The writing gods have undone my writers block and this is what happened...

Hello again everyone!

I hope you're all doing well. Once again, for the fiftieth time, I apologize for the lack of updates. I don't want to give you guys a ton of excuses as to why I haven't been posting, and frankly I'm tired of having to give them lol To keep it short, my childhood home sold and it was mildly traumatic considering it didn't go on the best of terms, if that makes any sense. Plus, my anxiety medication has been keeping me from sleeping, and then when I don't take it I get dizzy. So, in other words, my life is a bit of a mess right now :D

Anyways! A big thank you to Kokiee, Sitalia, djmegamouth, Cheshire neko chan, MiniKitsuneChan, NeedaMoment, TempestinTime, juliannagrc03, juliannagrc0363, and kathrynwerewolves14 for following/favouriting the story. As always, thank you for joining me on this stories journey. The support means the world to me!

For reviews:

djmegamouth: I'm glad that you enjoyed the first chapters and are looking forward to the next one! Thankfully, it's finally here. Thanks for waiting~

devoncarmon: It's good to hear that you were happy with how Scarlett and Daryl's first interaction came out. Like I said, I wasn't thrilled with how it turned out, but it was much more realistic. I find that a good amount of fics tend to spoil the first greetings between main characters, making them out to be unrealistic when considering the personalities of said characters. Of course, I'm not saying mine was anywhere near perfect, which it wasn't, but I'm happy to hear that it was realistic to you as well. Thank you so much for your patience!

As a form of apology, this chapter is longer than the usual ones I've posted. I debated on whether or not to split it in half, but I figured you guys deserved something longer considering my absence. I even added a small part from Daryl's perspective, so feel free to let me know how it turned out. I honestly can't tell if it's garbage or not lol.

Again, thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the support.

Enjoy~

How they managed to slip into the city without drawing much attention to themselves, Scarlett didn't have a clue. She had to hand it to Glenn, he knew his way around the city. She was sure that there were a lot factors that had to make this plan turn out the way they wanted it to, and the first half was already going quite well. Everyone was quiet and aware of their surrounds, not making any stupid moves that might cause them trouble. As much as there was a bit of tension between them, everybody covered each other's backs without needing to be told to.

Scarlett could also tell that everyone was keeping an eye on her. It was a bit annoying, since she was certain the only reason for that was because she was a woman. A part of her was thankful that they were making sure that she was all right, but another part of her wanted them to focus on their own safety, rather than hers. There was no overwhelming urge to prove that she could manage on her own, knowing that would only affect her collective demeanour and cause her to lose her focus. She simply continued along with them without a word.

Jogging along and slipping through a gap in the fence, it was Rick who spoke up regarding their plan.

"Merle first? Or the guns?"

"Merle! We ain't even having this conversation." Daryl quickly replied, stubbornly set on finding his brother.

"We are," Rick stated harshly. Scarlett couldn't blame Daryl for being worried about his brother, but the decision wasn't exactly up to him. The former sheriff looked over at Glenn. "You know the geography. It's your call."

"Merle's closest," Glenn decided. "The guns would mean doubling back."

"Then Merle first." Scarlett agreed.

Since they had made it through the city so quickly, she almost missed the fact that they had already reached the department store. She was pleased with the time they made, but the nervousness was crawling into her skin at the thought of what remained inside the building. Scarlett only hoped that her little diversion in the car with Glenn helped draw the majority of the herd away, and not still in the building waiting for their return.

Entering the large building through the back, the five of them crept cautiously into the area where the department store remained. Coming to a silent halt, Rick glanced back at the group and pointed in the direction of a lone walker, shuffling behind the jewelry counter. Daryl was sent a quick nod and the younger Dixon carefully approached the walker with his crossbow at the ready.

"Damn," he muttered to himself. "You are one ugly skank."

Scarlett fought back the urge to let out a sigh as one of Daryl's arrows plunged itself into the walker's eye socket. Quickly going over and pulling the arrow out of its head, the five of them continued through the building.

With the lack of walkers in the building, Scarlett could only feel anxious about their luck. Even how they had gotten into the city so easily made her feel on edge. Maybe it was just her inner monologue being too uptight or unreasonable, she honestly couldn't tell anymore. All she knew was that from coming across all the shit they had, things were going too well.

The group passed through the rest of the building before finding the metal stairs that lead up to the roof. The sound of their feet hitting the steps wasn't the quietest thing in the world, but for once they could actually afford to be loud. With no walkers in their way, the trek up to the roof was a straightforward one. Scarlett was a bit surprised to see that the chain on the rooftop door was still intact, T-Dog quickly pulling out the large pair of bolt cutters that the redhead could only assume were from Dale. With a loud snap and the sound of the chain hitting the floor, they threw open the door and stepped out onto the roof.

"Merle!" Daryl yelled, being the first of the group to run across the roof. The rest of them quickly followed behind.

It was in that moment where Scarlett had been right to doubt their luck. She should have known from the lack of a sarcastic or gross remark that would have been howled as soon as Merle had heard them open the door. Where the man had remained chained up and left behind was nothing, the exception being that of the handcuffs, a hacksaw, and quite a lot of blood.

Right in the middle of it remained a hand.

Daryl was already starting to lose his mind at the fact that his brother was nowhere to be fond, the presence of blood causing his brother's fate to not look particularly great. Carefully ducking past the group, Scarlett walked over and crouched beside the hand. While the cut wasn't exactly the cleanest, it sure wasn't done by a walker. The lack of teeth marks and the rest of the body were prominent in her mind. What happened to Merle appeared a lot more obvious once a closer look had been taken.

A growl of rage erupted from Daryl as he turned and pointed his crossbow directly in T-Dog's face, Rick quickly pulling out his own gun to point it back at the younger Dixon.

"I won't hesitate," Rick warned him. "I don't care if every walker in this city hears it."

The conflict taking place in Daryl's head was easy to see. Once again, Scarlett couldn't exactly blame the man for being upset. She tried to picture things from his perspective, wondering how she would act if it were Victoria in Merle's situation. She'd probably lash out at the person the most responsible as well. While she might not point a gun at their head, she would have definitely let them have it.

"I don't think he's dead, if that's any consolation," Scarlett spoke up, trying to ease the rising tension. "Bloody hack saw means he cut through his arm. I'm guessing the blade was too dull for the handcuffs. There are some major arteries in the arm, so the fact that there's only blood here means that he managed to stop the blood flow in time to keep him alive. Probably used his belt or something."

While Daryl didn't look pleased, he appeared much more collected than he'd been only moments ago. He gazed at her in silent contemplation as she stared calmly back in his direction. She wasn't lying or trying to beat around the bush. Scarlett only told him what she observed, and she was sure that even Daryl Dixon would be thankful for that.

Breaking eye contact with her and turning to T-Dog, Daryl spoke to the man in the calmest voice he'd used yet.

"You got a do-rag or somethin'?" He asked, to which T-Dog stared at him in question before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a blue handkerchief. Taking the piece of fabric from T-Dog, the younger Dixon marched over to where Scarlett remained crouched, joining her in the position as he reached out to pick up the hand.

"You're right," Daryl muttered to Scarlett as he stared at the hand in disgust. "Ain't that a bitch?"

Lying out the piece of cloth and placing the hand in its centre, he carefully wrapped up the appendage and picked it up in his hands. Getting up and approaching Glenn, he ushered for the Asian to turn around so that he could get to the bag on his back. Glenn looked anything but happy to have the hand shoved into his knapsack, especially one that wasn't attached to an arm.

"Follow the blood?" Scarlett inquired, eyeing the small trail of blood that lead off to another area of the roof.

While she didn't receive a verbal reply, Daryl definitely had the same thing in mind. Leading the way, the rest of the group quickly followed behind him, guns at the ready as the entered through another doorway into the building. More stairs could be found leading down to the lower floor, which they slowly descended down.

"Merle! You in here?" Daryl called, peering over the edge of the stairs at the bottom level.

With no answer, the five of them continued down the stairs and through the rooms on the ground floor. The majority of the place had been trashed, either by walkers or by people trying to escape them. The occasional walker would appear, Daryl being responsible for taking them out quietly. Once again, Scarlett was shocked by the lack of walkers that they'd come across, but stayed quiet as they ventured forward.

Rounding a corner and into another room, Scarlett's eyes fell on two dead walkers spread out across the floor with their heads bashed in. The only person she could think of being responsible was Merle.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches," Daryl remarked, gazing down at the two bodies. "One handed."

"I'm surprised he managed to cut through his own arm with that dull hacksaw." Scarlett mumbled.

"Toughest asshole I've ever met, my brother," he continued, sending her a quick look. "Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss," Rick contended in response. "No matter how tough he is."

"Let's just hope he cauterized the stump." She finished with a sigh.

The five fell back into silence again, continuing through the hallways at a slow but cautious pace. Glenn kept sending her worried glances, leaving her wishing that she could reassure him in some way, but she was too busy checking every doorway of every room they passed by, too nervous about being attacked.

"Merle!" Daryl suddenly yelled, making everyone jump.

"We're not alone here, remember?" Rick hissed in response.

"Screw that," the young Dixon stated. "He could be bleeding out. You said so yourself."

Walking into what appeared to be some sort of kitchen area, the first thing that caught Scarlett's eye was the burner running on one of the stoves. Sure enough, beside it sat a bloodied belt and a metal tool of some sort. On the surface of the tool, a burned substance was stuck to it.

"What's that burned stuff?" Glenn questioned. That's when it hit her.

"Holy shit, he actually did manage to cauterize it." Scarlett muttered in awe, looking between the others.

"So, in other words…" Glenn droned, his face falling in disgust.

"Skin." Rick answered.

"Told you he was tough," Daryl stated. "Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."

"Don't take that on faith," Rick cautioned, looking around the kitchen for any other clues. "He's lost a lot of blood."

"Yeah?" The younger Dixon chided, approaching a broken window off to their left. "Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap."

Scarlett was silent as she stared at the broken glass of the windowpane. He'd really managed to fight his way through all of this?

"He left the building?" Glenn asked in disbelief. "Why the hell would he do that?"

"Why wouldn't he? He's out there alone, as far as he knows," Daryl replied. "Doing what he's gotta do. Surviving."

"You call that surviving?" T-Dog quoted, eyeing the man in doubt. "Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What're his odds out there?"

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks." Daryl contested, eyeing both Glenn and T-Dog before turning his attention to Rick. "You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard."

"What about a thousand dumb dead bastards? Different story?" The former sheriff replied, both men getting too close to fighting for Scarlett's liking.

"Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want. Imma go get him."

Attempting to get by Rick, Daryl was quickly stopped by the sheriff's deputy.

"Daryl, wait."

"Get your hands off me! You can't stop me!"

"Daryl, please," Scarlett stated, bringing the attention to her and looking at the younger Dixon. "You know we didn't leave him here on purpose. Hell, we came back here to help you find him."

"I didn't ask for your help." He replied coldly and she sighed.

"Tough luck, we're here now," she replied harshly, taking notice of her own cold tone and trying to breathe for a moment. "Look, I get it. You're so close to finding him and you feel like we're holding you back. Maybe we are, but we're here to look at things from different perspectives and come up with the best possible plan to find your brother, get those guns Rick and I dropped, and return in one piece. It won't be easy, but we need to co-operate if we want to get this shit to work."

"Scarlett's right," Rick agreed. "I don't blame you. He's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine and Scarlett's going through it right now trying to find her little sister. We know exactly how you feel. He can't get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head."

There was a pause as Daryl glanced between both Rick and Scarlett in question.

"I can do that." He muttered after a moment.

Rick turned his gaze over to both T-Dog and Glenn, who looked worn out and mildly annoyed with the situation in front of them.

"Only if we get those guns first," T-Dog stated with one long exhale. "I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?"

"Glenn, you must be out of your god damn mind."

The five of them were sitting in a small room with a few desks and the occasional shelf filled with boxes, attempting to come up with a plan to grab the bag. Crouched around a makeshift map that Glenn had drawn on the floor with a sharpie, the redhead was ready to argue. Glenn had let it slip that he'd be the one to run and grab the bag by himself, and Scarlett wasn't having any of it.

"I agree with Scarlett," Rick said, sending her a quick glance. "You're not doing this alone."

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you much." Daryl threw in, to which Scarlett smacked his shoulder without much of a thought. He appeared just as surprised as she felt, but somehow managing to keep a cold exterior, Scarlett looked back at Glenn.

"It's a good idea, just hear me out," Glenn pleaded, ushering down to the makeshift map that they were all crouched around. "If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast."

Scarlett was still staring at him harshly, her stance on the situation unwavering.

"Look," he sighed, looking at the map. "That's the tank, five blocks from where we are now. That's the bag of guns. Here's the alley I dragged you and Scarlett into when we first met. That's where Daryl, Scarlett and I will go."

"Why me?" Daryl asked.

"Your crossbow is quieter than his gun," Glenn explained before looking over at Scarlett, who had her eyebrow raised. "And you've got your bat, you can cover Daryl if you need to."

"Like a bat's gonna do much." Daryl scoffed and she sent him a look that could only be interpreted as 'you really want to find out?'. The man raised his own eyebrows at her.

"Glenn, why don't I just come with you? I'll be better covering your back than his." Scarlett sighed, turning her attention back to her friend.

"I don't know-"

"I'm fast, I'll stay out of your way. You've seen it first hand."

As contemplation rolled over his face, a loud irritated sigh escaped Glenn's mouth before he sent her a quick nod.

"While Daryl waits in the alley, Scarlett and I run up the street, grab the bag of guns." Glenn continued.

"You got us elsewhere?" Rick inquired, staring down at the map.

"You and T-Dog, right," Glenn muttered, placing an eraser on the map to mark their position. "You'll be in this alley here."

"Two blocks away? Why?"

"We may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut us off. If that happens, we won't go back to Daryl. We'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction we go, we've got you in both places to cover us. Afterwards, we'll all meet back here."

"Hey, kid. What'd you do before all this?" Daryl spoke up, looking over at Glenn.

"Delivered pizzas. Why?"

Scarlett couldn't help but glance over at Glenn in surprise. This was news to her, never having asked her friend's employment before. She'd never had the time to, but now that she knew, it was almost like no other job suited him better.

Going over the plan once more, the group got ready to split in two. No matter how much trouble they'd already gotten into, Rick still had that worried look in his eyes when he looked over at Scarlett. She could tell that he was nervous to let her leave his side, and she couldn't fault him for it; they were pretty much family at this point, more so now than before the dead started walking around. While they could afford to be away from one another, it still made them both anxious.

A halfhearted smile graced Scarlett's lips as she walked over to Rick, took off her pack and gave it to him.

"Could you take this for me? It'll only slow me down when I'm out there." Scarlett questioned, eyeing the sheriff carefully.

"Yeah. Of course," Rick replied, his hand reaching out to grab ahold of the backpack. "You be careful, okay? Don't need you or Glenn getting hurt or worse."

"Same to you," she exhaled, scratching at her forehead. "See you on the flip side."

Thankfully, her little comment wrestled a smile out of the sheriff, to which she returned. Bidding T-Dog good luck as well, Scarlett finally turned to both Glenn and Daryl. The two were standing by the fire escape, the same one that Rick, Glenn and her had used before to get away from the walkers. The memory threatened to make her blood turn cold, but a nudge from Glenn brought her back to reality.

"Ready?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, let's get this over with."

Glenn was the first to descend the large, yellow ladder that lead down into the alley, Scarlett doing down second while Daryl brought up the rear. Once they were all on the ground, the three of them silently crept down the alley, occasionally hiding behind a garbage can or a stack of boxes.

"You got some balls for a chinaman." Daryl commented as he loaded an arrow onto his crossbow.

"I'm Korean." Glenn chided, giving Scarlett an annoyed look.

"Whatever," the younger Dixon replied. "And you watch his ass, Raggedy Ann."

In other circumstances, Scarlett would have burst out laughing at the nickname. She'd been called a handful of nicknames over the years, but 'Raggedy Ann' was definitely a new one. While the only thing that was similar between Scarlett and the doll was the red hair, she couldn't help but turn and look back at Daryl with a hint of a smile on her lips.

"Yeah, I like you a lot better than your brother."

"Why's that?"

"At least your nicknames are creative."

Catching Glenn shaking his head out of the corner of her eyes, Scarlett watched Daryl let out a bit of a dry laugh at her response.

"Come on, let's go."

Glenn and Scarlett quickly approached the chained fence at the end of the alley, leaving Daryl behind one of the dumpsters. Her friend gave her a quick nod before the two quickly bolted around the corner and shuffled behind some cars. The plan was simple; follow Glenn and cover him if he needed it. All she had on her was Stella, her Colt, and a large knife strapped to her right thigh if they were in need of it. In other words, she was the only one out of the two who was armed.

Pausing to watch a walker shuffle away from where they needed to go, Scarlett stayed right on Glenn's heel as they continued forward down the street using the cars for cover. The two ducked one last car as Scarlett finally spotted the bag of guns, stilly lying on the ground where Rick had dropped them. Right next to it sat the former sheriff's hat.

Spotting Glenn making a move to go get the bag, she quickly followed and watched as he swiftly picked up the bag. Her eyes fell on the sheriff's hat and without hesitation, picked it up as well. In their moment of pause, a walker had managed to creep it's way towards them, to which Scarlett gave the thing one quick swing to the head before following after Glenn.

The sound of yelling reached her ears and she shot Glenn a worried look as they sprinted down the street back towards where Daryl was. He immediately returned her look, quickly coming to a halt at the end of the alley near the chained fence.

Two men were beating away at Daryl; one kicking at him while one was swinging a bat down on him. There was another boy who was lying on the ground, but Scarlett didn't pay him much attention. It only took the strangers a few seconds before they spotted Glenn and Scarlett, though the redhead had already pulled her gun from her waistband and pointed it at them.

"Get away from him. Now!" She yelled at the two strangers, loading her Colt with one hand as her eyes narrowed into slits.

While the two men did freeze, the sound of a car coming to a screeching halt behind her caused her attention to falter from the strangers and towards the sound. As she was looking over her shoulder, a fist made contact with her cheek and resulted in her dropping the gun. The sting had her mind going black, Scarlett almost positive that she'd heard a deep chuckling playing in her mind. It only lasted for a moment before she came back to the situation at hand, but her heart felt as if it had stopped beating.

Bringing her bat up to take a swing at the men who were grabbing Glenn, she only managed to make contact with one of their backs before being thrown against the alley wall from behind. Scarlett turned around and brought up her bat for defence, trying to keep it between her and their attackers. She knew it was a losing battle. While she might be strong, she wasn't as strong as the men that were attacking them. She was most likely faster than them, but she'd missed her chance at being quicker.

Or had she?

In a split decision, Scarlett dropped one of her hands from the bat and reached down to grab her knife. Pulling it out and swinging it in the direction of the man, she managed to catch his cheek with the end of the blade, causing him to stumble backwards. With the small window of opportunity, Scarlett drove the knife into the man's shoulder, to which he let out a loud yell of pain. If the other men hadn't noticed her before, they sure as hell did now. A part of her didn't care, knowing that they'd be taken out anyways. She wanted to go out fighting.

And that's exactly how she did, because before she could pull the knife from the man's shoulder, something heavy hit her on the back of the head and the light of day left her eyes.

Daryl's Perspective

He was furious. Everything had gone to shit. They were currently in the building where they were supposed to meet back up, the exception being that two of the five weren't present, and another face had been brought into the cluster-fuck of a situation that they were in.

Daryl couldn't help but pace back and forth. Glenn had been taken by the assholes that attacked them while Scarlett had pretty much been knocked out and dragged into the getaway car with him. The younger Dixon brother felt responsible for them both, considering that the only thing he did was put an arrow into one of their attackers' asses. Other than that, the only thing he'd accomplished was getting beat up. The one thing they had going for them at the moment was that they had the guns and one of the gang's own members, the younger boy Daryl had first come across. He was ready to rip into that boy for information like it was the last thing he did.

Rick was holding it together a lot better than he was. If anything, he looked more stressed out than pissed. From what Daryl had seen, the sheriff had a good relationship with both the Asian kid and the redhead, more so Scarlett than Glenn. Daryl had to hand it to Rick; he was good at keeping his composure.

"Those men you were with, we need to know where they went." Rick asked the kid, who was sitting in one of the chairs in front of them.

"I ain't telling you nothing." He replied, causing Daryl's blood to boil even more than before.

"Jesus, man. What the hell happened back there?" T-Dog asked, and Daryl continued to pace back and forth, his eyes fixed on the kid.

"I told you, this little turd and his douche bag friends came out of nowhere and jumped me." He growled back in response.

"You're the one who jumped me, puto. Screaming about trying to find his brother like it's my own damn fault." The kid contended with a sigh, rubbing at his hairline.

"They took Glenn and Scarlett," Daryl reminded the others. "Could have taken Merle too."

"Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle."

Daryl stopped pacing and went straight for the kid. He would have gotten to the little shit too, if Rick hadn't been in the way to hold him back.

"Damn it, Daryl," Rick groaned as he heaved him backwards. "Back off."

The younger Dixon was heaving heavily at this point. All he wanted to do was find his brother and go back home. He didn't want to be apart of this shit anymore, but a part of him couldn't gather the courage to leave. He felt like he owed it to both Scarlett and Glenn to get them back safely. Who knows what that gang was doing to both of them right now?

The anger surged back in his chest once again, which mildly surprised him. He was easily angered, but this anger felt different. It was almost as if he were angry for someone else.

Shaking his head a bit, Daryl walked forward and reached into Glenn's backpack in search of Merle's hand. He owed it to Glenn and Scarlett to rattle the kid a little bit.

"You wanna see what happened to the last guy who pissed me off?" He said, fishing the blue fabric out of the bag and quickly got rid of it, throwing the hand down on the kid's lap. The boy let out a disgusted cry and fell out of the chair, leaning against the nearby wall. Daryl quickly approached him. "Start with the feet this time."

Once again, Rick pulled Daryl away from the kid. He wasn't as upset with it this time, knowing that his job at scaring the kid had worked out pretty well.

"The men you were with took two of our friends," Rick began. "All we want to do is talk to them, see if we can work something out."

That was all it took to get the little shit to lead them to the gang's hideout. It was a mess of a building, but the cover and protection they had made Daryl understand why they'd chosen it in the first place. There was a set of huge heavy doors that he could only assume was the entrance.

"You sure about this?" Daryl heard Rick ask T-Dog, referring to the fact that he'd be their sharpshooter up on the roof if shit hit the fan. He nodded.

"One wrong move, you get an arrow in the ass," Daryl warned the kid. "Just so you know."

"G's gonna take that arrow out of my ass and shove it up yours," the kid replied, using the same tone Daryl had with him. "Just so you know."

"G?" Rick questioned before Daryl could start anything else with the kid.

"Guillermo. He's the man here."

"Okay then," Rick sighed and got up form his cover. "Let's go see Guillermo."

While T-Dog left to go get up on one of the roofs, Daryl, Rick and the kid slowly made their way towards the large doors. With Rick in the front, the kid walked in front of Daryl, who took up the rear with his crossbow pointed into the little shit's back. Rick ushered the boy forward, either to use him as cover or to show the gang that they had him. Daryl didn't know or care.

Approaching the doors carefully, the two men had their guns at the ready. A large, horrid sound rang out as the large set of doors opened up, revealing multiple men, though only one of them stepped into the light at first. Daryl could only assume this was the gang leader who was in charge of the shit going on.

"You okay, little man?" Guillermo asked calmly, looking at the kid.

"They're gonna cut off my feet, carnal." The little shit mumbled.

Guillermo turned his attention to Rick.

"Cops do that?" He asked the former sheriff.

"Not him," the kid explained, ushering over at Daryl. "This redneck puto here. He cut off some dude's hand, man. He showed it to me."

"Shut up." Daryl demanded, only mildly regretting using that scare tactic on the little runt.

"Hey, that's that vato right there, homes!" One of the men stepped out into the light, Daryl immediately recognizing him as one of the men who'd attacked them in the alley. He was also the one who Scarlett had stabbed in the shoulder. Daryl fought back the urge to smile.

"He shot me in the ass with an arrow?" The man continued, pointing a gun at Daryl. The younger Dixon has almost forgotten about that.

"Chill, ese, chill," Guillermo commanded, signalling for the man to lower the gun. "This true? He wants Miguelito's feet? That's pretty sick, man."

"We were hoping more for a calm discussion." Rick jumped in, attempting to steer the conversation away from where it was heading.

"That hillbilly jumps Felipe's little cousin, beats on him, threatens to cut off his feet, Felipe gets an arrow in the ass and your red haired lady stabs him in the shoulder, and you want a calm discussion?" Guillermo lists off, looking unimpressed with the suggestion. "You fascinate me."

"Heat of the moment," Rick defended, eyeing the man carefully. "Mistakes were made on both sides."

"Who's that dude to you anyways? You don't look related."

"He's one of our group, more or less. I'm sure you have a few like him."

Daryl could tell that things weren't changing for the better, wanting to steer the conversation to something else.

"You got my brother in there?" Daryl questioned, his crossbow still held high.

"Sorry, we're fresh out of white boys," Guillermo replied. "But I've got Asian and a ginger. You interested?"

"I have one of yours, you have two of mine," Rick began. "Sounds like more than fair."

"Don't sound even to me," the leader replied. "Your girl and the hillbilly injured some of my people. Where's the compensation for their pain and suffering? More to the point, where's my bag of guns?"

"Guns?" Rick questioned.

"The bag Miguel saw in the street. The bag Felipe and Jorge were going back to get," he explained calmly. "That bag of guns."

"You're mistaken."

"I don't think so."

"About it being yours," Rick clarified. "It's my bag of guns."

"The bag was in the street. Anybody could come around and say it was theirs. I'm supposed to take your word?" Guillermo asked, narrowing his eyes. "What's to stop my people from unloading on you right here and now and I take what's mine?"

Daryl could feel each muscle in his body tense up, the adrenaline ready to explode if things turned out like their leader had suggested. He was too tired for this shit; he just wanted to get out of the city.

"You could do that," Rick answered calmly, turning to their left. "Or not."

Taking a quick look for himself, Daryl spotted T-Dog up on the roof with the rifle pointed right down in the center of it all. His sights were probably right on the leader's forehead.

Guillermo let out a sigh, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Oye!" He called, looking up at the top of the small building.

Everyone turned their attention upwards, Daryl's own eyes falling on four figures, two of which had bags over their heads. It was obvious who it was, but the two men took the bags off their heads anyways, revealing both Scarlett and Glenn. With their mouths duct taped shut, Glenn looked anxious and worried with the situation.

Scarlett looked absolutely furious. It startled Daryl a bit, seeing the red head look so angry. She had a welt on her cheekbone from when one of the gang members decked her in the face. It was one thing to mess with a man, but messing with a woman didn't sit well at all in Daryl's stomach. Especially a woman like Scarlett. He'd seen the way she'd held her own in the alley when they were attacked. She was fast and diligent, obviously not afraid of getting her hands dirty. Until then, he'd thought she'd been a witty, know-it-all, but he'd been wrong.

Daryl looked back down at Rick and saw the confliction in his eyes.

"I see two options," Guillermo continued. "You come back with Miguel and my bag of guns, everybody walks. Or you come back locked and loaded, we'll see which side spills more blood."

Scarlett's Perspective

It was difficult for Scarlett to describe how she was feeling. Her head, for one, was pounding from being punched in the face as well as being knocked out. A splitting pain ran across her cheekbone where she had been hit, though her and Glenn's attackers had given her some ice to bring the swelling down, which she found a bit odd. Other than all of that, they hadn't harmed her. Hopefully they were doing the same with Glenn.

However, there was uneasiness in her stomach that refused to go away. She couldn't help but think back to what had happened in the alley. Not about them being attacked, but what had happened the moment she'd been hit. The darkness she'd experienced, the low laughter that reached her ears. She was sure that none of the men had been laughing at the time, coming to the conclusion that the whole thing had occurred inside head. Something that came from the dark corners of her mind, and she'd seen a snippet of it. What worried her was that the laugh had been familiar, painfully familiar, and the fact that something of the sort came from inside her mind paralyzed her.

"Hey. Lady, you okay?"

Taking a moment to refocus her eyes, Scarlett looked around at her surroundings. A small white room graced her irises as she sat in a chair in the middle of it. Her hands were still bound but she wasn't physically tied to her seat, which surprised her. There was still tape over her mouth; she could feel it pressed against her lips. The leader of the group, Guillermo, stood crouched in front of her chair. She guessed he had been the one to ask her the question.

"I'm gonna take the tap off, alright?" The man said, reaching forward to do as he said. Scarlett unconsciously moved away from the action, but froze when he finally grabbed a corner of the tape and ripped it from her mouth.

Pursing her lips together to avoid letting out any verbal cues of pain, she tried her best to avoid narrowing her eyes in displeasure.

"Where's Glenn?" Scarlett said after the pain dispersed.

"The Asian? In the other room." The man stated calmly.

"I want to see him."

The leader could tell that there was no room for argument, she could see it in his face. Sending a quick look to the man by the door, the guard went to go get him. There was a pause in conversation and Scarlett attempted to figure out how she wanted to play the situation.

"You did quite the work on one of my men," the leader continued. "Almost took out another's back with that bat of yours."

"Your men did quite the work on my head and face."

"It was in self defence."

"Same thing for me," Scarlett replied with a monotone voice. "Your men were beating up one of my people."

"Only because he attacked one of ours."

"Daryl's a hothead, but he didn't hurt the kid."

"Daryl? Is that the hick's name?"

Scarlett bit her tongue. While she was sure that letting Daryl's name slip wasn't the best thing, she figured it wouldn't make their situation any worse for the time being.

She wouldn't admit it, but him calling Daryl a hick bothered her too.

"And what is your name, exactly?" The man questioned, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"You first."

The man appeared to be fighting back the urge to smile at her request.

"My name is Guillermo. I run things here." The man said to her, patiently waiting for her response as well.

"Scarlett." She stated simply.

"That's a good name for you."

Before she could reply to his comment, the door was thrown open and the guard from before walked into the room, Glenn right behind him. Scarlett met his eyes immediately and he appeared to be without visible injuries, though he looked rather horrified by the welt on her face. She could tell by the way his eyes widened.

"Christ, Scarlett. Did they do that to you?" Glenn demanded as he was placed in one of the other chairs.

"Back in the alley, yeah," she replied, eyeing Guillermo and his men. "But believe it or not, they're giving me ice for it."

"How nice of them." Glenn answered sarcastically.

"Are you okay?" Scarlett asked, worry in her voice.

"Besides my back hurting from taking a blow from a bat and the mild burning of my mouth from the duct tape? Yeah I'm fine."

A sigh of relief left her mouth. While she knew Glenn was being witty, she was glad that he wasn't suffering from anything else at the moment.

"You two seem close. You together?" Guillermo questioned.

Eyebrows shooting upwards and mouth falling open in speechless surprised, both Scarlett and Glenn looked over at each other in disbelief.

"N-no, no, no. It's not like that-" Glenn began to ramble nervously, but Scarlett cut him off with a bit of a laugh.

"Just friends. We met only a few days ago." She replied, laughter bubbling up from out of nowhere. Glenn seemed to pout a bit.

"Hey, don't laugh. Would it really be that bad to be with me?"

"I'm sorry," she said, trying to calm herself down. "No, I'm sure it wouldn't, Glenn. You've got your own charms. I see you as a brother is all, that's why I'm laughing."

While still pouting a bit, Glenn seemed satisfied with her answer. It was almost like they'd forgotten the situation they were in, because the both of them quickly regained their composure when Scarlett looked over at Guillermo. The leader of the other group looked mildly confused by their interaction, sending a glance to the guard by the door that appeared just as perplexed as the leader did.

Before any form of conversation could be held form that point, a man burst into the room looking quite out of breath. Scarlett realized that it was the man she'd stabbed in the alley and immediately felt her body go ridged.

"G, Gilbert is having trouble breathing again. Could you give me a hand with calming him down?" The man asked. "Also, Agnes is due to take her medicine."

"You can't do it yourself?" Guillermo asked calmly.

"My hands are full and all the men are busy looking after the other elders."

Scarlett found their conversation odd. The talk of medicine and elderly people had her questioning what kind of place they were running. She couldn't help but vocalize her confusion.

"What's going on?"

Guillermo and the man she'd stabbed both looked over at her in surprise. The wounded man appeared a bit startled to be near her, either by anger or fear. She couldn't tell which one.

"None of your business." The wounded man snarled at her.

"Felipe, chill," Guillermo commanded, giving his man a harsh look before turning to Scarlett. "Why do you ask, chika?"

"I ask because it sounds like you're running some sort of medical care centre here," she explained, looking between the two men. "Am I correct?"

"Why would you care?"

Scarlett glanced over at Glenn for affirmation, and her friend simply shrugged.

"I was a paramedic before all this started," she informed them, not missing how their eyes widened slightly. "I'll give you a hand with the elderly, if you need it, but only if you let my group and I walk free from here when they come back for Glenn and I."

"Depends if your leader gives us what we asked for." Guillermo replied right away, but she could tell that the revelation of her occupation before the apocalypse had faltered his stance on the situation.

"Look, I'm trying to do this out of the goodness of my heart, alright? We don't want any trouble, we never wanted any to begin with," Scarlett explained, feeling a bit frustrated. "Just let me help out a bit. I'm sure if you spoke with Rick about what you've got going on here, he would gladly give you a few guns."

The two men looked at each other in contemplation, debating whether or not to accept her help. It was obvious that they needed it, but if they were willing to make the deal, Scarlett didn't know.

Surprisingly, it didn't take the two men much time to decide. Before she knew it, Scarlett was being removed from her restraints and ushered towards the door.

"Glenn comes too. I'll need his help."

Guillermo didn't look too pleased by her last minute request, but nonetheless complied with her wishes and Glenn was free to go with her. The two were brought down multiple hallways and passed by a few rooms holding elderly people in beds. Some were taking medicine while others were being read to by visitors. It was surreal to Scarlett, that these men were simply protecting those who couldn't protect themselves. If Rick got a look at this, she knew he'd be blown away.

Entering one she could only assume was one of the large rooms in the building; Scarlett was lead in the direction of an old man who appeared to be having trouble breathing.

"He's having an asthma attack." The man she'd attacked muttered.

"Do you have a puffer for him?" She questioned, walking forward to take a look at the older gentleman.

"We should, but we'll need to go take a look," Guillermo sighed. "Do you think you can…?"
"Absolutely."

And with that, they were off to work. Guillermo and the man she'd stabbed, Filipe, went searching for his puffer while Scarlett and Glenn stayed behind to try and help out as much as they could. Spending the majority of her time doing breathing exercises with the older man who was in the middle of an asthma attack, Scarlett managed to calm him down enough to breathe somewhat properly once again. Guillermo and Filipe quickly returned with the puffer and both her and Glenn were swept off to other patients.

After icing a woman's bruised bone, administrating a few shots of insulin to a select number of patients with diabetes, treating a few non-bite related fevers, and giving out a handful of pain medication, Scarlett felt right in her element. Helping people was what she did best, and in a way, it helped ease the anxiousness that was in her system from earlier. Being constantly on her feet didn't bother her much, she'd learned to deal with it, but she could tell that Glenn was drained to the core. The few times she'd helped the occasional person to the washroom, she'd spotted him in a few rooms doing his own share of help, the fatigue evident on his face.

"Chika, you think you can help give out food?" Filipe called to her from down the hall as she was on her way to another room.

"Yeah, of course." She replied, jogging down the hall and into the kitchen area where the man was.

Once she was there, he gave her a quick look before turning his attention to the food locker in front of them.

"Alright, we don't have much but we need to feed them what we can," he explained, reaching into the hanger and pulling out a few cans of soup. "They don't eat a lot, but they need to have half a can each. If they can manage that and there's more left, we'll give seconds."

Without another word, the two got to work pouring the cans into one large pot. Roughly twenty cans of soup later and a boiling pot, Felipe began filling bowls and Scarlett got ready to take them out to the elderly.

"By the way, I'm sorry for stabbing you in the alley." She spoke up as she grabbed a few bowls and balanced them in her arms.

"I'm sorry one of the men gave you a deck to the face," he replied. "I say we're even."

"Hardly. There's a difference between getting stabbed and getting punched."

"True, but you helping out makes up from it."

She supposed he had a point and gave him a quick smile of thanks, which he returned before she slipped out of the kitchen and down the hall. Sadly, she couldn't bring too many bowls with her at once, so a lot of back tracking to the kitchen had to be done. Felipe had left her in charge of the soup, going off to god knows where. She assumed Guillermo had called for him and continued doing what she was instructed to.

Once finished with the food and in the midst of changing an older woman's sheets for her, Scarlett heard multiple voices coming from the main room down the hall. She found it odd, considering that the place was usually pretty quiet. After finishing with the sheets, Scarlett made her way down the hallway into the larger room, spotting Daryl and T-Dog almost immediately, with Rick standing off to the side with Guillermo. It was the former sheriff who saw her first, an evident sigh leaving the man as he walked away from Guillermo and over to her, embracing her in a tight hug.

"Thank god you're alright," Rick muttered, pulling away to get a closer look at her bruised cheekbone. "You are okay, right?"

"I'm alright, they've been giving me ice for it," Scarlett explained, nodding at Guillermo in thanks as he approached them. "And you, Rick? You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, we're fine."

"Your chika here was a huge help to us," Guillermo said fondly to Rick, handing Scarlett a bag of ice for her face. "It was as if Dios had brought her to us himself. Though, I wish it were under different circumstances."

"As do I." Rick replied calmly.

"Let's go have a talk. You'll come with us, won't you?" Guillermo asked, looking over at Scarlett who gave him a quick nod. "Wonderful. Bring your men, too."

Rick called over to the rest of their little group, Glenn reacting first, followed by Daryl and T-Dog. Scarlett gave Glenn a pat on the back, to which he attempted to give her a tired smile in return.

"God damn, Scarlett. Your face okay?" T-Dog asked as he approached them as they all turned to follow Guillermo and Rick out of the main room.

"Hurts a bit," she replied honestly. "But it's alright."

"Like hell it's alright," Daryl grumbled, taking Scarlett by surprise. "One of his men straight up blindsided you. That was dirty, even for them."

"Well I straight up stabbed one of them in the shoulder, so…"

"Yeah, but he had it coming."

Scarlett couldn't help but chuckle at Daryl, even though the man was serious with his words. He was right; she did everything in self-defence. Not like she felt all that guilty, considering that they did attack her first. She apologized to Filipe and that was the end of it.

Continuing down the hallway and making a left, the six of them entered an unoccupied room that was much similar to the one where Scarlett had been tied up in. Guillermo leaned against the table in the middle while the rest of men hovered by the door. Scarlett, on the other hand, stood right in front of the opposing leader with Rick by her side.

"What about the rest of your crew?" Rick questioned suddenly, but Guillermo had an answer ready.

"The vatos trickle in to check on their parents, their grandparents," he explained. "They see how things are and most decide to stay. It's a good thing too. We need the muscle. The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kinds of plunderers, the kind that take by force."

"That's not who we are." Rick stated clearly.

"How was I to know? My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage…appearances."

"Guess the world changed." T-Dog muttered aloud.

"No," Guillermo disagreed. "It's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken. So we do what we can here. The vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathroom by themselves, so that's just a dream. Still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something. So we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut except for one entrance. The vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait."

It made perfect sense to Scarlett now why they kept a front with all the men. Like he'd said, the weak get taken, and by keep a tough appearance, outsiders will think twice before causing any sort of trouble.

"The people here, they all look to me now," Guillermo continued with a shrug. "I don't even know why."

"Because they can." Rick replied calmly, pausing for a moment to stare at the other man. Without a word, the former sheriff began pulling a few guns from their gun bag and handed them to Guillermo. Scarlett held back the urge to smile, content with the fact that she'd called that Rick would gladly give over a few guns to them if Guillermo simply took the time to explain things. While they did need all the guns they could get, giving a few away to good people who needed them didn't seem like that bad of thing to do. With a firm shake between the two men and a few goodbyes, the group headed out to hopefully make their way back before sundown.

"Admit it," Glenn scoffed slight as the five of them walked on the outskirts of the city. "You only came back to Atlanta for the hat."

"Don't tell anyone." Rick replied, holding back a smile and making Scarlett let lose a laugh of her own.

"You've given away half our guns and ammo." Daryl grumbled, obviously not in agreement with sharing the goods with Guillermo and his men.

"Not nearly half." Rick corrected the younger Dixon, though he wasn't having any of it.

"For what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously, how long you think they got?"

"How long do any of us?" Scarlett questioned as they all came to a simultaneous halt.

She couldn't believe it. The truck was nowhere in sight and obviously, no longer ready to take them all back to camp. Once again, Scarlett couldn't believe she'd been right about their luck. They'd been through the ringer in Atlanta and this was the final straw. Lady Luck was a bitch.

"Oh my god." Glenn breathed out, the reality of the situation hitting all of them hard.

"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl questioned in utter confusion.

"We left it right there! Who would take it?" Glenn demanded, getting more upset as the seconds went by.

There was only one person in Scarlett's mind who could've been responsible.

"Merle." Rick stated, tone cold and irritated just like how Scarlett felt. Her grip around her bag of ice tightened to the point where she was sure the bag would break open.

"He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp." Daryl muttered, and that's when Scarlett lost it.

Gripping her bag of ice tight in her hand, the red head threw it on the ground in a fit of rage and pure irritation.

"We went all this way to go get the stupid bastard and he ended up being our last screw over for the day. How bloody ironic is that," she hissed, turning and pointing a finger at Daryl. "The next time I see your brother, I'm giving him a black eye and you aren't gonna say shit about it."

Ignoring the surprise in the younger Dixon's eyes, Scarlett turned and began marching off in the direction of the highway. She didn't bother to check to see if they were following her, but when she heard Glenn mumble something about 'being glad to be on her good side', she knew they'd be accompanying her on the long tread back to camp.

Yay chapter done~

I'm glad that I managed to get this out to you guys, I hope it was an okay chapter. I enjoyed writing it quite a lot, though I apologize if there are a few mistakes in the writing. It's almost 4 am here and I keep nodding off lol

Anyways! I'm very excited for the show to come back this Sunday! It'll hopefully give me more of a drive to continue putting out chapters for you all.

As always, I hope you're all going well and I'll see you in the next update, whenever that might be :)

All the best,

- GuiltyCalamity