Whoever my lovely guests were that reviews, you are the best! Seriously, reviews are my favorite things in the world. This is the chapter where shit starts to go nuts. I really hope you like this chapter, cuz I do to.

Please enjoy- Olivia

Daryl POV

"If only I don't suffocate, I'll meet you in the morning when you wait." Bend and Break, Keane

The day had started off so well. Hershel had finally knocked that chip off of his shoulder. Rick and I had finally made a plan to let Randall go. The others were moving everything into the house, trying to beat the cold of winter. It was creeping up fast. Soon, it will be here, before we can do anything about it. It would sneak up on us and pounce, ready to kill. But we weren't going to let that happen. Finally, things were starting to look up for our group.

But thenthings went downhill. Fast.

And that's how Glenn and I wound up here, in the middle of the woods, hunting Randall down. Somehow he had gotten free and attacked Shane, and then fled into the woods. The cops had gone one way, and Glenn and I had gone the other.

I was following a trail of footprints, one group belonging to Randall, one to Shane. They led from the barn out into the woods, almost past the creek. I stooped down to examine the shoe print, and saw a small bit of liquid on the ground. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was a deep red color. Blood.

"We got blood here Glenn." I said, showing him the small spot. "Must've hurt his leg or something."

"Whose prints are those?" He asked, getting closer to me.

"Randall's." I nodded firmly. The kid's feet were at least three sizes smaller than Shane's, so we knew that the smaller ones belonged to Randall. "Let's keep goin'. It's gettin' dark." I stood up, wiping the blood off of my fingers and onto my pants leg. We took off after the trail, with me leading the way, and Glenn keeping a lookout. The trail lead a lot further out than I had been expecting. Shane had said that Randall had jumped him before he could get too far. How far was too far?

The footprints came to a halt in a small clearing about a mile from the farm.

"This must be where Randall got him." I said, looking around, "The leaves over there are crushed and the grass is bent. Probably where Shane fell." Glenn nodded in agreement and went around the side of the clearing, careful to make sure he didn't disturb any evidence.

"Daryl…" he said slowly, coming to a halt beside a tree on the opposite side of the clearing.

"Yeah?" I grunted, looking up at him.

"I found prints." He said quietly, staring intently at the prints that were on the ground in front of him. "He must have gone this way." He pointed north, where the footsteps were going.

Carefully, I circled the clearing, just as Glenn had done. I came to a stop next to him, s we were on both side of the prints. "Yeah, these are footprints alright. And they lead that way. Probably holed up arou-wait a minute." I stopped myself, not wanting to move or breathe, in fear that my mind was playing tricks on me. I inspected the footprints more closely. The grooves, they matched a similar pair that I had, and the size of the shoe. They were larger than my feet were.

"What is it?" Glenn looked even closer at the trail.

"These aren't Randall's prints." I said quietly.

Glenn furrowed his brow, looking up at me. "What do you mean? These have to be his prints. Shane fell over there and then Randall went over here." HIs words were slow, like he was trying to do a mental math problem, trying to map it out in his brain.

I looked around a little more, and something caught my eye. Quickly, I jumped over to the tree that Glenn was standing beside. Tentatively, I reached out my hand and brushed the tree trunk, running my fingers over the mark which had caught my eye. It was a large circular mark on the side of the trunk, about 6 feet up, a was streaked with a shiny liquid. When my hand reached that part, I pulled it away,, looking at my fingers as I saw the red liquid that now coated my hand.

"Is that blood?" Glenn hissed, coming to stand by me.

I nodded, still examining my fingers. Why was there blood, human blood, on this tree?

"Looks like someone got their head bashed." He noticed.

"Huh." I grunted, still entranced.

"Well that would explain Shane's- Look out!" Glenn yelled. My head shot up, and I followed his eyes. But I didn't need to at this point. I could hear it coming, noisily crunching each leaf under its staggering feet. Without looking, I pulled my bow out and loaded an arrow, an action that was just as second nature as ducking from a blow. I lifted the bow up and aimed it right at the walker's skull.

Wait.

Wait a minute.

"Is that Randall?" I hissed, lowering my weapon.

"Yeah. I-I think it is." Glenn said lowly, peering at the walker. We stared at it for so long that we didn't realize just how close it was to us. Quickly, I let my arrow fly, hitting the walker square in the forehead.

As soon as he went down Glenn and I ran towards him, falling to our knees. I grabbed his head and turned it towards me, examining his head.

"Glenn." I grunted.

"Hmm?" He murmured, looking at the rest of the body.

"Glenn, there's no initial wound."

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking towards the head.

"I mean, my arrow was the first head wound." I explained. "He died, but there wasn't a gunshot."

"Well, someone must have found him wandering in the woods and killed him. He probably attacked them or something. Then a walker must have but him." Glenn was once again trying to use logic and reason, but my mind had already gone somewhere else.

I examined his body, trying to determine a cause of death. There were no bites or scratches. No gunshots, no stab wounds, no arrows, except for mine, no signs of a scuffle. Then my eyes landed on his neck. It was marked with two giant red handprints, a snapped neck. Someone had snapped his neck.

"Someone broke his neck." I said, showing the marks to Glenn. He nodded in understanding.

"Who then? Does that mean that someone else is in the woods?"

I held my silence, examine the marks. The handprints large, but the break was clean and precise.

"Maybe it wa-"

And then it all came together. The footprints, the blood, the mark on the tree, and area of crushed grass, the wound, Walker Randall. It all made sense now, a perfect picture. Unfortunately, the picture was not one that I had wanted to see.

"Shane." I muttered.

"What?" Glenn asked.

"Shane. He did this. He brought Randall out here, snapped his neck, hit his head against the tree to make it look like a fight, and then ran back to get us." When I said it all out loud, I knew that I was right.

"Daryl…." Glenn said quietly, doubting me. Suddenly, a look flashed in his eyes, a look of shock. "Oh my god."

"It was Shane." I nodded, affirming myself.

"But wait, why would he do that? Why would he send us out?" Glenn pondered, the fear audible in his voice.

That was the one piece of the puzzle that hadn't fallen into place. Why had he wanted to send us out? Did he want to distract us? Tire us out? Then it hit me.

Everything Shane ever did was based on his own personal gain. He went out on his own, he didn't look for Sophia. He loved Carl like a son and Lori like she was his wife. He only talked to Nikki when she could help him, and he only talked to Rick when it involved Shane trying to be right. There was only one reason he had done this.

"He wanted to get Rick alone."

And with that we took off running back towards the farm. All I could hear was the blood roaring in my ears and the pounding of my heart. I was moving a s quickly as my legs would let me, and Glenn was hot on my trail.

We came at the house at lightening speed, praying that either Rick and Shane were both here, or still out there. At least then there would still be hope.

"Daryl? Glenn?" It was Hershel's voice. "What is it?" We came to a screeching halt beside the older man.

"Shane." I hissed between heavy breaths. Glenn bent over and put his hands on his knees, steadying himself.

"What about Shane?"

The others began to flood out of the house, walking down the steps to where Hershel was standing. Lori, Carl, Andrea, Maggie, everyone except Nicole, Rick, and Shane.

"What's wrong?" Maggie's voice was thick with concern. She walked over to her boyfriend and put a hand on his back, trying to calm him.

"We found Randall." I said, my jaw clenched.

"You found him?" Lori repeated. "Where?"

"In the woods, about a mile away."

"Only a mile?" She raised an eyebrow. "I thought he would have gone further. Where is he? You put him back in the barn? Because I swear I may go kill him myself!" The woman swore, her hands going to her hips.

"You can't do that." I shook my head.

"And why the hell not?"

"Cause he's already dead." I said.

"You killed him?" Hershel asked.

"No." I shook my head. "We didn't kill him, well, not the first time anyway. We found him as a walker. Someone else had killed him first."

"Who?" Andrea hissed. "Who's in those god damn woods now?"

I shot Glenn a look, and he nodded somberly. I turned towards the rest of them, mentally preparing myself for what I was about to tell them.

"It was Shane."

"What?" Lori screamed, grabbing Carl's shoulder. "How do you- why would you- what?"

And then Glenn and I proceeded to tell them everything, all the clues, the footprints, the blood, the boot prints. Saying out loud just made it come together in my mind. Now there wasn't even a shadow of a doubt in my mind. It had been Shane.

"But- but why would he do that?" Lori cried. "I'm not saying he did, but even if you are telling the truth, why would he do that?"

"To get Rick to go with him, in the woods, alone." I said flatly, looking her in the eyes, my glare hard.

She shook her head. "No. No. Shane wouldn't do a thing like that." It was then that I noticed just how silent everyone else was. They all wore the same look, a look of silent contemplation, which told me that they believed me, even if they didn't want to.

"Well, even if it isn't true, we still need to get them back. Randall's been dealt with." Hershel interjected, stepping between Lori and I. "Perhaps we should go out looking for them.

I nodded. "I'll go out, maybe a few others too, Glenn, Cole. Wait, where is Cole?" I asked.

"She was patrolling over by the field." Carol said quietly. "Keepin watch. She probably just can't hear us all the way over here."

"Well then, I'll go get her, and then we'll head out." I said, turning and walking towards the fence where she was supposed to be. I almost stopped when I heard noises behind me, and I turned my head and saw that everyone was following me. I wanted to protest, but now was not the time for that.

I could see the fence, but I couldn't see her petite frame. "Cole?" I called. "Where are you? We found Randall." Everyone went silent as we waited for a reply, but it never came. The only sound was that of the crickets chirping.

"Nicole?" Maggie yelled. Still no answer.

"Where the hell is she?" Lori groaned. "Probably went off looking. I should have known she would go, just to spite Rick." The woman mumbled under her breath. She was probably right. Cole had obably one off to look for Randall. She didn't really listen to directions very well. I should have known she would have taken her with me. I had to, but Rick had convinced me that it was too dangerous for her. Damn it, why had I let him convince me of that? Something about the idea of Nicole in danger brought out a protective instinct in me.

"Well now there's three people we need to find." Carol remarked. "We may need to go out in-"

"Wait! Who's that?" T called, pointing towards the field. We all turned to see two shadowy figures stumbling through the grass in our directions.

"I think it's Rick and Shane." Andrea said.

"That's definitely Rick." Lori confirmed. "But I don't think that's Shane." As they got closer to us, I knew she was right. The other figure was way too small to be Shane.

"That's Nikki!" Carl called. A lightbulb clicked when we all realized that they were right. That was definitely Nikki. And was she...limping?

They came to us slowly, but surely. Rick had his arm around Nikki, helping to support her. He looked shaken and pale, but he seemed okay. Nicole looked terrible. Her skin was deathly pale and her entire body was trembling. Rick was holding all of her weapons, and her clothes were completely soaked in blood. They stopped in front of us, but Nicole didn't look up at all.

"What the hell happened?" I said, rushing towards them. The others followed me, and we formed a semicircle around them. Lori immediately rushed to Rick's side, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Rick looked like he wanted to speak, but all he did was simply shake his head.

"What is it?" Lori said soothingly, rubbing his shoulder. "Rick you can tell us."

"I know but….." he trailed off, looking down at Nicole. Timidly, she looked up, and my heart instantly broke. Her eyes were glazed, and they were surrounded by a ring of red. Tears streaked her face. Blood was splattered all over her face.

"i went to find Randall." She whispered. We all went silent. Her voice was so small, so broken. For the first time, I finally saw just how small she actually was. She was so frail that I wanted to lock her away forever. "Shane's dead."

We all sucked in a collective breath.

"What?" Lori said quietly.

"He- he attacked me. He wanted to kill me. I stopped him- but, but I didn't mean to kill him. I just wanted to stop him." Rick's voice was trembling. "He must've been scratched already though, cause he turned almost immediately."

"I found them in the field." Nicole cried. "I-I saw his body, and then I saw the knife and then, then, then I saw the walker. And I-I" she was crying so hard now that she couldn't speak. Rick was crying too. Lori pulled him and Carl into a tight hug, leaving Nicole standing alone. She was so small, her body trembling with each breath.

After a moment of watching her suffer, I did something I don't think anyone expected. I stepped forward and pulled her into a hug.