AN: another chapter

I do not own or profit from The Walking Dead

Chapter 2

"It all makes sense, it was Officer Friendly's group that was causing all the ruckus before we left. It has to be."

They had made camp in an abandoned house not to far from where they had found Carol. They had a good two weeks of a journey in front of them back to camp, (Daryl refused to call it home.)They had to decide what to do with Carol who was still passed out.

He'd held her in the car, she'd instinctively seemed to burrow in to him and the scary thing was he hadn't minded. He'd been a little dumbstruck. He liked touching her, he liked her touching him. He hadn't wanted to let go of her, some part of him wanting to protect her from his group, because he knew what was coming.

How was he supposed to explain it? He didn't understand it himself. He had dreamed of her, even after all this time, he still did. Those eyes still haunted him.

"I ain't willing to sacrifice an innocent woman to save our asses." Daryl snapped at Merle as he watched Carol moan slightly in her sleep.

"You don't she's innocent, she.." Merle paused.

"She has a kid Merle." Daryl said.

"Yeah well where is that kid now? I don't see her anywhere. Do you? Only one kid we are trying to save here and that's .." Merle huffed but was interrupted by Perez.

"My sister" he said seriously staring at Carol's sleeping form.

Perez's sister was 18yrs. The five of them stuck close together when they were in camp. They had all grown fond of the kid, Tara. A mistake he'd realized when Neagan had figured it out.

Tara was a good kid, funny and smart, and could outwit Merle when it came to laying corny pick up lines on the women in camp

Daryl had seen the way Neagan had looked at her. It made him sick to his stomach. She was just a kid. Daryl knew it wouldn't be long before Neagan made her one of his bull shit wives, instead of just using her as a threat to keep the four men in line.

Perez had told the other three to leave on a run. To get out while they could, but even Merle had been firm. They weren't leaving Perez to get a bat to the head, or an iron branded to his face, or even worse watching some torture inflicted on his sister.

So, they were stuck in a never ending circle, between a rock and a hard place. Trying to figure a way out for all five of them.

Perez sighed rubbing the back of his head. "I don't know if I could do it either."

The four men stared at each other. Looks darting around the room.

"So, we take her with us, we don't tell her who we work for. Maybe along the way she gives us something useful, maybe we change our minds and give her to Neagan. Either way she's useful. We can use her." Ceasar said firmly.

Daryl nodded, but most of that plan not sitting too well with him.

"Dude, I don't take too well to kidnapping someone who we may or may not turn over to a raging psycho so easily man." Perez sighed "That's like that tv show Dexter shit".

"Man, that ain't Dexter, that's not even close, what the fuck is wrong with you? And we ain't kidnapping her, we just won't let her leave, until we decide if we need her." Martinnez said.

"Man that's kidnapping." Perez said

"Look dimwits, she needs us right now anyway. She lost a shit ton of blood, and she wouldn't last ten minutes out there. So it ain't kidnapping...right now. " Merle was looking intently at Daryl as he spoke.

Daryl nodded. Somehow by default he had become the leader of this little group. He couldn't just think of himself and his weird little obsession with Carol. He had to think of his group and what was best for them. But somehow he couldn't get the image of Carol struggling with that axe out of his mind.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You are not having the green beans. I swear to god man, no way. I veto you having every can of green beans we have."

"Veto? What the fuck this ain't Survivor?"

Carol stirred as the voices floated through her mind. They seemed to be coming from far away. Likes voices in a mist, her rescuers.

"Merle if you have green beans the rest of us ain't getting any sleep tonight. You got gas Bro...bad. I'm surprised the fumes you emit haven't dropped every Walker in a ten mile radius, and Survivor didn't have a veto jackass."

Okay so maybe her rescuers weren't knights in shinning armour Carol thought wryly still hazy as she listened to their conversation.

"I don't got gas Ceasar." The voice she now knew to be Merle said indignantly.

Another voice joined into the conversation.

"Dude I'm surprised you haven't blown a hole in the butt of every pair of pants you own."

"Ahhh fuck all you all." Merle huffed as his voice moved away.

She heard footsteps, felt a new presence in the room then and a voice she would have known anywhere. Daryl.

"Merle, ain't no way in hell you're eating them beans."

Carol let an unconscious snort, at that bringing her eyes suddenly open.

She saw Daryl's attention shift toward her, his eyes seeming to know she had awoken.

"Don't worry man we already had this conversation.." The one named Ceasar trailed off as soon as he saw Carol's eyes open.

Daryl approached her slowly. "Do you remember me and Merle Carol?" He asked his voice soft "we ain't gonna hurt you, you're safe."

Her eyes held his. She had watched him at the quarry. Seen through Daryl's little act, hell even Merle's. They had wanted the world to think they were bad men, heck maybe they believed it, but she'd seen the thruth. She saw the way the brothers had always brought back food for the group, had been vigilant on watch duty, had been nice to the kids in the group.

Daryl had been hard to forget, the way he made her feel when she caught him staring at her was confusing. She had been a married women, at the time her thoughts had been riddled with guilt. Now she wished she'd caught Daryl behind Dale's RV and jumped him. She'd often wondered how things would have played out differently if the Dixon brothers had stayed with the group. Maybe they would have saved Sophia...she was knocked out of her thoughts by Daryl.

"Carol?"

Her voice was raspy as she spoke "of course I remember you, I know you won't hurt me. I saw through you two at the quarry. I saw the truth ,your both good men, I trust you."

Unconsciousness seemed to pull at her again, but she couldn't help but wonder at the pained look that seemed to cross Daryl's face as she surrendered herself back to sleep.