Chapter 29 - Home

I hold my gun tightly in my hands as my eyes scan over the woods while we wait for Merle to finish peeing. I'm completely exhausted and hungry, not having had a decent meal since we left the prison.

"Man there ain't nothing out here but mosquitos and ants." Daryl states.

"Patience little brother. Sooner or later a squirrel is bound to scurry across your path." Merle says.

"If so that ain't much food." Daryl argues.

"Better than nothing." He counters.

"We'd have better luck going back to one of those houses we passed back on the turn off." I state, glancing over at Daryl.

"Is that what your new friends taught you? Hmm? How to loot for booty?" Merle asks, coming to stand between us.

"Man we've been at it for hours. We could find a stream, try to look for some fish." Daryl suggests.

"I think you're both just trying to lead me back to the road man, get me over to that prison." Merle says, kneeling down to check out a trap.

"It had shelter, food, a place to go to the bathroom. It's not a bad idea." I argue, turning to look at him.

He scoffs, "For you maybe. It ain't gonna be no damn party for me." He states.

"Everyone would get used to each other." Daryl says as Merle stands up and begins winding the rope around his arm.

"They're all dead. Makes no difference." Merle says and I give him a look, "How can you be so sure?"

"Right about now he's probably hosting a house warming party, where he's going to bury what's left of your pals." He says before spitting at the ground.

I grimace and look away from him, rolling my eyes, "Let's hook some fish." He says, walking past us further into the woods.

I turn and look at Daryl, who has the same look as me in his eyes. We don't want to be here, we want to be back at the prison. But our loyalty has won out as usual. Merle has been there for us our whole lives and for us to just leave him like this, neither one of us would forgive ourselves.

"Come on." Merle calls back to us.

I let out a sigh and shake my head, following after him and after a few moments Daryl follows after me. Though I would rather be back at the prison I made a promise, always. I'd always be with them no matter what, I guess I just have to live with the consequences that come with that choice.

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"Smells to me like the Sawhatchi Creek." Merle says confidently.

"No, we didn't go west enough. There's a river down there it's gotta be the Yellow Jacket." Daryl argues.

"You have a stroke boy? We ain't never even come close to the Yellow Jacket." Merle says.

"We didn't go west, just a little bit south." Daryl says.

Merle scoffs, "You know what I think? I may have lost my hand, but you've lost your sense of direction."

"Yeah? We'll see." Daryl mutters.

"What? You wanna bet?" Merle asks.

Daryl shakes his head, "No I don't wanna bet nothing. It's just a body of water, why does everything have to be a competition with you?"

"Oh take it easy little brother. I'm just trying to have a little fun here." Merle says, "No need to get your panties all in a bundle."

I tune out their petty bickering and I hear something, "You hear that?" I ask, looking towards the direction of the noise.

"Yeah, wild animals getting wild." Merle states.

I shake my head and Daryl comes to a stop beside me, "It's a baby."

Merle rolls his eyes, "Oh come on, why don't you just piss in my ear and tell me it's raining too. That sound there is the sound of a couple of cougars making love sweet love, you know what I mean?" He says, moving his hips suggestively.

I roll my eyes and follow after Daryl who walks forward towards the sound of the noise. After a short walk we reach the edge of a river and I look up ahead to see a bridge. There are people up there, yelling on top of the babies cries. I hear a gunshot and realise walkers must be up there.

"Hey jump!" Merle yells tauntingly.

I glare at him before walking back into the woods to make my way to the bridge.

"Hey, I ain't wasting my bullets on a couple of people who ain't never cooked me a meal. That's my policy!" Merle calls out after us, "You'd be wise to adopt it you two!"

"Well you can stay here then Merle!" I yell back, running towards the bridge.

We make it up onto the road and the gunshots become more frequent and louder. I put my gun over my shoulder and pull out my machete. Up ahead I see two men up on a platform with a walker about to eat one of them. Daryl aims his crossbow and releases a bolt, it firing into the head of the walker.

I turn to him, "You take this lot, I'm going to the car."

He nods and I swing my machete forward and take one out, it reaches up and I stab the machete in quickly before taking another one out.

I hear Daryl yelling behind me but the walkers groans drown him out. I see the walkers surrounding the car and I realise people must be in there. I rush forward and take one out, pushing another one away. I go to kill it when one grabs me from behind. A gunshot goes off and the one behind me falls to the ground. I quickly stab the other one and turn to see Merle looking at me, "I got you."

I nod and see Daryl taking out one in the car while I take out another one. The men from before begin firing but they aren't as good and they get quickly taken on. I rush forward and stab it in the head and kick it over the edge into the water below. The man looks at me gratefully and I nod my head. He walks past me and I wipe at my head, wiping the blood off of my face.

I hear one of the men yell and I turn to see Merle holding a gun up at him, "Slow down bender, that ain't no way to say thank you."

The man argues back in his language and I look over to see Daryl talking to Merle, "Let him go."

"Yeah, the least they can do is give us an enchilada or something." Merle says, lowering his gun and bending into the car once more.

Daryl looks over towards me and I give him a nod. He glances down before walking around to the other side of the car, crossbow in hand. He pokes Merle in the back with it, "Get out of the car."

"I know you're not talking to me brother." Merle says.

"Get in your car and get the hell out of here!" Daryl yells at the men.

They look confused and I turn to them, "Go! Get in your car!"

They rush off to the car and Merle gets out, Daryl's crossbow aimed at his face. The people get into the car quickly and reverse and drive away as Daryl and Merle glare at each other. Merle pushes the crossbow away and Daryl glares at him before making his way over to me.

"Come on." He says quietly and I look at Merle before shaking my head and heading off after Daryl.

We reach his back pack and he slings it back on as we make our way off of the bridge, picking up his bolt as we go. There is a lot of tension between the three of us and I know that Merle is going to be angry in a minute. We get off the road and into the woods, Daryl leading the way.

"Shit you doing pointing that thing at me?!" Merle hisses, catching up to us.

"They were scared Merle." I say.

"They were rude, that's what they were. Rude and they owed us a token of gratitude." He argues.

"No, they owe us nothing." Daryl says.

"You're helping people out, out of the goodness of your heart. Even though you might die doing it, is that something your sheriff friend taught you?!" Merle asks.

Daryl wheels around and faces him, "There was a baby!"

"Oh otherwise you would have just left them to the biters then?" Merle says.

"Man I went back for you, you weren't there! I didn't cut off your hand neither, you did that. Way before they locked you up on that roof. You asked for it." Daryl says.

Merle shakes his head and let's out a laugh of disbelief as he looks between the two of us, "You know what's funny to me? Hmm, you and sheriff Rick are like this now," He says, crossing his fingers together, "I bet you a penny and a fiddle of gold, huh that you never told them that we were planning on robbing that camp blind."

"It didn't happen." I state.

"Yeah it didn't, cause I wasn't there to help you." He argues.

Daryl steps forward, "Like when we were kids huh? Who left who then?!"

"What? Huh? Is that why I lost my hand?!" Merle yells.

Daryl shakes his head, "You lost your hand because you're a simple minded piece of shit!" Daryl yells before turning to walk away.

"Yeah, you don't know!" Merle yells, grabbing him by the back of the shirt.

Daryl falls at the force push and the back of his shirt rips off, revealing his back. Merle freezes as he looks down at the the thick, deep, purple scars that line his back. I can see the pain on Daryl's face as he tries to cover them up.

"I uh, I didn't know he was..." Merle begins.

Daryl pulls on the back pack that fell off his shoulder, "Yeah he did. He did the same to you, that's why you left first." Daryl says, grabbing his crossbow and bolt from the ground.

"I had too man, I would have killed him. I would." He states.

Daryl begins to walk away and Merle calls after him, "Where are you going?"

"Back where I belong." He says.

Merle shakes his head, "I can't go with you. I... I tried to kill that black bitch, damn near killed the Chinese kid."

"He's Korean." Daryl states.

"Whatever. Doesn't matter man, I just can't go with you." Merle says.

"You know, I may be the one walking away... But you're the one that's leaving. Again." Daryl says before beginning to walk further into the woods.

Merle stares after him before looking at me and I shake my head, "After all the shit that he's given up for you and you've put him through... For once think of someone other than yourself Merle."

I turn away from him and go to catch up to Daryl, walking along beside him. I don't say anything, knowing that he definitely isn't in the mood to talk. So instead I walk beside him, letting him know that I here for him when he needs me. After short while I hear footsteps catching up from behind us and I know it's Merle. A small smile comes to my face as we walk back towards the prison, where we all belong.

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As we continue walking suddenly we hear the sound of rapid gunfire in the distance, "What the hell is that?" I ask.

"It's coming from towards the prison." Daryl states.

"We gotta get back." I say, rushing forward.

The men begin to chase after me as we run towards the prison. We aren't too far away when we reach the prison boundaries. I look over to the side and hear someone yelling and I turn and see three walkers converged on Rick, "Oh my god." I whisper.

We all rush forward and Daryl releases a bolt straight into one of the walkers heads. Merle and I rush forward, taking out the other two while Rick takes out another. Merle and Rick take out the last two before they stand back up. Rick sees me and I give him a nod, walking forward and hugging him. He holds me tightly before letting go and looking over to Daryl, who gives him a nod. He turns and sees Merle and I notice the anger in his face at his presence.

He walks forward towards the outer fence and we look into the field, seeing it become filled up with walkers once again. I wonder what the hell has happened but I soon realise who it must have been. I watch angrily as more walkers come towards the prison. This governor has come and destroyed our lives, taking everything from us. As I look around I know that I will stop at nothing until he is stopped, I will stop at nothing until he is dead.