Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing

"He's right," acknowledged Rick after taking Shane's words into account. "We have to stay and protect this camp in case those things decide to show up around here."

Mostly everyone in the camp heard his decision and slowly nodded in agreement as they felt this was the best choice to make.

Daryl on the other hand was absolutely livid with this decision. A few minutes ago Rick had assured him that he would personally take him to the building where Merle was; now, after a little persuasion from Shane he completely backed down. "So that's it huh?" he began as he walked right up to Rick's face. "Yer just going to forget the fact that you handcuffed ma brother to a fuckin roof?"

Rick stood by his decision, "listen I know it wasn't the best decision, but your brother didn't exactly give us a choice. Believe me, it was either him or all of us."

"Man I don't give a shit bout what ya say. Just tell me where ma brother is and I'll get'im ma damn self."

"Now hold on a minute," began Dale "you can't go back for him alone, its way too risky."

Hearing those words caused Daryl to snap, "Are ya stupid ol' man? No damn way in Hell m'goin to leave my brother stranded on a roof so dem geeks can make a free meal out of him."

Realizing there's no way in talking him out of it, Rick decided to just let him go. He provided Daryl with the location of the building and Glenn told him how he could get to him.

Now knowing that the door was chained Daryl knew he needed something to help him get in. "M'taking the bolt cutters" he stated as he headed towards Dale's toolbox.

Dale immediately got in between him and his toolbox, "whoa, I didn't give you permission to take my bolt cutters."

"Well it's a good thing I didn't ask ya, now move." Responded Daryl.

Dale stood his ground, "you ain't taking my bolt cutters."

"You going to stop me?"

Before Dale could respond, Rick decided to intervene "let's just calm down for a minute," he turned towards Dale, "he really needs it, it's the only way to get to the roof."

"I never liked lending tools" responded Dale, "last time I did, never got them back"

"What would it take to let him use it?" asked Rick determined to at least help Daryl in some way.

Dale thought for a moment, "how about the radiation hose on your van? The one on the RV is ruined and the one in your van seems like a perfect match.

Rick thought about his proposal for a second "I'll tell you what" he began, "you let him use the bolt cutters and you can strip that van to the very metal."

Hearing his response, Dale allowed Daryl to pass and get the tool he wanted.

Daryl grunted, "Didn't need your help, would've gotten it either way."

"Just wanted to help out in some way" responded Rick.

Daryl just ignored him, he looked towards the group who just stood there and watched. "D'hell with all of y'all" and with that said he got on his chopper and headed towards the city alone.

Daryl parked his chopper on the edge of the city. To avoid any unnecessary attention he decided to go on foot for the rest of the way. Fortunately, he didn't have any problem sneaking into the building, it was inside when he saw the first geek. He aimed his crossbow in between its eyes and immediately pulled the trigger effectively killing it. He found the stairs and proceeded to run towards the roof. He had no trouble getting into the chained door that lead to it. He grabbed the bolt cutters and ripped out the lock that held the chain together. He quickly opened the door and headed towards where his brother should be. "Merle!" he shouted as he reached his destination. Seeing the scene that was right in front of him made him feel sick to his stomach, "No!" he shouted. If the bloody saw wasn't evidence enough, then the hand that was on the ground clearly indicated that his brother sawed off his hand in order to get out of the handcuffs. "No!" he found himself screaming again. He had no idea where his brother was at, or if he was even alive at this point. He went back down the stairs shouting his brother's name hoping that Merle would respond. He continued searching for Merle in every floor, but only found traces and clues that indicated that his brother was still alive. After accepting that his brother wasn't even in the building anymore Daryl dropped to his knees as tears began to run down his cheeks. Merle may have been an asshole but he was all he had left. Now… he was completely alone.

Suddenly Daryl remembered the camp, and every single person that was in it. He remembered Shane, Glenn, Andrea, T-Dog, and Rick. Daryl's blood began to boil when he thought of the last two names. They were the most responsible for Merle being handcuffed in the first place. 'Something had to be done' he thought to himself. No way in Hell was he going to let this slide. He remembered why he and his brother were in the group to begin with. After a few minutes of thinking, he decided that it was about time he went through with it.

Daryl entered the camp where it had now been night time. Everyone except Jim who was keeping watch on top of the RV was asleep. Upon seeing Daryl, Jim got down to greet him, "good to have you back" he said.

Daryl looked around the camp, "good t'be back" he responded. Jim was about to head back up the RV before he was stopped by Daryl. "Think ya could help me carry a deer I jus killed for d'group?"

"I'm keeping watch right now. Can't you bring it yourself?"

Daryl shook his head "naw, m'exhausted from the trip."

"We can wake Shane or T-Do-"

"C'mon it's close by, no need to wake anyone up."

Jim took a moment to think about it "alright let's go" he finally responded as he headed to where Daryl came from.

"Ppreciate it" responded Daryl as he followed.

They walked for a few minutes away from the camp before Jim decided to break the silence. "Shane was right" he began, "group of geeks came and attacked us earlier."

"Is that so?" asked Daryl.

"Yea but with Rick and the others haven stayed behind, we were able to fend them off. Unfortunately, Ed and Amy didn't make it."

Daryl was a bit surprised to hear that; he didn't really know them but a death is a death, "such a shame" he commented.

"Hopefully we don't lose anybody else."

"Mhm" responded Daryl. He waited for the right moment and when it came he covered Jim's mouth and before he could react Daryl grabbed his knife and slit his throat. "Just you" he said to the now lifeless body.

With everyone else asleep Daryl grabbed a bag and went around the camp collecting canned food, guns, ammunition, and anything else that he felt like taking. After a few minutes, he gathered everything he needed. No doubt he was severely crippling the group, but he honestly didn't care what happened to them at this point. Before he left, he brought out the bolt cutters and drove it to the ground. He wanted to make sure that everyone knew he was responsible when they woke up.

As he was leaving the camp, he heard the sound of something approaching. He went to check it out and saw that it was Jim that had reanimated into one of them. He took out his knife and hid behind a tree ready to kill it if it came too close. Daryl realized that it was heading towards the camp where everyone was still asleep. He was seconds away from killing it when he had the chance, but the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to let it walk into the camp and wake everyone up with a fright. Daryl smirked, no way weren't his actions going to be felt by the end of the day. He picked up his bag full of everything he grabbed from the camp and headed towards where he had his chopper waiting for him.

As he was about to ride away, he heard the blood-curdling screams that sounded like they came from the camp ground. With a smile, Daryl drove off far away from there.