A Brother's Influence (A Daryl Dixon Story)

Another Old Farm House

It was a hard decision to leave the store. If it wasn't for the threat of thousands of Walkers migrating to Atlanta, they might have stayed there longer. One thing was certain, it seemed that the Walkers were attracted to the big city so their only course of action would be to keep heading to Alabama and find sanctuary. They packed up everything they could fit while still being able to run and fight. Again, they needed to head West so they took to the road one more time. Their days consisted of walking during the day and seeking shelter at night. Abandoned cars worked best when they got caught up in a herd of Walkers.

The days dragged on. They didn't seem to be getting very far. There were so many Walkers on the road, in the woods, everywhere so they spent their days hiding out most of the time. One time, they had just left an old abandoned meat market where they had spent two nights, being worn out from walking.

They walked about five minutes when they turned the corner of a street in a small town just out of Atlanta. They had just crossed the tracks when they looked to their left and there must have been two to three hundred Walkers. They stopped and turned to run and they saw another hundred or so walking their way. They backed up and ran to their right and followed the tracks down to the train station where some old cars stood empty. They jumped into one and tried to close the door. No deal, it was stuck but from what they couldn't tell. They jumped down and out of that one and climbed into the next one. They tried to close the door and finally they got it closed. As soon as the door shut, they heard a moan in the dark corner of the train car

"You gotta be shitting me." Merle said, pulling out his knife. 

"Wait, if we kill that thing in here, we'll have to smell it." Daryl knocked the Walker down and grabbed his leg, "Open the door hurry." He started dragging the Walker to the door. Merle opened the door and there were about ten Walkers waiting outside, they looked up just when Daryl tossed out the one from inside. Merle closed the door quickly and they sat down to wait it out. 

"Good thinking on that Walker Little Brother." Merle gave him a compliment.

"I just knew I didn't want to smell that shit."

"Well," Merle starting taking off his bag and sitting on the floor, "we might as well make ourselves comfortable."

Daryl rolled out his sleeping bag and took out a water bottle and took a drink. 

"You know, we could probably build a fire out of the pallets over there if we need to, hey, how much water do you have?" Daryl starting taking inventory of his backpack.

"I have two sixty four ounce bottles full and a thirty two ounce bottle half full, what about you?"

"I have a full sixty four and a full thirty two. I have a unopened sixteen ounce bottle of sprite. Six packs of frozen dried food and a can of spaghetti-o's." Daryl noted.

"I have two freeze dried packs and a can of corn."

"That's it?"

"What, I got hungry last night when I was keeping watch." Merle said.

 "Well, hand me the small pan and I'll build a fire and heat some water." Daryl told Merle.

Merle looked in his bag, twice, "Shit." He looked at Daryl.

"What?"

"I must have forgot the pan at the meat market. Or it dropped out of the bag as we were walking but I think I would have felt that." Merle shook his head, "No, I must've forgot it."

"Well, there's nothing to do about now, I guess it's the can food tonight then we can use the cans to heat water tomorrow."

"Sounds good." Merle started breaking up a pallet in the corner of the train car. After about ten minutes, Merle had a nice stack of wood for their fire. "I think we should open that trap door there up on top for the smoke."