Summary: Daryl and the others have successfully saved Beth from the hospital but not without heavy losses, now travelling to the supposed safe Alexandria Safe Zone to find Maggie and Glenn, the group meet Riley Brooks a young woman with a mysterious past and the ability to see the dead both as walkers and spirits as they fight to survive and the terrifying mysteries surrounding Briarcliff Asylum as they battle living and dead. Daryl/OC, Beth/OC, Rick/Michonne, Tyresse/OC, Beth/OC friendship. Co – Written with WalkingPotterGirl14. Rated M for violence, graphic language, graphic and eventual sexual scenes. Carol bashing.

I do not own American Horror Story or The Walking dead, Scott Gimple, Kurt Sutter and Ryan Murphy have that privilege. Although I wouldn't have killed off Beth.

Special Thanks To: Hermione and Marcus, Kima Wolfwood, Monarchslayer, Caity6991 and missy7293.

Ghost Orchid

Chapter 26

"They sold us," Lucy said quietly, looking away from all of them. She looked ashamed, and Riley's heart broke for the young girl as they sat the two children down and made sure they were comfortable.

"You're parents sold you to the Elite Hunting?" Riley asked gently. Lucy nodded, looking down at Matt who was cuddled into her. They were covered in blood and both looked tired and malnourished from lack of food.

"Why don't we take you kids to the shower?" Beth asked gently. They nodded as Violet led them to the showers as Riley sighed and Gemma slumped in an armchair.

"This is the fucked up world we live in now? Trafficking and fucking selling kids for food and other supplies?" she asked, disgusted. Riley looked over at Lily who was asleep.

"It's not right," Beth said, disgusted. Wendy chuckled darkly.

"Honey, the world ain't fucking right," she said disgusted at the way they were now forced to live in. They all started sorting out the food for tomorrow as they waited for the others.

Daryl waited with the others as they waited for news on Kathy and Quinn. Tara came out of Kathy's room and looked grim as she pulled off her surgical gloves.

"She's got phenomena. I've given her antibiotics and an IV to give her fluids. There's signs of sexual abuse, and she's got two broken ribs. Quinn has a few bruised ones and a sprained wrist but it's the little girl that has the worst of it," Tara said gravely as Margaret showed them the x -ray photos.

There were old and new bruises on Kathy's ribs, a fractured left arm that had been fixed. But Daryl kept on thinking of how the little girl had been raped. It pissed him off.

"How old do you think she is?" Jax asked, holding her hand.

Tara looked sad as did Margaret.

"I'm guessing around six years old or five. Lucy said that they had been sold to Roman in exchange for supplies. They were living in Virginia when the outbreak happened and their foster parents sold them when they went getting low," Tara said disgusted.

"Jesus Christ," Tig muttered repulsed.

"The marks around her ankle are consistent with being chained to a bed or a post," Tara added, pointing to the x - ray image of Kathy's left ankle, which had faded scarring.

"Is she gonna make it?" Clay asked quietly.

Tara looked pained.

"I honestly don't know. She hasn't had any water within a week and was being starved to death. Her immune system is being weakened by fighting off pneumonia," Tara said sadly and sighed.

"Right now it's a waiting game."

Riley sits down on one of the couches, her head in her hands. This wasn't right at all. This little girl should not be going through this, have gone through everything that Riley had basically been through at the asylum. It wasn't right at all.

She feels Daryl sit down next to her and holds her closely to him, whispering soothing things into her hair as she lamented for the little girl. She didn't want any of this to happen.

Did this happen because she left the asylum? Maybe if she had just stayed none of this would have happened. Everything would have been all right for the little girl, for all the kids, maybe even for all of them.

She felt like she fucked up all their lives with her presence.

"Right now, we just have to see if she'll make it through the night. So I suggest we all just go back to the mess hall or our houses and just wait it out. Someone needs to take in Lucy and Matt for the night before we figure out where to put them."

"We'll take them," Riley says quietly, looking at Daryl for assurance. He nods, telling her he was fine with it. Tara nods.

"Good."

When they got back to their house, Matt and Lucy had instantly started to play with Pirate as Riley put Lily in her bed, who had passed out as soon as she hit the pillow. Afterwards, she had gone downstairs and sat slightly far from the kids who were playing with the little dog.

Daryl saw her remorseful expression and his brow furrows, sitting next to her and taking her hand.

"What's wrong?" he asks quietly, looking at her sad expression. She looks at him with pained eyes.

"It's all my fault."

"How the hell is it yer fault, sweetheart?" Daryl asked softly as he held her tightly to him. Riley sighed sadly as she held his hand tightly and swallowed slightly before speaking.

"They're this way because of me. I escaped the asylum and they retaliated by taking the kids," Riley said sadly. Daryl looked at her for a minute before shaking his head at her.

"That ain't yer fault Riley. Its Dr. Harper and Roman's fault. They did this to yer and we're gonna finish this tomorrow. Jax is taking me, Remy and the others to their camp. We're finishing this," he said firmly and Riley's eyes watered.

"I just feel so upset," she said, wiping her eyes. Daryl kissed her forehead tenderly.

"I know ya do, but this ain't yer fault," he said softly. Riley nodded at his reassurance as he kissed her lovingly. She curled into him and her eyes fluttered as she fell asleep.

Daryl stroked her hair tenderly. He loved her so much, more than she would ever know.

"Mr Daryl, is Riley an angel?" Lucy asked shyly. Daryl smiled at her shyness as he looked at the girl who was stroking Pirate's fur while he licked Matt's hands.

"She sure is sweetheart. She's our angel," Daryl said, smiling at her as he looked at Riley's sleeping face.

Tomorrow, they would put an end to Dr Harper and the others.

Chibs sat in his house as he looked at the photos of his family, his parents, a few pictures of James and him as children, him and Fiona and Ava. There were plenty of Kerrianne and Riley though.

He absently stroked his chest where his two daughter's names were permanently inked on his skin.

Riley on one side and Kerrianne the other side.

He inhaled his cigarette as he thought of Moira and Quinn. He was glad they had been reunited.

Chibs thought about what would happen tomorrow, that they were going to kill the Elite Hunting.

Fucking animals.

He couldn't believe they would do something like that, something so…so inhumane and just use that poor child for absolute, disgusting things. She didn't deserve any of this, none of them did. Those poor kids.

He closes the book and sighs, looking over at the fireplace that was alight. Suddenly, he hears a phone ring from the corner of the room and he stands up, going over to pick it up.

They had found a system of telephones that they could hook up to the houses. They were all connected to the ones in the main places. A few lines were connected to the houses that the survivors stayed in. He remembered that Riley's house was one of those places that were connected.

He made a mental note to call tomorrow.

He picks up the phone and hears Tara's cheerful voice on the other side. There was smile within it.

"Chibs, Kathy is doing great. She recovered from the flu overnight! She looks to make a full recovery!" Chibs smiles happily, taking a breath of relief.

"That's wonderful, Tara." He could only wonder why on earth she would call him out of all people. Moira was the mother. "Does Moira know?" Tara chuckles.

"Of course she does. She told me to call you. She's very thankful for what you've done for her." Chibs smiles slightly, looking out the window. It was beginning to snow again. Colder every day, which meant less walkers.

"Well tell her I said you're welcome. Have a nice night, Tara." Tara smiles.

"You too, Chibs." The phone line gets cut off, and Chibs places the phone down, smiling to himself. That was the first good thing. Now all they had to do was end this with Dr. Harper. They would.

He looks outside and his eyes narrow, seeing a bright light that looks like a flashlight in the distance, but it disappears a moment later. He shrugs his shoulders and heads up the stairs. Whatever it was, it was gone now. He needed sleep to get ready for the next day.

The pitter patter of feet running through the hallway quietly was what woke Daryl up the next morning, but he didn't bother to open his eyes. At first he just thought it was Pirate, but when he heard the door open to their bedroom, he looks up slightly and sees Lucy with Matt, who both had smiles on their faces.

"Mr. Daryl?" She asks, coming over to his side of the bed. Matt clutched onto her arm. Daryl looks at her with a sleepily raised eyebrow.

"What?" He groggily asks, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Thankfully Riley was still asleep, but he knew by now Lily was probably awake.

"Can we build a snowman?"

"Course we can. Just let me get dressed," he told them softly. They grinned at him as they went outside and he saw Riley had woken up, a sleep smile on her face.

"What's going on?" she asks quietly, looking at the opened door.

"Kids wanna build a snowman. Don't see why not." She chuckles, leaning up in her bed.

"Aw, Daddy Dixon at work." He rolls his eyes and she smiled at him before getting dressed. He hugged her tightly before they both left their bedroom and picked up Lily. Riley got her dressed and they started making a snowman with Lucy and Matt as they saw a happy Kathy laughing as it snowed.

"LUCY!" She cried overjoyed, embracing her older sister tightly, as did Matt. Riley and Daryl smiled as Pirate and Lily ran in the snow. They were joined by Beth, Remy and Adam. Patch was running happily while two female dogs, Lacey and Sunny, ran over, and they all laughed as their group played in the snow together.

Judith was happily making a snow angel with Lily while Abel. Thomas and Adam along with Michael, Calvin, Jeffrey and Carl flung snowballs at each other as the men prepared to leave.

Moira and Quinn were there, chatting to them as Clay got things prepared. Daryl made a snowman with them all, looking at the finished work of 'art.'

"He needs a name!" Lucy says, looking at the snowman. Lily walks over and grabs Daryl's hand from below, looking at the snowman with a tilted head. A sudden smile appears on her face, remembering the snowman from the movie.

"Olaf!" She exclaims, giving the snowman a warm hug. Daryl chuckles at his daughter's name, but shrugs along, seeing the kids were fine with it, and they all smiled at the name. Riley smiled as Kerrianne joined her quietly.

"How are you doing, Kerri?" Riley asked gently.

Kerrianne smiled softly as she looked over at Happy, who was checking over their ammo. She squeezed Riley's hand tightly and Riley squeezed it tightly back as they sat on the porch steps.

"I'm alright. I'll be ok and I've got Happy, you, Da and the others. I'll be fine," she said with a smile at her older sister, who smiled back as they sat watching it snow.

"That snow is getting thick," Tig said, wiping snow off his jacket as they started saying goodbye to their women and kids. Remy hugged Beth and Adam tightly as they held him.

"Be careful, please," she said softly and Remy smiled at her.

He kissed her lovingly on the mouth.

"I will. You look after our two little ones," he said, touching her flat stomach that was carrying their baby as Daryl said an emotional goodbye to Riley, Lily, Matt, Kathy and Lucy.

The sooner they killed these bastards, the better.

"You come back safe to me, you hear?" She says to him, holding him tightly. Daryl kissed her lovingly before pulling back, pecking his daughter's forehead. Lily giggles as he does.

"I'm gonna. We're gonna end this right now," he says quietly. He looks at the little kids and leans down to Lucy, who rubbed her arm shyly. Even after playing she was still a bit scared of everything. "You be good for Riley, okay? She's taking care of all of ya."

All three of the kids nod. He looks at Lucy and places a hand on her small shoulder.

"Ya keep a lookout for your siblings, Lucy. They're gonna need ya if somethin' bad happens." She nods.

"Yes, Mr. Daryl," she replies quietly. Daryl nods and stands back up, kissing Riley one last time before leaving to meet up with the others. She holds Lily close to her chest as she lets out a heavy sigh.

Beth comes over and grabs her hand tightly, giving her a squeeze, letting her know she was feeling the same thing. Riley smiles at her and then at her stomach.

"So you're due too?" She asks quietly. Beth grins and nods. "That's great, Beth. Really. I'm so happy for you."

"Ms. Riley?" Lucy asks. Riley looks down and finds Lucy looking up at her with a worried expression. "Mr. Daryl is gonna be alright, right?" Riley sighs and watches the car leave with all of them. She knew Daryl would be, and hopefully all of them will be.

"I think so," she replies quietly. She takes Lucy's hand and nods at Beth. "Let's head back. We'll build a few more snowmen." The children smile and nod, while Beth and Riley watch the truck disappear.

The truck soon disappeared from their view, and they went to watch over their children.

Driving to where Roman and his group had been easy. Quinn had drawn a map of the area and said it had been a warehouse, along with a factory. There were about sixteen rooms and an electric fence.

They finally reached the area as they saw human heads placed on spikes. Their eyes were missing but they were still hissing and snarling as they saw children tied up to posts, their hands cut and bruised.

"Jesus," Rick said, horrified at the sight he was seeing.

"This is disgusting," Jax said, horrified as they went around the back and saw two men guarding the back door. Daryl easily took care of them by using his crossbow, silently taking them out.

There was a smell of decomposing bodies as they silently went inside the warehouse and saw the room they were in was filled with photos of men, women and children who had been killed or escaped.

"It's a hit list," Tig said, looking at the list and Daryl looked at it in disgust.

That was when he a surgery room and cautiously opened it. The door barely squeaked as he looked around and saw a young woman on the surgical table. Her mouth had been mutilated and it was in a twisted clown smile, cuts on either side of her mouth.

That was when he noticed her lower body was cut in half.

"Someone's got a fucked up obsession with the Black Dahlia," Remy said disturbed as he saw the body. The woman's boy twitched then and Chibs stabbed her in the head, putting her out of her misery.

"These people are fuckin' sick," Daryl said disgusted as he checked the other room and saw it was an office. He and Remy cautiously opened it and saw it was Dr. Harper's office, and there were jars with things that horribly resembled babies.

Daryl felt the blood drain away from his face as he looked at the horrific scene. There were names of who the babies had belonged to, and Daryl saw Tyresse still.

Kristi's name was on one of the jars.

"Oh shit," Remy said horrified as he realized with a sick feeling what Nurse Glockner had done.

Sick bitch had been aborting the babies.

"There's so much wrong with these people," Rick says quietly, looking around the room for any sort of clue as to where the people were. Daryl snorts, looking at one of the jars that didn't have any sort of disgusting thing in it.

Medical supplies.

"They got some good shit, though," he mutters, placing it in his bag and turning around. He looks out the window in the dark room, seeing the light from outside seeping in. The snow fell peacefully outside. It was as if nothing else mattered in the world.

And then someone looked in here and saw this terrible mess.

"We need to kill these people. Now," Tyreese finally said, shaking his head and grabbing his gun. Chibs looks at the babies, thinking that this could have been Riley in Dr. Harper's hands, but Daryl looked further, and thankfully, Chibs didn't get as far as he did.

Riley's name was on one of them too.

Daryl felt his rage at the people grow even larger. The baby didn't even look older than a couple of months. This could have been Riley's child. This could have all been hers, but this asshole had taken that away from her.

Why hadn't she told him about this?

'She was probably ashamed it happened,' Daryl rationalized in his head. Riley was like that. If something bad happened, she usually hid it because she thought it was her fault, and it pained him anytime she did that, because she didn't deserve the torture she or the others put her through.

Daryl turns the jar around, not looking at the dead baby before Chibs could see, and walks over to the closest door, opening it slightly.

Before being nearly sliced in the throat.

Someone had been listening, and struck out at Daryl as he opened the door, but he flew back, letting the man fall onto the ground. Thinking quickly, Rick and Chibs shoots the man in the head, killing him instantly. Daryl feels his breathing slow down and he shakes his head, rubbing his face.

"You okay?" Rick asks. Daryl nods, gripping his crossbow tighter.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Rick nodded as he looked around the room and saw Remy looking through the drawers. He found his lighter that had belonged to his stepfather and remembered that Dr. Harper had taken it from him after catching him, Violet and Riley smoking a cigarette when they were having a break.

Bastard.

They quietly left the room as they saw Dr. Harper and Roman walking down a dark hallway and they all quickly followed him as they saw where they were heading. Daryl shot the man in the leg while Chibs tackled James to the floor. Remy dealt with Hugo along with Kyle and Tate, while Tyreese shoved Roman on the floor. They heard a snarl of anger and saw Dandy, Sam, Laura and two women.

"How dare you?!" she screamed enraged, and charged at them as walkers stumbled into the building.

Everyone began fighting then as Daryl pounced on Dr. Harper, punching him in the face heavily as the man tried to escape from Daryl's rage and cowered from him.

"Yer gonna die for what ya did to Riley and the others, the kids and the babies!" he yelled, shoving him outside as Dr. Harper looked at all of them pleadingly but there was a crazed look in his hazel eyes.

"They were sick! I was helping them and Riley needed my help!" Dr. Harper said insistently.

"By raping, beating and torturing them?! Ya sick son of a bitch! Ya never cared about lookin' after them! Ya just loved hurtin' them because they were abandoned by their parents, but ya ain't gonna hurt anymore people," Daryl said coldly as he shot him in the balls. He screamed in agony as Daryl hanged him with help from Chibs, who glared at him with hate filled brown eyes.

"So you rape my daughter, tortured her and killed her unborn child?" he asked menacingly as Daryl slammed his knife into the man's side. Edward yelled in pain as Laura screamed.

"Let him go, the bitch fucking deserved it!"

Everyone stilled then as Rick looked at the woman along with Michonne.

"How did they deserve to be raped and tortured, Laura?" Michonne asked coldly as she looked at the younger woman.

Laura sneered.

"I can think of a few fucking good reasons, nigger," she growls at her. Michonne grabs her body and slams her into the wall, causing her head to split open and bleeding to start, but she kept her eyes opened in a tight glare.

"Say that again, you fuck," she growls at the woman. Laura sneers.

"Nigger," she growls at her. Michonne goes to kill her, but Rick pulls her back.

"She doesn't deserve that quick of a death," he says to her lowly. He looks to Daryl and nods his head towards Edward, who was still hanging from before, struggling to get down. Daryl nods and cuts the rope, sending the man spiralling to the ground, but before he could run away, Daryl grabs him from behind and holds him tight.

"Ya ain't goin' anywhere," Daryl growls to him. Everyone grabs one of them painfully, pulling them to the door where the walkers were trying to get in. Seeing this, the captors try to get away, but Rick opens the door quickly and all of them throw them out into the walker pit.

A few stumble in, but the group takes them out easily as the screams from the men and women attract the other biters towards them. Daryl looks outside and sees Dr. Harper get covered in the walkers, seemingly dead as his screams died out and he was eaten away.

Slowly, the others stopped screaming, and it was quiet, just the sound of the walkers feasting on the bodies. Daryl looks at Chibs, who places a hand on his shoulder, telling him he was okay with what he did.

They literally just turned into something they had never been, but it didn't bother them, at all. Rick looks at them all, not a trace of recoil on his face.

"Let's get back," he says quietly. The group nods and heads out, but Daryl stayed behind a bit, watching the walkers eat.

For some reason, some deep and dark reason, he had a feeling this still wasn't over. He saw the man get taken in, and get covered by walkers…for now, it was done, but there was something else. Something else bad.

He shrugs his off. He was just being paranoid.

"You comin', lad?" Chibs asks quietly. Daryl nods, gripping his crossbow in his hands and leaving the warehouse, not a single look back at the room.

When they got back, Riley was still outside in the snow, playing with Lily, who was learning how to make a snow angel. The three kids were building another snowman as the rest of the group prepared for Thanksgiving later that night. When she heard the car come in, Riley sprung up from her spot on the ground and grabbed Lily.

Seeing Riley go up made the other kids look, and they all saw the men get out, the last one being Daryl.

She smiled at him softly and he returned it, but there was a look on his face. He pulled her into him tightly and kissed her tenderly and kissed Lily's forehead and hugged Lucy, Matt and Kathy tightly.

Beth embraced Remy tightly with little Adam running over and cuddling him. They went into the warm mess hall and Daryl held Riley tightly as his hand rested protectively over her stomach, which was showing a slight bump. They all sat down and the men sagged into chairs as Riley placed Lily on his lap.

"Dada," she said softly. Daryl smiled as he cuddled her tightly and kissed Riley tenderly before watching her go to help the others with cooking dinner. He watched quietly.

He couldn't help but think of the baby that she had lost. It hurt him to think she had suffered that much at that hellhole. Tyreese joined him with baby Olivia, who was happily cuddling him.

"You ok?" he asked quietly. Tyreese sighed softly as he looked at where Kristi was.

"Kristi has nightmares. Sometimes it's so bad she thinks I'm going to leave her because she's mentally ill, but it's not her fault. I love her and Olivia, and she loves us, but Carol isn't helping. The meds help though," Tyreese said sighing.

Daryl felt for Tyreese. It was very clear that the man loved Kristi and Olivia to pieces.

"What exactly happened the night ya and Carol killed Lizzie?" Daryl asked quietly.

Tyreese sighed sadly as he thought back to Lizzie.

"Lizzie...she wasn't right in the head. She was talking about the walkers as if they were still human, and she was the one feeding the walkers back at the prison." he said, looking haunted.

Daryl felt horrified.

"Jesus," he said, feeling sick as he realized what Lizzie had done.

"Lizzie killed Mika and tried to kill Judith...Carol had no choice but to kill her," he said sadly. "But after that, I feel like she lost a part of herself. She completely shut herself out, like she lost another daughter or something like that. At some points, it did seem like she had completely taken over the role as their mother, but at times, I feel like she just…lost something."

"Really?" Daryl asks. That was how she turned cold. Because of Lizzie and Mika. It was like Sophia times ten. Tyreese nods.

"I know it's why she's like this now." Tyreese stands up as Kristi comes over, smiling at him and grabbing his hand. Daryl nods at him as he leaves with the woman, looking at Lily, who was playing with a teddy bear that looked an awful lot like the snowman from the movie.

"Ya like that movie, huh?" he chuckles. Lily giggles and lays her head on his shoulder. Daryl notices that she really had gotten bigger since they first found her. She could walk, sort of speak, and her hair was longer, now nearly reaching the end of her head.

Riley comes over a second later, a mug of hot chocolate in her hands, and she hands it to Daryl. He places the little girl on the floor and lets her play with her doll as Daryl takes the cup in his hands, taking a sip. He groans, happily drinking another sip.

"Jesus, this is good," he mutters. Riley smiles and sits next to him, taking his other hand in hers.

"I was worried about you. I kept thinking something terrible was gonna happen." Daryl places his mug down and strokes her cheek lightly, feeling it turn up in a small smile.

"Didn't need to be," he says softly. "I always come back, don't I?" She shrugs, looking down at their conjoined hands.

"Can't help but wonder," she says quietly. He leans over and pecks her lips lightly, smiling slightly into the kiss. When he pulls back, he pulls her closer, looking at her seriously.

"I gotta talk to ya about somethin'," he whispers to her. Her brow furrows but she nods Daryl looks up and sees Beth with Remy and Adam. "Beth! Mind watchin' Lily and the others for a few?" Beth nods happily as Daryl takes Riley back to the house, holding her hand tightly.

When he closes the door, he turns to her with a confused expression on his face.

"Why didn't ya tell me ya were gonna have a baby before Dr. Harper got rid of it?" He asks softly. Her eyes widen slightly, backing into the wall behind her.

"How do you know about that?"