Aim for the Brain

Daryl Dixon was once again searching for Sophia, he felt like searching was they only way he could get his mind off his brother, and irritate Shane, at the same time. His head was filled with stupid hope about his brother. He kept telling himself chances were slim, that he hadn’t heard her correctly, or she had mumbled some random phrase.

But it had hurt him when he’d lost Merle. He was all Daryl had left.

Daryl still had trouble thinking that Carol really appreciated his efforts, sometimes he did it because he couldn’t stand they way she looked when she longed for her daughter, and part of him wanted to find her, since he could never find Merle.

He realized that he was more than stupid sometimes now that he was lying at the bottom of a drop off. Damned horse had knocked him clean off – and now his own arrow was lodged in his side.

Daryl felt stupid standing at the bottom of a ravine, with nothing but an arrow in his side, and a doll in his pocket. And after he fell for the second time, he wasn’t surprised when his brother’s ghost came back to haunt him.

He realized he was more tormented than he thought. He hadn’t just lost someone, he had failed him. If Merle was alive, who knew what he thought of Daryl.

When he finally made his way back to the farm, after everything, he finally looked like he felt on the inside.

Now he was only in the next room. Only a wall away from the girl that wouldn’t leave his mind. He didn’t wince or show any pain while Hershel stitched him up, he was trying to ignore him because he ceased to stop talking about the damn horse.

“She said anythin’ yet?” Daryl asked the room.

Shane and Rick looked at each other for a moment, Hershel shook his head.

“Not today.” Rick said.

“Yeah, but she’s got one helluva’ fever.”

“She’s sick Shane, that’s what happens when you get sick.” Rick said quietly, the look her got from Hershel only reminded him that his followers were obviously a little lacking in manners.

“Also happens before you turn into a flesh eating mutherfucker.” Shane said. Hershel nearly dropped the scissors he was using to cut the thread from Daryl’s side.

“Shane, language! This ain’t our house!” Rick said.

“Yeah well if it were I woulda put a bullet in that bitches head before Daryl got her in the front door.”

“Alright Shane, that’s it!” Rick pushed him out the door of the room, and then out the screen door.

Daryl knew even he would have wanted to be weary of a sick traveler found nearly dead in the woods. In these times, you just couldn’t be too careful; there wasn’t anything you could be too careful about. Even today he’d gotten shot in the damned head because Andrea couldn’t be too careful. His head hadn’t stopped spinning since he’d picked the girl up, but now… he was only falling into a deep sleep. Hershel had given him a sleep aid, and Daryl didn’t even have time to eat anything that Carol had brought him before his eyes became glued shut.

“God Damn. You know Susie May looks better than you right ‘bout now.” He heard Merle say.

Daryl was dreaming, he had to be.

“Fuck off!” Daryl said. Daryl was driving his old truck, he was back home, and things were normal. He could see Merle sitting in the passenger seat; he was going on about football, and some girl he’d picked up at the bar. Daryl rolled his eyes. He was in pain; he didn’t care to hear this. He was still bandaged up, he was still hurt from the last conversation he’d had with Merle. He parked his truck down their dirt driveway before getting out, he slammed the door – and was woken up by the loud bang that shutting the door had created.

Daryl sat up. The noises were all coming from around him.

In the next room he could hear commotion, arguing.

He stood up, and the pain was immense. He reminded himself to find some of Merle’s vicodin he’d kept stashed away. He slowly staggered to the hallway, the wall as his crutch. In the next room he could see Shane and Hershel.

“Don’t you see she’s sick?” Shane told him.

“That is apparent, which is why she is under my care. I do not need your help in this diagnosis.”

“She’s gonna turn and eat all ya’ll for breakfast, I’m only asking you let me stop it before it happens!”

“Before what happens Shane? When she get’s better? How would you feel never knowing she was going to be just fine?”

“I’d sleep-“ Shane paused. He looked down at his feet, and scratched his shaved head, “like a baby.”
Shane walked passed Daryl giving him a sneer look, Hershel followed shutting the door behind him, but not before he check the girls pulse.

“She’s doin’ better.” Hershel told Daryl, “Get’s stronger every day. How’re you feelin’? You’ve slept almost two days.”

“Still hurts.” Daryl said.

“Well you did fall down a cliff, twice with an arrow in your side.”

“Yeah don’t remind me.” Daryl said.

“If you’re feeling up to it, I could use that bedroom back.” Hershel said.

“Yeah, don’t worry ‘bout it. I’ve got better drugs back at camp anyways.”

“Don’t take anything too strong, something mild’ll do the job.”

“Whatever you say Doc.” Daryl said. He trudged back to the bed and slipped his boots back on. He grabbed his shirt and made his way back to camp, all the while thinking about those few white pills he had stashed in a tobacco can.

A Few Days Later

Daryl’s side still hurt when he woke up that morning. It had been quiet all day until Shane had decided he’d had enough. Daryl was forced to run to catch up with the others already heading to the barn where he could see Rick and Hershel, but with dog-catchers, leading walkers. He grabbed he shotgun, and loaded a few rounds into the chamber as he walked over to the group.

Everything, everything about Shane was maddening. He seemed to be pent on only survival, nothing else mattered to him but his own goddamn life. He didn’t care that Carl could see or that they needed Hershel’s permission to stay.

And Daryl even though he didn’t agree, he complied with Shane’s orders once he opened the barn doors. Daryl had no choice. He was going to protect them, no matter what. So he, and several others gunned down every last walker in the barn. Just like Shane had wanted. Daryl felt bad for Hershel, he may not have agreed with his method for handling walkers, but Daryl knew what it was like to have something just taken from you.

The last poor soul to walk out that barn was the girl that Daryl hadn’t given up on yet. She still had on that blue shirt, shorts and sneakers. She looked just like the girl that had left them, except for her eyes, her crazy, hungry eyes.

Daryl had to hold Carol back while Rick put a bullet through her head. If he hadn’t he could tell that Carol would’ve ran right to the little girl and hugged her, with all a mothers love.

Daryl for a moment felt a second wave of defeat wash over him. Sophia was the second person he’d failed to find. He was fully aware of how Carol felt right now, she was crying, shaking, and screaming. It was all too familiar; he tried not to remember how he felt that morning when all he had found was Merle’s hand. He just held her close, trying to keep her away from those disease-ridden things, she was the closest thing he had to a friend around here, and now he had to be there for her.

“There Shane! It’s over. YOU HAPPY?” Rick yelled at the man he once called his friend.

“No. No I ain’t happy.” Shane said. Shane was pacing back and forth. He looked around at the shocked faces of those around him, Sophia, she was a lost cause after all. He had been right all along.

“There’s one more Rick, I’ve gotta’ kill it too.” Everyone watched as Shane turned away from the barn, heading back to Hershel’s home. And Daryl was the first one to put the pieces together.

“Shane No!” Daryl found himself yelling, he didn’t want to, but he had to pull away from Carol, leaving her on the ground, in the dirt. He couldn’t let Shane kill the only tie he had to his brother.