Chapter 1.

Daryl and Lexi Dixon had been away from the camp, hunting, for a good twelve hours. They had managed to catch at least a dozen squirrel and they were now tracking the ultimate prize. The stag was beginning to falter due to blood loss and they were herding it towards camp. Suddenly the stag got one last burst of energy and took off in the direction of the quarry. Daryl looked across at Lexi and smirked, all they had to do was keep on its trail and hopefully it would fall close to the quarry and then they would eat like kings that night.

The brother and sister duo never said a word to each other on the trek back, both liking the comfortable silence that surrounded them in the woods. They were usually silent and distrustful of other people, and tended to let Merle do most of the talking, even if the outcome wasn't always pleasant for everybody concerned. They both knew that to the rest of the group. the Dixon clan were a bit of an enigma.

The eldest, Merle was tall, rough and loud. He had opinions on everybody and everything, and was not frightened to voice them . He was argumentative at best and violent at his worst. The group couldn't keep up with his constant mood swings, which his siblings knew were brought on by his habitual drug use, and so tried to avoid contact with Merle as much as possible. Neither Daryl nor Lexi ever stood up to Merle and always took his side in any disagreements with other members of the group. It wasn't that they approved of what he said, it was just that kin was kin and Merles' fists were quick to get that point across.

Lexi was the middle Dixon. She was ten years younger than Merle and three years older than Daryl. Both brothers were very protective of their sister in different ways. Merle was threatening towards any perceived insult or sexual advances against his sister. Lexi was sure it was more about Merle liking to fight than defending her honour. Daryl was much more supportive and caring of her, both emotionally and physically. Although none of them were into big public displays of affection, Daryl would squeeze her shoulder as he passed or catch her eye and smile at her, as a form of reassurance in a crowd. Lexi loved Merle, but she adored Daryl and was just as protective of him. They were more alike in both looks and personality and when Daryl had a growth spurt in his teens, people often mistook them for twins.

Daryl was the baby of the family. Merle never ceased to remind him of that fact by calling him 'baby brother' at every opportunity he got. He was also very quick to list all Daryls' shortcomings as he saw them. This brought out major insecurities with Daryl that often resulted in anger towards anybody who he felt had slighted or insulted him. Lexi was the exception to that rule, he took her criticism as constructive and always listened to her point of view. He knew that she would always have his back and just wanted the best for him. Lexi often told Daryl that he was a good and honest man and that he shouldn't take Merles' words to heart. She had cared for and believed in him since he could remember.

As the pair neared the camp, they could hear what sounded like a fight and they both hoped that Merle wasn't involved. As they broke into the clearing, the first thing they saw were the men of the group standing in a semi circle with their weapons raised as if to attack. The second thing they noticed was the dead stag and the remains of a walker that had obviously been enjoying a free meal. Daryls temper flared at the sight and he proceeded to kick and swear at the walker. Lexi watched the group as they took a step back from the irate redneck.

"Calm down son, that's not going to help." Dale, the eldest of the group said, in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

Daryl swirled round and was instantly in Dales face

"What do ya know about it old man, why don't ya take ya stupid hat an go back to On Golden Pond." He sneered.

Lexi didn't even try to hide the smirk on her face as she walked forward to stand next to her brother. Daryl crouched down next to the stag and examined the neck area where the walker had been chewing,

"Think we could cut round this chewed up area?" He asked hopefully, looking up at Lexi.

"I wouldn't recommend that." She answered with a slight smile on her lips.

"Damn shame, could have cooked us all up some venison for a change." He sighed.

Daryl then showed the group the string of squirrels that they had caught and muttered how they would have to do. With a quick jerk of his head, Daryl indicated that Lexi should follow him into camp and started to walk away shouting for Merle. The men watched Daryl depart silently and Lexi watched the men, that's when she noticed the new face amongst them. The man turned towards her as if he knew he was being watched and Lexi raised her eyebrow at him before pushing past them to follow Daryl into camp.

The group of men followed them out of the bushes and watched as the Dixons laid down their weapons on a nearby table. The rest of the camp stood nervously by the RV, everybody knew this was not going to go well. Shane took a few steps forward,

"Daryl...Lexi, hold up a second will you. It's about Merle. There was a problem in Atlanta."

The duo slowly turned round to face Shane,their expressions unreadable,

"what sorta problem?" Lexi asked, Daryl looked at all their faces before turning again to Shane and demanding "He dead?"

"We don't know." Shane admitted quietly.

At this statement, both of the siblings looked even more annoyed and slightly confused, "Either he is or he ain't." Daryl sneered.

"No easy way to say this,so I'll just say it."

Lexi quickly turned her head and saw the mystery man step forward.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

"Rick Grimes."

Daryl, who was getting more frustrated by the second, paced towards the man.

"Rick Grimes." He scoffed "You got something you wanna tell us?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

Lexi gave Rick a disgusted look before turning her attention to her brother. Daryl was pacing back and forth. He was clearly upset and Lexis heart broke a little as she noticed the tears in his eyes.

Daryl shouted angrily "let me process this, you saying you handcuffed our brother to a roof and you LEFT HIM THERE?"

Rick gave a guilty look as he answered "Yeah."

The next minute, all hell broke loose. Daryl threw the squirrels at Rick and went to attack him. All the men moved forward to help but stopped short when they found themselves facing the barrel of Lexis gun.

Shane made a grab for Daryl who by this time had his knife out and managed to get the youngest Dixon in a strangle hold.

As Rick crouched down to try and reason with Daryl, Lexi moved quietly to stand behind Shane, neither men were aware she was there until they heard the safety being taken off the gun and Lexis cold voice saying "You best let him go, choke holds are illegal."

Shane smirked as he said "So file a complaint." He soon stopped laughing though as he heard the soft click of the gun and Lexis voice next to his ear as she whispered "give me one more fucking reason, I dare you."

Rick could see that the situation was beginning to escalate, with a quick nod of his head at Shane, who released Daryl, he said "I just want a calm discussion about this, do you think we can manage that?"

Lexi put the safety back on the gun and knelt down beside Daryl. Rick noted that neither sibling put their weapons away, but that they both appeared to be listening to him.

"What I did was not on a whim, your brother does not work and play well with others." Rick explained. Just then another voice broke into the conversation.

"It's not Ricks fault, I had the key, I dropped it." Daryl and Lexi both looked up at T-Dog with astonishment on their faces.

"You couldn't just pick it up?" Lexi asked.

"Well I dropped it down a drain." T-Dog admitted.

Daryl dropped his head down and a small sob could be heard, Lexi on the other hand gave T-Dog a look of pure loathing as she gently stroked Daryls hair to comfort him. Daryl and Lexi both rose to their feet.

"If that's supposed to make us feel better, it don't" Daryl said.

"Well this might, I chained the door closed so the geeks can't get him." T-Dog replied as he looked to Rick for support.

"That has to count for something." Rick said, in what he hoped was a comforting voice.

Daryl and Lexi looked at each other before turning once again to the group.

"Y'all can go to hell." Lexi screamed at them, while Daryl stared directly at Rick as he said, "Just tell me where he is, so's I can go get him."

"He'll do better than that, he'll show you. Ain't that right Rick?" Lori, Ricks wife, answered bitterly before turning away and climbing into the RV.

Within a couple of hours the rescue party going back to Atlanta were nearly ready to depart. There had been a lot of discussions within the group about why anyone other than the Dixons should risk their lives to save Merle. Rick had argued about the humanitarian reasons and had also casually let slip the information about the bag of guns. Unfortunately he had been overheard by Lexi.

Biting back her anger, she had gone straight to Daryl with this information.

"I really think I should come with you to Atlanta. Those assholes don't care about Merle, they want to get the bag of guns, I could watch your back, help find Merle and then we can split outta here, taking the guns with us." Lexi argued.

Daryl shook his head "No Lexi, all our stuff is here, you need to keep it safe till we get back. Y'Know that Merle's going to be bringing vengeance back to camp, ya need to be ready to hightail outta here and then we can kiss these sons of bitches goodbye."

Lexi nodded, she knew that Daryl wouldn't take the guns off these people and leave them defenceless no matter how angry he was. She also knew that really he wanted her to be safe as there was no telling what mood Merle was going to be in when they found him.

As they walked side by side to the box van, Lexi turned to Daryl and said "Just be safe and get back as soon as you 't you dare leave me with these shits for too long. I can't promise what condition they'll be in when you get back, if you do."

As Lexi and the rest of the crowd watched them drive away, nobody had any idea how prophetic her words were.

TBC