A/N: This is going to be a Daryl/OFC and Merle/OFC story. I do not own The Walking Dead, pretty sure AMC does, I make no money off of writing this story (kinda wish I did, I could probably quit my day job if I did...). My hopes for this story are that it will be a slow burn. I think it starts kind of slow but you may not. Please enjoy and if you have the time leave a review, they make me write faster I promise.
Summary: The Dixons had known the Phillips girls their whole lives. Daisy and Poppy Phillips were the only two children of their little town's only doctor. Doc Phillips was a good man, and a great doctor, but terribly protective of his flower girls, and so he instilled a hatred for the two boys in the both of his girls, thinking them uncouth and not the sort of people he wanted around his darling girls. That all changes one fall day when the two boys happen upon a sight that makes their blood boil, a close friendship forms shortly after between the four children, and they remain friends through their adult years though they draw apart and the Phillips girls move away from Georgia. When the world ends the four friends seem worlds apart from each other, all of them worried for the others, none of them able to know that they move closer and closer to each other every passing day.
Prologue:
Dark red hair splayed across the sidewalk as the fifteen-year-old girl fought to get back to her feet. Her storm cloud colored eyes were filled with pain, but they flashed with determination as she staggered to her feet. All four of the boys were older than her, but they were big and slow, she could run. Her eyes flickered over to her ten-year-old sister and she threw that idea straight out the window. Poppy wasn't fast enough to outrun even these assholes.
"Get on home Poppette. Tell mama I'll be right there." Poppy shook her head violently, her strawberry-blonde hair flying every which way,
"No Dais... come home with me. Please..." the younger girl whimpered, her busted lip quivering as tears ran down her cheeks. White hot rage coursed through Daisy's veins and her normally thundercloud colored eyes turned near black with anger at the sight of the cut, and the rapidly forming bruise on her cheekbone, "Mama's making pot pie Dais, just come home with me." Poppy plead, her cornflower blue eyes shifting rapidly between the older boys and her big sister.
"Get home Poppy. Now, I'll be along soon. Make sure Daddy takes a look at that cut 'kay?" Poppy hesitated before turning and darting off towards the nicer part of the neighborhood and their home. Once Poppy was out of sight Daisy turned a murderous glare on the older boys,
"What, you dumbasses too cowardly to pick on someone yer own size so ya pick on a ten-year-old little girl?" Her daddy hated it when she didn't speak proper English but she was too pissed off to pick her words, and the thick southern drawl sounded harsh to her own ears. "The fact that, that ten-year-old is my baby sister makes that particular choice the worst you could have ever made." She spat. Daisy knew she was no match for these boys, but she figured she could put up enough of a fight, make enough noise, so someone came 'round to see what was going on, she just needed to buy time for Poppy to get home and tell her parents what was going on. She wasn't expecting two of them to grab her arms, one of them covering her mouth with his dirt covered hand, and dragging her off into the woods at the edge of the neighborhood.
She bit down on the hand across her mouth as hard as she could, grimacing as blood leaked into her mouth. The boy yelped and dropped her abruptly, but she didn't get the chance to scramble to her feet and take off before the weight of the biggest boy came crashing down on her ankle, hard. She screamed as the pain from her now broken ankle raced through her body. The sudden pain churned her stomach and she fought to keep herself from throwing up. Fists and booted feet rained down on her while she kept herself curled into as tight a ball as she could manage and used her arms to protect her face and head. A particularly vicious kick managed to get past her arms when she tried to shift to protect her cracked ribs and connected with her cheekbone. She felt it crack with the blow and stars exploded across her vision before everything faded to black. Sadly, it didn't stay that way for long. She came to with a gasp of pain as two of the boys pulled her to a kneeling position, one of them fisted a hand in her hair to keep her head up.
James Turner, the one who had broken her ankle, sauntered forward, his hands on his belt buckle, slowly undoing it. Her vision blurred with tears as she realized what was getting ready to happen to her, and she heard his next words as though she was under water,
"You got a smart mouth bitch, let's see if it's goo-" He was cut off by an agonized scream from on of the seventeen-year-olds holding her. Her body sagged and hit the ground with a dull thump as the other boy dropped her and took off towards the neighborhood. She heard scuffling noises, a yelp or two before two sets of strangely familiar boots swam in front of her eyes.
"She don't look too good Merle, we should take her to the hospital."
"Her daddy's the town Doc, they need to know what happened for the cops come looking for her and blame us fer this." She whimpered as a pair of muscled arms lifted her from the ground. Her vision focused enough for her to get a good look at her savior, if she hadn't been so out of it she would have laughed. Merle and Daryl Dixon. Her daddy had always told her and Poppy to avoid these boys like the plague, it stuck her as highly amusing that the Sheriff's son was the one who had put her in this predicament, and the two most dangerous boys in the town were the ones to save her. Her eyes fluttered shut only to snap back open at the sound of her name, "Don't you dare go to sleep Daisy girl, you probably got a concussion, you gotta let yer daddy look you over for you can catch some shuteye." Merle's voice was soft, almost gentle. Another thing she might laugh at later,
"Thank... you..." She rasped, letting her head rest against his bare shoulder. The older boy looked down at her where unfocused grey eyes watched him silently. His cheeks heated and he looked away from her back towards the road they were walking down,
"Nothin' ta thank me for Daisy. I jus' wish Daryl and I had gotten there sooner." He kept talking to her to keep her awake on their walk to her house. Once there, Daryl knocked and Daisy's mother opened the door and almost screamed at the sight of her daughter laying limp in Merle Dixon's arms. Daryl had stepped back so Merle would be able to go in first, but his crossbow was slung over his shoulder.
"Oh my god! Daisy! Michael come here now!"
"I'm on the phone with the Sheriff right now, he's sending people out to look for Daisy."
"Michael, Daisy's here! The Dixon boys have her on the front porch and she needs medical attention, I swear to god if you don't get you butt over here, I'm going to smack you so hard your ancestors are gonna sit up and ask what happened!" She shouted as she ushered the boys into the house. Michael Phillips walked around the corner; his cell phone still pressed to his ear. It clattered to the floor when he saw the state of his eldest daughter.
"What happened?" He demanded, walking over to the boys and his daughter,
"James Turner and a few of his friends Doc. We think they dragged her into the woods and beat her, Daryl and I heard her scream and went lookin' we got there in the nick of time too, Turner was getting ready to rape her, I think. He didn't get too far because Daryl put a bolt in one of his buddies, we tied him to a tree for we brought her home. Pretty sure she's got a broken ankle, some cracked ribs and probably a concussion. I been talking to her to keep her awake just in case." Merle let Daisy's dad take her from him, though he didn't look too happy about it.
"Daisy, can you speak?"
"Yea da."
"Is that what happened?"
"Yea, I was so scared daddy... but they went after Poppette first..." She whimpered, tears tracking down her cheeks,
"Her cheekbone is at least fractured as well. We need to get her to the hospital Kelly. You boys need to come with us, the police will need to get statements from you as well. It'll be at least twenty-four hours before they can get Daisy's statement. Kelly, you better let the Sheriff know that we will be pressing charges." Kelly's eyes had gone hard as steel at the telling of the incident, she picked up her husband's cell phone from where it had fallen on the ground,
"Did you hear all that Sheriff Turner?" She paused as she listened to what the Sheriff had to say, "Your boy attacked both of my daughters! Poppy has a split lip and a bruised cheekbone; Daisy looks like she's been through a car accident!" Her expression went from aggravated to thunderous at whatever the Sheriff had to say next, "I don't fucking care if it is the Dixon boys that brought her home, Daisy confirmed that it was your boy and some of his friends that attacked her! Yes, I know their history but I also know that their momma taught them better when it comes to treatin' women right, obviously you ain't taught your boy the same. Good-bye Sheriff, you'll be hearing from our lawyer within the week." She angrily jabbed the end call button and slipped the phone back into her husband's pocket. "That man, I swear, callin' our Daisy a liar." She fumed for a moment before turning to their guests with a sheepish smile on her face, "Sorry 'bout my language boys. Michael and I are goin' to take Daisy to the hospital, would you mind comin' along so the police can get statements from ya?"
"Won't they need parent consent for Daryl's?" Merle asked quietly, if that was the case then Daryl was going home and Merle would be giving his statement, neither of them wanted to get their father involved in this, especially since the man hated Doctor Phillips, and by extension his whole family, after the man had been unable to do any thing to save their mother.
"Oh, lordy no! If that was the case then the police would never get anywhere on child abuse cases." Both boys breathed a sigh of relief, which did not go unnoticed by Kelly, her eyes narrowed slightly but she didn't say anything as she helped Michael get Daisy into their van, "You boys can either sit in the very back seat or if you want you can sit in the floor in front of Daisy so she doesn't move as much." Both chose to sit in front of Daisy, Merle threw his arm across her stomach and Daryl threw his across the tops of her thighs to help keep her in place.
Once at the hospital Daisy was admitted almost immediately, one of the perks of being a Doctor's daughter. They found out later that most of her body was bruised, on of her wrists was badly strained, her ankle was broken but the bone in her leg was also fractured. Two of her ribs were broken, another three were fractured. Her cheekbone was broken as well and she had a moderate concussion. Michael Phillips looked steadily more murderous as the list of injuries went on, Merle was actually afraid for James Turner, though whatever he got, it was definitely coming to him. Merle's father was an abusive bastard, but he would never even dream about hitting his mother, let alone do something like this to her, at least not before she had died, he wasn't so confident in that thought now.
He and Daryl gave their statements to the Sheriff's Deputy since the Sheriff had been removed from the case when his own son was implicated in the assault and attempted sexual assault of Daisy Phillips. Three days later when Daisy was feeling up to it, she gave her own statement and then asked her parents to leave her and the Dixon boys alone. Though hesitant, both of them left with little argument,
"When I'm healed, I want y'all to teach me to fight." Merle's brows furrowed slightly,
"Your daddy's signing you and Poppy up for self-defense classes once you get healed up, why do ya want us to teach you how to fight?"
"Cause, I need to know how to fight dirty, self-defense is great and all but it might not help in certain situations where I'm outnumbered by bigger and stronger opponents." Merle grinned and glanced over at his baby brother, who was fighting a smirk himself,
"You got it Daisy-chain, just don't expect us to go easy on ya."
"Wouldn't dream of it, Merle." He blinked rapidly for a moment in shock, that was the first time she had ever used his given name.
It took Daisy months to recover fully, physically at least. Psychologically was a different story entirely, she spent the next three years in therapy, which made her life a little difficult, she had to fight to join the military, but she managed it. Two years into her first four and the unthinkable happened. Her childhood home caught fire and her parents perished, forcing the twenty-year-old young woman home to care for her fifteen-year-old sister, who had not been home the night of the fire. A year later and it was found out that the fire had been set on purpose, thought the culprit was never found. Both Daisy and Poppy had their suspicions.
After Poppy turned eighteen and went off to college, Daisy returned to the Coast Guard, rising quickly through their ranks and becoming one of their best snipers; Poppy earned dual Masters in Art and English, she became their hometown's most loved Art teacher, and English tutor. Both of them kept in touch with the Dixon brothers, their friendship still strong even after they separated physically. And then, the world ended.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Daisy snarled to herself as she twisted the knob of her sister's house, locked, of course. The gunshots behind her made it difficult to focus on remembering where her keys were.
"Fuck, I don't have time for this!" She snapped, and slammed her shoulder into the flimsy wooden door. It gave way under the pressure and she tumbled into the room, barely keeping her balance. Poppy's cornflower blue eyes widened almost comically as Daisy tumbled into her living room, wearing her full uniform, a uniform she was quickly realizing was covered in blood and other things that she really didn't want to think about. "Poppy, get a bag, pack only necessities and grab daddy's guns. We don't have much time." Daisy commanded, her chest heaving from the run that she had done to get here,
"What?"
"Just do it Poppy, we really don't have time for me to explain. Get all the ammo as well as the guns. Momma's hunting bows too."
"Commander! We can't hold them off much longer!"
"Go Poppy!" She snapped as she spun, pulling her handgun from its' holster and began firing at the horde of walking dead behind them. Poppy came back down five minutes later with two bow cases, four completely filled quivers, and their father's rifle bag. Her camping pack hung from her shoulders.
"I got everything Daisy, what's all this about."
"Guys, form up, back to back, keep Poppy in the middle." Poppy found herself surrounded by the four soldiers, and unable to see anything, her ears were ringing due to the fact all four of them kept firing at an unseen enemy as they moved.
"Williams, go start the van, Parker, hop up top and man the gun. Jacobs, get Poppy in the back and guard her with your life, she dies, you better already be dead when I get to you." Poppy was helped into the van by the youngest of the four, he was drenched in sweat and his eyes were wide with fear. Daisy covered the rest of her men until the van started moving. She swung herself up into the back and dropped into one of the seats, sweat plastered her hair to her temples were it had escaped the rather severe bun she had put it in this morning.
"What the hell is going on Daisy?!" Poppy leaned forward and leveled a glare on her older sister, who had her eyes locked on the canvas "doors" of the van.
"The dead started walking. Government thinks it's a viral weapon. We're taking you to the safe house in Atlanta and then we'll go where ever our orders take us." Daisy spared a glance at her sister and sighed before she turned her gaze back to the doors, "Poppy, I had to beg to be able to come get you. Please don't fight me on this. I could be Court Marshalled if I don't follow orders to a tee." Poppy opened her mouth to complain, but all that came out was a shocked screech as they were all thrown into each other as the van came to a sudden stop.
"Commander Phillips! We have a problem." Williams shouted back, Daisy popped her head out of the van and growled when she saw ten cars stopped behind them. She stepped out of the van and walked toward the front as Williams stepped out of the cab.
"For fucks sake!" She snarled; cars were backed up for miles ahead of them.
"We won't be able to get through in time to make our rendezvous Commander."
"Radio ahead and see if they can get the interstate cleared for military transport. If not, there's an old service road that leads through an abandoned rock quarry about half a mile up, we might have to go off road for a minute, but we should be able to get through this."
"Yes ma'am." Williams climbed back into the caravan to do as he was told as a few bystanders started towards the caravan.
"What's going on?"
"Why is everything stopped?"
"Are we safe here?" Daisy glared at the group of civilians,
"I'm not at liberty to say exactly what is going on. Get back in your vehicles and remain there for the time being, I'm sure we'll be moving again shortly." Her eyes flickered to the window of the van where she could see Williams on the radio. He seems agitated, though that was to be expected in this sort of situation. Williams and her had been in boot camp together, they'd both gone through sniper training but he had washed out due to his glasses. She flinched as he slammed the radio back into its' holster and seemed to curse violently.
"Commander..." He paused at the sight of the civilians still gathered around her and she turned a steely glare on them,
"Back to your vehicles, now!" Her voice boomed across the space, causing some of them to flinch before they scrambled away, her gaze turned back to Williams, and she stepped closer to him so he wouldn't have to talk so loudly,
"The refugee center in Atlanta has been overrun, that's all I got before the radio went silent. No one is answering. What do you want us to do? We can abandon the van and make our way to the quarry on foot or..."
"We aren't abandoning the van. This thing is tough right?"
"Practically indestructible, why?"
"Get in, start it, blow the horn. If they don't move, move them."
"Commander!"
"Williams, we have a civilian with us, my main concern is her, my own life is second to hers'. I promised our parents that I would keep her safe, I swore it at their graves. I won't go back on that promise. Get us out of here." She spun and climbed back into the van as Williams got back in and started it up. The engine revved and the horn screamed before he put in drive and started forward. People scrambled back into their cars and started to move. It was slow going but they managed to get through to the service road without anyone getting hurt. Her personal radio crackled lightly before Williams' voice came over it,
"We got some following us."
"Ten-four, let them, we won't be staying in the quarry very long, just long enough to take stock of what we have and where the next safe house is supposed to be. Over"
"Ten-four Commander." They stopped when they got to the bottom of the quarry and all five of them left the van.
"Daisy..."
"Poppy, not right now okay? We need to figure out where the next refugee center is." She huffed, ignoring the tugging on her shirt sleeve.
"Daisy!"
"What?!" She snapped and turned toward the strawberry blonde. She pointed at the edge of the group of civilians that had followed their van,
"Are they who I think they are?" She asked in a small voice, directing Daisy's gaze to the motorcycle that was parked at the very edge of the group. She frowned and stepped forward to get a better look.
"I think they are. Williams, Parker, Jacobs; talk to the civilians, make sure they have food and water, clothing, other necessary supplies, Poppette and I have some old friends to greet."
"What about weapons Commander?" She shook her head,
"If they've got them, fine, but don't give any of ours out. They touch my sniper rifle and I'll kill them." The three soldiers nodded and dispersed into the crowd while Daisy and Poppy ambled over to the two men standing next to the motorcycle.
"Daryl and Merle Dixon. There are some faces I wasn't expecting to see ever again." She let her heavy southern drawl leak into her voice as she spoke, stopping about six feet away from them. Both rednecks whirled to face them, the shock on their faces was comical,
"Daisy-chain, Poppette!" Merle shouted, covering the distance between them in three large strides to pick both of them up in a hug. Daryl walked over, a little more sedated, and hugged them both individually. His hug with Daisy lasted longer as he buried his face in her neck,
"Jesus, I missed you girl." He muttered lowly. Daisy let her guard drop enough to hug him back just as tightly, her eyes slipped shut so both of them missed the look that flashed between their older and younger siblings. All was right in their worlds with the four of them back together.
A/N: Twelve pages, four thousand words and one giant headache later, and you have the Prologue for Flowers at the end of the world. I hope you guys enjoy it, otherwise I might cry. Now I did a little bit of research on the Coast Guard, they do have female Snipers so there's that, one of their Ranks is Commander, but honestly that's all I looked up, considering it won't be important for much longer. Any way, reviews make me write faster so give them to me please! I'll make you some virtual sugar cookies!