They didn't have to wait for long. Seeing the reluctance in both men to accept their proposition, Merle assumed it would take ages to convince the rest of their group. But when he saw Rick emerge from the treeline after merely twenty minutes of waiting he knew where the tough bravado came from. Rick wasn't talking to the group about them, no, he was telling them how it would be. Ha! He'll have another thing coming if he tries that shit with him, Merle thought. It could also be that the group was a bunch of pussies without an opinion though.
The other guy shot to his feet as soon as he saw Rick approaching. Behind him, there were other people coming out of the forest. Merle looked them over, he saw an old guy, a black guy, a kid, and bunch of women. One was heavily pregnant and was clinging to the little boy's shoulder, two blondes who looked like they got lost during a school trip, one of them gave an unsure wave and a quiet "hi", and a brunette who's eyes were nervously jumping between all of them while having a death grip on a handgun in her hand. He looked then thoughtfully at Lumen and whispered, "They look like a bunch of pussies, but let's not underestimate them just yet, yeah?"
"Absolutely," she said quietly while they started to stand up to meet the group, "Maybe you could try to not piss them off in the first five minutes, huh?" She raised her eyebrows at him.
"You got it, sweetheart," he smirked as he stood to his full height. Rick gave an awkward cough to get everyone's attention. Then he motioned with one hand to the pair, but before he managed to say anything Merle beat him to it. "Well, well, well, look at that. Trying to repopulate the Earth already? While I don't think it's a very wise idea I'm more than happy to help with the process! You seem to have a lot of beauty to share there! I'll share if you do." He paused very briefly, scanning all the shell-shocked faces, "how does it work here? Every man one woman? Or do you swap? Oh, or is the old man watching out for cherries there until they are ready for the popping? I can help with that too sweetcheeks. I'm not picky!" he hollered at Rick while winking at the blond who waved at them earlier. She in response took a step back looking around herself only to see a slight panic in the other girl's eyes. Several people then started talking at once.
"Rick?" The pregnant lady called sternly while pushing the boy behind her.
Rick's eyes stayed on Merle, his hand unclasped the holster on his side. "What did you jus-" he started but Lumen cut in.
"MERLE!" She slapped his chest with the back of one of her hands and raised the other quickly palm up, "he doesn't mean that he's joking! He has a terrible sense of humor!" she blurted out so quickly she wasn't sure if they had caught everything she said.
"What? Who's joking? I'm happy to help any of the lovely ladies here to some good time," Merle stated with a chuckle, grinning down at her.
"No, he wouldn't!" she tried to save the situation before hissing at him, "What are you doing?!"
The group was watching the display in front of them, exchanging confused glances, unsure how to handle the situation. The pair wasn't armed, and besides the weird talk, they weren't doing anything. Sure the girl looked frustrated but otherwise okay. Eventually, the older man stepped forward.
"Look mister..." he started, waiting for Merle to fill in his name, which he didn't. Merle turned his head in the old man's direction but stayed quiet. When the man realized he's not going to get other reaction he continued, "Alright then, look, Rick explained to us the deal you made and I personally think it's the right thing to do. People should stick together in hard times like this. We should all reach in our souls and channel that good part of ourselves, that part I'm sure every one of us has somewhere inside. We have to help each other or otherwise we, as humankind, have already lost. For all that, I am willing to believe that you are good people and that we all will get along. My name is Hershel Greene," he motioned to his left, "this young lady here is Maggie, my daughter," he gave Merle a pointed look, and then he motioned to his right, "and this is Beth, my youngest. So, you see, if you could keep your propositions to yourself, I'd appreciate that greatly."
Everyone stayed silent for a moment, all eyes on Merle, waiting for his reaction. All of them holding a different kind of emotion. Lumen was giving him pleading look, Hershel's eyes stayed calm, the girls were staring wide-eyed, there was a confusion in Glenn's eyes, doubt in Lori's, and Rick and the black guy were sporting an angry look. Merle's gaze went from one person to another before stopping back on Hershel.
"Well momma here is useless, what about that one?" Merle pointed to the wave blonde, "any relation to her? Niece, granddaughter maybe?"
"Merle stop it." Lumen whined, gripping and tugging at his arm, not understanding his point and scared the group will decide to leave them behind or worse. Hershel though seemed to see right through what Merle was doing at that point because he shook his head at Rick who was about to step in and actually smiled at Merle before answering.
"Amy isn't my kin by blood. She is one of our group though, and what I said applies to her too."
Merle slapped his hands together and rubbed them contently, the noise making several people jump. "Alright, good! Damn, that's really good thing to know, wouldn't want Lumen here with a group who'd trade women like a cattle, isn't that right, sweetheart?" No answer came from her, she just stared at him speechless, with her mouth opening and closing like a fish. "Excellent, I'm glad we are on the same note here." With that he turned to get their bags, he slipped the bigger one on his shoulders and pushed the other one in Lumen's arms. When she didn't react he nudged her impatiently, "well come on! We are losing the light and we have a prison to conquer."
He saw Hershel squeezing the brunette's arm reassuringly as he passed her on his way to the rails, "I'm glad we came to an understanding mister..." he tried again when he got to them.
"Merle, just call me Merle, no need for formalities now, is it."
By that time Lumen woke up from her shocked state and offered Hershel her hand which he accepted with another smile. "I'm Lumen, please to meet you."
"Likewise," he answered kindly.
Lumen then inspected the people behind him. The pregnant lady and Rick seemed to have an argument while the other two guys and Maggie stayed close, looking highly uncomfortable. Beth, on the other hand, grabbed Amy's arm and dragged her to them. Once she got there she held out her hand to Lumen to shake it, which she did.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Beth!" She announced with a bright smile and then offered her hand to Merle.
Looks like the good faith in people runs in the family. Or she's just too young and naive to know better. Who knows, who cares? He thought before shaking her hand with a wink. "Well hello little lady," he grinned at her widely and then looked at the other blond who was hovering several steps behind, just watching the exchange.
When Amy realized his attention switched to her she quickly averted her eyes and looked back to the rest of the group. The argument there seemed to be put on pause, not resolved if the angry look on the pregnant lady's face was anything to go by, and they were all moving to them now too.
As soon as they got there Rick proceed to introduce everyone, "This is my wife Lori," he beckoned to the boy to come to him and put both hands on the boy's shoulders. "My son Carl. You already know Glenn, and this here is Theodore. We have our vehicles back on the road. So we can all go back there and figure the best way around to get to the prison. "
"Oh, we know how to get there," Lumen stated without thinking.
"We have our car nearby too. We've already went through that part, we were only figuring how to get in afterward. I'll show you on a map." Merle quickly cut in.
Theodore stepped forward, "great, you can call me T-Dog or just T, that's what my friends always called me," he said offering his hand too.
"Yeah, no. Now that we have all the pleasantries behind us how about we finally move this party, huh?" Merle ignored the gesture, turned his back to him, and started to walk toward the road.
T-Dog was about to let his arm fall when it was grabbed and shaken, "Lumen, nice to meet you." And with that, she was off to catch up with Merle whose strides were creating a distance between them rather quickly.
"Care to let me in on your plan? Because I don't get it," she asked quietly but firmly once she got to his side.
"What do you mean? You know the plan," he replied calmly.
"I don't obviously," she muttered before grabbing his forearm, "Why are you constantly trying to piss them off? What if they decided they had enough and shoot us dead?"
He reached to pat the hand that was clinging to his arm. "I had a gun on me. Don't worry sweetheart, I was ready for whatever outcome."
"Oh really?" She huffed, "you against all of them? You are not bulletproof, Merle! Neither am I!" She wasn't screaming, she very rarely screamed, however, her voice was starting to gain the volume, so he peeled off the hand from his arm and pulled her to his side in a half hug.
"You need to calm down, Lumen," he whispered while checking on the group behind then. They were far enough, so he continued, "They wouldn't do nothing, Rick's the only one with the balls to actually pull the trigger but seeing the look he gave us earlier, he wouldn't, he needs us. He sure needs you, you're a nurse! People that know medical shit are and will be hard to come by nowadays!"
"So why-oh God! Did you ask because you actually thought it could be a possibility?" She squealed.
"What? Come on, stop it!" He scolded her and forced her back to his side when she tried to move away. "Of course not, who do you think I am? I know my standards are pretty low, and after these last few months of major blue balls they sure got even lower, but you know very well I'm not one to force a woman. I wanted to see how'd they react, just to be sure they aren't either, that's all. The fact they are too much of pussies to shoot someone doesn't mean they couldn't be doing other things. And as you so nicely pointed out, there is a bunch of them and only two of us. I needed to be as sure as possible, alright? Now settle down!"
"What about Theodore back there, huh? You can't let go of that shit even now?"
"Fuck him! What kind of name is T-Dog? Sounds like he's part of some damn gang or something. The only thing he knows something about is how to rob you, I bet."
"Oh this is just precious, you are one to tal-"
"Everything alright here?" They heard Rick behind them, closer than they thought him to be.
"We are doing great." Merle uttered over his shoulder.
"I was talking to her." He pressed, making the pair stop.
Lumen turned still under Merle's arm looking back at Rick. "What did he say?" She forced calmness into her tone. They could be fighting, but these people were still strangers, and she'd rather if she and Merle presented a united front against them.
Rick eyed them for a second before shaking his head. "Alright then. I just came to tell you that cars are that way." He pointed to the other direction.
"Okay, we'll go to get ours and we'll catch up." Merle waved him off and continued dragging Lumen towards Daryl's truck which they were using, having Merle's bike secured on its bed.
Turned out that Rick's group was actually literally around the corner, not far at all from their truck. They decided to move all cars near the prison yard, cut through the fence and secure the field from the catwalk and guard towers. They took all their arsenal with them, if things went south they better have all they got with them. Once they were there, the hole secured behind them, they moved by the fence to come up with the best way to carry out their plan.
Rick looked over the field with optimism. "We can do this," he said almost as if to himself.
"How do we shut the gate?" Hershel asked, not looking as optimistic as Rick about the plan.
"I'll go, I'm the fastest. You guys cover me." Glenn tried to volunteer.
"No," Maggie protested immediately, "It's a suicide run."
"No," Rick agreed with her, "it was my plan, I'll run for the gate. You, Maggie, Beth, T and Amy draw as many as you can over there. Pop 'em through the fence." He then turned to Merle, looking suddenly a little unsure. "Guess we'll see how good you actually are with that thing, huh?"
For once, there was no snarky comment coming from Merle, he wanted inside as badly as the rest of them, and he was focused on that at the moment. "You go on and don't worry, I'll have your back," he patted the rifle he was holding, "I don't miss, and Lumen here is pretty good too," he smiled down at her, "we'll take that tower," he pointed behind him.
Rick gave a curt nod, "All right. Hershel, you and Carl take this tower."
He took the chain with snap shackles and waited until all of them got to their positions. Then Lori opened the gate for him and he ran. He tried to not look that much around him at all the dead shuffling now to get to him, he tried to block out the shouting and gunshots, his focus solely on the gate he was supposed to close.
He had to slow down for a second to shoot the walkers in his way. When he heard a thud of a corpse falling to the ground behind him, he turned around only to see another one reaching for him. Before he could even react the walker's head exploded and its body fell to the ground. Rick looked to the tower only to see Merle giving him a mock salute and then shooing him away to continue. And he did. He got to the gate, closed it and quickly ran to the tower beside it.
"Light it up!" He yelled once he climbed to the lookout.
It didn't take long after that for them to take care of the rest of the walkers in the now secure yard. When all of them were finally lying on the ground truly dead now Merle turn to Lumen with a shit eating grin on his face, "almost there sweetheart. I'm telling you, this time tomorrow we'll have Daryl back!"
She looked back at him, smiling widely. Relief momentary flooding her body, "we did it! I can't believe we are this close, after all this time!" she said while throwing her arms around his torso and squeezing him in a hug.
He patted her back with his free arm, "I know, now come on! Let's go and plant a seed about pushing into the prison into Rick's great mind," he smirked, waggling his eyebrows.
Lumen let go and looked around, the euphoric mood leaving her as she did. There were walkers all around the place. The yard was full of now truly dead bodies and on the other side of the gate leading to the buildings were even more of them still shuffling around. The longer she was watching the scene the tighter her throat got. "Merle?" Her voice shook as she called him, "do you truly believe-what if he's-" she couldn't even finish that thought. She has been so focused on how nervous she was about seeing Daryl again, she forgot about the possibility of never seeing him again.
Merle went to stand next to her. He stayed quiet while inspecting the scene in front of them. "He's here, I just know it. And we are going in and we are gonna find him!" He said firmly. "Now come on."
He never said they're going to find him alive though.
They all worked hard to move all the bodies to piles on the sides, deciding to burn them all tomorrow. Lumen took the keys from the truck and she went with Beth and Amy to move the cars closer and to get their stuff to prepare themselves for the night. T-Dog, Glenn and Maggie went with them and then continued to gather firewood, leaving Lori, Carl and Hershel to rest. Merle took that moment to approach Rick, who was walking around, checking the fence for holes or other damage.
Merle lighted a cigarette and fell in step with him watching the fence. "So, that went alright. Quick, clean." He blew the smoke out.
"Yeah," Rick said absently, trying to yank a particular part that looked bent. It didn't budge from its place.
"Did you think about pushing further?" Merle asked.
"What do you mean?" Rick turned to him.
"I was just thinking, now that there is more of us, we could try for the cellblock, would be nice to have a roof over our heads, is all. Think about it." He finished his smoke and walked away to meet Lumen to help her with their bags.
"So? How did it go?" She asked as soon as he was within earshot.
"Good," he replied with a big grin, "didn't take much, the man has a wife who's about to burst. You should see his eyes when I mentioned it. We are so going in tomorrow." He said confidently, taking the bag from her.
The night came soon, T-Dog took the first watch, Rick was still walking around the fence while the rest of them sat around the fire. They all ate and at the moment all of them were quiet, just enjoying the safety of the place. Hershel was sampling earth, letting it fall through his fingers. He looked up with a small smile, "if we can dig a canal under the fence, we'll have plenty of fresh water. The soil is good. We could plant some seed. Grow some tomatoes, cucumbers, soybeans." He was thinking aloud and Maggie was nodding, agreeing with his statements.
"Are you a farmer?" Merle asked, eying the man, "I thought you were a doctor or something. You know, since you seem to look after her." He pointed at Lori.
"Daddy's a veterinarian." Beth cut into the conversation. "But we had a farm."
"Ohhh!" Merle let out a chuckle, "that makes the two of you farmers daughters! Shit, that's just fantastic, how old you are again?" He gave the blond a lustful smile, "if you are up to it we could play one scenario I got on my mind for ages-"
"-Merle stop being a pig!" Lumen rushed to cut off that line of thoughts, seeing the smile disappearing from Hershel's face, Lori dropping the bowl she was holding, Beth's eyes reaching the size of a dinner plate... she didn't dare to check how are the others reacting, instead she turned her attention back to the man sitting beside her, "Do you seriously think someone would say yes to that?"
"You know what? I think I liked you better when you were all shy and quiet! And for your information women can't get enough of old Merle. You wouldn't know because you never tried. Actually, I knew plenty of girls who would say yes to that!" He sounded very pleased with himself too.
"Oh God, of course, you did! Those drunk enough to not recognize who they were talking to! You don't make propositions like that to a seventeen old girl!" She scolded him.
He eyed Beth, "seventeen, huh, does that mean you neve-ouch, stop slapping me! I don't slap you every time I don't like what you say and it happens more often than you'd think, sweetheart!" He complained while rubbing the spot she hit as if it actually hurt him. But seeing not only hers but also Hershel's unamused, frowning face he rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, you know I'm not serious. Just having some fun, is all," he said nonchalantly, lightening a smoke as if nothing had happened, choosing to ignore all of them.
Lumen pointedly looked at him, "I do, but they don't!" She then addressed the audience, "I'm sorry! He really isn't a bad person. There is just a filter missing between his brain and his mouth!"
"Oh, it's missing now? That's fucking progress, last time it was nonexistent," he uttered, looking sideways at her.
"It's okay," Beth said quietly. Lumen wasn't sure how okay she really was, but although Hershel didn't look happy at all, no one was yelling at them to get out of there, so there was that. "Did you two know each other before this all happened?" Beth asked curiously. "You seem close."
Lumen glanced back at Merle, they agreed to give as little information about themselves as possible, "Well," she started, but was cut off by Rick coming back to them.
"Better all turn in," he said as he sat down next to Lori. T-Dog sat down too, taking a plate with a dinner they saved for him. "I'll take watch over there. Got a big day tomorrow," Rick continued.
"What do you mean?" Carl asked.
"Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win. But we've got to push just a little bit more." He started to explain. "Most of the walkers are dressed as guards and prisoners. Looks like this place fell pretty early. It could mean the supplies may be intact. They'd have an infirmary, a commissary. An armory, that would be outside the prison itself, but not too far away. Warden's offices would have info on the location. Weapons, food, medicine. This place could be a gold mine."
"We're dangerously low on ammo. We'd run out before we make a dent," Hershel objected.
"That's why we have to go in there hand to hand," Rick insisted, "After all we've been through, we can handle it, I know it. Now we have Merle and Lumen here I am confident about it. These assholes don't stand a chance."
Merle nudged Lumen with his leg, and when she looked at him he mouthed 'told you' with a content smile and a glint in his eye. Tomorrow, he'll have his brother back, he just knew it, he could feel it in his bones.
Thanks for reading, for the follows, favorites and for the two lovely reviews :-)
Lee's Legacy: I made the very same happy dance seeing your review, as it was the first review I got for the sequel. Thank you! :-)
Normgasm: I'm happy I made you happy! :-))
And of course many thanks to scriptor412 for being the best beta in the World.