Carol had found a strong stick for Beth to use so she could walk and they headed down the road. They stopped when Carol saw another sign for Terminus and Sanctuary for All. Community for All. Those Who Arrive Survive. printed on the sign in black letters.
"Do you think we should go?" Carol asked while Daryl walked to stand next to her.
"No," Daryl grumbled.
They walked down the road when Carol saw a small trail to their left and she pointed. They headed down the trail when Daryl saw a small cabin and he held up his right hand for them to stop. He walked to the cabin as he checked the area and he noticed what looked like rusted tools lying on the ground. He felt ill when he saw the bloody child's sneaker on the ground and he lightly toed the sneaker with his left foot. Sighing, he walked to the front of the cabin when he nodded and the others walked to him.
"Did you check the cabin?" Beth asked.
Daryl and Tyreese headed for the cabin when they looked in the windows, but only saw what appeared to be a few small beds, a wooden table and chairs, a few shelves on the walls and a wood burning stove. Daryl knocked on the glass, but nothing appeared and he turned to look at Carol, Beth, Judith and Mika.
"It's clear," Daryl said.
They walked to the front door as he carefully opened the front door and they headed inside. Carol closed the door as Daryl walked to one of the shelves and he saw some plastic bottles of water, some edible food, matchboxes with matches in them, some oil lanterns and some boxes of ammunition.
"We need some firewood," Carol asked as she looked at the small crate near the wood burning stove.
"I'll go get some."
She watched Daryl go outside as he went around to the back of the cabin and he walked toward the forest. He went to look for wood for the wood burning stove when he saw some tracks in the mud and he placed the branches he found on the ground. He took hold of the crossbow when he pointed the crossbow and he scanned the area with his eyes.
"Anyone there?" he called out. The quiet of the forest caused his nerves to fire up as he cautiously walked on and he light rubbed the trigger with his right index finger. "Come on out!"
He stood still when he saw movement in the bushes and he pointed the crossbow. He took aim after he saw the large opossum walking out from under the bushes then he lowered the crossbow when he saw several smaller opossums on the larger one's back.
"Takin' the little ones out for a walk, Mama?" he asked as the large opossum looked at him and he tilted his head to one side. The large opossum moved on as he slid the strap of the crossbow over his right shoulder and he walked back to where he left the branches.
Carol stood in the doorway while she tried to see where Daryl went when he appeared from behind the trees and she saw he had some branches in his arms. He gave her a little nod as she moved back so he could go inside and he placed the branches in the small crate near the wood burning stove. He saw Beth and Judith sleeping on one of the beds as he dusted his hands off then he knelt down, opening the wood burning stove.
"Saw a possum while I was out," he said.
"Did you kill it?" Mika asked.
"Remember what I said about not breakin' up a family?"
"Yeah."
"She had her babies on her back."
"Oh."
"I'll go see if I can find somethin' else," he said as he stood then he walked to the door.
"I'll go with you," Tyreese said as he picked up the rifle and they left the cabin. They headed for the forest as Tyreese held the rifle in his hands and Daryl held onto the crossbow. "Why don't you want to go to Terminus?"
"Like I said. We don't know them an' they don't know us. Better off on our own."
"What if Sasha and the others are there?"
Daryl knew Tyreese was worried about his sister and he moved the strap of the crossbow up.
"Remember that sign we saw?" Daryl asked.
"What about it?" Tyreese asked.
"It's that "Those Who Arrive Survive" shit. Sounds like you have to do somethin' to prove you're worthy of stayin' there."
"So, what, we just keep moving?"
"Maybe."
"Still think we should scope the place out."
They walked in silence when Daryl saw some rabbits and he pointed. Tyreese watched as Daryl shot four of the rabbits, walked over to the rabbits, removed the crossbow bolts then used the string to tie the rabbits together. He slid the strings over his left shoulder when he walked to Tyreese and they headed down the trail.
"I'll go check the place out in the mornin'," Daryl said and they headed back to the cabin.
The next morning, Daryl left the cabin as he pulled up the strap to the crossbow and he looked down the trail. He knew the others would be angry with him for leaving early, but he had no idea how long it would take to get to Terminus. Sighing, he arrived at the trail, but he didn't hear the front door opening and Carol went to follow him.
Daryl wasn't sure how far he traveled, but he was glad when he came to the road. He did find some berries and a clean water stream and he checked the sun to see what time it was. He sat down on the road as he placed his wrists on his knees and he looked up at the sky.
He wasn't sure why, but a part of him wanted to talk with Merle.
Or Rick.
His mind started drifting as he sighed and he lowered his head.
The prison
Daryl sat in the back of the truck while he looked at the tarp wrapped around Merle's body and he swallowed the lump in his throat. He couldn't bring himself to pile Merle's body on top of the other Walkers and he was surprised when Rick had arrived with the truck.
The farm store
"What are you doin' here?"
"I got worried when you didn't come back."
"Wasn't gonna."
"Is that…? Is that Merle?"
"Yeah."
"Did the Governor kill him?"
"Yeah."
"Daryl…"
"I ain't leavin' him here so some son of a bitch Walker can eat him, I ain't gonna just pile him up with the rest an' set him on fire neither."
"Want to take him back to the prison?"
"Yeah."
The prison
A bump made Daryl look up as the truck went by gates and he sighed.
After he and Rick dug a deep enough hole, he was standing next to Merle's grave as the tears rolled down his cheeks and he sniffed. Rick appeared next to him as Rick placed his left hand on Daryl's right shoulder and they stood there while the wind moved through their hair.
"Well, lookit here," startled him back to reality when Daryl saw six men heading toward him, surrounding him, and Daryl quickly got to his feet. He punched the man with the gray hair as the man fell to his bottom then Daryl grabbed his crossbow and he pointed the crossbow at the man with the gray hair.
"Hold up," the man said as he held up his hands in surrender. Locking eyes with Daryl, he wiped the blood from his nose and laughed then he got to his feet. Daryl kept the crossbow aimed at him as the man smiled and the man lightly shook his head. "Now, Bowman, I respect that. I really do. See a man with a rifle, he might be anyone. A farmer. A lawyer. A teacher. But a bowman is a bowman. Through and through."
Daryl watched the man looking at his crossbow and the man smiled.
"I've been looking fer a weapon like that. Course, I would like one with a bit more ammo," the man said then his face became serious. "Look. Let me be straight with you. You pull that trigger and these boys will drop you several times over. Is that what you want? Come on, Fella, suicide's stupid. Why hurt yourself when you could hurt other people?"
"Who are you?" Daryl asked.
"Name's Joe. The guy to yer left is Tony. Next to him is Dan. To yer right is Billy. Next to him is Harley. Len's the one behind you."
Daryl had a silent conversation about if he should tell Joe his name and Joe waited for him to say something.
"Daryl," Daryl finally said.
"Nice to meet you, Daryl. You out here on yer own?"
Daryl stayed silent and Joe smiled.
"Well, seeing that you are. What do you say? Wanna join us?"
Daryl looked at Joe for a few seconds when he lowered the crossbow and Joe smiled.
"Let's go," Joe said, looking at the men. Joe walked off as the men fell in line and Daryl walked next to him. Joe told Daryl they were called "the Claimers" then he explained the rules, but the rule about being beaten to death for lying caused a cold chill to move through Daryl. None of them noticed Carol following a safe distance behind them and she kept a close eye on Daryl.
The next morning, Daryl and Len walked through the woods when they saw a rabbit and both of them fired their crossbows.
"What the hell are you doin'?" Daryl asked, walking toward the rabbit.
"Catchin' me some breakfast," Len said.
"That's mine," Daryl said, picking up the dead rabbit.
"My arrow's the one who hit first. Cottontail belongs to me!"
"Been out here before the sun came up."
"See, the rules of the hunt don't mean jack out here. It's claimed. Hand it over. Now."
"It ain't yers," Daryl said, walking closer with the rabbit in his left hand.
"Yeah, it is."
Daryl growled when Len moved toward him and Daryl started to remove the knife from the holder on his belt.
"Easy, Fellas," Joe said, stopping Daryl from attacking Len. "Let us just put our weapons down and see if we can't figure out what's really the problem here."
Joe looked at the dead rabbit then at Len and Daryl glared at Len.
"You claim it," Joe asked.
"Hell yeah," Len said and Joe looked at Daryl.
"Well, there you go. That critter belongs to Len."
"So, let's have it," Len said, looking at Daryl, but Daryl didn't move.
"Look," Joe said with a sigh. "Goin' it alone ain't an option nowadays. Survival of the fittest, that's a paradox right there."
"It's mine," Daryl said.
"No, it ain't," Len said and Joe rolled his eyes.
"Look, let's keep things civilized," Joe said, locking eyes with Daryl. "All you gotta to is claim something. That's how you get yer prey, yer stuff and yer bed at night. That one word. Claimed."
"I ain't claimin' nothin'," Daryl said.
"Let me teach him," Len said, glaring at Daryl. Joe looked from Len to Daryl and Joe sighed.
"Now, it ain't right to punish you for a rule you didn't know existed," Joe said and Len growled.
"Ain't no rules no more," Daryl said.
"There are. You know that. That's why I didn't kill you fer the crossbow," Joe said as he tried to take the rabbit and Daryl pulled back. "Easy there, Partner."
Joe pulled the rabbit against a tree then he used the machete to cut the rabbit in half and he gave one half to Daryl and the other half to Len.
"Claimed," Joe said, looking at Daryl while Len walked off. "That's all you gotta say."
Daryl watched Joe walk away then he looked at the back end of the rabbit in his hand then he sighed, walking off to catch up with them.
After talking some more with Joe and they found a place to stay for the night, Daryl walked outside as he went to find a place to take a piss and he headed for the forest. He was about to unzip his jeans when he felt eyes on him, turned and he saw Carol standing near the other tree.
"What the hell are you doin' here!?" Daryl whispered, looking around to see if they were alone.
"I followed you," Carol whispered.
"Why? I said I was goin' to Terminus."
"Is this Terminus?" she asked as they looked at the building.
"No," he said with a shake of his head.
"Then why are you here?"
"I…"
Carol knew he was shutting down as she tilted her head to one side and she frowned.
"Daryl, did they take you hostage or did you go with them willingly?"
"I ain't a hostage. I just… I just…"
"You want to stay with them?"
"Dunno."
Daryl hated seeing the crushed look on her face as he sighed then he turned around. She turned around so he could take a piss as he zipped up his jeans then he turned to look at her.
"Look, why don't you go back to the cabin? Take Beth, Tyreese an' the girls to Terminus," he said with a sad look.
"What about you?"
"I'll be fine," he said with a nod. She watched him head back to the building as she brushed the tears out of her eyes and she sniffed.
Going inside, Daryl went to settle on the floor when he stretched out and he looked at the ceiling.
"Son of a bitch!" made him look over at Len when Len stormed over to him and Daryl got to his feet. "Where is it?!"
"Where's what?" Daryl asked as he rose to his feet.
"Where's the cotton tail?! I put it in my backpack and now it's gone! Now, ain't nobody around here was interested in no half-dead cottontail except you! Ain't that right?!"
"You're the one whose been thinkin' about that crap!"
"Empty yer bag!"
"Step back!" Joe said.
Joe walked closer when he took Daryl's backpack and he looked at Daryl.
"Did you take his rabbit, Daryl?" Joe asked. "Tell me the truth."
"I didn't take nothin'," Daryl said.
"Then let's see what you have in here," Joe said and he dumped everything out of Daryl's bag. The other half of the rabbit fell on the floor and Len smiled.
"Well, look at what we have here," Len said.
"You put that there! When I went out to take a piss!" Daryl growled.
"Liar!"
"Didn't ya?!" Daryl shouted, shoving him.
"Are we gonna teach this fool or what, Joe?!" Len said and Joe got between them.
"Whoa! Easy!" Joe said and Daryl looked at the dead rabbit. "If Daryl said he didn't take it then we have a little problem here. Either he's lying or you planted it on him like some cheatin' coward. Now, that wouldn't exactly be breaking the rules as much as being a disappointment."
"It would," Len said, nodding his head.
"Good," Joe said then he punched Len in the face and the others looked at him. "Teach him a lesson, Gents. He's a liar and I'm sick of it. Teach him well."
The other men started punching and kicking Len while Joe walked to Daryl and Daryl went into defense mode.
"I saw him do it," Joe said in a soft voice.
"Why didn't you stop him?" Daryl asked.
"He wanted to do it and lied about it. But you told the truth. You understand the rules. He doesn't," he said as he bent down and picked up the other end of the rabbit then he tossed it to Daryl. "Looks like you get the head, too."
Daryl looked at the rabbit while Joe walked to Len, pulled out a gun then he shot Len in the head.
"Right…," Joe said as he looked that the others. "Pack up. We're movin' out."
Daryl watched the others packing their bags and rolling up their sleeping bags when he used a clean cloth to wrap up the dead rabbit and he placed the cloth in his bag. He picked up the bag then he slid the strap of the crossbow over his right shoulder and he followed Joe and the others outside.
They didn't see Carol slip inside the building as she looked around for supplies and she tried not to be sick from seeing Len's battered body.
"Dammit, Daryl, what have you gotten yourself into?" she whispered. She looked around and she was surprised to find a rocket launcher and ammo hidden in one of the vehicles. She slid the rocket launcher and ammo into a canvas bag, slid the strap to the canvas bag over her right shoulder then she left the building.
Walking through the glade, Daryl half-listened to Joe talking while they walked toward the railroad tracks and Joe looked at Daryl. Daryl was looking straight ahead as Joe wondered what he was thinking and Daryl flexed his fingers. His mind started drifting back to wanting to talk with Merle or Rick as Daryl walked a little faster and Joe half-ran to keep up with him.
The quarry
"Take a look," Merle said as they stood at the forest edge and Daryl looked at the camp. He watched Shane and the others as he frowned and Merle grinned.
"So?" Daryl asked.
"They're ripe fer the takin'."
"They ain't got shit."
"They got more than we do. Come on."
Daryl followed Merle as they walked toward the camp and Daryl saw Shane, Morales, Dale, T-Dog and Glenn pointing their guns at them.
"Easy! Easy!" Merle said as he held his hands up in surrender.
"Who the hell are you?" Dale asked.
"I'm Merle Dixon an' this is my little brother, Daryl."
"What do you want?"
"We're lookin' fer a place to stay."
"We don't have any room," Shane said and Daryl felt like there was something about Shane he didn't like.
"Sure, you do. I see a spot where we could set up our tent."
"Look, why don't you just go?" Dale asked.
"Well, that's downright unfriendly."
Daryl was scanning the area with his eyes when he caught a glimpse of Carol and Sophia and Carol shyly smiled at him. Daryl lowered his head as he looked down at his feet and he barely moved side-to-side.
"What are you looking at?" Glenn asked and Daryl looked at him.
"Nothin'," Daryl said.
"Not gonna tell you again. Go," Shane said.
Daryl locked eyes with him when Daryl thought of something and Daryl stood a little straighter.
"Do any of you know how to hunt?" Daryl asked.
"Some of us do."
"Bet you're not as good as my little brother," Merle said.
"You're a hunter?" Dale asked and Daryl nodded his head.
"He's also one hell of a tracker."
Dale motioned for Shane, Glenn, Morales and T-Dog to follow him and Merle looked at Daryl.
"This doesn't look good," Merle grumbled.
"Then let's go," Daryl said.
"Not yet."
Daryl watched Dale, Shane, Glenn, Morales and T-Dog walked back to them and Dale headed for Merle.
"You can stay. But you have to follow the rules," Dale said.
"Oh, we're really good at followin' rules," Merle said with a sly grin then he looked at Daryl. "Ain't that right?"
"Yeah," Daryl said with a nod of his head.
"Go set up over there," Dale said and Merle headed to where Dale was pointing. Glenn, Morales and T-Dog walked off while Shane headed for Daryl and Daryl pointed his crossbow at him. "Hey! Take it easy!"
"Daryl!" Merle called out as Daryl lowered the crossbow and he walked to Merle. "Sorry. He doesn't like people gettin' too close."
"Damn right," Daryl grumbled. He looked over at Carol as she lightly nodded her head and he nodded back.
"I see you're a little upset about what happened with Len," Joe said as he brought Daryl back to reality and he looked at Joe.
"I ain't upset," Daryl said.
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"Mind tellin' me how you ended up on yer own?"
"Some asshole showed up an' killed most of my group."
"Must have been really pissed off at you if he did that," Joe said with a laugh, but he saw Daryl was shutting down. "Sorry."
Daryl shrugged his shoulders as they walked along and Joe looked at the others.
"Each of us used to belong to one group or another," Joe said and he told Daryl about each member of the Claimers. "Want to know why we do what we do?"
"Sure."
"You see, we're just men. Men who take what we want and do what we want. When men like us follow rules and cooperate a little bit, well, the world becomes ours."
"Sounds like somethin' Merle would say."
"Who's Merle?"
"My brother."
"Yer older brother?"
"Yeah."
"Were you close?"
"Kinda," Daryl said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Was he a part of yer old group?"
"Yeah."
"What happened to him?"
"He did somethin' stupid an' was turned into a Walker."
"Ah," Joe said with a nod. "Did you have to put him down?"
Daryl nodded while they arrived at the railroad tracks and Daryl walked by the others. Dan saw a discarded packet of potato chips on the ground near the railroad tracks as Daryl reached over and he picked up the packet. The packet was still closed as he looked at Dan and Dan frowned.
"Claimed," Daryl said then he walked on and Joe softly laughed, lightly patting Dan's back.
"He learns fast," Joe said and Dan nodded. Daryl had opened the packet while Dan walked closer and Daryl held out the packet after placed a few potato chips in his mouth. Smiling, Dan took a few of the potato chips, placed the potato chips in his mouth and they headed down the railroad tracks.
A/N: The Claimers might have been perverted jerks, but Joe was a pretty good leader. That's why I included them in the story.
