Undying Love

I had spent a good few hours on top of the RV with Dale, making sure he was alright after his heated discussion with Andrea earlier. I did find myself feeling sorry for him because he genuinely did have her best interests at heart and I tried my best to reassure him that in time, Andrea would grow to see that too; but even I wasn't overly convinced she would.

I also checked on T-Dog to make sure he was alright and to also find out what actually happened because it slipped my mind to ask Daryl before. "I just couldn't believe that after everything that happened back at Atlanta with Merle, he actually saved me" he said once he finished explaining what happened. Turns out Daryl is a hero and a hot one at that. "What happened with Merle wasn't your fault...he knows that" I said, lowering my head slightly at the thought of Merle.

Merle Dixon is/was Daryl's older brother. He was with us since the whole ordeal began and probably would have still been with us now if it wasn't for his idiocy. Even before the outbreak he was always drunk and high on drugs but you'd think being faced with death on a daily basis would knock some sense into him, but unfortunately it didn't. On a supply run into Atlanta with Morales,Glenn, Andrea, Jaqui and T-Dog, he decided to get off his face on cocaine and ended up going on a rampage, beating the shit out of T. In the end Rick had to handcuff him to the roof they were on and when they needed to make a quick get away, T-Dog accidentally dropped the key which then fell down a drain. There was nothing he or anyone else could have done given the situation.

Of course when Daryl first found out, he didn't quite see it that way. He went off on one and with him not wanting the others to know about us, I couldn't do anything to try and calm him. He actually began avoiding me and trying to push me away, but I knew that was his way of coping with his temper and upset. He also knew that if he let me talk to him for to long, I would be able to calm him down and in that particular moment, he wanted to angry.

A small group did go back to Atlanta to save him, but it was too late; he had already cut off his own hand in a desperate attempt to escape. When Daryl told me, I was surprisingly more upset then I thought I would be because I got to spend a bit of time with Merle when he wasn't on the booze or drugs and when he wasn't being a complete jackass and he really was a good person deep down. He and Daryl didn't have the easiest of upbringings which is why neither of them turned out exactly perfect. Granted Daryl wasn't as bad as Merle, to me anyway, but he still had a bad temper and not a lot of ways to control it. But I loved him, temper and all.

~

Dale had gone for about an hour now and the sun was beginning to set. He said he was going to keep looking for some medication for T-Dog, after his early melt down, he needed something a lot stronger then ibuprofen. To be honest I think Dale was just nervous about seeing Andrea again after this morning but I would be too in his shoes. I told him to take his gun with him, just in case he gets into any trouble and cant handle taking them out with a knife. But from lookout on top of the RV, I could still see him in the distance and the area as a whole seemed pretty clear. Then again we've all learnt from past experience that you can never fully let your guard down because that's when the unexpected tends to happen.

As if on cue, screaming erupted from somewhere in the woods. It sounded relatively close by, but it would be impossible to pinpoint the actual source of the screams, even from inside the woods. Dale rushed back towards us as I climbed down from the RV and T-Dog appeared by the door as he had been sleeping inside and most likely startled awake by the screaming. "What should we do?" T-Dog asked, his voice sounding highly alert for someone who had just woken up from a two hour sleep. "We stay here," I said sternly. "Someones in trouble!" Dale cried at me in disbelief and a small sense of disgust. I wasn't saying it because I didn't care, I was saying it because I did. "I don't like the thought of anyone being hurt out there anymore then you do! But if we go looking for them, it will only cause more problems" I explained reasonable and T-Dog said he agreed.

~

It was only about ten minutes before members off the group began appearing, Glenn explaining what happened as soon as he saw us. However I was to busy looking for Daryl to be listening, sighing with relief when my eyes finally landed on him. He looked completely unscathed but extremely pissed off, which is when I realised I should listen to Glenn and maybe work out why. "Shot? What do you mean shot?" Dale asked loudly, grabbing my full attention instantly. Who the hell's been shot?

"I don't know Dale. All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori" Glenn said whilst giving me a small hug. "And you let her?" Dale then asked, directing his question to Daryl like she was his responsibility. "I'm done out of my ass, old man," Daryl said rather rudely, walking past Dale as he continued talking. "Rick sent 'er. She knew Lori's name an Carl's."

I wanted to grab Daryl and take him to one side because I had a sneaky suspicion he had something in his bag that would help T-Dog and I also wanted to make sure he was alright. But he stormed off without so much as a second glance in my direction, leaving it up to me go after him and find out what was wrong.