Hi Everyone!! I really hope you have been enjoying the story thus far. Please comment and vote as you go!!! Thank you for all the support. I really appreciate it!!!

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Jo

It was daylight when I came to. I groaned and found myself tied up in the dirt. My hands were tied behind my back. I ached everywhere. For the barest moment, I was back on the dirt road with the claimers. I closed my eyes and felt the cool dirt of the forest floor beneath my cheek and the moment passed.

I realized belatedly it was a woman's voice that had woken me. "Lower your gun prick...You with the colt python, all of you, lower your weapons right now."

I blinked several times to clear my vision. My head was pounding. The woman was speaking into a walkie talkie while staring out at an open field through a pair of binoculars. She was a couple of years older than me, probably closer to forty.

There were two other women, one older and one younger, as well as the man I had thrown my knife at. She and the rest of her group looked tough. They were fighters like the men we had just killed were fighters, but none of them appeared to be fighters the way I was a fighter.

"Come on out. Let's talk," I instantly recognized Rick's voice as it drawled cautiously through the walkie talkie she was holding in her hand.

"How many we got Paula?" the older woman asked the leader.

"Eight in sight. Too many," Paula reported lowering her binoculars thoughtfully.

"No, we can take them. We've took more," the injured man urged enthusiastically.

"We're not coming out, but we will talk," she let go of the button and looked over at Carol and Maggie. "Names," Paula demanded. At first Maggie said nothing. "Names!" she demanded angrily.

Maggie shifted and hesitated for a second as she debated whether or not to tell the woman who we were. "I'm Maggie, she's Carol."

"How about you sugar plum?" the older woman asked, kicking me lightly in the side. I gritted my teeth as the toe of her boot caught my ribs just right. "Jo," I ground out.

Maggie met my gaze and she looked relieved to see I was awake. I must have been out longer than I realized. I blinked my eyes slowly as I tried not to move too much and draw attention to myself. The others weren't tied up so they had obviously decided I was the dangerous one. They were smart. 

Paula turned away from us. "We've got a Carol, Maggie and a Jo. I'm thinking that's something you want to chat about."

Thinking they were appropriately distracted by the conversation with Rick I tugged experimentally at my wrists, but my bounds were tight. There was no way I was getting out of them. I heard a gun click over my shoulder and glanced up to see a women about my age with long dark hair pointing a gun at my head. 

"I wouldn't move too much sugar," the older woman drawled in a thick southern accent. "Or my friend here will put a bullet in that pretty brain of your's."

I looked back and forth between them and then to Paula. She was obviously the leader. She was looking through the binoculars again. From the ground I couldn't see what she was looking at, but I was betting it was Rick and the group.

Paula's voice was steely. "Now, we're going to work this out right now, and it's going to go our way."

Rick's voice came through tight and angry on the other side. "You can see we have one of yours. We'll trade," he offered.

"I'm listening," Paula replied cautiously. I slowly started to rotate my wrists to see if I would be able to wiggle out of the bounds. It didn't feel or move like rope. 

"First I want to talk to them, all three of them, and make sure they're all right."

Rick was still making his demands as Paula moved toward us. "I'm going to put you on, you're going to say you're fine. I'll know if you try anything else."

She held it out to Carol first, who was hunched over and cowering. "Rick, it's Carol, I'm-I'm fine, b-but," Carol stammered over her words and was shaking in fear.

I frowned, wondering if I had missed something while I was out.

She scoffed and shoved Carol back. She looked disgusted by Carol's fear. "Now you," she held the walkie out to Maggie.

Maggie was perfectly calm and stared the woman in the face as she spoke. "Rick it's Maggie, we're all okay, we'll figure thi-"

"Shut up," she snapped shoving Maggie back then she nodded to the younger woman holding a gun on me. She grabbed my shoulder and jerked me to my feet. The movement was too fast and my head swam. I wasn't sure what they hit me with, but they had done a bang up job.

The woman held the walkie in front of me and arched a brow, encouraging me to continue. "I'm here too," I said, and I hoped Daryl would understand my next words. "If we can all focus we-"

The leader shoved me backwards, glaring at me for trying to say something else. I stumbled and fell back as my foot caught on something. I hit the ground, unable to break my fall with my hands still tied behind my back and grunted softly in pain. I wasn't sure if Daryl would understand what I had been trying to say. He would be so mad about me being taken, and he would have to be able to think past his temper. I hoped he could.

There were few enough of them that I would be able to handle the situation if I could get free. I shifted my weight and sighed as I realized all but one of my knives had been taken. The only one I had left was the one under my shirt that was hooked to my bra strap. It wasn't an easy one to reach. I looked around and my gaze landed on a bag over the younger woman's shoulder. She smirked at me. It was the only reasonable place for storing our weapons. 

"There," she snarled into the walkie. "You have your proof, now let's talk."

There was a pause and I wondered if Rick was having to calm Daryl down before he was able to speak. When the walkie finally cracked to life Rick's voice was tight with tension and stress. "This is the deal, right here. Let them go and you can have your guy back and live."

"Three for one, that's not much of a trade," Paula replied flippantly. She seemed pleased by the change in tone of Rick's voice. 

"You don't have another choice or you would have done something about it already."

She lowered the walkie thoughtfully.

"We have to get him back," the guy grumbled.

"Primo can take care of himself," Paula replied. Her eyes turned from the field back to us. She looked over each of us and she stared at me the longest. 

"He can patch me up," the man grumbled, pulling Paula's attention back to him. "I need him after that bitch," he snarled glaring down at me. He pulled his foot back and kicked me. I rolled with it, lessening the force behind it, but the blow still caught me across the shoulder blade hard enough it made my hand go numb for a few moments. 

Maggie jumped forward, crying out in protest. She was halted immediately by the younger woman swinging her gun around and pointing it at Maggie's head.  

I didn't make a sound. He narrowed his eyes in hate when I refused to show him fear. I wouldn't give this kind of asshole the satisfaction of seeing me flinch. 

"You're going soft Paula," he snarled at the leader. "You should've shot her in the head so they could hear her die."

Paula didn't even bother looking at him. "If you could just shut up, I'll solve this."

"Then make deal or we go in," he growled back, hefting his gun.

"She said shut up, so shut it," the older woman commanded. "You should be glad she doesn't have a sack of gonads to trip over."

"Shut up Molly," the guy responded half heartedly, but he paced away in frustration. 

The walkie hissed again and Rick's voice came through. "Look, I know you're talking it over. It's a fair trade, just come out, we do this, we all walk away."

"Smug prick," the younger woman growled, still pointing the gun at me. "He must think we're stupid."

"That's a good thing," Paula said, staring through the binoculars again.

"Do we have a deal?" Rick asked.

"I'll get back to you," Paula promised. Then she nodded at the other woman and they tossed bags over Maggie and Carol's heads.

They were going to move us. Memories of defense classes before the turn swirled in my brain. Never let someone take you anywhere. You were less likely to survive and less likely to be found once they got you where they wanted you. If they took us away, Daryl and Rick were less likely to find us. I couldn't let that happen. Maggie and Carol were vulnerable and it was up to me to keep the three of us safe until the others came.

I started fighting to get free. I twisted my wrists, ignoring the pain that came from the binds cutting into my skin. They started to give and I kicked out, catching Paula in the hip. She fell back, swearing and there was a gun shot. I heard Maggie yell but pain exploded across the side of my head and everything went dark.

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Daryl

"If we can all focus we-"

Jo's voice sounded weak as it came through the walkie and was cut off before she was done talking. 

I paced short, tight lines next to Rick. Something happened. Something bad. Jo wouldn't have let herself get caught without a fight, and she didn't sound right. Carol didn't sound right neither. She sounded scared. Carol wasn't ever scared, not for herself. Something was wrong. Maggie sounded normal, which left Jo.

Rick was watching me closely like he didn't trust what I was going to do.

"There," the bitch on the other end said. "You have your proof, now let's talk."

"That ain't proof of sh-" Rick glared at me and held up his hand to shut me up.

I gnashed my teeth together and turned away, pacing again. When I got my hands on those pricks I was going to kill them.

When he was sure I wasn't going to lose it and yell Rick talked into the walkie. "This is the deal, right here. Let them go and you can have your guy back and live."

"Three for one, that's not much of a trade," her voice came through sounding smug.

Rick shook his head. "You don't have another choice or you would have done something about it already."

She didn't say anything back.

"Fuck this," I said and I leveled my gun at the guys head. Rick knocked it down with one hand and glared at me.

He pressed the button. "Look, I know you're talking it over. It's a fair trade, just come out, we do this, we all walk away. Do we have a deal?" Rick asked.

"I'll get back to you," Paula promised.

"We gotta move now," I snarled, my eyes scanning the tree line. "They'll be moving. We gotta find them."

Rick held up and hand to calm me but nodded. "Daryl, Michonne, Sasha and Abraham," he said in a low voice. "Move back towards the building like you're going inside. They can see us from where they are. Split up and circle around so they don't see you coming."

I nodded my head and turned to go, not bothering to wait to see if Michonne kept up. A gunshot cracked, echoing across the field. 

It wasn't one of ours.

I whirled around towards the treeline. I felt all the blood drain out of my head. I took one step back towards the trees before I realized I had no way of getting to her that way. I was on the wrong damn side of the fence. I had sent her out there and now there was no way to know. I spun towards the gate and broke into a sprint, not caring if anyone else was coming or not.  

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Jo

I was in and out. At one point I thought I was in a vehicle but the rhythmic movement pulled me back under and I couldn't get a grip on my consciousness.

"Please, my friend, she's hurt-" I heard at one point, but my head was throbbing so badly I didn't want to wake up.

There was a door slamming and I stirred. The side of my face felt hot and sticky. 

"Jo? Jo?" I heard Maggie's voice, but it was far away and distorted like she was trying to talk around something.

Then the door slammed open and shut again and there was more yelling and aggravated talking.

"Look at you, bitch how did you make it this far?"

"Honey, you need to take some yoga breaths and calm your ass down."

"What are you so afraid of? Are you actually afraid to die? All this, and you're scared of getting your ticket punched."

The questions chased themselves around my head. I didn't think I was afraid. I didn't feel afraid. I couldn't remember the last time I had actually felt afraid to die. There were so many things worse than dying now. 

Everything in my head felt thick. I fought to pull myself back, but the voices were calmer now, quieter and they lulled me back to sleep. As I rolled back I felt something around my wrists tighten and pull. That did succeed in pulling me back. It was damp and cold and smelled like wet concrete and walkers. I was tied up. Memories surged from being in that cell and I was instantly alert.

"I'm a dead woman walking, which puts us in exactly the same boat," the voice was standing over the top of me. 

I didn't move, I didn't let on that I was awake. I couldn't remember where I was or how I got there, but there was something vaguely familiar about the raspy southern drawl of the woman standing over me.

Across the room I heard a man shout and groan in pain.

Then I remembered the older woman from the woods. The man had called him Molly. "You pull that off, you're going to be nothing but a spigot," Molly advised casually. I didn't get the impression she liked the guy too much. I forced myself to started cataloging all the information I could. My brain was still sluggish and slow but I fought back. Maggie and Carol needed me. I remembered what Craig had looked like being in this groups 'care' for a couple of days and knew I needed to get them out of here as quickly as possible.  

I was laying on my side with my arms tied around what felt like a large pipe. My whole body ached, but my head was the worst. I could feel the warm stickiness of blood on one side of my head. The head injury was the most serious, all the others were minor. I could push past this. 

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Daryl

I could hear feet pounding behind me, but I never slowed enough to see who it was. All that mattered was getting to Jo. One gunshot was bad. One gun shot meant someone was executed. It was right when they stopped talking which meant it was when they were planning their next more. Of the three of them Jo was the most likely to make herself enough of a threat they would have no choice but to shoot her.

I stopped when I got to the trees. It was easier to think in the forest. I was better here than anyone. I forced myself to stop and think. They would have been at the edge of the treeline. We needed to work across the whole field of vision.

Someone moved to run past me, but I held out my arm and stopped them. I turned to see Glenn. He fought me, trying to push around me.

"Wait, wait!" I finally hollered to get his attention.

His eyes were wide with fear and he wasn't hearing me. He could only think of getting to his pregnant wife.

"Glenn!" I snapped. "Wait."

He finally looked at me, but his whole body was shaking with the need for action. I understood.

"We should split up, cover more ground," Abraham's voice came from behind me.

"Stop," I snapped angrily, glaring over my shoulder at him. If he hadn't looked so worried too I would have yelled at him. Sasha and Michonne came trotting up behind him a few seconds later.

"If we split up there's a chance of one of ya mucking up the trail. We need to start here and work our way along the tree line."

"But-" Glenn started to protest and I rounded on him, slamming my chest into his.

"I ain't gonna risk losing their trail 'cause ya can't hold it together," Glenn's breathing was fast and his hands were clenched into fists at his side. "I get it man," I said, lowering my voice. "I get it."

"Mag-" he started to say but I cut him off.

"Jo is out there too," I growled. Then I spun around, and started down the treeline, studying the ground for any sign they had been here.

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Jo

A door opened and closed, but it wasn't the one near me. So there were at least two exits from this room. The way the voices were echoing made me think it was some kind of industrial space. I could feel a draft coming under the door near me. I smelled the air and instantly recognized the scent of walkers.

"Scout crew is coming. They're thirty minutes out, maybe less," it was Paula, the leader of this small band.

"He doesn't have thirty minutes," Maggie's voice. I guessed she was less then twenty feet behind my back. "His nerves are dying. If he doesn't get medical help, he's gonna lose his arm, maybe his life. I'm not a doctor, but my dad lost his leg and I know that much. Your man, Primo, you think he can help you?" there was a moment of silence and then Maggie started speaking again. "It's time to end this. Talk to Rick."

"Thirty minutes," Paula repeated.

"You know my problem?" the man's voice was strained and I heard footsteps. "She did this to me. She did it and she's just laying there right as rain, taking a snooze."

He was walking towards me. Laying on my side with my arms around the pole like I was left my back facing the room. I had no way of defending myself. I felt incredibly exposed as his stumbling footsteps came closer.

"Hey," Paula snapped in a warning voice.

"No," he growled back. "You're not going to make the trade. She's damaged goods anyway, let me finish her," I heard the zing of a blade.

My mind tripped desperately over ways I could defend myself. The pipe was too big for me to roll over and face him fully. At best I would be able to kick him back, but my whole body would be twisted around the wrong way. If he came close enough I could headbutt him, but I didn't think my head could handle any more impacts just yet. 

"No," Paula repeated in an overly calm voice. "We wait for the others. We have to be smart, we need insurance. You didn't see one of them when her voice came through on the walkie. I did. She's valuable."

"Goddamnit!" he screamed.

"Shut up," she commanded.

"Don't push me Paula," he snarled.

"Shut up!" she yelled again and then I heard flesh hitting flesh.

"Leave her alone!" Maggie yelled and a body hit the ground. I couldn't take it anymore and I fought to roll myself over as best as I could.

"No! NO!" Carol was screaming beside me as the man pulled Maggie up by her hair. Neither Maggie nor Carol were tied to anything like I was.

"You dumb uppity bitch!" the man screamed into Maggie's face.

Even twisted I was able to put a lot of power behind my kick. It caught him in the back of knee and he went down. I pulled back the same leg it was the only one I could kick with in this position. I kicked out at him again, aiming for his head, but he pulled back at the last moment and I caught his collar bone. He howled in pain and swung around to face me. 

"You're mine," he growled and he pulled his foot back and kicked me twice in the back. I rolled myself back in the fetal position to protect my organs as best as I could. He kicked me more three times before there was a loud crack and his body hit the ground behind me.

I lay on the cold cement panting from the pain and fighting back nausea as all the movement finally caught up with me. I was fairly certain now that I had a concussion.

Paula stood over me, holding her gun in her hand. "You are some kind of stupid aren't you?" she asked me shaking her head. "You were better off pretending to still be unconscious." She turned to Maggie. "Take her out, see if she knows anything. Should've done that before."

I struggled to get up, to do anything to protest, but there was nothing I could do. 

The younger woman shoved Maggie in front of her, pointing her gun. "Move."

Maggie stumbled out the door ahead of her while the woman slammed the door behind them.

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Daryl

It took half an hour before I found the spot. By that time Rick and a few of the others had joined us. Abraham was keeping everybody back so no one messed up the trail. As much as he could bug me some days he was a good friend to Jo. 

"Here," I called, crouching down. I glanced up once to see them coming towards me. "Nobody move." 

I moved around the small area in a crouch, my eyes glued to the ground. "Six or seven people," I called over my shoulder. 

"Including our girls?" Abraham called from fifty feet in the trees. 

I nodded, not caring if he saw. 

I touched a place on the ground and frowned. 

"What?" Rick was behind me, standing near a tree, where he wouldn't mess anything up. 

"Someone hit the ground here," I said, moving my hand over the dirt. I pinched a small bit of wet dirt and my fingers and lifted it to my nose. I scowled. 

"What?" Glenn's voice called a little desperately. 

I looked up at him. "It's blood," I moved around some more. "Not enough for a gun shot though,"I said thoughtfully as I picked up the spent casing. I stood and started pacing around the small clearing some more. 

"Someone was on the ground here too," I said. "Same person, or someone the same size." 

"Who?" Glenn asked jogging up to me. 

I glared at him and shook my head. He was upset, I got that, but I wasn't magic. I had no way of knowing. The only boot tread I would recognize was Jo's, and there wasn't much of it. I tried not to read too much into that. 

"Don't know, someone small," I pointed to the ground leading deeper into the forest. "Assholes left a trail...they were dragging the body." 

Rick stepped up next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it before we set off through the trees following the trail. My tongue felt thick and dry and I felt like I was in a nightmare. I started running and I knew Glenn was right behind me. 

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Jo

"He got your good kid," Molly said, studying Paula's face.

"He's in pain. Men can't handle pain," Paula responded calmly as Molly gently cleaned the cuts on Paula's face.

Paula turned back around to face me, where I was crouching near the pipe, my hands still tied around it. I realized now it wasn't rope, holding me. They had duct taped my wrists together. Even sitting up like this was difficult, but I wouldn't lay on the ground at their feet like an injured bird. I closed my eyes briefly as a wave a nausea went over me.

Paula's eyes fell to Carol. I followed her gaze and stiffened as Paula stepped up towards Carol. I wasn't sure what was going on with Carol. She was putting on a fragile act like she first had when we arrived in Alexandria. It surprised me to see she had a rosary clutched in her hands. I wasn't sure where she had gotten it and I had never seen Carol with one before. As far as I knew she wasn't religious, but even I couldn't ignore the look of terror in her eyes. 

"Do you really believe in that crap?" Paula asked.

"My faith got me through the death of my daughter," Carol said in a quietly broken voice.

"Well," Paula said thoughtfully. "The good news is maybe you'll see her again soon."

I grunted angrily and jerked once against the duct tape harshly. Pulling Paula's attention off of Carol. I wasn't sure what Carol was doing, but if she really was frightened I refused to sit here and watch these women bully her. 

Paula's eyes landed on me once more. She stared at me thoughtfully, like she couldn't quite figure me out. "So what exactly are you compensating so hard for?" she asked me. "Are you really that scared?"

"Compensating?" I asked in confusion. The sound of their voices made my temples pound but I tightened my jaw against the pain and focused on the other woman's face. 

Her eyes were hard and I could see a will of iron behind them. The only way out of here would be to kill her. She wasn't going to give us up. Not because she didn't want her friend back, but because she truly wouldn't see what was in it for her and to give us up for nothing would be a weakness. Paula wasn't weak. 

Paula pulled a gun out from the back of her pants and I recognized the hand gun as mine. She looked it over thoughtfully. "All our friends are dead and not a shot fired..."

Molly laughed and then broke into a great hacking cough. "What's the matter sugar plum, you get in there and freeze up? Killing all our friends too much for you?" 

I crouched near the pipe, straightening my shoulders and leaned forward aggressively. I looked first at Paula and then at Molly, letting them see into my head a little bit. I let them see in my eyes what I felt killing their friends. 

"No," I responded simply in a dead calm voice.

Molly drew back, and then seemed to realize she had and stepped back towards me, but I had seen the fear flicker in her eyes in her eyes. She licked her lips and cut her eyes to Paula uncertainly. 

Paula's jaw tightened and she took a threatening step towards me. "You're lucky we don't-"

The walkie hissed at her belt and she froze as Rick's voice came through it. "Have you thought about it?" he asked. 

Paula and Molly exchanged a look of surprise, then Paula's jaw tightened. This wasn't part of their plan. I settled back and let my eyes drift shut. 

"Talk to me," Rick ordered impatiently when they didn't respond right away. 

Paula snatched the walkie off her belt. "You weren't listening. I said I'd contact you."

"Would it make a difference if I said I was sorry about that?" Rick responded wryly. I took a deep breath. If Rick was willing to joke, he had a plan. 

"What do you think?" she growled back, making it clear she was unmoved by his charms.

"I think we're gonna make the trade," he replied confidently. "So tell me where."

"We haven't agreed to that," she said pacing away from me as she turned her focus to Rick. 

"You will."

Paula shook her head, but she was smiling. Rick could be charming, but I had a hard time believing he was charming her over a walkie talkie. "You know what? I'm not so sure. We'd be taking most of the risk and not getting much in the way of a reward."

"The other option won't work out for you," Rick advised calmly.

"We'll take our chances," she growled and she ended the conversation.

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Hi everyone!! This one was a tough one for me to write for some reason, so I hope you enjoy it!