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"What, no warm welcome for your big brother?" Merle sniggered at Daryl. Beth took a moment to realize what was happening. Merle Dixon, of all people, Daryl's brother, had found them in the middle of Alabama going at it like a couple of teenagers. Who would have thought?
Beth quickly scrambled out of the tent and stood next to Daryl and the opening.
"Damn, baby brother! She's a looker, that one!" Beth could see his eyes traveling down her body and she instantly realized why he was leering at her. In her haste to see Daryl's brother, she had neglected to cover herself properly. She quickly closed the flannel around her body as the blush of embarrassment rose over her face.
"What are ya doin' out here, Merle?" Daryl asked, ignoring Beth at the moment.
"Do we gotta talk business now? I think this sweet little honey might need some introductions."
"She knows who you are."
"Ah, ain't that sweet. Well, since my brother has forgotten his manners, guess I should get to know this pretty little thing myself." Merle's words made her skin crawl and she instantly took a step back as Daryl stepped in front of her.
Merle held his hands up innocently. "I get it, I'm just messin' with ya little brother. Anyone wearin' your favorite shirt 's gotta be someone important to ya." Merle grinned crookedly and sat down by the fire, which had been reduced to small flames while they were tucked away in the tent. Daryl relaxed as he watched his brother toss a few sticks on the flame to get it going again.
"Her name's Beth." Daryl mumbled as he sat down across from his brother. Beth hesitated for a moment before moving to sit next to him. Merle nodded to her and continued to feed the flames.
"I was a ways away lookin' for a place to hunker down for the night when I heard you two. Gotta be the hills around here, cause I could hear her moanin' echoin' around this place."
"You're full of shit." Daryl grunted in response. Merle broke out in another skin crawling grin.
"Alright, ya caught me. Didn't hear ya til I saw the fire. Figured if I was gunna camp close I should know who I'm sharin' air with, ya feel me?" Merle chuckled and looked back down at the fire. "Ya got anythin' to eat? I've been out for a few days lookin' for food." Beth noticed Daryl eye him suspiciously and she couldn't help but wonder how their last interaction went.
She dug into one of the bags to grab some jerky for him and held it out in front of him to take. He took it, giving her a wink before opening up the package to grab a piece.
"So how you two get together?" Merle eyed Beth and Daryl suspiciously. "You ain't ever been with a girl this pretty."
"Don't matter Merle," Daryl was tense as Merle looked her over. He didn't like the way he was treating her or looking at her and would deck him if he crossed the line. "You been alone all this time?"
"Was when the dead starting walkin round. Met up with a old friend of mine recently and have been with him and his group."
"Where they at now?"
"We's holed up in an abandoned building, got a few apartments in it so we each got our own space. I was out huntin' when I came across a herd of them walkers and here I am."
"Walkers?" Beth finally squeaked out.
"She does have a voice! Here I thought she could only moan!" Merle laughed rather loudly. "That's what we call them. Heard others call em' roamers or geeks.
"They near here?" Daryl was concerned that they would soon get ambushed but Merle didn't seem fazed.
"Nah, I broke through the trees and backtracked around. They're miles from here." Daryl relaxed slightly, knowing there wasn't imminent danger but his guard was still raised. Beth tried to stifle a yawn, but Daryl caught her.
"Get some sleep," he told her. She seemed concerned, leaving him alone with his brother and hesitantly got up to move inside the tent.
"Goodnight, sweet cheeks." Merle called after her. Beth felt herself shudder as she crawled into the tent and untied the opening to zip it shut.
Daryl turned to look at his brother with a glare once Beth was settled in the tent. He nodded his head outside of the treeline and Merle stood in agreement. That was one good thing about their relationship, years of hunting allowed them to develop an unspoken means of communicating. Once they were out of earshot of the tent, Daryl turned on his brother.
"Who'd ya meet up with?"
"Aw, come on. Don't get your panties in a twist over me, little brother. I'm with Joe." Daryl remembered Joe. He was Merle's pot dealer. At least it wasn't some janky tweaker.
"How far away is your place?"
"Bout a day's walk from here. Don't think they'd mind if you two tailed along." He turned away from Daryl and moved to a near by tree. Daryl could hear him unzip his fly and piss on the tree. He rolled his eyes and moved around anxiously. "Ya gunna tell me about you and blondie?" Merle asked. Daryl sighed, knowing his brother well enough to know that he wasn't going to let this go until he got his answer.
"Found her two months ago sitting in some shit hole diner at two AM. She rode with me in the truck until shit went south." Daryl gave his brother the short cliff notes version of the facts.
"She payin' her way around with ya then, huh?" Merle zipped up his pants and turned back to him.
"Ain't like that." Daryl muttered.
"Ya two sounded like a couple a coons in heat. But whatever you say, little brother." Merle eyed him for a moment before speaking again. "I know what you're doin', Daryl. Helpin' this girl cause we couldn't help ma."
"Stop, Merle."
"Always was the sweet one. Ain't gotta feel bad about it. Nothin' we coulda done to stop that bastard from killin' her. I just wish I coulda killed the old man myself for making her run." Merle spat bitterly. "You saw her and thought of ma, that's why you took her with ya. Wishin' someone had done the same for her."
"If it wasn't fucked up before…" Daryl grumbled as he kicked at a rock with his foot. Merle laughed and slapped him on the back.
"Ya mind if I get some sleep? Been a hard day running away from walkers and tryin' to break them off my trail." Daryl nodded sharply and they moved back to the camp, carefully stepping over the strings of cans as they did. Daryl watched his brother flop down on the ground and fall asleep almost immediately.
With both Beth and Merle asleep, Daryl leaned up against a tree to keep watch and do some thinking. He never thought he'd see his brother again, and here he was, snoring on the ground a few feet away from him. He took a glance at the tent hoping Beth was resting well. He was mentally kicking himself for letting things get out of hand. He knew they needed to be careful and yet again he was thinking with his dick rather than his head.
It was too easy to just be with Beth. She was willing and meant so much to him that he found himself getting lost in her with just a simple kiss. But going forward, they needed to be more careful. Once they met up with Joe and his group, he would have to have the dreaded conversation with Beth about their relationship. They were together but they needed to worry about their lives first, not their urges.
It seemed like time flew by, and Daryl felt it was around two in the morning. He nudged Merle with his foot to wake him so he could get some sleep. He trusted Merle enough to keep watch, that Beth could continue to sleep while he did. Merle slowly woke and nodded his head to his brother. Daryl tossed him some water and a can of beans from the bags before making his way into the tent.
Beth felt him moving around and opened her eyes. She could barely make him out, but she felt around till she could feel his body. He laid down and pulled her close.
"Merle's keepin watch, you keep sleeping," he whispered, kissing her softly on the forehead. She nodded and snuggled close to him. Her breathing evened out and her body relaxed within minutes. Daryl managed to nod off rather quickly with the crickets being the only sound around them.
The light came blaring through the thin tent walls, waking Daryl from his dreamless sleep. Beth stirred beside him, trying to block the light from her eyes. Beth was never a morning person, and they usually had the curtains to block out most of the light in the truck. He left her in the tent to check on Merle.
Opening the tent door, he was surprised to see that Merle was crouched over a fire, turning a few squirrels over it.
"Mornin' baby brother," He grinned, keeping an eye on the food in front of them. "Caught us some breakfast squirrel." Daryl mumbled a thanks and took a seat across from him. He still felt tired but was hoping that if they got back to this apartment complex tonight, he could get more sleep then.
A couple minutes later had Beth poking her head out of the tent. She had changed out of Daryl's flannel and was wearing her own shirt and sweater over top. She stepped out to see what Merle was cooking and looked over to Daryl.
"Morning sunshine, hope you got some beauty sleep," Beth nudged Daryl with her knee to grab his attention. He looked up to see her nod towards the trees. He stood up and grabbed his crossbow.
"Gotta take a piss, we'll be back" He led and Beth followed till they were a reasonable way away from Merle.
As Beth took care of business, Daryl had his back turned but kept an eye out for any walkers.
"Your brother is interesting," Beth said, not quite sure how she felt about Merle herself.
"Merle is Merle,' he replied back.
"You trust him though right?"
"Yeah, he's blood. Course I trust him," Beth stood up, pulling her pants back on.
"I'll trust him too then." She traded places with Daryl, to allow him time to relieve himself. When they got back to the camp, Merle had taken the meat off the fire and was opening up some canned peaches.
"Are we heading back to your group after this?" Beth spoke up. Merle nodded his head.
"Should be there by nightfall as long as you can keep up there, sweet cheeks." Beth glared at Merle with disgust.
"I'll be just fine," she replied with a bite. Daryl could feel the tension rolling off her as his big brother was merely having a laugh at her expense. He added a glare to his brother as he finished off his food.
Packing up didn't take as long, even Merle lent a hand with taking down the noise makers. They started to make their way, by Merle's directions, back to the apartment complex where the rest of the group was.
"Ain't many of us, but Joe took it upon himself to lead an' the rest of us just let him. Only rule is don't lie to him."
"It's all men?" Beth hesitated to ask but needed to know. She knew in these times, people did drastics things and a group of men with a single woman was not a good equation.
"Don't worry blondie, me and loverboy'll keep an eye out for ya," He winked towards her and continue leading. Beth looked to Daryl with concern but there was really nothing he could do to calm her. He knew guys like this and he only hoped that because the world seemed to crumble just recently, they weren't desperate men yet.
They stopped for lunch, when the sun was high in the sky. The heat was getting worse by the day and Beth found herself needing more and more water. They still had quite a few bottles of water left but with this heat, they would deplete their supply pretty fast. Hopefully this apartment still had running water or at least a water source or they would be in trouble.
Instead of trying to hunt some food, they decided to just use up some of the canned food they had packed. Merle had mentioned they had raided a grocery store nearby so they had plenty to go around for a little while. Merle and one of the other guys, who owned a compound bow, were in charge of hunting fresh meat.
They were sitting on the ground, leaning up against a few trees when Daryl started to hear some growling. It wasn't the usual wild animal he was used to hearing, it was the sound he dreaded. He immediately came to attention and looked around him to find where the noise was coming from. Beth could tell that his hunter instincts had taken over and began to search around herself.
"We need to leave, start heading this way," Daryl said, getting off the ground. He grabbed Beth's pack and handed it to her once she had gotten up, and looked to Merle.
"Camp's that way" Merle pointed east but Daryl shook his head.
"That's where they comin' from, we need to head North for a bit, till we lose them. See if we can get higher ground, see where they're comin' from." Merle huffed in annoyance at being re-routed but followed his brother.
"Goldilocks got ya actin' like a pussy, baby brother. Probably just one of em, don't need to go miles outta the way just cause you're afraid of gettin' her hands dirty." Merle grumbled as he caught up to Daryl. Beth followed just behind them but heard every word clearly.
"Ain't just her I'm tryin' to keep safe." Daryl shrugged, trying desperately to not let his brother get under his skin.
"Ya been holed up an' safe since this started, haven't ya?"
"Truck broke down yesterday." Merle snickered.
"Ya've grown soft, little brother. Ya need to be out in this shit to sur-" he was cut off by the snapping of a branch from just ahead. They stopped quickly, Daryl raising his bow and Merle pulling his knife.
A half eaten body shambled out from the tree line and Daryl was quick to put a bolt in its head. The brothers walked up to examine it, commenting on how it could move with half of its leg missing. They didn't hear the rustling coming from the left of them, close to where Beth was fuming over Merle's comments.
The noise caught her attention quickly and her head snapped to the side. She watched the young woman, now dead but alive, coming for her with outstretched arms. Beth pulled her knife quickly and tried desperately to ease the panic in her body. She needed this. She needed to kill this thing to prove to them that she could handle herself. She'd be lying if she said a small part of her wasn't excited to kill it and prove herself.
She waited for it to get closer to her, noticing that it wasn't making much noise at all other than the shuffling on the forest floor, and drew her arm back. Her left arm reached out and grabbed the walker by its shoulder to try and hold it back so she could kill it. The idea was easier to imagine than execute. The dead hand reached out and grabbed hold of the sleeve on the flannel shirt and its mouth turned to her wrist in excitement. She let out a gasp that grabbed the attention of the brothers still examining the body.
"Beth!" Daryl shouted, his crossbow aiming at the new target. Fearing she might miss her chance, she quickly thrust the blade of her knife into its head and sighed in relief when it stopped moving and fell to the ground, her knife still implanted in its skull. She reached down and tugged at it a few times until it was free.
"Got it." She said with a huff. Daryl looked terrified but Merle watched her with a smirk.
"I think she just handed ya your nuts on a platter, there brother." He bellowed in laughter. Beth couldn't help but smile as Merle came over and clapped her hard on her back. "Ya got a pair, I'll give ya that, girlie."
Beth sat down on the ground and began wiping her blade off on the grass, still proud of herself for her success but mentally shaken by how close it came to biting her arm. She needed to re-think her hand to hand attack with them and keep as far back as possible. Daryl moved to stand above her, his gaze dark.
"Ya shoulda called for me." He scolded.
"I can take care of myself."
"Ya, keep tellin' yourself that." He bit back. She knew he was just worried about her and decided to let the comment drop. She was, after all, no cold blooded killer. She probably wasn't capable of taking care of herself just yet, but that wasn't going to stop her from trying. She just hoped that it didn't get her killed. Or bit.
"Gunna need some more lessons soon." She said softly. "It got a little too close." He nodded and turned back to his brother.
"We'll figure it out when we get to where we're goin'." She nodded in agreement and stood back up, her knife slipping back into its sheath.
"Hurry up. We got another five hours or so if we take this route. Lets get a move on!" Merle shouted. Beth waited for Daryl to move and caught up to walk beside him. He didn't say a word to her so she decided to keep her thoughts to herself. She couldn't help the feeling in her gut that told her this was a very bad idea.
So Merle has been with Joe for the past few weeks, hmmmm. How is that gonna go? You guys enjoying this so far?
Thanks to Carla for helping us out! We adore you!
Chapter 12 is gonna be interesting as Daryl and Beth meet this new group. How do you think they handle it?