Death reached me first

"Daryl!"

Daryl sat straight up, his brain going from dead sleep to painfully, fully awake.

"Daryl! Get your ugly ass out here!"

That sounded like...like Merle. Merle was home.

He didn't know quite what to make of that. He'd expected his brother to be in the pen for another six months and now suddenly he was back. Part of him was terrified but the rest of him? Well, the rest of him was still that same goofy kid who idolized his big brother.

He shot out the front door and down the wobbly front steps, drawing up short in front of the mass of solid muscle standing in the yard. Merle looked like a machine. No fat, no mercy.

Merle smacked him on the shoulder hard, pulling him into a rough hug, and Daryl couldn't help but flinch at the stifling pressure of his brother's arms around him.