"So that's how you survived alone?" Merle asked, coming to stand beside her.
She nodded, not looking at him. Vic didn't want him to see her as a freak or see the disgust in his eyes when he realized she could actually communicate with the dead. It wasn't a comforting thought to most people, being comfortable around the dead as much as the living, especially now.
"Hey sugar tits" Merle called, not liking that she wouldn't look at him.
She finally got the courage up to look at him, relieved when she only saw lust and intrigue in his eyes. She didn't know how she would feel if she found disgust in his eyes.
"When I was little, I was always different from other kids. I could never get sick, get a broken bone, and I never got a bruise. They had me tested and found out I was a genetic anomaly; I was resistant to getting hurt and to all types of sicknesses and diseases. They thought me a freak and were planning on giving me over to scientists so they could make money off of me. My grandparent found out before they could and took me away from them in Africa to Italy."
Merle looked disgusted with her story, most likely of her parents. She took a breath before she kept going. It wasn't like her to open up to a stranger or anyone really. There was just something about him that drew her in.
"I found out I could do that when a bear was about to attack me when we were on vacation in Canada one year when I was ten. My grandparents thought it was great and were even more proud of me. The animals never disobeyed a command I gave and I could control their whole body with just a thought. It developed into being something I could do with walkers when they came months ago".
Merle nodded, unlocking the door and locking around for more walkers. She could feel there was none around here because the others had warned them away and told him so. He looked even more confused than before.
"I can feel when walkers and animals are near and how far away they are. I can feel their chatter and scattered thoughts, what few there are" she confessed.
He nodded and looked at her in awe, well as awe as a rough and tough redneck like him could be.
"Think we can scavenge for supplies and shit to take back to camp? Really wanna stick it to 'em when they see all the stuff we got and they couldn't".
Vic laughed but told him that walkers won't bother them as long as he has her scent on him and she was with him. He was hesitant to believe her until when they went to the first store and walkers just literally walked past him. He laughed his ass off with joy and went to grabbing anything his heart desired.
"Hey Merle, is that a gun bag?" she asked some time later, peering at the black bag sitting in the middle of the street down the road.
"Sure looks like it sweetheart. Officer Friendly must have dropped it when he got swarmed. This 'ill sure kill when he sees that we have it and he don't".
Merle cackled in glee and raced off to get it. Vic watched him with a more than a little affection in her eyes. Merle was still a bastard but he had some trace of his former boyish charms.
Merle grabbed the bag and hauled it over his shoulder. He looked down the road to see his Vic standing there with soft eyes and a silly grin on her face. He would never know what he did to deserve her and the gift she had but he wasn't going to complain.
He knew he was a racist old redneck bastard that was probably too old for her (he was 40 and she was 24) but ain't nobody going to get her but him. He was just possessive and selfish enough that he couldn't let her go if he tried.
Vic was packing up all their scavenged stuff and the guns in the back of the trailer she found. Merle was looking over the truck she found with it in appreciation.
It was a brand new Ford truck with giant mud wheels with a big cab, a sunroof, a wide back seat, plenty of tools, and a lot of tires for it in the cab along with plenty of large gas cans.
It was like good luck was tied to the girl. He could get used to this type of luck if she found shit like this all the time.
"Merle" Vic called, pulling him out of his fantasies of her and him in that big back seat bumping uglies.
"Yeah girlie?" he called back, walking around to the back of the trailer where she was.
He found her bent over a box of canned food, his eyes now focused on that delectable ass. It was hard to keep focus around her with all those lush curves and that statuesque figure. He had honestly never seen anyone as good looking as her in all his years.
"We should go hit some hardware stores and weapons stores to get some gardening supplies, canning stuff, barbed wire, some weapons, and some more stuff like that for when we find somewhere to settle down".
He hadn't even thought of all that shit and it suddenly dawned on him that she said when we settle down. It didn't bother him that she was already making plans for them like they were staying together.
In his mind, they were stuck together until death. Merle was a lot of things, but stupid he was not. Not only was she useful, she was hot for him and he knew it. He wasn't going to give that up anytime soon. Gorgeous, smart women were in short supply these days and he wouldn't be attempting to find another one.
"Yeah, let's lock up the trailer and truck so no one tries to fuck up our shit if there are still people stupid enough to be here" Merle said, locking it up with the padlock from the roof.
He'd be damned if someone came to take the shit he and his woman got all by themselves. He leered as she took the keys to the truck and padlock and dropped them down between her tits.
"There, ain't no one besides me and you getting them now" she giggled and ran up the street to Lowe's with him chasing after her.
He growled low in his chest, chasing after her. If he had his way, he would be getting those and her alone as soon as he was able to.
"We should try and get some solar panels, electrical stuff, and things for plumbing so we could hook up some some electricity and water for a place. My grandfather was an electrician and did some odd jobs here and there for plumbing, construction work, hooking up solar panels, fixing up wires, basically he taught me how to build a whole house up from the dirt it stood on. Trust me, it'll be a big help later on".
He shrugged and took her word on it. Ain't no way he wasn't going to stop listening to her now since she got them this far. Shit, the Dixons were never religious men but he was starting to believe she was an angel in disguise. Nothing in his life ever went this well for him.
He went and found an excess of the stuff she was talking about and put it all in the buggy. Looked like no one was concerned with the practical stuff, just weapons and food like he was.
They hit up a Walmart (where they found enough food, clothes and weapons for them to have to get another trailer), a Walgreens, a Hospital (where Vic took all the , the heart monitors, all the pills, syringes, gauzes, gloves, scalpels, surgical tools, creams, and basically everything medicine related), a convenience store (where they took all the smokes, food, and alcohol), an Academy, and a furniture store (where they took some fridges, deep freezers, and a couple of things for the home).
They had another car and three trailers in total when they left Atlanta that afternoon. They basically cleared out everyone store they went into and got things that no one else would have thought to got.
Vic believed in preparing for everything and so did her grandparents. Everyone made fun of them for being Doomsday preppers but they're all dead now and she was still here.
Merle led her back to the quarry with their load. It would be funny to see the faces of everyone when they realized he brought back a walker/animal speaking Army doctor, the loads of weapons and food, and the monster trucks with plenty of gas.
Suddenly, he couldn't wait to walk into the clearing with the hot lady on his arm and show all of them he just wasn't some redneck asshole who knew how to hunt. He and his brother were assets to any group and they could pick anywhere to go even if they didn't have a group.