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A/N: Hey my Lovelies! Sorry for not updating sooner, I've been so busy with Christmas and New Years! Happy New Year by the way! Anyway I'm sorry for the lack of numerous updates and that this was slow but I really hope you like it! Please R&R! XXX

Chapter 25

Merle POV

He had been lucky enough to lose the walkers following him quickly, the only problem was he now had no idea where Lucas and Joelle were. Merle could go looking for them but he ran the risk of wandering into a large herd, specifically the one he had just run from. He knew the chances of finding them were slim, so he kept walking the way he had been heading.

Shit just kept hitting the fan for them, this shit that was happening right now was not cool, and he was terrified. Not for himself obviously, Merle Dixon wasn't scared of anything, no he was terrified for his sister, Joelle. Her sanity was literally hanging by a thread and he had just run away with her anchor strapped to his chest.

He looked down then, at Artemis, she was sleeping peacefully, unaware that she had just lost her mother and uncle to a hoard. He knew it was unlikely that they'd both survived but they were strong and he hoped they'd come back to her, to Artemis.

Merle knew he could no longer walk in the open like he had with Lucas and Joelle that just wasn't an option without backup. So instead he kept to the shadows taking time to feed Artemis with the formula they had collected and packed.

It was the next day when Artemis seemed to realize that her mother was no longer around and it took him a long while to calm her down. He knew that she needed either Joelle or Daryl, preferably both, but that didn't look like it was going to happen any time soon.

So he did his best to keep her quiet, to keep her happy, it was the least he could do for his baby niece. It was the least he could do until he found her parents.

Daryl's POV

The men that had found him had led Daryl to finding Rick, Michonne and Carl. They ended up having to kill them, not that Daryl minded; these were the real monsters now days, one had been planning on raping Carl, the others Michonne. So they had killed them cut them down like the animals they were.

Finding Rick and the others had given him hope that he would find the rest of the group, even if he thought that Joelle was gone, Rick also hadn't seen any sign of her either and thought she perished with the prison.

Rick had wanted to checkout Terminus so they had. They buried a bag of weapons deeper in the surrounding woods and came through the back of the Terminus compound. The guy who greeted them, Gareth, seemed off, he was too welcoming, too naïve and that made Daryl instantly wary of him. This place, these people, they didn't seem right, it seemed off, it seemed too good to be true.

Once again Daryl's instinct was proved right, Rick noticed Glenn pocket watch hanging out of Alex's pocket and immediately had his arm around Alex's neck, gun pointed at his temple. Daryl, Michonne and Carl immediately put their weapons up and were on guard.

They shot but Rick had seen the signal and the shot killed Alex instead. They began to fire, herding them away from all possible exits and towards a train car. They were forced to give up their weapons under threat of Carl's death, so they gave them up before being forced into the dark and bleak train car.

Rick pulled Carl into him and stepped to the side, next to where Michonne and Daryl were standing silently.

"Rick?" Glenn's voice peaked out of the darkness, smothered with confusion.

Daryl glanced at him before noticing the others by Glenn's side; Maggie, Sasha, Roxie, Daniel, Bob and several others that he couldn't name.

"You're here," Rick said his voice was full of relief when he spoke, "you're here."

Rick's gaze wandered to the others, Maggie noticed the look, "they're our friends, they helped save us."

"Yeah an' now they're friends of ours," Daryl consented quickly while Rick nodded.

"For however long that'll be," the redhead voiced before turning his back on the group.

"No," Rick said sternly and everyone looked at him, questions swimming in their eyes, "they're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out."

"Find out what?" the redhead asked.

"They're fucking with the wrong people," Rick smirked.

Joelle POV

Lucas had made breakfast again and Joelle ate it dutifully knowing she had to keep her strength up if she were to survive, not for herself, no she had given up the moment Artemis and Merle had fled. She was broken, the only thing keeping her alive at the moment was Lucas, the need to keep her only surviving family member safe, she would die for him in a heartbeat. They didn't need her really, she was just a burden and that was how she thought it had to be, if the situation arose she would put herself in the line of fire to save her brother. There was no need to save her after all, she was already dead.

They were walking through the woods like usual when Joelle saw something move out the corner of her eye. She turned her head trying to see what it was that was being hidden by copious amounts of trees. There it was again but this time she knew exactly what she'd seen after all she could never forget him, "Daryl!"

Joelle ran forward trying to catch up, he mustn't have heard her because he didn't turn around. She ran faster, she could hear Lucas calling her name, trying to get her to slow down, but she couldn't, this was Daryl. He was here, he was okay and he was alive. She finally got close enough and her hand latched onto his shoulder, spinning him to face her.

Only it wasn't him. It wasn't him. It was a walker, who then launched itself at her the moment he smelt her warm, alive scent. She struggled unprepared for an attack. She could hear Lucas in the background hurrying to catch up to her, to save her from the monster that was trying to claw her flesh away from her bones.

Lucas' knife slammed into the skill of the offending walker and shoving the corpse away from the both of them. Her knees buckled slamming her into the ground.

He looked at Joelle pure confusion on his face until he recognized the heartbreaking agony in hers. Realization dawned on him hard and cold, she had seen something that wasn't there. She had seen him when he wasn't there.

Joelle looked up at her brother as she sat there on her knees it hurt, it hurt her so bad and she wished more than anything that there was some way she could find them, her husband, her daughter. The world was against her, seeming to enjoy every ripple of pain that coursed through her at the mere thought of her family, of her love. Her father used to say the world was a dark, cruel and sadistic place, she never fully believed those words until now. Now she thought no truer words were ever spoken.

She felt Lucas pull her into his arms before walking in the same direction as they had before, she knew she should pull herself from his arms, that doing this was dangerous, leaving them both unprotected, but she was emotionally and mentally exhausted, she wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and sleep for the rest of eternity.

They moved around travelling from place to place never staying longer than a day. It was tiring, never really being able to eat or sleep properly. Lucas' presences helped a lot but she could feel herself slipping, the need to close her eyes and never have them open was pulling on her every thought. She had been counting the days since Artemis and Merles absence, it was going on eighteen days now. Eighteen horribly torturous days.

Merle POV

Merle watched them through the trees as they stepped out of the fire truck. Maggie and Michonne hugged, but he noticed four others that he didn't recognize. Where the fuck was Rick or Daryl? As if voicing his thoughts Glenn spoke up, "Where is everybody?"

Michonne smiled at Maggie and walked over to her, "Beth's alive, she's in a hospital in Atlanta. People have her but the others went to get her back."

"Do we know which one?" Maggie asked desperately, her voice wavering with happiness and worry.

"Grady Memorial," Michonne smiled and she nodded at them both. Maggie clutched at her head for a moment as if not believing it was possible before latching on to Glenn like a lifeline.

Artemis gurgled in his arms and he decided that if they were going to leave they were damn well taking him with them.

"Well, well, well what to we have here?" Merle snickered as he stepped out of the trees. In seconds everyone's guns and weapons were trained on him. He held up his hand quickly, "Dammit! Don't shoot, don't shoot! Little Missy here wouldn't like that very much." Merle said as her slowly untied the harness that was holding her to his chest. He gently pulled her into his arms and watched the shock cross everyone face.

Roxie was the first to break, she ran over to Merle and wrapped her arms around him and Artemis and pulled them into a long hug, she pulled away and looked down at the baby in his arm, "Artemis? Does that mean Joelle made it out?"

Merle nodded, "and Lucas, but we got separated about two maybe three weeks back, there was a herd Roxie. I know that Lucas and Joelle are strong… but there was a lot, the only reason I got out was because Joelle told me to run with Little Missy right here." Guilt was etched into Merles face as he told the story.

The others from the original group all gave Merle a pat on the back and a kiss to Artemis, their group was finding its way back together, despite the losses that had suffered.

Roxie gingerly took Artemis into her own arms to give Merle a rest, "it's damn hard feeding her though, I tell ya she hates that formula shit. Now we going to Atlanta or what?"

The others chuckled and as much as no one wanted to admit it they had missed Merle's smart ass comments and demeanor.

Daryl POV

The trade had gone south, like he had expected it to, but he never expected Noah to die at the hands of Dawn, the head Police officer in charge, but more than that he never expected Beth to kill her in return. It was her time away from the group had made her strong and then her time away from him had made her even stronger.

They walked out of the hospital doors slowly, Rick first, Beth helping Carol along, Tyreese carrying Noah. Daryl could see the others waiting for them; Maggie screamed in delight and ran to Beth pulling her into her arms, they were crying, and it was something good and happy despite everything that had gone wrong.

Daryl let out a small smile at the scene and looked over at Rick to see the same, a tiny gurgle drew his attention, it didn't sound like Judith it sounded like… like Artemis.

His head snapped towards the sound and there she was in Roxie's arms, with Merle hovering behind. There she was, a tiny bundle of perfection, a tiny bundle of him and Joelle. He heard his crossbow drop to the floor but didn't remember dropping it. One minute he was standing behind everyone the next, his baby girl was in his arms. He breathed in her perfect baby smell and smiled, not noticing the tears falling from his eyes.

She looked up at him with those big blue eyes exactly like his own and smiled, before gurgling happily and reaching up at him. His baby girl was safe, she had got out, but who had taken her from the prison Merle or….

His eyes went to Merle but he didn't get an answer Merle just mouthed later.

They were all sitting around the campfire, far away from walkers and the city. Everyone was chatting away happily, Abraham was on watch with Tara but still close to the camp. Artemis was in his arms drinking greedily from a bottle Beth had prepared.

Finally Daryl had got sick of waiting, sick of Merle's fleeting answers, "Who got her out Merle?" his voice wasn't loud but it carried and everyone became silent, their eyes on the one-handed soldier.

Merle rubbing his hand over his eyes before answering, "Joelle did. I found a path of dead walkers and followed the trail, she was sitting in the middle of the road crying when I first saw her, so was Artemis. We made it to a cabin and then a two story brick house when a herd blew through a small town."

Daryl's eyes widened dramatically after that, they had been so close to each other and they had never known. "She got out." He breathed.

Merle nodded but kept talking, "That's where we found Lucas and from there we kind of moved around, saw the signs for Terminus, that was bullshit so we walked in the opposite direction. She was slipping before I left Daryl, she would carve out your name alongside hers, and she would zone out and sometimes she couldn't look at Artemis because of her eyes. It was a few weeks back, we were walking through this town, we didn't hear them , didn't know they were there until it was too late. She told me to run, I had Artemis and she knew that Artemis had to stay alive no matter what. They stayed behind to distract the Geeks, there were so many of them that I don't know if they got away. I barely did. I'm sorry little brother."

Daryl's grip on Artemis had tightened throughout Merles tale, there was a chance she could be alive but even Merle who knew better than most how strong she and Lucas were doubted it. He stood stiffly, held Arty in one arm picked up his crossbow and walked into the blackened woods.

A/N: Wow I cried reading the reunion between Daryl and Artemis! So Beth's Alive! I know I brushed over that but she's kind of important! Also I know I kind of time skipped… a lot but I didn't want to drag it out too long! This doesn't mean Joelle and Daryl are any closer but maybe they are! Again if you have any questions regarding this chapter or future chapters feel free to drop a Review or PM me! Massive thank you to those who followed and favourited this story it is amazing! Huge, gigantic massive hug, kisses and thank you to those who reviewed, you guys are absolutely amazing and I love you! R&R I love you all! XXX