As the black cloth hood was pulled off his head, Daryl looked up to find himself standing in the middle of a mock arena surrounded by jeering townsfolk. He slowly turned around in a circle until he found himself facing the one person he never thought to see again.

"Merle." He whispered under his breath.

"I asked you where your loyalties lie and you said here. Prove it; prove it to us all." A tall, dangerous looking man wearing a gauze eye patch, came striding through the crowd and gestured for Daryl's bonds to be released. As he felt the wire ties being cut loose, Daryl started to rub his wrists trying to restore the circulation. "Brother against brother; winner goes free." The man halted in front of where Merle and Daryl were now standing side by side. "Fight to the death!" As he shouted the final words, the crowd erupted into raucous cheers and started to chant.

"Fight, Fight, Fight!"

Merle and Daryl looked at each other slowly; each hardly believing the other to be alive. Merle turned slightly away from his younger brother and raised his arm into the air capturing the crowd's attention.

"Y'all know me. I'm gonna do whatever I gotta do to prove…" As he was speaking Merle was slowly circling Daryl, he paused for effect before throwing a punch directly into Daryl's gut; forcing him to the ground where he curled up in agony. "That my loyalty…" A kick aimed exactly in the same spot forced the air out of Daryl's lungs causing him to gasp for breath. "…Is to this town!" As Merle continued to kick his fallen brother two shackled Walkers were led into the ring; snarling and gnashing their teeth.

Daryl managed to roll onto his back and reached up to wrap his arms tightly around Merle's throat.

"You really think this assholes just gonna let you leave?" He gasped up at his brother, trying to comprehend just what kind of hold the tall man had over Merle. Merle looked down at Daryl and gave a little wink.

"Just follow my lead, little brother. We're getting out of this….right now!" He broke free of Daryl's hold and they both lunged to their feet; standing back to back and assuming a defensive position. They started to circle around; still with their backs together and started to lunge for the Walkers. The crowd went wild; screaming and jeering at the turn of events. Just as one Walker went in for Daryl's throat a spray of blood erupted from its head as a result of the bullets sprayed from Maggie's rifle. Rick threw a flash bang into the centre of the ring and then they both laid down a spray of covering fire. Daryl and Merle used the smokescreen to down the remaining Walkers and run from the ring. Daryl snatched his cross bow out of one of the hand of one of the townspeople and they raced over to join Maggie and Rick crouched down behind a dumpster just on the edge of the arena.

The tall man known as The Governor peered through the smoke, scanning the area with his pistol raised. He was a seething mass of fury and frustration; how dare they ruin his plans? He saw the panic of the people around him and a sly grin appeared over his taut face.

"Rick, come on!" Daryl urged Rick to stop wasting ammunition shooting into the crowd. "Time to go." Rick lowered his rifle and then he, Maggie, Daryl and Merle started to run for the fence.

"They're all at the arena, this way!" Merle started to lead them to an area of the town boundary that was formed out of school buses and turned over cars and was slightly lower than the rest making it easier for them to slip through.

"You're not going anywhere with us!" Rick stated harshly, ever on alert and scanning the deserted town square for possible attack.

"You really want to do this now?" Merle shouted, indicating that they should be focused on escaping without being captured rather than discussed whether he had a rightful place within the group. Merle slipped behind the school bus and started kicking at a piece of corrugated sheeting that formed a wall around the square.

"Rick, come on we gotta go." Daryl noticed that Merle had broken through the sheeting, creating a gap just large enough for them all to slip through. He grabbed Rick by the shoulder and forced him to turn around. Merle had started taking down the Walkers that had congregated along the outer wall.

"A little help would be nice!" He shouted sarcastically as he saw the others finally slipping through the fence. Maggie raised her pistol and brought down a Walker directly behind Merle and Rick aimed for one heading their way. More and more Walkers were attracted to the noise and started to drift over.

"We ain't got time for this!" Shouted Merle and the small group stopped firing and ran for the highway. A lone Walker shuffled over to the gap Merle had made in the fence and forced its body through the gap, exposed jaw clicking together slowly.