I inhaled and let out a deep breath as my twin brother, Daryl, and I stepped closer to the campsite we were staying at and heard voices talking-or rather, arguing. My brother and I shared a look as we heard the voices quiet down, Daryl and I no longer bothering to be quiet in our footsteps, instead being rather loud. Our hunt was over.
I let out another deep breath as my brother stepped out of the woods, me following just a few steps behind, taking in the scene. I start looking around the sight before me-which was a few people of the camp gathered in this area, a dead deer-my dead deer-a decapitated zombie, or as we like to call them, walker, laying on the ground, and a new guy. But that wasn't it, Shane Walsh, unspoken leader of the group aiming his shotgun in my brother's and I's faces. I scowled at him.
"Get that thing out of my face," I bit out.
"Jesus," he murmured under his breath.
"Son of a bitch," my brother complained. "That's my deer!" He looked at me, both looks of frustration now evident on our faces. We start walking closer to the deer. "Look at it, all gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless, poxy, bastard!" Daryl continued to complain as he kicked the walker.
"Calm down son, that's not helping," Dale, an older man in our little group, sighed.
"What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond?' Trackin' this deer for miles," he said, starting to pull arrows out of the deer, tossing one to me. "Drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison." I watched as Shane and the new guy shared a look, and my scowl deepened. "What d'you think, can we cut around this chewed up part right here?"
"Man, I would not risk that," Shane sighed.
"It's a damn shame," I say. "Well, got some squirrel. About a dozen or so. It'll have to do." I motioned to the squirrels that were with Daryl, the both of us looking around. The walker that was laying on the ground started snapping it's jaw.
"Oh, God!" One of the teenagers-or just out of, I wasn't sure-Amy, complained.
"Come on, people! What the Hell! It's got to be the brain. Don't any of you know nothing?" I groaned. Unlike my brothers, and most people in Georgia for that matter, I for the most part had perfect English grammar, and was missing the Southern accent both my brothers had. I took my katana, a silver-bladed, black with white diamond and hint of gold handle out of it's dark forest green and black sheath, and stabbed it right through the brain, one or two people flinching as I did so. In return, I scoffed. "Get used to it, people. This is our life now."
My brother and I walked into the official camp area, Daryl shouting for our older brother, Merle.
"Merle! Merle, get your ugly ass out here! Got us some squirrel. Cook 'em up," he said as he set his crossbow down, me following with my own. I only have my crossbow and my katana, no gun, and I know that will eventually become an issue, not having a gun, but it wasn't at the moment and my crossbow and katana hadn't let me down yet.
"Daryl, Darcy, why don't you slow up a bit, I need to talk to you two," Shane said, walking up to us.
"About what?" I asked, skeptical about the look on his, and now think about it, the look on everyone's faces.
"About Merle," I could feel myself tense up, and my jaw locked. "There was a, uh, a problem in Atlanta."
"What kind of problem?" I grit through my teeth. No one answered.
"He dead?" Daryl asked, and I wouldn't have expected him to stay so calm.
"Not sure," Shane said.
"Either he is or he ain't!" Daryl barked.
"No easy way to say this so I'll just say it," New Guy said.
"Who the Hell are you," Both me and Daryl said angrily. This guy definitely had something to do with it.
"Rick Grimes," he stated.
" 'Rick Grimes?'," we both said. Our tones were different though, his mocking and mine questioning. This guy had the same exact name that one of my favorite people in the whole world, Carl Grimes' father did.
"You got something you wanna tell me," Daryl continued.
"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," Rick stated. I wasn't at all childish but it took everything in me not to stomp my foot and pull my hair out at this point; this idiot did what?!
"Hold on," Daryl said, rubbing his eye. "Let me process this. You handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you left him there!?" He was yelling at the end of his sentence, and I could feel small tears gathering at the corners of my eyes as they narrowed.
"Yeah," Rick said calmly.
Daryl glared at him for a few seconds, before he threw the squirrels he was still holding as a distraction and charged for Rick. Shane intercepted, and threw him to the ground.
"Get your hands off my brother!" I scream as someone grabs me from behind.
"Hey, hey!" T-dog, another member of our group says. Daryl takes his knife out. "Watch the knife!"
He swings it at Rick, missing in his moment of rage.
"Let go of me," I scream out. Rick and Shane grab him by the arms, and Shane grabs him into a choke hold.
"Best let me go!" Daryl says, grunting and struggling in Shane's choke hold.
"Nah, I think it's better if I don't."
"Choke holding's illegal." Daryl stated.
"File a complaint," Shane retorted. "Come on now, we can keep this up all day." He said as Rick crouched in front of my brother, now eye level with him again.
"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic, you think we can manage that?" He asked. "You think we can manage that," he repeated, harsher.
"A calm discussion on this topic? Are you kidding me! You left our brother on a roof! To die!" I shouted out again. Rick looked to me with ocean blue eyes, the same eyes Carl had. Shane let Daryl go, Daryl flipping him off in return, and whoever was holding on to me let me go.
"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother was a danger to us all. He doesn't like to work and play well with others."
"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it," T-Dog admitted shamefully.
"Couldn't pick it up?" Daryl again barked.
"Well I dropped it down a drain." Daryl and I both scoffed.
"What are the chances of that," I growled out rhetorically. Daryl grunted a few more times before I walked over to help him up.
"Supposed to make me feel better, it don't," Daryl said to T-dog as he threw a pile of dirt down.
"Well maybe this will. I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock." T-dog said.
"It's got to count for something," Rick said.
"You know what would really count for something? Not doing it in the first place." I snapped.
"Hell with all y'all! Just tell us where he is. So we can go get him," Daryl whimpered.
"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" A new voice said, and recognized her as Carl's mother, meaning Rick's wife. . . And Shane's lover. I looked between the three of them, the corners of my lips curling into an evil smirk. The three of them have what's coming to them for what they did to my brother.
"I'm going back," Rick breathed out in slightly heavy breaths from the struggle caused a few minutes ago.
I walked off towards the cars, a new van and sat down against the side of it listening to the conversations as everyone debated on what to do with the situation with my brother. I scoffed at some of the people tagging along.
A few moments later, I was standing at the back of the van, getting ready. I felt small arms wrap around my waist.
"I'm sorry for your brother." Carl's little voice came.
"Me too, buddy. Me too. But I'm going to bring him back, so I don't have to worry." I said, giving him a wavering smile.
"But I don't want you to go. Or Dad too, what if you get hurt?" Carl pleaded.
"What if my brother gets hurt," I responded.
"Carl," his father's voice called out. "How about you go see your mom for a bit. I need to talk to Darcy for a moment." Rick said as he walked up to us with bolt cutters in hand. Carl looked between us one more time before he ran to his mother.
"Look," Rick sighed again. "I am sorry for your brother. We will get him back, you know," he said.
"Great," I said as I turned to him, a pistol in my hand. "Because my brothers are the only thing I have ever had. So if I find Merle dead, I swear to whatever God there is that I will kill you. And I'm surprised you forgave your wife so easily. I would never be able to, doing what she did," I said.
"I'm sorry?" Rick said, not getting it. So she didn't tell him.
"Maybe you should talk to your wife when we get back," I scowled as I put the magazine in the gun, shoving it into his chest, walking away. I heard him sigh and I could feel his eyes staring into my skull, trying to figure out what I meant.
"Come on, let's go!" My brother called out, honking the car. I climbed into the back. I waited for people to get in.
The ride to Atlanta was silent, for the most part, and it was full of glaring coming from Daryl's part.
"He better be okay," Daryl said as we were almost into the city. "That's my only word on the matter."
"I told you, the geeks can't get at him. Only thing that's going to get through that door is us." The car parked.
"We walk from here," Glenn, yet again another person in our camp said. He was in his early to mid twenties. I took a deep breath as we got out of the car and started to jog into the city.
"Merle first, or guns?" Rick asked.
"Merle, we ain't even having this conversation." Daryl said.
"We are! You know the geography, it's your call." Rick told Glenn.
"Merle's closest. The guns would mean doubling back. Merle first." Glenn said.
We crept around the store, silent, and Rick made an eye motion to a walker.
Daryl raised his crossbow with a "damn, you are one ugly skank," and shot her in the brain. He walked up to her and pulled the arrow out. Daryl and I took the lead, our crossbows raised. Daryl and I ran up the stairs, the others following, and clipped the chains.
"Merle!" Daryl shouted. "Merle! NO! NO!" He cried, "NO! NO! NO!"
I put a hand over my mouth, tears were falling from both our eyes at the scene of our brothers hand laying, bloody, on the ground.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead, it's characters, or it's plot line; it belongs to it's rightful creators. The only thing I own is Darcy, my OC and main character for this fanfiction.