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Chapter Sixty Two
Carol couldn't believe they had gotten Daryl too. She had been afraid before but knew that nothing would happen to her as long as Daryl was out there trying to find her. But now she didn't only have Maggie to worry about, she had him to worry about. The way those men were talking this was going to end badly for all of them. But it would be worse for him. She certainly wasn't looking forward to go through something like a rape and then surely an unpleasant death but she would take both gladly if it would spare her from seeing him tortured. But he would have to watch whatever it was these men had planned for them and that scared her for him more than it did herself. She was so thankful in that moment that Sophia was asleep in a room with Merle Dixon. Regardless of that mans faults, and he had plenty, he would die for that girl. He loved her and he would protect her at all cost. So no matter what happened to her and Daryl tonight, Sophia would always be looked after.
She moved her head enough so she could see Maggie. She looked dazed. Like she wasn't understanding what was happening to them.
"Let's head out." The man with the gun on Daryl spoke up. "You walk on ahead of us there, Robin Hood. You look like the type that's dumb enough to die trying to save your ladies there."
Daryl caught her eye one more time before turning around and walked towards the woods. She still had her gun and as long as they didn't pat them down or anything there was still a chance that they could get out of this. She couldn't help but notice how the other man had to give Randal a shove to get him moving. She didn't understand what his problem could be. These were his people. He should have been ecstatic about leaving the farm alive. And why had he lied about Daryl not being the one that killed Dave? The boy had been right there when it happened. He had watched Daryl kill the man.
The man that had a hold of Carol started walking, forcing her to walk along in front of him. She kept Daryl in her sights. She could almost hear the gears turning in his head as he walked along a little bit in front of the man. The rain wasn't hitting them as hard once they had gotten under the cover of the trees. One thing that kept her spirits up a little was the fact that T-dog would start to wonder where Daryl was and the others would be warned sooner rather than later once Daryl never showed back up in the loft.
They would be looking for them soon as long as these were the only men that was at the farm. And they had Merle. This was Merle's specialty. And she hoped that once they were found he was planning on seeking bloody vengeance. She wanted every one of these men to die. And not quickly either.
~H~
Merle ghosted through the woods with Sophia close to his heels, both boys trailing no more than a foot behind him. He had to admit that these kids had some fucking grit. They listened to everything he said. Didn't argue and didn't ask questions. Sophia, being the smartest kid he'd ever known, grabbed two rifles from the tack room. She figured Maggie or Carol could use it once they got them away from those men. Duane had wordlessly picked up Daryl's abandoned crossbow and slipped the strap over his head. Daryl would need it once they got him.
Although the woods were darker than the openness of the farm the rain wasn't hard anymore. The canopy above them caught most of that moisture, making it possible to see enough that they could follow the group.
Merle put a hand on Sophia's shoulder to stop her as the group ahead of them stopped. One of the men went off into the brush, apparently to relieve himself. Sophia was the one having the hardest time keeping her trigger finger in check. She wanted to open fire on all of them. And after what he could make out of the mens conversation earlier, he would let her kill a few but there were a couple he wanted all for himself. And he wanted to take his time. It had taken him less than a minute to convince her that if they started firing on the men now, chances were they were going to kill at least one of their three hostages.
So Sophia had nodded. Saying no more, only listening. The boys were crouched right behind them and they too waited silently, guns drawn, eyes wide and watchful.
When the man joined the others again they once more started heading deeper into the woods. He knew how pissed off Daryl was going to be for bringing these kids with him but he hadn't had a choice. They could shoot, they were armed and Sophia wouldn't have listened to him anyway and them boys would have followed the girl into the pits of hell. At least this way they could help him out and he could keep an eye on them.
He hadn't had time to run back to the house for help. If he did that then he wouldn't have ever been able to track them and he wasn't going to lose his brother or Carol. And he wasn't going to lose Maggie either although he hated to admit that, even to himself. Especially to himself.
They continued on like that for a while and Merle was trying to devise some kind of strategy. They couldn't just run into camp raising hell and shooting up the place. That would get them all killed. But he also knew what those men had plans for Maggie and Carol and that shit wasn't going to happen. He supposed that the one that was holding onto Carol was Chuck and he was just about the biggest mother fucker that Merle had ever seen. And the man wanted his brother's woman. Merle grimaced because from the looks of the guy he would split Carol in half. While his brother watched. Merle was really going to try to save that bastard for last.
And then the others had mentioned sharing Maggie since the big guy's leftovers weren't all that great? He wanted to puke and then he wanted to ram a tree limb up every one of those sons of bitches ass. Maggie hadn't ever been with a man. Not like that. And she sure as fuck wasn't going to have that taken from her by these sick fucks. They weren't going to touch her. They weren't going to touch either of them and when he was done with them they wouldn't get a chance to touch anybody.
After a while Merle could make out what looked like a few low burning fires. The rain had stopped.
"Home sweet home." Daryl's captive laughed.
Merle motioned for them to stop. He let the group get further ahead of them and then turned to the kids. "Ya'll gotta listen to me. You do exactly what I tell you to do, you understand?"
They all nodded gravely and waited for him to give them their orders. He would have laughed if he wasn't so worried that he would mess this up. His brother had been right. He had created himself some soldiers.
~H~
Daryl glanced around at the men milling around the camp and his heart sank. He had to focus to chase away the first thought that went through his mind, which was, there wasn't going to be any way out of this. The only hope he had to cling too was the fact that T-dog would run for help after he realized something was wrong.
When they broke through the trees into the small clearing several heads turned to look at them. Some of the men cheered and cat called when they saw what their comrades had brought with them. Jesus, this was going to be bad. Most of the men looked dangerous. Daryl had spent a lot of time around men like this. Merle's people. But these men were even worse than what Merle's friends had been. Dangerous on a different level.
He turned around when the man told him too. He was glaring and nearly shaking with the force of his anger. He couldn't let this happen to them. He had to keep himself calm enough to figure out what the fuck he was going to do. He had no weapons, they were completely outnumbered, and the way the men were looking at the women was really starting to make him sick. He had to hold onto the the faith that his brother was warned in time and was now looking for them. He had too. No matter what kind of person Merle was he had always went out of his way to protect Daryl. And he sure as hell wouldn't stop now. He had to believe that Merle would find them and if anyone could get them out of this mess it was him. These men were dangerous but Merle was something else. Something that these men didn't have a chance against.
"You look pretty pissed off there. What's your name, boy?" The man with the gun asked. He was obviously younger than Daryl was so the fact that he was still calling him 'boy' was really starting to piss him off. But Daryl kept his mouth shut.
The man just shrugged and turned him around roughly, walking him towards the trees. Was he going to take him to the woods and shoot him? If there wasn't a way out of this then Daryl welcomed it. He would rather take a bullet to the brain than watch Carol get tortured and then killed. That was a fate much worse than death.
The man stopped him and forced him to turn around once more. Someone brought him a length of rope but Daryl was barely paying attention. He was looking past the man towards the rest of them. The huge guy that had been holding on to Carol had finally let loose of her enough so she could turn to face him. Daryl watched as fear finally sank into her features. And then he noticed how her hand was moving slowly towards her back.
Oh Jesus, no. If she had her gun on her and from what he could see that was exactly what she was going for, they would kill them all for sure before he could figure out a way to get them out of this mess. She kept her eyes trained on the grinning man in front of her. It wasn't bad enough that he had to be so big, but he also was terrifying in appearance. At least he was to people that weren't used to men like that.
He had jet black hair that fell straight, past his shoulders. A goatee and mustache that you would picture the devil himself sporting. But all that aside, his eyes were what really made Daryl's skin crawl and was probably filling Carol with so much terror that she didn't feel as though she had a choice but to draw her gun, knowing death would follow soon.
His eyes were dark, no discerning the iris from the pupil and he didn't just look like your typical mean asshole. This guy was something else entirely. He looked flat out evil. And all you had to do was look at that face, the strange gleam in his eyes, to know that he was looking forward to causing her a world of hurt. Much worse than anything they had expected.
Her hand was almost there, at the small of her back when the man grabbed her by the arm and yanked her forwards. He reached around her and grinned, ultra white teeth flashing in the light of the small fire they stood in front of.
The man removed the gun from behind her and casually tucked into the front of his pants. Daryl was shoved against a tree then but he still didn't even look at the man that was now tying his hands behind his back and then wrapping the rope around the tree itself, securing him there. Without another word the man walked away. Leaving Daryl to stand there.
Maggie wasn't in much better shape. The man that had kept a hold of her was laughing viciously with his buddies but to Daryl's surprise, Maggie didn't look afraid anymore. Her chin was up, it trembled slightly but she wasn't cowering. She was glaring at the men, resolve written plain as day on her face. Like she knew her fate and was going to face it bravely, not begging or sobbing.
Carol too seemed to be accepting. She didn't cower from the man the way he had seen her do with Ed a hundred times at the quarry. She looked fearful, anyone with a brain would have been fearful, terrified, but she held herself with a poise that screamed strength. Even in the face of that wicket looking son of a bitch. His woman was strong. A fighter now. And it wasn't going to do any of them any good. If he didn't do something soon then they were all dead.
He strained against the ropes that secured him to the tree while no one was looking. The man reached out a hand and touched Carol's face. From Daryl's view it looked as though the guy was barely touching her at all. But that was touching her too much as far as he was concerned. He lunged against the ropes but it was no use. He had to get her away from that man, he didn't care if it killed them all. He wasn't going to touch her. The man could have broken her neck in one hand by now if he wanted too.
Daryl's heart was hammering so hard in his chest that he thought it would surely explode before he could get them out of here. He needed to get away. He needed to get the women away. He felt desperately alone. He needed his brother.