The rescue group was still in the U-Haul truck as it approached the outskirts of the city of Atlanta, and the group inside already had their weapons at the ready for any kind of trouble that they could find. Daryl didn't give a damn about the guns that Rick left behind on his first visit, and his first and only concern at the moment was for the safety of his brother. Daryl was still in disbelief that these fuckers left him on that rooftop chained up like an animal...
"He'd better be okay... It's my only word on the matter..." Daryl made sure to tell the others within the van.
"He'll be fine... Just relax, psycho." Ulrich frowned.
Daryl simply frowned back over at the German teen before he lowered his head, causing Ulrich to simply roll his eyes and to turn his attention back over to his friends. Odd seemed to be fine considering what Daryl did to his hand with that Bowie knife, and Chase's ankle seemed to not be causing any trouble to him either. Hopefully this rescue will go off without any problems... Chase leaned over towards Yumi in order to quietly whisper to her, as he didn't dare let Daryl hear what he was wanting to ask.
"Merle's an absolute psychopath and from what I've heard he's not a huge fan of the Japanese either... or Asians in general for that matter." Chase quietly warned. "I know you can handle yourself in a fight, but when we find him it might be best to stand near me, Odd or Ulrich just in case you need backup. There's no telling what he'll do when we go back for him and get him out of those handcuffs..." he whispered.
"Alright... Thanks for letting me know." Yumi whispered back gratuitously.
Chase nodded back and the teens proceeded to load and ready their weapons since they knew they were approaching where they were going to park. From what Glenn, Rick and T-Dog said they were going to leave the U-Haul truck at a spot in the trainyard a couple of miles or so away from the department store itself. The group still had to figure out whether they were going to go for Merle first or for the guns, but they'll get to that when they have to.
The group soon felt the U-Haul van stop and the engine be turned off by Glenn, who was already turned to look at everyone in the back of the van.
"We walk from here..." Glenn informed.
With that Ulrich stood up and went to open the back door of the U-Haul, and everyone in the back likewise climbed out as Glenn and Rick got out of their seats in the front of the vehicle. Once everyone got out of the van they all checked to make sure their weapons were loaded and ready for action, and then they began to make their way further into the city...
Hopefully rescuing Merle and getting the guns will both be simple and easy for all of them...
Back at the camp and down within the quarry, some of the group was busy washing the camp's clothes. Aelita, Jeremie, Miranda, Carol, Jacqui, and also Andrea and Amy Harrison all were moving the camp's fabrics from the back of Ed's truck and washing them in the quarry while watching Shane and Carl trying to catch frogs in the water around them with a bucket and a net. This wasn't going well for either of them since the frogs kept getting away most of the time, but it was still very fun for both.
"I'm beginning to question the division of labor here..." Jacqui suddenly pointed out sarcastically to the others as they watched.
After a few more minutes the group saw Shane and Carl finally stop for a moment as Shane had to look around for his bucket as he accidentally dropped it somewhere in the water. Jeremie helped Aelita grab a large basket of clothing from the truck and the pair brought it over to the edge of the water next to the washtubs they were using, and they both proceeded to begin washing this new load bit by bit.
"Can someone explain to me how the women wound up doing all the 'Hattie McDaniel' work?" Jacqui asked with an annoyed frown.
"The world ended... Didn't you get the memo?" Amy sarcastically replied.
The others chuckled at this as they kept up with cleaning the clothes. It was hard work but they were happy to just do it to get it out of the way, and it didn't hurt that clean clothes would help with morale at the camp. Aelita kept washing some clothes and started working on cleaning up one of Ulrich's shirts as she thought about Yumi, Ulrich, Odd and Chase all being in Atlanta at the moment. She really hoped that they were fine...
Miranda noticed the look of deep thought on Aelita's face and she smile as she gave her a soft push with her elbow to get her attention. The pink-haired girl immediately turned to look at Miranda with an expression of curiosity on her face.
"I'm sure they're fine, Princess... Try not to worry about them too much, okay? They'll definitely be back before we know it." Miranda assured her friend with a smile.
Aelita smiled back at Miranda before the two girls went back to washing the clothes, even though they noticed that Ed was watching and studying them them from the back of his truck, especially his wife Carol. It was really creeping out the pink-haired girl and basically all of the others with her to see him doing this...
What the hell was his problem...?
Jeremie wiped a bit of sweat off of his brow and took off his glasses for a moment in order to use his shirt to wipe away some water droplets that got on the lenses due to the washtub, and after he was done he went straight back to work. Andrea, Carol, Amy Harrington and Jacqui were all thankful that at least one of the guys had came to actually help them with all of these clothes.
"At least we got one guy here with us..." Andrea complimented as she washed a pair of jeans.
"It's no problem... I wanted to contribute." Jeremie replied with a smile as he neatly folded a shirt in a basket before he began working on cleaning another. "Also... it doesn't hurt that I get to spend some time with Aelita while I'm doing this." he added with a grin to his girlfriend.
Aelita smirked and she playfully splashed some water from the quarry straight at her boyfriend after he said that, causing both him and the women there to break out laughing for a bit before they resumed cleaning the clothes. They all also noticed that Ed was still at the truck and was carefully watching them, causing their smiles to fade away as they tried to not think that he was there.
Man, that guy was such a fucking creep...
In Atlanta, the rescue group had made it through the trainyards and they stopped under an overpass when a chain-linked fence blocked their way. Thankfully they had those bolt cutters that Dale lent them, so Yumi quickly cut a hole through the fence and the group resumed their trek back to the department store. The group still had a bit of a dilemma though...
Should they go for Merle and the tools first, or just head straight for the bag of guns and then back for Merle? Daryl certainly wouldn't like it if the group went for the weapons first...
"Merle first, or the guns?" Rick asked the others.
"Merle! We ain't even having this conversation!" Daryl immediately replied with a threatening frown.
"We are..." Rick frowned right back at the angry man.
Daryl was absolutely livid with what he was hearing at the moment and he was close to just simply ditching these assholes to go and rescue his brother by himself. But for the moment he digressed as he understood that if he was going to do that he would still need to try and get closer to the department store without getting bit or killed by walkers, and the best way to do that would be with a group.
"Glenn, you know the streets and you know this city in general... Is Merle closer or is the guns?" Chase asked.
"Merle's closest. The guns would mean doubling back." Glenn informed with a shrug.
"Well... I guess Merle's first in that case." Odd stated with a nod.
"He better be..." Daryl warned the teen.
Yumi, Chase and Ulrich all frowned at the angry redneck and his threat towards their friend, and they were resolved to help Odd if Daryl ever tried to harm him in the slightest. However they had to keep their tempers under control as they still needed to get those guns and Merle, and letting loose on Daryl wouldn't help anything at the moment. They hoped Daryl would remain calm for as long as it took, and soon the group was back on the move as they began hurrying down a street in the direction of the department store...
Hopefully that prick Merle was still alive up there.
The group at the quarry was still diligently washing the clothing of the camp, and of course Ed was still watching them closely from the back of his truck, especially Carol. Aelita noticed that they thankfully had already gotten through washing about half of the clothing they needed to get through, so her plan was to help was what was left and then take a break for half an hour or so and to eat something with Jeremie before they both would go to find some other chore around the camp to help with.
As they all cleaned together they couldn't help but begin a conversation about all of the things from before the outbreak that they would end up missing in the future if the outbreak continues. They all knew that things like the internet, Big Macs, cheesy romance shows on TV, Coca-Cola and anything else they liked that was made within a functioning civilization was gone, probably forever...
"I do miss my Maytag..." Carol commented on her old washing machine as she washed a tank top.
"I miss my Benz, my sat-nav..." Andrea added about her car and its GPS system as she wringed out a shirt.
"I miss my Xbox... I miss killing shitty players on Battlefield with Alexandr and Verity..." Miranda likewise added as she folded a pair of jeans.
"I miss my coffeemaker with that dual-drip filer and built-in grinder, honey..." Jacqui added, her mouth watering at the thought of some coffee as she folded a shirt.
"I miss my computer... and the poster of Albert Einstein I have back in my dorm room at Kadic..." Jeremie listed two things he missed as he scrubbed a stain off of a sweater.
Andrea finished wringing out and neatly folding a shirt before she suddenly paused what she was doing, a small and mischievous grin forming on her face before she looked over at her friends.
"I miss my vibrator..." Andrea bluntly added.
Aelita, Jeremie, Miranda and the women all immediately stopped what they were doing and their stared at Andrea with expressions of surprise or shock at what she just said.
"Me too..." Carol suddenly added with a grin.
The girls all quickly fell into laughter at this, even Aelita and Miranda. Jeremie managed to get a few chuckles out but with Andrea and Carol's comments this mainly was now a conversation that he was a bit too shy to take part in, so he was mainly focusing more on washing some clothes than actually adding anything more to this. Aelita noticed Jeremie's shyness at what they were talking about, so in an effort to just playfully mess with him a bit she decided to try and make him even more shy, as she found the sight of Jeremie being like that as incomprehensibly adorable.
"Me three..." Aelita suddenly added while giving a flirty grin at her boyfriend.
Jeremie and Miranda both immediately turned to look at Aelita with shock as the others exploded with laughter at their reactions. Jeremie looked like he was about to pass out since he was bit pale and also blushing hard at Aelita's statement, whereas Miranda was quite simply and absolutely floored that the pink-haired genius would even consider saying something like that. Aelita almost immediately burst out laughing when she saw the looks of pure shock on Jeremie and Miranda's faces, and she was soon laughing so much that literal tears of joy were actually going down the sides of her face.
"I was joking! I swear!" Aelita laughed, trying to calm both them and herself down as she laughed almost uncontrollably.
The teen and the other women continued to laugh and after a few more moments Jeremie and Miranda joined in as well. After the last few days or so Aelita and Jeremie had with the other original Lyoko Warriors it was absolutely wonderful for the pair of them to be able to laugh and have a good time for once. Alas this did not last long as the group noticed Ed was walking towards them fromt the truck with an annoyed frown, causing them all to immediately cease their laughter.
"What's so funny?" Ed asked sternly.
"Just trying to pass the time with some jokes, Ed, that's all..." Miranda said with a shrug before she resumed washing.
Jeremie, Aelita, Miranda and the others all quickly resumed their washing as Ed continued to stand behind them all, watching all of their actions with a close eye. It was both unnerving and annoying at the same time...
"Problem, Ed?" Andrea suddenly turned to ask him with an annoyed frown on her face.
"Nothin' that concerns you..." Ed rudely dismissed the blonde woman.
Carol didn't dare look up at her husband as she focused on washing whatever clothes was in front of her, whether they were already cleaned or not. She didn't want to get on his bad side again and she desperately tried her hardest to look like she was busy... Unfortunately this still didn't get Ed's attention away from her as he was soon glaring down at his wife. He wanted her to work... Why would she be fucking joking at all when she had clothes to clean...?
"And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club..." Ed sternly said out of annoyance.
Jeremie silently scoffed with both shock and disbelief at Ed's horrible attitude towards Carol. How could she possibly have married an asshole like this guy? Aelita and Miranda both glanced at each other with matching looks of mutual disgust at Ed's words and actions, but this unfortunately drew his attention as well. When the girls noticed this they immediately looked back down at the clothes they were washing and tried not to look back up at the terrible man hovering over them.
"Something wrong, 'pinkie'?" Ed frowned as he rudely insulted Aelita and her hair color.
Aelita was now flabbergasted and quite simply pissed off as she finally dropped the shirt she was washing back into her washtub, quickly looking up to glare at Carol's really shitty husband as her anger only intensified.
"'Pinkie'? My name is 'Aelita'..." Aelita frowned back.
"I couldn't care less what your name is, girl..." Ed rudely replied with a shrug before he crossed his arms. "Now you and your little friends should get back to your work before you get hurt..." he added as a warning and a threat.
Although never really much of a fighter even during the days of fighting against XANA, Jeremie Belpois would never in a million years idly stand by if he ever heard anyone threaten the pink-haired girl he loved and cared so much about, no matter if he would win or lose in any fight. He suddenly threw down the pair of jeans that he was washing and he turned to face the incomprehensible douchebag that was threatening Aelita, a glare of pure fury on his face as he did so.
"Leave. Her. Alone." Jeremie warned as he balled up one of his fists.
"Oh yeah? And what if I don't, boy?" Ed frowned as he stepped up face-to-face with Jeremie and stared him down in an effort to scare the teen.
Miranda likewise stood up and tossed the shirt she was washing down to the ground, glaring at Ed as she proceeded to crack her neck. If Jeremie was going to be put in a fight with a prick like Ed Peletier, she was damn sure going to back him up no matter what!
"Then you'll have to deal with the both of us, Ed..." Miranda frowned at the angry man as she likewise cracked her knuckles. "I guarantee you that it would end with one of your arms broken. You wanna risk that, asshole?" she threateningly taunted.
Aelita continued to watch this exchange with wide eyes and a growing feeling of worry within her. Outside of Lyoko she absolutely wasn't the type of person to get involved in any kind of fist fight whatsoever, but if Jeremie got hurt trying to defend her from Ed then she easily wouldn't hesitate to follow through on Miranda's threat to break one of Ed's arms. Carol likewise watched the scene but with more worry for her own husband than anyone else, whereas Jacqui, Andrea and Amy all watched and just hoped this would not escalate at all.
Thankfully Ed got the message and he quickly backed down from his standoff with both Jeremie and Miranda. Without saying a word, Ed simply backed up a few steps away from the group. He was still close to them, but at least now he wasn't practically breathing down their necks like how he was just a few minutes earlier.
Jeremie and Miranda both continued to frown at Ed for a moment before they both went to sit back down next to their washtubs in order to continue washing clothing with Aelita and the others. Aelita herself continued to stare with shock at her boyfriend and her friend for a few more moments before she leaned over to quietly speak with Jeremie about what had just happened. She never wanted him to get himself hurt over her...
"You didn't need to do that for me, Jeremie..." Aelita whispered.
"No, I did..." Jeremie whispered back. "I'd never stand by and let anyone hurt you or threaten you, Aelita. Not even a jerk like Ed Peletier. I care about you too much to let that happen..." he assured.
Aelita looked thoughtful for a moment as she took in Jeremie's words. She was absolutely flattered and was grateful that the boy she loved was so dedicated to her, but she still didn't want him to get hurt over anything, even if it was for her. Aelita wouldn't forgive herself if that happened...
"Just... be careful next time, okay? For me at least..." Aelita replied, her fears for Jeremie's safety easing away a little bit for the moment.
Jeremie quietly nodded to his girlfriend before he leaned over to give her a quick kiss on the lips in an effort to cheer her up a little bit, and when he noticed a smile forming on her face because of that kiss he smiled back at her. The young couple then went back to cleaning the remaining pile of clothes that they had to get through, trying to ignore Ed and focusing more on their work for now. They also noticed that Lori had came down to the quarry and began to lead Carl back up to the camp for whatever reason, leaving Shane alone to look for frogs by himself. They also saw that Lori and Shane had some sort of a heated conversation with each other, although unfortunately they were all too far away to actually hear anything that was said. In any event, everyone who was washing was just working to get done with the cleaning and were mentally praying that Ed wouldn't be a jackass for the rest of the time they were doing this...
Ed seriously deserved an ass-kicking by someone at this point...
The rescue group had finally made it to the department store and they thankfully found a way in through one of the back doors of the building. The eight of them cautiously began to make their way through the building in an effort to get to the rooftop and grab Merle, but they had to be careful since who knew if there was any walkers in the building at the moment. Unfortunately they got their answer to that very quickly as when they cautiously sneaked inside one of the parts of the store they saw there was a walker, and they knew they had to deal with it before they continued onwards.
"I got it..." Yumi quietly told the others.
The others in the rescue group nodded and kept back as they watched Yumi lower her AR-15 and unsheath her combat knife, cautiously approaching the walker and quickly gaining its attention.
Before the walker could have any time to react, Yumi simply used her leg to swipe downwards at the walker's ankles, sending it falling straight to the ground before Yumi quickly dug her knife in its skull, pacifying the undead creature for good. Ulrich admired his girlfriend's technique to taking down a walker before he looked to his right and saw a pile of bandanas sitting on a shelf just a few inches or so away from him, and he grabbed a few of them and put them in one of his pockets just in case they had any kinds of usage for back in camp.
Yumi then pulled her knife out of the walker's skull and used its shirt to wipe off the blade as the others looked down at the creature, with Daryl letting out a chuckle as he examined its face.
"Damn... You are one ugly skank..." Daryl commented.
"Show some respect. This used to be a person, Daryl..." Yumi chastised as she stood back up and put her knife back in its sheath.
"And now they eat people. I'll call them what I want..." Daryl said in a very rude tone.
Yumi sucked her teeth at this comment and with a growing feeling of annoyance she rolled her eyes as a reply, with Daryl himself not really giving a damn about her reaction as the rest of the group then continued making their way towards the stairwell. Yumi simply sighed with annoyance before she quickly walked to catch up to them, and soon all of the rescue team was making their way up the stairwell together. Merle had to be at the end of it on the roof...
Once they got him then all they had to worry about was the guns on the street, and after that they could finally head back to the camp. Hopefully Daryl wouldn't be a pain in the ass the entire time...
The group at the quarry continued to wash the last of the clothing that was with them, and they would definitely be done with all of it within the next ten or twenty minutes or so. Unfortunately Ed was still watching closely and he was really getting on all of their nerves, and Aelita was still absolutely livid at the man for how he treated both herself and Jeremie. Andrea felt the exact same kind of anger that Aelita felt and pretty soon it boiled over, causing Andrea to tightly grab the shirt she was washing as she stood up to confront the wife-beater.
"Ed, tell you what..." Andrea began. "You don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself." she offered.
Andrea walked a few steps forward and tossed the wet t-shirt straight at Ed. However, Ed simply grabbed the t-shirt and immediately threw it as hard as he could back at Andrea, causing it to hit her chest head-on and to make her have to step back for a second in order to not lose her balance. Andrea was shocked by this but Ed just simply sneered at both her and the other washers.
"Ain't my job, missy..." Ed sneered.
"Andrea, don't-" Carol tried to say before she was quickly cut off.
The other washers all stood up as they saw another confrontation was happening, and Aelita was just getting more and more angered at Ed's terrible attitude and stupid feeling of superiority.
"What exactly is your job, Ed? Hmm? Is it just sitting on your ass all day and smoking cigaretts?" Aelita angrily asked.
"Well, it sure as hell isn't listening to some uppity smart-mouthed private-schooled bitch..." Ed rudely dismissed.
Aelita now had a look on her face that could only be described as the literal essence of pure fury, and Jeremie had a very similar look on his face as he heard this man insulting his girlfriend. Ed didn't give any damn whatsoever about how pissed those two and the others were all getting, and Ed simply glanced over at his wife and snapped his fingers at her as if she was nothing more than a dog.
"Come on. Let's go..." Ed ordered.
Out of the fear of receiving punishment from her hellish husband if she didn't do what he demanded, Carol immediately stood up and began trying to walk over to him, but she was quickly stopped by both Aelita and Miranda.
"I honestly don't think she needs to go anywhere at all with you, Ed..." Miranda frowned.
"And I say it's none of your business..." Ed rudely dismissed.
Carol again continued trying to walk over to Ed so as to avoid a beating from him, but Aelita quickly stopped the woman from doing so. All this did was get Ed more annoyed and he suddenly glared over at the pink-haired teen.
"Hey..." Ed began with a frown on his face. "Don't think I won't knock you on your ass just 'cause you're some little pink-haired French cooze." he warned.
Aelita's jaw dropped with both shock and ever-growing fury at what she had just heard Ed say, and both Jeremie and Miranda were feeling livid and their fists likewise began to ball up in preparation for the ever-growing possibility of kicking the shit out of the wife-beater in front of them. Ed's temperament just kept getting more and more annoyed as he saw that they all were stopping his wife, and he was beginning to go from annoyance to anger with every passing second.
"Come on, now... Or you're gonna regret it later..." Ed warned his wife.
"So she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed?" Jacqui frowned.
"Yeah, we've all seen them!" Amy frowned as well.
All Ed did was take in their words and give out a noticeably angry-sounding chuckle, even as Shane began to watch the scene unfolding from a short distance away. He definitely knew that Ed would try something in just a few moments, so he had to be ready for anything...
"You know what? This is none of your business." Ed sneered. "You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am DONE talking..." he warned.
Ed then elbowed Andrea aside and quickly walked to his wife, where he proceeded to roughly grab her arm in an effort to literally drag her away from all of the others. Carol then mumbled something that the others didn't hear, but all it did was just make Ed pissed off more than ever.
"You don't tell me what! I tell you what!" Ed suddenly and furiously shouted at his wife.
Much to the shock of the others they then witnessed as Ed savagely slapped Carol right in the face as hard as he could! The others immediately ran to Carol's aid and Aelita tightly grabbed one of Ed's arms in an effort to get him to stop hurting his wife.
"Stop!" Aelita demanded.
Unfortunately Aelita immediately drew Ed's attention, and the wife-beater simply growled at the girl before he punched her very hard right in the jaw with his other hand and sent her straight to the ground, much to Jeremie's horror. Miranda was about to beat the shit out of Ed when Shane suddenly arrived and roughly grabbed Ed by the back of his shirt, leading him a short distance away from the group as the wife-beater struggled violently. As he did that, Jeremie ran over to Aelita and crouched down next to her in order to see if she was okay.
"Aelita?!" Jeremie asked with pure worry.
Aelita's vision was dazed for a few moments and the entire right side of her face felt very numb, and there was a very painful stinging sensation that was forming on her jaw due to the punch that she had received from Ed. However she knew she would be alright in the long run and she managed to give Jeremie a nod to signal that she was okay, rubbing her jaw with one of her hands as she did that.
"I-I'm okay..." Aelita managed to say as she rubbed her jaw.
Jeremie was relieved to hear this and he quickly pulled Aelita in for a tight hug, with the pink-haired girl immediately returning one to him as well. After Jeremie and Aelita broke their hug a moment or two later, both of them and everyone else there in the quarry all turned their attention to the new situation with Ed and Shane. Throwing the wife-beater down to the ground and climbing on top of him, Shane roughly grabbed Ed's shirt with one hand and began to roughly punch him in the face over and over and over again, not even showing a sign of stopping as he kept letting out his anger and frustration on this miserable son of a bitch.
The group all realized that if Shane didn't stop, he'd literally beat Ed to death right in front of them!
"Shane, that's enough!" Andrea pleaded in an effort to get Shane to not murder that terrible man.
But Shane didn't listen to the woman. He just kept punching Ed as hard and as often as he possibly could, horrifying all of the others. After a few more moments and after what seemed like dozens of punches, Shane finally let up and he roughly kept grabbing Ed's shirt as he stared right into the bloodied wife-beater's eyes with fury.
"You put your hands on your wife, your little girl, that girl Aelita or anyone else in this camp one more time then I will not stop next time. Do you hear me...?" Shane warned.
"Y- Yeah..." Ed managed to mutter.
"I'll beat you to death, Ed..." Shane threatened with fury in his eyes.
The others watched as Shane punched Ed one more time in the face and then pushed him back down onto the ground really hard. Before leaving the scene, Shane made sure to give Ed a final kick directly to the ribs for good measure and he glanced over at a shocked Andrea for a moment before he decided to head back up to the camp. Carol quickly got herself out of Miranda and Jacqui's grip and she immediately ran to her husband, crouching next to him and sobbing uncontrollably as she repeatedly began to apologize for the situation that had just occurred.
Jeremie and Aelita quickly began walking away from the scene together, with Aelita still clutching her jaw as they did so. Even when they were halfway back up the quarry they could still hear Carol's uncontrollable sobbing...
"I can't believe he did that to you!" Jeremie stated as he examined his girlfriend's jaw and cheek as they walked, seeing much of the right side of her face was already turning red.
"Me neither... it stings really bad, but I think I will be fine." Aelita replied, cringing a bit as she felt the stinging sensation hitting her once more.
"Are you sure? He hit you really hard, Aelita... I should have done something!" Jeremie chastised himself.
"Don't think like that... He would've hurt you as well and that's something I just cannot bear to see, Jeremie." Aelita sighed.
Aelita then gently took Jeremie's hand in hers as they walked back up the quarry, and she gently leaned the left side of her head on his shoulder in an effort to try and console him a little bit. Jeremie glanced down at his girlfriend and he felt his heart break a bit when he saw that her jaw was beginning to bruise up.
"You don't have anything to feel guilty about. I promise..." Aelita assured. "Now, I want you to chin up a bit and I want you to take your girl back up to the camp so Verity can check out her jaw and make sure she didn't lose a tooth. We still have that break together to look forward to..." she added, managing to form a small smile on her face.
Jeremie looked back at Aelita's face and after a few more moments he began to smile back at her. Aelita, knowing that kissing him anywhere at the moment would definitely hurt her jaw thanks to that punch from Ed, simply and adorably rubbed the tip of her nose against his in a very much welcomed Eskimo kiss as they continued to walk up the rest of the way to the camp together...
The rescue group hurried as fast as they could up the staircase that led directly onto the roof of the department store. If Merle was still up there, then this was absolutely the time to get him the fuck out of the city. The group made it to the top of the stairs and T-Dog quickly used Dale's bolt cutters to break open the padlock that he put up yesterday, and then Rick kicked open the door. Everyone hurriedly ran out onto the rooftop and began to look around for any sign of Merle Dixon.
"Merle!... Merle!" Daryl called out.
"Where is he?!" Chase asked as he looked around, not seeing any signs of Merle being present anywhere on the rooftop.
Unfortunately that's when the group noticed something just a short distance away from the door of the stairwell, something absolutely shocking and purely horrific... The thing they saw was at the exact pipe that Rick handcuffed Merle to, and unfortunately it became very apparent to all in the rescue group that they had indeed lost Merle... T-Dog simply shut his eyes as more feelings of guilt arose within him for accidentally dropping that key yesterday and inadvertently causing this whole situation, and Yumi simply stared down at the spot where Merle was handcuffed as her eyes widened.
"...Oh my God." Yumi quietly gasped with horror.
Daryl had an expression on his face that translated to nothing less than pure fury, despair and devastation as he stared down at the spot that Merle was handcuffed at. His brother was truly gone...
"NO!... NO!" Daryl repeatedly began to shout as tears of fury and despair ran down the sides of his face. "NO, NO, NO!... NO!" he added while beginning to openly sob.
The group was looking down at the handcuffs that loosely hung from the pipes. It was completely covered in dried blood with a large pool of the red liquid laying below it...
Horrifically, they all were also looking straight down at the severed left hand of Merle Dixon.
He did it...
Merle had actually cut off his own hand in order to escape the rooftop...