Let The Flames Begin [COMPLETE]

Part 9

"We should go look for him Merle," Charlene sighed, glancing to him from where she sat perched on the window ledge.

"No, we should stay here. If we go out there and look for him, we might miss him. I know my brother. He's out there lookin' for us. So we just wait here 'til he finds us," Merle replied firmly.

"But how will he know we're here?" she frowned, hating the idea of Daryl out there alone in the dark.

"Trust me, he knows which way to go, and when it leads him here, he'll know," was all Merle said before skulking off to the other bedroom. They were in one of the houses in a row full of them. She didn't remember much about getting here. After Daryl had left to get the water for her, she had passed out. The next thing she knew she was tossed over Merle's shoulder as he was hollering and hooting, shooting a swarm of the dead as he hauled her ass out of there. She blacked out again and then she was here. She knew it was a concussion and she hoped it would go away soon. It was hard enough surviving these days without this to add to it.

Merle had given her a box of graham crackers to munch on, the house had a few things in it to keep them going until Daryl hopefully got here. She hoped he had been in his truck when the dead came, that he hadn't been out there and they... no . He had to be out there and he had to be looking for them, although she really didn't know how Merle could be so sure he knew where to go. She sat with her head pressed against the glass looking out, hoping to see some sign of him. She knew he had the truck but the darkness in the sky betrayed how many hours had passed, despite her lack of memory. She wasn't sure just how long he had to stay hidden in the truck, how many hours they had on him. She was under strict instruction not to leave the first floor. Merle had secured the place but he said it was better to be safe than sorry. It was safer up here, so that's where they were. Thankfully his high had worn off and now he was thinking clearly. She had to hand it to him, for being a drug-using asshole, he saved her life and he had been nothing but good to her since she woke up here. Making sure she drank and ate, constantly asking how her head was.

A faint noise roused her from her sleepy state and she lifted her head, listening as the noise got closer. It was the rumbling of a bike.

"Merle!" she yelled, causing him to burst in the bedroom looking panicked.

"What girl?" he asked with a glare. But then he heard it too, rushing to the window to look out as a motorcycle slowly rode down the street, the light off. He couldn't make out the bike or who was on it but he hoped it was his brother. He didn't put too much on it though, it could have been anyone or someone could have robbed his brother blind.

"Stay here," he demanded before leaving and heading down the stairs.

Daryl was exhausted. He hadn't stopped his search since the dead had left and he felt like he was running on fumes. He couldn't give up, he couldn't put another moment of potential distance between them. He had been going down the street, looking in every damn house or store he found hoping to find them or a trace of them, but he found nothing. He had parked the truck in a garage at a house after he had cleared it, giving him somewhere to go back to if he needed to sleep, if he didn't find them. That wasn't an option though. And he got on Merle's bike to make it easier for him as he carried on his search down the street. He felt like his eyes were playing tricks on him and he stopped the bike. Just sat on it in the middle of the street as he blinked wearily.

"Merle?" he whispered, looking at his brothers leather vest with the wings dangling off what looked to be a flag pole on a house.

His heart seized in his chest, trying not to get his hopes up. Someone could have taken it off his brother's dead body and that thought filled him with an intense pain through his chest. He pulled the bike up at the house, climbing off as he tried to calm his rapidly beating heart.