His footsteps crunched loudly against the fallen leaves as he stormed through the dense underbrush.
The chill of the night bit at his bare arms, but he didn't feel it. The heat of the anger that threatened to boil over inside of him outweighed everything else right now.
Some fuckin' nerve. He expects to just waltz back through the fuckin door and what? I'm supposed to be happy he's home?
Footsteps crackling behind him in the distance confirmed what he already suspected. Merle was following him.
"Bet you didn't expect to see me, now did ya baby brother?" He'd said with that same smug smirk he'd seen plastered across his face a thousand times, if he'd seen it once.
Daryl had been in bed when the front door creaked open. He'd assumed it was his old man, stumbling in from the bar, like most nights. And just like most nights, he'd pretended to be asleep.
He didn't seem to pose a threat if he was asleep.
But when his bedroom door eased open, the sharp light from the kitchen splintering across the darkness, it was his brother's boxy frame that had been silhouetted in the doorway.
Merle's footsteps were closer now, he knew these woods just as well as Daryl. Though, knowing him, he'd probably say he knew them better. Like he didn't just up and disappear four years ago.
Daryl had gone to every dealer he'd ever known Merle to use— he stopped counting after the 6th— trying to find any trace of him before he'd finally gotten a letter postmarked from Camp Lejune.
Gonna go make somethin' of 'd written. The letters stopped after the first 6 months.
Daryl was barely a teenager when he'd left. Still not having hit puberty, he had been an easy outlet for his old man's anger.
It had been Daryl's fault that they'd lost their mom and house in the same fire. It had been Daryl's fault that his brother had left them too.
"You gonna make me chase you all night?" Merle's voice broke through the quiet from the bushes behind him before he stepped into the small clearing. The beads of sweat across his brow glinted in the glow of the moonlight that streaked across his face.
The anger he'd been trying to tamper down boiled over at that point, and he spun to face him.
"What'er ya even followin' me for anyways?" He growled through clenched teeth.
"What's with the hostility, little brother? You mad I didn't bring you a souvenir or somethin'?" Merle grinned, his teeth shining brightly between the shadows.
Daryl's eyes narrowed, his hands balling into fists at his sides. He let out a shaky breath before he spoke.
"You just left. Didn't even say nothin', just up and fuckin' left me. I didn't even know where you were." His voice shook and it only made him angrier.
"What the hell you talkin' about? I told you, I went into the Corp. I needed to do somethin' with my life. Wanted to..."
"Yeah?" Daryl spat, cutting him short. "And where were you when I neededyou?"Daryl felt the sting in his eyes, and he turned away from him then. He wasn't going to give his brother the satisfaction of seeing him like that. Not after everything.
Merle's face twisted, his cocky bravado slipping as he eyed his baby brother. When he spoke, his voice was lower. "Daryl—"
"No. You just left! You knew how he was and you still fuckin' left me." his voice cracked again and he dug his nails into his palms. "Like it was so easy for you. At least you got a choice."
Merle held up his hands, his voice even softer now, "I didn't know it was that bad, man. If I'da known—"
"If you'da known?" Daryl snapped, his voice dripping with venom as he spun back to face him. "You fucking knew. That's why you just dipped. You were just too much of a pussy to look at me and tell me yourself."
Merle opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. He dropped his hands to his side, and this time, when Daryl turned and stormed off into the darkness, he didn't follow.