"Daryl," You call out to him as he keeps walking ahead of you. "would you hold up a second?"
He finally does as he reaches the door that leads outside, turning around to face you. His hands still holding their tight grip on his crossbow that is strapped on his shoulder.
"I gotta go get him." Daryl tells you, already knowing that you know what he's doing but feeling like he needs to tell you again. Merle had Michonne, and Daryl felt responsible for his brother. That's why he had to go.
"I know," You say, catching your breath from running after him. "But let me come with you. Please."
Rick had already failed when he told Daryl he'd go, Daryl wanting to do it himself. You could only hope he wouldn't do the same to you.
"Nah," Daryl shakes his head, looking down at his feet and then back up at you. "jus me."
Daryl Dixon was a very independent person; he had grown to accept help but he still preferred to do things on his own. And when it came to his brother, it was proven even more.
"Daryl--"
"Can't stop me," He shakes his head at you, not wanting to hurt you but wanting you to know that this was what he was doing.
Turning before you can say another thing, Daryl walks past that door. And you stand on the other side as it swings shut.
Twenty minutes soon become an hour, and one hour becomes two.
You weren't sure where Daryl was now, but you couldn't sit around any longer.
So grabbing your gun-- the one Daryl gave to you back at the farm-- you load it with few bullets. Zipping your coat, you set out to find him.
The weather is cold around you as a soft breeze blows against you. The once green grass now turned brown, crunches beneath your boots.
The air is silent, ominous as if something is to happen very soon. Sending a shiver down your spine as you continue to walk on. Your head goes to Daryl.
His persistence and stubbornness you knew could get him in trouble one day and you could only hope that today wasn't that day.
Looking up as you hear footsteps near, you spot Michonne. Alive.
"Michonne?"
She looks at you and pauses briefly as you run to her.
"Have you seen Daryl?" You ask and you can hear how pleading your words are.
"Crossed paths a while back, looking for Merle."
Her voice is surprisingly calm. Cool and steady as if at peace while walking back to the prison.
"Where is Merle?" You ask her, feeling that uncomfortable and unnerving tingle back in your stomach.
"He let me go."
That short statement surprises you. You knew Merle, not as well as Daryl of course, but being with his little brother in that way Merle was bound to talk to you some.
He had sides to him you couldn't stand and things about him you didn't like. But hearing that he let Michonne go... That shows you a side of him you hadn't seen before.
"Thank you." You tell her and instead of continuing your slow walk, you pick up pace and jog forward.
Daryl and Merle had similarities; many of them just from the DNA of being brothers. The differences out weighed them though. Sides of Daryl, Merle could never posses and vice versa.
Coming up into view are the silos, the place where Rick had met with the Governor and where Daryl had gone with.
With a surge of adrenaline passing throughout your body, you walk with your gun raised past bodies. Past bodies with walkers feeding on them. The sight sickening and sadly something you were getting used to seeing in this world.
It isn't until you hear low moans to your left, that you turn the corner to see a pair of familiar Angel wings stitched to a best facing you.
Daryl, you had found him.
But looking past him is when you see it. His brother, in the form of a walker.
His skin sunken and rotting, with blood oozing from different places. His eyes holding a dead and haunting gaze as he staggered towards Daryl.
The scene seemed to play out in slow motion, only causing the pain of it all to magnify.
You hear as the first sob escapes Daryl, as he stands there in disbelief. And the cries only continue as Merle comes closer. Making Daryl push him backwards, two times he repeats this. Pushing Merle farther back until finally he plunges his knife into him.
Knocking him onto the ground, Daryl leans over him. Taking his knife out he plunges it again into Merle's skull. Over and over, like a bad record stuck on repeat.
Cries of agony escape the man you love as he puts this monstrous shell of his brother down.
Finally, Daryl reaches the point where he can't any longer and rolls off into the grass inches from Merle's body.
Tears falling from his eyes as emotions burst inside him.
Walking slowly from behind him, you bend beside him and rest your hand against his shoulder.
He stifens at the touch but relaxes when somehow he realizes it's you without even having to look at you.
Seeing Daryl this way, feeling this level of pain and having to do something you wonder if you could ever do to someone you loved, you ache for him.
Daryl is a strong man, always has been but now you're watching as he breaks.
"Daryl," You whisper, and you don't even know if he can hear you. Or if he's so far into his mind and his pain that you are blocked out. "I'm so sorry."
You want to say more, something that will help him more then just being sorry. But you can't think of anything to say that could help him in this moment.
Daryl would never admit it outloud, but he was beyond thankful that you followed after him. That you were there to pick him back up when he was at his all time lowest.
A/N: I wanted to write something that included Merle's death scene. I'm not sure how great this is but hopefully it's not as bad I think it is.
