Spider Monkey

Chapter Thirty - Two - Reunion

( Notes: TW - Gore and Blood :3 ) 

It was Carol and Merle.

They were the ones who blew up Terminus and helped Rick and the group escape.

Daryl hugged them both tightly, almost crying in relief.

Rick went up to them, "Did you do that?"

"Hell yeah, officer friendly!" Merle smirked, nudging Carol with his shoulder, "We make quite the team, don't we, lovely?"

Carol scoffed, shaking her head with a smile.

Merle looked around, "Where's lil' Dixon?"

"He's not- He's not with you?" Daryl asked, all hope draining from him.

"He was for a while. We escaped the prison together. He had lil' ass-kicker in his arms."

Rick and Carl's heads perked up, Rick asked, "Judith's alive?"

"What happened, bro?!"

"Me, Hedley and Judith were together when the prison went down. We camped for the night then when makin' our way through, we found Carol." Merle explained, then sighed sadly, "A herd woke us up. Walkers all around. I gave Judith to Hedley and told 'im to head to Terminus and we'll meet 'im there."

Carol then spoke up, "When me and Merle saw you get taken into that cattle train, we thought Hedley and Judith were in there too."

"They weren't." Carl said, tears in his eyes, "He wasn't there."

"Then he and lil' ass-kicker could be close. I told 'im to go here." Merle was persistent.

"He's survived being alone before." Maggie reminded them, "He can do it again."

"With a crying baby?" Michonne asked quietly.

"We'll scope the area." Rick said, "He'll be in the trees somewhere, right?"

Merle nodded, "Last I saw 'im, he was swinging with Judith strapped to his chest."

"Okay. Then we'll head west. If we-"

Gunshots from behind them in the distance echoed the woods.

Daryl had a feeling and with his crossbow back in his hands, went towards it. The others followed suit.

They all stopped when they found Hedley's backpack, contents sprawled out. Baby bottles, wipes, diapers. And Hedley's headphones.

Daryl went to it, grabbing the headphones tenderly, "He's around here somewhere."

Merle was already looking at the ground for tracks, "He weren't alone. I see three other footprints."

"Maybe he found a group." Maggie said.

Rick then saw the bullet hole in the tree stump and gestured to it, "Or he found trouble."

Daryl and Merle followed Hedley's tracks until seeing the abandoned shed.

Rick, Daryl, Merle, Carl and Michonne grouped together to go inside.

Blood was everywhere on the floor and the first thing they heard was the crying of Judith in the tractor. Rick sobbed as he saw his daughter and reached in to grab her, Carl kissing her forehead but gasping when seeing the blood.

"Is she hurt?" Michonne asked.

After inspecting her, Rick shook his head. "Ain't her blood."

"Hedley!" Daryl called in shock as he found the boy laying against the tractor, three bodies surrounding him, and he was bleeding from his chelsea smile. Daryl didn't know what to do, frozen. Merle went forward, taking off his outer shirt and started stripping it to make cloths. He pressed the cloth to Hedley's face, making the boy whimper in pain.