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Chapter 19: Personal Pit Bull

The next morning everyone was planning their routes for the search for the day.

"I'm goin' to borrow a horse and go up head up to this ridge right here. Get a bird's eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there I'll spot her." Daryl said.

"Good idea. Maybe you'll see your chupacabra up there, too." T-Dog joked.

"Chupacabra?" Brooke asked.

"You never heard that story?"Dale asked. "The first night at the camp Daryl told us that this whole thing reminds him of the time he went squirrel hunting and saw a chupacabra." Jimmy laughed and Brooke bit her lip but snickered.

"What are you braying at, jackass?" Daryl asked.

"So, you believe in a bloodsucking dog?" Jimmy asked.

"You believe in dead people walkin' around?" Daryl snapped back and Brooke stopped snickering. Jimmy went to grab a gun but Rick stopped him.

"You ever fire one before?" Rick asked.

"Well, if I'm goin' out I want one." Jimmy replied.

"Yeah, and people in hell want slurpees." Daryl grumbled.

"Alright boys!" Brooke called to order. "We need to get down to business. We don't have all day." Brooke grabbed her bow and quiver. Shane gave her a pointed look and so did everyone else around the map. "What?" she asked.

"Brooke, you ain't goin'." Shane told her. "Not today."

"Why?" Brooke asked shifting her weight. Daryl pursed his lips and she knew he told them about her nightmare. "Guys, I'm fine."

"Just one day off. That's all we're askin'." Rick pleaded. Brooke sighed and put back her bow and quiver.

"I'm going back out after today though." She said. She went to her tent and got Daryl's crossbow. She turned and he wasn't that far behind her. He took it from her.

"I thought I said no touchin' my crossbow." He said but he was joking.

"I swear that thing is your baby." She rolled her eyes and gave him a kiss. He hugged her after. "You be careful out there. I don't want a chupacabra stealing you." She smirked and Daryl huffed. "I love you."

"I love you too." He said and gave her another kiss. He got on a horse and went into the woods. Brooke went towards the house to see if she could help out. Lori had been pale all day so Brooke went to investigate. She saw Glenn and Lori in what looked like a sticky situation.

"You're pregnant?" Glenn asked. Brooke went pale.

"Oh God! It's Shane's, now that woman is having Shane's baby and Rick still doesn't know?" Brooke thought.

"Please don't say anything." Lori begged Glenn. Glenn agreed and walked away. He turned to see Brooke behind them. Glenn scratched the back of his neck and walked away. "Brooke."

"You still haven't told Rick about you and Shane yet?" she asked and Lori nodded. "Come with me Lori. We're going to have a little talk." Lori's jaw clenched and they walked away from the farm. "Alright Lori. Like I said before you don't mess with my boys. Now that you're pregnant and the baby maybe Shane's, you have to tell Rick. You also need to talk to Shane about this because he is so upset because of you. He loves you and I tried to explain to him that you love him just not in that way."

"You think you can just get in my business like this?" Lori asked.

"You think you can just lead my brother on and get away with it?" Brooke argued back. "You're not just hurting Shane, you're hurting Rick, and Carl. I'm tired of your bullshit and you thinking that everything will resolve itself if you try and push Shane out of your life but it's not. You made my brother threaten to leave me. Because of you I had to beg, my own brother, to not leave me in the apocalypse. You have caused so much hell, Lori. You need to fix it and fix it now." Lori stayed quiet.

"You know, you haven't made my life a walk in the park either!" Lori said.

"I've done nothing to you Lori!" Brooke said.

"What about when Rick kissed you a couple years back?" Lori asked and Brooke's eyes got wide. "He told me about it."

"It was when y'all thought of getting a divorce. It was a heat of the moment thing but I stopped it!" she said.

"What?"

"Yeah, I stopped it because I knew he still loved you! I knew that I could never have him because he loved you and I knew you still loved him! That's what I told him!" Brooke said. "I don't even know if you love Rick anymore!"

"I love Rick!" Lori started crying at this point but Brooke didn't care. She was in battle mode.

"Oh, so that's why you slept with his best friend?" she asked sarcastically. "That's why you couldn't close your legs for five seconds after you thought Rick was dead?" She said chillingly and Lori started to cry even more. "I told you not to mess with my boys. You've hurt them both even if they don't know it. I told Shane when I asked him not to leave to come to me if you gave him anymore bull shit. I told him I would deal with you. You're making my brother do the worst things a person could probably do." Brooke got quiet and realized she had said way too much.

"What are you talking about? What has he done?" Lori sobbed.

"Nothing!" Brooke said and left a sobbing Lori alone. Brooke soon realized after the high school trip that Shane didn't kill Otis to save Carl. He killed Otis to be with Lori. Brooke knew Shane and knew Shane very well. He knew that if he saved Carl then Lori may fall in love with him. He did it for himself and not Carl which made Brooke furious. When Brooke was in the house and Herschel had just told Rick to control his own people. She had always regretted the kiss. When she was younger she had a little crush on him but that was it. She rolled her eyes and asked Herschel if there was anything she could do. Of course, there was nothing. "Come on Rudy!" she called and he trotted with Carl over to her and they began to play.

Meanwhile in the woods Daryl was lying on the ground unconscious. He felt a shake in his body and opened his eyes.

"Merle?" he asked groggily.

"Well hey there little brother! This is what you call survivin'? Come on Darylina you can do better than that." Merle asked. "You're gonna die out here and for what?"

"That little girl's lost." Daryl replied.

"Oh, so you have a thing for little girls now?" Merle mocked.

"Shut up!" Daryl ordered.

"Watch it Darylina. One of these days they gonna' scrape you off their heels like you was dog shit. They ain't your kin. Ain't nobody gonna care about you except me." Merle said.

"Brooke." Daryl said. "She cares about me more than you."

"What happens when she's really dead little brother?" Merle laughed. "Who's gonna care about you then?"

"We ain't leavin' each other. We promised." Daryl said.

"Whatever little brother." Merle said and he was gone. Daryl could hear snapping and snarling coming from his bottom half. Daryl saw the walker and grabbed a branch. He quickly stabbed it but saw another walker coming. In a moment of desperation, he pulled the arrow from his side and hooked it up to his crossbow. In just the nick of time he shot the walker in the head. Daryl winced as he got up. He took the arrow from its head and put it back. Something went off in Daryl and he got serious. He shot a squirrel and ate it raw. Then he made a necklace of walker ears as a trophy. He started to climb up the steep ridge and saw Merle once again. "I'm as real as your chupacabra!" he yelled. Daryl grunted and pulled himself up more. He had made it halfway up the ridge and was completely worn out. "What's the matter Darylina? That all you got in you?" Daryl grunted in anger and frustration and made it to the top of the ridge. "Come on, come on little brother!" Merle laughed and held out a hand. Daryl grabbed on to the ground and pulled himself up. Merle was nowhere to be found.

"Yeah you better run!" Daryl yelled and continued to go back to the camp. He had made it back but heard Andrea call him a walker. Shane, Rick, Glenn, and T-Dog rushed to him but kept their distance.

"Is that Daryl?" Glenn asked. Rick had his gun pointed at him and Shane had a pick axe.

"That's the third time you've pointed that thing at my head!" Daryl told Rick. "You gonna pull the trigger or what?" A gunshot rung throughout the farm and even Brooke and Herschel heard it from inside the house. Daryl felt a sharp pain in his head and fell backwards.

"No!" Rick yelled. He and Shane lifted Daryl up.

"I was just kidding!" Daryl groaned. Herschel and Brooke stood on the front porch and saw blood running down Daryl's head and a wound in his side.

"Daryl!" Brooke cried. Herschel and Brooke led them towards the same room they had kept Carl in. "Alright! Shane I need you to get some of those medi-kits that are in my tent!" Shane nodded and left the room. Herschel got the material ready that they needed for surgery for his wound on his side.

"What about the shot? Did it go through his head?" Herschel asked.

"Thankfully no just grazed it." She sighed. "We need to put some bandages around his head." She went to go take the ear necklace and her nose scrunched up a little. She quickly gave it to Glenn and ordered for him to leave. Shane came back with the medi-kits and she tooke them. She wrapped his head very quickly after disinfecting the wound.

"Brooke." Daryl groaned.

"Sh, it's okay. You'll be fine." She cooed. "We just gotta do this real quick." She said and he felt something go in his arm. He was out within minutes. Brooke took off his shirt and saw the wound impaled the front and the back.

"No vital organs." Herschel said. "We just gotta patch him up a little bit."

"Nothing I'm not used to." Brooke said and they went to work. They were done within a couple of hours. Herschel stuck out his hand. "Doctor." He smiled.

"Doctor." She smiled and shook his hand. They walked downstairs to find everyone waiting. "He'll be fine." Brooke said. "He'll have to recover for a little while though." Herschel went over to his kids and Brooke went over to her group.

"I feel so awful." Andrea hung her head in shame. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm pissed at you but I forgive you. It's not like you killed him." Brooke smiled. "I mean even I've wanted to shoot Daryl at one time one time or another. I'm sure all of us had." Andrea looked up at her and Dale gave her a look. "What?"

"I said almost the exact same thing earlier." Dale said and Brooke laughed.

"Great minds think alike I suppose." She smiled. She saw Lori staring at her and Brooke pursed her lips. She walked over to Lori with an ashamed look. "I'm so sorry for what I said earlier Lori." She said. "It wasn't my place to-"

"No Brooke. I know I need to tell them." Lori nodded. "I also should've known not to mess with Little Walsh the pit bull." Lori smirked and Brooke chuckled.

"Let's just start over." Brooke said.

"I would like that." Lori said. "Would you like to help me and Carol cook dinner."

"I would love to." Brooke smiled. They cooked dinner for everyone and Carol took some up to Daryl. It was a nice little dinner and everyone got to know each other a little better. Brooke walked upstairs to see Daryl who had been cleaned of all the dirt and blood. "Hey there." She said.

"I just got shot and that's what you say to me?" he asked jokingly.

"Hey I just patched up your ass." She smiled. "So how do you feel?"

"I feel okay. Just sore that's all." He winced and try to turn to her.

"Uh-uh don't move!" she warned and she sat on the bed next to him so he didn't have to turn. "You're gonna be resting for a little bit so no hunting." She said. She leaned in and gave him a kiss but realized something . "Did you wash your arrows?" she asked.

"What?"

"Did you wash the arrow that impaled you?" she asked.

"Darlin', you know I always do." He reassured and she sighed.

"So, um, what's up with the necklace?" she asked. "jewelry for me?"

"No I guess I just made it a trophy or somethin'?" he said and smirked. "I ate raw squirrel too." Brooke went pale and grabbed a napkin. She furiously wiped her mouth.

"Ew! And you let me kiss you with all that squirrel on your mouth?" she asked still rubbing her lips. He laughed but it hurt to laugh. "I was so worried when I saw you like that." She sighed and he threw an arm around her waist and pulled her in. She put a hand on his head and played with some of his hair.

"Well, I'm okay now." He smiled.

"Yeah, you just got shot and you took an arrow to the torso." She said. "we're movin' you to the tent tomorrow by the way. I'm pretty sure Herschel wants his house back."

"Alright but don't think it'll be easy. I'm in a bed for the first time in a while." He warned. Brooke got up to go help with the dishes. He pulled her back down and gave her a kiss. She left the room and he thought about what Merle said. Was Merle some sort of sign telling Daryl about what may happen? Was Brooke's life in danger? "Brooke!" he called and she ran back upstairs.

"What? Is everything okay?" She said. "Did you pop the stitches?"

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Um, yeah." She answered warily.

"Are you sure? Is anyone giving you trouble." He asked. Brooke came back over to him and gave him a sweet, long kiss on the lips.

"Daryl, I'm fine." She said and he sighed. He motioned for her to go. As she was leaving the room she looked back at him but continued on. He knew she wasn't lying but something just wasn't right to him. It's like he knew something was going on but he had no clue of what it was. It was bothering him more than his wounds and wondered if she really was okay.