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Chapter Seven

Day 55

Daryl`s POV

The blood in my veins froze the second I heard her scream my name,

"DARYL"

I turned my back to this sniverly little shit and my eyes widened Annalise was strugglering with a walker who was way to close as it snarled inches from her face.

I raise my crossbow however I didn`t have a perfect line of sight so I shouted;

"Turn to the right"

Instantly she turned but not before I watched as she closed her eyes and we both preyed that my aim was true.

"WHOOSH" I released my bolt and watch with satishfaction as it speared the walker right through its decaying skull. It dropped pulling Annalise down with it, however the relief that I felt that instant she was safe evaporated instantly as Glenn rounded the corner as he cried out as he immediately tried to shut the gate.

I turned my attention back to the skinny little shit who had tried to back away but I quickly get in his face;

"Listen here you little shit, I'm looking for my brother. He's hurt real seen him?"

"Ayuda, Ayuda" (Help, Help)

God this kids was pissing me off I jerked him up by his shirt as I yelled in his face,

"Shut up, your gonna bring more walkers down on us. Just answer the question ha-"

I stopped when another forgein voice was added to the mix;

"That's it. That's the bag, Vato."

I quickly turned around just in time to see Glenn tackle for the bag of guns only for a huge hispanic thug blocking his way, from the corner of my eye I see Annalise get up only for another asshole to right hook her straight in the face as she crumbles like sand-castle.

I swear "What the fuck?"

Glenn is grabbed along with the bag of guns as the big guy drags them both towards a waiting get-away car. I load by crossbow and line up my sights with the big guy;

"WHOOSH" I fired and with a sick satishfaction my bolt strikes him right in his left ass-cheek although any good that came out of that disappeared as Annie stood up with her knife raised as she charges at the remaining thug who had scooped up the bag of guns and she tackled him like a pro, she quickly chucks the bag back towards me as the little shit from earlier tries to duck pass me.

"Oh fuck no you little shit." I tug him back and force him to the ground, I look up just in time for the arrow to the ass guy strikes Annie across the face as they both drag her back to the car - leaving the bag just lying there on the ground.

"Come back here, you sumbitches!"

I went to go after the car when Rick and T-dog come sprinting around the corner;

"What the hell happened? Daryl where`s Annalise and Glenn?" Rick demanded at me.

I stormed back towards the cowering shit and roughed him up abit before Saint Rick stopped me;

"What happened Daryl?"

"They took em, this little bastard and his little bastard homie friends took em when they tried to get the bag." I growled out.

The kid was whimpering in the corner but I didn`t care - he was the reason that Annalise was gone and I needed her back. I couldn`t lose her just after losing Merle so I let the anger and rage take over;

"I'm gonna stomp your ass!"

A body blocked me from smashing this kid into the ground;

"Whoa whoa whoa. Stop it man" T-Dog attemped to put some space between us.

I growled at him, "Move T."

Rick swallowed thickly, "Daryl we`re gonna get them back but we need him to help us, you with me."

I nodded but couldn`t help but to scared the little one last time;

"I'm gonna kick your nuts up in your throat!" As I kicked the wall beside his head.

T-Dog cried out "Guys come on we gotta go, Walkers."

_WALKINGDEAD_

It took us awhile to get back to the safety of the office-building but once we did Rick tried to intergate the hispanic kid but his friendly good-guy approach wasn`t working for me so I quietly opened Glenn`s abandoned backpack and removed Merle`s severed hand, I felt sick knowing that this was my brothers hand but the desperate need to have Annalise within arms reach was overpowering.

I unwrapped his pale bloodless hand and stormed over to the spineless worm of a kid;

"Wanna see what happened to the last guy who pissed me off?" I tucked the hand onto the kids lap who immediately freaked out, "Only this time I`ll start with ya feet." I threatened.

Rick sighed as he wiped his face with his hand, "Jesus Daryl did you really have too."

"What your way wasn`t working faster enough." Daryl added as he nodded to Rick to talk to the whimpering kid.

Rick crouched down so he was eye level with the kid;

"The men you were with took our friend and my daughter. All we want to do is talk to them, see if we can work something out."

_WALKINGDEAD_

The kid folded not long after, so here we were on the outskirts of some crumbling building with a fair amount of graffitti on the exposed brick walls.

Rick had given one of the sniper rifles to T-Dog and told me to be our back-up plan as Rick and myself led the turd of a kid towards his gang stronghold.

The kid had hsi hands tied and my crossbow aimed at his back;

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

The kid snapped back, "G's gonna take that arrow out of my ass and shove it up yours. Just so you know."

"G?" Rick questioned aloud.

"Guillermo. He's the man here." The kid informed us.

Rick murmured "Okay then. Let's go see guillermo."

We stopped when we came to a dead-end, well not so much a dead-end but the doorway was closed. I noticed out of the corner of my eye some movement but my attention returned to the door as it grinded open.

A dozen or so men emerged, all armed to the teeth as they aimed there guns at us. I made a show of raising my crossbow up;

A man stood forward, he looked unarmed but I wasn`t taking any chances.

"You okay, little man?" He asked our hostage.

The kid shifted slightly, "They're gonna cut off my feet, carnal."

G asked, "Cops do that?"

"Not him. This redneck puto here. He cut off some dude's hand, man. He showed it to me." He sprouted off.

I growled at him "Shut up."

The big guy I shot earlier stepped forward and boy was he angry;

"Hey, that's the asshole who shot me in the ass with an arrow."

Guillermo laid his hand on the big guys chest, "Chill, ese, chill."

Guillermo addressed us;

"This true? He wants Miguelito's feet? That's pretty sick, man."

Rick looked at me with a grim look on his face,

"We were hoping more for a calm discussion."

Guillermo shakes his head, "That hillbilly jumps Felipe's little cousin, beats on him, threatens to cut off his feet, Felipe gets an arrow in the ass and you want a calm discussion? You fascinate me."

"Heat of the moment. Mistakes were made on both sides." Rick tried to reason with him but was slowly losing his patiences.

"Who are they to you anyway?"

Rick lowered his gun, "You have my daughter and our friend and I want them both back."

Silence lingered for several seconds when I just had to ask;

"You got my brother in there?"

Felipe smirked, "Sorry, we're fresh out of white boys. But I've got Asian and a beautiful white girl who has a pair of juicy hot legs, what a sexy hot mama."

Rage filled my very core as I swifty moved my crossbow into Felipe`s face when Rick stepped between us.

"I`m only going to say this once but if you ever disrepect my daughter again I`ll kill you." Rick voice was dark and even scared me alittle bit (not that I`d ever admit it).

Guillermo stepped forward, "Easy friend, Felipe is in alot of pain and not thinking clearly. Now back to business, I have two of yours and you have one of mine."

"So we swap?" Rick sounded hopeful.

Some of Guillermo`s men laughed, "Oh no my friend, we only trade when its even and its only even when you hand over the bag full of guns."

"G. Come on, man." Miguel whined (our hostage)

Guillermo shushed him as he continued "My people got attacked, where`s the compensation for their pain and suffering? The bag Miguel saw in the street. The bag Felipe and Jorge were going back to get. That bag of guns." He pointed to the bag Rick had over his shoulder.

"You're mistaken." Rick said in his no nonsence voice.

Guillermo shook his head "I don't think so."

Rick added "About it being yours."

"Screw the chit-chat man let`s just kill em and get our people back." I was loosing my grip on my temper.

Guillermo chuckled, "Oh I wouldn`t do that if I were you." He looked up at the roof top of the building infront of us and that`s when I saw a struggling Glenn.

"Jesus," I muttered, "Where`s Annalise?"

"To my knowlodge she is still unconsciencefrom the accidently knock to the head." Guillermo informed us.

Rick sighed, "Let`s trade my two for yours and half the guns."

"Or I could let my people unload on you right here and now and I take what's mine?" Guillermo threatened.

Or not. Jesus I really wanna kill his asshole and get Annie back.

"You could but I`d be more worried about your own safety." As a little red laser dot appeared on Guillermo`s chest - curtisty from T-Dog.

"Come on, man. Make the trade. Please."

_WALKINGDEAD_

Annalise`s POV

The door opened and Glenn was shoved back in to my shock,

"Glenn are you alright?" I struggle to get up and help him right himself.

Glenn heaved himself down onto the floor, "Jesus, Annalise we`re in a world of shit - these people are demanding that Rick hand over all the guns before he`ll trade us."

"Except we need the guns, don`t worry Glenn my dad will think of something." I had confidence in my father.

We were left along for at least an hour before our door opened and a smaller, calmer, level headed person stepped inside.

"How you both feeling?" He asked us

I looked gobsmacked at Glenn for a split seconds before I spoke up;

"How we`re feeling? Your holding us hostage, why would you care about our feelings?"

He looked annoyed but calmly addressed us;

"My name is Guillermo - I`m the leader here. Unfortunate things happened today, my boys were after the bag of guns and you happened to get in the way. I apologizes for any injuries you`ve sustained however I`m sure you know your archer inflicted his own upon my men. I`m here to let you know as soon as your leader returns with my guns you`ll be free to go. Until that time you can leave the room and come into the lounge with our other residents."

He sounded nice and sincere but I was hestitated until Glenn nodded and stood up, he turned and helped me to my feet as my head was still dizzy and my belly turned.

To our shock we found ourselves in an old folks retirement home, there were senior citizens all over the place - some were in wheel chairs other playing cards or just staring off into space. Glenn helped me over to a spare sofa and together we sat and watched as the tough hispanic thugs who attacked us turned into soft caring nurses for the people who were obviously left behind when the world ended. A small 'ruff' to my left alerted me that there was a small cushion basket that contained two small chihuahua`s.

"Aww, cute little puppy." I love dogs and I miss my old kelpie dog Chloe - a small thanks that she passed away a little over a year ago to old age because she wouldn`t have survived in this new world. I picked up the little girl puppy which made a pink fluffy choker around her neck and placed her on my lap.

An hour or so passed when Mrs Cooper an old English women who was filling me in on the number of grandchildren she had stopped when a commotion took our attention.

A older gentlemen was gasping for breath, Glenn jumped up and approached the man and squatted down next to him - I watched as a young latino girl called out.

"Where`s Mr Gilbert`s asthma puffer?"

Several of the active members started searching the surrounding benches and one man yelled out, "I`ll check his room."

However I did noticed when a little old lady escaped the room and disappeared down the corridor. Glenn was helping the young woman in trying to keep the man calm with deep breathing when the doors slammed open startling most of us.

The first thing I heard was Daryl`s voice;

"What the hell is this?"

Glenn answered as he watched as the asshole who hit me gave Mr Gilbert his asthma puffer, "An asthma attack. Couldn`t get his breath all of a sudden."

T-Dog chuckled as he patted Glenn on his back, "We thought you were getting eaten by dogs, man."

"Were the hell is Annalise?" Daryl snarled in Glenn`s face.

Glenn moved to the side as he revealed me to my father and a very cranky Daryl.

I could see Dad smile as he nodded at me, I returned his smile before Daryl blocked his vision; "What the hell were you thinking girl?" He yanked my arms up as he forced me into standing which made the little dog to jump onto the sofa with a disgruntled "Woof".

A wave of dizziness threatened to overwlem me but I forced it down as I stared into a frustrated, pain filled and a strange longing pair of eyes that took my breath away.

"Daryl what else could I have possibled done? Glenn is my friend I wasn`t going to let them take him." I tried to explain but I knew deep down that he was freightened because he had just lost Merle and I was the last person in the world that he had.

He didn`t answer as he eyes scanned my body for any damage;

I`m not going to complain as butterflies erupted all over my body and he brought a blush to my face.

He lent in closer as he seemed to finally relized that we had an audience, "You okay?"

I nodded, "Didn`t appreciate another knock to the ol knoggen but otherwise I`m fine."

Daryl seemed to deflate after that as he backed away from me but not before handing me back my knife.

"Don`t lose it again."

I reached out to take the knife and my finger tips grazed his hand, static shock rushed up my arm as I gasped but quickly compsed myself.

"Thank you Daryl".

_WALKINGDEAD_

Within the hour we were almost back to where back to the cube-van. When we turned the corner and Glenn cried out;

"Oh my god, where`s the van?"

I looked around, "Are we sure this is the right spot?"

"Yeah we left it right here, who would`ve taken it?" T-Dog added in dismay.

"Merle!" Was all Daryl said and we fell into silence as we contemplated what that truely meant to our camp.

"We need to hurry back." Rick rubbed his face as exhaustion was hitting us all and now we had to run/walk all the way back.

Daryl shoulder his crossbow across him back and added, "He`s gonna be taking some vengence back to camp."

We all summoned our remaining strength as started running back towards camp - hoping beyond hope that we would make it first.

THE END - Please Review as they make me smile :)