...they leave behind

It was in the early morning before sunrise when Murphy woke Daryl so they could move back to the group. Murphy had watched Daryl sleep and thought about where Connor would go. Maybe he was heading to Washington. Daryl woke up and his hand rose to his face. He probably looked like crap. Everything felt swollen. Under normal circumstances he would have waited one day longer to go after Connor. But he knew that Murphy wouldn't wait and to be honest he was eager to find Connor too.
They walked as fast as Daryl could. Murphy sometimes running in front of him and then waiting till he caught up. He never complained but every time he turned around Murphy looked more worried. "Tell me something about you and Connor. I bet you have a lot of stories." Daryl tried to distract Murphy, so he would stop worrying so much.
"Aye. But this is not the time."
"We will walk for a while. So just talk. I know you love talking."
Murphy smirked. "Once Connor got in a fight with Ma' because he stole booze and we were so drunk that we let all the sheep from our neighbours out of the barn. Hell, we had to catch every single one of them the next day. It took us about 16 hours. Because one of these stupid sheep got stuck in a fence. And one was hiding in a horse stable."
Daryl smiled. "Sounds like you had a lot of fun." Daryl had never had fun with his brother. At least not with their punching other people activities or watching Merle drugged and fucking girls. Merle had always made sure that Daryl was in the house when he brought a girl home. Just to mock him afterwards. One day Daryl had thought about joining them just to shock his brother but then decided not to give in.
"Aye. We did. Connor always makes people laugh. He and his stupid plans. Yeh know half the stuff he plans is from movies. We used to go to the theatre every Wednesday. Sharing popcorn and watching action movies. Conn' loves western movies or movies with car races."
"I never saw much movies."
"When this world works again we will have movie sessions. We will share all the moments with you." Murphy smiled. He totally could imagine Connor in the middle of them both explaining them every little move of a movie. "That would be nice."
"Don't you worry. WE are family now. What about you and the group? Rick is like a brother for you, isn't he?"
"Yeah. We are all family. Would be nice to live in one town after we found a cure." Another thing Daryl had thought about the last days. He trusted those people and it would really be great having them near by.
"We can do that."
Both smiled. Murphy then said: "Tell me something about you Daryl Dixon."
"Not much to tell."
"You had a girlfriend before this?"
"No. You?"
"Nah. Never had the time or the will for it. Yeh kno' with the killin' and prison stuff. We had some ladies now and then but never one tha' we kept."
"You never wanted a family?"
Murphy sighed. "I did. I wanted a wife, kids, a nice home. Maybe in Ireland. I liked Ireland. Connor always wanted fun. He loved kids but never wanted his own. And you?"
"I thought about it once. I like kids but I don't think I want one. And I'm not exactly good with women."
Murphy stopped walking. "Stop that. Tha's Bullshit. Yer a good person. Yeh will find a wife."
Daryl didn't respond. He was not sure if Murphy was right. He didn't feel it. He couldn't see himself with a woman. "You too. After this is over. you don't have to be a saint again."
"Aye. We are gettin' too old for tha' shit anyway."

They reached the camp and Rick was running towards them as soon as he saw Murphy stepping out of the woods. He pulled Daryl into a hug and Murphy watched Daryl's face while the sheriff hugged him. It looked a whole lot different than when he touched Daryl.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah. Some punches don't kill me. Murphy took care of the wounds. But we are only here to grab some stuff. We go after Connor."
Rick froze. "No you don't."
"Yes we are. Murphy, grab some stuff."
"No. I don't leave your side." Murphy wanted to make sure that Rick wasn't going to hit Daryl and hurt him even more.
Rick looked between them and Daryl looked to Murphy. That was something new. "You can't just run off again with your wounds and Connor clearly did want to go."
"Rick. I will follow him and I can't let Murphy go alone. You told me that we are brothers, remember?"
Rick nodded. "Well, Connor and Murphy are my brothers too. I don't let any family member run off because of a stupid fight. As much as I love this group Rick, I just can't leave Connor on his own."
Rick watched his friend closely and then decided to agree. There was something different around Daryl. Daryl never bonded with anyone so fast. "Okay. But please come back to us. We are moving tomorrow. I will give you a copy where we want to go so we can meet somewhere on our way. We need to get to Washington. I know Beth is still missing but we can't wait forever. Take care. Go grab some stuff. I will tell Carol to pack some water and food for you. There is a lot left from the deer yesterday."
Daryl smirked. "Sorry we missed the party."
"Well it was a really tearful one."
He looked to Murphy who's cheeks went red by that and he whispered. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. You were worried about your twin." Rick smiled. He turned around and went into the house. Daryl went after him while Murphy grabbed his whole stuff from the garage. Then entered the house too. Daryl was talking to Carl and Murphy went over to them. "You leave?", Carl asked.
"Yes buddy. I will search for Connor and Beth."
"You shouldn't go."
"I have to."
"Come back."
"I will." Daryl huffed the boy and then said goodbye to everyone. Murphy just said goodbye to everyone in the room waving his hands awkwardly and then went to the kitchen. Carol was packing some stuff for them. Looking judgemental at Murphy. Rick was rocking Judith in his arms. "Bye lil' asskicker", Murphy whispered.
"Hey, that's my nickname", Daryl appeared next to him. Both man staring down at the Baby. "Didn't now you had a patent on it. Then I will call her lil' princess."
"How about Judith?", Rick suggested.
"Nah. You can call her that. We are weird uncles. We give nicknames", Murphy explained. Which made Daryl chuckle. "Can I hold her?", Daryl asked.
"Of Course." Rick gave his daughter to his friend and watched the scene in front of him in confusion. Daryl was holding Judith, like he often had at the prison. Murphy was standing right behind them. One hand on Daryl's shoulder and the other hand tickling Judith stomach which made her giggle.
Carol and Rick gave each other a strange look. They had seen their friend with Judith but something was different.
"Dar' I think she loves yeh. Look she is smilin' at yeh."
"She is smiling because you are tickling her you idiot."
"Nah. Stop swearing in front of the ladies. Where are your manners lil' bro."
Daryl gave Murphy a strange look and then smiled. "You know, I love her, too. She is still so innocent. And now there is hope that she will grow up in a better world. So come on big bro' lets go find our lost leprechaun and maybe Beth." Daryl handed Rick Judith and then looked at Carol. "You have something for us?"
She nodded and handed him a bag. Daryl opened his backpack and put the food inside. "Daryl", she whispered and kissed his cheek.
Daryl hugged her. Man someday he would get tired of this hugging thing. When did he become a hugger?
"Don't worry Ma'am I will come back. Alongside this fucker", he pointed to Murphy "and the other fuckhead."
"Language Daryl", Murphy teased.
Daryl let go off Carol and slapped Murphy's head but smiled while doing so. Why was he smiling all the time?
"So we are out now. Give me the list with the places so we can catch up with you." Rick walked over to the next room and gave Daryl a list with the places they had marked. They even had made plans how many days they would need to get to every town.
"Take care of ourself and come back. You know we need you. All of you." He looked at Murphy. "Whatever this is between you. Whatever made Connor run away. Tell him that we still need him. Because I know Daryl wouldn't go after him if he wasn't worth it."
"Aye. Thank you Rick. For everything. I am sorry that we are ripping this group apart again."
"You can't rip something apart what is connected with heart and soul."
Murphy nodded. Connected with heart and soul. Ironic that he felt this way with Daryl and Connor.
Daryl then grabbed his arm. "Come on now. We have work to do. And I am not as fast as I want to be."

Cabin in the woods

Connor got up from the ground when the first sunbeams reached the cabin. He was tired and hungry. His face still felt like crap and he could feel the dried blood everywhere. He got up but had to grab the chair in front of him because he could see stars dancing in front of his face. He slowly moved around the place, searching for a bit water or something to eat. All he could find was a can of coke and a can of ravioli. He opened it and ate it cold. It tasted like shit but he needed something in his stomach. Connor went outside, still eating and sat down on a rock in front of the cabin. Where should he go? Maybe to Washington. He would meet the group there. He knew that but where else should he go?
His eyes followed the direction he came from. His brother was there. Alone. For the first time they were apart from each other without knowing when they will see each other again or never at all.
After he was done eating the cold pasta he walked back in and threw the can in a trash bin. He put the cola in his backpack and went back on his way. With every step further he felt a longing to go back. Turn around and run to his brother. Run back to Daryl. Apologize and explain. Instead of making him feel better he had made Daryl feel worse. How could he do that to him? Just less than 24 hours ago they had had that little moment. The moment where Connor thought he was starting to love Daryl as a brother. He felt so deeply connected to him, just as with his twin. Connor wish he knew why he felt like this. He walked on for some hours, killed some geeks on his way. Nothing serious. He could take them out with his knife easily. His face began to get itchy from the drying blood and he was rubbing the blood out of his stubble. He had to find a lake or something to get at least his face clean. When he could see the end of the woods, he hid behind a tree and checked out the area for humans and Walkers. But couldn't see anyone. So he pulled his gun out and moved around the 3 houses. They seemed to be clear and empty. So he entered one and checked every room. The one room that made him a bit confused was the kitchen. There was a whole stock of food. As if someone had gathered supplies here. He looked around, still no one around. Then he took some of those supplies and throw them in his pack as fast es he could and then left the house. He checked the other two and one looked as if someone had been sleeping there some hours ago and the other one looked like someone had fought some geeks or other humans here. He had found a lot of blood. Something about this place made him feel uncomfortable. It reminded him too much of the room back at Woodbury that Merle used to torture people. Connor ran back into the woods. He knew he had to go further and run away because he knew that Murphy would probably search for him. But on the other hand he needed to check what was going on here. What if someone was killing people here? Connor decided to stay and watch the scene until it was getting dark. If nothing was happening until then he would walk away.
It felt like hours that he was watching the houses and he was already ready to walk away, when he saw a car pulling into the driveway. It was already getting dark so he couldn't see who those people were but what he saw was that white cross on the back window. Beth. Fuck. Now he really had to see what these people do and he nearly started sweating when he thought about all the blood. As far as he can see the two people entering the first house now were a woman and a man that looked more like a towser than a human being. Connor wasn't sure what to do. If those were the people that had captured Beth, where was she then? Connor shut his eyes close. Idiot! You didn't check for basements or attics. What if they held her hostage there?
Connor didn't think any further and ran back to the house where he had seen the blood. His Gun in one hand and his knife in the other hand. He searched for a door he had probably missed the first time and found it behind a coat wrack. He pulled it open and looked into darkness. Connor cursed. He needed light but he had no time to think so he tried his best to get down and halfway through he could hear some muffled sounds. "Beth?", he whispered. He heard a louder sound and he knew he had found her. He nearly jumped down the rest of the stairs, stumbling when he landed on the last step and then tried to look around. he could only see dark blue and black shades. He asked again "Beth?" The girl was making sounds now so he tried to get into that direction. He nearly fell over her before recognizing blonde hair. The first thing he did was check if she was gagged and when he found the knot he ripped the rope out of her mouth. "Beth?"
The girl gasped for air and whispered: "Yes."
"It's okay. I'm friends with Daryl. I will get you out."
"Hurry. They'll be back."
Connor freed Beth from her ties and helped her stand up. One hand around her waist he got her to the stairs. He gave her the knife. "Use this. I will get you out." When they reached the middle of the stairs they heard voices.
"Did you leave the fuckin' door open? I told ya to close it!", the mans voice shouted.
"I fuckin' closed it. She must have gotten out." They heard feet and Connor knew they had only seconds to get away or hide. But without seeing anything they couldn't go back. So he whispered. "When I scream "Run" you go as fast as you can. Run back to Terminus. Daryl and some others are near there. I will catch up with you as soon as I can."
Beth gripped the rim of his pea coat. "What's your name?"
"Connor." And then Connor ran up the stairs crashing into the person that was just about to enter the basement. They were falling down. He saw the second person trying to get into the cellar. It was the women. He landed on top of the man and knocked his face, then turned, shot the woman and screamed. "RUUUUUN!"
He saw Beth coming out of the basement and she ran outside. Doing as she was told.
Connor felt a hand grabbing his cleavage and a fist meeting his left cheek. He couldn't really move and tried to get his gun into the mans face but the man was now grabbing his arm and Connor lost control over the gun. It fell to the ground. Connor struggled the grip of the man but he had no chance against hulk. "Ya bastard killed my wife."
"Yer bastard tortured a girl. What were yer goin' to do to her?"
The man laughed. "I had my fun with her and tried to get her to talk where her group is."
"There is no group. Only her and me."
"Not sure. She was always screaming several names when we tortured her."
Connor felt his anger and rage growing and he struggled even more to get up. "Yeh bastard", he spat and tried to punch. But the man was holding his wrists and was now moving forward. Pushing Connor off him and then let go of one wrist, just to hit Connor so hard against his temple that he lost his consciousness. His last thought was that he was going to die here. Without seeing Murphy ever again. Without seeing Daryl again. "Murph'! Daryl!" He screamed in his head.

"Look", Murphy pointed to the little cabin that was surrounded by a bunch of trees. Murphy started running and opened the door. "Connor?", he asked but didn't get an answer. He looked around the room but couldn't find a hint that Connor was there. He moved over to the kitchen and opened the cupboards but didn't find anything. Daryl entered the cabin and was humbling and holding his stomach. He went over to Murphy and looked at him. "Anything?"
"No." Murphy looked disappointed. Daryl had found some footprints on their way but no sign of Connor. He looked into the trash bin and grabbed the Can that was in it. "Look. It's still wet. Someone ate this at least some hours ago."
"Maybe Connor."
"Maybe."
It was already too dark to go on for any longer. Daryl knew that with every resting hour Connor would go further away from them. "We should stay here", Murphy said.
"Yeah. Just thought the same thing."
"Yeh need to rest."
Daryl nodded and suited himself on the floor. Using his backpack as pillow. He held his stomach and flinched. Everything hurt and he was completely exhausted. Murphy hunkered down and took one of the water bottles out of his backpack and a towel he had grabbed from the bathroom before they had left the group. Daryl looked at him. "Don't say you brought that for me"
Murphy nodded. "I have some salve too." Daryl sighed. Now he felt like a little brother. His look-a-like looked at him for a while and the hunter patted his knee. "You okay?"
"I don't know. I feel weird without him. And yet I am glad that I am with you", the older one answered and smiled down to Daryl. Murphy opened the water bottle and made the towel wet. Then he started to clean Daryl's face. Daryl watched every move in Murphy's face. They really looked so much like twins. Murphy's hair was a lot darker and shorter than his. He had the mole on the same spot, right over his upper lip. He even had a goatee and it was nice to see that just like his, the beard head three colors. Murphy's eyes were a bit bluer than his own. Lighter, happier. The older one stopped cleaning his face and looked at him. "Why are you watching me?"
"It still surprises me how much you look like me."
"Aye. It's nearly as if you are my twin brother."
"Yeah."
"Stomach", Murphy demanded.
"Again?"
The older one nodded and Daryl closed his eyes for a moment and then decided to take off his vest and shirt. Then lay back down as fast as possible so Murphy wouldn't see his back. Murphy noticed the behaviour of the man beneath him but didn't say anything. He cleaned his stomach, treated every wound with salve and then sat back watching Daryl putting his shirt back on after a while and closing his eyes. After minutes he heard a snoring and the hunters face relaxed. Murphy closed his eyes and grabbed his rosary.
He had pushed that feeling away that was getting hold of him. Panic. He had felt it some minutes ago. He knew that it meant that Connor was near and that he was probably fighting or running. Murphy started to pray when he suddenly felt something else. "Connor!", he screamed. His brother was in danger. He could feel it. He could feel the pain and the panic. They had to go on but Daryl wouldn't be able to move as fast as they needed and he couldn't leave him behind. Every inch of his body was drawing him to his brother but he had to stay calm.
"Murphy? Why did you scream?"
"Connor. He is in trouble. I can feel it. We need..we need to hurry."
Daryl was on his feet as fast es he could.
"Then come on."
"No. You are too tired."
"Shut up. I can handle it. We need to find him."
Murphy jumped up, grabbed the backpack and they both started jogging as soon as they felt the grass under their feet. Murphy just had one thought: They would be too late.
Daryl just had another one: He was not ready to loose another brother.
They ran. Until they heard someone coming in their direction. Both hid behind a tree in completely smooth movements. It sounded like a Walker that was staggering and getting slower. Daryl gave Murphy a sign to be quiet and looked around the tree. The moment he looked he let go of his crossbow and looked at Murphy in total shock. When Murphy looked for himself what had Daryl shocked he saw a girl kneeling on the ground, covered in blood, her blonde hair shimmering silverish in the moonlight and she was sobbing and when her face met his, she looked shocked too. "Daryl", she whispered and passed out.