A/N – If anyone knows for sure which hand Merle cut off, please forgive me if I am incorrect. I feel like it's his right and I looked it up online and saw some pictures but TV magic sometimes changes stuff. I also want to clarify as you read this story that you shouldn't expect Merle to be an entirely changed and wonderful person. I'm planning to give him layers but he's still definitely a jerk. I've always believed that there are good people, bad people, and sort of in the middle people, in the world. Merle's sort of bad and not-so-bad all rolled into one. He's still the type of racist jerk-off to kick a puppy (I'm sorry puppy!) and he's a druggie who's been to jail and done some crazy bad shit, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have layers and potential. Last comment – I plan to have Merle and Sophia reunite with the group – Carol and Daryl especially – at some point but don't expect it to be easy or to be quick.

Hope you like this chapter! Please review! And thank you to those of you who reviewed the first chapter!

Chapter 2

The shrill sound of tires screeching sliced through the air and the car stopped inches from her small body. Sophia hadn't realized she was shaking and sobbing until then. Her whole body shook and she could feel herself gasping for air as she sobbed. This was not fitting behavior for a girl of twelve. A girl on the cusp of teenager-hood, just six years until she was an adult. She chastised herself internally and tried to maintain control. To be fair, she was almost just hit by a car. Her father's fist had nothing on a full-blown motor vehicle.

A door slammed and she heard an angry voice yell out of the darkness next to the car, "Wha' the fuckin flying fuck is ya doin' runnin' ya dumbass out in the fuckin' road!"

A man she dimly recognized stepped out into the lighted darkness created by the headlights and leered at her angrily. She knew he was familiar. She had definitely seen him before. That angry smirk, the stubble on his face, his narrowed, irate eyes glaring. And then she saw the blackened, burnt stump at the end of his right arm, where his hand should have been, and she knew who he was. Merle Dixon. Daryl's missing brother.

Merle stepped closer and sneered at her. "I as'ed ya a fuckin' question, girl… Hey, ain't I seen ya somewhere's before?" He leaned down towards her and Sophia resisted the urge to flinch or step back. She could see the spittle forming in the corners of his mouth. His eyes went all squinty as he looked at her, trying to make the connection, and then he said, "yea, yea I has seen ya before… yer that fat fuck's lil' girl… that fat fuck and that skinny ass beatin' post of a wife he had… ya was with them back at the motherfuckin' camp outside Atlanta… ya seen my punk ass brother, has ya? I'm-a lookin' for 'is dumbass." He leaned closer in as he spoke and Sophia could smell his foul breath as he spoke.

"I got lost," she said. They were the first words to pop out and she could have smacked herself for how stupid they sounded.

Merle stood straight up again and shook his head, "no fuckin' shit, dummy… they 'round 'ere somewhere?"

Sophia shrugged helplessly, "I don't know."

Merle made a nasty face and turned away from her, moving back to get in the car. He opened the door and faced her again before he got in. "Well git yer ass outta my way, else I'll drive over ya," he jeered nastily.

"You can't leave me here!," Sophia said with a burst of anger that she hadn't expected as she put her hands on her hips.

"Why the fuck not?" Merle glared and raised an eyebrow at her.

"If you leave me here, you're leaving me to die, you know."

Merle smiled at that, "Like I give two shits bout that." Merle raised his hand and stump in a defensive motion and continued, "Not my fuckin' problem, lil' girl."

Sophia gaped at him, then narrowed her eyes angrily to glare right back at the man. She jutted her jaw and gritted her teeth, and promptly marched herself over to the passenger side door of the car and got inside. Merle stood outside of the vehicle still and crouched to peer inside at where she was now seated, a puzzled expression on his face.

"The fuck ya think yer doin'?," he scoffed, but his tone was half-hearted.

"I'm coming whether your stupid smelly ass likes it or not. So deal with it," she snapped loudly in response, crossed her arms in front of her and turned away from him to look out the passenger window. Sophia had no idea where her resolve had come from, and she had no idea if this was a good idea or a bad one. She was probably no safer with the likes of Merle Dixon than she was outside in the woods by herself. But she didn't want to be alone out here. She wanted to be back with her mom and Carl and the rest of the group. Fact was though, she wasn't sure she'd ever find them. She had no idea where they were, how far she had strayed from where they last were, or if they were even still alive and out there looking for her. But she knew she couldn't look for them on her own. Not if she wanted to stay alive.

The door slammed beside her and she looked out the windshield at Merle Dixon pacing up the side of the car. The man was talking to himself but she couldn't hear what he said. He seemed angry, rubbed his only hand up the side of his face and over the close-cropped hair on his head. Then he swore loud enough that she could hear it, and kicked at a pebble or something on the road. He spun back toward the car and glared at her through the windshield. She turned away and she heard him stomp back to the driver's side door. He swung the door open violently, clamored inside, and slammed the door closed with a bang.

She refused to look at him directly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him awkwardly reach under and around the steering wheel with his left arm to turn the key sitting in the ignition, and then shift the car into drive just as awkwardly with the automatic shifter in the middle of the console. Then she was jerked back in the seat as he revved the car forward too fast, his left hand resting on the top of the steering wheel, his right arm with the stump resting on the seat beside her.