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ficnation · 1 year

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Chapter 4: The Night Disturbance

Series: Way Down We Go // Season 1 Word count: 3100 Pairing: Rick Grimes x Female! Reader; Shane Walsh x Reader; Daryl Dixon x Sister! Reader Warnings: usual twd themes (e.g. descriptive gore, death, use of weapons, violence, cursing) A/n: We should meet twd family in the next chapter or two B) I hope ya’ll enjoy it <3 If you’re not on the taglist but you’d like to be added let me know!

𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐖𝐄 𝐆𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 || 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑

You sauntered toward the army green tent, shuffling your feet and trying to prolong the walk there. A displeased frown was already growing on your face. You weren’t in the mood to hear your younger brother’s stinging words the whole night. You didn’t even want to sleep in that cursed tent with him, but it wasn’t like you had a say in it. Merle decided he was going to take watch for the night, and he ushered you away before you could even open your mouth to protest. You didn’t point out his questionable eagerness. You were just simply done with his shit.

“Ya gettin’ in or what?” Daryl’s gruff voice sounded from inside the tent right when you stepped over to open the flap.

You rolled your eyes and slipped in through the opening, zipping it up all the way behind you. Because of the humidity coming from the lake, mosquitos seemed to appear out of thin air and lurk around every corner. You could no longer count the number of itchy bumps on your skin. Just thinking about it made you furiously scratch your arm.

“Stupid fuckin’ mosquitos,” you cursed under your nose, crawling into the sleeping space of the tent and flopping down on the hard floor. The blanket you laid on didn’t do much to isolate your back from the unforgiving coldness of the ground beneath, and you knew another uncomfortable and freezing night had just started for you.

“Ya want som’ thyme for it?”

Your eyes snapped wide open at the words, and you propped yourself up on your forearms to look at Daryl. You had to make sure you didn’t just imagine him speaking to you in a fairly calm voice. The archer avoided meeting your eyes, lying beside you and looking up at the disgusting green color of the tent’s roof. You shook your head in disbelief at his offer before retracting your gaze.

“It’s hideous, right?” You let yourself fall back down, staring at the canvas above with a raised brow. You waited patiently for Daryl to find the courage to speak.

A small flashlight was lying by Daryl’s feet that was pointed at the roof to illuminate the whole tent with delicate yellow light. It was the only thing that saved you from jabbing him with your elbow or knee while moving around the tent. The tent was so small it barely fit two people, and keeping at least some kind of distance between each other was challenging and awkward. The idea of lying squashed like sardines with your younger brother, who seemed to hate your guts, wasn’t exactly inviting.

“Didn’ know it was like tha’,” he started, his fingers nervously tapping at the covered ground. He fell silent after those words escaped his lips, and for a moment, you thought that was all he had to say before he turned toward you, boring his blue eyes into the side of your face. “If ya jus’ said somethin’ earlier…” he trailed off.

“I couldn’t,” you defended yourself, fingers playing with the stretched-out hem of your shirt. Nervously, you rubbed the black fabric between your thumb and pointer finger.

“Don’ bullshit me.” Daryl scoffed at you, rolling his eyes. You looked at him, offended and kind of hurt that he didn’t believe you. You had no reason to lie to him. “Ya were jus’ scared shitless to admit ya fucked up. Yer whole gettin’ outta ‘ere and bein’ better than us bullshit didn’ work out.”

You sat up in shock, staring at the space in front of you. The scowl on your face could be seen probably from miles away, but you tried to snuff out the rage that started to boil in your blood. “Daryl fucking Dixon, what the hell did you make yourself believe?”

“Tha’s the fuckin’ truth! Ya always been the self-righteous one. Thinkin’ ya can do better, leave us behin’. Guess it was time for ya to fuckin’ wake up,” he spat out the words, his jaw clenched tightly.

You snorted at that, pulling your legs up to your chest and crossing your arms over them. The scowl fell off your face as quickly as it made its way there. You didn’t seem phased by what he said anymore. You rested the side of your face on your arms as you looked him right in the eye.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve never as much as thought that you are less than me and I never will. Merle? Sure, he’s a dealer junkie that sleeps in a cell every few days. He doesn’t even want to be better,” you explained, shaking your head sadly.

The mere thought of your older brother’s shenanigans made your eyes roll involuntarily. Since you could remember, he was always dragging you and Daryl into trouble, getting you into parties with local junkies and prostitutes, stuffing drugs down your pockets so you could sell his stuff to your friends. He justified himself that no one would dare to harm a hair on your head if he was around, but he was never truly there for you when shit hit the fan. Juvie, military, prison—he was anywhere but home. Yet he believed he was your hero, “saving you” from Will—the evil dragon—but it was all play pretend. You and Daryl saved each other without his—so-called—help.

“I wanted you to go with me because I knew you wanted more from life. You aren’t dumb, Daryl. You could’ve had any job you fucking wanted.” You stared into his blue eyes, a melancholic smile on your lips. “You’re so much smarter than me and Merle combined,” you continued, and at your words, Daryl rolled his eyes and snorted ungracefully.

“Ain’t much of a compliment,” he mumbled, making you chuckle.

You swatted at his arm playfully. “You know what I mean, asshole.”

“Wha? Not my fault ya and Merle have half a brain combined.” Daryl raised his brow at you, challenging you to argue with him any further. He propped himself up on his forearms just like you did minutes ago. You exchanged cheeky smiles in silence for a moment, but then the air shifted back into seriousness.

“Will we ever be good, Daryl?” you whispered more to yourself than to him.

You wished you could goof around carelessly like you did before you left the trailer park. You wished everything would just go back to how it was back then—more than ten years ago. It wasn’t possible, though, and you knew it. You weren’t the same person anymore, and neither was he.

Daryl’s eyes bored into your skull while he contemplated quietly. “Someday… Someday we will.”

Even if it wasn’t necessarily the answer you wanted it to be, it was more than you had expected. You accepted your brother’s words with a nod of your head, lying back on the floor and turning away from him. You curled your legs up to your chest and pulled the sleeves of your shirt over your palms, hugging yourself to keep warm.

“Good night, Daryl,” you mumbled out before your eyes closed.

“Night, kid,” he replied, throwing his own blanket over you before he turned off the flashlight and rolled to his side, back to back with you.

The relentless rustling and groaning from outside woke you up in the middle of the night, disturbing your already shallow slumber. You sat up startled, rubbing the sleep off your bleary eyes. Your mind still hasn’t caught up to your current situation, and you didn’t really know what the groans foreshadowed.

“What’s going on?” Daryl asked, sensing your sudden change in position.

He reached out to turn the flashlight on, but you quickly caught his arm and stilled it. Or maybe it was his ankle; you couldn’t really tell in the dark, but at least the action stopped Daryl from continuing. You strained your ears to make sure the noises that awoke you were really there, but you didn’t hear anything anymore. You breathed out a sigh of relief before falling back like a log onto the blanket beneath.

“It’s nothing. Just my imagination,” you mumbled out.

The moment you closed your eyes, determined to go back to sleep, another growl sounded from outside the tent, this time louder than before. You shot up again, accidentally jabbing Daryl in the side with your elbow. The man let out a pained grunt before he sat up as well, straining his ears.

“Daryl, we need to get out of here!” you whispered in a panicked tone, throwing the blanket off your body. It didn’t do shit to help you stay warm at night anyway. “It was one of the undead.”

“No shit,” he growled out, barely audible, already scrambling around in the dark in search of his crossbow and your rifle.

It was crazy how quick the noise made all the tiredness disappear from your body. The adrenaline surged in your blood, and the screaming in your head to run or fight was louder than any other thought. You’ve never felt safe in this world, but before the outbreak, you could at least hope for a better tomorrow; now, you didn’t think it was possible.

Despite the darkness, you somehow managed to slip your sock-clad feet into your boots and stuff the flashlight into the pocket of your pants. The both of you crawled over to the entrance as quickly and stealthily as it was possible. You took the rifle from Daryl’s hand and swung it over your shoulder. You let him fumble around with the tent’s zipper, staying behind and trying not to let the panic swallow your whole being while you waited.

“C’mon,” your brother ushered you out of the tent quietly, letting you step outside before him. “Sounds like more than jus’ one of ’em to me.”

You stumbled blindly outside. The moonlight filtered through the canopy of leaves above you like a dulled and dispersed spotlight. Your eyes were already adjusted to the darkness, so the night seemed surprisingly bright. You didn’t have time to admire your surroundings for long. Since the canvas no longer muffled the noises, you could hear the familiar growling clearly, and Daryl was right—there was definitely more than one stumbler in your little camp.

A few crickets chirped suddenly somewhere close to you, making you gasp, startled. You winced and pressed your palm tightly to your mouth to repress any other sound from escaping it. Daryl’s quickened breathing told you he was just as stressed by the thought that they could hear the tiniest sound you made as if the quiet rustling of the bedding could make their eyes snap toward you at any moment. This time you were lucky—the stragglers didn’t seem to have heard you.

You wanted to ask Daryl about Merle and his whereabouts, about what you were supposed to do and where you could possibly run to, but you didn’t dare to part your lips again. You could feel your heart hammer furiously in your chest, making your whole body tremble in a gracious dance to its rhythm. Tired of waiting for something to happen, you moved forward in a crouch, burying your fingers in the leaf litter to keep some semblance of balance. For your own good and sanity, you hoped you were as stealthy as you imagined yourself to be after months of sneaking around different places—that you were not supposed to be in—with the Red Devils.

You scrambled for the nearby bushes outside the small clearing occupied by your tent and vehicles. In the distance, you could see the silhouettes of the undead shuffling around the pickup and Merle’s bike.

Speaking of which—where the fuck was that asshole? You were sure he wasn’t dead—he couldn’t be—but the silence was weirdly disturbing. Your older brother was the loudest and most obnoxious man you’ve ever met. It was suspicious of him to be quiet even in a situation like this. He was born unable to keep his mouth shut.

Once you and Daryl were safely hidden behind the bushes, you grabbed the hem of his vest, tugging at it to get his attention. “Where the fuck is Merle? He was supposed to be on watch,” you asked, gritting your teeth in annoyance.

“How the fuck should I know?”

Before you could retort back, you saw something moving in the distance behind Daryl. It took you a second to realize what was coming, and if it wasn’t for the moon shining so bright in the sky—you didn’t even want to imagine what could’ve happened. You pushed your brother with all the force you had left in yourself, making him fall flat onto the ground, twigs and dirt tangling in his light brown hair. You followed in his steps immediately, throwing yourself face-first onto the litter. A sharp shining object swished past your lying forms milliseconds after, cutting through the air where Daryl’s head just had been. The knife rammed into the ground at your feet. You didn’t move for several moments, both breathing deeply with eyes wide open in shock and relief.

“What the fuck?!” Daryl snarled as he scrambled to his feet, looking in the direction the weapon came from.

“Bet my right hand we just found Merle,” you scoffed, standing up on shaky legs.

You dusted yourself off, but it didn’t help much. Your pants were still mucky, with dirt, leaves, and twigs sticking to the fabric like glue. You quickly gave up trying to pry them off, remembering there were more important things you had to deal with first. Everything else could wait, but before you’ve dealt with Merle and the creepers, you had to keep your guard up and eyes focused on your surroundings.

“Over ‘ere!” you heard your older brother’s voice call through the forest, not a care in the world about the goddamn undead.

Daryl took a look at the camp you’d left behind. The stragglers shuffled around the clearing, looking for their next meal. They either didn’t hear Merle’s booming voice or were too distracted by the smell of squirrels’ remains that were thrown out carelessly by the edge of your camp.

You walked over to your older brother, and before anything could be said or done by any of the men, you punched Merle straight in the face, making him step back in pain and shock. His hand shot up to hover over his bleeding nose. Your clenched fist hurt, but the pain was good—it was worth it.

“You pull shit like that one more time, and I swear I’ll stick that knife so far up your ass.” You scowled at him but raised your hands in the air as a gesture of peace when Daryl stepped between the two of you and sent you a scolding stare.

“Damn, Baby. Thought ya were walkers lookin’ for some goodies.” Merle chuckled at his own words, and it took all strength in you not to push Daryl out of your way and hit him again.

“I don’t fucking care what you thought we were,” you growled out through clenched teeth. “Daryl could’ve gotten seriously hu—”

“Can ya both shut yer mouths? Ya can bicker later after we get outta ‘ere,” Daryl cut you off, his eyes trailing around the forest to ensure there were no other infected around. His fingers tapped the crossbow nervously.

You ignored him, slipping your rifle off your back to clutch it safely in your hands before you continued in a hushed voice, “Why didn’t you wake us up?”

“Wasn’t gonna disturb yer beauty sleep.” You wanted to wipe that smug smirk off his stupid face. “Figured it’s jus’ two creeps, should be easy enough tah get rid of.”

Daryl scoffed dismissively at Merle’s stupidity, not even sparing your older brother a glance. He started walking in the opposite direction of your camp, his crossbow ready to shoot in his hands. You followed after him, and so did Merle, although he protested about leaving your things—mainly his bike—behind.

“Don’t know how he threw that knife, he’s as high as a kite,” you stated, catching up to your younger brother. You matched his pace, glancing over your shoulder from time to time, making sure Merle didn’t wander off in his delirious state.

“Don’t matter. He ain’t even thinkin’ clearly. There were four of ’em at least.” Daryl shook his head, already exhausted by the situation at hand.

“What are we gonna do about him?”

At the exact same moment the question left your lips, Merle tripped behind the two of you and fell on his ass with a grunt that preceded a clamorous: “Fuckin’ hell!” The faint groans in the distance made Daryl, and you freeze in your spots, heavy feet glued to the ground. They didn’t sound that far away. The realization made you come unstuck, and you jogged over to your older brother.

“Damn it, get up!”

You grabbed him by the arm and hauled him to his feet while he giggled like a fucking schoolgirl. Who put themselves in a state like that in the middle of an apocalypse? It wasn’t the time and place for that. You didn’t get it at all; if he wanted to live, he had to be able to fight, not trip over his own feet every five seconds. Yet Merle proved himself to be untrustworthy and unable to look after his own ass once again. No wonder he failed at making sure you could get at least a few hours of sleep safely.

“I swear Merle, whether you are my blood or not,” you started, grunting when he threw his arm over your shoulder, “I will leave you here to get eaten by those monsters.” You tried to keep moving forward, but the weight he leaned on you didn’t make it easy.

“I ain’t seein’ any creeps’ ere. Say we’re pretty safe, dontcha think?” It took everything in you to not kick him away and say you were done.

Daryl watched your backs in silence. He had no idea what to do either—despite spending the last ten years with him one-on-one. You still couldn’t believe he survived it without putting a gun to Merle’s head—or maybe he did, but decided not to pull the goddamn trigger.

You heard the groans getting closer, another one joining and a third following. The shuffling and rustling of leaves told you there were more of them than at the camp. You watched the horror build up in Daryl’s eyes as he tried to tell how many of them could possibly be straggling toward you.

Then all hell broke loose.

@yttricuz @twdeadlysins @donttelltheelf-x @jessica-mikaelson18 @spidergirla5 @depressedfrog2 @kpopandharry @daryldixonstorm @clemscult @lonewolf471 @btsiguess-kpop @notquitecannon @the-daily-multi-fandom-post @xhannahbananax03 @sourwolf-sterek32 @wonderful-writer @apolloloki97 @huffledor-able541 @phoenixblack89 @yolobloggers @sexyseabass @sweetpotatospock @whiskeypowder @witch-of-letters @capsiclesdoll @kingtwhiddleston @incorrectcapsicle @queentorresstuff @witheringblooddemon @hopefulatrocity

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stiles-o-dylan24 · 7 months

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|| Daryl Dixon x Maddie Green || TWD Rewrite || TAGLIST || • DADDIE🎶 • SHIPS OF YAIN •

Season One

Chapter 1 - Days Gone Bye

Chapter 2 - Guts

Chapter 3 - Tell It to the Frogs

Chapter 4 - Vatos

Chapter 5 - Wildfire

Chapter 6 - TS-19

Season Two

Chapter 7 - What Lies Ahead

Chapter 8 - Bloodletting

Chapter 9 - Save the Last One

Chapter 10 - Cherokee Rose

Chapter 11 - Chupacabra

Chapter 12 - Secrets

Chapter 13 - Pretty Much Dead Already

Chapter 14 - Nebraska

Chapter 15 - Triggerfinger

Chapter 16 - 18 Miles Out

Chapter 17 - Judge, Jury, Executioner

Chapter 18 - Better Angels

Chapter 19 - Beside the Dying Fire

Season 3

Chapter 20 - Seed

Chapter 21 - Sick

Chapter 23 - Walk with Me

Chapter 24 - Killer Within

Chapter 25 - Say the Word

Chapter 26 - Hounded

Chapter 27 - When the Dead Come Knocking

Chapter 28 - Made to Suffer

Chapter 29 - The Suicide King

Chapter 30 - Home

Chapter 31 - I Ain't a Judas

Chapter 32 - Clear

Chapter 33 - Arrow on the Doorpost

Chapter 34 - Prey

Chapter 35 - This Sorrowful Life

Chapter 36 - Welcome to the Tombs

Season Four

Chapter 37 -

Season Five

Season Six

Season Seven

Season Eight

Season Nine

Season Ten

Season Eleven

#the walking dead #twd #daryl dixon #twd daryl #daryl Dixon x oc #daryl x oc #the walking dead rewrite #the walking dead fanfiction #the walking dead fanfic #the walking dead fan fiction #the walking dead fan fic #daryl Dixon fanfiction #daryl Dixon fanfic #daryl Dixon fan fiction #daryl Dixon fan fic #multiple chapters #masterlist #the walking dead masterlist #you're all I need masterlist

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theeblackmedusa · 1 year

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Richonne stans better be getting an episode filled with the dirtiest, nastiest reunion sex scenes in history since we have to wait until 2024 to get them back and it better not be one of those dark ass scenes that they like to do.

#if they don't i solemnly vow to rewrite the script and call danai and andy to act it out #richonne #rick grimes #michonne #twd #the walking dead #richonne spinoff #richonne series

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lab-gr0wn-lambs · 3 months

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someone in the makeup department playing "how much bigger can I make Daryl's scar each episode until someone notices"

#I've made this post in a different form before but What The Fuck #twd #the walking dead #and we don't even know how he got it!!!#they just made his character design more edgy for shits and giggles and didn't even wanna give it an edgy deviantart OC backstory to match #like if you're gonna reveal that it happened during the Leah time period couldn't they have made it relevant? Like maybe SHE gave it to him #add some spice to that dogwater plotline #instead they just ''hey you have a cut on your face'' ''yeah I know.'' ''ok. sucks living in the woods don't it'' ''nah.''#Let me rewrite Leah I'll treat her right #I'll make her worse #If Daryl *really* needs a toxic love story I'll make sure it hurts bby

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iightbringer · 6 months

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i hate the rumours abt season sixteen or a movie so much. it's an indisputable fact that even if it's true, it will never be what we want it to be, produced by jackles or otherwise (fool me once, shame on u, the winchesters). i just want it to die w dignity. i would rather live w the delusional fantasy happy end i made up in my head then ever trust a studio/producers/network to actually listen to fans. the horse is dead and u killed it - please let me mourn in peace.

#supernatural #“b-but destiel!”#u poor sweet summer child #my prediction if this rumour is true #once again #we will get a worldbuilding garbage fire no one asked for #for some reason my gut tells me 'dean jr' is gonna be the protag #or alternatively #a retcon nightmare that makes everything feel cheap n pointless #bc they kinda screwed their whole ability to say 'oh it's a rewrite get it bc chuck is-'#ive buried my gays. i do not need to see their reanimated corpses default dancing on my tv screen #not to mention we didn't get destiel how we wanted #bc the whole show is a time capsule stuck in the 2000's #even if it moved away from gay jokes n calling women bitch #look at the twd extended 'universe' and tell me im crazy for not being on board w this.

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constantcrisis19 · 2 years

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Fandom: The Walking Dead

Category: Gen

Relationships: Merle Dixon & Child OFC , Daryl Dixon & Child OFC

Chapters: 10/?

Summary:

Riley was in the middle of setting the candles up in strategic places around the trailer and lighting them when a banging started up on her back door, the brunette flinching so hard that she dropped her zippo lighter before pivoting to eye the curtain-covered sliding door with trepidation. Though, the knocking didn’t stop, instead the pounding seemed to become more frantic the longer that she hesitated to approach.

She pocketed her lighter and crept over to the door, moving the cloth out of the way just enough to peek outside. And there, on the concrete slab that made up the sitting area, was Merle Dixon.

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calliecopper · 2 years

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Some fic ideas I have:

Detroit: Become Human

A total rewrite / fix-it of the game

A Kara-centric fic focusing on her becoming a more active member of the rebellion through Chapman's Farm (basically a fix-it)

An Alice-centric fic focusing on her journey of self-acceptance with a not-so-accepting Kara at her side

A Markus and Kara role-swap AU with Kara becoming Jericho's leader and Markus helping Rose with android smuggling

The Walking Dead (Telltale + AMC)

A total rewrite / fix-it of the TV show (all seasons)

A total rewrite / fix-it of the games (all seasons)

A canon divergence where Lee goes to the prison and Clementine goes to Hershel's farm, and they do not meet until Rick's group discovers the prison (either kept in the comic-universe as the game is or transfered to the TV verse)

Stranger Things

A total rewrite / fix it of all seasons (primarily season 2)

A Kali / 008 centric fic about her journey after Jane / 011 parted with her

A Kali centric fic about her escape from Hawkin's Lab (and potentially how Henry / 001 was involved)

Telltale's Batman

A total rewrite / fix-it of the games (both seasons)

The Quarry

A total rewrite / fix-it of the game (primarily fixing some of the pacing issues and giving these characters more depth especially to their relationships)

#detroit become human #dbh #dbh kara #dbh alice #dbh markus #telltale the walking dead #the walking dead #twd #twdg #lee everett #twd clementine #stranger things #telltale batman #the quarry #idk i find rewriting games or tv shows that are bad and / or have issues is a good writing exercise for me

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malecacidd · 1 year

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may or may not spend all of tonight and tomorrow editing/finishing fics I never posted

#theyll most likely be bsd/saiki k/jatp and theres one old twd one im thinking of rewriting for funzies #i miss writing so much guys 😭😭#shitpost

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justinewt · 6 months

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Fear Begins Here - FEAR TWD Rewrite Chapter One

[FEAR THE WALKING DEAD-MASTERLIST]

Next Chapter (SOON)

Summary: Nikki, who has been working night shifts at a gas station, is awaken one monring after the Clarks receive a call that her brother Nick has been injured after being hit by a car. At the hospital, the doctor reveals that Nick was delusional and had run into traffic, allegedly with intent. Nick shares his hallucinations of a girl, his girlfriend Gloria, attacking him and eating people at the abandoned church where they used to go for drugs. Nikki and Travis visit the church later that night and find a pool of blood, partially confirming Nick's claims.

Words: 4.1k

Warnings: Fear TWD season 1 (1st half of episode 1 "Pilot"), blood, mention of cannibalism, hospital, strained relationships, mention of drugs and addiction, mention of violence

Still in bed, curled up with her face under the covers, Nikki tried to get some more sleep after having been on night shift at the gas station where she had worked for a few months now. For the past four days or so, she had been working 11-hours shift. Yesterday, she worked the whole night and came back home at 5AM after going into work in the evening. Working night shifts was awfully exhausting since everyone in their households was up and about at 7 in the morning, after she had barely slept for a couple hours. When everyone would leave, it would get quieter, and she would go back to sleep until probably noon. Her schedule had been moved up, now back to less lengthy shifts and she was working the afternoons for the rest of the week, which she preferred.

She hated working at night. After she would wake up at noon, she would literally have one hour to get ready, eat a snack and drive off to work in her old car. It was a 10-year-old car at the car dealership. She had gone with Madison who wanted to help her get a good car for cheap without the seller praying on the impressionable young woman. It ran well and allowed her to get around and go to work, to earn money that she put aside without really knowing what she was going to do with it, although she gave a part of it to Madison every month because she felt indebted to her, for getting her out of trouble all these years, even though she didn't want Nikki to give her money. She always ended up giving it to Travis to help with the shopping and she also gave some to Alicia, so she had a little spending money.

Nikki got startled when she heard Alicia slam the bathroom door after her mom chimed in to tell her she had five minutes left to get ready. The teenager had not gotten out of bed on time and was about to be late for school. She grumbled, burying her head in her pillow, and winced when light blinded her tired eyes when she stuck her head out of her bedcover. She opened her eyes again after realizing that the whole house had gotten quiet, and she heard the landline high-pitched beep sounding. She sat up almost immediately in bed. She knew very well what that unpleasant beep meant, and gulped as she climbed off the top bunk. She yawned until her jaw almost dropped and quickly left her room to join Madison, Travis and Alicia around the phone. Travis had already picked up the phone and everyone looked at each other in a heavy silence as he spoke.

It was about Nick, of course. He had been hit by a car while running down the street for whatever reason, but Nikki already knew where he had been coming from. He spent every single of his nights at the abandoned church which had become an infamous junkie den over time. That was the very place she used to go to herself, back when she was still using but she wasn't going anymore since she decided last summer was the last time she was ever going to rehab and that she was getting clean for real this time. Her addiction had gotten her expelled from nursing school less than a year ago after she took drugs from the infirmary to get high. She had no prospect of any king of a future, but she was trying to survive without heroin for a while and see where it would get her. She had been trying to survive all her life, so she was used to it, but it required some adaptation to live a life not ruled over by addiction. Alicia, who was literally still standing wrapped in her towel, and Nikki quickly put on some clothes, and they drove off to the hospital. Even though it wasn’t going to take much time to get there, Nikki took advantage of the 10-minute drive to sleep a little more. Alicia sighed, telling her she should have stayed in bed since nothing would come out of this trip to the hospital. Her brother’s addiction really strained their relationship.

“He has a bruised rib, contusions.” The doctor walked them through the hospital hall as he told Madison about Nick’s state. Nikki looked around, rubbing her eyes with a wince. “Physically, your son is lucky, but I’m worried about—”

“Toxicology?” She enquired.

“There’s that, yes, but…”

“Heroin’s his drug of choice. What did he take?”

“He’s over 18, ma’am. I can’t tell you more than I could tell the police.”

“They’re here?” Madison stopped in her tracks, turning to the man. He jerked his thumb behind him, and she resumed walking. Nikki sighed. They were probably asking him about where he got the drugs and stuff like that, but no one talks to the police. Even today, she still wouldn't say anything to them, out of habit of keepind her mouth shut. But she knew very well where they got their shit from.

“Nick presented as delusional, Mrs. Clark.” The doctor continued. “Witnesses said he rand into traffic with intent.”

“He was high.” She argued.

“He was ranting. We had to restrain him. I requested a psych consult.” He looked at Travis when he walked past him. “She’s not listening.”

“She heard you.” The doctor stood in the hallway as Alicia and Nikki looked at him sideways as they followed their stepfather into the room where Nick was. Madison was the first to walk in, instantly addressing the two police officers standing around his bed, questioning him while he was indeed restrained to his bed.

“Is my son under arrest?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Then get out. Thank you. Leave.” They threatened to charge him for the incident, and she dismissed what they were saying, telling them they could do that when he was healed and to go away for the time being. Nikki walked behind Travis and Alicia, who stayed behing ther cop and went to stand on the other side of the bed. She saw Nick roll his head on his cushion to look at her as she observed the two policemen.

“She do all the talking?” He asked Travis and the latter didn’t say anything. He just raised his eyebrows as Madison repeated herself.

“I’m not as eloquent.” He eventually said, grabbing the cop’s card that he handed to him on his way out. She then turned to her son. She called out to him for his attention.

“What happened?”

“L.A. is not a pedestrian-friendly city.”

“Why the restraints?” She asked softly and he shrugged. “Did you try to hurt yourself?”

“No, mom. Come on, it was an accident. It was just an accident.”

“All right, I’m gonna call for a bed.” She took her phone out of her pocket, ready to dial for the rehab facility to reserve a bed for him. He grabbed her hand.

“No, mom. I’m not going back.”

“It’s how we help you.”

“No, we can’t help me.” Travis chimed in, advising him to listen to his mother and the young man glanced at him. “You definitely can’t help me. You can’t do shit. You can’t— None of you can… can you just leave me alone? Can you just let me go?”

When Alicia mumbled something, Travis turned to her, pointing out that her intervention wasn't helping the situation at all. Obviously, that wasn't at all what she was trying to do right now. She was tired of her brother's behavior because of his addiction and how her whole life and her family’s revolved around it as if she was unimportant, and Nikki understood that because until recently, their own relationship wasn't all rosy either. Maybe giving her some of the money she was making was a way for Nikki to make up for the fact she felt like an additional burden in the family. Madison spun on her feet, asking what she said, and the tone rose in the room. As usual, Nikki made herself forgotten and remained silent next to Nick, observing the situation as if she were outside of it all even though she had shared the lives of these people for several years.

She was so used to stand in the shadows, like she wasn't there, especially when arguments broke out, and remaining completely quiet so much so it was as if her lips were sealed shut. When she was still in school, many people thought she was mute because she spoke so little. The first times she ever went to rehad, doctors and shrinks asked Madison if Nikki was mute or something since, she wouldn't speak to anyone. Drawling, Nick again asked to be left alone while Madison told Alicia to go back to the car while Travis broke up the fight. Alicia walked out and he motioned for Nikki to come along to leave Nick and Madison alone for a moment. Seeing her walk away, Nick turned his head towards her as his mother sat on the edge of the bed and began asking him what had happened and followed her with his gaze. He knew she was working and tired, and yet she was always there for him. They had been through so much together that she would have gotten up in the middle of the night if she had to.

“Glad you moved in?” Alicia asked Travis, standing against a wall with her phone in her hands. He went outside for a moment to make a phone call and the teenager shared a glance with Nikki. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just need a coffee right now.” Alicia leaned her head around the corner of the wall and pointed in a direction.

“Machine’s over there.” Nikki nodded, thanking her and she walked over to the machine, pressing the buttons until she began to wonder if she even had change to pay for it. She padded her jacket's pockets and pulled out a couple pennies that she inserted in the machine, and she stared into space as a buzzing sounded while the coffee poured into the paper cup. She grabbed it and took a sip as she walked back to Alicia and sat on a chair next to her, letting her head rest against the wall. Madison walked out of the room as a nurse came in to check on Nick and she spoke with Travis, who had returned from his call. Nikki stared at the lights on the ceiling. She hated hospitals. It brought back unpleasant memories that she wished she could forget. She wished she could erase everything that had happened prior to the last 5 years. She finished her coffee and crushed the cup in her hand before aiming at the trash can in front of her and throwing it. Alicia saw that the conversation between her mother and Travis and stood up, holding her bag in one hand, by the upper handle.

“Nikki, I’ll bring you back to the house after bringing Alicia to school.”

“No, Maddy, it’s all right. I’ll do it.”

“Okay.” She mouthed, patting Nikki's shoulder, giving her a smile before walking away with Alicia. They watched the two women leave the premises and Nikki followed Travis inside the room once the nurse was done with him. She had some time before having to go to work, early that afternoon so she appreciated that he let her stay with them at the hospital, even she just slept, curled up in a chair while Travis read. Her cheek resting on her clenched fist, leaning on the back of the chair, she awoke when her head tilted forward too much and she blinked, looking around. Nick had just woken up, panting. She shared a worried look with Travis and spurted on her feet, going to sit on the edge of the bed. Coming to his senses, confused by his sudden awakening, he breathed out heavily, catching his breath and grabbed Nikki's hand before calming down.

“It’s just a nightmare.” She spoke.

“No shit.” He closed his eyes for a second, tightening his grip on her hand.

“You think that’s what you saw? It was a nightmare?” Travis wondered. “Hallucinations?”

“I really want to write it off like that, I do, but that’s never happened to me before.” He shook his head and buried himself dipper into his pillow. “Nothing like that. Hey, maybe I’m losing my shit.”

“That psych eval will decide that.” He shrugged. “How crazy is Nick? Scale one to 10, huh?”

“Hey, can you untie me?” Travis denied and apologized as he stood up. Nick turned his head to Nikki, and she shrugged. She didn’t have the authority to do that, even though she really wanted to but she knew for a matter of fact that if he were to be untied, the minute he was left alone, he would run off God knows where.

“You think I’m dangerous?”

“Docs are worried?”

“Are you?” His eyes went from his stepfather to his best friend.

“You ran into traffic, man. You hurt yourself.”

“No, I was running from, not to. I was running away from what I was.”

“What did you see?” Nikki asked, frowning in concern.

“Uh, just a girl.”

“You weren’t with Gloria at the den?”

“Yes. Yeah, I was.” He glanced at Travis, explaingin further that she was his friend. Nikki knew the nature of their relationship, really, she was his girlfriend. They had met something like a year ago in rehab, maybe a year and a half. That was when his father fied in a head-on collition. This was a tough time. Before she decided to get cleaned and kept herself to it, she got to know Gloria a little and shot up with her and Nick at the abandoned church a few times. “She was… Jesus Christ.” He sighed. “Okay, you buy on the corner, and you can shoot at the church. It’s junkie communion. And… uh…”

“The church? Nikki, you knew about this?” Travis was a calm person and there was nothing inquisitive about his question, but Nikki looked away and lowered her head. Of course, she knew about this place, that's where she used to go but she never told anyone.

“Anyway, uh, she was with me when I— when I scored.” He spoke while looking up at the ceiling, recounting the events in his head. His eyes widened as he went on. “Yeah, and she was with me when I nodded. She was there. She was beside me. But then… then when I went down… everyone was dead. ‘Cause there was blood. Yeah, and it’s all over her mouth.” He held Nikki’s hand tighter, looking down. “You know? Then she came at me.”

“What did she do?” Nikki glanced at Travis.

“Shhhe… She was eating them. She was eating them.” There was a silence as both Travis and Nikki were dumbfounded. What he was saying was indeed not making much sense. Nikki was even more confused because she knew the girl he was talking about, and she couldn’t believe that she would have resorted to cannibalism. It was insane. But there was a part of her that wanted to trust his words. Unlike Travis who concluded that the drugs made him saw all these things, she couldn’t believe he would make all this up. Something bad went down at the den and it rose her curiosity. She was also worried for Gloria and would feel quite sad if something happened to her. “I don’t know if what I saw came from the powder. That’s the thing. I don’t…” He shook his head. “and if it didn’t come from the powder, then it came out of me. My mind. And if that came out of me, then I’m insane, Travis. Yeah, I’m insane.” He chuckled but his amused smile almost instantly faded. He pouted his mouth. “I really don’t want to be insane.”

After they ate sandwiches with Nick at the hospital, Travis ended up taking Nikki to her workplace, a gas station on Pico Boulevard, West Los Angeles. Small gas station, never too busy, Nikki liked that. She knew her coworkers well enough that there was a pretty good atmosphere at work, but she wouldn't call them her friends. When she thought about it, she had no friends, beside Nick. That was kind of sad, but she didn't care. She didn't even know what she wanted to do in her life, so she had no time bothering about making friends and she was known as the quiet loner, even at work so they exchanged pleasantries but never made long conversations with her and she didn’t take offense. She worked all afternoon thinking about what Nick had told them.

She couldn’t get it out of her headso half-way through her shift she texted Travis about it. She wanted to go and see for herself eyes if something had really happened there. In the evening, she waited at the front of the station while her coworker that did the night shift came in. When he asked her what she was doing walking back and forth outside, she simply told him her stepfather drove her to work that day and that she was waiting for him to come pick her up. He didn’t enquire further after that. No one at work really knew about her personal life, this was the most she had ever said about it. After a moment, she saw Travis’ truck arrive and she got in. They drove to the church, having no idea what they would find there. Hopefully nothing too traumatising so she could have a good night of sleep afterwards but given how Nick looked so troubled when he talked about it earlier, she wasn’t too convinced and felt nervous.

When they went to the church, it was dark outside. Travis held a flashlight above his head and Nikki followed him as they walked around the fences set up around the abandoned building. He told her to stay to stay close as if she hadn't been a regular visitor to this place. Nikki stepped forward and grabbed the fence mesh and started pulling herself up when Travis grabbed her jacket, making her put her feet down.

“It’s too dangerous.”

“I can climb it. It’s fine, Travis.” He let go and she resumed her action, tucking the tip of her converse into the mesh. She sat at the top and crossed her legs over the other side before jumping down below. You wouldn't have thought when you saw her like that that she had fractured her leg falling from a tree. After all, she was 6 at the time, now 19, there was a statute of limitations. It had taken a while, but her leg was now completely healed although she felt occasional pain in her shin. Once she landed, she turned around and told Travis to go look for a window on the other side. It overlooked a toilet, the grille behind the window should be open. When she was about to go inside and leave him to find hiw own way in, he called out to her from upstairs, worried because she didn’t have a light with her. She held up her phone and turned on the flashlight before walking away. She climbed through a window and aimed the beam in front of her. She quickly heard Travis call her name and she tried to find him when she felt her foot slip on something and she lost her balance, almost falling on the floor.

She looked down and her eyes widened as she realized she stepped on a pool of coagulating blood, with mashed bits of flesh, on the ground. She almost threw up as her shoe made squishy sounds when she lifted it. She had no idea if everything happened as Nick had said, whether Gloria had really eaten people or not but what was for sure was that people were hurt or maybe even killed. Never in her time here had she seen so much blood all over the floor. Someone had bled out right there. She was so appalled and shocked; she couldn’t even move, and she felt so sick it was as if her body was warm and cold at the same time; She could feel her limbs tremble and she was so shaken she couldn’t even hear Travis call out her name anymore. There was a buzzing sound in her ears. She jumped with a loud gasp when she felt a hand on her shoulder and turning around, she saw Travis standing beside her. He looked at her worried and confused because upon finding her after roaming around for a minute, he found her as pale as a sheet. He might have thought she was distressed because she was back at a place where she used to go back when she was in a dark place in her mind but when she looked behind her and the light from her phone shone on the floor, Travis saw the pool of blood in front of them.

“Oh, God. What the hell is going on?”

“Nick said the truth. He— Gloria… I don’t know… I don’t know what happened, but someone fucking died here.” She cried out as he led her away, pushing her to leave the premises with him urgently. He was taken aback by what he had seen but he still tried to calm her down until they got back in the car. Her hands were shaking so she closed them into fists and stared into the distance, trying to keep her breath steady.

The next morning, they went straight to the hospital with Alicia before she had to go to school. They quietly walked into the room and found Madison sleeping against Nick. Nikki was still shaken from her night trip to the church with Travis and had nightmares about the blood and flesh. She wanted to talk about it with Nick, tell him that he didn’t make all this up. Travis bent over Madison, whispering in her ear and she slowly awoke and stood up.

“I need coffee before anything.”

“I’ll get you one.” Nikki said as Travis gave her a bag with some spare clothes for her to change into. While Madison and Travis walked into the hallway, and she went to the coffee machine. She poured two coffees, one for Madison and one for Travis. She gave a couple dollars to Alicia when she walked out of the room so she could get herself something from the vending machine at school and the latter left with her mom and Travis, their coffees in hands. This time, Nikki came with her own car, so she decided to stay with Nick for the morning. She still had a few hours ahead of her. She got herself a cup of coffee and went back to the room. He looked up when he saw her enter and smiled.

“You can have my eggs if you want.” She sat at the edge of the bed, putting her coffee on the side of the tray and grabbed the fork, taking a bite of the scrambled eggs, taking a sip of coffee.

“Best breakfast.” He chuckled as she ate, asking him how he felt in between bites. He shrugged, pouting. This was the kind of answer that she expected so she finished the plate and pushed the tray away. A nurse eventually came to take it out. She scratched her ankle and her gaze fell on the sole of her shoe. She had cleaned it with bleach in the garden in the middle of the night yesterday and yet the sole, originally beige, was now soiled with a lingering tinge of red. She also noticed a red drop that had dried on the side and scratched it furiously with her fingernail, images of that nightmarish sight flashing before her eyes. Nick sat up slightly and grabbed her wrist. She didn’t know if what she was going to say would reassure him or make matters worse, but she would tell him about the blood in the church. This didn’t really confirm most of what he said but that did confirm that he didn’t dream all of it. Maybe he exaggerated a few details because he was high and was raving but the fact that there was no sign of Gloria anywhere and blood all over the place had to mean something. Nikki had a hard time believing she really ate or attacked people but something bad did happen. She trusted Nick with that.

[To be continued…]

Next Chapter (SOON)

Published (11/12/2023) by Andrea

Taglist: @cathrin2405 @kika64

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gcdisms · 2 years

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BORNCHAOS. MY GIRL'S READY TO TAKE CONTROL, SHE JUST BLOWS MY MIND. she only listens to the radio to see who's alive, she wakes up scared of getting old, she don't feel no shame , she knows so many pretty boys and they are all the same, they said " hey there girl, tell me what do you do ? " she said, " um, nothing but i'm damn sure it's more than you " THAT GIRL'S A GENIUS ! ©

#if the promo ain't broke i dont have to fix it <3 #but im in the mist of rewriting verses so just bare with me i have a lot to say SDIOFHOFIHSDOF #the walking dead rp #twd rp #apocalypse rp #modern rp #assassin's creed rp #tftbl rp #oc rp #watchdogs rp #wd rp #ubisoft rp #watch dogs rp #bro idk how to tag this #like 12 years roleplaying i still dont know how promos work #SHDOFIHSDIOFHSDF

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ficnation · 1 year

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Chapter 3: Forgiveness

Series: Way Down We Go // Season 1

Word count: 3154

Pairing: Rick Grimes x Female! Reader; Shane Walsh x Reader; Daryl Dixon x Sister! Reader

Warnings: usual twd themes (e.g. descriptive gore, death, use of weapons, violence, cursing), death of a child (mentioned), daryl is kind of an asshole

A/n: It’s been a long time coming but the third chapter is finally finished! It took so long but I barely have time and motivation this year ;-; But here it is! I hope ya’ll enjoy it <3

If you’re not on the taglist but you’d like to be added let me know!

☁ 𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ☁

☁ 𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐖𝐄 𝐆𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ☁

☁ 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 || 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 ☁

Your ragged breath and the chirping of nearby birds were the only sounds that could be heard. Daryl stared at you with wide-open eyes and mouth gaping like a fish. He had no fucking idea what to think or do. His thoughts turned into a jumbled mess while you stood there with your eyes and fists clenched shut.

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” Merle’s muttering was the only thing that disturbed the silence. He was too stunned and not high enough to say anything more.

You sniffled, wiping the tears off your cheeks with the back of your hand. None of you had the tiniest idea of what to do now that the cat was out of the bag. Were you supposed to elaborate or wait for them to ask questions? Should they even ask questions? It wasn’t a typical situation that just happened to anyone from time to time. You killed seven people. Seven.

The quick beating of your heart was even more frustrating than the thoughts running through your head. It felt like it wanted to jump out of your chest and fall onto the leaf litter with a wet splash of blood. You wrung your hands nervously, avoiding your brothers’ eyes on your person. You had no idea if you could even look them in the eyes after this confession.

“I-” you started, looking for words to explain yourself, but Daryl’s stern glare made you shut your mouth before anything else could come out of it.

Your younger brother pointed an accusatory finger at you before striding towards you, taking long slow steps as if you were going to run like a spooked animal before he could reach you. No one could tell if the look in his eyes was rage or anguish, or maybe it was both mixed with confusion.

“Ya jokin’, right? Ya think tha’s gonna make me forgive ya?” You shrug your arms in defeat, focusing your gaze on his boots. “Then yer fuckin’ wrong,” he whispered menacingly, his breath brushing over your cheeks.

“Hey!” Merle shouts, taking Daryl’s stance so close to you as threatening, but he doesn’t move. “Ya get yer ass away from ‘er!”

His support didn’t make you feel better at all, and you knew it would only fuel Daryl’s outburst. You shuffled away from both of them, but instead of distancing yourself, you tripped over a tree root and landed on your bottom with a grunt. Nothing was going the way you hoped it would.

“I’m not Will. I ain’t gonna hit ‘er, asshole,” your younger brother said through clenched teeth. The broken look in his eyes made your heart pound in your chest, and it hurt.

You wanted to get up from the ground and tell him that you didn’t think he was like Will for even a second. The urge to hug him tight and let him know he’s nothing like your father was hard to resist. But you had to hold yourself back, afraid that you’d just push things further.

“I can explain everything. I can tell you why I couldn’t come back,” you tried, looking him right in the eyes. “Please, just give me a chance, Daryl.”

You decided it wasn’t worth it when you saw the anger simmering behind his irises. His face looked even angrier than before, almost frightening. And you couldn’t help but wonder how far things would go if you continued to try to reason with him. You were afraid that he’d scream at you to go back where you came from; what you were even more afraid of was that you knew you’d do that.

Daryl leaned down until he was inches away from your face. He grabbed your shoulders and squeezed them tightly, forcing you to look at him. There was a fire burning bright in his eyes, and you didn’t know if Daryl wanted to kill or just beat you senseless. You knew he wouldn’t do anything like that, not to you. No matter how much he hated you, your mother raised him right.

“I ain’t gonna listen to yer bullshit story. Nothin’ is gonna make me forgive ya for leavin’. Not even pity.” You gulped, feeling the lump in your throat constricting. He shook you a little, probably trying to scare you half to death, which he succeeded in doing.

“I just want to fix this.”

It angered Daryl even more, so he shoved you further onto the forest floor, ignoring Merle’s shout. You’ve never felt so pathetic in your life like in that moment. You’ve never been the one to plead for forgiveness.

“What did I fuckin’ say?!” He screamed in your face again.

It was impossible to keep your tears under control anymore. You didn’t know what to do anymore. Your brother hated your guts, and you doubted anything could change that.

Your lower lip trembled, your vision blurring, and the tears stinging at your eyelids, and all you could manage was a muffled: “I understand.”

He released you, letting you collapse on the grass as he stood up. Without another word, he disappeared into the forest.

“Shit, I almost forgot this guy’s temper.” Merle’s voice suggested he was pretty amused by the whole situation. He was never the one to take anything seriously for more than a few minutes.

“Don’t think he’ll ever lose that. None of us will,” you mumbled out. You were still reeling from the events that unfolded minutes ago. You closed your eyes and took a few deep breaths, forcing yourself to stop crying so you could gather your thoughts.

“So what now?” Your brother asked. It was a good question that you, unfortunately, didn’t know the answer to.

You shrugged your shoulders and opened your eyes. “I... I guess I need to figure this shit out myself. Don’t know what I should do yet.”

“Ain’t gonna be an easy task makin’ ’im forgive ya.”

“Well...” You frowned, rubbing your forehead in thought. “If he’s planning to hate me forever, then maybe I should consider going back out there on my own.”

That brought a frown to Merle’s face as well. “Yer bein’ serious right now?”

You nodded slowly as Merle gaped at you, but both of you knew that he wouldn’t let you leave. The truth was, you couldn’t bear the thought of being alone after finding them, but what choice did you really have? It seemed like you were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Before Merle could say anything, his eyes snapped toward the sound of twigs breaking and leaves rustling in the distance. You exchanged looks, but neither one of you made any movements. You held your breath, craning your neck to see if anything was about to jump out of the bushes.

Seconds passed, seconds that felt like hours to both of you. The forest was silent except for the occasional bird chirping and the wind blowing through the trees. Neither of you dared to make a single movement, just listening to the sounds around you.

Suddenly, a loud thud came from the direction of the previous noise. You jumped up from your place on the ground, ready to fight whatever was coming your way.

But nothing came.

You waited for a few more moments, but still, nothing happened.

“What the fuck,” Merle muttered, throwing his hands in the air in anger.

He could swear something was hiding in those bushes, but he sure as shit wasn’t going to poke the bear. If he wasn’t going to do something about it, then you would. You bit your lip, hesitating for a couple of seconds before standing up. You walked forward cautiously, glancing at Merle every now and then.

You weren’t prepared this time when you caught a glimpse of something moving in different shrubs behind your brother.

In a split second, you lunged toward Merle, pushing him aside. A rotten hand painfully pulled on your arm, making you drop forward on the grass. You scrambled to your knees, loudly gasping and desperately trying to kick the undead away from you.

His skin was pale, his hair messy like a rat’s nest and black as pitch. But his cold dead eyes that gave you goosebumps were the ones that told you he had been dead for a while.

The straggler growled loudly, getting more aggressive with every second. It snapped its jaw closer to your face making you turn your head to the side to keep more distance from it. You kicked your leg, hitting it straight in the gut, moving it a few inches away with the force.

There was a sound of breaking twigs, and suddenly Merle appeared beside you. In his hands was a large branch that was almost bigger than him. He swung it at the creature, sending it flying backward, far away from you.

Merle hit the straggler again right on the head, this time with full force. The impact caused its’ skull to crack, and soon enough, blood spilled from its eyes and nostrils. The creature dropped dead.

“Shit, tha’ was somethin’.” Merle dropped the stick and nodded his head in approval of himself. “Still got it!”

“Be your own biggest fan, huh?” you mumbled to yourself, looking at your brother in disbelief. You got up from the ground on wobbly legs. “You think more of them are gonna show up?”

“How the hell would I know? Haven’t seen ’em so close to our camp before.” Merle scratched his head in thought, looking at the corpse, while you walked up to it and crouched down to check its pockets. “Plunderin’ corpses is yer niche now?”

You didn’t respond, taking a pack of cigarettes from the dead man’s jacket. You checked twice, but there was nothing else in his clothes. No weapon, no ammunition. That was a shame. You could’ve used some more bullets. It was something that you could never have enough of.

“Ya think I should keep the stick?”

Days went by quicker than you expected, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. Daryl still avoided you like the plague, Merle started to get on your nerves, and the undead seemed to mostly dodge your little settlement. Although you had to kill a few stragglers that wandered into the campsite, neither Daryl nor Merle thought they posed a real threat.

You were sharpening your knife in peace, whistling a quiet melody to soothe your restlessness. You woke up with a weird feeling that didn’t let you sit on your ass for longer than five minutes. It pricked your nerve endings, making pure annoyance shoot through your whole body.

Why wasn’t anything happening when your entire being screamed that danger was near? You couldn’t understand that and decided it was most likely because you weren’t used to peace. You lived your whole life on the edge of your seat, always in a state of run or fight.

“Wha’s wrong with ya?” When you stood up from your place to scout out the surrounding bushes again, Merle sighed. “Gnawers ain’t gonna jus’ appear from nowhe’, Baby. They don’ jump off planes with parachutes to hunt us down.”

“You say so?” You rolled your eyes at his comment, kicking a stray rock away from your pathway. You didn’t know what you expected to find there, but you were unsuccessful. “Nothing,” you mumbled out with resignation, walking back to the log and falling back down on it.

“Wha’ were ya hopin’ to find, huh?”

“I’m just restless. Do you think staying in one place for so long is a good idea?” Your fingers played with a loose strand on the hem of your shirt while you waited for Merle to give you some half-assed reassurance that’d do nothing to soothe your nerves.

“Don’ know. But we’re still alive, tha’ counts,” he mumbled barely coherently, never taking out the cigarette from between his lips while his hands were busy disemboweling a squirrel. It was a sight that wasn’t new to you but amused you just the same as years ago.

A comfortable silence has fallen between you for a few minutes. You looked around, your eyes already searching for Daryl before you could even think it through. He walked around the nearby trees, picking up thick branches for the nightly bonfire. He looked peaceful for the first time since you’ve reconnected. It was all it took for the guilt to swallow your heart again.

“Darylina gonna forgive ya real soon. Don’ even worry ’bout it,” Merle started the conversation once more. “Ya ain’t gonna tell yer older brother wha’ the Atlanta fuss was all ’bout?” He looked up from that damn bloody squirrel, piercing through you with his Dixon blue eyes. Your mother’s were of the same exact shade. It was one of the few things you still remembered about her.

The subject you tiptoed around for the last week finally crawled up to the surface. No matter how much you tried to avoid it, it had to be discussed at some point. That point inescapably came, and even if you weren’t ready to give him an explanation, you forced yourself to tell the story. He deserved to hear it just as much as Daryl.

“If you really want to hear about it…” you began, taking a deep breath in to stabilize your shaky voice. “I was working as a taxi driver. A simple job that paid the bills. I met some shady people there, Merle. And they were a lot fucking worse than those in our neighborhood. That kind that gave out opportunities to gain lots of money and didn’t take no for an answer.”

“Gang shit?” he asked, his entire attention focused on your story. He even forgot about the squirrel and his cigarette, listening carefully to your words. Never before has he acted like that. It has made you feel a lot calmer.

You noticed Daryl in the corner of your eye, glancing time after time in your direction. He was listening in on the conversation, trying to be discreet. You had to admit, he sucked at being discreet. But you continued with your story; it wasn’t about making him forgive and understand you anymore. It was about getting it all off your chest.

“I don’t even know, to be honest. They didn’t look like a gang, they looked like rich businessmen that needed someone else to do their dirty work. I couldn’t say no to them, they didn’t let me. They put me in a car, told me to wear some satanic devil mask and drive whenever and wherever they asked. And I did exactly what they told me to. Not because I wanted that money but because I was afraid of what they’d do to me if I refused.”

You could feel tears pricking your eyes at the memories of living in the unknown, not knowing why you were going somewhere and who or what you’d be driving around. Guns? A dead body? Murderers? You always tried to keep to yourself when fulfilling your “duties,” living in a permanent state of fear of what’d happen to you. But there was no getting out of it. Once you were inside the circle, even prison wouldn’t help you. They’d off you right after getting caught just to ensure you wouldn’t blabber on them.

“Tha’s wha’ they do.” Merle nodded his head in understanding. Whether he knew that from personal experience or from movies he watched, you weren’t sure, but he had an idea of what you were talking about and where the conversation was heading.

“One day, they told me to get in the car, gave me some weird tiny clicker and put the navigation on.” You stopped for a second to wipe off the tears running down your cheeks. Taking another shaky breath in, you smiled faintly and awkwardly at Merle. “Once I was there they called me on my phone, told me to press the button. I… I thought it was supposed to open the gate. Instead, two cars in front of me blew the fuck up.”

“Those motherfuckers… I swear tha’ if they’re not dead already, I’m gonna make ’em regret survivin’ for so long. Gonna cut their dicks off an’ stuff ’em down their throats,” your brother spat out those words with clenched teeth. His leg continuously bounced up and down in annoyance.

“No survivors. The newspaper said there was a child in one of those cars,” you continued, sniffling. You felt numb and guilty, and it was exactly what you deserved. You deserved to feel so much worse for what you’ve done.

Merle didn’t comment on that. He got up from his spot and walked over to you, pulling you into his arms while his hand caressed your hair soothingly. Your brother was never good at words, but his actions made the emotional barrier in you break into pieces; you couldn’t hold it together anymore. Sobs wrecked through your body while your hands grabbed Merle’s vest tightly, holding onto it for dear life. His clothes muffled your cries while you buried your face in his chest.

You needed that.

The sky has turned dark before you could even notice. Only when the stars started shining over your head did you become more aware of your surroundings. It wasn't really smart to walk around in the middle of the apocalypse with your head in the clouds, but you made an exception for yourself just this one time. You promised yourself it wasn't going to happen again. You needed to be focused on your surroundings more than ever.

You didn't do anything productive that day, sulking around and thinking through your every goddamn life decision. Merle and Daryl, let you be, now hustling around to set up the bonfire and cook some squirrel meat over it.

You looked over at them when your stomach grumbled loudly, and with a sigh, you decided it wouldn't be such a bad idea to join them.

"Ya feelin' better?" your older brother asked, passing you the squirrel meat on a sharpened stick.

Daryl raised his head at Merle's words, his eyes looking over to you to see for himself if you were alright. As much as he has convinced himself that he hated your guts, deep down, Daryl still cared, and he couldn't fight off the habit of checking up on you with his gaze once in a while.

"Not sure. But I'll be alright," you assured, twirling the stick between your hands mindlessly. "I have to be."

You caught Daryl's stare from across the bonfire, and you sent him a sad half-smile, making him retract his eyes back to his task.

You didn't know whether it was because of your talk with Merle or something else, but the atmosphere around the three of you had changed. You couldn't feel the tension and the hatred anymore. It gave you hope that someday it'll all be better.

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