Some of you are going to hate me for this disappointing chapter. All I can say is that I'll make it up to you later. I promise!
Maggie felt the door pull away from her grip and suddenly the door opened and Merle's stocky frame was filling the doorway. She released the doorknob and stepped back from the door and Merle stepped out into the hallway. He had a small duffel bag over his shoulder and he pulled the door closed behind him.
"You lookin' for somethin'?" he asked as he leaned back against the door.
"Yes. I was looking for you." Maggie replied.
Merle raised his eyebrows at Maggie and then turned and strode down the hallway towards the living room. "Congratulations. You found me." he said over his shoulder.
Maggie jogged to catch up to him. "I need to talk to you about a few things."
"Is that so?" Merle said gruffly. He looked around the living room. "Where's the Chinese kid at?"
"He's Korean and he's with this girl we met, Haley. Now I'd like to know..."
"Haley Peterson? She's a bossy one. He's probably in over his head. You best go get him," Merle said as he turned to face her. "We got to get headin' out and get you two back to where I found you."
"But I want to ask you about..."
Merle raised his hand in front of her like it was a stop sign. "Get him and I'll answer your questions while I'm drivin' y'all back to your farm."
Maggie sighed. "Look, I just want to know if.."
"Then go get him." Merle interrupted. "Then we'll talk, but not until we're outta here and on the road. Got it?"
Maggie was getting frustrated with the way Merle kept cutting her off. "Can I just ask you one question?"
"Darlin', you just did, so your one answer for now is 'yes'," Merle said sarcastically. "Now go and get your boyfriend so we can get moving and then you can have your little inquisition."
Maggie glared at Merle and then threw up her hands. "Fine. I'll go get Glenn, and he's not my boyfriend! When I get back, I'm going to expect some answers!"
"Yeah, yeah yeah. Expect all you want. When we're on the road we can talk." Merle nodded and moved towards the front door. He opened it and motioned towards it with his head. "Go on then, time's a wastin'."
Maggie continued to glare at Merle as she approached the door and she slammed it behind her as she left the house.
Merle watched her walk down the walkway for a second before he turned and jogged up the hall to the guest bedroom. He quietly opened the door and stepped inside, half expecting Daryl to sit up and ask him what the hell was going on. He moved across the room quietly until he stood next to the bed. As he reached down to pull the sheet up over the demon that danced across Daryl's bare right shoulder blade he could see that his brother was still sound asleep. Merle figured that the pills he'd given Daryl would make him sleep through just about anything for at least the next four or five hours and that was a good thing.
Merle sighed and sat down on the bed next to Daryl and watched his brother as he slept. Daryl's eyes had both developed bruises around them and his eyelids were swollen shut. Other new bruises were blooming on his cheeks and along his jawline and Merle noticed that Daryl's upper and lower lips were both split open. He wondered if Daryl had lost any teeth in the scuffle with the governor's men. Merle decided that he'd be able to give Daryl his undivided attention after he'd gotten the 'kids' back to the farm and he'd put some ice on Daryl's jaw and his eyes. Daryl was breathing through his mouth instead of through his broken nose and his breathing made a raspy noise.
Merle closed his eyes. It was like déjà vu. How many times in the wee hours of a Saturday morning had he sat on the edge of a small twin bed and looked down at his battered little brother as he slept, cheeks still damp with tears after enduring one of pa's drunken beatings? That had been so many years ago and yet, here they were again; only this time there were no tears on Daryl's face and it hadn't been pa who had beat the hell out of him. Merle knew that Daryl's wounds would heal and he'd be okay again, just like they always did and just like he always was. Eventually.
Merle wondered about this Maggie chick. She'd been so close to discovering Daryl in that room and Merle was damned glad that he had opened the door and stepped out into the hallway when he did. What would happen if Maggie found out that Daryl was in Woodbury? Would she insist on staying with him or try to drag him back with her to wherever the hell she'd come from? Merle decided that he'd just have to make sure that she didn't find out where Daryl was.
Merle smirked. "How the hell did you end up gettin' a pretty lil' spitfire like her to fall for your stupid ass?" he said to Daryl. "Must be a helluva story behind it." He patted Daryl on the shoulder, stood up and left the room again, closing the door behind him. "Fuckin' mess," he mumbled to himself as he slid a key out of his pocket with his left hand and locked the door.
In the kitchen, he stopped and took a bottle of Coors out of the refrigerator. Merle walked into the living room and sat down in the big recliner. He held the beer bottle tightly between his knees and unscrewed the cap with his left hand. He'd been kicking a plan around in his head and now he tried to work out the kinks in it. He glanced around his living room and exhaled heavily. It was going to be hard to leave this place, this home he had made for himself, but Daryl would not be safe in Woodbury and if he wanted to be with Daryl, he was going to have to leave his life in Woodbury behind him.
Glenn and Maggie had said that Daryl had left the group to look for him, but now Merle found that he needed more information from them. What was Daryl planning to do if he did find him? Was he going to drag Merle back to wherever it was that the group was holed up? If Daryl had left the group with as many supplies as he had been caught with, the group must be sitting pretty on a nice sized stash of food, fuel and weapons. The governor would be extremely pleased with Merle if he was to discover this cache of supplies and Woodbury could certainly use them.
Merle smirked. So what? Why the hell should he care if the governor was pleased with him or do anything for the sick fuck? The bastard had used the back of his baby brother's neck as an ashtray! If anything, Merle owed it to the governor to kick his pompous ass up and down the street a few times.
Merle started planning the steps for his and Daryl's escape from Woodbury.
They would get away in his truck and yes, Daryl would be pissed off about leaving his piece of shit truck behind, but Merle's was much newer and had a bigger pickup bed and the quad cab was bigger, too. Daryl's Harley would have to be left behind as well. Merle brought the bottle of beer to his lips and tilted the end up, finishing it. He belched loudly and smirked. Where the hell was his Bonneville? Had Daryl had an accident and smashed it up somewhere? It couldn't have broken down. That thing was a 1976 Triumph Bonneville and it would run forever with proper maintenance. So where the hell was it? Merle decided that he would have to have that discussion with his little brother at a later date.
Merle reached into his jean's pocket and pulled out the inventory list that Jackson had given him back at the warehouse. Now knowing that Daryl had chosen and packed the items on the list made him look at it with renewed interest. Daryl had picked some damned nice weaponry to bring along and Merle felt a flush of pride at Daryl's firearms discernment. He actually snorted when he re-read the '2 boxes - assorted grenades' entry on the list. If one of the grenades had lost a pin and exploded, there would have been a chain reaction. With all the guns and ammo and gasoline packed into the truck, if that had happened all that would have been left of Daryl and his truck would be some dust in a huge, deep crater in the ground. "Crazy bastard," Merle muttered to himself. The' 6 down pillows' entry made him raise an eyebrow, along with the entry for '2 Ruger .45 Blackhawks/double holster'. "Wyatt fuckin' Earp." Merle mumbled.
Maggie came back with Glenn and Merle told them each to go to the bathroom before they left to go back to the farm because he wasn't stopping for any stupid bullshit like that. He tossed Daryl's clothes into the washing machine and threw some dirty towels on top of them while Glenn and Maggie mixed up a thermos of iced tea to bring in the truck. '
"Okay," Merle called out as he came down the hall, "Let's get goin'! I'm drivin' this time."
"Shotgun!" Maggie yelled.
"Glenn raised his eyebrows. Shotgun? Did Maggie really want to ride in the front with Merle?
"Good, I get the whole backseat to myself!" Glenn gloated.
"You're both sitting in the back! Now move!" Merle snapped.
They all entered the garage and Merle locked the kitchen door.
"You afraid someone might rob you?" Maggie asked.
Merle smirked. "I can drop-kick everyone in this town farther than I trust them," he told her.
Maggie got into the front passenger seat, much to Merle's chagrin, and she refused to sit anywhere else. Glenn tried to shame her into sitting in the back with him by asking her if she didn't want to sit with him because he had B.O. or cooties. They hadn't even gotten out of town and already their bickering was driving Merle nuts.
"Just shut up for now, okay?" he asked. He stopped at the gate and told Ken that he was returning the visitors to their own place and the gates were opened for him. Merle drove through the gates and accelerated. He wanted to get Glenn and Maggie away from Woodbury as quickly as he could.
Maggie pulled one of her legs up onto the seat and folded it underneath her. "Okay, Merle," she said, "you've put me off long enough and I have some things I need to ask you and I need some answers."
Merle had only driven about two hundred feet from the gate, swerving around two burned out cars that had yet to be moved out of the roadway. "Okay, ask away." He was waiting for Maggie to speak when he heard something that made him bite his lower lip. Shit. What moron had thought that was a good idea? He hoped against hope that Maggie hadn't heard it and that what was making the noise was going in the same direction he was and was not headed towards them. He quickly brought up his stump and pushed the button on the vehicle's stereo and George Thorogood loudly started singing about 'one bourbon, one scotch and one beer'. Merle felt like he could use one of each of those himself right about then.
Maggie reached over to turn the stereo down a bit. "Are you trying to drown me out when I'm talking to you? Because if you are, it won't work. Now Haley said that the governor…" Maggie's words died on her lips and her eyes widened.
Shit. She'd heard it. "Haley said the governor said what?" Merle asked her, loudly.
"Shhh…," Maggie hissed and she pushed the button to turn off the stereo. With George Thorogood effectively silenced, it was easy to hear the approaching motorcycle. Maggie cocked her head. "That's Daryl's bike." Maggie said excitedly.
Merle psshawed her. "Nah. This sounds like a Harley," he said.
"Daryl rides a Harley now." Glenn volunteered.
Merle snorted. "Well it ain't Daryl's bike that we're hearin'." He stepped on the gas just as the motorcycle came around the bend up ahead in the road.
"It's Daryl!" yelled Glenn as he saw the black Harley approach.
Maggie laughed and clapped her hands. "I'd know the sound of his bike anywhere," she said. The smile slowly left her face as the approaching motorcycle slowed and she got a good look at the rider..
Merle tried to speed up a bit more, hoping to hell that whoever it was on the motorcycle wouldn't try to get him to stop and chat. The rider held up his hand for Merle to stop and Merle sighed. It was Martinez, Rodriguez's brother in law. His sister had been married to Rodriguez and he had married Rodriguez's sister. They had both lost their wives and children in the same biter attack before they'd come to Woodbury and they were both just a step below Merle in the governor's posse hierarchy.
Merle slowed the truck and snarled, "You two will just keep your damned mouths shut now if you know what's good for you. This guy ain't anyone to fuck with." He stopped and lowered the window. "Hey, Martinez, what's up?"
"Just checking out my new wheels." Martinez said with a shit eating grin.
"Nice. I'm more of a Triumph guy myself," Merle said loudly so Martinez could hear him over the Harley's pipes.
Maggie sat up and leaned toward Merle as she looked the Harley over. "That isn't your motorcycle!" she shouted. "Where did you get that!? That's Daryl's! Where is he?"
"Shut up!" Merle yelled as he turned to her. "Can't you see I'm talking to a buddy of mine here?" He glared at her and mouthed "no' and then turned back to Martinez who was curiously trying to peer around Merle at the young woman with the loud mouth. What had she just said?
"I'll stop by and check it out later." Merle said quickly. "Gotta take care of a few things here right now."
Martinez revved the Fat Boy's engine and grinned again. "Sounds good, Dixon. Stop by later and I'll let you look her over."
Maggie and Glenn watched as the Harley roared off in towards Woodbury, then they both looked at Merle. Glenn looked confused and Maggie just looked angry.
"Merle, what the hell is going on?" Maggie asked. "That was Daryl's bike."
Merle accelerated. He couldn't wait to be rid of these two. As soon as he got to the Greene farm he would let them out of the truck, wave 'sayonara' and they could all be on their separate, merry ways. "No, it wasn't," Merle insisted. "It probably just looked like it. You seen one Harley, you've seen them all."
"Daryl wouldn't like to hear you say that." Glenn volunteered from the back seat.
"Yeah, well Daryl ain't' here, is he?" Merle snapped.
Maggie glared at Merle. "That was Daryl's bike, Merle." She swallowed and then continued. "Haley, the girl we hung out with today, had to leave us for a little while because she was called into the governor's office to look over a crossbow that he had just gotten," she told him. "Not just any crossbow, either. A Horton Scout. She told us whoever it belonged to had kept it immaculate. Do you know anyone who has a Horton Scout that they keep immaculate, Merle? Because I do."
Merle knew who Haley was and he wouldn't be able to discredit her. She knew her archery. He glanced over at Maggie and then looked back at the road. It didn't help that her eyes were shining and she looked to be on the verge of tears.
"What's going on Merle? Where is Daryl?"
Glenn leaned forward and looked at Merle, awaiting his answer along with Maggie.
Merle shook his head. "We ain't gonna discuss this. We're not gonna talk about my baby brother. I'm taking you back to where I found you and you're going to forget about Woodbury and forget that you ever saw me. It's better that way," he told them.
Maggie sucked in a breath and closed her eyes for a second, trying her best to hold back tears that threatened to fall. "Where is Daryl?" she asked again.
Merle tore his eyes from the road and glared at her for a second before returning his attention to the roadway ahead. "What the fuck is it to you?" he shouted. "He left y'all, didn't he?! Just up and left! And for good reason, I'm sure! He was a fuckin' mess! Cuts and bruises and stitches all over him and new scars. What the fuck is it to you!? He wasn't nothin' to you, just redneck trash."
Maggie closed her eyes tightly and bit her lower lip. It didn't help and the tears started to slip down her cheeks.
Glenn reached forward and put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it.
Maggie sucked in a breath and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "You're wrong. He means the world to me." She bit her bottom lip and tried to keep her composure. "Where is he?" she asked.
Merle was silent.
"Was. You kept saying 'was' when you referred to him." She sniffed and reached up to wipe her eyes again.
Glenn rubbed Maggie's shoulder as he leaned over the seat back. "Maggie, don't," he said.
"Where is he?" Maggie asked again. "I need to know."
"Why?" Merle snapped. "Why would you need to know? He left y'all, he fuckin' left! That tells me that he didn't want you to know nothin'! Give me one good reason to tell you anything 'bout my brother!"
Maggie took a deep breath. "Because I love him." she said.
Merle snorted. "Like hell you do. Daryl don't let anyone get close enough to him for them to feel like that about him. There's only been one woman for my little brother. Only one he ever let get close to him."
"Lily." Maggie said.
Merle looked at her with surprise.
"I know all about Lily." Maggie said. "I know she died a long time ago. I know about Bud and the scar across Daryl's chest. I know about your part in all that and that you saved his life."
Glenn removed his hand from Maggie's shoulder and leaned back in the back seat. Things were starting to get awkward for him. Of course, Merle hadn't been around so he had no idea that he and Maggie used to be together before Maggie got all gaga over Daryl.
Merle still wouldn't answer her.
Maggie reached over and gently grasped Merle's right upper arm. He glanced at her and her big, green-gray doe eyes seemed to plead with him for an answer. "Please," she asked.
Merle scowled. "Okay, okay! You win. You wanna know so fuckin' bad? Fine." he said angrily. "A raiding party went out early this morning and they came back with him and his truck."
Maggie closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. "Where is he now?"
"Truck was full of guns, ammo, food, gas." Merle continued. "They tried to get him to tell them where he'd gotten it all, where it had come from. He wouldn't tell 'em a damned thing. They had no idea he was my brother, I had no idea he was even in Woodbury until the governor called me in this afternoon and said he wanted me to go in to try to get some information out of some guy that was caught down near Fort Benning. I didn't know it was Daryl until I was in the room with him and got a look at his face."
"So why didn't you let him go when you realized it was him?" Maggie asked.
"It was too late when I got there!" Merle yelled. "He wouldn't talk so they killed him! I sure as hell wasn't going to tell them he was my brother. They would have been all over me askin' about all the shit in his truck and thinkin' I was scheming with him against the governor and the town! No thank you."
"I don't believe you." Maggie said. "You're lying."
Merle sighed. "Keep tellin' yourself that, darlin', if it helps you. While you're doin' that, unzip that duffel bag on the floor by your feet, would you?"
Maggie ignored Merle and sat looking out the window with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Okay, then don't." Merle said.
They rode in silence the rest of the way to the farm. Merle drove up the gravel driveway and stopped his truck next to the barn. Maggie jumped out of the truck and slammed the door without saying a word.
Glenn fumbled with the door handle and had started to open the door when Merle spoke to him. "She'll be okay, won't she?" he asked.
Glenn swallowed, Merle sounded like he was actually concerned. "Maggie's tough, she'll get through this."
"Maybe you can, you know, help her." Merle said. "Be there for her."
"I plan on it." Glenn said. "but why do you care? I mean ..I know I…um.." Glenn was afraid he'd gone and poked the bear.
He was surprised when Merle said, "I care because she cared. Ain't no one cared for Daryl like that but Lily. It's hard to love a Dixon. Hell, its damned near next to impossible."
Merle's eyes met Glenn's and Glenn could see Daryl's clear blue eyes looking back at him from Merle's rough, weatherworn face. "Was he happy? Were they?"
Glenn slowly nodded. "They were best friends."
Merle smiled a small smile and said, "That's good. Really good. I'm glad."
Glenn cleared his throat and said, "I heard what you said earlier. About staying away from Woodbury. I just don't know if that's possible now."
"Yeah, I get that. Just know that the governor is always on the lookout for settlements and communities to plunder. Sometimes, if you roll over right away and give him everything he wants, he'll invite you to move into Woodbury and become part of the town, but sometimes, well, sometimes he just takes what you give him and kills you anyway."
"But still you stay there." Glenn said in an unexpected moment of boldness.
Merle grinned. "I'm gonna be leaving really soon. Think I'll head up north like Daryl wanted to," he said as he reached for the small duffel bag on the floor "after I steal a crossbow from the governor."
"If you see a couple of Ruger revolvers, steal those, too." Glenn said. "Daryl liked them almost as much as he liked his crossbow."
Merle nodded and tossed the duffel bag into the back seat next to Glenn. "My baby brother, the cowboy," he smirked. "Give this bag to the spitfire, okay? Think you can do that for ol' Merle?"
Glenn nodded and grabbed the bag by the straps and got out of the truck. "Thanks for letting us go free," he said.
Merle nodded. "You ain't never done me no harm and I doubt you've done harm to my brother. Now if you'd been Rick, this might have ended differently." Merle saw a worried look cross Glenn's face and he grinned his wolfish grin, "Come on now, just bein' honest is all."
'No, I've never done harm to your brother,' Glenn thought guiltily. 'I just punched him in the head a couple times.'
The horn on the F150 started to blow. Maggie was getting impatient.
"You'd best go now." Merle said and he started his truck, "before the spitfire calls in every biter in the area."
Glenn nodded and closed the door he'd exited from. He watched Merle drive off, his truck kicking up a cloud of dirt and dust behind it, as he walked to where the F150 was parked.
Maggie was huddled in the corner against the interior of the passenger door with her feet up on the seat and her arms wrapped around her knees. Her head was bowed and her face was hidden.
Glenn tossed the duffel bag in the middle of the seat and slid in behind the steering wheel. He looked over at Maggie and sighed. "I'm so sorry, Maggie. I just don't know what to say."
"Don't say anything." Maggie's muffled voice said. "Merle's lying. Daryl isn't dead."
Glenn was going to ask why on earth Merle would lie about something like that and then he realized that he just might. If Merle made sure word got back to the group that Daryl had died, they would all mourn their loss and then move on.
Glenn cocked an eyebrow. It was actually probably a kind thing to do in a sick sort of way. Maggie would have to give up the idea that Daryl would be coming back to sweep her off her feet and that they'd ride off into the sunset together on his steel horse as she clung to his angel-winged back. She would accept the reality of her life without Daryl and then she could start to heal. If she thought he was still alive out there, she would always be waiting for him to return and she might never move on.
Glenn started the truck. "Why would Merle lie?" Glenn asked as he shifted the truck into drive.
"Because that's what Merle does. He's a big, fat liar." Maggie replied with a tone that indicated that Glenn was a moron not to know this and that the first word of her reply to him should have been 'duh'.
"Merle said to give you this." Glenn said and he pushed the duffel bag towards her. He pulled out of the Greene's driveway and onto Fairburn Road and then peeked over at Maggie. She was looking out the window and he couldn't see her face, only the back of her head.
"You're not going to see what's in it?" he asked.'
Maggie turned around and looked at him. Her eyes were red but she wasn't crying and she actually seemed to be holding together quite well for the moment. "Probably a bomb set to go off when I unzip the bag," she said.
Glenn smiled. "No. A bomb isn't Merle's style. He seems like the kind of guy that likes things up close and personal when he's going to kill someone. If he'd wanted to kill us, he would have shish-kabobed us with that gnarly knife-hand thing he's got going on."
Maggie smiled. "You've got a point there," she said, "but it isn't as impressive as the one at the end of Merle's knife-hand thing."
Glenn chuckled. "That was really stupid," he said.
"Thank you," Maggie replied. She looked down at the duffel bag and ran her finger across the top of the zipper. After a couple moments of doing that, her curiosity got the best of her and she grabbed the zipper tab and yanked the zipper open.
She was quiet and Glenn took his eyes off the road for a second to glance at the bag, but he couldn't see what was in it. "What is it?" he asked.
Maggie felt a lone tear glide down her cheek as she reached into the bag. The vest was folded neatly and it unfolded and hung open as she lifted it out of the duffel bag. The upper curve of the right dirty, tattered wing was stained red and as Maggie pressed her right index finger against it she could feel that it was wet. She pulled her finger away quickly and examined the blood now smeared on it. She held the leather vest up. It was ripped in a couple of places and there was a large hole in the right front chest area and another one behind it on the back of the vest. The leather was stained dark and the tattered hole further down on the corresponding wing was very wet and stained a deep burgundy red. There were a total of three through and through ragged, bloody holes in the vest. Maggie held the vest tight against her. She could feel her shirt becoming damp in spots as the blood on the vest seeped into it and she didn't care. Maybe Merle hadn't been lying after all.
I cannot believe that they did what they did on TWD finale. Hopefully I'll be fully functional and done hating the writers by October when season 4 starts.