Chapter Eleven

Daryl thought he heard voices coming towards the shower room so he jumped right out of the water and hurriedly started shoving his legs through the jeans someone had found for him. By the time he had them buttoned and he'd grabbed the shirt, Carol was shoved into the room and Merle soon followed, grinning like Daryl hadn't seen him grin in over a year. Carol's face was flushed and she wouldn't meet his eyes.

"What's goin' on? I thought you were leaving," he asked, holding the shirt firmly in his fist.

She nodded. "I was. I am. I was just-"

"She saw you naked," Merle said, the grin so wide it looked like it was going to split his face in half.

Daryl felt his jaw clench as his face turned red. He knew Merle was telling the truth because when she looked up she quickly looked away and her denial came much too late.

"It wasn't like I came up here to peep at you! I didn't know-"

"She didn't know but she sure as hell didn't stop lookin' once she caught you with your dong out," Merle cut her off again.

Daryl looked down and then back up, feeling the tips of his ears burning.

"Shut up, Merle! You aren't helping," she snapped, her eyes flashing at his brother.

Merle laughed, the sound echoing strangely off the steal walls. "You haven't even dried off but I bet she's a lot wetter than you."

Daryl closed his eyes and counted to ten, trying not to lose his shit on either of them. At Carol for being a pervert and at Merle for... well, for being a pervert. "Merle, go away," he muttered, slipping the shirt over his head. "And just for the record, the water was cold," he added, just in case she wasn't very impressed with what she got an eye full of.

Merle shook his head on his way out. "Didn't matter. Even if there was some cold water shrinkage, her mouth was waterin' for it. Imagine when she gets an eye full when it's at it's peak." He disappeared through the doorway.

Daryl shook his head, not knowing what the hell to say now. What the hell was she doing coming up here any damn way? When he finally looked up at her he was shocked to see that her eyes were lingering below the belt he was about to buckle. "Carol!"

She jumped and then looked up at him, her eyes wide.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!"

She shook her head, licked her lips nervously and then turned around, hurrying out of the room like her ass was on fire. He stared after her, wishing that he'd just forgotten all about the shower and gone to damn sleep.

When he got back to the space she'd claimed for herself, Merle had split her bedroll so now there was somewhere for Daryl to sleep too. His brother was lying on his back with his arms folded behind his head. Daryl ignored the smile his brother flashed him and stretched out on his own bed.

"You sure that's the same woman?" Merle asked once Daryl's eyes were closed.

He opened his eyes but Merle had killed the lantern. The room was dark. "She's the one that was married to the woman beater. I done told you that."

Merle chuckled. "She's gonna eat you alive little brother."

"Shut up, Merle." His mind drifted back to the way her body felt when they'd been hiding from the men but then he tried to force it away. Things were too messed up to be thinking about that. Way too fucked up. She didn't trust him not to hurt her again. He needed to take the time to get to know the woman that she was now. They needed to be in a better place before anything happened. If anything was going to happen. If Merle could have read his thoughts in that moment he would have kicked him right in the head.

~H~

Carol hoped that finding the camp was going to be as easy as Merle had let on. He had given them directions and landmarks but she wasn't like Daryl in the woods. She was better than some of the girls, just because she had spent that one long winter with Daryl on the road with Rick's group, but that didn't make her an expert. The rain wasn't making it any easier either. She was starting to think that it would have been smarter to bring one of the Dixons with them.

But Daryl was exhausted and injured and Merle seemed run ragged himself. She needed to stop pretending that she could do it all because, at the moment, she wasn't exactly sure if she was heading in the right direction.

"What do we do if their camp is abandoned?" Cassidy asked.

Carol shook her head. "Surely they wouldn't move out during a storm like this. If they have our people, they'll bring them here for sure. It wouldn't make any sense not to."

Cassidy nodded. "To bad you didn't bring your pet with you. He could have led us right to them."

Carol bristled at the barb. "He would have been a lot more helpful than you. And likely wouldn't be such a bitch," she said, keeping her voice pleasant.

Cassidy glared at her but Carol pretended not to notice. It was still steadily raining and it was dark and she was starting to think that she wasn't leading them in the right direction anymore. The last thing she needed was Cassidy's running commentary about Daryl.

She was on the verge of making a call for them to stop and try to figure out exactly where they were but before she could even say anything at all, she felt a blinding pain in the back of her head. As her body pitched forward, she heard a piercing scream and then a short burst of gunfire. Blackness encroached on her, paralyzing her as she finally lost consciousness.

~H~

Daryl sat up, blinking into the inky blackness of the room, his heart hammering. He was sweating and his breath was coming in quick pants. He didn't remember dreaming. He had no idea why he was even awake. He could tell he hadn't slept for very long but he knew there was no point at all in trying to get any rest.

He swiped a hand over his face, realized he was shaking, and then swallowed. His mouth was dry.

"If you're over there jerkin' off that damn loud I'm kickin' you right in the nuts," Merle growled sleepily from the other side of the room.

"Shut up," he croaked, that nervousness multiplying instead of easing. Reaching for the lantern he moved so he was on his knees. An overwhelming sense of trepidation washed over him and he felt like if he didn't get out of the room he was going to go crazy. He gave up fumbling with the lantern and stood up, his hand sliding along the wall towards the door he knew was there.

He stepped out of the room and tried to shut the door behind him but Merle pulled it open, stepping out next to him, looking at him with bleary blood shot eyes. Things didn't tend to keep Merle up at night like it did Daryl so the man wasn't as used to going without sleep.

"What the hell is goin' on?" Merle asked, running his hand over his head.

Daryl shook his head, the meager light enough to insure him that they were alone. "I don't know. Somethin' ain't right." He didn't want to have this conversation with his brother. Merle would likely call him names and shuffle on back to bed but it wasn't like he had a ready lie to tell the man.

"No shit somethin' ain't right. We're trapped in a warehouse with a bunch of armed feminist. My worst fuckin' nightmare. Tomorrow night we'll prolly run into the Black Panther Militia that's playin' body guards to a fuckin' Beaner filled mariachi orchestra."

"Mariachi orchestra?" Daryl shook his head, dismissing Merle's rant. "Never mind. I think we should go after Carol and that group that left here. It was goddamn stupid to let them go alone anyway." He didn't understand this feeling and he wasn't about to try to explain it but something was wrong. He could feel it.

"Are you stupid?" Merle rolled his eyes. "Don't answer that."

Daryl ignored his brother and stepped back into the room, shoving his feet into his boots, that frantic anxious feeling only growing more intense by the minute. He needed to go. He needed to get to that camp because he felt like if he didn't, his head was going to explode. He felt helpless just standing around here.

"You seriously gonna leave?"

Daryl nodded. "I need to talk to that girl. Emma, her name's Emma. Maybe she can round up a few that'll be willing to go with me. More guns the better," he said absently and he took off towards the stairs. He couldn't shake the feeling of urgency. He had to get out there.

Merle grabbed his arm, jerking him back before he could take the first step. "Have you lost your goddamn mind? Those women ain't gonna help you do shit. We'll be lucky if they don't gun us down for sport just for leaving that goddamn room!"

He jerked his arm free. "You can go with me or you can stay here. Either way, I'm goin' after them. I think somethin' happened. And if somethin' didn't, then fine, no harm no foul."

Merle held his gaze and then shook his head slowly. "What is it about that fuckin' woman? Was she yours? Is that why you was so goddamn miserable when you left?"

Daryl shook his head. "It was more complicated than that. She wasn't mine," he snapped, stepping past him and starting up the stairs. He didn't get halfway to the top before the very girl that he was looking for started down. She had a rifle in her hands but she wasn't aiming it at him, which he took as a good sign. Another woman came down behind Emma, this one looking at him with a hard glint in her eyes. Daryl ignored that one.

Emma gave him a half smile and then looked past him as Merle started up. "Heard you coming up. You two need something?"

Daryl nodded. "We're leavin'. Or I'm leavin', anyway."

Emma's eyes went wide but before she could say anything the other woman stepped around her. "Sorry, but that isn't happening. Carol never told us that we could let you go."

Daryl stared hard. "Did she tell you we were prisoners then?"

The woman looked uncertain but then she finally shook her head. "Cassidy told us to keep an eye on you two and we can't do that if you aren't here, so I'm assuming that this is where you're suppose to stay."

"Well, assume whatever the fuck you want. I think they're in trouble out there and if you want me to stay here then you'll have to shoot me in the goddamn back. I was comin' to ask if you all could spare a few people, if not then at least a few guns."

The woman laughed, shaking her head but Emma glanced over her shoulder. "That's enough, Janet," she snapped. "If he thinks something's wrong and he's willing to risk his neck then the least we can do is send him out with a weapon."

"You believe this man?" The woman, Janet, hissed. "Are you forgetting what happened to you and some of the others?"

Emma nodded. "And the reason that me and the others are here to tell you the stories in the first place was because this man risked his ass to get us out of there. If he needs a gun, he gets a gun."

"Cassidy is gonna have your ass for this," Janet said, struggling to keep her voice level.

Emma shrugged. "I don't answer to Cassidy. Carol trusts him and so do I. He saved my life." With that she turned her back on the other woman and headed down the steps. Daryl turned, following behind her. She didn't say anything as she led them through a couple of doors and finally into a room that held a few rifles.

"This is a stupid goddamn idea," Merle grumbled as the girl handed him a gun.

"And I done told you that your ass can stay here if you want. I ain't lettin' nothin' happen to her and I know something ain't right out there."

Merle rolled his eyes and shouldered the rifle. "Great. You're turnin' into a real Madam Zelda with some sort of new found psychic powers, huh?"

"Be careful out there," Emma said as she watched them head out of the building.

Daryl nodded to the girl and then headed out in the direction of the camp. It was raining too hard for Merle to say much else. If this proved to be all in his head then he'd never hear the end of it once they all got back.

But he didn't think it was all for nothing. He truly believed, with everything in him, that she was in trouble. Really bad trouble. He picked up his pace, ignoring Merle's rain muted grumbles as they walked the deserted streets towards their old camp.