The Warriors Way-Chapter One

Daryl washed off the blood and grime in the river. He could see nothing but brown grass for miles and wondered if Nebraska was the ugliest state God ever created.

"Smells like a damn barnyard out here!" Merle complained as he stomped through the water toward Daryl.

"At least there's livestock. Shit. I haven't had a hamburger in a long ass time." Daryl said, chuckling as he looked at the cattle wandering around the area.

"We could kill one and carve us up some steaks." Merle suggested, washing his hands off in the running water.

"Take too much time." Daryl said, holding his hand up to block the sun so he could see into the distance, "We gotta be on the road soon. Breed's probably still chasing us and we're sittin' ducks."

Every day, they got closer and closer to Katelyn. Every time Merle wanted to stop, Daryl kept on pushing. He was being driven by one single thought: Katelyn. Merle thought he was crazy, but they'd managed to survive over months and months of hard fought travel. They'd seen some shit too. Enormous herds of walkers mindlessly heading down open stretches of highway by the thousands, human remains stuck up on posts like they'd been crucified by self-proclaimed militia groups, and mass suicides of some sort in almost every state.

The world had gone to shit.

Three weeks back, the two of them had run afoul of some sort of biker gang led by a guy they called "Breed". They'd stayed overnight in an old motel that seemed abandoned but suddenly, Breed and his boys showed up and were demanding "tribute". When the Dixon brothers refused, all hell broke loose. Out numbered and outgunned, they'd barely escaped with their lives but Breed must have been bored because he decided to chase them. They'd had two more encounters with them before shaking them finally but they were always looking over their shoulders now.

As far as Daryl and Merle could tell, this "Breed" guy was some sort of 1%-er left over from the days when that meant something. They had ties to a militia group out of South Dakota that Merle knew of and were wandering the plains like nomadic warlords looking for plunder and power. They had some heavy firepower too, which they probably stole from the National Guard stations when everything went to crap. They'd run into a few survivors along the way that were terrified of them and said there were stories that they were kidnapping any young, female survivors they came across. One family had two daughters taken by them, never to be seen again.

"Come on. It's getting dark. We're too easy to spot with our tail lights. We gotta find a place to hide." Daryl quickly realized that with the biker gang hunting them, they were safer traveling in the daytime.

Sludging through the muddy Platte River, Daryl made his way to shore and grabbed a pair of jeans they'd taken from a Wal-Mart a ways back. Throwing the other jeans in the back of the truck, he grabbed his gear and shoved it onto the seat next to him. Hopping in, he started up the truck and yelled at Merle.

"Come on! Daryl shouted, shoving a piece of jerky in his mouth.

Merle was hopping as he came toward the truck, trying to get his leg in the pants. Buttoning up the last one, he hopped in beside his brother and nodded.

"Let's roll!" He said loudly, pushing the CD into the player.

The music blasted through the cab and Daryl started singing.

And I ask what for now
Why me, why war?
And I ask what for now
Vietnam War?
Spend my time there by the shore

Pounding the steering wheel to the rhythm of the song, Daryl sang loudly and off key. Merle covered his ears, wondering what his brother was listening to.

"What the hell is this!?" Merle shouted over the noise.

Daryl grinned, singing even louder until Merle reached over and hit the eject button.

"Hey!" Daryl yelled, trying to grab the CD.

"Hell na! I'm gonna put in some real music!" Merle reached in the back, grabbing one of the CD's back there. Sliding it into the stereo, Merle smiled as the music started playing.

Back in black

I hit the sack

I've been too long I'm glad to be back

Yes I'm loose

Let loose from the noose

Daryl groaned.

"We've listened to this CD 7 times. I can't take it again. I swear to god, Merle, I 'm gonna throw it out the winda!" Daryl hit the eject button and the two got in a thumping war trying to control the radio.

Thumping Merle on the ear, Daryl barely swerved in time to miss the walker that stood in the middle of the road.

"See what ya almost did! We'd a been cleaning walker outta the grill for a week!" Merle hooted as Daryl grabbed the steering wheel with both hands.

Daryl looked in the rear view mirror at the walker and got a chill. The walker stood motionless in the middle of the road, watching them as they drove away. Something didn't feel right to him. Reaching over, he shut off the radio.

"What the hell?" Merle yelled but Daryl's face made him quiet down.

"Somethin's wrong." Daryl said quietly giving Merle a chill.

"Maybe we should pull off the main road. Find a town to stay in for the night. Hide the truck…and us." Merle said softly, like he was nervous too.

"Yeah. I think that's a good idea." Daryl said, starting to look for an exit. One thing he and Merle learned was to trust their instincts.

Merle saw it first and pointed.

"There!" He nearly shouted.

Daryl slowed down and turned off onto the exit, driving a couple miles down the road until they saw a town. It was creepy, deserted, with just a few stragglers wandering the streets. Daryl didn't have a good feeling tonight, and really didn't want to stop driving.

"Maybe we should keep going but take one of these highways through Nebraska instead of the interstate." Daryl suggested, looking over at Merle who seemed tense.

"You're givin' me the willies, little brother." Merle admitted, looking around.

Walkers never bothered him before but everything seemed to be in slow motion tonight. The walkers seemed to follow them with their eyes, watching them with an interest that wasn't normal.

Daryl looked as the gas meter. They had plenty of fuel and he definitely wasn't tired now so he stepped on the gas and kept on hauling.

"Get the map out. This is some sorta back highway heading north." Daryl stated, watching the road like an eagle.

"Yeah, I think it's Highway 10. We'll head north until we hit Highway 2, then head back west until Mason City. We can decide what to do once we get there. It's a decent sized town so it'll have supplies and I'm pretty sure Breed and his boys won't be there looking for us. They'll assume we kept on going down the interstate." Merle said, trying to make himself feel better.

Daryl nodded, feeling a little relieved, but they were still tense.

"So tell me about this girl." Merle said, trying to make idle chit chat. He wasn't brave enough to bring it up before there run-in with Breed, but after their near death experience, both of them seemed a little more tolerant of the other.

Daryl cocked an eyebrow at him.

"You've never given a shit before. Why you start askin' now?" Daryl snapped, suspicious of Merle's intentions.

Merle shrugged.

"I dunno. Just makin' small talk. 'Sides, if yer gonna marry this bi…girl, then I need ta know somethin' bout her." Merle snorted.

Daryl hadn't even thought about marriage. Shit, there wasn't anybody to left that could marry them.

"Whatcha wanna know?" Daryl asked cautiously.

"That bastard Govna was her old man, huh?" Merle asked, huffing in derision.

"Yeah. She ran away from 'im." Daryl answered, thinking back to the moment he'd found out that Rick had traded her back to that sick son of a bitch in order to get Daryl back.

"He beat 'er or somethin'?" Merle asked. He was still puzzled by the way she'd reacted to him in the shed and was looking for a reason. Most of the women he knew hid everything behind masks of anger or seduction. He'd never met someone so…raw. He just didn't know how to interact with someone like her.

"Toward the end, he went crazy, she said. He used ta be a good husband and father, then he got power hungry, went nuts, did all sorts of evil things." Daryl explained.

"So what happened after that?" Merle had never been smooth, but he really wanted to know what'd happened.

"I found 'er in the woods. She'd been beaten and raped by two inbred rednecks. They beat 'er so bad they nearly killed her. She's timid 'round people, especially men she don't know." Daryl decided to tell him the truth. If Merle had anything left of his soul, he'd have to feel something for her.

"Damn." Merle said in the closest thing to sympathy he figured he could muster.

"We were lucky we had Hershel. She was messed up real bad for a while." Daryl finished explaining, "Then, other stuff happened."

"Like what?" Merle prodded, more curious now than ever. He'd never been one that cared about other people's troubles but since she was gonna be family, he figured he outta know.

"I got captured by the Govna and she exchanged herself for me." Daryl cringed, remembering the moment he saw her being taken off by her father.

Merle frowned. He hadn't expected to hear that about her. Obviously, she was loyal to Daryl and she was brave enough to do that, and that counted for something in Merle's book.

"She talked Rick into using her to exchange. I didn't know 'bout it or I never woulda let them do it. By the time I found out, it was too late. Her daddy had her back." Daryl shivered at the thought.

"I remember some crazy bitch who slashed his wrist open in the infirmary going apeshit. That her?" Merle asked, thinking back to that night.

"Pro'lly. He did some bad shit to 'er but she escaped with the help of the doc." Daryl said quietly, remembering the poor woman whom he'd had to kill out of mercy.

"You're the one who shot 'er, huh?" Merle asked, putting two and two together.

Daryl was quiet for a minute.

"The doc? Yeah." He said softly.

Merle nodded. His brother wasn't as soft as he'd once thought.

"You done her a service." Merle stated, knowing that killing that woman didn't sit well with Daryl.

Daryl nodded, not wanting to talk about that.

"Then, this crazy ass inmate, serial killer from the prison butchered one of Hershel's girls and almost killed Kate too." Daryl finished.

Merle whistled, expressing his awe of the shit they'd all been through.

"Damn. Guess you're lucky she aint' fuckin' bat shit crazy." Merle said, trying to comfort Daryl as best as he could.

Daryl glared at him.

"You scared the shit outta her so bad she wouldn't talk, you know. She just laid there in a ball" Daryl accused, but then added, speaking softly, "That's when I fucked everything up."

"You're a Dixon. We fuck up everything." Merle said, commiserating with him, but then realized the words upset Daryl and tried to make it better, "At least you fuck up less than I do. That's somethin' ain't it?"

Daryl's sadness turned to dry amusement.

Merle was a fucking idiot.

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"I have to pee. Bad…as in, like a racehorse." Katelyn stated to the passenger of car she was riding in as she held her small baby bump, trying to lift it off of her bladder.

It wasn't working.

Maggie laughed at her comment and poked Daryl in the side.

"I heard ya. That's like the fourth time in three hours. You have the world's smallest bladder." Glenn teased as he flashed his lights to signal to the others that they needed to stop.

"I'm pregnant, you dork!" Katelyn yelled playfully, smacking Glenn in the back of the head.

He saw Rick pull over slowly, and get out of the car to stretch his legs, as Glenn pulled in behind him. Tyreese and the others were last to pull over. Though no one would admit it, they all appreciated the pregnant Katelyn for the frequent stretch breaks.

Rick shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand and looked around the area. He saw three walkers off in the distance and pointed to the others so everyone would keep a watchful eye. A log house lay off the other way on the edge of a manmade pond and Rick wondered if they should check it out. Pointing at it, Rick motioned for Tyreese to look.

"We could check it out…stop there for the night if its clear." Rick offered, thinking that it might be nice to sleep in a bed for once.

They'd been traveling for four months, dodging herds, blocked roads, massive herds, and a series of illnesses that seemed to knock them all off their feet for a month, not to mention having to stop and scout for gas, supplies and lodging constantly. They'd basically meandered their way across the country like a slow winding river. They were in Colorado finally, on the eastern edge of it, and they swore they could smell the mountain air.

"We're gonna need to find some warm clothes. We need a town with a Wal-mart or a mall or somethin'" Rick stated, walking over by Tyreese to look at the house together.

"Yeah. It's getting' nippy. Snow could hit anytime now." Tyreese added, studying the landscape for possible threats.

"Whatdya think?" Rick asked.

"Let's go check it out." Tyreese agreed, heading back to the car.

Katelyn returned from peeing beside the road and climbed back in the car. Her back was sore and her legs were asleep, but all in all, she felt pretty good now that she wasn't puking anymore.

"We're gonna go check out that house." Glenn said as he trotted back up to the car.

Katelyn looked at where he was pointing.

A real bed!

"Sounds good to me!" She exclaimed as Glenn pulled the car in behind Rick's.