Spider Monkey

Chapter Sixteen - Back Home

( Notes: TW for some slurs because its Merle...) 

Daryl couldn't stop thinking about Hedley. Wondering if he made the right call. Especially when Merle was being such a dick about it.

"I may have lost my hand, but you lost your sense of direction."

"Yeah, we'll see." Daryl huffed.

"What do you want to bet?"

"I don't want to bet nothing."

"It's just a body of water."

Daryl rolled his eyes, "Why's everything got to be a competition with you?"

"Whoa, whoa. Take it easy, little brother." Merle smiled his stupid smile, "Just trying to have a little fun here. No need to get your panties all in a bundle."

Daryl huffed once more, looking for tracks on the ground.

"So... is this Hedley kid really yours?" Merle asked in an almost soft voice.

"Nah." Daryl shook his head, his chest tightening, "I found 'im when lookin' for Carol's daughter."

"That's right. Sophie, right?"

"Sophia."

"Is she-"

"Dead. Got lost in the woods when being chased by walkers. I searched and searched. But we found her in a barn. Dead n' walking."

"Fuck, man." Merle paused then said, "So why did Officer Friendly call 'im ya kid?"

"Hedley... he's special."

"Like retarded?"

"Don't say that, man." Daryl narrowed his eyes in warning at his brother.

Merle raised his hand and stump in surrender. "Easy. Sorry. Didn't mean to touch a nerve."

"He's autistic. But brave as hell. Took down walkers like it was nothing even 'fore joining the group." He defended, looking around the trees for squirrels, not wanting to look at Merle's reaction, "He attached 'imself ta me. I let 'im."

"Well, ya can forget all about the kid."

"Yeah." Daryl then perked up, hearing something in the distance. "Ya hear that?"

"Yeah, wild animals getting wild."

The archer shook his head, "No, it's a baby."

"Oh, come on. Why don't you just piss in my ear and tell me it's raining, too? That there's the sound of a couple of coons making love, sweet love. Know what I mean?"

Daryl ran to the noise as saw a man screaming in Spanish on a bridge.

"Hey! Jump!" Merle yelled, and saw Daryl's look of disgust, "What?" Daryl ran. "Hey, man, I ain't wasting my bullets on a couple of strangers that ain't never cooked me a meal or felicitated my piece. That's my policy. You'd be wise to adopt it, brother."

They made it on the bridge, walkers all around a car. A woman, holding a screaming baby to her chest and a man desperately trying to keep the walkers away with a baseball bat.

Daryl shoots his bolts, yelling out, "Move! Move!"

"Santa María llena eres de gracia..." More yelling in Spanish.

Merle was struggling, the man going after him in a panic, "Come on, man. I'm trying to help you out. Cover me! Behind, behind!" More Spanish, more panic, more chaos, "Speak English. I don't understand you!"