When I was three, my brother and I ran away from home . Not really, just for a few hours. We spent the whole time laying on the grass, and that's when he made me the promise.
"Listen, kid, I'll always find you, a'right?" I nodded silently, feeling something strange on my leg. "And you gotta find your way to me. It's just us, a'right? You, Merle and Me. So we gotta find each other."
"Daryl?"
"Yeah?"
"There are red ants on me."
The rest of the night was spent in the hospital, and then we sneaked back into our rooms.
Anyway, at some point I figured it was bullshit, but surprisingly enough, Merle, Daryl and I always somehow found our way back to each other, resulting in all of us eventually just moving to the same house, away from our shit of a father.
I knew Daryl and Merle were together. They had to be. The problem was, I was away from them with no way of finding them, except for my instincts.
I trusted them enough to follow, but it didn't stop me from grumbling and cussing as I looked for my two half- brothers.
"You stupid son ova bitch," I muttered, pushing some of my brown hair away from my face, scratching my nose in the process. "Fucking jumping out nowhere, trying to bite me! As if, motherfucker."
I kicked a stone hard, making it hit a tree before flying back towards me, making me duck. Like I didn't have enough bruises.
My fingers trailed over my eyebrows, checking for blood, but it was dry at this point.
I sighed, starting to feel tired. All I had on me was a knife (and few packs of cigarettes, with two lighters), and I was desperate to find my brothers. I was out of town when shit hit the fan big time, and somehow, I didn't think about running back to the motel for the suitcase.
"Daryl, please be perfect big brother and have a change for me," I prayed, certain I'll find him. I had to find him. I wasn't going to survive a Zombie Apocalypse without him.
I let out a yelp as a zombie staggered out of the woods, aiming for me. In return, I aimed for his eye.
Once he fell to the floor, dead (again), I picked up my knife, spitting on him in the process. "Rest in peace, piece of shit."
I looked around, spotting some smoke from over ways. I needed to run a bit either way, and it was getting dark.
I started jogging, within an hour finding a camp. There were kids there, I could use that fact as a guarantee for not getting shot at when I run away with the their shit.
"BACK OFF!" A voice barked, pushing a man towards me, away from a blonde woman.
"Calm down, officer," a familiar southern voice spoke. Merle? "Just wanted to have a calm talk with sugar tits over there-"
That's my brother for sure.
"MERLE!" I cheered, getting out of the bushes.
Merle twirled, confused, but within seconds his blue eyes were smiling, and I jumped on him, hugging tightly.
"Belle," he patted my shoulder, slightly awkward at the affection he had to show back. "I know someone that's gonna be happy yer here."
"Daryl?" I beamed, making my brother laugh as he set me down.
"Baby brother!" he called, pulling at my hand. Daryl's face, annoyed, appeared from some way off, and I couldn't help but notice we were getting stared at.
"Wha'?" my brother asked, making me step from behind Merle. He looked at me, and paused for a moment, pinching himself.
"I'm real, ass," I told him, making him smile.
"Now I believe 'at," he smirked, hurriedly walking towards me and picking me up in a hug. He kissed the side of my head a few times and I breathed in his scent, calming me down. "Told ya," he whispered. "Ya always found me and I always find ya."
I nodded into the hug, not wanting to let go. Daryl's arms were my home, and I was willing to stay there much longer.
"So?" Merle questioned, pushing me off of Daryl. I punched him.
"So wha'?"
"Did ya win?" Daryl asked, making me smirk. I pulled out a packet of LM cigarettes, throwing it Daryl, and a pack of Camel cigarettes, making Merle's face fall.
"Camel?" Daryl and I exchanged a glance, smirking.
"Kidding, you ugly son of a bitch," I laughed, throwing at him the Marlboro.
"'at's my sister!" he exclaimed, patting my head and immediately lighting up a first cigarette. Daryl pushed the cigarettes into his pocket, dragging me into the light of the fire. He ignored the looks from the others, grabbing my face in his hands.
He gently pressed my wounds, trying to check if they hurt.
"Was it a knock-out?" he asked, referring to my win. I only bought cigarettes when I won.
"No, judge decision," I replied. He nodded, smiling. Daryl ruffled my hair, pushing me to where everyone were sitting.
"Eat," he instructed.
"Yes mom," I rolled my eyes at him, as he walked off, probably joining Merle and smoking. "'ey," I greeted the rest of the camp. "I'm Belle, Daryl and Merle's little sister."
An old man stood up, "I'm Dale," he smiled, walking over to shake my hand. His eyes eyed my wounds strangely. "Belle suits you well," he decided after a moment.
"Huh?"
"Belle means beautiful," he smiled, making me confused for a moment.
"Oh."
"Come on," he pressed on, "sit down, join dinner. Your brothers ate already."
"Dicks," I muttered, "they never wait for me," I kicked a stone lightly before following Dale and sitting next to him. I thought for a moment about what I said, chuckling to myself. I looked to see a curly dark haired man chuckling to himself as well.
Better not be laughing at me, I narrowed my eyes at him.
There were canned beans, and some squirrels. I figured my brothers got the squirrels. I ate slowly, listening to some stories from before the geeks.
"What do you call them?" a Chinese boy asked, playing with his baseball cap.
"Geeks," I replied, talking for the first time since I sat, making everybody look at me. "Not you, the ugly fuckers."
"Belle," Dale spoke, "there are kids around."
I furrowed my eyebrows, looking at the kids. "So?"
"It's not polite, saying these words." I shrugged.
"I grew up hearing these words both at home and school," I took a bite of the squirrel. "Don't see the problem. Besides, I grew up great."
"What did you do before the apocalypse?" China Town asked.
"I was holding a world record for eating fortune cookies," I told him sarcastically.
"I'm Korean," he stated.
"And I am Princess Unicorn."
He rolled his eyes, "everyone said what they did before world's gone to shit, why do you Dixons don't say nothing?"
"Because it ain't yer business." I snapped, "we ain't friends, we're just sharing a camp."
"Shouldn't we be friends then?" Dale questioned.
"Why?" I asked.
"So we wouldn't wanna stab each other," China Town muttered.
"You threatening me?" I shot at him, standing up.
"No!" he jumped to defense himself. "I'm just saying that you and your brothers... All you do is piss everyone off! You should stop!"
"Or else?" I growled, walking closer to him. I was pretty sure Dale forget what beauty he saw in me. I was the beast, if anything. I heard a clank of metal, and twirled around, to find a man with broad shoulders standing there and holding one of the handcuffs in his hand, and, to my dismay, the other one was attached to my hand.
"Or you gonna get cuffed."