Awww yeah!

Chapter 34, people! And finally, we arrived at one of my favourite episodes of season 3. I loved it when Rick and the others attacked Woodbury. I honestly almost pissed my pants, 'cuz I couldn't stand all the tension. It was awesome.

I hope this chapter will be as awesome as the episode of the show!

Leave a review or follow if yah like! ^-^

(Disclaimer; I do not own the Walking Dead)

Enjoy;)

Chapter 34: Rescuers

Daryl

"So, if I understand it correctly; you two are exes of each other?" I asked, and saw irritation cross Liam's face. He had been looking at Michonne since we left the car and started walking towards the town. The samurai-woman walk at the front of our small group, with Rick next to her, watching her every move. He held his gun in his hand, still a finger on the trigger, just to be sure. Liam protested against it, but what does Rick care?

Behind the two, walked Oscar. He looked scared out of his eyes, seeing the outside world for the first time in 8 months. He couldn't believe how much the world had changed in the time he had been locked up in the cafeteria of the prison. He was holding a large knife, but didn't have a gun yet. I refused to give him one. C'mon, he's a fucking inmate of a state prison. He only gets a gun when necessary.

At the end of the small rescue crew, walked Liam, and I closed the line. I was just holding an interrogation about his love life. It was kinda amusing, seeing an arrogant jerk like him struggle over his girl, while the world's coming to an end. Probably sounds crazy in your ears, but c'mon, samurai said it was at least two miles walking to the stupid town.

Liam sighed at my question. "Yes, you understood it correctly, for as much as that is possible for someone who eats squirrels."

"Who tol' yah that nonsense?"

"Dunno, a guy with a gun" he said, grinning about his payback. I suddenly remember him talking with Carl, right before we left. "Would you like fries with that? Some mayonnaise?"

"Yeah, changing the subject, yah good at that" I said back, and saw his smile fade away a little. "Seems like yah're a good cheater too."

Liam punched me on the shoulder, but I didn't move a muscle, even though it hurt a little. "You're a good flirter yourself. Saving Carol and all. Staring with a tempting look at her, all the time. I see what's going on between you too…"

"Apparently not" I said, and had a little flashback from when I walked with Liam's younger brother through the woods. We somehow started talking about women, and he said something about Carol and me too. I grinned at the memory.

"Ryan's in that town, right?" I suddenly asked, and saw Liam get pale a little. He looked at the ground, and nodded.

"I think so. But I don't know if he's alive. Or maybe he escaped. Who knows."

I walked next to him, and saw the others were way ahead of us, so we were free to speak. "Yah only comin' for him, right?"

Liam looked at me, a little offended. "Well, I wanna save your friends too. But it would be nice if we could catch both of them at once. I haven't seen my baby brother in…I dunno, a year and a half. If I had the chance to see him again, I would take it with both my hands. You would do the same for your brother, if you had one, right?"

Now it was my time to look at the ground. I hadn't hear Merle's voice, in my head or in real, for almost a year too. His voice that gave me 'advice', or shouted at me for when I was being a fucking idiot, it was all gone. It faded away by time. A few months before, I wouldn't think I was ever gonna miss that voice.

"Yeah, I know. I got a brother of my own. Lost him, in Atlanta. Got left behind." My pace slowed, and we stood still after a while. "I went back for him, y'know. Went to look for 'm. But he was already gone. Escaped the city by himself. Didn't leave any trace to follow."

Liam lifted his eyebrows at my pathetic story. "So, you've basically been living in fear for his life ever since?"

"Yah can put it like that" I said, a little amused by the serious face he put on. "A little too dramatic for me, but it's true."

He nodded, as if he really understood me. That was a weird feeling for me. I mean, I always thought I was odd, weird. No one thought the way I did. Most people pretended to understand me, with an underlining under 'pretended'. Nobody actually did.

With Liam, it was hard to figure out if it was just an act, or that he really knew what I meant.

"I'm sorry for you. I kinda know what it's like. I hope you find your brother one day."

"Yeah, me too."

I looked over my shoulder, and saw our group members far away, almost disappeared in all the green of the trees. "Better catch up, before it gets dark and we're left behind."

"Yeah, and I'm not really up for a romantic night in the forest with you."

Glenn

I coughed. The dirty smell of my own blood and the old sack over my head were not such a nice thing to wake up to after like…an hour of unconsciousness.

When the sack was pulled away from my head, I wished I never had made a sound. Merle was sitting on a chair in front of me, with his one good arm leaning on his knee.

"Look who's awake" he smiled evil. I bowed my head, protecting myself from the bright light of the lamp above me.

"Ready to talk, Bruce Lee?"

The world around me was blurred. Everything was spinning. I wanted to throw up, but decided to wait till Merle left. I wouldn't give him such pleasure.

Unfortunately, he decided to stay a little while. With the handless arm, where he had screwed a knife at, he pushed my chin up.

"Well?"

I tried hard not to laugh about the little dot of red on his nose. I was proud of myself for slamming my for head against his head. He looked like one ridiculous horror clown.

This was the second time he tried to get the place of our base out of me. I hadn't said a word about it. Only about the people we were still with. But nothing about the farm, or the prison.

It annoyed him, me saying nothing but shit. The irritation grew bigger after he beat me till unconsciousness, and I still stayed quiet.

"Yah're gettin' on ma nerves, pizza boy" he said, scraping his knife over the table again. It seemed sharper than before. "That's why I thought a friend of yours can help you remember."

He stood up, and walked to the door. He knocked with his knuckle on it. "Bring the professor in."

The door was opened, and a big man stood behind it. He held another person, with his hands cuffed on his back and a sack over his head.

The other prisoner was pushed inside the room roughly, and he fell on his knees. He groaned of pain.

"Ah, Frankenstein Junior, how yah doin' today, sir?" Merle walked towards the figure on the ground, and pulled him by his shoulders up.

The door was closed, and now we were with three men in the room. Two wounded against one well trained. Still no chance of winning.

Merle pushed the person towards me, and held him in front of my face. "I give yah tree chances of guessing."

The person trembled on his feet, barely standing. His clothes were dirty, and he smelled even more like me. Blood dripped down his neck, and I bet he was looking just as worse as me.

"No?" Merle said, when I didn't answer. "Let me help you."

He pulled the sack from the head, and the face was shown. He had brown-blond hair, which was growing just lower than his ears, but it was shorter in my memories. He had brown eyes, that knew more than you would think. His shoulders and arms were much more muscled before than now. He had grown skinny, as if he had barely eaten. He had dark shadows under his eyes, and the blood I noticed before was coming out of his mouth, where a fist was slammed against earlier.

"Glenn?" he said with a weak voice, looking from under his long hair. "What are you doing here? You should…you should go. This is not good. Not good…"

His head fell forward, and he was now completely hanging by Merle's hand. Merle hunched forward, and pushed Ryan's chin up.

"I bet that means 'nice to see yah again, mate'!" he laughed, and pulled the weakened body away from me. I bit on my tongue not to say anything. I couldn't believe it. Ryan had disappeared, came back, disappeared again, and now, he was here.

Merle pulled him away, pulled the door open, and pushed him outside. He then turned back to me. "Don't worry, I got another friend of yours waiting to come and see you. But I warn you, he's a little hungry."

I heard the growl of what sounded as a walker in the hall behind me, and closed my eyes. I am so fucked.

Carl

"Beth? Beth, where are you?"

I walked up the stairs, down again, through the cellblock, looking through every cell, but she was not there. I was a little worried, we couldn't lose any more people. I couldn't. Not Beth.

"Still haven't found her?" Carol asked, coming back from a quick visit to Axel, who was trying to get the radiators running.

"Nope. Got any ideas?"

"Have you checked the courtyard?"

I stopped walking, and almost slapped myself in the face. "Why didn't I think of that?!"

"'Cause you think too much" Hershel said, appearing with in one hand Judith, and in the other a crutch. "Don't worry, she indeed is on the courtyard."

I sighed. "OK, I'll go and ask her if she could help me get some magazines ready. We're pretty much…out."

"We better do that inside" Carol said, looking at the window. "It's getting dark soon. I'll go try to look for some candles."

I nodded, and exited the cellblock. I found Beth laying on her back on top of one of the metal tables, looking at the sky. The blue heaven was full of formless clouds. Beth lay with her head on her hands, her eyes closed, and a happy smile on her face. I haven't seen her so peaceful since….well, never, actually. Maybe when she sang us a song. I saw peace in her face then.

I approached her without making a sound, scared I would ruin it. I even felt like an ass, being the one to pull her out of her thoughts for something stupid as magazines.

She somehow knew I was there. Without opening her eyes, or moving a muscle, she said; "Hi Carl."

I let out a sigh, a little shock flowing through my body.

"Hi, Beth. What's the weather going to be like this week?"

She giggled. "Sunny and bright. Back to you, Carl."

"In other news this week; our group is low on magazines. Deputy Carl asks assistance from nurse Beth."

"So now I'm a nurse?" Beth laughed, sitting up. "I prefer the weather lady. Did you say magazines?"

"Yeah, I was gonna ask you to help me. But I saw you were busy, so…"

"No, I wasn't" and surprisingly, her cheeks turned red a little. "I'll help."

I lay a hand on my hip, and looked at her, from tip to toe. "You were thinking of him, right?"

Beth looked at the ground, with a little shame. "Yes."

I sat down on the bench of the table, and leaned with my elbows on my knees. "You think they'll bring him back?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. I know Liam's gonna try his best to do so. But he wants to help Maggie and Glenn too."

I nodded, and one of my hands somehow found a way to the pocket of my jeans. My hand went inside, and my fingers wrapped themselves around the small object. The bottle. The small bottle with the grey liquid.

I looked up at Beth. She looked back at the sky, staring at the clouds again.

"Beth" I started, and she looked back at me. "I'm sorry. About what I said earlier. About Ryan. I didn't mean it."

She smiled, and I saw bright lights in her green eyes. "That's OK. You were just looking out for me."

I glanced. "You know, I think there's a possibility he's standing here in about, a day. That he's just going to walk up to us, like nothing happened."

"Yeah, I've been fantasizing about it all the time. But in my fantasy I also see Maggie and Glenn, walking behind him. They're all smiling, and they ran up to me, and we all hug each other. Then Rick, Daryl, Liam, Oscar and Michonne come back too, and everybody's happy. We find a huge warehouse full of food, and don't have to worry about making runs for at least two years. Judith can grow up in a safe place, and becomes a beautiful, confident woman, and…"

"Wow, slow down!" I laughed. "Let's just focus on one thing at the time!"

"And what's that? Making magazines?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, good thing to start with."

Andrea

I finally stepped outside, after mister Coleman had passed away. Milton sadly couldn't finish his research. The old man had no memories once he had turned. All the names, sounds, music and pictures had no effect. I tried to tell him that, but Milton was too stubborn to believe it.

I looked up at the sky, which was full of stars now. It would be harsh to say the experiment of the whole day was a waste of time, but really, Milton, a walker has no memories of anything. A walker is a flesh eating, reckless monster. I couldn't believe he didn't see that.

I stood there, with my hands on my hips, on the empty streets. I wasn't allowed to be outside after dark, but it's not like I really had a choice.

Suddenly, ruining the so peaceful night, I heard gunshots, not far away. I couldn't hear if it was inside the town or outside. My hand went quickly to my belt, where there was no gun to be pulled.

"Shit" I mumbled, remembering Phi-I mean, the Governor, kept all the weapons in a storage. The Governor! I had to find him!

I started running towards the building where his apartment was in, but before I reached it, I saw a group standing in front of another house. The storage where Woodbury had all his food.

In the middle of it, the Governor stood, calming people down. "Go home, lock your doors. We got to keep everyone save, so just get inside, turn your lights off."

The people weren't calm, I saw fear in their eyes as they walked away. Only the Governor's soldiers stayed, and I walked closer to hear what was said.

"We are under attack" he said softly. "You find them. You find these prisoners. Don't take any chances, or take any prisoners. You shoot to kill, you hear me?"

Them people nodded, fear crossing their faces. Philip grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the group. "C'mon."

"Where are we going?" I asked, walking with him.

"Somewhere private."

"Oh, Philip, do you really think-"

"No, I'm not thinking about that" he said, absolutely serious. I blushed of shame, thinking about such a pathetic thing right now.

"I need a group of trustworthy people around to beat these terrorists" he said, leading me to the house with the big pillars. "Only with a good plan, we can beat them."

When we neared the big house, I looked over my shoulder. Not far from this building, I could see the window of the basement where Ryan was held in. The lights were still out. Was he really gone? Had he disappeared, like Milton claimed?

"Andrea?"

I looked back at Philip. The man who was the Governor. I liked him, I think I was about to start loving him. Almost. I could not forget the fact that he held a friend of mine captive. He said he trusted me. But it seemed like he still had things I couldn't know about this town.

Rick

I stood next to the exit of the small apartment were we hid in. "Okay, I count to three. Stay close, stay tight." I looked at Daryl, who held a smoke grenade in his hand. He nodded. "Ready? One, two, three!"

I pulled the door open, and Daryl threw the grenade out on the street. As soon as it hit the ground, the smoke came out on both sides. He threw another, and when you barely could see your own hands, we ran out.

I heard shouting and yelling. The men on the barricade pulled out their guns, and I shot with my machine gun in the air, just to warn them. It scared them a little off, and we walked further. But they soon recovered and started shooting back.

We stayed low, running across the smoky street. Glenn leaned on Maggie, who could barely walk herself. With one hand, she also held a small handgun. Behind her, Oscar and Daryl shot anyone in our way. Oscar was given a gun at last.

We made it across the street, and hid behind a wall. Glenn sat down, breathing heavenly.

"How many?!" I shouted over the loud gunshots. "I didn't see them."

"Nine" Daryl answered, putting down the back he was carrying. "Could be more. We need tah move!"

"Any grenades left?!" I looked inside the bag.

"Uhu" Daryl grunted.

"Okay, we gotta gun them to the wall!"

"You guys go ahead, Imma lay down som' cover fire!" Daryl shouted.

"No! We gotta stay together!" Maggie immediately shouted.

"We already failed that" Daryl answered, not looking at her. "We lost Liam, and Michonne."

"Michonne left on her own" I corrected him. "Liam went after her. There's nothing we can do for them."

"I'll be right behind yah" Daryl said, already standing up. "Ready?"

He threw one of our last smoke grenades on the street. As soon as the smoke came out, we started running again. We heard more shouting of the Woodbury-men, and we started shooting. Maggie ran with Glenn on her shoulder and Oscar behind her towards the barricade. I walked forward, and kneeled down behind a bush. I looked over my shoulder, and noticed I had lost Daryl.

"Shit" I mumbled. How could this get any better? First, we lost Daryl and Liam in the woods, and when we finally found them, we got hunted by a herd of walkers. We hid in a cotton, and needed to find a way out. I still think it was an unhuman thing to sacrifice the man, but it was our only option. When we finally reached this godforsaken town, Michonne left us behind, came back, saying she found a way in, then took off again. Liam went after her, and we hadn't seen both of them anywhere. Now, I had lost Daryl too in this mess, with my other partners already over the barricade. It's me against all these armed people. When the smoke disappears, I'm more than dead.

My machine gun made a soft 'click', and I pulled out the magazine. "Fuck.."

I searched of another and reloaded, when my eyes caught a man, walking towards me. I narrowed my eyes, trying to get a hold of his face. My jaw dropped, as I saw an incarnation of my dead friend Shane. Complete with shotgun, short hair and a beard, he was walking up to me. I couldn't move, caught in shock. I lowered my weapon, it seemed like I was holding a bag of stones.

Shane stepped closer and closer, aiming his gun on my head, finger on the trigger…

Blood splattered on my face as a bullet went through his head. His body fell on the ground, with a hole in the back of his head. Behind him, stood Liam. His face had worries on them, as he walked towards me.

I ignored him, and walked towards the body of Shane. But it wasn't Shane. As much as he looked like my best friend, this man with the staring eyes into nothing, wasn't the same as him. It was just an illusion. A joke of my mind, taking the chaos around me to fool me.

"Rick!" Maggie shouted over the barricade. I heard panic in her voice.

"C'mon, we gotta go!" Liam shouted, and he didn't wait for a response. He grabbed my shoulder, and dragged me with him.

Ryan

The room I was in, had no lights. The men of the Governor were very polite to pull the smelly sack from my head. Not that it mattered, with or without it, I couldn't see a thing.

My hands were cuffed. Again. I don't know why they dragged me out of my lab. I was working so hard. OK, maybe not. I thought they didn't suspect a thing. I guess I'm more stupid than I thought.

I heard a door being unlocked, and lifted my head. A thin line of light shone inside, and it grew bigger when the door was completely opened. I saw the silhouette of a man. Wide shoulders, big head, thick neck. Probably George.

He pushed a man inside, and closed the door again. It was dark again. All I could hear, was the breathing of this person who was with me in this room. Apparently, he didn't know I was in here. I tried not to make it too awkward, so I coughed softly.

"Who the fuck's there?!" he shouted, and I recognized the cynic voice immediately.

"Daryl?"

It was quiet for a while, as if he needed time to place my voice with a memory of me. He snored after a little while.

"Son of a bitch, Monkeyman. Where the hell have yah been?"

"Good to see you too, brother" I said. I hear him take small steps towards me. "I'm here."

He almost tripped over my feet, but found his way next to me. "So, this is what yah've been doin' all this time?"

I chuckled. "Not really. They think I'm som' kinda genius, and that I can create a medicine, or a cure, for walkers."

"Do yah?"

I glanced. "Of course not." I sighed, my throat sore of the lack of water. "How did you get in here? I've seen Glenn, he didn't look so good."

"He's safe. And Maggie's too." Daryl took a deep breath. "They were held in here. Like you. The rest is OK. Me, Rick and three others organized a rescue party. Yah brother was in it too, y'know."

"Liam?!" I almost shouted his name. My brother. My fucking brother. He was in here too. "Is he OK? How did he found you guys, or did you find him? How? When? Why?"

"He jus' stood there, one day. We let 'm in, 'cause we knew he was related to you." Daryl snored. "He's an ass."

"Yeah…" I said, thinking about my arrogant and selfish brother. "Does he know I'm in here?"

"Why else do yah think he wanted to come?"

I leaned with my head against the wall. "You know, Merle's in here, too. But he's not a prisoner, like us…"

"I know" Daryl said, with a lot of pain I didn't suspect from him. We were silent for a while, both caught in our own thoughts. With Daryl in here, there was only one thing I could think of.

"Is…How's Beth?" I stuttered. Daryl chuckled, as if this was very amusing.

"Yah're a ladies man too, huh? Yah brother got his girl back too, y'know. Well, he's tryin'." He sighed. "But Beth, well, Beth's OK. I guess. She misses you, I know that."

I nodded, and I was glad he couldn't see my face, which had rolling tears over its cheeks. Beth. My Beth.

I suddenly remembered something. Something very important. "Daryl, I need you to do something for me. Turn your back on me."

"What?"

"You gotta sit up, and turn your back. There's a knife in my boot. You can reach it. I can't. Cut yourself loose, and you can make your way out."

I heard Daryl move. "Okay, which foot is it?"

"The one closest to you. It's taped on the inside. Watch out for your fingers."

I felt his sweaty fingers on my leg, and they found their way down my foot. They reached on the inside of my boot, and wrapped themselves around the small hunting knife.

"Got it" Daryl said, and a second later, we heard footsteps coming our way. "Fuck."

"Hurry up!" I said, and already saw the light in the hall of being turned on. Daryl tried to pull the knife out.

"It's fuckin' stuck!" he whispered, and tried to pull harder. I saw a shadow under the door, a pair of heavy boots was waiting behind the door. Daryl tried to cut my boot so he could pull it out easier.

"It's not going to work!" I whispered. I heard a key being put in the lock. I heard laughing of two male voices. "Sit back, Daryl!"

"Almost!" But there was no way to cut through the leather in such a short time. When he didn't move away, I shoved him away from my foot.

The key was pulled from the lock, and the door was being opened. I put one foot over the other, hiding the small that was sticking out just above my boot.

The men came inside, and put a sack over Daryl's head. Daryl struggled, and grunted.

"Lemme go, yah sons of bitches!" he shouted, kicking around, causing as much damage as he could. The men pulled him up under his arms, and dragged him out of the room.

When the door was closed, I was all alone again.