Solitude -> The Walking Dead

04

I watched as Daryl put Merle's hand into Glenn's backpack. They started following the blood trail and I helped T-Dog with the tools he brought. He glanced at me with a hint of worry in his eyes. I've been known to lash out when provoked.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Fine. I guess this is what I get for trying to be nice." I replied.

I brushed past him following the others. It's not like I was being mean to T-Dog on purpose. He was actually an okay guy.

I just didn't feel like discussing Daryl Dixon right now. We entered another building thinking Merle might've gone there.

"Merle! You in here?" Daryl shouted.

No response. We went down the stairs following Merle's blood. We found a walker which Daryl shot almost immediately.

I pulled out my knife and noticed two dead walkers. Huh, Merle must've spared us the work.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sons of bitches. One handed. Toughest asshole I've ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails." Daryl stated.

I scoffed leaning against a wall. Says the guy who had cried five minutes ago because he saw his brother's chopped off hand. If he was so confident in his brother's abilities, then that wouldn't have happened.

"Any man can pass out from blood loss. No matter how tough he is." Rick said.

A smirk formed on my lips at his words. It's about time someone put Daryl in his place.

Well, someone who doesn't do it as aggressively as me. We continued our search but didn't find anything. No sign of Merle.

"Merle!" Daryl called.

"We're not alone here. Remember?" Rick reminded.

"Screw that. He must be bleeding out. You said so yourself." Daryl said.

We noticed Merle's belt and a stove on in the room. He was definitely here. The question is what he was doing here.

It looked like something had been burned here. I almost didn't want to know.

"What's that burnt stuff?" Glenn asked.

"Skin. He cauterised the stump." Rick replied.

I fought the urge to gag at that conclusion. Even though that was smart, I still don't understand how he had the willpower to do such a thing.

Maybe he was tougher than I gave him credit for. It's easy to forget that he's actually a person capable of doing remarkable things.

"I told you he was tough. Nobody can kill Merle but Merle." Daryl said.

"Don't take that on faith. He's lost a lot of blood." Rick said.

"Oh yeah? Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap." Daryl replied.

He pointed at one of the windows. There was a hole in it which indicated that Merle had gone through it and onto the streets of Atlanta.