Barely Surviving // TWD // Daryl Dixon #Wattys2016

Chapter XXVIII -- Scars

"We've been at it for hours. Why don't we find a stream, try to look for some fish?"

"I think you're just trying to lead me back to the road, man. Get me over to that prison."

"They got shelter, food, a pot to piss in," I said trying to persuade him. "Might not be a bad idea."

"For you, maybe, ain't gonna be no damn party for me," he told me. "Besides, that's not why you want to go back, is it?"

"Of course it is," I said to him, looking down at my crossbow. "I'm fucking starving, man. I want my bed, I want food."

"Nah-ah, you want to go back for that girl, for Cecilia, I ain't stupid," he said and I felt my heart beating faster.

"That's not true and you know it."

"I saw you two yesterday, I saw the way you hugged her, the way you kissed her. I ain't blind," he exclaimed. I still didn't look back at him, I even lowered my gaze even more as I heard him chuckle. "You became a fucking superhero when I was gone, huh? She told me you saved her. Told me lots of things and I think you are in very big shit, little bro, I think you fell for her."

"That ain't true!" I exclaimed quickly. "You know I don't do that shit. I don't love people, I don't fall in love either."

"Hmm, I think she softened you. You were a lost case since that day you let her into your tent all those months ago," he told me with a chuckle. "And the worst is that she fell for you too, guess the superhero thing was what charmed her." I blushed at his last statement even when I knew it was nothing but a bunch of lies and speculations from Merle, she would never fall in love with someone like me. Merle raised an eyebrow as he pat my shoulder.

"What was I supposed to do?" I asked, getting angry now, and glancing at Merle for a few seconds. "Her dad beat her, she was out in the open! I couldn't leave her there as walker bait and you also offered her to stay with you, so don't give me that crap!"

"Yeah, I did that but not for the same reasons you did," Merle said with a smirk and a wink.

"You bastard!" I exclaimed, pushing him, wanting to punch him but I stopped myself, knowing it would be of no use.

"Hey!" he exclaimed angrily, pushing me too. "It was a fucking joke! Chill! Or are you jealous? Hmm?"

"Don't be stupid!"

"I gotta tell you, she was one of the few peoples I actually like. She wasn't whining all the time and actually fought for what she wanted instead of waiting for a man or anyone else to get it for her. She's a survivor just like us and exactly that earned her lots of points in her favour. She told me everything she went through after the bunch of you left her behind, just like all of you left me!" he shouted the last part but then he calmed down again. "She told me where that farm was, we were going to go together to look for you when everything went to shit. She's a good girl."

"What's your fucking point, Merle?"

"She helped me, she can actually shoot and she's damn good at it. It's such a shame she didn't come with us, we would make a damn good team! Kill biters during the day, fucking at night. We could have made a fucking threesome, sounds good, huh?" I took deep breaths to calm myself down, how dare he said that? But I did glare at him and he just laughed. "Anyway, somehow she has gotten a place on my 'good people' list. I even killed the idiot that tried to shoot her, I told them all they couldn't do a thing to her, couldn't even lay a single finger on her and this bastard was going to shoot her, fucking asshole."

"You did what?" I asked in amazement.

"No big deal," he muttered with a shrug. "I didn't even like that guy, I was more than willing to kill him before he tried to kill her, I just needed an excuse."