Chapter 9
She suddenly found herself running through the woods. She was running as fast as she could, too afraid to slow down. She could hear the crunch of the leaves and twigs under her feet. She could hear heavy breathing, but quickly realized it was her own. She could no longer hear the walkers that had been chasing her. Without slowing down, she began to survey her surroundings. She was afraid to stop. She was afraid to do anything but run. She had no idea how long she had been running. She must have turned everything else off. She was literally running on pure survival instinct.
She told herself it was safe enough to slow down and she stopped running, checking all directions for danger. Her heart felt like it was going to pound out of her chest. She tried to quiet her breathing and figure out where she was. She looked at the sun and the direction the shadows were pointing on the ground. Which way had she come from?
She heard the snap of twigs and turned around to see a walker approaching. It hadn't seen her, so she hid herself behind a tree. She grabbed her knife from her belt, barely peaked around the tree and counted. There were three of them.
Three's not so bad, she thought to herself. Calm down, remember your training.
She quieted her breathing and made absolutely no noise. As the walkers passed she silently moved along the tree's trunk to keep herself hidden from them. Once she was positioned the way she wanted she ran up behind the nearest walker and stabbed it in the head from behind. When the other two turned and came at her she kicked one to the ground and away from her, grabbed the other one around the neck and stabbed it between the eyes. She quickly turned to face the final walker head on and was waiting for the right time to strike when one surprised her from behind. She ducked out of the way just in time, but slipped and fell to the ground. So she tripped the walker closest to her and positioned her knife so the walker's head fell on it in just the right place. The one that had snuck up on her was almost close enough to grab her. She tried to pull her knife out, but it was trapped under the walker that fell on it. Just as the last walker bent down to grab for her a shot rang out from somewhere and the walker fell at her feet.
She quickly rolled over the walker whom her knife was stuck under and pulled it out, standing up and looking for whoever had just shot their gun. Three men emerged from the woods and walked towards her. They all had guns. Her body tightened and she raised her knife in front of her as she prepared herself to fight them off, when a fourth man appeared.
"You are one tough little gal, aren't ya?" The fourth man said.
She turned to face him. She recognized him immediately. And he recognized her.
"Well hot DAMN, boys! Looks like my old friends are poppin' up everywhere!"
He walked closer to her and gave her a sympathetic look.
"How ya doin', Melissa?" Merle said.
When she opened her eyes she was lying in a room with no windows. Everything was sideways. She sat up and allowed the room to come into focus. A man stood up out of a chair near the only door in the room and walked toward her.
"Welcome back." Merle said with a friendly look on his face.
"Where am I?" Melissa asked pushing her hair off her forehead.
"Our medical unit. Standard procedure. We do it every time we bring a new person in. Allow our staff to check for bites, dehydration… if you're sick we help you get better." He smiled at her kindly. "God, I gotta be honest, I really didn't think I'd ever see you again."
Melissa looked down at her hands. "I think I can honestly say the same thing." She allowed herself to smile back at him. She didn't feel threatened and Merle had saved her life, after all.
"What happened to ya?" he asked.
"We were attacked, swarmed with walkers. It happened so fast. I don't remember much. I was so outnumbered. I ran out of bullets, so I ran. T-"she started to choke up. "T-Dog… he got bit." She sobbed. "He told me to run…" She couldn't finish. She buried her head in her hands and cried, mourning the loss of her friend.
"T-Dog's dead, huh? That's too bad… I was looking forward to seein' him again." Merle said with a hint of sarcasm.
He put his good hand on her shoulder and pat her awkwardly. "Sweetheart, I've got to ask you something else."
She raised her head and wiped her tears away. Merle had a concerned look on his face. One she had never seen him have before.
"My brother? Have you seen my brother, have you seen Daryl?"
She felt more tears build up and cried out. She couldn't contain herself. She sobbed.
"He's gone?" Merle's voice broke.
It was hard to talk through her tears, but she didn't want him to think Daryl was dead a second longer. She shook her head.
"No," she gasped in air and tried to settle herself. "No… I don't know."
"But, he was alive?"
"Yes."
"Today?"
Yes he was alive today. She had been kissing him about an hour ago, maybe two. That thought was too much to bear, so she just nodded.
Merle exhaled and put his head down, relieved. He smiled at her.
"Thank you."
She looked up to meet his eyes.
"I've spent the last year not sure if he was alive or dead." He sounded relieved.
"I've spent the last year with him and I'm not sure that he can be killed." She shook her head as she wiped her tears away.
Merle laughed. She looked at him and smiled through her tears.
"Where is he?" Merle asked.
Melissa almost told him about the prison, but she stopped herself. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know who Merle was with. She didn't feel like she was in danger, but she didn't want to put the rest of her group in danger either. She knew Merle would protect Daryl, but what about the rest? Merle wasn't exactly a fan of Rick's. What if he tried to kill him and his family? She couldn't live with that. She decided to protect her friends for the time being and only give Merle half the truth.
"We've been jumping around from house to house for months. Scavenging what we can from where we can find it. Daryl's really stepped up. You'd be so proud of him." She smiled and wiped away more tears. "He's a respected member of the group. He's a friend." She decided to keep the rest to herself, at least for now.
"Well, I'm glad my brother is fitting in." Merle smiled, but Melissa wasn't sold that it was completely genuine.
"Now will you tell me where I am?" Melissa asked.
"I'd be glad to answer all your questions." An unfamiliar voice answered.
Merle stepped away from Melissa and stood back by the door. She watched the man step into the room. He was middle-aged and handsome, with a welcoming smile on his face. She looked back to Merle. She couldn't discount that Merle had stepped out of this man's way. Who was this guy?
"How are you, Melissa?" He asked as he shook her hand. "Merle told me all about his blast from the past and, well, I just had to come and see for myself."
"We were just discussing where we could find the rest of her group." Merle said.
"And your brother?" The man asked. "Has she seen him?" He was talking to Merle, but didn't take his eyes off of Melissa.
"She was with him today." Merle answered.
"That's wonderful news." The man exclaimed, smiling at her.
"They were ambushed by geeks. They lost one of their own, at least. I was just telling her that if she could tell us where they are we can go out and find them. Bring them back here, safe and sound, while we still can."
The man continued smiling at her, expecting an answer.
"I'm sorry." Melissa started. "I'm afraid you've got me at a disadvantage." She smiled and shook her head. "I have no idea who you are."
"This is The Governor." Merle said.
The Governor laughed. "That's what they call me because I run things here."
There was an awkward pause and Melissa could feel tension in the room. She sat up straighter and looked back and forth between the two men. The Governor noticed the change in her body language.
"You know? I think we've questioned this poor girl long enough. She's had an exhausting day and I'll bet if she gets a good night's sleep she'll be able to remember even more details in the morning."
"Governor, if she tells us where my brother is we can go get him now. And the others. There are survivors out there. I don't mind goin' after them myself. We need to get them back here before they move on." Merle objected.
"It's getting too close to dark. I'm afraid you wouldn't be back by curfew, Merle, and I just can't allow that." The Governor decided.
Melissa felt the urgency in Merle's voice. He was clearly concerned about his brother's safety, and she understood. She felt torn once again, but there was an uncomfortable feeling that she just couldn't shake, so she remained quiet.
"Come with me, Melissa." The Governor offered his hand. "I'd love to show you around."
"I can show her if you like, Governor." Merle interrupted, stepping closer.
The Governor turned to face Merle. "That won't be necessary, Merle. You know I like giving the tours myself, but you 're welcome to tag along." He turned back to Melissa and smiled. "We're all quite proud of our little town."
He walked her through the medical unit and out the doors. She couldn't believe what she saw. It looked like somehow the chaos and the death and the tragedy never reached this town. It was beautiful. Everything was well taken care of. Dozens of people were walking around, going on about their day… happy…weaponless. This town was almost what she remembered life being like before the walkers, only better. More like she was on the set of a present day Leave It to Beaver, only in color. Color. There was so much color. The grass was perfect, there were flowers blooming. Even the colors in the sky as the sun was setting looked more beautiful here. Women wore makeup and fixed their hair. Children were playing, chasing each other, laughing. It all looked too good to be true.
The Governor showed her around the town, explaining how they settled there, how things worked, how long it had been since a walker broke through the walls. He told her about the rules, how everyone pitches in, the curfew, and how all of those things made the town run successfully. Merle followed behind them, chipping in occasionally.
Every time she made eye contact with someone in the town, they smiled kindly at her. They were happy. It seemed so alien.
After twenty minutes or so of showing her around, The Governor stopped and smiled at her.
"So what do you think of our little town?" He asked.
"It's like a dream." She smiled.
"I'm glad you like it, my dear." He put his hands on her shoulders. "It's almost curfew. Merle is going to take you to your room now. It's all set up for you. You can have a hot meal and a hot shower. We've even got some clean clothes for you to change into. There are clean sheets for you to sleep in. Rest assured you are quite safe here."
She looked at him in shock and disbelief.
The Governor smiled at her kindly. "Welcome to Woodbury."
