A/N: This chapter sucks ass. Like so bad. But it's important. I'm sorry, I promise you that next chapter will be better. I'm sorry *hides on a corner and cries*

~oOo~

"You okay?" Merle asked Lena. She looked at him and nodded, smiling lightly, taking a deep breath. He put his hand on her shoulder and grinned at her. Right after, he walked toward the crowd that was surrounding Martinez.

They were asking about the Governor; all of them confused and wondering if the town was actually a safe place for them. Martinez was trying to calm them, but no one would listen to him.

"Alright everybody!" Merle's rough voice echoed and everyone stopped talking. "Governor is not willing to deal with this right now!"

"What do you mean he's not willing-" Someone yelled.

"What the hell is he doing-" Another person said.

"I don't think he's a good leader anymore-" Someone commented from the back of the crowd and soon, there was chaos again.

"His daughter is dead!" A feminine voice echoed on the streets and everyone was quiet again. Merle looked back and saw Lena behind him, with closed fists and a concerned look on her face. "He's not willing to deal with it, because he just lost his fucking daughter." She kept talking. "So I think it's better for all of you to listen what Merle is going to say."

Merle almost smiled. He looked to the crowd and ordered them to go to their own places, where they would be safer.

"We're going to post guard on the outskirts of the town!" He said. "There's nothing to worry about, for now."

Eventually, the crowd dispersed and Lena could go back to the headquarters. After Merle told who would be on guard, he helped Martinez with the walkers' bodies. They put it on a truck, drove them to out of town. They had chosen a place ten minutes away from Woodbury. They put the bodies in a pile and burned them. Both men stood standing, watching them burn.

"Thanks about that, man." Martinez said, quietly. "Calming the crowd..."

Merle just shrugged. "They were giving me a head ache."

Both chuckled. They stood there for a couple more minutes and then, got back to the town.

Meanwhile, at the headquarters, Lena was separating the supplies from the run. Sitting at the living room's floor, she was picking up the products, putting it in plastic bags and right after in a box behind her. All she had on her mind was Penny. She never got the chance of meeting the girl, but still, she was feeling bad. Dr. Stevens said that she had six years old, only. She clearly deserved better.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and Evan came into the living room, holding more boxes. He placed them on the floor, beside Lena and sat on the couch, watching her work, with her back turned to him.

"Merle would give a good leader." He said, suddenly, making Lena look at him. She didn't answer and got back to separate the items. And then he kept talking. "But I don't think I would want to be the one to obey him… Would you?"

"Yep." She answered, too quickly.

"But why?"

Lena frowned and stopped working. She wondered if Evan was starting to doubt that Merle had anything capacity to be a leader.

"He's always right." She said, not looking at him and got back to work.

"What do you mean?"

Lena stopped working again and turned around to look at him. "Merle saved me from a destiny worse than death." She said, with dark eyes. "He saved me from death, rape, and becoming one of the beasts that are out there. What he says to me, goes." She turned around again and looked at the floor, putting the lasts of the supplies and putting in the last box. "And he's always right."

Evan was quiet for a moment, but Lena didn't look at him.

"It was very nice of him to calm the crowd." He said, after a moment. Lena nodded, still not looking at him; her ponytail bouncing on her head. "But I don't know if I trust him… After what he did at the pharmacy yesterday, showing off and-"

"Then you're in the wrong town." Lena interrupted him. Evan was quiet again and then mumbled to himself,

"Yeah, maybe I am."

She heard the door open and close right after. She was alone again at the headquarters. The girl let out a sigh and continued working, enjoying the silence for a while. When she was done, she picked up two boxes at the same time, and with I little trouble, she stumble toward the door. She didn't have to touch the door knob because the door opened before that. She bumped in Merle for the second time in that day.

"Oh, hey!" She said, trying not to drop the boxes and look at him at the same time. Merle picked up one of the boxes and looked at her properly.

"Seems like we're always bumping into each other." He said, grinning.

"Yeah." Lena said laughing and stepping out of the house. "Uh, I'll talk to you later." She tried to pick up the box from his hand. "Gotta a lot of boxes to deliver."

Merle didn't let her catch the box. "Need any help?"

"Oh, okay." Lena tried to hide her surprise. "Sure." She smiled. "Follow me." She started walking away from them.

What the fuck are you doing?

Merle ignored the thoughts on his head and followed her through the town.

"Don't forget about the training today!" Martinez yelled at her, from distance.

"Okay!" She waved a hand for him.

Merle and Lena spent the rest of the morning delivering the supplies for each woman at the town. Merle didn't know why he was helping her. Maybe a little more company wouldn't be so bad for him. After all, he needed a piece of ass around him, or his name wouldn't be Merle Dixon, right? Those women at Woodbury were too old or too young for him. Lena would be the perfect piece of ass at the moment.

He forced himself to push away those thoughts. He barely knew the girl. That fact wouldn't have stopped him if it was a normal life, but she was standing right beside him and she would probably stay like that forever. That was the problem. He couldn't just use her like he used to do before with other women. She lived right above him, she worked with him, she would be in his life until the day he died. Attachment. That was the problem.

"Tell me, darling." Ruth said, leaning against the door frame. "What happened to the Governor's daughter?"

Lena looked to the clipboard, where she wrote an "ok" beside Ruth's name. "I don't know." She replied without looking at her. "All I know is she passed away this morning."

"I don't know if I trust him anymore. Disappearing like that..." Ruth looked around to see if there was someone on their earshot. Lena looked at Merle who looked serious at her.

"He did everything he could to keep you save and comfortable." Lena said in a serious tone, looking at the old lady. "His daughter is gone and he may be gone too for a while. But it's not because he's running away. It's because he will be mourning. Martinez and Merle will take care of things here, they will make sure we're all safe. I suggest a little bit of gratitude if you wanna stay around any longer. Have a good day."

"Uh… Good day." Ruth replied and looked at Merle, eyeing his bayonet on his pocket. Then she looked at Lena's wound on her face and tried to smile.

Lena turned on her heels to walk away and Merle followed her.

"Wanna tell me what the hell was that?" He said, walking beside her.

"Everyone is giving the Governor a hard time, just because he didn't show up yet." She said, in a mad tone. "Give the man a break, he just lost his daughter!"

"Woah!" Merle breathed, holding her arm to make her stop walking. "Calm your tits, Cherry."

Lena sighed. "I know how he feels." She said. "When my parents died, all I wanted to do was isolate myself from everything and everyone. I didn't want to know what was happening in the world I just wanted to lay in the floor and cry myself to sleep. I don't think that with him it will be any different!"

Merle stared at her brown eyes. He lowered his hand on her arm and held her hand.

"Don't worry about him." He said. "He'll be fine. He's a grown up man."

Lena smiled lightly at him and sighed. She let go of his hand and started walking again.

Did you just grab her hand? What the fuck is wrong with you?

Merle tried to ignore his thoughts and followed her. When they entered the headquarters, there was a man standing in the living room, with a backpack on his shoulder. Martinez and the others were staring at him, surrounding him.

"What's going on?" Lena asked, and everybody turned around to see them.

"Peter wants to leave." Martinez answered, pointing at the men.

"Why?" Merle asked as they entered the room, leaving the door open.

"After what happened today… I'm not sure if this town is safe anymore." Peter answered.

There was a moment of silence and then Merle spoke up.

"We already fixed that, there's men in every corner of the town, postin' guard." He said.

"I don't trust that." Peter was convicted that he wanted to leave. "I want my gun now."

"What makes you think you can survive out there?" A voice echoed the place, and everybody turned around to see the Governor standing at the door.

Peter swallowed hard before answering. "I've survived before coming here."

"Yeah, I remember that." Philip smiled and entered the house, closing the door behind him. "Your wife was with you, if I recall."

Peter felt his heart heavy on his chest when the leader mentioned his wife. "Y-yes." He stuttered.

"I remember you begging me to stay. She was sick wasn't she?"

Peter nodded and the Governor shrugged. "Give him his gun and let him go." He said, without looking at him. When Martinez and the boys started to complain, he just raised a hand making them stop. "If he wants to go, then we gotta let him."

Crowley walked toward the armory and picked up Peter's gun, handing him right after. They walked toward the gates of the town and watched as the man walked away from the town. When the workers started to disperse, Philip put a hand on Merle's shoulder and leaned close to his ear, so that no one would listen what he was going to say.

"Follow him." He whispered. "Take his supplies; kill him if you have to. Make him regret of leaving the town."

~oOo~

Philip got out of the car and stared at the fish store he had gone with Merle earlier in that day. Without ceremony, he walked into the store, holding Jacob's axe tight in his hands. He walked toward the walker that had almost killed him and just stared at it. The smell was the same; all of them smelled like death. The only difference was the flies that were resting on its eyes. He raised his axe and started to chop its head. He wasn't sure why he was doing this; he just needed something to live for. His daughter was dead, and he had nothing to live for now. Except… Maybe, if he could make her remember him after waking up, then everything would get back to normal. But first… He needed this.

After putting the walker's head on the truck, he went back to get the fish tanks. He got all out of them. He didn't care if it took all day. After everything was done, he drove back to Woodbury. He tried not to think of his daughter. He didn't want to believe that she was dead. Not after his wife. Not after everything he had done for her.

~oOo~

Merle followed Peter's trail on the woods in silence. He had his gun in hands and inspected carefully the ground. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with the man once he finds him. The Governor let pretty clear to make him regret of his stupid decision of leaving the town.

"Kill him if you have to."

He remembered his leader's words. Merle wasn't so sure if Philip was being serious about it. Taking his supplies was already a hard work, but killing the man? That was a dirty job. But, thinking in that way…

There was no way of taking his supplies without making him angry. He could come back with a group and shoot everyone in the town. Merle automatically thought about Lena. She wouldn't be safe if he didn't kill Peter. He had to kill him. For the safety of the citizens.

Merle punished himself, mentally, for thinking about Lena. Wasn't he the man who asked the Governor to not to go with her on her supplies run? Why does his mind kept insisting on going back to the girl? Her brown hair, her brown eyes, her pale lips, and most important, her chest. He thought about how blessed he was to have the girl around.

Shut the fuck up! It's just a girl, just another bitch to fuck! Why is she different from the others?

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a trail of Peter's boot. He followed it, quickly and found the man who was in a tiny clearing, sitting on the ground, eating a can of beans. When peter heard the snapping sounds behind him he put a hand on his gun.

"No, no, no." Merle said, walking toward him and touching his gun on Peter's head. "Put the gun down."

Peter obeyed the man, with the heart racing on his chest.

"Hands up!" The redneck ordered. Peter raised his hands. "Now… Governor told me to take your supplies, now do me a favor, dickhead, and stand up slowly."

Peter did as Merle said, slowly getting up and turning around. When he saw it was Merle, he widened his eyes and dropped his mouth open.

"Surprise!" Merle grinned and quickly stabbed him with his bayonet on his torso. "Shoulda stayed in the town." His voice was low, like it was a threat.

Peter fell on the ground, moaning in pain. Merle forced himself to watch the man give his last breath. After that, he picked up his things and walked back to the town.

His hand wasn't shaking. He didn't feel anything else. He didn't feel good or bad or relieved. It was like it never had happened.

~oOo~

"Ah, you're finally awake." Philip said when he heard the groans coming from behind him. The little monster, that once was Penny, had opened its white eyes and let out a tiny growl. It looked around, searching for something alive so it could crave its teeth on and have a good meal. The little walker found the human being that was in the room with it and stood up, stumbling toward him but being stopped coldly by a rope that was around its waist.

"Sorry about the rope." Philip said. "I knew you would want to come running to daddy once you were awake, but I can't hug you now, princess, I'm sorry."

Penny growled in response.

"Now, don't be a little brat, sweetheart." Philip turned around to face her. "Look what I did for you!" He pointed to behind him, where he had put the fish tanks. The undead didn't look at the tanks, but kept focused on the man himself.

"Look at it, Penny." His voice was gentle at the beginning. "Penny…"

His eyes filled up with tears; a sound of begging on his voice. Then he started yelling.

"Penny, I did it for you!" The monster kept ignoring its owner and just growled.

"I know it's not much, but there will be more heads on them, I promise you!"

He stopped yelling when he heard a knock on the door. He widened his eyes and quickly stepped out of the room, closing and locking the door behind him. He walked quickly toward the main door, hoping that whoever was there didn't listen to the walker's growls.

Merle was in his door, with a serious look on his face; blood was in his clothes and he was still holding Peter's backpack. The Governor stared at him for a moment, in silence.

"It's done." Merle said, in a low voice.

"Did you-" Philip interrupted himself and then Merle replied.

"Yes."

The Governor took a deep breath.

"Good. Don't tell anyone about this."