Thank you so much for all support guys! Reviews, follows, favorites they all make this story more fun to write.

A quick update about my Tumblr. I meant to post maps for the last two chapters but forgot. So I've gone ahead and posted one map that shows all the traveling done in both those chapters and this one.
Also I am now posting more than just maps on Tumblr. Today I've got a special treat for you! I have posted a picture of Merle's Bowie knife. It's a rather unique knife and it doesn't look like the common Bowie knives you see in movies and shows. Turns out the category of "Bowie knife" is rather large and general and there are about a hundred and one different styles. I went out of my way to mark Merle's knife as a James Black Bowie knife for this reason. There are many things that make this particular knife interesting and I will go into it's history later on in the story. For now though I thought you guys might want to know what it looks like. You can take a look at it (and the map) at JasonBlakePosts on Tumblr. When you type my username into the search bar do not hit search. Watch the search drop down and you'll see my blog, it's called "The Ricktatorship Series" by JasonBlakePosts. I know that's a bit of a hassle but for some reason if you actually hit the search button my account doesn't come up.

Points go to Courtgirl26 and Batshark for each guessing a piece of Daryl's attire. (You'll see which ones down below.)
Other very good guesses were made as well and I'm not just saying that for the heck of it. Most of the guesses were things that I had considered in depth before choosing the style I did.

Now to answer my guest reviewers!

Wdfan! glad to see you again!

Ch7. Yeah Rick is being a little naugty ;p. But to be fair seeing a woman dressed like at the time would be an attention grabber.

Ch8. Ohhh I wish I could tell you what happens to Merle and Andrea. I can't tho, spoilers. :( ;D

Ch9. We got more action coming right up!

Guest: You don't like Daryl? How is that even possible? I'm just kidding, to each their own. :p
Anyway if you're the same Guest I think you are I have to thank you. Your reviews have made me smile each time. :)
I completely get why you don't like Shane's peace. At its best it's the lesser of two evils but that doesn't change the fact that it's evil.
As for Lorick and Sharick (I don't know if Sharick is a thing but if it isn't I'm making it one) things will be similar to what they were in the show but not so similar you'll be able to guess what's coming. :D

Thank you all for stopping by and enjoy the chapter!

"Goddamit Rick! You've really done it now."

"I'm telling you Shane I had no choice. He was gonna get us killed."

Shane clenched his fist and grimaced. "Look I believe you but it doesn't change that this puts us in a really bad position. If it were just the people in the camp we'd be fine. They might be upset but none of them have the balls to do anything by themselves. Merle's brother though. He was part of the Klan and if he starts causing problems the others might too."

Rick turned his head away trying to think. He felt bad for putting his friend in this situation even if he hadn't had a choice. Shane had made the best of a shitty situation and Rick had just messed it up. He looked back at his friend, "What if we go look for Merle?" he asked, "We don't know for sure that he's dead. I'll go with Glenn and maybe we'll take somebody else too. Somebody who can vouch that we did everything we could."

"You're willing to go out again?" Shane asked him, "You've barely even rested since you woke up."

"If it can keep this camp from tearing itself apart than yeah I'm willing to do it."

Shane sighed, "Alright it might work, but you're gonna have fun telling Lori that."

Lori was furious. "Again?!" she screamed, "Rick this is ridiculous! You have nearly died both times you've gone into Atlanta and you want to again?. Are you trying to re-orphan your son?!" Rick stared at his wife in utter shock. She looked slightly ashamed but didn't back down.

"Lori I am doing this for Carl. If Daryl Dixon comes back and finds out that we left his brother tied up and didn't even go back to find him this camp could get very violent and I don't want that for Carl. Besides I left Merle tied up to be eaten by walkers. That's no way for anything to die let alone a human being."

"I can't live like this Rick. I Just got you back, I can't keep living not knowing if you'll be alive by the end of the day."

"I know." Rick said pulling his wife to his chest, "It will get better. I just need to fix what's gone wrong here and then I'll stay here in the camp for as long as possible. Okay?" Lori gripped his arms tightly with her fingers.

"Okay." She said softly.

The next morning Rick woke up early. He left Lori asleep in their bed and walked out into the dim light of predawn. There were others already awake. The white bearded Dale sat at the front of his wagon wearing an angular bowler hat with a small feather in it. Andrea was sitting outside her tent with her sister Amy showing her how to load her colt. The older blonde was wearing men's clothes again, Rick wondered if she always did.

Rick made his way to the latrine pit to relieve himself. It was placed out in the woods a decent distance from the camp. As he approached the smelly area Rick saw the stocky figure of Theodore. He was raking at the pit covering up the waste with dirt to alleviate the stench. Rick nodded to him as he made his way to the opposite of the hole to do his business. Theodore nodded back but didn't say anything. He just put his head down and continued the disgusting job.

Dawn broke as Rick made his way back to the camp. More people were exiting their tents. Carol passed him with her daughter, her long grey hair flowing freely behind her as they went by. Jimmy was out of his tent too and exchanged brief greetings with Rick. Rick could hear Jimmy's wife yelling at their two children from inside the tent. When he got to the center of the camp Shane was already there starting a fire. "Morning." Rick said.

"Good morning." Shane responded. He lit the fire kindling and within seconds the fire was blazing. Shane sat back with a sigh. "You gonna be heading out this morning?" he asked.

"As soon as we've had something to eat." Rick told him, Shane nodded. "I got a question for you Shane." Rick said sitting down next to his friend, "How safe is this camp?"

"It's pretty safe. We've only had one walker up here since I arrived. We've been building a fence to make it even safer."

"What about food?"

"That's a bit of a problem. We've been relying on what we can forage and hunt. It hasn't been enough. We've butchered some oxen to make up for what we can't find but we've only got two left. That's why we sent out more people with Glenn. We need to find another food source."

"There's no good ground for growing crops here is there?"

"No."

"Well that's disappointing."

"Yeah." Shane grabbed his rifle which was slung across his back and began to take it apart, cleaning it. Rick watched him for a moment and then chuckled.

"You still got the old Enfield huh?"

"Absolutely!" Shane said, "You know it's better than that hunk of Union metal I saw you haul in with you."

"Yeah whatever." Rick said smiling. Shane grinned back at him. Rick watched as his best friend's smile faded.

"Ah shit." Shane said softly. Rick looked over his shoulder and saw the oddest thing thing he had come across since first seeing the dead walk. It was a man wearing the same clothes that Merle had but somehow more ragged. He had grey brown pants held up by a belt with large knife sheathed on his left hip. His light brown shirt was full buttoned like Merle's but it was cut at the elbows leaving frayed strings hanging off of the cut edge. The man had a rough goatee with unshaven cheeks. His hair was short, brown and dirty and behind his head on his shoulders was a dead deer.

"Hey y'all I brought breakfast." The man said with a strong accent and flung the deer down on the ground next to the fire pit, it was then Rick noticed the strangest thing about the man yet. On his back was an olive green quiver with a dark brown bow backed with snake skin tucked into it. "My brother and I get the best bits." he declared. Shane glanced at Rick gravely and stood up. Rick got up with him.

"Daryl. There's something I need tell you about your brother." Daryl stopped and looked at Shane.

"What? Is he dead?"

"We don't know."

"The hell you mean you don't know? Either he dead or he ain't!"

"Your brother and I were on a run in Atlanta." Rick told him, "He was being obnoxious so I knocked him out, tied him up and left him in a house. By the time we came back for him the house was surrounded. The walkers saw us and we had to run."

"So let me get this right." said Daryl, "You tied my brother up in house surrounded by walkers, and you left him there?"

"Your brother was about to get us killed." said Rick. At this point everyone in the camp had come to the fire pit and was watching the exchange. Suddenly, with a cry of anger Daryl drew his knife and charged. Rick heard Lori scream.

While not as large as Merle's, Daryl's knife was by no means small. It was a Bowie knife but designed differently than Merle's. The clip point was more defined and a cross guard protected the handle. It was too heavy to block easily but light enough it would be difficult to dodge. Rick wasn't sure how he was going to avoid getting cut. Luckily he didn't have to.

Shane swung his four and half foot rifle around by the barrel and struck Daryl on the chin. With a howl of pain Daryl fell to ground and dropped his knife. Shane dropped his rifle and lifted Daryl up putting him in a choke hold. Rick bent over, picked up the Bowie knife and pointed it at its owner, "Listen carefully Dixon, leaving your brother there was never my intention. It was something I was forced to do. What I was about to say however, before you decided to attack me, is that we were going to go back to Atlanta this morning to find him. So if you're willing to calm down how about you come with us and maybe we can keep your brother alive. Does that sound good to you?"

Daryl growled at him, "Yeah." he said.

"You gonna stay calm if we let you go?"

"Yeah."

"Good." Rick nodded at Shane. Shane released Daryl and the pinned man spat and rolled up to his feet. Rick reversed his grip on the Bowie knife and held it out to him. Daryl looked at him suspiciously and Rick held his gaze. After a moment Daryl accepted the knife and put it back in his sheath. He looked around at the group staring at him. Rick watched as the younger Dixon's eyes fell on Glenn, Rick cursed under his breath.

"The hell are you doing with my brothers knife?!" Daryl demanded. Rick stepped forward and put a strong hand on Daryl's shoulder.

"I took the knife from your brother." he said, "Glenn has it because he's coming with us and was going to give it back." Daryl turned glared at him.

"Here." Glenn said removing the knife from his belt and handed it to Daryl, "You give it to him." Daryl glared at Glenn but took the knife. He shook Rick's hand off and walked out of the camp.

"You are really trying to get me killed." said Glenn sitting in the wagon next to Rick again, "Two trips in two days both with Dixons. And if this one goes according to plan we'll be traveling with two Dixons. This is just wonderful."

"Yeah I'm not happy about it either." Rick told him eyeing the younger Dixon as he rode ahead of them on his mustang. Rick couldn't imagine a more ragged looking human. He wondered why Daryl didn't carry a gun. Using a bow took skill and training and if Daryl hadn't walked into the camp carrying a dead deer Rick would have doubted he could use it. Nevertheless it seemed pointless, why go to the effort of learning how to shoot a bow when you could just as easily pick up a gun, point it and pull the trigger? Nothing about Daryl fit. The bow belonged on the back of an Indian savage, the quiver should have been part of a pair of trousers, and his clothes belonged in a bon-fire. 'I guess these days nothing is strange anymore.' Rick thought to himself.

James brought the wagon to a halt in the same spot he had the day before. "Good luck out there." He told Glenn.

"Thanks. I think I might need it." Glenn told him. Rick jumped out of the wagon. Daryl was still ahead of them and hadn't stopped.

"Daryl!" Rick called. Daryl brought his horse to a halt and looked back. Seeing Rick and Glenn out of the wagon he turned around and trotted back to them.

"What's goin' on?" he demanded.

"We walk from here." Rick told him, "We stay quiet and we follow Glenn's lead."

"You think I'm gonna follow a Chinaman?"

Rick sighed, "Your brother said the same thing. He ended up bringing a bunch of walkers down on him. You want to do that?" Daryl snorted, "Listen to Glenn. I don't care what you think of his race he's been in and out of Atlanta safely more times than you and I have ever been there period. If he says we need to do something we do it. Got it?"

"Fine." Daryl dismounted off the mustang and brought it to the side of the road where he tied it loosely to a tree. "Bandit better be just fine when I get back." He told James and turned to Glenn, "How long before we run into walkers?"

"I-I'm not sure. They chased us pretty far yesterday they could be close even now."

"Huh." Daryl drew his bow out of it's quiver and Rick realized that it wasn't strung yet. The bow was about four feet long and it had only one end of its string tied. The other end hung down in a loose circle ending several inches above the wooden notch it was clearly meant to go in. Daryl flipped the bow placing the tied end on the ground. He put his weight on the other end bending the bow and pulled the other end of the string up into the notch. Daryl let the bow straighten again and the string tightened around it snugly. He flipped his bow again and tested it's draw. Grunting in satisfaction Daryl looked around at the group watching him. "Well we gonna get goin' or what?" He asked and started off down the road. Rick and Glenn followed him.

When they reached the railroad Glenn continued down Foster street instead of turning to follow the tracks. "The railway is probably covered in walkers after we led them there yesterday." He explained, "We'll have to risk it on the streets." Rick just nodded, he tried not to think about what happened the last time he had taken Foster street all the way into town. With any luck the herd that had followed him and Morgan was still up north.

It turned out that the new route Glenn took them on was not much longer than taking the tracks. They kept close to the houses as usual and at every intersection Glenn checked every direction before deciding which one to take. Finally they reached an intersection where the road they were on ran diagonally into the next one. Glenn brought them to a stop. "This is the road with the house we left Merle in." he said, "It's about a half mile down from this intersection. There's a good chance we'll run into the herd on our way down so let's be very careful."

"Will do." Rick told him. Glenn slowly led them out onto the street. As far as Rick could see there weren't any walkers, but that didn't mean there weren't any hiding in the alleyways or between to the houses. As they made their way down the street a walker suddenly appeared on the other side and Rick reached for his knife. Before he could even get it out of his sheath an arrow whipped through the air and struck the creature in the head. The walker fell to the ground with a thump.

"What an ugly bastard." Daryl commented nonchalantly and walked across the street to retrieve his arrow. Rick stared at Daryl as he removed his metal tipped arrow out of the walkers skull. Maybe the bow was useful after all.

Less than ten minutes later they were at the house where they'd left Merle. The door was broken down but no walkers appeared. Rick double checked his Colt to make sure all the rounds were capped. "Let's go." He said and entered the doorway gun first. There were no walkers on the first floor. "We left him upstairs." He told Daryl. This time Daryl didn't wait for Rick to take the lead and instead charged up the stairs.

"Merle!" He yelled, "You alive up there?!"

"Be quiet!" Rick called running after him with Glenn at his heels. Daryl ignored him.

"Merle!" He yelled again throwing open doors.

"This way!" Rick shouted when he reached the top of the stairs and ran down the hallway. The door they locked Merle behind was open. Rick ran in and Daryl and Glenn followed behind him. They all stopped as soon as they entered. There on the floor was the rope Merle had been tied with lying in a pool of blood and guts. There was no body to be seen.

What happened to Merle?! Any guesses?

What did you guys think of Daryl's introduction? As I hinted at above I went through a lot of different looks and backstories for him before deciding on this one. What do you think of his bow? Why do you think he looks the way he does? Why does he dress differently from Merle? Any and all theories are welcome. I may let you know if you get something right (if it isn't too much of a spoiler).

If you have any other comments on the chapter go ahead and leave them in the reviews. I enjoy reading all your thoughts.