So here we are. The last chapter. It's a bit of an abrupt ending, but I'm explaining that in the next chapter of this fic, which is just a little statement of mine and doesn't belong to the story arc itself. Anyhoo Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favourites. Another Walking Saints fic is done, but the story itself isn't over yet. If you've enjoyed this series so far and if you wanna keep going/want more Connaryl to happen and see what happens now that Murphy is back, then you can go straight to my next fic called Absolution.

Once again - thank you so much for everything! You rock!

Resurrection

Chapter 30 - Return

They had thought that their return would be easier. Connor had expected some ups and downs. Like Rick and the others being mad at them for disappearing for a couple of weeks. He had expected a little pissed welcome, not a hearty one, but the actual one they saw right now was so far from their expectations that they couldn't really believe it.

They had stopped their car half a mile down the road that led to their part of former abandoned Woodbury, staring at what was awaiting them with wide eyes. Murphy had used to time to shift forward, leaning both his elbows on Connor's and Daryl's seats as he tried to make out the town his brother had kept talking about. Or more like, what was keeping him from seeing the town his brother had been talking about.

"Woah" he muttered and chewed on his fingernails, not really liking or understanding what he saw.

"Fuck" Connor muttered and leaned forward as well, resting both his arms on the steering wheel and just staring at the mess in front of him.

"Shit" Daryl agreed and examined the whole scene through narrowed eyes.

For a moment it was silent inside the car as all three men tried to led it sink in, then it was Connor who first tried to do something about it.
He reached for his sibling and nudged him, still making him flinch but ignoring it just now.

"Murph, gimme the binoculars. They're in me bag" he ordered and there was a tiny part of Murphy that wanted to rebel, tell him to get the fucking things himself if he wanted them because he wasn't his butler, but then decided to just do as he was told. He searched Connor's bag and then found them after a while, eagerly handing them over because he wanted to know what was going on.

"Check if there's any walls down" Daryl suggested and leaned forward as well, as if trying to see anything without the binoculars.

Murphy turned his head to look at his brother's friend.

"Ye think they got overrun when you were gone?" he asked but Daryl wouldn't answer, because he had gone back to pretending that Murphy didn't exist. Connor narrowed his eyes and leaned forward once more, looking like he had found something.

"Nah, I think they're doing good! I think that's Andrea 'n Tyreese on top of th'bus. They're just keeping an eye on 'em."

'Them' where countless walkers that were piling up on their walls, reaching out for their friends that were keeping watch.
He could see countless bloody figures, some of them trying to shake the wall and destroy it, others just staring up at their possible prey with dead, wide eyes.

"Fuck. 's gotta be hundreds!" Connor exclaimed and then let go of the binoculars with a sigh, so he could rub his tired eyes and shake his head. This didn't look good. Not at all. He suddenly felt extremely guilty for leaving their group on their own, no matter how many people really were inside Woodbury. He certainly could've helped them with his immunity, finally making it worth -something-. The Irishman really hoped that they were doing okay over there, that the walls had not given in so far or even worse - that they were completely trapped and running low on food and ammunition.

He took a deep breath and suddenly reached for the door, opening it abruptly and getting out.

"Hey, where you going?" "Te fuck yer gonna do now?" both Daryl and Murphy asked at the same time, looking at Connor in surprise who was checking his guns and knife with that 'I'm busy' kind of look on his face.

"'m gonna walk ahead. Ask Andrea and Ty what's going on, maybe clear us a path ta get back inside" the Irishman said matter of factly and looked up in the direction of their part of the town, once again facing the large herd that was piling up on the walls. And maybe he swallowed a bit because the sight freaked him out. He automatically reached for his left lower arm and squeezed tightly, wrapping his palm around the 'U' shaped scar that was there, reminding himself that he had been bitten before and was uninteresting for them.

Your infection is far too advanced. Way too far from what we call a 'normal' infection. The bites resulted in the complete transformation of the make up of your blood. Your system adapted itself to the virus' characteristics. My latest tests show that a permanent adjustment to this new state of being is very likely. Permanent protection. Permanent masking.

That's what Smith had told him in Augusta.

So he was safe. Much in contrast to Daryl. Or maybe even Murphy.

"Hey, you ain't going alone" "I wanna come with ye" Daryl and Murphy said, once again at the same time, making them look at each other with angry frowns.
But before they got to say something or get out of the car Connor already spoke up and gave them an angry glare.

"No. 'm going alone. Daryl, ye gotta keep an eye out on strays and watch the car. You'n I both know that it'd be suicide fer ye ta walk right up to them when yer…"

The hunter snorted and wouldn't let him finish.

"But for yah it ain't suicide t'do this shit on your own? Bull…"

"Just shut te fuck up and listen t'me, alright!" Connor spat, surprising Daryl a bit and then making him snort once more.
The hunter threw his hands in the air and looked away whilst shaking his head.

"Fine, go get yahself killed then, psycho" he growled and the topic was done for him.

The Irishman looked at him for a bit longer, maybe regretting his sudden outburst a bit, but then just closed the car door and started walking with a pissed and muttered 'Jesus'.

Although it hurt he tried -not- to awkwardly limp away from the car. His ankle was still twisted from his jump down the building in Augusta a couple of days ago. It wasn't too bad anymore, but it still hurt every time the foot hit the ground. But he wouldn't give in, show weakness after a speech like this so he kept walking, heading for the wall. He didn't get too far, because right then he heard one of the car's doors shut. He turned around, ready to yell at Daryl for being so stupid. All the more did it surprise him when he suddenly saw that it was -Murphy- who came jogging after him. Daryl was still sitting inside the pickup truck, watching them through the window with that extremely pissed and jealous look on his face once again. Connor just stood there and waited for his twin, only slowly processing the fact that he was coming after him, running right AT the mob of undead.

"Te fuck you think yer doing?" Connor asked and approached his brother, eager to shove him back towards the car with an angry frown.
Murphy tried to fight his hands off and pointed at the walkers.

"I'm gonna help ye, these fucks don't attack m…"

"Get back inside the fuckin car!" Connor suddenly yelled and shoved his sibling hard, which made Murphy stumble and nearly fall on his ass.

The older MacManus looked at his brother with wide, terrified eyes, his breathing already going harder. He couldn't believe that Murphy wanted to join him on such a possibly -dangerous- mission, and there was no way he was ever going to put him in danger again. And certainly not close to walkers, the very beings who had fucked both of them up in the first place and initiated that bloodbath in Boston that he still had nightmares about even to this day.

Murphy looked rather surprised by Connor's sudden outburst, because he had expected him to be happy about the fact that he was following him and willing to help. The sudden almost violent touch and shove had startled him, maybe even scared him and made him tremble a bit because he still actually feared Connor deep down after the headshot, but it was that exact touch and reaction to it that just made him angry.

"Fuck ye!" he roared and tried to launch himself at Connor, managing to punch him in his belly once before his sibling shoved him once again, back towards the car, and this time he really stumbled and fell because of the sheer force of that shove.

"I said ye fuckin stay here!" Connor snapped but then regret flashed across his face, because he hadn't meant to shove his twin -that- hard.
He pointed at Murphy and tried to calm down, speaking with a lower voice this time.

"They already bit ye once. And 'm not gonna let 'em do that again. Aye, I know, they don't attack ye because of that bite but we don't have ta fuckin strain our luck. Because I got bit once and attacked again afterwards. Only after the second bite I can be -relatively- sure they won't attack me, but we can't say the same fuckin thing about you. Cos if we run at 'em and they attack ye, then this is on fuckin me again and I ain't gonna ever let that happen again. Do ye fuckin hear me?"

Murphy just stared back at him, gritting his teeth and hatred showing in his eyes. The shove had obviously triggered that hatred again, that rebellious soul and temper, but despite all that the younger MacManus still seemed to understand. He just didn't like it. Not at all. Yes, he was happy by now to see Connor and have him back. Yes, he regretted that Connor had tried to kill himself because of him. But that still didn't change anything about the fact that he hated his sibling just for a moment. Because of his sudden harshness, his uber-protectiveness, the way he was treating him like a child when they were the same freaking age.

But he decided to not put up yet another fight, he just punished Connor with -that- stare.

His sibling looked back at him for a while, regret showing more and more until he bit his lip and then offered him a hand to help him back up.

"Just…stay back and look after Daryl fer me, will ye? 's too dangerous fer the fella ta be around so many fuckin walkers. He's not like us."

Murphy just glared at the hand and then at Connor, only to huff and get back up on his own.

"Go fuck yerself" he just growled and then put his hands in his jeans, to walk back to the car, now obviously huffy. Connor just watched his sibling leave and let out a tired sigh while slowly moving his healthy hand through his hair. He hadn't meant to screw it up like this, handle it like this, but he just wanted to keep Murphy safe, protect him from any possible danger after the Boston dilemma, no matter how fucked up that made him.

He then turned around and tried to focus on the task, blend everything out and just concentrate on the walkers. The closer he got the better he could see Andrea and Ty walk up and down the school busses they used as walls, and he started waving with his arms and walk a straight line, trying to signal them that he wasn't a walker but a friendly. He was pretty sure that they had seen him, the car, and Murphy by now anyway. All he needed to do now was get close enough so he could hear them, talk to them, ask what happened and get a better look at how things were going by the wall.

The closer he got to it the more he also had to fight the urge to gag, groaning and shielding his mouth and nose for a bit. No matter how many months he had spent around those rotting walking corpses, he feared that he would never get used to their stench. Because it just added up when they were walking around in masses, making it almost unbearable and hard to keep in the few stomach contents he still had inside of him.

"Andrea! Ty!" he yelled when he thought that he was close enough, waving with his arms and trying to get their attention. He only got the attention of a couple of walkers at first, making them turn around and stare at him with wide, dead eyes and drooling, bloody mouths. Even now it still sent a shiver down the Irishman's spine. He didn't like their attention at all. Immunity or not. Some of them even staggered in his direction, sniffing and searching, but never really focusing on him 100 per cent.

Connor still grabbed his knife and held it ready to kill, just in case, because he certainly didn't fancy getting bit for a third time after giving Murphy that big speech.
He didn't have to keep yelling, because right then Andrea answered.

"Connor?! Is that you?" she yelled and he started to jog. "Aye!" he answered, smiling a bit but having a hard time getting closer to the walkers. Two of them even bumped in to him, still attracted by the noise he was making, which -forced- him to kill them. Once he was done and the walkers dropped dead to the ground he fixed his eyes on the two members of his group, who were looking down at him with wide eyes.

"Where have you been?!" the blonde woman asked and stopped pointing her rifle at him.
Tyreese was just looking at him with wide eyes, constantly switching back and forth between his position and that of the countless walkers below.

"How…How is this possible?" he asked in shock, obviously referring to the fact that the walkers wouldn't really attack Connor, and how only a couple of them would stagger in his direction. It was just then when the Irishman remembered that the majority of their town still didn't know about his immunity, his 'abilities', that he had kept them from them on purpose. Only his 'main group' knew about it, including Andrea. But now Tyreese seemed to know it, too, and it wasn't like he could change anything about that now. Connor concentrated on Andrea instead, shoving a couple of walkers away and killing another one.

"Long story! But…what te fuck happened here?" he asked and pointed at the herd in front of him, slowly getting started on trying to thin them out so he didn't just have to stand there.

"They just keep on coming! They're piling up on all walls!" Andrea answered and then looked around, only to frown.

"Where's Daryl?"

Connor pointed behind himself.

"Still back there!" he said and had to think for a second. He then decided not to tell them about Murphy just yet and kept talking "We got a car, but…" he then scanned the wall and walkers once more. "How te fuck are we sapposed t'get back inside with this fuckin mess goin on here?!"

He couldn't picture just driving up here and making them open up the gate after one risky distraction maneuver. They couldn't risk opening the gate without having to fear the walkers swarm it and overrun the place. But he didn't have to ponder on that, because Andrea already had the answer. She pointed to her right and his left, at the houses there.

"There's a building by the East side of the town, there aren't too many of them back there. We use it to get in an out with ladders! I'll tell them to let you in!" she said and then handed Tyreese her rifle. "Here, take this…" she said and then looked back, behind the wall where their town was. "Rick!" she shouted and waited for a moment, only to keep talking when people seemed to have come. "Connor and Daryl are back!" she shouted and the Irishman just watched her for a second longer, only to decide that he might as well go back in the mean time to actually get his friend over there.

"'m gonna go get 'im! East side ye say?" he made sure and Tyreese nodded. He answered for Andrea whilst pointing there yet again.

"Just take Sunnydale road and keep driving! There's a former second-hand shop, can't miss it! They'll come get to you!"

"Alright, see ye in a minute!" Connor answered and then turned around to start jogging back, ignoring the pain in his ankle and trying to go faster. He was beyond excited to get back inside Woodbury, to see everyone, tell them about Murphy and introduce him to their new family.

He wasn't too surprised when he saw that Murphy was still outside their car, sitting on its hood and blowing smoke rings in the air with an angry frown. Daryl was still inside the car, fiddling about with his knife that he used to continuously stab the car's dashboard, dangerously close to where Murphy was sitting. Almost like he was secretly trying to stab him through the glass. Connor really wanted them to get along but knew that this wasn't going to happen, and it seemed to be a natural reaction for the both of them to just get out of each other's way and pretend that the other didn't exist.

When the Irishman finally got back to his friend and brother he already had trouble walking, not only because of his twisted ankle but also because of his old injury from the car crash last year, but just like before he tried to hide it. Murphy was honestly oblivious to it because he was too busy brooding and being pissed at him for his previous reaction. But Daryl was watching him with hawk eyes, noticing his problems right away. Connor just walked past Murphy and nudged him with a smile, not only to animate him to get off the car's engine hood but also to make it clear that everything was already forgotten again.

"Come on, let's go" he suggested and Murphy did as he was told, despite his obvious stubbornness and anger.

"What? 'n drive right fuckin inta them? So much fer 'keeping me away fram walkers'" he said sarcastically and walked around the car to get back inside and take the backseat. Connor entered the car as well and slipped behind the wheel, starting the engine and then looking at Daryl for a moment.

"They got a temporary escape route. Using ladders and I imagine rooftops or shit like that. They're gonna come get us inside" he said and then put the car in reverse, to get it away from the walkers and closer to Sunnydale road which they had passed on their way here.

Daryl frowned.

"What, 'n we're gonna do that by driving away?"

Connor rolled his eyes with an annoyed headshake.

"They set shit up over at Sunnydale road. East side. Andrea said that all the walls are too crowded ta do shit like that" Connor answered and then steered their car into a backyard, so he could turn it around and drive back. Daryl wouldn't stop looking at him, now that Woodbury was no longer in sight and he didn't have anything to look at apart from brooding Murphy in the rearview mirror.

"What 'bout the others? Rick? Glenn? Maggie?" he asked and carefully added "Carol?" after a moment, for which he already earned a mischievous smirk from Connor.

"Don't worry, 'm sure yer girlfriend's gonna be just fine. Like Rick and the others."

Before Daryl got the chance to answer Murphy interrupted them with a snort.

"Girlfriend?" he asked and eyed Daryl, only to look at Connor.

"Who'd fuck someone as filthy as this guy?" he asked and ignored Daryl on purpose for a moment. The remark made Daryl clench his fists and Connor smirk, not only because his friend's reaction and his brother's teasing amused him, but also because there was some fucked up secret answer to this, after what had happened last night. And he thanked god that Murphy didn't have a clue about that. He certainly wanted it to stay that way. But his precious twin brother wouldn't stop, because then he finally looked at Daryl and leaned in.

"Oh wait, she your sister? Heard yah rednecks are inta this shit…" he teased even more, sending Daryl over the edge and making him turn around.

"She ain't my freakin sister yah little shit, and even if she was,'s still better than yah sheep-fuckin, bible-banging micks!" he roared and tried to punch Murphy, not only because his constant stereotyping offended him, but also because he was way too embarrassed by the fact that both MacManus twins were discussing his sex life. Or more like, the lack thereof. So he tried to climb back and punch Murphy in the face to channel his anger and hatred for the guy, and it made him even more furious when his friend's brother just started laughing.

Connor was way too shocked by the sound to step in. He raised his head and had a look into the rear view mirror, to see if his ears were playing tricks on him, but there Murphy was, dodging Daryl's blows and maybe throwing a lazy punch himself, but he was laughing while doing this.

Murphy was laughing.

He couldn't even really remember the last time he had honestly heard Murphy laugh. Even way before the apocalypse. Probably before Da's death. He was so shocked that he could do nothing but stare, almost causing yet another accident. He couldn't keep Daryl from trying to get to his sibling just yet, he just listened to the sound, in ave, in shock, in sheer astonishment.

So many fucked up things had happened to his brother. Things he didn't even know about yet. The world was nothing but a shithole these days. Depressing, dangerous, with death and walking corpses surrounding them. Then there were their personal problems. The new ones. The broken bond, the lost trust. But despite all that Murphy could still do that. Be himself. Be so incredibly spirited. Angry one second, moody and depressed the next, brutal after that, only to get back to being carefree and happy. Laughing. From one second to the next.

When things were slowly getting more brutal between his sibling and friend and Murphy slowly stopped laughing and got angrier and angrier Connor could finally step in. He reached for Daryl and grabbed his muscular arm to pull him away from his brother, trying to calm the both of them down and make them stop fighting.

"Alright, just stop it, the two of ye, alright!" he demanded with his louder 'authoritative' voice until he successfully managed to pull Daryl back in his seat.

"We're almost there, fuckin behave. Ye can punch each other all ye want as soon as we're back inside" he said but knew that he wasn't going to keep that promise. They were driving down Sunnydale road by now, getting closer and closer to their destination as they watched the houses to their right. He could already see a small group of people on top of one of the roofs ahead and smiled. There they were - Glenn, Maggie, Rick, Carol. Even Michonne.

They had made it. They had escaped Augusta. Escaped Savannah.
And most importantly: he was bringing Murphy home.

Daryl looked at the small group on the roof as well and had to smirk a little bit, especially when he saw Rick and Carol, but the smirk wouldn't stay there for too long. It made him happy to see them all, safe and sound, but at the same time it only reminded him of one thing: the fact that one person was missing up there. He'd been doing fine until now, but now that he was facing his old group again it came back with such a force that it seemed to suffocate him.

One person was missing up there, one person who wouldn't welcome him home and make him feel relieved about the fact he was back.

Merle wasn't with them. Merle was still dead.

"Those yer people?" he heard Murphy ask and clenched his fists and gritted his teeth even more, because that voice only made it worse.
His brother was dead, never going to talk to him ever again, whereas Connor got to bring his twin back home, talk to him, be with him from now on.

It wasn't fair.

The end.