Venice

A quick in and out trip. That's what it was until those idiots came to fuck it all up. I was hiding on the roof as they quarreled aimlessly. I heard punches and metal clinking. I assumed the hick was getting his ass kicked for being such a dumbass and shooting the Roamers. I'd followed him up to the roof, just to see what he was planning on doing. Nothing any intelligent person would do. All that gunfire attracted a metric fuck-ton of Roamers. Getting out would have been impossible. The police officer gave the big black guy watch dog duty over the hick. A while later the police officer came back telling big black that they had to go because they were about to get overrun. I watched as big black dropped the key down a drain after stumbling over his feet. They were freaking out, especially the hick. They left, but not before chaining the door shut.

Gee thanks for trapping me on a damn roof.

I stood up from behind the vent I was crouched behind. The hick looked at me with surprise.

"Shit, shit, shit!" He cursed.

"I'm not a damn Roamer. Calm the fuck down. I'm gonna try to help you get out, so shut up while I think." The hick looked about ready to fire back but looked at his cuffed hand and realized it was probably best to stay quiet.

I paced as I thought. I looked around the roof. They had left a bag of tools. A saw was laying next to the pipes, almost inviting me over to it. "How high is your pain tolerance?" I asked as I waved the saw back and forth in front of me.

"You gotta be fucking kiddin' me!" He yelled. Just then Roamers started trying to push open the door. I glanced back at them and then back to the hick. I raised my eyebrows questioningly. "Fucking shit. Okay. Do it." He turned away from me and clenched his jaw.

Daryl

"Merle!" No answer. I kept walking towards the Winnebago.

"Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up," I said as I set my crossbow down up against a chair. As I turned I pulled the roped squirrels off my shoulder.

"Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Shane. Uppity motherfucker. What'd he want?

"'Bout what?" I asked stopping and turning to face him.

"'Bout Merle. There was a uh- there was a problem in Atlanta."

"He dead?" I asked, that was the only plausible problem.

"We're not sure." What the fuck kind of answer was that shit?

"He either is or he ain't!" Then some new guy walked up, cutting in.

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." He walked up to me.

"Who're you?" I asked.

"Rick Grimes." I was getting really pissed.

"Rick Grimes, you got somethin' you wanna tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all. So I handcuffed him on the roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." I turned away from him.

"Hold on. Let me process this," I said venomously. "You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof AND YOU LEFT HIM THERE?!" I yelled while pacing, stopping to face the two as I yelled.

"Yeah," said Rick as he nodded his head once. I threw the squirrels at him and started to lunge for him but was caught on my right side in a tackle by Shane. I unsheathed my knife and got up off the ground. I swung the knife at Rick and Shane. Rick caught one of my arms and Shane caught the other. He threw my knife away from me and Shane put me in a headlock.

"You'd best let me go!" I grunted as I struggled against him.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't."

I grunted, getting slightly tired. "Chokehold's illegal." I was still struggling.

"You can file a complaint," he said calmly, keeping his hold strong. I was on my ass in the dirt, "Come on, man. We can keep this up all day," he said.

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic," Rick said as he kneeled in front of me. "Do you think we can manage that?" I didn't answer. "Do you think we can manage that?" he repeated.

"Hmm?" Shane questioned from above me. Still his hold stayed strong around my neck. It was getting hard to breathe.

"Mm, yeah," I panted. Shane immediately let go and I dropped, my shoulder hitting the ground.

"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others."

"It's not Rick's fault," said T-dog. Rick and I looked over to him. "I had the key. I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up?" I said from the ground.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain." I scoffed and stood.

"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."

"Maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him with a padlock." T-dog's voice was calm and full of remorse.

"It's gotta count for somethin'," Rick said from behind me, I turned to face him and looked back at T-dog. I felt tears sting my eyes but held them back.

"Hell with all y'all!" I said while swinging my arm around. "Just tell me where he is, so's I can go get 'im."

"He'll show you." Lori's voice came from a little bit behind me. "Isn't that right?" Rick looked around at everyone and put his hands on his hips.

"I'm going back." After that everyone dispersed to get ready to go back to the city.