A simple supply hunt for a source of water in the middle of Atlanta turns sour quickly for Erin as she come fist to face with a fuming, handless Merle Dixon.
Alone in the middle of the apocalypse with only a racist guy who doesn't know the differen...
"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." - Joe Klass
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Deep beneath the surface, clanging could be heard, echoing down the hallway and, although it was muffled by the time it reached their ears, it was still audible. Glenn was the first to hear it, the slight noise barely noticeable above the sound of the showers next to the room he was sat in, but he still heard it.
He looked up as Rick walked in, his damp hair clung to his forehead but he was definitely looking healthier in cleaner clothes. Everyone did, except Daryl who had preferred to keep his own outfit; Glenn had a feeling the others should perhaps pay more attention to Daryl's instincts. After all, the dude was a hunter - if he said he didn't trust a place, chances are there was something untrustworthy there.
Now, he wasn't saying he didn't trust Dr. Jenner, but there was something he wasn't telling them and Daryl was the first to pick up on his uneasiness around the group...
"Hey, how are you doin'?" Rick asked, pulling him away from his thoughts.
Glenn furrowed his brow in thought, straining his ears to make sure the sound was definitely there. It was. "Can you hear that?"
Rick looked around, searching for something making a noise. When he heard nothing obvious, he gave the younger guy a weird look, "Hear what?"
"Listen closer," Glenn instructed, knowing he wasn't making it up, "There's a banging noise-"
"Ya can hear it, too?" Both of them lifted their heads at the arrival of a new speaker, turning to find Daryl stood in the doorway to the room, a similar expression to Glenn's on his rough features. As expected, he'd dressed back in his old vest, shirt and jeans, not really looking much different than he had before the shower, apart from his washed hair. "Reckon it's comin' from outside... Should go ask Jenner..."
He turned to head off, stopping as Glenn jumped up from his seat and shooting him a look that asked where the hell he thought he was going. "I'll come with you."
Daryl rolled his eyes at the kid in front of him, "Whatever..."
Glenn headed after him, figuring it was probably best to give the guy a few feet of personal space as they made their way to the main control room. He kept well out of Daryl's way as he marched over to where Dr. Jenner was. The doctor was sat at one of the computers, staring absently at the screen which displayed numerous amounts of coding and testing data, none of which Glenn could ever hope to make any sense of.
"Bring up the camera for outside."
Jenner glanced up for a second at Daryl's request, noting where he was standing with his arms folded before looking back at his computer screen.
"No."
Daryl's eyes widened slightly and Glenn subconsciously took a step backwards, not wanting to be too close in case the walking ballistic missile blew up. "Ya hearin' what I'm sayin'?" He tilted his head to one side, "Bring up the damn cameras."
"It would unnecessarily take up power," Jenner replied monotonously, still not looking at Daryl as he grew more pissed off by the second, "No."
He choked suddenly, a whimper falling from his lips as Daryl abruptly grabbed the front of his shirt in his fist, forcing him to look him in the eyes as he gritted his teeth, "Someone's out there. Bring the cameras up. Now!"
"Okay," the doctor gulped as Rick came running in with T-Dog hot on his heels, probably having heard Daryl raise his voice, "Okay... I-I'll bring them up..."
Daryl dropped him back into his chair, standing threateningly behind him as he typed in whatever was needed to get to view from the outside cameras. Rick shot Glenn a questioning look to which he could only reply with a shrug, his eyebrows raised.
After a few seconds, a video image flickered onto the huge screen above their heads. Daryl's footsteps clanged on the steps as he went forward to get a closer look, "What the heck..."
The picture showed two figures - a man and a woman - standing outside the entrance to the building upstairs. At first glance, Glenn assumed it was just another couple of geeks, but as he looked properly he noticed something very un-geek-y about the pair; only the man was pounding his fist and... stump(?) against the door, whereas the woman had her back to the camera, wielding an axe and a baseball bat.
He had to hand it to her, from what little he could make out on the grainy feed she was doing a pretty decent job of keep the geeks away.
Daryl, however, was focused more on the man, "Aw shit, is that Merle?!" He turned to T-Dog with a mixed look of anger and hope in his eyes as though he wished it wasn't his brother standing on the other side of the door that, according to Jenner, they could no longer open.
T-Dog looked up, squinting slightly, but both Glenn and Daryl already knew his answer, "Yeah, looks like him... Don't know who the girl is..."
"Shit..." Daryl hissed through his teeth, running a hand through his damp hair in frustration and pacing back and forth in front of them before looking back up at the image displayed above him, "Dammit Merle... Why couldn't it be someone else? Someone I don't care about?"
"I-I can't let them in... I-I told you before, that door won't open again... " Jenner spoke up, staying at least ten metres from Daryl.
"Well, ya better make it open. Ya better make it open right now," he replied, a sharp tone underlying his voice which they all picked up on as he glanced back up at the image of Merle, still hammering away on the door. If he listened hard enough, the sound echoing through the floors was almost as good as an audio feed. Jenner was still apprehensive so Daryl decided on different tactics, "Ya listen here ya son of a bitch, you're gonna open that door or I'm gonna smash ya head in... Your choice..."
Rick quickly stepped between the archer and his target, earning a heated glare from Daryl, "Daryl, don't..."
Daryl scoffed at the warning, "Ya think I'm gonna listen to you? If I remember right, it's cause of you that my brother is out there!" He took a pace forwards, folding his arms across his chest and tilting his head expectantly at Rick, his eyes boring into the Sheriff.
"Listen, Daryl... You know Merle was a danger to all of us-"
"No, you listen to me, Rick Grimes... if someone don't open that door, I'm gonna be a danger to all of yous. Alright?" Daryl narrowed his eyes at Rick, almost daring him to say no, but the Sheriff instead turned away to look at the doctor.
"Is there any way we can open those doors?" Jenner went to shake his head, "Doctor, there has to be a way to let them inside..."
"I-I honestly can't... It's a deadlock. Not even a nuclear missile could breach those doors now," Jenner explained shakily, flinching as Daryl let out a growl of anger.
"My brother is out there! Open the doors!" He was a wreck by this point, watching his older brother frantically trying to get inside on the screen above his head. "Open them!" he roared, picking up the nearest thing to him, which happened to be a chair, and throwing it across the room with all the strength he could muster in his state of anger and frustration.
"Hey, look," T-Dog pointed up at the display as the chair landed with a crash in the distance, making everyone's heads turn to look up at it, "They're leaving..."
As they all watched, they realised he was right. The woman appeared to be saying something to Merle and, after he'd delivered a few more punches, they both retreated from the door and went out of the camera shot. They waited for a few moments, but the pair didn't seem to be coming back.
Daryl was the first to look away, his jaw set firmly as he barged past Rick and Glenn and headed down the hallway to the bedrooms. The last thing they heard from him that night was the echoes of his voice yelling,
