In The End | Daryl Dixon

Chapter 4: Bag Equals Gold

I stood there next to Glenn while Daryl was processing the fact that Merle had cut off his own hand, and that he was gone. Not knowing if he was still alive or not. I felt for him, I really did. Daryl raised his crossbow and aimed it at T-dog, breathing heavily. In a matter of seconds Rick had aimed his Python gun at Daryls head. The stand off was intense, none of them budged.

"I won't hesitate. I don't care if every walker in the city hears it." Rick said through gritted teeth.

After a couple of seconds, Daryl lowered his crossbow, followed by Rick.

Daryl took a couple of breaths and asked T-dog, "You got a do-rag or somethin'?"

T-dog reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a piece of cloth, handing it to Daryl. Daryl set his crossbow  propped against the pipe, bending down opening the fabric up and setting it on the ground.

"I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs."

He picked his Merles severed hand by the pinkie, holding it in the air,

"Aint that a bitch." He whispered.

I cringed as he twisted the hand looking at it from all angles. He placed the hand in the cloth and gently folded it up. He picked up the cloth that now contained the body part, and walked over to me. He gestured to my bag, and I grimaced at the thought of carrying a hand in my own bag. He unzipped my bag and placed the hang gently in it then zipped it back up.

He walked back over to the blood pool near the handcuffs, "He must have used a tourniquet... maybe his belt. Be much more blood if he didn't."

He started to follow a blood trail leading to the back side of the roof. Rick nodded for us to follow Daryl, while T-dog grabbed the tools that they had left behind.

Daryl entered the door first with his crossbow raised, followed by Rick, myself, Glenn, and then T-dog. We came to a set of stairs,

"Merle? You in here?" Daryl shouted.

We all started to descend down the stairs, still following the blood trail. When we got to the bottom, we entered an area that looked to be office spaces. Daryl was checking room by room, killing any walker that was in them. Just ahead of us was a lobby space with glass doors. When we entered I saw two walkers dead on the floor, blood pooling by their heads.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches. One handed." Daryl bent over reloading his crossbow, "Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

Rick took the lead, raising his gun again, "Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is."

The blood trail led us to a kitchen, Daryl stuck his head into the doorway and shouted, "Merle?"

Rick came up beside him, "We're not alone here. Remember?" He whisper-shouted.

"Screw that. He could be bleeding out. You said so yourself." He said quietly.

We all filed into the kitchen, the first thing I noticed was that the gas stove was still ignited, blood still clung to the outside of the canisters. Next to the stove was a meat presser with blood on it, along with Merles belt.

"There's no way he used that on himself." I whispered.

"Yeah, he cauterized the stump." Rick stated as he set the meat presser back down.

Daryl watched Rick, "Told you he was tough. Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."

Rick analyzed the scene in front of him on the stove, "Don't take that on faith. He's lost a lot of blood."