Annabel didn't feel right. There was something going on. She could feel it down in the very pit of her stomach. It was odd. It felt like worry and panic and the mixture was making her very anxious. She wasn't sure what was going on, but there was something. She couldn't stay focused on anything around her it seemed. Her hands felt clammy and her heart rate was up. Was she having a panic attack? She felt a little claustrophobic so she decided it was time for her to go outside and get some air.

As soon as her eyes met the forest that surrounded the farm, her anxiety tripled and thoughts of Daryl invaded her consciousness and wouldn't leave. She took a deep breath as she stepped down off the porch and walked over to the RV where Lucy and Dale sat for watch. Annabel put her hands on her hips scanning the tree line for any signs of her husband, but saw nothing. Taking a deep breath, she brought her hand to her face and placed her fingers to her lips. The whistle was long, steady, and loud. It ended just as fast as it started and Annabel strained against the wind for any kind of reply, but she heard nothing.

"Mommy? Is everything okay?" Lucy asked from atop the RV. Annabel bit her lip then glanced up at her daughter.

"I don't know, Lucy," she admitted before turning on her heel and began trekking to the barn. Dale watched her as she walked away sensing her anxiousness.

"What was with that whistle, Lucy?" he asked looking down at Daryl's little doppelganger. Lucy turned her little blue eyes back to Dale.

"That's how mommy and daddy talk whenever they're hunting. It's how they let each other know they're okay, but daddy didn't answer," she said looking back at the woods. Dale watched as worry crept across the girl and gave her a soft smile.

"I'm sure your dad's alright, Lucy," he reassured. "Maybe he's just out of earshot."

"Daddy never goes out of earshot." Dale looked back over the fields as a slight worry gripped him as well. He hoped Daryl was okay out there. He was the most determined of the group to find Sophia, even more so than Rick and if there was anyone in the group that was going to be able to find her, it was going to be Daryl. They needed him alive for the little girl's sake.

Annabel walked into the barn and looked around in the stalls to see which horse Daryl had grabbed. She frowned upon discovering that all the horses were there except Nelly. That was her least favorite horse out of them all because she had thrown Annabel when she was riding her through the fields and a couple deer were bedding down in the tall grass. Annabel didn't know that she was approaching them and the bolted off once she was about five feet away from them. Nelly started bucking and threw Annabel. Annabel and Nelly had a long heart to heart after that, with Annabel threatening glue a couple times, but she liked to feel that they had come to an understanding.

She grabbed Diana from her stall and started getting her ready to ride. She didn't like that Daryl had taken Nelly and now he wasn't responding to her. He always responded to her. No matter what. He was always sure to stay within earshot of her. He knew she liked to worry about him while he was hunting because sometimes he would be gone for days in the woods trying to find something to kill.

Once Diana was ready to be ridden, Annabel hopped up on her back and trotted out of the barn. She glanced over when she saw Hershel watching her from the porch, but she ignored his stare. There was more important things to worry about than upsetting Hershel. She knew that the presence of Rick and his group was frustrating Hershel and he was becoming more and more stubborn, but Daryl was her husband and he could have been in trouble. Her husband was more important than his feelings.

She rode Duchess out through the field and stopped when she finally made it to the tree line. She waited for a few moments as she listened carefully for any kind of rustling or movement that could have been Daryl. Once she was sure that he wasn't close enough to be heard, she let out another long, loud whistle. She waited for a moment, waiting to hear Daryl's response, but there was nothing there. She bit her lip as she felt her heart flutter with worry. Something was wrong. She turned Duchess around and hurried her back to the barn. She checked Duchess' shoes to find that they were going to need to be changed. She could tell in how Duchess was walking that they were bothering her. She was going to have to take care of her first before she went and looked for Daryl.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Daryl slowly came to as he heard someone approaching him. His mind screamed Walker, but his battered body wasn't reacting at all. His vision was blurry as he tried to get everything into focus. He could make out the silhouette standing above him, but wasn't able to make out who it was. It moved closer and closer to him until Merle came into focus.

Wait a minute. Merle? That wasn't right. Merle had been missing since Atlanta.

"Why don't you pull that arrow out, dummy?" he asked in a calm voice. "You can bind your wound better." Daryl closed his eyes for a moment then huffed out a small laugh. That was his brother.

"Merle." He would hate to admit it, but he had never been happier to see his brother in his life. Merle chuckled a little as if sensing Daryl's delight then looked over his little brother's body a little.

"What's going on here? You taking a siesta or something?" Merle teased. Daryl fought to stay awake as he tried to let his brother's words sink in.

"Having a shitty day, bro," Daryl mumbled. Merle grinned with a shake of his head.

"Like me to get your pillow? Maybe rub your feet?" Merle harassed.

"Screw you," Daryl bit back. Merle shook his head no.

"You're the one screwed from the looks of it. All them years I spent trying to make a man of you, this is what I get? Look at you. Lying in the dirt like used rubber. You're gonna die out here, brother. And for what?"

"A girl," Daryl whispered as his thoughts went back to the whole reason he was in that mess. "They lost a little girl."

"So you got a thing for little girls now? 'cause I noticed you ain't out looking for old Merle no more. I mean, shit, little brother, you got your wife and kid back and here you are getting ready to die for a little girl that ain't even yours."

"Tried like hell to find you, bro," Daryl managed to get out.

"Like hell you did. You split, man. Lit out first chance you got. Then you found Annabel and she welcomed you back with open arms and pussy like nothing had ever happened and once again it's like Uncle Merle don't exist."

"You lit out. All you had to do was wait. We went back for you." Merle tilted his head listening to Daryl's voice. "Rick and I, we did right by you."

"This the same Rick that cuffed me to the rooftop in the first place? Forced me to cut off my own hand? This him we're talking about here? You his bitch now?"

"I ain't nobody's bitch," Daryl spat back as good as he could. Merle chuckled in such a way that it was clear that he didn't believe Daryl.

"You're a joke is what you are, you finally find your wife and kid who welcomed you back even if you did beat Annabel up in front of Lucy, and here you are playing errand boy to a bunch of pansy-asses and democrats. You don't deserve Annabel's pussy." Merle chuckled and shook his head. "You're nothing but a freak to them. Redneck trash. That's all you are. They're laughing at you behind your back. You know that don't you? Even Annabel. I got a little news for you, son. One day they gonna scrape you off their heels like you was dogshit."

Daryl couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. He was so tired. All he wanted to do was sleep. He knew he had to stay awake, but his body had other plans. He felt Merle shake him.

"Hey. They ain't you kin, your blood. Hell, you had any damn nuts in that sack of yours, you'd got back there and shoot your pal Rick in the face for me." Merle grabbed Daryl's face and forced him to look at him. "Now you listen to me. Ain't nobody ever gonna care about you except me, little brother. Not Annabel. Not even Lucy. Ain't nobody ever will. Come on, get up on your feet before I have to kick your teeth in." Merle stood next to his body and kicked his leg and encouraged him to get up. He knelt down and started shaking his boot, but something was off.

Merle's voice began to change and was becoming raspy and snarly. It sounded almost as if he had turned into a Walker. Alarms went off in Daryl's head telling him that Merle was right, he had to get up. As soon as everything came back to him, there was a Walker gnawing on his boot. Daryl gasped and whimpered in pain as he tried to sit up and at least scoot away from the Walker. He settled for kicking the damned thing in the side of the head to get it away from him. He reached for his crossbow, but the Walker launched for him again. Daryl forced the thing away from him and pulled his knife out before stabbing the rotten body in its ribs a couple times before rolling with it to where he was on top of it. He rolled again and used the momentum to toss the Walker away from him.

He saw another Walker coming for him down the river. Daryl picked up a sturdy looking stick and hit the Walker closest to him in the knee then pushed the thing back on its back. He took the stick and smashed the undead's face in with it until it stopped squirming under him. He fell onto his side and gripped the bolt that was in his side as hard as he could and started pulling it out. He groaned out in pain, but the adrenaline dulled most of it.

He snatched up his crossbow and tried to pull it back so he could load it. White light appeared at the corners of his eyes that nearly blinded him as he used all the strength he had left to pull it back. He loaded the bolt, laid back, aimed, and pulled the trigger. The thing fell next to him with the bolt going through its forehead. Daryl spread out in the dirt gasping. He was going to make it back. He had to return to Annabel and Lucy. He needed to be with his girls and there was nothing that was going to stop him.

Sleep took him one more time, but it wasn't long. The sun had barely moved. He looked around then sat up slowly. The pain in his side wasn't as bad as it was before which was good news for him. He got up and made his way over to some rocks that he could sit on then took off his shirt to use for padding then tied the strips of cloth around it to secure it.

"Son of a bitch was right," he mumbled thinking about his brother. He took one of the squirrels that he had killed earlier than cut open its body to eat the insides. He had to get something in his belly so he had the energy to make the trip back. He gathered up Sophia's doll and secured it on his belt, then looked back to the Walkers. He made a quick decision on what he was going to do with them. He took one of the shoe strings off their boot and began to cut their ears off as their punishments for coming after him.

He climbed the ridge one more time, this time was easier though since he didn't have the bolt stuck in his side anymore. He climbed to where he was before he had fell first and dropped the stick. He tried to climb up, but pain shot through his body and it caused him to stop. He took heavy breaths as he urged the pain away. Buzzards cawed above him. Daryl looked up at them.

"Please, don't feed the birds," Merle said from somewhere behind him. Daryl looked up the ridge behind him and heard Merle approaching until he appeared looking all smug. Daryl looked away from him knowing that he brother wasn't going to be very helpful in the current situation. Merle laughed as if he could read Daryl's mind.

"What's the matter, Darylina? That all you got in you?" he teased. "Throw away that purse and climb." Daryl struggled to continue and was more than just annoyed with his brother.

"I liked it better when you was missing." Merle laughed at his comment.

"Come on, don't be like that. I'm on your side," he said as innocently as Merle could sound.

"Yeah?" Daryl scoffed looking around for something to help pull himself up. "Since when?"

"Hell, since the day you were born, baby brother. Somebody had to look after your worthless ass," Merle said in a bored tone.

"You never took care of me," Daryl defended. And it was mostly the truth. It was Annabel who took care of him. Always her. "You talk a big game, but you was never there. Hell, you ain't here now. Guess some things never change."

"Well, I'll tell you what, I'm as real as your Chupacabra," he spat angrily.

"I know what I saw," Daryl said trying to focus on getting to the top of the ridge, but Merle wasn't helping.

"And I'm sure them shrooms you ate had nothing to do with it, right?" Merle teased.

"You best shut the hell up!" Daryl snapped glaring up at his brother as best as he could.

"Or what?" Merle asked feigning fear of his little brother. "You're gonna come up here and shut my mouth for me? Well, come on and do it then, if you think you're man enough." He laughed truly amused at his younger brother's struggles. "Hey, kick off them damn high heels and climb, son." He laughed again and simply continued being useless to Daryl.

"You know what," Merle started again. "If I were you I'd take a pause for the cause, brother. 'cause I just don't think you're gonna make it to the top." Daryl climbed even higher. He was going to make it to the top. Only if it was just for the sole fact that he wanted to show his brother up. Even if Merle really wasn't there. He was going to get back to Annabel and Lucy. Merle coaxed him like an animal as he climbed.

He finally reached the top and pulled himself up and over the ledge landing finally on flat ground. He stood up and glanced around the area looking his brother, but he was gone. Daryl growled.

"Yeah, you'd better run." And that was when he heard it. Annabel's whistle. She was calling to him. He tried to whistle back to her to let her know that he was coming back, but he was too dehydrated and his lips were too chapped to get a whistle out loud enough for her to hear. He snarled in frustration hoping that he could get just one break that day, but it didn't look like it. So, he started on his trek back to the farm. Back to his girls.

XXXXXXXXXX

Annabel had finally finished with the horse. She wasn't as good at caring for the horses as well as Otis was, but he had taught her how to do everything. It was just a matter of applying it.

"Daddy's onto me and Glenn. You didn't say anything to him did you?" Maggie said entering the barn. Annabel shook her head no. Maggie narrowed her eyes and looked around the area. "Where are you going?"

"Something's wrong with Daryl. I'm going to go find him."

"I'm sure he'll be back soon," Maggie said with a reassuring smile, but it disappeared as soon as they heard a gunshot. Maggie and Annabel ran out of the barn and to the rest of Rick's group as they all gathered around in silent horror.

"What on earth's going on out here?" Hershel yelled. Annabel watched as Andrea and Dale ran out to Rick and the others hauled up what looked like one of the Plagued. She wasn't sure why they would do such a thing. As they grew closer and closer, that was when she realized, that wasn't one of the Plagued. That was Daryl.

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