When Hunters Become the Hunted

Chapter 6

Jack Links

The previous night had definitely been interesting, that was for sure. Celeste's mind kept playing back on it, thinking it over in her head.

Merle had been left behind, the 'loveable' redneck. Most would scoff at the statement, regardless of the sarcasm involved. Truthfully, it made little difference though, Merle was still missing. They'd had the nerve to cuff him to the roof, leaving him behind to the walkers to bake in the unforgiving Georgian sun. Even though the man wasn't the most likeable, it was still no reason to leave him behind the way that they did. It was inhumane.

A shiver ran down Celeste's spine as she thought about it, her mind going back to the conversation that she'd had the previous night with the new comer. Rick Grimes was his name. He was Lori's husband. He was Carl's dad. He was Shane's best friend. He was a cop.

T

Following him off to the side, Celeste ran a hand through her hair. She wasn't looking forward to any of this, but she had to get answers on what had transpired.

"Rick, I'm sorry, but you need to realize that Merle's absence isn't something that's going to be overlooked," she told him, crossing her arms over her chest and turning her stare toward the older man.

It was obvious that he'd seen and experienced many things during his years of service. This may not be the first time that something somewhat 'similar' had happened. Not that she really cared. After all, it wasn't her business. Merle on the other hand, he was her business.

"It's obvious that you've spent time with the man, yes?" Rick asked, looking her over for a moment.

"Something like that," she replied. "Him and his brother, they pretty much saved my life."

"An admirable quality," Rick nodded. "But that still doesn't change the fact that he's dangerous and doesn't work well with others," he pointed out, stopping her in her tracks.

"So, what, leaving him behind was a better answer?" she asked, her tone turning sharp as she narrowed her eyes at him. "Daryl AND Merle are my friends Mr. Grimes," she told him. "And I don't take well to people hurting my friends."

"Listen, Celeste, right?" he asked, earning a nod in return. "I didn't have a choice."

Celeste shook her head at his answer. That was a load of crap and she knew it. He's the one that handcuffed Merle, not anyone else. He was responsible for his actions. No matter how annoying Merle could be, he didn't deserve what had happened.

"Look, I don't completely blame you, given what T-Dog told me, but that still doesn't make what happened right," she said. "On either end," she added.

There was a silence after that, only a few moments, but silence nonetheless.

"I just want you to know that you're going to have to face what you did when Daryl gets back because I'm not going to be the one to tell him," she stated firmly.

"And you won't have to," Rick assured her. "This is on me and I'll be the one to talk to him about it."

"Well, then I hope you're a quick one because those Dixon's don't hold back."

With that, Celeste turned her back, walking off toward her tent for the night. She had every intention to fall asleep, but even the best intentions don't always work out as one would hope.

T

It was still early, the day only having gone by and into the morning, and the rain from the previous night drying up for the most part. Breakfast had been started for some, people had been fed, and the sun was still bright in the sky. Only problem was, Daryl still had yet to arrive and Celeste felt like she was walking on glass, merely waiting for it to break beneath her feet and send her plummeting into the proverbial rapids.

"Celeste, can I go play with Carl and Sophia?" Kenzie asked, coming to stand in front of Celeste as she turned the page in her book.

The little blond was practically bouncing on the balls on her feet, tiny puppy dog eyes looking up. Celeste gave her a smile, before stroking the girl's head for a moment, looking over toward the other two children. Carl, Lori's son, he seemed rather responsible for his age. He was always looking out for Sophia and Kenzie.

"Sure sweetie," Celeste nodded, before kissing the girl's forehead. "But make sure that you stay right with Carl, you hear?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am!" Kenzie exclaimed, before running over to Carl and Sophia.

Celeste watched as Kenzie took hold of Carl's hand, gripping it tightly in her own, before doing the same with Sophia's. She was a good little girl, Kenzie, she'd give her that much.

"Isn't she just the cutest."

Celeste turned her head to find Lori there, nodding her head in agreement.

"Yeah, she is," Celeste replied, staring off at the three young children as they walked off. "How do you do it?" she asked, turning to face Lori fully.

"What do you mean?" Lori asked, giving Celeste a curious look before sitting down beside her.

"Raise a kid," Celeste admitted. "I haven't the slightest clue. I mean, she isn't even mine," she confided, unsure of what to do.

After all, Carl just seemed to be so happy. He was so well behaved and well mannered, he was kind and sweet. He helped as best he could around the camp even at his age. Celeste could only imagine how Kenzie would have turned out had all of this chaos never happened. Celeste could only hope that she would have grown up with a smile on her face, never having a single thing to worry about as she made her way in the world. She would have gone to school and gone through the educational system, no matter how messed up it was at times. Eventually, she would have gone to her first dance, kissed a boy, even had her sweet sixteen. All of that seemed so distant now.

At this point, Kenzie would never experience such things. Not in a world of flesh eating monsters anyway. In fact, Celeste found herself vaguely wondering if Kenzie would even make it into her teens. Would the poor thing even last in this world or would her smile simply fade away into the nothingness of the world that was forming around them? This, Celeste couldn't be sure of.

"Well, I've had help," she pointed out, looking over to where her husband was having a conversation with one of the other campers.

She had a smile on her face, one of genuine affection.

"Don't get me wrong though, it hasn't been easy," Lori confessed. "Not in the slightest."

"Yeah, but…" Celeste started, but paused for a moment, chewing on the flesh of her lower lip. "How do you know if you're doing it right?"

Lori gave her a warm smile as she placed a hand on the younger girl's shoulder, giving it a faint squeeze.

"You don't," Lori admitted. "All you can do is just hope and pray that in the end, they turn out okay," she smiled. "From what I can tell so far though, she'll be just fine."

"Thanks," Celeste said, grateful for the older woman's words. "Although, do you mind if I ask you something else?" she inquired, scratching lightly at the back of her head.

"Sure, go ahead," Lori nodded.

"Well, I…"

Before she could finish, Celeste was cut off by the sound of screams. The children were nowhere in sight. Another scream sounded, this one's pitch alone splitting the air.

"Kenzie!" Celeste cried out, pushing herself up and running forward.

Lori followed behind her, eyes wide in fear.

"Carl!" the brunette cried out, screaming for her son.

"Mom!"

"Momma!"

"Dad!" Carl cried out again, his father calling out toward him as well.

Only crying was followed as they pushed their way through the brush and passed the trees, the children running to them once they'd reached the borders of the camp where the soup can alarms were. Carl had Kenzie in his arms, running forward as she cried.

"Kenzie," Celeste breathed out, taking her into her arms and holding her close.

The small girl merely held on, sobbing into her shirt as she shook like a leaf.

"Shh… shh… it's okay baby, it's okay," Celeste assured her, rubbing her back gently, while bouncing her lightly in her arms.

She hated seeing the girl cry, holding her to her chest as it became increasingly wet with tears.

"There was a walker," Carl cried to his mother, Shane and Dale standing behind them as others followed.

Most ventured forward after that, weapons in hand as they pushed the children back. Only meters away lay the walker, the beast chewing away at a deer, the poor creatures eyes already glazed over with a cloud of death. Blood seeped from the walker's mouth as it looked up, staring at the new bodies in front of it, hunger in its eyes. It barely had a chance to get a full groan out before Shane stepped forward, smacking it in the face with a shovel. It went down hard before everyone else started to join in, bashing it in it's ribs among other things. In the end, Dale cut off the thing's head with an axe, causing it to roll a couple feet along the forest floor.

"This is the first one we've had up here," Dale said, looking around at everyone. "They never come this far up the mountain."

It was obvious, due to the man's voice that he was confused by the whole thing, unsure of what to do. In fact, everyone seemed unsure of what to do now.

"They're running out of food in the city," Jim said, shaking his head, sweat dripping down his face.

Moments after those words left his lips, there was a rustling in the brush, everyone's weapons going up. If it was another walker, then it'd be dead on the ground the moment that it pushed through the leaves and into view. There was a look of relief on Celeste's face though when Daryl was the one to push through all of the leaves, the sweat on his body causing his hair to stick to his head.

"Thank God," Celeste breathed out, watching as Shane hesitated in lowering his weapon before cursing quietly.

"Son of a bitch!" Daryl hissed, catching sight of the deer that lay on the forest floor, eyes narrowed in irritation. "That's my deer!" he grumbled, glaring at the decapitated walker on the ground before he started kicking at it and grounding out profanities.

The yelling itself caused Kenzie's eyes to water again, Celeste soothing her as she held her close. After an exchange of words, Daryl knelt down beside the deer, looking it over as he removed his bolts from the hindquarters. He poked at the neck a couple of times where the walker had chewed away at it, contemplating something.

"Think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" Daryl asked, looking around him for a possible answer.

Shane merely shook his head in reply, not willing to take a chance on making anyone in camp sick.

"I would not risk that," Shane said, pursing his lips as he tried to avoid eye contact with Dixon.

"That's a damn shame," Daryl sighed. "Been trackin it for miles. Was hoping to cook us up some venison."

Daryl then adjusted the rope on his shoulder, counting up his lot. It wasn't much, but it'd have to do.

"Got about a dozen or so," he offered. "It'll have to do."

As he began to step back, the head of the walker started to move, jaw twitching as it lay on the ground. Seeing this, Amy began to get queasy, turning away from it with her sister.

"Don't ya'll know nothin'? It's gotta be the brain," Daryl groaned, before letting a bolt loose into the things head, the metal of the bolt scratching and sliding along the base of the crossbow as it was released. "The hell is with you people?"

With that, Daryl pulled the bolt out, wiping it on the walker's pant leg to rid it of the blood.

T

It was quiet for the most part as everyone walked back toward to camp, Celeste carrying Kenzie in her arms. She walked along side Dale, feeling a bit of comfort in his presence.

"She alright?" Dale asked quietly, looking at the little girl in Celeste's arms.

"Yeah, she's alright," she nodded. "I think she was just spooked is all. A few scrapes, but nothing serious."

"Ah, that's good," he smiled, looking out ahead of them as he watched Daryl start shouting for Merle.

"Oh no," she groaned, looking to Dale for a moment, before looking down at Kenzie. "Um, would you mind?" she asked, gesturing to the little girl in her arms.

"Oh, no, not at all," he chuckled, before carefully taking Kenzie from her and handing over the axe so that he could have a better grip.

"Thank you," she breathed out, before running ahead.

By the time she'd caught up with everyone, Shane had already stopped Daryl, trying his best to be civil as he spoke.

"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl said, getting annoyed with Shane.

"Look, there's no easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," Rick said, before stepping forward toward Daryl.

"And who the hell are you?" Daryl narrowed, nearly glaring daggers at Rick.

This is what Celeste had been afraid of. Daryl could be rather hostile at times when angry. Then again, so could Merle, but Merle joked more than anything. Daryl on the other hand could possibly lash out.

"Rick Grimes," he answered, his voice a bit gravely as he spoke.

"Rick Grimes. You got something you wanna tell me?" Daryl asked, getting up in Rick's face.

"Your brother was a danger to us all," he replied flatly. "So I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

It was quiet for a moment, save for the birds chirping.

"Hold on," Daryl said, walking away a bit as he wiped the sweat from his eyes with the ball of his hand. "Let me process this," he swallowed, sniffing in a breath of air. "You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!" he screamed, his face going red in the process.

"Yeah," Rick admitted, pursing his lips for a moment.

With a few more haggard breaths, Daryl flung his squirrels at Rick, lip twitching as he tried to make at him. Shane tackled Daryl to the ground though before he could do anything, moving away as Daryl pulled out his knife. He slashed at Rick in anger, but Rick backed away, keeping enough distance between him and Daryl. Then, with a nod of his head, Rick and Shane double teamed Daryl. Within moments, Daryl's knife was pulled away, and Shane had him in a choke hold.

"You best let me go!" Daryl growled out as Shane slowly brought him to the ground.

"Nah, I think it's best I don't," Shane said, brushing it off as he tightened his grip.

"Choke hold's illegal," Daryl wheezed, his face now a deeper red than before.

"You can file a complaint," Shane scoffed.

"Shane, stop it!" Celeste yelled, stepping toward the three of them.

Glenn tried to grab her arm, but she pulled away, heading straight for the three of them.

"He can't breathe!" she exclaimed, smacking his arm when he wouldn't let go.

Daryl only grew redder as he struggled, gasping for air.

"Back off Emerson," Shane glared. "This ain't non of your business."

"You're going to kill him!" she yelled, kicking his leg in hopes of weakening his stance, before pinching a spot behind the arrogant man's neck.

With a hiss, he let go, finally letting Daryl breathe as the redneck fell to the ground.

"Little bitch!" Shane spat, rubbing the back of his neck where she had managed to pinch a nerve.

Over the years, one picks up a few things. Sometimes, pressure points were one of them. Celeste, shook those thoughts off though as she knelt beside Daryl, placing a hand on his back.

"You alright?" she asked, hoping that Shane hadn't done too much damage to his throat.

He didn't say anything, merely coughing and spitting on the ground. He then rose a finger in the air, pointing it at Shane in warning as if telling him never to do that again. Granted, Celeste couldn't blame him. In fact, if it had been her, she would have kicked his ass the moment that she got out. Either that or she would have flat out kicked him in the balls. A win-win no matter how you look at it.

"What I did was not on a whim," Rick said, kneeling down in front of Daryl and Celeste.

His eyes were locked with Daryl though, allowing him to get a few more breaths in before continuing.

"Your brother does not work and play well with others," Rick finished, watching as Daryl dug his nails into the dirt.

"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key," T-Dog piped up. "I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up!" Daryl spat, narrowing his eyes at the large black man.

"I drop it in a drain," T-Dog finalized, bowing his head for a moment as he stood there.

Feeling even more frustrated than before, Daryl pushed himself off of the ground, lightly shoving Celeste away from him. He was angry, but she'd tried to help him, so there was no point in accidently hurting her. The two numbskulls he called campmates were another story all together though. Even better, they had a new member to the camp and the man was already on Daryl's bad side and grating on his nerves.

"If it's supposed to make me feel better it don't," Daryl narrowed, kicking at the dirt as he walked passed most everyone, more than likely going toward his tent.

"Maybe this will," T-Dog started. "I chained the door to the roof with a padlock. That way the geeks can't get at 'im."

"That's gotta count for somethin'," Rick offered, a hopeful look on his face.

Daryl merely looked away, wiping at this face with his hand. He was still upset with everything, the thought of his only brother being left behind irking him to no end. Even though they may not have liked his brother, it still didn't give them an excuse to leave him behind on a roof to rot.

"The hell with all a ya'll!" Daryl yelled, throwing his hand out to the side. "Just tell me where he is so's I can go get him."

"He'll show you," Lori suddenly piped up from her spot by the RV, Carl slowly poking his head out. "Ain't that right?"

Rick nodded his head as he looked around him, a bit of sweat sliding down along the side of his temple and catching his eye.

"I'm going back," he said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

T

Celeste watched as Kenzie ran around, Rick having gone to his tent to get ready for the trip. She knew that she wanted to volunteer to go with the small group, if nothing else, then to just bring back the tough ass of a red neck that they were going back into danger for. At the same time, she knew that she had to stay with Kenzie. After all, she was sure that the group would need her help keeping things in check while Rick and Daryl were gone.

Daryl sat not too far away from her, cleaning his crossbow bolts with a rag. Like Rick, he was readying himself for the trip, making sure that everything was as it should be. If his bolts weren't clean, then he wasn't ready.

"Hey, Daryl?" Celeste called quietly, slowly getting up and moving closer to him.

She found him raising his head in response, staring at her intently and waiting for her to continue.

"I…" she started, before biting down on her lip, thinking the words over in her head.

Unfortunately, she came up with a blank, a faint hint of red making its way to her cheeks as she stood there.

"You want some?" she asked, thrusting a bag forward.

Daryl quirked a brow in question as he looked her over, a small bag of jerky staring him in the face. At the sight of it, Daryl could feel his mouth water, saliva building up in his mouth. He hadn't seen a bag of jerky in nearly a month. Now that it was in front of him, he wasn't exactly sure what to do.

"Well?" Celeste asked, eyeing him for a moment.

With a hesitant nod of his head, Daryl reached forward, gripping the bag in his hand. Looking down at it, he read over the name. Jack Links. It was a respectable brand and make in his opinion, shuffling his hand through the bag as he grabbed a couple of pieces, popping one into his mouth. Daryl savored the taste as he closed his eyes, enjoying the flavor immensely.

"You can have the bag if you want," Celeste told him, rubbing the side of her arm as she looked down at him.

"Thanks," he managed to mumble, popping a secondary piece in his mouth.

"You know," Celeste started, sitting down beside him. "I'm sure that he's fine," she said. "Your brother."

Her words relieved a bit of Daryl's tension, but only slightly. He was still worried about what he would find, hoping that he'd make it before those disgusting flesh eaters did. Daryl wasn't sure if he could handle finding his brother up on that roof, his face chewed off in chunks, and his skin hanging.

"Damn straight he'll be fine," Daryl said sharply, nodding his head abruptly.

Nothing could kill his brother, Daryl reminded himself. No, nothing could kill Merle, but Merle.

Alright everyone! I know that it's been a little while and I apologize, but having new chapters out are awesome! Anyway, PLEASE review and message me with your thoughts and opinions. If you have ANY IDEAS I'd love to hear them.

Thanks again!