Daryl crouched behind an old haypile that was stacked up against the stables. It must have been his lucky day because one of the bikers walked right in front of him giving Daryl the opportunity to kill him quietly.
Grabbing him from behind, Daryl sliced the knife across his throat too fast for any noise to be heard, then lowered him to the ground. Grabbing both of his arms, Daryl dragged him into the hay, covering his body so no one would find him before moving down toward the back of the stables.
Rick was coming around the other side and had killed two of Breed's men just as quietly. He met Daryl at the back door, which was locked from the outside. Clutching the knife between his teeth, Daryl freed his hands so he could slide the wooden plank that secured the door. Lifting it, he set it on the ground silently and slowly started to open the door.
Peeking through the crack, Daryl could make out four of Breed's posse inside. Across from them was a row of stables where he could see a girl being brought out of. She was probably in her early twenties, sandy brown hair and petite. She had that clean, Midwest look and was obviously afraid.
"This is our new girl; Becca." He heard the tall, skinny one say as he shoved her over to another guy. This guy had on a black leather vest, jeans, and chaps. His gray hair, or what he had left of it, was tied back in a little ponytail at the back of his head. He held the girl at arm's length and looked her up and down. She was wearing a robe that she clutched in her hands trying to keep them from looking at her.
"How old are ya sweetheart?" The gray-haired one asked her.
It took her a second to answer and Daryl knew that she was in shock so she wasn't processing information as quickly as she normally would.
"I'm…I'm twenty. Just turned twenty." She stated, her voice shaking from fear.
"You a college girl?" He asked her, making small talk while he pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
She nodded.
"Just one year of it." She explained, although she didn't know she was bothering to tell them anything.
"Good. That means you're smart, so let me give you the best piece of advice I can; Don't try to escape. If you do, you better pray the walkers get you cuz if we catch you…you'll wish you were dead." He said flippantly as if he cared nothing for her wellbeing at all, and in reality, he didn't.
Becca started to cry which must have irritated him because all of a sudden, he backhanded her so hard, she flew into the stable wall, then dropped to the ground holding her cheek.
"Oh yeah…and another thing…don't cry. It sets my nerves on edge." The silver-haired man stood and walked out of the stables leaving the other two men behind.
"Get up you stupid bitch." The tall, skinny one said, grabbing her arm to yank her to her feet.
"Eddie don't play. Just be smart and do what he says and you'll be just fine." He told her, as he shoved her into the stall.
Closing the latch, he slid a padlock through it and clicked it shut.
Daryl felt cold anger begin seeping through him. He hated feeling helpless. On the way here, Rick asked him why he decided to come. At first, he didn't have an answer, as time passed, he started to unravel his motives. He hadn't been able to stop what happened to Katelyn, but he could stop it from happening to someone else. He thought about their child and the world he or she would come into and he felt the overwhelming need to return the small part of the world that lived in, back to something good, something pure. He couldn't describe it when Katelyn had asked, but that's what it was. While Katelyn carried their child, he could make the world it would be born into a little safer.
Daryl's eyes fell to a ring of keys that hung from the skinny one's belt.
"We need those keys." Daryl mouthed to Rick who nodded in understanding.
"If we can take the two guards inside quietly, then we can start getting the girls out. She didn't have shoes on, though, and that's a problem. They can't run through the snow for 3 miles without shoes." Rick stated quietly.
"We're gonna have to get them to the back of the barn, then take out all of the guards by drawing them into the barn." Daryl said.
"All right." Rick agreed, opening the door a little more so they could slip in.
They waited until the two guards moved away from the door a bit before slipping in. Crouching down behind a stall, Daryl caught the girl in the stall watching them through the slats. Moving his finger up to his lips, he signaled for her to be quiet. Her eyes were wide with fear and her face was covered in bruises. Pulling out the knife he kept in his boot, he slid it through the slats to her. At first, she didn't move, but eventually she silently grasped the other end of the knife. He saw the tears of gratitude in her eyes before she slid back onto the old mattress in her stall.
Rick and Daryl moved on, walking stealthily toward the two guards and then, grabbed both men from behind, sliding their knives across their throats in a silent death. Grabbing both men before they fell, they barely got them into a stall before another guard entered the stable.
"Frank? Where'd you go man? You know you're sposed to stay in here." The large-bellied man kept walking, closer and closer, calling out as he walked. When he got in front of the stall, Daryl grabbed him around the mouth and sunk a knife into his back, right where his left lung was. The minute the knife sank in, the man tried to yell, but nothing but air came out. Daryl pulled him backward into the stall, forcing him to the ground and Rick shoved the blade into his heart, killing him.
They hadn't even noticed the girl that sat huddled in the corner until the fat man was dead.
"It's all right. We're gonna kill them, then we've got a military personnel carrier ready to take all of you to a safe location, okay?" Rick assured her.
Her lip started trembling and she threw her arms around him.
"Thank you…thank you…" She babbled, but Rick peeled her arms off of him, worried that someone might come.
"You're not out of here yet, but I need you to go to the stall of the girl near the back door." Rick said and she nodded, moving quickly down to the stall near the door.
Rick and Daryl watched her, before moving on to the next few stalls. Daryl took watch at the main doorway to the stables while Rick freed the girls, moving them to the back entrance.
That's when they heard gunfire.