I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

In the Nick of Time

Chapter 1 - Daryl

He had been in the woods hunting for a day and a half with little success. The weather was changing and the air growing cooler each day. Even the squirrels were spending more time in their nests. If he didn't find something to bring back to the others soon, he was going to feel like shit. It was the one thing he knew he could do that none of the others could and they were counting on him. And strangely enough, he didn't want to let them down.

As he walked he realized that he was intensely listening to something without being conscience of it. It sounded like voices but he was still too far away to be certain. Using his hunter's instinct, he moved in the direction from which the sound was coming.

When he grew close enough he thought at first he was imagining what he heard. Merle?

After moving a bit closer he became certain it was his brother and another man talking. Past experience had taught him not to rush into a Merle situation blind. He had not seen his brother in months and, although he missed him so much, he would be a fool to walk into this without learning more first. Merle had been gone a while and there was no telling what sort of man he had become since the day he cut off his own hand to escape the roof top where he was left, handcuffed.

Once he was within decent range to see the men and hear what they were saying he noticed a third person knelling on the ground between the two men, a hood over its head and hands bond behind it's back. It was clear the person was either a teenage boy or,

from the size of it's frame, a female. Daryl thought to himself that if the hands were bound, then it was safe to assume there was a gag involved as well.

This assumption was based on the many times, that he, as a child, had been bound, gagged and forced into a closet, 'For his own protection' by his father. This happened on a regular basis after his mom had passed away and pop ran off with one skank or another. There had been timed when Daryl had spent up to three days in that closet before Pop would drag himself back home.

It took less than 3 seconds for him to realize it was indeed a female and not a teen, due to the fact that the two men were haggling over a trade agreement in order for Merle to get possession of the person was kneeling at his feet. Merle would not make such a fuss over another male, but a girl all to himself, that would suit him fine.

Due to the fact that Merle offered the man a fairly substantial amount of pain killers and tranquilizers it was safe to assume that Merle had many opportunities to break into numerous pharmacies and steal all the drugs a man could want or need and from what he could tell Russell felt this was a fair trade. Daryl heard Merle agree to return the next day with the drugs.

Merle knelt down to the figure kneeling at his feet and said "Hope yer used to kneeling girl, you gonna be workin' off the cost of them drugs for a good while," he snarled.

Daryl knew the girl was in for a world of hurt if Merle got his hands on her. Hand, got his hand on her. It was still hard for him to get used to the fact that Merle only had one remaining hand. It was painful to think of what it must have been like for his brother, stranded on that rooftop, desperate enough to saw off his own hand to gain his freedom.

It would not be the first time that his brother had taken liberties with a woman against her will. He had actually raped a girl when he was about nineteen. The girl had only been seventeen. When Daryl heard about it, he did not speak to Merle for almost 2 years. Daryl had been raised to respect women. Hell, he was mostly uncomfortable around them, and would never put his hands where they were not wanted. But somehow, Merle missed that particular lesson.

Now that terms were agreed on, Merle started to walk back towards the woods, but hesitated. A stern expression on his face, his eyes got all squinty like he was concentrating hard. Did he sense his brother close by? They had always had a weird connection between them and it would not surprise Daryl if Merle sensed his presence.

After a few more seconds of listening and eyeballing the surrounding area, Merle seemed satisfied and moved on. Daryl knew it would be best to stay under cover for a while longer just in case Merle was hanging back to see if anything out of the ordinary happened once he walked away. This also gave him time to think of a plan.

The girl rolled onto her side and tried to move as close as she dared to the small campfire. She shivered, either from the cold or fear, most likely both. She was wearing a man's dirty white long sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans about 3 sizes too big for her. At least she was given a belt to hold them up. She wore no shoes; Russell must have thought she would not dare run off barefoot. Maybe it had worked, she was still with him.

Russell sat down across from the girl and reached into a bag next to him and pulled out a nearly full bottle of some dark liquor. He pulled off the cap, and spent the next hour taking frequent sips off the bottle while he prodded the fire from time to time. He completely ignored the girl, and she made no sound at all. After another 15 minutes his movements started becoming more and more uncoordinated as it became clear his was getting close to wasted. It would not be long now.

Russell reached once more into the bag and pulled out a blanket. This made Daryl even angrier. The girl was cold and all this time he had a blanket she could have been using. But instead, he wrapped himself in it, lay on his side and was soon asleep. Daryl waited until he had been snoring for 20 minutes before he began his silent approach to the figures lying next to the fire.

By looking at the hood that has been placed over her head, he could make out right where her mouth would be, as well as her ear. He walked up so silently the girl was unaware there was another person in the vicinity. Daryl reached down and placed his hand over her mouth at the exact same moment he leaned in and whispered into her ear.

"Don't scream, I ain't gonna hurt you, understand?" he said.

She began to shiver harder, he was certain she was now terrified.

But after taking a deep breath to calm her, she shook her head yes.

"OK, I got a few questions for ya before deciding what I am gonna do. Now first, are you with this man by consent? She immediately shook her head no!

"Do you want me to help you?" She hesitated, wondering if she would end up in a worse situation with this one than the one called himself Merle. After giving it a few seconds thought, she shook her head again, yes.

"Just two more questions and we can get the hell out of here. Did he hurt you?" he heard a tiny sob in the back of her throat as she shook her heard again, yes. "Did he take advantage of you against your will?" This time she shuddered a bit, most likely recalling a particularly painful time in the recent weeks, and again, shook her head yes.

He whispered one last time in her ear, I am gonna step away from you for a minute, I won't be any more than about 3 feet away, then I will come back and take you away from this fucking place, understand?"

She shook her head one last time. Daryl stepped away from her, took out his larger hunting knife and cut Russell's throat with one swift movement. He then walked back to the girl, picked her up in his arm, hands bound and all, and carried her off into the woods.