Whew! This story will not be as long as Exile. I'm thinking there is a maximum of 10 chapters left to this story. Now that the holidays are over I'll be trying to put out at least a chapter a week to get this finished up. Thanks for hanging in there, I really appreciate it!

Rick went upstairs to the bedroom he shared with Lori to retrieve his police belt and practically ran into his wife when he entered the room as she was exiting it. He gave her a smile and a nod and quickly slid by her and grabbed the belt off his dresser.

Lori stepped back and watched her husband as he rushed to buckle the belt around his waist. "And just where do you think you're going in such a rush?" she asked as she crossed her arms in front of her.

"Merle and Daryl haven't returned," Rick explained as he slid his Python into its holster. "Glenn and I are going to go find them and bring them back."

"No, Rick, you can't!" Lori exclaimed. "You don't know who is out there or how many of them there are!"

Rick frowned and pointed his finger at Lori. "Lori, we are not having this conversation." he said firmly and he turned back to the door to leave.

Lori lunged forward and grabbed his arm. "Please! Please, Rick, please! Stay, if not for me then for Carl!"

"Lori…" Rick began.

"What about me?" Carl's voice asked and Rick and Lori both turned to see Carl standing in the open doorway of their bedroom. He was holding his father's hat and was clutching the brim with both hands.

"Lori stepped forward and pointed to Rick. "Your father wants to go running off in the rain after the Dixon brothers! I don't think that's a wise thing to do and I want him to stay here with us. Help me convince him to stay!"

"Lori!" Rick exclaimed. "Don't drag Carl into..."

"Can I come, too?" Carl interrupted, looking at his father hopefully.

He glanced to the left and the horrified look on his mother's face in response to his request told Carl that the answer was a definite 'no'.

"No, Carl," Rick said as he started past him out the door. "You need to hold the fort down with Hershel. Glenn and I will be back as soon as we can."

"The Dixons can take care of themselves!" Lori cried. "And even if they couldn't, you can't risk yourself for them! You're the leader of this group and we all need you! "

Rick turned to Lori and sighed. "Lori, I'm going. If you want to get yourself all riled up I guess that's up to you, but it isn't going to change my plans." He turned and started down the hall.

"They aren't worth it!" Lori shouted after him.

Rick grit his teeth and continued down the hall. When he'd first met Daryl and especially Merle, he wouldn't have given a nickel for either of their lives, but things had changed. Rick had gradually realized that Daryl was probably one of the best assets a group like theirs could have and Merle…..Merle had military experience and even with one hand missing he was a force to be reckoned with. Rick was struck with the realization that Merle was, by default, on his side due to his loyalty to Daryl. Rick knew that he and Merle would never be the best of buddies, there was too much bad blood between them, but Merle had been surprisingly civil to him after Merle had clobbered him when he first arrived. Merle had also risked his own neck to save Beth and Carl when they were trapped by walkers and in Rick's eyes, that action covered a multitude of sins.


"The governor was furious with you when we discovered you'd taken everything the acquisition team had brought in that morning." Martinez said to Merle as they drove behind the first Navigator.

Merle snorted. "He weren't half as mad as I was when I saw what he an' the two nitwits done to my brother…..an' the stuff belonged to him. Was for both of us. He was lookin' for me, wanted me to go north with 'im. 'Course I took it."

Martinez peeked into the rear view mirror at Merle's brother. The man hadn't said a word since he'd been subdued after his wild attempt to escape and he had turned himself toward the rear passenger door and quietly stared out the rain dappled window as they slowly got closer and closer to Woodbury. Martinez smirked and decided he'd try to get a rise out of Daryl. "So where's my Harley at?" he asked Merle. "After all, you said I could have it when you came back."

Daryl tore his eyes from the window and glared at the asshole driving the vehicle. "Ain't his to give away." he growled before turning back to the window to continue watching the landscape rushing by.

"Well you sure as hell aren't gonna be using it anymore." Martinez shot back.

"Now don't be sayin' that sorta shit." Merle warned. "I just need to talk to Phillip, explain the situation and no one will get hurt. "

Daryl bit his tongue before he could lash out at Merle. Stupid bastard. 'No,' he told himself, 'you're the stupid bastard for trusting him.'

"So tell me about this house." Martinez said to Merle.

"Why?" Merle replied. "Gov'ner already knows where it is."

"Governor wants to know more." Martinez said as he concentrated on the road ahead of him through the swishing windshield wipers. "You know a woman came back to Woodbury with Jackson a couple days ago from your house. She told the governor some about it. She didn't give a lot of details but said there's a store of food and weapons and that there weren't but a dozen or so people there. He was anxious for more details."

"See?" Merle said smugly, "That's where I can help ol' Philip out. The mouse? She don't know shit about weapons. Now me, I know weapons. I can tell 'im what they got and how many and about their ammo situation. They also got a lot of medical supplies, medicines, IV's an' such, along with some potentially really fun stuff, if you catch my drift."

Daryl seethed inside as he continued to stare out the window. His brother was betraying him and the rest of the group and it infuriated him. He wasn't sure if the heat he felt radiating from his body was from his red hot anger at Merle or a fever or a combination of the two.

Martinez chuckled. "Now that could be interesting. I don't know if the woman, what was her name? Carrie or somethin'? Anyway, I don't know if she mentioned anything about meds, just that there's food and weapons there. You shoulda seen it, Merle; the governor cozied right up to her good and quick, set her up in the other side of the duplex Karen and Jonah live in and started paying all sorts of attention to her. Milton told me that she said she had some friends back at the place that she's hopin' will be able to join her in Woodbury."

Merle snorted. "Yeah, I suppose they could join her, if her hobbies include keepin' fish tanks and she's got enough shelf space."

Martinez grinned. "This is true." He paused for a moment as if he was deep in thought and then he said, 'You know, I've always liked you Merle, but I gotta be honest with you. When you went AWOL, I sort of stepped up in rank. Took your place. I'm not so sure I want to be steppin' down." He glanced over at Merle. "Just givin' you a head's up is all."

Merle shrugged. "I get it. Can't blame ya, really. Maybe ol' Phillip will let us settle it in the arena. Bet we could pack in quite the crowd."

Martinez chuckled. "Really? You'd be on board with that? I kinda like that idea. You know I came awful close to beating you last time we were matched up in there."

"Yes, my friend, you did." Merle admitted, "But close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades."

"And our matches were crowd favorites." Martinez said, already thinking of how to approach the governor with the idea of a match in the arena with Merle. He and Merle were Woodbury's arena favorites and like Merle he enjoyed the attention showered upon him when he was in the arena.

Merle turned and looked at Daryl who still had his eyes glued to the window. "So whadaya think, Darleena? You think I could take this here spic in a fight?"

Daryl turned his head and shot Merle a look that at first caught Merle off guard and then quickly infuriated him. The expression on Daryl's face was one of contempt and disgust, as though Merle was a piece of extremely vile smelling garbage that he had just happened to catch wind of.

"Wipe that uppity, snotty look offa your face!" Merle demanded angrily. "Afore I wipe it off for ya! Who the fuck do you think you are, Darleena? You're lookin' at me like you think you're better 'n me or somethin'. "

Daryl snorted. "I don't think I'm better n' you, Merle." he said. He gave Merle a dismissive eye roll and turned his attention back to the window.

Merle nodded, satisfied. "You better not." he said as he turned back to face forward.

"I know damned well I am." Daryl finished. "You're nothin' but a worthless, self-centered, dim-witted jackass."

Merle controlled the overwhelming urge to clobber his younger brother as he jerked his head back around in Daryl's direction. "You best watch what you're sayin' and start showin' some respect, boy!" he warned.

"You don't deserve no respect!" Daryl snapped. "You're an empty-headed loudmouthed ass kisser and I'm ashamed to call you my brother! You fuckin' disgust me."

Merle saw red. "Why you..." he sputtered as he turned to launch himself into the back seat.

Daryl closed his eyes and braced himself for his punishment. There was no way in hell that Merle was going to let him get away with saying something like that.

"You boys shut the hell up, both of you!" Martinez shouted as he firmly gripped the steering wheel with his left hand and with his right grabbed Merle's shoulder and pulled him back into his seat.

"Merle, what the hell, you want us to go off the road?" he scolded. "And you," he said quickly turning his head to glance at Daryl before turning back to watch the road. "You just shut that mouth of yours or I'll have Shumpert pull over and I'll throw you in the truck cab with Dave and his guys. I have it on good authority that the cap leaks so I'm sure they're cold and wet as all hell."

"Yeah? Well fuck you!" Daryl spat. "Stupid ass kissin' wetback!"

Martinez scowled and slammed on the brakes, throwing both Merle and Daryl forward in their seats. He'd had enough of Daryl's mouth.


Evening appeared to come early as the rain continued and Glenn and Rick drove slowly up Forest Lake Road. Both men studied the darkening woods on both sides of the road as they drove. The forest's tree canopy cast dark shadows across the forest floor, hiding the paths and areas between the trees impenetrable darkness. Rick flipped on the F150's headlights as they continued up the road.

They drove past the turnoff to Forest Lake's camping area and in a few seconds Rick hit the brakes when the F150's headlight beams fell on Merle's truck where it was parked facing a large fallen tree blocking the road.

Rick stopped the truck and killed the engine. He reached for the flashlight he'd placed on the console next to him and quietly stepped out of the truck. He slowly swept the beam through the woods next to the road, pausing to let the beam of light rest on one body, then another and another. More came into view as he moved the flashlight beam in an arc. A couple of them were severely burned and Rick found himself mentally assessing the height and build of the bodies in order to rule out that they had been anyone he knew.

Glenn walked around the front of the truck and stood next to Rick. He squinted to see the two bodies that were illuminated by Rick's flashlight and added his own flashlight's beam to help light the grisly scene.

One body was on the ground on its back, unseeing eyes wide opened, frozen in the moment of horror when death was dealt. Its mouth was agape with a now silent scream. The teeth of the body lying on top of it were buried in his neck and a large piece of flesh hung by strips of muscle and skin where it had been partially ripped away from the screamer's neck. The walker was partially burned and when Glenn held his flashlight still in just the right place, he could see that both walker and victim sported matching holes in their heads.

Glenn looked over at Rick and Rick nodded towards Merle's truck. "Let's take a look." Rick said quietly.

Rick continued to scan the ground to the left and right with his flashlight as he and Glenn slowly approached the rear of Merle's truck. He motioned for Glenn to move toward the passenger side of the truck as me moved left toward the driver's side.

Their flashlight beams moved away from and then back to the truck as they got closer to it. Glenn looked over at Rick nervously and licked his lips as he brought up his Glock and held it at the ready as he continued to scan the area around him with his flashlight. They both reached opposite sides of the truck bed at the same time and then moved down the sides of the truck towards the doors. Glenn stopped in his tracks as his flashlight beam illuminated something on the ground near the passenger door.

"Shit!" he said aloud as Rick shined his flashlight into the truck's rear driver's side window.

"Shit is right." Rick said as he stared through the window and then tried the door to see if it was locked. It wasn't. Rick reached into the back seat of the truck and grabbed something off it and then backed up and stood. He held up Daryl's gun belt with both Rugers tucked into their holsters for Glenn to see just as Glenn straightened up holding Daryl's broken crossbow for Rick to see.

"Help me search the truck." Rick said and he opened the driver's side front door. Merle's bayonet fixture was lying across the driver's seat. Rick explored the front seats and floors of the truck cab with his flashlight as Glenn did the same with the back seat. There were clumps of wet mud and pine needles on the floor at the base of both front seats and more mud, leaves and pine needles at the base of the rear passenger seats as well.

Glenn bent and looked closer at the mixture of mud and leaves and what were those things? Small rocks? He reached down onto the dirty floor in front of the rear passenger seat and picked one of them up. It was a pistachio nut shell. He looked on the floor and noticed several of them scattered among the mud, leaves and dirt.

Rick ran his flashlight along the floor and the seats in the front of the truck. There were no signs of a struggle and no blood stains that he could see.

"I know what happened." Glenn said suddenly as he looked at the nut shell in his hand. He looked up and his eyes met Rick's. "I know what happened, Rick." He held the pistachio shell out to Rick and Rick took it from him and examined it.

Rick raised an eyebrow.

"There's a whole bunch of those shells on the floor back here behind the passenger seat. Someone was eating them while he was hiding in the truck and waiting for Merle and Daryl to show up. He must have recognized Merle's truck so it was probably someone from Woodbury. When Merle and Daryl showed up, the guy who'd been waiting for them surprised them and got the upper hand."

Rick scrunched up his face in a look of disbelief as he furrowed his brow. "Seriously? You think that someone could get the jump on Merle and Daryl? Both of them? Together? I don't know, Glenn….."

"Maybe it was more than one guy. Maybe it was a whole bunch of them and they had the truck surrounded. We both know Daryl hasn't recovered from his injuries yet and that Merle would do anything to keep him safe." Glenn explained. "Daryl's crossbow is damaged, but he always has it on him and he'd never leave his guns here like this."

Rick thought about that for a minute. "You really think they were captured?" he asked Glenn.

Glenn met Rick's eyes. "Yeah. I'm almost sure of it. Unless they're walkers and we overlooked…"

"No, I'm sure they're not walkers." Rick said adamantly, partly to convince himself that what he said was true. If he said it out loud and to Glenn, it had to be true, right? And none of the walkers or the dead they'd spotted had been Daryl or Merle.

"So now what? Glenn asked.

Rick thought for a moment. Should they just continue on and try to catch up with Merle and Daryl and their captors? Or should they go back to the house and regroup and then come up with a plan?

"Let's get back to the house and talk with the others and come up with a plan." Rick said. He slung Daryl's gun belt with the Rugers over his shoulder and Glenn carried Merle's bayonet attachment and Daryl's broken Horton Scout back to their truck.


Daryl dug in his heels and Martinez, Rodriguez and Shumpert dragged and shoved him along through the rain towards the back of the truck Shumpert had been driving. The sun was sinking in the west and the dark clouds and the rain had made the sky darker than it usually was at this time in the evening.

They reached the back of the truck and Shumpert turned the latch on the F350 cap's rear window and flipped it outward to open it. He then lowered the tailgate and Daryl thrashed and kicked as he was unceremoniously lifted off the ground by the three men and shoved into the covered truck bed. He hit the metal bed face first and struggled to roll over onto his back so he wouldn't be lying on his cuffed hands. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was cold and wet in the truck bed, even though there was a cap on it. The tailgate was slammed and the cap's window secured but not before Martinez yelled at him, "If you'd kept your mouth shut, you idiot, you coulda stayed in the back seat!"

This amused and infuriated Daryl at the same time. Was Martinez saying this to absolve himself of any blame for the situation Daryl now found himself in or as a warning or both?

"Who the hell are you?" a voice snarled from behind him.

"The fuckin' Pope." Daryl snapped.

He was rewarded for his smart mouth with a solid kick in his left knee. "Asshole," the voice said.

Daryl bit his lower lip but didn't say anything in response. He heard the truck start and soon he was bumping and banging and bouncing around on the wet floor of the truck bed.

"I got 'em off, Dave." a voice said.

"So have I" said another one.

"Are you armed?" another voice asked.

Daryl remained silent and listened to the murmuring and quiet conversation going on around him. He heard the sound of metal chains clinking and rattling and then a clicking noise.

"Here, hold still Vince and I'll get those cuffs off of you." another voice said.

Daryl fought the urge to say something and continued to listen. It sounded like these guys were all familiar with each other and he had no idea who any of them were. Daryl winced as his body bumped and banged against the metal floor of the truck bed as the truck bumped and bounced over the uneven roadway. His cuffed hands rested on his stomach and he felt like he had been handcuffed and bound and then thrown on a rollercoaster.

The men around him appeared to have found a key or something enabling them to remove their shackles and they were assisting each other in gaining their freedom. No one approached him or offered to free him and he decided to stay quiet. He didn't know these guys and he had a sneaking suspicion that he didn't want to.

"The gun bag" a voice said. "The one right at the head of the truck bed in the driver's side corner." A voice said. "Is it still there and if so, what's in it?"

Daryl heard someone scramble across the bed of the truck as it bounced over more bumps and potholes in the roadway.

"Holy shit." a voice exclaimed. "It's here. Looks like a lot of Glock police issue 1911 pistols."

"Are they loaded?" the first voice asked.

The sound of a pistol slide being pulled back and then reset was followed by an affirmative answer. "Hell yeah, loaded and ready to go, Dave."

"Things are looking up, boys." the once called Dave said. "Chuck, pass them out, if there's enough of 'em give everyone two. These pricks are taking us into Woodbury to that asshole governor of theirs. They think they've got us now but the minute we pass through their gates and get into the town, we're gonna give them all one helluva surprise."

The other men all murmured in agreement. A light came on, apparently from a small LED flashlight and Daryl listed as the men all muttered and mumbled to one another amidst the sound of magazines being checked and rounds being chambered.

"What about him?" a voice said and Daryl felt someone jab him in the leg with a foot.

"Who the hell is he?" Dave's voice replied.

Daryl didn't speak and didn't move. If this was part of the group Randall had been with, and he was pretty sure it was, he decided he was best off playing 'possum and not drawing any attention to himself.

"Hey…you!" a voice said and the foot hit his leg a bit harder.

Daryl didn't say a word.

"Never mind him," Dave said. "He's no one to us and it doesn't look like he's gonna bother us an if he tries to, we're covered so just leave him be. We just need to sit tight now until we get into town, then we all jump out of here and start shooting. Take out whoever you can. I don't care who it is. Men, women, children; the idea is to paralyze the town with fear, so be ruthless, take out as many as possible and then head for the closest building for shelter and regrouping. Are we all clear on this?"

There was a quiet chorus of affirmative answers. After fifteen more minutes of bumpy travel the truck slowed down and came to a stop. There was a rap on the window between the truck cap and the front cab and Shumpert announced through the glass, "Guess what, you bastards? We're here and very soon you'll be meeting your worst nightmare. Our governor. I hope you're ready to meet your makers."

Dave chuckled and quietly said so just he and those huddled in the cold, wet truck bed could hear, "and I hope you're ready to meet yours."