Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

Her Angel, His Strength

28 Home

Lily didn't know what she expected when she decided to follow the Dixon's brothers, but this wasn't it. Ever since she woke up, they hadn't stopped antagonizing one another. She felt they were walking in circles, not knowing what to do next.

"There ain't nothing out here but mosquitoes and ants." Daryl proclaimed after an entire day of walking without rest.

"Patience, little brother." Was Merle's reply, not sounding concerned at all. Lily tuned them off, again. They had had the same talk for the last two hours, and she felt a kind of exhaustion she had only felt before when winter was there and the group had to keep walking with little to no food or rest. "They're all dead, makes no difference." Now, that caught her attention.

"How can you be so sure?" Daryl asked when she stopped dead on her track.

"Right about now he's probably hosting a housewarming party where's he gonna bury what's left of your pals." Merle answered, apparently not bothered at all with the possibility of the demise of all of their friends. "Let's hook some fish."

"Daryl?" Lily called, quietly as they proceeded to follow Merle. "You think he is right?" He did.

"Even if he is, they are strong. They can take care of themselves." He didn't think they could.

"Yeah… But there's a baby now. And Hershel…"

"They'll be fine, baby." At least, he hoped. Nonetheless, Daryl knew Lily was right to worry. They were strong; they had gone through enough shit not to be, however, the numbers, the gun power were not on their group's favour. Still, Merle was blood. He made the right call, Daryl thought, looking sideways at Lily who was biting her lower lip, seeming as troubled as he felt.

They found no river, they had had nothing to eat since their miserable squirrel the night before, they had not stopped walking all day, and they hadn't stooped their bickering with each other for a second. Lily didn't know how much more of this she could take.

"Could you two stop this, just- please! Stop this" Lily screeched, causing the brothers to glance at her surprised, the girl truly wasn't one to speak up. "God, just for a moment, could both of you act your age? You!" She pointed at Merle, whose mouth was opened, forming a perfect 'o' shape. "Stop trying to make fun of everything! This is not, in any shape of form, funny! It's actually terrible, terrible sad! We have no food, no water and no roof! You!" She turned to Daryl, who arched an eyebrow, fighting back a smirk, "Stop antagonising your brother! You know how he's like, so why the hell don't you stop pestering him?!" Lily was panting after her rant. She didn't feel any better, though, as she could see from the expression on Merle's face that he thought her no more dangerous than an angry kitten wrestling a yarn, and Daryl… Now, she didn't know what the look on his face was about, but she could tell he wasn't taking her seriously either. She was about to open her mouth to start again when she heard it. Titling her head, she could barely make the sound out, but she couldn't chance, could she? There was a baby, crying.

"Lily? Where ya- Hey! Lily!" She could hear Daryl following her, but she didn't stop running. He would catch up with her, anyway, and she didn't want to think what could happen to the baby if they arrived too late. She had just seen the family at the car when a hand grabbing her arm jerked her back, roughly bringing her at a stop. "What the h-" As soon as Daryl saw the family, though, he swore to himself and ran over them, crossbow at ready, ignoring Merle's complains. Lily followed his example and made her way over.

The woman and the baby were screaming hysterically, Merle was Merle, and the man thought they were after his family.

"That ain't no way to say thank you." Not that he was in the wrong, seeing how Merle was hovering over their car as soon as they killed the walkers.

"We don't have anything." The man insisted.

"Merle, what the hell?! Stop this!" Lily hissed, walking towards him but being stopped by Daryl, who blocked her way with his body.

"Get out of the car." He barked at his older brother, pointing his crossbow at him. It was a few tense moments afterwards, and the family finally left, leaving Lily to deal with the two. The discussion between them was taking a more personal tone, though, so Lily thought better to stay out of it.

"Oh, otherwise you would have just left them to the biters, then?" Merle asked, irony bittering his tone.

"Man, I went back for you!" Daryl twisted around to face him, his voice as hard as his tensed muscled on his back. "Ya weren't there. I didn't cut off your hand, neither. You did that! Way before they locked ya up on that roof, you asked for it."

"Ya know- ya know what's funny to me?" Merle responded narrowing his eyes. "You and Sheriff Rick are like this now." He crossed his point and middle finger. "Right? I bet ya a penny and a fiddle of gold that ya never told him that we were plannin' on robbin' that camp blind." Lily's eyes were as wide as saucers. Even she had no idea of that, though thinking about it, it wasn't so surprising. When all of this started, they were planning to leave the group, and between the two (or three, you counted her) of them, they didn't have much.

"It didn't happen." Daryl hissed, eyes hard, not once chancing a glance at her.

"Yeah, it didn't 'cause I wasn't there to help ya."

"What, like when we were kids, huh? Who left who then?" Lily bit her lower lip, not knowing what to do. They had much more personal troubles than she first thought.

"Is that why I lost my hand?" Merle asked, incredulous.

"You lost your hand 'cause ya're a simpleminded piece of shit." Daryl glowed, turning his back on the conversation and starting to walk away. He didn't take more than two steps before Merle caught a hold of his shirt and yanked him back. But doing so ripped the fabric apart, revealing to Merle and Lily cross scissor scars that had never healed properly. Lily gasped but the sound was lost on the shocked brothers.

"I didn't know he was-" Merle seemed at a loss, his face lost all the rage he felt before.

"Yeah, he did." Daryl spit, not seeming to care or believe in Merle's words. "He did the same to ya, that's why ya left first."

"I had to, man. I would have killed him otherwise." Daryl scoffed and taking a glimpse of a stunned Lily who was standing a few feet to his side, he grabbed her hand and turned around, dragging her with him. She was too astounded to walk normally, so her first steps had her tripping on the woods. It didn't seem to faze Daryl, who just tightened his grip on her.

"Where ya goin'?" Merle shouted at them.

"Back where I belong." Lily's heart skipped a beat. The prison!

"I can't go with ya. I tried to kill that black bitch. Damn near killed the Chinese kid."

"He's Korean!" Daryl looked back, and Lily would have smiled if she wasn't feeling so nervous.

"Whatever!" Merle spitted, sounding so much like his brother once had. "I just can't go with ya."

"Ya know, I may be the one walking away but ya're the one that's leavin'- again." And they walked. Daryl's lips were a thin line and he didn't even seem to notice Lily's presence despite the hand that was firmly holding her own. A few meters ahead, they heard the sound of Merle's steps; nonetheless, Daryl didn't turn around to greet his brother. Lily knew things would be weird between them for a while, but the two had finally talked about things that had bothered them for so long; she knew they wouldn't stay like that.

She gave Daryl's hand a squeeze, startling him. She was right; he had forgotten she was there. His eyes were bright and didn't hold the anger from before. Now, looking at her, she thought she saw shame reflecting on the blue. She gave him a faint smile, squeezing him again. He nodded and sighed, turning back to their track.

It wasn't an hour before they reached the prison. And when they did, they ran towards it, not even thinking before acting. There were walkers everywhere, Rick was surrounded and the gates were ripped apart. The three newcomers made a quick work of despatching the dead around the sheriff, but nothing could be done to their gate. Running, they helped Rick back inside the prison.

If there are no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.