Disclaimer- I do not own the Walking Dead

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Danny's POV

I tap Riley's back until he lets out a burp followed by a little bit of sick.

"That seems nice", Merle is leaning with his elbows on the table behind him and his legs are stretched out in front of him. "Wouldn't mind ya doin' that for me after I've eaten. Might help with the indigestion". He places his hand against the bottom of his ribs and taps his fingers.

"If you didn't shovel the food down your throat you probably wouldn't get it."

He shrugs one shoulder, "If I don't do it then you or Sophia will end up takin' it. S'only way I can eat my own food".

I bite the inside of my bottom lip. "You would bite my hand off if I tried to take any of your food".

He sits up straight, "Are you makin' fun of that fact that I only 'ave one hand, 'cause that ain't cool squirt".

"I wasn't actually".

One of the new people, Trevor I think his name was, walks out of the room meaning it's just Merle and I left. This is my time to finally apologise for snapping at him when Daryl cut his arm. We've been back from the hospital for three days now but I've never been able to catch him by himself and this isn't something I wanted to do with an audience; because I wanted him to know I was serious.

"Merle, I…."

He stands up, any humour gone from his expression. "Danny, I know what you're gonna say and I don't want ya to".

Huh, "But".

"I've seen you castin' looks at me for the last few days, I knew that look. It's an `I want to apologise` look. I don't need you to apologise 'cause I was the one in the wrong."

I shake my head, "No, I was a bitch when all you did was make a joke. I overstepped for something that wasn't even that serious".

"I don't give a shit, you were doin' it for the sake of my brother. He has someone who's willin' to protect him at any cost and that's all I want for him, even if it means you bein' a bitch to me sometimes".

"I would do it for you too", I tell him with a soft smile.

He purses his lips and bobs his head a little. "You better".

"I promise". And I do. "I'm sorry".

He curls one side of his lip in a fake snarl. "I don't accept, Now give me baby Dixon and get out of here".

I hand Riley over to Merle, as soon as he has him he turns away from me and starts talking in a little baby voice.

Well, I can see when I'm no longer needed so I head outside to look for Daryl.

I find all of them gathered over by the outer fence. Daryl had gathered near enough everyone about an hour ago because there were Walkers gathering along the fence, but instead of spreading out they were gathering in a huddle so it was decided that we would get rid of them. So far they've put all of them down, now it's time to get rid of the bodies. We don't really want to leave them out there rotting.

Seeing as we're now missing our truck we don't actually have a vehicle to move them in, the boots of the cars aren't really big enough, nor do we want the inside of them smelling. The obvious solution would be to go out and find another truck or a trailer but we're still dubious about going out. Tyreese and Sasha said Woodbury was in turmoil, chaos, it's still too dangerous for us to take the risk of going out so freely.

All this means someone has to go out, even though we shouldn't, and I don't even have to wonder who's going to volunteer.

Daryl spots me coming towards them and immediately comes over to me. "Glenn and I are…"

"Going out". I finish for him. I grab the front of his vest. "Be careful."

"Always am. We'll be back before you know it".

"Have you seen Josh?" I turn at Karen's voice breaking through the silence.

I shake my head at her as I continue to sharpen my knife. "I haven't, no".

"We can't find him anywhere, nobody has seen him for ages".

I finally look at her properly. She looks stressed and a little panicked. "I'm sure he's around here somewhere. You sure you've checked everywhere?"

"I have, I've checked the towers, the cells. Every nook and cranny that I can. He's not here".

I stand up, "Okay, well let's not panic. We can try the tombs". However there shouldn't be any way for him to get in them as only Daryl and Merle have the keys.

I find Merle walking around the courtyard still holding Riley. He hasn't put him down since he took him from me this morning.

"Have you seen Josh?" Merle doesn't look at me. "Merle!" His head snaps up. "Have you seen Josh?"

He pulls his eyebrows down in what looks like confusion. "Who?"

Karen steps past me. "Josh. About this high, Black hair, stocky, has a beard".

"Ooh, the fat one".

"Merle!" I reprimand him.

"No, I ain't seen him". He ignores me. "He went into C block about an hour ago. Ain't seen him since".

"Thank you" Karen says to him before speed walking over to C block. I follow after her. She slides open the door and calls out for him but my attention is immediately drawn to the open cell door that leads into the tombs. Who opened the door for him?

As soon as Karen sees the open door she hurries over to it, "Karen, don't". But I'm too late. She runs through the doorway and disappears into the darkness.

I run after her, grabbing one of the torches that's sitting on one of the tables. I push the cell gate closed behind me, it's not locked but at least it's closed. Nothing can come out of here unless they possess the ability to open doors. I shine my torch around and just catch the back of Karen as she walks around a corner.

I groan and pull out my bat. I've managed to avoid coming in here since we got here. Dark places with no natural light scare me, and this is worse than any place we've ever been before.

"Karen!" I round the corner and accidentally let out a little muffled squeal, Karen stands right before me with her hands on hips waiting for me. "Jeez… We shouldn't be in here without back up".

"I heard Merle mention that they've cleared this place out".

"Yeah but we've done that before and Tyreese and Sasha still managed to get in with a load of Walkers. It doesn't stay clear".

"Even more of a reason to look for him. He looks like he's tough but he's always been someone that needs protection. He's not as brave as he looks." She then starts walking again, I don't want to follow her but I can't let her be in here alone, she's not armed.

We turn another corner and I start to get the feeling we won't be able to find our way back. "That door was locked. He deliberately opened it and came in here. Why?"

"I don't know."

"By doing this he's put people's lives at risk, you understand that right. That door was open which means the safety of others wasn't on his mind."

"What are you trying to say". She doesn't stop walking but she does throw me an incredulous look.

"I'm not trying to say anything". I don't think. "I just need to know what he's thinking. How well do you actually know him".

We continue walking in silence checking every nook and cranny. It takes her a while before she actually decides to answer. "I didn't really know him that well, I never really crossed paths with him back at Woodbury, it wasn't until we were leaving that I spoke to him. But he seemed okay, like he kept himself to himself. He really wanted out of there, said the unrest was unsettling."

So she doesn't know him but she believes he's a good person so maybe he just got curious about what was in here. I mean I never was but it doesn't mean some people aren't.

"If we want to find him then we need to go back and get someone that knows their way around here. I've never stepped foot in here and couldn't even tell you if we were going round in circles". Merle will help, he'd make some remark about the guy getting what he deserved for going into somewhere that wasn't safe but he'd still help. "Please come back with me."

Karen finally stops walking and looks at me, her shoulders sag as she lets out a defeated sigh.

"Okay".

"Thank you".

"What the fuck were you two doin' in there?" Merle stands in the middle of the C blocks rec area as we step out of the tombs. "And how the fuck did you get in there?"

I put the torch back onto the table. "The door was open when we came in here. We think Josh is inside somewhere, we need you to go in and help find him. I'd get lost".

"If he's stupid enough to go in there by himself, without a weapon, then he probably should stay in there. Ain't room for that kind of stupidity in this group." I knew he'd say something like that, definitely called it.

"Please, he could just be lost but we can't just leave him in there without knowing".

Karen moves forward and glasps her hands in front of her. "Please".

Merle sighs, "Fine, but you stay here". Karen's back goes stiff but Merle carries on. "I ain't going in there if you come with me".

I can tell she doesn't like it but she relents and agrees, it's her only option really.

Merle nods at the torch I've put down. "Grab that and come on."

I don't move. "No, I'm not coming with".

He scoffs with a little chuckle added on the end. "Yeah you are".

"What about Riley"

"Riley's asleep and Carol's watching him. We won't be gone long enough for him to miss you. Now pick up the torch".

He keeps eye contact with me, his check twitches ever so slightly and I know right then that he has something to say to me, something he doesn't want to say in front of a stranger. So I pick up the torch.

Merle closes and locks the gate behind us meaning no-one can follow after us. He has both sets of keys, Daryl gave him his before leaving with Glenn.

When we're far enough away from the doorway Merle casts a quick glance at me over his shoulder.

"You think he just came in here out of curiosity?"

"I don't know, maybe".

"He picked the lock. Meaning he desperately wanted to get in here. He's been eyeing up Me, Daryl and Glenn since he got here. I think he was sizin' us up, like we were the ones he needed to work out".

"Why didn't you say anything?" Why didn't Daryl tell me?

"We thought he was just worried about us, thought we were the dangerous ones; But now he's broken into this place where he knew he shouldn't be, that doesn't seem suspicious to you?"

I shrug, "I guess it does".

We round the corner and then my torch lands on a Walker that's lying on the floor. It's head bashed in.

Merle crouches down next to it. "And he has a weapon, which means he's stolen too".

Merle taps the door in front of him, "this door takes us to the damaged part of the prison. Go through here and you can get outside. We've checked everywhere inside, this is the only place he could have gone".

"So he's gone, he left his people here". Great, that can only mean one of two things. He didn't feel safe here and left or he conned us and he's on his way back to Woodbury. "What do we do?"

"We go back. We gotta find out who this fucker is".