The Walking Dead isn't mine.
Rick could hear Merle yelling from D block. He turned back to Glenn. "He knows something is wrong. There's no way Daryl would have left him here all day."
"So what do we do?" Glenn asked.
"I want to go look for him." Rick said. "And I think we should bring Merle."
"No. We don't need him." Glenn said immediately.
"Merle can track." Rick pointed out. "He'll want to find Daryl as much as we do."
"Or he'll take us both down. I don't trust him." Glenn insisted.
"Look, he's gone along with everything so far. All he wants is to leave with Daryl. He doesn't like us, but I don't think we're in any danger from him." Rick paused. "And we'll keep him in front of us, just in case."
Glenn followed Rick reluctantly to D block.
"It's about time!" Merle snarled from behind his bars. "Where the hell is my brother?"
"We don't know." Rick admitted. "He hasn't come back from hunting. We're going to go look for him. We could use your help."
"That so?" Merle asked, looking surprised.
"Are we going to have any problems if I let you out of there?" Rick asked.
"All I care about is Daryl." Merle said. "Let me out and I'll find him. I don't need your help."
"Well, you've got it anyway." Rick said, opening the door.
Merle brushed past them with barely a glance at Glenn, who rolled his eyes.
"Need a knife or something." Merle said as they walked through the prison and into the yard.
Rick nodded, having already foreseen this and handed him a blade. "I'm not sure if this is as good a fit as your last knife, but I thought it might work. Do you need a hand?"
"Hell yeah, I need a hand. Lost my other one in Atlanta." Merle turned away from Rick, shrugging off his attempt to help, and attached the new blade to his arm. "That'll work." He said, making sure it was firmly in place.
They paused outside the gate as Merle looked around for Daryl's trail. Merle headed out silently and Rick and Glenn followed. It became apparent fairly quickly that Merle was no more comfortable with them at his back than they were with him at theirs. He kept glancing back and speeding up.
"You're being paranoid." Glenn said finally, when Merle had stopped and turned to face them.
"Really?" Merle asked. "Can't say as I trust you as far as I can throw you, and believe me, little man, I could throw you quite a ways. Who is to say you all haven't lured me out here to finish me off? Gets real easy with me out of the picture."
"Why would we arm you?" Glenn asked.
"To get me out the front door. You'd need to do your dirty work away from the rest. No sense in bloodying everyone's hands." Merle smirked. "Can't have too many people knowing. They might let it slip to Daryl."
"We're not murderers!" Glenn yelled, outraged. "If anyone should be paranoid around here it's us. You're the one with a grudge. No one wanted you to cut off your hand. We went back for you! But you, beating me? Throwing that walker at me? That was on purpose. You'd like us all dead. Don't think we don't know that."
"Man, don't flatter yourself. You're barely a blip on my radar. I don't care if you live or die. How many times I got to say the only thing I care about is Daryl? The only reason your nose is out of joint is because you wouldn't just tell me what I wanted to know. Daryl is all I got. The only feelings I got for you lot is annoyance and fucking indifference." Merle sniffed and looked away for a moment. "The walker may have been out of line." He shrugged and walked on.
"Was that an apology?" Glenn yelled after him, in amazement. "Really?"
Rick put his hand on Glenn's shoulder. "Let's not push it right now. Our goal here is to find Daryl." Rick reminded him.
Merle stopped again in a field and looked around. "Was Daryl in a snit this morning?" He asked.
"No one spoke to him." Rick said. "Hershel saw him going out the gate with his crossbow. Why?"
"He hung out here for awhile. This wasn't no hunting trip. He's hiding." Merle shook his head. "At least he was up to here. Then he's moves off with purpose." Merle glanced up across the field. "Stupid being out here like this when you're distracted. That shit gets you bit."
"Daryl sometimes hunts for two, three days at a time. The only reason I'm worried is because he wouldn't have left you all this time." Rick said.
"We also had a little plan to leave this morning." Merle pointed out. "He's stalling. Doesn't want to leave his boyfriend, Rick. Or Mouse. Dragging things out ain't going to make it any easier. But he's like a dog with a bone. It's hard for him to let go. He hopes." Merle said this last like it was embarrassing. A dirty word.
"Funny, I'd say just the opposite." Rick said, sounding angry. "I'd say that man has had so much hurt and disappointment in his life that the walls he's built up also shut out any feeling of hope. It's a good thing he has such a survival instinct. He might have given up a long time ago. And I mean long before all of this went down."
"What, you a shrink now too?" Merle sneered.
"It's obvious to anyone who's looking. What do you think the point is, for him? Why does he get up each day?"
"Christ!" Merle spat. "Are we hunting for him or are we just going to stand around here and moan about our periods!"
"You know how long he was with us before anyone could touch him without him flinching?" Rick asked. "You do that to him?"
"You best shut your trap." Merle said dangerously. "I never put a mark on that boy."
Rick stared at Merle in disbelief, but willed his anger to subside. This wouldn't get them anywhere.
It looked like Merle was about to say something else, when Daryl appeared at the edge of the clearing, pulling a buck behind him.
"Hey!" He called out. "Could use a hand."
Glenn clapped his hands and grinned like an idiot, relieved.
"Very funny." Daryl said, dropping his load and wiping his brow. He stared then, at the three of them as if just realizing what an odd group they made. "Something wrong?"
"You've been gone long enough." Merle pointed out. "Some people were getting themselves worked up."
"Spotted this one." Daryl gestured to the animal behind him. "He made me work for it. Heavy sucker, too."
"Any signs?" Rick asked.
"Couple of geeks." Daryl squinted. "Not a sound from Woodbury."
"We'd best get back before we lose the light." Rick suggested. "Guess you're stuck here another night."
"Don't I know it." Merle said, moving to help Daryl lift the buck. "This hunk of meat has got hope written all over it."