A/N All characters belong to the writers and creators of The Walking Dead. Except those that arose from my own twisted imagination.

I'm stealing a bit from the Season 4 trailer here but the rest is all mine.

Thank you to everyone for your reviews, love and words of encouragement. I too am glad that my TWD muse came back to me after a few months hiatus. Let's just see how long she wants to stay this time. =)

Chapter 27-The Coming Storm

The road hadn't been too clogged with walkers and Daryl made pretty good time to the highway. Michonne was quiet, her eyes focused on the road ahead. It was hot and humid and over the past hour, clouds had started to thicken up overhead, darkening further ahead on the horizon.

"Storm's comin'." Michonne said. As Daryl looked, he saw a bolt of lightning streak down from the clouds and touch down somewhere a few miles down the road.

"Yeah. Looks like a big one too." He glanced over at her. "What are you thinkin'?" Michonne shrugged.

"We need the rain. Wish we could call Rick and tell him to put the barrels out to collect the rain water." Daryl turned on the windshield wipers as the sky opened up above them.

"I think they'll figure it out pretty soon. It's movin' fast." Another bolt of lightning shot down ahead and Daryl frowned as he saw the trees whipping in the wind. The car shook as the wind hit it and Daryl just barely kept the car from hydroplaning. "Damn. Hope this is as bad as it gets. We're screwed if a tornado gets goin'." He could just make out the signs of Barnesville he remembered from the last time they were here. "There it is." He slowed as they passed the Walgreens. Once again, there were no signs of walkers or survivors. Michonne nodded to the Walgreens.

"Did you hit up that place?" Daryl shook his head.

"Nah. We just went to the grocery store over there. We didn't get that far into town. Dani wasn't that familiar with it. Her ex-husband was a doctor and came down here to run some clinic." Daryl pulled into the parking lot of the store and stopped right by the front door, which was open.

"Shit. It wasn't like that last time." They quickly got out of the car and into the pouring rain. They walked to the front of the store and Michonne cupped her hands around her face to look in the window.

"I can't see anything." Daryl frowned and looked around the empty parking lot.

"Get back." Michonne backed away from the window, pushing Jeremy behind her. Daryl leaned back against the window and banged his fist against the glass, the sound echoing like gunshots across the quiet parking lot. He moved away from the glass and held his loaded crossbow at the ready. Overhead, a clap of thunder boomed and a walker appeared in the window of the store. It was pressed up against the glass, it's teeth snapping. Daryl looked over at Michonne, a half smile on his lips. She raised her eyebrows, impressed. She stepped back and motioned towards the front door.

"After you."

"You're all set." Christa said, applying the last bandage to Andrea's ankle. "Best I can do given the circumstances. It should hold until we get out of here." Andrea stared at her.

"We? What do you mean 'we'?" Christa got to her feet and looked out the door. Seeing that it was safe, she returned to Andrea and kept her voice low.

"Caesar and I are getting you out of here. We're leaving. After you left, the Governor killed Milton, left Caesar there to clean up the body. He told me what happened with the prison." Andrea drew in a sharp breath.

"What happened at the prison?" Christa shook her head.

"Caesar wasn't there so I don't know exactly. He refused to go. His only concern is taking care of the people of Woodbury. But you know those two guys from his group, Willie and Jasper?" Andrea nodded. "The Governor had them go and they told Caesar all about it. They killed at least two people, maybe three or four. And Cash, Tripp and two of the kids went around back where the fence was down and broke in. Who knows how many they got, if they didn't get killed themselves." Andrea felt all the blood drain from her face.

"Who got killed? Do they know?" Christa shook her head.

"They didn't say. But it really shook Caesar up, especially when he talked to Karen about it and she was all for it. She was pissed that the Governor wouldn't let her go. So, when you escaped this time and then got your ass hauled back in here, Caesar figured out this plan."

"And just what kind of plan is that?" asked Andrea, still stunned at the revelation that some of her friends could be dead just moments after she left them. Christa started to speak when Martinez came back into the room.

"We're getting out. Tonight. Then we're gonna go to that prison and make sure they're ready for what's coming." Andrea looked from Martinez to Christa.

"And what exactly is coming?" Martinez narrowed his eyes.

"World War Three Blondie. In the next few weeks, it's gonna be fucking Armageddon over there." He smirked at her surprise. "What, you didn't think ol' Philip wouldn't use that arsenal he's been storing up here? He's got more than guns. He's taken out three military camps so far. He's got so much firepower stored in these buildings, it could easily level the prison. He just can't find enough guys who know how to use it all, but they're learning and fast." Andrea squeezed her eyes shut.

"I guess I was just hoping that he'd back off the prison and just let them be once he had me back here." Martinez laughed.

"Bitch, what fucking show have you been watching? Those people are the prison? They're as good as dead if we don't warn them so let's get the hell out of here."

Carol climbed the stairs to the second tier where Danielle stood, staring out the window at the darkening sky.

"He's gonna come back." Dani nodded in agreement.

"I know." Carol stood quietly by her.

"There was a time I wished Daryl would look at me the way he looks at you. A long time ago, it seems." Dani looked over at Carol, a small smile playing on the other woman's lips. "I knew it wouldn't happen but still, I hoped he would." Carol looked over at Dani and met her eyes. "But you had him wrapped around your finger the second he saved you in that field. You know that right?" Dani shook her head.

"No. He hated me then." Carol shook her head slightly and turned back to the window.

"He didn't hate you. He's never hated you. He hated Merle, he hated his father and he hates himself but he loves you. He may never say it out loud but you can tell. He loves strong women. He admires Maggie, was fond of Andrea and has absolute respect for Michonne and Sasha. Even Beth, he treats her like his baby sister and she's come along so far so fast, I know he's proud of her. I was never that strong. He always had to protect me, save me from myself." Carol looked down at her hands and then back to Dani. "I've gotten stronger but it's not enough. I would always hold him back and he knows it. You," she smiled through her tears. "Dani, you will always have his back, in every way. Daryl knows that. Oh he'll protect you with his last breath but he knows that you can do the same for him." Carol patted Dani's hand and turned to head back downstairs. "I just wanted you to know that." Dani smiled at Carol and looked back out the window.

"Thanks." She bit her lip and looked down. The whole cellblock was quiet as everyone waited for Daryl, Michonne and Jeremy to get back. In the distance, Dani saw a bolt of lightning. A couple of minutes later, the distant thunder rumbled and the rain began. She could see the clouds moving in were getting darker and that scared her a bit. She spent seventeen years of her life in fear of the weather. Fear of a storm that could trap you in the swamp, fear of hearing the hurricane warnings, of the couple of times her family had decided that a particular storm had gotten too chancy and they had to wait it out in the storm cellar. She didn't want to think about Daryl having to negotiate rain slicked, walker packed roads.

As the rain cleaned the dust from the windows, Dani saw the headlights of a strange truck coming up the drive. She began calling for Rick and Tyreese.

"God dammit you little shit!" Daryl grabbed Jeremy's shoulder, yanked him back and fired at the walker in one movement. The arrow pierced the walker's eye and it dropped. Daryl turned on Jeremy. "Shoot or get out of the fucking way!" Jeremy's eyes were wide and his face pale. His hands were shaking bad. Michonne looked at him with disgust.

"He shouldn't be here Daryl. The kid doesn't know what he's doing." She took Jeremy's gun from him. "He shouldn't even be carrying. He couldn't have shot that walker if he'd tried. The safety's on." Daryl shook his head and glared at the kid.

"What the hell they teach y'all in Woodbury? How to ride bikes? Drink lemonade on weekends? You act like you ain't seen one of these things up close before!" Jeremy nodded.

"I have. Wh-wh-when it ki-ki-killed my d-d-dad and my br-br-brother." Daryl's anger subsided but he didn't let it show. He understood why the kid was freaked out but it was time for junior to grow a set of balls and man up. Hell, he should have brought Carl. At least Carl wouldn't have hesitated at shooting a walker. Daryl walked up to Jeremy, keeping his voice low.

"Listen, I'm pretty sure that was the last one, alright? You stay behind me and Michonne and get the supplies we need. You remember what that is right?" Jeremy nodded.

"Formula, diapers, canned food, dehydrated food and medicine. Like Hershel said." Jeremy's voice was steadier though a slight tremor was just under the surface. Daryl nodded.

"Alright. Now when we was here last time, the girls cleaned out a lot of that stuff but we never went in the back of the store. This place was too stocked up for there to have been a run on the place before the army moved them out so I bet the back is full, you got that?" Jeremy nodded. Daryl pointed to a cart. "Then grab that and stay close. Don't go wanderin' off, got it? 'Cause I won't hesitate puttin' you down. I promised someone that I'm comin' home and I don't break my promises, got that?" Jeremy nodded and pushed the cart behind Daryl and Michonne as they headed to the back of the store. Daryl paused by the walker and took back his arrow. He turned on his flashlight and nodded at Michonne.

"Ready?" She nodded. Daryl hit the light and pushed open the stockroom door.

Rick, Tyreese and Glenn ran down the drive in the rain. It was dusk but the storm had turned the sky darker and the only light came from the headlights of the car and the flashes of lightning. Even over the wind and the thunder they could hear the moans of the walkers. They heard the gunshots from the three people who had driven up in the truck, pushing the bumper up against the gate. Another bolt of lightning flashed and they could see the walkers were pushing on the fence, causing it to sway. The arrival of the truck had stirred them up and they needed to get the walkers off the fence.

"Open the goddamn gate or so help me I'll knock the whole fucking fence down!" The man in the truck revved the engine and the truck pressed harder against the gate. Another bolt of lightning showed that the portion of the fence attached to the gate was leaning inward. It wouldn't take much for the person in the truck to tear the whole thing down. Rick raised his gun and waited. Tyreese and Glenn were on either side, their guns raised.

"Get ready on my signal," said Rick. "We're not opening that gate!" Another flash of lightning and he could see the silhouettes in cab of the truck, one in the middle leaning over to grab the steering wheel.

"Aim for the driver's side!" yelled Rick. "Now!" All three men opened fire. The truck's engine roared and pushed up on the gate, snapping the chain off and pushing the gate aside. Rick couldn't see what damage it had done but the truck's engine suddenly died, wedging the truck between the fence and the twisted gate. The cab of the truck was inside the fence and the three men approached in cautiously. They opened up driver's door and the body of a man fell out. He'd been shot through the throat and Rick quickly put a bullet in his head. Glenn had opened the passenger side door and found a woman sitting there, gasping for air through the two bullet wounds in her chest.

"Glenn! She gonna make it?" Glenn didn't answer Rick, staring into the cab of the truck in shock. "Glenn?" Rick walked up the driver's side and looked into the truck, his weapon ready.

"Oh my god." Rick holstered his gun and hauled Andrea out of the cab. "Andrea!" He heard another shot and looked up. Tyreese walked around the front of the truck.

"She's gone." Tyreese said, referring to the other passenger. He looked down at Andrea. "What the hell?" Rick turned and looked at the fence. The walkers were swarming.

"We've got to get her inside!" Tyreese picked Andrea up and started back to the prison.

"What about the gate?" Glenn yelled over the wind and rain. It was really picking up and Rick hoped that Michonne and Daryl were holed up somewhere safe.

"Forget about it! We can't fix it now. Just get inside!"

Once inside the prison, Rick bolted the door. He knew the yard would probably get filled with walkers overnight but he couldn't worry about that now. He was more concerned with Andrea.

He walked into the cellblock to find Hershel and Carol tending to Andrea. Her left ankle was heavily bandaged and she had received a gunshot wound to the shoulder. Rick's gut clenched as he wondered if it was his bullet that shot his friend.

"Is she ok?" Hershel looked up and nodded his head.

"It's a clean shot through her shoulder. Shouldn't be any bullet fragments but it may have shattered bone. It's real hard to tell the internal damage but she'll live." He turned the Dani. "Dani, run and go get my medicine kit." Dani nodded and ran to his cell to retrieve the box of assorted medications she, Daryl and Maggie had picked up the last time they made their run as well as the antibiotics and other prescriptions that had been collected the last winter, before the group made it to the prison. Hershel looked at Carol.

"Get her some water. I'm gonna try and wake her up and have her take some penicillin, keep her from getting an infection." Rick knelt beside Hershel.

"What about her ankle?" Hershel glanced down at it as he carefully wrapped her shoulder.

"I don't know. I'm not too worried about it right now." Hershel nodded at Andrea's shoulder. "This is what I'm dealing with right now." Andrea moaned. "She's comin' around." Andrea's eyes opened.

"Hershel?" He nodded.

"I'm here honey. You're gonna be alright." Andrea tried to sit up and grimaced in pain when she moved her shoulder. "Now don't be doin' that. You just stay still." He picked up the bottle of penicillin. "Now, you're not allergic to this are you?" Andrea smiled and shook her head. Hershel and Carol helped her lift up enough to take the pills and swallow the water. When she was lying back on the floor she looked around the room.

"I made it." She smiled. "I can't believe I made it." Hershel patted her hand, covered her with a blanket and slowly pulled himself up on his crutches. He motioned for Rick to follow him out into the hall.

"What happened out there Rick?" Rick ran his hands through his hair and shook his head.

"Hershel, I don't know. That truck just pushed through the gate. It's wedged in there but walkers are definitely are gonna get through tonight. There was a guy driving the truck and another woman, both of them dead, I'm guessin' they're from Woodbury but I don't know what in the hell is going on." Rick hissed the last sentence through clenched teeth, his frustration visible. Hershel nodded.

"Alright then. I guess we'll see how things go tonight and talk to Andrea in the morning." He turned to the windows as another bolt of lightning highlighted the rain pounding outside. They could hear the wind howling. This was a bad storm. "I hope Daryl, Michonne and that boy are doin' alright." They walked back into the main cellblock as Dani was making her bed on the perch and Hershel sighed. "For her sake, I hope he's alright."

Michonne walked over to the windows to the flooded parking lot.

"I haven't seen a storm this bad since all this started." She looked back at Daryl who was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the checkout counter. "Nice thing is, looks like walkers don't like the rain any more than we do." Daryl's mouth turned up in a half smile.

"Maybe they're not as stupid as we think." Michonne shrugged and sat down next to him. Jeremy was sprawled out on the floor, sound asleep. She nodded over at him.

"Speaking of stupid." She looked over at Daryl who had closed his eyes. "Why did you bring him along anyway?" Daryl frowned and opened one eye.

"Needs to learn how to work if he's gonna stay." Michonne nodded.

"You only left him alive because she asked you to." Daryl's eyes opened and he rolled his head over to look at Michonne.

"So what if I did?" Michonne raised her eyebrow.

"I'm not sayin' it was bad. I was just making a statement." Daryl snorted and closed his eyes again.

"Yeah well, maybe you should keep your statements to yourself." Michonne waited a minute, watching the wind and rain outside.

"Do you love her?" Daryl growled under his breath and jerked his head up. He evidently wasn't going to get any sleep so long as Chatty Cathy was awake.

"What?" He snapped. Michonne didn't look over at him.

"I asked you if you love her." Daryl rolled his eyes.

"That's between me and Dani." Michonne shook her head.

"It's only between you and Dani if you told her." She sat up and turned to look at Daryl. "You know, as well as I do, that there's a possibility we aren't going home. And if you love her and you didn't say it to her and you never make it back, what's that gonna do to her?" Daryl raised his hand up to his mouth and nervously chewed on his thumbnail.

"She knows how I feel." Michonne nodded.

"I expect she does. I suppose you've shown her…in your own way." Michonne smirked. "Sound carries in that prison you know." Daryl snorted and moved further away from her.

"You best get some sleep. We're leavin' soon as it gets light." Michonne closed her eyes and smiled to herself.

"We're hitting that drugstore before we leave and filling up the gas tanks too right?" Daryl grunted in response. They both stared out into the storm for a long time before they went to sleep.

Glenn and Maggie wrenched the gate back into place as Carl, Beth, Sasha and Tyreese kept the walkers away from them, taking out as many as they could. The gate was badly damaged and would have to be replaced somehow. Glenn knew there was some metal out in the back area of the prison and they had finally found the metal shop. They could build a solid metal gate and pulley system to replace the current fence; it would just take a few days. Hershel knew how to weld, especially after all of those years doing his own farm repairs, and he said it wouldn't take that long to put something together. Once the old gate was secured, they backed away to inspect their work.

"That'll hold right?" Maggie asked. Glenn nodded.

"For now. We've just got to keep these things off the fence. That means we've got to go back to walking the fence daily again." Maggie nodded.

"Out in the open. With the Governor out there somewhere." She crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't like this Glenn. Why can't we.." her voice choked off and Glenn pulled her to him. Maggie clung to him and cried into his shoulder.

"Glenn why can't things go back the way they were? Why don't these things die or rot or somethin'? Where are they comin' from? Why won't they just go away?" Glenn soothed her hair and shushed her.

"We'll be alright Maggie. We've made it this far and we're alive." Maggie shook her head.

"No Glenn. We're not alright." She pulled back and pointed at the fence. "We thought that fence was secure and it's not. It took one asshole in a truck to tear part of it down. We know that anyone can just waltz into the back side of the prison at any time and we'd never know. Andrea is inside recovering from a gunshot wound and a broken ankle and Daryl and Michonne still aren't back and it's been over a day since they left! Don't tell me we'll be alright Glenn. We're pretty far from alright!" She turned and stormed back into the prison. Glenn walked over to where Rick was digging the graves for Martinez and Christa. Glenn picked up a shovel and started digging.

"Do you think they really just wanted to leave Woodbury and come here?" Glenn asked. Rick shook his head.

"I don't know Glenn. That's what they told Andrea but even she said she didn't think that Martinez was being truthful. All Andrea wanted was to get back here." He shoveled another scoop of dirt out of the grave. The rain had soaked the ground and the mud was heavy. Glenn stopped shoveling.

"How's she doing?" Rick stopped and looked back towards the prison.

"She'll live. Hershel doesn't know if she'll ever walk or be able to fully use her right arm again but she'll live." Glenn nodded. They continued digging in silence until they heard the car engine. Glenn grinned as the Hyundai came into view.

"They're back!" Tyreese and Carl carefully pulled the gate open for the car and Glenn ran over to help close and secure the gate behind the car. Daryl slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car without turning off the engine.

"What the hell happened Rick? What happened to the fence?" He looked over Rick's shoulder and saw the piles of dirt next to the graves and went pale. "Rick, c'mon man. What happened?" Without waiting for a response, Daryl started up the drive to the prison.

"Daryl, wait…" Daryl ignored Rick and started running.

"Danielle!" He ignored Rick and Glenn calling to him from the field. He knew it. He'd left and the fence had given way and Danielle was dead. His worst fear was coming true. "Danielle!" His breathing was ragged and he could feel a lump forming in his throat. Michonne's words from last night rang in his mind.

"And if you love her and you didn't say it to her and you never make it back, what's that gonna do to her?" His hands were shaking. He had been afraid that he wouldn't come back and would leave her alone but he never actually thought that he'd leave and come back to find that he was the one who was alone. Suddenly, Dani pulled the door to the prison open and ran towards him. She jumped into his arms and he held her tight.

"Daryl you made it!" Daryl put her down but wouldn't let her go. He kissed her and cupped her face in his hands, pressing his forehead to hers. He could feel his cheeks growing wet, both from his tears and hers. "Daryl, are you ok?" He nodded.

"I thought I'd lost you girl. I thought you was the one Rick was buryin'." He kissed her again and pulled her back into his arms.

"Daryl, I'm ok. And you're back, you're alive. It's ok." He pulled back from her, staring into her eyes. The words were on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't make his mouth form them.

"Dani, I…" He kissed her again. "Dani I don't ever want to live without you, you hear me?" Dani nodded.

"I hear you Daryl. And I don't ever want to live without you."