After this chapter, it's basically just me trying to wrap things up. You already know how I struggle with that but expect a few more chapters for sure. Maybe five or six. lol Hope you all had a great weekend and thanks for reading!

Chapter Forty Six

Damon, with the help of Eli and Katherine, searched the other rooms for any sign of weapons but there was nothing to be found. He had been so sure there would be guns up here that now he was at a loss. The men had guarded this part of the building too heavily for it to have only contained a few useless offices so this didn't make any sense. It wasn't like he could go down there and take on a bunch of armed men with his bare hands. He was terrified for the others and could only hope that they were safe.

"Merle and Daryl are with you?" Damon asked, his voice barely above a whisper as they neared the stairwell.

Katherine nodded. "So are Sam and the girls. We all came since staying on the mountain wasn't exactly safe and none of us really knew what had happened to you guys."

Damon's heart skipped a beat and he felt the blood drain from his face. "You guys brought them here?" he hissed, unable to believe that Merle or Daryl would make such a stupid fucking move. He thought about the shot he'd heard and felt his stomach twist. Any of them could be down there injured because Daryl and Merle had walked into some nasty shit that they hadn't been expecting. It was obvious, had been obvious since Richard's men had rounded them up, that things were going south. He was also concerned about the other group, the innocents that could get caught in this little war. It wasn't right for anyone other than Richard and his stupid cronies to get hurt.

"Damon, it was the only way. Splitting everyone up even more, it just didn't seem like the right thing to do," Katherine said, her hand on his arm.

He wanted to argue but kept quiet for two reasons. One was, it wouldn't do him any good to complain about it and two, she was right. So he gave her a swift nod and turned to the stairway. They were just about there when the sound of pounding footsteps sounded and instantly the three of them hurried back into the room where Katherine had been restrained.

"Fuck," Eli whispered as he pulled the door shut and flattened himself next to Katherine against the wall.

Damon was flanking the door, trying to figure out if there was more than one person coming. Just as he decided that the sounds were from a lone person, wearing something heavy, like boots, he made a decision. The door swung open and in stepped a man but Damon didn't give the person enough time to register that Katherine wasn't in the chair. He kicked the back of the door as hard as he could. The man was caught off guard as the door came back at him, slamming into his shoulder and then trapping him as Damon pushed, putting all his weight on the door and causing the man to cry out in pain. The man dropped the gun that was in his hand as he tried without success to try to push the heavy weight off.

As soon as Eli grabbed the gun Damon let off the door and yanked the man inside the room. He hit him hard square in the face and drew back to hit him again, anger fueling him, but then Eli grabbed him, hauling him away from the man.

"What are you doin'?" Damon snapped, jerking away.

Eli looked at the man who was now trying to pull himself up from the floor. "Keepin' you from doing something real stupid," he said calmly. Eli turned then, grabbed the man and shoved him into the chair. "Where does Richard keep the guns?" he asked, his hand going to the guys throat.

The man, who was breathing raggedly through a busted nose and split lip spit in Damon's direction but didn't offer up any clue as to where the guns were hidden.

Damon realized why Eli had stopped him and he felt himself flushing. He would have knocked this asshole out cold without getting any information out of him at all. It was a good thing that he had some brains up here to go along with his brawn. He eyed the man that was glaring at Eli.

"You might as well give'em up now, fella," Damon said as he walked towards him, "Cause if I have to, I'll beat the information outta you, and if you don't spill eventually, I'll make sure your death is one hell of a slow one."

"You ain't got the grit, kid," the man said, spitting again.

Eli backed off, shaking his head and giving the man an almost sad look. "He's not bluffing. You already know what he did to Brody. Let that sink in."

The man's eyes shifted from one boy to the other and then finally, with a curse, his eyes went to the ceiling. "Up there," he said grudgingly, "But you might as well give it up. there's too many of us willing to fight. We know what you people are and we won't stand for it."

Damon gripped the arms of the chair and leaned down, glaring into the man's face as Eli spotted the recessed square in the ceiling and climbed up onto the desk. "You don't know shit. You people are fucking idiots for believing that son of a bitch. His son was out to hurt our people, did hurt one of our women, and that's why I did what I did to him."

"You took his wife!" the man hissed.

"Fuck me," Eli said wonderingly.

Damon wanted to look up but Katherine was already making her way towards the other side of the room, and whatever Eli had discovered, so they had that handled. Damon knew that this guy wasn't really bad. Not all the way. Richard had lied and the man had been stupid enough to believe the lies. That was all. "No one took his wife. He didn't have a wife! He showed up at our cabin with a woman and her daughter, told her to pretend to be his wife. He's a goddamn liar and if you people keep following him, it's gonna get you killed. Cause if anyone in my family is hurt down there because you all are too fucking stupid to see that you're being played, I'll kill every one of you, I swear to God I will."

The man smiled and it was a macabre scene, teeth tinged pink from blood. "You think that makes you sound like one of the good guys? Threatening us?"

Damon pushed away from the chair, undoing his belt and yanking it from the loops. The man barely resisted as Damon pulled him from the chair and threw him onto the floor. The man knew he was outnumbered and even if he wasn't, without his gun, he was overpowered. Damon knew the belt wasn't the greatest thing to use for this and it wouldn't hold the guy forever, but it was something for now. He didn't want to just kill him. Richard, maybe he would be easy to kill, but not this guy.

He bound his arms behind him just as Eli passed the last of the rifles down to Katherine.

"Jesus," he muttered.

Eli glanced down with a grin. "Odds just evened out a little huh, brother?"

Damon nodded, his eyes on the newfound firepower.

~H~

Daryl wasn't sure which way to go. Merle and Piper had disappeared, even though Merle was injured. Sam was possibly in some serious trouble and that was enough to keep Merle moving for now. The store was huge, just one big massive open space separated by walls of shelves stocked full of just about everything imaginable. He had always hated stores like this.

Carol glanced around frantically. "If we all make it out of here alive, we'll be set for the winter," she said, giving Richard's man a hard shove.

He nodded. "We're all gettin' outta here alive. Where do they have the others?" he asked the man.

Now that he was unarmed the guy didn't look very dangerous, or sure of his place. He didn't try to fight and he didn't try to hold back information. "This way. Just don't hurt my family, okay. Do what you want with me but my wife and sons, they have nothing to do with this. Just let them go."

Daryl scowled. "We ain't here to hurt anybody. We're here to get our own family back from you people. We know you have them in here somewhere."

"What's your name?" Carol asked suddenly, catching the man off guard.

"Steven. Steven Mullens."

Carol nodded. "I want you to know that we'd never hurt your family. We really aren't here to hurt anyone. We just want our family back and this will be a lot easier if you just trusted us."

"Yeah?" the man looked between them, "Tell that to my friends you people killed back there."

Carol shook her head. "I never said we weren't capable of killing. Just that we don't kill anyone that isn't a threat. Now, lead the way."

The man started leading them, walking a few feet ahead and knowing that there was a gun trained on him. Daryl looked over at her but she wasn't paying any attention to him, her eyes staying on the man in front of them.

"That was pretty hot," he muttered, almost too quiet for her to even hear.

She looked over sharply and then blushed. "Now isn't the time," she said, fighting a smile.

"I'm right here!"

Daryl's eyes widened and he glanced over his shoulder, his face flaming as Sophia frowned at him. "Oh, God," he grumbled, facing forward once more. How in the hell had he forgotten that the girl was watching their backs?

~H~

Merle knew he had fucked up when he realized that it was only him and Piper. The place was like a maze and he knew that Daryl and the others wouldn't be able to track them down. He was feeling a little bit woozy, even though he was flying on adrenaline at the moment. He needed to find the kid and he would keep pushing until that happened. The wound wasn't as bad as it could have been so he was just going to take that small favor and run with it. Literally.

Piper stopped suddenly, her eyes going up, scanning the signs hanging above the isles.

"What are you lookin' for?" he wheezed, bracing his hands on his knees.

She pointed to a sign a few rows over and grabbed the side of his shirt, urging him on. When they stopped again, they were in a section of the store that sold clothes.

He looked around at the circular racks and scowled. "Girl, ain't we got better things to do at the moment?" he asked.

Piper held up a hand, silencing him as she took in the space. It was unnaturally quiet, giving him the fucking heebie jeebies.

"Sam!" Piper hissed, her eyes everywhere at once. "It's just me and my dad. Get your ass out!"

Merle understood then why Piper had been the one to lead the way. When she had been a kid, any time Merle had to take her to buy new clothes, she would somehow manage to sneak away and then proceed to hide behind the damn clothes on the racks while he half lost his mind thinking she'd been kidnapped. She had done it more than once, eventually crawling out and laughing at him for freaking out. The little shit.

He frowned at the memory but it dissolved when, a few racks down, he heard the telltale clink of hangers and then the girl was out, running as fast as her legs would carry her. Piper grinned but then suddenly, out of nowhere, a pair of arms snaked out from between two tall shelves, grabbing the girl before she could make it to her.

Before Merle's mind could even register what was happening Richard stepped out from between the shelves, holding the girl around the waist. Merle was about to shoot the piece of shit in the head but Piper stopped him with a hand on his arm. Merle looked and sure enough, Richard was packing a small pistol. Sam tried to fight her way free until she too realized that she was in more trouble than any of them had bargained for. She grew still and her eyes widened.

Merle was going to kill the man. He wasn't sure how he was going to get the ugly job done, but he knew it was going to happen.

"Well, now that I have your attention, you need to turn around and head straight. I'll let you know when you need to turn. If you try anything funny, I will kill her."

"You might wanna think about this one, Richard," Merle said, his voice cold.

Richard smiled. "You're really not in any kind of shape to threaten me, Dixon. The rest of your group are already rounded up. I'm sure by now my men have found your brother and the other woman. At least, you better hope my men found her, because if my son does, there likely isn't much left of her at this point."

"Where's Katherine?" Merle asked.

"Walk," Richard said, apparently over hearing himself speak for once.

"You need to let this go, Richard," Merle said, offering up one more warning.

"I said walk!" Richard yelled, his eyes taking on a look that had Merle growing nervous for the kid.

Turning his back, and watching his daughter turn her back, on an armed man that he knew wanted to kill them all was probably one of the hardest things Merle had ever done, but he had no choice. It was better to just do what the guy said and hope that something worked out rather than defy him so he could gun them down now. So they walked, turned when he told them to turn and didn't make any sudden movements. He wasn't sure how much time had passed since he'd taken a bullet but the pressure he was holding on the wound didn't seem like it was enough. He needed checked out, at least time to stitch himself up.

Soon enough they made it to a part of the store that seemed to be base camp. Surprisingly it was near the front doors of the store. There was a large group of people that looked scared out of their fucking minds. Men, women and children alike. Merle instantly deemed them safe and apparently Richard's goons did too because there had to have been nearly thirty people standing there, but only one guard on them, paying sparse attention.

On the other side of the room, with more guards than seemed necessary, was Odin, June and Randy. Merle didn't want to think about what this could mean. The boys should have been here. He remembered the night Damon had nearly torn Brody apart. Had Richard already had the boy killed? And if he had, did he kill Eli out of spite? Odin looked up just as Merle and Piper stopped and Merle searched his uncle's face. The man looked beyond pissed off, but that was it. Randy and June looked about the same, though June at least seemed a little relieved to see them alive. That told him that Damon was around here somewhere, hopefully with Daryl by now, though Merle had taken off without a backwards glance at his brother, expecting him and Carol to follow but had instead lost sight of them after just a few seconds.

Richard was closer now. Merle could feel it, but he didn't turn to look, for fear of what the man might do in front of his family out of spite. Merle had already taken one bullet today. He wasn't looking for another.

"I'm so happy that I could arrange this little reunion," Richard said, stepping past Merle. Sam was still in his arms, the gun still aimed at her head. "Now as soon as my men round up the stragglers, we can get this show on the road."

The men that were guarding Odin and the others turned at the sound of Richards voice and to Merle's surprise they all looked taken aback by what they saw. Which was a child in their leader's arms.

"Richard? What's this about, man? That's just a little girl," one of them spoke up and the others looked as though they, too, were outraged.

Richard shook his head. "You have to understand who we're dealing with. These people, they're monsters. I have no choice but to-"

"Richard!"

All eyes turned to another one of Richard's men who was gripping his midsection and hurrying towards them. Merle recognized him as the man that Daryl and Carol had been dealing with before he had taken off after Sam.

"Steven," Richard said, watching the man make his way closer. "Where are the others?"

Steven shook his head. "I lost them," he panted, pointing behind him. "We need to make a plan and quick. I was able to get away just as the two boys came running towards us. They're armed, with your wife. Give me the girl and we can figure out how to handle-"

"They wouldn't have just let you go," Richard snapped. "If they were armed, they would have gunned you down."

Steven's eyes shifted slightly, holding the gazes of the other men, men that had been guarding Merle's family, but were now watching this exchange, their expressions unsure.

"Keep your guns pointed at the enemy!" Richard snapped at them. Sam let out a whimper as his grip tightened around her waist.

"Just put the goddamn kid down you fuckin' freak!" Piper yelled, taking a step towards Richard and the girl.

Richard's pistol fixed on Piper but she didn't even seem to notice, and if she did, she sure as hell didn't care. Merle was about to move and even Richard's men seemed to shout concerned warnings to her, but it did no good.

"Stay back!" Richard yelled, his eyes shifting around. He seemed to realize that he was losing ground here. His men didn't seem too keen on protecting him now that they were seeing him for what he was. He was just about to pull back on the hammer when a shot rang out.

Merle's heart dropped and for a second he waited to watch his daughter fall, killed by this psycho, but Piper simply knocked the gun from Richard's hand and then grabbed Sam. As soon as the little girl was free of the man's grip, Richard fell to his knees, seemed to sway there for a few long seconds and then he crumpled in a heap, a red stain blooming around both sides of his head.

Merle turned his head at the sound of Katherine's voice and then he saw her, running towards them. Sam took off like a shot towards her mother and behind Katherine, Daryl and Carol stepped into view. Daryl was still holding a rifle at the ready, the large group were making a hell of a fuss and Merle swayed on his feet. He idly wondered, again, where the boys could be. He still hadn't seen them. They were almost all accounted for and he couldn't let blood loss or a superficial bullet wound take him down until he knew that they were all in one piece. But damn if he wasn't dizzy as shit, his vision seeming to tunnel and then swell. This wasn't good.

"No!" Someone screamed, but Merle was having a hard time pinpointing where the sound had come from or who could have made it.

To his surprise the newcomer, Steven, reached out, gripping his hand and then Merle realized he had been in the process of falling backwards. As if in slow motion, his head moved and he finally saw it. The source of the scream was Brody and Brody was power walking towards where his father lay crumpled. Where Piper was still standing, and the boys arm was outstretched, gun in hand.

"Fuck..." Merle breathed, meaning to take a step towards Piper, get her out of the way, but his legs tried to give out on him and the man, Steven, gripped him, trying to keep him upright. He was fading. He was fading and now another fucking person had his daughter in their cross hairs and he wasn't able to do anything.

His eyes slid back to Brody and then something else caught his attention. Somehow, the lead singer to that band Piper had been so goddamn obsessed with stepped out from between some shelves. Merle couldn't figure out why that guy would be here, or why he'd just stop and watch as some asshole pointed a gun at his biggest fan. Then the guy, Hoon was his name, Merle remembered, seemed to toss something at Brody. Why the hell was some dead celebrity throwing shit at a would be killer? Merle wasn't sure. The room was spinning and then the kid with the gun stopped, his one good eye widening and then he pitched forward, something long and silver protruding from the base of his skull.

The room spun faster, faster, dark spots danced before his eyes, but his little girl was alive. Safe. Saved by... by a dead singer.

Merle was out cold before he felt the floor come up to meet him.