XII

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We had made it back to the store that Merle had been left in, and had made on of the offices a few floors up, our office

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We had made it back to the store that Merle had been left in, and had made on of the offices a few floors up, our office. Merle had put the kid in a chair in the corner, and we were around a table trying to figure out what to do. 

"I'm gonna kick your nuts up in your throat!" Merle yelled, frustrated, as he gave up on the conversation we were having, and move to attack the boy. 

"Chill out." T-Dog said calmly, grabbing Merle's arm, but Merle just yanked his arm away and punched the kid in the face, effectively breaking his nose. 

"They took Riley! That little bastard and his little bastard homie friends. He deserves more than a little broken nose!" Merle yelled, turning back to us. I just rolled my eyes and looked back at the table, not really caring one way or another. 

"Those men you were with, we need to know where they went." Rick said, ignoring Merle's outburst, and advancing on the kid. He spit some blood out of his mouth, and looked up at Rick angrily, but I could see the fear in his eyes. 

"I ain't telling you nothing." Miguel said, and T-Dog had to grab Rick before he punched the kid again. 

"Jesus, man. What the hell happened back there?" T-Dog said, turning to look at Glenn, but I jumped in, since he wasn't really there. 

"I told you earlier, this little turd suck up on us, and when we went to put him in the van, his douche bag friends came out of nowhere and grabbed her, and threw her in this van and drove off." Rick glanced at me, but I could see the fear and panic was taking him over. 

"You're the one who jumped me, put, screaming about sneaking up on people, like it's my damn fault." Miguel yelled angrily, glancing between Merle and I. 

"They took Riley." Merle growled out angrily, like that was the end of it, and I guess it kind of was. 

"The men you were with took my sister. She is pregnant. We need her back. All we want to do is talk to them, see if we can work something out." Rick said gently, trying to get the kid to agree, and I guess something clicked in his brain when Rick said she was pregnant, because the kid nodded, and spilled on where their camp was. 


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"You sure you're up for this?" Rick asked, looking at T-Dog and I, which make sense, I guess, since we both seemed pretty unsure, but even I didn't want to leave her in the hands of some strange men we didn't know. She's pregnant for fucks sake, and beyond that, she did save my brother. 

"Yeah." T-Dog said, and I just turned to Miguel, who I would be escorting out, and nudged him in the back with my crossbow. 

"One wrong move, you get an arrow in the ass. Just so you know." I growled out, shoving him a couple steps forward. 

"G's gonna take that arrow out of my ass and shove it up yours. Just so you know." Miguel said confidently. 

"G?" Rick grumbled, moving under an arch. 

"Guillermo. He's the man here." 

"Okay then. Let's go see Guillermo." Merle huffed and shoved Miguel forward harshly, as he stopped in front of some large doors, and then they were opening, and a skinny Mexican man was walking out the doors towards us. 

"You okay, little man?" Guillermo said gently, completely ignoring us, which was real annoying. 

"They're gonna kill me man. They want their girl back." 

"Cops do that?" Guillermo asked, turning to look at Rick. Uh, yeah, cops kill people all the time. (A/N: I hate when people do this, but just want to clarify. I do not hate cops. I think that they perform a very important service for our communities, and their reputation has soured over the years because of a select few who have made mistakes. But cops risk their lives everyday so that you don't have to, and so that civilization doesn't crumble. But, I do think that at this point of his character development, Daryl would think like this. Love y'all!)

"Not him. This redneck put here. He broke my nose man." 

"Shut up." I grunted, shoving my bow into his back again. And there he was, the asshole who grabbed her in the first place. 

"Hey, that's that Vato right there, homes. He almost shot me. What's up, homes, huh." The large guy said, and I just rolled my eyes. Of course we pointed our weapons at you. You stole our fucking woman you dick. 

"Chill, ese, chill. Chill. This true? He wants Miguelito's life? That's pretty harsh, man." Guillermo said calmly, holding his hand up to the large guy. 

"We were hoping more for a calm discussion." Rick said angrily, tilting his gun a little as he talked. 

"That hillbilly jumps Felipe's little cousin, beats on him, threatens to kill him, Felipe has his life threatened, and you want a calm discussion? You fascinate me." 

"Heat of the moment. Mistakes were made on both sides." 

"Who's the chick to you anyway?" Guillermo said. 

"She's my sister. And I would like her back. Now." Rick growled out, finally losing his cool, and he cocked his gun. 

"Well, let's calm down for a minute here. We can make a deal." Guillermo said calmly, yet again. I really wanted to ruffle this prick's feathers. 

"I have one of yours, you have one of mine. Sounds like an even trade." Rick said. 

"Don't sound even to me." 

"G. Come on, man." Miguel whined from in front of me, and I didn't bother with reminding him that he was supposed to be quiet. 

"My people got attacked. Where's the compensation for their pain and suffering? More to the point, where's my bag of guns?"

"Guns?"

"The bag Miguel saw in the street. The bag Felipe and Jorge were going back to get. That bag of guns."

"You're mistaken."

"I don't think so."

"About it being yours. It's my bag of guns."

"The bag was in the street. Anybody could come around and say it was theirs. I'm supposed to take your word? What's to stop my people from unloading on you right here and now and I take what's mine?" G. said angrily, and Rick just chuckled. 

"You could do that. Or not." Rick said smugly, gesturing up to T-Dog who was up on a wall, and had his rifle aimed on Guillermo. 

"Oye!" G. yelled out, and we glanced over to a different wall, and I watched din horror as two large men shoved Riley up to the edge of the wall. She was blindfolded, and her hands were duct-taped behind her back, but I could see the blood dripping down from her lip, and it looked like she was favoring her right foot. 

"I see two options. You come back with Miguel and my bag of guns, everybody walks. Or you come back locked and loaded, we'll see which side spills more blood." Before we could say anything else, or even tear our eyes away from Riley, the Vatos had gone back inside, and the two up on the roof had dragged Riley back into the building, and all we could hear as she was dragged in were her screams. 

"Rick! Rick! Help me! Rick! I love you! Rick!" When I tore my eyes away from her, and looked over at Rick, he was looking down at the ground, and I could see the tears falling down his face. 

We had failed. 

We wouldn't again. 

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