Living Like You're Dead

The strangest things seemed to happen to Merle. He remembered being irritated he had to share a room with his brother when he was first born. He remembered hating that Daryl got a bike right after Merle did, he was always someone who Daryl had looked up to – Granted Merle had screwed up a lot lately. Out of blunt wickedness he had caused Daryl and the love of his life the most unbearable pain they may ever experience. But somehow he realized that by the grace of this girl that his brother was still in his life. Daryl would’ve walked away, never to be seen or heard of again, but because she showed mercy, pity, and strength – Merle was allowed more time with him. Which is why he found it so strange that his eyes were welling with tears as he carried the sobbing girl down the stairs.

He also found it quite odd that the truck he was going to have to carry Addie to was right in front of him, door opened, engine running.

And Daryl… was no where to be seen.

Merle placed Addie in the car, and sliding her to the middle seat he reached over and grabbed the crossbow still on the seat. Just around the corner he could hear a commotion; Daryl yelling, and the unmistakable sound of walkers. Please don’t leave me! was heard in Merle’s ears before walking away. But now it was Daryl who needed his help. He was looking after his baby brother like always.

And of course Daryl had surrounded himself with walkers, and that wretched girl was in the middle. Merle had no means to save her life, only Daryl’s so he went to work loading the crossbow with his only hand and then aiming it later with the same hand. His plan was to knock enough walkers off of his backside so that he could make it out - hopefully uninfected.

Merle was able to kill two walkers before Daryl noticed he was there and getting him out. Daryl panicked when he couldn’t see Addie, only Merle. But he contorted himself away from blood hungry zombies until he reached Merle, crossbow in hand and aiming at the walkers trying to follow. Daryl could hear the screeching from the girl behind him as a walker bit deeply into her arm. Daryl wasn’t even sure if he had made it out without a bite, they were all so close, and the adrenaline and chemicals in his system weren’t allowing him to feel anything. Several of those blood-sucking maniacs were after him instead, but once enough blood began to spill from that girls wretched body – they became distracted, and found Daryl to be more of a lost cause.

Gravel grinded underneath his shoes as he pushed himself out of the crowd, following the path Merle was able to clear. For only having one hand, he was able to aim dead on, which made up for his lack of reload time.

Daryl slumped to Merles feet for only a moment while re-gathering his balance, and then before he knew it he and Merle were running from the hoard, and towards the vehicle.

A wave of relief washed over him when he saw the dark hair in the truck. He did a sort of ‘James Bond’ move while dashing into the car, Merle followed quickly after, now Daryl was stuffed in the center of the truck while Addie was against the window. Daryl didn’t move enough for Merle to get in the truck when he saw a bandage on her leg. Again, that rage that had been building inside him rushed to the edge and was ready to explode, Merle yelled his name and he finally moved long enough for Merle to enter the vehicle and get it going.

With walkers behind them, Daryl began to unwrap the taught bandage from her leg to have a look, except Addie tried to stop him. She pushed away his hands, and squirmed so that it was harder for him to reach her leg.

“Addie baby tell me what happened.” Daryl said to her. He only received melancholy sobs that tore at his heart. She seemed to scared – so upset, she was more upset that when he and her had a long conversation about Merle’s past actions. Daryl knew she was in worse condition than then, and that was saying something.

Daryl used his arms to pull her to his chest so she could cry as long as she wanted.

“Merle should we be going to a hospital?”

“I’m headed for the nearest one. It wasn’t far from our original destination.”

“Should I be worried?” he asked his brother over the broken painful sobs.

Merle now again, found himself in one of those odd situations. His brother was the only family he had, and he loved him more than anything – granted he’d never ever say that out loud. Merle now had the option to lie, to spare him some pain, at least for the time being. And Merle saw no harm in that.

“Nah, I don’ think so.” He said.

Daryl did feel relief for just a moment while he looked at his girl. Someone who he was deeply tied to, and as a Dixon, you were never really meant to make these certain ties like love or worry. Daryl and Merle grew up with parents that hated each other – and they had never really observed a functional relationship. Maybe that’s why Merle made mistakes and Daryl was more than confused when he first met this beautiful girl.

This woman had shown up in his life without any announcement, and now she would leave the same way.