The End of a New Beginning // Daryl Dixon

Part 3

Meredith

I WATCHED RICK, Daryl, Glenn and T-Dog drive down the road. I turn my head ad see everyone going off about their business. Lori walks off towards the tents, slipping her boots off and stepping inside. From what I can tell, Rick is her husband, who she thought was dead. But, to her- literally- surprise, he came back alive. And then he left- again. But I'm sure he'll be fine.

"Meredith." I turn my head and find Dale approaching me. I show him a small smile.

"Hey." I greet happily. He plants himself in the chair next to me. "Worried about them?" I ask. He pokes his bottom lip out.

"They'll come back." He nods. "Glenn, Daryl, T-Dog, Rick, and Merle. They'll come back and they'll all be fine." He says. "I will admit, I was worried about you." He claims. I furrow my brows at him.

"Me?" I ask.

"You went off hunting yesterday, didn't come back til this morning." He says. "I thought when you went hunting, you'd be coming back within a few hours." He lightly chuckles. "Instead, you showed up with Daryl." I raised my brows, my mouth falling open a bit.

"Oh, right, uh..." I clear my throat. "Yeah, well, we actually ended up tracking the same deer and didn't even realize it. Not until we both saw each other." I say. Dale nods his head.

"Well, I'm glad you came back safe." He says. "Daryl's an ass, but he's...I believe he's one of those good people." He claims.

"How so?" I ask. Dale leans back in his chair, inhaling deeply and looks around him.

"Merle is the older brother." He says. "Daryl, being the youngest, he's going to follow his big brother's lead. Merle doesn't care about anybody but himself. Doesn't care about putting others at risk- hence how he ended up locked on the roof in the first place. Now, Daryl, he's different. They always say this, especially when it comes to brothers, no matter how close they are, they are always different. Daryl cares about these people, same as I. We wanna make sure they're safe, fed. Daryl doesn't have to go out hunting to feed these people. Daryl didn't have to save my life and end up here with me. He could've saved his own ass instead of an old man's. I've lived my life, I'm old."

"Yet you're still here." I smile at him. Dale nods.

"Because of Daryl." He says. "Merle made it 100% cleared to Daryl that he should've left my ass. Merle is only here because of Daryl. If it were up to me, if Merle was my brother, I would've left him. I know how Merle is. I used to have a brother like that. Daryl reminds me of a young me." Dale looks up and smiles. "Don't you have any siblings?" He asks. I shook my head.

"I was an only child." I say. Dale nods his head.

"Ah." He utters. "Your parents didn't want any more?" He asks. I looked down, clearing my throat awkwardly. I'm not exactly the type to share my whole life story with people. I mean, just because the world ended, doesn't mean that I have to share my story with people now. I owe nobody an explanation. It's not like I'd win the lottery.

I turn my head and tried to think of another subject to change to. Thankfully, Jim called Dale over to the RV. Dale excused himself from the chair and walks over to Jim. I remained in the chair a bit longer before getting up and wandering off into the woods. I didn't walk off far, mostly because I knew it would be dark soon.

I began to think about what I wanted my next move to be. I didn't exactly planned on staying here with these people. I was able to take care of myself since the beginning. Being with people doesn't change that. Daryl's right. Being in a group with people, somebody ought to bring everybody down. I'm quiet, I'm smart. I have survival instincts. I can live out here in the woods on my own. Travel to other places if I have to. It's really not too bad being on my own anyways. Although, talking does feel good. This whole time, I thought I was the only person who made it out of Atlanta. But, now that I realized there are more people here, it felt nice to not feel so alone.