Redneck Takes a Wife 7 – Salvaging

All recognized characters belong to AMC, the creators, writers, and actors. **Song is again Unchained Melody, lyrics by Hy Zaret, performed by many over the years.**

You're going to hate me.

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"If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together... there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart... I'll always be with you." A.A. Milne

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Merle was going to tease the hell out of him but there was no way Daryl could stay away from the cabin for another night. Daryl had three deer in the back of the pickup. One full size buck and two smaller, younger ones. Once they were butchered and smoked, it would get them through a few months at least. If he'd stayed, he might've been able to get a fourth one, but he could always come back. Maybe he'd bring Beth before the end of fall. Last winter up here had been brutally cold, so once winter set in they would have to stay close to the cabin. They would also have to find warmer clothing for all of them. Beth hadn't brought anything for winter, but then neither did he or Merle.

The storm was growing closer as he drove towards the cabin and his wife. He had a wife. The idea still seemed so strange and so perfect at the same time. Two months ago he didn't even know she existed. He knew of Doc Greene, the vet, and vaguely knew he had a family. He had a random memory of the man coming to see one of Merle's biker friends to take a look at his dog who'd broken his leg jumping over a fence. There had been a boy with him, tall and gangly who hovered close to his father as he stared around at everyone. Shawn, Daryl assumed, but his face hadn't registered with Daryl. His only image of Beth's brother was of the day he and Merle had buried him. Not surprising since time spent with that particular group, Daryl tended to stay to himself and make little eye contact. They treated him decent, mostly because he didn't challenge the pecking order, and because Merle was their main source of narcotics. Few of them talked to him, usually only when their bikes were acting up.

He was ripped from his thoughts by a loud noise. Louder even than the rain pounding on the truck. He slammed on the brakes. The truck fishtailed slightly then came to a stop. He opened the door and stuck his head out, ignoring the instant soaking that he received. It sounded like a train was coming through the trees. Lightning flashed, illuminating the monster that was cutting a path through the mountains. Daryl stood in stunned awe as the tornado ripped trees apart like straw. He was far enough away to be safe, but close enough to feel the power of the wind as it destroyed everything in its way. It vanished into the darkness, but Daryl tracked its progress as it moved south of him.

South.

He was south of the cabin, south of his family. They were north. Where the tornado came from.

Daryl shut the truck door and slammed it back into gear, just as a tree, weakened by the storm, dropped onto the road just in front of the truck. It was a monster, well over a hundred years old. Some of the branches covered the windshield and Daryl found himself face to face with a dead man. Walkers the Georgia radio stations were calling them. It wasn't wearing any shirt, and as it began to claw at the glass, Daryl realized that it had been ripped in half. Its intestines and spine dragged behind him in the tree.

Daryl climbed from the truck and slammed his knife into the corpse's head and dragged it off of the truck. Two more staggered out of the woods and he wondered if they had been following the tornado, attracted by the noise and movement. He dispatched them with his crossbow. He dragged them to the truck, laying one on each side, another at the back, hoping their stench would mask the scent of the deer in the truck bed. He grabbed his backpack from the truck and set off into the woods.

The path of the tornado was easy to follow. The devastation was easily a quarter mile wide through the trees and led him directly to the homestead. Daryl was panting, nearly sobbing as he ran. Then his worst fears were realized as he caught sight of their home in a flash of lightning. The cabin was gone. He could see where it had been. The foundation and the stone chimney were intact, but the rest was just a pile of splintered wood.

"MERLE! BETH!" he screamed as he ran to the devastation. "Please."

"Daryl!" Merle's voice rose out of the debris.

"Merle! Where are you?"

"Cellar, close to the south east corner. I can't get enough leverage to lift anythin'."

"Where's Beth?"

"I'm here."

"Daryl! Go shut off the gas line!"

"Tank's gone Merle."

"Oh. Never mind then."

Daryl felt his heart settle. He started to pull debris away at that corner. He lifted a board and everything shifted. It slipped out of his hands and crashed back down against the foundation.

"Careful, Baby Brother," Merle warned. "Wait. Lift that one again."

Daryl got a better grip on it and hefted it. Merle pushed up from below and the entire pile fell away. Daryl stooped and found himself looking down into his brother's face. "Hi. You both OK?"

"Think Sunshine broke her arm," Merle reported. "I got us into the tub just as it hit. She put her damn arms around my head just before the floor collapsed and ever'thin' fell in on us."

"Better my arm than your head," Beth replied as she squirmed up next to Merle to see Daryl. "You OK?"

"Am now," he studied her face. She was bruised, battered, so was Merle but the sight of bruises on her face was so much worse. She smiled up at him.

They shifted a few more boards away and Merle was able to lift Beth up to Daryl. She was wearing only one of Daryl's T-shirts and her underpants, so Daryl ripped off his shirt and draped it over her shoulders. Merle climbed out clad in only his briefs. "Talk about gettin' caught with your pants down." He wrapped the now dirty and damp blanket around Beth then lifted her arm. She winced as he brushed the dirt away. "Need to clean this up. Brace it. Move your fingers for me, darlin'."

Beth wiggled her hand but was looking at the destruction around them, "Walt," she whispered.

Merle cursed and strode away from them. The storm seemed to have sucked the clouds out of the sky and the full moon shone down brightly. He stepped over boards and tree branches, cursing softly as his bare feet impacted something in the dirt. Daryl lifted Beth up into his arms to carry her, following his brother. The barn was flattened, like the storm had pushed all four walls out and letting the roof fall straight down.

"Walt? You OK?" Merle called. "Walt?" his voice went soft. "Walt?"

"Merle" Daryl called as they approached Walt's devastated cabin. Beth gasped at the sight. Merle disappeared into the debris. "He OK?"

"Don't come down here," Merle commanded. He was quiet for a moment, then rose back into sight. His face was tight. "Don't look."

Beth began to sob. Daryl turned her head into his neck as he moved closer catching sight of Walt. Merle walked over to them and pulled his brother's face to his as Daryl's chin quivered. "Let it out brother. It's OK." They stood together and cried.

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They spent the rest of the night huddled together under the lean to. The tornado's path had missed the smokehouse completely, just tore a few panels off. Merle and Daryl tucked Beth between them with her arm wrapped in pieces of the shredded blanket.

"Got three deer, was on my way back," Daryl explained. "Tornado crossed the road ahead of me, took down a big tree so I hadta leave the truck."

"We'll get it tomorrow," Merle said. "Don't want to be stuck here without it."

"There's Walt's truck," Daryl said.

"It was upside down against a tree," Beth murmured.

"Oh."

Merle sighed, "Damn cabin has stood there for a hundred years. Survived hurricanes, wildfires, even a few ice storms. Never lost more than a damn shingle off the roof." He looked up at the starry sky. "I get that you got a lotta people to worry about but seriously, could you cut us a little damn break? Shit!"

"Don't cuss at God," Beth whispered. "Or He'll send somethin' worse."

"Worse, Sunshine?"

Beth looked at him, "Well a blizzard right now would really suck."

"True," Merle kissed the top of her head. "Try to get some sleep."

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At first light, they scavenged through the remains of their cabin. Merle dragged Beth's trunk from Walt out first. It was intact and everything inside was dry. Beth's backpack and her photographs, a few of her books and her journal were inside along with a few items of clothing she had realized were impractical for life up here. But now they were clean and dry so she slipped off Daryl's shirts and dressed in the frilly sleeveless light teal colored top, Capri cargo pants in stonewashed denim, and white sneakers. Merle's dresser was found face down so all the drawers were still inside. He stripped off his briefs and yanked on a fresh pair before dressing in jeans and a shirt. His spare boots were in a drawer too, where Beth had stored them to keep them off the floor. Another drawer held his entire drug supply. He stared at the cocaine for a long moment, then put them away. He did take a pain killer, hoping for an easing of the discomfort in his back and knees from falling with the tub. He made Beth take one for her arm.

The cold room had been completely destroyed along with all of their food. What wasn't crushed by debris was completely soaked. Daryl managed to find a few intact cans in the mud, including a can of fruit cocktail that he popped open and insisted Beth eat. Neither man would take a single bite. Merle followed the tornado path to the truck and brought it back across the rough but cleared ground. He and Daryl hung the deer to finish draining.

By then the sun had risen above the trees. They spent the rest of the morning freeing Walt's crushed body from the remains of his cabin. It looked like he'd been asleep in bed, clutching his wife's photograph to his chest when the tornado hit. There was no sign he'd even woken up before the cabin wall collapsed onto him. They dug up the casket that held his beloved Meggie and gently laid Walt in with her. Then they returned them to the ground together while Beth sang the song she'd heard Walt singing several weeks before.

**Lonely rivers flow to the sea, to the sea,
To the open arms of the sea, yeah,
Lonely rivers sigh, wait for me, wait for me,
I'll be coming home, wait for me.

Whoa! My love, my darlin,
I've hungered for your touch,
A long, lonely time,
And time goes by, so slowly,
And time can do so much,
Are you still mine?
I need your love,
I , I need your love.
God speed your love to me.**

"Walt didn't go a day without missin' Meggie," Merle said. "Said it felt like his heart quit beatin' the day she died." Daryl looked at Beth leaning against his side and gave her a squeeze. "Have to hope she was waitin' close to heaven's gates for him to arrive. Would've preferred to have you with us forever, old man, but sure feel's good knowin' you're watchin' over us from up there." His eyes teared up and he wiped at them furiously. "Uh. You wanna say somethin' baby brother?"

"Gonna miss you, Walt," Daryl whispered. He cleared his throat. "Miss you somethin' fierce. Ain't never come to you for anythin' that you turned me away." He looked to Merle. "Came to him a few times for bail money. He always had the cash, like he was expectin' me. I always paid him back but it was always a fight to get him to take it. Finally I would sneak in and leave it while he was out here with Meggie."

Beth blinked rapidly to clear her eyes, "You welcomed me in like I was family. Gave me your bed that first night. Opened up your place and your food for us, made life easier for us. Gave me," her voice broke and Daryl kissed her forehead. "Gave me such sweet, pretty things because I cooked the food you gave us."

Merle smiled as he hugged her and Daryl, "He gave you pretty things because it made you smile. Never underestimate the power of a smile from a pretty girl." He stroked her tearstained cheek. He led them away from the gravesite to walk back up to the smokehouse.

"What are we gonna do?" Beth whispered. "Are we gonna rebuild here?"

"Yeah," Merle nodded. "But not now. Too late in the season, we wouldn't be done before winter set in. We wouldn't survive a winter without shelter, plus most of our supplies are gone." He stroked her hair back, "Radio says there's a refugee center in Atlanta. Says the gov'ment is settin' them up. Supplies and shelter. We're gonna butcher the deer and smoke it. We're gonna comb through both cabins and find anythin' useful. Then we're goin' to Atlanta. We'll hunker down there for the winter, come back here in the spring and rebuild. We will get through this. We're Dixons, together we can handle anythin'. Even this."

"Why're we goin' there?" Daryl asked. "Why can't we go back to Beth's farm, or even town? Find a place for the winter. We're gonna trust a voice on the radio?"

Merle sighed, "Brother, right now I think Atlanta is our best shot. The disease place is there, maybe people workin' on this. City is full of supplies we can gather. We will be fine."

"What are we gonna tell people? 'Bout me?" Beth asked.

"The truth," Merle replied. "You're Daryl's wife. Ain't nobody's business beyond that."

Daryl nodded, "You don't worry. Ain't nobody gonna take you away from us. Nobody never."

Beth nodded, "OK."

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They spent the night in the truck bed. Beth scrubbed it out and they lined it with blankets they found at Walt's. Daryl and Beth curled up first with Merle standing watch, then in the middle of the night, Merle stretched out and let Beth cuddle to his side as Daryl took watch. The trees had taken down most of the barb wire and fencing, leaving the whole area open.

They spent two days going through the debris looking for anything salvageable. They found some of Beth and Daryl's clothes, filthy but intact. Beth scrubbed them clean and hung them on a freshly hung clothesline along with more blankets and towels they found. They found the red first aid bag and they wrapped Beth's arm. Now that the swelling had gone down, they no longer thought it was broken, just very badly bruised.

Some of the food in Walt's cold storage had survived. Not much but some. Cans of meat, fruit, and vegetables, bags of the trail mix and dried fruit they'd given him. Even a whole box of canned ravioli and spaghetti-o's that they didn't know he had. Everything was wet and muddy, but intact. Beth washed everything and sat it out to dry. Most of the labels came off but Beth kept it organized so they would know what they had.

Daryl was digging through their cabin when he saw a flash of blue. He pulled out one of the glass songbirds, without so much as a scratch on it. Beth burst into tears when he showed it to her. She cradled it to her chest and wept on his shoulder.

Merle's bad moment came on the second day. Daryl and Beth found him sitting at the gravesite sobbing with an envelope in his hand. "Merle? What is it?"

Merle sniffed several times and scrubbed at his face, "Found a safe. Full of cash, looks like it's about $500,000 if the labels are right. Walt never did trust banks. And a letter for us." He cleared his throat. "Merle and Daryl, you two are the closest I got to kin so if I'm dead, it's all yours. I bought up every parcel of land here on this mountain. Always wanted to own my mountain and eventually I got it. Yours now. All legal and true. So's everythin' in the barn and the cabin. Your names are on everythin'. Figure you two can be neighbors up here. Junk business has been good to me. If you decide to get into it, go see Sid in town, he'll get you started. There's money in the safe …" he broke off and wiped at tears again. "Should last you a little while." He stopped again to breathe deeply, "Put me in the ground with Meggie, please. She is the love of my life. Every day without her has been endless misery, please don't make me spend eternity without her." Merle folded the letter, "Damn old man, left us a half million dollars like it was a dollar fifty. Left us richer than anyone in our family's ever been. House and a job. And I just wish he was here to tell me to quit bawlin' like a damn baby." Beth went to him to hold him to her chest.

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They loaded up everything into the truck. The plastic boxes from Beth's home were filled with what they were taking. The boxes had survived with little damage under a table in the barn. They found another bolt of the heavy camouflage canvas and rope that they could use to build a basic shelter as well as a machete and a rifle in the barn. They still had their knives which had been safely in the smokehouse lean to but most of their bullets were lost, except for what Daryl had taken hunting. The motorcycle and trailer were hitched to the back and they were ready.

With Beth firmly seated between them, Merle drove away from the homestead. Daryl watched the familiar woods disappear in the side view mirror.

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It was strange when they passed the first people. A group of several cars pulled over to the side of the road, apparently having a picnic lunch. Then more cars. More people.

Merle pulled into a gas station that seemed to be open. There were lights on inside and several cars in the lot. There were two men on the roof with rifles pointed at the truck, "Stay in the truck." He stepped out with his hands raised.

"Hey," a man stepped to the door carrying a shotgun. His ebony skin shiny with sweat. He stood with the gun resting easy in his arms but Merle assumed it wouldn't take much to change that.

"Hey, you open?" Merle replied.

"It's Tuesday, ain't it?"

"Hell if I know."

"We got gas for trade. What you got?"

"Smoked deer meat," Merle offered.

"That'll work," the man nodded. "Step up outta the sun and we'll hammer out the details."

Merle took a quick judge of the man and the surroundings, then nodded. "OK. You two stay together but it's OK to stretch your legs."

"You got a bathroom?" Daryl asked as he stepped around the truck.

"Problem with pissin' on a tree, boy?" the man sneered, then gulped as Beth moved into sight, "Sorry, little missy. Sure got one inside. Go on in, the wife'll show you."

Daryl took Beth inside as Merle and the station owner haggled over the trade under the awning. There was a woman standing close by, also armed.

"How'd you still have gas?" Merle asked.

"Sons both drive delivery trucks. Things went to shit, they came here with their families. And their tanker trucks. Just about out now. We'll be leavin' prolly tomorrow or next day and head for Atlanta. Need to get the kids somewhere safe."

Merle saw two little girls inside playing with dolls near the counter. "We got some of them, spaghetti-o's. Maybe I throw them in to sweeten the deal."

The man smiled, "Kids would prolly love that. Thanks. We got a deal. Go ahead and fill your tank. Bike too."

The owner stood guard as Merle filled the tanks. Then Merle carried an armful of the canned spaghetti and two bags of the trail mix into the station behind the owner carrying the deer meat. Daryl was standing near Beth who was chatting with two women, one of whom had a baby in her arms. The baby stared up at Beth, completely enraptured.

"I was just saying, you should stay here tonight," one of the women said, "It'll be dark in a few hours."

"Thanks, ma'am" Merle said, "but I want to get a few more miles in today. Sunshine, you done with the bathroom?" She nodded. "Thank you all. Keep safe."

Merle led them out to the truck. He waved back one last time and climbed in.

"We coulda stayed," Beth said. "They seemed nice enough."

Merle sighed as he drove back onto the highway. "Maybe. Nice people are few and far between these days, Sunshine. Can't trust someone just 'cause they remember how to be polite. Sooner or later, nice people, especially ones with families, will stop bein' so nice."

*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*

They spent the night pulled off into the woods. Merle had driven by two rest stops before picking a spot where they could hide behind an overturned tractor trailer. They ate a quick meal and rigged a tarp over the truck bed. Daryl took first watch while Merle curled up with Beth. He had planned to stay awake all night but was exhausted by about three a.m. and woke Merle. Beth slept through the switch, even as they shifted her to release Merle and slide Daryl in place.

Merle woke them with the sunrise. They cleaned up a bit and changed into clean clothes before eating a quick breakfast. Daryl checked the trailer but found it had already been stripped bare. They got back in the truck to continue on their way.

By midmorning they were running into more traffic on the road. Cars pulled over to the sides, either broken down or out of gas. People walking along the shoulders.

Walkers. Coming out of the woods. Moving around inside of cars. Attacking. Biting. Eating people and road kill. Merle kept driving, focused on the road ahead.

Late morning, traffic was steady, then slowing, almost crawling along as the road dropped from three lanes to two. Merle had stayed in the middle lane to keep his options open, but found himself driving in the right lane when the traffic came to a stop.

"Shit," he cursed.

"Need to get over," Daryl said. "Can't get around or through on this side."

"I know," Merle snapped. He flipped his turn signal on. When the left lane began to creep forward he glance over and caught the eye of a large black man driving a group of people in a church van. The man nodded and when the traffic moved, Merle was able to pull into that lane behind an RV. Traffic stalled again and Merle stopped before reaching the steeper median and the guard rail. He shut off the truck after a few minutes. After a few more, he stepped out of the truck. The driver and a younger Asian boy emerged from the van

"This lane isn't moving any better than the one you were in," the Asian boy remarked.

"Didn't want to get trapped in there," the black man answered him.

Merle nodded to them, "Thanks for lettin' us over."

The black man nodded, "Welcome. Why you think we're stalled?"

"Dunno," Merle replied. "Accident. Could be they're controllin' the traffic comin' in, tryin' to maintain order." He lifted Beth down out of the truck as Daryl walked around to meet them.

"The radio still says to come," the Asian said. "The Emergency Broadcast is still… broadcasting."

The black man smiled, "Then I'm sure it's fine. The Lord will not give us more than we can handle."

Merle snorted, "Kinda wish he didn't have so much confidence in us."

"Yeah, me too."

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