Darker Days

* 11 *

©️JRF2015-R2021

We walked all night and a good part if this morning. The sun is starting to get hot now. I fall to my knees on the ground, pulling Merle back a bit as I do. He turns, reaching out to lift me again. "No time to stop now, Lil' gal. We need to put as much distance as possible between us and Woodbury." Daryl steps up.

"We need to get them back to prison. To Hershel. He can look 'em over."

"We ain't going back there Lil brother, I can't," Merle argues. I pull away from him and stare at his rough, rugged face.

"You can," I say softly, "We're all family." I turn to Daryl, "Shouldn't we be there by now though? I don't remember it taking this long to get to Woodbury." I see Merle shift and I turn back to him. He is shaking his head, looking directly into Daryl's eyes.

"Merle is taking us in the opposite direction." Daryl blurts out. I notice his face now matching his brother's as his voice causes me to turn my attention back to him. After a minute, Daryl's words sink in. I snap my head back to Merle.

"Why, Merle," I question but don't give him time to answer. "We can't be out here exposed and vulnerable. We have no way to defend ourselves against the dead freaks out here. We're outnumbered." Merle shakes his head, running a hand across his face. He starts to speak and then stops himself. "Merle, we'll all be a lot safer inside the prison."

"No, we won't." He finally speaks, "you don't think that will be the first place the Governor goes when he finds out you and Michonne are gone? He'll destroy that place and then we'll be right where we are now. Better to just stay away, find a new place, just the four of us." Michonne steps forward, standing tall and right in Merle's face.

"I am not going anywhere with you." She sneers, turning to Daryl, "It's this way right?" Daryl nods. Michonne starts walking away, and I follow leaving Daryl to talk to his brother. Their voices trail off as I catch up to Michonne but not for long. I hear their voices raise in argument but I can't make out the words. "How far do you think Merle took us away from the prison?" Michonne shrugs, not looking at me. I continue to try and talk to her but I get no responses other than shoulder shrugs or grunts. "Are you mad at me?" I question, "if anyone has a reason to be pissed at someone I think that would be me. You ditched me." Something else hits me as I let those words fall. She may have ditched me but I killed her friend. "Is it about Andrea? I had to put her down. She wasn't your friend anymore, she would have eaten you alive."

"It's not Andrea. I understand you did what you had to do. I don't understand why you are talking to me like nothing happened, you're right, I ditched you."

I smile, resting a hand on her shoulder. "It's in the past, I forgive you. We have to get along because I believe you are a part of our group whether you like it or not now." I wink at her before continuing, "now, if you do it again, I may have to kick your ass." This gets me a chuckle from the hard as a stone woman standing in front of me. "Finally! A smile. I knew there had to be one in there somewhere." We both start laughing now as we continue walking toward the prison again.

~~~~~~

(Merle's POV)

I've never seen Daryl like this before. I've seen him angry sure, but angry at me? Angry enough to scream at me, stand up for himself? He's never done this before hard as I tried to get him to his whole life. This group has changed my little brother and changed him for the better. I always knew he was a better man than I was, now he knows it too, finally.

He gets through screaming at me and starts walking away. My hand goes out, trying to get a hold of him and instead I catch the back of his shirt. It rips completely open. The flap of fabric falls out of my hand and my jaw falls open as I look at the scars on his back. "I, I didn't know."