Chapter Thirty Nine: Sister

Sister: a woman or girl in relation to other daughters and sons of her parents.

Day 72

It was a suspiciously relaxed and casual night after Hershel's wife and step-son were buried—suspicious because Daisy had finally come to accept that anything as good as a contented night spent with the group eating prodigious amounts of ramen was likely to have a caveat. That caveat came in the form of Maggie Green, who had joined them in their post-memorial dinner. She had meandered back to the farmhouse to try one last time to convince Beth to emerge from her room and join too, but had returned to stand by the blazing campfire sans Beth, her face fallen with upset and worry.

"Daddy's gone," Maggie said simply, her jaw clenched in barely restrained anger for her father's missing state, "Patricia didn't notice him gone; she was with Beth." The pleasant atmosphere began to leave them once more, the quiet mumbling of a half dozen conversations dissipating along with it as they recognised her silent request for help.

"He can't have gone far," Glenn said, jumping up determinedly, staring around at the still faces of the others, "We'll go into town and get him?"

"This the same guy who's kickin' us out on our asses on the morrow?" Merle asked with disbelief, staring at Maggie through critical eyes. Maggie spared Merle a nod of slight confusion, then looked towards those who were more accepting of her plight. Merle snorted and leant back in his camp chair with a long sigh, "Just don't see why this is our problem, Girlie...he chose to not help us, now I'm gonna choose to not help him." Maggie tried to ignore him and continued to gaze at Glenn with pleading eyes.

"Well, uh..." Glenn stuttered, stalling slightly as he tried to reason with Merle—whom most of the group seemed to be silently agreeing with.

"Ain't you all s'posed to be the better people?" Daryl suddenly interjected, he spat discouragingly at the ground beside him and then narrowed his eyes at the rest of the group, "...and help them anyway? I'll go with Glenn." He moved forward and adjusted his crossbow where it hung on his back, moving past them towards the cars.

All stared after him, none more surprised than Glenn and Maggie. A rasping breath escaped Maggie as she glanced worriedly back towards the house. Her head darted towards the group, and she caught Daisy's startled gaze, "Look after Beth!" Maggie ordered, Daisy's eyes widened and she nodded in agreement, not thinking to protest on the grounds that she had never been the best at comforting any despondent individual—including Maggie herself not even an hour earlier.

Obviously not wishing to allow Daryl time to reconsider, Maggie and Glenn hurried after him, the latter pausing only to shoot an enquiring look towards their apparent leader, Rick. At Rick's nod of approval over their quest, Glenn caught up to Maggie with a short sprint, and the three climbed into the ramshackle truck, and left without further hesitation.

The remainder of the group remained in their stupor for only a short time, then returned to their bowls of ramen, the taste significantly soured at having to worry over Glenn, Maggie and Daryl as they journeyed to retrieve Hershel. Daisy set her empty bowl down beside her and glanced warily at Merle, who was sitting in the camp chair adjacent to hers. He felt her stare and returned it just as warily—though this was considerably more alarming for a person of Merle's unruliness.

"Didn't know the fucker had it in him," Merle said lightly, an amused snarl curling his lip. He took a long gulp of the cheap beer he had managed to find after a half hour of scouring the supplies.

"What? To genuinely want to help someone?" Daisy asked, her own amusement significantly lighter and less accusatory, "To be a good man? One'a the 'better people.'"

Merle huffed a laugh, "Yeah, that last one sounds about right..." He took another swig, grimacing slightly at the taste. He stared down at the ground by his feet, eyes glassy with consideration as he thought on his brother and how he had changed after the world turned to hell and the dead started walking.

Later

After a few of their number had fractioned away to retrieve Hershel, the post-memorial dinner wound down to a tidy two people sitting in companionable silence, a low fire still burning in the campfire in front of them. Daisy eyed her companion with discretion—though one might not use that specific word when describing Merle Dixon—and took a sip of the beer can she was holding loosely in her hands. Merle had been generous enough to gift her with one of his precious few beers, she had not had the heart to refuse him, cheap as it was.

The only sound was the occasional grunt or drunk burp from Merle, and the high singing of the crickets that drifted on the wind from the nearby field of tall grass. In the wake of the earlier revelation of Hershel's self-determined disappearance, Daisy was understandably settled in her camp chair, wholly prepared for the last dregs of her night of sombre social drinking and quiet reflection. Her lackadaisical manner practically begged another caveat, the second came in the form of Patricia.

"Maggie?" A harsh voice whispered, Daisy and Merle looked up slowly and unconcernedly to see Patricia approaching the dull glow of their campfire, eyes narrowed worriedly as she searched the deep black depths of the night.

"Maggie's in town, looking for Hershel?" Daisy's tone lilted to portray her confusion as to how exactly Patricia was unaware of both Hershel and Maggie's respective disappearances.

Patricia came to a stop in front of her and Merle, her face pinched with obvious worry. She stalled in stepping back towards the house, looking around with wide, fearful eyes as if she hoped that Maggie would unceremoniously bound out of the tree line to help her. Merle grunted from beside her and took a last sip of his can, then crunched it between his palms and threw it off to the side. Patricia's gaze became distracted by the movement and she frowned at the litter that had joined the rest of Merle's finished cans.

"Is it Beth?" Daisy suddenly asked, feeling that perhaps Maggie begged Daisy to look after her for a good reason. Patricia's attention snapped back to Daisy, she seemed to have startled out of her rightfully judgemental stare-off with the pile of littered cans.

"Beth's locked me out of her room," Patricia said, her voice wavering with worry. Her hands came up in front of her stomach and she began to wring them together nervously, frightened eyes wider with restrained hope for help.

"Do you want me to come help?" Daisy asked, grimacing slightly as she foresaw her being unable to help Patricia with Beth in any meaningful way, but she could not allow herself to not even try. Patricia's face smoothed over and she smiled slightly in a relief, then beckoned Daisy to follow her as she stepped back towards the house. Patricia walked off, and Daisy glanced at Merle from the corner of her eye to see that he was staring at her in disbelief, she snapped her head to look at him with narrowed eyes, "What's that look for?"

"Shit, Girl, you're not exactly Little Miss Emotionally-Mature..." Merle said with a snicker, "Remember back at the pizza place, Sophia started crying because she woke up and her Momma weren't there...you were closest to her, but you just ducked your head and pretended to be asleep while Lori got her to shut up?" Daisy glared at him, then her face loosened and her eyes rolled skyward as she reluctantly admitted that the event he was describing did, indeed, occur.

"Then...you can come with me!" Daisy said, her eyes lighting up at her brilliant revelation. Merle's eyes narrowed and he tilted his head to look at her with incredulity.

"You hit your head, Girly? I ain't exactly the comforting type either."

"Two emotionally constipated people are better than one!" Daisy argued soundly, she stood and walked after Patricia, trusting Merle to follow after her. As she had hoped, Merle sidled up behind her as she walked up the short stairs to the front door of the farmhouse. Daisy shot him a quick, grateful smile and swung the door wide open, entering it and climbing the staircase to join Patricia on the landing.

"What—?" Patricia asked haltingly as she saw Merle's intimidating frame following after her. Merle glared back, but Patricia ignored it in favour of shooting Daisy a questioning look.

"Backup," Daisy said shortly, moving past Patricia to stare with trepidation at Beth's closed door.

"I'll...leave you to it..." Patricia's sad smile crumpled as she slumped back down the stairs to wallow in the kitchen. Daisy and Merle stood in silence for a short while, they shared a thoughtful glance.

Leaning forward, Daisy rapped her knuckles against the door, "Beth?" Her voice was as light and politely enquiring as she could manage, the difference causing Merle to snort quietly behind her. Daisy shot a glare at Merle for his unhelpful noise.

"Who's that?" Beth's tired but curious voice called through the door.

"It's Daisy...from the camp...on your front lawn? Maggie left to find your dad with Glenn and Daryl, she asked me to look after you."

"I..." Beth's voice halted with hesitation, "I'm fine, you can go back to sleep or whatever, I'm fine." Daisy shot a wary glance back at Merle, asking for help.

"Your ball, Daisy," Merle drawled with a smug smile. Daisy groaned quietly and rested her hand against the door, tapping her fingers lightly as she thought of what could get Beth to come out.

"Who's that with you?" Beth's voice called again, sounding more alert.

Daisy stared at Merle with narrowed eyes and answered Beth, "Merle...also from the camp, big, scary guy, swears a lot? He's here as my moral support, I may have overestimated his supposed abilities." Merle scoffed and stepped forward to stand closer to the door.

"Girly, get your ass out here," he called with a no-nonsense tone that almost made Daisy scramble to follow his order, "Your sister's real worried, so's that blonde lady...and Daisy here ain't too cocksure in my persuasive abilities, how 'bout we prove her wrong?"

With a roll of her eyes, Daisy looked towards the plain white wood of the door with hope despite herself. Her fingers rested tightly against the bevel in the wood, paling as they curled harder into the grain with her worry for the girl. Maggie had seemed so reluctant to leave Beth even to retrieve her father, so Daisy was not about to rule out possible bodily harm befalling Beth if she was to remain alone in her room. There was a hopeful click and the door swung back to reveal Beth peeking through the sliver of room revealed by the slightly open door.

"Why do you care?" Beth asked with a slightly furrowed brow, her eyes were clearly tired and blinking blearily. She stared between Daisy and Merle, looking at the latter with considerably more confusion.

"Of course we care..." Daisy smiled, her gaze drifted off awkwardly, but she forced herself to meet Beth's questioning gaze, "Maggie cares a whole lot, made me promise to look after you while she's gone."

Beth leaned heavily against the frame of the door and her mouth twitched down into a sad frown, "I'm not a child." Merle made a snort of disbelief, to which Daisy replied with a harsh, quieting glare. Daisy smoothed her face and looked back towards Beth, the glowing yellow of the hall light above them shone warmly in her hopeful eyes.

"I think every big sister thinks of their little sister as a baby...I know I do. If..." Daisy trailed off at the thought of her own sister, she saw that Beth's face fell at examining Daisy's own fallen expression. She made herself smile a decidedly sad smile, "If it was my baby sister who needed looking after, I know Maggie'd do the same."

Beth huffed a quiet sigh and backed away from the cracked open door, Daisy's heart fell for a moment, before Beth's hand edged back through and pulled the door further open. With a bright smile, Daisy entered the room with Merle at Beth's acquiescence. Beth settled back into her bed and pulled a heavy book onto her lap, and began to silently read from it, shooting periodically wary glances up at the two silently standing individuals she had allowed in. Meanwhile, Daisy tried to ignore the slight similarity of Beth's blonde hair and wide eyes to her own sister's—the creeping feeling of grief seemed to not recognise the fact that all other features between Beth and Daisy's sister did not align. Being so far from the people she had loved for her entire life—and not knowing whether they were dead or alive—had not gotten any easier for Daisy, despite her efforts to repress and forget.