Okay, you guys are awesome! I wasn't going to post this until tomorrow but all your reviews made me post it now. So, this chapter isn't for the faint of heart - be warned there is some graphic violence here so, if that's not your cup of tea, you probably shouldn't read it. Those of you who do read it, please review as i've never written anything like this before and i am wondering if i did a good job or not :)

BellaBloodrayne, CreepyDaisy, felicia 2235, MAR76, thanks for the reviews, i really hope you'll like this chapter :)

writergrrrl, thanks for pointing it out, i corrected it now :) hope you'll like the chapter! :)

cheryl84x thanks for being the stories 80th follower :D

wildcat717 thanks for being the 40th person to favorite the story :D

Disclaimer:

I own only May and Kiba

Chapter 21: No Pain, No Gain

The cool evening air hit his body hard as Daryl sped down the road on his bike. He had only one thought in his mind – find May. He kicked himself for not leaving when Lori asked him to, he hated the way he and May left things the last time they spoke… No, the way HE left things. He let Sophia die and he wasn't about to let the same happen to May. She was the one who shot Sophia; she had the courage and the strength to do it and he just let her go off looking for Hershel after that. I am an idiot.

He had just passed a crashed car when he saw headlights coming his way and his heart skipped a beat; he hoped they were all coming back. Soon, though, he realized it was Shane and Lori. He didn't slow down for them – he left just moments after Shane, there was no way they knew anything he didn't. He just kept driving and hoped he'd reach the town and find May was fine and that they just got stuck or something.

Soon, he reached the outskirts of town and saw what the problem was; the town was overrun with walkers. He took his crossbow and started offing them one by one. He would kill them as he went forward and took back his bolts when he'd reach the dead ones to kill the ones still walking. Suddenly, he heard a cry of pain break through the air. He instantly went in the direction of the voice and saw Rick, Glenn and Hershel carrying a man… no, a boy he'd never seen before. But where's May? They were surrounded by walkers and Glenn was fending them off. "Rick, it's Daryl!" he heard Glenn say. Daryl attacked them from behind, killing the dead with lightning speed and soon, he reached the three men.

"Where is she?!" he asked abrasively as soon as he reached them. They seemed pale, frightened and tired, but otherwise unharmed. "His friends, they… they took her, Daryl." Rick replied, leaning against the hood of the car as if he was about to get sick. "What?!" Daryl barked out, the feeling of panic rising in the pit of his stomach. Then, Rick told him about what had happened since they got there.

"We went out the back, thought we could reach the car and get the hell out of here but… I think they shot her in the shoulder and one of the men hit her in the head with that pipe there." Glenn said in a crackling voice dripping with desperation. "They just kept shooting and I couldn't come out of cover and help her. They pulled her in to a car and drove off." his knees gave in and he slumped to the ground, burying his face in his palms.

"You let them take her?! Where'd they go?" Daryl was beside himself with rage. The anonymous guy kept moaning in pain and was seriously getting on his nerves. "Who tha fuck is this?!" he asked, pointing at him. "That's Randal. He was with the group that took her."

With this, Daryl instantly turned to the boy and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Where did they take her?!" he growled at him. The boy said nothing and just kept moaning before he passed out. Daryl let out an animalistic growl and turned to Rick.

"How could ya let this 'appen!? HOW?!" He seemed ready to punch him.

"I didn't want to! We'll get her back…" Rick looked almost as devastated as Daryl felt.

"Yer damn right we'll git 'er back!" He took a deep breath. Desperation was slowly taking him over. "Wake that weasel up." he said, turning to Hershel. "I don't know how. I don't have anything here…" the old man replied desperately, binding the boy's leg to stop the bleeding. He must have pressed harder than he planned because Randal woke up and he screamed again. This time Rick grabbed him and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Now you better listen to me, boy, if you know what's good for you! Can you understand that?" he asked in a calm but poisonous voice. Randal just nodded weakly. "Good. Where did they take her?" The boy just kept sobbing in pain and said nothing. Daryl walked over and pressed his finger against Randal's wound. He screamed out in pain. "WHERE?! IS?! SHE?!"

"St-stop…" Randal cried out, but Daryl just pressed harder. "Okay, okay… just pleas-please stop!" he cried out again and Daryl pulled his hand back. "Last chance… WHERE IS SHE?!"

"We used to take prisoners to a house by the interstate… It's a one and a half hour drive… A yellow house, has the number 43 on it… Please don't kill me!" He was at the verge of tears. Daryl didn't need to know anything else. He turned around and headed back for his bike.

"Daryl, you can't go alone!" Rick said, rushing after him. "O yeah? Try and stop me." the hunter replied, pulling the rest of his bolts out of dead walkers. "I'm coming with you." Rick said and Glenn bolted to his feet in a show of support. "No one's stoppin' ya."

"But wait, we should make a plan first." This pushed Daryl over the edge. He turned around, his face as red as it could get and got in to Rick's face. "Don't you tell me 'bout makin' plans! Y'all now the longer we wait the less chance we have of findin' her alive! So screw y'all, I'm goin'!"

"Rick… we should go with Daryl now." Glenn said, feeling guilty for not being able to help May when they took her. "Daryl, wait up, we're coming with you!" Rick shouted and the hunter stopped. "Y' got five minutes to get ready; then I leave."

*WDWDWDWD*

The first thing may felt when she came to was a dull pain in her head. She tried moving but a shot of pain in her shoulder told her she shouldn't. She slowly opened her eyes and saw she was in a dimly lit room; it seemed like a basement. She was lying on the cold floor, her hands tied behind her back and her legs tied together. The pain in her shoulder started rising slowly; her moving made the wound open and start bleeding. The amount of blood on her clothes told her she already lost a lot of blood. She struggled to sit up, trying to figure out what had happened and how she ended up here. They must have taken me during the shooting. Shit, are the others dead?! I gotta get out of here…

The door to the basement opened forcefully and a man walked in. He was tall, much taller than herself and very muscular. His nose looked like it was broken multiple times and he had a steely look that could kill. "Well, well, look who's up." he said with a nasty smile. He walked over to her and grabbed her by her hair, pulling her to a chair in the middle of the room. She didn't give him the satisfaction of showing she was in pain; she gritted her teeth but other than that made no sound. "Now… Your little friends killed Dave and Tony. Now are you gonna tell me where I can find your little friends or are we gonna have a problem? Where's you base?"

"You know… Dave and Tony asked the same question. How did that turn out, again?" she asked with a fake smile plastered across her face. A second later, his fist connected with her face and her head jerked back. She felt the metallic, salty taste of blood in her mouth. She licked her lips and put the smile back on. "I'm shot and you hit me in the head with a metal bar. Do you really think pain will make me talk?"

She knew she was much cockier than she should be, but she always had an issue with authority. She didn't want to show weakness; if they wanted to kill her, they would kill her no matter how she acted and she didn't want to die pleading for her life. "We'll see." the man replied with a sadistic grin. He hit her in the face again. And again. And again. Then he kicked her in the gut, pushing all the air out of her body.

As she gasped for air, struggling to stay conscious, her thoughts found their way to Daryl. Is he coming for me? Does he even know I'm here? She was never the damsel-in-distress type but, against all reason, she found herself hoping he'd come and save her. I never told him I love him. This thought almost made her forget that she was being beaten so brutally. She realized she loves Daryl. Another punch hit her across the mouth and she felt her lip start bleeding. If I die, who will take care of Kiba? She wondered if Rick, Glenn and Hershel were alright; their deaths would be very hard on many people in their group. They would be very hard on her; that is, if she lived long enough to find out what their fates were.

The burly man grabbed her by the hair and jerked her head back, causing her a lot of pain in many places and making it hard for her to inhale. Still, she said nothing and just let out a wheezy chuckle before she spat blood on his face. "You bitch!" he pushed her back and both her and the chair hit the ground hard. He walked over to her and pulled out a knife.

"See this? Let's see what we can do with this." he said, the sadistic smile never leaving his face. She coughed a bit, spitting out some blood. "Bring it on, dumbfuck."

*WDWDWDWD*

Rick and Hershel fixed Randal's leg up as well as they could, the tied him up and shoved him in the back seat. Glenn sat beside him, making sure he didn't try anything funny when he woke up. Daryl mounted his bike and they took off.

Daryl drove as fast as the bike would allow it. He tried willing it to go faster but knew that's not how things worked. The thought of May being held captive made his stomach do a back-flip. The car was falling behind; they just couldn't keep up with his speed. Still, he didn't slow down as he felt, in his gut, that she was in pain. He knew for sure she was alive, she had to be, but he also knew she was in pain and that it was his duty to get her back. A loud sound came from behind him and he checked his rear view mirror to see that the car had a flat tire. They all pulled over.

"What tha fuck happened?" he asked, walking up to them. Rick just checked the tire. "A nail. We have a spare here. C'mon, we should hurry."

"We don't have time for this shit!" Daryl said angrily. "I'm going, y'all try and catch up."

"We don't know how many of them are there. You're no good to her if you're dead." Glenn said, pulling out the spare tire. "I'm no good to 'er if she's dead either!" Daryl growled back but came over to speed up the tire change. Fuck, fuck, FUCK!

*WDWDWDWD*

Half an hour later, May had numerous shallow but very painful cuts down her legs and arms. "Had enough yet?" her torturer asked, scoffing. She struggled to keep her smile on, taking in small, shallow breaths. "Not so cocky anymore, are we? Well, it's time for me to have some real fun." She heard the sound of a belt unbuckling and a zipper being unzipped and she felt cold sweat wash over her wounded, bloody body. No… please no…

"Hey, Stan! Get over here, I gotta show you something!" a voice called out from somewhere outside her torture chamber. "Shit…" the man said, zipping up his pants again. He went over to the corner and pulled over a relatively large metal trunk. He opened it and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her off the chair. "I'll be back sweet-cheeks, don't you worry about that." And with that, he shoved her inside the trunk. She struggled the best she could but she was weakened by all the blood loss and pain. Once he packed her in neatly in a fetal position he slammed the lid shut and she heard him secure the lock, making sure she couldn't get out.

The moment she was in, panic took over. She started hyperventilating; there were little things that frightened her, but tight spaces were one of them. She started jerking and screaming, but the only answer she got was silence. She took deep breaths trying to calm herself down when a thought came to her – she had a knife hidden in her right boot. The first thing she had to do was free her hands, which was easier said than done. Panic was still building up in her and she had to use all of her self-control not to start screaming and begging they let her out.

"C'mon May… Suck it up…" she said aloud in a shaky voice. She took another deep breath and started struggling against her restraints.

*WDWDWDWD*

"Are we done?" Daryl asked nervously, walking back to his bike. "Yeah. Let's go." Rick replied getting in the car. It was dawning and they had 20 minutes of driving left before they reached the house. There was a choking feeling in Daryl's throat. As soon as he was on the bike, they were under way.

Half an hour later, they had found the house – the two story, yellow house with the number 43 painted on the door. They parked a little further down the interstate and snuck back to the house. "Ok, we're doing this like this. Glenn and I will go in through the front door, create enough of a distraction for you Daryl to go in through the back door and find her. Hershel, you'll stay in the car with Randal and make sure he doesn't try anything." They all nodded in agreement.

While Rick and Glenn snuck up to the front door, Daryl went around back. He found the back door and waited to hear Rick and Glenn break in. A moment later, a bang told him they were in and he snuck in as well. As soon as he was in, he saw a short, fat guy sharpening a knife sitting at the house stairwell. "Who the…" the man started but the bolt in his eye made him quiet instantly. Daryl pulled the bolt out, looking around for any more potential threats as Glenn and Rick walked up to him from the other room.

"I got one. You find 'er?"

"No… We didn't see anyone." Glenn replied, holding his gun tightly. "Let's search through the house." Rick said and they spread out. Glenn went out back to check the shed; Rick took the ground floor while Daryl went upstairs. He forcefully opened the first door he saw, but the room was empty. It must have been someone's bedroom at some point. He checked the walk-in closet, hoping to maybe find her there, but to no avail. He did pretty much the same thing with every following door he came across but got the same result.

He went back downstairs and something caught his eye – he saw May's bow, quiver and knives thrown in a corner by a door. He tried opening the door but it was locked. He kicked and shoved it until he broke it open and found they led to the basement. He descended down the stairs only to find there was nobody in the room. He saw a lot of blood on the floor, a single chair and a metal crate, but no May. He realized they must have moved her or… No, she's not dead. Still, frustration took over and he kicked at the crate angrily. He wasn't expecting what happened next – a small yelp came from inside the crate.

*WDWDWDWD*

May was certain she's been in the crate for hours. She didn't manage to free her hands, her bullet wound hurt to the point it was driving to the verge of insanity. She just lay there limply, waiting for her torturer to come back. She knew what was going to happen; he was going to pull her out and then use her as a blow up doll until he and all his friends were satisfied. Then he was probably going to beat, cut or lock her up again. Thoughts like these plagued her mind making her body start shivering again.

Suddenly, she heard muffled banging sounds coming from somewhere outside the crate. One after the other the bangs just kept coming on and on until a final bang and a creek of the door hinges told her someone was in the room. Was it just a scare tactic or did someone actually come for her? She heard footsteps descending down the stairs and dreaded the moment the lid would open. The footsteps stopped and it was quiet for a moment. Then, suddenly, there was an angry groan before someone kicked the crate, causing it to resonate painfully. A small, involuntary yelp escaped her lips.

Then, the banging begun again, only this time, it was against the crate. She started shaking uncontrollably, afraid to hope it was a rescue party. After a while, someone opened the lid and the light blinded her.

That's it for today folks! I'm working on the next chapter as we speak so bare with me. I'm off to work now and you guys enjoy and review :D Peace!