C H A P T E R  2 3

❛ brother against brother ❜

QUINN

     HER BONES WERE ACHING FROM THE STONE COLD FLOOR she was seated on. Her wrists felt as though they were on fire from the rope that bound them together. The only light in the cell came from a small bulb that dangled down from the ceiling. It was just bright enough for her to make out Daryl's silhouette across the room. His presence made her even more nervous. He seemed like a force of nature, seated there against the wall with a raging fire burning in his eyes.

For at least the twentieth time her eyes scanned the room, hoping against hope she would find something that could give them a way out of here. But, just like all the times before, there was nothing but walls and dust.

After Daryl had run out of rounds too they'd tried to make a run towards the wall but they weren't fast enough. The Governor's men surrounded them and took them prisoner. Quinn wasn't worried about herself, instead all her energy went into worrying about Milo and Michonne. She could only hope her brother wouldn't do something stupid to try and get to her. But at least he had a group watching his back. Michonne had gone off on her own...

She felt slightly offended that the woman hadn't told her about her plan to split off from the group. I was probably because Michonne knew she would've tried to stop her. And for good reason. For all Quinn knew she was dead, murdered by the very man who had captured their friend with his pretty lies and poisonous smiles. And she was probably next. She didn't expect to live through the night. Whatever the Governor had planned for them, it wasn't going to be pretty.

At least she'd seen her brother.

If there was any sort of last wish she had before she'd go, that would've been it. She knew Milo was alive and okay. He found a group who accepted him, protected him and that was the only thing she needed. Her entire life she'd been selfish and so her last wish would not be. Her last thought would be for her brother, knowing she'd saved his life and he would be able to live after she was gone. The only selfless deed she'd ever done in her miserable life.

She lifted her eyes to look at Daryl once again, part of her wished she could've been with anyone else in her last moments. Someone she knew, someone she could talk to. But maybe this was better. Maybe it was easier to die when you knew there was no one who cared for you to watch it happen. Still, she refused to spend her last moments in awkward and brooding silence.

'Thank you,' she said, her voice echoing through the silence of their gloomy prison. His eyes met hers and even though his expression didn't change she could see a question for explanation form in his gaze. 'For not killing my brother,' she added.

'Didn't mean ta,' Daryl grunted, his heavy accent leaking through the words while he narrowed at her.

'But you did,' Quinn shrugged. 'For whatever reason, you did. So thanks.'

He looked uncomfortable because of her words but managed to push it away behind a carefully crafted mask of indifference. One she noticed he wore like a second skin, not unlike she'd done most of her life...

'What'd he do to end up in the slammer anyway?' Daryl questioned, surprising her.

She sighed. 'He saved my life.'

For a second he looked genuinely intrigued but the sound of heavy footsteps came from the hallway, interrupting their conversation. With a loud bang the door was thrown open and multiple men walked into the room. All of them carried heavy guns and a small part of her felt satisfied at being considered dangerous enough to bring so much firepower. Her satisfaction was short lived however when she roughly pulled to her feet and a bag was shoved over her head.

Darkness surrounded her and she struggled against whoever was holding her. Panic washed over her as sudden and strong as a tidal wave. She closed her eyes, afraid she would panic when she really needed to stay calm and keep a clear head. She was pushed forwards and desperately tried to keep her feet steady on the ground. Next to her she could hear Daryl's protesting grunts but, seeing as he was cuffed, there wasn't much he could do.

As she was being led through a maze of tunnels, the murmuring of a crowd grew louder. She recognised the voice of the Governor, yelling something she couldn't quite make out yet as her heartbeat was pounding too loudly in her ears. Flashes of light passed her, reminding her of fire but she couldn't tell with the bag still pulled over her head.

Someone kicked against her legs, making her fall down on her knees. Sharp rocks poked into her skin through her jeans, making her wince.

Footsteps approached her and through the bag covering her eyes she could make out a silhouette of a figure that filled her with rage.

'This is one of the terrorists,' the Governor shouted dramatically before pulling off the hood.

The sudden light made her blink. With squinting eyes she tried to take in her surroundings. It appeared she was sitting on the ground in front of a circle made out of stones. On the sidelines were stands filled with people. Different torches were lighting up the area, explaining the beams of light she'd seen earlier.

The Governor was standing before her. A bandage wrapped around his right eye. The sight made her smirk slightly. It didn't take much guessing for her to know it had been Michonne's doing and the fact that she wasn't here made Quinn know she was safe. All the more reason to smile.

'We led this woman into our home!' The Governor yelled at the people in the stands. 'We gave her our medicine because she was sick, we gave her our food because she was starving and how does she repay us? She turns on us! Attacks us to take what we have and make it her own.'

Quinn simply stared at the Governor, enjoying the view of his mutilated face. She knew his words were lies and there was no need to get angry because of them. She needed to keep a clear head and figure out how to get the hell out of here...

He threw the bag that had covered her head on the ground before turning to Daryl who was standing next to her, his face still covered in cloth. The men that were restraining him pushed him forwards, into the circle.

Her eyes widened when she noticed Merle standing in the circle as well. He caught her eyes and frowned at her, as if genuinely surprised by seeing her here.

'And here we have another terrorist!' The Governor yelled, making Quinn look away from Merle and to Daryl instead, watching as the Governor reached for the bag and pulled it off. 'Merle's own brother!'

Gasps rattled the crowd all while Merle stared at a distraught Daryl. The latter looked around the crowd, his eyes lingering on someone, making Quinn turn to see who he was looking at.

Andrea.

The blond woman caught her friend staring and looked right back at her, her blue eyes holding panic. Quinn felt her heart beating wildly in her chest, her stomach twisting inside of her. Andrea shouldn't be in that crowd, she shouldn't be on the Governor's side and Quinn couldn't think of any reason why she was. Why Andrea had chosen a man she hardly knew over her and Michonne was beyond her. No matter what she told them, Quinn simply couldn't understand. But still she worried about her, she worried about whatever stupid plan she was probably thinking of to get her the hell out of there.

'What should we do with them, huh?' The Governor shouted, taking her attention away from Andrea.

'Kill 'em!' A man's voice carried over the makeshift arena.

The crowd started cheering with him. 'Kill them!' 'Finish them!' The noise became louder and louder as people begged for blood.

Quinn looked around, shaking her head in disbelief. She caught Daryl's gaze and could see the panic on his face. She knew she must've looked the same, listening to people yelling for them to die. It was sick. It was insane.

Suddenly Andrea made her way out of the crowd, trying to get to the Governor but his men grabbed her, preventing her from reaching him. 'Philip, stop this! They're my friends!' She yelled, making Quinn frown. Since when was she allowed to call him by his real name?

'It's not up to me anymore,' the Governor replied. 'The people have spoken.' Then he turned to the brothers, pointing at Merle while his voice boomed over the arena, immediately silencing the crowd. 'I asked you where your loyalties lie. You said here, well, prove it. Prove it to us all!'

He turned to throw a look at Quinn, who hoped her expression told him to go to hell. 'Brother against brother. Winner goes free.'

The crowd cheered in agreement and Quinn felt her breath quicken by their eagerness to see death. If they knew what truly happened would they still be willing to kill them? Or would they be crying for the blood of the man who called himself that ridiculous title instead?

'Fight 'till the death! And if you refuse-' He turned around swiftly pointing at the man who stood behind Quinn. She couldn't see what happened but she didn't have to. The familiar sound of the safety of a gun being removed, followed by the coldness of a gun resting against her head was enough of an indication of where this was going. '-she'll die,' the Governor finished dramatically.

Quinn glared at him, trying to ignore the sudden shiver that went through her body at his words.

Both of the brothers looked at her and she knew this whole situation was beyond ridiculous. They barely knew each other. Merle probably didn't care if she died and she didn't know enough about Daryl to figure out if he cared or not. All she knew was that she didn't want to die. Not after everything she'd been through. She'd just gotten Milo back and wasn't planning on losing him again any time soon.

'Philip, please, don't do this,' Andrea's voice sounded through the noise of the crowd.

Her heart ached at the sight of her friend and it took her a moment to realise that she'd missed her blonde companion. She had truly missed her. The stupid jokes, her warm laugh, even the horrible meals she made. Quickly she turned away, taking a deep breath. She had to figure out how to get out of here. Alive. Because begging obviously wasn't going to help.

Merle suddenly raised his arm, calling out to the crowd. 'Y'all know me, I gotta do whatever I gotta do, to prove...' he turned around in a swift movement, punching Daryl in the stomach making him fall on the ground.

Quinn felt her heartbeat rise as she shook her head in disbelief, her eyes wide as she watched the scene unfold. She couldn't believe he turned on his brother so quickly. This was the same man she heard begging for permission to go looking for his little brother only days ago. It didn't make sense. Nothing about this made any sense.

'That my loyalty,' Merle went on, kicking his brother who lay helpless on the ground, 'is to this town!'

Sudden moans sounded from behind her and she looked over her shoulder only to see a couple of men walking up to the circle with walkers in chains. They had some kind of collar around their necks with sticks attached to them, enabling the men to force them to walk forwards.

With wide eyes she was forced to watch as Daryl tried to stay out of the bite range from the walkers that now surrounded him. Despite only having met the younger Dixon, she didn't want him to die. Milo trusted him enough to head into a fight with him. There weren't many good people left in his world but if Daryl had managed to earn Milo's trust, he was definitely one of the good ones left.

Finally Daryl managed to get back on his feet. With one smooth movement he kicked his brother in the stomach, forcing Merle backwards. Then he ran straight at Merle but he caught him and threw him on the ground, bringing his face close to that of his brother. To the crowd it may have appeared as if he was still fighting him, but up close Quinn could see he was whispering something to Daryl.

Before she even knew what was happening both brothers jumped up, standing with their backs against each other, facing the walkers that surrounded them. And then it all made sense again. This was the Merle she knew. Unpredictable and reckless.

She pulled at her cuffed hands again, desperate to join the fight and make herself useful. But her captor pressed the gun harder against her head, making her freeze immediately. She hated feeling this useless, but there wasn't anything she could do.

But it seemed like all she really had to do was have faith because when a gunshot echoed over the arena, bringing down one of the walkers, she knew they were saved.

Smoke filled the area as more gunshots sounded. Taking advantage of the chaos, Quinn let herself fall on the ground, rolled on her back and before her captor even knew what was happening to him, she kicked him in his balls. He yelled out in pain, bending over, his face now close enough for her to give a hard kick against his nose. She heard a crack and the man screamed even louder, falling to his knees as he clutched his face.

She put her legs under her, forcing herself to stand but with her hands still bound behind her back there wasn't much else she could do. Looking around, she tried to determine where the gunshots had come from. But the smoke was clouding her view, making her spin around in circles, blindly.

A hand landed on her shoulder, tearing a startled gasp from her throat. She turned around with a wild beating heart but she felt herself calming slowly at the sight of Daryl. He gestured for her to turn around. Which she did immediately and he untied the rope around her wrists.

'Thanks,' she muttered.

'Let's go!' Merle's voice sounded through the smoke.

Leaving the smoke behind them her vision became clear again, although her eyes were tearing up like crazy. Through her tears she noticed some guy shooting down a walker with Daryl's crossbow. Daryl noticed it as well because he hit the man in the face before taking the bow out of his hand. Quickly he reached down to pull the arrow out of the walker's head before running on.

Quinn followed him as he ran around a corner and she sighed with relief when she saw Rick, Maggie and Milo hiding behind the wall. She ran into her brother's arms and he embraced her tightly. 'Where's Michonne?' She asked, looking around the small group.

'Safe,' Milo said.

But she noticed Michonne wasn't the only one missing. 'And Oscar?'

Sadness clouded Milo's eyes and he shook his head, not managing to get the words over his lips.

She offered him what she hoped was a comforting smile before taking his hand and pulling him along through the crowd of screaming people after the others. They ran towards the wall, which appeared to be unguarded.

'They're all in the arena,' Merle yelled as he ran towards one of the cars that had been parked before the wall. 'This way.'

'You're not coming anywhere with us,' Rick spat at the man.

'You really wanna do this now?' Merle snapped back at him before turning to the wall and starting to kick one of the metal plates that held the wall in place.

'Come on, man,' Daryl said impatiently, raising his crossbow to shoot any approaching strangers but the streets stayed empty. Distant gunshots suggested they were still taking care of the walkers that had broken loose in all the chaos.

Merle let out a frustrated scream before finally managing to get the metal loose. He slipped through the hole, quickly followed by the rest of the group.

'A little help would be nice,' Merle shouted just as Quinn was making her way through the hole. Once she was out on the other side she noticed the many walkers stumbling towards them, attracted by the noise coming from the town. She wanted to reach for her daggers only to find her waist to be empty. Groaning in frustration she was about to reach for a piece of wood on the ground instead but Milo nudged her.

A small smirk covered his lips as he held up her belt, with all the daggers attached to it. Smiling widely, she took it from him, securing it around her waist. 'Where'd you get these?'

Milo shrugged, raising his gun to shoot a walker that had stumbled dangerously close. 'Some guy had them on him. Figured you wouldn't exactly be happy with that.'

She was unable to hide a laugh. 'Thank you.' Then she reached for her trusted blades and ran up to an approaching walker. It bit at her and she simply smiled before pushing her dagger into its skull. The corpse went lifeless in her grip before falling to the ground.

'We ain't got time for this!' Merle shouted.

'Let's go!' Daryl added.

Maggie turned to look at Rick with questioning eyes. He simply sighed before nodding. They had to leave, they could deal with Merle later.

Milo gave Quinn a slight push, making her run after the brothers down the street, followed by the rest.

It was morning by the time they reached the car. Rick called out Glenn's name to announce their arrival. Milo had told her on the way to the car about the plan they'd made to come back to rescue them. Since Glenn was too injured, Rick had ordered him to stay behind together with Michonne. Though Milo wasn't sure if that was because she was hurt as well or simply because Rick didn't trust her.

'Rick!' Glenn responded, running towards them through the forest. 'Thank god.'

'Now we got a problem here,' Rick started, raising his hand, wanting to prevent Glenn from doing something rash. 'I need you to back up.'

'What the hell is he doing here!' Glenn yelled upon noticing the man.

Rick immediately ran towards him, stopping him from launching himself at the man.

The sharp sound of a katana being pulled out of its sheath echoed through the forest and Quinn quickly ran towards Michonne, holding her by her shoulders to keep her from attacking Merle. As much as Quinn would've liked to punch the man as well, now was really not the time.

'He tried to kill me!' Michonne yelled.

'He helped us get out of there,' Daryl shot back.

'Yeah, right after he beat the shit out of you,' Rick yelled at his friend, holding up his gun to stop Michonne from attacking Merle. He stopped Glenn from attacking the redneck when clearly all he wanted to do was hit him as well.

Quinn looked at Glenn, seeing he'd pulled his gun out as well, pointing it at Merle but Daryl stood between the gun and his brother.

'We both took our licks man,' Merle defended himself.

'Jackass,' Daryl told his brother without even looking at him.

'Shut up.'

'Enough!' Rick suddenly screamed, turning to look at Merle.

Michonne immediately tried to take advantage of his distraction but Quinn was quick to pull at her friend's shoulders, pushing her away from the redneck.

'Get that thing out of my face,' Daryl yelled at Glenn.

Suddenly Merle started laughing. 'Damn, look like you going native, brother.'

Daryl turned around, facing his brother. 'No more than you, hanging with that psycho back there,' he said roughly.

'Oh yeah man, he's a charmer, gotta tell you that,' Merle responded, still with that annoying smirk on his face, turning his gaze to Michonne and Quinn. 'Been putting the wood to your girlfriend Andrea big time, baby.' He licked his lips making Quinn look away from him, sharing a distraught glare with Michonne.

'What? Andrea's in Woodbury?' Glenn questioned.

'Right next to the Governor,' Daryl confirmed.

Suddenly Michonne took another step forwards, her katana still raised but Rick pushed her back before she could do any real harm. 'I told you to drop that,' he shouted angrily at her. 'You know Andrea?'

Michonne didn't reply, keeping her gaze focused on Merle instead.

Quinn barely felt herself able to reply either as she stared at the man, her heart beating loudly in her ears as she bit her tongue.

'Hey? Do you know Andrea?' Rick repeated, his voice softer this time.

Taking a deep breath Quinn turned to look at him. 'We saved her from walkers,' she told him, suddenly feeling incredibly tired. 'She was with us all winter until we got separated at Woodbury.' Her heart ached in her chest upon saying those words out loud but it was what needed to be said. She looked away from Rick's intense blue gaze, looking at the forest floor instead.

'Yeah, my Nubian queen here had two pet walkers,' Merle teased. 'No arms, cut off the jaws, kept them in chains.'

'Shut the hell up,' Quinn snapped at the man, unable to listen to his mocking tone a minute longer, especially after they saved his ass back there. But the harm was already done. A frown was drawn on Rick's face, distrust clouding his eyes. It was going to take a lot of explaining to win the man his trust back, if there was any to begin with.

'Kind of ironic now that I think about it,' Merle chuckled, completely ignoring her, that endless annoying smile still drawn on his features.

'Shut up, bro!' Daryl yelled at his brother.

'Eh man we snagged them out of the woods, Quinn here was close to dying, having been doing all kinds of drugs before this all went down, guess she was still suffering from them damn consequences.'

Quinn suddenly felt herself jumping forwards at the man, her hands stretched out as she planned on hitting that annoying smirk right off his face. But she was pulled back by her brother, who held her arms tightly as she kicked and struggled against his grip but it was useless. Milo was too strong.

Forcing herself to take a deep breath she looked away from Merle, wishing she could remain calm. But it was hard with her heart still beating like a war drum in her chest and all she could think about was hurting him for throwing out that vulnerable piece of information in the open.

Merle chuckled before turning to look at Rick. 'So, what you gonna do now, sheriff? Surrounded by a bunch of liars, thugs and cowards.'

'Shut up!'

Merle laughed again. 'Oh, man look at this. Pathetic. All these guns and no bullets in 'em.'

'Merle, shut up!' Daryl now joined in as well.

'Shut it yourself, bunch of pussies you-' he never got to finish that sentence as Rick hit him unconscious with the back of his gun.

Quinn let out a shaky breath, all the anger leaving her body at once, making her feel like a deflated balloon. She stumbled backwards into Milo's arms, who held her tightly.

'Asshole,' Rick breathed, staring down at Merle.

And despite the situation and the horrid night she just had, Quinn felt herself smiling at those words.

A U T H O R 'S  N O T E

I've been so excited to write this chapter! I absolutely loved this scene in the show and hope I did it justice because it was very hard to write. Fun, but hard. I always struggle with writing action packed scenes but I hope I did okay.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. If you did, please leave a vote or a comment with your thoughts, I love to read them. :) And I will see you all saturday!

xx Nelly

edited: ✔