sister and dropped down beside her. Amy was lying on her back now, bleeding profusly from her neck wound.

"Oh God! Oh my God!" Andrea said reaching for Amy's neck.

"Help me." Amy said to her sister.

"Oh God, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do." Andrea said between sobs as she put pressure on her sister's neck in a useless attempt to stop the bleeding.

"Come on. Come on, stay close." Shane said as he reached behind him for Lori's arm and started leading them away.

"Carol!" Lori yelled and reached behind her for the woman and her daughter.

"Stay close!" Shane said as he walked with the women and Carl, eyes darting around for any Undead that were coming towards them.

A shrill cry broke out as another woman from the group was taken down by two more Walkers. Morales was by the treeline swinging another bat and bashing the skulls in of any zombies that came his way as he walked back to the fire pit to his family. Dylan heard a gunshot over in the forest in the direction of the tents but his attention was quickly turned to the Walker coming up behind Carol as he took aim at it.

The happy fish fry turned into a disaster in only a couple minutes. They were Walkers everywhere, people running and screaming and fallen group members having the flesh ripped from their bones.

"Come on, y'all! Work your way up here!" Shane yelled back to the group around the fire.

"Right in front of you. Shane!" Lori screamed as more Walkers began to make their way towards them. Shane took them out with his shotgun as they came to stop in front of the RV. They turned around to face the camp.

"Get to the RV! Go!" Morales yelled, corralling his wife and two children in front of him.

"Shane! Shane!" Lori yelled as more Walkers showed up all around them.

"Stay with me." He said to her. "Stay behind me. Morales, work up here!" Shane yelled as he pushed Lori behind him and they backed up towards the RV more. Morales took out a few more Walkers with his bat as they surrounded him.

"Get behind me! Come on!" Lori yelled to Carl and pushed him behind her.

"Let's go!" Shane yelled.

Another scream broke through camp and Carl sobbed again. "Stay with me." Lori said to him.

"Come on, make your way to the Winnebago!" Rick heard Shane yell as the group came up the hill out of the tree line into camp. As soon as they rounded the corner around the shower area the group had set up, they saw the tents. Merle was the least of their worries as they saw the devastation the Walkers had brought with them. Rick took aim at one of the Walkers standing outside the Peletier's tent and sent it to the ground with a shotgun round to the head.

Dylan spun around at the sound of gunfire where he knew there were no more live people. He saw Rick, T-Dog, Glenn, Daryl and Kat coming out from around the tents and into camp more, weapons aimed. Oh, thank God. He thought as he heard Sam yell her name. The young boy took aim over his sister's shoulder and pulled the trigger. Another Walker that was inside the Peletier's tent, that was now behind them, had come out at the sound of the gunfire and was creeping up behind her before Sam had shot it right between the eyes. Rick and the others started unloading their guns around all the Walkers in camp. Kat came up to Daryl's side and continued forward, landing head shots at every Walker she aimed at as she made her way to her brothers.

People's screams were drowned out by all the gunfire as she came up to Dylan, she put her back to his as they both aimed ahead and around them. Sam at their sides shooting at the Walkers coming out of the trees.

"Where are Blake and Kaleb?!" She yelled, leaning her head back towards Dylan before she pulled the trigger and put a bullet in the head of the Walker in front of her. Rick and the rest of them were slowly making their way closer to Kat and the boys who were further into camp, still around the fire pit.

"They went that way!" Dylan jerked his head in the direction they had just came from.

"Watch his back!" Kat said to Sam before she looked at Dylan. "Get over to the RV with Shane!" She said as she took off towards the tents. She ran in between Daryl and Rick who both looked over their shoulders at her as she disappeared into the trees behind them. The two men continued past the fire pits and closer to the RV. Daryl turned his attention to the Walker on the ground in front of him and jammed the stock of the shotgun into its head over and over again until it stopped making any sound.

"Baby! Carl!" Rick yelled towards the RV at them as he sent a bullet into the Walker in front of him. "Baby!"

Daryl was out of rounds by now and didn't have time to reload so he brought the shotgun back up again and swung the stock of the gun into the face of another Walker.

"Dad!" Carl sobbed and ran to his father.

"Carl!" Rick yelled and sank to his knees as his son wrapped his arms around his shoulders. He picked him up and walked over to Lori. The camp had quieted down by now, every live Walker with a round in its skull or it's head beat in. There were no more screams or moaning, just crying and everyone breathing heavy as what was left of the group made their way to the RV. Dylan stood next to Carol, holding Sam to the front of him. The boy had his arm around his big brothers waist and Dylan's arm was around his shoulders. Both of them held their handguns at their side. Everyone looked around their camp seeing all the bodies on the floor.

"Shh shh shh." Andrea was still kneeling over Amy, her hand to her neck as the younger girl took short, quick gasps for air, trying to breathe. "Oh, Amy." Andrea cried as Amy gagged on the blood that was in her throat. "I don't know what to do, Amy."

Amy brought her own bloody hand up and lightly touched her big sister's face as she let out one more labored breath as her hand fell. She closed her eyes and didn't open them again.

"Oh. Oh." Andrea kept repeating in between sobs, looking over her sister's limp body. "Oh, Amy." She sobbed. Rick finally saw them. He set Carl down and put his arms around his son as he looked at the girl on the ground a couple yards from them. He loosened his grip on Lori, causing her and Carl to both look in the direction his eyes were on. Lori's eyes widened and she let out quick breaths at the site of the sweet, young blood lying lifeless and bloody on the ground. Carl turned his face into his father's chest and sobbed. Rick put his hand on the back of Carl's head and held him there for a second before the boy pulled away.

"Oh, no no!" Andrea sobbed louder. Everyone was looking at her now. Lori dropped to her knees in front of Rick, reaching her arm behind her towards Carl who let out another sob. "Amy! Amy!" Andrea was yelling.

Rick pulled Carl closer to his mother and leaned into Lori. "Stay here a minute." He said. Lori just nodded her head, still looking at Andrea. To shocked to acknowledge him more than that. Kat hadn't come back yet and he was going to get her.

Daryl was looking around the camp for her as well as he saw Rick walking in the direction she had taken off in with his gun drawn. Daryl walked closer to the RV with everyone and stared at Amy and Andrea as he stood a few feet away from Dylan and Sam. Merle had never been here.

Kat had fallen to her knees with tears in her eyes at the site she came upon in the forest. Kaleb was sitting on his butt with his knees bent, his elbows resting on them. He had one hand covering his tear-streaked face and his small handgun in the other. He was shaking with light sobs. Next to him, there was a dead Walker, a bullet hole in the side of it's head. It's mouth was blood stained from the hole it had ripped into 9 year old Blake's stomach. The youngest Carsen was lying, dead in a pool of his own blood at the base of a tree. Kat put her arms out in front of her to hold herself up as she let the tears spill from her eyes. Her brother's soft sobs breaking her heart even more. They sat there for a few more minutes as she calmed down. The tears had stopped for her but she was just staring at her little brother's lifeless body. She heard a twig snap behind her and spun around, aiming her Beretta in the direction of the noise. As soon as she saw Rick she dropped her arm and turned back around. She looked at the ground in front of her. Rick swallowed as he looked at the scene. His heart broke for the pretty, young woman in front of him and the boy. He walked around her and over to Kaleb. He grabbed the 11 year old from under his arms and helped lift him up. His sobs that had all but stopped by now, picked up again as Rick held him close. He learned that the Carsen's never really had a father and felt for them, they had had to take care of each other for most of their lives. He put his arm around the boy's shoulder and walked over to his sister who was still sitting on the floor staring blankly at the ground in front of her. He holstered his Python and held his now free hand out to her. She looked up and stared at it for a second before reaching up with her own. He pulled her off the ground and as soon as she was up Kaleb wrapped his arms around her. She put her hand on his head and patted at his dark blond hair to try and soothe him. Rick lightly jerked his head in the direction of camp. Kat took her little brother's hand in hers as Rick put an arm around her shoulder and started walking with them. He got his gun out again and held it at his side for safe measure. Not a word was said on the way back. The only sounds being made were their soft footsteps on the ground and the occasional sniffle from Kaleb.

As they came into view of the camp through the trees, everyone looked away from Andrea who was still sobbing over her sister's body. Daryl looked towards the sheriff and the 2 Carsen's with him. There should be 3...Not 2...He thought as his face fell. Dylan had the same thought as he took in the sight. Rick had an arm over Kat's shoulders and Kaleb was next to her with a vice grip on her hand. He could see the tear marks through the dirt and blood on his face. Dylan looked to Rick, who shook his head. Dylan closed his eyes as Sam turned his head into his brother's stomach and started to cry, his arm tightened around his little brother's shoulders. Lori looked over at the boy before she turned around and saw Rick leading the remaining Carsens over to their brothers. She brought her hands to her mouth.

Dylan opened his eyes as Rick came in front of them. Kat still had a blank expression on her face but he could tell she had been crying. He put his gun in it's holster and reached out to her. Rick let her go and looked at Daryl before returning to his family. Kat walked the few steps to her brother and laid her head on his chest, standing next to Sam. His hand came up and went to the back of her head as he held her there. Daryl looked at her face, since she was facing him. She was shut down, not even acknowledging him. She was staring at his boots, or at least in the direction of them.

"I remember my dream now, why I dug the holes." Jim said, looking around at people in front of him.