Daryl was in a fog of fury as Merle drove back into the main area to pick up Tyreese, Hershel, Madeline, Sasha and Ben. He didn't know what to do. They were still in the area and his best bet at finding her, was being captured so they'd take him to Breed. His head was spinning from the thought of Katelyn being pregnant and he wanted to cry. He just wanted to hold her and take her away from all of this shit.
Merle knew that Daryl wasn't going to do anybody any good right now. His brain was hazy and he wasn't thinking straight, but if they had any hope of getting her out, he'd need to pull out of it. They were going to need all the help they could get. Passing by one of the alleys, Rick called out for them to stop.
"I see the SUV!" Rick shouted, jumping over the side of the truck with Andrea and Glenn. The others stayed inside.
Merle backed up, waiting as Rick and the others darted in and out of cars, heading toward the black SUV that was parked behind a dumpster. Moving toward it, they saw movement on top of a roof and ducked low, waiting to see who it was.
Rick saw a bandanna and knew it wasn't Tyreese so he shot, missing the head by an inch, but then he heard gunfire about thirty feet from them. Running down the alley, Rick rounded the corner into a firefight between Tyreese and a group of Breed's men with Breed walking behind them.
Pulling back, Rick waited, then peeked around the corner to shoot at the group of ten men moving toward Tyreese. Tyreese heard the gunshot behind him and realized that Rick was there. They were pinned down with Hershel who moved slower. Motioning for Sasha, who held the baby in a sling in front of her, Madeline and Ben to move, he covered them while they ran. Grabbing Hershel, he put his arm under him to half carry him, and fired behind them as they ran. Diving behind a car, he was relieved to see the other three.
"We found Daryl and Merle. They're waiting behind us. Let's go!" Rick said, moving down the street.
The whole group ran but skidded to a halt when they saw Glenn, Maggie, Sara, and Merle, standing with their hands in the air. Daryl still sat in the car unable or unwilling to move at this point and sitting in the middle of the street in front of them was one of the Humvee's with a gun mounted to it. Looking behind them Rick saw a personnel carrier. Rick turned to run back the other way but Breed and his men were closing his fast behind them.
A feeling of dread immediately followed, and Rick knew they were in trouble. They were now trapped three ways and they were way outgunned.
Stepping out into the street, Rick raised his arms and joined the others with Glenn and Andrea following suit. When Breed came strutting down the alley, stepping out into the street, Rick was shocked when he heard a voice come over the PA system attached to the personnel vehicle.
"This is United Stated Army Major Jackson Reese and I order you to put your weapons down and surrender."
Everyone froze, including Breed and his men.
The group from Georgia was completely confused, but obviously, Breed and his men knew what was going on because suddenly, Rick and the others were caught in a fire fight between the bikers and the military.
Grabbing Carl, Rick pushed him to the ground while the street filled with gunfire.
Merle grabbed Daryl and dragged him out of the truck, pushing him down as he ran with him toward cover. Once he had Daryl behind a car, he ran back, ducking the bullets that were blazing over his head. Diving behind the truck, he rolled under it and saw Sara lying on the ground as well.
"Sara!" He called, scooting closer to her.
She heard him call her name and started inching her way across the ground, too scared to stand up and hurry to him. Once she reached him, he grabbed her and shoved her down, covering her with his body as he dragged her over to where Daryl knelt. Peeking back around, he saw Rick grabbing the baby they were traveling with, huddling his body over it, he started toward Merle who helped cover him as he got closer.
Glenn helped Tyreese with Hershel, ducking low and nearly dragging him across the road while Maggie ran behind them. As they got to the other side, they were so grateful they made it that they didn't notice a small unit of men coming toward them with weapons. They turned to run and ran right into 6 armed men in US military outfits.
"Don't move! Get down on the ground!" The one in front yelled, pointing to the ground.
Merle had to grab Daryl and push him to the ground because he wasn't responding fast while Rick was struggling to get down with Judith in his arms. He didn't want to put her on the cold, snow covered ground so he slowly removed his coat and laid it down before placing her on it.
"Don't move. Stay where you are!" The men rushed in, grabbing arms and hands, while others patted them down, removing an arsenal of weapons from them.
Everything was going smoothly until they moved to Daryl. The minute they put their hands on him, though, he went ballistic. Merle tried to intervene, but it didn't help. The first soldier began grabbing his arms and an ungodly, primal sound ripped from his throat as he bashed his head backwards into the soldier, sending him sprawling. The other soldiers jumped on him instantly, struggling to hold him down as he snarled like an animal fighting in a death match.
"He's in shock! Don't hurt him!" They all started yelling, trying to calm the soldiers down so they'd realize he wasn't a threat to them, but he kept fighting so fiercely the soldiers dogpiled him. Even then, he didn't stop, and continued shrieking while they practically hogtied him with plastic handcuffs.
Merle rested his forehead on the ground and sighed. He couldn't help Daryl right now but he needed to calm down.
"Daryl!" Merle shouted. "Calm down! They're the good guys!"
Daryl was still thrashing around on the ground with two soldiers holding his head to the ground.
"Daryl! They can help you find Katelyn!" Merle decided to try that and see if it'd snap him out of it but Daryl kept on thrashing.
The gunfire lasted another five minutes before it quieted. Rick and the others were loaded into the personnel carrier and the soldiers had to carry Daryl who was still hogtied. Sliding him across the floor of the carrier, they pushed him inside, then climbed in. Merle couldn't lean down to talk to Daryl, so he tried to speak loud enough for him to hear.
"Little brother, it's all right. They can help us." Merle tried his best to be soothing, but coming from him, it sounded ridiculous.
They drove a short distance, the group hearing gunfire in the distance before it faded away.
They didn't drive long before they turned into the parking lot of a school. Pulling up to the entrance, they could see troops and other vehicles all over the place. It looked like the staging ground for an operation. One by one we exited the back end of the personnel carrier, before they lifted Daryl off the ground and carried him inside the gym with the rest of them.
Just outside the gym, they stopped, probably because they were tired of carrying him and set him down. One of them crouched down next to him.
"You gonna be able to walk or are you gonna fight us?" He asked, looking at Daryl.
Merle walked over toward them slowly.
"I'm his brother. Can I talk to him?" He asked, looking at Daryl's cold, expressionless face.
"You can try." The soldier said, standing back a bit.
"Daryl, listen. You gotta cooperate. They can help you find Katelyn." Merle said quietly.
He was surprised when Daryl looked up at him.
"He'll be okay." Merle nodded as the soldier pulled out his knife to cut the bindings around his ankles so he could walk on his own.
Grabbing his arms, they stood him up, but they left his hands cuffed.
Waiting outside the gym, the ground seemed utterly relieved to have found military and were talking to each other quietly. All of them were keeping an eye on the "Daryl situation" but they were so happy to have been rescued that they were elated.
After a few minutes, a handsome, middle-aged man with soft brown eyes, dressed in military camis approached them.
"I'm Major Jackson Reese. Is anyone here named Rick Grimes?" He asked, looking over the motley crew.
"Uh…yeah." Rick said, moving ahead of the group.
"I've got someone who is very anxious to see you." The Major said, smiling reassuringly at Rick.
Rick, however, was confused. The group was silent as they listened, all of them trying to figure out who is would be.
"Come on. Follow me. I'll take you inside." The Major said, pausing to look at Daryl. "You all right now?
Daryl was startled that he was talking to him, but he nodded.
"Let's get those off of you then." The Major cut the binders off his wrists and Daryl started rubbing the feeling back into them.
Turning, he motioned for them to step through the doors and into the gymnasium.
The lights were bright causing everyone to blink rapidly. Tents were set up inside and there was a lot of activity. They could see a medical area and people who were obviously civilians that had survived. They realized quickly, that the military had set this up and was out rescuing civilians.
Carol was so happy, she started to cry.
Madeline stepped forward.
"I need to speak with you as soon as you can. I'm a doctor working for the CDC and I have some important information for y…" Madeline was cut off by a cry that was so loud, it filled the gymnasium and caused everyone to stop doing what they were doing.
Daryl turned his head to look, startled at the loud cry. That's when he saw her.
Katelyn was running towards him, tears pouring down her face.
Daryl was stunned and it took him a second to react.
Before he could move, she threw herself into his arms, covering him with kisses, making them both fall to their knees.
Katelyn clung to Daryl's neck, squeezing him so tight that she could feel his heart beating against hers.
"I never thought I'd see you again!" She cried, her mouth pressed against his neck.
His arms went instantly around her, pulling her even tighter as tears began to fall from his eyes. His hands shook as they framed her beautiful face so he could peer into her eyes. He could barely breathe, he was so happy.
"Oh my god…I….I…I thought I'd lost you forever." Daryl cried, leaning his forehead against hers. "I'm so sorry. I never should have left."
Katelyn sobbed, holding him to her.
"It wasn't your fault. I love you. I will always love you." Katelyn wept.
Pushing her away for a moment so he could breathe her in, he looked her up and down to make sure she was real and whole. That's when he saw it; the gently swelling belly that carried his child.
Daryl couldn't contain it any longer and wept tears of joy, leaning his head down to rest it on her stomach. Katelyn cradled his head as he gently placed his hands on her abdomen to feel. He was so overwhelmed that he didn't know what to do and sat up to pull her against him again.
Holding her face between his hands, he kissed her passionately.
"I love you. I will never leave again." Daryl whispered as applause erupted from every corner of the gymnasium.
It wasn't every day they got a happy ending.