Servitude
Copyright© D. A. Bathory 2014
Walking Dead characters and universe are not mine, but the original characters, storyline and wording are mine.
Merle/OC pairing. I'm kind of at a crossroads now. I'm having to start using a narrative POV as well as just Merle's, as he can't be everywhere at once to see everything going on and there's just too much that would only be able to be told as Merle hearing about it secondhand. And I think that would get old really fast. I don't have any particular inclination to do anything specifically from Ada's POV, but the narrative POV will cover her and everyone else involved in the story. If it doesn't work well, worst case scenario I'll have to rewrite a few chapters. I'll make it clear what POV is being used at all times. NB. My timeline is going to differ in plenty of places; they will meet some of the same people and never meet others; they'll find places at different times, avoid others altogether; some of the same people will live/die, others won't.
Songs for this chapter:
3 Doors Down - Kryptonite
Gillian Welch - Time (The revelator)
Chapter 09 - Courage
Merle POV
Uncomfortable would be how he'd describe sitting with Shane and Lori and Grimes. He'd brought Ada to their group, was responsible for getting her settled in, but right now, the way they were looking at him, he wanted to run far away and bury himself in a bottle. Or her. They seemed to think that what he'd come to them with was a request.
Since when does Grimes have a say in the decisions around here? And how long before someone tells him his wife's been sleeping with the creep?
"I ain't asking, I'm telling. Ada's with me and Daryl for now. If y'all don't want us with the group say now. If you do, say that now, too. But for fuck's sake hurry up; she's got three horses in her rig at the bottom of the hills here and they need seeing to more than your egos need fellatiating." He noted that their collective ears perked up at the mention of the rig, or the horses; he couldn't tell which. Maybe both.
I knew she'd be more valuable to them than me. Doesn't mean it don't sting, though.
"I'm not comfortable having someone who punched my husband staying at our camp. I think she needs to apologise for losing her temper like that before we go any further," began Lori.
"Bullshit. I've seen her lose her temper. She was in complete control when she floored the good sheriff here." The good sheriff in question gestured for her to leave it, which annoyed her. Good. "Your husband and Ada are cool. He did something she didn't like, and she made it pretty clear how much she didn't like it. It's over and done with."
He tipped his chin at the lawman and he returned the sentiment with the most minute nod. There might not be respect there yet for Merle, or ever, but he at least appreciated where Ada was coming from, even if they'd been on opposite ends of his decision to leave Merle on the roof.
He turned his eyes back to Grimes. Funny how everyone keeps doing that, even our supposed leader, Shane…who is going to provoke my attentions if he keeps looking at Ada like he did when she arrived.
"She don't much care whether she's with this group or not, can't say I do either. But that don't mean we won't pull our weight. So you either want the three of us here or you don't."
"Supposing we did gloss over your outburst on the roof, we already know what your skills are. What does she bring to the group?" Shane's voice was oily and, for someone sitting behind the wife of the man who'd been asking the questions so far, he was trying awful hard to make himself look like the big dog.
"The willingness to work as hard as anyone here. Other than that, I don't care to list her assets in order to impress you. Now, what do you have to offer her? This audition goes both ways." They looked surprised. Hadn't thought of that had you?
"Well, the security of a large group-"
"Large groups bring more walkers. Next point."
"The amenities we've managed to procure and maintain should make anyone very comfortable-"
"The truck has better." Checkmate. "You have a lot less to offer than she does. She is not as safe with you as she is with me and Daryl or by herself. She'll work as hard as anyone, harder, and you know I ain't lazy, but neither of us are jumping through hoops in the here and now."
"I…see. She'll be expected to do chores. Amy can show you where the women do the laundry-" Lori was silenced again.
"She's a blacksmith with a PhD in some kinda engineering and can fight with every kind of weapon I've seen in her hands so far. She won't be doing laundry except her own." He nodded once at them and stood. The subject was closed as far as he was concerned.
"Nice chatting with you, Officer Friendly, Mrs Friendly, Creep. We're gonna go fetch her rig." As he went to find Ada he could hear them speculating in low voices about what was going on between him and Ada. Well I don't think we have an idea between us on that matter so good luck with that.
He found her with Thunderchild and stood next to her for a moment before speaking.
"I don't want to add to your doubts about joining a group, but be wary of Shane. I don't like the way he was looking at you."
"Me either. He dangerous?" She squinted up at him, the sun in her eyes.
"Maybe. Maybe not. He's been fucking Officer Friendly's wife for the last month." He rubbed his hand over the bristles on his chin thoughtfully. "He's a little intense. They're best friends by all accounts, but if he were to decide he didn't want to give up the sheriff's missus, well you couldn't colour me surprised."
"Shit. I've landed in the middle of a soap opera," groaned Ada as Merle boosted her onto the horse's back. He caught her offered arm and used the counterweight to jump up behind her. It was a little clumsier than when he swung her up, but he didn't fall off. "The end of the world doesn't need drama thrown into the mix."
And what exactly is it that we're doing?
"You ain't wrong." He let his hands lay idly on her hips as they jogged along in the sun.
It didn't take long to reach the truck and Ada loaded Thunderchild into the trailer with his family, whom he greeted noisily. Once they sat in the cab, Merle stopped Ada starting the engine, a hand over hers. She looked at him in question.
"Things might be different now. Like you said, the end of the world doesn't need drama thrown into the mix. You're going to see the sides of me now that the others already know and love." He looked out through the windshield. "I ain't saying I haven't changed some, I have, but not so much that you ain't gonna be treated to a crash course in Merle 101." Ada looked at him blankly for a second before a corner of her lips quirked up.
"Is this the part where I'm supposed to run screaming for the hills? Headsup, soldier; we're already in the hills and I'm driving not running." God fucking damnit, woman, I'm trying to give you an out here.
"This ain't a joke," he snapped, slamming his hand on the steering wheel, which made her jump. "I don't know why I am the way I am, but it ain't gonna all get washed clean over night. I've spent too many years waking up in the middle of the night not even knowing what I am, what I'm good for, to be able to get a handle on how to be what you…we need."
"I'm sorry." She touched his arm and he flinched but didn't move it away. "Merle, I am. I know I make a joke too easily but I don't take what you say lightly." He nodded tightly and spoke in a resigned voice.
"I don't know how we go about building…something in a world like this. Hell I don't know anything about how to do that with someone, period. But there's one guarantee I can make you and that's that I'm gonna fuck up plenty and that I'm gonna to be an asshole to you on more than one occasion. And I ain't looking forward to it, but that don't mean I ain't gonna go right ahead and do it anyway."
"I know that already. And I can't say that I'm going to do any better. But if you have something to say to me say it, even if it's a string of curses, just let it be the truth. You be you and I'll be me and we'll see if there's a middle to meet in." She stood and tugged on his arm, leading him back into the sleeping area of the cabin and started unlacing her leather vest.
"This ain't the time for-"
"I disagree." She looked at him sharply. "If we can't fight and fuck and still find the energy to do what needs to be done then it's not ever going to be real." She unlaced the leather pants and slid them down over her hips. He found his hands reaching for his own pants before he knew he was moving.
Why do you always have to know how to harness this beast inside me? One day it'll get free and it'll be stronger than both of us, and then what will we do?
"Merle, I have no expectations except this." She grabbed his wrists and pinned them to the wall at shoulder level, bringing her knee up to rub against his angry erection.
"What're you doing?" he growled.
"I'm being a possessive bitch is what I'm doing." She lifted his wrists away from the wall and slammed them back again for emphasis. He let her. "If you're going to be an asshole to me then go ahead and be one. But get one thing through your head right now."
She was right in his face and he could feel her hard nipples pressing against his chest with every laboured breath she took. His eyes drifted downward to appreciate the sight of her fine breasts pressed against his body.
"I do not share. So I'd better damn well be the only woman you're being an asshole to, you get me, you ornery ass redneck?" His eyes snapped to hers. Oh, so that's how we're playing it is it? Well, alright then.
He shook her hands off his wrists easily and slammed her naked body down onto the bed with a hand around her throat. With the other hand he parted her thighs roughly and swung her body around to suit the angle he wanted, burying his face in her dripping sex. Goddamn but I love that getting pissed at me turns her on.
"What…Merle…what're you-"
"This ignorant," lick "stubborn," nip "ornery ass redneck is gonna get your scent all over him so every woman for a hundred miles knows who he belongs to." He didn't look up at her, but the stillness in her let him know she hadn't missed the significance of what he'd just said. She shuddered as he thrust his tongue roughly inside her, rubbing his bristled cheeks and chin against her sensitive skin.
"You know," she gasped as she tried to keep her breathing steady enough to speak, but he didn't take the hand off her throat. "For an ignorant redneck you sure spend a lot of the time knowing exactly the right thing to say."
"I can articulate as well as the next person. Better. Most just aren't worth the effort."
"But I am?" Her feet scuffled on his back as she tried to press him closer.
"Oh, darlin', you have no idea. Now quit moving."
"Fuck you." You said it, woman, not me.
"You first." He replaced his tongue with the head of his cock and slammed the whole length into her. She screamed his name and her whole body jerked, her legs spasming either side of him. Holy hell. "Did you…did you just-" She nodded and turned her head to the wall, her face going bright red.
"Are you embarrassed?" He turned her head back to lean his forehead against hers and felt her tiny nod and the heat from her cheeks. "Oh, honey, don't be. Do you know how sexy that is?" She shook her head. "Very." He thrust into her hard. "Very, very…sexy." A few more hard thrusts and he flooded her still clenching walls. Their union had been brief but heartfelt and they both lay close afterwards, just touching.
Half an hour later, they redressed slowly, eyes constantly meeting for long periods. Merle had finally gotten his wish. He had gotten to see her laid out naked with all that pretty hair spread out around her. Felt like I was fucking an angel. It was all he could do to let her sit back in the driver's seat instead of bending her over it.
When they pulled up into camp there was a ring of stunned faces around them. Only Creep and the two Grimes had known about Ada's rig and, judging by the expressions around them, they hadn't mentioned it. When they got back to the camp Ada pulled the rig over to a large, clear space away from the tents and Winnebago so the horses would have plenty of room.
"Just so there's no misunderstandings, I don't intend to share much with these people until I get to know them better. For now, the supplies in the rig are yours and Daryl's as well as mine; neither of you have to ask me for anything. If there's something small that can help someone, give it. But don't let anyone know the extent of the food supplies for the time being," said Ada.
"Fair enough. Same goes for me. What's mine is yours. Daryl…I guess we'll have to see. He ain't taken much of a shine to you yet and he's no hypocrite." She nodded in understanding.
"I'm going to take Mammon down to the shore and haul some water for the horses. Then maybe see if I can find some wood for fencing and making charcoal. I need to build a pen for Bou and Sola tomorrow and I need to get my forge going so I can start making more weapons." She stopped speaking and looked down. He followed her gaze.
His hands had started to shake again. He was about to clench them into fists when Ada's smaller hands wrapped around them and held them tightly. He opened and closed his mouth.
"I…shit…you already know," he said in defeat. "Been trying to figure out how to tell you and you already know."
"You'll talk about it if you need to." She kissed his cheek and jumped out the cab. "Don't beat yourself up so much. That's my job." With a wink she was gone.
Merle looked skyward. You know, when I asked you to give me a break, I meant get me out of the cuffs. I think you overdid it just a might.
He took a machete and headed for the woods.
Narrative POV
Ada grabbed buckets from the trailer and gave one to Mammon, ignoring the odd looks of some of the camp members.
"Stay here," she admonished, walking over to where Lori and Carol were watching their kids play together while they scaled fish that looked freshly caught.
"Hi."
"Ada." Lori nodded. "Carol, this is Ada. She arrived with Merle and Daryl earlier." The shy, grey haired woman smiled and extended a hand.
"Andrea and Amy caught these this morning. There's enough for everyone and then some. Will you join us for dinner later?"
"We will. Thanks. I have a six pack of beers everyone can share. And milk or a can of Coke between the kids." She looked at Lori as she said it. She wasn't sorry for hitting the woman's husband and wouldn't apologise for it but wanted to make it clear that she'd contribute as part of the group from the start.
"Everyone will like that. Although, milk for the kids if you don't mind." Lori looked at Carol and she nodded.
"Sure," said Ada. "Uh…do you mind your kids coming and meeting the horses? They'll get to know everyone anyway, but with the mare having a yearling and a foal not even one day old yet, she needs to know to be gentle with the kids even if they spook her by accident or get too close to her baby."
"Less than a day old? It was born last night?" asked Carol.
"Yeah, Merle delivered her. So I had a surprise when I woke up in the morning." She chuckled.
"Merle delivered it?" The two women gawped.
"Yup. Did a real good job, too. Fucked up my plans to move on, but then so did meeting Merle." She blushed a little and the other women exchanged a speculative glance. Carol went to fetch Sophia and Carl and Ada turned to Lori.
"Lori, I don't know who's in charge here or how things work with the group, what your goals are, but I need to talk to you guys about some of the other groups I've met."
"We generally discuss as a whole group. Shane was unofficially our leader but now Rick's here, I just don't know." Lori looked perturbed by the fact.
"So maybe I can talk to the three of you and you decide between you if you want to take it to the group?" Lori nodded as Carol came back with the children.
"Ada this is Carl, mine and Rick's son, and Carol and Ed's daughter, Sophia."
"Nice to meet you. Carl, Sophia. Your moms said it's OK for you to come meet my horses. They're big and you need to be safe around them, OK?" The kids nodded. Carl looked interested, but Sophia was a withdrawn, serious little thing. They both followed her to the truck, Lori and Carol trailing along behind. They looked a little awed when they saw the size of the animals.
"They're so big. I never saw anything like them. Can I touch them?" said Carl. Ada nodded and he went straight to Mammon, drawn by his bizarre colouring.
"He has different colour eyes," remarked Sophia, watching Carl pet the colt.
"Something happened when Boudicca was pregnant with him. I think he should have been two foals, one of each colour. But something got mixed up and he came out just him with both colours." Ada urged Sophia to touch him. She sighed as she realised how soft his mouth was and giggled when he blew a raspberry into her hand.
"Can you ride him?" asked Carl. Ada shook her head.
"He's too young still, just under a year. I'll give it another nine months and then train him to take a rider." He nodded.
"You ride the adult ones?" asked Carol in surprise. "They're so big. I thought they would just be for working."
"They're both. They like to feel useful. Come meet Mammon's momma, Bou." She beckoned the two children and their moms toward Boudicca where she stood with the little filly asleep at her feet. "Let her smell all of you, keep your arms round your kids." Thunderchild wandered over, interested in the goings on, and both kids and moms stood there stiffly while the two huge adult horses snuffled them repeatedly.
"What're they doing?" Lori asked in a whisper.
"They're figuring the four of you out. Sophia and Carl smell like half of you to them. They work on family connections. OK step back again, you two." The two women stepped back as asked and Ada stepped forward and gave the kids a brief one armed hug each. "Babies," she said in a stern voice to both horses. "Babies. OK guys?"
"We're not babies," Carl protested, pulling away from Ada's arm.
"I know that, buddy. Think of it like a codeword. I need them to know you guys are important, OK? But it also means they'll be more patient than they would be with the grownups in the camp if you annoy them by accident." He and Sophia nodded.
"You're OK to be around them now. Just don't be too loud if you touch Boudicca's baby." Both of them nodded, half scared of the enormous beasts, half excited that she hadn't said they couldn't play with the foal.
"This part is the most important of all, so don't forget it." She bent down a little, looking serious and they shook their heads, wide-eyed. "If there's trouble, or you don't feel safe and there's no grownups around, you get to the horses as fast as you can. They'll look after you. Got it?" Both heads nodded furiously. "OK. Go meet Boudicca's baby. It's a little girl; her name is Sola."
She stood and walked over to the two women while Carl and Sophia carefully tiptoed over to the little filly. They sat down next to her and just watched her sleeping while the women talked behind them.
"Thanks. Will the horses really look after them?" asked Lori.
"Yeah. They don't understand the walkers but they like them about as much as we do and won't let them close enough to touch." Lori nodded thoughtfully and wandered back over to the food preparation area to continue cleaning the fish. Carol looked over at Sophia.
"Sophia, can you go check on your daddy and see if he's awake yet?" she asked softly. Sophia looked at Carol, looked at Ada, then back to Carol and shook her head timidly.
"Why not? You can see the horses again afterwards." Sophia crossed and uncrossed her arms, eventually wrapping them around her sides.
"She said to be with the horses if I didn't feel safe." She glanced at Ada again before fixing her eyes firmly in her lap and saying in a small voice. "I don't feel safe with Daddy."
Carol was stunned, and a humiliated flush crept slowly up her cheeks, not just because a stranger had heard what her daughter said about their family's business, but because she had let Ed's bullying go on so long that it was now frightening her daughter. She cleared her throat wetly and steeled herself.
"That's OK, baby. You stay here. You won't have to feel scared of your daddy again." She felt a hand on her arm and took a deep breath before walking off toward hers and Ed's tent, where he had been lying asleep when she left it earlier.
He was still sleeping, the livid bruises and abrasions from Shane's beating looked angry and painful. She felt strangely satisfied by that fact. She thought about the way her daughter had hugged herself when she spoke. She couldn't see her like that again. Sophia mustn't grow up being afraid of the man that raised her. If she did, it might become so normal to her that she'd end up marrying a man just like him.
She reached out a hand without thinking and picked up a pillow. She could do it. She could do it quickly, and quietly, but not without everyone knowing what she had done, not without Sophia knowing. What would be worse? For Sophia to hate her for it or thank her for it? She swiped frustrated tears from her cheeks with one hand while the other plucked and plumped at the pillow in her lap.
Ed stirred and she held her breath, holding the pillow tightly with both hands. She gave a little jerk as she realised she was inching it closer to his sleeping face. Only it wasn't a sleeping face any more.
"What're you doing?" One eye was opened just a sliver. Cold shot through her and her old friend fear came tripping along in her brain again like so many times before.
"I thought you might be more comfortable with an extra pillow. Would you like one?" She held the cushion in front of her almost like a shield, expecting a blow at any moment. But to her relief he just nodded and closed his eye again. She pushed it under his head and patted it before leaving the tent quickly.
Carol stood just outside the tent flap, looking at the cliffs on the other side of the water. Her arms swung forward and back, one hand smacking lightly into the palm of the other over and over.
"Coward. I'm a coward. Goddamnit. If I can't stand up for my daughter, how can I ever hope to stand up for myself?" The cliffs gave her no answer other than the faraway splashes of loose scree falling into the lake.
She hadn't known where she would go when she got back to camp but found herself back in front of the woman who owned the horses. She knew she was crying and looked shaken and she didn't care, even as the woman looked at her questioningly.
"I need," she said with tightly controlled breaths "to hit something."
Ada led her silently into the trailer of her truck and pulled back a large tarpaulin, underneath which was an anvil and a strange contraption with a gas canister attached. She motioned for Carol to take the other side and they dragged it out onto level ground, followed by the anvil. Ada lit a nozzle on the first contraption and a flame shot out. She adjusted a cuff and it turned blue and then invisible.
"Here." She passed Carol a large, weighty hammer and she hefted it in her hands while Ada used a pair of huge tongs to pass a flat ingot of dark metal through the colourless flame until it started glowing red and then white hot. Ada turned off the flame and then handed the tongs to Carol, showing her to place the ingot on the anvil.
Carol brought the hammer down with a crack, missing the ingot entirely, the hammer glancing off the side of the anvil. She tried again and felt the difference as the hammer landed flat against the ingot. The power of the blow travelled back up her arm painfully and she had to concentrate to stop herself dropping the hammer.
She brought the hammer down again. And again. And again and again and again. Until her arm was aching and her breath was coming in crying gasps. Ada and Mammon hauled buckets of water, watching Carol becoming increasingly exhausted each time they returned to the trailer.
A few members of the camp had paused as they walked past to see Carol smashing the crap out of an anvil with a hammer, one of them being Daryl. He levelled a look at Ada, half accusing her of interfering, half praising her for doing what none of them had. She raised her chin in challenge and he backed down, his hands raised in surrender.
Merle stopped next to him for a moment as he walked past. Casting a glance between Carol and Ada he caught Ada's eyes in silent support before continuing on past the spectacle.
Ed chose that moment to wander slowly into camp, thinking to tell Carol to go fetch him something to eat. The camp held a collective breath as Carol looked up and noticed him, never stopping the swing of her arm. Ed looked between the expression on her face and the hammer in her hand and, for once, did the wise thing and walked back to the tent.
Carol's arm finally gave out and the hammer clattered off the anvil to the ground. She left it there, sitting back on her haunches. The iron ingot she had been hitting was now a twisted, unrecognisable piece of scrap. She looked up at Ada with a wobbly grin.
"Feel better?" Ada asked.
"I feel…like me. I haven't felt like me since before we were married," Carol answered, crossing her arms over her knees and resting her forehead on them wearily.
