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To Keep You Close to Me

Confessions

I woke up alone in the tent. It was a lonely night, so when I heard people outside, I rushed out. Daryl still hadn’t returned, but I knew he’d be coming back at some point. The group was starting the chores. We did laundry daily and washed dishes after we used them. The men were stripping Glenn’s new car for various parts to use for the other cars and the RV. Glenn wasn’t happy about it.

There was a scream from down the hill. Carl, Sophia and Jacqui came running from the woods. Shane, Rick, Glenn, Morales and Jim ran down to where the three were at. I followed them down, hoping that it wasn’t Daryl they were screaming at.

A deer lay on the ground, three arrows lodged in its side. Daryl’s arrows. He must be close. A walker kneeled beside the deer, gnawing on the deer’s insides. The men attacked the walker, kicking it down and beating it. Dale appeared with his axe, finally sending the blade through the walker’s neck and its head rolled along the dirt.

“That’s the first one we’ve had up here. They never come this far up the mountain,” Dale said.

“Well they’re runnin’ out of food in the city, that’s what,” Jim suggested.

We heard shuffling coming from somewhere in the woods. We couldn’t place where the movement was coming from, but I was hoping that it was Daryl. We looked around in search of the source. As the sound got louder, Shane raised his rifle, ready to fire.

Suddenly, Daryl came from around the bend. He took a step back when he came face to face with Shane’s gun, which was quickly lowered.

“Son of a bitch!” Daryl yelled. “That’s my deer! Look at it all gnawed on by this filthy, disease bearing, motherless, proxy bastard!

I sighed as Daryl took out his anger on the dead walker. He sent his foot flying into its lifeless body several times before tiring.

“Calm down son, that ain’t helping,” Dale said calmly.

“What do you know about it, old man?”

“Daryl,” I warned, stopping Daryl before he could say anything else.

He sighed, “I was trackin’ this deer for miles. Was gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What’dya think, we can cut around this chewed up part right here?”

“I would not risk that,” Shane said.

“What a damn shame. I got some squirrel, ‘bout a half dozen or so, that’ll have to do,” Daryl said. We heard a low growl coming from the walker. I looked down to find it still animated.

“C’mon people, what the hell?” Daryl stated as he aimed his crossbow at the walkers head. “It’s gotta be the brain. Don’t y’all know nothin’?”

Daryl started walking back to camp. I followed closely behind him.

“Daryl,” I called.

“Hm?” he mumbled, slowing down.

“Don’t worry, you’ll catch another deer,” I told him. I knew he felt angry about letting the group down. I could tell that he liked being in a group, but he wasn’t about to admit that to anyone.

“Merle!” Daryl called. Well, here it goes. I was hoping that this would happen a little later.

“Merle, get your ugly ass out here! Got us some squirrel, let’s stew ‘em up.”

“Daryl, why don’t you slow down a bit? Gotta talk to you ‘bout somethin’,” Shane said, catching up to Daryl.

“’Bout what?”

“About Merle,” Shane said. “There’s a problem in Atlanta.”

I stood off to the side. Everyone looked at Daryl, waiting for Shane to break him the news. Daryl looked around at everyone staring at him, his eyes finally landing on me. I chewed on my lip as the look on Daryl’s face changed.

“He dead?”

“Not sure,” Shane said.

“He either is or he ain’t!” Daryl yelled.

“Daryl, calm down,” I said softly.

“No easy way to say this, so I’ll just say it,” Rick said, stepping forward.

“Who’re you?”

“Rick Grimes.”

“Rick Grimes? Got somethin’ you wanna tell me?”

“Your brother was a danger to us all,” Rick spoke. Rick had a calming voice. I only hoped that it calmed Daryl down. “So I handcuffed him to a roof to a piece of metal. He’s still there.”

“Oh,” Daryl mumbled sadly. “Let me process this. Said you handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you left him there?!”

His voice trembled as he yelled at Rick. I knew immediately that this wasn’t going to end well. Daryl was upset. He frowned at Rick, who stood there silently. Daryl seemed to be walking over to me, and I was hoping that he was because I didn’t want there to be any violence. But he threw his strand of squirrels at Rick. Shane ran and tackled Daryl to the ground. After Daryl hit the ground, he pulled out his knife and my eyes widened with fear.

“Daryl!” I yelled.

“Watch the knife!” T-Dog warned. Daryl took two swings at Rick. Rick, who had more training than Daryl, swiftly took his arm and placed it behind his back. Shane ran up and threw his arm around Daryl’s neck, holding him down. I put my hand on my forehead, ashamed that Daryl had just tried to kill Lori’s husband.

“Best let me go!” Daryl yelled as Shane pulled him to the ground.

“I think it’s better if I don’t,” Shane replied.

“Choke holdin’s illegal,” Daryl claimed.

“Hey, file a complaint,” Shane joked. Rick kneeled down to Daryl, asking him to have a calm discussion. Shane let go of Daryl, who fell to the ground.

“What I did, was not on a whim. Your brother does work and play well with others,” Rick said.

“It’s not Rick’s fault,” T-Dog interrupted. “I had the key, I dropped it.”

“You couldn’t pick it up?”

“I dropped it in a drain,” T-Dog replied. Daryl was breathing heavier as he curled on the ground. I watched as Daryl became more upset. His breath was labored and it sounded like he could’ve cried.

“If that’s supposed to make me feel better, it don’t,” Daryl said, standing up. T-Dog then explained how he chained the door shut. Daryl frowned and quickly wiped his eyes. I’ve never seen Daryl cry, I’ve never even seen him upset about anything before, so this came as a shock to me.

“Hell with all y’all. Just tell me where he is so I can go get ‘em,” Daryl’s voice cracked. I took a step closer to Daryl, wanting to comfort him, but he wouldn’t accept it.

“He’ll show you, isn’t that right?” Lori chimed in.

Rick nodded, “I’m goin’ back.” Daryl walked off towards our tent. I followed him in to see him changing his shirt.

“You’re going now?”

“I have to,” he said. Once again, he walked away from me. He was collecting his arrows from around the camp.

“Daryl, can’t we talk about this?” I asked, but he declined.

“Just tell me why you’re going to risk lives for a douche bag like Merle Dixon,” Shane said as him and Rick walked past us.

“Hey!” Daryl yelled. “Choose your words more carefully.”

“No, I did. Douche bag’s what I meant.”

“Daryl, I really am sorry about your brother. But can’t you wait until morning? Did you even sleep while you were out hunting?”

“You ain’t sorry ‘bout my brother,” Daryl spat.

“Okay, I may not like him, but I wouldn’t wish him dead. You heard what T-Dog said, he’s still alive. Merle can’t get out of those handcuffs. If he could, he would’ve done it a lot sooner.”

This wasn’t the first time that Merle has been in handcuffs. Throughout his years, I could’ve sworn it was a hobby for him.

“We’re goin’ today,” Daryl said finally. I sighed and walked back to my tent as Rick, Glenn, T-Dog and Daryl prepared to go back into the city.
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