Daryl drove up and down the streets one by one, searching for Rick and the others but found nothing. Camping out in a house in the middle of the old main street area, they were loading up when they heard an eruption of gunfire. Racing to the truck, they threw their gear in and took off.
"Which direction did that come from?!" Daryl yelled, looking in his mirrors for anything moving.
"Sounded like a few blocks away." Merle said, rolling down his window so he could hear.
Sara put her seatbelt on just in case. She knew this could get ugly, really fast and didn't want a car accident to be the thing that did her in.
"Over there!" She shouted, pointing when she heard another round.
Daryl turned fast, his tires skidding as he raced around the corner. Gunning it, he sped toward the sounds of battle. Racing down a hill, the truck caught air as it launched off the top of the hill, landing them right in the middle of the firefight and causing Daryl to spin the truck 180 degrees. Merle immediately saw some of Breed's men on the roof and shot, nailing one with a lucky shot, but causing the others to drop immediately as a new player entered the game.
Right away, Rick wasn't sure what had happened until he saw none other than Merle Dixon leaning out the window, hooting as he shot up the guys on the roof.
He never thought he'd be happy to see Merle Dixon, but at the moment, he wanted to kiss him.
Flying down the street, it was Daryl who saw Rick and spun the truck to provide cover to him.
"Get in the back!" Daryl yelled as Rick, Andrea, and Carl ran for the back, hopping in just in time to duck as another series of rounds were shot off.
Peeling out, Daryl took off down the street.
"Tyreese and the others are just two blocks south." Rick shouted to Daryl who could barely hear him so Rick pointed.
Speeding past another group of Breed's men, he thought he saw a couple camoflauge Humvees and his stomach twisted.
"Shit!" Daryl swore loudly.
"What!?" Merle exclaimed.
"They've got military vehicles! Some sort of personnel carrier and some Humvees with gun mounts!" Daryl yelled back over the noise of gunfire out the back.
"Christ!" Merle swore viciously shaking his head.
"They must have taken them from a National Guard base or something. We're fucked!" Daryl shouted, swerving around a corner to lose them.
"We gotta get outta here!" Merle yelled over the gunfire erupting from Rick who was shooting at two bikers who were chasing them.
"I ain't leavin' without Katelyn!" Daryl yelled.
"Where's Kate!?" Daryl yelled out the window at Rick but he couldn't hear him.
Sara started sliding the window in the back of the cab open so they could talk to Rick and the others.
"Ask him!" Daryl ordered Sara who stuck her head out the window.
"He wants to know where Katelyn is!" She yelled over the noise.
"Glenn knows!" He yelled back. "If we find Glenn, we can find her!"
Daryl heard.
Rick handed the walkie through the window and Sara gave it to Daryl.
"Glenn! This is Daryl. Where are you?" He asked, talking into the walkie.
"4th and Grant, inside a shop without any windows left." Glenn said, giving him a picture of the predicament they were in.
Handing the walkie to Sara, he turned left and started heading back toward the area where the shooting was, looking for 4th street.
Not bothering to stop at the signs, he was there in no time and turned onto 4th, slowing down to look for shooters on the roof. Rick mounted the rifle on the top of the cab and waited, as Andrea did the same with her handgun. Carl had the revolver and sat low in the bed of the truck alongside Carol with their legs strapped under one of the restraint belts so he would fall out.
There was a glint on the top of the roof where Andrea was looking so she aimed and waited until she saw the bald head of one of Breed's men and shot. The bullet pierced his brain, sending him sprawling backwards in an instant kill shot.
"Nice one!" Rick shouted, smiling at Andrea.
"Look out!" Andrea yelled looking over Rick's shoulder at a biker popped up from a storefront window to shoot at them.
Rick turned and shot, hitting him in the arm he was holding the weapon in. Andrea shot into the shop again but she wasn't sure if she hit him or not.
"There's Glenn!" Carl yelled as they rolled forward in the truck.
Rick grabbed his handgun and began shooting at rooftops for suppression fire while Glenn and Andrea bolted for the truck, jumping in the back with the others. The minute they were in, Daryl took off, heading down one of the side streets in order to get out of the area quickly so they could talk.
Speeding away, they turned down 3 or 4 streets just to get lost, then pulled into the first open garage they could find. Jumping out, Daryl rushed to the door and closed it behind them, engulfing them in darkness.
For a moment, it was silent inside the garage, then Andrea jumped down, grabbing Daryl in a huge hug. Kissing him on the cheek, she smiled from ear to ear.
"Hi there, stranger." She teased, hugging him again.
Daryl was surprised, but allowed her to hug him before pulling away to shake Rick's hand.
"Boy are we glad to see you." Rick said, pulling him in for a hug.
"Hey Asian." Daryl said, smiling at Glenn. He'd missed the kid.
"Let's save the festivities for later. Where's Kate?" Daryl asked sheepishly, thinking that everyone probably hated him for leaving her to begin with.
"We hid her. She's at a parking garage not too far from here." Glenn said. "She's got a walkie."
"Kate! We're on our way to get you. Stay put." Glenn said over the walkie, but there was no answer.
"Shit! Maybe it doesn't work in the parking garage." Glenn said, holding it up to try again.
"Kate! You there?" He asked, but Daryl was getting a bad feeling.
"Come on. Let's go and check it out." Rick said, knowing that Daryl was probably worried sick and Kate was probably scared to death.
"Load up!" Daryl shouted, hopping in the truck, having Glenn trade Merle so he could direct him.
Glenn climbed into the truck and was surprised to see an unknown face there smiling at him.
"Hi." Sara said, feeling a little ridiculous at this point, but it was a weird situation.
"Hi." Glenn said back, looking at Daryl to explain.
"This is Sara." Daryl said as he started the truck, waiting for Merle to open the garage door for him.
"I'm Glenn." He said, smiling warmly at her.
Sara laughed slightly.
"I'll explain how I got here later." She said, smirking.
Glenn smirked back at her, both understanding how crazy it was right now.
"Hopefully, we'll have time." He said, pulling out his gun so he could shoot if he needed to.
"Turn right, head two blocks, then left. There's a parking garage there." Glenn told Daryl as he backed out, waiting for Merle to hop in the back before he took off.
Daryl didn't say anything as they started to drive. His focus was intense and Glenn didn't want to distract him so he stayed quiet. Pulling into the parking garage, they immediately saw the station wagon crookedly sitting in the exit lane, the glass shattered out of it. Daryl stopped fast, shoving the gear over to park and jumped out, rushing over to the car.
Looking in the window, he immediately realized that it was empty and turned to look at Glenn with a questioning glance.
"Shit!" Glenn said, feeling dread at how the car looked.
"Oh my god." Andrea said, realizing that the glass was shot out. Carol stood in the truck and stared at the wrecked stationwagon and her hands flew to her face.
"No." Carol cried, thinking of the baby. "Oh god no."
Daryl started growling low in his throat and smashed his fist into one of the windows that wasn't completely shattered.
Bringing his fists up to his face, he covered his eyes, then shouted furiously.
Rick felt awful, and he knew they had to tell him.
"We'll find her, Daryl." Rick said, trying to calm him down but when he put his hand on Daryl's arm, Daryl threw it off, bending over to catch his breath.
He was caught in a whirlwind of emotion. Fury, terror, and agony all mixed in one storm that raged through him. He didn't know whether to cry, scream, or kill someone.
"Daryl." Carol said quietly, coming over to him, but he didn't acknowledge her. Looking at the group, she didn't know what to do. Andrea stood with her hand over her mouth in shock while Rick stood there trying to think of what to do. Maggie was crying and knew what was coming next.
"Daryl." Carol tried again, "We need to tell you something."
Daryl looked up with absolute misery on his face.
"I'm so sorry. We'll find her. I swear we'll find her, but we need to tell you something." She continued, moving closer to him to place her hand lightly on his arm.
He looked down at it, a feeling of doom coming over him. Merle started to move toward him as he saw the looks on everyone's faces and knew something was about to go down. He'd never seen Daryl like this and he didn't know how he'd react.
"Daryl." Carol turned him so he was looking at her before continuing, "Katelyn is…Katelyn is…"
She couldn't finish. She didn't know how to tell him.
"Katelyn is what!?" He bit out between clenched teeth.
Taking a deep breath, Carol finished.
"Katelyn is pregnant."
Daryl might as well have been hit in the face with a baseball bat.
He stood completely still. No sound. No movement. His face drained of all color and is eyes glazed over instantly.
No one moved. No one knew what to do. It was obvious that to say Daryl was in shock, was an understatement.
It wasn't until Merle swore, that anyone breathed.
"Fuck!" Merle cussed, closing his eyes in absolute disbelief. Even Sara stood silently, her mouth hanging open in surprise.
Daryl sank to his knees, his hands landing on the ground, as he proceeded to throw up.
"Damn." Merle said quietly this time, feeling bad for another person for the first time in his life.
Moving over to his brother, he put his hands on his shoulder and let out a deep breath.
"We'll go to hell if we have to. Don't matter. Family's family. We'll get her back." Merle said, a soft tone coming into his voice, leaving everyone in shock.
Daryl just leaned his head on his hand trying to stop the world from turning.