Carl wasn't sure how long he'd been sort of awake, staring into the darkness while listening to the low voices of his dad talking with Daryl and Carol. There was no light inside the prison, except for the flickering of a few candles nearby. No one used flashlights or lanterns unless it was necessary, because they needed to save the batteries. They were using up the candles too fast, though. He'd overheard Carol and Maggie the other day, talking about needing to pick up more candles on the run for baby supplies.

"Are you ready to go?" He almost jumped as a louder voice interrupted the others. It was that new guy, Adam.

Go? Oh! Carl sat up. They couldn't be ready to leave already, could they? He looked toward the hallway. His dad and the others were right outside the cell. "Dad?"

His dad looked over at him, and then came over to his cot, putting a candle down on the crate next to him. "It's all right, son. Go back to sleep."

"But… I want to go, too!" His dad had told him no before, but he'd planned on being awake and ready when the others were, so his dad would have to take him. He wanted to help rescue Glenn and Maggie.

The shadows thrown by the candle gave his dad a strange expression as he knelt next to the cot. "Carl, I need you to stay here and help Carol. You've got to look after Judith for me, all right?"

Carl bit his lip and nodded. "Yeah…" He looked up at Daryl and Carol, who had followed his dad into the cell. Daryl gave him a small grin and a confident nod, like he knew Carl would do all right. That thought warmed him. Daryl was cool. Then Daryl and his dad went out of the cell, talking again in low voices. Carol bent over him, urging him to lay back down, and pulled his blanket up to his chin, like she was tucking him in. He didn't protest, because he knew Carol missed her daughter. He'd give anything to have his own mom back, so letting Carol get some of her mothering out with him was… well, he could tolerate it. For her sake. For a little bit, anyway.

"Don't worry, sweetie. Your dad and Daryl will be back before you know it."

"'M'not worried," he grumbled.

"No, of course you're not." Carol smiled at him and then pressed her lips to his forehead. He squirmed a bit. Ugh, kissing! "Good night, Carl."

He stared into the darkness again, listening to the distant sound of his dad and the others getting ready to leave, as she left with the candle. He almost wished that she could have left it.

Methos stayed in the shadow of a large tree at the edge of the woods and looked out over the deforested expanse between the tree line and Woodbury's wall.

"So that's it?" Rick squatted down next to Michonne, behind one of the nearby bushes.

They had left their vehicles a couple miles away, walking the rest of the distance to the town through the woods. They had evaded two patrols on the way there. It hadn't been especially difficult. Nothing like the old days, when men knew the dangers other men could bring, and were more alert. As dangerous as the walkers were, they were no match for the danger men could pose. He smirked to himself. That was probably for the best.

"Yes. There's a weak spot there," Michonne pointed to a section of the wall to their right. "It's a gap, with some loose boards. The guards view is blocked this way by that building inside the wall. We should be able to get through without being seen."

"All right," Rick nodded decisively. "When we get inside, where do we go?"

Michonne hesitated. "I told you that there are two possible places for the Governor to keep your people."

"We could… I could take Michonne and Adam with me, and check one of 'em, and you could check the other with Oscar and Axel," Daryl offered.

Methos caught Michonne's eye. They'd have to train that diffidence out of the boy. It might kill him one day.

"I don't like the idea of splitting up."

He refrained from rolling his eyes, even if it wouldn't be seen in the darkness. Even after knowing the other man for less than 24 hours, he could have predicted that Rick would say something like that.

"Don't worry, I can keep an eye on them." Daryl nodded to Axel and Oscar. "You just keep an eye on them two."

Rick shook his head, obviously thinking of all the ways this could go wrong. "All right, let's do it."

Daryl waited until everyone had climbed through the gap into Woodbury, and then nodded to Rick. "Good luck."

"You too. C'mon." Rick gestured to Oscar and Axel, and the three of them headed between the houses on the other side of the street.

He turned to Michonne when he could no longer see Rick. He wasn't sure he quite trusted her yet, but he wasn't sure he trusted Adam all that much, either. He'd have to wait and see what happened when they got back to the prison. "Lead the way."

"Of course," she said, and with a strange glance at Adam, she headed towards the middle of town, keeping to the shadows between the buildings.

They were about to come out onto one of the side streets when they heard voices ahead. Daryl stopped, stunned, as he recognized the people talking. He grabbed Michonne and Adam and pulled them back between the buildings, hissing at them to keep down.

Andrea left her house, looking up and down the street carefully as she closed her door. It would be…. inconvenient to have someone come across her wandering around.

She shook her head, annoyed with herself. Why? What did it matter if she went for a walk at… she took a quick glance at the illuminated numbers on her watch. Four thirty in the morning? She had as much right as any other citizen of Woodbury to be out and about at this hour.

Still, some whisper at the back of her mind — a whisper that sounded suspiciously like Michonne — told her to keep to the shadows.

She wanted to go check out the maintenance building she'd overheard the guards talking about. She thought she remembered seeing it on her tour of Woodbury, next to an abandoned warehouse that her guide told her was off limits because the structure was unsafe. After the tour, she had asked the Governor why the warehouse hadn't been pulled down yet, like some of the other abandoned buildings, and used for the wall around Woodbury. He had distracted her with… she blushed at the memory. At the time, she hadn't realized he never answered her. But now she needed to see for herself. The guards had been talking about prisoners there. She still couldn't believe that. Michonne had warned her not to trust the people here, and she hadn't listened. They all seemed so nice. But… one of the guards had said the prisoners were an Asian guy and a white girl. She had immediately thought of Glenn and Maggie, even though they'd been dead for almost a year now, along with all of her friends, when the Greene farm was overrun by walkers, so it couldn't be them. Except… what if it was? She had to check it out, just to be sure.

She took a deep breath, straining her ears, for any suspicious noise. Nothing. Just the sounds of crickets. All right, then. Might as well get started. She crept down the steps to the sidewalk.

She had gotten a couple of blocks away when something out of the shadows grabbed her arm, pulling her up short. She gasped, unable to scream, her heart pounding in her throat.

"Where do ya think yer goin', blondie?"

Her heart sped up as she recognized the harsh voice whispering in her ear. Merle. She tried to step away from him, but she couldn't work her arm free from his iron grasp. "What are you doing? Let me go, you have no right!" She aimed a kick at him, and he dodged it, laughing.

Then his laughter stopped, like someone had thrown a switch, and he shoved his stump, along with its unsavory accessory, into her face. Andrea gulped, unable to take her eyes off the blade. Merle spun her around, his creepy eyes raking hotly over her body, and she wanted to cover herself, to hide herself away from his disgusting gaze. She could imagine what he was thinking. He'd said things to her often enough. 'Uppity,' at the very least. Maybe something about how 'all women were the same' when 'they were horizontal.' She shuddered.

"You didn't answer me, blondie." He bared his teeth at her in a fake smile. "You think you're too good for the likes of someone like me?"

She swallowed, then made herself meet his eyes and shrug, feigning nonchalance. "Nowhere. Just going for a walk."

"Just going for a walk," Merle mimicked in a gravely sing-song. "Really? At ass o'clock in the morning?"

"Yes, really," she said with as much dignity as she could muster. "Now let me go, or I'll tell —"

"Who? The Governor?" Merle scoffed. "What makes you think he'll care? All he wants is you intact enough for him to fuck." But his grip on her arm loosened a bit, although he didn't quite let go.

The Michonne in her head agreed with Merle, and wasn't that a bitch? She decided to fall back on the truth. Merle had to have some decency left in him, right? "I overheard a couple of the guards. They said —"

He squeezed her arm, hard enough that she thought she'd end up with a bruise, cutting her off. "Yeah, I know what they said. What's it to you? They left you for dead, same as me."

She didn't whimper at the pain. Wouldn't. "Don't you even care that your brother might be out there?"

"Why should I care about him? He never came —"

"I did."

Merle huffed a laugh as a man's voice cut him off. "Daryl? That you, little bro?"

"We did come for you, but you were gone, like the impatient sonofabitch you are." Daryl stepped out from between two houses, followed by a man she didn't know, and… Michonne.

"Mich!" Andrea felt like crying in relief. Michonne shot her a small smile and a nod.

Merle twisted around, still holding her, keeping her between him and her friends. "Hey, hey, little brother. Why are you here? You come for ole Merle?"

"We came for Glenn and Maggie. Where are they?"

Andrea didn't know why that felt like such a shock. She suspected, hadn't she? And Merle had basically confirmed it. "How long have they been here? Why didn't I know?"

She could practically feel Merle rolling his eyes behind her. "Cause the Governor didn't want you told."

"But —"

He cut her off, ignoring her, to speak to Daryl instead. "So you'll come for a Chinaman and a girl, but not your own flesh and blood. You see what I had to do? What your friends forced me to do?"

Daryl's eyes went to the blade-enhanced stump waving at him. "Glenn's Korean, and I already tole you we went back for you. You just hadta wait, and I would have been there."

Merle scoffed. He let her go, edging around her to the side, like he wanted to be ready for an attack. Who was going to attack him?

"As enchanting as this family reunion is, we are on a schedule."

Andrea blinked, surprised. The stranger with Daryl and Michonne had just pronounced that like 'shed-ule.' Who was he?

"You remember what happened when we were kids?" Daryl looked his brother in the eye. How odd. Now it was Merle who looked uncomfortable. It seemed to her as though he had to fight not to look away as Daryl spoke. "You gonna help me? For once in your miserable life, be there when I need you?"

She didn't know what that meant, but it was obvious that Merle sure did.

Merle shook his head, raising his hands in a warding gesture. "I swear I didn't know about that, little brother."

This time it was Daryl who scoffed. "Yeah, you did. He did it to you, too. That's why you left. You were always leaving."

"Nothing keeping you there, then. Your own fault for not leaving."

"I was a kid!"

Merle shrugged. "Knew you'd grow out of that. I did."

"It was never you and me against everyone else, was it?"

"You were the damn fool that believed that kinda shit."

"Excuse me?" The strange man cut in, looking between Daryl and Merle. "We really do need to get going. Are they going to come with us or not? Because if not, we need to do something about them."

"I wouldn't mind killing him," Michonne said coldly, and Andrea couldn't believe the amount of hate in her friend's eyes. What had Merle done to her?

He sneered. "I'd like to see you try, girlie."

"You aren't gonna help," Daryl said, sounding disappointed. "Get out of here."

Michonne shook her head. "We can't just let him go. He'll raise the alarm."

"Nah." Merle turned away with a little salute. "One time favor. You'll find your little friends in the maintenance shack. I won't stop you. This time."

Andrea watched him saunter up the street, whistling, and then suddenly Michonne was there, hugging her.

"Are you all right, Andy?"

She nodded. "Yeah, are you?"

Michonne nodded, then turned in her arms to face the men, so that they stood there, united, with one arm around the other's waist. "The Governor has a locked room in his office. I want to see what's in there."

Daryl glowered at her. "What about Maggie and Glenn?"

"Your Rick and the others will find them," Michonne said confidently.

The strange man — and she really needed to learn his name — had an odd look on his face. "You really think it's important?"

"I'm curious. It might be pertinent."

Andrea bit her lip. "Mich is right. He keeps that door locked all the time. Not even I've been in there."

Daryl sighed. "Ah, hell. All right, then. Let's go." He gestured for her and Michonne to lead the way.

Merle waited in the shadows behind the corner of the house, listening to his brother's friends. Sounded like they thought the sheriff and his pals would find their lost little lambs. Why the hell had he said he wouldn't raise the alarm? Of course, it's not like he couldn't do it anyway. The Governor finding his prisoners gone would put a nail in his own coffin. But… something was stopping him. He growled, shaking his head. It was his brother's fault. He'd never had a conscience. He couldn't afford one starting up after all this time.

He swore under his breath as they decided to go pay the Governor a call. Damn fools. They'd be lucky if they survived. Hell, he'd be lucky to survive if the Governor killed them and thought he'd helped them.

Fuck. Damned if he did and damned if he didn't.

He stared into the darkness, realizing with a jolt that it had been getting lighter for a while. He chuckled as an idea came to him. It wasn't quite certain death, and maybe, if his plan worked, he might even survive.

Michonne led them to the building where the Governor's office was located.

Methos looked it over. It appeared as deserted as Woodbury's streets this early in the morning. If there were guards that patrolled inside the town, at least they weren't nearby.

Once inside, they went upstairs. He strained his ears, listening for any sign there might be someone laying in wait. Daryl started down the hallway towards the front of the building, but Michonne called him back.

She stopped at one of the doors toward the rear of the building. "This one."

Methos nodded, kneeling in front of it with his lockpicks. After studying the lock for a moment, he allowed himself a small smile. Child's play. He twisted his lockpicks and was rewarded with a click as the lock gave way. He stood, putting his lockpicks away, and turned the knob.

Muffled hissing and growling greeted them as they entered the room. They seemed to come from a door cracked open on the far side of the room. The three of them traded glances. It sounded to him like a walker, but… inside the Governor's office?

Michonne signaled them to stay back as she went to the door and peeked through the gap. She straightened suddenly, as if surprised by what she saw. "So this is your secret."

A man's voice snapped, "How did you get in here?"

"The door was unlocked." She looked back at him and Daryl and beckoned to them.

Well. Methos thought, It was unlocked after I picked it, anyway. He and Daryl crossed the room, and followed Michonne through the door.

He looked around. The room was dark, lit by an odd glow. There was a small walker in a ragged dress, hooded and chained to the wall. That was the least of the bizarre sights to meet his eyes. All along the walls there were the source of the glow. Stacks of fish tanks, each with a number of still animated heads snarling out into the room. In the center of the room, a man stood, glaring furiously, his hands fisted at his sides. Was this the Governor?

"Get out of here!"

Daryl looked around the room and shook his head, looking sick. "We need to put them down. All of them."

Evidently that was the wrong thing to say. The man backed away toward the corner of the room, and shouted, "Get out! Leave my daughter alone!"

Methos tensed. Was he looking for a weapon?

Michonne circled around, cutting off the man's retreat. "She's not your daughter, not any more."

The man's eyes darted around the room, searching for… something. "Don't listen to them, Penny baby. Don't worry, Daddy's here."

"You're nuts, man." A trace of sympathy appeared in Daryl's eyes, despite his words. "She's dead."

"Get out!"

"Yeah, let's go." The sympathy in Daryl's eyes turned to pity. "There's nothing here, Michonne. Just a crazy guy and a walker."

Methos agreed in principle, but his skin crawled at the idea of leaving an enemy at their backs. Before he could say anything, Michonne darted towards the girl.

"I have an idea," she said, as she broke the chain holding the girl back and sprang away with the hood in her hand. She dropped it as she ran for the door. "Let's go!"

"No," the man's eyes widened in horror as he stared at the zombie girl. "No! Penny!"

Methos made sure Daryl and Michonne went out the door ahead of him. He turned back, pausing for an instant just as the walker lunged at the man.

"Penny honey, it's Daddy!" The man brought his hands up, warding the walker off. He scrambled back, somehow finding a gun that he brought up and fired. He dropped the gun, face slack with shock, as the walker collapsed. "Oh my god, what have I done? Penny baby, Daddy is sorry…"

The man's sobbing filled his ears as Methos followed the other two into the outer office. He stopped, looking around when he realized. There was something wrong…

Michonne was at the window, staring down at the street. "We need to leave. There's a herd of walkers out there."

That was it. Almost like the buzz, but sickly and wrong.

"Let's get out the back. If we're fast, we can get out of their range, right?" Daryl seemed hopeful as he looked at them.

Methos shrugged. "We can try."

Daryl followed Michonne and Adam. They were headed to the spot they had separated from Rick and the other two, and he hoped that they had found Glenn and Maggie. He breathed a sigh of relief when that sick buzz faltered and stopped. They were getting away from the walkers!

He felt a stab of relief when he caught sight of Glenn by the gap in the wall, and just beyond him were Maggie and Rick. He was even glad to see Axel and Oscar still around.

"We need to get out of here, now!" Rick whispered harshly, urging them on. "There's walkers all around in here."

"Yeah, we came across some ourselves," he answered, looking back over his shoulder, even though he knew he wouldn't see any stray walkers there. The lack of a buzz told him that.

Adam gave him a little push, so he hurried to climb through the gap in the wall.

On the other side, he went to Glenn and put an arm around his shoulder to help him walk. Michonne and Andrea were already helping Maggie. He could see that they had questions about Andrea, but no one asked. They had more important things on their minds — getting away from Woodbury.

They just needed to make it through a couple of miles of woods, to get back to their cars. Then they could get back to the prison, and they'd be safe.

Merle grinned as he sat on the porch of one the houses. He enjoyed the chaos he'd created. Walkers shambled through the streets attacking the citizens of Woodbury. Would one of them make it up the stairs to the porch and attack him? He didn't know. He didn't even care at this point.

The Governor limped into view, carrying a small body.

Merle thought all his attention was on his burden, until the Governor's head turned toward the porch, and he yelled, "You!"

"Yeah, me." Merle stood, finding he didn't want to be sitting down for this. Maybe he had a shred of self-preservation left after all.

"Your brother and his friends did this," the Governor spat, not appearing to care that there were zombies rampaging through the streets around them. "They'll pay for killing my Penny! All of them. Dead!"

Merle wasn't sure which was controlling the Governor now — the fury that stiffened every line in the man's body, or the madness glittering in his eyes.

Ah, well. It didn't really matter, did it? Daryl was right. He'd always been a sorry excuse for a brother. Never around for the kid; always in Juvie when he was younger, then in the Marines when he'd been to old for Juvie. And all those times he'd tried to toughen his brother up? Daryl had been tougher than he'd ever given him credit for. "I was never there for my brother when he needed me. Time to make up for it." He aimed the pistol he'd stolen from the armory and pulled the trigger.

Author's note:

DD Fan — I have read and appreciate each one of your comments! I wish I could respond to each one, but since you commented in guest mode, I can't. So, in order:

1. Carol: you'll have to wait and see! 2. Check out this chapter! ;) 3. Those Watchers/Hunters can't leave well enough alone, can they? 4. Duncan/Amanda/Richie: love them, but they're not in this fic. 5. 3 *grins* 6. Mich is awesome, and Rick needs to pull himself together. 7. Interesting theory on Carol! I like that!

You can find me on a certain other popular fanfic archive under this same username, and on Tumblr at .com