Surviving the Apocalypse

Episode 3

A.N. I am going to fly through the Merle search and the Vatos, just because everyone knows what happens. Obviously if you've seen the show, you will know what happens throughout most of the book lol, but I do change some things. These scenes however, didn't seem as important to me. The only real difference will be that Daryl doesn't take Merle's hand. Because honestly what was the reason? What was he originally planning to do with the hand? Sew it back on? Also please remember that this Daryl is fifteen, so yes being ganged up on by a few men is going to hurt him a lot more than it did 30 year old Daryl. Anyways, I'd rather get to the CDC and the highway, so I won't go into great detail about what goes on, it's mainly Daryl's inner thoughts on how he feels. Enjoy!

TW- small flashback of abuse that Daryl's father inflicted on him. It's just one paragraph, and not really descriptive.  It's around the time he gets jumped by the Vatos. Just wanted to warn anyone that feels uneasy reading those scenes. 

      Daryl remembers the day Merle was enlisted like it was yesterday. Merle had waited until their dad passed out to go to Daryl's room, and had explained how important it was that he fought for their country. Daryl was eight and had been proud at first, imagining his older brother in a cape going around saving people.

The week after Merle left, Daryl had gotten his first beating. He had accidentally knocked over his dad's astray and it shattered. Before he could apologize, Will lifted him by the scruff of his neck and unbuckled his belt. It took him a month to realize why Merle left. He didn't want to go fight for their country, he wanted to be away from their dad, and he had left Daryl to suffer.

When Mrs. Elodie steered him into her and Oliver's tent and told him what had happened to Merle, he felt like he was eight again. He felt anger towards the group that left him, but felt rage towards Merle, knowing he got himself in that position. He didn't understand why his brother was such an asshole, these people did nothing to them.

"Who cuffed him?" Daryl muttered, his head lowered so Elodie couldn't see the tears welling in his eyes. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't quite wrap his head around what happened.

"A new guy, he got them out of the city. His name is Rick." Elodie answered, keeping her tone neutral so he didn't detect any pity. It broke her heart to see the boy fight with his emotions. She sighed when Daryl gave a curt nod, and stalked out of the tent. "Daryl."

The boy ignored the woman as he walked through camp, his eyes flickering across every face he saw. When his gaze was returned by a man he had never seen, he knew this was the culprit. The man didn't look surprised to see Daryl, so he continued walking up to him.

Rick gulped audibly, not because he was afraid of the boy, but because he was concerned about the measures he would take to get his brother back. He didn't know the kid but Shane and Glenn had explained how he was a bit unpredictable. He had assumed that he would resort to violence, and by the look on Daryl's face he was correct.

"Are you Rick?" Daryl demanded, getting almost toe to toe with the man. Out the corner of his eye, he could see Shane moving a little closer, and Lori pushing the younger kids inside the RV.

"Yes I am, I'm assuming you're Daryl." Rick responded, trying his hardest to read the boy to see what he was planning. He couldn't tell if the kid would burst into tears, or throw a punch.

"Yeah. Mrs. Elodie said you were the one to cuff my brother on a roof and that you left him there." Daryl grunted out, he couldn't help the way his fists clenched at his sides. He really didn't want to start a fight, he had been doing so well at proving a Dixon could be better than ignorance and violence.