❝Why should I care? Cuz you weren't there when I was scared, I was so alone. You, you need to listen. I'm starting to trip, I'm losing my grip and I'm in this thing alone.❞

- Avril Lavigne

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CHAPTER SIX - LOOSING GRIP

D E X T E R

The Bay Harbour Butcher climbed into the van with Glenn in the passenger seat and started it up, turning it around so that they could leave as soon as Rick and T-Dog got the bolt cutters from Dale. Daryl was stood in the back of the truck, impatiently watching them from afar.

"Y'know, you could just go over there instead of standing around like a dopey moron. It would get them here a lot faster." Dexter called out to the redneck from the driver's seat. Glenn glanced at her with a look of horror, like she had just signed her own death sentence.

"I'll show you what'll get 'em here faster." Daryl grunted, suddenly leaning over the brunette to press the van's horn multiple times. He then turned around and shouted to Rick and T-Dog, "Come on, let's go!"

"That works too." She shrugged, clipping on her seat belt as she kept the engine running. T-Dog climbed into the back soon joined by Rick after he was given a few bullets from Shane. Daryl pulled down the back door of the van and then Dexter drove them out of the quarry. She tried to pay attention to the surroundings as she drove down the railroads, but the talking in the back of the van was proving to be a distraction.

"He better be okay." Daryl said calmly, "It's my only word on the matter."

"I told you the geeks can't get at him. The only thing that's gonna get through that door is us." T-Dog retorted, seemingly more agitated then Daryl was at the moment.

"You two bicker like two old ladies fighting for the last tea cup." Dexter called back to them through the rear-view mirror. Daryl sent her a glare before going back to silence.

Glenn tapped her on the shoulder a few minutes later, silently telling her that they needed to stop driving. Dexter nodded, turning off the engine and she pulled out the keys whilst he turned back to the others.

"We walk from here."

Dexter gathered her knives and followed the others out of the van as the group ventured into the walker infested city of Atlanta once more. Rick used the bolt cutters to cut the fence open and one by one, they all climbed through and over the railings.

"Merle first or guns?" Rick asked, turning around to face everyone else.

"Merle!" Daryl quickly cut in, "We ain't even having this conversation."

"We are." Rick replied, emphatically. "You know the geography. It's your call." He said to Glenn and then we all began to jog.

"Merle's closest. The guns would mean doubling back." Glenn informed us. "Merle first."

They made it to the building without a problem, only having to take out a few walkers on the way. Dexter smiled when she finally managed to kill one, she hadn't managed to kill anything in weeks, except for that walker head, but that was an easy kill. She liked a challenge.

Dexter had her machete raised as she walked behind Rick, it was a gift from Dale before she had left. He didn't want her to leave with only her knives that weren't actually that big or very practical. Rick put his hand up, signally the rest to stop moving and then he did gestures and pointed to the walker that was walking around aimlessly, not taking any notice of them.

Daryl took the front, readying his crossbow and aimed for it's head. "Damn you are one ugly skank." He whispered before sending an arrow through it's head, causing it to drop to the floor. Then, he retrieved the arrow from it's corpse.

The group of five survivors ran up the stairs after clearing out the building as best as they could and cut the chains with the bolt cutters. Bursting through the door, they looked across the rooftop for at least a glimpse of Merle, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Daryl began shouting for his brother even after he had realised that Merle wasn't there anymore. His voice cracked as he kept repeating the word no, over and over again. It was then that Dexter's gaze travelled to the bloodied handcuffs and Merle's severed hand on the floor, and she knew that it was a good thing that she tagged along. They would need her to follow the blood trail.

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Daryl had seemingly calmed down after a few minutes, but it was very short lived. He let out an angered cry and aimed his crossbow in T-Dog's direction, forcing Rick to put his gun to Daryl's head to stop him from shooting.

Daryl had a bad temper like his brother, but he wasn't a murderer, he couldn't kill T-dog no matter how much he wanted to. Dexter had been surrounded by murderers for most of her life and she could tell when a murderer was in front of her. They had a tell, one that she would usually see on herself when she looked in the mirror and Daryl didn't have that. Not yet at least.

"I won't hesitate. I don't care if every walker in the city hears it." Rick informed, his gun still lodged against Daryl's skull. Daryl didn't say anything, he just lowered his weapon silently without a word.

"You got a do-rag or somethin'?" He asked after blinking a couple of times, looking in Dexter's direction. She patted down her jeans until she reached into her back pocket, passing one to him as she walked over to all the blood on the floor. Daryl trailed behind her and bent down over the hand, wrapping it up and placing it into Glenn's bag while Dexter examined the blood.

"So, what do you see, Dexter?" Glenn asked with a look of disgust.

"The saw blade wasn't sharp enough for the handcuffs. Merle found another way out by cutting off his own hand." She told them, crouching down to get a better look.

"Ain't that a bitch." Daryl mumbled.

"From the looks of the blood splatter, he probably used whatever he could find as a tourniquet, most likely his belt. If he hadn't, there would have been a lot more blood then there is now." Dexter stood up, seeing that the blood turned into a trail and she followed it to a door with the others following cluelessly behind. "He went this way, through that door."

"I can track a few spots of blood, I'll lead." Daryl grunted, moving in front of her to go through the door first with his crossbow raised.

"Sure, go right ahead." Dexter quipped sarcastically, "It's not like it was my job to follow blood splatter for more than ten years anyway."

He took the lead down the stairs, while shouting for Merle. "Merle! You in here?"

The stairs joined with another building and they walked through hallways once again with their weapons raised in caution. Daryl joined back up with the rest of the group after killing a lone walker and they walked into a reception with two dead geeks.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches...one handed." Daryl observed, reloading his crossbow with a few grunts. "Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed 'im a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss." Rick countered. "No matter how tough he is."

"Merle!" Daryl shouted, walking into a kitchen area.

"Keep you're voice down, Dixon. Shouting's doing no good." Dexter scolded quietly, poking him in the back with the tip of her machete. Not enough to draw blood, but enough that it scared him a little and made him jump away.

"We're not alone here." Rick added. "Remember?"

"Screw that. He could be bleeding out. you said so yourself."

"There's his belt." The Bay Harbour Butcher announced pointing to the strap of leather that was dumped next to a lit stove.

"What's that burned stuff?" Glenn question, peeking over her shoulder to get a look.

"Skin." She replied, looking down at a piece of metal that she had picked up. "He used this to cauterise the stump. Smart bastard."

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

"Don't take that on faith." Rick piped in, "He's lost a lot of blood."

"You'd be surprised by how many people I've seen survive with less." Dexter voiced absentmindedly, taking Daryl's side as she looked around with her machete resting on her shoulder after putting the piece of metal back down.

Daryl nodded at her as a silent 'thank you' without the other's seeing. He jogged up to a broken window. "Yeah? Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap."

"He left the building?" Glenn exclaimed with a gasp. "Why the hell would he do that?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Daryl retorted, "He's out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he's got to do. Survivin'."

"You call that surviving?" T-Dog questioned, "Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out. What are his odds out there?"

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks." Daryl then got in Rick's face. "You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard."

"What about a thousand dumb dead bastards?" Rick asked, "Different story?"

"Why don't you take a tally?" Daryl responded. "Do what you want. I'm gonna go get him."

He went to leave, but Rick pushed him back roughly, "Daryl, wait."

"Get you hands off me! You can't stop me."

"I don't blame you. He's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine. I 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." Rick reasoned.

"I could do that." Daryl agreed with a nod, slugging his crossbow over his shoulder..

"That's great, we've all made up. But we aren't doing that until we get the guns." Dexter said, leaning on a nearby table.

T-Dog pointed in my direction and added, "I'm with Dexter. I'm not strolling the streets with just my good intentions, okay?"

❝MONSTERS DON'T GET TO LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.❞