I kicked angrily at the closet door. The stupid thing wouldn't budge no matter how hard I kept kicking it. Not that I had a lot of strength in the first place. I could hear the stupid men, who had thrown me in here, laughing and playing around. The idiots were going to attract the Uglies if they didn't shut up soon.

I tugged at the rope holding my hands behind my back. At least they were smart enough to keep me tied up. Other wise I would've been out of here forever ago. I let my foot slam into the door again. As I prepared to kick the door again, something shattered against it. Flinching, I scooted towards the back of the closet. Seeping through the crack at the bottom of the door was beer. Obviously my constant kicking had finally gotten on their nerves, so to keep doing it would surely get me killed. I sighed and tried to look around the small space. All there was were old shoes, bags, and some clothes. Nothing to help me escape.

My eyes lazily looked over the clutter of crap and widened in shock when I saw a small pocket knife sticking out of bag. I grinned and shuffled to it. Turning to get a grip on it, I thought of what my mother and brother might be doing right now. Probably worried sick about me. I was supposed to meet them at the edge of the woods by a small town when I was done scavenging and got nabbed by some douche bags along the way. If I could just cut a little faster I could be out of here in no time and still be able to find them. Half way through the rope there was a shout outside the door.

"Boys come look! We got ourselves a lost stray walking by! Lets go see if we can't get somthin' off them!"

I rolled my eyes, but felt sorry about the poor soul outside. They were probably going to slit their throat if it was a man. The only reason they didn't out right kill me is "we could geta good fuck outa 'er." It wasn't my problem either way. I'm just glad they all left, giving me an opening to sneak out. There was several gun shots and yelling going on outside, but I chose to ignore it. A minute later I had finally got the rope cut, someone came stumbling into the house. Dang it. I cracked the door open and saw a tall man grab a bottle of whiskey and take a swig out of it. My face scrunched in confusion. I didn't remember that man being with the others when I was nabbed. The man plopped down next to a sleeping bag and took another drink out of it. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a leather vest over it, blue jeans, and had short cropped hair. Looking closer, I could tell that the man was covered in blood and looked exhausted. He also didn't have a hand. What the hell?

Without me realizing it, the man had caught sight of me through the crack. I froze in terror. I was so gunna die. Snapping out of it, I closed the door and tried to hide in the corner of the closet, but I knew that there was nothing I could do. I could hear the man get up and thunder over to where I was hiding. Why in the hell did I tell my brother I could look for supplies on my own? Oh yeah I remember. It's cause I'm a freaking idiot. The foot steps stopped right in front of the door. It flew open. I felt as my arm got grabbed and really felt it when I went flying out of the small space and in the middle of the floor in the living room. Before I could get my bearings the man was questioning me.

"Who the hell are you and why in the hell were you in the closet?"

I rubbed my arm and glared at the man, "It's none of your business, you jerkwad." It wasn't the smartest thing to do, insulting an unknown man covered in blood, but he had really hurt my arm.

He cocked the gun in his hand (when in the hell did he get a gun?) and asked again, "Listen girly, how 'bout you tell me what I want to know and I won't shoot you."

Dick. "Names Avis and the reason I was in that closet is 'cause your buddies thought that I'd be a nice fuck. Where the hell are they anyways?"

The man chuckled and gestured outside with his stump. "Those pussies weren't my 'buddies'. The fuckers thought that it'd be a good idea to mess with ol' Merle. Now they're creeper food."

"Wait, you just killed them? What the hell?"

Merle (who the hell refers to themselves in second person?)shrugged, "Look, sugar, it was me or them. Now leave. I don't work well with others."

I stood in shock as Merle pushed past me towards the whiskey. He can't really expect me to go out on my own right? I'll get myself killed and then I would never find my mom and my brother. Maybe I could offer something so that he could help me find my family. I turned towards him and walked over till I was right in front of him. He looked up with a sneer.

"Didn't I tell you to leave girly? I ain't takin' care of no little girl so get the hell outta here."

I huffed and crossed my arms across my chest, "I'm not little. I'm fourteen," he snorted and I glared, "and I'll die if I go out there on my own. Either an Ugly gets me or I get nabbed by some other dickheads."

Merle shook his head, "I told you I ain't takin' care of you. Now get your little ass outta here."

I threw my hands up, "Look, can you please just make sure I don't die for a little while? I'll make it worth your while."

He was getting angry, "I don't have sex with little girls. Now get the hell-!"

I went red and interrupted, "That's not what I meant you jerk! I meant I could fix up your arm and make somethin' for it. My father was a doctor and my brother taught me how to weld. I could make you an arm bayonet or something like that. The only thing I want in return is for you to keep me alive and help me find my family."

Merle stopped and considered the offer. Despite what most people thought he wasn't an idiot. He knew that he wouldn't last much longer if he didn't get his arm fixed up.

"I'll take your offer, but I think you're an idiot. Your family is most likely dead. And I'm gunna make this clear right now. I ain't gunna baby you. If you want to survive you better listen to me. If you don't listen to me, you can find your dead family on your own. Got it, honey bunch?"

I scowled, but nodded. I knew my family wasn't dead and now I had someone to protect me. Not that I trusted him or anything, but he was better than nothing. And if he could survive with one hand, well he had to be good for somthin'. I let him get back to his drinking and went to look for food and some bandages. Hopefully my family would wait another day. I glanced to side and looked over Merle. There was no way we'd be leaving tonight.

:-:

It had been two weeks since me and Merle had teamed up and we still hadn't found my mom or brother. I was starting to get worried. It didn't help that Merle was constantly saying that they were dead. We had set up camp for the night and I was currently trying to clean Merle's wound. The key word there was trying.

"Merle stop being such a pussy and let me clean it, you stupid old man!" I may have of picked up some of his speech.

"I ain't a old man, girly. Now leave it the hell alone. It's fine. I don't need you all over me like Mother Teresa." I squeezed his stump slightly when he tried to pull away, "Dammit woman! I said I was fine!"

"Quit whining old man. I need to clean it each night or you'll get an infection. You know this, now stop being so stubborn."

He gave up and finally allowed me to pour the whiskey we had on it. Merle hissed through his teeth at the stinging sensation. I dabbed at it with a hopefully clean cloth and wrapped new bandages around his wrist. I nodded satisfied. Looking up I saw Merle staring at me.

"Why ya looking at me?" I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes, "You aren't thinkin' pervy thoughts are ya?"

Merle smirked, "You know you are pretty cute."

My eyes widened and I sputtered, "You-you-"

His smirk widened and he laughed. He was teasing me.

"You dick! Jesus Christ, you'd think that you'd want me to think that you were a perv."

Merle chuckled some more and didn't answer. I tilted my head again. Merle looked a lot younger when he laughed. I smiled. He looks nicer when he's laughing too. It's a better change to taunting-dick-smirking Merle. I decided right there and then that I would make Merle laugh more. After Merle was done, we sat in comfortable silence.

"Hey, Merle?" I asked

"Yeah, short-stuff?"

I ignored his jab at my height, "What's your last name? Mines Nest. My parents thought that it would be funny to call me Avis, because of it," Merle looked at me strangely, "Oh! Avis is Latin for bird. So my name is literally Bird Nest."

Merle let out a loud guffaw at that, "Really? You're parents named you Bird Nest?"

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. So? What's your last name?"

"Dixon. Merle Dixon. Don' know if its got any fancy meanin' behind it."

It was quiet for a few moments, before I asked another question. This one a lot more serious than the last.

"Do you think that we'll ever find my family?" I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them.

Merle looked uncharacteristically serious for once, "The trail went cold a few days ago. There's a very small chance that we'll ever find them."

I nodded. He was right.

My eyes snapped to Merle as he reached into a backpack and threw a blanket to me, "Get some sleep, Birdy. We gotta get up early in the mornin' to find this family of yours."

I groaned, "That nickname isn't going to stick, right?"

All he did was chuckle.

:-:

I slowly woke up. It was still dark outside and there wasn't a sting in my leg where Merle would usually kick me to wake me up. So why in the hell was I up? I pulled myself into a sitting positon and looked around. To the right of me was the sleeping figure of Merle. That idiot. He was supposed to take watch tonight. My eyes widened. My head snapped around to scan our little camp. The fire was still going strong, so Merle hadn't been asleep that long. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I was just being paranoid. Leaning over, I plucked the gun out of Merle's lap and covered him in my blanket. I could take watch for the rest of the night. The gun wouldn't be such a big deal. I mean, how hard is it to aim and shoot.

A few moments later, I saw a person stumble into our camp. I looked closer. Shit. That was not a person. After the first Ugly entered two more Uglies followed. They hadn't noticed me yet, thank god. I glanced over to Merle. If he didn't stop snoring, then they would notice us. The Uglies shuffled closer. Dammit. I nudged Merle with the toe of my shoe and watched as he snorted and turned on to his side. One of the Uglies heard him and came our way.

"Merle if you don't get up, I swear to God I will kill you myself!" I whisper-shouted at him.

He didn't wake up. The other Ugly saw its companion walk towards and followed. Double shit.

I grabbed Merle shoulder and shook him, "Merle get your ass up!"

The idiot finally shot up, unfortunately he caused a commotion so now all three of the Uglies came our way.

"Birdy, you better be wakin- Shit." Thank God.

We both scrambled to our feet. I tried handing him his gun, but he waved it off. Instead he reached to his side and pulled out a hunting knife from its sheath. Was he going to try and kill them like that? He's freaking crazy. Merle stalked forwards to the Uglies and raised the knife.

"Merle! You're going to get yourself killed! What do you think you're doing?!"

Instead of responding, Merle kicked the closest Ugly in the chest, sending it tumbling to the ground. The second Ugly bit at the air and launched itself at Merle. At last second, the older man threw up his bad arm, hitting the Ugly in neck to hold it back and swung the knife right into the Uglies head. When it fell he turned to the next one.

I was so entranced by the way Merle was moving that I didn't notice when another Ugly came up behind me. The thing grabbed my arm and pulled me towards it. I screamed. I could hear Merle start to curse and knew he was trying to reach me in time. Tears came to my eyes as I tried to yank my arm from the Ugly, only for the both of us to lose our balance and fall to the ground. I hit the Ugly over and over again to no avail. The stupid thing wouldn't get off of me. I was going to die.

My body was growing weak and I could barely keep the Ugly from taking a piece of my neck. I pushed up and tried to force my arms to not collapse. The Ugly was snarling and snapping at my face. It's dead, cloudy blue eyes, were trained on my neck, wanting to get a bite. With start I realized that the Ugly was a woman. Long, dirty brown hair fell into its face and its skin was falling off from one cheek. For some reason this Ugly look familiar to me.

I stopped breathing. This thing was my mother. I wanted to throw up. The tears blurred my vision, as I choked back a sob. My mother was dead. That ment my brother was dead too. I tried yelling to Merle, but my throat was closed up. A second later, the Ugly, my mother, was pulled off me. I watched as Merle stabbed her in the head several times. Her body slammed to the ground.

"Hey, Birdy. You okay? You ain't bit are ya?"

I didn't respond. I saw him out of the corner of my eye as he crouch to the side of me. My focus never left her body.

"Birdy? I ask ya a question. Were ya bit?"

I tore my gaze away from her and looked at Merle, "I-that-I-," I was sobbing, "That-that was my-my-my mo-mother."

He looked shocked.

"She-she's dead. And-and I-I don't have any-anyone. Merle, I'm-I'm all alone." A wail tore through my throat, "I'm all alone!"

Merle didn't know what to do. He had never had to comfort a person before. Especially a child who had just seen him murder a loved one. You were supposed to hold people to make them feel better, right?

Warm arms wrapped around my small frame, making me flinch back. I was pulled on to Merle's lap, as he began to run his only hand through my hair. I sniffled. Since when does Merle know how to comfort people. I always thought he didn't care for anyone but himself.

"Listen, kid. I ain't good at none of this crap. I ain't gunna tell you that everything's going to fine cause it won't be. It'll probably get worse." He paused, "But I ain't gunna let nothin happen to you. Okay, Little Bird?"

I nodded and snuggled into his embrace. When I was almost asleep, he spoke,

"Welcome to the Apocalypse."

This is my first TWD fic, so I hope ya'll like it. Sorry if there's any mistakes. Just point them out to me if you see them. I know that Merle is OOC sorry bout that. Its hard to write his character