Sorry this is a shorter chapter! I'll update again tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Chapter Forty Three

Daryl climbed into the truck, wishing like hell he was going with his brother but he had his own job to do. He quickly gave the girls the rundown and all three of them looked grim but determined. Sam was dry eyed and stoic, for which he was thankful. With all of the trouble that she'd had accepting this new nightmare that had become their reality, he wasn't sure if she would slip back into that quiet place in her mind. She had spent the first week of the outbreak there, but now she seemed ready to stare down whatever came.

"You're one tough little shit, you know that?" he said, meeting the little girl's eyes.

She blinked, surprised at either his words or the fact that he had spoken directly to her, which up until this point he wasn't sure he had done at all since they had came to the cabin. "I don't feel too tough," she said, her voice low and worried but still stronger than it had any right to be.

"Well, take my word for it. You are. We're gonna get these bastards away from this place, get our family back, and then when we get home me and Merle is gonna start teachin' you how to take better care of yourself."

The ghost of a smile graced her lips and from the corner of his eye he saw Piper smile a little wider. She liked the kid. Actually that was an understatement.

"Okay, we're gonna ease up the road a few miles and scope it out, make sure we won't get our asses snared in any road blocks and then head back," he said, knowing that if the girls knew every step of the plan, they wouldn't likely be as nervous about it.

"How will we know that they all follow us?" Sophia asked worriedly.

He shook his head. "We won't, but Merle knows what he's doin' and your mom's a lot tougher than she looks. Katherine is gonna be on her toes too, cause she's got a kid to think about. The only thing you all need to worry about is focusing on the plan and not breaking down on me. I'm not any good with emotional women."

Piper snorted at that, sounding so much like her father that Daryl knew what was coming next. "Up until recently you weren't good with unemotional women either. Face it, Daryl, it took the end of the world for you to decide to commit to the idea that the fairer sex has it's perks."

He narrowed his eyes but let it go. He wasn't gonna spend this little mission of theirs arguing with the girl. Especially since she had a point.

~H~

Carol waited with baited breath. Her palms were sweating and her heart was knocking a bruise against her rib cage but she held on to the rifle, ready to do whatever she had to do. She was starting to think that this had been a mistake. Not the mission in itself, because she knew they needed to get their family the hell out of there, but the fact that she was here and not in the truck. It seemed like this was the easier and less dangerous part. All of those monsters would be leaving here to follow Daryl and the girls. That seemed much more dangerous than getting inside and getting the others out.

She wasn't sure how she was so positive that the others were even in there, but she knew. Merle seemed to share the feeling and it gave her some much needed confidence.

"You alright?" Merle asked and before Carol could answer she realized that he wasn't talking to her at all.

Katherine nodded, her eyes trained on the writhing mass in the parking lot below them. She clutched a wicked looking knife that Carol knew belonged to Merle. "I'm alright. Or I'm gonna learn how to be anyway," she said, her voice soft.

Merle stared at her for a few long moments and Carol wished she could read him the same way she could read his brother because she would have loved to know what he was thinking at the moment, what would cause that softening around his eyes and the hard tension to leave his jaw. But he suddenly glanced over and caught Carol staring and that mask slammed right back into place.

They waited for nearly an hour but the three of them didn't say another word. Daryl was going to make sure the roads were clear and then come back and even though the minutes that ticked by were agonizing, Carol was sure that taking this long was a good thing. If they had hit a snare, they would have been back by now, so the way was probably clear.

Sure enough another five minutes passed and they saw the truck swing into the parking lot, swing around so it was facing the entrance and then Daryl laid on the horn. The mass of walkers below started shifting, the ones furthest away from the building lurching towards the truck as the others turned to do the same. They tripped, crawled, got back up and tripped again but almost all of them were moving away from the entrance doors to the building.

"You ready?" Merle asked, easing down the hill towards the side of the building.

"No," both women muttered in unison as they followed him.

~H~

"What the hell do you two have up your sleeve?" Odin asked, keeping his voice low so June didn't hear.

Damon frowned, not meeting the man's eyes. "I don't know what you're talkin' about." Man, he really needed to work on this cause even he could hear the guilt in his own voice.

"Don't bullshit a bullshitter, kid," Odin advised. "Randy is on to you too. Eli's been jittery as hell since last night."

"Look, we're just antsy. I wanna get the hell back home. Sophia's probably losin' her mind and Daryl and Merle are probably already out there lookin' for us."

Odin nodded, eyeing him heavily and causing him to squirm. "Well, it's a good thing that we know where the threat is, huh? Since that Richard fella is right here with his deranged little bastard kid and every goddamn walker in Tennessee seems to be right outside."

Damon glanced around, his eyes landing on Richard. Him and his men were acting strange. Stranger than usual and the looks he kept shooting Damon were starting to creep under his skin. It was almost like the man knew that Damon had something up his sleeve. Unfortunately, Richard wasn't the only one that caught on.

"So, you gonna tell me the truth?" Odin pressed, drawing Damon's eyes back to him.

"Just nervous, okay? You don't think I got a good reason to be?" he asked defensively.

Odin looked towards where June was sitting with a few of the other women. There were a good amount of men and women that hadn't integrated into Richards group, but most of them were scared out of their minds, not coping well with the new state of the world, and Damon knew that even though none of them were a danger, they also wouldn't be a help. On the contrary, they were likely to be a liability if things really did turn ugly. And from the looks of Richards men, that was going to happen sooner rather than later.

Odin met his eyes and held them for a few long moments and Damon knew then that Odin knew exactly what him and Eli had been planning to do for the last few days. "They're armed."

Damon frowned. "Knives and-"

Odin shook his head. "Nah, it's more than that. They've kept it well hidden, don't want us to know what they're up to. They probably don't wanna upset the whole herd, but they got fire and they plan on usin' it."

"How the hell do you know that?" Damon hissed, anxiety amping up and causing his hands to sweat.

"Richard ain't as smart as he likes to think he is and I can play politics with the best of'em. You see that short fella Richard is chatting up right now?" he asked.

Without moving his head Damon turned his eyes on the men and then nodded. He had seen the guy before, always lingering near Richard's men. Damon and Eli both had pegged him as one of the easier ones to dispose of once things got ugly. "What about him?"

Odin smiled tightly. "He ain't one of Richard's men. He's one of mine."

Damon shook his head. "One of yours?"

Odin nodded and then motioned towards Randy, who looked to be in deep discussion with Eli and Damon had a feeling he knew what it was about. Both men had caught on to their son's apparently odd behavior. "Randy has a good eye for shit like this. He's got a bit of a sordid past but it's come in damn handy for us. He knew right away that Richard was up to somethin'. He also knew the best ones to talk to to ease over to our side."

Damon nearly interrupted with a one eyed Randy joke but figured he ought to save it for another time.

"Anyway, you and Eli, you're just boys. I intend to keep you that way for as long as I can. You ain't spillin' any blood here today, son."

Damon risked one more wistful glance at the men and then shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling like he was ten years old again. "I woulda done what I had to do. Me and Eli both."

Odin smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "I know. I didn't say I wasn't damn proud of you, but let me do my damn job, okay? If any killin' needs done, I can handle it."