So I'm watching The Walking Dead episodes and does it seem like the area around Merle's hand get bloodier between episode 3 and episode 4, or am just crazy?

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of its characters

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Chapter 3:

We slowly approached Daryl eyeing Merle's lonesome, bloody hand. Daryl was breathing hard moving to and fro. It seemed the man didn't know what to do with himself. That was until he turned quickly aiming his crossbow at T-Dog's head. Rick didn't hesitate cocking his gun and pushing it into the side of Daryl's head.

They were frozen in silence for a moment until Rick spoke, "I won't hesitate. I don't care if every walker in the city hears it."

Daryl took a moment to weigh his options. He could shoot T-Dog and get revenge for his brother, but that would mean throwing his own life away. His lip was quivering and his eyes watered, but he dropped his crossbow before anything could be done. He valued his life much more than vengeance for his brother, even if he was stuck in this apocalyptic hell. Rick lowered his gun pushing the hammer back in place.

"You got a do-rag or somethin'?" Daryl asked after taking a moment to collect himself. T-Dog produced a blue bandanna from his pocket keeping an eye on the redneck. He watched Daryl with caution as if he were a dangerous animal ready to pounce.

Daryl snatched the cloth from T's hand and walked over to his brother's hand.

"I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs," he said picking up his brother's hand by the pinkie and inspecting it, "Ain't that a bitch."

He then placed the hand on the cloth and folded it up. Guess we need something to bury, Jennifer thought as she watched Daryl motion for Glenn. He walked over to the poor boy, unzipping his backpack, and stuffing the hand inside. Glenn had an unpleasant look on his face as Daryl jerked him around trying to get the hand inside.

"He must have used a tourniquet, maybe his belt. Be much more blood if he didn't," Daryl said following the trail of blood drops on the ground. Daryl was right, but even if he used a tourniquet, there was still a lot of blood covering the ground.

"Come on," Rick said nodding to Jennifer, T-Dog, and Glenn to follow.

The blood trail led the group to another open rooftop door. Daryl was leading with his crossbow poised, Jennifer was behind him was her pistol in hand, then came Rick with his Python, Glenn without a weapon, and T-Dog with the bag of tools in the rear.

"Merle? You in here?" Daryl yelled as the group descended a wooden staircase. The stairs beneath them were creaking so loudly that Jennifer was sure any walker in the building would hear them coming.

They made their way into a room with a walker standing. Its back was turned to them so when it turned around a walker with its jaw hanging to its chest was revealed. Before Jennifer could do anything the walker fell to the floor with an arrow stuck between its eyes. Daryl pulled his arrow out of the walker's skull before the group continued.

They then passed through a doorway and began scoping out the hallway. They entered a reception room at the end of the hallway and found two dead walkers lying face down.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches," Daryl said making his way around the first walker, "One handed."

Jennifer was impressed. The guy was a dirty redneck, but he had a strong will to live.

"Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother," Daryl continued. He started reloading his crossbow and Jennifer watched as his massive biceps flexed, "Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is," Rick said as the group continued forward.

"Merle!" Daryl shouted.

"We're not alone here. Remember?" Rick told Daryl sternly.

"Screw that," Daryl said, "He could be bleeding out. You said so yourself."

"I don't think you have to worry about that," Jennifer said. She had ventured a little farther from the group when she had come to a little kitchen area. The stove was on with blood smeared on it. Next to the burner was an old iron with blood and skin hanging onto it, "He must have cauterized the wound."

"What's that burned stuff?" Glenn asked as Rick picked up the iron.

"Skin," Jennifer said. This made Glenn swallow hard and look away from the scene.

"Told you he was tough," Daryl told Rick as he put the iron back down, "Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."

"Don't take that on faith. He's lost a lot of blood," Rick said pessimistically.

"Yeah? Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap." Daryl said walking towards the back of the kitchen. The group followed and found a window with one pane shattered.

"He busted out of the building? Why the hell would he do that?" Glenn asked them.

"Why wouldn't he? He's out there alone as far as he knows," Daryl said backing away from the window. Rick stuck his head out the window looking at the stairs below.

"Yeah, and who would want to stay pent up in this building with walkers?" Jennifer asked, "He's just doing what he must to survive."

"You call that surviving? Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out?" T-Dog questioned, "What are his odds out there?"

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks," Daryl said. T-Dog looked down ashamed and Glenn rubbed between his eyes, "You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard."

"What about 1,000 dumb dead bastards?" Rick asked. Daryl had gotten in his face but Rick didn't back down, instead he just got closer staring into Daryl's eyes, "Different story?"

"Why don't you take a tally?" Daryl spat back, "Do what you want. I'm gonna go get him."

"Why don't of all you shut the fuck up and do something? You're giving me a headache with all of your bickering," Jennifer said as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "I would imagine he hasn't gotten far with that injury so why don't we check a few blocks, but only if you stop fighting."

Daryl threw Jennifer a cold annoyed look but she threw a bored look at him that asked 'seriously?' She wasn't going to give in to him no matter what kind of looks he gave her.

"I could do that," Daryl finally said. Jennifer looked to Rick who nodded. She then turned her gaze to T-Dog awaiting his conformation.

"Only if we get those guns first. I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?" T-Dog said. He did have a good point; Rick, Jen, and Daryl were the only ones with guns. They could use the tools but those wouldn't help if they were overrun by walkers again.

"You're not doing this alone," Rick said after Glenn began to explain the beginning of his plan.

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you much," Daryl said sitting on a filing cabinet.

"It's a good idea, okay, if you just hear me out," Glenn said trying to make them see his way, "If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast."

"Look," Glenn continued. He had drawn a diagram of the city with dry erase marker, using clips and paper to represent different things, "That's the tank, five blocks from where we are now," he placed a black clip in the center of the scale, "That's the bag of guns," he said placing a crumpled up sticky note next to the clip.

"Here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met," he said placing his finger on the alley next to the tank, "That's where Daryl and I will go."

"Why me?" Daryl asked a little confused. He had just told the guy he didn't like him and now he wanted him to accompany him to get the guns.

"Your crossbow is quieter than their guns," Glenn said. After a moment Glenn continued explaining his plan, "While Daryl waits here in the alley, I run up the street, grab the bag."

"You got us elsewhere?" Rick asked.

"Right, You, Jennifer, and T-Dog. You'll be in this alley here," he said placing an eraser two blocks from the tank.

"Two blocks away? Why?" Rick asked confused.

"I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won't go back to Daryl. I'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever directions I go, I got you in both places to cover me."

"What about going to get my stuff?" Jennifer asked.

"Afterwards, we'll all meet back here. Then we'll head for your place, get your stuff, and get out of here."

"Hey, kid what'd you do before all this?" Daryl asked.

"Delivered pizzas. Why?"

Jennifer led T-Dog and Rick down the alley with her knife in hand. There were only a few walkers so she easily took them out with a clean stab to the head. They made it to their specified alley and watched as Glenn went for the guns. Glenn scooped up the bag up guns and ran one way but quickly flipped around and grabbed Rick's hat.

"He has the guns," Jennifer whispered to the others. They were watching behind them to make sure no walkers snuck up on them. While she watched Glenn to make sure nothing went wrong on his end.

"Ayudame! Ayudame!" The trio heard someone yell and looked at each other. They then began to run to the alley where Daryl was. They heard the screams again put they were soon muffled by something. With Jennifer in the lead, T-Dog and Rick followed at a rapid pace. She put her knife back in her knife holder and pulled out her pistol, just in case.

The three came speeding down the alley and found Daryl standing there holding the fence closed trying not to let one of the many walkers outside of it in. There was a kid with him and when he secured the gate he grabbed the kid by the shirt and threw him into the wall.

Rick intervened before Daryl could hurt the kid so Jennifer grabbed the kid and held him to the wall.

"I'm gonna kick your nuts up in your throat!" Daryl yelled trying to get pass Rick.

"Let me go!" The boy said squirming under Jennifer's grasp.

"Shut up!" she said holding his scrawny body down.

"They took Glenn. That little bastard and little bastard homie friends," Daryl said over the growling walkers behind him, "I'm gonna stomp your ass!"

"Guys! Guys! We're cut off!" T-Dog yelled as the sound of the chain-link fence rattling got louder.

"Get to the lab. Go," Rick said pointing to T-Dog and Jennifer. They grabbed the boy each taking one arm and drug him back to the lab. Daryl and Rick followed after grabbing the bag of guns. They made it into building and forced the boy to sit down so they could question him.

"Those men you were with, we need to know where they went," Rick told the boy.

"I ain't telling you nothing."

"Jesus, man. What the hell happened back there?" T-Dog asked.

"I told you, this little turd and his douchebag friends came out of nowhere and jumped me," Daryl said as he paced around the small space in front of their prisoner.

"You're the one who jumped me, puto," the boy said looking at Daryl. Jennifer was getting bored with all this talking; she was ready to go to her apartment, get Glenn, and leave. First, they would have to get this kid to talk, Jennifer knew a few ways to get him to squeal, but Rick might not appreciate her methods, "screaming about trying to find his brother like it's my damn fault."

"They took Glenn. Could have taken Merle too," Daryl said in defense.

"Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle," the boy said striking a nerve in Daryl.

He went to make a move towards the boy but was, once again, cut off by Rick. He tried kicking him but the boy flinched away before he was hit. "Damn it, Daryl. Back off." Rick said trying to control the man. As he pushed Daryl back the redneck eyed the boy in the chair. He then made his way over to the backpack Glenn had been wearing and started digging through it. He removed the blue bandanna that held his brothers hand.

"Wanna see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?" Daryl asked as he began unwrapping the bandanna. He looked to Rick for conformation before turning and throwing the hand into the boy's lap.

The hand hit his lap with a wet smack. It took him a second but when he realized what it was he got up out of the chair screaming. He fell to the ground and backed up until he was against the wall.

"Start with the feet this time," Daryl said grabbing the screaming boy by his shirt. Rick pulled Daryl off of the boy before Daryl could do any damage. The boy looked to Daryl with wide, fearful eyes. Jennifer just watched the scene before her. The boy might not have known it but she knew Daryl's threats were empty. He might be able to land a punch or two on the boy but Rick would never let anything more than that happen.

"The men you were with took our friend. All we want to do is talk to them, see if we can work something out," Rick said as he kneeled down to get level with the boy. He was silent before he nodded in agreement.

"Finally," Jennifer said, "I'm ready to get out of this awful city."

"Makes two of us," Daryl grunted as the group got ready to leave.

"Are you sure you're up to this?" Rick asked Jennifer.

"Why wouldn't I be? I've been doing stuff like this for ten years," Jennifer hissed at him. She hated when people treated her like she was weak and couldn't protect herself. Just because she was a women didn't mean she couldn't protect herself. Hell, she had been protecting herself since this thing started. She didn't need to rely on anyone but herself for survival.

They were sitting outside of the building the boy said was their camp. It was a large building that looked relatively safe. The problem was that the building was big and there was no telling how many people were inside.

"Okay," With that, Jennifer grabbed the bag of guns and headed for the top of a nearby building. This spot allowed her to see into the area where Rick, T-Dog, and Daryl would be. She set the bag of guns on the ground and got into positioned. She watched as the three approached the door to the building. A man emerged from the building nonchalantly and they all began talking. Jennifer assumed this was their leader, Guillermo the boy had said his name was.

Throughout their discussion, more men emerged from the building all carrying some kind of weapon. One of them actually raised his weapon, but soon their leader made him lower it.

At one point, Jennifer saw Rick look at her and Guillermo followed his gaze to the rooftop where Jennifer had him in her sights. She was awaiting the signal from Rick before she put a bullet in Guillermo's head.

"Come on, Rick. Give me the damn signal," Jennifer whispered.

The man yelled something and Jennifer watched as they brought out someone struggling onto the roof. There was a sack covering the person's head but it was quickly removed, revealing Glenn with duct tape over his mouth. He was shaking frantically, afraid that his captors might throw him off the roof.

Guillermo looked one last time to Jennifer before walking back into the mill. Daryl, T-Dog and Rick led the boy they had taken prisoner out of the courtyard and Jennifer took this as a sign that she needed to get back down there and figure out what happened.

"What the hell happened down there?" Jennifer asked when she caught up to the four men.

"He wants the guns," Rick said moving at a fast pace.

"Them guns are worth more than gold," Daryl said as Rick began digging through the guns dividing it evenly in half, "Gold won't protect your family or put food on the table. Willing to give that up for that kid?"

"If I knew we'd get Glenn back, I might agree," T-Dog stated, "But you think that vato across the way is just gonna hand him over?"

"You calling G a liar?" Miguel, who was sitting on the floor, asked.

"Are you apart of this? You want to hold onto your teeth?" Daryl yelled at the boy smacking him on the head.

"Question is, do you trust that man's word?" T-Dog continued speaking.

"No, question is what are you willing to bet on it?" Daryl spoke up again, obviously hyped up about what just happened with Guillermo, "Could be more than them guns. Could be your life. Glenn worth that to you?"

"What life I have, I owe to him. I was nobody to Glenn, just some idiot stuck in a tank. He could have walked away, but he didn't. Neither will I," Rick said to Daryl.

"So you're gonna hand over the guns?" Daryl questioned Rick.

"I didn't say that," Rick told him. He then looked to Daryl, then T-Dog, then Jennifer and spoke, "There's nothing keeping you three here. You should get out, head back to camp."

"And tell your family what?" T-Dog asked rubbing his hairless head.

Rick's eyes landed on Jennifer and she shrugged her shoulders saying, "Wouldn't be the first time I've risked my life to save someone else's."

Finally his eyes landed on Daryl who nodded and then they all began grabbing guns.

"Come on, this is nuts," Miguel said standing up. Daryl took care of him by pointing to the ground and the boy quickly sat back down, "Just do like G says."

Daryl and Jennifer were loading shells into the shot gun when Jennifer spoke out, "Even if they don't give Glenn back, we could just take him back."

"Good luck with that," Miguel said rubbing his head. They ignored his comment and continued preparing the guns.

"Do you think we should cover his mouth just in case?" Jennifer asked looking at Miguel. They had finished loading the guns and were about to leave.

"Yeah," Rick said nodding in agreement with Jennifer, "Anyone got a rag or something?"

T-Dog produced a dirty white rag from Glenn's backpack. "I ain't putting that in my mouth," Miguel trying to back up, but he couldn't because of Daryl's firm grasp on him.

"Too bad," Jennifer said grabbing the kid and stuffing the rag into the boy's mouth, "Okay, let's go."

Miguel took the lead with his hands tied behind his back, ad dirty rag in his mouth, and Daryl's gun poking him in the back as they made their way back to Guillermo'scamp. Jennifer, Rick, and T-Dog trailed behind them, ready to attack.

This time, when they made it to the large doors they immediately opened and they entered. Dozens of men surrounded the group holding various objects, such as Crowbars, baseball bats, and a few with guns.

Guillermo stood in the center with no visible weapons. "I see my guns but they're not all in the bag." He said.

"That's because they're not yours. I thought I mentioned that," Rick said to Guillermo with a straight face.

"Let's just shoot these fools right now, ese. All right? Unload on their asses, ese," the bald guy who pointed his gun at Daryl said.

"I wouldn't if I were you," Jennifer growled at the man.

"I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation," Guillermo responded to Jennifer's warning.

"No, we're pretty clear," Rick said lowering his gun and taking out a knife. He cut the cloth holding Miguel's hands together and pushed him towards Guillermo. All the while, Jennifer, T-Dog, and Daryl stilled had their guns aimed at the group, "You have your man. I want mine."

"I'm gonna chop up your boy. I'm gonna feed him to my dogs. They're the evilest, nastiest man-eating bitches you ever saw," Guillermo said getting closer to Rick, "I picked them up from Satan at a yard sale."

"Is that supposed to scare us?" Jennifer questioned.

"It will when my dogs are on you," Guillermo threw back at her.

"I told you how it has to be. Are you woefully deaf?" he continued getting closer to Rick.

"No, my hearing's fine. You said come locked and loaded," Rick said holding his ground. Rick then cocked his gun and aimed it at Guillermo. This seemed to spark something in the room because soon everyone had their gun up ready to shoot, "Okay then, we're here."

Guillermo continued to stand his ground even with Rick's gun in his face.

"Felipe! Felipe!" They heard a woman calling out. Breaking the silence that had fallen upon the room.

"Abuela, go back with the others, now," the bald man, Felipe, responded. He looked at the woman then to Guillermo not knowing what to do.

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire!" Daryl yelled.

"Abuela, listen to your mijo, okay?" Guillermo told the old woman turning around halfway to face her, "This is not the place for you right now."

"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing," the old woman begged Felipe ignoring Guillermo's request, "He need his asthma stuff. Carlito didn't find it. He needs his medicine."

Guillermo turned back to Rick who lowered his gun from Guillermo's head to his chest. Jennifer also lowered her gun confused by the situation. Why is an old woman with this band of thugs? Jennifer wondered to herself. Guillermo breathed out deeply and turned back to Felipe, "Felipe, go take care of it, okay? And take your grandmother with you."

"Who are those people?" The woman asked walking up to Rick. Felipe started speaking to her but the others couldn't understand what he was saying, "Don't you take him."

By now Rick had his gun lowered as the woman started moving in on him, "Ma'am?"

"Felipe's a good boy," the woman began before Rick could speak, "He have his trouble but he pull himself together. We need him here."

"Ma'am," Rick began, "I'm not here to arrest your grandson."

"Then what do you want him for?" she asked.

"He's…" Rick started but was interrupted by Jennifer.

"We need help looking for someone named Glenn."

"The Asian boy?" she asked moving towards Jennifer, "he's with Mr. Gilbert. Come. Come, I show you. He needs his medicine."

The woman grabbed Jen's hand and led her around Guillermo the others trailing close behind.

"Let 'em pass," he told his men as they dropped their weapons eyeing the group as they passed.

The woman led them out of a door to a flight of stairs. The stairs led to the front of a building with a chain-link fence around it. Stationed here, were two men with baseball bats. They continued into the building, where Rick stopped watching a nurse help an elderly woman drink some water.

"Abuela, por favor. Take me to him," Felipe told the woman. They passed several elderly people as they followed behind the woman and the limping man.

They entered a cafeteria like room where the elderly lingered about doing their own thing. In the center there was a group of people crowded around a man. One member of the group was Glenn, who was too focused on the man to notice the four of them enter.

"All right. All right." Someone said as the man took in breathes from his inhaler, "Nice and easy. Just breathe."

"What the hell is this?" Rick asked looking to Glenn for the answer.

"An asthma attack. Couldn't get his breathe all of a sudden," Glenn said looking at Rick then back to the man.

"I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man," T-Dog told him. Glenn looked back and the group saw three little Chihuahuas in a leopard print bed.

"Terrifying," Jennifer spoke under her breathe.

"Could I have a word with you?" Rick whispered to Guillermo. He nodded and they walked a distance away from the group, "You're the dumbest son of a bitch I ever met. We walked in there ready to kill every last one of you."

"Well, I'm glad it didn't go down that way," Guillermo said relieved.

"If it had, that blood would be on my hands."

"Mine too. We'd have fought back. Wouldn't be the first time we've had to. Protect the food, the medicine- what's left of it. These people- the old ones, the staff just took off, just left 'em here to die."

Rick took a moment looking back at the man that had had an asthma attack.

"Me and Felipe were the only ones who stayed."

"What are you, doctors?" Rick asked.

"Felipe's a nurse- a special care provider. Me, I'm the custodian."

It took Rick a minute for it to sink in but once it did the group followed Guillermo into an empty room. While Guillermo sat down, Rick put down the bag of guns on a couch.

"Where did the rest of your group come from?" Jennifer asked.

"The vatos trickle in to check on their parents, their grandparents. They see how things are and most decide to stay," Guillermo answered "It's a good thing, too. We need the muscle. The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kind- plunderers, the kind that take by force."

"That's not who we are," Rick told the man.

"How was I to know?" He inquired, "My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage, appearances."

"Guess the world change," T-Dog said shaking his head in disgust.

"No. It's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken," Guillermo said looking to Rick, "So we do what we can here. The vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathroom by themselves, so that's just a dream. Still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something."

He continued looking at Rick like he was explaining to just him instead of the whole group, "So we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut except for one entrance. The vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait. The people here, they all look to me now. I don't even know why."

"Because they can," Rick said.

Jennifer, who had been sitting on the desk up until that point, stared at the ground. She got up, picking up the gun she had leaned on the wall, and held it out to Guillermo. She knew how he felt, not understanding why you were chosen to be a leader. To doubt yourself when others don't, yeah, she knew all about it, "Don't steer them wrong." She said in a low voice.

He accepted it looking Jennifer in the eye and nodding. Rick then unzipped the bag and began pulling out guns for Guillermo and his group to keep. They only ended up keeping two pistols, one for T-Dog and one for Glenn.

"Admit it, you only came back to Atlanta for the hat," Glenn said as they followed Jennifer to her apartment.

"Don't tell anybody," Rick said to him.

"You've given away all our guns and ammo," Daryl said as they entered the building, making their way up the stairs, "For what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously, how long you think they got?"

"Guys, stop worrying about the guns," Jennifer told them as they made it to her door. She quickly lifted up a potted plant nearby and produced a small key and opened the door.

"How can you say that when we have nothin' left to protect ourselves with?" Daryl asked as they followed her through her apartment.

"Oh, don't worry I got you covered," she said as she opened up her bedroom door. Inside sat a supply of military weaponry that outclassed any gun Rick had in his little police bag.

"Where did you get all of these?" Glenn asked.

"It's easy to break into the military base when it's occupied with nothing but walkers," she said grabbing a shot gun and throwing it to Daryl. The man examined the gun as Jennifer continued handing out some to the others.

When they left, they were equipped with the same amount of guns they would have gotten if they had split the bag of guns with Guillermo's group.

"Oh my God," Glenn said as they approached the spot they had parked the truck.

"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl asked.

"We left it right there. Who would take it?" Glenn questioned upset about this turn of events.

"Merle," Rick said.

"He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp," Daryl said looking the other way. The group was forced to walk the rest of way back to camp.

The sun had already set when the group made it to the camp. They had been jogging the way until they heard screams and gun fire come from that direction. They then broke out into a full out sprint trying to get to the camp.

The group emerged from the woods as they realized what was happening. The camp was filled with walkers and people dying. Jennifer immediately began shooting any walker near her. She spotted Shane, Lori, and Carl making their way to the RV.

Jennifer was preoccupied shooting a walker to realize there was one right next to her. When she heard it growling, she turned towards it and would have gotten bit if, at that moment, Daryl didn't come up behind it and smash its head in with the butt of his shotgun. They stared at each other a moment before she nodded to Daryl and ran off into the group.

"Carl! Baby!" Rick was yelling to his family.

"Dad!" Carl yelled as he ran to his dad. Rick picked up his crying son and walked over to comfort his terrified wife.

Jennifer watched as the others kept turning and pacing around trying to confirm that there were no more walkers. Glenn was panting as he stared wide eyed all over the place.

Jennifer heard sobbing and looked to where it was coming from. When she saw what it was she wished she had just ignored it. On the ground, Andrea laid above her bloody sister crying. Jennifer had to look away, she couldn't watch that scene.

She felt as if all of this was her fault. If she hadn't pressured them into going to Atlanta the others might not be dead. Well, that's just more to add to the list of people I have killed, Jennifer thought as she gazed at the ground her face full of self-loathing.

"I remember my dream now. Why I dug the holes," Jim said to the group, his face covered in blood.