The sun was too hot. The bugs were annoying. The damn animals were taking too long to wander into their kill zone. Merle was complaining about anything and everything he could think of, probably scaring off any game within half a mile. He was being just louder than a whisper on purpose, trying to cut the hunting trip short by making too much noise. Daryl was annoyed but he wasn't going to say anything. Trix was though cause dammit she'd come out there to hunt and the youngest Dixon wasn't afraid of Merle or his anger.
"Merle, shut up before I make you shut up." Trix whispered harshly to her brother. Daryl gave her a look that basically said "you've gone and done it now." Trix decided to ignore him. Merle didn't hit her like their old man did. He just yelled and threw her around a bit. The only time he ever actually hit her was when he slugged her arm to get back at her for annoying him. The worst he'd ever done out of anger was slam her against a wall. Even Merle with all his anger problems wouldn't hurt his little sister.
"What did you say?" Merle asked angrily, glaring at her.
Trix was about to reply when Daryl shushed them. Merle and Trix were going to tell him off until they saw him pointing to something coming out of the trees. Trix grinned when she saw it was a buck. A very big buck that'd probably feed them for a week if they were careful about portions. Daryl took aim, his finger on the trigger of his crossbow. He was about to shoot when this big skinny guy covered in blood came silently out of the trees. Trix stared in shock as the guy attacked the buck without warning, diggings his hands into the deer's stomach as it bit straight into the poor beast's neck.
"What the fuck?" Daryl asked no one in particular. The guy was eating the fucking deer! Raw! With his bare hands! What type of fucked up person did that?! Was that where all the blood on the guy had come from? His last kill? Jesus fucking Christ. "What the fuck is that thing?" Daryl asked. And oh yes it was definitely a thing. No regular person did something like that.
"Let's go find out." Merle said, already getting up from where they were crouched down in the bushes. Trix cursed as she got up too, mentally scolding her brother for making stupid rash decisions. Daryl got up too, not voicing his opinion. He wanted to convince Merle not to but there wasn't point in doing so. Merle was already about half way to the thing and Daryl didn't feel like putting up with his brother's temper.
As they got closer the Dixon siblings noticed more things about the bloody creature. For instance, they knew where all the blood had come from. There was a large chunk of its throat ripped out and its organs were spilling out of a huge hole in its torso. That didn't bother the Dixon siblings too much but the fact that the thing looked exactly like their next door neighbor certainly did. He was a buddy of Merle's and a decent enough person to the two younger Dixons even if he was a junkie with barely two bucks to his name. So of course Merle's first reaction was to call out his buddy's name.
The thing looked up at them, its hands full of deer guts and its mouth full of flesh. It struggled to its feet, dropping the guts it had been eating. Then it started walking towards them, towards Merle who was looking at the thing resembling his friend with a subdued bit of shock, confusion, and disgust. Trix and Daryl glanced at each other, both troubled by the fact the thing that looked human was limping and moaning and looking like it really should be dead. Daryl started to raise his crossbow and Trix reached for one of the arrows in the quiver on her back.
"Hey Marcus! You look uglier than usual you scrawny bastard!" Merle said jokingly as the thing got closer to him. It was reaching for him, moaning and groaning even louder than before. For once, Merle took a step back instead of forward. Then that thing rushed forward, its teeth aiming for Merle's neck. "Fuck Marcus! What the fuck are you doin' man?!" Merle shouted, shoving the thing away from him. Merle retreated as the thing stumbled backwards, placing himself just behind Trix. There was a new gash across the thing's chest; Merle had had his hunting knife in his hand when he shoved the thing away. Still, the thing came at them. "Daryl, shoot this bastard." Merle ordered his brother as the thing started coming at them again.
Daryl immediately did as he was told, sending an arrow straight into the thing's chest. It stopped for a moment, its body absorbing the impact, but kept coming. Right at Trix.
Trix threw her bow up as the thing got closer, placing her bow between it and her. It ran straight into it, holding its arms out as it tried to grab her. Trix tried to shove it away but instead she slipped on the mud beneath her feet, falling on her back and accidentally bringing the thing down with her. It landed directly on top of her but Trix managed to shove her bow between its teeth before it could bite her. That didn't stop it from trying to claw her open though. "Get it off me!" Trix shouted furiously as its nails tried to rip a hole in her hunting jacket.
Merle complied, kicking the thing in the chest so that it fell off of Trix. Daryl slammed his boot down on its chest and placed an arrow between its eyes. That actually seemed to kill it too because it stopped moving completely and didn't try to get back up when Daryl stepped away from it. Trix scrambled to her feet and immediately slammed her boot into the thing's side, the fear that had been growing inside her since the thing came out of the trees quickly becoming anger.
"He looks like one of those things the news keeps mentionin'. Those people or whatever that start eatin' everybody." Daryl said, yanking his arrow out of the thing's chest.
Merle hummed slightly, leaning forward to look at what was once one of his friends. "Well Marcus always was one messed up son of a bitch. It was about time he did somethin' like this." He said, laughing a bit like he'd just told a really good joke. He hasn't but that was how Merle was. He thought he was one of the funniest men on the planet.
"We should get back." Trix said, wiping the thing's spit off of her bow and onto her jacket. Daryl and Merle looked at her, the former claiming his second arrow from the thing's skull. "To make sure there aren't any more of these things gettin' in our place." She explained.
Merle shrugged but turned and started heading back towards their place. His siblings followed after him, Daryl reloading his crossbow and Trix notching an arrow. Something told them they had to be cautious. If there was one of those things around then there was probably another. They were right too. When they emerged out of the trees into their back yard they spotted a few across the street, ripping apart their neighbor. People were running, screaming, getting into their vehicles and going. The Dixon siblings wasted no time in getting into their home and locking their doors.
"We need to get the hell out of here." Daryl said, stating the obvious. He was looking out at the street through their piece of crap blinds, getting a good view of the chaos going on outside. They didn't live in a big town, the mountains of North Georgia didn't exactly accommodate big towns, so there weren't a lot of people but there were enough for it all to seem a bit crazy.
"Change and pack your shit. We're takin' the truck and my bike." Merle said, heading for his room.
Trix looked to Daryl; feeling like one of them should keep an eye on what was happening. "Move quick. I'll keep watch till you're ready." Daryl told her without taking his eyes off of outside. Trix nodded and immediately rushed into the room she had been sharing with Daryl since they were kids.
It took twenty minutes total for them to pack everything they were taking into the truck and into Merle's saddlebags. They had to put down four of their neighbors when they came at them and tried to bite them. Daryl was the one who retrieved the arrows while Trix ran back into the house to double check that they had everything. When she came back out Merle was with her and she was carrying a freshly bloodied arrow.
"One got in through the back, that door's always been shitty. We need to go. Now." Trix said as they walked towards their vehicles. Merle hopped onto his bike while Daryl started up the truck and Trix climbed into the passenger seat. Merle drove off and his siblings followed him, no thoughts in their heads but survival.