Daryl Dixon (Survival Instinct)

"What's it look like I'm doing? I'm saving the damn day."

- Daryl to Merle.

Daryl Dixon is the main protagonist and the playable character in The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. He is the younger brother of Merle.

Northern Georgia
Before the outbreak, Daryl and Merle lived within the mountains of North Georgia, under the roof of their neglectful parents; their father being an alcoholic and abusive and their mother being both that and a chain-smoker. When Daryl was old enough to ride a bicycle, they lost their mother to a house fire that had been caused by her cigarette when she was asleep (or possibly drunk in bed). Merle was at least 12 years old when their mother died, as he was in juvenile detention at the time. Merle raised Daryl to share his beliefs and to be tough like a grown man. However, he too was often absent from Daryl's life; part of that had to do with the fact that he was frequently in juvenile institutions. This led to Daryl having to frequently fend for himself. Once, after their mother's death, but before Daryl reached age 12, he got lost in the woods for nine full days and lived off of wild berries and used poison oak as a substitute for toilet paper. Merle was again in juvenile detention (under the age of 18). When Daryl managed to find his way home, his father had not noticed his absence. He walked in through the back door and then made himself a sandwich.

Hunting With The Family
During the prologue of the game, Daryl is hunting with his father, Jess and Buck. During the hunt, Buck is killed and Daryl's father is attacked by walkers, getting mortally injured in the process. Jess and Daryl run to the sounds of gunfire and screaming to find him, only for Jess to get bitten (on the arm) by a walker, which he immediately shoots. Daryl initially wants to help heal his father, but Jess convinces him that nothing can be done to help except kill him in order to "ease his suffering". Daryl is unable to force himself to kill his father, so instead Jess takes Daryl's handgun in disgust and shoots his father out of mercy.

Jess and Daryl retreat to Jess' cabin in the woods later that day. Daryl is infuriated by the death of his father and his concern for his presently incarcerated brother, which helps him develop a deep, burning hatred for the monsters. After meeting with Jess in the living room, a group of walkers attempt to attack the cabin head-on. The duo then plan to gather necessary supplies (such as fuel and weapons) in order to escape the woods and find a safe haven. Jess reminds Daryl to aim for Walkers' heads, as they have so far learned it's the only way to kill them. After collecting the supplies from the area, the two meet up at Jess' truck in order to escape the assaulting herd.

Sedalia, Georgia
During the drive, Jess shows Daryl sympathy for what happened to his father, only for Daryl to angrily tell him to leave it as it is. Jess suggests that they head to a police station and use a radio to tell other local areas about the plague, but Daryl instead insists they find Merle in the Fontana police station. Jess says Merle isn't a necessity, angering Daryl and reluctantly agrees. They reach Sedalia, where they find Jimmy Blake, who that mentions that Warren Bedford is trapped in the gas station down the road. Warren sends him to find his uncle Lester's keys to start the gas generator. Daryl finds Lester zombified and puts him down before returning to Warren with the keys. Daryl starts the generator and the noise attracts Walkers to the gas station. Daryl escapes with fuel while Warren's fate is determined by the player's actions. Daryl and Jess exit the town with either Blake or Warren.

Pemberton, Georgia
Their next stop is either a motel in Pemberton or a camp in the forest, at which point Jess is strangely feeling very weak and tired. In either places, Daryl encounters a police officer from the Pembertion Sheriff Department, who send him to locate a missing partner in exchange for a new vehicle. Daryl finds the officer dead in Pemberton and the other zombified in the camp. After locating the new vehicle, Daryl encounters a zombified Jess, who attacks him and Daryl puts him down.

Daryl heads to Fontana to find his brother Merle as he had planned to. After talking with survivors Anna "Scout" Turner and Noah Cruz in a diner, Daryl finds out that there is a man in the police station shooting both survivors and walkers with a sniper rifle. Daryl helps find Scout's friend Mia Park a cinema in exchange for multiple supplies and then heads back to Scout, only to discover that she has left to take Noah and the supplies to a hospital, but left new car keys to Daryl, much to his annoyance. Daryl arrives to the police station roof, where he discovers that the sniper is Merle, who has been severely exposed to the sun, alcohol and pills, making him crazy. Daryl takes Merle to the vehicle, leaning him on his shoulder, and both leave the place.

Decisions, Decisions
Then, Daryl goes either to a saw mill in Oakview or to a hospital in Cleburne:
 * If Daryl goes to the hospital, he encounters Noah (who is now healthy). Noah informs him that Scout left to find her father. Daryl goes deeper into the place, overhearing military troops communicate from within different areas of the hospital, and will pick up on a conversation regarding research of a 'cure', which greatly interests him. He soon falls through a weakened floor after getting chased by a horde of walkers, and later discovers that Noah has been captured by a crazy doctor apparently working for Candace Jenner that hopes to use him as a test subject to cure the zombie plague. Daryl has to choose between grabbing medicines for Merle and leaving Noah behind to escape on his own or save Noah from the crazy doctor, making it easier for him. After making the choice, Daryl escapes the hospital and heads straight to the town of Lemon Hill.
 * If Daryl goes to the saw mill, he finds the place taken by survivors, whom shoot at him because they believe he made the breach in a fence which allowed walkers to take over the camp. He arrives at a building where he meets Mike Swenson, who asks him to join the group. Daryl gets the code to the exit door and makes it back to the vehicle.

If Daryl goes to the saw mill, he will have to go to the Drive-In Movie Theatre/Bedroom Complex of Taggart before going on to Lemon Hill, as opposed to going there directly from the hospital. When he goes to Taggart, Merle becomes edgy from helicopters flying overhead, saying they're "looking for him" and they "need a new car to throw them off". To calm him down, Daryl looks for a functioning car with no luck, then meets up with an old woman in the theatre's projector room, who says she'll give him the keys to her car if he gets her cat (Satchmo) from her house down the road. Once Daryl does so, the woman gives him the keys as promised as says she'll just stay, since she's had a full life and would just be a burden on him. Daryl sadly appeases her wish, and leaves her despite what he wants for her. He finds her car, where he and Merle head back onto the road once more.

Lemon Hill, Georgia
The brothers arrive at Lemon Hill on their way to meet Merle's old motorcycle gang at Jake's Bar in Barksdale, where Merle says he has a surprise ready. There, an entire wave of Walkers has overtaken the town. Merle plans out a way to clear the path and keep the horde from reaching the bar before them. The town was rigged for a fireworks show, and Merle tells Daryl to find some extras boxes while he sets up the gas station. Daryl gets the supplies as needed and uses them to blow up a church full of walkers using the fireworks and a flare. Merle sets off the gas station, killing off the rest and allowing the two to escape in the ensuing chaos and drive out to Jake's.

Barksdale, Georgia
Upon reaching Barksdale, Merle heads on hurriedly to the bar alone, forcing Daryl to follow him while avoiding the occasional walker. Upon reaching the bar, Daryl finds Merle interrogating his old gang members at gunpoint for information about the whereabouts of his "supplies" which he'd left there. Daryl realizes that Merle forced him to make the entire trip from Fontana just for his drug stash. Daryl lashes out at Merle, saying he is selfish and that Jess was right about him. Merle tosses the insults aside and points out that the bar has his old crossbow in it, ready for him. Daryl gets even more annoyed. The rest of the gang break in and Merle runs off. They take advantage of Daryl by knocking him out and stealing all the supplies he has with him, before going after Merle.

When he comes to, Daryl picks up his hunting knife and crossbow then sets out to have a "talk" with Merle. After locating the bag that has his stolen supplies in it, he sees that Merle is nowhere to be found and heads back to the car to meet up with him at the evacuation point he was going to in the first place, as he knows that is where he would flee to. On the way there, he sees Scout sitting on top of a bus surrounded by walkers, whom he helps. He angrily confronts her about leaving the diner back in Fontana, but she simply says that if he gives her a ride, she'll make up for it with her assistance. Daryl agrees, albeit peeved, and the two set out to find Merle again.

After setting out, the two, (plus any survivors Daryl has with him), arrive at either Lafferty or Archer Creek. After completing one of the two missions above, Daryl then goes to a specified location determined by the last destination.
 * If Daryl goes to Lafferty, everything will seem unusually quiet, and Scout will tell him via walkie-talkie that he should be alert and that something seems to be coming from obver the horizon. Once gaining access into a nearby minimall, Daryl encountes a hiding Noah, who will react differently depending on the choice made at the hospital, assuming the player chose to go there, If Daryl saved Noah or didn't go the the hospital at all, Noah will greet him, happy to see a familiar face, giving the player the option to let him come along for the evacuation point. If he player chose the medicine over Noah's life, Noah will start rambling, obviously having gone insane. Noah then proceeds to shot at the walkers outside a nearby window to come in and kill Daryl, but the walkers only mangae to pull him out instead, kicking and screaming. Daryl escapes the overrun mall, and sees that, once he gets back to the car, the movement on the horizon was a large military escort that he had just missed, all the trucks having driven off.
 * If Daryl goes to Archer Creek he will meet up with, on a voice box, the leader of a group of survivors using the local dam as a fort. Walkers begin to break in, the children inside are evacuated to the dam's "bunkers", and Daryl helps hold off the oncoming waves while the other members of the group cover him from above. Daryl then opens the front gate of the dam and proceeds to leave, right after the leader asks him to see if he can find a group they sent out to the nearby town of Danvers that they lost contact with.
 * If Daryl went to Laffetry as the previous destination, he will arrive at an abandoned train yard in Polksville. After climbing down to try and gather some supplies from the cars, he falls, hits his head, and the walkie-talkie breaks. He continues forward, avoiding a few walkers while dozens bang from the opposite side of a large fence placed at the end of the tracks. A military copter flies above him, but decides not to rescue him, as the walkers are now beaking down the fence altogether, leaving Daryl to die. He runs, and starts hearing Merle's voice on his walkie, informing him of where to go, what to do, and making fun of his performance in the situation. After getting to the other side and climbing back up the car, Scout will show concern that Daryl's head is bleeding and is confused about how his brother contacted him down there, especially since he's nowhere nearby and that, again, the walkie is broken. These apparent hallucinations of Merle after falling are reminiscent of the television series episode Chupacabra. They then drive off, Sherwood being the next destination.
 * If Daryl chose Archer Creek, he will travel to a medical building in Danvers to try and find research on the apparent cure for whatever started the outbreak. He sees that the dam's group didn't make it, having been torn apart by numerous counts of walkers. After making his way through the facility, he'll reach an area full of apparent test-subject walkers in sliding door cells, and will meet with Sheila Schneider, the only remaning member of the Archer Creek dam group, who's trapped in one of the auto-security-linked doors. She explains that the 'cure' Daryl heard about was impossible to make, thus making the apparent cure for mankind a "fairy-tale", and then proceeds to ask for Daryl' help in getting out of the locked room. The exit at the end of the hallway the cells are in is locked as well, so Daryl asks Scout to try and hack the auto-security program to get both the doors open. She fails a few times at first releasing the walkers into the hall and towards Daryl, who fights them off, and then runs through the newly opened exit door and for the car with a freed Sheila, though she can be denied access to the group, their next destination being Sherwood.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Daryl has killed:
 * Jess Collins (Zombified)
 * Warren Bedford (Caused, Determinant)
 * Lester (Zombified, Determinant)
 * Hartwell (Zombified, Determinant)
 * Biker 2 (Zombified)
 * Numerous counts of zombies.

Trivia

 * When Jess shoots Will Dixon, he says; "Sorry, brother." This is what Daryl says when he shoots Dale out of mercy in "Judge, Jury, Executioner".
 * At some point, Daryl encountered an elderly couple, at which the elderly man mentioned searching for their missing daughters, Amy and Andrea. Coincidentally, Daryl will meet the two sisters on his way to Atlanta Survivor Camp in the near future.
 * When Anna Turner leaves Daryl with her father, she tosses him a red bandanna, which can be seen hanging out of his back pocket throughout the TV series.

Дэрил Диксон (Survival Instinct)