Chapter 10 - Dead Or Alive?

Maria barely slept that night she was too busy tossing and turning. Not knowing if Merle was alive was eating at her she just wanted to go to Atlanta and get him. Every time she closed her eyes she'd see Merle and all the rare good times they had together. Like when he let her ride on the back of the motorbike for the first time, or when he scared off a group of boys who had been tormenting her.

Maria sighed knowing that she wasn't going to get any sleep now, the sun was rising and she could hear the camp starting to come to life. A rustling was heard outside her tent as she sat up in bed she heard a nervous voice call out to her. "Maria? Are you awake in there?" Glenn's nervous voice fluttered into the tent making her lips twitch slightly.

"I'll be out in a minute" She called out while quickly getting changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She put the clothes in the pile to be washed, she had refused Carols offer at first but the older woman was persistent refusing to take no for an answer. Maria didn't want to burden Carol with even more chores but she just wasn't taking no for an answer.

Quickly slipping her hunting knife into her belt Maria slipped out of the tent to find a sheepish looking Glenn stood there holding two plates of food. "Um I uh noticed that you didn't eat anything last night so I brought you some breakfast" Glenn shuffled his feet nervously "I also thought we could uh talk?"

Maria grabbed one of the plates from Glenn and went to sit on a log that was located just outside of her tent. She stared digging into the plate of food realising how hungry she truly was, feeling someone sit down next to her she looked and saw a nervous looking Glenn pushing food round his plate. Maria set down her fork swallowing her mouthful before speaking "what do you want to talk about?"

"I'm sorry" he responded causing Maria to glance at him in confusion, "I was there I should've...I don't know, done something". Glenn sighed running a hand through his messy hair.

Maria set her now empty plate down and turned to face Glenn "how is this your fault? Did you chain him to that pipe? Did you make Merle take those drugs and go on a crazy power trip?" She couldn't understand why Glenn felt it was his fault. Sure at first she'd been angry with all of them but now she saw it was mostly Merles own fault that he got left behind. Although part of her was still angry at Rick for leaving him there she could understand why he did it. When Glenn didn't answer Maria spoke again "see? It's not your fault, it's Merle's"

The two sat in silence, both lost in their own thoughts on the situation. Glenn was the first one to speak up "Rick's going back to Atlanta right?", Maria nodded, "and you're going with him?" Again Maria nodded curious as to what Glenn was getting at. Then finally when he spoke her jaw dropped open "then I'm going too"

"What? Glenn no! You don't have to do that you just got back and I don't want you risking your life for my idiot of a brother. Glenn you-" Glenn silenced Maria by placing his hand onto of hers, the younger Dixon tensed at the contact causing Glenn to awkwardly move his hand away. Maria regretted how she had tensed missing the comfort his touch brought for just a second before she brushed it off.

"I'm going and that's that, I know the city better than anyone you'll need me out there".

"But why?" She was finding it difficult to understand why he'd risk his life for Merle, it was no secret that everyone hated him.

"Because you're my friend Mia" Glenn smiled. Maria nodded mumbling a small thank you to her friend. This was all new to Maria, she wasn't used to having friends and she sure as hell wasn't used to people helping her. The two of them sat there in silence for a while before the sounds of children screaming broke it.

Maria looked up her eyes going wide "Sophia" she whispered as she got up and rushed in the direction the screams were coming from, she could see Rick and Shane just ahead of her. Once entering the tree line she saw a blur of blonde hair before Sophia crashed into her, clinging to her waist. Maria wasn't sure what to do so she awkwardly patter the young girls back while whispering that everything was going to be okay.

Carol came rushing towards the two girls with tears streaming down her face, the younger woman passed a sobbing Sophia to her mother. She followed in the direction the men had gone to see them hitting the walker with their weapons before Dale finally cut off its head. It was then that she noticed the dead deer with an arrow in it, Daryl's arrow.

"This is the first one we've had up here, they never come this far" Dale stated with a look of worry plastering his face. A rustling could be heard from the trees and the men took defensive stances with their weapons ready. Daryl appeared and everyone let out sighs of relief.

"son of a bitch! That's my dear!" He walked over to it "looked at it all gnawed on by this filthy, diseased-bearing, motherless, poxy bastard" with each word he delivered a kick to the corpse laying on the ground. Maria sighed, great he was already in a bad mood and they still had to tell him about Merle.

Daryl knelt down to take the arrow out the deer "what do you think? Cut up 'round this chewed up part?" He directed the question to Shane who shook his head claiming they "couldn't risk it". "Well I got about a dozen squirrel or so that should do, come on little sis lets get Merle and gut these things"

Daryl walked passed everyone heading into camp while Maria gave Rick a stern look before following. "Merle! Get your ass out here!" Daryl walked into camp continuing to call out their brothers name.

"Daryl stop we need to talk" Maria said just loud enough for her brother to hear. Daryl stopped in the middle of camp turning round to face his sister. "There's a problem" she stated moving her gaze away from Daryl's as she decided to stare down at the ground.

"What's going on? He dead?" The older Dixon question clearly starting to get agitated.

"Look there's no easy way to say this so I'll just say it" Rick's voice came from behind Maria as he came to stand just in front of her.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Rick Grimes"

"Well Rick Grimes, you got something you wanna tell me!" Daryl spat clearly just wanting an answer to where his brother was.

"Your brother was a danger to us all so I handcuffed him onto a roof hooked to a piece of metal, he's still on there". Maria held her breath waiting for Daryl's reaction, his eyes flicked to her but she once again lowered her gaze to the ground.

To say Daryl was pissed would be an understatement but Maria could see the unshod tears in her brothers eyes and her heart broke for him. "So let me process this, you handcuffed my brother to a roof and left him there!" He roared and before anyone knew what was happening Daryl threw the squirrels at Rick who quickly dodged. Pulling out his knife Daryl charged at Rick but he quickly avoided the attack.

Maria gasped in horror as Shane got behind Daryl and put him in a chokehold. Maria's temper flared as she shouted "let him go!", she went to move forward but found that she couldn't as Glenn's arm was wrapped round her waist. She struggled to get free but Glenn only tightened his grip.

"Choke holding illegal" she heard Daryl wheeze

"Yeah well file a complaint" Shane snarled back causing Maria to glare at him. Rick knelt down to Daryl's height "you think we can have a calm rational discussion about this?". It took Daryl a moment but he reluctantly nodded.

Shane let go of him as Glenn let go of Maria who immediately rushed to her brothers side. She tried to help Daryl sit up but he pushed her away, regret flickered in his eyes as he saw her hurt expression but he just turned his head back to face Rick. "Your brother does not work and play well with others, what I did was not on a whim"

"It's not all Rick's fault" T-Dog stepped forward "I dropped the key"

"What, you couldn't pick it up?!" Daryl snapped back

"I dropped it down a drain". Daryl got up off the floor and started walking away "I chained the door to the roof though, so the geeks couldn't get at him"

Maria decided to speak up "he could still be alive Daryl, we need to go look"

"Fine! Just tell me where he is so we can go get him".

Camp was silent for a moment before Lori spoke up "he'll show you, isn't that right?"

"I'm going back" Rick stated causing Lori to go into the RV and Maria to roll her eyes at the woman. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to face Daryl who gently pulled her into a light hug "we're gonna get him back Mar, we're gonna get our brother back"

Daryl and Maria were sat by the fire pit, the latter hadn't let her out of his sight since he learned about Merle, it was like he thought she would disappear he she wasn't right next to him. Maria twirled the arrow she was holding around in her hand as she listened to the distant sounds of Rick and Shane fighting getting closer. She knew most of the camp disagreed with Rick going along with the two Dixon siblings.

"Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?" Shane asked Rick as the two walked into the centre of camp.

"Hey better choose your words more carefully" Daryl snarled as both siblings glared at Shane. Maria and Merle may not have been the closest but she wouldn't let anyone speak about her brother that way.

"No douche bags what I meant" Shane glared right back at them before turning back to his argument with Rick "Merle Dixon wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst"

"Well I couldn't let a man die of thirst Shane, me, it's not right just leaving him up there" Rick argued. Honestly Maria was starting to like Rick more as the day went on, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy, even if he did handcuff her brother to a roof.

"So you, Daryl and Maria? That's you big plan?" Lori spoke up. Maria sighed resisting the urge to snap back at the woman who seemed to always put her nose into other people business.

"I'm going to" everyone turned to face Glenn "I know the city better than anyone, I should go" Glenn locked eyes with Maria who gave him a small smile. The interaction did not go unnoticed by Daryl who looked st the two of them with confusion.

"Thank you Glenn, I appreciate it" Rick said patting him on the shoulder

Shane laughed "that's great, now your risking four of y'all"

"Five" T-Dog spoke coming forward

"My day just keeps getting better and better don't it" Daryl remarked sarcastically earning a jab in the ribs from Maria. "Be nice Daryl, you see anyone else stepping up to help?". She then turned to T-Dog "what my brother meant to say was thank you"

"Great so now it's five" Shane ran a hand through his hair in frustration "just so you know Rick your putting everyone one here at risk, just know that"

"Guns" Rick said causing him to receive confused glances "I cleared out the station back home. Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles and over a dozen handguns. I dropped the bag in Atlanta" however Lori still wasn't convinced and kept talking about how Merle wasn't worth one of their lives. Maria felt her blood boiling and knew she needed to get out of there before she snapped. She quickly got up and walked over to the van that they would be using to get back to Atlanta, she sat in the back letting her legs dangle as she placed her bow next to her.

Dale came over to stand in front of her "you be careful out there okay? You may not know it but you're important to some people here" Maria huffed out a laugh not believing his words "I care, Carol and Sophia care. Glenn definitely cares if he's going with you. Just stay safe okay"

"I'll try Dale" She said giving the older man a smile before Jim called him over. Maria let out a sigh, did those people really care? Would they miss her if anything happened? She doubted it.

She felt a shift next to her and looked up seeing Daryl, his presence alone giving her silent comfort. They sat there for ten minutes before the rest of the group came over, Glenn got in the drivers seat as Daryl began to pass. Daryl was clearly getting frustrated at the fact it was taking them so long to leave.

"Five rounds, five people. Let's just hope that's your lucky number" she heard Shane say before the sound of the van horn going off startled her. Maria moved further into the van sitting down opposite Daryl and next to T-Dog as Rick finally got into the passengers seat.

The drive to Atlanta seemed to take forever as Maria nervously bit the nail of her thumb, a bad habit that she had picked up from Daryl. As they got closer the knot in her stomach got tighter and tighter she was scared of what they'd find up on that roof.

Five minutes later Glenn parked the van and turned around "we walk from here" he stated hopping out the front seat. Maria quickly stood up eager to find her brother, she jumped out of the van and jogged along with the rest of the guys. As they were nearing the city Rick turned to the group and asked "Merle or Guns"

"Merle" the Dixon stated together. Rick looked to Glenn

"They're right, Merle first. The guns will mean us doubling back"

It didn't take long for them to reach the store. All five remained silent and on high alert as they made their way through the rooms. Maria had her bow ready to fire at the first sign of a walker. Daryl moved forward as a female walker came into view "damn you are one ugly skank"

However before he could pull the trigger on his crossbow the walker fell down dead with an arrow in its head. Daryl spun round the glare at Maria who just smiled innocently back at him "what? You were taking too long" she moved forward collecting the arrow. The other three men were trying their hardest to conceal their laughter.

As they reached the stairs to the roof Daryl started taking them two at a time with Maria close behind him, once they reached the door to the roof they made way for T-Dog who had the bolt cutters. Once the chain was cut Daryl kicked the door open shouting Merle's name as he ran through. Maria quickly followed looking at Daryl in confusion as he stood there with tears in his eyes.

It was then that Maria saw what he was looking at, her knees buckled as she held a hand to her mouth. Her sobs were loud and filled with pain as she looked at what was I front of her. Sat in a pool of blood was the sawn off hand of Merle Dixon.

Note

Sorry it's been a couple of weeks I've just been so busy this month. I turned 22 this month and since then I've just been too busy to write. Although I have been updating my SOA story I only just got back into writing.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I can't wait to write the next one! There's going to be a slight twist, can you guess what it is? ;)

Question: if I was to write a Rosita/OFC story or a Maggie/OFC story would anyone read it?

Springborn - I was never a fan of her either tbh. And yes Shane definitely deserved that punch :D I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Thank you to everyone that has followed, favourited and reviewed this story!

- Emily x