Author's note: Just to get it out of the way. I don't, and will sadly never, own The Walking Dead. Alright, now that that's done, this story was just an idea that popped into my head. I don't know where it came from; I suddenly wanted to write about an OC covered in scars and voilà! I hope you like it and tell me what you think.
A small figure watched as a group exited their vehicles, out of sight in an upper level apartment. The figure didn't make a sound as it watched them through the window, silently studying their actions. It counted a group of ten men, all big, heavily armed, and ready to fire their weapons. Narrowing its eyes, the figure pinpointed the leader of the small caravan to be the dark haired, pretty boy in front. He seemed to be ordering a scavenging of the area, which made the figure frown and look around its temporary shelter. The figure had come to the area a week ago and scavenged all the stores that weren't overrun, which amounted to very little success. The figure made a little base in a small, one bedroom apartment overlooking everything on the front side of the building. A building three of the men started to enter, the leader included.
Not wasting anytime, the figure crawled into its pre-established hiding spot under the window seat ledge. Once it was nestled comfortably in the spot, the figure moved the wooden plane back in front of the opening, sealing itself in as best it could. The figure already had its supplies strategically hidden since it first set up base. It was smart enough to store all of its supplies in unusual places while leaving the place looking like it was looted already and unlived it. The cabinets and refrigerator were wide open, displaying thick layers of dust and empty shelves, same with the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. The bathroom was empty of soaps, toiletries, and towels. The closets and dressers were empty of cloths. There weren't even any blankets or pillows in sight in the bedroom. All the figure had to do was hide until it got a feel of how the men were, or until they left. All it had to do was sit quietly and wait. And it did for about forty minutes before voices could be heard in the hallway.
"Merle, you and I will check the rooms on right, and Martinez, you do the ones on the left." The small figure listened as the men started searching the rooms. It waited for the men to search her base. It wouldn't take long. From the sounds, the figure judged one to be the impatient type and do the more obvious and upfront places, while the other checked the rest. And the figure was right. The two men were soon in its shelter, bags of freshly looted supplies over their shoulders.
The figure measured the two up. The leader had soft looking neat, brown hair, a strong build, and was wearing a vest over a clean button up shirt. To the figure, he looked too normal, too untouched by the new world. Then it got a glimpse of his eyes and noticed there was an odd look to them. A chill suddenly ran down the figures spine and the man's demeanor unnerved the figure incredibly. Quickly averting its eyes off the leader, the figure studied the other man. This one intrigued it. He looked like the polar opposite of the leader. He was completely scruffy and looked like the stereotypical apocalypse survivor. With his buzzed head, tank like build, and sweat stained shirt. What really caught the figure's attention was the bladed hand prostatic. The figure was forced out of its examining when the leader spoke.
"Hey, does something about this room seem off?" The gruff man looked at his leader confused.
"Wha' da ya mean 'off'? Looks like every other room in this buildin' ta me." He looked around to try to see what his leader was talking about.
"It does, except for one aspect. There's nothing in here." The figure and the gruff man scrunched their brows in confusion. The leader sighed. "Think about it. All the other rooms at least had something; a can of food, a bottle of pills, a lone shirt, but this room looks completely empty. Not to mention it seems like that fact is being advertised." The figure froze, realizing it did too good of a job making its shelter look looted. Both men narrowed their eyes and readied their weapons.
"Wha' you suggestin'?"
"That someone is here. Don't you feel like you're being watched right now?" The second man nodded at his leader's words. They started to look around the room more carefully, but when they were just about to give something caught the second man's eye. The wood panel under the window seat was slanted. It was barely even off center, but it was enough for the man to notice. He made to look like he was going to research the closet, a blind spot of anything under the window seat. The figure stiffened, before relaxing slightly when it thought it was overlooked. Only to jump and press itself against the wall when the wooden panel was violently ripped off.
A large hand tightly gripped its arm and threw the figure into the center of the room. After the figure harshly landed on its front, it flipped over and quickly crawled away from the men, never taking its eyes off the two or making a sound. The hoodie and scarf hid the figure's physical features from the two men, but they were still surprised at what they did see.
"It's a kid…" The small figure's eyes snapped to the one who threw it, before going back to watching both men. The leader slowly approached, but stopped when he saw the figure stiffen considerably, looking like it was about to bolt. Crouching down low, he beckoned the child to him.
"Come on, we're not going to hurt you." He reached his hand out. "It's safe." The child didn't move, not trusting the man. "Can you tell us your name?" The child didn't say anything. "Everyone calls me the Governor, the guy over there is Merle." The child didn't reply. "Do you have a group? Are they close by? My men and I could take you to them." The Governor's questions were again met with silence. The child could see the man getting, but was too scared to do anything.
"Dammit!" The Governor's and the kid's eyes snapped to Merle. "Quit the damn silence and answer his fuckin' questions already!" The child tilted its head at the man. For some reason, the man's harsh tone was a calming to the child. So the slowly un-tensing child reached for its scarf and pulled it off. Both men were confused before they saw what it hid, a long jagged scar going from one side of the child's throat to the other. Then the child opened its mouth and the only sounds that came out were quiet, barely audible, airy croaks. The child continued to stare at the man, and he back.
"You're mute." It was more of a statement, but the child stiffly nodded to the Governor's question, unnerved by his presence in general. "If I ask you yes or no questions, will you answer them by nodding or shaking your head?" The child thought about that for a second before shrugging its shoulders. "Okay then, can you remove your hood? I'd like to see who I'm talking to." The child shook its head and pulled the hood's strings to tighten it, further hiding its face. The man chuckled, all signs of earlier annoyance replaced with amusement and curiosity. "Alright then, do you know when your group is returning?" The child tilted its head, unsure how to answer. The man raised a brow. "What's the matter? You have a group, don't you?" The child shook its head and the men's eyes widen at the answer to his question. He honestly said it as a joke of sorts to get the child to open up. "You're alone?" The child nodded. "How could you have possibly survived?" The child knew the question wasn't directed to it, so it just shrugged. The three sat there in silence, two not knowing what to say and the third not capable of saying anything.
"Governor, did you and Merle find anything? I'm finished with my rooms so…" The third man stopped mid-sentence in the open doorway, staring at the small child. His words apparently broke whatever trance was on the two other men.
"As you can see, we found something very interesting. Go tell everyone to hurry up and grab everything they can, we're heading back soon. Oh, and find a pen and notepad." The third man was still silently staring at the child, who started to stand up. "Martinez!" The man snapped to attention and hurried off to complete his order. The Governor let out an annoyed sigh and turned to the child, seeing it having a silent staring contest with Merle. Clearing his throat to get the child's attention, the Governor said, "Since you don't have anyone, why not come back with us?" The child frowned. "We have plenty of room for you, and more children around your age for you to play with." The child's frown deepened at the prospect of more children, which confused the Governor.
"Listen kid," the heads of the other two people in the room snapped to Merle, "you're being offered a damn good deal; free food, shelter, and protection." The child tilted its head. "So you comin' or not?" The child looked down in thought, before holding its pointer finger up to the man, silently telling him to wait a minute.
While the two men stood, they watched the child start scurrying around the room. Crouching in front of the couch, it pulled out a messenger bag that had four rolls of duct tape, a few bottles of water, small boxes of juice powders, and a deck of cards in it,. Then it turned to reach under the coffee table, un-taping four sheathed hunting knives, ten protein bars, three Hershey bars, and a small flashlight from its underside, strapping one knife to its belt loop and stuffing everything else in the bag. After that, the child ran to the bookcase and un-taped a small gun, a small case of ammo, and a few things shiny wrapped Pop-Tarts from behind it, carefully placing the gun in the back of its dirty jeans and the ammo and Pop-Tarts in the bag. After scrunching its face up in thought, the child runs back to the couch and unzips the cushions, pulling out an extra set of folded cloths from each, stuffing those in the bag as well. Finally the child ran into the bedroom and pulled out every drawer in the dresser and un-taping all the little baggies of medicine with a piece of paper in each stating what they were, little baggies full of Band-Aids, and one full of small tubes of Neosporin from the outer back of each drawer. The child shoved the last bit of its supplies in the bag and secured it on its body. After the child checked everything off its mental check-list, it ran back to the gruff man and gave him a thumbs-up before picking up its scarf and stuffing that in the bag to.
"How the fuck didn't we find all that shit?!" The child just shrugged at Merle, trying not to smirk. The Governor chuckled, pleased that he didn't have to use force on the kid to get it to come with them and Merle's obvious annoyance.
"Well then, shall we go?" Merle grumbled while the child shrugged and stayed surprisingly close the more dangerous, and mean, looking man. "Then let's be on our way."
The three slowly made their way out of the building. It was a hot day in Georgia, and the sight of the dark, thick, blood stained hoodie the child was wearing just made it seem hotter to Merle. It was actually getting on his nerves, especially when he saw a layer of sweat on the part of the kid's face the hoodie didn't cover. He started twitching in annoyance when he saw the kid being affected by the heat, yet not going to remove its hoodie. When the kid started fanning itself and wiping away sweat, Merle had enough. Trying not to shout, he said, "If yer so damn hot, take of the fuckin' hoodie, ya dumbass!"
They all stopped, and before the Governor could reprimand Merle, the child started doing as Merle suggested and began taking off its hoodie. Unzipping the hoodie and pulling its arms out of the sleeves, the child stopped all movements when the hood was the only thing keeping it on. The hoodie still shielded the child's body, but it was still, technically, being worn. With his aggravation only bubbling, Merle quickly ripped the thing off the child, amazingly not disturbing the messenger bag.
Both adults' eyes widened when they saw the throat scar wasn't the only one the child had. There were scars covering the child's body; scars of all kinds could be seen. Everywhere the child's tank top didn't cover, an assortment of scars was visible. There were even two scars on the child's face. An extremely thin one that went from the left corner of the child's lips that got deeper the close it got to just under the child's ear, were it ended, that neither man noticed before, and another deep, jagged, curved line bordering under the right eye that was hidden by the hoodie. The scars that unnerved the men the most, however, were the ones around the child's wrists. Each wrist was encircled by a narrow, rough strip of white flesh.
The child stood quietly under the gaze of both men, fidgeting under the unwanted attention. It didn't take long for either man to come out of his stupor, but it was easy to see they were affected by the child's scars. Acting like he wasn't the least bit bothered, Merle threw the hoodie at the child and said, "Put that in yer damn bag." The child did as he said with little hesitation. After the initial shock of the sight of all the scars wore off, both men took a closer look at the child.
With the hoodie no longer obscuring their vision, they noted that the child was a young girl. And the more the Governor looked at the child, the more he felt his heart being tightly squeezed. She was skinny, had thin, matted, dirty, long brown hair, dirt and blood caked sun kissed skin, and bright blue eyes. But what chilled him, what made if entire body shudder, was the resemblance she had to his Penny. They had almost the same exact facial structure and everything. Aside from the scars, filth, and hair length, the child before him look just like his daughter before she was bitten. With a little food, the girl would loss her thin, sickly build and gain the healthy perfectly build his daughter had. While the Governor saw nothing but Penny, Merle kept seeing his brother in the girl.
He saw him in the way she carried herself, the way she silently observed everything around her, and the way she tensed when attention was focused on her. He saw in her tense muscle that the child was ready for something, anything to happen, just like with his brother. The only physical similarities were the blue eyes and dirty appearance. All her traits screamed Dixon. Merle suppressed a chuckle, remembering her reaction to when the Governor mentioned the other children at Woodbury to her. Dixons don't play well with others, and he had a feeling she didn't either. It amused Merle seeing a non-Dixon so Dixon like. He wondered just how scrappy the kid was; humorously he remembered that his brother was just a scrawny as her when he was a kid and look how he turned out.
"You gotta name?" The girl glanced at Merle and nodded. Looking around, she saw a dust covered car window. Scurrying over to the vehicle, she started using her finger to write on the glass. Merle and the Governor watched as each letter was completed.
'Louise' was clearly written on the glass. She turned to look at the men, waiting for their reactions. As she expected, and happily to noted, Merle scuffed and rolled his eyes.
"I ain't calling ya 'Louise'." The girl turned back around and whipped off the last three letters.
"You want to be called 'Lou'?" She stiffly nodded to the Governor's question. He was relieved that the girl's name was nothing like his daughter's, but the resemblance still affected him. Nodding, he and Merle led her to one of the truck and the two men loaded their bags into it. Lou kept hers and climbed onto the truck's hood and sat down. Flipping open her bag, she pulled a bottle of water and a pack of powdered juice out and mixed them together. After taking a sip, she glanced at Merle and held out the bottle, seeing him eyeing it.
"Now ain't that some sweet shit!" With a smirk like grin, Merle snatched the bottle out of her offering hand. With her hand still in the air, Lou gave Merle a blank stare as she watched him chug down the bottle of juice. Watching him smack his lips when he's done and throwing the now empty bottle over his shoulder, she lowers her hand and shakes her head. Before Merle could get mad and accuse her of looking down on him, or something similar, Lou reached in her bag and pulls out one of her Hershey bars. Breaking the melted chocolate in twos, she holds the bigger half out to Merle with a small smile. "You tryin' ta bullshit me, or somethin'?" The girl shakes her head and starts slowly eating her much smaller piece. Merle just snatched the offered candy and scarfed it down. The girl continued to smile at him as he sends her suspicious looks.
From the side of the truck, the Governor watched the two interacting. For some reason beyond his understanding, Lou seemed to favor Merle over him. The little girl favored the gruff man over him. The girl who looks like his daughter liked the crude redneck over him. His daughter liked Merle more than him. Quickly shaking his head, the Governor expelled that notion from his head. Lou wasn't his daughter, they just looked alike. He repeated that thought over and over in his head and looked away from the two.
Once again reaching in her bag, Lou went to pull her deck of cards from the front most pocket. She stopped partway and bit her lip and glanced at Merle, not sure is he would play a game with her. All she knew how to play was Go Fish, War, and Slap Jack, and something told her Merle wouldn't be interested in any of those. Well maybe Slap Jack, but she didn't want to risk him cheating by using his knife prosthetic. Taking a chance she pulled out the cards and held them out to the man. He scrunched up his brow and scowled.
"I ain't playin' no damn kiddy card games." Merle glared at Lou while she lowered the cards to her lap and stared at them sadly. She expected the response, but hoped for a different one. Releasing a dejected sigh, she went to put the cards away. She refused to cry over something so stupid. "Dammit all…" She glanced at a grumbling Merle as he rubbed his head in annoyance. "Shuffle the damn cards, I'm teachin' ya how ta play poker." Merle refused to acknowledge the ecstatic look that took over Lou's face as she eagerly did as he said him the deck. And that is how they spent the time waiting for the rest of the Governor's men; Merle teaching Lou how to play poker while the Governor disapprovingly watched.
When the remaining men did return to the cars half an hour later, they saw Merle cursing up a storm at the happily bouncing in place child, a handful of cards tossed around them. Directing their confused gazes at the now highly amused Governor, he nonchalantly said, "She beat Merle at poker…again."
"Fuck that! The little shit's cheatin'! Cheatin' I tell ya!"
"Merle, how could she cheat? You literally just taught her how to play and you're dealing."
"I don't know! She just is!" Lou just grinned at the man and pulled out another bar of chocolate, holding it out to Merle as a piece offering. Snatching the bar, he ripped it open and started eating it, silently licking the wounds to his pride. With a pleased smile, Lou jumped off the truck and started to pick up the cards.
The men were about to ignore the child, before they did a double take at her severely scarred body, some letting out silent gasps. Lou chose to ignore the looks when she glanced up at the sounds, instead giving the men a nervous wave. After that, she stood back up and straightened out her deck before putting them away, running back to Merle. Frankly, that confused them out of their shock. The child ran to big, mean, scary Merle, not the friendly looking Governor. They opted to ignore it to preserve their remaining sanity, going to load up the truck with their looted supplies. At that moment, Martinez walked to the Governor and gave him the notebook and pen he wanted.
"Don't know why you wanted these, but here you go." With a fake smile, the Governor took the items and made his way to Lou. Tensing at the sight of the eagerly approaching man, Lou shuffled closer to a still grumbling Merle. He just stared down at her annoyed and confused before he saw the Governor coming their way. He glanced back at the girl with narrowed eyes when she tightly grabbed his pant leg with shaking hands, not understanding any of her actions.
"Lou, these are for you." The Governor smiled charmingly at the girl, hoping to earn her trust. Lou slowly let go of Merle's pants and grasped the book and pen, quickly bringing them to her chest. "If you want to say anything, just write it in that book. That way you can talk to whoever you like." She took a peek at the Governor's smiling face, but wasn't swayed. Though, she did pretend to be happy and quickly flipped open the book and started writing. She stopped for a second and added something further up the page before showing it to the Governor.
Day 1
Thank you very much!
The Governor's smile widened. "You're very welcome. Now make sure you have everything together, we'll be heading out when everything's loaded up." Lou nodded with a smile on her face, though, unknown to the Governor, it was completely forced. "Oh I almost forgot, when we get back, and get you settled in, I'm going to have to ask you a few more questions, okay?" At Lou's weakening of smile, he quickly added, "Don't worry, it's just routine, we also have to make sure you're not a threat to the entire group," he chuckled, "Which I highly doubt." The girl just nodded her head in response. He nodded before standing straight and ordering everyone else around. Lou just stood to the side, out of everyone's way unless someone dropped something. Then she would quickly run over and pick it up for them, only to scurry away before anyone could even think to thank her. But the only one who even tried was Martinez, the rest barely acknowledged her. Once the supplies were all pack up, a problem arose.
"Uh Governor, where we stickin' the kid?" A man with a pot belly asked. "There ain't 'nough room in the trucks for 'er." Lou stiffened at the new fact. Quickly looking at the people already in the trucks, she found what the man said to be true. All the seats in the trucks were full, except the two for the Governor and the man with the big belly, and there was no room for her to squeeze between anyone. The Governor looked at her, deep in thought.
"There has to be somewhere we can put her…" She didn't want to be left behind because of this. She liked being around Merle too much. Then an idea hit her. Quickly looking back at the trucks, she saw Merle sitting with his door wide open, smoking a cigarette, and arguing with Martinez. Without thinking, she quickly ran to him and jumped onto his lap and started writing before she was even properly settled.
"THE FUCK?! Get yer fucking ass off me, you little—" before he could finish yelling, the notebook was shoved into his face.
IM SORRY PLEASE LET ME SIT HERE
ALL THE OTHER SEATS ARE FULL
He growled, "I don't care! Find someone else ta sit on!" She started writing again.
BUT YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE I TRUST
PLEASE I DON'T WANT TO BE LEFT BEHIND
PLEASE
No one else could see what Lou was writing, but they got curious seeing the shocked look cover the normally angry, or cocky, redneck's face. With a final growl, he said, "Ya ain't sittin' on my damn lap. Yer boney ass is diggin' inta my leg. If ya gonna try ta squeeze in here, get on the floor." Merle scowled seeing the grateful smile aimed at him and seeing the girl humble into a ball, hugging her bag, on the floor between his legs. She started writing again, though much calmer and slower this time. She showed it the aggravated redneck she just couldn't leave alone.
Thanks Merle.
She gave him another small smile before setting the notebook down and resting her head on her bag, all while leaning against Merle's leg. He just growled and went to punch a sniggering Martinez in the face, but missed when the Spanish man leaned out of the way at the last second. It only made Merle start cursing like a sailor again, which Lou hummed happily at. Almost everyone else was highly amused by the whole ordeal, excluding the Governor.
In his mind, Lou should have run to him, not Merle. No one should run to Merle. Merle was the intimidation, the muscle, the tool, not the comfort. He should the father figure; he looked and acted the part in front of the girl, yet she goes running to the person all the children, and most adults, in Woodbury hide from. Once again the Governor was angry that the child chose Merle over him, who was right in front of her. He hid his rage behind a perfectly placed mask; briskly taking his seat in the same truck Merle and Lou were in. Though he couldn't see them, the Governor could hear Lou softly humming behind him and Merle cursing under his breath. As they started driving off, the Governor's mind kept focusing on a single topic.
He didn't like how comfortable the girl was around Merle. He knows he should be. He also knows that if it wasn't for her resemblance to Penny, he would be. But that isn't the case. Lou looks like Penny. Lou should like him because she looks like Penny. Lou should be like Penny. Similar thoughts kept circling around in his head, until he got an idea.
Lou was unnaturally comfortable around Merle. So he had to fix that. He had to show her exactly the man he knew Merle to be, and what better way to do that than to have the two of them live together for a while? He knew Merle will quickly lose his temper with the child and permanently scare her away. And that sooner or later Lou will come running to him, begging him to keep Merle away from her. All he had to do was wait and hope Merle didn't physically harm the girl. After all, how could she play with Penny if she's injured?
Looking out the window, now happily lost in thought, the Governor thought of all the games Lou and Penny could play together. He knew Penny would like Lou, and that Lou would like Penny. He could tell by looking at them they were made to be friends, and Lou seemed nice enough. Though she is a little rough around the edges it was nothing he and his daughter wouldn't be able to fix. He smiled at his crazy eyed reflection in the window, not once thinking of the now sleeping Lou being horrified of, or devoured by, his flesh eating, decomposing daughter.
They continued their ride to Woodbury in silence, with Lou, blissfully ignorant to the thoughts of the crazed man not two feet away from her.