"Where's Carol?" Daryl asked as he scanned the empty prison yard, searching without success for the woman in question.

The group he'd led out on the clinic run had finally returned that morning with the much needed medicine. They had been held up a day longer than anticipated but that couldn't be helped. The wall of walkers they'd run into had delayed their schedule but not destroyed it.

He'd been expecting to find Carol in the yard preparing breakfast when they returned. After several days hunkered down with Tyreese, Bob and Michonne with nothing to eat between the four of them besides a granola bar and the two squirrels he'd managed to bag on the long trek home Daryl was looking forward to something heartier to satisfy his hunger. The others who'd been stuck in the car with him had already retired to the safety of the prison leaving only Rick standing outside with him. The yard was eerily quiet; devoid of the usual sounds of children's laughter and walker dispatching.

It hadn't escaped Daryl's attention that Rick had encouraged the others to go inside and leave the two of them out there alone. It wasn't unusual for Rick to seek time away from prying eyes and ears to discuss the outcome of a run with Daryl but something about today felt different. Daryl knew something was up when Rick refused to answer his question on Carol's whereabouts.

Rick sighed, shifting his weight from one foot to the other almost nervously. The Sheriff's Deputy was refusing to even look at Daryl, instead busying himself with poking through a backpack of supplies Michonne had left on the passenger seat of the car that brought them all home. The bag didn't contain any medicine though- Daryl knew that for a fact. Bob had taken those precious bags into the prison already. There was no reason for Rick to be searching that bag so intently like he was doing.

The answer hit Daryl suddenly: Rick was stalling. Buying time for some unknown reason so he didn't have to talk.

Something was up with the former cop. Daryl stared hard at the clearly uncomfortable man for a moment before realizing what was different about him today.

Rick looked shifty. That was the only way to describe his behaviour. Rick never looked shifty. Even when the shit was about to hit the fan Rick never looked like that; like he was hiding something. And that's what his evasive body language and inability to maintain eye-contact was screaming at Daryl. Rick Grimes was hiding something. The lawman's eyes darted about the yard in a continued effort to avoid Daryl's steely gaze. A thin veil of sweat beaded on the former cop's forehead- a clear indication that something was wrong with this picture. The morning sunshine held some heat but not enough to make a man start sweating like how Rick was now. If Daryl hadn't of known Rick better he'd have sworn the man was hopped up on something. He'd seen the symptoms before whenever Merle was tweaked. But Rick wasn't like that. Sure, the man had justifiably lost his shit months ago but he'd never tried to find an answer in the bottom of a bottle or a handful of pills.

"Where's Carol Rick?" Daryl tried again, taking a deliberate step toward the other man.

The hands Rick had in the backpack stilled instantly. He raised his head and locked eyes with Daryl. The man looked conflicted as he spoke. "Locked in a cell in solitary," Rick admitted finally, dropping the bag back on seat he'd found it on.

The hunter felt a cold chill wrap around his chest, stilling the rhythmic beating of his heart for a moment. "She sick?" he asked quietly, not really wanting to know the truth if she was. Just because they'd been successful with the run didn't mean she'd survive if she had fallen victim to the epidemic plaguing the prison.

The only possible reason Carol could be locked away in a cell was because she needed to be quarantined or contained away from the other sick occupants of the prison.

"No, she's not sick," Rick signed, kicking the ground with the tip of his boot. His hands came up to rest on his hips while he regarded Daryl, "but there is something I need to discuss with you," he elaborated after an extended silence.

Daryl waited for Rick to continue but the man just stood there, hands on his hips and foot kicking the ground. That was when Daryl knew something serious had happened.

Rick had never felt the need to call Daryl out for a chat about Carol. She wasn't sick. That was good news. The best you could hope for considering the shit they were neck deep in nowadays. The question still remained: why was Carol locked away in solitary like a criminal?

A possibility worse that the sickness suddenly struck Daryl, making his heart race like he had just sampled the lion's share of Merle's former drug stash. "She bit?" he choked out, horrified at the thought. That was the only other reason someone would be kept away from the other members of their group.

"No," Rick shook his head as he replied. "She's not bit."

The erratic thumping of Daryl's heart lessened, slowly returning to its normal pace. The thought of Carol getting bit when he'd been out on a run had weighed heavily against his chest. Now that his heart was beating like normal he was faced with another problem though.

He had forgotten to breath. He'd been too busy thinking of the horrible fate that may have befallen Carol that he'd forgotten to breath. His lungs screamed for fresh air and Daryl doubled over, bracing his hands on his knees as he focused on sucking in gulp after gulf of sweet oxygen. "What the Hell's going on around here Rick?" Daryl demanded, raising his head up from his hunched position. Despite the hunter having trouble regulating his breathing the challenged in his voice was clear. It was time for Rick to grow a pair and give him a definitive answer on what exactly had happened to Carol.

It was time for this cryptic bullshit to end.

"You tell me what the fuck's going on now," Daryl advised. His voice housing a thinly-veiled threat aimed squarely at the only other man in the yard.

"A lot's happened while you were away," Rick started, holding his hand out towards his friend in a pacifying gesture.

Daryl stood, slowly returning to his full height. When his eyes met Rick's again Daryl was shocked by what he saw.

A haunted expression of a man filled with anguish greeted Daryl. Rick looked nothing like the carefree farmer wannabe who'd taken to tending to the pigs and the crops these past few months. Hell, Rick knew more about raising tomatoes now than he did about the day-to-day running of the prison. It was as if Mr Hyde had replaced Dr Jekyll over the last few days while the group had been out on the run. The look on Rick's face caused Daryl to take a cautionary step back from the man he thought of as a brother. The lawman hadn't looked this bad since he tried working through Lori's death by systematically killing every walker in the prison he could lay his hands on.

Whatever had happened while their scavenger group was away had not been good for anyone concerned. And since Rick was refusing to tell him what Carol was doing locked in solitary Daryl knew she was connected to the very heart of the problem.

Rick turned on his heal without warning and stormed away towards the perimeter fence, his head down and his shoulders set. The lawman turned after a moment and beckoned for Daryl to follow the path he'd just created through the field.

When the men reached the chain metal barrier Rick turned to face Daryl again, placing his hands firmly on the hunter's shoulders. Rick levelled his gaze at Daryl before starting the tale.

"I need to fill you in on the current situation here."

The conversation between the two men didn't take long. No sooner had Daryl heard that Carol was locked up for murder he'd taken off, headed straight to solitary. He was not passing 'go'. He was not stopping to collect two hundred dollars. He was going straight to jail and no-on was going to stop him.

He was going to get the full story straight from the horses' mouth on this fucked up situation that Carol had managed to get herself into that was for damn sure.

A/N: Thanks for reading. The second and final chapter for this piece will be up within the next day or so. I just felt so shocked after watching Ep 3 that I had to purge myself of the thoughts and emotions running rampant through my head. It's just a quick piece which is no-where near as polished or in-depth as I would usually offer.