Venice
"So, what's yer name, lil' one?" The hick asked me. His voice was rough and had a very strong southern accent.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" I spat at him. I was using my lighter to burn the saw, sterilize it before sawing off his hand.
"Yeah, I would. That's why I asked, dipshit." I looked at him. I raised one brow as if to say, 'Do you really wanna mess with me right now?' He got the message and apologized. Maybe it was because he was handcuffed and I was holding a saw. "Merle Dixon, pleased to meet ya." He held out his uncuffed hand. I shook it once and returned to my work. "Say, how long you gonna be doin' that burnin'?"
"Til it's ready."
"When might that be lil' miss?" I rolled my eyes.
"When it is."
"You not much of a talker, is ya?"
"No."
"Can I know yer name before ya start sawin' off my hand?"
"Venice. Venice DeLuca." He nodded. "This is going to hurt. A lot." I took his belt off him and used it as a tourniquet. With that I started sawing. He stayed quiet the entire time, given the few groans and grunts when I hit the nerves, his face held a grimace though.
Daryl
"COME ON, LET'S GO!" I yelled as I honked the horn of the van with my foot. T-dog and I were in the back, Rick and Glenn in front. I sat in the back with my back in a corner of the van. The ride wasn't very long. We reached a fence and Glenn stopped the van.
"We walk from here." I grumbled and slung my crossbow over my shoulder and checked my knife to make sure it was sheathed. We quietly made our way to the department store. We made our way to the roof; T-dog broke the chain with the bolt-cutters that he borrowed from Dale.
Venice
Oh man, my head! I sat up. The light from the sun made my head ache even more. What was going on? Last I remember I had just finished... I looked at my hands, they were covered in blood. I heard a clank. Metal on metal. I looked to the door. I heard the chain being removed. I had no where to run so I went to unsheathe my knife. Except the knife was gone, along with my pistol and all the ammo I had on me. Motherfucker took my weapons. I stood and I looked at the door again. I raised my arms. The door crashed open and four men came through, weapons raised.
"I'm the only one here. Damn hick robbed me and left me here. Son of a bitch took my goddamn knife." The four men scoped out the roof to make sure I was in fact alone.
"The fuck did he go?" A very gritty, dirty man asked me. His voice was rough and southern like the damn hick that stole my shit.
"Fucking douche bag knocked me out after I sawed off his damn hand."
"You best watch what ya say 'bout my brother," the man said warningly.
"No, you best watch who you threaten. I'm deadly without my knife." The man just glared at me.
"Excuse me, ma'am. My name is Rick Grimes. I'm the one who cuffed the man to the metal."
"Yeah, I know. I was up here when you and Merle had your little spat." I put my hands on my hips. "You gonna go look for the bastard?"
"He's part of our group. Yes, we're lookin' for him." This calm bravado that Rick was putting on was about to start pissing me off.
"Count me in, I want my shit back."
"Listen here, bitch, you don't belong to the group. So's you can just get the hell home, 'fore you get yourself killed." This man was really cruising for a bruising.
"Listen here, asshole. That man, he stole my means of protection. I'm getting them back. You have nothin' to say about it," I sneered as I got in his face.
"Daryl, she's got a point." The little Asian guy spoke up. The younger hick turned toward him. The Asian seemed to lose his confidence again, afraid of the hick I suppose.
"She does," said the black guy.
"Daryl, she's comin' with us to get her weapons back." Rick I liked, so far. We followed the blood trail that Merle left behind. It stopped in a kitchen, where he burned the end of his stump to stop the bleeding. He was one tough guy. We ended up not finding him. But I was informed about the bag of guns they came back to get.
The five of us were sitting and standing around the Asian, whose name I learned was Glenn. He'd drawn a very rough map of the street.
"This is a dangerous plan," I told him.
"This is a stupid plan, and I don't even like you much," Daryl said as he leaned over placing his hands on his knees to study the map.
"It's a good idea, ok? If you just hear me out. If we go out there in a group, we're slow. Drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast. Look. That's the tank," he said putting a binder clip down on the map. "Five blocks from where we are now. That's the bag of guns," he said as he put down a crunched up post it note. "Here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met," he said this to Rick while pointing to an open place on the map. "
That's where Daryl, Venice, and I will go."
"Why me?" Daryl asked. I looked at him with a 'duh' expression.
"You're crossbow," I started.
"It's quieter than his gun." Glenn finished. "While Daryl waits here in the alley, I run up the street, grab the bag."
"But you got us elsewhere?" Rick asked.
"You and T-dog, right. You'll be in this alley here," Glenn placed an eraser in another alley two blocks down from the tank.
"Two blocks away? Why?" Rick asked.
"He may not be able to come back the same way. Roamers could cut him off," I said.
"If that happens, I won't go back to Daryl and Venice. I'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me. Afterwards we'll all meet back here."
"Hey, kid, what did you do before all this?" Daryl asked him. Why would Daryl ask that? Random time.
"Delivered pizzas. Why?" Glenn answered, a bit confused. I started laughing. I couldn't help it. It just bubbled up and over my barrier.
"You delivered pizzas?!" I asked. "No fucking wonder why you're so good at planning routes. Oh damn," I laughed. "Sorry. Carry on."
Daryl, Glenn and I climbed down a ladder to the alley below us, while Rick and T-dog made their way down the alley they were stationed at. Daryl readied his crossbow, I couldn't help but notice how his arms flexed when he pulled the string back.
"You got some balls for a china man." Daryl lifted his crossbow to load a bolt.
"I'm Korean."
"Whatever," Daryl replied and crouched in-between two dumpsters. Glenn took off out of the alley. I shook my head and crouched next to Daryl, who was facing towards the alley.
"Daryl, I've got no weapon." I hated being defenseless. I looked around as I asked him.
"Take my knife then, don't fuckin' drop it, princess." I took his knife out of its sheath and held it to his neck.
"Don't call me princess," I snarled in his ear. He chuckled; I pressed the blade hard enough into his skin to make a small cut. A warning to him.
"Damn," he hissed as he wiped the blood away with his fingers. We were both focused on the alley and the Roamers wandering aimlessly that we didn't hear the kid coming up behind us. I heard him first and stood directly in front of him. Daryl stood next to me, crossbow aimed at the kid's head.
"Whoa, don't shoot me! What do you want?" he asked as he cowered away from Daryl and me.
"I'm lookin' for my brother. He's hurt real bad. You seen him?" Daryl asked with the crossbow aimed at the kid's head.
"AYUDAME!" the kid yelled.
"Shut up," Daryl hissed at him as he jabbed the crossbow in the kid's direction. "You're gonna bring the geeks down on us. Answer me." I stood next to Daryl, knife ready to slice and dice.
"I suggest you answer him, kid."
"AYUDAME!" he yelled out again. "AYUDAME! AYUDAME!" Daryl got fed up and smashed him in the face with the butt of the crossbow. Daryl crouched over the kid and covered his mouth.
"Shut up, shut up!" he growled.
"Shut up, kid!" I yelled. The kid kept trying to scream and wriggle on the ground below Daryl. I spun as I heard heavy footsteps running towards us. Two big Mexican guys were heading our way. One punched me in the face, landing me on my ass. Then they both jumped Daryl and kicked him multiple times. I jumped on the taller one's back and he drove my back into the brick wall, causing me to grunt in pain. I'd dropped the knife by that point and stood to start punching him in the back of the head except he pulled out a metal pipe and hit me over the head with it then started beating Daryl with it. The last thing I saw was the two guys go after Glenn and drag him away before I passed out.
