not finding merle

As the group packs up the cube truck to leave, Rick and T-Dog approach Dale and Jim for bolt cutters. When they get to that roof they'll need to cut that chain and the handcuffs. Promising to bring back Dales tools and the van for the radiator hose, as well as Dale's pick of the guns, the group gets the van ready for the road.

Daryl leans over Glenn in the driver seat of the cube van, using his foot to beep the horn, demanding Rick's attention.

"Come on, let's go!" the alpha yells. Rick hands the cutters to T-Dog as the man hops into the back.

"Hey, Rick, got any rounds in the python?" Shane asks setting his police bag on the floor of the van.

Rick gives the Alpha a tight-lipped smile, not wanting to be near the man who had stolen his Mate. "No."

Shane chuckles "Last time we were on the gun range, I'm sure I wound up with a few lose rounds of yours."

Rick laughs forcefully, "You and that bag... like the bottom of an old lady's purse."

Shane lowers his voice. "I hate that you're doing this, man. I think that it's foolish and reckless. But if you're gonna go, you're taking bullets."

"I'm not sure I'd want to fire a shot in the city, not after what happened last time." Rick admits.

Shane pulls out the bullets. "That's up to you. Well... Four men, four rounds. What are the odds, huh? Well, let's just hope that... Let's just hope four is your lucky number, okay?"

Rick clasps him on the shoulder. "Thank you."

Shane sighs. "All right."

Rick gets in the front of the truck with Glenn and puts the bullets into his gun's chamber. Daryl pulls the back of the truck down and they take off.

....

Lying in the tent Carl is on his bed when Lori comes to check on him.

"Hey." Lori sniffles, leaning down next to her son, "You know, I bet they'll be just fine."

Carl stares at his mother, "I'm not worried. Are you?"

Lori sighs and nods her head, wiping a few lose tears away, "Yeah, a little."

"Don't be." Carl says sitting up.

"Why?" Lori asks.

Carl smiles "Think about it, mom. Everything that's happened to him so far... Nothing's killed him yet."

Lori chuckles. Sometimes it seems like her son knew her husband better than she ever would. Maybe Carl would end up like his father; an Alpha. Lori sighs, if she had known that she would end up surrounded by Alphas and Omegas, maybe she would have learned more about them and their cultures beyond the basic anatomy and scent meanings.

...

Driving to Atlanta, the truck's silence is broken just outside the city limits. Rick looks over at Glenn to see how the Asian Alpha was doing, knowing that he hadn't wanted to come. He was grateful the other Alpha trusted him enough to make Rick his Alpha and to follow him back into this hell. Daryl and T-Dog were in the back, glaring at each other.

"He'd better be okay. It's my only word on the matter." Daryl eyes are hard towards the Beta as he cleans his crossbow. Rick notices how often the man does it, like it was a nervous habit of his to calm down.

"I told you the geeks can't get at him." T-Dog scowls at the younger Dixon, "The only thing that's gonna get through that door is us."

"We walk from here." Glenn stops the truck under a bridge next to a metal fence topped with barbwire. The group of four get out and start walking along the railroad tracks. The men get to a hole in the fence and use the bolt cutters to make it wider. Glenn holds the opening as Rick goes through, then Daryl, then T-Dog. As Glenn goes through the hole and starts to use another piece of wire to hold the fence together, Rick turns to the group.

"Merle first or guns?" Rick directs the question to Glenn.

"Merle! We ain't even having this conversation." Daryl scowls, walking ahead of the group. It was obvious stiles was nervous around the alpha's and betas...

"We are." Rick looks at the hunter, voice emphatic but firm, before turning back to Glenn, "You know the geography. It's your call."

"Merle's closest. The guns would mean doubling back. Merle first." Glenn pants as the group starts to run towards the city.

Stiles watch the alpha and beta agree to merle first

The group makes their way through the city quickly and quietly. Duking behind cars and checking each corner before they turned onto streets, always on the lookout for Walkers. Glenn leads them to the department store. Once in the building, the group finds a Walker among the clothing racks.

Rick leads them further in before he stops, raising one hand to halt the group. He turns to Daryl who watches his every move with narrow eyes and a tight grip on his crossbow. He points at the Walker and nods at the alpha, asking him to take the lead and kill in silently. Daryl moves in front of Rick, crossbow raised and ready. Getting in front of the Walker, he comes out of his hunch and aims.

Daryl murmurs something as he shoots it through the head. He walks over to the Walker and pulls the arrow out, flicking the blood off and reloading the bow. Nodding at the others, Rick leads them upstairs.

The group reach the roof and cut through the padlock. Daryl kicks the door open just as the last of the chains fall, pushing T-Dog out of the way as he calls for his brother, ignoring the others as they enter the roof. He needed his brother and the safe feeling he always had when he was around him. He needed Merle with him because he was scared of what would happen to himself if he didn't have his brother to keep the other Alphas at camp in check.

"Merle! Merle!"

Daryl runs over to the pipes Rick had told him his brother was handcuffed to. The others watch from the door as he runs over. They make their way over when Daryl sees something and starts to sob, screaming, "No! No!"

They run over, expecting the worst; a half-eaten body and Walkers, a Walker Merle, anything. They fall silent in disbelief at what they see on the ground. Daryl's sucking air in through his teeth and glaring at the three of them, tears falling from his eyes easily and dropping into the puddle on the ground.

"No!" He screams again, his voice raw with pain, betrayal and hatred.

The bloody handcuffs are empty and under them is a bigger pile of blood and the rusty hand-saw from Dale's tool box, blood caked into the blade too. A little further there's a hand- Merle's hand, lying on the ground.

"No! No!" The cry of destressed alphas echoes for blocks in the city of the dead, and rings in the ears of the men who left the elder Dixon there.

stiles wolf was upset about the merle thing too..