A Glimmer of Hope

Rescue

Daryl's POV: 

After we had gotten the woman inside, we patched her up. She still wasn't telling us about where she found the basket with the baby formula and where she had found it. Rick was being really aggressive with her. I knew he was doing it because he was worried about our people, and so was I. I needed to know if Athena was okay.

"Can I ask you your name?" I asked her quietly. Maybe this was the right approach. This was something Athena had taught me. You have to analyze the situation, then take the most logical approach. We'll see if this gentle approach works better than what Rick had been trying. "My name is Daryl. We just want to know where you got the basket and if you know where our people are," I said. When I said my name, her eyes got wide.

"You're Daryl? Do you have a brother named Merle?" she asked me. What in the hell would she know about Merle? 

"Is he alive?" I asked her excitedly. I couldn't believe it.

"Oh, he's alive alright. He's the one that shot me," she said. "My name's Michonne, and I appreciate you fixing me up, so I'll tell you everything," she said.

Michonne told all of us the story of how she got the basket. She knew Merle and even Andrea, another person who we thought to be dead since we left the farm. She mentioned seeing Merle take a pretty blonde girl with long hair, a short dark haired girl, and a young Asian man.

Athena. Maggie. Glenn. Where the hell would Merle take them? What would he do to them?

I started to feel a pit of anger in my stomach. It was growing with each passing moment. My damned brother hadn't changed at all. Still rolling with the wrong people. These people sounded like the worst kind.

Michonne told us all about Woodbury, the Governor and how she had gotten herself tailed when she left, and that's how she ran into our people.

"Can you lead us to get back to our people, Michonne?" Rick asked, finally calming down. 

"Yes, but we should go now. They won't expect us," she said darkly. 

Hearing that, I ran upstairs to get any of my extra weapons. My mind was racing with what could have happened to Athena. A million things crossed my mind. Each one sicker than the next. 

I was hopeful that Glenn would tell Merle she was my girl and Merle would try to protect her. Then again, would Merle even care at this point? I couldn't be sure. 

We got everyone and everything ready to go save our people. Oscar, Michonne, Rick and myself were going in to get them back. 

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We arrived at the gates of Woodbury, in the woods so that we were unseen by anyone else. Michonne led us into a house nearby with an old man who clearly had no idea the world had ended. Must be nice. We took care of him and breached Woodbury. 

Michonne went her own way when she got us to where people were being held. She insisted she had some business to take care of. I could understand that, but now we were down a fighter. 

I threw a smoke grenade into the entrance when I heard Glenn and Maggie sobbing, "I love you," to one another.  That's when the gunfire started. Rick and I cleared the entire building of anyone that was not our people. It went silent quickly. We left no survivors. Glenn and Maggie had been in the center of the building, right in our view when we came in, but I hadn't seen Athena or any trace of her since we had arrived.

I saw two doors behind where Glenn and Maggie had been kneeling. I started to walk to the one on the left, when Maggie grabbed my hand. Her face was covered in tears and she was breathing heavily. "Daryl... Daryl it's bad, Daryl it's so bad," she choked out a sob. I started to panic. I could feel my heart race.