Have I told you lately that you guys are loved? =) I had to rephrase that first sentence because it sounded too much like the lyrics to a Rod Stewart song ;) Most of you guys always make me feel way better about certain chapters that I'm afraid no one will like! And that is one reason you are loved. Anyway, no rest for the wicked, I suppose. Too many shots fired for things to go smooth now. Hope you like this chapter and thank you for reading and reviewing and sticking by me through what has turned into quite a long journey =) Enjoy!

Chapter Sixty Six

Daryl knew that the sun would be up soon. The birds were starting to stir, relieving the eerie silence that seemed to have enveloped the farm as he sat there. Carol hadn't stirred once, sleeping like a rock the entire remainder of the night. She had mumbled a bit. She was always bad about that. She had said his name quite a few times, causing him to grin like a moron but it was okay because no one was looking.

It was still dark however, which was why he didn't see the first few stumble out of the trees. By the time he saw them coming there were at least thirty. At first he thought that the men that had gotten away were coming back. When he realized what was really coming their way he nearly threw Carol off his lap just as T-dog came around the corner.

"Carol, get Sophia and Merle. Tell the rest to bring all the guns we have. GO!" Carol was already going before he even finished his sentence.

He glanced at T-dog, who was already aiming his rifle into the distance. T met his eyes. "You think we have a chance?"

Turning back towards the approaching herd Daryl cursed under his breath. There had to have been a hundred or more making their way towards the house, and they were still coming out of the trees. He reached for the rifle and then him and T-dog began firing into the mass of bodies. He didn't answer the man. He was sure T-dog wouldn't want to hear anything Daryl said at the moment.

Daryl didn't even turn to see who was there when he heard the door open. He just knew that whoever it was left the porch and was now shooting from the front yard. Another person came after that and eventually all that could be heard was gunfire, but the Walkers kept coming. And they were getting closer.

"We gotta get to the vehicles!" He shouted as he jumped over the banister and into the yard. The person closest to him was Hershel. He grabbed the old man's arm. "We can't do this. There's too many."

Hershel jerked his arm away. "This is my farm. I'll die here." He snapped.

"You willin' to let your girls die here?" Daryl hissed as the Walkers advanced. But Hershel just ignored him and kept shooting.

Daryl glanced around frantically but he didn't see Carol anywhere. There was no sign of Sophia or Merle either. His hurt began hammering painfully in his chest. The Walkers were there now. He shot one and then took off towards the house just as Beth came out. He grabbed her arm and she screamed just as he felt hands on his own arm. He turned and sure enough, one of them had followed him up the steps. He reached for the knife at his side and then stuck it right into the things eye. When he turned back for Beth she was gone, he wasn't sure if she had went back into the house or if she had gone around him unnoticed and fled.

Patricia was the next to fly through the door, nearly running into him. She paused and looked at him, eyes wide and panicked. "There isn't anyone else in there. Everyone is gone." She took off without saying another word so he followed her down the steps.

Andrea was the next living person he saw. She was shooting another Walker in the head and to Daryl's surprise, Milton slammed a knife into ones face that was coming at her from behind. The man looked terrified but determined. Daryl was sure that Jenner's words were running through his mind at the moment.

"Get to the cars!" Daryl screamed just as another lunged at him. He shot it and then there was another there to take it's place but right before he was able to shoot that one he felt another grabbing at his shoulder, pressing into the gash that was still covered by the bandages Carol had put on the wound earlier.

He heard an ear splitting gunshot close to him right before he shot the Walker in front of him. He spun around and Rick gave him a grave nod and walked away, shooting others. Daryl glanced around frantically again but still he didn't see the three people he needed to find. He heard a scream behind him and turned to see Otis fall, a Walker on his back, ripping away a chunk of flesh. The scream came from Patricia who tried to pull the thing off of him. He aimed at it's head just as another grabbed her arm and bit into her.

Fuck. He should have known this would happen.

He swallowed down bile and shot Patricia in the head and then shot the one that had bitten her. He was about to Shoot Otis who was still writhing in agony as the Walker on him continued it's feast but he didn't have too. Carl did it for him and then shot the Walker. Daryl met the boys eyes briefly, nodded and then turned just in time to see the boy that had shot him, Jimmy, get taken down by two more. He saw Andrea rushing over to the boy and then she shot all three before Daryl had a chance too.

He needed to find them. Carol, Sophia and Merle. He had too. They had to be okay. He heard the engines then. Headlights flashed in his eyes and then he was falling, hitting the ground hard, a growling weight on his back. Just as he felt something cold touch his shoulder he heard another shot and then Carl was pushing the dead Walker off his back.

"We gotta get out of here!" Carl screamed.

Daryl stabbed another Walker before it could get the boy. A truck pulled up several yards away and Hershel finally stopped shooting and jumped in. Daryl felt a hand on his arm once more but it was Rick. He pulled Daryl to his truck and shoved him in.

Rick yelled. "I have to get Lori!"

Daryl was about to jump out of the truck and tell him to take care of his own fucking kid. "I gotta get Carol. Sophia and my brother are still out here somewhere!"

Rick spun around as he retreated. "They're gone!" He yelled and then he started shooting Walkers again.

Gone. Gone? What did he mean they were gone? Did he see them go down? Was his whole fucking family dead? Or were they in another car? What the fuck could he have meant by gone? He had to get back out there and find them.

"Daryl!" Carl shrieked as Walkers started covering the truck. They were crawling across the hood, beating on the side windows.

"Fuck!" He screamed and then slammed his fists into the steering wheel." He put it in drive and pressed down viciously on the gas, swerving so the ones clinging to the hood would slip off. He ran over as many as he could. Knowing it wasn't going to kill them but feeling a grim satisfaction as he did it. He kept his eyes peeled as he scanned the area for any trace of Carol, Sophia or Merle but there was no one. He saw nothing but Walkers. He did see other vehicles though. He saw Andrea hanging out of one car, shooting as the driver made a wide U-turn in the yard and then came back for more.

They had all agreed that if something ever happened and they were all separated then they would all meet at the road where the herd had came through the first day that Carl and Sophia had turned up missing. That's where he would go. But if he went straight there then the Walkers would eventually catch up so before he turned onto the road, he went the opposite way. And as he pulled out he saw taillights in the distance. Someone else had the same idea. He looked over at Carl who was sitting wide eyed in the seat, staring straight ahead.

"You alright?" Daryl croaked and then had to clear his throat.

"I killed Patricia." He stated flatly, not looking from the windshield.

"You kept her from having to feel those things tear her apart. That's what you did. You did real good, boy. I had you pegged all wrong. You really saved my ass tonight."

This got his attention and the next time Daryl looked over the boy was looking at him. "So I did okay? Killing her wasn't a bad thing?"

Daryl shook his head. He was almost caught up with the vehicle in front of them. It was Shane's Jeep.

"It was a mercy killin', boy. You saved her from sufferin'. That took balls. You're a good man for that." Talking to Carl was making him feel a little more calm. He was sure that they were all three safe. If one of them had been killed he would know it. He would be able to feel that. So he clung to hope and silently willed Carl to continue on with the conversation.

"You think I'm a good man now?" he asked suspiciously.

Daryl didn't hesitate. He had even taken out the man that tried to shoot him so Sophia wouldn't have that on her shoulders. There really wasn't any way he could repay the kid for that one. Sophia was tough but killing someone, anyone really, wasn't an easy thing and she was just a little girl. "Yeah, I do."

"Good enough for Sophia?" Carl finally asked.

Daryl nearly ran into the Jeep that was now directly in front of him. He glanced over and glared. "You want me to throw your goddamn ass out of this truck, boy? I fuckin' knew it! I knew what was goin' on in that head of yours. I told Carol and she just laughed me off." Daryl glared at the Jeep in front of him, trying to make out who may be in it.

"Is that a no?"

Daryl heard the seriousness in the kids voice and he wanted to reach over and backhand him one good time. "Yes. That is one solid mother fuckin' no, you little shit."

They had to be out there somewhere. Nothing could kill Merle and that was the last person either of them were with. Merle wouldn't let anything happen to them. This was Merle's world. The man knew what he was doing when it came to surviving. Daryl kept telling himself this over and over again as he followed the jeep.

~H~

Carol stared out the window at the trees that lined the side of the road. The sun was coming up but she barely registered it. Glen was driving and Amy was in the passenger seat and as far as Carol knew they were the only three left alive. She hadn't seen Sophia at all and the only thing she kept telling herself was that she had been with Merle and she was safe. He wouldn't let anything happen to her. He couldn't let anything happen to her. So Sophia's chances were pretty high thanks to him.

But she had seen Daryl. The last glimpse she had was him being taken down from behind by a Walker. It was going for his neck or his shoulder and then he was gone. The car speeding off and a tree blocking her view. Maybe that was for the best. She didn't want to see that. That was her thoughts now. But at the time Amy had had to dive into the backseat to keep her in the speeding car. At the time her only thought had been to get to him. He needed her and she was fleeing like the coward she had always thought she was. But now her mind was a little more clear.

Everyone had driven off in different directions, not wanting to lead the Walkers to the road. They had been driving around for a while and other than the occasional lone Walker, there was no sign of the herd that had taken the farm.

She couldn't believe how many had came. There were hundreds. The whole group had let themselves fall into a false sense of security there. Daryl had been right from the start. It wasn't safe there. But she had wanted to stay and so they did. But she hadn't been the only one. The Greenes' would have never left that farm and they would all be dead right now if her group hadn't stayed. Hell, maybe they all were. Hershel didn't seem to be too interested in leaving even after they were all surrounded by those filthy things.

"Do you think we should head back to the highway now?" Amy asked as Glen took her hand and glanced at Carol in the mirror.

Glen nodded after giving Carol one more worried look. She wasn't sure what he saw in her face. She didn't care. She was trying to prepare herself to deal with whatever she found out on the highway. If Daryl wasn't going to be there then she needed to compose herself. Be strong for Sophia and Merle. Because she knew she would see the two of them. Surely fate wouldn't take them too. The sight of that Walker landing on his back flashed through her mind once more and she visibly flinched.

Her gun lay there in her lap and she thought about the dream once again. If somehow Merle hadn't been able to save her daughter, if she really had lost them both, maybe she would sneak off and end the pain that that would cause. She shook the thought off almost as soon as she thought it. She wouldn't do that. She would fight for them both. Somehow she would survive. She picked up the gun, the one he had given her at the CDC. He had given her the gun and then, that same night, he had told her he loved her. Sophia had been asleep in the same room, safe and alive. What a wonderful night. She smiled as she stared at the gun in her lap.

"Carol?" Glen spoke up, breaking through that memory. "They're all fine. Okay? Everything is going to be okay."

She nodded. She didn't believe him but she nodded regardless. The gun felt good in her hands. Cold. Hard. Real. She planned on bringing a lot of death to as many Walkers as she could with this gun. She wouldn't give up. If they were really gone, and she still didn't know for sure if they were, she was going to raise as much hell as she could until it was her turn to die. She would do her man proud. Dixon style.

She laughed at that thought. Glen looked at her through the mirror again as Amy turned in her seat. She cut the laugh short. Great. Now they thought she was losing her mind. Maybe she was.

Should I start killing off more people? Be honest! I HATE doing that but it is the end of the world here and so far all our people have been really lucky! I wouldn't mind keeping it that way for a while but YOU are the ones reading it! XD