WARNING! Super dark themes. The only thing I can say is that there is going to be HAPPINESS for Caryl supporters at the end!

So, if you're brave welcome to my story. There can be major trauma triggers. This is MATURE content!

PLEASE review! It's the only way I'm motivated to continue the story! :)

I do not own The Walking Dead, any ideas, thought's or characters.

Rock Bottom

Daryl POV

Daryl watched the men around their make shift camp. These were the type of men he and Merle used to hang out with. It was amazing how quickly he could fall back into his old version of his self. Carol would be so disappointed, so would Beth.

Daryl was finding it hard to give a shit about anything. Beth was gone. Carol was gone. His family was gone. Beth had been taken by some unknown person or set of people. He'd tried to track her, but eventually gave up. She'd been wrong, and he'd been right. There weren't any good people left in this world. What was he even alive for anymore? Daryl watched the men take long drinks from the bottles of liquor. Half of it spilling on their shirts. How had he gone from helping a girl get her first drink to being thrown in with grown ass men that were alcoholics and god knew what else?

"Hey man. Have a drink." Joe told him handing him a bottle of Jack. Daryl looked at Joe for a second. This guy was good. He oozed charm, but Daryl had met a man like him before, and he could smell the evil underneath. For now, Daryl would play along. What for...he wasn't sure, but something was keeping him from completely giving up. Something told him to hold on.

"Thanks." Daryl said taking the bottle. With Joe watching, he took a drink from the bottle. The whiskey burned down Daryl's throat.

"You're the kind of man we need with us." Joe told him. "You've got skills we need. We're a group that likes to enjoy the pleasures...the little things we find in this world." Joe told Daryl.

"Pleasures? What kinda fuckin' pleasure is there anymore?" Daryl snorted and took a swig from the bottle.

"Drugs, alcohol...fucking pussy...all for the taking." Joe told Daryl with sinister smile. Daryl could tell the man was drunk.

"I don't see any women here offering themselves up to you guys." Daryl told him. He was playing dumb, but he had to be sure who he was dealing with before deciding what to do.

"I didn't say it was voluntary. I said it was for the taking." Joe told him as he made a pumping motion with his pelvis. "Hell, its more fun that way."

Daryl hoped his thoughts weren't showing across his face. All he could think of was of Beth, Maggie, Michonne, the girls...Carol. These men would take women, use them till they were broken and move on. Daryl was disgusted by them.

"Drugs and alcohol are so easy to find. Just gotta know where to look and what to look for." Joe continued on sighing as he slumped into the folding chair.

Daryl looked around at the six men. He wondered what terror they had brought to the "good" people who were left in the world. His thoughts returned to Beth. Her child-like belief and innocence. A bright light in a dark world. He had been drawn like a moth to a flame in her ability to inspire hope. For a few days, he was able to be immersed in her child-like beliefs. Her being taken brought the real world back into focus. He hadn't been able to save Beth, but maybe he could help others...after all...Herschel had said it himself...it's what you die for that matters.

Carol POV

She had finally done it. One night, Carol had waited until the kids were settled and taken Tyreese aside. She told him everything. More than she told Rick. Over the last week, she had seen what a gentle giant he really was, and somehow that made her want to tell him more. Just so he wouldn't have to live his life with unanswered questions. Also, she just couldn't carry the weight of it anymore. Even if Ty had killed her in the end. Carol thought it was worth it.

Tyreese listened to her without saying a word. When Carol was done, Ty reached out his arms and embraced Carol. Then Carol finally let herself cry. She sobbed into his shoulder. Ty knew she cried for all the people she had lost along the way, her friends, her family...Daryl.

God Daryl. He knew her heart broke at the thought of him. She missed him. Her heart missed him. Her soul missed him! Carol had looked at Ty, and saw he had shed silent tears. His tears came from knowing what she had given up in order to protect Lizzie. A child.

Ty had told her he had never met a woman like her. Willing to take on banishment with the possibility of death, torture...and god knew what else to protect a child? She had smiled at him, and in that moment her heart had healed a bit.

Only once had Tyreese gotten angry. It was learning that Rick had sent her away without a second thought or hesitation. The fact that it was done under the guise of protecting her from Tyreese. Telling her no one wanted her. Rick knew just what to say to someone who had experienced abuse before and his words had crippled Carol into submission. Luckily, she hadn't been able to leave without at least a good-bye...no matter how they would have possibly rejected her. One night, Ty told her that he knew that if Carol hadn't been there the girls, Judith and he would have died a long time ago.

A few weeks went by and they continued to follow the train tracks. It was slow-moving with the girls and baby. Tyreese became Carol's support and she his...it was a deep friendship forged out of unification in trying to save and get the children to safety.

So, when IT happened, it was that understanding and respect and friendship that kept Carol from falling.

Tyreese POV

Ty had never been angry with Carol. How could he be? Carol was a gentle soul in a warrior's body. She was also fiercely protective of children and the ones she loved. Tyreese also saw in this small woman a fierceness that came from protecting her family. The quote "and though she be but little, she is fierce.'" perfectly described Carol.

As the weeks went by, he had grown fond of Carol. Saw a gentleness that just didn't exist in many people now. He could see why the redneck had hovered protectively around her. She was a gem in a cruel world. A true friend. A leader with a gift of making you understand your worth. Ty admitted to himself that maybe...just maybe he had fallen a little in love with Carol. How could he not?

Carol POV

They were almost to Terminus. Only a few more days, when they had stopped at at a small farm. Carol had scouted out ahead while Ty and the girls stayed behind. These were the times that she felt Daryl the strongest. He had taught her everything he knew. At night it was worse...she dreamed of him. Her heart ached for him. She knew he was still alive. She didn't know why, she just knew...years of being with Daryl...knowing the looks that flickered across his face. It wasn't anything that was so easily tossed aside or replaced.

Due to Carol's scouting they had found a mini oasis in the middle of hell. A well made, sturdy farmers house, more importantly no walkers. Carol and Ty were relieved to have a break and let the kids rest. Tyreese had been out on watch when Carol had seen THE MEN hiding in the trees. She pretended not to see them. Panic was setting in, but she had to keep it together for the girls and Judith. She just need to get her weapons and find Ty.

Daryl POV

Daryl had been with the group of men for a few weeks now. His job was to give cover for the men as they ransacked houses and stores. It had been a job. Something to do, to keep him moving forward. That was until they had run across the teenage girl and her father camped out. That's when he truly found out who he was inside. That he wasn't like THEM! He realized Carol and Beth had been right all along about him.

Those men had immediately started terrorizing the girl. Though he had known what type of men he was with, he hadn't really seen them in action...except for drugs and alcohol. That night had been seared into his mind. Her cries...the father...he had left before they had really begun. He'd grabbed a bottle and got as far as he could. The next morning Joe had found him passed out in the truck.

"Daryl. Where the fuck were you?" Joe asked him.

"Must of passed out..." Daryl told him. Knowing it was a half-truth.

"Missed a hell of a time bro." Joe told him. Daryl just grunted. He had already decided that dying alone was a hell of a lot better than living with these fucked up evil men.

"But seems you might get another shot. Seems that we've found a little group to forage from..." Joe told Daryl. Daryl felt nausea that had nothing to do with his hangover rising in his stomach.

"Two girls...a woman...and a big black guy. Should be easy pickings." Joe told him. Fuck! Girls? There was no fucking way Daryl thought.

"Scout has watched them for a few days. Woman is a hell of an efficient fighter, takes walkers out without batting an eye. Tight little body and a halo of gray curls. Sexy as fuck Scout says...Sounds like she may be a hell of a woman. Maybe someone I want for myself. May not share, but the others are up for grabs." Joe told him without realizing the chaos he had created within Daryl.

Though Daryl's face did not betray his thoughts...Daryl's mind was running on overdrive. Two girls, big black guy, woman with grey curls...his heart leapt. How could it not be Carol? How the hell had she ended up with Tyreese. It had to be Tyreese and the girls had to be Mika and Lizzie. Beth had been right! There were others still alive. He was torn...joy at the possibility of their being alive, and terror at what the group wanted to do to them. Daryl kept his look blank as Joe had delivered the infomration...he was determined not to betray his disgust and anger.

"Big black guy hardly leaves the womans side. He seems pretty into that woman. Sounds like it could be fun. Making him watch." Joe told Daryl. Daryl vomited onto the ground. It wasn't the alcohol. It was the thoughts and images of what they were going to do to his friends...and to Carol.

"Gotta know your limit man." Then Joe clapped him on his back. "Moving out soon...get your shit together." With that he was gone.

Daryl was trying to calm himself down. He had to think! Fuckin' think! His friends lives depended on it. Carol depended on it.