timeline: episode 2 "Bloodletting"

Salvation

Chapter 3 - Decision

They reached the highway by sunset. There were two other people waiting by an RV that didn't look it had broken down like all the other vehicles on the highway. Connor almost wanted to start shouting hallelujah at the world as soon as he saw it, knowing that this was the one the sheriff had talked about earlier. He remained quiet though and examined the other people a little closer instead, wondering how long it was going to take until they let him rest. Although he was half delirious and pretty close to passing out, his eyes were still somewhat functioning. He could make out an elderly man who was wearing a funny hat and a Hawaiian shirt. He was standing right next to the RV and looked like he was just about to go fishing. Next to the old man was an African American who was sporting a pretty serious bandage on his arm and who seemed to be equally exhausted as him.

For a short moment, both the African American and elderly guy took note of Connor and scanned his entire figure head to toe with wary looks and raised eyebrows, reminding the Irishman once again that he looked like some creepy homeless person. Back in the old days, he would've been his usual charming persona, the guy to make friends quite easily. But not anymore. He didn't want to make any friends and neither did he want to talk or even think about anything. So instead of interacting with the group he simply turned his head a bit to the side, a bit embarrassed, and then let his gaze wander, scanning the surrounding abandoned cars. He wondered where the one he'd abandoned was. He'd left that old pickup truck somewhere around here when he'd taken note of the church just off the interstate.

Connor rubbed his forehead shakily and looked down.

It wasn't like it mattered. He wasn't going to get back to that car, not going back to the place he'd run away from. Wherever he was going now, he guessed he was stuck with these people from now on.

"Carl's been shot" he heard the Asian boy, whose name he remembered to be Glenn, say and looked up. The elderly man turned around and looked at them in surprise.

"Shot? How?"

"I don't know Dale. I wasn't there. All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori."

The horse, the screaming. Even now he couldn't get that scenario out of his head. It had been fairly confusing, like straight out of some action movie. Back in the old days, he would've laughed about that and told everyone about it. Now he simply sat down on the hood of a car, folded his arms and continued staring at his lap. He didn't pay much attention to their talk anymore. Not just because it was none of his business, but also because he was already drifting off to sleep a bit.

"And who the hell's this guy?" the African American asked and snapped him out of his dizziness a couple minutes later when they were done talking about whatever the hell they had discussed. Connor raised his head and looked at them yet again, eyes puffy and nothing but tiny slits from the exhaustion.

"We found him in a church when we were looking for Sophia. He was all by himself…What's it again?"

He blinked and looked at them for a while, examining each and every one of them until his eyes momentarily fixed on his brother's doppelganger. Then he eventually managed to answer, although he was still dizzy and confused.

"Connor."

"Right. Connor. Rick thinks he's alright."

Somewhere in the back, Daryl was scoffing angrily as he walked away from them, once again dismissing the latest addition to their group with a muttered "Yeah, right. Stupid whacko."

The elderly man named Dale nodded after having looked at the Irishman's dirty face and clothes a little too long, while Connor went back to his general zoning out and concentrating on his brother's lookalike. Dale eventually turned his head to look at Andrea.

"I heard screams, was that you?" he asked, worried eyes zapping back and forth between her and Connor. The Irishman kind of wanted to roll his eyes at them. Yeah. He knew he looked like shit. No, it didn't mean he was going to fucking attack any women. Jesus.

"She got attacked by a walker. It was a close call" Glenn answered and moved over to their bags and weapons to get everything ready for whatever they were going to do next. Dale finally stopped giving Connor worried looks and completely focused on Andrea instead.

"Andrea, are you alright?"

She just glared at him for a full minute until she disappeared inside the RV without a word. Eventually, curiosity still took hold of the Irishman despite his shell shocked state. These people seemed nice enough and seemed to care about each other, so he figured that maybe it would be a great distraction for him to get to know them a bit better. He eventually turned around a bit so he could talk to Carol who was closest to him.

"Who's he? That her father?"

Carol startled a bit since he'd snapped her out of her worried, silently weeping state. Up until now, she had continuously looked back at the woods, obviously still looking for her daughter.

"No. It's just Dale. None of us are related. He saved her and her sister back in Atlanta."

Connor pressed his lips together a bit at the mention of a sibling and just looked at the door Andrea had closed.

"Doesn't seem too grateful that one then, does she" he muttered, trying to somewhat keep the conversation up to get her to trust him, to let her and the others know that he was willing to chat and wasn't going to hurt them.

"She tried to kill herself a couple of days ago and Dale wouldn't let her. We've all been through so much, it's hard to keep…" she swallowed hard and looked away, obviously fighting tears once more. Although he knew that he should and wanted to talk to her, comfort her, Connor wouldn't say anything anymore instead. He wasn't exactly in the mood of giving an uplifting speech when he didn't even believe in that shit himself anymore.

The group didn't seem to care that he was zoning out again since they were busier talking their next move through. They were deciding that they wanted to head for the farm that strange woman on the horse had been talking about. He figured that this place was as good as any. Especially now that he couldn't stop looking at the man who looked exactly like Murphy. He was oblivious to the fact that he was being watched. Just like Connor he kept to himself and wouldn't interact with the group much, caught up in his own space. Connor knew that wherever this guy went, he was going to follow. Squeezing his eyes shut a bit under the dizziness and exhaustion, Connor quickly shook his head once and growled.

No. Not this guy. Murphy. Wherever Murphy went he was going to follow. He needed to get him to trust him again. They needed to be together again. Just like they had always been. So he eventually and clumsily got off the hood of the car the moment he saw him by that motorbike just behind the RV. Closing the distance between them, Connor smirked a bit and pointed at it.

"Nice ride ye got there" he said and got as close as he could, trying to start a conversation. The hunter wouldn't even look at him, still pretending that he didn't exist as he kept cleaning his bike and checking the parts. Connor stood there awkwardly, still inching closer and closer. He chewed on his lips and kept his mad eyes fixed on the man until he tried again.

"Look, I totally get that yer mad at me, considering that…."

"I won't do it, we can't just leave" Carol said loudly to their right and interrupted his talk. Although he'd rather keep his eyes fixed on the man in front of him, Connor still ended up turning his head to see what was going on.

"Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak" Dale, who was standing right in front of her, answered while the almost hysteric woman shook her head and frantically looked back towards the woods.

"What if she comes back and we're not here? It could happen."

"If Sophia found her way back and we were gone that would be awful" Andrea agreed and Daryl suddenly got moving with a sigh, shoving his way right past Connor so he could talk to his people and get him to back off with his pathetic attempts to talk to him.

"Alright, we gotta plan for this. I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight. Stay with the RV."

"I'll stay with ye" Connor agreed and put his duffel bag on with a content nod and smirk.

Daryl scoffed and gave him an angry glare, finally acknowledging the man next to him.

"Yeah, you can shut the hell up and fuck off, whacko. No yah won't."

"Fuck ye, I.." the latest addition to their group tried to argue, but Dale interrupted them.

"If the RV is staying, I am too."

The statement was followed by a moment of silence as everybody realized that it was pretty much certain that they all were probably going to stay. Carol eventually smiled. It was a sad one, but still appreciative.

"Thank you. Thank you all" she said, sounding utterly grateful until she fixed her eyes on Daryl. The hunter looked back at her and eventually nodded, turning his head to shoot a questioning look at Andrea.

"I'm in" she agreed and nodded.

"Well, if you're all staying then I'm..." Glenn joined in but Dale shook his head.

"Not you, Glenn. You're going. Take...take Carol's Cherokee."

Glenn scoffed.

"Me? Why is it always me?"

"You have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on. But most importantly, you have to get T-Dog there. This is not an option. His cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a very serious blood infection. Get him to that farm. See if they have any antibiotics. Because if not, he will die. No joke."

Daryl suddenly turned around and walked away. He stopped in front of his bike, grabbed his rucksack and then took a plastic bag out of it. It contained all sorts of things. Pills, small orange plastic containers, meds, powder, anything you could think of. Once he had made sure everything was in there he moved towards them and hit Dale with the red rag he had used to clean his bike with.

"Keep your oily rags off my brother's motorcycle" he ordered and approached T-Dog, who was leaning against one of the cars with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. When Connor heard the word "brother" he immediately looked up, out of habit.

"I don' have.." he began, but stopped talking when he remembered that this wasn't directed at him, that he Daryl wasn't his brother, and that left a bitter taste in his mouth. It was so hard to cling to that bit of the fantasy world he had left when god decided to torture him like that. Because now, he had not only met a man with his brother's face, no, god just had to make it worse by giving the man a brother of his own. Making it very clear that he'd never be his brother, that this would never really be Murphy. The Irishman swallowed hard and let out a gentle, frustrated sigh, looking down, quickly shaking his head again to get these thoughts out of his head. No. He had no idea what he was fucking thinking here. This was Murphy. This was his brother. This was here, this was real, this was….

"Why'd you wait till now to say anything? Got my brother's stash" Daryl went on and searched his bag. "Crystal, X - Don't need that. Got some kick ass painkillers" he said and threw a small bottle at Glenn so he could give it to T-Dog. He searched his bag once more and found another one. "Doxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion."

Connor paled even more. It seemed to get worse and worse. So now the guy had his brother's face, had a brother of his own and he was one of that lot. Drugs, junkies, dealing. The sort of people he'd killed before the apocalypse.

So is that it? Is that yer punishment fer what I did ta Murph? Did you really just give me that? The exact fucking opposite of him? A redneck junkie fucker with his face?

Daryl walked away again and Connor just looked at him, kept staring at him. The face was exactly the same. It was almost creepy how much this guy looked like his brother. Even the voice was almost the same, although slightly lower and without the accent. This could be Murphy. He didn't even have to try hard to force himself to believe it. He looked at him for a very long time, teeth gritted, ignoring the drugs and general redneck attitude and behavior. When the man shot him a short and angry look, when their eyes met, Connor made the decision.

This was the only way. To keep it together. He had promised, and he was gonna try. If he didn't take this chance now, he was going to end up back in that church and really pull it through this time, would certainly go insane and cross the line once and for all. He knew it. This was it. His only chance.

He was going to ignore everything he'd just heard and seen. He would ignore the truth, his reality. This was Murphy. This was his brother who'd just helped a man in need by giving him medicine. The bag didn't have any drugs in it. This man wasn't a criminal. This man wasn't some filthy redneck.

Daryl Dixon didn't exist.

"You should probably take the ride with Glenn. No offense, but you look terrible. You're in a very bad shape. They should check if you're okay back at the farm, too" Dale suddenly said and actually startled Connor hard. He flinched and then cleared his throat, quickly looking away from Daryl so he could focus on Dale instead.

"No" he said and quickly looked at the rest of the group until he fixed his eyes on Daryl for a little too long again. "You people were already kind enough ta take me with ye back at te church. I wanna help find dat girl of yers and repay my debt. 's the least I can do."

"Look at you, you can barely stand. How long since you last ate something? Or slept? I think I speak for all of us when I say we appreciate the offer, but you don't look like you're going to be of much help like that."

"Well, no offense, sir, but there's no way yer getting me ta move unless the rest of ye get going as well. Not a chance. I wanna help. I'm gonna help. I'm fine. I'm fine."

"Ain't no way we're getting the guy close t'our injured back there. Heck no" Daryl muttered somewhere behind them and scoffed once again. "Let 'im. Ain't our problem if the guy drops out there" he went on and then simply entered the RV without a second glance. Dale looked at Connor a little while longer just like the rest of the group, but then they all eventually seemed to figure that the hunter was right and that this wasn't exactly much of their business anyway.