Hello everyone! So, this weekend is Comic Con here in Reno. Guess who is there? Norman Reedus. Guess who doesn't have enough money to attend? Me. So, instead of meeting the real thing, I'm stuck at home writing about him. How sad, right?

Other than my little pitiful rant, I wanted to say thank you to those of you who are following this story and to those of you who have reviewed it. It really does mean so much to me that you're enjoying reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

Thank you again!

There was smoke. So much in fact, that I couldn't see as my hands desperately grabbed for Maggie and Glenn as we rushed into the damp room. It smelled like burning hair, rotting flesh, and blood. I couldn't differentiate the scent between tortured humans or walkers.

"Go, go, go!" Daryl hissed sharply into my ear as I held onto Maggie's tiny arm. My other hand securely clasped in Daryl's as he dragged us from the building.

Shouts rang out from behind us, but they didn't belong to any of our people. The men who were only seconds away from shooting the two barked and hollered bewildered orders to each other to find us and kill us by any means necessary. It only gave me more fuel to run as fast as I could away from them.

Painful tears clouded my eyes as we ran through the empty streets of Woodbury. As soon as we escaped the smoke, I wiped my eyes furiously to rid myself of them. We found ourselves in a neat house, cluttered with family pictures and other trinkets that had no purpose. Glenn leaned against a counter, his face bloodied and bruised. Maggie tore herself from my grasp and kneeled beside him, inspecting him as delicately as she could.

"Ain't no way out back here," Daryl announced, frantically searching for a door. I stood at the window, peeking through the curtains. Michonne ran by. Instead of informing anyone, I kept my mouth sealed. So what if she decided to book it? She helped us with our mission.

"How did you find us?" Maggie demanded to know. "Where's that woman?!"

I nibbled on my lower lip as Rick glanced around at our group. "She was right behind us."

Turning from the window, I spied Daryl glaring at me intently. I avoided his gaze by approaching my sister, who seemed too riled up to lower her gun. She seemed to be okay physically. Only a few cuts on her arms and a black eye forming.

"Maybe she was a spy," Oscar suggested. He nudged Axel with his shoulder. "Want us to go look for her?"

"No," Rick answered, pointing toward Glenn. "We need to get him out of here. She's on her own."

My mouth dropped at his words. Michonne had done so much for us, and now we were just going to leave her? Absolutely not. I wouldn't accept that.

"I'm going to go find her," I said, heading toward the door. Daryl hurried to stand in front of me, blocking me completely. "Move, Dixon."

"If you leave," Rick started, approaching me from behind, "we won't come and try to find you. You'll be on your own too."

"Harper, stop it," Adeline scolded, her gun finally dropping to her side. "Just forget about her and let's go."

My hands curled into tight fists after I placed my knife back on my hip. My eyes never left Daryl's, but not out of my stubborn ways. Something about his expression spiked my curiosity. He didn't seem as angry as he usually did when he looked at me. Instead, I felt as if he was giving away a pleading stare.

"Okay," I whispered, taking a step away from him. "But I think just leaving her out here is really screwed up."

As the room flew into a hurricane of preparations, Daryl moved from the door slowly, almost as if he was expecting me to suddenly change my mind and run out. I shook my head slowly, trying to give away how disappointed I was. He glanced me up and down before returning to Rick's side.

"Daryl," Glenn managed to choke out. "It was Merle."

The archer froze in his stance and turn toward the kid. "What?"

"It was. He did this."

"You saw him?" Rick snapped.

"Face-to-face," Glenn answered as Maggie wrapped a blanket around him. "He threw a walker at me. He was going to execute us."

I watched Daryl stare at him in disbelief. His eyes fell to the floor, back to Glenn, then back down over and over again. His fingers trembled on his gun. Finally, he approached him, watching him as if Glenn were a wild animal rearing to attack.

"My brother's this Governor?" he asked. Brother? Daryl had a brother?

"No," Maggie answered. "It's somebody else. Your brother is his lieutenant or something."

"Does he know I'm still with you?"

"He does now. I'm sorry, Rick," Glenn muttered. "We told him where the prison is. We couldn't hold out."

Rick kneeled in front of him, giving a wavering smile. "No need to apologize."

Daryl tore himself away from the group, lost in his own daze. Watching the rest of us plan to escape, I counted down in my head from three before approaching him.

"You okay?" I whispered as he turned from me. Instead of giving me a definite answer, he only stared at me for a few moments before taking his place back at Rick's side.

"If Merle's around, I need to see 'im," he said as Rick and Maggie helped Glenn to his feet. Adeline motioned me over, so I hurried to join the group.

"Not now," Rick replied. "We're in hostile territory."

"He's my brother," Daryl muttered desperately. "He ain't gonna try—"

Shaking his head, Rick snapped, "Look at what he did. We need to get out of here now."

As I watched the two, my heart ached for Daryl. If I was placed in his situation, I would be handling it a lot worse than he was. I turned toward Adeline, knowing that she was thinking the same thing. I couldn't imagine being torn away from her like that.

"Maybe I can talk to 'im, man," Daryl suggested. "We could work somethin' out."

Rick pulled him to the side, whispering too low for the rest of us to hear. I could tell from Daryl's expression, though, that he wasn't getting his way. He looked torn, hurt, and worried. I'd never seen him this way before and I wasn't sure if I liked it. It meant he wasn't some gruff asshole who bullied everyone around like I originally thought, but at the same time, it meant he was in horrible amounts of pain.

They broke away and Rick ran over the plan once more. My body quivered in fear, but I tried to hide it as best I could. This whole mission gave away the fact that I was the weak link in our chain. I didn't need any more signs to make obvious that I wasn't cut out for killing people.

I pressed myself close to Glenn, his arm draped around my shoulder. Maggie nodded toward me at his other side. We were in charge of getting him to safety while the others fought through whatever was going to meet us on the streets.

"Ready?" Daryl whispered, crouching a few feet from the door. Rick's hand wrapped around the knob tightly. With a short whistle, the door flung open and Daryl chucked another gas grenade out.

"Let's go!"

Gunshots, screaming, and Glenn's panicked breathing were the only sounds I heard through the smoke. We trudged through quickly. I tried my hardest to keep my eyes glued on my sister, who didn't hesitate to raise her gun and shoot anything that moved. I started to wonder when she had turned into a killer.

Eventually, we found ourselves pressed into a small corridor that seemed to lead to a store. Maggie and I gently placed Glenn against the wall as the others reloaded their weapons.

"How many are there?" I gasped, trying to fill my lungs with clean air.

"I didn't see!" Oscar answered.

"Don't matter," Daryl added, pushing bullets into the chamber of his gun. "We need to keep moving. There's gonna be more of 'em."

Glenn groaned in pain, clutching his chest with his hand. Maggie adjusted the blanket around him, covering the wounds on his body as best she could. I kneeled next to him, wiping away the blood that dripped from the corners of his mouth with my shirt. Adeline shot off rounds as if they were nothing. Was she even hitting anyone or was she only being controlled by adrenaline and rage?

"You guys go on ahead," Daryl ordered, standing to his feet. "I'll cover fire."

"No!" I snapped, grabbing on his hand to pull him back down to my eyelevel. "We need to stay together. What if something happens to you and we can't help?"

"This really ain't the time to be worryin' 'bout me, Harper," Daryl grumbled, yanking his hand from me. "Just get 'im to the car. That's the only thing you need to worry 'bout, got it?" I'm sure he could tell from my stern glower that I wasn't buying his tough act. Hanging his head, he gave a defeated sigh before looking back at me. "I'll be right behind you."

I finally gave a small nod. Our group stood and Maggie and I reformed our grip on Glenn once more. After throwing another gas grenade, Daryl yelled at us to hurry and go, so we did. Stumbling along the sidewalk, I turned my head and squinted through the clouded air. It was hazy, but I could make out his figure running after us, shooting behind him the entire way.

The wall finally came into view, blocked by an old school bus. Oscar and Axel both jumped onto the hood, pulling on Glenn's arms as Maggie and I pushed him up from his bottom. A gunshot sounded just above our heads. I let out a pitiful scream as Oscar's body tumbled off the metal and onto the ground next to my feet.

"Oscar!" I screamed, kneeling next to him. Blood seeped onto his shirt from his chest. I repeated his name, waiting for any sign of consciousness. Instead, soulless eyes stared back at me.

Adeline yanked me to my feet as Maggie put a bullet in Oscar's brain. "We have to go now!" my sister shrieked in my ear. I struggled against her, reaching for the man on the ground. She dragged me to the hood of the bus where Rick and Maggie hoisted me up.

"Daryl!" Rick bellowed once I was safely on the top of the vehicle.

Through the gunfire, we heard a faint, "Just go!"

Horror spread through me like a wildfire. I attempted to leap off the bus and run to him, but arms held me back. I thrashed against them as they hauled me over the wall.

I didn't stop screaming Daryl's name until my voice gave out.