There is a lot of jumping around in this chapter. Just thought I'd warn you so you can take some Dramamine before continuing if you have to. This is yet another not-very-action-packed chapter. Sorry. I'm an action failure lately, but I promise I'll make it up to you later. If you want nonstop action, check out Peachuzoid's "Adieu" It is so chock full of action that I get pooped just reading it. It was 77 degrees here Friday and it is 17 right now. Why to I live here again?

Daryl awoke slowly from a deep and dreamless sleep. The first thing he became aware of was that he had one hell of a headache. He yawned and barely opened his sleepy eyes. The room was dark.

The second thing he became aware of was that he was naked.

That was nothing new. He liked to sleep in the buff and here in his own room at the lake house….reality came rushing back like a well thrown boomerang. He wasn't at the lake house. He'd left the house and the group behind. He sat up quickly and his head punished him for his quick motion with a bout of dizziness that sent him falling back into his pillow. He closed his eyes and tried to think. This was not his bed and this certainly was not his room. Where the hell was he? Where were his clothes? Why couldn't he remember? He took a deep breath.

Okay, he thought; what did he know? He knew he was in a strange bed in a strange room and that he didn't have a fucking stitch of clothing on. What else? His head ached something awful. His eyes were almost swollen shut and his back, stomach, arms, ankles and his ribs were experiencing varying degrees of pain. Okay, one of two things had happened. He'd either

1. fallen down several flights of stairs or

2. someone had beaten the shit out of him.

He decided it was more than likely that option 2. had occurred. Had he gotten into a fight and if so, with whom? Where were his damned clothes? He groaned and slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. His memory was clogging up like a public toilet. What the hell happened and where the hell was he?

The governor was disappointed with Merle's reaction. He hadn't actually expected Merle to gasp or shriek or do anything dramatic like that at his announcement, but he at least expected a look of surprise from the surly man. What he did not expect at all was the grin that spread across Merle's face.

Merle sat back in his chair and chuckled. "Why that's just what I came here to talk to you about," he said.

"So you admit that the man that was brought in today really was your brother?" the governor asked.

Merle's demeanor suddenly became serious. "Yes. Was my baby brother. Daryl. I could hardly believe it when I laid my eyes on him. He was too far gone to respond to me at all when I came into the interrogation room and he died less than a minute later."

The governor sat forward in his chair. "And you didn't see fit to come and let me know about this?"

"I'm here now. I had to take care of things first."

"You should have let me know immediately! Dammit, Merle!" the governor shouted.

"I had to take care of things, first." Merle repeated with a growl, surprising the governor with his obstinacy. "He was my brother and I owed him that."

The governor took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "Okay, okay. Morey said you told him you had to put a knife into the prisoner's head to keep him from turning. Is that true? Did you do that? To your own brother?"

"I wasn't going to let Daryl come back as a biter. Of course I did it. I had to do right by him."

The governor pulled another highball glass from out of his desk drawer and filled it half full of whiskey as Merle continued.

"I'm here to see you tonight for three reasons." Merle said. "The first is to tell you about Daryl, the second is to fill you in on today's two guests and the third is to let you know in advance that I'm going to kill Paul Morey."

The governor slid the glass of whiskey he'd poured across the desk to Merle and gave Merle a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry for your loss Merle, I really am. I'm sure your brother would have made a fine addition to Woodbury." He sighed and leaned back in his chair again. "You know, it's a damned shame that you weren't here when he was brought in. If you had been the one that went in to question him first, I've no doubt that he would have eagerly joined us. The three of us would be sitting here together right now in much better spirits, planning a trip to his supply cache."

Merle picked up the glass of whiskey the governor had offered him and took a small sip of it. He knew the governor was trying to make him feel guilty about Daryl's 'death'. 'Oh boo hoo, Merle! If you had been here instead of out looking for goats, your brother would still be alive! His death is your fault!' Manipulative bastard. Merle held the whisky in his mouth for a second before swallowing it and was surprised at the explosion of complex flavors that washed over his taste buds. 'Well I'll be damned, the conceited ass was right', he thought.

"I can't let you kill Morey, Merle." The governor was saying. "I know the man is an idiot, but he's a useful idiot.

"I wasn't asking for permission." Merle replied sharplyand he tilted his glass up and finished his drink in one swallow.

The governor frowned. "Don't test my patience, Merle," he warned. "I understand that you're upset, but you need to look at the big picture. Tell you what, when we're done here, you can go to the warehouse if you like and look through the items that were brought in with Darren. Help yourself to any of his personal items, okay?"

Merle nodded. "Thanks, I'll do that. There are really only three things that I want that were his." Merle told the governor. "His crossbow, his revolvers and his bike."

The governor furrowed his brow in thought. "Martinez has been riding around on the motorcycle, but I never said he could have it. Just tell him I'm giving it to you. If he gives you a hard time, send him to see me. The revolvers are in the new acquisition vault with the other weapons at the warehouse and I was going to keep the crossbow, but if it was Darren's, I guess it really belongs to you now. Haley has it; you can get it from her at your leisure. Tell her I said to give it to you."

Merle nodded and forced himself to say,"Thank you."

"Now tell me about the young couple that was here today." The governor said as he pulled the stopper out of the whisky decanter and refilled both his and Merle's glass.

Merle scratched his chin with his hand. "I told you I knew Glenn from the group that left me on the roof in Atlanta. I'd never met the girl. I drove 'em back to the farm after I'd finished up with Daryl and I questioned them about him. They'd told me on the way here that he'd left the group to come looking for me. I wanted to know when he'd left and if they knew where all his supplies had come from. They said he'd left the farm where the group was staying over a month ago," Merle lied. "They had some big falling out and Daryl had been arguin' and fightin' with everyone so he just up and left. They said he stole most of their food supply from 'em, too, but that they only had a couple of shotguns and pistols for protection and that he didn't take those." Merle paused for a second and took a sip of his drink. "Oh, here's something interesting: the girl told me that lately they've seen biters in military clothing around and they wondered if maybe there wasn't some sort of military base set up somewhere nearby that ended up getting overrun."

"Hmmm, that is interesting." the governor said. "Ken Pearson told me that his brother was an officer in the army and that the last time he heard from him was when the infection was starting to spread. Ken said his brother told him he was going to some sort of special base in Atlanta that was set up just in case something like this happened. He told Ken to sit tight and that the military would be able to handle it. I'll just bet your brother stumbled across an abandoned or overrun base. That would explain the military grade weapons and ammo he had." He took another sip of his drink and then asked, "Do you think our visitors were telling you the truth?"

Merle pretended to ponder the question for a few seconds before replying. "Don't see why they wouldn't be. They did express an interest in joining up with us in the future. They're on the girl's family farm right now. Her dad is old and set in his ways and wants to spend his last days there. I'm sure once he's gone, they'll be wantin' to move in here. There's only six of 'em and they ain't gonna do us no harm and they don't have enough supplies to make it worth taking them at this point. I already snagged a couple of their goats and some chickens."

"And every little bit helps, Merle, but if you think they'll want to join us eventually, we can leave them alone. For now."

Merle took a sip of his whisky and then put the glass down.

The governor studied him for a moment and damned if Merle didn't start to feel a bit uncomfortable.

"I hate to ask you this, and I'm sure it's a touchy subject, but I need to know."

Merle was pretty sure he knew what question was coming.

"What did you do with your brother's body?" the governor asked. "Surely you didn't throw.."

"Yeah, I did." Merle snapped, secretly pleased that he had known what the governor would ask. "Wasn't like I could take the time to bury him, what with one hand and all. I did what needed doin'. I made sure he wouldn't turn. I did right by him. "

The governor gave Merle a look of disgust. "You actually threw your own brother into the pit?"

"No, I threw his body into the pit. Body's just a shell a who we were. It weren't Daryl no more."

The governor raised his eyebrows slightly and brought his glass to his lips. Merle Dixon had driven his knife through his younger brother's skull and then thrown his body into a pit to be torn apart by hungry biters. The governor decided right then and there that Merle really was a brutal badass mofo if he could do that to his only remaining family member without hesitating. He was impressed and pleased. "Merle, again, you have my condolences."

Merle sighed. "Only upside to this is that now I won't be wonderin' where he is or how he's doin' or be feelin' the need to try and find him. I have my answers now and I know where he is."

The governor nodded. "That's a good way of looking at things, Merle. A really good way," he said.

Merle finished his whisky and set the glass down. "We done now?" he asked.

The governor nodded. "Yes and why don't you take the next day or two off? Relax a bit. But Merle, I'm serious about you leaving Morey alone."

Merle stood up to leave and said, "Think I'll take you up on the days off deal. You mind if I head out of town for a couple days? Maybe do some exploring and get some hunting in?"

The governor smiled. "I think that's a great idea Merle, and it gives me the added bonus of not having to be worried about you going after Morey for a couple of days. Take what you need for supplies and ammo and try to enjoy yourself a bit. I'm sure Darren would have wanted you to get over his loss as quickly as possible."

"Daryl. His name was Daryl." Merle said and he turned and walked to the door.

Everyone but Maggie and Carol had gathered on the deck. Carol was still under what amounted to "house arrest" and had spent the last few days locked in what had been Carl's bedroom. Carl had moved into the room that Andrea shared with Carol and Andrea had moved into Glenn's room.

Carol's meals were brought to her by Dale and Andrea and Andrea would take her into the bathroom in the morning and again at noon and in the evening.

Carol couldn't understand why she was being treated so badly. After all, she had just wanted to do what was best for Daryl and everyone else. Hershel had started her on Lithium and he would spend a couple of hours with her each day. He ate his meals with her and tried to answer her questions, but he was firm with her when she had complained about being supervised or locked in her room. She had wanted to kill Daryl and no one trusted her now. The day Daryl left, Maggie, in her anger, had suggested taking Carol out for a drive and dropping her off about thirty miles from the house with some food and a knife and letting her fend for herself. Her suggestion had been shot down, although Lori and even Andrea had secretly agreed with it at the time. Even thought Rick's bullet wound had not been life threatening and was healing well, Lori didn't know if she could ever forgive Carol for shooting her husband.

The lively chatter from the members of the group quieted immediately when Glenn and Rick stepped out onto the deck and approached the table everyone was seated at.

Glenn took a seat at the table and Rick remained standing.

Rick ran his hand through his hair and cleared his throat before he spoke. "I know you're all wondering what's going on and why I called this meeting, so first I want to reassure you that I don't believe we are in any sort of danger. Well, no more danger than usual."

There was a collective sigh of relief from the group gathered on the deck.

"But I do have news and it isn't good. As you know, Glenn and Maggie went to the Greene farm today in order to try to collect some more livestock. While they were there they met up with Merle Dixon."

Everyone started talking at once.

"I thought he was dead."

"Merle? Was he alone? What did he want?"

"Did he hurt Maggie? Is that why she isn't out here with us?"

"Was he with Daryl?"

"Okay, okay, calm down, Maggie and Glenn are both okay," Rick said, as he took back control of the meeting. "Glenn will let you all know what happened. Maggie wasn't hurt."

"So why isn't she out here?" Andrea asked.

Rick looked at the people seated around the table in front of him. All of their eyes were on him.

Glenn spoke up. "Maggie's really upset right now. She just wants to be alone."

"Oh for heaven's sake," Andrea snapped. "We're all upset about Daryl leaving. She needs to suck it up and…"

"Daryl's dead." Glenn interrupted. He knew that Rick was going to make that sad announcement but he wanted Andrea to back off with the Maggie bashing. "Merle told us that he was captured and killed earlier today."

Andrea opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't get any words out. Everyone else started talking at the same time.

"You trust Merle Dixon to tell the truth?" Dale asked.

"Normally, no, I wouldn't," said Glenn. "but I believe him this time." Glenn went on to tell the group about Woodbury and about seeing Daryl's motorcycle on their way back to the farm with Merle. He told them about what Merle had said.

"Merle could still by lying about Daryl." Lori said.

Glenn looked at Rick and Rick nodded.

Glenn shook his head and said, "You tell them."

"Tell us what?" Andrea asked.

"Merle sent Daryl's vest and his belt back with Glenn and Maggie. There was a lot of damage to his vest and a lot of blood on it. I hate to say it, but I think Merle is telling the truth. He told Glenn and Maggie that he was going to take Daryl's crossbow and leave Woodbury and go north."

Everyone spoke at once again and Hershel asked if everyone would please respect Maggie's desire to be alone for a while.

Rick dismissed everyone after telling them that he didn't think Woodbury was a threat to them at this time. The town was over fifty miles away and the lake house was well hidden in a very remote area. He hoped he was right.

Merle pulled his truck into his garage and unlocked the door to the kitchen. He stepped into the dark room and flipped the light switch and then strode quickly down the hall, stopping in front of the guest bedroom. He pulled a key out of his pocket with his left hand, unlocked the door and entered the room, flicking the light switch as he entered. The light did not come on. "Shit," Merle grumbled, "fuckin' blown bulb." He looked around in the darkened room as his eyes became accustomed to the low light. His eyes grew wide when he saw that the bed was empty.

"Daryl?" he asked as he walked over to the bed and peeked around it. He smiled and gave a sigh of relief when he saw his brother. Daryl was curled up on the floor wrapped up in a sheet and with a blanket pulled up over and around his head so that only his eyes were visible. Merle stood next to Daryl for a second and then gave him a light kick in the ass with the toe of his boot. "Get your ass up," he said.

Daryl sat up immediately and started thrashing around, trying to free himself of the blanket wrapped around him.

"Easy there, Darleena, it's just me." Merle laughed. "Don't be gettin' your panties all bunched up."

"Merle?" Daryl said in a shaky voice and the smile immediately left Merle's face. Daryl sounded panicked. "Merle?!"

Merle crouched down next to Daryl. "Hey, it's me. I'm right here. You okay?"

Daryl looked around the room frantically with wild eyes. "Where the fuck am I? Merle? What is this place? Where the hell are we?"

Shit, thought Merle, something wasn't right and Daryl was starting to freak out. "You're at my house. Don't you.."

"My clothes! My clothes are gone! What happened?! Was I..?" Daryl asked as he grabbed on to Merle's arm and clung to it like his life depended on it.

Merle pushed Daryl off of him roughly. "What the fuck!? You need to calm your ass down right now little brother before I kick your teeth in!"

"Fuck you! You took my clothes! This isn't funny, Merle!" Daryl yelled. "Why are you.."

Merle slapped Daryl hard across his face and then grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him roughly. "Shut up and calm. The. Fuck. Down!" he shouted.

Daryl whimpered and pulled away from Merle. He scrambled back against the bed and huddled there, glaring at Merle with angry and hurt filled eyes. Blood started running from his nose.

"Aw, fuck." Merle said quietly. "I'm sorry. Shit. Now you're bleedin' again."

"Like you fuckin' care." Daryl angrily replied.

Merle tried to remain calm. "Look, Daryl, you're in my house with me. You were caught this morning and brought to Woodbury. Don't you remember?"

Daryl shook his head and continued to glare at Merle.

Merle sighed. Daryl couldn't remember where he was or how he'd gotten there. Wasn't this just peachy.

"Okay, okay. Just relax. I'm gonna get you some clothes and then I'll walk you through what happened." Merle said. "Hopefully that will jog your memory, 'cause we've got shit to do tonight and then we're outta here."

Daryl watched Merle leave the room to go and fetch him some clothes. He was so confused. His headache was getting worse and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He climbed up onto the bed and curled up in a fetal position and pulled the sheet over his aching body. His confused mind started racing and he closed his eyes and tried to stop the flood of thoughts suddenly trying to crowd their way into his head all at once. He felt like his mind was ready to break and that any thread of sanity was quivering and starting to frazzle. He was sure that it would snap soon, plunging him into insanity and there would be nothing left. His mind would be irreparably broken and he'd be nothing but a blithering idiot.

Daryl bit his lip and tried to fight the rush of thoughts. The pain in his head increased and he tried to push it down, to get up on top of it, but it was too intense and as it topped out, it ripped through his skull like a lightning bolt. His eyes rolled back and his body jerked and just before his senses shut down a crystal clear voice pierced the confusion in his head. It wasn't just any voice, it was her voice, Maggie's voice, his Maggie's voice and a smile played about his lips as her words followed him down into quiet darkness. "I'll always love you, Tiger. Always."