AUTHORS NOTE- Hi guys! So I've been buzzing around with this idea for a while and I finally decided to give it a me a message or review to let me know what you think!

Disclaimer- As I type this through tears I must mention I in no way own The Walking Dead. This is true even though I have tried bribing them many times, and yet still, I own nothing...except a restraining order :P

The night air was stale and heavy as the Georgian summer ran full force as Glenn lazily paced the catwalk of the guard tower back and forth, keeping watch over the silent prison. There was a time, he remembered, when he use to be on the morning watch, after he and Maggie had woken up and had breakfast together, and said their goodbyes in favor of their daily chores. Now, however, Glenn swallowed the small lump in his throat when he thought about why he had been moved onto night watch. It was because now they were a man down, more specifically, they were a hunter down. Being even one person down meant Rick had to re-strategize everything they did from waking until slumber. Though truth be told no one really slept good anymore since Daryl was no longer with them.

It had been just a little over a month since Daryl had left them in favor of going off with his brother Merle. This was actually the assumption though, because this was also the same time that Maggie and Glenn had been kidnapped by Merle and taken to the Governor in Woodbury. Since no one had actually seen him since he said he would provide cover for the others to escape. They all figured he had caught sight of Merle in all the chaos and the two went their own way. It made sense to them since clearly Merle would never be welcomed at the prison with open arms and Daryl always said Merle was family and to the Dixons family came first, no matter what. Sure the prison survivors struggled almost day to day with meals now, but they worked out that with more frequent and farther runs, they were able to keep their heads above water, if only just barely breaking the surface.

Glenn sighed deeply, scanning the tree line for any sign of an immediate threat, while thinking about their hunter and how the whole group dynamic had changed since his unannounced departure. Leaning back against the wall, and closing his eyes, he let his mind wonder about where the two Dixons brothers were and what they might be doing. Surviving was never really an issue for the two brothers, so while hoping they were safe, well mostly Daryl, Glenn instead thought on about how much Daryl had changed since Merles disappearance in Atlanta, and how he hoped the man he came to call his friend, would not fall back under the shadow of the tyrant.

*gunfire*

Glenns eyes snapped open at the sudden, sharp noises ripping open the calm stillness of the night. At first he wasn't sure if he had really heard the noises, or if his mind was just creating a distraction to help keep him from falling asleep on the job. He was about to dismiss the noise until a fresh batch made their way to his ears. Scanning the area for as far as he could see in the night, even with the binoculars, Glenn could not make anything out in the dense Georgia forrest below.

*gunfire*

Grabbing his gun from where he had propped it against the railing, and readying his finger on the trigger of his gun, Glenn raced down the stairs to the ground floor. When he opened the door, Glenn ran head on into Rick who had been able to sleep and had been patrolling the fences for any new weak spots when the sudden gunfire began. Letting out a sigh of relief of having to choose to run away from the problem to go alert someone or take the potential foes on alone, Glenn gave a sharp nod to Rick for having already been outside.

The two made their way, with no words, down to the barricade of two overturned cars they had set up in front of the gates. The barricade provided just enough coverage that, if anyone should fire shots from the forrest they would be fully covered, but still held the perfect view of anyone who was coming straight at them. Kneeling close to the cars, Rick and Glenn peeked out on one side as more shots were fired, closer this time but now from different areas. Realization hit that there was more than one shooter spread out in the woods as they all had feared at one time or another. Counting the seconds until more shots were fired, the two men held their breath. One minute, then another. Once again, silence filled the hot Georgia night leaving the men unsettled behind their barricade.

Not daring to move an inch from behind the car, the men continued to wait, just incase someone was trying to wait them out and ambush them once they left the safety of cover. Again, one minute, then another, only this time they could hear twigs snapping parallel to the prison fence, distant at first, but growing in noise as they approached from the east side at a slow but steady pace. They could tell by the noise that their perpetrators would be on them in the next few seconds if they didn't form a plan. Slowly the men split apart and went to opposite sides of the barricade, weapons ready and trained on the spot they could now hear the person coming from.

For Rick it happened in slow motion, for Glenn it was a kick to the stomach, though when asked later, neither man could comprehend what their eyes were actually seeing. With guns trained on the spot, they could now see a silhouette taking form as not one, but two people as suspected. However, one was leaning heavily against the other, the bigger of the two practically dragging the other to keep them from falling over in a heap. More steps, and more features could be identified, but it wasn't until words were spoken that both men registered what they were seeing.

Stepping out from the dense cover of the forrest, the two men could see that Merle was dragging a very unconscious, limp, and bloody Daryl at his side. Moving as fast as he could over the small bridge to the gate opening, Merle only ground out three words.

"Open. The. Gate."

So? Sooooo? please let me know what you think of this. Should I continue, should I stick to fly paper, whats up? And don't be shy to let me know what your expectations are and where you would like to see the story go. Im always open to new ideas! Ciao!