I cried. I cried a lot this week. First Paul Walker, then Hershel Greene, then Nelson Mandela. So many R.I.P this week. Being hones; I cried the most for Hershel. I mean, that guy's a true hero. He didn't deserve to be killed so cruelly and by such a cruel man as the Governor. I don't know why I'm so upset by the death of a fictional character, I don't think that's healthy...

I was pretty excited to write this chapter. I deleted the first version, 'cause it was going nowhere, but with this version, it all makes sense.

Leave a review/follow if you like ^-^

(Disclaimer; I do not own the Walking Dead)

Enjoy! ;)

Chapter 35: Brothers

Daryl

I felt a fist in my back. "Walk, you little bitch!"

I wanted to sneer back at him, I wanted to kick him in the balls, I wanted to punch all the teeth out of his mouth. But I didn't do any of those things. I just kept my mouth shut, and did as the Woodbury-man commanded. For the first time in my life, I did nothing. Yeah, rage was pouring out of my ears, but start a fight at that moment could fuck things really up. Like it wasn't fucked up already.

Poor Ryan, man. I had to leave him there, with tied hands, wounded and probably sick. But what could I do? I was blinded by a filthy sack over my head, and punched and shoved from all directions. I was completely disorientated.

I heard a voice. A manly voice. He was shouting, yelling. As if he was in a theatre, like he was giving some kind of speech.

We suddenly stopped walking, and I felt dizzy. Where the fuck was I?

The sack was pulled from my head, and a bright light of lamps shone into my eyes. I blinked, trying to see the shadows of people. I heard gasping, shouting, swears and many other things. There must've been a hell lot of people.

First, I saw a guy who had a bandage on one of his eyes. I guessed he was the so called Governor everyone was so afraid of. To me, he looked like a house-dad who drank too much. He was being all dramatic, pointing towards another man. I looked at that man, and felt cold. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

It was him. Motherfucking Merle. Shit. Crap. Jesus. Fuck.

Merle never had a lot of emotion in his face. As if expressions were a hard thing to do for him. Most of the time, it was sarcasm, or anger. This time, there was nothing. I only saw that face when ma died. Here it was again. Pale skin, straight mouth. He wasn't happy to see me. He wasn't angry. He wasn't disappointed. He was…nothing.

"What shall we do with them?" the Governor-dude said. The crazy-town-bitches of him started yelling "Kill 'm! Kill 'm!"

From the corner of my eye, I saw something blonde move. Someone stepped forward, and was grabbed my her arms.

"What the…" I whispered. No. Way. Andrea? What the hell was she doing here? She looked at me with big green eyes, as much disbelieve as me. She looked at the Governor.

"Stop this!" she shouted, struggling. "He's my friend!"

The Governor turned towards her. With a cold look from his one eye, he said; "It's not up to me anymore. The people have spoken."

He then turned to Merle. "I asked you were your loyalties are lying. You said here, so proof it."

I felt my hands were being cut loose. I move my shoulders, pain striking through my neck.

"Prove it, to us all" the one-eyed-dude said, with the a of all with a long, dramatic tone. It was so annoying. "Fight from brother to brother. Winner goes free."

There was some shouting from the audience. I looked at Merle, but he didn't look at me. He kept looking straight forward, at the Governor, who was nearing him.

"Fight to the death!" the Governor shouted dramatically, and the audience loved it. Crazy people. I thought Ryan was a weird guy, but he seems boring compared to these motherfuckers.

"Don't, please, don't do this!" Andrea begged, but nobody heard her. Merle looked around, and finally looked me in the eyes. I saw a strange glance in it. He was up to something.

He turned to the crazy-pants-audience. He lifted his arm, and when he talked, he sounded just as dramatic as his Governor-friend. "Y'all know me! An' I gotta do, whatever I gotta do to prove…"

He then turned towards me, and kicked me so hard in the stomach, that I fell on the ground.

"…my loyalty…" He kicked again, on the chest. I rolled on my side, coughing. What the hell was he doing?! He was killing mé! His fucking brother!

"…to this town!" He kicked me in my back, and I rolled away from him. The people around me shouted, yelled, screamed, whatever. All I felt was pain. Physically, mentally.

But it could get even worse. I heard the growls I can recognize from a mile of distance. The growls every living thing is afraid of. The dudes who destroyed the worlds. Walkers.

The kept them in front of them, and lead them towards us. Merle hunched over me, and I kicked him on the jaw. He stumbled back, surprised. I took that time to stand up, and attack him from the back. Merle grabbed my shirt with one hand, and threw me on the ground.

The men who were holding the walkers came closer. I had my hands around Merle's throat, and his face was turning red.

"Yah really think this son of a bitch's gonna let yah go?!" I shouted.

"Just follow my lead, lil' brother" he said, barely breathing. "We're gettin' outta this."

He then pulled me up. The walkers were pulled back a little, and formed a circle around us. There we were, standing back to back, surrounded by the undead. Merle kicked one of the walkers back, and punched another with his crazy metal stump on his arm.

I punched one, and grabbed another by his shirt, and threw him in the audience. The people panicked. Yeah, yeh're not laughing now, are yah?

Suddenly, there was a gunshot, and the walker in front of me collapsed to the ground, with a bullet hole in his skull. Next, a girl behind me got shot in the chest. The Woodbury-crazypants-meeting had ended, and all its members ran around, panicking. More gunshots followed, and the lamps got hit. I saw something flying through the air, and suddenly, the ground was surrounded by smoke.

I look around, and see Merle smash another walker's head in. More walkers? What the…

I feel a cold hand on my shoulder, and a growl next to my ear. The walker is about to plant it's teeth in my skin. I shout, and push him away from me.

Then, I hear a soft whistle, and an arrow flies through the air, into the skull, right through the dead eye.

I look up, and see Ryan, with a gigantic grin on his face, with MY crossbow in his hands.

"Always wanted to shoot with this thing."

I walk towards him, and grab my weapon out of his hands. "If you ever do that again, I'll kill yah."

"If anyone gets to kill me, I hope it will be you" Ryan said, with a sarcastic flirt in his voice. I rolled with my eyes.

"Yah done chit chattin'?" Merle said from behind me. "Oh, hey, professor. Long-time no see!"

Ryan stepped forward, holding a knife in front of him. I wanted to stop him, thinking he was going to stab my brother. Instead, he planted the knife in the skull of a walker sneaking up behind Merle. My brother blinked as Ryan pulled his knife back, blood splattering around.

"Yeah, we're done here" Ryan said, turning around.

"Hey, where are yah goin'?" I shouted at him.

"There are some things I need to take care of!" he shouted over his shoulder. He then ran away, into the smoke.

"C'mon, we don' got time for this!" Merle grabbed my arm, and dragged me towards the light of what seemed a small flashlight, and I saw the face of Rick appear. Next to him sat Maggie, shooting with a machinegun, and Liam was holding the walkers back.

As soon as they saw us coming, they started running, away from the crazy arena. Away from Ryan.

Liam

The streets were empty as we got at the barricade. The guy called Merle ran forward, breaking one of the plates so we could use it as an exit. Rick was arguing with Merle about something that happened before. I wanted to listen to it, but I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I turned around, and saw Daryl looking me in the eyes. Whatever he had to say, he was not joking.

"I saw 'm" he said softly, so Rick couldn't hear. "I saw yer brother."

"Ryan?"

"Yeah, he escaped. But he walked away. Said he had to do somethin'."

I shook my head. "Fucking Ryan with his fucked up experiments…"

"I guessed it had somethin' to do with that…."

I looked at the barricade. Merle had almost got it loose.

"I can't leave, man" I said. "Can't leave 'm here."

Daryl nodded. "I know. But Rick's not gonna wait for yah."

"I know. Just…go, OK?" I ran with my hand through my sweaty hair. "If Rick won't wait for us, you're not gonna either."

Daryl patted me on the shoulder. "Gotcha. Good luck, man."

"Thanks."

I turned around, and started running. Back to that crazy arena. I heard surprised shouting behind me, probably from Maggie, but I didn't turn around. I helped them get their people back. OK, I didn't. I ditched them as soon as we were inside. But I wasn't going to let Ryan slip through my fingers again.

I hid behind one of the containers, and looked over the edge. The smoke was almost gone, which was very unfortunate for me. And there was another surprise; walkers! Walkers everywhere!

It seems like when you don't think about them for a while, they feel like they're not getting enough attention, so they show up at very unpredictable times. Attention-whores.

I put my bag on the ground. There were not many people left, but I saw one with a pretty big gun, and I don't like to get shot. You get the point.

Of course, Rick didn't give me any of those grenades. He would be very stupid if he did. Give the brother of the guy you blamed everything for a smoke grenade? Great plan! And with a little world domination as extra!

The Governor wasn't at the scene. Only two of his men, who shot every undead thing who came from one of the buildings, as if they were stalled there. I seriously started thinking we were just dropped in the world of Saw.

I looked at all the stuff I got. A sword, with not the best blade, since it's like 300 years old or something, a hunting knife, but not the cool one like Daryl's, but one that used to cut carrots or something else stupid. And then I got a knife to cut breath with, a hammer and a screwdriver. How to survive the end of the world. And die.

I decided to just stay with the sword. I was putting the stuff back in my bag, when I heard a loud 'BOOM!' coming from not far from the arena. It sounded like it was still in the town somewhere. The patrolling men stood still, looked at each other. The one who seemed to have taken the lead shrugged, and they continued whatever they were doing.

I quickly grabbed the rest of my toys, and walked back to where I left the others. The barricade had one weak spot, and walkers were trying to get in. I had no time to pay attention to that. My eyes were caught at one of the buildings that was on fire. Well, what was left of it. It was completely burned to the ground. There were still no people on the streets, although I saw some shadows quickly disappear behind a door.

These crazy Town-people had a really bad day if one of their houses had a gas leak. 'Cause that was what it looked like. Or someone placed a bomb.

I ran towards the building, maybe finding some tracks of the person I thought was prime suspect in this weird case. I didn't even have to look for him, he was standing not far away from the fire. I almost didn't recognize him at first. His beard he always shaved just before it grew too long, was now a homeless-version of Santa Claus. His hair was also longer, which made him look like a homeless person. I bet he looked older than me at that time.

He had a small back pack in his hands, with papers sticking out. He looked like the mad scientist he was.

When he caught me staring at me, he grinned from under his beard. "Hi, man. Good to see you."

I walked towards him, and hugged him. "Good to see you too, brother."

"Ready to walk your ass off?" he said, glancing at the house.

"Don't know better." I turned towards the fire. "Was this really necessary?"

"Nope. But it's cool to see, right?"

The flames got higher, and Ryan laughed. I shook my head, punching him on the shoulder. "You're an idiot."

"I know. Got a good teacher."

"Very funny." From the corner of my eye, I saw something move. The barricade. The walkers were getting through. So we had to find another way out. "We got company. I bet I found a way outta this faster than you."

"Oh, you'll lose money for that, ol' man."

Glenn

It's been over sunrise. My eyelids were so heavy. I wanted to go to sleep, but I couldn't. I didn't allow myself to go to sleep. Not with Rick, Maggie and Liam still gone. What if something happened? What if they didn't find Daryl? And Ryan? What about him? What if they're all dead?

If that's so, I've been waiting here with Michonne for nothing. The mysterious woman hadn't said a word to me since our arrival at the car. She didn't introduce herself, she didn't ask for my name.

Al she's doing, is leaning against the car, looking over her shoulder every now and then, look at her sword, and play with a rock at her feet.

Rick told me, commanded me, to stay at the car. But I'm dying of worries, how could I stay there with no knowledge about my girlfriend, who's risking her life again? Why did Maggie always want to help everybody? Why was she such a good person?

Sweet Maggie. She didn't deserve all the bad things that happened to her. She didn't deserve the Governor's dirty hands on her.

I made a fist of my hands. I could hardly control the rage. That man was going to pay for this. A price he's going to pay with his life. I secretly hoped I would be the one to do it. For Maggie.

"You OK, man?" I looked up, and saw the mysterious woman look at me. Did she just talk? I guessed she did. She nodded with her head at my fist. I looked at it, and saw blood dripping on the ground. I didn't even feel the pain.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine" I mumbled, opening my hand. My nails had made a nice cut in the palm. Great, like I didn't already have enough scars.

"You wanna drink or somethin'?" Michonne asked, with a voice that wasn't polite, or rude. She was just asking me if I wanted something to drink.

"Uh, yeah, thanks" I replied, and saw her open the back of the car. She grabbed a bottle of water, and threw it to me. I hardly caught it. While sipping from it, I looked at the strange woman.

"How…how did you met Rick and the others?"

She glanced, and walked back to her spot. "Thanks to you. Saw you and your girl getting kidnapped. I got some stuff with that guy too. Thought your friends and I could work together."

"You saw us, at the pharmacy?"

"Yeah, young Asian with pretty farmer's daughter and a basket of baby-stuff. Sounds like you, doesn't it?"

I took another sip of water. "Did you…did you bring the baby-formula to the prison?"

"Yes I did."

"Thanks. I bet she'll appreciate it."

Michonne grinned. "She? Your daughter?"

I chuckled. "No, thank God not mine. Not that I hate children. She's Rick's daughter, about four, five days old."

"Rick, uh?" Michonne looked over her shoulder again, and turned back to me with a disappointed look. "He got a wife?"

"Had. She died. In labour." I swallowed a lump. It was the first time I talked about Lori's death. I felt the grief was still fresh. "Why do you ask?"

I saw Michonne quickly look away. "Just curious."

I put the bottle of water down. "What about you? You got a husband?"

She looked at the ground. "Not of your business."

"Well, I told you about Rick, and I guess you could tell me something about you…"

"I already told you how I found your group, you asked for it. I asked you a question, I answered it. We're even, OK?"

I blinked with my eyes. What was this about? I was just trying to start a conversation, not an interrogation. I opened my mouth to apologize, but then I heard the breaking of a branch, and quickly stood up.

Michonne walked around the car, and we both looked into the forest. We saw a group of people nearing us. First, I saw Maggie. I never felt so much relief. I wanted to run towards her and take her in my arms, but then the group came closer. I could already see Maggie was not happy, and that I wasn't going to be too.

Behind her, walked Rick, followed by Daryl.

But then, I felt cold. The line of people was closed by Daryl, and behind him, was Merle.

Ryan

"You owe me money, mister" I panted. Liam grinned.

"Yeah, like money so important in this world. I'd better get you something to shave."

"About that; may I borrow that sword?"

"Don't you dare!"

I laughed, and tried to ignore all the black dots dancing in front of my eyes. The ground under me moved around, and I tried to get a hold of something, preventing me from falling.

"Wow, man, you OK?" I heard Liam's voice from far away. It echoed through my head, as if I was in a cave. I leaned with my good shoulder against a tree, breathing heavily.

"I'm just fine, thank you" I said, with a sarcastic tone. Liam opened the water bottle, and gave it to me. I took small sips, and let the water loosen my throat.

"Yah better patch up fast, 'cause you can't go see your girlfriend looking like this."

"I bet she won't even recognize me. She probably thinks I'm some kind of paedophile."

"Aren't you that already?"

I looked at my brother. "What the hell, man?"

Liam grinned at my reaction. He always made these jokes without any purpose, just to laugh at my reaction. That's what I didn't miss about him.

"You ready to go?" he asked, being serious. I nodded.

"Always. How far?"

Liam looked up the sky, where the sun was shining bright. It was almost noon. We had walked all night and morning, escaping from the town by climbing one of the buildings, and climb down. If Daryl was going to hear this story, he would all be like; "Told yah you're a monkey."

And then I would tell him even a monkey can shoot a crossbow like him. I could almost imagine this conversation in my head.

"About three miles, I guess. We could make it in two hours through the woods, or follow the road and get there in one, but that's more dangerous. We don't know what other groups could be out there."

I chuckled. "Yeah, can't take any chances on walking into Woodbury-wannabe's."

Liam and I were both certain we had to go back to the prison. We were both weak, with Liam a wound on his leg, and me…well, sick, with a beard, long hair, weak, skinny….I can go on about it.

But we made it our quest to get back to the prison. Liam had to go back to Michonne, and I…well, do I need to say it again? After all these months, I had finally the chance to be reunited with the girl I love. Why waste any more time?

During this long walk, I had imagined what I would say when I finally saw her. I had no idea what the prison looked like, so I just imagined a dark room, with a window with bars on it. Beth would stand with her back towards me, and I would stand in the doorway.

"Beth" Ryan said, with a voice that told her he was fighting back tears. Beth turned around, not believing what she was hearing. His voice…it sounded just as in her memories.

Her green eyes blinked a few times, seeing the guy she was waiting for, all those months.

"Is this real?" she whispered. Ryan smiled.

"I hope it is. I think. I don't know."

Beth took a step towards him, and another. She reached out with her arm, her fingers touching his cheek. Ryan closed his eyes at the feeling of her soft hand against his skin.

"I can feel you. That makes it real, right?"

Beth pulled her hand back, and Ryan opened his eyes. They looked at each other, drifting through memories. They were both stunned at the sight of the familiar face in front of them.

Ryan slowly took Beth's hand in his, and looked at it. "If this is real" he said, "I would promise you that I would never let you go again. Never."

"I won't let you" she smiled, squeezing in his hand. Then, their face's slowly got together, energy rising. Their lips almost touched each other…

There was a scream, followed by a gunshot. I blinked. "What the hell?"

Liam looked around the forest. "I think it came from there" he said, pointing east.

"The river?" I asked. He nodded.

"The bridge. Wanna check it out?"

"It could be them" I said, a memory of Beth flashing in front of my eyes.

"Let's go, then." Liam grabbed his stuff, and started running. I stumbled after him, ignoring the black spots dancing in front of my eyes. Get your shit together, Ryan! It could be Beth who was screaming! Man the fuck up!

I could hear water splashing up, like somebody just jumped in. What the hell was going on there?

"It's Yellow Jacket Creek!" Liam shouted over his shoulder.

"Can you see it?" I asked between two breaths.

"Almost! We're close…"

I heard more water, and more gunshots. The screaming had stopped, but I could guess what was going on there.

Finally, we got out of the forest, and stood at the riverside. I told myself not to lean on my brother, it would only make him more worried about me.

I looked at the bridge, and felt cold. I saw Daryl. Daryl the Crossbowman. What was he doing here? Did something happen? Where are the rest? Where is…Beth?

I saw walkers coming from both ends of the bridge.

"Oh shit" I cursed. "C'mon, we gotta help him!"

I started running, or at least, I did something that looked like it. I ran over the stones at the river side, back into the forest and up the bridge. By the time I got there, my legs felt like two bags of bricks dragging over the floor and my head like a sack of potatoes, but I held my knife in my hand, and stabbing the first walker nearing me.

I heard a male voice shout something in Spanish, and saw a Mexican panicking while trying to reload his handgun. A walker crawled at him, clapping his jaws on one another. I ran towards it, and stabbed it in the back of its skull.

The man looked confused, and said some more words I didn't know shit of. I saw Liam wave his sword around, chopping off heads everywhere. I looked around, and saw Daryl, aiming his crossbow at another of our dead friends. He was surrounded by more dead freaks, a lot of stuff, and a few empty cars.

"Hey, man, how's it going?" I said, retrieving my knife.

"Everything was cool, till you showed up" he replied, without looking up. The arrow flew through the air with a soft whistle, and the last walker fell on the ground.

"Nice" I said. Daryl snored, holding up his hand for a shake.

"Good to see you, man."

"Yeah, man, good to see you" a sarcastic voice from one of the cars. I saw a head appear from the back.

"Oh, not him again, please" I grunted, while Merle let out an amused laughter.