It had been four days.
Rick and Jo marched into Major Rice's office the evening of the fourth day since Daryl and a team of four soldiers left to travel an hour southwest to hunt.
"Major," Rick said when they entered his office after one quick knock, " we have to send a group out after them. Something is wrong. We haven't heard anything on the walkie since yesterday morning."
Major Rice stood facing the window with his arms behind his back. He turned slowly and looked Rick in the eyes. "I don't know what you expect me to do, Rick. I can't risk losing more men."
"They could still be alive. We have to at least make sure. Daryl is a huge part of our team. We can't just leave them out there!" Rick yelled. Jo clenched Rick's arm as tears leapt out of her eyes.
"I know how attached you are to him and we are all grateful for what he has done for this camp, but with the diminished number of soldiers we already have, I cannot risk sending more men out not knowing what they'll find," Major Rice said to Rick. He turned his attention to Jo and said, "I'm truly sorry, Jo, but you must understand –"
"Understand what, Major? That the man I love risks his ass for you day in and day out to feed these people that he doesn't even know and you won't even lift a finger to go find him and four of your men?!" Jo interjected. Rick placed an arm around Jo's shoulder as she began to shake with anger and shock. "You're a coward, Major Rice. Daryl is more of a man than you'll ever be. Fuck your apology." Jo spit in Major Rice's face and stormed out of the office with Rick right behind her.
"Jo, you know we won't leave him out there. We're going after them whether the major is sending a team or not," Rick said as they made their way to the yard where the others waited.
"Oh shit, what happened?" Andrea asked, seeing Jo's face.
"He's not sending a team," Rick said as Carol placed an arm around Jo. "He says he can't risk losing more men."
"Well screw him, we're going to find them," Carl said.
Rick's eyes narrowed at his son. "Watch your mouth young man," he scolded. "But, yes, we're going. We need a pretty big team to go. Who's in?"
They decided a few needed to stay behind, but Jo, Andrea, Glenn, Maggie, Tyreese, Michonne and Rick were all arming up early the next morning.
"Dad, you know I can help," Carl said as they headed toward the gate.
Rick knelt in front of him. "I know you can, Carl. But I need you to stay with Judith. You take care of her, OK?"
Carl nodded. Major Rice stood at the front gates when the team approached. He handed them an extra walkie and a map. "They were headed southwest all the way. Follow the river," he said. "Again, I'm so –"
"Save your meaningless apologies, Major," Rick said. "When we find them – and we will find them – I'll be expecting more than an apology. I'll be expecting some answers."
"Answers?"
"To what's going on here and elsewhere. We're about to save your ass and we'll deserve to know what's going on," Rick said, snatching the map from the major's hands and starting the jeep, leading the group out just as light broke over the horizon.
"We've followed the river for 45 minutes. I say we stop here and continue on foot," Rick said.
Michonne leapt out of the jeep, with the others following. Aside from Daryl, Michonne was the best hunter and tracker in their group. She headed into the woods toward the river with the group fanning out beside and behind her. With her katana raised, she moved with stealth through the underbrush. She stopped 10 yards into the woods and pointed.
"Soldiers boot prints," she said.
"Daryl's?" Glenn asked.
"No, Daryl's too light on his feet. But it's probably one of the soldiers who went with him," she responded. "They went this way." She pointed to the left of the river with her katana. "Let me go ahead. There's a clearing. I want to check it out before we're all out in the open."
Jo couldn't stay still. She paced in a small line as Michonne scoped out the clearing.
"We're going to find him," Maggie whispered to her.
Jo only nodded as she continued to pace. She stopped when Michonne came bounding back to them.
"It's not a clearing. It's a drop off about 50 feet to a beach," she said. "There's a whole group of walkers down there."
Andrea cursed and the group grew uneasy.
"Pretty sure one of the walkers had a soldiers uniform on," she continued. "There was disturbed ground right at the edge of the drop off. Looks like they came upon it unexpectedly and one of the soldiers fell."
"You sure you didn't see any walkers that could have been Daryl?" Rick asked.
Jo sucked in a loud breath causing Glenn to place a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.
"I'm positive. Most of them were pretty decomposed. They've been down there for awhile."
Jo let out the breath she'd been holding. "Where should we head?"
"I think we should continue to follow along the river," Michonne said.
Rick nodded. "Let's go. Don't wanna waste any daylight."
Since they lost their track, the group jogged through the woods over a large area. They put about 20 feet between each of them, scanning the trees for any sign of the missing men. They ran into a few walkers, but nothing they couldn't handle, when Rick whistled, causing them all to stop and head toward him.
When they assembled behind him, they saw what made him stop. A cabin stood in an opening in the trees.
"Do you think they're in there?" Glenn asked.
"There's only one way to find out," Rick said. "There could be any sort of dangers in there – dead or alive – so we fan out, surround the cabin. Michonne, go to the back door if there is one, Glenn and Tyreese, we'll hit the front door. Andrea, Maggie and Jo go around, peak in windows, but be careful. Let's go."
The group surrounded the house quickly. Glenn peaked into the front window before nodding that it was clear to Rick. Rick whistled again, informing everyone they were entering the cabin. Tyreese kicked in the door with Glenn and Rick flanking him. Michonne entered the back door quietly, clearing the kitchen immediately. She saw an open can of beans on the counter. Rick noted a sleeping bag in the living room with a lantern, but no weapons.
Jo, Maggie and Andrea followed the group inside just as Rick headed up a narrow set of stairs. Jo glanced at the sleeping bag when she heard a commotion from above. They rushed to the foot of the stairs when Rick yelled down for them to stay put.
"Rick, is it Daryl?" Jo yelled.
"Who the fuck's down there?" a gruff voice asked.
"A whole team," Rick responded. "We've been looking for him. He's been missing for four days. He's part of our family."
"Rick!" Jo yelled again.
"Tell them all to get rid of their weapons," the voice said.
"Drop your weapons everyone," Rick yelled down the stairs.
"Oh fuck this," Jo mumbled. She pushed past Glenn and Tyreese and ran up the stairs two at a time. The sight that greeted her made her both overjoyed and alarmed. Daryl was on his knees with a gun to the back of his head. The gun and gruff voice belonged to a huge man with narrow, squinty eyes and a large graying beard. "Daryl!" she yelled, but Rick put out an arm to stop her when she tried to run to him.
"Pretty little thing you got there," the man said.
"We just want our man," Rick said. "What do you want from us?"
The man spat on the floor next to Daryl and laughed. "I wanted no one to ever find my place, but that's gone to shit, so I'll just take all your weapons instead."
"Here, fine," Jo said, tossing her pistol toward him. "Please, just let him go."
"The thing is, there's no way I can trust you guys to not report my whereabouts to that military camp," the man said.
"Why the fuck would we report you?" Daryl asked.
"Because you're his little errand boys now," the man said, pushing the muzzle of his gun hard into the back of Daryl's head. "I've made a point to stay away from the military. I'm fine on my own. I don't need anyone and I don't want any trouble."
"We aren't going to say a word. We have no reason to. Right now, we don't even trust the men in that camp," Rick said. "If we can get out of this without a fight, we'd be very appreciative."
The man laughed again. "I trust no one."
"Well, you're clearly outnumbered here," Rick stated. "Your best bet is to let us go." As Rick finished his sentence, Michonne crept from the bathroom behind the gruff man. She'd soundlessly climbed through the window from the roof when the commotion began. "Let us go and you won't get hurt."
"I think I'd rather take my chances," the man said. He cocked his rifle and aimed it at the back of Daryl's head again. He smiled an evil smile. A floorboard creaked behind him as Michonne moved to make the kill. The man turned clumsily, raising his gun, but not in time. The katana sliced through the rifle and the man's face in one clean swipe. His body fell with a thump next to Daryl.
Jo ran to Daryl, grabbing his tired face in her hands and kissing him. "I was so worried," she said through tears. She kissed his cheeks, his nose, his forehead. "Don't ever do that to me again."
Daryl sighed, too tired to speak. Rick untied his hands. "How long have you been here? What happened?"
"Since yesterday. I've barely eaten. Dunno how far I can make it," he said.
Rick supported Daryl on one arm and Jo took the other, helping him down the stairs. "We're gonna get you home," Rick said. Daryl's head hung as he lost consciousness.