Thanks for the favorites and follows, and thanks to kaybal3 and PaigeTwdSoa for the reviews! Really pushed me to get this next part up!
There will be more Isabell and Daryl moments coming up soon, but I'm trying to keep true to Daryl's character and not rush things.
Glenn stopped the truck along the railroad tracks just outside of the city. He turned the engine off, leaving the keys still in the ignition.
"We'll have to walk from here," he told us through the silence.
"My brother better be okay," Daryl said, his eyes narrowed specifically at T-Dog.
"The only thing getting through that padlocked door is us," T-Dog assured him.
Daryl gave a grunt before getting up and heading to the back of the truck, opening the door before he jumped out. T-Dog sat there a moment as I stood up and stretched. I took a few steps towards the back of the vehicle before I noticed he wasn't following me.
"You coming?" I asked him.
He let out a sigh before standing up, grabbing the bolt cutters next to him. "Yeah, I'm comin'."
We hopped out and started to follow the train tracks into the city, each of us keeping up a brisk jog. After a couple of minutes Glenn ran forward and found a hole in a fence big enough for each of us to slip through. He held it open as Rick went through, followed by T-Dog, myself, Daryl, and then he climbed through himself.
"Merle first or guns?" Rick suddenly asked, turning to Glenn.
"We ain't even having this conversation!" Daryl snapped. "We're getting my brother!"
Rick ignored him, his attention still on Glenn. "You know the city better than any of us."
Glenn thought for a moment before he spoke. "Merle's closest, we'd be doubling back if we went for the guns first."
Daryl seemed pleased that we were going after his brother first and remained quiet. We picked back up running again, Glenn in the lead since he knew how to get us back to the department store where Merle was stuck.
We stumbled upon a few walkers on our way and I mentally cursed myself for not bringing anything but a gun with me. I knew if I fired it, it'd just draw even more of them to us. Daryl ended up being the one who took them out, his crossbow silently knocking the three undead things that had been ambling towards us. I watched as he ran forward, grabbing the arrows from each walker's face and wiping the blood on his pant leg.
"There's another entrance just over here," Glenn told us as he led us down a back alley different than the one Rick and I had gone in yesterday.
We all followed after Glenn into the store but stopped abruptly when we saw a walker ambling inside. Rick held up his hand, ordering everyone to stop moving. Daryl snuck forward just as the thing turned around. He raised the crossbow, and I swear I heard him call the thing an ugly skank before he shot it in the eye. The arrow went so deep through her skull that I saw the point sticking out of the back of her head before she fell. He ran forward and grabbed the arrow out of her head like he had done outside, wiping it on his jeans. I had to admit he was good with his weapon, he must have been using it long before this zombie outbreak. To be honest, I almost felt safer on this trip just because he was there and I knew, or at least hoped, that he had our backs.
"Let's head up to the roof," Rick whispered before leading the way to the stairs.
I could tell Daryl was anxious with the way he nearly sprinted up the steps right on Rick's tail. When I reached the top I saw the door indeed had been chained shut with a padlock. Quickly stepping out of the way beside Daryl, T-Dog rushed forward with the bolt cutters and snapped the lock off the door before ripping the chains off. Not even pausing for a second, Daryl kicked the door open with such force that it flew back on its hinges as he ran through it.
"Merle!" Daryl called out.
I was the last one onto the roof, but that didn't stop me from knowing his brother wasn't there before I'd even passed through the door.
I heard Daryl let out a shout before he dropped down near the pipe his brother had been chained to just yesterday. I joined the other men standing a ways back, watching the scene unfold. He was close to tears, but this time he wasn't even trying to hide it. And that's when I noticed a bloody saw laying on the ground. Next to a hand.
"Oh my God," I whispered, "Did he…?"
Rick nodded his head next to me.
I threw a hand over my eyes and turned away, unable to look. A wave of nausea threatened to overtake me as I continued to hear Daryl's shouts echoing across the rooftop.
It was a few minutes before he became silent, but I could see the muscles twitching in his arms. In one quick sweep his crossbow was trained on T-Dog, the point of the weapon mere inches from his face. Rick quickly pulled his gun out and pointed it right at Daryl's temple.
"I won't hesitate," Rick told Daryl. "I don't care if every walker in the city hears it."
Tension was palpable in the air as Glenn and I watched. Suddenly Daryl started fighting back tears again, blinking hard so they wouldn't escape. For some reason, that moment, I knew Daryl wasn't that type of man to murder someone. No matter how angry.
I stepped towards Rick, placing a hand on the arm holding his gun.
"Rick," I said softly.
Daryl's eyes shifted towards me for a moment, then he lowered his crossbow to his side. T-Dog visibly relaxed.
"Rick," I said again, pushing a little against his arm.
He shot me a sideways glance before lowering his weapon as well.
Daryl glanced back at his brother's hand lying on the ground. He seemed almost entranced by it for a moment.
"Do you have a do-rag or somethin'?" Daryl asked, turning to T-Dog, his voice suddenly devoid of emotion.
Without a word, T-Dog pulled a blue fabric from a pocket on his pants and handed it to Daryl. Daryl set his crossbow down against the metal pipes and unfolded the material. He let out a deep sigh as he knelt down by the hand and picked it up.
"I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuff," Daryl said, his voice still devoid of the anger or sadness that I knew had to be burning in him.
He picked the hand up by the little finger and I bit back a gag as he placed it in the blue bandana. He folded the ends of the fabric neatly before standing up. Spotting the backpack on Glenn's back, he headed over and unzipped a pouch, placing the severed hand inside. Glenn looked like he was turning pale the entire time.
Daryl turned back to the spot covered in blood and eyed it for a moment.
"Must have used a tourniquet, woulda been much more blood if he didn't," he said.
I watched as he grabbed his crossbow started moving along the roof. When I looked closer, I noticed Daryl was following a trail of blood. Rick didn't miss a beat before turning to us and gesturing his head, intending for us to follow Daryl. Glenn and I exchanged looks of morbid disgust before complying.
We followed the trail of blood through what looked like a warehouse, but the front end of the building had offices and a lobby. Two walkers were dead on the ground, fairly fresh blood by their heads.
"Had enough to take out these son 'o bitches," Daryl muttered, eyeing the dead walkers. "One-handed."
Daryl glanced over his shoulder to our group. "Toughest asshole I ever met. Give him a hammer he'd shit out nails."
"Might have still passed out from blood loss," Rick told him, "No matter how tough he is."
At the sight of the walkers, we each drew out our weapons, Rick now leading our way forward through the building. Daryl wasn't far behind him though, eyes darting in every direction.
We made our way into a kitchen, a few portable burners used for keeping food hot still aflame. There was a bloody belt nearby them.
"Must have cauterized the stump," Rick said as he picked up what looked like a grill press.
"Is that…skin?" Glenn asked, nearly choking on the word.
Rick only nodded his head in response before putting the object back.
"Told you he was tough," Daryl said triumphantly. "Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."
"He's still lost a lot of blood," Rick told him.
"Didn't stop him from busting out of this trap," Daryl said as he pointed out a smashed window nearby.
"Why would he leave the building?" Glenn asked in shock.
"Why wouldn't he?" I answered, looking at the broken glass. "He thinks he's out here alone."
"Doin' what he's gotta do to survive," Daryl agreed.
"Passin' out on the streets isn't surviving," T-Dog said.
The anger quickly resurfaced in Daryl. "Better than being handcuffed to a roof by you sorry pricks!" He spun and got in Rick's face. "You couldn't kill him. I ain't worried about some dumb, dead bastard."
"What about a thousand dumb, dead bastards?" Rick asked him.
"Take a tally, do what you want, but I'm gonna go get him," Daryl shot at him before attempting to follow his brother's trail.
"Daryl," Rick said, throwing out a hand on the man's chest to hold him back. "Wait."
Daryl jumped back, furious again. "Get your hands off me!"
Beside me Glenn began trying to shush the two men. "We have to keep quiet!" he whispered, but I was probably the only one who heard him over the argument.
"I don't blame you," Rick said. "He's family, I get it. I went through hell to find mine. I know exactly how you feel. He can't get far with that injury. We can help you check a few blocks around, but only if we keep a level head."
"I can do that," Daryl said, his tone suddenly even.
I was surprised at how sudden his mood changed.
"We should get those guns first," T-Dog said. "It'd be safer to be walking the streets with them."
"We need a plan then," Rick said.
"I have an idea," Glenn offered.
He quickly led us through a few rooms, back towards an office before grabbing a sharpie off the desk. I watched as he started drawing squares on the floor. He grabbed a paperclip and began reciting his plan.
Daryl, Glenn and I were going to be down one end of the alley while Glenn went to retrieve the bag. T-Dog and Rick would be two blocks over ready to cover Glenn in case something went wrong.
"But only Daryl shoots if there's just a few walkers," Glenn said, looking right at me. "The crossbow is quiet, your gun will draw more. Use it only if we get overrun."
I chewed my lip but nodded. It made sense but I didn't feel good about separating.
"We can all meet back here afterwards," Glenn finished.
"Hey kid, what'd you do before all this?" Daryl suddenly asked.
"Delivered pizzas," Glenn answered with a quizzical look. "Why?"
No one answered, though I was surprised when Daryl exchanged a confident look with Rick, clearly on board with the plan.
We split up, Glenn leading both Daryl and I back the way Rick and I had been swarmed just yesterday. I was mentally crossing my fingers in hopes that the herd of walkers wouldn't still be there.
We stopped behind a few dumpsters in an alley I recognized as we spotted a couple of walkers in the road. Daryl loaded his crossbow and aimed at a walker.
"Got some balls for a Chinaman," he said to Glenn.
Sounding a little annoyed, Glenn answered back, "I'm Korean."
"Whatever," Daryl brushed off.
I held my gun ready, feeling my heart start pounding against my rib cage as Glenn sprinted down the street towards the duffle bag Rick had dropped. The sudden movement of Daryl stand up and whipping his crossbow around caught my attention. The voice that shouted next caused me to jump and turn.
"Don't shoot me!" a kid who looked about 17 exclaimed. "What do you want?!"
"Lookin' for my brother, he's hurt real bad, ya seen him?" Daryl asked, his weapon pointed at the kid's head.
"Ayudame!" the kid shouted.
"Daryl!" I hissed.
"Shut up, you're gonna bring the geeks down on us," Daryl growled at the kid.
"Ayudame!" the kid shouted for help again.
Daryl quickly hit the kid upside the head with the back of his crossbow, causing him to fall and momentarily stop shouting. Two big men suddenly ran down the alley past where I had been behind the dumpster and kicked Daryl off of the boy. One had a baseball bat and swung it down on him.
I jumped out the moment Glenn rounded the corner, eyes wide.
"Stop!" I shouted at the men, my gun shakily pointed at the one with the bat.
Both men stopped and turned. They spotted Glenn with the bag of guns and charged forward, the larger of the two knocking my gun from my hands in my hesitation while the one with the bat hit Glenn. Both of us toppled over and I heard Daryl shout from farther down the alley.
The larger man was lifting me roughly by the arm, nearly cutting off the circulation and causing me to scream out in pain.
"Daryl!" Glenn shouted.
An arrow suddenly flew across the alley and hit the man grabbing me, but I couldn't see where it had struck him as he yelled out in pain.
"Daryl!" Glenn shouted again as a car pulled up beside us.
I struggled against the large man still holding onto me as I saw the one with the bat shove Glenn into the vehicle. Frustrated with my struggling, the man holding me slammed a fist upside my head.
I didn't black out, though my vision went blurry and I stopped fighting my captor. I felt myself shoved onto what I assumed was the backseat of the car and I heard the door slam before the car sped away.