Chapter 4

Glenn had decided that Kate and Ruger should stay with Daryl while T-Dog and Rick stayed at the other end of the block, while he took the most dangerous job of retrieving the bag of guns. Daryl's crossbow couldn't be reloaded as quickly as Kate's gun, so they were there in the event that Daryl had too many walkers and too few arrows.

"You from around here?" Daryl asked. They were huddled together behind a dumpster, hiding from plain view. Ruger was sitting at their feet, ears up and alert, wary of the walkers in the street but not enough to set the dog off.

"Nope. I was here for a dog training expo that Ruger's breeder recommended I go to."

"You sound like you're from the south," Daryl said, noting her accent.

"That's 'cause I am. Tennessee, to be exact. I was at Knoxville for college."

"Ain't you fancy," he drawled.

"What about you?" She asked, ignoring the sarcasm.

"Lived in a little town outside Atlanta with my brother. We'd just been moving' from place to place, trying' not to get too comfortable anywhere when we found the others."

"I thought I might've been the only one left," Kate admitted. "Then my truck broke down. String of bad luck, I've had."

"Mm," Daryl agreed unintelligibly. "Same here."

They went silent, tensely watching the walkers shuffle by in the street beyond their little hiding place. It wasn't until Ruger suddenly turned in the other direction and darted off that they realized something was amiss.

"Ruger!" Kate hissed.

She rose from her hiding place just in time to see Ruger chasing down a boy, who had turned tail and fled as soon as he saw the behemoth dog running toward him. Ruger launched herself forward, snatching a moutful of baggy pants, and dragged the boy to the ground, shaking the cloth back and forth in her mouth and very nearly pulling the kid's pants down.

"Ruger, aus!" Kate hissed, trying to keep her voice down, although the panic she felt made that difficult. Was this boy a walker? Was her dog going to turn into one if she got blood in her mouth?

She felt a heavy hand land on her shoulder, and she turned to see Daryl gripping her shoulder in one strong hand, staring at the screaming kid on the ground. Ruger let go of his pants and came trotting back to Kate's side, but turned once she was sitting on Kate's feet and growled one last time.

The kid sat up, still shouting unintelligible words at them.

"What the hell is he saying?" Kate asked.

"Nothin' in English, I don't think. Better get him to shut up." Daryl strode forward and forced the kid down onto the ground, putting one hand over his mouth. "Shut up, dumb ass, or you'll bring the geeks down on us!"

Kate was so focused on the two struggling men that she didn't see Ruger suddenly turn to look at something behind her. She didn't realize the kid had friends until something hard and heavy slammed into the back of her head.

The slender girl went down hard, her head spinning as the sounds of a struggle momentarily drowned out the moaning of the walkers nearby. Ruger was snarling, someone was screaming. Daryl was shouting, and then suddenly Glenn's voice joined the cacophony, screaming for help. Kate tried to move, tried to force her brain to function past the pounding in her skull.

When she finally managed to sit up, and the world refocused into singular objects, it was to see quite a bit of blood staining the ground around her. Her confusion was momentarily frozen when she saw Daryl, bruised and slightly bloody, run back over to the kid before he could flee. Ruger was hot on his heels, barking and snarling just inches from the kid, but not biting. Daryl threw him up against the alley, shouting something in the kid's face. He threw a punch, and the boy staggered. Kate attempted to stand and stop him and Ruger from killing the poor kid when Rick and T-Dog appeared and dragged Daryl away.

"What happened?" Kate asked, stumbling to her feet.

Ruger instantly dashed to her side, bumping against her leg. Kate put her hand on the dog's back for support, but she felt dizzy again when she looked down and saw blood around the canine's mouth, staining her sharp teeth.

"This fucker's friends jumped us! They kidnapped Glenn!" Daryl shouted. "I'm gonna kill him!" He started forward again, but Rick put a staying hand on his chest.

"I don't understand," Kate began, but Rick cut her off.

"Neither do we, but right now we need to get off the street."

She nodded.

Daryl visibly reigned in his anger and went to her side, offering her his arm. She took it gratefully, happy to lean against him and let him lead her around. She determinedly ignored the way the muscles in his arm and side moved while he walked, and instead focused on trying to breathe past the pain in her skull.

"They hit me, didn't they?" She asked as they followed the others to a nearby building.

"With a baseball bat," Daryl growled under his breath.

She reached up to touch the back of her head, surprised when her fingers came away bloody.

"It hurt," she said, sounding awed.

"Why you sound so surprised?"

She sniffed, shrugged. "I don't know. Never been hit with a baseball bat."

"Can't believe they did that," he grumbled. "What, did they think you was dangerous, or somethin'? You ain't exactly a heavyweight."

"I have a gun," she said. "And a dog."

"That mutt 'a yours took a good chunk outta the one that hit you," he said.

"I noticed the blood."

They followed the others inside the side door of a small building, following several flights of stairs to a small, abandoned office. Rick shoved their new friend into a chair and sat down across from him, and Daryl helped Kate sit on a nearby desk.

"Those men you were with," Rick said, "we need to know where they went."

"I ain't tellin' you nothing," the kid said, glancing first at Daryl and then at Ruger with almost a resigned expression on his face.

"Jesus, man, what the hell happened back there?" T-Dog said.

"This little dick and his friends came outta nowhere and jumped us!" Daryl said, pacing restlessly. Ruger tracked his every movement with her eyes, tongue lolling from her bloodstained mouth and a happy smile on her face.

"Man, you're the one who jumped me, punto," the kid said, and Kate rolled her eyes. "You and that fucking mutt."

"She's not a mutt," Kate growled. "And she didn't even bite you. She just grabbed your pants, because she thought you were dangerous. And considering your friends just gave me a concussion with a fucking baseball bat, I'm a little disappointed she didn't actually bite you. Although, I wouldn't be too happy if my dog swallowed bitch blood."

The kid and Kate glared at one another, until Daryl said, "They took Glenn. They could've taken Merle, too."

Kate's brow went up. She hadn't thought about that.

"Merle?" The kid repeated. "What kinda hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle."

Daryl darted forward and raised one heavy, booted leg to kick the kid in the face, but Rick pushed him back. Ruger grumbled unhappily, standing.

"Back off!" Rick said.

Daryl went to Glenn's backpack, saying, "Wanna see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?" He withdrew the doo-rag, unfolded it, and dropped his brother's hand into the kid's lap. Rick was shaking his head, and the kid yelped and stood, falling back against the wall. "I fed the rest of him to the dog there!" Daryl said, taking hold of the kid's collar. "I think this time I'll start with the feet!"

"All we want is our friend," Kate said. "Take us to your people, and let us talk to them. Maybe we can work this out without anyone losing an appendage."

The kid nodded, and Daryl turned away. He and Kate met eyes, blue on blue, and smirked at one another.


Meeting with the gang was a high-stress situation. Kate's palm was sweating, but her grip on her revolver was tight. She had a feeling Ruger could sense her tension, because the dog was tense as well, refusing to go more than two feet away from her and growling at any unfamiliar sounds.

They had the kid walk ahead of them through the small hole in the wall around the gang's property.

The warehouse doors opened, and several men walked out. Once the kid and the apparent leader of the group exchanged a few words in spanish, another man stepped up and raised a gun at Ruger.

Kate was quick to respond in kind, raising her revolver and glaring the man down, holding on with both hands.

"That's the bitch that bit me in the ass, G," he said. "Should just shoot the fuckin' thing right now."

"Before you do that, you should be aware that this dog has a much more valuable life than you do," Kate said. "If you so much as graze a hair on her head, you'll be dead before you hit the ground."

"You think you could hit me, sweetheart?"

"I think I've been shooting since I was eight years old and I don't hold a gun sideways like a fucking dumbass, so yeah. I could hit you, no problem."

The dumbass in question cocked his gun and turned it on her—holding it sideways.

His boss, G—or Guillermo—raised a hand and gently pushed his hand down, nodding.

"We just want a calm discussion," Rick said.

"Your hillbilly jumps Filipe's cousin, and Filipe gets bitten by a dog in the ass, and now you want a calm discussion?"

"Heat of the moment," Rick replied. "Mistakes were made."

"On both sides," Kate added, lowering her gun and patting Ruger's head. The dog's hackles were up in response to the tension, but she was otherwise calm. "We just want our friend back. Surely he's of no use to you."

"Why you want him so bad?" Guillermo asked. "He doesn't look like family. Boyfriend, maybe?"

"He's one of ours, nonetheless," Rick said. "I'm sure you can understand."

"You got my brother in there?" Daryl suddenly asked, inching forward and peering through the wide doorway.

"Fresh out of white boys," Guillermo replied. "But I do got an asian. Interested?"

"If you're selling him for the price of one gangly mexican, then sold! Bring him out," Kate said, grinning.

"See, girl, that don't sound like an even trade to me," Guillermo said. "We need a little compensation."

"For what?" Kate asked.

"My boys were injured. They need something for their pain and suffering."

"So give them the day off. What do we have that you could possibly want?"

"That bag of guns you found in the street."

"You're mistaken," Rick said. "That's my bag of guns."

"It was in the street. Could've been anyone's guns. They got your name on them?"

"They do say 'sheriff'," Kate said. "He look like a cop to you?"

Guillermo whistled, and Kate saw movement up above. The three of them collectively raised their heads to see Glenn being held captive on the roof, his mouth taped shut and terror dancing in his eyes.

"I look like I'm joking to you?" Guillermo said.

Kate and Daryl exchanged a tense look.

"I see two options," Guillermo continued. "You come back with Miguel and my guns, everybody walks. Or you come back locked and loaded, and we see which side takes the most damage. And if you're lucky, I won't feed your boy to my dogs," he said. "And they make that one look like a chihuahua."

They turned to go back inside, and it seemed that that would be it, until Ruger suddenly cocked her head to one side—and darted into the warehouse.

"Ruger!" Kate screamed, chasing after the dog without a thought.

"Kate!" Daryl shouted, quick on her heels.

Spanish shouting suddenly echoed throughout the warehouse, but Kate paid it no mind as she followed Ruger through a set of double doors and into a hallway that was…surprisingly…sterile.

Kate slowed down as she realized she was barreling down a hallway crowded with senior citizens, some of whom glared as she passed. She glanced through open doorways on either side of the hallway, to see elderly people in every room, some with oxygen tanks, or in wheelchairs, or lying in bed reading a book.

"What the fuck?" Daryl asked, right behind her.

"Did we step into the twilight zone?" Kate asked.

"Maybe so. Where'd your dog go?"

"Down here."

They followed the dog into another room, which was larger than the small rooms in the hallway. It seemed to be some kind of recreational room, with round tables where a few people were sitting. Glenn was in this room, and he stood to greet them with a smile.

"Hi, guys! They let you in? I saw your dog come in, and I figured you wouldn't be far behind."

Kate's eyes immediately sought the dog in question, and her face twitched with the desire to smile when she saw Ruger rolling around in the floor with three fuzzy chihuahuas.

"God, I'm going to kill that dog," Kate said, "right after I hug you."

She grabbed Glenn and pulled him into a fierce hug. "We thought they were feeding you to hellhounds or something, dude."

Rick and T-Dog suddenly appeared, along with over half a dozen very irritated mexicans, who were all shouting in two different languages.

Kate stepped up and held up both hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold it!"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Guillermo asked.

"Following my dog to the monsters you have hidden away back here," Kate gestured with her chin to the dogs, now chasing each other around the tables. "Yours make mine look like a chihuahua, huh?"

Guillermo had the grace to look sheepish.

Kate shook her head. "What's going on, really?"

Guillermo sighed, then gestured for everyone to take a seat. Kate hadn't been seated for a minute before Ruger came running over and planted both front paws on the table beside her, leaning in to lick a long, wet stripe up the side of her face. Before Kate could recover, she leaned in the other direction and gave the same treatment to Daryl, who cursed and wiped at the clean spot on his face. Neither could do more before Ruger was off again, chasing one of the little dogs around the room.

Guillermo was a different person now, it seemed. He explained to Kate and the others their situation. He said the elderly patients here couldn't be moved, because some of them had trouble getting to the bathroom by themselves, much less being moved out of the only facility that could care for them. He told them about the nurses that all left when the world went to shit, and who could blame them? But someone had to take care of the people that were left here to die, and everyone was suddenly looking to Guillermo for leadership. He said it was tough, but they made do however they had to.

Kate looked to Rick, and the deputy looked back at her. For a moment, neither said anything, and then, "Rick, we can spare some of the guns. They need them more than we do."

"Are you fuckin' kidding me?" Daryl asked hotly, but Kate could tell by his expression that it was for appearances only. He didn't really ever use a gun, anyway, so what did he care?

"Come on, Rick," Kate said, when Rick didn't reply.

Finally, Rick nodded. "Kate's right. You need these more than we do. We'll split them with you."

Guillermo nodded. "We thank you for this."


When they were walking back to the van outside the city, Glenn said, "Admit it. You really came back for the hat."

Rick smiled softly. "Don't tell anyone." He leaned around Glenn to address Kate. "You did good today, Kate. I'm glad you were there. I don't know what would've happened if Ruger hadn't run in."

"What are you talking about? I was terrified! I thought for sure we were both dead meat," Kate said.

"But if that hadn't happened, and we'd been turned away, I don't know how we would've gotten Glenn back."

"True. All things considered, it could've been a lot worse," Kate admitted.

"Still say you shouldn'a run in like that, dog or not," Daryl groused, from Kate's other side. "Coulda gotten the both of us killed."

"You didn't have to run in after me," Kate said. She didn't notice that the others were pulling ahead of them, whereas she and Daryl—and Ruger—had slowed down a bit.

"So, it's okay for you to run in after a damn mutt but it's dumb for me to run in after a person?"

"Daryl! She's not a mutt!" She punched the redneck in the arm, and he laughed.

When the laughter subsided, she leaned against his arm and softly said, "I'm sorry we didn't find your brother."

Daryl shrugged. "He ain't dead. Can't nobody kill Merle but Merle."

"You think he'll go back to the camp?"

Another shrug. "Prolly. His bike is there."

"You're there, too."

His reply was cut off by an exclamation up ahead.

"What now?" Kate asked, and they jogged forward and stopped by the others. Kate frowned at the sight that lay before them—and the distinct lack of what was supposed to be there.

"Where's the van?" She asked. "You parked it right there, right, Glenn?"

"Yeah!" Glenn said. "Exactly there. Who would've taken it?"

"Merle," Rick said.

"He's gonna be takin' some vengeance back to camp," Daryl said, a look of shock and dread on his face that sent snakes roiling in Kate's gut.

"Surely he wouldn't hurt anyone," Kate said, even as the others took off at a jog, not replying. "Right? Right?" She chased after them, Ruger sprinting ahead of her.


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