34 Pretty Much Dead Already

"Who was that?" Glenn asked, clutching the side of his torso. He was sore from the beating he just took. His right eye could barely open from how swollen it was and he had blood stains covering his jaw from being hit in the mouth.

"That was my brother," I answered him, still in a state of disbelief.

"He's with them?" Glenn questioned, his voice carried a tone of uncertainty and anger.

"Glenn, he's not Merle. He didn't even know we were here, he's going to try and get us out," I snapped back, defending my brother. My eyes then carried over to the rest of the room, a dead walker laid sprawled out on the floor. "What the hell did they do to you?"

Part of me already had an idea though, they released a walker on Glenn hoping he'd cave in exchange for their rescue. These people had no idea who they were dealing with though. For how long we've been out on the road, everything we've seen, one walker was nothing. Those who have been sheltered behind these town walls were no match for anyone who has been out there for over a month.

"If we're getting out of here we'll need some sort of weapons," Maggie said. She was still shaken up, tears continued to well up in her eyes.

"No! I told you my brother will be coming back for us," I was getting upset now. There were so many emotions running through me that they, seeming like they didn't trust my brother, were sending me over the edge.

"Scar, listen to me," Glenn said, grabbing onto my shoulders to calm me, "we believe you, but just in case things don't work out we need to be prepared," he spoke calmly. I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself, I nodded my head in agreement. "Here, please put this on your face." Glenn then grabbed his shirt from off the floor and held it to my cheek. I winced as the fabric stung my open wound.

Glenn then looked over to the walker, brainstorming. He grabbed the dead body by its left arm while placing his foot on its chest for traction. I watched as the limb slowly tore at the shoulder before snapping off. Glenn then stomped down on the arm, breaking the bone into pieces and handing a sharp edge to each of us.

"We use this no matter what. You got it?" he stated. Maggie and I both nodded our heads, prepared to fight our way out of here.

------

The three of us stood with our backs against the wall on either side of the room's entrance, the only direction they would be coming from. It'd been about an hour since they left us and there was still no sign of Lincoln. It wasn't until we started to hear the faint footsteps coming from down the hall that we got into position.

I looked over at Glenn, waiting for his signal. I could hear them just outside our door now. The metal door creaked open and Glenn nodded his head indicating for us to go. I turned to face the door, kicking it open against the men. I grabbed the first man by the shoulders, slamming him against the hallway wall. To my surprise he looked almost normal, dressed in a plaid shirt and beige vest, holding his gun like he had no business having it in his hands in the first place. Glenn ran out behind me, followed by Maggie, as they both went for Merle. He would be the hardest one to get past with a gun in one hand and a knife on the other, but the two of them managed to get him pinned against the wall.

It wasn't until I stabbed the bone into the neck of the man I attacked that his finger squeezed down on the trigger of his gun, sending myself, Glenn, Maggie, and Merle to hit the ground for cover. Merle raised his gun at me from the floor, trying to kill me first. Glenn reacted fast and jumped at his arm, causing the bullet to hit the pavement only inches from me. They wrestled each other, Glenn jumping onto Merle's side before Merle swung him over his shoulder onto the ground and placed the blade to his neck. I grabbed the machine gun off of the man I killed and pointed it at Merle.

"Let go of him!" I demanded, pulling the bolt to the rear of the gun to fire it.

"Okay," Merle smiled, raising his hands. The familiar sound of another bolt being pulled clicked behind me. I turned to see two more men walking up on us.

"Give me the gun!" Merle shot up and yanked the gun from my hands. "Get up!" he screamed at Glenn.

We were pretty much dead already. More men filtered into the room for backup as they dragged us back into the room we came from. The large animal-like man that questioned me earlier lined us up, kicking each of us in the back of the knees to kneel us in position for what looked to be an execution. Maggie cried as Merle paced in front of us.

"Glad we could catch up," Merle smirked.

Glenn grabbed Maggie and my hand, looking over to his girlfriend, "Just keep looking at me," he told her.

I dropped my head, the tears starting to rush out of me. Where was Lincoln? Part of me was wondering where my brother was, how he could leave me here, and the other half yearned for Daryl. It was stupid, that at this moment before I died, all I wanted to do was see him. I never got to say anything to him that I wanted to.

"I love you," Maggie whimpered as they placed a beige sack over her head, then Glenn's, and then mine.

I couldn't see a thing, the bag filling with hot air as I struggled with catching my breath.

"On your feet, move. Let's go," one of the men ordered us. Someone grabbed onto my arm and yanked me to my feet.

I stumbled forward, finding it hard to walk, not being able to see where I was going as the man led me by pushing me forward every so often. I took a few steps before a loud bang rang in my ears, throwing me to the ground. Then a second and third one went off, smoke filling up the inside of the sack. I coughed as I choked on the heavy smoke filling my lungs, there were men shouting from every direction.

"What the hell! Shit!"

I was disoriented as I laid on the ground wheezing for air until someone ripped off the bag from my head. I sucked in a fresh breath of air and looked up through the cloud of smoke. Daryl stood over me, grabbing my hand and pulling me off the ground. I followed him out of the room, ducking from bullets that were being fired from behind us.

I ran hand in hand with Daryl as a woman with long dreads and my brother led us out from the building. Rick held onto Maggie and Oscar pushed Glenn forward into a run. We entered the streets, following my brother into a little shop that seemed to be empty and well covered.

The three of us stumbled into the little variety store, our injuries and the smoke inhalation taking their toll on us. Glenn hit the floor again, leaning up against the cash registered as he clutched his torso.

"Ain't no way out back here," Daryl said as he scoped out the room. The only escape was back out the front door into the streets that would be crawling with people.

"Rick, how did you find us?" Maggie asked as she tended to Glenn.

"How bad are you hurt?" Rick disregarded her question for the moment.

"I'll be alright," Glenn answered, but you could see it in his face that he was in pain.

"The hell they do to you?" Daryl asked as he examined the deep scar across my face. I stared back at him not responding, I was just happy to see him, wrapping my arms around his body to embrace him.

"Where's that woman?" Maggie pressed further.

"She was right behind us," Rick said, looking around the room to see she was no longer with us.

"Maybe she was spotted. Want me to go look for her?" Oscar asked.

"No, I'll get you out of here," Lincoln spoke up. I stepped back from Daryl now, brushing past him to now do the same to my brother.

"Is this how you found us?" I asked, looking at Rick.

"Michonne got us in here, his buddy over there got us to your brother even after I almost killed him," Rick said.

I only now realized there was someone else in the room with us. He stood only a few steps behind Lincoln. A young-looking guy, but he was built like he could hold his own. Tall and muscular, making my brother look small next to him.

"You're gonna owe me for that," he cracked a joke, not trying to be threatening towards Rick. His voice was deep, carrying a hint of a Boston accent. Rick actually smirked before he went to go peak out of the blinds to look at the street.

"Daryl, this was Merle," Glenn then spat, pissed off with Daryl's brother. Daryl shot his head around, shocked to find out his brother was still alive. "It was. He did this," Glenn said as Daryl looked at him, all bloodied up and bruised from Merle's doing.

"You saw him?" Rick asked.

"Face to face. He threw a walker at me, he was going to execute us."

Daryl's eyes met mine, his face showed guilt from what his brother had done to us.

"S-so my brother's this Governor?" Daryl asked us.

"No, it's somebody else. Your brother's his lieutenant or something," Maggie answered.

"Does he know I'm still with you?"

"He does now. Rick, I'm sorry we told them where the prison was. They were going to kill Glenn," I said.

"Don't. No need to apologize," he said, placing his hand on my shoulder. Seeing by our injuries how obvious it was that we tried.

"Are you guys ready? The street looks to be clearing of people, they're retreating back to their houses." Lincoln said as he stared out the slip in the blinds.

"Can you walk? We got a car a couple of miles out." Rick helped get Glenn to his feet.

"Hey, if Merle's around, I need to see him," Daryl said, stopping us.

"What, you can't go-" I said, Rick, cutting me off.

"Not now. We're in hostile territory."

"He's my brother. I ain't gonna-"

"Look what he did!" Rick pressed, not trying to raise his voice too loud. Rick pointed at Glenn, then to me. "Look at Scar's face! We gotta get out of here now! You're not thinking straight, I need you. Are you with me?"

Daryl looked at me, his face turned from angry back to guilt, "Yeah, I'm with ya."