The Walking Dead isn't mine.
Daryl walked back toward his bike, annoyed as fuck with Merle. He'd wandered off without a word when he'd been the one bitching about Daryl stalling. Now Daryl could see the group gathered around his bike, looking mopey and Christ he didn't want some kind of God Damned big send off with crying and shit. He didn't know what to do when they came at him with their open faces and their open arms. Shit. There'd definitely be hugging.
He walked as slowly as he could, but they noticed him anyway, all turning at once to face him. He could see Beth was blubbering already. Beth? Christ. Had he ever said more than two sentences to her? What the fuck? The quicker he could get this over with, the better. Hershel put his hands on him first.
"Here's a map. I marked a spot on here. I thought if we needed to find each other at some point, this would be a good idea. We could leave a note or something. It'd be a trail to follow if nothing else."
Daryl just nodded and put the map with his other things on the bike. Didn't bother telling the man that he doubted they'd ever find each other again. He and Merle didn't have a destination in mind. Just wanted to be gone. Out of Georgia altogether, probably.
Hershel gave his shoulder a squeeze. "We'll miss you, son. I hate to see you go." Another nod would have to do. Daryl didn't trust his voice just then and wished Hershel would save all his soft eyed Daddy crap for Glenn.
"I was hoping I'd get to learn the crossbow." Carl said. "When I got tall enough."
"You're tough enough with your gun." Daryl said, feeling an odd surge of affection for the boy. He'd been mostly an annoyance in the beginning, always wandering the fuck off. Stealing people's guns. But he'd turned out all right. He'd be boss of them all one of these days. Carl stuck out his hand then, like a little man, so Daryl shook it.
"I'm glad you got your brother back." Carl said.
"Thanks." Daryl managed to say. No one else considered it good news.
Beth was there then, giving him a hug so quickly he didn't have a chance to relax before she was gone again.
"It's so weird," Glenn said. "It's just me and Carol left now, of the original Atlanta group. It's strange how things turn out."
"Yeah, well. Don't count yourself out. You're pretty bad ass. For a Chinaman."
Glenn laughed and rolled his eyes. Daryl gave him a light punch on the arm, hoping he managed to pick a spot that Merle hadn't fucked up. It hurt to look at Glenn.
"Come here." Maggie's voice was shaky. Without waiting for permission she wrapped her arms tightly around him. When she didn't release him after a moment, he managed to bring one arm up and give her a pat on the back. "You don't have to go." She whispered.
"I do." Daryl said, managing to untangle himself from her.
Rick was coming at him then with Judith in his arms. Fuck, this was torture. Where the fuck was Merle? How long was he going to have to stand out here with everyone staring at him with their sad ass faces on. He wished they'd just go and leave him be. He didn't want to feel any of this. Didn't want to feel anything at all.
"I owe you so much." Rick began. "But this is the biggest debt, this little one right here. Thank you."
"We've been over that." Daryl said, trying to dismiss the man. He bit down hard on his lip to distract himself. It was an old habit.
"You've got to know we never would have made it this far without you. You're the best partner I've ever had."
Christ. Was that hard? His last partner had slept with his wife and tried to kill him.
"You're like a brother to me." Rick said.
Daryl stared at the ground. His traitorous heart wished that it was true. How different everything would be if Rick was his brother.
Daryl managed to look up, eyes darting around the group. No Carol. He'd been pissed with her since the night before. No real reason. Except she'd kissed him that morning and by nightfall seemed to be pretty cozy with the con. And he'd brought home that buck which she barely touched.
Daryl realized Rick was holding out his hand, so he quickly shook it and gave a nod to the group in general, hoping that'd be enough to send them packing. It wasn't. He glanced up toward the tower again, anger growing inside him. Everything they'd been through and she wasn't even gonna say goodbye? He realized he was pacing and forced himself to stop.
"Where's Merle?" Rick asked.
"He'll be here in a minute." Daryl said as if it were true. "Maybe it'd be better if you all left before he gets here." He winced at how that sounded. Sure he wanted to be rid of them, but just because this was fucking hard and they weren't making it any easier by standing around telling him how they'd miss him and he was their brother and shit. Pretty soon they'd have him crying like some pansy ass and then Merle would be all over that. Not worth it.
"Carol is on watch." Maggie said then.
Daryl shot a look at her. "I don't need to know where the fuck Carol is." He spat. Hadn't meant to do that. Could see them exchanging looks as if they knew one thing about him and Carol. And he was lying. And they knew it. He always had to know where Carol was. That was the point. He never looked anywhere without first looking for her face.
"You'll regret it." Maggie said, not afraid of him.
He'd add it to the fucking pile. No way was he going to go up there looking for her. Not with everyone staring and waiting for Christ knows what. So they all stood there awkwardly and Daryl wondered if he should say something else so that his last words to them weren't so God Damned dramatic.
He knew Rick had heard it at almost the same moment he did. He looked up and saw the man staring back at him, realization dawning on his face.
"Quiet, everyone!" Rick hushed them, turning around. They all strained to hear.
"Is that a truck?" Glenn asked.
"Something heavier." Daryl said. "Maybe one of those armoured trucks Michonne mentioned?"
"So they're coming?" Maggie asked.
Rick handed the baby to Beth. "Go, quickly. Lock yourselves in C block. Get whatever supplies together you can. Especially the formula and food. Anything else we can look for later."
"Are we running?" Maggie asked.
"I need to see what we're up against." Rick said. "But we need to be ready for anything. Carl, go with Beth. Protect them." Rick looked at Daryl. "You should grab Merle and go while it's still an option."
"As if." Daryl said, annoyed.
Rick didn't hide his relief. "Come with me," He said, heading back toward the prison. "We need our guns."
Daryl remained where he was.
"What?" Rick asked.
"I got what I need right here." Daryl said, grabbing his crossbow and gun from his bike. He glanced up at the tower. "I'm not letting her out of my sight." He said simply. "I'll go up there and see what the fuck is up. If we can hear it, she must be able to see something."
Rick nodded his agreement and took off. Daryl glanced around once more for any sign of Merle. "Son of a bitch." He muttered as he entered the tower and began to climb the stairs.