AN:

Ok...I am no way trying to get political with this story. That is really going to glossed over. I have no desire to tackle that. This story will be about the meeting the rescue and what happens after. Just wanted to make that clear :)

Thanks to HaloHunter89:) Let me know what you think :)

I do not own or profit from The Walking Dead

Chapter 4

How long had Andrea been gone?

Carol was having trouble keeping it clear in her mind. They'd come for her, knowing she was a doctor. A villager able to communicate in stunted English had explained what was happening. It was a local warlord... from the sounds of things he had appendicitis.

Andrea had under extreme circumstances performed simple operations. She'd been in a surgical residency before she'd drastically changed her job description. An appendectomy was a simple procedure, but she'd never removed one with a gun to her head.

It seemed like they had come for her only minutes ago, or it might have been hours. It was harder and harder to stay awake.

Her stomach felt firm when she touched it, the spaces in between her organs filling with blood, pushing up on her diaphragm. It was getting harder to breath. It wouldn't be long now.

She closed her eyes and pictured Daryl. A sob escaping her lips. How ironic she'd come all this way to find him, and he only lived a few hours away from her in Georgia.

They should have met at the mall, or a grocery store, or the gas station. Not some rinky dink pub in Germany. But that would be her fondest memory. Looking up at his face when she was laughing and dancing with him. The way he basically sent a bolt of lightening coursing down her spine.

Fate was teasing, showing her everything that just might be within her grasp only to take it away. It wasn't fair. Two months ago she would have thought this was only what she deserved. A life for a life. She'd pulled on the wheel and distracted Ed. But she was starting to see how her guilt had clouded things in her mind. Ed was drinking, that wasn't her fault. The other truck was speeding, that wasn't her fault. Hell the other truck hadn't even stopped so they had probably been drinking too.

None of it had been her fault. It took staring death in the face to realize that she had it so wrong, for so long.

"I'm so sorry Gram" she whispered out to the darkness. Her Gram wouldn't recover from this. She knew it. Her gram was the strongest person she had ever met...but this, this would kill her.

She closed her eyes again and thought of Daryl as she tried to calm her breathing. His face when he watched her, that first night in the pub still in her mind. No one had ever looked at her that way. She'd had the impression that she'd been staring at her future,she just hadn't realize she hadn't had one.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They were going in at night.

Daryl stared out the window of the helicopter lost in thought. Rick had made it clear to the brass, they had met the girls Germany while on leave, leaving out how close he and Carol had become. But in the end it didn't matter.

They were the closest group, they knew the area and the locals, had the contacts. The word was it was a group of locals, behind all of this. Word was filtering down that the last thing the powers that be wanted was Red Cross nurses and doctors killed by the very locals they had come to help. The media would eat that up.

They had sources or snitches everywhere. It had been relatively easy to find out where the girls were being held. His heart had caught in his chest when he heard only two of the four girls had survived. Their snitch hadn't been sure which two. The snitch had also said one was injured..badly.

They were seperating into two groups. Rick's group was taking the house, his taking an old stone building on the back of the property. It was where the snitch had thought that they were keeping the surviving girls.

He wasn't sure what he would find or who. He needed to be prepared for the possibility that Carol hadn't made it, but his mind fought that very thought.

They'd only known each other a few days, but she had to survive. When she'd laughed that first night he had knew. He'd been in the dark all his life, and she turned on the lights. This was it for him.

They only lived a few hours apart. If only they had met sooner. He couldn't help but think off all the ways his life could have changed if he had met her sooner.

No more living in the past. No more carrying Merle and his Daddy. From now on he was looking forward. He wanted a future with her ...if he wasn't to late, ...he couldn't be.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was getting harder to stay awake. Her eyelids felt as though they weighed one hundred pounds each. She had a distinct feeling that if she fell asleep she wouldn't be waking.

Andrea had been gone for so long, and she wasn't able to sit up anymore and the dirt was getting cold. She had hoped Andrea would be back before it happened. It was selfish she knew but she didn't want to die alone.

The night was so quiet. She felt a slight panic overwhelming her. She felt alone, the murky blackness triggering her ever present claustrophobia. She focused on Daryl's image in her mind. Taking deep breaths, his face seemed to bring her some peace. She wouldn't be alone.

She heard a distinct soft thud outside the door. It sounded as though the guard had hit the floor. Maybe he fell asleep? She thought in confusion then felt her apprehension quadruple as the door open and four figures slipped into the room.

If she could have yelled, she probably wouldn't have anyway. They were definitely military. Whoever they were, they were more likely to help her then the group holding her captive.

One of the fours attention was riveted on her. She heard a soft muffled "fuck" filter out past the goggles that covered the top half of his face and the mask that covered the bottom.

He knelt down next to her his fingertips sliding up her battered shirt examining the bruises that covered her stomach. As another man knelt down next to her inserting an Iv.

She flinched a little and cried out when the large man's palm splayed out across her abdomen. Putting she was sure unintentional pressure on her abdomen.

She heard him curse slightly as he eased the pressure. His hand stayed where it was, the warmth seemed to radiate from it. She knew that hand, she thought looking up at the man and bringing her hand up slowly to cover his. Maybe her mind was playing tricks on her she thought, as he had a slight intake of breath, then used his opposite hand to push the goggles up and the mask down.

Daryl.