In the Shallows

"Son of a bitch."

Stumbling over the brush and roots, I finally managed to catch up with Daryl, slowing my speed the second I saw what had ticked him off. Turning my head slightly, my eyes widened at the amount of weapons that were aimed towards me. Once all of them realized it was just me and not one of those geeks, they all lowered them. Hopping over the shrubs, I stood off towards the side, it was best to let Daryl handle this situation.

"That's my deer." He walked up towards it, getting angry, "Look at it. All gnawed on by this..." He started to kick the monster, "Filthy, disase-bearing, motherless poxy bastard." My eyes immediately snapped up towards Dale who had said something, shaking my head slightly, I waited for Daryl to snap. These people seemed to think that they could voice their opinions without some kind of reaction from him, Daryl wasn't someone you wanted to mess with, especially not right now. He had a temper like no other and no amount of calming words would actually calm him down. I watched as he made his way towards Dale, venom gracing his words, "What do ya know 'bout it, old man? Why don' ya take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'."

I quickly stepped forward, I could see the anger in his eyes. Everything was always a fight with him. I reached for him, my hand grabbing at his exposed bicep, bringing my mouth close to his ear, "Calm down." He pulled slightly away, the rage and annoyance washing away from those blue eyes. He grunted, pulling completely away from me.

"I've been trackin' this deer for miles." He walked back towards the deer, pulling out his arrows, "Gonna drag it back to camp. Cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do ya think we can cut 'round this chewed up part right here?"

Shane shook his head, "I would not risk that."

Daryl sighed, "That's a damn shame." He looked down at his side, "I got squirrel- a dozen or so. That'll have to do." He looked down at his feet, one of those geeks' head was sitting there, chomping it's teeth. It gave me an unnerving chill down my spine, he growled, "Oh come on people, what the hell?" He shot it in the eye, giving everyone a dirty look. He removed his arrow, "It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothin'?" He started headed back to camp, his voice more or so a growl, "Lex, let's go." I chewed my lip, crossing my arms, I started to follow after him but not until I passed by someone I hadn't seen before, my eyes locking onto his, I was about to say something but Daryl growled out again, "Lex!"

I sighed, sprinting to catch up to him. I had known the Dixon brothers for as long as I could remember. Daryl being only seven or so years older than I, our fathers were friends-low life piece of shits-they were. I had vague memories of Daryl and Merle trying to shield me from the bad those two did together, but Merle lost himself along the way and then it was more so Daryl than any.

"Merle!" Daryl shouted the minute we stepped back into camp, "Merle! Get ya ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel. Let's stew 'em up."

I walked slowly behind him, my head turning towards Shane who stopped Daryl short, "Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you."

"About what?" He looked around at everyone's expressions. It seemed as if everyone knew something we didn't.

Shane rubbed his lip and jaw, giving him a sideways glance, "About Merle." My breath caught in my throat, which caused Shane to give me a look, he turned back towards Daryl, "There was a-there was a problem in Atlanta." The tone in his voice made me narrow my eyes, I wasn't a fan of Shane. I think I was the only one who saw through his act, even though I didn't say much, I was real good at reading people and this guy gave me a bad feeling.

I glanced over at everyone's expression, none of them reading anything but blank faces. I chewed my lip again, giving Daryl an uneasy expression. Everyone started to circle around, Daryl gave a dirty look towards Shane, "He dead?" No one knew Daryl like I did and the way his face faltered for that split second, broke my heart.

Shane sighed, "We're not sure."

"He either is or he ain't." Daryl spat.

The man I didn't recognized stepped forward, making his way towards Daryl. Even if this guy was new around here, he should have kept his distance, "No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it."

Daryl looked him up and down, "Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes."

My eyes immediately landed on Lori and Carl, scanning her face. She gave me a slight nod to confirm my suspicion, so this was her husband. Looking back at him, I could see it. Carl resembled him quite a lot. Brown hair, bright blue eyes, a nice strong jaw, definitely his son.

Daryl scoffed, his attitude getting a little too hot, "Rick Grimes, you got something you wanna tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

I felt the anger emanating off of him, I took a step forward, if I didn't say anything soon, I was afraid that his anger would make him do something stupid. Daryl had always calmed down slightly whenever he heard my voice, it was always like that. Even when we were younger, "You handcuffed him to a roof?" I received a few astonished stares, I wasn't much of a talker and half of these people probably thought that I couldn't have my own opinions since I showed up with Dixon brothers and all they did was constantly holler out commands to me.

Daryl turned around,"Hold on, let me process this." He spun around, walking towards Rick, "You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?" His voice getting louder.

Rick looked away, "Yeah."

It took only but a few seconds before Daryl charged after Rick, but Shane was quicker. My arms dropped from my side, I went to run after him, but I felt a strong grip over my body. T-Dog had me before I could even make a step, his arms hugged around me, trying to keep from going after them, "Watch the knife!" He said as Daryl pulled out a knife.

My eyes widened, this had turned worse in a matter of seconds, "Daryl, stop!" I shrieked out, but it was too late, Shane had him in a chokehold. I sighed, looking away as they muttered a few words back and forth. Giving T-Dog a dirty look, "Let me go." He nodded, letting me go, I took breath walking slowly towards Daryl. I held out a hand and helped him up.

T-Dog sighed, "It's not Rick's fault. I had the key and I dropped it." He looked uncomfortable, but who wouldn't at this point.

I narrowed my eyes, "You couldn't pick it up?"

He frowned, "Well, I dropped it in a drain."

Daryl pulled away from my side, "If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't." He stated, giving him another famous dirty look.

"Well maybe this will." He paused, trying to hold onto Daryl's glare, "Look, I chained the door to the roof, so the geeks couldn't get at him with a padlock."

Rick spoke up, "It's gotta count for something."

Daryl frowned, I could tell he was trying to avoid letting everyone see how upset he truly was. Like I said, I knew him. "To hell with all y'all. Just tell me where he is so I can go get him." His voice faltered slightly, he glanced towards me for a second before tearing his eyes away to face Lori.

I tuned out to what they were saying, all I kept thinking about was Merle. Sure the man was the world's biggest asshole, but he was like family to me. If it weren't for them, I probably wouldn't have lasted a second on the outside. Merle Dixon was not someone worth saving in some eyes, but he was in Daryl's. And I wasn't going to argue, Daryl was fiercely loyal to his brother, even though he shouldn't be. Although, Merle did used to be real sweet to me, but that before he got into drugs and alcohol, now I was just some "whore" he's known for years. I overheard Shane say something about Merle not giving you a drink if you were dying of thirst and he had a point. He wasn't

I snapped out of my head and looked at Daryl as he handed me water bottle, "You're comin', Lex." Daryl stated. "Get ready."

I nodded, receiving a few more astonished looks. Shane scoffed, "You're kidding, right? You're not only going take Glenn, T-Dog and forcing Rick, but your gonna bring her? We need all the people we can get. She needs to stay here."

Daryl grunted, "She's with me. She ain't goin' anywhere I ain't goin."

Shane rubbed his jaw, "The poor girl doesn't even know to how to shoot a gun. How is she going to help and defend you out at there? She ain't, so she should stay."

He scoffed, "You ain't know nothin'." He was right, Shane didn't know shit about what I could do. I could probably shoot circles around that prick, even if he was a police officer. I ran along with the Dixon brothers, for crying out loud. I had learned a few things. I wasn't just a pretty face.