A/N: I haven't said this yet so to make sure. I don't own anything walking dead related and some of the quotes are as close as I can recall to how they were and I adjusted some to accommodate my own character.
It had been hours since Daryl had last seen his sister. His side was still sore from having to fire the shot gun earlier that day. So there he was waiting patiently for his little sister to come around to the new area he had set up and bug him about why, but she hadn't shown herself. To be frank with the situation, it was beginning to worry him some that he hadn't seen hide nor hair of her since the graves were dug that after noon.
He had heard that Rick and a couple of other people had gone to get Hershel. Something about one of the Greene girls were catatonic or something. His peace was suddenly disrupted when Carol's little girl sauntered up to him, her hands behind her back and a shy smile on her face. Daryl looked up at her for a moment waiting for her to say something. It took a moment for her to muster up her courage but she finally said rather quietly. "Do you know when Zoey will be back? Carl and I would like to learn more… hand talk."
Daryl frowned. "You mean sign language?" when she nodded enthusiastically her first statement registered in his mind. "Wait what you mean, 'when she gets back? Where did she go?" he asked becoming more aggressive sounding as he stood up and brushed past little Sofia on his way over to the other adults. Grabbing his bow roughly from the back of his bike as he stormed off towards the camp fire. Sofia stumbling after him trying to make her tiny legs keep up with his long strides.
"Hey!" he growled at everyone as he came to a halt. Breathing heavily with ire. "Where is Zoey? Anyone seen her?" he grunted out angrily. Dale and Andrea looked shocked, glancing at each other before looking back at him with a shake of their heads. Growling under his breath his turned and headed for the house, Sofia still following behind him.
He found Lori and Carol making some kind of food and Carl was sitting at the table tapping his fingers impatiently as he stared at the table top. The boy looked up expectantly but when he saw the look on Daryl's face he kept silent and waited. "Hey where did my sister run off to?" he ground out between his teeth. Carol turned around from her place at the stove with a look of confusion but Lori was the one who answered. "I asked her to go with Rick and Glenn to bring Hershel back."
Daryl's temper rose even more when the look at the women's face which showed no sign of remorse. "And you didn't think that maybe she shouldn't go. That maybe your own selfish reasons were better than her safety. I don't care whose wife you are or who you're banging but you have no right asking her to go baby sit your husband." Daryl's voice rose in volume as he took two large menacing steps towards her. Lori's face finally showed some concern and even a little bit of anger.
"She can handle herself Daryl." She shot back standing her ground against his ever growing wrath. "Besides Rick and Glenn will look after her she is safe." Daryl turned and slammed his fist into the fridge startling everyone in the room. He turned back to the brunette. "You have no clue what goes on in her head. She doesn't comprehend things like normal girls her age. She has been through more shit than you can comprehend growing up in our shit whole family. Do you know why she holds on to me or to Merle so much? Its cause we raised her cause our 'dad' was an ass hole, a drunk,…and didn't have any decent people to hang around." He growled out low and menacing. His heart racing against his sore side with anger and panic. "She better come back without a scratch Olive Oil or your husband is going to have a hard time keeping you unharmed." He threatened. He turned and pushed passed the small girl who had been his shadow and headed out of the house. What he didn't see was the look of concern from both Sofia and her mother.
Daryl paced like an angry bear beside his bike, debating on whether or not it was wise to go and fetch Zoey himself or wait and corner her on her stupid idiot agreement. Pregnant or not, Ricks wife or not, Lori had no right to ask his sister to do anything for them. He could hear his missing brothers voice ringing in his head, 'shoulda' tied her to a tree little brother. You know how she is. Little shit is a fire cracker.' He slapped the side of his head that hadn't been shot, trying to dislodge the image of Merle's face when he knew his was right.
She had already put herself in danger helping him find the little girl, not that she was ever in harm's way he made sure of that. The audacity the downright arrogance of that women to even think she was in charge of anything that pertained to his family. He turned to the closest tree and threw his fist as hard as he could against the bark, splitting his knuckles. Daryl didn't even look down at his hand to know it was bleeding. He didn't care he was still severely pissed off and didn't hadn't felt the feeling ebb at all.
With another sudden burst of anger he kicked the motorcycle with all he had, knocking it over. He stood there and stared at it for only a moment before deciding that he would wait. Zoey was never leaving his sight again, not ever, and he didn't care how old she was he was going to baby sit that girl till her teeth fell out and her legs stopped working.
When the gun shots stopped the ringing in her ears continued. They all stood there in silent shock after Glenn had suggested they leave right then. Zoey was all for it climbing over the bar again so she wouldn't have to pass to close to either body. Her nerves were in shock and she was shaking all over. Her legs felt like jelly. As many times as her daddy had shot at her older brother and had swung at her middle brother nothing had prepared her for actually seeing someone actually shooting a living human being.
She rubbed her hands down her pant legs trying to steady them against her thighs. Rick reached over and patted her shoulder encouraging her to move in front of him towards the door. Hershel and Glenn were waiting by the slightly ajar door patiently. The red head reached them only a second before they heard a whole new set of voices. "I heard shots from over here." One said. Another voice replied with, "Maybe they ran into some lame branes."
Holding her breath she waited a second before the bar door began to move open and Glenn immediately jumped in front of it slamming it shut on the unsuspecting person. "Hey there is someone in here. The door just closed on me." The first voice said loud footsteps came closer and the door knob wiggled some. "Hey are our friends in there, we don't want any trouble." The second voice called muffled by the walls.
Zoey looked over at Rick and panic settled in her stomach. Ricks eyes were wild like a cornered animal when he shouted back. "Your friends drew on us first. We had no choice." It took a heavy moment before the first males voice asked back. "Are they dead." The red head watch as Rick shook his head in panic as he looked around. "We had no choice." He hollered back through the wall again. With a whisper he turned to Hershel. "You take them out the back. I will try and keep them occupied here so you can get to the car. I will follow when I can." The older man nodded and headed for the back Glenn right on his heels. Zoey took a panicked look at Rick and he nodded to encouraging her to follow the other men.
Getting back to her feet she followed after keeping her upper body lower slightly to the floor just in case. Reaching the bar she climbed over it again quietly as she avoided the now slowly rotting corpses now occupying the building. When she reached the back Glenn moved slowly to the back door when the glass shattered with a loud crack.
Rick hollered from the front to assure they were alright, Hershel answered that they were. Zoey upholstered her pistol and held it up like Merle had showed her. Keeping it aimed at the floor away from Glenn and Hershel. Glenn popped up from below the window and fired his shot gun out the shattered panes. When a muffled thud announced that he had hit his target Hershel ushered her forward. They made it out the door and to the corner of the building when another round of fire bounced off the bricks right beside Glenn's face.
Zoey's chest was tightening and her stomach was churning. She listened quietly as the firing stopped but she thought she heard someone running along the roof, her suspicions were confirmed when from behind them the sound of someone landing hard the letting out a pain fill screech startled Hershel.
Turning around she made her way after the older man covering his back if he needed. Glenn fired a few more shells from the shotgun towards those firing at them from the front. When no shots fired back he followed. Rounding the back corner where the garbage cans were sitting was a gate and sitting beside the gate was a large garbage can many businesses in the big cities used. Laying across the closed trash filled cube was a boy about Zoey's age and his leg was attached to one of the pointy fence poles.
A few more shots were fired from the front of the building when the squealing of tires scraped against the asphalt and a vehicle tore off down the road. The red head turned back to the seen watching as Hershel assessed the situation. The older man announced that he didn't know if the kid would keep his leg and he had no clue if they would be able to get him off the fence. Rick spoke up from behind them his guard still up and his gun at the ready. "Leave him we need to get back."
"We can just leave him." Glenn spoke up sounding panicked. Zoey glance back at the man standing behind her before looking around for any signs of danger. That's when she spotted a group of Walkers wondering towards them snarling. The gun shots had attracted the beginnings of a heard from the looks of it. The red head pointed towards them gaining the men around her attention. "We defiantly can't leave him to be eaten alive." Glenn spoke up again. Hershel shook his head. "We have no way of getting his leg of the fence, he could go into shock and die before we could fix him."
Rick rubbed his hand aggressively down his face. "We could cut his leg off." He suggested quickly. Hershel again shook his head. "Same thing he could go into to shock not to mention the noise he would make." The boy seemingly snapping out of his state of pain sat up in a hurry. "Don't cut of my leg. Please dont take my leg." The panic in his voice echoed around in her head a moment. With every passing second they stood there and debating the situation Zoey grew increasingly frustrated and panicked. Looking around for any way out of this and finding nothing to help only increased her desperation.
With one swift movement she grabbed the kid's leg and shoved upward. Unfortunately she didn't have the height to continue the momentum to remove the kid's leg from the post. Glenn seeing her dilemma stepped around Hershel and shoved one more time this time effectively removing the limb from its painful trap. The boy screamed out a moment as he collapsed onto the garbage cans lid crying softly after his initial pain filled scream.
Glenn then ran for the SUV and speeding back to them while Rick and Zoey opened the gate and hoisted the kid off the trash can. Zoey in haste grabbed his arm and his leg accidently placing her hand tightly around the wound. When she went to adjust her hold so she wasn't touch it Hershel stop her and instructed her to hold tighter.
They hefted his increasingly heavy body into the back seat and Zoey jumped in behind him striping her button up shirt off and using it for a tourniquet. Tying it tightly around his leg just above the wound she place both hands on either side of his leg on both openings and squeezed as hard as she could hoping it helped.
Rick moved Glenn out of the driver's seat and instructed him to help her in the back giving Zoey a break when her arms got tired from holding the kid's leg closed. Once Hershel was in they tore out of the alley and raced back to the farm. The kid had passed out and Glenn kept checking his pulse at his neck just in case. With eyes filled with panic Zoey looked to Glenn who had the same look she had. For the first time in forever she prayed and hoped that if there was a God that he would give the kid a chance. She didn't care that he had been shooting at them a moment ago he was too young to die.
It took another twenty minutes to return to the farm. The kid seemed to not be losing as much blood now. His breathing had evened out but his heart rate had decreased. When Rick skidded to a stop he threw the ignition into the off position silencing the vehicle. he threw open Zoey's door and helped her out. The red head made sure not to touch Rick too much, she was covered in blood and didn't think he wanted to be either. Hershel was telling someone to get the shed ready for surgery and the older man headed that way himself.
She watched as Glenn and Rick hauled the kid up and drug his unconscious body after Hershel. Zoey looked down at her hands seeing them red and slick with blood she felt gross. She was tired and she was sticky. After her adrenaline from the ride back trying to keep the kid from bleeding to death left her mentaly drained. She was totally unprepared for the look on her brother's face as she turned around.
His eyes narrowed and his jaw tight she could almost see the anger rolling off his shoulders. His crossbow down at his sides and what looked like a homemade bolt in his other hand causing the knuckles on both hands to bleed white in the dark from how tightly he was holding them. Zoey almost took a step back as the anxiety in her stomach rolled into her chest, but she held her ground. She knew this was a possibility, better to pay the piper now.