DISCLAIMER: I do not own AMC's and Robert Kirkman's "The Walking Dead" or any of its characters/places. There may be a few OCs at a later time and those will be mine. (NO MARY SUES).

WARNINGS: Rated T for language, violence, and gore. There might be comic spoilers later on but you'll be warned about those specifically before they happen.

A mixture of surprise and fear welled up inside Daryl. He almost couldn't comprehend the fact that there was a walker on him and he had honestly not seen it coming. He resigned himself to the reality that he was about to be bit but rolled his shoulder forward anyways in case there was the slightest of chances the move could throw the walker.

It worked.

The walker's teeth skimmed across Daryl's skin but did not break through. For a moment he was afraid they had and could feel a trail of slime they left behind. In his haste to get away, Daryl jerked forward and lost his footing, falling hard to the ground. He flipped to his back and raised Carol's small knife defensively. The walker lusted after Daryl and he waited for it to fall on him so he could end its miserable existence. Its decaying hands reached for him but were then pushed away. Panting, Carol rushed into view and drove the dead man back; Daryl's knife implanted firmly in its pale forehead. The walker fell to the earth and was no longer a concern to any of the living.

Carol looked down on Daryl in alarm. She knew just how close he'd come to being bit and wasn't certain that he escaped unharmed. Daryl blinked slowly as his hand ran over his shoulder searching for any torn skin. Carol crouched down next to him and inspected the area for herself.

"You…I, I don't think…" Carol frowned as Daryl's hand smeared both blood from Carl and that of walkers over the spot making it impossible to tell if any was actually from him. "I don't think it got you," she finally decided.

"Gonna know pretty soon," said Daryl. He accepted a hand up from Carol and they started after Carl. The boy had distanced himself from the adults and made his way into the opening between the woods and the prison fence. "Go for the gate!" yelled Daryl as he and Carol burst into the opening. Carl cut through the tall grass as he doubled back towards the gate.

On the inside of the fence, the call for walkers had been raised and those able to had taken arms. At first they didn't think too much of the appearance of the walkers. The prison was always attracting them but Michonne thought it wasn't right when they appeared to be going after something in the trees rather than lurching up against the fence. Her suspicion was confirmed when she heard Daryl's gun being fired and realized someone was caught outside the safety of the fence.

"Carl, Daryl, and Carol are out there," said Karen as the prison assembled. "Sasha and I were just down there. Daryl was working on skinning a deer…they must have been attracted to the blood."

"Are you kidding me?" asked Glenn. "How did they miss a damn herd?"

"It didn't seem like it was that bad," offered Sasha. "I mean, there were more walkers than usual but nothing that Daryl couldn't handle. The last I saw him, he was taking Carl into the woods to clean off in the creek and I think Carol followed them. They must've run into them in there."

"It doesn't matter where they found the herd…we've got to rescue them," said Maggie. "Somebody needs to go get Rick."

"I'll find him and you be careful," said Hershel before he went to locate Rick. The group didn't need any more words of encouragement and took off towards the gates. Glenn shouted various orders though they were lost over the sounds of feet slapping the road and the jostling of guns. They were halfway to their destination when Carl popped out of the woods.

"Over there!" yelled Glenn and he pointed towards the boy. A moment later Daryl and Carol emerged behind him and the three headed towards the gates.

Glenn reached the gate first and unlocked it. Michonne darted through and within a second, sliced the nearest walker's head in half. She moved on to another and began to clear a path into the prison. Maggie and Tyreese opened fire and brought down several walkers, not caring about the added attention using guns would draw. Karen and Sasha held back at the gate to keep anything unwelcome from sneaking in. Freed from his gate guarding obligation, Glenn chased after Michonne and picked off any and every walker he put in the crosshairs of his gun.

Carl was swept into the safe zone created by the reach of Michonne's katana. She wanted to stay longer and offer Carol and Daryl protection but the bloody bandage around Carl's arm worried her more. "Prison," she said and pushed him towards the gate. She cut through three more walkers as she escorted the boy to safety.

When Daryl saw that Carl was no longer in danger, he held back to provide Carol with more cover. He knew the others were trying their hardest to defend them, but in their haste they had gotten careless. The walkers Tyreese had shot were getting back up off the ground after not being hit in the head. Even some of the ones Maggie hit were knocked over but then stood again. It'd do them all more good if they'd just take their time and make sure their bullets were being used effectively. Daryl was forced to stop and deal with a pair of small walkers that managed to get between him and Carol. They looked like they could have been brothers when living and Daryl sent them to their final deaths with the same arrow.

He yanked the arrow from the skull of the second brother and stabbed a third walker with it. A second later he saw Glenn and Carol cross paths and knew she'd be safe while protected by his gun. Maggie provided her with additional fire and Carol was able to clear the gate. "Hurry!" Glenn cried and shot a walker that was stumbling upon Daryl too quickly. He didn't need to be reminded to hurry and Daryl pushed himself for more speed. As the pair met up, they abandoned their attempts at killing and focused on zigzagging around the walkers and to the gate. Glenn let Daryl through first, then waited for Maggie before closing and locking the gate behind them. He had only just stepped away when four walkers hurled themselves against the metal fence causing it to shake.

"There's going to be too many of them," said Maggie. "Look at them all..."

The inhabitants of the prison stood by helplessly as dozens of the dead poured out of the woods and came bearing down on the fence. Their fingers wove through the chain link, clawing for the fresh flesh on the other side. They gnashed their teeth and growled fericiously for the blood that was almost within reach. Five additional walkers pressed themselves against the gate causing Carl to stumbled backwards in fear. He tripped over a rock in the road and fell to the ground with a small cry.

"Carl!" cried Maggie and she rushed to his side. Before he could protect his wounded arm, Maggie grabbed it firmly on either side of the bandage. "What happened?" she asked Carol and Daryl.

"He got scratched," said Carol grimly. "Daryl..."

Maggie's hand hovered over the bandage now unsure of if she wanted to expose the wound. Knowing that Daryl was involved and there was that much blood, had her believing there probably wasn't much skin left on Carl's upper arm. "He needs to see my dad," she said and helped Carl up.

"Ok..." said Glenn, shaking his head to clear out the thought of Daryl's handiwork. "Michonne, Karen, Sasha, and Tyreese you need to stay here and start killing these things. The fence won't be able to hold back an entire herd. The rest of us need to find Hershel and Rick."

"Oh, I don't think you have to look very far," said Karen as she pointed to the top of the hill.

Hershel and Rick were on their way down along with Mr. Mason from Woodbury, all moving as fast as the old vet would allow. Daryl's heart did a free fall when he saw the expression on Rick's face change from that of worry to anger. He knew Rick had seen seen Carl's arm. There was no hiding it now and no way to explain what happened before Rick would jump to the worst conclusions. This was his fault: it was on him. He had taken Carl out against Rick's wishes then he had been distracted and Carl had gotten hurt when his back was turned. But not just hurt. A twisted ankle or a bump on the head could be mended. These were walker scratches. Carl had been attacked on his watch. They had no way of knowing how bad scratches could be and if they produced the same outcome as a bite. If they were fatal, Daryl wasn't sure he'd been able to act fast enough and the damage could be irreversible. If they were nothing to worry about and only the bite was deadly, then Daryl had just filleted Carl's arm and opened it up for an infection that could kill him.

Daryl watched Mr. Mason's mouth twitched as he said something to Rick. Hershel glared at the man and appeared to counter whatever was said. Rick shook his head and Hershel, with an extra long stride on his crutches, stopped in front of Rick. He turned back to the sheriff and placed a hand in the center of his chest. Rick paid the man no heed and after sidestepping him, broke into a run.

When Rick was forty yards out, he drew his gun. At thirty yards, Maggie and Glenn simultaneously stepped in front of Carl. After ten more, Daryl become aware of the gun still tucked into his waistband. He assessed Rick's trajectory once again and reached for it. Daryl's eyes never left Rick as he pointed the gun at the man. He knew that as soon as he took his eyes off him he'd find himself staring down the barrel of Rick's python.

A/N: I'm sorry this update took longer to get out and that it's not the best. I've been a bit down lately and not even writing has been able to get me out of it. That's probably more than you need to know but if the story gets darker, at least you'll have a sense of why. Sorry again and I'll try to get an update (a better one) out soon.