Chapter Forty Five

Damon could easily read the regret in his father's eyes as soon as the men came at them, guns drawn. There weren't enough people willing to fight with them, to risk being shot, to even bother with retaliation. If his family engaged them in a damn gun battle, there were a lot of people they would be risking. Not to mention that two of Richard's men actually had their guns trained on the small group of children.

"Well, I sure as hell wasn't expecting this," Randy said, hands going up as they were stripped of their weapons.

Damon and Eli shared a look and Damon could tell that the other boy was searching for a way to slip away. Damon wasn't even going to consider it. He had been deemed the biggest threat since coming here thanks to that fucking idiot Brody. Not to mention he was a several inches taller and a lot broader than a lot of the men here. He would have been noticed right away.

"Of all the times to get all these people together," June said, worry lacing her voice. Odin and Randy, noticing that the other men weren't around had urged the larger group into a corner of the store to try to talk them into joining the good guys and finally closing ranks. Odin's inside man hadn't said a word to them about Richard's group being ready to make their move. It was Odin who had basically gathered everyone together, making it easier for Richard's men.

Odin stroked his beard, his eyes taking in the scene critically. "Somethin's got'em on edge and I'm afraid what that might mean."

Damon looked over, searching his father's worried and angry features. "What are you talking about?"

"From the look on Richard's smug fucking face before he ordered his dogs to keep us rounded up, one of your cousin's showed up to bust us outta here," Odin explained. "And whichever one showed up is in a hell of a lot of trouble cause they wouldn't expect the son of a bitch to already have reinforcements. I should have listened to my gut and killed him yesterday."

Before Damon could even ask the question Eli was already speaking. "You don't think they all came, do you?"

Odin shook his head. "I don't think it's likely."

"At least there's that then," Randy grumbled as the men forced them into a tighter circle.

Most of the folks in the larger group, the group that had seemed mostly scared this whole time, looked as though they were going to be sick. The women clung to the younger ones and the men, though shaky and pale, took up spots in front of them, willing at least, if not exactly ready, to fight for their families.

The muffled sound of a gunshot had Damon flinching, his heart lurching painfully in his chest. No one would use a gun out there if they'd managed to get rid of that herd. There was no way. So the shot could only mean one thing. Every man there turned towards the sound, even Richard's men who were ordered to watch the group, a little stunned themselves, and Damon wasn't going to hesitate. The rest of his family had the same thing in mind because he felt a hard hand grip his wrist and pull. The five of them hurried through the crowd, away from the men with the guns, ignoring a warning shout from one of them that had managed to get his bearings and turn back to the others, but it was too late. Damon was the first to round the bend and they raced down the wide isle, turning at odd intervals to keep them off their trail and hoping that none of those other people would pay for. After all, Richard's men were only that. Men. Not necessarily bad ones either. They were obviously weak, since they had so easily fallen for his shit but that didn't make them bad in the least. Unfortunately, that wasn't Damon's problem. He wouldn't have any men like that, men that were so fucking blind and desperate for a leader that they'd do whatever was asked of them, around his family and especially not around Sophia.

A split second decision had Damon veering off from the others. He managed to snag Eli's shirt, pulling him along with him. The other boy stumbled a little but otherwise didn't question what was going on. Eli already knew.

Richard had himself a pretty good set up upstairs in the part of the store that used to be the offices. Damon hadn't managed to do a whole lot of snooping but as many times as he had seen the man coming and going from that area, he knew that was where he spent a lot of his time. There was something going down outside and he had a feeling that the rest of their family was in some serious trouble.

So, he would go to where he knew the big guns were stored. He had been hoping that him and Eli could have just done this quietly, taking Richard out resulting in the rest of his people to disband and stop acting like a bunch of fucking lemmings. But that wasn't how it was happening and if he had to take the son of a bitch out from a distance, with a gun, then so be it.

Eli knew where he was heading. Without a seconds thought the two of them barreled through the door of the enclosed stairwell, knowing that if someone were actually on their trail they would be gunned down in this narrow space, or if someone, like Richard, was up there and heard them coming, they'd be trapped, but that didn't matter. It was crunch time and they had to take some kind of action.

Luckily the stairway remained clear and the hallway at the top was bare as well. There were four doors, two on each side, and another door at the end of the hall with an emergency exit sign hanging over it. For a beat he was half tempted to go right out that door and figure out what was happening outside but he remembered the mass of walkers that had surrounded the place and knew he would likely die out there.

Instead he followed Eli to the first door, each of the four on either side of the hall were fixed with narrow windows and all of them were dark. The hall itself would have been, along with the rest of the massive store, but there were many skylights that filtered in the sunlight. The hallway was no different but the offices had no light source here.

Eli nodded to the door across the hall. "We'll find those guns a lot quicker if we each take a room," he whispered, his eyes cutting to the stairs. They were both waiting for Richard's men, or the vile man himself, to show up. Damon took the other door, both boys slipping inside silently.

Damon didn't want to but he left the door open so he could have more light. He didn't have a lantern or even a lighter in his pocket. But he didn't need light anyway. The room was completely bare other than a sofa that had been shoved against the wall. He backed out and then heard a muffled curse come from the room across the hall. His stomach dropped. Though they hadn't known each other for very long, he looked at Eli and Randy as family. The thought of something happening to any of them was too much, and he felt a little responsible for the other boy. He was a little older and a little more experienced with just about everything so Damon had an intense big brother complex complex when it came to Eli. At the sound of Eli's curse Damon saw a million horrible scenarios run through his mind, scenarios where he had let the other boy down, resulting in Eli getting killed.

Damon saw that Eli was fine when he bounded into the room. But from the subdued glow from the hallway, Damon could see that there was someone else in the room that wasn't.

"Katherine?" Damon barked, rushing to the chair that the woman was strapped to. Her eyes were wide but she looked relieved to see him. She was gagged and bound but he didn't see any marks on her other than the raw burns on her wrists from her jerking against her binds. Her clothes were intact but splattered, reeking of walker blood but not her own, which nearly caused him to sag with relief himself. Eli helped untie her and then Damon was pulling her up from the chair and without thinking he hugged her hard.

"How the fuck did you get up here?" he asked as Eli ran to the door, looking down the hall to make sure the coast was clear. He pulled her back, holding her at arms length. "Did he hurt you? When did you get here? Where the hell are the others?"

She reached up, her finger pressing against his lips. "We came to get you out. We thought the only thing keeping you all in were the walkers. How did Richard ever get people to go along with this?" She waved her hand in front of his face and turned towards the door. "Never mind that. We have to do something to help them. They have Merle and Carol."

Damon nodded. "Right. I think he stashed some guns up here. Let's find'em."

~H~

Daryl couldn't believe he hadn't seen this coming. He'd had a bad feeling once he spotted Richard's ride but he had ignored it, assuming it was just his nerves getting the better of him. This was the last damn time he was ignoring his gut because now they were all basically fucked and his brother had been shot.

The men ushered them into the building, one of them dragging the body of their downed comrade behind them. He had been patted down, weapons taken, and the girl's guns had been confiscated too, but no one bothered to pat them down as well. This was a good thing. The men had just assume that a couple of teenage girls wouldn't be much of a threat to them. Maybe they were right as far as Sophia was concerned, but Piper was dangerous. She was just like her father when it came to keeping her family safe, and she was capable of anything. Right now, that was exactly what they needed. An Ace up their sleeve. She was much more lethal with a knife than she was with a gun. The girl was an awful shot and always had been, but could hit a moving target with anything sharp.

Carol and Merle were hauled in ahead of Daryl and the girls and he was relieved to see an exit wound high on his brother's shoulder. If the bullet would have still been in him then it could cause even more damage. He wanted to ask questions, figure out what the hell was going on and why these assholes would haul them in with guns aimed at them, but he didn't have a chance.

As soon as they stepped into the actual store, Richard was sauntering towards them, none of that false charm on display at the moment. Actually, he looked a little rough around the edges. His clothes were rumpled and there were three long deep gashes in one cheek that he was currently blotting with tissue. To Daryl's surprise, Merle chuckled.

"Get in a fight with a cat, Dick?" Merle asked.

Daryl realized then that Katherine was nowhere to be seen and his stomach hit his boots. He glanced at Carol, looking her over for the first time. He hadn't wanted the other men to see him paying any kind of special attention to her because he didn't know if they'd use her against him. They could do whatever the fuck they wanted to him but if they laid a hand on her, it'd kill him. He didn't need them to know that.

She looked over, like she could feel his eyes on her. She looked scared but otherwise okay.

"Where's my mom?" Sam asked suddenly, her voice small and trembling.

Richard looked down, a sneer on his lips. "She's a little tied up at the moment."

Daryl looked up sharply at the man's words, wanting to do something but knowing he couldn't. Merle on the other hand, came a little unhinged. It was in that moment Daryl realized exactly how deep that woman had burrowed into his brother's head because one second his brother was calm and cocky, even though he was injured, and a second later, he snapped. No one expected it, even Daryl who knew Merle better than anybody in the world. Merle threw an elbow into the midsection of the man directly behind him, jerked the gun out of the man's hand and then used it like a club, dropping the man instantly. He turned on Richard then, who actually turned and ran.

Daryl only had a split second to react, so, while his own personal guard went after Merle, Daryl plowed into the one holding on to Carol. There were five armed men against Daryl, Carol, Merle and the girls. Which wouldn't have been very good odds, considering Daryl and the others had been unarmed. But there was something that Daryl's group had that this other group didn't have, and that was the drive to keep one another safe. And a teenage girl that the other men were too stupid to pat down.

Daryl struggled, fighting the other man for the rifle in is hand, heard another shot ring out and looked up, panic causing him to falter. Merle's shoulder was making it hard for him but he had managed to take down one of the men and now the barrel of the gun was smoking. Daryl felt cold steal press against his temple but before he could even close his eyes and contemplate his own death he heard a grunt of pain and looked up in time to see Sophia jerk the gun out of the man's hands and Piper, green eyes flashing, slam her small frame into the guy. The man stumbled back and for a moment Daryl couldn't figure out what the hell Piper was doing, since it seemed as if she were purposefully embracing the man, but then she backed away and the man fell in a heap, gripping his side.

"Always wanted to shank a scumbag," she said and then spat near where the man was writhing.

"Me and you are gonna have a serious talk later," Daryl said, surprised at the tone. It was awfully damn fatherly.

"You good?" Merle said suddenly, causing Daryl to turn. Carol was with Merle, gun aimed at the last man living who was currently on his knees with his hands behind his head. She had a cut below her eye, bruising on her cheek, but other than that, she was in one piece.

"Where's Sam?" Piper said before Daryl could answer his brother.

They all glanced around but the kid must have gotten spooked and taken off.

"Fuck," Merle breathed and without another word he shoved Piper in front of him and took off further into the building. Daryl knew that time was running out. The gunfire would draw those walkers right back so he went to the doors, pulling them down and securing them before turning to Carol, who had waited on him. Sophia turned her back on them, keeping a gun pointed at the lone survivor and Carol threw her arms around his neck. He'd barely had a second to return the embrace before her lips met his quickly and then she backed away.

"You ready to get your family back?" she asked, breathing hard.

He gave her one swift nod before yanking the injured man to his feet and shoving him in the direction that Merle had taken off in.