Author's Note: Yes, it's a new chapter. And not just any chapter, it's Daryl's Pov for the very first time. Time to see what our dear archer is thinking about all of this.

A very special thank you for of all of you, readers, that are reading, following and reviewing this story. You're awesome.

Disclaimer: Am I on the show having an affair with the Dixon brothers? No? Then it's because I do not own The Walking Dead. Sad, but the truth.

Daryl's Pov!

Merle wasn't in the house. Damn him.

It was just his luck to be alone havin' to deal with this bullshit. They should've done something about Shane ages ago. It was obvious to everyone that he was a problem, but no, nobody wanted to be the kind of person who murdered a guy they knew. Even if said guy was a completely crazy asshole, who was bound to get them all killed.

Looking around, really looking at the people that he had surrounded himself with, Daryl couldn't imagine any of them making in that world. They were too used to the way things were before, but most of all, they weren't adaptable. They weren't able to react differently to the circumstances.

The new rule of the world was: Kill or get killed.

These people didn't know it yet, and maybe when they realized it, it would be too late.

Fuck, Merle really should've been there.

Rick going alone after Shane was a suicide mission, what was he thinking?

And the whole 'you'll all stay put' crap was insulting. Like he was the boss of them; like he could stop someone should they choose to go after Carl. Not that Daryl was interested in doing so, no. He had enough of trying to protect other people's kid.

His thoughts were interrupted by no other than the very woman who should've been looking after Carl.

"I'm just... just going outside," Lori said, very unconvincingly.

"I'll go with you," The sympathetic face Carol had apparently annoyed Lori.

"No!" She almost screamed. However, seeing the shocked look on Carol's face, she tried to smooth thinks over. "I just need to be alone for now." She then left without looking back.

For the love of God, that was the worse lie he heard in all of his pathetic life.

"Poor woman, the wait must be terrible for her," Andrea said, putting her hand on Carol's shoulder.

He snorted. Louder than he expected.

It's not every day a Dixon made a sound in that house, so, not unexpectedly, every single one of them turned their faces to him.

"You're all stupid if you think for a minute that she isn't going after them right now." Seriously, how could they all be so blind?

"What? Of course not. Lori wouldn't do this. Sure, she is worried, she's a mother, we can't help it." Carol flinched at her own words. It wasn't difficult to imagine why. The words in the present tense, as if she was still a mother, were just a cruel reminder of how fucked up the world had become. "You wouldn't understand." Her words were so patronizing it was disgusting.

"Right, I forgot the right of being worried was owned by mothers." Sometimes he wondered if people really didn't see the things that were in front of them or if they chose to ignore it consciously. "Don't worry, though, I'm sure she will not die alone in the woods, after all, we know how competent she is." He sneered the words out. Okay, so maybe he didn't like Lori very much.

Everyone looked at him like he had just cursed the name of Jesus. Horrified that he would speak about death so freely.

Sometimes he wondered what he and his brother were doing there.

But the truth was that Daryl even liked being there. The farm wasn't ideal, not by any stretch of the imagination, it was indefensible in the long run, and the inside couldn't support them all. But, it was better than everything else they had before, and it beats being on the road constantly. On the farm, he could have some minutes of peace, minutes of no obligations, and God knows he never had many of those in his life.

So this whole mess just served to make him angry. If they had simply accepted that Shane wasn't himself anymore, things would've been so much simpler. As he looked at the faces in front of him, he felt that the time they had in there was coming to an end.

Fuck this.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

When he heard Hershel's scream, Daryl thought somebody had died, but the little suicidal kid had just hurt her ankle. Even if the story she and Merle were telling was bullshit, the injury appeared to be real.

He was almost surprised when she realized people were missing so quickly. Maybe she wasn't as useless as he thought.

"Carl is missing... And so is Shane." The old man lowered his eyes as though they were dead already. Curious.

"Holy fuck!" Merle was looking him in the eyes. "Officer Friendly went after them?"

"Of course he did," Daryl answered, "Wasn't going to let that crazy fucker with his son."

"But why is no one else searching?" She seemed to gather all of her courage to ask this question, which, he had to admit, was almost endearing.

He immediately frowned his face in anger though because her question reminded him of Rick's ridiculous little act. He turned his head to Merle while speaking. "Rick ordered everybody to stay put, said he had to deal with Shane on his on. Especially now that his own son is involved." He turned to speak directly to her again. "We should all be searching. Shane has gone completely insane, by the time Rick found them anything could have happened."

"Were you all out here waiting for them?" She asked him.

Waiting for them? As if. He wasn't so lucky. He had been, instead, dragged out there to look for the crazy mommy.

But he didn't get to say that.

"No, we were looking for Lori," Andrea responded. "Right after Rick left she disappeared. We were hoping she just wanted some time alone but is obvious that she went after Carl."

"Bitch just gonna get herself killed," Daryl knew his brother shared his dislike for Lori. In their world loyalty was everything, if you committed yourself to someone or something you went all the way. Fuck traitors.

When the gunshot sound reached them the only thing that Daryl could think was that Shane had finally lost it and killed Rick or Carl. It wouldn't be surprising. Sad yes, surprising no.

They all had their heads turned to the woods as though they would be able to see what was happening if they looked hard enough.

The scream that followed sent a shiver running down his spine. Daryl was familiar with the sound of desperation that preceded death. The apocalypse hadn't changed that; the sound was the same.

"Lori!" Of course, Carol was surprised. "Oh my God." He didn't expect her to start running after Lori. What was she thinking? She wouldn't find anything other than death and blood.

"Fuck! Carol, wait!" Andrea went after her.

Stupid, all of them.

By then it was pandemonium. Nobody was ready to react and do something. They knew, however, how to scream.

He looked at his brother, raising his eyebrow, asking mentally the question they were both wondering: 'Did Shane finally went and killed Rick?'

"It doesn't matter," He answered, and he was probably right. It's not like they could go and do something about it right now. "All this noise is gonna bring all the walkers right to where we are; we need to move right fucking now."

"Wait!" The suicidal kid was desperately clinging to Merle's arm. "What do you mean move? Please, we can't go, this is my house."

"Kiddo, there's no time for this. Trust me, okay? Go to your room and grab whatever is essential. Do it faster than you've ever done something in your life."

What? Since when did Merle care?

"But...but... What about my house? And Dad? And Maggie?" The kid was a complete mess, trying to get the words out.

"We'll talk to everybody else," He said, mentioning to him. "Now go!"

She paused for a second then started running to the house.

"What the fuck, Merle?" He never needed many words with his brother. He always knew what he meant.

"She asked me to help her learn to protect herself, and I agreed." There was obviously a history there, but he was aware of the fact that they didn't have enough time for it, so he settled for an incredulous look. Merle was going to explain that shit later. Now they needed to figure out what to do.

"Hey!" His brother had always had the ability to bring the attention to him, to make himself be heard. "We need to get moving. It won't be long now before walkers start to make their way here."

"We can't leave, we have nowhere to go." He was sure Merle didn't even know this kid's name. Beth's little boyfriend was as disposable as her. "Plus, it wasn't that much noise anyway. We can kill the few that come."

Hearing him talk with all that bravado could almost convince you he would actually be able to kill something that came his way. Almost.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" That was a vein in his brother's forehead that was starting to jump.

"We can't go without everybody else, Merle." Daryl liked Glenn a little better than the rest, even if he did speak too much. He did what had to be done.

At that moment, three consecutive gunshots were heard in the same direction as the first one.

"We don't have time for this." He looked Merle straight in the eyes. They needed to get moving.

His brother just nodded.

"There's no time people. Let's go."

Honestly, these people didn't even realize how lucky they were. If they had met Merle a while ago, they wouldn't be getting this warning at all. He wouldn't give a fuck.

"Let's grab our stuff." Clearly, his patience was over.

Daryl turned and saw Glenn running to the house after Maggie. Hershel was talking rapidly with the little boyfriend, and T-Dog was looking in the direction of Lori's scream, looking completely dazed. That wouldn't do, so as he passed by him, running with his brother, he slapped the back of T-Dog's head. Hard.

"Wake up man. Do something!" He screamed as he ran.

He and Merle grabbed their stuff as quickly as possible, but not quickly enough. They were almost done by the time the walkers arrived. There was no time to fight so he just grabbed Merle's arm and ran. They would have to make do without the tent.

"Give me your backpack!" Merle screamed at him. What? He didn't understand but threw it anyway. But the answer came. "I'll get a car, go grab Beth." His brother looked desperate.

Daryl ran.

Who was this girl?

He had only seen Merle look at one person with this kind of desperation, and that person was him.

He wasn't sure how to feel about this. Jealous, for sure. But there was something else. Anger. A different kind of anger than the one he usually felt — it was a feeling that made his heart clench a little too strongly.

They didn't even know this kid, having been on the farm for only a few weeks. She had no right to invoke these feelings on his brother. She had no right to make him this mad. Fuck her.

When Merle screamed 'Grab her' he didn't even think about doing anything else, Daryl just ran after her. Halfway through he realized that Beth shouldn't have been a concern, they should've left straight away. After all, they hadn't run after the others, and the others hadn't run after them. When in chaos, as they were, you grab your family, and you get the hell out of there. They would meet again somewhere when everyone was secure.

Since when did Beth become family?

Maybe she wasn't even there anymore. Maybe she had already left with the old man and her sister.

But it didn't matter. He was already at the door.

He busted through the door looking everywhere until his eyes landed on her.

She was wiping the blood out of her father's face. Was the kid fucking kidding? There was no time for this.

"Come on; we have to go." He started to drag her, certain that her father would also follow.

"Wait!" Wait? Didn't she hear the screams outside? "Dad, come on."

"I have to get Maggie first, honey." The old man just ran in the opposite direction. Was everyone in this family insane? "Go! I'll find you."

"Dad!" She screamed like a little kid.

"For fuck's sake, there's no fucking time for this." He was going to kill Merle for throwing this babysitting job at him.

"Let go of me; I can't leave my father." He was about to lose his patience.

At this moment, three walkers appeared out of nowhere.

Daryl pushed her behind his back and grabbed the crossbow almost instinctually. Protecting people was something he did, although he was not sure why.

He killed the first two easily enough, but the third one got too close. There wasn't enough time to let go of the crossbow and grab the knife.

The walker fell on top of him, making him lose his footing and fall to the ground. The knife was still in the waist of his pants, but he couldn't reach it. Both his hands were occupied holding the head of the creature trying to bite him. If he let go even for a moment he would be dead. There was no other way, so he gathered all the strength he could and smashed the decomposing skull of the walker, splashing blood on his entire self.

Fuck this; he thought again as he got up.

A truck stopped in front of the house, just in time really. Merle put his head outside and screamed: "Get inside!"

He didn't get a chance to walk on his own. Beth was already dragging him inside, almost pushing him into the back seat.

She slammed the door and screamed, "Drive!"

Which was unnecessary honestly, Merle was already on it.

As they drove away he could see dozens of walkers invading the space they had occupied seconds ago. He looked inside his car and saw his brother and Beth, maybe the only two people who survived this mess alongside with him.

Was this his new life?

Fuck.

AN2: Daryl's angry, and I don't blame him. His life is changing, and things are getting confusing and strange. He is bound to be wary because of the life he had. Things are gonna get crazy before they get good, heads up!

As always please tell me what you guys thought about this chapter.