What can I say about my twin? He's loyal, funny, protective, supportive, dedicated, etc. The list could go on forever. He's a sheriff deputy with the King County Sheriff's Department, and he has let me stay with him and his family for the past year. Lori needed some help with Carl, and I drove him to and from school. I started living with them after I broke up with my boyfriend. It was mutual. We just were not happy, so we decided to go our separate ways. I'm not lying. Our relationship lasted about five years. Anyways, I was only supposed to stay for a couple months, but Carl didn't want me to leave. I told my brother and Lori that I would stay and pitch in for however long they would let me stay. I am sure that I would have spent years more there, but before the dead started walking there was a day that none of our family was expecting.
That fateful day started like any other. I woke up, got ready for the day, woke Carl up, had cereal for breakfast, made sure that the kid had all of his stuff, and I drove him to school. When I arrived back at the house we started talking about the day ahead of us. Lori and I had actually planned a bit of a spa day. We were going to get our hair done, and get mani-pedi's. I was super close with her. We could talk for hours about nothing. Before we left for our appointments, around noon, I told Lori that I felt like something bad had happened to Rick. She thought I was freaking out about nothing, though. Right after I told her about my feelings, we got a phone call. Lori picked up the receiver and greeted the person on the other end of the line. I watched as her expression completely changed. She didn't talk throughout the rest of the call. She just stared at me in disbelief. I tried to get her to tell me what was wrong.
When she finally started talking to me she was frantic. She told me to cancel our hair and nail appointments, and she told me to pick up Carl and meet her at the hospital. After picking up Carl I rushed to the hospital and met Lori in the waiting room. She was standing with Shane, Rick's partner at work. My thoughts were confirmed. Rick had been shot while on duty. The doctors were able to fix him up, but he fell into a coma. I slipped into a slight depression after that. The rest of the family just thought that I was grieving, so they gave me space. This only made me feel more alone. I didn't want to say that I felt that way because I knew that everyone was grieving.
Weeks after the incident, Shane came busting through the front door of the house, and he told us to pack up anything we needed. He said that we were heading towards Atlanta. I packed up some clothes, feminine products, books, sketchpad, drawing and coloring tools, a notebook, a box of purple hair dye, and some nail polish. After I packed my stuff I helped Carl and Lori pack their things. We all piled into Shane's car and we were off. Shane and Lori sat in the front and Carl and I were in the back.
We were quite a ways away from Atlanta when we hit a massive traffic jam. We sat in it for hours until Shane got out of the car. He walked through the tree line on the side of the road and Lori followed him. When they came back, they had the most defeated expressions on their faces. I asked them what was wrong, and Shane said that there was no way that we were going to Atlanta any more. Shane pulled out of the line of the line of traffic. We ended up at the quarry just outside of Atlanta. Some people had actually followed us to this place. We all got out of our vehicles and watched as Atlanta was made into a wasteland. If there had been anyone in that city, they were dead now.
Us, and all of the people that followed us got to know each other that night. Including me, there were 20 people. I gravitated towards Carol and Sophia. Sophia was about the age of Carl, and Carol felt like an older sister already. I did notice that there were two guys that sat far from the group. No one went over to them, so I took it upon myself to greet them and make them feel like part of the group. I excused myself and walked over to them. I stood in front of the younger man and held my hand out for him to shake as I introduced myself. The older guy snickered as the younger one, who I learned was named Daryl, shook my hand. He introduced himself and his brother Merle. I smiled at them, and I tried to start conversations. Daryl didn't really talk much, and Merle was just a pig. Merle's comments towards me convinced me to move back to where Carol and Sophia were sitting.
To be honest I felt like there was more to Daryl, though. I wanted to hear more of his voice. I wanted to look into his eyes and watch his emotions run freely. His face always seemed to hold the same neutral expression, but eyes are the window to everyone's soul. A couple weeks went by and I actually got Daryl to open up to me a little bit. I asked him to teach me how to track and hunt.
The group is doing well, but we have started running low on supplies. Glenn, Andrea, Morales, T-Dog, Jacqui, and Merle were sent on the mission to the city. After they left, Daryl and I went out on a hunt. There isn't much talking, but I like spending this time with him. I love watching him track his prey. It is such a turn on. When he is in the zone I can't help but watch every muscle in his arm twitch with the slightest movement. The sweat, caused by the heat of the day, causes his skin to glisten in the light of the sun streaming through the trees. Sometimes I can see the edge of a few scars peeking out of the arm hole of his shirt. I hope one day I learn who caused them.
After collecting a bunch of squirrels, we finally found a beautiful doe. Daryl quietly turns to me and holds a finger up to his mouth. He turns back to the deer as he aims his crossbow and shot at it, but it moves. The bolt lands in its rear end. We run after it as he shot at it again. It hits around where the first one did. After it ran off we start to track it. When it gets too dark to see anything we take turns sleeping under the blanket that I packed in my bag. Of course, he didn't get much sleep. I can tell that he tries to get some shut eye, but I don't think he has much trust that I would be able to fend off any walkers. When he does fall into some kind of unconsciousness I take a moment to gaze at his features. I must have been staring too long because I heard his lovely voice work its way to my ear.
"I can feel you staring at me, Vi." He says with his eyes still closed. I smile and look around to see if anything dangerous is around. He sits up with a heavy sigh and we both sit in silence until morning breaks. We start up a small fire and cook up a couple of the squirrels we caught yesterday. I used to think that this was gross thing to eat, but it's actually not bad. After we put out the fire we start tracking down the deer again. A couple hours later we hear a scream and head towards it. We brake through the brush to a small clearing where a lot of guns and other weapons are being pointed at us.
"Woah, it's just us." I say. Daryl walks into the small clearing. And sees the deer that we had been tracking.
"Son of a bitch." He says as he heads over to the kill. "That's my deer." I haven't really looked around at the group, but I can feel a new person among them. I follow Daryl over to the deer carcass. "Look at it, all gnawed on by this filthy, disease bearin', motherless, poxy, bastard." He kicked the body of the walker with every insult.
"Calm down son, that's not helpin'." I hear Dale say. Daryl walks over to him.
"What d'you know about it, old man?" Shane put the butt of his gun up to block Daryl from getting too close to Dale. "You take that stupid hat and go back to 'on golden pond'?" Daryl turns back to the deer. "We been trackin' this deer for miles." He starts to take his bolts out of the doe's rear. "Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison." I inspect the deer and try to figure out a way to save some of the meat.
"What d'ya think?" I point around where the walker was feasting. "D'ya think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?"
"I would not risk that." Shane says.
"It's a damn shame." Daryl says before turning towards camp. "We got some squirrel, 'bout a dozen or so. That'll have to do." He looks down at the head of the walker, which was separated from its body. It starts moving and some of the women start to freak out. "Come on people, what the hell?" He aims his crossbow at the moving head, and hits it in the eye. I go over and remove the bolt from said eye, and hand it back to Daryl. He nods to me in a silent thank you as he wipes off the walker blood. "Its gotta be the brain." He clarifies to the group. "Don't ch'all know nothin'?" He says walking past the new guy towards the camp.
It's then that I notice that the new part of the group is someone I already know. My heart flutters, and I can feel my eyes watering as I bring my hand up to my mouth. If it's meant to prevent the sounds of my sobs from leaking out, then it did a horrible job. I launch myself into the arms of my twin, my brother. He embraces me in the best bear hug. I can't control the rivers seeping from my eyes.
"I knew it was you, Violet." He pulls back to look at my face and smiles. "Only you would keep that purple hair at a time like this." I giggle, as we pull apart. I wipe the tears from my face and we walk to camp behind everyone else. "Hey, Vi." He says to get my attention as I walk next to him.
"Yeah?"
"What's Daryl's temper like?" He asks me. I look to Daryl.
"I don't really know. I've never really seen him too upset. It's his brother that has a horrid temper." Rick gets quiet, and an awkward silence falls between us. I wonder why he's acting so weird, when I realize that Merle is nowhere to be seen. We get to camp as Daryl starts yelling out for Merle. I turn to my brother as he and Shane steps up to Daryl.
"Daryl?" Shane says, getting Daryl's attention. "Slow up a bit. I need to talk to you."
"'Bout what?" Daryl stands in the middle of camp. Just about everyone in the camp is quiet and listening to what's about to happen.
"'Bout Merle. There was a uh, there's a problem in Atlanta." Shane says. Daryl looks around the group, then back at Shane.
"Is he dead?" he's pacing now. I feel awful.
"Not sure." Shane replies.
"He either is or he ain't!" I'm actually getting a little confused, now. I turn to Rick, and he jumps into the conversation.
"There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just say it."
"Who're you?" Daryl asks.
"Rick Grimes." He looks over at me for a split second before turning back to Rick.
"Rick Grimes, you got something you wanna tell me?"
"Your brother was a danger to us all." I don't doubt for a second that Merle started up something with just about anyone who went on that mission to the city. "So, I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." I saw T-Dog across the camp. He's bringing a bunch of pieces of wood for our fires.
"Hold on." Daryl said, turning away from Rick and wiping at his face. I can't tell if he's wiping away tears or sweat. "Let me process this." He then turns back to Rick. "You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you left him there!?" I look down to the ground. This is a lot to process. I haven't seen Daryl this upset in all of the time I have known him. But I get it. If someone did the same thing to Rick, I would be pissed.
"Yeah" Rick says looking away from Daryl. I watch Daryl chew on his bottom lip as he steps back a little. I know what he's thinking of doing, so I step closer to Rick. Suddenly he throws all of the squirrels we gathered from his shoulder at Rick. Rick ducks out of the way, but Daryl starts coming at him. I grab Rick's arm to pull him away as Shane tackles the hunter to the ground.
"Hey!" T-Dog yells as he drops the pieces of wood and tries to come over to help. I notice that Daryl pulls out his knife as he stands.
"Watch the knife!" I say warning everyone. I like Daryl, but he needs to calm down so we can fix the situation. My brother dodges the first swipe of Daryl's knife. Rick releases his arm from my grasp. As Daryl tries to cut him, he grabs the hand holding the knife and twists it. Shane joins the fight to help restrain the rage-filled redneck. Daryl is now in Shane's choke hold, and Rick is in possession of the knife.
"Okay, okay." Shane says trying to calm Daryl down.
"You'd best let me go!" Daryl yells as he continues to try and fight.
"Nah! I think it's better if I don't." Shane replies. I watch as one of my newest friends is brought to the ground once again.
"Choke hold's illegal." Daryl says still trying to fight back. Why won't he just give up and calm down.
"Yeah, you can file a complaint." Finally I step in front of my brother and crouch down in front of Daryl.
"Come on, D. I know for a fact they can keep this up for as long as it is going to take for you to either calm down or pass out. I'm sure my brother would like to have a calm discussion with you." I said gesturing to Rick. He looks at me with those gorgeous blue eyes. "D'ya think we can manage that?" He doesn't answer as he looks away from me. "Do. You. Think we can manage that, Mr. Dixon?" He finally nods and Shane releases him from the choke hold. I stand up and back away. "I hope you have a good reason, Rick." I say as I cross my arms over my chest, and he takes my place crouching in front of Daryl.
"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others." Very true statement.
"It's not Rick's fault." We all look over at T-Dog. "I had the key. I dropped it."
"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl retorts.
"Well, I dropped it in a drain." Daryl scoffs at T-Dog's clarification. Slowly he stands up off the ground.
"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't." He walks around the outside of the semi-circle that formed as he stares down T-Dog.
"Well, maybe this will." Daryl halted his movement. "Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock." Daryl still doesn't look happy.
"It's gotta count for something." Rick jumps in. Daryl turns to him then back to T-Dog. For a second he makes eye contact with me. He wipes at his left eye with the back of his wrist. Again, I can't tell if he's crying or sweating into his eye.
"Hell with all y'all!" He gestures at everyone. "Just tell me where he is so's I can go get 'im." His voice was slightly cracking now. Other than Merle, and maybe me, Daryl didn't really have friends in this camp. Merle and him usually kept to themselves. I step up next to Rick.
"He'll show you." I look up at my brother, and he looks at me. "Isn't that right?" I know my brother too well. I knew he was planning to go back in to get Merle anyway. He wouldn't leave someone defenseless and trapped on a roof. No matter how awful said person is. Rick looks around the group before answering.
"I'm goin' back." He says, confirming my thoughts. I see Lori climb into the RV. I know she doesn't want to have him go away again, but it is just the way my brother is. He is a good person to the core. Daryl walks past everyone to gather some things to bring with him into the city. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief as they continue doing what they'd been doing before Daryl and I came back to camp. Rick heads to Lori's tent to get dressed, but I stay in the same spot. Shane walks up to me.
"Good job back there, Vi." I just look at him. "You really know how to calm down a redneck." He says with a sarcastic tone.
"Fuck you, Shane!" I yell storming away from him and entering the RV. Okay, let me explain. After my boyfriend and I broke up Rick thought it would be a good idea to set me up on a blind date with his partner from work. We went on a few dates, but it didn't really work out. Then, one day I was feeling down and I decided to call someone. You guessed it, Shane. We became friends with benefits for a while, until the day Rick was shot. As you remember, I pulled away from everyone at that point. Right now, I believe Shane is jealous that I'm closer with Daryl than I am with him.
"You okay, Vi?" Lori asks from her seat at the RV table.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I turn to Dale. "Hey, you still have those things I left here?" he looks at me like a deer in headlights for a split second before remembering what I was talking about.
"Oh, yeah." He walks across the RV and opens up a cabinet. He pulls out the small sketchpad and pencil, and he makes his way over to me. "Here you go. I promise you, no one touched it since you've been gone." I smile at him as I take my sketchpad and pencil from him. "Except for me." I look at him with wide eyes. "I'm sorry. I couldn't resist, and if I do say so myself you are very talented." I don't like when people, who aren't me, see my unfinished pieces. Just about every piece I've started since the world went to shit has remained unfinished. Even the portraits I have drawn of just about everyone in the camp.
"It's weird to think that my talents are even less useful now that the dead are walking." We laugh a bit as I exit the RV. Lori soon follows and goes to help Amy with something. I end up sitting by the unlit fire pit to do a little more sketching. I lose track of time until Rick comes out of Lori's tent in his Sherriff's uniform. I'm watching as he argues a bit with Shane when I feel someone else standing next to me. I look up at the person to see that it's Daryl. It seems like he's looking for something; another bolt for his crossbow maybe?
"Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?" I glare at Shane from my seat.
"Hey, choose your words more carefully." Daryl warns pointing a bolt at him.
"No, I did." He glances down at me for a split second before looking back at Daryl. "Douche bag's what I meant." Shane then turns his attention back to Rick. "Merle Dixon," He says quietly. "The man wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dyin' of thirst."
"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst. Me." I feel so proud of my brother. He's still the same. I wonder how long it'll last in the world that we're in now? "Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being." By this time Daryl has sat on the tiny seat next to mine, and he starts cleaning his crossbow and bolts with a rag.
"So, you and Daryl? That's your big plan?" Lori pipes in. Rick pauses and looks around at everyone who has come to see what his plan is. He sees Glenn and stops to give him a look. I smile and chuckle lightly, because I know what Rick wants the pizza delivery boy to do.
"Oh, come on?" Glenn is so not happy, and who can blame him?
"You know the way." Glenn takes off his hat as Rick continues. "You've been there before. In and out, no problem. You said so yourself." Glenn smooths his hair down then places his cap back on his head. "I know it's not fair for me to ask, I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too." Rick says gesturing to Lori.
"That's just great. Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?" Shane says.
"Four." T-Dog speaks up. Daryl looks between and behind us to where T-Dog is standing.
"My day just gets better and better, don't it?" Daryl scoffs.
"You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?" T-Dog spits back.
"Why you?" Daryl asks, still cleaning the bolts in his hand.
"You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language." T-Dog and Merle have never gotten along, so maybe he felt guilty for dropping the key.
"That's four." Dale says, stating the obvious.
"It's not just four." Shane steps in again. "You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp." He did have a point.
"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns." Rick says. This is when I stick my pencil close to the binding of my sketchpad, and I close it to pay a little more attention.
"Right, the guns." Glenn says as he steps forward.
"Wait, what guns?" Shane asks. I look to Rick as I wait for him to answer the question.
"Six shot-guns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up." Wow. How had no one thought to take the guns before evacuating the town?
"Ammo?" Shane asked.
"700 rounds assorted." Rick answers.
"You went through hell to find us." Lori says. Rick looks towards her. "You just got here, and you're gonna turn around and leave?" At least Lori had more time with him. I just came back a few hours ago. My brother sighs and looks to the ground. I know that he's going to go anyway. No matter what she says he'll find a reason to go back to the city.
"Dad, I don't want you to go." Carl says. That is just heart wrenching.
"To hell with the guns." Lori speaks up again. "Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in." Lori stands from her seat as Rick walks past me and towards her. "Tell me. Make me understand."
"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy." Lori looks a bit flustered and frantic. "Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn them."
"What's stoppin' you?" Lori asks.
"The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer."
"These are our walkies?" Shane asks.
"Yeah."
"So use the C.B. What's wrong with that?" I point out.
"The C.B.'s fine." Shane answers me. "It's the walkies that suck to crap. Date back to the 70s, don't match any other bandwidth. Not even the scanners in our cars."
"Well that's convenient." I say.
"I need that bag." Rick says. Lori looks to the ground in defeat as Rick kneels in front of Carl. "Okay?" My nephew thinks about it for a bit before nodding his approval. "All right." He pats Carl on the head. As he looks to me I nod my approval. Everyone dispersed. As Rick walked up to me I stand up with my drawing materials held in my arms, which are crossed in front of me. "I'm sorry I have to leave so soon."
"I guess it's okay, but only if you come back alive." I smile and jokingly punch him in the shoulder. He snickers a bit before heading over to the box truck that they plan to take into the city.
"So, he's your brother, huh?" asks the hunter from where he still sat. I sit back down before answering.
"Yup. That's my twin brother." I answer as I go back to my sketching.
"So which one of you is older?" I look over to him and smile.
"I am." Whenever I tell people that I am older than Rick they don't believe me. "By about three minutes."
"I guess you really wanted to get out of there." We both broke out into a fit of laughter. Suddenly my sketchpad is pulled away from me. I look towards the thief beside me.
"This is pretty good." I see that he is flipping through my sketches, and I grab my sketchpad back from him.
"Listen, Dixon, I don't even let my nephew look at this sketchpad."
"Why?" I just look at him.
"It's like looking into someone's diary." He looked a bit confused. "All of my thoughts, feelings, and insecurities are pumped into my work. I know others might not understand it, but I do. It's like being fully exposed to anyone who looks at it." He nodded his head showing that he understands at least a little bit. He stands up and heads towards the box truck without another word. Carol, Andrea, Jacqui, and Sofia, who start up a fire to cook something, soon join me. I don't really look at them. I just look down at the page in front of me.
It was the picture that I drew of him and his brother. I started it the night after meeting them. I always thought that their interactions with each other were interesting. It was like Daryl was a little puppy that followed Merle around and did everything his older brother told him to. But there was no adoration. Daryl didn't want to be Merle, well maybe in some aspects, but mostly he wanted to be different. It was like he was studying what his brother did and said, and was able to filter himself or change his demeanor. Yes they're brothers, and as Merle's brother he feels as if he has an obligation to love him. But, that doesn't mean that he likes everything that his brother does.
"Why the long face, Violet?" Asked the meek and frail woman across the fire from me. I look up at Carol and slap on a smile.
"It's nothing." I look back down at my sketchpad and turn the page to the vignette of Daryl. I am so happy he didn't get this far. This is probably my favorite piece in this whole sketchpad.
"Oh, I know for a fact it is not nothing." She replies and I look back at her. I close my sketchpad and fully turn towards the other people near me. "Any time someone gives that answer, especially women, they mean the opposite." I chuckle a bit before letting out a sigh.
"Well, I guess it's about Rick. I just got him back hours ago, and now I might lose him again." The women are quiet.
"I don't think that's all." Carol says. I look at her; confused. She looks at something behind me. The box truck's horn is pressed and I turn around to see Daryl in the back of the truck.
"C'mon, lets go!" He yells. I snap my head to look back at her.
"No." I deny her thoughts. "He's not really my type." It isn't a lie. My parents always pushed me towards guys that had a steady job, and were clean cut. I've never been interested in men like Daryl, at least not in a romantic way. But something about Daryl has always attracted me. I just haven't figured out what, yet.
"It's the end of the world." Jacqui pipes in. I look over at her. "It's okay to live a little. The abnormal has now become the norm, and who knows how long this whole dead people walking will last." She has a point. "It may never end." She sounds a bit sad as she says that last part in a quieter voice. I hear the door to the box truck shut and the engine rev. I turn back around as the vehicle drives away, hopefully we'll see that truck again with everyone alive and unharmed. Ha! Yeah right. Not in the type of world we live in now.
A/N: So, yes I am all over the place with my stories. I am sorry. I am in the Walking Dead/American Horror Story mood lately. I have had this story stuck in my head for a while, and this is just me actually typing it out and posting it. I hope you guys like it so far. I would love to read what you guys think about it so far.