Reunited

Daryl

Daryl got up early that morning to prepare for his trip to Savannah. He stocked his crossbow with all his arrows and tucked a gun into the waistband of his jeans, also putting a knife in his pocket for good measure. Daryl was kind of excited to get into the city; he was in an adventurous mood. It made him feel like he made the right choice about letting Sarah go before she got too close to him. If he had let his feelings go crazy like they had threatened to before, he might not have even volunteered to go. He would have wanted to stay around and look after her, the same way Rick stayed for Lori.

But now nothing was holding him back. He was going to go into the city, kill a shit-ton of walkers, and come back with a good amount of supplies. Unfortunately, he'd be going with Marco, and he had a feeling that that aspect of the trip wasn't going to go over very well. He wasn't nervous about what Marco would do to him; Daryl was nervous that he would snap and give them away or act too rashly. It was a bad habit of his, inherited from his father and Merle without a doubt.

He walked downstairs and sat down on the living room couch, waiting for the others to come down. When he looked out the front window he saw Sarah in the ocean. Her light hair streamed behind her in the morning breeze and she was wading knee deep in the ocean with her jeans rolled up. She looked peaceful and Daryl felt his body ache for her, but pushed the thoughts from his head.

He had been downstairs waiting for at least ten minutes before the other three men started walking down. "Come on, wasting daylight here!" Daryl said in an urgent voice, standing and motioning to the front door. "Let's go!"

"Chill, Daryl," Glenn said, still rubbing his eyes. "I don't know why you're so excited to step into a swarm of walkers anyways…"

They split up and got in the cars; Daryl with Glenn and Scott with Marco. The highway was the shortest route into town, so they went that way, using a set of walkie-talkies to communicate between them. They took the exit toward downtown Savannah, stopping the cars close to the once-active shipping ports and harbor. Daryl loaded up the crossbow before he got out of the car, and rested it against his shoulder so that he would be ready to shoot at any time.

The ancient port was made of old gray stones. Former tourist stores lined it, and it was obvious that they wouldn't find anything of real value to scavenge until they were further into town. They walked up the stairs that led from the port to the main street, which was crawling with walkers. The four of them dove behind an abandoned bus to develop a plan.

"You two, run to the hotel alley. Glenn and I will run to alley next to the pub. Scavenge whatever you can on the way…You'll need to head west after reaching the alley to get to a big supermarket," Scott ordered.

'Damnit,' thought Daryl. He'd been partnered up with Marco. He didn't have time to argue, however, because as soon as Scott finished talking, they were on the run. While he sprinted across the street toward fenced alley, Daryl shot a few walkers with his arrows. He was running so fast that he could pull the arrows out with a violent yank as he ran by, before the walkers even hit the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Marco hitting the walkers that were in his way with an axe.

Daryl reached the open fence first and slipped inside, with Marco soon behind him. They had drawn quite a bit of attention on the way over. Daryl latched the gate just in time, before the walkers reached them. They kept walking and quickly cleared the alley, an easy feat with Daryl's crossbow and deadly accurate aim.

"How long have you been using that thing?" Marco asked, gesturing to Daryl's favorite weapon.

"Age five," he said, proud of his self-taught skills. Daryl had been bringing home dinner for a long time, an achievement that spared him from several beatings from his father.

"Damn. Picked up my first gun at thirteen. Dad couldn't wait to teach me the trade, if you know what I mean."

Daryl didn't respond. The post-infection group was the closest thing to a gang that he'd ever experienced; Daryl had always been too independent to involve himself with other people during his more youthful years. In fact, the only reason he wasn't on his own now was the basic principle of survival. Merle had been the one who wanted to join the others in the first place.

They ventured through the maze of backstreets, without many walkers in sight. "Ya know, they used to call Savannah one of the most haunted cities in America..." Marco said. "I guess the trick is finding the least haunted now." He was quiet for a moment and then added, "I think the store's down here." He gestured to a large brick building across the street of the alley they were walking down. They ran inside before anything else could spot them.

"This mission is going surprisingly well…almost too well," Marco said after they got inside. Food was scattered across the floor. Most of it was rotting, but they were able to gather quite a bit.

Daryl was grabbing boxes of rice from a shelf when Marco spoke again. "So, this is probably the time to bring it up because I don't want to cause a scene back at Scott's. I don't know what the deal is between you and Sarah right now, but she's pretty upset. She and I have been close for a real long time…so if you're not going to be a gentleman, who is what she deserves, you and I are going to have a few problems."

"Terrifying…ya'll think I'm threatened? What are ya gonna do, sic the gang on me?" Daryl said, feeling his temper begin to escalate. "I don't know why no one can mind their own damn business anyhow. I don't go prying in other people's lives, why do ya'll pry into mine?"

"You think I need my gang behind me? I'll kick your hick ass, right here and now," Marco said. He threw down the groceries he had gathered and rolled up his sleeves before cockily adding, "Been waiting to since day one."

"Yeah? Tell ya what, ya'll can even have the first punch." Daryl threw down his groceries as well and took off the crossbow, walking briskly toward Marco.

As Daryl predicted, Marco did try to take the first punch, which Daryl quickly dodged by a swift twist of his upper torso. If he knew how to do one thing, it was fight. As soon as was old and strong enough, he had fought back whenever Merle started a brotherly spar.

Daryl came back and clocked him in the eye with his right hand and in the gut with his left hand. Marco coughed in surprised, but sprung up and returned the punches. Daryl's adrenaline was still going strong though. That was the thing about fighting; while you're in one, you can't feel the punches, even with your body screaming at you, telling you that you're hurt. Then the exhaustion would come; it didn't matter if you won or lost, you felt exhausted all the same.

"Fucking redneck!"
"Prissy asshole bitch!"

Then a new voice appeared. "Damn Daryl, it's the end of the world and ya'll are still finding people to fight? Ain't you ever gonna get tired boy?"

Daryl spun around, as the voice had come from behind him. He couldn't believe what he saw.

"What the hell, you know him?" Marco asked as his punches ceased.

"Merle," was all Daryl could manage in disbelief. If Marco hadn't acknowledged his presence, Daryl would have thought that he was hallucinating again.

"That's all ya gotta say, after letting those assholes chain me to the damn roof in Atlanta?"

"We went back…we saw the hand…" Daryl said, looking at Merle's stump of an arm. "I knew ya'll were a tough enough bastard to get out, but didn't know how long ya would last out here like that."

"Well, brother, I drove right to Savannah. Been staying in the outskirts. Looks like ya'll are with some other group now…I don't recognize this fool."
"Not really. We joined some others, mostly the same though."

"Hold on, lemme get this straight," Marco started. "This is your brother?" He sounded a little nervous, probably regretting the fact that he'd started a fight now. His lip was swelling and his eye turning purple.

"That cop still around? What about the nigger?" Merle asked.

"Both are," Daryl answered, ignoring Marco.

"Looks like I'm comin' back with ya'll then." Daryl must have given Merle a bit of a worried look, because he added "Calm the hell down, brother. I just want to get a decent meal in me. Put the past behind me a long time ago."

"Then why'd ya'll ask?" Daryl questioned. He didn't want to deny his brother, his only kin. He still could barely believe that Merle was there, in the flesh, talking to him like it had only been a few days since they last saw each other. On the other hand, Daryl had gained a lot of respect for Rick, and he didn't want Merle to come back and upset the careful balance of the group. "Ya'll can come with us, but no more bullshit. Past is the past Merle."

"No problem. It's good to see ya brother." Merle cracked a smile.

They gathered what they originally came for and made their way back through the alleys to the place where Glenn and Scott agreed to meet them. Glenn looked like he was seeing a ghost when Merle came into view.

"Asian kid's still here…" Merle said, mostly to himself.

"Oh, hey Merle…um…what the hell are you doing here?"

"Don't sound to happy to see me, do ya sonny? Well screw you too," Merle growled.

Scott looked completely confused. "Why are you two beat up?" he asked, looking between Marco and Daryl. He shook his head and then looked at Merle, his eyes grazing his stump of a hand. "And who are you?"

"His brother," Glenn said, pointing at Daryl. "He was with us before…then some stuff happened."

"Yeah, just some stuff," Merle said, mockingly. "No big deal."

Daryl was filled with happiness at the return of his brother; it meant not dealing with some of the stupid decisions of the group alone. Scott extended a hand and Merle shook it. "Well I'm Scott, and this is Marco. Will you be joining us at my house for dinner tonight?"

The invitation sounded so formal it was nearly ridiculous. Merle nodded and shook his hand, and the five of them got into the cars. Daryl wondered how everyone would react when they got back to Scott's house, seeing Merle for the first time since Atlanta.

Tension arose almost immediately when Merle got out of the car and T-dog and Rick came outside. "Hey there, Officer Friendly," Merle shouted across the dehydrated and crisp brown lawn. It was bound to be a night full of stress.

Everything was explained to Rose and Sarah over dinner, though Daryl took no part in the explanation. He held an icepack over his eye, the only place on his face that Marco had managed to hit him. No one questioned their injuries as they were so focused on the returned member of the group. Rick apologized to him, saying that he just wanted to keep the situation under control. Merle said he accepted the apology, but Daryl knew he didn't mean it. Merle had always been one to hold grudges for life.

Daryl looked at Sarah, who was sitting at the end of the table. He thought about what Marco had said to him, and that he should apologize. She looked up from her plate and met Daryl's eyes, the dark blue irises showing him her sadness and confusion. He felt overcome with guilt and quickly looked away.

Since Merle and him and been reunited, it made Daryl wonder if he could let himself fall for her after all. Maybe he had nothing to be afraid of; he'd protect her…Of course, that would mean putting her before him every time they were in a dangerous situation, but for the first time Daryl thought it might be worth it. He pushed her from his mind again and left the table.

After dinner, Daryl and Merle sat on the back porch: two brothers, reunited. "Seems there's a lot of people gone…"

"Yeah…lots of close calls for everyone."

"These new people are kinda strange. That blonde's pretty hot, though," Merle commented, pointing his chin in her direction. As usual, Rick and Lori were nowhere to be found, and watching their kid was always everyone else's responsibility. So she was playing with Carl in the water, her short shorts and low-cut tank top wet from the splashes. Daryl's body ached for her once again; he lusted for her so badly, but knew only complicated emotions would come with sex. Not to mention that he'd burned any bridge of trust or friendship that had been built.

"She's some sort of brain doctor, said she's got a cure. At least she hopes so…we're headed up to the Harvard labs in a couple days so she can do her research," Daryl said, his mind still floating back to the night in the forest and her delicate outline in the moonlight.

"Another city bitch...it's probably all a bluff, brother. Don't get yer hopes up too high now."

"I've seen her work," he said, feeling a little defensive. "It's not a lie."

"Jesus Christ." Merle laughed and shook his head. "Jumpy as ever. Ya'll got the hots for her huh?"

"Doesn't matter. We all believe her."

"My little brother, in love with a snob. Bet she's never given you the time of day, we're not her kind."

Merle was voicing all the stereotypes that Daryl had imagined a couple nights ago. Hearing them from someone else made him realize even more how ignorant he'd been. "Screw you Merle, I fucked her. Doesn't mean I'm in love." Daryl had lied about sleeping with her, but he figured it wasn't a total lie. He probably would have went all the way with her if his thoughts hadn't gotten in the way.

"Bullshit."

"Why do ya'll think her ex-boyfriend and I were fighting back there. Ain't cause I didn't sleep with her."

Merle gave him one more look of disbelief before shrugging. "Guess she got pretty messed up in the head after everything. Must be, if she slept with you…"

"Man, screw you," Daryl said. They finished their conversation just before she walked up from the ocean to go inside.

Merle spoke to her as she approached them. "Hey there sweetie, grab me a beer out of the cooler?" He pointed at the cooler that was sitting less than a foot away from him.

"Don't be a dick," Daryl hissed under his breath.

"Sure," she said. Sarah was way too nice, one of those people who went out of their way to help people who didn't even help it. Merle was a prime example.
She leaned toward them to get into the cooler and Daryl saw Merle's eyes travel in a straight line from her face to down her shirt. He fought the urge to beat the shit out of his brother and balled his hands into fists. "Thanks sugar," said his brother, smiling, as she handed it to him.

"You're welcome," she smiled back kindly and walked past Daryl into the house, without giving him a glance.

"What the hell was that?" he asked Merle once she was out of earshot.

"Just lookin', don't pay it no mind, boy." He popped open the drink and took a long gulp.

"Don't talk to her anymore," Daryl said. He didn't know why Merle had made him so upset; it surely wasn't the first time Daryl had seen him act inappropriately to a woman. But this time, he was fuming. "She's mine, goddamn it."

Sorry I posted this chapter a little later in the day than usual :/ I had a very busy night after school! I hope you all liked this chapter; I know there was a lot going on. Sorry if it seemed rushed or anything, I tried to describe things well. Anyways, "Help, I'm Alive" is at almost 3000 hits! Whoa, thanks everyone! Also, huge thanks to those of you who have reviewed. I love the support, keep it coming :p. And to those of you who haven't reviewed…please do! It gives me an idea of what you want to happen in the series. Since it's my night off, I'm gonna watch The Boondock Saints with my friend…hooray for a movie starring Norman Reedus 3 haha. Hope everyone has a great weekend; I'll be back with an update on Monday!