Surviving the Dead: The Beginning
"I don't like the idea of you going" I told Daryl as he was getting his bike ready, to go with Rick and Hershel to meet with the Governor
"I'll be fine Sammie"
"I know you will, but I can still worry. I wish you would let me come with." I said and he looked at me
"I need you here, keep an eye on Merle so he doesn't do anything stupid"
"Trying to keep Merle from doing something stupid is like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands" I chuckled
He gave a small smile, "He'll listen to you, you two seem to have gotten close."
"Yeah we have, it's nice" I tell him and he put his hand on my shoulder
"I'll be back"
"You better" I said and he got on his bike then they drove off
"Carl, come here. You stash these at the loading dock. All right?" Glenn tells him handing Carl a couple boxes of ammo as we prepped weapons, "Beth, put more up on the catwalk. If anyone gets pinned down, we need to make sure that they have plenty of ammo. I'll go work on the cage outside." He says and grabbed a torch and gloves
"What we should be doing is loading some of this firepower in a truck and paying a visit to the Governor. We know where he is right now." Merle says
"Are you suggesting that we just go in and kill him?" Glenn asked him
"Yeah, I am."
"We told Rick and Daryl that we'd stay put." Michonne tells him
"I've changed my mind, sweetheart. Being on the sideline with our brother out there ain't sitting right with me."
"The three of them are right in the middle of it. No idea we're coming. They could get taken hostage or killed. A thousand things could go wrong." Glenn pointed out to him
"And they will."
"My dad can take care of himself." Carl told him
"Sorry, son, but your dad's head could be on a pike real soon." Merle says and Carl walked away
"Don't say that to him." I said to him and he looked at me while I continued loading my clip
"It's not the right move. Not now. Can't take the risk of putting them in the crossfire. That's my decision. It's final." Glenn says and left
"Look Merle I'm worried about Daryl too, you know that, but Glenn is right. Best way to keep our brother, Rick and Hershel safe is to stay here and prepare." I point out to him and he sighed
Me and Maggie walked back into the dining hall and saw Merle put a bag on the table then grabbed some guns, "Hey, you're not going." Glenn told him
"I don't need permission."
"I can't let you Merle" I said and he looked at me
"You can't stop me." He says grabbing the bag
"If you're gonna live here with us, it's gonna be on our terms. If Michonne can do it, why can't you?" I asked him
"'Cause it's our brother out there, that's why." He says and looked at all of us, "What's the matter with y'all?" He asked and walked up the steps but Glenn stayed in front of the door
"I'm not gonna let you put them in danger." Glenn tells him
"Nut up already, boy. This guy cops a feel of your woman and you pussy out like this?" Merle asked him and I saw anger boil in Glenn eyes, "Get out of my way."
"No."
"Get out of my way!" Merle yells at him and shoved him but they both ended up falling dow the stairs, Merle landed on top of Glenn and held his metal hand up but Me and Maggie rushed to pull him off and I took hold of his arm
"Merle stop it!" I yelled at him but then a gun shot went off and we see Beth standing there "Let me go! Let me go!" Merle yelled shoving us off, "Don't you care about Daryl?" He asked me getting off of Glenn and I slapped him
"Don't you dare think that I don't care about him! You just got back into my life and I'll be damned if I let you put yourself in danger!" I said pointing my finger at him, "I care about everyone here and I would die to keep them safe, including your stupid ass. So knock it off!" I tell him and walked away
Merle POV...
I watched Michonne finish loading up her bag then grabbed her sword and walked past me, "You know I'm right," I tell her and she looked at me, "The folks here, they're strong, good fighters. But they ain't killers."
"Rick is. Maggie is. Carl put down his own mother."
"Mercy killing. That don't make him an assassin." I pointed out
"Mmm, but you are."
"When I have to be." I said
"Then how do you explain letting me get away?"
"I must have been seduced by your sterling personality. You coming with me or not?" I asked her, "Me and my brother, we have a few calls we use when we hunt. I'll give him a heads up. He'll warn the others. You shogun the Governor's ass, I'll take care of the rest. We'll be home before you know it."
"And what about Andrea?" She asked
"Bullets fly, she's gonna have to make her choice real quick."
"You're on your own. You get people killed, it's on you." She says and walked away, then I see Sam walk out of her cell and started walking down the stairs
"Sam," I called and she looked at me, "You know I don't doubt that you don't care about Daryl, or me for that matter, but I don't trust that prick and the second things go south..."
"Daryl can handle himself, so can I, we've been doing it for years now." She tells me and set her bag down when she reached the bottom then put her crossbow over her shoulder and a knife on her belt.
"I know I wasn't around much for you both, but I'm here now, and I want to keep you and Daryl safe no matter what."
"If you want to keep us safe then help us protect this place, because when Daryl gets back and the Governor comes the 3 of us can't be stopped." She tells me and I smiled
"When did you become the wise one?"
"When the world went to shit" She says then grabbed her bag and walked away
Samantha POV...
"So, I met this Governor. Sat with him for quite a while." Rick told us as we gathered in the cell block
"Just the two of you?" Merle asked him
"Yeah."
"Should have gone when we had the chance, bro." Merle says to Glenn as he walked past him
"He wants the prison. He wants us gone. Dead. He wants us dead for what we did to Woodbury. We're going to war." Rick said then walked away and I looked at Daryl then Merle.
Daryl POV...
"It's the only way. No one else knows." Rick says to me
"You gonna tell 'em?" I asked him
"Not till after. We have to do it today. It has to be quiet."
"You got a plan?" I asked
"We tell her we need to talk. Away from the others."
I looked at him for a moment thinking about his plan, "Just ain't us, man."
"No. No, it isn't." Hershel added and walked away
"We do this, we avoid a fight. No one else dies." Rick tells me
"Okay."
"We need someone else." He mentioned and I knew who he was talking about
"I'll talk to him."
"I'll do it." He says
"I'll go with you."
"No. Just me." He told me and walked away
"Hey. You seen Merle around?" I asked Glenn as he was trying to fix one of the metal doors outside but he didn't answer, I walked over and helped him locking one of the chains, "He say he was sorry yet? 'Cause he is." I tell him and he gabbed a box with bottles and walked over to a table setting them down, "He's gonna make it right. I'm gonna make him. There's got to be a way. Just needs to be a little forgiveness is all." I said and he walked over
"He tied me to a chair, beat me, and threw a walker in the room. Maybe I could call it even. But he- he took Maggie to a man who terrorized her, humiliated her. I care more about her than I care about me." He says and walked back over to the table, I walked over grabbing my crossbow and started to walk away.
"You know, it's one thing to be pissed at Merle for what he did, but don't take it out on Sammie, you've barely spoken to her since we got back and it wasn't her fault. You're her best friend and you not talking to her because of Merle, hurts her." I point out to him and walked away
"Merle. You down here?" I called to him walking through the basement corridors and I hear clattering coming from a room so I raised my crossbow, "Merle."
"Hey, little brother." He says and I lower it looking around
"What the hell?"
"I was just about to holler back at ya." He tells me leaning on work table
"What you doing down here?"
"Just looking for a little crystal meth." He tells me and I look at him shaking my head, "Yeah, yeah, I know. shit will mess my life up when everything is going so sweet, right?"
"You talk to Rick yet?" I asked him
"Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm in. But, uh, he ain't got the stomach for it. He's gonna buckle. You know that, right?"
"Yeah. If he does, he does." I pointed out
"You want him to?" He asked me
"Whatever he says goes."
"Man. Do you even possess a pair of balls, little brother? Are they even attached? I mean, if they are, they belong to you? I mean I know little sis has you wrapped around her finger but come on man, you used to call people like that sheep. What happened to you?" He asked me
"What happened with you and Glenn and Maggie?" I asked him
"I've done worse. You need to grow up. Things are different now. Your people look at me like I'm the devil...grabbing up those lovebirds like that, huh? Now y'all want to do the same damn thing I did- snatch someone up and deliver them to the Governor, just like me. Yeah. People do what they got to do or they die."
"Can't do things without people anymore, man." I point out and he scoffed
"Maybe these people need somebody like me around, huh? Do their dirty work. The bad guy. Yeah, maybe that's how it is now, huh? How does that hit you?"
I looked at him and put my hand on his shoulder, "Me and Sam just want our brother back."
"Get out of here, man." He says and I walked away
As I walked back into the cell block I went up the stairs to Sammie's cell and saw her sitting on her bed sharpening her knife, "I need to tell you something" I said to her and she looked at me.
Samantha POV...
"It's off. We'll take our chances." Rick says to Daryl walking over to him then looked at me
"He told me" I said to him
"I'm not saying it was the wrong call, but this is definitely the right one." Daryl tells him and we see him look around
"What's wrong?" I asked him
"I can't find Merle or Michonne. They've gone."
"Come on." Daryl tells him and we head down to the basement level, "He was in here. Said he was looking for drugs. Said a lot of things, actually."
"Like what?" Rick asked him and Daryl was looking around the room
"Said that you were gonna change your mind. Here we go." He mentioned and picked up a cloth, "Yeah, he took her here. They mixed it up."
"Damn it! I'm going after him." Rick said heading to the back door and we followed
"You can't track for shit."
"Then the both of us." Rick says
"No, just me. I said I'd go and I'll go."
"I'm coming with" I told Daryl and he shook his head
"No"
"It's not up for debate Daryl, I'm coming end of discussion." I said and he hesitated before nodding
"They're gonna come back here. You need to be ready. Your family, too." Daryl said to Rick and we walked out the door
Me and Daryl come up on Michonne seeing her stab a walkers head that was on the ground, "Hey! Where's my brother? You kill him?" Daryl asked her
"He let me go."
"Don't let anyone come after us." Daryl says and we start running
We finally get to the feed mill and look around seeing a few dead walkers, men laying on the ground, and walkers eating the bodies. One walker came up to us and I killed it as Daryl walked forward, I walked over to him hearing him starting to cry and I looked where he was looking and my heart stopped. There kneeling on the ground, was our brother, or what used to be our brother but he was now one of those things eating a dead body. He looked up at us then stood up walking over the body he was eating coming towards us, I put my hand over my mouth failing to hold back my tears as Daryl pushed him back crying as well, Merle walked back to him again and Daryl tackled him to the ground grabbing his knife then stabbed him in the head, then did it over and over again.
"Daryl, Daryl stop." I beg him kneeling down next to him trying to stop him and he fell off Merle's body still crying and I pulled him to me crying as well and we sat there, looking at the body of our dead brother.
After a while, we finally got back to the prison, we didn't talk the whole way back, just walked in silence. I see Maggie and Glenn look at us as Daryl walked ahead of me going into the prison, "Sam?" Maggie asked and I looked at her then Glenn
"Merle won't bother you anymore" I said looking at Glenn then headed inside as well and slowly made my way up the stairs into my cell and sat down on my bed just staring off into space, shortly after I hear a knock on the wall outside my cell
"Sam?" I hear Glenn ask and he lifted the blanket I put over the door then walked in
"I'm sorry I acted like that"
He sighed and sat down next to me grabbing my hand, "It's ok. What happened?"
I sniffled, "Merle let Michonne go, I don't what happened after that but when me and Daryl got to the mill we saw...we saw M-Merle." I could barely get out what I was trying to say and he wrapped his arms around me pulling me into a hug and I cried into his shoulder, "I can't keep losing the people I love Glenn, I can't take it anymore." I said with my voice breaking.
"I'm sorry Sam, about everything. I'm sorry"
I pulled away and looked at him, "I don't blame you, for hating him for what he did, but he was my brother Glenn. I just got him back and we finally start to get close and now..." I stopped and stood up, "The worst part of it all, was the Governor shot him and let him turn into one of..one of those things! And Daryl..." I paused and wiped the tears away, "I want to kill him, I want to kill the Governor, I want to watch him suffer and pay for everything he's done, for killing my brother. Like what Merle told me, nobody messes with the Dixons."
The next few days we gathered up our stuff to leave, I was in my cell putting everything together when something caught my eye, I put one of my shirts in my bag and picked it up, it was Merle's dog tags. I sat down on my bed holding them with tears coming out, he may have been an asshole but he was my brother and I'm gonna miss him like hell. I put the dog tags around my neck, finished packing up and walked outside over to my bike which was next to Daryl's who was sitting on the ground when Carol walked over
"You know, Merle never did nothing like that his whole life." Daryl tells him and I looked over
"He gave us a chance." She says to him and helped him up, gathered up his arrows and put them on his bike then walked over to me, "You sure you wanna do this?"
"I need to, for Merle"
He wrapped his arm around me and kissed the top of my head, "Be careful"
"Always am."
We sat at the prison and waited, I was down in the tombs when i hear footsteps, after a moment I threw out a flash bang and people lead by the Governor started screaming and moved to leave.
"Hold your ground! Hold your ground!" The Governor shouted but they all ran out, I made my way out of the tombs and headed to the catwalk with Maggie who was in riot gear and we started shooting at everyone as they were coming out, then I see the Governor and I fired at him but kept missing and he fired back at me so I ducked.
Just then they all head to their vehicles and drive off, "We did it?" Maggie hollered to Glenn as he takes his helmet off
"We did it. Come on down."
"We did it. We drove them out." Rick says as we look out of the gate entrance
"We should go after them." Michonne tells him
"We should finish it." Daryl adds
"It is finished. Didn't you see them hightail it out of here?" Maggie asked
"They could regroup. We can't take the chance. He's not gonna stop."
"They're right. We can't keep living like this." I mentioned
"So we take the fight back to Woodbury. We barely made it back last time."
"He don't care." Daryl says
"Yeah. Let's check on the others." Rick tells us and we head inside the prison
"Rick we're staying, We don't know where the Governor is. If he comes back, we'll hold him off." Glenn tells him as we get ready to go
"Just the four of us? All right." Daryl says and put his crossbow over his shoulder and we get on our bikes
"I appreciate you staying." Rick tells them and we drive up to the gate and headed out
We came up to a rode and saw a truck stopped with dead bodies all around with walkers eating them, I take my crossbow off my shoulder and shoot one then Michonne kills two with her sword and Daryl killed another one.
Rick walked forward killing one and suddenly there was a bang on the truck window causing Daryl to jump and move away, Rick pointed his gun up and Daryl moved back to open the door letting the woman out and we made our way to Woodbury moving towards the wall of the town when a gunshot goes off next to Rick and we take cover shooting back.
"Tyreese! It's me don.."
"Get down!" Rick tells the woman pulling her back down
"Karen! Karen are you okay?!"
She stands up again and pulled away from Rick, "I'm fine!"
"Where's the Governor?" He asked her
"He fired on everyone. He killed them all."
"Why are you with them?" He asks
"They saved me."
"We're coming out!" Rick tells him and Daryl shook his head, "We're coming out." Rick says and we stand up raising our hands walking forward as the gate opened
"What are you doing here?" Tyreese asked Rick
"We were coming to finish this until we saw what the Governor did."
"He ... he killed them?" He asks
"Yeah. Karen told us Andrea hopped the wall going for the prison. She never made it. She might be here."
"This is where he had Glenn and Maggie." Rick tells Tyreese as we made our way through the warehouse
"The Governor held people here?"
"He did more than hold them." Daryl says and we come up on a door and see blood
"Will you open it?" Michonne asked Rick after drawing her sword and both him, Daryl and I raised our guns
"One, two..." Rick counted and opened the door, we see Andrea on the ground and Michonne rushed over
"Andrea!"
"I tried to stop them." Andrea tells us and I see a dead walker on the ground
"You're burning up." Michonne says to her and Andrea moved the part of her shirt that was over her shoulder revealing a bit mark
"Judith, Carl, the rest of them..." She started to say but Rick cut her off
"Us. The rest of us."
"Are they alive?" She asked
"Yeah, they're alive."
"It's good you found them." She tells Michonne who's crying, "No one can make it alone now." She says looking at me and Daryl and I feel tears in my eyes
"They never could." Daryl tells her
"I just didn't want anyone to die. I can do it myself."
"No." Michonne tells her
"I have to. While I still can. Please? I know how the safety works." She tells Rick and he slowly hands her a gun
"Well I'm not going anywhere" Michonne tells her
"Sam..."
I knelt down and held her hand, "I'm sorry, I should have said it sooner but I thought we would have time. I forgive you" I said and tears fall down my face and she smiled
"I'll tell Jim you said hi" She says and my heart sank but I gave her a smile
"Thank you, for everything" I tell her and Daryl helped me stand up
"I tried" Andrea says
"Yeah. You did" Rick told her and stands up then we walk out of the room and he shuts the door. We stand there for a few more moments then we hear a gunshot, I put my hand over my mouth and cried as Daryl pulled me to him into a hug.
We headed back to the prison with a bus following us, with people from Woodbury and we entered the gate. I see the others look at us confused as everyone gets off the bus and looked around then Tyreese and Sasha lead them inside.
"You okay?" Daryl asked me and I gave a small smile
"I will be" I tell him and he put his hand on my shoulder
"We will be, we're family"
I nod my head and he hugged me. Today was the day we started to rebuild what we lost, and remember the people we lost.