Daryl sat down on the dusty road looking out at the big city. It had been a long day. Merle decided he would head off with some of the others to get supplies and he felt useless and Merle sure as hell made sure that he felt it. He wasn't the most forgiving brother in the world, he was barely there for Daryl, but he was still family and when the world had gone to hell it all boiled down to those you cared about. And, strangely enough, Daryl still cared about Merle. His pot head brother that was in juvie for most of his childhood but yes, Daryl still cared about him. The others didn't seem to get on so well with him, but this didn't come as a surprise to him. From the first day they arrived he knew there would be tension between them and the others. Despite HIS good intentions. Daryl tried to make up for his brother's childish and all very much selfish behaviour by going hunting to get enough food for the camp. But he still felt like an outsider.
'No' he whispered pulling himself to his feet, dragging his crossbow with him. He wasn't going to dwell on the past. It was a waste of time. He was going to go out there, into the woods, and catch a deer, drag it back to camp and cook them all some venison. It was the least he could do. And despite everything he said, he did actually care about them. Especially Amy, Andrea and surprisingly, even to himself, Lori. He felt sorry for Lori because she'd lost her husband and clearly wasn't dealing with it very well, nobody deserved to lose someone like that but she seemed to blame herself for it. But he felt drawn to the sisters Amy and Andrea; they seemed so care free even though they were living in this madness. And if he had to admit it, he was jealous of their relationship. He wished that he and Merle could be so effortlessly close.
He lifted his hand and waved to the pair as he walked passed and they nodded in appreciation, their blonde hair shining in the flicker of the fire. Daryl headed back to his truck where he would spend the duration of the night, then he would be off. Into the woods. He could hear himself think out there and he felt as at home as he did anywhere. But for now, he was in for a long night.
The next morning Daryl was up early, not just so that he could get as much time as possible for himself but also because he wanted to see the sun rise. It was beautiful when it slowly lit up the landscape in an orange glow. The air still crisp and cool. Daryl stood as he watched forgetting all his cares for a moment. The beauty of nature had always been his one weakness, one that Merle latched onto early in life. Calling him names. The most careless one being 'fag'. But Daryl didn't care if Merle couldn't see the beauty that surrounded him, no matter how the nicknames bit into him every time. His brother was so blind. Blind to how the muscles of a dear would ripple softly and how its ears would prick as it would turn. His curiosities may have earnt himself a nickname that wasn't exactly the nicest in the world, but understanding the animals he hunted proved extremely useful when he did hunt.
'Have a nice journey Daryl' Dale called out. Daryl spun round unaware that someone was nearby. He saw Dale perched on top of a chair looking out at the sunrise as well. Dale had done his best to make Daryl feel welcome so he tipped his imaginary hat and replied 'Thanks, have a good day n all'. Daryl turned silently and disappeared into the woods.
Daryl lifted his crossbow. It wasn't at all like a gun. It was elegant, graceful. Silent but deadly. But that didn't mean it was easy. The strings bit into his fingers making them hurt like a bitch and it was heavy. He had to reload it with another arrow after every shot and he couldn't afford to lose them either. But all of these flaws were worth it when silence was the key both to getting food, and to not attracting the walkers.
He raised his weapon. Aimed. And fired. The arrow soared throw the air and pierced the dear. Harmed. But not dead.
'SHIT' Daryl cursed. It was the second time he'd aimed only for the dear to move right at the last minute. It was getting annoying. He had plenty of squirrel but he wanted to bring the dear back. That had been his intentions right from the beginning. He didn't want to do this. He needed too. It was his way of forgetting that the dead were walking among them and any day could be the last for them. The dear scampered off again and he knew it would be several hours before he came across it again.
Daryl tried to stay calm as he walked silently through the undergrowth to where the dear had been moments before. Unfortunately, a rather unlucky squirrel came into his path and before it even had chance to realise its mistake it had an arrow sticking through its small skull. Daryl pulled the arrow effortlessly out, picking put the small fury body as well adding it to his collection. He then continued to track the dear.
The tracks were becoming faint but he knew he was getting closer. The heat of the sun was beginning to get unbearable and he could feel the beads of sweat trickling down his back. At least the others will have long since been back by now. He thought. This wasn't entirely comforting though because what Daryl had planned to do was to be quick and have a meal ready for the others by the time they got back. Never mind. When he gets back to camp with that dear dragging behind him it won't matter that the others are back.
The dear appeared to be heading towards the camp so Daryl quickened his pace. The tracks were getting fainter and mixed in with the mud of the ground where the campers had tread but they were still there. He hadn't slept well the previous night and his tiredness weighed down on him making his aim less careful, causing him to lose a couple of shots.
Suddenly he heard a distant scream towards the direction of the camp. It was the scream of a child and Daryl started to run. Soon the cries stopped but Daryl didn't stop running. He could hope that Carl was alright but he didn't know.
Daryl pricked up his senses, searching, for anything that may signal that the others were dealing with it. Daryl stopped running and stood silently to try and hear what was going on. His eyes flashed open as he could hear the sharp thuds of something being beaten. Suddenly Daryl released a breath he didn't even realise he was holding.
"Getting soft" He whispered as he pulled himself together and walked the last few meters to camp giving up his thoughts on the dear.
Daryl went around the last corner and halted suddenly when he saw everyone with their guns and weapons raised. Carl must have really given them quite a fright then.
"Ugh, Jesus." Shane muttered in disgust. Daryl turned his eyes to what was behind them to see an evidently dead walker, and, the dear he'd been tracking for days.
"Son of a bitch!" he cursed walking closer as if things would change in front of him if he could see them more clearly. "That's my dear!"
Daryl lost it. He'd worked is ass off trying to get that dear. "Look at it all gnawed on by this, FILTHLY, DISEASED BARREN, MOTHERLESS, POXY BASSTARD!" He shouted between his teeth as he kicked the body of the geek.
Dale tried to say something comforting which in normal circumstances would have helped "Calm down son, that's not helping."
"What do you know about it old man?" Daryl started rambling. It was what he did when he was mad, the words that came out of his mouth meant nothing they were just pure anger. But, he would later regret them. He knew that. He pushed his way past Dale. Daryl went back to the dear and sighed, starting to think aloud.
He pulled the arrows out of the body as he said "I've been tracking this dear for miles, gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison." He moved over to the neck pointed and said "what do you think, do you think we could cut around this chewed up part right here?" He looked up at them.
Shane answered but the answer wasn't really directed at him, "I would not risk that"
Daryl sighed. "It's a damn shame" and he meant it. It had been a while since they had all eaten properly and they could do with something a bit more than squirrel.
"Well I've got us some squirrel, half a dozen or so, that will have to do" He said, more to comfort himself than anything.
Suddenly the head of the walker started moving again, it's eyes flashing open and it's jaw moving up and down.
"Oh god" Amy said in horror before she turned away, quickly followed by Andrea.
Now Daryl was really annoyed. He leaves them alone for five minutes and they can't even handle one walker as a group.
"Come on people what the hell?" He aimed his crossbow and shot the walker straight through the eye with precision and it stopped moving once more. He moved towards it placing the toe of his shoe against the head and pulled his arrow out.
"It's gotta be the brain. Do you all know nothing?" He said as he walked away from the fiasco.
Daryl walked back to the centre of camp and started calling for his brother. "Merle!" No answer. He tried a little louder, still walking towards camp" Merle! Get your ass out here! Got us some squirrel!" He continued talking barely registering what he was saying as he placed his crossbow onto the ground. He wasn't worried. It normally took a little while for his brother to respond anyway.
"Daryl," Shane called to him and he turned. "Slow up a bit I need to talk to you." Daryl mentally rolled his eyes. He didn't really like Shane but he tolerated him. "About what?" He wasn't bothered until he saw the unwillingness in Shane. Something was wrong.
"About Merle. There was a, er, problem in Atlanta." NO, he could not be hearing this. Daryl looked around and the rest of the camp and grown silent and they were all watching him as if he was a time bomb. Merle…
"He dead?" He asked as he began to pace.
"Not sure" Shane replied. Daryl began to feel is blood boil. How can you not be sure?
"He either is or he aint!" Daryl said barely able to keep his anger contained as he moved further towards Shane.
"There's no easy way to say this so I'll just say it" a man unknown to Daryl said and began to walk up to him.
"Who are you?" He said. The man looked up at Daryl and he was within touching distance before he finally stopped and said "Rick Grimes." It should have clicked then that he was Lori's husband and he would have shown the man some kind of thanks that he was alive. But they were talking about his brother.
"Rick Grimes?" He sneered "You got something you want to tell me?" He asked is anger coming to the point that it was threatening.
"Your brother was a danger to us all" The man said. He paused and then continued. "So I handcuffed him to a roof hooked to a piece of metal. He's still there."
This was unbelievable. And Daryl couldn't handle it. He turned away from the Rick Grimes and started to pace trying to contain all his emotions. His panic, his horror, his anger and most of all, his despair.
He moaned. "Let me process this." He said as he signalled to his head and then he turned to face Rick.
"You saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there!" Daryl shouted his voice breaking slightly.
"Yeah" The man nodded.
Suddenly Daryl started to see red. This stupid little man had taken Merle's life into his hands! He threw the squirrel to the ground and ran at Rick. He was taken down sideways mid run by Shane but he wasn't done yet. Daryl reached for his knife.
"Watch the knife!" Said Shane as he started to back off.
"ARGHH" Daryl shouted as he started throwing the knife aimlessly in front of him hoping it would come into contact with one the stupid sons of bitches that had a part in leaving his brother for worse than dead.
Rick charged towards him pinning down his right side and Shane grabbed his left.
"Okay, Okay" Shane said as he put him into a head lock and Rick pulled the knife from his hands. But Daryl continued to struggle.
"YOU BEST LET ME GO!" Daryl shouted as Shane pulled him backwards, still in the headlock.
Daryl started to throw any kind of reason for Shane to let him go. He knew it was only a matter of time before he couldn't control his emotions and the last thing he wanted the camp to think was that he was a girl. Shane brought him down to the floor and Rick knelt down to look right at Daryl.
"Now I would like a calm discussion on this topic. You think we could manage that?" Daryl continued to fight his anger and Rick said even more sternly "You think we could manage that?" Daryl tried to calm his breathing and Shane abruptly released him from the head lock and threw him to the ground. Both men stood up but Daryl remained on the ground.
"What I did was not on a whim" Rick said bending down to look Daryl in the eyes again. "Your brother does not work or play well with others" Daryl knew this but it wasn't for this man to say, like he knew Merle.
Rick was cut off – "It's not Ricks fault" T-Dog said. "I had the key. I dropped it.
"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl said, calming down a little.
"I dropped it down the drain". Daryl snorted and looked down at the ground again. This was unbelievable. Daryl slowly pulled himself to his feet and walked past T-Dog. "Supposed to make me feel better it don't" He said keeping eye contact with him.
"Maybe this will." He said and Daryl stopped and walked closer towards him.
"I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock" T-Dog said. Daryl felt himself grow calmer again. Merle was safe. Safe from the geeks, perhaps not safe from himself but safe from them.
"That's gotta count for something." Rick said.
Daryl rubbed his face. He was still trying to process the news that his brother was left in Atlanta. These people should have to make excuses for why he was still there.
"Hell with all y'all". "I don't know where he is" Daryl said in despair. "Suppose I can go get him".
If only Daryl hadn't gone on his hunt, if instead he had gone to Atlanta with the others. Maybe then is brother would be safe. But one thing Daryl knew for certain. If Daryl did ever see his brother again. If any of them did. They'd be lucky ones to survive.