Spider Monkey

Chapter Twenty - Seven - Claimers

Merle hugged Carol so tight she was lifted up and her legs dangled.

Carol giggled, smiling up at Merle when he put her down, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you missed me, Merle Dixon."

"You'd be right, sweetheart." He leaned his forehead against hers.

Carol giggled again but was interrupted when Hedley wiggled his way in between the adults to hug Carol's waist.

"Spider Monkey!" She hugged him, kissing his head, "I'm so happy to see you. Wait- what happened to your eye? And Judith! What- What's going on? Why are you out here?"

Merle frowned, "You don't know what happened?"

"What-" She froze, seeing the seriousness, "No. What happened? Where is everyone?"

Hedley whimpered.

Judith gurgled, fist in her mouth.

Merle just looked at the woman and sighed, "You might need ta sit down."

***

He lost Beth.

After separating at the funeral home, they took refuge in, some people came in, took her and drove off with her.

He ran after them, but it eventually left his sight.

Daryl was now in a group of 'Claimers'. The leader, Joe, ran the group with a simple rule. Whatever you want, you claim and no one else can touch it.

"If you steal, you keel." Joe explained, "I know that sounds a little funny, but nobody laughs when something goes missing. And you don't lie. 'Cause that's a slippery slope indeed."

"What happens if you break 'em?" Daryl asked.

"Oh, you catch a beatin'." Said one of the men. Lennie.

Joe nodded, "The severity of which depends upon the offence and the general attitude of the day. But that don't happen much 'cause when men like us follow rules and cooperate a little bit, well, the world becomes ours." He pointed to a barn with rundown cars inside, "Right there. It's our abode for the evening."

"There ain't no us." Daryl said, going inside with them.

"You leaving right now? No? Then it sure seems like there's an us."

The others claimed their places, settling down.

Daryl went over to the furthest corner and sat down, sighing heavily.

"You a cat person, Daryl? I am." Said Joe, "Loved 'em since I was three years old. Vicious creatures. Anyway, I'll tell you, and this is true, ain't nothing sadder than an outdoor cat that thinks he's an indoor cat."

They all went in for the night.

But Daryl woke up during the night, breathing heavily. He didn't even remember what he dreamt of.

"Who's Hedley?" Joe asked, still awake and sitting up. "You were muttering the name in your sleep."

"None of ya business."

Joe chuckled, "Come now. I'm not gonna bite. Who is he?"

"My-" Daryl went to answer but stopped, blinking away the cloud, "My kid."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"He dead?"

"Nah. I just- We got separated."

"And you're trying to find him?"

"Yeah."

"Well, good luck to ya. Kids in this world... shit. I don't even know."

Daryl hummed, turning back onto his side, back to Joe.

"It'll be light in a couple hours. Try and get some more shut eye." Joe suggested.

The next day was just as intense.

"Give it here!" Said one of the men, rocking up to Daryl.

"You step back." Daryl warned.

"My half was in the bag. Now it's gone. Now ain't nobody around here interested in no half a damn cottontail except you. Ain't that right?"

"You're the only one still thinking about that crap."

"Empty your bag."

Daryl stopped him from going in the bag, "I said step back!"

"Did you take his rabbit, Daryl?" Joe asked, going up to them, "Just tell me the truth."

"I didn't take nothing."

"What do we got here?" The man took Daryl's bag and emptied it. Half a rabbit tumbled out, along with Hedley's insect encyclopaedia and some spare clothes. "Well, look at that!"

"You put that there, didn't you?" Daryl narrowed his eyes, "When I went out to take a piss."

"You lied."

"You lied."

"You stole. We gonna teach this fool or what, Joe?"

"Whoa, whoa." Joe said, trying to defuse the tension, "Now, Daryl says he didn't take your half of the rabbit. So, we got a little conundrum here. Either he's lying, which is an actionable offence, or you didn't plant it on him like some pussy, punk-ass, cheating, coward cop, did you? 'Cause while that wouldn't be specifically breaking the rules, it'd be disappointing."

"It would."

"Mm-hmm."

"I didn't!" The man persisted that he was innocent.

"Good." Joe nodded, turning to his other men, "Well, teach him a lesson, gents. He's a lying sack of shit. I'm sick of it. Teach him all the way." The men then went to their fellow groupmate and started beating him into a pulp. Daryl watched in shock, raising an eyebrow at Joe. The leader smiled, "I saw him do it."

"Why didn't you try to stop him?"

"He wanted to play that out. I let him. You told the truth. He lied. You understand the rules. He doesn't. Looks like you get the head, too."

Daryl took the rabbit. He then gathered up his contents that were spilled from his bag. Rabbit blood had gotten on Hedley's book. He took his sleeve and wiped it down. But it stained the pages. That was when he saw something sticking out from between the pages. A piece of paper. He took it out and unfolded it.

It was a drawing.

Three figures. One of a man with one hand, the other had a metal spike sticking from the wrist. A grumpy face, a tank top and jeans. Above the drawing were two words. 'Uncle Merle'.

The second figure was smaller. Dinosaur shirt, backpack, crossbow and noise counselling headphones on its head. Written on top was, 'Hedley'.

The final figure was taller than the second but slightly shorter than the first. Messy hair, goatee, sleeveless vest and holding a crossbow. At the top of that figure stood a word that made Daryl's heart skip. 'Dad'.

Daryl choked down his emotion looking at the picture, almost in a trace. He didn't even hear the grunts, groans and pleas of the man currently being beaten to death just on the other side of the room.

"Your kid draw that?" Joe's voice spooked him out of his head.

Daryl spotted the bloody corpse of their fellow group member then looked at Joe, nodding.

"Damn, man. I hope you find him."

"Mm. Me too." Daryl said, folding the picture back up before putting it in his vest pocket, tapping it securely.