Jlcummins79, fictionaddict97, aneoaf, jeanf, mygnomefriend, Jasmin Jade xx, vickih, itsi3 - Thanks for the love and thanks for hangin' in there folks! Sorry my posts have gotten farther apart. I promise I'm not dropping the story, just been busy.

I own nothing but all the original stuff and Amelia and Daniel.

Chapter 22 - Daryl

I tried to stop replaying Dale's funeral in my head as I secured the perimeter with King Shane, Andrea and T-dog. As we road around in the old F-100 none of us could meet the other's eye. I was thankful we had the pretense of looking out for geeks. Then I remembered why we were checking the perimeter and I wasn't thankful anymore. I was angry and it just swelled from some place deep in my chest until I was so full of hate I thought my ribs would break.

My mind drifted back to the funeral.

I hadn't taken my eyes off Carol, just watch her silent reactions to Rick's speech.

We got off the truck and Andrea looked to me to lead, knowing I could read the trails. The others followed as I crept forward tracking the stray geeks and waited for me to point them in the right direction.

"In the end he was talking about losing our humanity," said Rick.

We came up on a group of geeks and we each took one out, except Shane. He just nocked his over and started kicking it.

"He said this group is broken."

We all joined in stomping the dead fuck.

"The best way to honor him is to unbreak it."

Every time I landed a kick and my anger didn't dissipate at all I just kicked harder.

"Set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives, our safety, our future."

I remembered Carol's face when Rick had said that. She looked like she was listening to scripture. Like the words were fortifying her somehow.

I stepped away from the downed geek and the others followed suit.

"We're not broken," said Rick.

Tears welled in Carols eyes at that.

We're gonna prove him wrong."

Carol nodded her head slightly, but her eye's shone with a fevered conviction.

Shane brought his shovel down on the geek's cranium and it was done.

The plan for the rest of the day was to move everyone into the farm house and drive the prisoner 18 miles out, again. So, after I road my motorcycle and what was left of my camp up to the house, I found myself on the porch with Rick making a plan for getting Randall the out of our hair.

"We'll take him out to Senoia," said Rick. "Hour there, hour back. Give or take. We may lose the light. But we'll be halfway home by then.

"This little pain in the ass will be a distant memory," I grumbled. "Good riddance."

"Carol and Sofia are putting together some provisions for him," said Rick. "Enough to last a few days."

Rick paused, glancing up to see Shane in his Hyundai speeding towards us.

"That thing you did last night -" he said before stopping, unable to say the words.

"Ain't no reason you should do all the heavy lifting," I said. Belatedly, I realized I respected Rick. He took responsibility, took on the most burdensome tasks himself. Wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty.

Rick just nodded his head in response.

Shane pulled to a stop maybe twenty yards away.

"So are you good with all this?" Rick asked lifting the map.

Shane got out of the car.

I glanced back to see King Shane with his most self important face on.

"I don't see you and I trading haymakers on the side of the road," I said. "Nobody'd win that fight."

Rick held my gaze for a moment, like he was seeing something for the first time and trying to figure out what he was lookin' at, before turning to face King Shane.

"I'm gonna take a piss," I said, as much to give them privacy as to avoid the drama that would undoubtedly follow.

I was in the kitchen with Carol and Sophie making as much trouble as I could. Carol was a pip when she was all riled up. I had managed to get Sophie in on the game of derailing Carol's efforts to pack a meal for Randall.

We literally had a game of pickle going. Sophie and I were tossing an apple back and forth while Carol ran back and forth between us.

"Come on guys. This isn't funny," moaned Carol as she watched the apple sail over her head to land softly in Sophie's hands.

She giggled and Carol made the perfect caricature of an exasperated face. I could tell she was laying it on thick intentionally. At first she really was annoyed but the second her little sister cracked a smile at my antics she was as much a player in our little game as Sophie was.

The child lobbed the apple back to me. It went wide but I reached out my arm and plucked it from the air.

Carol used the extra second to run up to me and make a grab for the apple. The split second before she wrapped her hand around the fruit I yanked my hand back and took a giant bite.

"Mmmmmm," I moaned, with a gloating smirk on my face.

"Real mature Dixon," grumbled Carol with her hands on her hips. Turning around to Sophie she pointed back at me saying, "Can you believe this guy?"

Sophie just smiled and shook her head, covering her mouth to keep from laughing.

"Get over here Soph," I said pulling out my Ka-bar and slicing the apple in half. "I'll share my spoils with you."

Sophie jumped off the counter she had been sitting on and, giving her sister a wide berth and ran up to me. I handed her the unspoiled half and she leaned in her big sister's direction and took a big victory bite.

I was proud of the sass that gesture demonstrated. I tousled the hair on top of her head and she shrugged away from me the way any pre-teen might when she feels you're treating her like a child. The way she carried that teddy bear around it was easy to forget that she was 12 years old.

Forty-eight hrs ago that little girl had about as much personality as a geek. I know they say kids can bounce back real quick from bad shit, but I think Sophia's recovery is pretty much tied entirely to her sister's and vice versa. Every time one of them makes a small step, they pull the other with them and I have a sneaking suspicion that they were making those steps almost as a show for the other, to motivate them.

I was glad they had each other and that they were good for each other. As much as I wanted my brother back, all Dixon's ever did was pull each other down into one another's shit and usually, that shit was of our own making.

Traitor, said Merle's voice from the recesses of my brain.

"Hey! HEY!" I heard T-Dog's muffled yells coming from outside.

He sounded panicked and I exchanged a meaningful look with Carol before running for the front door.

I heard Carol's voice behind me telling Sophia to lock herself in their room.

I felt her presence beside me a half second after I stepped onto the porch. Rick and Carl were running from the barn, Andrea and Glenn from the RV.

"Randall, he's gone," shouted T-Dog breathlessly.

I exchanged a look with Carol before we all headed at a speedy clip to the shed where we had been keeping him. Rick busted through the door to investigate inside.

I stayed outside, only peaking through the door to see if I could pick up Randall's tracks and follow him. It was a damn mess over here. There'd been so much foot traffic in and out this door it was impossible to distinguish Randall's tracks from the other foot falls in these stomping grounds.

I saw Carol look up at me. She had been examining the ground too. I knew she had absolute faith in my abilities but it was pointless to try, even for me. Our only hope was to spread out and try to pick up his trail further out.

Carol and I looked up at the same time when we heard Skeletor, Hershel, Maggie and that kid whose name I never bothered to learn, Jimmy maybe, all come running out of the house.

"What's wrong?" cried Skeletor.

"Randall's missing," Glenn called back.

"Missing? How?" asked Skeletor.

"How long's he been gone?" asked Hershel.

"What's going on?" questioned Beth arriving on the scene.

"It's hard to say," said Hershel.

I bet it is, I thought, seeing as how you just got here a second before she did.

"The cuffs are still hooked," said Rick striding out of the shed. "He must have slipped them."

"Is that possible?" asked Carol.

"It is if you've got nothing to lose," drawled Andrea, exiting the shed after Rick.

That can be true, but I'm with Carol on this. I checked those cuffs myself. They were tight as possible and that kid had small wrists and big hands. Even if he broke his thumbs I still don't see him slippin' those cuffs.

"The door was secured from the outside," Hershel said, adding to the mounting evidence that this smelled rotten.

Just then Amelia and Daniel ran up.

"Y'all look like you're in a panic," said Amelia, less winded than I would have thought for how fast she sprinted over. "Something we can help with?"

"Alright," said Rick, "We're losing time here, T-Dog, Daryl, Glenn, Andrea, you're with me. Hershel get everyone else back in the house and then update Amelia and Daniel.

"After that can you two see if you can track down Shane and let him know what's going on?" asked Rick, looking at Amelia and Daniel.

The pair nodded their assent.

Shane, where was that bastard? He wanted Randall dead more than anyone. Seems passing strange that the kid goes missing and he's no where to be fucking found.

"Just let him go," pleaded Carol, taking an unconscious step closer to me. "That was the plan, wasn't it, to just let him go?"

She was asking Rick but looking at me. I knew she didn't want me to go. Her psyche was in a fragile enough state as it was. Hunting down and killing a human being was not a thought she wanted to entertain.

"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here," snapped Rick. "Not on our front step."

He stocked off with T-dog, Glenn, Amelia and Andrea. I followed.

"Don't go out there," cried Carol. "You know what can happen."

That was to me. Last time I left her guns blazing to go help the group she killed her father and nearly herself, but I had to go. I couldn't let Randall bring his 30 men down on this farm, down on her and Sophie.

I hung my head and clenched my jaw but kept walking.

"Get everybody back in the house," commanded Rick over his shoulder. "Lock all the doors and stay put!"

The five of us walked in a rough line towards the woods.

When we reached the tree line he said, "He couldn't have gotten far. He's hobbled, exhausted."

Pointing at me, Rick asked, "can you track him?"

"No," I said, "I haven't been able to pick up his trail yet."

"Alright," said Rick. "We'll split up, Daryl, T-dog and Glenn you take the right flank, Andrea you're with me, we'll take the left flank."

He looked around to see if any of us disagreed with his plan.

"I think it'd be more efficient use of man power for me to hang back and try to pick up his trail."

Rick looked at me, "I really don't want anyone out here alone, remember, Randall isn't the only threat out here."

I just looked at him.

Rick sighed, "You have a gun?"

I nodded, "T-dog gave me Dale's earlier today."

He nodded back. "You be safe out there," he said and then pointing at Glenn and T-Dog he said, "that goes for you too. Keep an eye out for each other."

After that we all went our separate ways.

It took me a half hour to find the trail. I almost passed over it because there were two sets of trails. Side by side. At first I thought that maybe someone from his own crew had rescued him but something about Shane being M.I.A. left a sour taste in my mouth.

After a while there was a scuff up. Something went down. I found his blindfold. If someone from his group had rescued him they wouldn'ta waited this long to take his blindfold off.

I didn't like this.

After the scuff up there was only one set of tracks turned back towards the farm but they were deeper, like one of them had just doubled in weight.

Maybe Shane saw Randall escape and chased him down?

I shook my head, I could tell by the tracks that neither of them had been running and their tracks were right on top of each other. I knew Shane was no tracker, so they must have been together.

When the tracks broke free of the trees my stomach dropped to see that they were headed in the direction of the barn. It was the farthest building from any other on the whole farm and there was nothing in there but bad memories and the stench of death. No one would go looking in the barn for anyone or anything. It was the perfect place to do something you didn't want anyone else to know about. Hell, Hershel had kept it full of walkers and it took Glenn trying to get laid for us to know about it.

Trying to get laid.

That bad feeling of mine increased ten fold and I quickened my pace.

When I reached the barn I hear muffled voices through the wood planks.

As I crept along the wall toward the barn door I hear voices. Shane's... and Carol?

What the fuck!?

"This barn is nice and secluded," said Shane in that taunting way he had. "I'm surprised your daddy never tried to drag you out here."

Bile rose in my throat.

"Oh yeah," said Shane. "We all knew about it. Knew what he was doing to you. We all talked about it when you weren't around."

The barn door was left open just a crack and I slipped through the narrow space. I saw Carol, she was standing on the edge of the loft. Her eyes flicked down to me and then back up to Shane.

To Shane, it would look like she was ashamed and adverting her eyes, but I knew she had seen me. She'd finally learned to hear me coming.

Even over my fear and rage I felt my pride swell. She was magnificent.

"Why?" she asked in a small voice, she sounded hurt and hopeless but it was like when she was playing at being annoyed with me for Sophia's benefit. With her, I could always tell when it was an act. She didn't care why he was doing whatever it was he was up to, she was stalling, keepin' him talking, givin' me time.

"At first I thought I would use Randall's escape to lure Rick away from the others and take him out once and for all, but that would be too suspicious," said Shane.

I could tell from his voice that he was to the right of the ladder that lead up to the loft. Unfortunately he was standing too far from the ledge for me to get a clean shot, but as long as he kept his focus on Carol that would keep his back to the ladder. I crept silently toward the ladder. Shane continued on, oblivious to my presence.

"He's the leader," said Shane. "And we've been butting heads for a while now, I come back with no Rick and no Randall, people will wonder.

"But, you, I haven't said more than two words put together to you. No one would suspect that I could do something so terrible just to unseat Rick. That's why it's so perfect. Not only will the group stop seeing Rick as there own personal savior, he'll lose faith in his own judgment when he looks at your mutilated body. He'll waver, be off his game, I'll take back over and when the time is right, I'll end him too. I'm sorry you have to die for this plan to work, but the way I see it you're a casualty of war."

When I reached the ladder I prayed that it wouldn't creek. Carol must have heard my prayer because she started pacing back and forth stomping her feet as loud as she could without arousing suspicion.

"But why me!?" she barked pounding her chest.

"It had to be you," Shane said with a mad fever. "You're weak and alone and no one cares about you."

I reached the top of the ladder and saw Randall's corpse crumpled in the corner. It would take an impressive show of strength to carry that dead weight up the ladder, then again, the kid probably weighed a buck 25 sopping wet.

"You have no allies, no skills," spat Shane as I came up behind him.

Pulling my Ka-bar out of it's sheath, I mouthed to Carol, drop when I grab him.

"You are completely expendable," finished Shane.

"Not to me," I swore.

Carol dropped to the floor. I grabbed for his gun and brought my other arm around his chest, plunging my hunting knife into his heart.

The gun went off. I ripped the pistol from his hand and threw him to the side. Behind me, I heard him take his last gurgling breaths but I couldn't be bothered with the death of the man behind me. My world narrowed to the life of the woman in front of me.

Shit. Carol. Baby. Talk to me. Come on baby. You're ok. You're ok. Tell me you're ok, I thought, panicking over that gun shot.

I hovered over her for a moment before touching her shoulder to roll her over so I could see where she was hit.

At the touch of my hand, her head shot up. When she saw it was me she lunged toward me, throwing her arms around my neck.

"When I heard the gun go off I thought he'd shot you, I couldn't bring myself to see you dead," she whispered into my neck.

I looked up to see a bullet hole in the wall behind her, right where she had been standing.

If she hadn't dropped down at the right second...

I wrapped my arms around her as well. I'd come so close to losing her. Again.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered back, pulling her to her feet and then pulling her close again. "I've failed you twice now. Seems like all I can do."

She pulled back to look me in the eye, "you could never fail me." She said it like she believed it. She said it with such conviction that I let myself believe it.

Then she gasped and her eyes focused on something behind me.

I turned around just in time to see a geeked out Randall lunging for me. I lifted my Ka-bar but it was too late.

There was a loud bang and Geek Randall dropped. I turned around to see Carol holding the revolver I'd stuck in my belt loop behind my back.

Her hand is shaking and her breathing sounds like she is about to hyperventilate.

"That's not possible," she whispers, shaking her head.

I gently extract the revolver from her grasp. She lets me.

"That's not possible," she says a little louder. "He wasn't bit. Shane broke his neck."

She was nearly shouting now. "Shane told me he broke his neck."

She was shaking her head violently but her voice quieted again to a whisper.

"That isn't possible."

I walked over to Shane and stabbed him through the temple.

"Actually," I said looking up at her from where I knelt beside Shane's corps, "it is."

She goes still and turns her focus on me.

"What the fuck are you guys doing!" Shouts Amelia, after busting through the barn door.

We both look down at her shocked.

"Never mind don't answer that. We gotta go, there's a herd coming this way. Let's go!"