This was a tough chapter to write.

It had been six hours since they left. Gus had said to wait eight, but Daryl Dixon didn't have patience. He was sitting out on the back deck in the snow, praying he would hear or see some sign of them returning up the mountain. He was smoking a cigarette to calm his nerves. Anna hadn't discovered his secret stash he had hidden from her after his last supply run.

"Fuck it" He said out loud. He had a feeling deep in his gut that something was wrong. He pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket and looked at the map that Gus had marked the intended route on. It was fifteen miles from the house to Traphill. He knew it would take about an hour to get there with the conditions of the road as they were, but they had been gone entirely too long. Daryl couldn't wait any longer.

He hated that he was going to have to take Hunter with him, but he had no other choice. He fed her, changed her, and then bundled her up tightly and warmly. He prepared a bag of extras to take with him and then strapped her in her carrier. He threw the baby sling in his personal pack just in case he had to be on foot for any period of time. Against his better judgement, he removed the splint that his wrist had been in the past few weeks. He had to assume that it was in at least decent enough condition that if he used it he wouldn't set himself back to square one.

The truck wasn't a four-wheel drive vehicle like Gus's SUV. He briefly thought about taking the Gator, but it would take three times as long and it would be too much exposure for Hunter in the snow and ice. At least the truck was a front wheel drive, which would help keeping traction with the weight on the front of the vehicle.

It was early afternoon when he headed out. Daryl took his time maneuvering down the mountain and the back roads. In reality he wanted to drive like hell, but getting stuck in a ditch would be counter productive to his current mission. Daryl was watching the road closely and noticed a figure moving in the road, and based on the way it was moving he determined it to be a walker.

Seeing a walker in this type of weather was a bit concerning. Gus had assumed that the cold and the snow would have slowed them down or even caused them to go somewhat dormant. But this walker was moving rather quickly. After about a minute another walker came out of the woods, followed by another, then another. Before he knew it there was about ten walkers now ambling down the road.

"Aww Fuck!" He hit his hands on the steering wheel and his actions startled Hunter and she began to cry. He couldn't just stop here and let them attack the truck while he tended to the baby. He now felt more desperate than ever. He still couldn't properly handle his crossbow, and he was afraid of firing one of his guns in fear of attracting even more walkers. Seeing this amount of walking dead really had his mind panicking about Anna and Gus. What if they had run into a horde? Anna's skills were minimal at best and Gus wouldn't be able to ward off a group by himself. Daryl felt like he would be sick.

Daryl decided his best defense was to just wait. He gathered the baby up in his arms and slipped down into the floorboards. He prayed that the creatures didn't sense that there were living, breathing humans in the truck. He could hear their telltale growls outside the truck but so far none had made any attempt to gain access. He held his breath and hoped that Hunter wouldn't cry. She seemed to like being held closely to his body, and it must have made her feel safe.

After about twenty minutes Daryl stopped hearing any signs of the Walkers. He slowly raised his head up and looked around the area. Fortunately it looked like the horde had moved on past the vehicle. It was a close call and Daryl needed to find Anna and Gus fast. If only he had a bigger truck. Then he would have rolled right over the top of the things, but the truck that him and Anna had driven up in from Georgia was just a small pick-up truck and it would have been less than ideal to take on a group that size.

He continued down the road another mile or so and spotted another walker. Damnit! These things were everywhere. There was something very strange about the way that this one was moving. It almost looked alive. Daryl almost wrecked the vehicle when he realized that this one WAS alive. And then he realized that it was Anna. She was stumbling and covered in blood and his heart hit stomach. This was not a good sign; in fact this was horrific.

He stopped the truck in the middle of the road and ran over to her, scooping her up into his arms and pulling her inside the truck.

"Baby, baby" He hollered, "What the fuck happened, where is Gus?" His voice was shaky and his eyes were panicked.

"Daryl, God, I am so glad to see you. I'm not bit. We were in an accident…" Her voice was weak and he could tell she had suffered some injuries. She was shivering uncontrollably and her lips were turning slightly blue. He turned the heat full blast and began rubbing her arms trying to get her to warm up.

"Baby, where did y'all wreck?" He asked. He didn't want to overwhelm her with questions, but he needed to find Gus and find him quick.

"Up the road at the bridge. Daryl, there was a herd of walkers…" Tears sprang from her eyes. Her fear for her father's well being was evident.

"Where's Gus? Why ain't he with you?" Daryl responded. He knew he sounded terse, but he needed to get answers quick.

"He couldn't get out of the car he was trapped, then there were walkers everywhere. I had to take some of them out and then I ran, I just ran… I needed help…Daryl, he's still there."

Daryl took a deep breath and ran his hands over his face. He needed to get to Gus but Anna was in no condition to help with any type of rescue, and they still had Hunter to think about. He didn't want to risk running into another small horde with the minimal protection that the vehicle provided. But he didn't have any choice. If he went on foot it would take too long and his odds of survival would be slim.

"Come on, we're going to get your Daddy. How far up the road is the bridge?" He asked.

She spoke, barely above a whisper, "About a mile, two at the most." He nodded and put the truck in gear as they drove off.

Neither he nor anyone could have been prepared at what they found at the accident scene. There was at least seven dead walkers littering the area around the vehicle. His woman had done an impressive job at killing them. Maybe he had underestimated her abilities, or just her will to survive, either way she had taken them out cleanly.

He went down to the SUV, which was lying, on its roof. The supplies inside were all still intact. He went over to the driver's side to pull Gus out, but what he found instead was a smashed window and two sets of footprints. He followed the footprints up the hill into the tree line and the sight before him caused him to drop to his knees, "Nooooooo!"

In front of him was Gus's dead body impaled crucifixion style to a tree. Stabbed in the middle of his chest was a piece of paper with the words "YOUR NEXT" written in Gus's blood. Daryl began to vomit immediately. He had not been prepared for what he was going to see. He thought he might find Gus dead of his injuries, or even ripped apart by walkers, not to find him brutally murdered and impaled to a tree.

What was he going to tell Anna? Hell, he loved Gus like a father. The man had accepted him and treated him like his own son. He didn't deserve to die like this. Daryl was startled out of his daze by the sound of growling. He grabbed his knife to prepare to kill whatever was about to come after him. Unfortunately it wasn't a walker that he heard, but it was Gus. The bastards hadn't even had the courtesy to stab him in the brain.

Just as he was when he found Merle, he was overcome with emotion and grief. He had to fight with every fiber of his being to hold back the sobs that he wanted to let out. Every person that Daryl had grown to love was slowly being taken away from him one by one. Immediately his mind went to Anna and Hunter. They were all he had left and he would be damned if he were going to let anything happen to them. This was going to destroy Anna, but he knew he had to tell her. He didn't want her to see Gus like this.

He went over to the tree and stabbed Gus in the back of the head. Ending his after life immediately. He then carefully took him down from the tree. Tears streamed down Daryl's cheeks as he placed Gus's body on the ground. The pure white snow was now being stained with the blood from Gus's wounds. The sight made Daryl angry, angrier than he had been in a long time. He knew who had done this, and he wasn't going to let it lie. He went to the SUV and pulled out a sheet and then returned to wrap Gus's body.

He lovingly wrapped the man up in the sheet while regaining his composure. This nightmare still wasn't over by a long shot, and he now had to find the way to tell Anna that her father had been murdered. He feared her reaction worse than anything and knew he had to keep it together for her sake. Silently Daryl Dixon had just personally declared war on the town of McGrady.

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