Summary: Six years after the demise of Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon is struggling to cope with the grief of losing the brother he had. But what happens when he stumbles upon a lone Spanish family, where one of which is related to Negan? Daryl/OC. Co – Written with WalkingPotterGirl14.

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Brave New World

Chapter 4


Carlos had started his day by harvesting the apples from the two apple trees that Hilltop had growing and put them in a basket. He worked alongside Eduardo who was friendly. He was working as a guard usually for Hilltop but because they had a short stack of people, he doubled.

His brother had stormed off earlier in a foul mood because he had gone with the herd patrol team to dispatch a small herd of thirty walkers that were coming towards Hilltop. Needless to say, he wasn't happy and had made it clear that he hated it here.

"So, did you and your family live in Virginia before this happened, Carlos?" Eduardo asked curiously. Carlos looked lost in thought as he remembered his life before this.

"Yeah, our family lived on a farm. We lost a lot of friends to the Outbreak. Our mother was long dead before this happened, but our dad got killed by a walker in the early stages," Carlos explained grimly, not mourning for his father in the least.

As far as he was concerned, Miguel Garcia could burn in hell for what he had done to him and Emilia. The old bastard had always preferred Dante and Lucia over them, spoiled them and fussed over them while making Emilia and Carlos do the chores and help on the farm.

His scars itched. He scratched his back quickly as they walked over to the indoor kitchen where Agnes and Emma were working on preparing lunch.

"Got the first batch of apples here, ready to be turned into apple butter, apple cider and apple jam. Beth wants it's all done by the next two weeks," Eduardo said pleased. The two women smiled and nodded as they heard gunshots in the distance.

Specifically, a shotgun being fired.

"Who the hell is shooting? The herd patrol only uses melee weapons, so they won't attract walkers," Eugene asked alarmed.

"Goddamnit," Carlos growls. He runs forward to the gates, dropping the basket of apples. He quickly steps out and saw that Dante had his shotgun in hand, aiming at a group of walkers. Another shot rang out. Once it was done, Carlos ripped the gun from the man's hands.

"The fuck?!"

"You listen to me," Carlos growls. "They told you rules! You're supposed to follow those goddamn rules. With your shotgun, that could have just attracted a whole herd to us! You need to once think about others!" He slams the handle of a knife into Dante's hand. "Use this. You'll need it. End of discussion."

He storms back inside with the shotgun feeling Dante's overwhelming glares on his back. "Everything alright?" Eugene asks.

"It's fine." He sighs and walks back towards the mansion. "One of the leaders in there? I have to talk to them about Dante." Eduardo nods.

"Pretty sure Beth is. She's upstairs."

Carlos nods. He needed to let her know what the hell was up with Dante. It was never-ending.


As soon as she stepped inside the trailer, Lucia felt like she was in heaven. She took back all of the supplies that she knew she would need and even stole some extra food for herself. The rest of these people looked like they had plenty. She was so sick of people trying to control her.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Lucia spins around to see one of the residents glaring at her. "Who the hell are you?" She mutters.

"Kelly."

"Well, Kelly. I'm just collecting my portions, is all. I'm new here."

"Portions aren't-"

"Listen here, you bitch." Lucia takes out her knife. "I'm living in a hell hole here. This is the worst place I could imagine myself being stuck in safely right now. So, I am going to take this food and these supplies and be damn happy, and there is not a damn thing you will do because I will fucking end you," she growls.

Kelly raises her hands in the air. "Just leave." Lucia nods and then heads back to her house, slamming the door behind her. Kelly shakes her head. "Fucking bitch."


As Daryl and Emilia rode back to Hilltop, Emilia spotted smoke rising from the distance. She quietly reaches over and taps Daryl's shoulder, showing him the way towards the smoke. "What is that?"

"Could be trouble."

"Could also be people who need help." Daryl gives her a look. The look she got all the time from everyone in her family. She gave too many people credit, but she couldn't help it that she felt the need to help people. "Look, I know it's crazy, but those people could seriously be in danger. It's worth a shot, please? If they are, I'll take total responsibility."

Daryl looks at her for a moment longer before rolling his eyes. Then, he turns the horses in the direction of the scent of smoke. Emilia smiles a bit and follows the smell, guiding them through trees. Once they turn a corner, she spots it.

There were blown down gates and houses that looked like they had been set on fire. Some were still burning. The towns were riddled with blood and gore and there were walkers that were tumbling around here and there. No herds, not yet, anyway. But there were enough that Daryl knew it wasn't wise to go in there.

"Jesus, someone fucking nuked this place," he mumbles. Emilia steps off the carriage. "The fuck are you doing?"

"I told you. People might need help." A walker stumbles up to her and she stabs it in the head. "You stay here and guard the food. I'll look around." Before he could even protest, she was already walking down the street. Daryl curses but sits back. Goddamn woman.


While he stayed back there, Emilia looked into each and every house that wasn't on fire. Burned bodies lay inside, some completely torn apart by walkers or by something else. She kept looking and looking, feeling her heart drop each time. Whoever had done this had wiped them out good.

"…help!"

Emilia's brow furrows as she looks around. There was a banging coming from an underground storage unit from one of the houses. It was on the door. Emilia quietly walks over and listens again.

"Help! Please, somebody!"

Emilia looks down to see that the whole entire door had been locked using a crowbar. She pulls it out and rips open the door, looking down at what was inside. She felt her heart sink.

In there were two kids. One looked like she was maybe around Judith's age, maybe a little younger. The other one was no more than a couple years old. And looked ill.

"Please, we were locked down here and they took…took and killed everyone and my brother got sick, but he's not bit and…and I don't know what to do," the girl sobs. "Everyone's gone."

Before Emilia could say anything to comfort her, the young girl pulled up her left shirt sleeve up, revealing a large scratch that had been made from a walker. She felt her heart drop.

"Please, promise me that you and that man will look after my baby brother, please?" she pleaded imploringly, her light blonde hair falling in her eyes. Emilia nodded sadly.

She pulled her knife out and sat by the young girl's side as she succumbed to the infection. She stabbed her in the back of the head, before surveying the scene. The walkers were no danger, but she certainly couldn't stay here long with how this boy was.

Jesus Christ, how the hell had walkers been able to breach the walls of this safe zone? It was like everyone inside the walls had turned and bitten the other residents.

She shook her head, and stabbed the young girl in the head, before looking around for Daryl. Fuck, she'd told him to stay in the wagon. Idiot, she was. She only meant for him to watch the supplies but there were a lot more walkers than she had seen.

She noticed a few walkers starting to enter the safe zone, probably attracted to the noise that had been going on. She pulled out her bow and fired an arrow at the walker nearest to her, seeing it collapse on the floor.

"Emilia, c'mon!" Daryl yelled quickly, covering her and the little boy who was clinging to her tightly, as if his life depended on it. She hurried over, still holding onto the little boy.

She looked at where the body of the young girl laid on the grass, partially hidden from the walkers. There wasn't anything she could do, as there were too many of the monsters. Fuck, she hadn't even asked the girl what the boy's name was. Maybe he could speak once he felt better.

She quickly got into the wagon and held onto the little boy who looked around tiredly. Some of the walkers started stumbling away from them.

Emilia sighed in relief and looked at Daryl apologetically. She'd pretty much gone against him and put the two of them at risk, as Carlos would say. Dante and Lucia would just say mean things for her saving someone.

"How old is that little boy?" Daryl asked quietly. Emilia sighed sadly and glanced at the sleeping face of the boy.

"Three or four. His sister got scratched by a walker and asked me to take him back with us. I put the sister down after she fell unconscious. I'm sorry that I put us at risk," Emilia apologized ashamed. Daryl had every right to be angry with her.

Daryl shook his head at her words. He just didn't like the fact that Emilia had gone by herself into the abandoned safe zone.

"The wagon wasn't gonna go anywhere," he says to her quietly. "Just next time, let me come with ya. Never know what the hell can be in these places. After we get this kid checked over, we're gonna have to check that safe zone in case it was done by a group," Daryl said grimly, as they saw a few walkers in the distance.

He took care of the first few, while Emilia dealt with the last walkers. They found a birthing center. It didn't look like anyone had thought to scavenge this place when things had gotten bad. They stopped the wagon, and Emilia gave the little boy a bottle of water that he drank greedily. She felt his forehead and quickly deduced that he hadn't had any fluids for the last three days, which was why he was so ill.

"They might have the forceps in this clinic. Do you want to check it out after we come back from the Hilltop?" she asked quietly. Daryl nodded silently, and they rode back to Hilltop.

Kal let them through the wooden gates, as they rode the wagon into the community, before getting out. Daryl got the horses out, while Emilia saw to the young boy in the medical trailer.

She hooked him up to an IV, so he could have fluids and knew Enid could do this. She had learnt from Siddiq about medicine. She had seen her once and saw how young she was but had plenty of ability. She looked sadly at the boy who had lost his sister and went to join Daryl.

"The kid gonna be alright?" Daryl asked quietly, his piercing blue eyes regarding her with concern. Emilia smiled faintly as she stood next to him after washing her hands.

"He's dehydrated and exhausted, but he should pull through. I had to put down his sister, Daryl. She'd been scratched and was in denial," Emilia said finally. Daryl looked at her sadly as they saw Dante heading into the house he shared with Lucia, holding a bottle of whisky.

'God, her brother had to drink' she thought bitterly as they started unloading the wagon of the supplies that they had managed to find at the hospital. The blankets and towels were taken to be placed with bedding and sheets, while the incubator was placed in the trailer next to the medical trailer. The medicine was locked up in the medicine cabinet.

"You'd have to be pretty stupid if you want to have kids in a world like this. I mean who the hell in their right mind would have babies? They're only a burden and will bring down walkers onto you," Lucia asked annoyed as she went to the house she shared with Dante. "You should have just left the kid!" she yells out at Emilia before slamming the door. Alden sighs before walking over to the cabin.

"Hey, Emilia…Beth is wandering if she could talk to you, Agnes, Daryl and Carlos about...Dante?" Alden asked quietly, looking at her apologetically. Emilia knew her eldest brother had done something stupid.

"Thanks, Alden. I'll be right there," she said quietly, dread pooling in her stomach as she wondered what Dante had done.

What if they all had to leave?


Daryl sat in the office with Jesus and Aaron as Beth explained what had happened while he and Emilia had been on the supply run to the hospital.

"Dante was using his shotgun on the walkers even though he was supposed to use his knife only. Carlos stopped him, but that brought more walkers to this area than we usually have. And that's not the only problem," Beth said grimly, looking at Daryl.

"What else happened?" Daryl asked quietly, Shadow sitting by his feet contently as he chewed on a bone.

"Kelly and Lucia got into a fight. It got really violent. Lucia told her to go fuck herself and that Connie was a liability as she's deaf and can't hear. That didn't go over too well with Magna and her group," Jesus explained unhappily.

Emilia runs her hands through her hair. "Did Carlos stop him or her from doing this stuff?" She asks them quietly.

"Carlos was there to stop Dante but he wasn't for Lucia. We also got word that Lucia stole some supplies too, but we're still looking into that," Jesus says quietly.

Emilia looks back at them from where she sat. "I'm sorry. I didn't think they would already cause so much trouble their first day…I thought they'd fucking listen, but they don't. They never do." She takes a deep sigh. "I didn't even let you finish."

Beth shakes her head. "It's alright. It's a lot to process that this is already happening. But it needs to be said." She looks over at Jesus. "We can already tell that you and Carlos will be helping out a lot. From one day with you here we doubled our apples due to Carlos and have more medical supplies due to you. Agnes has even helped through her condition. But your two other siblings did nothing. If this kind of behaviour continues, we're going to have to move them somewhere else."

Emilia looks up quietly. "To where?"

"Another safe zone," Jesus states. "One where...more action is taken. At Hilltop we try really hard not for conflicts like this to start because it's a smaller settlement and we don't have the resources necessary for a trial or for a jailing. For more difficult people…they usually go to Alexandria where-"

"Negan is," Emilia finishes, looking up. "Because that's the only cell?" Beth nods. "I'm sorry that this happened. Really, I am. I wish that I could somehow stop them." She stands up. "But if you want me to be honest? They might do better there."

Daryl's brow furrows as he looks over at the others. Aaron looks at her confused. "What do you mean?"

"Can this stay between us?" Daryl nods.

"Kind of stuff always does."

She nods before speaking. "My sister is the epitome of a spoiled brat. She has never worked a day in her life and has always had everything planned out for her. My brother is a fucking asshole with barely a redeemable bone in his body. He's racist to other people who aren't Spanish, or even Mexican sometimes, and he's homophobic. I don't know if you two saw, but he-"

"Trust me, we saw," Jesus states.

Emilia looks at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, but that just shows how they're both unfit to be here." She looks outside. "I like it here. My brother likes it here. My grandmother likes it here. I know that we can do well with what we have because we have learned how to be thankful for the little things. To have a roof over our heads and have food on our plates. But they only know recklessness and chaos. So, could I ask you a favour, instead?"

Beth crosses her arms across her chest. "This took a surprising turn, but sure, go ahead."

"Bring them there." She points outside. "That woman. Michonne, right? She's fucking scary. I can tell she wouldn't take any kind of shit like this, right?" Daryl nods. He knew Michonne the most out of all of them. "Put them there and have them fuck up. She'll lock them in that cell with Negan and maybe he'll scare them straight. They're my family, I don't want them out on the streets…but if all they're going to do is cause trouble here, then they need a lesson. And maybe sending them there could teach them that."

The four leaders exchange a look. Beth turns back to her. "We'll have to talk it over with Carlos once we bring him in, but we'll get back to you. For now, you're free to go."

Emilia silently nods and leaves. She knew this was what she had to do.


Later on, Emilia sat at the bedside of the little boy who had just woken up. She noticed he had beautiful blue eyes and a messy mop of light-ish brown hair. His cheeks were a rosy red. She had no idea how he had survived.

"Hi, sweet pea," she says softly. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay," the boy mumbles. "Where's my sister?"

Emilia looks at him sadly. "Your sister is somewhere better now, sweetheart. You're here with us and you'll be safe. She asked us to take care of you." She helps him sit up and she hands him a glass of water. The young boy quietly drinks. "Can you tell me your name?"

He was quiet for a moment before replying. "Liam," he mumbles.

"Liam," Emilia repeats. The name fit him. "Well, Liam, you're safe now with the Hilltop community. Do you know what that means?" He shakes his head. "You have one giant family looking out for you!" She tickles his side and the little boy laughs. Emilia smiles and talks again. "Can you tell me how old you are?"

"Four," he says, a little prouder this time, holding up four fingers. Emilia chuckles.

"I can see. Well, you're the best four-year-old I ever met." The boy smiles. At that moment, the door opens and Shadow trots in. Liam's eyes light up as he reaches over. "Liam, this is Shadow. He's a big puppy-dog."

"Puppy," the little boy whispers. Shadow licks his hand and lets him pet him while Emilia steps towards the door. Daryl was waiting on the step, taking a peek inside. Emilia raises an eyebrow and chuckles.

"He's awake. His name is Liam." Daryl nods as she steps outside to talk to him. "He's also four. Seems to be proud of it." Daryl chuckles a bit. Kids were proud of the little things.

He looks back at her and sighs. "'Bout earlier. I didn't mean to be-"

"Daryl, you don't have to apologize. I'm new to the group. I'm still trying to earn my keep. I shouldn't have gone off alone and left you by yourself." She holds out a fist bump. "For now, on, we go out together, we stay together." Daryl scoffs at her fist bump, but there was no way she was going to let him leave her hanging. So, she kept it up.

Eventually, he rolls his eyes again (for the second time that day), and then fist bumps her. She smiles. "Deal." She nods her head before suddenly, they heard fighting from one of the houses towards the end of street.

Daryl and Emilia rush over to see Lucia yelling at a poor Asian girl who just trying to go to her trailer. Yumiko, Daryl had told her. That was the Asian girl's name.


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