Zedler, M.D. // Daryl Dixon

Chapter Eighty-Eight: Time to Get Started

•eighty-eight•

Beatrix

"If you put your hands on her again, I'll beat your ass into the ground," Daryl shoves Spencer into the brick wall behind him, throwing one last punch to his face before backing away.

Spencer stands there, blood dripping from his face as he tries to catch his breath. Daryl obviously hadn't taken it very well when I told him about my encounter with Spencer yesterday. That, mixed with the feelings of Merle, has resulted in a very volatile Daryl today.

"Hey, back off of him," Nicholas jogs up to try and help the situation, but obviously he doesn't know what he just did.

Daryl doesn't even say anything before turning his focus to Nicholas and sending his fist into his face as hard as he can swing. Nicholas stumbles backwards, holding onto his cheek as blood starts to pool in his mouth.

"What the hell, man?" Nicholas gasps, trying to figure out what's going on when Daryl his him again.

I don't even try to break it up when Daryl tackles Nicholas to the ground, landing punch after punch onto his stupid face. Spencer tries to pull Daryl off, but he just hits Spencer again, knocking him backwards onto the ground.

Last night, after both of us calmed down a bit, I decided to tell Daryl everything I knew. So I told him exactly how Merle died and whose fault it was. It's no surprise that he's beating the shit out of him. I would, too. He was so angry last night, but I was able to convince him to wait until today to do something.

"Glenn!" I yell, seeing that he's the person closest to me. "Need some help over here."

Glenn sees what's going on and runs over to help. I stand back and watch. I have learned my lesson when it comes to breaking up fights. Every time I've tried to intervene with Daryl, he ends up accidentally hurting me, so I'm not doing it anymore. Genius of me, right?

"Hey, Daryl! Hey! Stop!" Glenn yells, finally pulling Daryl off of Nicholas and pushing him back. "That's enough!"

"He's right," I say, grabbing onto his very healthy arm. Nicholas and Spencer are both out cold, and I'm pretty sure Nicholas would be dead if Glenn hadn't stopped him.

"I get it, I do," Glenn says, standing between Daryl and the two me. "But we gotta play this smart. We don't need them thinking you're a loose canon. We gotta think this through."

"Yeah," Daryl mutters, stepping back to look at the two of them. He doesn't seem so convinced, but Glenn is right. Especially now that there's about to be a power shift, we can't be taking any chances with the Alexandrians.

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Later in the day, we have a memorial set up for Merle and another one set up for Reg. Daryl and I don't go to the one for Reg, but we do obviously go for Merle. It's been so long since we've had a real funeral like this that it doesn't seem real.

Daryl and I stand in front of his grave, surrounded by Carol and the rest of our family. I hold onto his hand tightly while Rick says a few words. Father Gabriel was originally going to do that, but we're pissed off at him and Merle wasn't religious anyway. It didn't seem right to have him here.

"I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to say at a funeral," I mutter, still holding onto Daryl's hand as if it's my only lifeline. "But I do know that Merle was a good person. He had a rough past, but he was one of the good ones. He fought for his family, and he always took care of us. He was one of us. Merle Dixon was a good man, and he didn't deserve this."

I have to stop talking because I'm getting too emotional. Thankfully, I brought tissues to wipe my eyes with, because I definitely am needing them right now. It's still so hard to believe that he's gone.