Another Apocalypse? // Daryl Dixon

5. He's gone

Daryl, Rick, Glenn, T Dog, Cas, and I finally arrived back in Atlanta.

"He'd better be okay." Daryl said.

"It's my only word on the matter. I told you the geeks can't get at him. The only thing that's gonna get through that door is us." T Dog explained to him.

"Geeks?" Cas quietly asked me, tilting his head to the side.

"The dead people that wanna eat us." I answered.

"We walk from here." Glenn said, shutting the van off.

We made our way over to a fence and cut our way through.

"Merle first or guns?" Rick asked Glenn.

"Merle! We ain't even havin' this conversation." Daryl answered.

"We are. You know the geography. It's your call." Rick said, turning his attention back to Glenn.

"Merle's closest. The guns would mean doubling back. Merle first." Glenn told us.

After walking together in silence for a few minutes, Daryl turned to me and Cas.

"Who are y'all?"

"I'm Abby. This is my friend Cas." I answered him.

"What about the other two? The one you were arguin' with before we left and the one with the long hair?" He asked again.

"Those are my brothers. The one I was arguing with is Dean, Sam has the long hair."

He just nodded his head at my words. It got silent again as we walked through the city. We finally made it to the store and headed inside.

"Damn. You are one ugly skank." Daryl said, just before shooting a walker in the head with an arrow. I just chuckled at his words, missing the glance he shot my way.

I ran up to the door behind Rick, Daryl hot on my heels. He quickly cut the lock open and pushed the door open.

"Merle! Merle!" Daryl yelled as he ran over to where Merle was supposed to be.

I froze at the sight of no Merle, but a bloody hand laying on the ground beside of a saw. The handcuffs were still locked to the pipe.

"No! No! No!" Daryl yelled as he broke down.

His expression quickly changed as he whips his crossbow out and points it at T Dog. Rick pulled out his gun and aimed it at Daryl. My eyes widened slightly and Cas was quick to stand by me protectively.

"I won't hesitate. I don't care if every walker in the city hears it." Rick threatened.

Daryl listens to him and lowers his crossbow. He walks back over to Merle's hand.

"You got a do-rag or something?" Daryl asked.

T Dog hands him one and Daryl picks up the hand and wraps it in it. He walks over to Glenn and shoves the hand in his backpack.

I noticed the trail of blood leading away from the handcuffs and to another set of stairs. The group quickly catches on and follows after me.

"Merle? You in here?" Daryl called from behind me.

We make our way down to the bottom floor and I'm quick to pull out my angel blade and stab one of the walkers in the head. Even though it doesn't have much use other than killing walkers, it's still my all time favorite weapon.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches. One handed. Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails. Merle!" Daryl shouts again.

"We're not alone here. Remember?" Rick asked him.

"Screw that. He could be bleeding out. You said so yourself."

We come up to a kitchen and see the stove is still on.

"What's that burned stuff?" Daryl asked, pointing to the stuff surrounding the stove.

"Skin. He cauterized the stump." Rick answered.

"Told you he was tough. Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."

"Don't take that on faith. He's lost a lot of blood." Rick said.

"Yeah? Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap." Daryl said back to Rick.

"He left the building? Why the hell would he do that?" Glenn asked us.

"Why wouldn't he? He's out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he's gotta do. Surviving." I spoke up.

"You call that surviving? Just wandering around in the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?" T Dog asked, looking between Daryl and I.

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you idiots! You can't possibly tell me that if you were in his situation, you'd just sit there and wait to die! You wouldn't, so stop arguing about it!" I snapped at them, leaving them all speechless.

Daryl just shot me a thankful look before turning his attention back to the blood trail. "Y'all do what you want. I'm gonna go get him."

"Daryl, wait." Rick said, grabbing his arm.

"Get your hands off me! You can't stop me." Daryl said, yanking his arm out of Rick's grasp.

"I don't blame you. He's family. I get that. I went through hell to find mine. I know exactly how you feel. He can't get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head." Rick said.

"I could do that." Daryl agreed.

"Only if we get those guns first. I'm not strollin' the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?" T Dog spoke up.

"Okay."

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For everyone reading this, my part 6 has been mixed up for some reason and I'm still trying to fix this. So my part 6 is found after part 8..... sorry guys.