The Walshs

Chapter 6

CODY'S POV

The back of the van was in an uncomfortable silence. My eyes moved between Daryl, who was cleaning his arrows, and T-Dog, who was nervously play with his fingers. It was a long, eerily silent drive and I felt relieved when we finally reached the outskirts of the city. I climbed out of the truck with Dixon close at my side, his tail wagging excitedly as he sensed an adventure ahead of us. "At least one of us is having a good time," I commented looking to Daryl, hoping it would lighten the unbarely tense mood that had been brewing inside that truck. I received a partial smile for my comment and Dixon earned a pat on the head.

"Where to first then?" I asked looking at Glenn as we jogged towards a chainmail fence which was the only thing between us and a walker infested city. "Merle first. That ain't even a question," Daryl stated side eyeing me angrily. It was a well known fact that I didn't get along with Merle and that the two of us fought like a cat and a dog but I was concerned for my older brother because for a long time he was the only man I could depend on. But then I woke up and saw the destruction he could cause and all because he had a crippling drug addiction coupled with a fondness for mixing those drugs with different alcohols to see the result. Then came the endless stints in juvie leaving me to deal with an abusive heartbroken father and our younger brother who still had hope for him.

I cleared my throat and broke my train of thought, switching rails so we could do this effectively. "We go to whichever is closest. Merle or guns?"

"Merle is closest. We can doubleback for the guns," Glenn answered and Rick nodded.
"Then that's the plan," the sheriff said as we began scaling the fence. T-Dog looked at Dixon before his eyes travelled to me with a confused expression. "How is your dog gonna get over the fence? You can't carry him up," he asked.

I whistled to grab Dixon's attention before clapping and pointing to the fence. "Up Dix," I commanded and he ran at the fence, leaping onto it. Dixon climbed over the fence, astounding everyone but Daryl who had seen me training Dixon in the past. I laughed and pulled myself over the wall, petting Dixon's head as praise for successfully completing the command. I looked at a stunned T-Dog and smiled, "did you really think I was the only one chasing inmates over walls and fences?"

"So you taught your dog to climb fences and walls?" T-Dog asked in confusion and slight amazement.

I nodded. I had trained Dixon to do a lot of things, all the typical dog tricks and then all the police dog commands but he had a few other tricks that where party tricks. Dixon could make beds, grab my keys and could even fold laundry which is why I often let Kate take him when she did laundry in camp. "He can do way more than that,' I said and stroked Dixon's fur.

Glenn led us back to the department store they had been trapped in before Rick arrived. There was one woman walker stumbling around the main store, Daryl raised his crossbow slowly and aimed at her head. "Damn. You're one ugly skank," he growled at her. She snarled at him before receiving an arrow to the head. We then ran up to the roof where, just as T-Dog had said, there was a padlock on the door. I glanced at Daryl, both of us understanding that Hunter never made it to the roof meaning he was out there in the city somewhere. T-Dog used the bolt cutters we had borrowed from Dale to open the door and Daryl was the first through the opening rushing across the roof to where we assumed Merle would but that wasn't what we found.

The handcuffs were still hooked to the metal but there was blood spattered across the ground and lying beneath the cuffs was my older brother's severed hand next to a hacksaw. Daryl began screaming, his voice cracking from all the emotions he was trying to process whilst the rest of his stood stunned by what we were witnessing. I knelt down beside the hand and examined it, trying not to show my disgust. I glanced at my younger brother and saw the same anger from the argument in the camp flare in his eyes as he whipped around to aim his crossbow at T-Dog. Rick was just as quick with his revolver and had that pointed at Daryl's head, a bullet in the chamber ready to fire. "I won't hesitate. I don't care if every walker in the city hears it," Rick warned and after a few tense moments, Daryl back down.