Here's chapter 11. This one takes place at the end of "Made to Suffer" up to the end of "The Suicide King" in the show. Anyways, enjoy the chapter and please R&R!
Merle knew he was fucked, but he didn't care in the slightest. He was captured by Bruce, the man he hated the most in this piss old town, even more than the Governor.
"Y'know, I figured ya to be smarter than this, Merle. Barging in here wasn't the best idea you had."
"Fuck ye, Bruce. If ya didn't have me handcuffed like dis, I'd grab that ugly beard of yers an' rip off yer head from yer shoulders." Merle spat at the man's feet. Bruce sneered and sucker punched the redneck in the gut. Merle coughed a little from the blow.
"You need to learn to shut that fucking mouth of yours!" Bruce threw another punch at Merle's face. As he raised his other arm, the door behind him opened up. Bruce turned around to look at the man on the threshold. "What is it, Shumpert?"
Merle glanced up at the larger black man at the doorway. He never really cared for the bowman only because he allowed himself to be a tool for the Governor and Bruce. If Merle could describe his view of Shumpert, it would be pity. The same goes for Martinez.
"The Governor wants you to bring him to the arena now." With that, Shumpert left the room and Bruce slowly turned his head around to the redneck.
"Today may be your lucky day, asshole." Bruce grabbed a bag and jammed it on Merle's head. The man got the redneck to his feet and started leading him with the barrel to his gun digging into Merle's back.
As the two kept walking, Merle could hear a voice in the distance. It definitely was the Governor's. Finally, the words became clear.
"That," the Governor started, "is one of the terrorists. But what you all should know is that this one," he paused again, "is one of our own. Merle!" Bruce pulled the bag off Merle's head and pushed him in the center of the arena. Merle took a long look around the arena as the townsfolk all screamed in bloody murder.
"He's the one that led the terrorists here!" The Governor cheered on. Merle glared at his former leader with a stare that could kill. He noticed that the Governor had an eyepatch around his left eye, which made the redneck smirk slightly. 'The black bitch poked his eye out!'
As the crowd cheered on, the Governor rose his arm to get the crowd's full attention. "But that's not all I have to say," he paused and shifted towards Merle, smugly eying him. "We have another one of the terrorists!" As he said that, Martinez came into the arena with another man with a bag on his head and a recognizable pair of angel wings on his back. "Merle's own brother!" Martinez pulled off the bag and shoved Daryl towards Merle.
Merle couldn't figure out what to say or do. He just stood there looking at his little brother. Daryl's expression showed that he was in utter fear at the moment. The hunter glanced around the arena at the raging crowd then over to his older brother. The Dixon brothers were now trapped and for once, neither of them knew what to do.
"So what should we do to them?" The Governor asked the crowd.
The crowd all cheered, "Kill them!" They were pointing fingers and throwing curses at the two brothers.
The Governor finally walked up to Merle. "You said you loyalty lies here. I want you to prove that." Merle said nothing in return.
The Governor rose his arms in the air. "Alright alright. Here's what we're gonna do!" The crowd directed their attention to the one eyed man. "A fight to the death! Brother against brother! The winner gets to be set free!" The Governor pointed a finger at the elder redneck. "You said you're loyalty lies here, prove to all of us that you are a man of your word!"
At that point, some of the members of the crowd started cheering for Merle.
"Come on Merle!"
"Redeem yourself!"
Merle decided now was the time to speak and threw his arms up in the air. "Y'all know me! I'm gonna do what I gotta do to prove," he paused and threw a punch into his brother's gut sending him to ground, "that my loyalty lies," he kicked Daryl again in the side, "here!" He knelt down next to Daryl and lightly wrapped his hand around Daryl's neck. Daryl reached up and did the same. Merle noticed that Bruce and few others brought over walkers on leashes and surrounded the two Dixons.
"Ya really think that asshole's gonna to let ya go?" Daryl spat at his brother.
Merle stared into his brother's eyes. "Jus' follow m' lead lil brotha! We're gettin' outta dis!" With that, Merle pulled his brother to his feet and they went into a back-to-back formation. The men pushed the walkers at the Dixons. Merle used his metal limb to punch a walker back, staggering it. Daryl punch a walker across their face and pushed it into the raging crowd hoping it would cause confusion. Daryl had three walkers on him and he couldn't hold off all three of them.
Suddenly, blood splatted out of one of the walkers and fell dead. Everyone dropped to the ground in shock and despair. Repeated gunshots pierced through the air and a few guards dropped dead. Then a few smoke grenades dropped around the arena, creating a deep fog.
Merle ran to his brother. "C'mon, we gotta go, lil' bro!" Daryl sprinted past him. As they ran to where the gunshots were coming from, they came across Shumpert shooting an arrow at a walker out of Daryl's crossbow. Daryl ran up behind him and snatched the crossbow out of the man's hands. Merle then whacked him across the head with his metal hand, knocking him out.
The two Dixons found Rick and Maggie shooting suppressive fire. As soon as they met up, the four ran off to the street among the chaos. They came across another wall and Merle pounded his metal limb at the plaster wall giving them an opening. Rick and Maggie covered the two Dixons as they opened up the wall wide enough for all of them.
When the opening was large enough, Merle sprinted out and started pounding at one of the walkers in the head. "Lil' help would be nice!"
Daryl came out of the hole and shot an arrow at a walker, dropping it. Rick and Maggie then came out and the four sprinted away from the town into the woods.
Shane looked at his arm. The skin around the wound was ripped apart and blood kept dripping out. At this point, he started feeling lightheaded from the blood loss. He tightened the wound with the shirt Rick gave him as hard as he could, only making him groan in pain. "Fuck.." The stinging sensations all across his arm was beyond unbearable. He bit down on his lip and jolted his head back against the car. His vision began to fade a little bit from the sheer pain. "No, I ain't gonna die!" He desperately shouted.
Glenn, who was still in horrible condition, moved next to the former cop. "Shit, you're getting pale. C'mon, lay down here. You-" Glenn's words started to fade and Shane hearing began to ring until he could hear nothing. Suddenly, everything went black.
Some being came into view, but it was too bright to see in detail. The figure shined a blinding light onto Shane and he covered his eyes from the light. He couldn't make out where he was or who this person is, but what he could see is that his arm was fully recovered with no scar and he had casual clothes on. This was a dream. It had to be. Everything around him was white.
"Who are you?" Shane asked the figure in front of him. The figure slowly floated into view. It was a thin woman with brunette hair and a white dress. With the sight in front of him, his mouth dropped. It was Lori.
"Lori.." He whispered.
"Shane," she replied. Shane couldn't understand what was going on.
"I thought.. What did-"
"It doesn't matter. I need to tell you this, Shane." Her tone was very serious and straightforward. Shane took a deep breath and nodded. "The baby isn't yours. It's Rick's. What you and I had when it all started wasn't real."
Shane looked away and paused a little, staring into space. Finally, he shook his head. "No. You're wrong. What we had was-"
"Shane stop!" She shouted holding her hands up to him. "It wasn't real. I'm not here to lie to you!" Shane looked back at her with a hurtful expression across his face. Old feelings were starting to come up in his stomach again.
"Then why are you here?" He asked coldly placing his hands on his thighs.
"To help you. To make everything better. I messed up, I put you and Rick at odds. I knew it wasn't a good idea to be with you at Atlanta, but I didn't know any better at the time." She came closer to Shane and placed a hand on his cheek. Her touch was warm and soft. "Look.." She started, "I've been watching over you and noticed that you may have found someone else. Whatever happened in the past in irrelevant now. Let go those false feelings and move on with your life or else.." Suddenly her touch became cold and it felt as if needles were piercing into his face.
Everything around him suddenly became dimmed. Lori's eyes became milky white and her skin became pale. Shane tried to move but his body seemed to be in full paralysis.
"You'll feel like this!" Lori suddenly bit down on his arm and started munching down on his flesh. Blood spurted everywhere.
"No!" Shane yelled out squinting his eyes in pain. "No!" The thing that was once Lori relentlessly tore through his arm.
"No!" Shane shot his eyes open and he twirled his head around trying to get familiar with his surrounds. Finally, he realized that he was in the back of the car with Maggie and Glenn. Rick and Michonne were up front. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
"Are you alright?" Maggie asked with a concerned look across his face. Shane didn't reply and just stared into space. He shifted his gaze towards the front of the car. Rick eyed his friend through the rear mirror.
"Shane. Everything alright?"
Shane took a moment to process his words, still in shock after that dream. He quickly realized how funky he must of looked when he just randomly screamed out in bloody murder. He saw that Glenn was asleep, Michonne could care less, Maggie was still taking in the after effects of being captive and Rick had no expression on his face. Truth be told, nobody was in any condition or mood to laugh, which to an extent sort of calmed Shane.
"Shane?" Rick asked him again.
Shane snapped out of his deep thought and looked up to the front at Rick. "Jus' fine," he replied. He sensed that something wasn't right. He shifted his body around and scanned the trunk. Only guns. Then he looked behind the car to see if there was another following. None. The Dixons were nowhere to be found.
"Hey Rick," he started as he turned back around, still wincing from his arm wound. Rick looked into the rear mirror to his friend. "Where's Daryl and Merle?"
The car was silent. Rick looked away and hid his face from his friend. Maggie looked down at her feet and Michonne's glare intensified. "They left," Rick finally answered. Shane was confused. Left? What does he mean by 'left'?
"What're ya sayin, man?"
Rick took a deep breath. "We were sending Merle off, but Daryl decided to go with him. Going off saying 'No him, no me'."
"Shit." Shane couldn't find the words to describe his opinion on this event. The wound on his arm kept him from searching for words to say. He slowly moved Rick's bloody button-down shirt away from his arm and he surveyed the wound. The skin around the open tears were starting to turn red. Shane knew what that meant. An infection.
"Finally," Rick suddenly said. Shane looked up and noticed they were coming to the front gate of the prison. He spotted Carol and Carl opening up the gate. As soon as the car entered the gate, Rick got out and told Maggie to take the wheel. Shane knew what he was doing. He was going to inform Carol of Daryl's decision. Those two became very close since the incident with Sophia.
Maggie climbed to the driver's seat and drove the car up to cell block C. Shane spotted his black Camaro and smiled a little. As soon as they stopped the car, Hershel, Axel and Stephanie came out of the cell block. Maggie quickly got out of the car, ran up to her dad and hugged like she never hugged him before. Axel ran up to car and opened up the door to where Glenn was sitting. He wrapped an arm around the young Asian and started helping him into the cell block. Michonne quickly came out and helped Axel carry him in.
Shane took a deep breath and finally opened the door. As he got up, his vision started to sparkle a little bit. A head-rush overcame him and stumbled onto the side of the car. The pain around his left arm, certainly did not help. Stephanie quickly rushed around the car to Shane.
"Shane, are you alright?" She asked him with a concerned tone.
The cop shook his head. "No. I fucked up my arm," he replied without thinking twice. Stephanie looked down at his arm and moved the shirt away from the wound, revealing the shredded skin and dried blood. Her eyes widened at the sight of the wound and she looked back up at Shane, who was starting to look a little pale.
"Come on, I can patch this up for you." She grabbed a hold of his right arm and started leading him into the cell block. Shane noticed Rick, Carl and Carol coming up to Hershel. Rick gave the old man a hug and started talking to him. Carl noticed that Shane was hurt and he sprinted up to him as he and Stephanie made their way into the cell block.
"Shane, are you alright? What happened?" He asked restlessly.
Shane tried his hardest to pull a smile for the boy. "Injured my left arm. Don't worry 'bout me, man. I'll be jus' fine."
Carl glanced back to his father then decided to follow Shane into the cell block.
When Shane entered into the cell block, he noticed four new faces. A large muscular black man with a beard, a thin black woman, a boy looking to be in his mid to late teens and a slim man with a beard, most likely the boy's father. He tapped Stephanie on the shoulder.
"I'll stay here," he told her. She nodded and helped him sit down at one of the tables. He thanked her and she went off into the other for some medical supplies. Carl stood next to Shane with his arms crossed.
Shane looked at the four new people and cleared his throat. "How did you guys get in?" He asked, still wincing from the pain.
The large black man took a step forward. "There's a hole in the rear side of the prison. We managed to get inside the prison that way. Then we came across another cell block. Looked like the doors were kicked open."
Shane nodded. "Yeah, we were attacked through there not too long ago." He looked around the room at the survivors and cursed himself mentally for not asking them for their names first. "I'm Shane," he greeted as he held out his right hand.
The black man walked forward without hesitation and shook his hand firmly. "Tyreese. Good to finally meet you." Shane raised a brow at the comment. Tyreese pointed at the slim black woman. "That's Sasha, my sister, Allen and Ben," he said pointing at the the father and son. Tyreese looked back over to the former cop. "I'm sorry for asking you this right when you get back," he paused as Stephanie came in with medical equipment. She gave the man a welcoming smile and started tending to Shane's wound.
"You were saying?" Shane said.
"Yeah, we need a place to stay. We.." He paused and looked over to Allen. "We, uh, lost someone not too long ago."
Shane nodded and looked down. Stephanie cleaned the dry blood off of his arm, then took out a needle with stitches. Shane looked away from his arm then made a wincing noise as the girl put stitches through his arm.
"Anyways," Tyreese began, "you fellas wouldn't have to worry about us. We'll get our own food and water, help out when you need it, if you guys are having problems with another group, we'll help. We'll help out any way we can."
Shane nodded and winced as Stephanie kept giving him stitches. "Hey man, I'm sorry to say this now, but I ain't the leader here. Rick's the one to talk to. He should be in here in a few." Just as he finished talking, Rick came walking in with Hershel and Carol. Rick only glanced at the four survivors and walked into the cell block. Hershel gave a concerned look to the leader and moved up next to Shane, studying his wound. Stephanie patched up Shane's arm into a splint.
"Not exactly the chatter box, is he?" Allen commented with an annoyed expression on his face.
"We're all going through some shit right now," Shane replied to the man flatly. Allen sheepishly looked to Sasha and Tyreese.
"Be patient. He'll come talk when he's ready," Tyreese said to Allen.
"So who's baby is that?" Sasha asked, most likely trying to start small talk. Shane paused for a second and formed a small frown.
"That's Rick's," he replied flatly.
"Her name is Judith," Hershel said.
"Pretty name," Sasha replied. "Like I said, it's nice to see something so innocent again."
After several minutes, Rick came walking back into the room with a dead look on his face. At first he walked up to Shane and put a hand on his shoulder. "How you doing Shane?"
"Fine. Steph has me covered." Stephanie smiled at Rick and started wrapping gauze bandages around his arm. Rick thanked gratefully her and turned his gaze to Tyreese.
Tyreese held out a hand. "I'm Tyreese." Rick refused to shake his hand. Tyreese sheepishly lowered his hand and glanced to his sister briefly.
"Sasha, Allen, Ben," Hershel stated pointing a crotch at the others. Rick nodded and glanced at the four.
"How did you get in?" Rick asked.
"Fire damage to the administrational part of the prison. The wall's down." Tyreese replied, no doubt being careful on his words.
"That side is completely overrun by walkers. How did you get this far?"
"We didn't," he replied with a sorrowful expression. "We lost our friend Donna."
Carl spoke up. "They were lost in the tombs."
Rick tensed up and whirled his head around at his son. "And you brought them here?" He hissed.
Carl didn't reply, just lowered his head. Hershel brought a hand up to calm him down. "He had no choice."
Rick looked over to Hershel and nodded. There was a silent pause in the room. Finally Rick looked over to the new group and figured he needed to say something.
"I'm sorry about your friend," he said bringing a hand out. The expression on his face was still cold. "We know what that's like."
Tyreese nodded and spoke up. "I heard you could use some extra hands. We're no strangers to hard work, we'll go out and get our own food, stay outta your hair. You gotta problem with another group, we'll help with that too. Anything to contribute."
Rick took a long pause and lowered his head. "No."
"Please," Sasha interjected. "It's insane out there. It's just us now."
Rick stared at the woman for a little bit. "No."
Hershel spoke up. "Let's talk about this. We can't just keep-"
"We've been through this," Rick interrupted. He glared at the older man. "With Tomas, and Andrew. Look what happened."
"Axel and Oscar weren't like that," Carol spoke up from the back.
"Yeah well where's Oscar now?" He snapped at her. Axel looked down at shoes, still hurt from his friend's death. Rick looked around the room then settled his eyes back to Tyreese. "I can't be responsible."
"You turn us out, you are responsible," Tyreese replied in a calm voice.
Shane couldn't let this happen. "Rick," he called to his friend. Shane slowly got up to his feet, wincing at the pain in his arm and walked next to Hershel. Rick finally walked over to the two.
Hershel began talking. "You've done so much for us. We owe you our lives. But Rick, I have to tell you," Hershel seemed desperate in his tone. "You're wrong on this."
Shane nodded. "Yeah, man. You gotta see that there's strength in numbers. We gotta let them stay, Rick."
"Rick, you have to start giving people a chance," Hershel finalized.
Rick stood there pondering what to do. Too many things were at risk, in his head. He took in a deep breath and exhaled it back out slowly. Shane could see the doubt in his eyes.
"Look at me, man," Shane started and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "This is the right call. Trust me, brother. I'll keep tabs on them if that makes you feel better."
Several minutes passed and Rick stood there with his head down. He couldn't get himself to believe that this was a good idea. The last thing he wanted was for another person to die in his group. Ten people was hard enough on his conscious. He also didn't know if he trusted this Allen.
"C'mon man," Shane said which snapped Rick out of his deep thought. After a couple more minutes, Rick looked at his friend in the eyes, then nodded. Immediately, he turned around and left the room into the cell block.
At first, Tyreese was confused. Shane adjusted his splint and turned around toward the four.
"I don't want to upset him," Tyreese assured Shane. Shane smiled lightly and patted the large man on the shoulder.
"He has his reasons for being like this. We lost so many people like you guys, and they all weigh heavy on Rick's mind. He'll come around soon."
Tyreese nodded and looked over to the three people of his group. They all seemed very relieved that Shane convinced Rick. Lord knows what would of happened if Shane wasn't around.
"Thanks Shane," Tyreese said. Shane nodded.
"No need. Now, you guys are going to be staying in here for a while. M' sorry I had gotta say that, but we don't exactly know who you fellas are yet."
Tyreese slightly raised a hand. "Nah nah I understand completely. We did the same with newcomers in our group."
"Good."
"Shane," Stephanie started. Shane looked over to the woman. "You need to get some rest. Besides, that wound is most likely going to get infected, if not, already."
Shane nodded and shook Tyreese's hand one last time before walking into the cell block. Stephanie lead him into his cell and made sure the splint was intact.
"Hey Steph." Stephanie raised her head a little and looked at Shane. "Thanks a million for patching me up."
She smiled and gave him a hug. "It's nothing. Just trying to help you out."
Carol walked into the cell with a bag containing many pharmaceuticals. "Here's some pain killers and antibiotics, I thought you'd need it."
Shane smiled. "Thanks Carol." Carol smiled back.
She handed the bag to Stephanie then left the room. Stephanie studied some of the meds, pulled a capsule out and handed it to him. "Now take this, then get some sleep." Shane took the pill and laid back onto his cot. Stephanie leaned down on the cot and hugged the man again. Then, to Shane's surprise, she kissed him on the cheek. "It's good to see you're alright."
"It's good to see your face again too." She smirked and got up to her feet.
"Sleep!" She ordered him.
Shane smiled and nodded. "Alright alright I will. I'll see you when I wake up then."
She smiled a little more and left the room, giving the cop one last look. Shane looked up to the top bunk and slowly closed his eyes letting sleep overtake him.
Oooh I turned turned things around a little! Shoulda seen it coming, this story has turn arounds all over the place. Chapter 12, you guys might have to wait, college is starting to come in play so I'm going to be busy a lot. Anyways please review and tell me what you thought of the chapter!