Theo lifted her head; it felt heavier than usual, like weights were on her shoulders, holding her down as she tried to look up.

Her ears heavily rang, her eyes span.

She tried to move but she couldn't.

She was bound, and her hands were restricted.

To her left, Debbie was in a dog cage with Saint; to her right, Debbie's parents, who were watching her in fear. 

Opposite Merle sat, looking beaten and bruised, his head hanging low. 

"You're awake", A man said, standing in front of her blocking her view from Merle. 

"I told you to leave her alone..." Merle groaned as another fist collided with his face.

"And I told you to shut the fuck up, did I not?" The man in front of her laughed coldly. 

They were in some old warehouse, the walls covered in leaves and wildlife.

Theo slowly looked at the man. He wore a black mask, and only two brown eyes stared at her.

"What do you want?" Theo's voice was croaky and weak, making her wonder how long she had been out.

"Simply nothing from you, but you just happen to be with the wrong people" The man looked at Debbie's parents.

Theo looked around; there were 5 of this random men outnumbering them, or more importantly, her. 

They were all wearing ski or Halloween masks, doing everything they could to cover their faces.

"So why am I here?" Theo asked, clearing her throat with a slight cough.

"These people killed my brother for his food" The man angrily kneeled in front of her. "And you were out there helping them?"

Theo looked at the Matt and Julie in anger.

After everything she had done for them, they lied to her.

"Well, they lied to me", Theo sighed, head dropping before looking at Debbie's tear-stained face.

"Doesn't matter, sweetheart. Maybe next time, don't pick up strays," the man sighed with a small laugh. He stroked her face with the back of his cold hand.

"So what's going to happen?" Theo panicked, but she tried not to let that emotion show in her voice.

The man said nothing; he just looked her up and down.

"I'm killing them, or I'm killing the kid, you can make that decision for me, " he simply put, hand still caressing her cheek, making Theo incredibly uncomfortable.

"You're asking me?" Theo repeated, eyebrow raised.

The man stopped in his movements before sending a harsh smack against the girl's face before grabbing the back of her head, pulling her hair so she looked up at him.

"Hey!" Merle yelled out again

"Please, do not kill us, we will repay you!" He begged, he screamed in fact for his mercy

"If I don't kill you, then your daughter, she's dead" The man let go of Theo's hair with a shove, heading in the direction of Matt.

"Okay, please just don't kill us", Matt cried as he refused to look over at his daughter.

Theo looked at him in disbelief, but more intensely anger.

"You fucking bastard! You would sacrifice your kid to save your ass!" Theo screamed, her throat burned from the anger inside her veins.

"Okay," the man nodded. "I'll be back." He then left the room, his men following.

As soon as they left, they began to get herself out. She hadn't been stripped of all her weapons; she kept a pocket knife in her shoe.

She kicked the book off, and the knife came out. She took her other shoe, using her feet, and you took off one of her socks.

"What are you doing?" Matt asked, looking at her confused.

"Getting us out." She sighed but didn't mention that she was only getting her, Merle and the kid out. 

She picked the knife up with her toes.

"Stupid idiots didn't tie my feet up." Theo laughed to herself as concentration set in.

She then used her leg to lift the knife to her hand, grabbing it quickly.

She opened it out and began to cut through the rope.

One was off.

Then just as quickly so was the second.

She ran to the bag in the room, noticing it was her own, grabbing a gun.

"Merle you good?" She asked as she untied him. 

He spat out the blood in his mouth onto the floor before looking angrily at Matt and Julie

"You bunch of pussies" Merle snarled before letting Debbie and Saint free from the cage. 

"Say a word and I shoot you", she warned Matt, who nodded uncontrollably.

"Close your eyes, " she told Debbie, slowly nodding at her as they all hid. 

"Ding dong, death has come to visit" She heard the man yell with amusement in his voice.

He walked in the door followed by two other men.

He soon stopped when he realised Theo was gone.

"What the fu-" He began but was cut off by Theo shooting him and very quickly the two other men behind him.

Merle jumped out taking out another one of their men, practically crushing his neck with his death grip.

Theo whistled indicating Saint to ran at the final man alone at the end of the corridor, tearing him to the ground before running back to Theo, Merle finishing him off with a bullet to the brain. 

"How'd you do that?" Matt asked as she ignored him.

"Now us", Matt begged, shaking in his chair in frustration.

She looked at Debbie, who looked at her father in fear.

"No, " she put simply with a laugh, grabbing the remainder of her things.

Matt demanded, "Debbie, come and let me go," but Debbie didn't move, possibly because Theo had a death grip on her coat.

"You were going to get her killed," Merle reminded them, with absolutely no emotion coming from his voice. 

Theo was so angry that there were literal spots of red in her vision.

"No, no," Matt began to yell, jumping in his chair.

Theo wanted nothing more than for her to walk away, never to care about the couple before her.

Leave them for the walkers, leaving them to die a horrible death, but instead, she sighed, looking into the young girl's eyes, she would know how much that it would scare her and possibly scar her more than the apocalypse to have her parents alive, but left for death by a stranger.

Theo walked over and united both parents with an unsatisfied sigh.

"What the hell are you doing?" Merle asked

"Debbie does not deserve this" She told Merle who looked at the young girl. 

"You need to go and never come back, " she demanded, throwing them their bags.

"Okay, Debbie, come on", Julie begged, cooing her with her hands.

"Okay, " she sighed, walking towards her.

"And just for your information, nowadays, it's anything for your own ass" Julie said, leaving with Debbie.

"Yeah well just know if I ever see you again there is a bullet with your name on it!" She yelled after them as she looked at Merle. 

"What the hell happened? I woke up and you were gone!" She snaped at Merle. 

"They took me, you think I took this beating just so I could get a pretty scar? Nah, baby bird I was taken, just like you, I just so happened tried to buy you time, but looks like they still gotcha sorry ass anyway!" Merle snapped back at her 

Theo looked at him annoyed. 

"You aint ever gonna forgive me and I can live with that, but what I can't live with is your big baby bird eyes looking pissed at me 24/7. So why do I bother!?"

"Do you not remember what you actually fucking did?!" Theo snapped 

"Here we go again!" Merle rolled his eyes

"You watched me get beaten to almost death, I lost mine and Daryl child, and now I've lost him and he might be dead, I might never see him or my family again and the universe left me with you!" Theo pushed him back angrily. 

"I have said sorry so many times, I dont know whatcha want from me! I can't bring back Daryl and I sure as hell can't change the past! I'm tryin to watch over you, to keep you safe for ma brother! If we ever find him again, I dont want to turn up without you! He'd put my head on a pole just for takin ma damn eyes off of ya! We mght never get along Theo but we have one thing in common and that is we both love Daryl too much to see him suffer!" Merle yelled making Theo look at him sadly

She nodded

"You're right" She took a deep breath 

"What?" Merle looked at her in disbelief

"You are right" Theo spoke louder "Let's not give up on him, lets go and find him" She nodded before leaving the warehouse with Merle following closely behind her. 

Another day had passed, Merle and Theo began to get more patient with one another, Merle was right they had a common goal and that was to find Daryl alive, and to get to him together. 

"Theo..." Merle stopped her in her tracks before she looked up to see something unexpected. 

"Debbie?" She questioned, seeing a small ginger girl.

She turned, crying, face stained with her tears, sniffing loudly.

"They left me again" Debbie ran to Theo, hugging her tight.

Theo looked at Merle upset and angry.

Theo hugged her back.

Full of anger.

"I've got you. Come with us" Theo smiled as she wiped her tears.

"Promise you won't leave me", Debbie begged, hanging off of Theo.

"We promise," Theo promised she cared about the girl and wanted to protect her at all costs.

Another few days had passed and Theo, Merle and Debbie were moving along nicely, on course and getting along well. 

Merle was great with Debbie, teaching her all sorts of new skills, making her laugh and keeping her midn off of the end of the world.

"You are starting to show your soft side Merle" Theo smiled at Merle who laughed back at her comment 

"She's something else" Merle loked at the young girl, sleeping next to the fire for the night. 

"I never wanted to be a daddy yanno?" Merle began "I watched ma father be such a shit one I knew I never even wanted the bloodline to carry on, he ruined that for me" Merle stared into the fire. "Daryl as a boy was more than enough to handle anyway" Merle smiled. 

"Just for the record, you are doing great with her" Theo smiled as Merle shrugged 

"I thought about it, once." Merle got comfortable. "I had a lovely lady about a two years before the end." Merle began to open up for the first time ever. "She was something else. She worked in this bar Daryl and I used to go to every night after work, she knew my order like the back of her hand and one day she asked me out" Merle laughed to himself

"She asked you out?" Theo laughed to herself

"Alright, laugh all ya want baby bird, but she was beautiful, don't know what she wanted from a troll like myself, but we were happy, in love" Merle smiled at the memories before his smiled faded

"What happened?" Theo asked carefully. 

"She left...She had to go back home in LA, her daddy got sick, and couldnt afford to go with her, then, the world ended" Merle found before looking back at Theo. 

"Thats why is we find Daryl, you should always follow him, I know he follows you like a lost pup, but if ya got somethin worth living for, ya gotta follow it" Merle looked at Debbie. 

"You make her feel safe you know?" Theo smiled at her. 

"I'll do everything in ma power to keep her safe"