Daryl sat on very uncomfortable chair at Carol's bedside. He had managed to unravel himself from Carol and now he was forced to sit and watch as his sister lay in a bed covered in bruises and cuts from that mother fucker Justin. What was worse was that Justin was still left unpunished…

The entire left side of her face was one big bruise. Her lips were open and weeping and no matter how hard Daryl tried to ease Carol's suffering he just seemed to make it worse. When Daryl had tried to pat away the blood matted on her face with a damp tea towel Carol had whimpered in pain and pulled away. One eye was completely swollen shut and the hand prints on her body were black and dark purple.

His sister had been drifting in and out of consciousness for a little over two days now. Her fever had broken during the night but the only response he got from her was when someone touched her. She would pull away and whine like an injured dog. Daryl felt something wet on his face and reached up to brush it away. Salty, hot tears came away on his hand.

Spots danced in his vision and sheen of sweat broke out over his skin. He stormed out of the cell he shared with carol and ran through the prison out into the rain.

"OPEN THE GATE!" Daryl screamed at Carl who had been dozing lightly on his feet on guard duty. He needed to kill something. He needed to get the fury out of his veins. He needed to stop himself from thinking. Carl scrambled to obey Daryl as he hauled on the heavy chain that controlled the gate. The younger Grimes boy let the gate swing open just enough for Daryl to slip through and then slammed it shut behind him.

Over the past six months the prison had grown, which meant more noise and more noise meant more walkers were attracted to their safe haven. The hunter was counting on this and sure enough the dead freaks rotated in place like clock sentinels. The rain was masking his scent but the scream of rage had every walker's attention in a 100m radius. Daryl's buck knife became an extension of his own body as he put down every walker he could see. The world shrunk down to him, his knife, the walkers and the rage. He was already exhausted from sitting vigil over Carol but the adrenaline and anger gave him new strength.

The rage was still there when he ran out of walkers to kill. Daryl let it all out in a scream and fell to his knees. Now all that was left was the exhaustion and numbness. He wasn't thinking anymore. He was barley there at all.

~0~

Daryl didn't know how long he had been laying there but more walkers seemed to have amassed for a second wave as they stumbled toward him, moaning at the prospect of a full meal. The fastest of the walkers stumbled and fell on top of him. He reached down and shoved it off.

"Oh, just leave me alone… Find someone else to munch on cause I aint on the menu." Daryl sighed. A single shot rang out and the closest walker fell, the blood splattering all over him. A concerned rick came into his vision. He crouched down and pushed the carcass off of his brother.

"Come on Daryl… I know you're mad… Carol needs you though man… She's awake and screaming for you." Rick said gently as if he were soothing an upset youngster. Daryl let his head slump to one side to look at the sheriff. He stood up and reached down a hand to help Daryl up.

With ricks help he managed to pull himself to his feet. Every muscle burned and ached and his brain was screaming as lots of different thoughts were whirling around his brain. This was often the reason he had gotten into drugs before the world went to shit. He wasn't as near as bad as Merle had been but the withdrawal had still gotten him when the shit hit the fan. If he numbed his mind now he and possibly other people would die and they needed him now.

Carol needed him.

Daryl nodded to his the ex-cop and stumbled towards the gate. Maggie was now on watch which meant he had been out there for at least two hours and it had stopped raining too. How had he not noticed the time drifting by? Mentally kicking himself, he let both him and rick into the main of the prison.

As soon as he walked into the prison he could see a huge crowd of people and flashes of Carol sobbing on the ground up against the wall.

"Give her some space! Aint you people got something else to be doing?"

~0~

Everyone stared at Carol and everything came crashing down around her as tears welled up and then poured down her cheeks. All the unfamiliar face peered down at her, some concerned, some just happy for brief respite from the humdrum of their prison life. Carol tried to make herself as small as possible and draw herself away from the others. She had to get away, it was too much, it was…

"Give her some space! Aint you people got something else to be doing?" The gruff voice yelled and everybody backed up. Carol nearly started laughed in relief. Thank God Darryl knew her so well and knew that this would be too much.

She looked to the direction of the hunter's voice and there he stood with Rick a pace or two behind him. He was covered in walker's blood and Dark circles under his eyes. Sweat made his clothes stick to his body and made his muscles seem delectable even covered in walker guts and only god knew what else.

Carol let her muscles relax from their tensed up state and loosen up enough to try and reach for her feet. Daryl was in front of her immediately though he wasn't touching her. Carol's brain instantaneously started to put her down.

See? Even Daryl thinks you're disgusting! No-one wants you! You deserve everything you get!

Carol stumbled away from him towards the exit but Daryl realised that trying to give her some space had been the wrong decision and grabbed her up in a bear hug. Carol shoved at him and fought him in everything he tried to do to help her. Eventually Carol wore out her precious reserves of energy and went slump in Daryl's arms. Tears slipped down the angular planes of her face and she buried her face into Daryl's chest to hide.

"It's alright kitty. I got you. I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me." Daryl soothed his Friend as she let Daryl's natural scent drag her eyelids down. She felt Daryl pick her up and Carry her to their cell. Placing her down on his bunk and tucking her back in, he sat back down in the chair next to his bunk. The hunter dropped a light kiss on her temple just like she had for him at the Farm.

~0~

Daryl waited Until Carol fell asleep and then went in search of Herschel. He found the older man tending to Glenn who had a split lip.
"What happened to you man?" He asked the Korean.

"I tried to help Carol but I ended up getting punched in the face." Glenn answered after Herschel had finished with his face.

"Carol did that?" Daryl asked shocked. Carol? Yeah he knew she had a strong hit because he had been on the receiving end of a few himself. He wasn't the nicest person when he was drunk.

"Yeah, I know! You taught her well man. Just show her the difference in between races." Glenn chuckled. After saying goodbye to Glenn he sat down across from Herschel.

"How is she?" The vet asked Daryl.

"Shit."
"What Justin did to Carol…? No-one should have to go through that. You're the only one she trusts in this mind frame. You need to help her pick up the pieces son." Daryl laid his head on the table in defeat. "I know you're mad and exhausted but the fact is Carol needs you and you have to be there for her. There are a few things I want you to do." Herschel stated. That's what Daryl liked about the vet, he didn't sugar-coat things and he didn't beat around the bush.

After handing Daryl a paper bag full of what the hunter assumed to be medicine, he spat out a round of instructions which Daryl committed to memory and filed away for later use.

"We need to get some fluids in her and some pain killers. A drip would be the best option but after the plague there aren't any left. We also need to look at the possibility of an STI or a pregnancy. At Carols age the chance of a pregnancy would be highly unlikely but it's better to be safe than sorry. The rest of it is anti-depressants and vitamins. Make sure she has them every day and depending on how she heals try to get her involved in her normal activities again in say, a week to try and get some normalcy back in her life." Herschel explained pulling out each object as he spoke about it.

Daryl nodded and thanked Herschel and then went back upstairs for Carol. Time to get this out of the way because he was sure Carol won't want someone poking and prodding her for fifteen minutes.