I seriously have no idea what I'm doing anymore, but sometimes I think of drabbles that come out of nowhere and I have no intention of using them for an actual fic. These will range in short to long, K to M, the apocalypse to AU. They're all unconnected unless stated otherwise. Leave prompts if you're inspired. Thanks for reading!
"Fuck, woman, that hurts." Merle Dixon grunted, staring down at the ground as Carol dragged the needle through his skin. "Startin' ta think yer doing that on purpose."
The woman smiled at big bad Merle Dixon whining and pouting. "Wouldn't have to do this if you would be careful out there." Merle and Daryl had been hunting in the woods nearby when Merle got snagged on a tree branch, cutting through his shoulder. They'd only come back because the smell of Merle's fresh blood was going to attract walkers. Carol Peletier couldn't do much, wasn't allowed to do much, but she could give stitches like a pro. She'd been giving herself stitches for almost fifteen years.
"Ain't my fault, fuckin' tree attacked me." Merle said. If he could just get his hands on some of his favorite drug (or any drug, for that matter), this wouldn't hurt so fuckin' much. But he needed to get back out there and hunt and even an addict like Merle knew that he couldn't hunt if he was high.
The normally quiet woman couldn't stop the laugh that left her lips, imaging the tree from Wizard of Oz attacking Merle. Merle looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes at Carol as she laughed at him. She quickly quieted, covering her mouth to stifle her laughter. Merle had never heard the woman laugh before, he didn't even know that she could. He liked her laughter. Wait, what tha fuck was that? Goin' soft on me, Merle? "Sorry, sorry. I wasn't laughing at you." Carol glanced up and noticed her husband, Ed, watching his wife work on Merle Dixon and laughing at something he said. She cleared her throat and returned back to the stitches she was giving him, falling as silent as she continued to work on his shoulder.
He looked away from her and looked up at her husband, snarling. Everyone at the quarry knew the man that Ed Peletier was, knew what he did to his wife. No one ever did anything, Merle included. He would have loved to catch him raising his hand to his wife or his daughter, he'd love to beat Ed's head in. Love to do to Ed what he could never do to his father.
Merle Dixon was an asshole, he was a racist, incredibly sexist and homophobic, he was high off his mind most of the time, had been in jail several times in his life. He did a lot of shitty things before (and after) the outbreak of the virus that made the dead walk the earth but the one thing he'd never done was hit a woman. He'd seen his Daddy knock around his Mama too much to ever repeat that. No amount of drugs could have changed that.
"What was so funny?" Merle's eyes stayed on Ed for a few more moments, as if he was daring the man to come over and say something to him. When Ed just returned to his conversation with Jim, Merle smirked. Tha's what I thought, fuckin' pussy.
"I was thinking about the tree from Wizard of Oz attacking you." Carol admitted. Merle was quiet, leading Carol to believe that he had no idea what she was talking about. She finished the stitches, cutting the string and tying it off. Carol turned back to him and smoothed a bandage over the stitches, her hand resting on his broad, strong shoulder a moment longer than needed. "There you go… Try not to get attacked by anymore trees." She teased as Merle stood to his feet and rolled his shoulders. He glanced back at her before speaking.
"Sure as hell ain't in Kansas." He said just low enough for her to hear him. Carol tilted her head to the side and grinned. Merle fuckin' Dixon had watched Wizard of Oz, Merle knew the movie enough to reference it. Color me surprised. "Tell anyone I like Wizard of Oz and I'll shove ya in a pit of biters."
The threat was empty, the smirk on his face and look of amusement in his eyes making that evident. A smile formed on Carol's face and she let out a soft chuckle. "Your secrets safe with me." She said as she turned back to the first aid kit and packed it up. She wasn't aware that Merle was still there until he spoke again.
Just get out of here, Dixon, ain't none of your business what's going on with her and her family. "Yer husband knock ya around again or lie his hand on yer little girl, ya send 'im Dixon's way or let me know, alright? Little brotha and I got a way with fuckers like that." Carol looked up and opened her mouth to speak when she was cut off by Daryl Dixon.
"Merle, stop fuckin' flirtin' and lets go. Losin' daylight!" The younger Dixon snapped from the side of Dale's RV. Merle snorted, gave Carol a swift nod and walked past her towards his little brother. Carol's head turned and followed his path for a second before put away the first aid kit and returned to the lake where she was supposed to be, washing clothes with Andrea and Amy.