AN: new story :) let me know what you think. Trigger warning for child abuse.

I do not own or profit from The Walking Dead

Chapter 1

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Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you, where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me

You found me~ The Fray

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"Dumb Daryl, Dummy Daryl, Duh Daryl."

Daryl Dixon slumped his shoulders, walking past the group of kids. Keeping his eyes to the ground he ignored them, only wanting to get out of town, head out to the woods. Where he was free. At twelve years old, school felt like a prison.

"That's not nice Abe, leave him alone." He heard one of the kids, Glenn Rhee he was pretty sure, say to Abe, the red headed asshole. "Besides, you wouldn't want his big brother finding out you said that."

Merle was the only reason that most of the kids left him alone, they were scared of his older brother's reputation more than anything else. When Merle was around that is. Merle had been gone for a month now. Daryl had no idea where. Just that Merle had left him. Left him again. To deal with Daddy.

Daryl flexed his little shoulders, flinching as memories of the previous night came flooding back to him. Daddy had been mad, and drunk and mean. Nothing new there.

"How's he gonna tell him? He can't say shit. He's too dumb to say shit." Abe sneered laughing but from the look on his face Daryl was sure that the redhead was starting to regret his decision to tease Daryl.

Merle, when he was around was viciously protective of his little brother. Especially given the fact that Daryl had never been able to speak. The doctors hadn't known what to make of him. He'd just never learned to speak. He'd tried god knows he'd tried. There were times when Daryl would run threw the woods and try to scream. But nothing would come out past his lips. Not a sound. It was why he became his daddy's favourite punching bag. He would never make a noise, when the old man's fist would rain down on him. A specialist might have helped, not like his parents could afford a specialist. Up until he'd started school he'd been written off as deaf and dumb. But he wasn't deaf, he could hear very well. Only Merle had penetrated his world of silence. Learning to read the little gestures that Daryl made. They had developed their own form of communication.

When he'd started school, he'd been placed in a special class. Daryl had known what that meant too. Heard Merle grumbling about his brother weren't no idiot. But in that class he'd found Miss Jackie, his special ed teacher. She'd realized that he wasn't deaf, and that he was in fact more intelligent then every other child in the school.

Miss Jackie had suspected from the beginning, but iq tests had confirmed it. "You're a genius Daryl." She'd said almost in awe, as she'd reviewed the scores with him. She'd quickly started giving him advanced work. He'd never gone back to the regular classroom, and he preferred it that way, fact was, he was to far ahead of the rest of the kids his age. He was only twelve but working on high school work.

Miss Jackie had also taught him American Sign Language. A lot of good it did him. No one else in the town knew how to sign. But she learned it with him, although she despaired the fact that the rural country lifestyle prevented him from going to a special school. For the gifted. He'd only rolled his eyes at that. No way his daddy would pay for that. Not when it would cut into his drinking money. The old man hated him anyway. Blamed him for the depression that had taken momma four years ago, it had started when he was born. Merle told him she'd felt guilt for drinking when she was pregnant, and smoking, and getting the shit beat out of her on a regular basis. Thought she was to blame for Daryl's inability to speak. Blamed herself until the point she couldn't live with the guilt. She'd overdosed on booze and pills.

Old Doc Greene had told him once he suspected that Daryl had bleed into the part of his brain controlled speech, Broca's Area, when he was still a baby inside his momma' belly. Permanently damaging that part of his brain. "None of this is your fault son...none of it."

"Uhh he can still write you idiot, and he can hear too. I heard Miss Jackie talking she said Daryl is a genius." Glenn whispered as Daryl passed them by.

"Pfft... if he's so smart why can't he talk..heyyy!" Abe yelled, as Daryl kept walking while flipping him the bird.

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His daddy died two days later.

Daryl had been out in the woods, Daddy didn't spend much time at home now anyway, and he sure as hell didn't care where Daryl was. He could smell the smoke before he even realized what had happened.

Coming cautiously out of the woods he saw the crowd gathered around the Dixon homestead, heard the sirens, the flashing lights. He saw Miss Jackie in the crowd staring up at his burning house, her face crumbled in fear. Tears rolling down her cheeks.

He'd quietly made his way to her through the crowd, tapping her hand, she'd turned and fallen to her knees. "Oh Jesus!" She muttered, gathering him into a hug. "We thought you were in there..." she pulled back and wiped her face. "We thought you were in there with your daddy." She signed to him.

Daryl stared in the house in shock. "He's gone?" He signed, and she nodded. "Yes sweetheart. I wish I was sorry, but ..." she grimaced not finishing her words. Miss Jackie knew all about his daddy, and the scars he would leave. Daryl knew she'd gone to the principal, the superintendent, the sheriff, hell the county judge to try to get him taken out of his house and away from his father's wrath. But unless Daryl would come forward himself no one would take her seriously, and Daryl knew that his daddy would make good on his threat to hurt anyone he cared about if he told. Daddy had threatened Merle and Miss Jackie.

But now Daddy was gone. Miss Jackie had taken him home to her house. He'd fell asleep on her couch. For the first time, in a long time he'd felt safe.

Three days later he'd awoken to Merle sitting in the kitchen with Miss Jackie. Somehow Merle had heard the news about Daddy and had come home.

Miss Jackie had offered, well begged Merle to let Daryl stay with her. She had no family, no children. She felt Daryl deserved some stability. More than Merle could give him. Daryl had sat in the hallway listening to them argue, his hands to his ears, as they decided his future. Merle being Merle had refused.

" He's my blood, my responsibility." Merle had snapped.

Jackie had been livid. "Where was your responsibility to stop your father from beating that poor baby on a daily basis."

He'd heard Merle slump to the chair. "I didn't know...l.."

"Umm sorry Sugar...it was never your fault. You were a kid. Lord knows I tried to get him out of that house. But I'm just a bleeding heart single woman in this town apparently and your father has friends...had friends...we both failed Daryl" She whispered with a sigh.

"Daryl's smart Merle. Smarter than you and I can only dream of. He deserves a chance. If you do this...do it right. It's not about you."

"I know".

There had been insurance money surprisingly enough. Enough for Merle to buy a house outside of town, and a small garage. Merle had apparently been away at school earning his mechanic diploma. Jackie had argued with Merle about living so far out of town, that Daryl would isolate himself even further, but Merle more than anything knew his brother. Knew he needed space.

He'd graduated high school when he was fourteen. There was no articles in the paper about him. Daryl doubted anyone in town knew the truth. They probably assumed dumb Daryl had dropped out. In actuality he'd started university online.

Computer sciences had seemed like a logical choice. It wasn't his first love, but it was easy to work from home. The woods would always be his first love. Software developing had come easy, he'd made a name for himself within the first few years. Money had become less and less of a problem. He and Merle had built on to their house, until they had a relative mansion in the woods with luxuries he'd never thought possible. None of that mattered to him. He'd created a program, one program that got him the attention of the government. Now he worked as a consultant for the government, designing software and hardware. He was currently creating monitoring systems for the national park. The transmitters he was currently working on gave him the perfect excuse to get out into the woods for testing.

He was pretty sure most of the town thought he was living off of Merle's charity, when in actuality it was probably the complete opposite. The house he and Merle now lived in was pretty luxurious, compared to the rest of the town. Not that anyone would knew that, no one came to visit them. Merle tended to keep his hookups away from the house, although lately he'd been on Daryl's case about getting out. Jackie had passed away from cancer five years ago, he had no desire to go into town for anyone else. He was happy, or at least content. He had his work, he had his house, Merle. He didn't need anything else.

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Well this was not the way to make a good first impression. Carol huffed as she stopped to take a drink from her water bottle. First day of her new job tomorrow and at this rate she was not going to make it. She was going to still be lost, in this freaking woods.

After a week of moving into her new place, and preparing for her new job as a special education teacher, she'd needed some air. A hike had seemed like the perfect way to unwind. But at this rate she was still going to be finding her way out of the woods instead of at school tomorrow.

"Ok, no need to loose it. This is not that hard." She huffed to herself. She'd been hiking for a half hour at most. How in the hell had she managed to get so lost?

"I won't have to worry about loosing my job, I'll be dead." She groaned. Now she was being dramatic. Andrea was the principal at the school, she wasn't going to fire her, she'd practically begged Carol to move here, after her divorce. A fresh start she'd called it. Some fresh start, they'd probably never find her rotting corpse.

Ok enough time wasted feeling sorry for herself. Carol took a few steps, and that's when she'd heard it. The water.

The town had a small river that flowed through it. She'd simply follow the water. Perfect.

It took longer than she expected to find her way to the water. She'd always been light on her feet, which had equated to her been quick but today it let her go unnoticed. She broke through the trees, and that was when she saw him.

The man was a small cliff overlooking the water. The river was so beautiful it would have taken her breath away any other day. But not today. She exhaled a soft breathe. He looked to be around the same age as her, probably around thirty years old. He was staking something into the ground. It was a hot day, and she watched as he stood, the stakes in his hand. He set them down, grabbed a bottle of water, and drank from it, then let some run over his head. Her mouth dropped open when he pulled the t shirt he was wearing up and over his head. Time to let him know she was here. Instead of standing here gaping like a pervert, she thought. She gasped as he turned his scarred back on display. He turned in surprise obviously hearing her. He seemed to take a step back on instinct.

"Look out!" She shouted but it was too late she watched with horror as he stumbled backwards over the cliff.