Wonderfully written! I can easily imagine this happening (I just finished season 3, so if something canon changes this, I don't know it yet)
I definitely enjoyed reading this, and I'm going to see about reading more from you as long as it's written before the time season 4 came out (unless I finish that by then haha)

Anyway, I really like your writing. I love how you paint a picture with your words even if it is a depressing and gruesome one. Thanks!

Oh man...oh man oh man. This was a wonderfully written story! I usually avoid stories with OC's because they are usually not developed well, but you are an exception! I loved Janie and find comfort in thinking of that alternate universe you mentioned where Daryl runs away with her.
You were really able to capture the essence of Daryl and Merle. Seriously, I adored this story from start to finish. Fantastic work, my friend. :)

Wow! If TPTB ever did a pre-series program or movie, hopefully they'd follow your storyline! This was so realistic, so detailed and I truly felt as though I was there. Awesome writing! Thanx!

I know you wrote this ages ago. I can't get it out of my head. Please tell me you write professionally. You must. This was incredible!

Awesome story!

This is truly a wonderful story. It is a mix of both beauty and horror. This has become canon in my mind for how Daryl was first introduced to the reanimated dead. You captured the characters of Daryl and Merle perfectly. I can't wait to read more of your work. Amazing job!

Great story. Nicely done!

This was so good! I've never read a story taking place at the beginning of it all in TWD universe. Very interesting! It would be neat to read about how other characters reacted in the early days.

This is so...real. Thank you for a story that will stay in my head. The details are exquisite, as you bring Daryl's l world pre-Fall to fully to life (the cat's name, the laundry, her t-shirt, the branches closing like a curtain...) And the emotions - Daryl realizing Merle might have cut himself intentionally...Janie recognizing Daryl as a kindred spirit...Daryl and Merle both sensing that something is coming

What a poignant picture you paint, Praxid. Daryl in the tree - oh my poor heart!
Please keep writing. I have never suggested a topic to anyone, but if my sluggish brain could think of something worthwhile, you would be the author I would humbly present with the notion :-) xx

holy jesus on a bicycle i absolutely loved this i was really concerned about looking up fics for TWD especially for daryl since im so particular about his portrayal but you did such a great job like. wow.

I love this and can really picture this slotting so easily into cannon, if they ever do a flashback episode of what everyone was doing when the world ended then the Dixon's could carry the whole episode and this is how it should go.
You can really feel the panic and fear as all this starts to happen but then being Daryl and Merle it's completely believable that they take a moment to adjust and then just get on with surviving. I always get the feeling that Daryl was never really in shock at the world ending, it was just one more crappy event in a whole lifetime of them and in a way he'd just shrugged his shoulders at it and got on with life the way he'd had to with everything else.
Thanks for sharing this, looking forward to more.

Damn gruesome :/

Well shoot. This is only the first chapter and you've already made me cry.

Christ, how I have been waiting for some decent writing and here it finally is. Well done.