Two Men

Daryl

Daryl leaned back against the headrest of the Tahoe and idly watched the landscape. Carol would have picked up the kids at the bus stop by now. They'd be home having a snack together before all three of the kids went to the barn to clean their horse's stalls. Then they would take the horses for a run around the farm. He and Carol would walk to meet them and then they would all walk the horses back. Sheila almost dancing with joy to have her family out in the fields with her.

He loved that first look of the farm from the top of the hill. The stream glinting silver in evening sun. The houses and barns sitting on the emerald green of the fields. The cattle secure in their pastures. It was more than anything he could have dreamed for himself growing up in a shack with broken down cars littering their uncut yard.

It might have been a dump but he still had a few happy memories there. He had his mother and brother to thank for that. His mother wasn't exactly June Cleaver unless June's eternal smiled was fueled by cheap wine. Mom had been an indifferent housekeeper but she was fun. Liked music and to dance. Mom had taught Merle how to dance and he could still remember the two of them waltzing around the front room. Those two were two of a kind. Light on their feet and quick with their tongue. They both liked to read and they both loved him. There was some measure of happiness in that house though Will Dixon did his best to stamp it out with his fists. His first clear memory was of Merle taking him into the woods behind their house and then leaving him to go back to defend their mother.

His mother had died in a house fire when he was eight when Merle was in juvie. He and his father moved to a house that was a mirror to their old house. Just up the road and he had to walk past his old house to school every day. Wishing that Mom would come out of the rubble and take him away with her. There was no Merle to lead him away and he wasn't always quick enough to escape his father. Will Dixon liked to slap his belt against his hand as he walked down the hall to his bedroom, "Gonna show you who is the boss around here, you little bastard." His father's lessons had left scars on his body and on his soul. Merle came back when he was seventeen and took him away. His father was dead now. All those years of driving drunk without a scratch had ended with Will Dixon hitting a tree and bleeding to death. Merle had him cremated and they had thrown his ashes down the shithole of an old outhouse. Merle said that it was fitting and even now after all these years Daryl had to agree.

Daryl was glad to take the wheel at the next stop. He could concentrate on driving and the old memories would be kept at bay. He had laid them to rest years ago but memories have a way of revisiting you from time to time. They troubled him but they didn't have the power they once had. He had newer happier memories to take their place. Watching Merle change from drug addict to a happily married man who counseled drug addicts. Working through his own issues in therapy and eventually owning half a construction business. Memories of falling in love with Carol McAllister and finally their getting together, being married, and creating a joyful life on the farm. Then, opening their loving home to three orphans. Not sweet little Little Orphan Annies at all. Their father was just a better educated Will Dixon and he had left scars on their bodies and their souls. Damn him to hell.

Carol had laughed that it had taken nine months for the Anderson children to become the Dixon kids. Just like having a baby it had had its ups and downs. They were a family now. He had won the life lottery. The big prize. The jackpot of all jackpots. Carol. He was lucky enough that she could be called his wife but in his heart she was his darling, his sweetest of all sweethearts, and his most desired lover. Wife was just a word and being married to Carol had never changed that. She was a gift from a benevolent Creator and not a reward for good behavior. She was to be cherished and appreciated. He had ignored that and jumped into this trip without talking it over with Carol. That was a dumb ass thing to do. She was pissed at him and he deserved it. He might as well have patted her on the head and said, "I'm the boss and you are the little woman. Do as I say."

Daryl was driving when they crossed the border. The ever polite Canadians had looked at their passports, their fishing gear plainly in sight, and waved them into their country. The air was chilly and it was misting rain and they must have looked like the biggest dumbasses in the world to want to go fishing. Jesse navigated and they soon were on their way to a good sized Canadian town.

Jesse called a number and left a message for Oliver to call them back at one of the burner phone number. Oliver was a business man dealing in pharmaceutical drugs. He liked them. They didn't want oxytocin or morphine. They wanted antibiotics, asthma inhalers, beta blockers, and those things not commonly sold on street corners in a city. They would use one of their burner phone when they talked to Oliver. The other two phones were for personal use and they would use them only to call home and only when they were a distance away from where they talked to Oliver.

Oliver called back in twenty minutes. Jesse took the call and Oliver asked that they meet the next morning at the "office". They drove on another hour that would be closer to the destination. They stopped at a run-down motel that was close to some prime fishing spots and didn't demand a credit card.

Carol answered on the second ring. She sounded a little frazzled to Daryl and he decided to lighten the mood, "If your husband's away, can we play?"

"Maybe…later. Right now I have three kids that want to talk to you." She was probably in the family room downstairs and the kids were probably watching a movie. It was Friday night. No school. No homework. He could almost smell the popcorn and he wished that he was there. "Let's start at the top and work down."

Sam asked about the weather because he was weather nerd. Daryl asked about the science experiment that he was doing for Science Club because Sam was also a science nerd. Sam paused, "Hey, Dad. How about if James teaches me how to shoot? Mom bought two pistols today."

Daryl chewed on his thumb. He had hunted with James enough to know that he was very safety conscious. "Only if your mother agrees. What about learning how to use a rifle?"

"Carl can work with us on Sunday. He's working tomorrow." Sam sounded so grown up. He hadn't been interested in guns before and Daryl had never pushed him learning. Now something had his studious son wanting to learn how to use weapons.

"I'll be home as soon as I can. I love you, Sam."

Sam muttered, "I love you too. Now get your ass home."

"What's up, parental unit?" That would be his Lizzie. Acting all offhand and casual.

"Not much, we're going fishing tomorrow." Keep it low key. This is Lizzie. Nothing gets by her.

" When are you coming home? Your life partner is being a little over the top. Just saying. I'm expecting that she'll have us out digging foxholes tomorrow morning. I think she's PMSing. Or it's the full moon." Lizzie has picked up Carol's stressed and was laying the blame at my door.

"Then you better go to bed early so that you can get an early start to digging. I love you, Lizzie. Just do what your mother tells you to do." She was always work and always worth it when she lets her guard down and smiles at me.

"I always do what Mom tells me to do and I love you too, Dad. Better talk to Mika now." She called me "Dad" and referred to Carol as "Mom". Now I am worried.

"Daddy, I wish you could be here for the hayride." Mika sweet voice filled his ears. She was adorable and his baby girl and always would be.

He managed to tell her that he loved and would be home soon. Finally Carol came on the phone.

"Carol, is everything alright? Sam wants to learn how to shoot and Lizzie says that you are digging foxholes."

. "Nothing to worry about yet. I went to Cousin Billy's today. He was practically giving away his stock." Billy lowering his prices. The end is near.

"You went to Cousin Billy's without me? Shit, woman. I've barely out the door and you are cheating on me with Cousin Billy." Better lighten the mood.

"I was well chaperoned by Michonne and Andrea. Going back tomorrow morning with them."

"No more talk of Cousin Billy. How about some phone sex?" Not something we have ever tried.

"You run off to Canada and you want phone sex. I don't think so. Beside where is Jesse?" Carol sounds edgy.

"I'm in the Tahoe and he's in the room. I came out here to get some privacy. It's all cold and rainy here. I'm wishing I had some skinny woman here to keep me warm." She is the one who is always cold.

Her voice sounded a little more forgiving, "No phone sex tonight. We're watching a movie. Don't be gone too long or I will turn to Cousin Billy. He's a little arthritic but as long as the Viagra doesn't kill him we're good."

Daryl figured that was some sort of code for things might be going south. Like he should be. "I'll call late tomorrow night. Maybe you'll be in the mood to hear about all the things I'd like to be doing for you. I love you, Carol."

"I love you, Daryl and I wish you were here." The phone clicked off. Carol hates to say goodbye.

Daryl called Merle. He could hear Christie talking to someone in the background. Merle was his usual breezy self, "Daryl, good to hear from you. I was thinking it was time for me to bring the family to see you. Catch some fall colors." Yeah, like Merle Dixon is a leaf peeper.

"I'm fishing right now but you know you're always welcome."

"One of Christie's patients stopped by. He's a shaman. Big Medicine Man vs Modern Medicine. He says that Modern medicine doesn't have a chance and it doesn't look like throwing colored sand is going to do much either. So we're starting to move in your direction in a few days. You'll be home by then?"

"Should be. Keep this number. I'll call you tomorrow. I love you, Merle. Don't say it enough." He's going to call me Darlinda.

"I love you too and I'm can't wait to show you my boy. Growing like a weed. Got some other news but I want to wait 'til I see you."

Daryl finished the call quickly. He waited a few more minutes to give Jesse time to finish his call. He knew Carol was rattled and he wasn't sure that it was about this virus. She had been fine last night and was on edge this morning. For some reason he thought about Ed Peletier. He had come close to killing Carol all those years ago. Ed went to prison and stayed away from both Carol and Sophia. A man like that would try to take advantage of chaos to get his revenge on Carol and the others. Rick for gathering the evidence against him and Andrea and Michonne for interfering. A man like Ed might think that revenge is a dish best served cold.

Daryl wished again to be home. If Oliver said that it would take too long to get the medicine, then he was pulling out and not stopping for anything but gas until he was home.

Ed

Ed Peletier looked at himself in the mirror. He wasn't the thin good looking boy anymore. He started gaining weight in prison and he had gained more as the years went by. It was her fault. Carol's. If she had just forgiven him and dropped the charges against him then his life would have worked out the way it was supposed to. The bitch was going to pay for fucking up his life.

He had born into old money which is always a good way to start. Two doting parents and an older brother who was enough older to leave him the hell alone. He had never loved his parents or his brother. He didn't want their love but he wanted access to the benefits of their wealth. He learned early to pretend affection. Then he would release his pent up hostility on an animal or a younger child.

His parents took him to church and to doctors. Neither made much impression on him. He went through high school playing sports which gave him some outlet for his aggression. He dated a good deal. Those big brown eyes and nice car were a draw to young girls. He liked them younger, poorer, and naïve. Like a Peletier would be dating a girl from the wrong side of the tracks unless he was fucking her. None of them lasted long and the word was out at his school that Ed liked it rough. Liked to hurt when he fucked and even the girls from the wrong side of the tracks starting turning away. That was all right because he spent his senior year at a military school. His parents had decided that he needed "discipline" and so he went and found all sorts of outlets for his cruelties among the younger cadets.

He was accepted at his father's university mostly because of his father's generous donations to the school. Then, he became a member of his father's fraternity and he studied enough to stay in school. He liked the fraternity lifestyle. Drinking, drugs, casual sex, and the unspoken but understood belief that bad behavior would be condoned and protected by his other fraternity brothers. He kept their secrets and they kept his.

He lasted until his second semester of his third year. He met a freshman girl at a frat party and put a roofie in her drink. Then he took her upstairs where things got a little out of hand. She fought back and he beat her senseless. Then he sodomized her. She was still unconscious but by then he had enlisted the help of a fellow frat brother to help him carry the body into a wooded area a mile away from the frat house. He thought the girl was dead but an early morning jogger had found her and some asshole doctor saved her. The bitch actually named him. He was charged, but there wasn't any proof. He was smart enough to wear a condom and the girl's memory was impaired. Still, the university cracked down on the fraternity and his father refused to give him any more money. Ed finished his semester. He certainly wasn't going borrow money to go to school. He didn't want to go to work at some loser job.

Ed came home to live with his parents. His father gave him a job at the bank where he spent his days plotting his next move. His mind spun all sorts of schemes. He could hire someone to knock off his parents and surely he would inherit some money. His older brother was a surgeon. Married with two adorable little tykes that Ed despised. Ed despised his parents. He wouldn't shed a tear at their deaths but he wasn't positive that he would inherit anything from them. They let him live in their house but they were more cautious around him. Fearful even. Which they should be. Killing them now might be killing the golden goose. Even if the goose was being a little stingy right now.

His mother and father were faithful church goers. Ed was incensed when he realized that they gave so much money to their church. He could use that money to start all over. He passed the summer drinking at the country club and charging it to his father. He went to clubs in the nearby city and found girls who were soon sorry that they had gotten in his car. Most of them were drunk and he had brought his stash of roofies with him.

Eventually the country club stopped giving him credit and his schemes to steal money from the bank never got off the ground. He was eating dinner with his parents and wondering what bar he was going to that night. His parents were chatting about some "poor girl" who was now attending their church with her aunt and uncle. Her parents had been killed in an auto accident in the summer. He didn't give a fuck about this girl until his father added, "There was insurance and the parent's vehicle was hit by a drunk driver who worked for nationwide trucking company. The settlement should send her to college and give her a chance to make a new life. Poor thing."

Ed decided right then and there that he would go to church next Sunday and check out the orphan. He told his parents Saturday night that he wanted to go to church with them tomorrow. He dressed in his best suit, combed his newly trimmed hair, and went to check out the orphan. She was pretty, had masses of curly hair, big blue eyes and looked even younger than seventeen. Perfect. Ed managed to shake hands with her uncle who promptly introduced him to Carol McAllister.

Ed tried to look smitten and his infatuation was happily noted by his parents and her aunt and uncle. They hadn't lived in this town long and hadn't heard about the wild Peletier boy. Carol seemed oblivious to his charms. It took months of church going before she would agree to date him. She finally agreed to go to a Christmas dance at the country club. She refused to go anywhere after that and he settled for a boring kiss at her front door. They went to a New Year's event at the church and he kissed her sweetly at the stroke of midnight.

Ed was living a double life. He worked at the bank, occasionally dated Carol, and continued to go to bars in nearby towns. Carol wasn't falling for him. He put plan B into production. He took her to a party that had alcohol flowing and she wouldn't drink anything but a coke. She wasn't going to get drunk but one roofie later he drove her to a motel and raped her. Several times. Then he deposited her on her aunt's porch. The next morning he called her. Told her that she had left the party with some guy and he was worried about her. She was falling apart. She couldn't remember anything but being at the party and he took her to a nearby city to a doctor. He continued to be her white knight and he was able to seduce her a month later. It was awful sex. He had to be gentle and she still didn't like it. She didn't want to do it again but this time she was caught. Carol was pregnant and he pretended to be ecstatic about the baby though he was pretty damn happy about getting married. What was hers was soon to be his.

They had a quick wedding. Her two bitch friends cried all through the ceremony. Carol cried too. He wasn't too rough with her until the insurance money ran out. He was in charge of the lawsuit against the trucking company and he was pushing for more money. She wanted a divorce and by then the baby was born. Ugly squally little thing. He threatened Carol that he would kill the baby if she left him. Then her two bitch friends and then her. She was terrified and he was in control. He demanded only anal sex and Carol didn't have a choice. He slapped and smacked her around a lot but he usually just left a few bruises and cuts. Then one afternoon he punched harder and held her up and hit her over and over. She hit her head on the coffee table when he let go. Then he kicked her several times when she was down. There was blood everywhere and he got scared and ran off. Only to be chased down later by Rick Grimes before he had washed the blood off.

The two bitches and Rick Grimes sent him to prison. Four long years and all he had to show for it was a few friends that shared his view of the world. His parents moved to the city that his brother lived in and he never got a cent which was all Carol's fault. She could have dropped the charges. She settled for a lot less money from the insurance company and he never saw a penny. He got out of prison and started meeting women from ads in newspapers. The bitches were so stupid that they believed the bull shit that he told them. They deserved what happened to them. He was learning that women don't like to tell that they have been raped or robbed. Ed finally met a rich older woman and moved in with her. She controlled the money but he finally convinced her to marry him. It wasn't long before she was willing to give him a good settlement if he would give her a divorce. He changed his name and his location. He wasn't getting the pretty young ones any more but the older ones had more money.

Time marched on. The internet became his avenue to meet women. They were so willing to believe his online profile and so slow to realize the truth. He liked to think of himself as a hawk just floating around in the sky until he saw his prey. Then he swooped down and grabbed them in his talons. Sometimes he worked alone and sometimes he used his posse. He kept in touch with the guys that had his back in the prison. They were in and out of prison but always ready to join in some profitable enterprise. Ed had managed to stay out of prison because the women usually got cold feet and dropped the charges. He owed that to his good friend Lewis who had helped him drag that coed out of the frat house.

Then one day he saw Carol on television. She was still pretty and thin but the long hair that he had pulled her around by was gone. She was a witness in a federal trial. He eventually found out that she was married, living in the damn boondocks close to the mountains up by South Carolina, and he drove up there. She and her husband had a nice farm that they probably bought with his lawsuit money. He wanted to pay her a little visit and finish off what he started way back in the day. The problem was that her husband was always around. His name was Daryl Dixon and he wasn't a big guy but there was something about the way he moved that reminded Ed of the guys in prison who nobody crossed. Like they weren't afraid. Like they wouldn't stop until they got you.

Later on Ed found out that there were new additions to the farm. Rick Grimes and his blond bitch, the Black bitch and her husband, and even Carol's daughter and her husband. He was a patient man. He had waited more than twenty years to get his revenge. He would bide his time and sooner or later he capture Carol. Maybe he would be able to fulfill that long ago threat. Kill Sophia, kill Andrea and Michonne, and after Carol saw them all die he would kill Carol.

Yes, they weren't going anywhere. All of them happy and content in their little Garden of Eden. And look how that ended.

AN

I wanted to show that Daryl had a miserable childhood but he had loved his mother and his brother. He was abused by his father but was able to eventually become a loving father. Daryl fell in love with Carol and became a loving husband.

Ed had loving parents, good looks, and wealth growing up but he was a sociopath. He blames everyone else for his problems. He brutalizes women because he can. He married Carol for the money that her lawsuit would bring him. He does not love anyone and never has.

These two men have only Carol in common. Daryl's love is eternal and Ed's hate is eternal. They will have those feelings until they die.