DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of The Walking Dead. This is for entertainment purposes only.

A/N: Well, I don't think I scared anyone away with the last chapter. That's good, haha. You guys are really making me conflicted with this story! I keep bouncing around with my plans. I think I'm going to make myself stick with the original plan though.

Trey: Since you don't have an account, I have no way of replying to your review. But my gosh, thank you so much! You are way too kind!

Cold.

As soon as Daryl had left with T-Dog and Maggie, he was all Skyler could think about. Yes, she should be concerned for Glenn and Olivia for being taken. Yes, she should be worried about Maggie and T-Dog just as well. But she didn't know the others like she knew Daryl—she wasn't as close to them. She knew Daryl was plenty capable of standing his own ground but with the way those people attacked earlier…

Leah shifted on the bed before she threw one of the pillows on Skyler's lap and lay down. It had probably been at least a couple hours since they left as night was approaching. The day only seemed to drag on and she knew Leah had to be exhausted because she was. But she couldn't sleep. Not after earlier and not without Daryl.

Skyler ran her fingers through Leah's hair and pulled it all together as though she were about to put it in a ponytail. "I know, I should have said something… I should have stopped him from going."

"He wouldn't have listened anyway. He's too stubborn like that," Leah hugged the pillow and curled up.

"That's true." Skyler forced a smile, "I'm sure we're just worrying for nothing. They'll get Glenn and Olivia back and we'll all get out of this place before they can stage another attack. It'll all be okay." Maybe it was the motherly instinct in her, but even though she felt like it was all a lie, she knew she needed to say something to try and put Leah at ease. They didn't know anything for sure so there really wasn't any need to get too worked up over it.

"I hope…" Leah mumbled.

"Why don't you try and get some sleep? They probably won't be back until closer to morning," Skyler offered. She still ran her fingers through Leah's hair out of nervousness, though it soothed her a little.

Leah sighed, "I can't. I want Daryl back. And the others…"

"I know, sweetie. I know."

Skyler glanced down at her arm and smiled. She had Hershel take a look at where the bullet had grazed her and he stitched it up for her. By request, he wrapped Daryl's bandana back around the wound. It was really the only thing she had of his but it kind of brought her a sense of comfort.

Of course they weren't in a relationship but that didn't mean that she didn't love him. He always seemed to be looking out for everyone. He was always great around Leah. And she knew her sister was the happiest she had ever been with him.

She tried to pull herself back together before she started to cry. Thinking about how things used to be wasn't helping any, picturing Elena and Daryl together with Leah, picturing Matt and Hannah. She was honestly shocked at how well Leah seemed to be keeping it together. If she wasn't mistaken, she'd almost guess that Leah was keeping it together better than she was.

The next thing Skyler was even aware of was the fact that there was now a bit of daylight peeking through the window of the motel room and she could faintly hear voices outside towards the parking lot. She had fallen asleep with Leah still lying in her lap curled up.

Skyler gently shook her, "Hey… I think they're back."

Leah shot up immediately and jumped off the bed as though she wasn't just asleep a minute ago, "They're back?"

"I can hear someone talking outside," Skyler slid off the bed and followed Leah outside. Her back slightly ached from falling asleep sitting up against the headboard but providing comfort to Leah was worth it.

Only when they did step outside, Skyler felt like her heart stopped. Rick was there with Glenn and Maggie just as everyone else seemed to start coming outside at the sound of their voices as well.

"Where is everyone? Daryl? Olivia and T-Dog?" Skyler forced the words from her mouth as she stared at the young couple.

"They killed T-Dog," Maggie's voice cracked as she spoke. It was only obvious she was still shaken up.

"They still have Olivia," Glenn added.

"But Daryl?" Skyler waited for their response. She felt like they were purposely teasing her with the news. Was Daryl dead too? Was he hurt? Did a walker get him?

"They might have gotten him too," Glenn lowered his head, his words just barely audible.

"What do you mean they might have gotten him?"

"Daryl tried to find Olivia. He didn't want to leave her behind," Glenn briefly explained.

"And you guys just left him there? You didn't do anything?" Skyler knew she sounded ridiculous panicking, shooting all of these questions at Maggie and Glenn. But she couldn't help it. She wasn't even sure she really let the fact that T-Dog was killed sink in.

"There was nothing we could do. You weren't there, it was complete chaos. We barely made it out of there ourselves," Maggie stepped forward, getting defensive. "He was already separated from us when we were attacked trying to leave. I don't think they saw him."

"That's not all…" Glenn cleared his throat. "Merle's there. And Andrea too."

There were a few collected gasps and a burst of chatter among the group at the mentioning of two previous group members.

"Merle? Daryl's brother, Merle?" Leah stepped forward now.

"And Andrea? They're both alive?" Lori was appalled.

Glenn nodded. Maggie didn't know who Merle was, she had never met him. So it left Glenn to do most of the talking.

"Does Daryl know?" Rick sounded stern, his eyes locked on Glenn.

"I—I didn't tell him. Merle and Andrea are a part of this Woodbury place. They're not under any type of threat. I just figured if I didn't say anything, Daryl wouldn't want to stay behind. Because I know he would have wanted to try and get Merle back. But he stayed anyway... I didn't know what to do."

"Merle could get Daryl out of there though, couldn't he? And Andrea?" Skyler questioned.

"I don't know. Those people didn't seem too friendly." Glenn hung his head, his shoulders sagging forward. He and Maggie both looked as though they felt guilty for letting Daryl stay.

Skyler felt a hand on her shoulder as she realized it was Lori. Lori forced a weak smile to show her support and try to comfort her without any words as Carol took her other side. Carl and Sophia had both taken to Leah as well. Hearing the news of T-Dog being killed and Daryl and Olivia still being in Woodbury was extremely unsettling to say the least.

"I would say we need to get out of here and fast, but we can't leave Daryl and Olivia. This isn't up for debate," Lori finally found the words she had been searching for before looking to her husband, her hand resting on her growing belly. "Rick?"

"We're going back," Rick nodded.

There was some movement out towards the end of the parking lot that suddenly drew everyone's attention. It had Rick drawing his Colt Python as the others followed suit with their own weapons.

"We don't mean no harm. Just looking for some help," the unfamiliar man spoke. He raised one arm in the air to show he meant it while the other was supporting an injured woman flanked between himself and another woman.

Daryl slowly came back around. His head was pounding and his left hand and right shoulder were throbbing. Throbbing was an understatement. It took a minute for his vision to clear up and his memory to catch up with him. He was in Woodbury. The Governor. Olivia…

Olivia.

Daryl looked over at her only to confirm what he already knew. She was dead. She was shot in the chest. And for a moment, Daryl thought he saw her hand twitch. But the longer he stared, the more he realized he wasn't seeing things. She was twitching, moving. No matter how much he wanted to call out her name, wait for her to just sit up and say that she was okay, he knew better. He could hear the slightest initial raspy breath following the hand twitch.

"The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as 3 minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours."

"Shit—" Daryl suddenly felt sick to his stomach again, everything throbbing only that much more. He tugged uselessly to pull free from the duct tape binding him to the chair on instinct. Why he remembered what Jenner had said back at the CDC word for word was beyond him but it was stored up there. It didn't matter how long he was out for, he just needed to find a damn way out of this—and fast.

Daryl attempted to tip the chair over to the right and succeeded, though he was awarded with a sharp pain in his shoulder. He clenched his teeth and tried again to pull his right arm free. Once the chair had made impact with the ground, he heard the slightest crack, praying it was what he thought it was. And finally, after feeling like he was about to rip his arm off, he had succeeded in breaking the arm of the chair. One thing that was working in his favor. But he wasn't quite out of the woods as he cautioned a glance towards Olivia's body then back to his left hand. So far he was making good progress because she wasn't up on her feet yet, though it wouldn't be long before she was.

Just like ripping off a Band-Aid. No big deal…

Daryl gripped the handle of the knife protruding from his hand and took a few breaths. He clenched his teeth and pulled as hard as he could, managing to succeed after a couple tries. He immediately cut his left arm free and forced himself up far enough to start cutting the tape off his legs. He was well aware he had his adrenaline to thank as he noticed Olivia was starting to get back up.

And finally, Daryl was free. He scrambled to his feet just before Olivia had reached him, her hands grabbing onto his shirt. He immediately threw his left arm up and placed it just in front of her throat to keep her back, using his right arm to brace his left. The knife was pointed towards her in his hand and he hesitated for a moment before stabbing the blade into her head.

Olivia's reanimated body crumpled to the floor with the knife still embedded in her head as Daryl backed himself up against the nearest wall. All he could do was stare at her body, unfocused, and struggling to catch his breath. He slid down the wall until he was sitting on the ground before he tore his stare away.

He glanced down at his right arm, realizing that the arm of the chair was still taped to him. Of course he had no way of really getting it off with the damage that had been done to his left hand. He didn't even want to think about the damage, whether he'd lose functionality of it or not. So he focused more on getting the tape off of his left arm and legs. He had to try and keep himself occupied with anything and everything but what was right in front of him.

He had to push on. If anything, the others back at the motel were enough incentive to do so. He had to get out of this hellhole and get back to the group, warn them, get them moving if they haven't already. He couldn't let this Governor kill anyone else.