broken claims

Part 16

"Where the hell have you been?"

Daryl's feet scuffed the dirt tracks as he swayed back and forth on the swing. The park was more dirt than grass but it was a familiar refuge, one he didn't think Merle would know to track him down to. But of course his brother had pieced together where Daryl would have run off to. "Here."

A hand prodded his shoulder roughly as Merle lumbered around. "Don't get a smart mouth now. You miss school?"

Their father dying meant Merle suddenly had a stake in making sure Daryl grew up. Despite all odds, his brother had become a friend to the local library, spending hours piecing together social welfare forms to apply for and any advantage he could summon up. Like the fancy private school that took a few underprivileged students every year without charging tuition, a school safer than the public one where Daryl saw one of his classmates stab another student with a smuggled in switchblade. Daryl tried skipping class but Merle dragged him straight up to the doors of the fancy school and practically hauled him through, promising him through clenched teeth that he was going to get an education whether he wanted it or not.

"I went."

"Got a phone call saying you skipped all your classes."

"I left," Daryl amended weakly. "Right before homeroom."

"I didn't spend my afternoon chasing you down for nothing, kid. Wanna talk? Save some time from beating around the goddamned bush?"

His silence made Merle huff and take the second swing, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one up. But Daryl looked at Merle and crumbled slightly. "Sharley... you know—"

"Yeah, I know Sharley," Merle grouched. He hated Sharley. She was a bruise between brothers.

"She's pregnant."

Merle hissed out a breath and smoke trailed off into nothing. "I never teach you the value of a fucking glove, you idiot? A little pull and pray?"

"I know."

"Oh, you goddamned little weasel. Well? You want this baby? Or you gonna dip out? Choice is yours, right?"

Daryl's heart ached. He didn't know if he could be better than the history that made him. But Merle managed, he thought. Merle took the wheel and drove straight through the storm, figuring out the pieces and tossing the ones he couldn't deal with. "I'm gonna be there for my kid," he said slowly. "Whatever it is... they're mine."

Merle looked at him. "You're gonna do better than our dad. You can't fuck up. Ain't fair to a kid. If you're gonna stay? You're gonna do the job right."

.

Leigh was avoiding Daryl which was almost impressive considered they were a unit of three people on the road. She stuck to Beth and Beth knowingly opted to wander between them as a physical barrier, apparently sensing the situation through some silent conversation communicated between eye rolls and frustrated sighs. Daryl tried to keep behind them so they were in his view but every so often Leigh would start to turn like she was checking if he was there, catching herself midway through the motion.

They abandoned the car on the road where he couldn't find any viable cars with gasoline to siphon. That had been a hard call to make, Daryl thought as he kicked a stone lightly with his foot. Leigh spent the first two days sleeping on and off in the backseat, recovering up some of her prior strength from being sick and her time as a lab rat. Walking meant that she was hitting the ground in a near boneless heap every night, out cold the minute they were setting up temporary camp.