" Towards the Eye of the Storm "

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—THE MOMENT Daryl stepped foot back in the camp was the moment Travis was just waiting for. Travis had made himself comfortable by the smoking fire pit, pawing through a bowl of mushrooms to discard the ones they couldn't eat when Daryl finally got back from his hunt. He came back just a split second before the others that had run off to help the kids once they started screaming. Amy had jumped up from her seat as if she would be of any help with whatever was happening, shoving the bowl in his hands. With Shane, Dale, Rick, and Andrea along with a few others running to the rescue, Travis didn't see the point in joining them anyway.

"Biter cost us a damn buck," Daryl called across the camp as he made his way towards Travis. "Got us some squirrel though," he added as he pulled his haul off of his shoulder as he looked away from Travis and around the rest of camp.

"Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Shane called after Daryl as he stopped near Travis.

"Where's the ugly bastard?" he questioned, looking down at Travis.

Travis scoffed a bit, "Why don't you-"

"Daryl, I gotta talk to you."

Daryl turned around softly, Travis had to dodge the squirrels that swung from his shoulder. "About what?"

"About Merle."

Here it goes. Travis though as he put the bowl of mushrooms on the ground and began to stand up.

"There was a problem...in Atlanta."

"He dead?"

"Probably wishes he was 'bout now." Travis replied quickly, receiving a glare from Shane.

Daryl looked back at Travis with his eyebrows furrowed together, "He either is or he aint!" he replied sharply, turned towards Shane again.

"No easy way to say this-"

"Who are you?" Daryl snapped sharply, cutting Rick off as he began to speak.

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes," Daryl scoffed, "you got somethin' you want to tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all. So I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal." Rick said, putting it as bluntly as he could to just get the hard part of the way.

"Left him there too." Travis added.

Daryl spun around, "Hold on, let me...let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you left him there!?"

         Travis glanced at Shane who watched Daryl's every move before he spared a glance at Travis, as if he was asking him for help with his cousin. Usually, whenever Merle or Daryl caused any sort of trouble, Shane counted on Travis to deal with it. He usually could without causing the least amount of problems for the group.

Travis shook his head as he crossed his arms, "Oh no, this one's all yours."

"Watch the knife!" T-Dog called out from in front of the RV just as Daryl pulled out his knife from his belt and went to charge at Rick, which Travis knew would happen. And if Shane wasn't around, Travis would have still let it happen.

       But Shane quickly dropped his rifle to the ground and grabbed Daryl and got his arms around his neck, getting him into a choke hold. Muttering to him as the two ended getting closer to the ground as Daryl dropped his knife and began grasping Shane's arm that was over his nec.

"Choke hold's illegal!"

"You can file a complaint. Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day."

"Listen, I'd like to have a calm discussion about this. Do you think we can manage that?"

Travis scoffed, "You don't strike me as the type to have a calm discussion, Rick. More of a shoot first, ask questions later type."

Rick didn't bother to look over his shoulder at Travis. Shane however glared up from his place holding only Daryl, as if to tell Travis he wasn't helping at all.

"Hey, this is what happens when you bite one of the hands that feed you people." Travis stated, motioning to the situation unfolding as the group began to gather around them.

"Do you think we can manage that?" Rick asked again, earning a mumbled response from Daryl and a small nod, which was all he had to do to get Shane off his back. "What I did wasn't on a whim, your brother doesn't work or play well with others-"

"It wasn't Ricks' fault," T-Dog spoke up, forcing himself to look down towards Daryl, "I had the key. I dropped it."

Daryl's mouth dropped open a bit, a dumbfounded look on his face. "You couldn't pick it up?"

"Well...I dropped it down a drain."

Daryls' face hardened again, but his shoulders slouched a bit in defeat. "If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't"

"Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof. So the geeks couldn't get at him, with a padlock. It's gotta count for something."

"Hell with all y'all!" Daryl said loudly as he pushed himself up off the ground. "Just tell us where he is so we can go get 'im ourselves." he ranted, motioning to Travis when he spoke about them going to get Merle.

"Officer Prick is showing us where he is." Travis stated, "Ain't that right, Rick?"

Rick nodded in agreement, "I'm going back."

       Even though Travis had been hoping for a bit more from Daryl, his cousin wasn't stupid like a lot of people at the camp probably thought. He knew that he and Travis wouldn't be able to find Merle on their own, neither of them had been on a run to the building that Glenn had made runs to. They needed Rick to show them where Merle was, if he was still there or even alive. So the two of them went to gathering what they'd need for the trip into the city while Rick went to go and get himself ready.

"You trust this guy?" Daryl asked, standing just inside the RV door as Travis rummaged through the smaller duffle bag of guns and ammo that he and Shane had kept away from the rest of the group in the RV.

Travis shook his head, "But we have less of a chance of findin' Merle on our own." he stated.

"We have less of a chance of gettin' in and out of Atlanta following a dead man that just showed up."

Travis looked up at his cousin, "You want to go into that building crawlin' with walkers without some dead wait we can drop if we got to?" he questioned.

"Maybe we just leave him there anyway." Daryl stated, moving further into the RV. "Get Merle, and not come back here." he added, "These people ain't gonna last much longer."

Travis sighed heavily, "We get Merle and there's no way he doesn't wanna kill that son of a bitch himself." he stated, "If that happens, we come back, take what we were planning on takin' and then leave."

"You think Shane's gonna let us walk back in camp with Merle and no Rick?"

"I think he would be just fine if Rick didn't come back." Travis replied as he shoved some extra ammo in his back pocket after he loaded the gun that Shane left in the bag. "If Merle is..." he paused, glancing at Daryl. "If he isn't there, we come back here, still do what we got to, then leave."

      Ever since the outbreak started, it had always been Daryl, Travis, and Merle. Daryl and Travis could handle themselves in whatever the world was becoming with or without Merle. They both knew that. But they didn't want to. If it hadn't been for Merle, Travis would have been on the street's once he turned eighteen. He owed Merle for all the beatings he took from his dad once Travis moved in with them and his uncle couldn't stand him being there. But Travis knew that whatever had happened on that roof was Merle's fault. Whatever he said or did on that roof was the reason he was handcuffed there now. Merle was unpredictable, and if he had found a stash of speed he was even more irrational and dangerous to have on a run. Daryl had every reason to resent Merle, as soon as Merle had turned eighteen, he enlisted just to get out of the house. Leaving Daryl to take on most of what Merle had taken for Daryl and Travis. Then after he had a dishonorable discharge, he still never came around. Never helped Daryl out until Travis brought Daryl into the fold...

"-A douche bag like Merle Dixon?"

"Hey," Daryl snapped sharply as the two of them stepped out of the RV, "choose your words more carefully."

"No, I did. Douche bag's what I meant." Shane replied quickly, barely looking at Daryl as he spoke to Rick who had changed into his uniform. As if it would have any benefit once they were back in the city. "Merle Dixon...the guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst."

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst...thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being."

"Too bad you didn't think of that before you handcuffed him to a roof." Travis stated simply as he and Daryl stood in the shade of the RV. Ready to leave.

"So, you and them? That's your big plan?" Lori questioned, looking at Rick and then motioning to the cousins beside the RV.

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that," Travis stated, "I doubt you could even handle yourself out there, you even kill one of them before-"

"Hey," Rick and Shane both snapped in unison, looking over towards Travis, before Rick turned to Glenn.

"You know the way. You've been there before, in and out. No problem."

"That's just great, now you're gonna risk four men, huh?" Shane interjected as Rick looked at Glenn, hopeful that he would agree to join them.

"Five." T-Dogg earned a loud scoff from Daryl.

"My day just gets better and better, don't it?"

         After a few more minutes of back and forth between Rick and Shane, both defending their opinion of whether or not it was worth going to get Merle, the five men loaded into the delivery truck that they had brought back along with Glenn's red dinner bell.

        The drive from the quarry was near silent with the exception of the grumbling engine and creaking metal as they drove over the uneven gravel until they finally reached the paved highway that would lead them right to Atlanta. However, between Rick and Glenn, they decided it would be best to not take the main road into the city. So instead they parked just outside of a fenced off train yard that had been abandoned long before the outbreak began. With Dale's bolt cutters they were able to easily cut through the chain link fence, and pry it apart enough that they could each get through it with ease.

"Merle first or the bag?" Rick questioned, quickly getting a grumbled response from Travis who walked beside Daryl just a few steps ahead of the other three.

"Merle." Daryl snapped back over his shoulder, "We ain't even having this conversation."

"We are." Rick replied, "You know the geography. It's your call, Glenn."

Travis turned to watch as Rick gave the final say to Glenn, who probably didn't care whether or not Merle was alright.

"Just tell us where he is," Daryl stated, not slowing his pace, "not going for some bag before Merle."

"Merle's closest." Glenn said, his tone almost coming out irritably as he called after Daryl. "The bag would mean doubling back. Merle first."

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authors note;
I know it's a awkward place to cut the chapter, but the rest of ep 3 and ep 4 made the chapter nearly 11k AND I want season one to have a few more chapters despite it being shorter.

stay classy !