It Comes With The Name

Chapter 5: Eye In The Sky

Everyone was virtually silent on the ride into the city. As they neared the backroad Lauren and Glenn would use to sneak in and out, Daryl spoke. "He'd better be okay. That's my only word on the matter."

T-dog reassured him that the only thing that was getting through that lock was bolt cutters. The dead couldn't reach him. The truck came to a stop just outside the city.

"We walk from here." Glenn told everyone. The five of them made their way down the abandoned train tracks until they reached the hole in the chain link fence that Lauren and Glenn used to slip in and out of the city. It popped them out on a side road a few blocks from the department store.

Rick turned to Glenn. "Merle first or guns?"

"Merle!" Daryl insisted. "We ain't even having this conversation."

"Oh yes, we are." Rick told him before turning back to Lauren and Glenn. "You know the geography best. It's your call."

"The guns would be doubling back." Glenn said, turning to Lauren for confirmation; She nodded. "Merle first."

Luckily, all the walkers that had previously surrounded the building had cleared out, now wandering around aimlessly on the streets. The group made their way up the stairway and onto the roof. Only, when they finally reached the rooftop, Merle was gone. At least most of him was. The only indication that Merle had even been up there was the blood-stained hacksaw, a raw severed hand.

Daryl was understandably distraught. He cried out for his brother before swinging around pointing his crossbow inches away from T-dog's face. Lauren's gun was pressed against his temple before anyone could even register what was happening. He turned his head to glare at her, not lowering his bow.

"You gonna shoot me?" He challenged. He was calling her bluff. She couldn't even skin a squirrel let alone kill a person. But she couldn't let him know that.

"You wanna find out?" She tilted her head, switching the safety off. The two of them seemed to be in a sort of standoff. Neither one moved until he glanced at T-dog one more time before finally dropping his weapon. Lauren couldn't help but feel a small sense of pride. She had stood her ground and it actually worked.

"You got like a durag or somethin'?" He asked T-dog.

Despite just having an arrow pointed at his skull by Daryl, T-dog handed him a bandana. Daryl walked over to Merle's hand and carefully wrapped it in the cloth. Lauren's nose scrunched up in disgust when he commanded Glenn to turn around and stuffed the thing into his backpack.

"He must've used a tourniquet. Maybe his belt?" Daryl said, mostly to himself, as he turned towards the small puddle of blood again. "There'd be much more blood if he didn't." He moved across the roof, following the blood drops leading to the door opposite the one they entered from. Rick followed behind Daryl and T-dog grabbed the remainder of Dale's tools before walking after them.

Lauren lagged behind for a moment, waiting to check on Glenn, who looked like he was about ready to throw up. "You alright?"

The look he gave her was a mixture of disgust and defeat. "There's a hand in my bag." He grimaced.

Lauren pressed her lips together, not quite knowing how to make anything better. "I mean, on the bright side, Merle could still be alive?"

"You call that a bright side?" He said, following the rest of the group through the door.

The four of them followed the younger Dixon down several flights of stairs and through another section of the department store. The rooms seemed to be mainly offices and supply rooms. Upon entering one of them, they came across two fallen walker corpses. Laying on the floor not far away was one of Dale's wrenches, now covered in blood.