"Fuck you Merle!" Rang out from where the two brothers had set up camp. It was a cracked voice, the younger boy. The brothers were always fighting even though one wasn't even eighteen and the other was in his late thirties.
Rick ran over, having just met the group, very alerted. He knew the brothers weren't much for authority or manners or anything else but training was hard to kick.
"Hey! Hey, fuckin stop it. Break it up." Rick said as he was tailed by his best friend, Shane close on his heels.
Merle was pinning the younger boy down by his shoulders. Daryl was kicking and yelling back, shoving at Merle's face, neck, anywhere.
"Yeah Darleena? What're you gonna do about it?" Merle yelled, taunting. He was heavier, stronger than the thin malnourished teenager. Rick pulled the brother off, still shouting that they needed to stop and break it up. Merle went up, not fighting Rick's grip on his arms very much.
"I can take care of my fuckin self, I don't need your help, asshole!" Daryl yelled and lunged forward but Shane already had the boy under the arms. Pulling him close to his chest so his feet didn't touch the ground. Daryl immediately let out a loud, blood curdling screech. It didn't sound like anger, it sounded like terror .
"Hey let him go! Put him down!" Merle said and tried to shake Officer Grimes off his back. Rick only held on more, planting his feet and not letting the situation get any more violent.
Daryl was twisting and screeching like a rabid animal. His shoulders screamed and he kept thrashing, he was going to dislocate his shoulder if he kept on.
"Hey, calm down. Calm down." Shane said loudly behind the boy but didn't lessen his hold, still holding the boy off the ground by under his arms. Merle was yelling at Shane to put him down, Rick was holding him back, and Shane wasn't gonna let up until the young man stopped.
That was until Daryl's screechy yells went from "fuck you let go of me, fuckin pig" to watery, pleading, begging "help! Help! Merle, help! Fuck, help me!" and he started to tremble.
Merle elbowed Officer Grimes in the gut and Shane dropped the sobbing boy who scrambled to run off into the woods.
"You fuckin bastard-" Merle growled and swung his fist toward Shane's face but Shane quickly ducked away. The officer put his hands up and shook his head.
"Hey I was tryin' to get him to calm down." Officer Walsh said and stared back at Merle who was glaring daggers at the officer. They both had their shoulders up and their chests puffed out like fighting cats.
"You were hurtin' him and you damn well knew it. Don't you ever fuckin touch him again." Merle said, pointing at Shane, and glared at both cops before quickly walking the same way Daryl had run off in.
By then Carol, Andrea, Amy, and Lori had come to see why the young man was screaming for help. Shane just rubbed the back of his neck and looked at his friend.
"Man, I thought he'd bite me to be honest." He said and blew out a breath.
"What was that about? Are you guys okay?" Andrea asked as she looked at the scuffed up ground and Rick who was still cringing in pain.
"Rick, are you alright?" Lori said and rushed over to her husband. They talked amongst themselves until Carol came back from looking around. She timidly asked a question which caused everyone to stare at her.
"Where's Daryl?" She asked and looked between Shane and Rick. She'd heard the boy screaming, what if he got hurt? They shouldn't have let him run off without making sure he wasn't hurt.
He'd been kind to her, kind to Sophia. He always seemed to be around to share his portion of food. To bring back something special when they ventured to the city on runs. He was quiet, a nice awkward quiet. He was a good boy, by Carol's standards.
"He ran off. Probably gonna go cry it off." Shane said and waved the woman off. Carol glared at him and crossed her arms. She had been filled with a small bit of extra bit of confidence, some oomf.
"You probably scared him. Maybe he's hurt or he got hurt before and you reopened it." Carol said, standing her ground. Shane just blew it off and the group went back to the main camp to do their chores. Carol hung around the campsite until Merle came walking back. She rather didn't like him and went back to washing clothes with the other women.
"Shane said he was crying. What is he, seventeen? Eighteen? He shouldn't be so wimpy if that's all it takes for him to start crying. He needs to man up." Andrea said as she shook out a shirt.
They had been talking about the fight as Carol walked up. She felt a burn in her chest. Daryl was just a kid. They didn't need to bag on him. His brother did enough of that for all of them. She could see the… the pain he'd faced. It wasn;t the same pain that nearly every person alive now felt. It was something that was carved deep, permanent. Something none of these people would ever understand.
"He's barely sixteen. He said his birthday was last month." Carol said sharply and grabbed a pair of shorts from the basket sitting on the edge of the quarry.
"Well still if he doesn't want to get restrained he shouldn't be fist fighting his brother in camp." Lori said back snappily. She didn't want that boy near Carl. He was always dirty and bloody and a bad influence. Most of the people in the camp thought a similar way about Daryl. He was a long haired, nasty mouthed, hateful, little bastard. That's probably the reason he sleeps way away from everyone in him and Merle's own mini camp.
"That's how they communicate. I don't believe either of them would ever really hurt each other. They love each other, they're just rough." Carol said. It was easy to see that much too. One look and you could tell they loved each other. Daryl always taking the least but Merle taking the lion's share just to give some to his little brother. They never really hurt each other, they could, but they don't.
"Love each other? They're constantly at each other's throats. Looks more like hate to me." Andrea laughed and Amy agreed. The rest of the women agreed and chatted for only a moment.
"Maybe they had a tough childhood. It's pretty obvious they didn't have a nice time before all this happened." Carol whipped back and stared at the other woman's eyes. They knew what she meant.
They worked quietly after that. Carol worried each mark and stain, worry heavy in her own mind. Where was Daryl? What if he's hurt? What if he's bleeding? What if a walker got to him? What if he's trapped somewhere hiding? Why did he run off?...
Later when the fires were lit and Daryl's squirrels were cooking away in a soup of wild plants and a beef bouton cube, Carol had kept an eye out for Daryl and made sure when everyone else ate there was still enough for another bowl full. She cleaned up and Glenn took watch on the RV, they talked a bit.
She heard rustling behind her as she wiped down the spoons and knives they cooked with.
She quickly turned around, knife in hand, and there was Daryl. He was looking down and held his right elbow with his left hand. He looked so small. Scared. Carol gave him an empathetic smile and turned back to her utensils.
"Hey Daryl. We missed you at dinner. I saved you back some, mind eating out of the pot?" Carol said and offered the boy a spoon and a wave toward the pot near the fire.
"Sorry." He mumbled and gently got the spoon and made his way to quickly scarf down the food. He usually ate like that. Like every single bite he had was the last he'd get. He still gave some up for everyone else, but when he was getting the lasts he ate all of it.
Carol watched him practically inhale the food. And when he was done he handed her the pot and spoon. He was quiet, quieter than usual, and he wouldn't meet her eyes.
"Where'd you go? I checked your little camp but I only ever saw Merle. I was worried Shane had hurt you. Are your shoulders okay?" Carol asked quietly and watched as Daryl sat down on the log by the fire. It was a little cold out at nights now, the seasons changing. He wouldn't admit it but he was cold, the boy never seemed to wear sleeves. Carol had worried he'd get sick if he stayed out too long away from the fires.
"I was 'round. Settin' traps. I'm alright." Daryl said and fussed with some dirt near his shoes, between his legs. He was all hunched over and pinched together.
"The other ladies said you'd been crying. I just wanted to make sure Shane didn't hurt you. Physical or otherwise." Carol said very gently and sat down next to the boy. Daryl kept his eyes down, his greasy dark hair falling down over his forehead.
"Said 'm fine. Didn't need the pigs to come and start crap." Daryl said and flicked a rock into the dwindling fire.
"Shane can be… too rough. And not notice. But I think you're tough and I don't think him holding you back hurt you." Carol said and watched the boy. He lifted his hand to chew on his thumbnail. He glazed over at her a few times from the corner of his eye.
"Don't like not touchin' the ground." Daryl grumbled and flicked another rock into the fire. It took Carol to think of what that meant.
"Shane picked you up off the ground? That's what scared you? I bet it was scary since Rick had your brother." Carol said empathetically and placed her hand on the top of his back. She let her thumb draw circles between his shoulders.
Daryl nodded and kept picking at the ground. Carol shook her head and kept rubbing Daryl's thin back.
"Just try to stay away from Shane. I don't think he likes you much." Carol advised and the teenager nodded. They sat by the fire for a while, Daryl picking at dirt or flicking pebbles and Carol rubbing his back.
Carol kept an eye on him after that. Making sure he had food, telling him to quiet it down, telling him when he said something bad, telling him to quit doing something irritating. She guided him quietly and discreetly as the rest of the group still edged around him and his brother.
"Hey assho-" Daryl shouted as he stomped up towards where Rick was about to walk into the woods with Carl.
"Daryl." Carol said sternly but quietly from where Daryl had been helping haul clean laundry to the camp and dirty laundry to the quarry.
"Oh uh sorry. Hey Officer Grimes, there's snares back there." Daryl immediately shrunk and stopped. He turned to apologize to Carol and turned back to shout, less angrily, at the cop and his son.
"Oh. Alright. Thanks for the heads up." Rick said and smiled at the boy. Daryl huffed and went back to stand by Carol, hands in his pockets.
Carol smiled at him and patted Daryl on the back. She was proud of him. He was shaping up. Yes he was still cursing, yes he got in fights, yes he was still in his brother's racist, bigot shadow. But he was nicer, he was trying. Everyone saw it too. It made Carol feel lighter in her heart.
"Daryl, you need to get a bath. Here we found a whole case of body wash on the trip yesterday! Make sure to wash your hair or you'll get knots." Carol said and handed the boy a bottle of "Ocean Breeze Sunrise" bodywash. It was her and Sophia's bottle but there was more than enough for everyone. Daryl was fixing some of his arrows and only jerked his head to the side, away from the soap like it offended him.
"Don't need to." Daryl mumbled lowly and kept working on his arrows. He was always working on his bow or putting new feathers on his arrows or sharpening them. He took good care of them. Carol found it very charming. She smiled and patted his back.
"You do need to. You scuffed up your knee and we don't need you to get an infection. You can wait until everyone else is done." She said, leaving no room for arguments. Daryl just huffed and took the soap, putting it by his boot. Carol smiled and went back to help make dinner and check on Sophia while she read. Daryl was grumbling but that was okay. He was sixteen, sixteen year olds grumble. They fuss, they rebell, they hate authority. No need to pick at him when he already agreed.
"Um I'm gonna go uh wash up." Daryl said, his voice cracked over the 'go'. He had already gotten the camp a good bundle of squirrels and a rabbit, eaten breakfast, and got firewood. He had wandered over to where Carol was sewing up a pair of jeans.
She smiled at him and nodded. She was working by the fire that was closest to the quarry, keeping watch for the kids and any walkers. Plus the morning sun looked beautiful against the water.
"Okay pookie. I'm gonna be right here sewing so if you need anything you can holler." Carol reassured him and Daryl shifted around on his feet. He didn't have clean clothes, everything was too big for him so he'd just wash his clothes
and let them dry out as he washed up.
"Um okay. Don't look at me." Daryl asked and looked at the big rock everyone put their clothes on to dry by the fire Carol was at.
"Okay honey I'll keep my eyes on my work. If you want I can even cover them till you're gone. Would that help?" Carol offered. She understood Daryl liked being private. He was incredibly modest and it wasn't a big deal to offer him something to make him more comfortable.
"Yeah. yeah that would be- yeah. Yeah. Thanks." Daryl sputtered out and walked over to the most secluded part of the water.
A while later Daryl called out a short "Miss Carol?" And the woman put her hands over her eyes and listened as the boy quickly walked over and put his rung out wet clothes on the rock and walked back. A short "thanks" and she was back to sewing patches onto the stack of clothes she had.
It was almost an hour when Daryl came back to camp. Carol was done and was reading a book. She had flipped Daryl's clothes before leaving. She heard him but didn't acknowledge him till he spoke.
"Uh Carol? Miss Carol?" Daryl said shyly and she could hear him wiping his nose. She turned to answer him but came up short.
"Yes Dar- Oh! Goodness, look at you. You look like a hair dried dog." Carol exclaimed and covered her mouth, keeping her from laughing. Daryl's grown our chocolate brown hair was… a disaster. It was sticking up in weird places, some of it was stick straight and other places it was curling into loose coils. It was shiny though, and looked quite soft. Daryl's face was turning tomato red and he crossed his arms.
"Do you have a hairbrush?" He asked quietly and Car0l nodded, standing to guide him to the RV which was empty now that everyone else was waking up.
Carol hummed as she ran the brush through Daryl's chocolatey hair. He was sat on the floor of the RV and she sat behind him on the bench. Daryl was picking under his nails with the tip of Carol's small pocket knife. She told him to be careful but he just blew raspberries at her and started picking at his nails. He was cherry red faced but was trying to act cool. Carol was having a ncei time. Daryl was much less tender headed than Sophia, and he had very soft hair.
"You have such soft hair. When it's all dirty you can't even tell it's wavy." Carol said and brushed the hair behind Daryl's ears gently with the brush. She didn't want to hurt Daryl's ears. His hair was straight, mostly, but the back was wavy where it was longest.
She brushed it until it was all smooth and there were no knots and no more wet patches. She just started brushing through his hair with her hands. He was quiet, his shoulders were relaxed. He was letting his guard down for the first time in a year probably.
"Don't like baths. Don't like not wearin' clothes." Daryl mumbled and refused to move. He enjoyed the way the women's hands were gentle on his head. He enjoyed… her. She was like a safety blanket and a shot of liquor. Something that made him feel like he could talk and be safe. Carol was just so… something.
"Yeah? Is it because you don't like being looked at?" Carol said and kept on with petting through Daryl's hair. If he wanted to talk, she was more than happy to listen.
Daryl shook his head, he was looking down but she could tell he was holding something heavy.
A few reasons flashed through Carol's mind. One reason seemed to be the most obvious though.
"Is it the same reason you flinch when Shane hits the RV?" Carol said lightly but conversationally. She would hate to make Daryl feel… picked out. Daryl seemed to hate anything with ' feelings' .
After a long pause Daryl just shrugged.
"Who made you not like baths? You know I'm a bit scared of baths too." Carol said. It was true. She still only bathed at night after everyone else had been cleaned and even then she kept a knife in reach. She didn't want anyone to see the scars, or her at all.
This seemed to intrigue Daryl who looked over his shoulder at her. He was looking at her like… like finally .
"Was it your daddy? or um Sophia's daddy?" Daryl asked after coughing and turning back around. Carol nodded and hummed a ' mhm' .
"It was Sophia's father, my husband. We were married for a long time and I put up with it for a long time." Carol said and shook her head at herself. She ruffled the long parts of his hair. Of course it was his father. All backwood hick abuse, someone so far away that CPS, the cops, they don't even care.
"Oh... I'm sorry 'bout your husband bein' a dickwad." Daryl consolded and picked at his boots, his knees had been drawn up to his chest since the talk started. Carol huffed a laugh and ran her nails through his hair.
"That's very sweet of you honey. Was it your daddy who made you scared?" Carol continued. She hoped maybe talking about it might help the boy. At least she would know the why.
"mhm, yeah he made Merle scared too but Merle ain't scared no more. I'm just a pussy 'bout it." Daryl said deprecatingly and picked at the floor. Carol sighed and held the sides of Daryl's head with her hands. Not grabbing or anything just covering his head with her hands.
"Daryl that isn't true. We all process these things differently. Just because you flinch and don't like being naked doesn't mean your a.. a coward. I think you're a very brave boy."Carol said seriously and ran her nails through his hair all the way from his forehead to his neck with both hands. She let her hands rest on his shoulders, thin but broad shoulders.
"Daddy didn't do stuff to Merle like he did to me." Daryl said so quietly Carol could only barely hear it.
Carol paused. No, she thought, No not… not like that. Not something so… not to Daryl.
"Yeah" Carol said softly and just caressed Daryl's head, letting her nails lightly drag at his scalp. Her throat was getting tight. Not Daryl, he was so kind. Daryl is so… special .
"He just hit Merle. Just kicked him out and beat him up. He didn't start beltin' me till I got bigger." Daryl kept going, his head was hung low, his voice was barely a whisper. His voice was getting squeaky and breathier.
Carol rubbed her hands down to rub Daryl's neck. Her own tears were growing in her eyes. She didn't say anything, or make any sounds.
Daryl sniffed and leaned back and over to one side. His back was pressed onto Carol's leg and she could see his red face and reddening eyes.
"Used to be pretty. But… but him and his friend. They liked lookin at me when they was drinkin' or doin' the shit. Didn't like bein' naked no more after." Daryl said and tears started to run down his face as his breath started to pick up.
"I understand. I understand Daryl." The woman said softly and put her hand on Daryl's chin to have him look at her. He was red faced and sobbing. He looked so sad, just a crying baby, that's all he was.
Daryl turned and shoved his face into Carol's hand. She just leaned down and pulled him up into a hug. He turned and pulled himself onto his knees and hugged her back, sobs ringing in Carol's ears. He pulled himself so close, like he would die if he let go, his hands were fists against her back. She just hugged him as hard as she could. He was so skinny, she could feel his ribs each time he let out a watery sob.
"Didn't like it- I didn't" Daryl mumbled, like he was trying to convince Carol.
"It's okay. It's okay now Daryl. It's okay. You're just a kid, that should have never happened and it wasn't your fault." Carol said and kissed Daryl's forehead. He was snotty and sticky faced and all red. She didn't care at all. Daryl just cried and looked at her.
"It won't happen again. You're so strong. It won't happen here." She said and a few tears rolled down her face in pity, in sadness she felt for him. He breathed a little deeper and wiped his face on his sleeve, well his arm where a sleeve should be.
"Rick won't-" Daryl started but Carol shook her head. Rick was new but he would never. She told the boy as much.
"Rick would never. No one here would. I'll make sure of it, poor baby." Carol said and pulled him back to her for another hug.
Daryl just cried and held onto Carol like she was his only lifeline. He'd never told anybody. Not Merle, none of his friends, no one.
Daryl sniffed and pulled back. He wiped his eyes and stood up.
"Don't tell nobody. They'll think I'm really fucked up then." He said with a joking huff. Carol shook her head and stood up, guiding the boy's head down for a kiss to his forehead.
"Wouldn't dream of it, Daryl. Now, You look very handsome and less fluffy. It's time for the day." Carol said with a smile.