Daryl sat up against the pillows with his arm raised over his head as he poked and prodded his mending wounds.
"Stop that." Katelyn scolded, grabbing his hand away from the stitches that were about to be taken out.
Daryl smiled. He'd been giving Katelyn hell for two weeks now as they tried to keep him in bed, but today, he was done. No matter what, he was getting up.
"You're worse than a five year old." She said with a smile, laughing at his antics.
Daryl grinned mishieviously, grabbing her arm and pulling her down on top of him.
"I want that kiss now." He said, looking into her eyes.
Katelyn surrendered and lowered her lips down to his. Daryl's arms reached up to pull her snugly against him, ignoring the pain of his improving wounds as she melted into him.
"Hh-hem," Hershel coughed from the doorway, shaking his head at the young couple.
Katelyn pulled away, turning red immediately. Daryl, however, was much less embarrassed and smiled wickedly at Hershel.
"She's lucky you interrupted." He said as Hershel made his way across the room to get his tolls.
"You're supposed to be resting still." Hershel chided, moving over to sit next to Daryl.
"Not a chance. I've been in this bed long enough." Daryl retorted, flinching as Hershel snipped the first stitch on his shoulder.
"Well, you still need to take it easy." Hershel reminded him, knowing full well that his orders weren't going to be followed. Daryl was nothing if not stubborn.
Daryl snorted.
Hershel finished snipping the sutures and grabbed his tweezers. He pinched the tip of the stitch and tugged gently, pulling it through the skin.
"Ow!" Daryl yelped, startled when Hershel pulled it out, "Damn man!"
"Sorry. I should have warned you." Hershel said as he pulled another one. This time, however, Daryl was ready and merely made a face when he removed it.
Katelyn rolled her eyes at Daryl, knowing he was just giving Hershel a hard time. Katelyn walked over to the chair where Daryl had thrown his shirt and was about to pick it up when Carl came running in.
"They're about to leave, Kate." Carl yelled, before turning around to run back out.
Katelyn froze and turned slowly toward Daryl who was looking at her with a puzzled expression. No one had told Daryl about the plan to infiltrate Woodbury and she knew that Daryl would be upset.
"Hey. Who's leaving?" Daryl asked, calling out to Katelyn from his bed.
Katelyn took a deep breath and turned around to look at him.
Daryl could tell by the look on her face that something was up.
"Katelyn?" He asked, getting worried now.
Katelyn walked back over to the bed. She and Hershel made a fleeting glance at each other before she turned back to Daryl.
"You know what Madeline told us about the flash drive, right?" Katelyn began, waiting for Daryl to nod in understanding.
"Yeah…" He said, drawing out the end of the word into a question.
"Well, we knew that we wouldn't be able to sneak into Woodbury to get it because the…my father will have upgraded the defenses by now, so we came up with another plan." She continued.
Daryl frowned. If this had to do with the Governor, then it wasn't good.
"We decided that the only way in would be a ruse." She finished, trying to avoid the rest of it, but knowing it wasn't going to work.
"Why do I have a feeling I'm not going to like this?" He asked, his eyes narrowed.
"One of us needed to infiltrate the town. One of us that he's never seen and wasn't a threat to him." She said.
"Who?" He asked, his voice becoming sharp now.
Katelyn took a deep breath and sighed.
"Carol." She stated, waiting for his explosion.
Daryl froze, every part of him knew this was a bad idea.
"What!?" He shouted, jerking away from Hershel who was pulling the last of his stitches.
Hershel grabbed his shoulders to stop him from moving so he could finish.
"Are you crazy!?" He continued to yell, letting Hershel settle him back in.
"I know. We all know. We just don't have another way and this could save…everyone." She tried to explain, knowing how dangerous it was and why he was worried.
"And Carol was your best idea!?" He grated out.
"Carol was the only choice. She's the least intimidating member of our group so my dad won't see her as a threat. There was no one else." Katelyn explained.
Katelyn knew that Daryl cared about Carol a lot and wasn't surprised by his outburst. Everyone agreed that the plan was dangerous, but everyone also agreed that the mission was important enough to make the risk worthwhile.
"I care about Carol too. She's become a good friend to me." She continued, grabbing his face between his hands to look at her, "If this wasn't about saving the human race, I never would have let them. Of all people, I know exactly what kind of danger she's walking into."
Daryl grimaced, shaking his head slightly. He knew what they were saying was true, but he still didn't like it. Carol was a gentle soul and this was far too risky. She'd never survive the Governor if he found out.
Daryl sighed, nodding his head in understanding.
#####################################################################
Katelyn watched from the woodline as Carol stumbled her way forward. The first part of this plan was risky, as she had to be in danger in order to get Woodbury's attention so Tyreese and Rick used a makeshift animal noose, rounded up a walker, and set it loose behind her so it would chase her. It didn't take much for Carol to "act" scared because at this point, she was unarmed.
Carol ran down the road, stumbling along the way as the creature gave chase. She saw piles of old cars, flipped on their sides and ran for one of them. Ducking behind it, she scooted along so it couldn't see her, then burst out from behind cover to run for it. The walker turned toward her and continued to pursue.
Looking over her shoulder, Carol didn't see the gate up ahead as she ran blindly. She knew Rick was off in the distance with a sniper rifle in case the creature got too close, but she was still scared. She dodged to the left, crossing back over the road, and lost her shoe causing her to start hopping a little on the gravel.
Shrieking, she put her foot down and started running again.
Crack! She heard a gunshot and saw the walker drop to the ground. Stopping, she took deep breaths, her lungs screaming in agony from all the running. Looking around her to see where the gunshot had come from, she spotted three men on top of a makeshift wall.
Woodbury.