MERLE
If Merle thought that he was going to get better, more understanding looks from his friends at the prison, he was sorely mistaken. They were just as hateful and hostile, if not more so, especially Tyreese. Hershel was the only one who seemed to understand the game Merle was playing, but even if he communicated that to the others, they were adamant about treating Merle like he was an outsider.
The Saviors collected their haul while Merle asked Hershel about how life had been since Andrea left. The old man said that it was difficult, especially since five of their people had been taken only to be replaced with Saviors, but at least Patrick was a fair observer and coordinator instead of a sadist and rapist like Wilks had been. Despite their limited numbers, however, they all looked to be in reasonably good health, unlike the people of Woodbury.
Merle had Tyreese show him how to soundproof walls at the behest of Negan who wanted more privacy for his own apartment. In the middle of his demonstration in one of the second level cells, Tyreese slammed Merle against the wall and pressed his massive forearm to Merle's windpipe. "What the hell're you doin', man?"
"What the hell're you doin'?" Merle countered, finding it difficult to swallow, let alone breathe.
"You come in here, actin' like you one've them an' talkin' down to us like we're shit. Where's your right?"
"Getcher hands off've me—"
"I thought you was cool, man. I thought you was doin' all this for the right reasons. I seen you when Negan beat your ass right here in this cell block. You didn't do nothin' 'cause you was protectin' somebody, but now you come in here, tellin' me that I gotta deliver what Negan wants or it's my ass on the line after I watched my sister die in front've me. How can you do that to these people?"
"It's just how it is. We do what we've gotta do."
"You keep thinkin' that, but I'm not. That son've a bitch is gonna die, hear me? I don't care if you go and tell him to his face; he's gonna die and if you're on his side when death comes for him, you'll get the same."
How little Tyreese knew him…
"I can't do anythin', even if I wanted to. Milton an' Andrea're still there. But in other places…there might be a chance."
Merle slipped out of Tyreese's grip before the other man could fully comprehend the hint Merle had just dropped him. He stepped out onto the catwalk to hear Simon barking orders to line up the prison's inhabitants for an inspection, but on Merle's way down the stairs to the main level, he saw a man by the name of Brandt reaching into the playpen in the center of the room and lifting baby Judith by the back of her shirt. Immediately, she began to squeal in fear as this unknown man held her suspended above the ground.
"What about this one?" Brandt asked Simon. "She looks like she's causing these people more stress than she's worth. And there's lots of good people who'd love to take her in back at HQ."
A predator's gaze was one that Merle had become more and more familiar with over time, but he didn't even have to look at Brandt to know what was going through the man's head. He leaped off the last step, drew his sidearm, and dug it into the back of Brandt's neck.
"Put the baby down."
Brandt's lips pulled back in a sneer. "You're gonna regret that," he promised Merle.
"Put the baby down," echoed Simon at Merle's side, which made Brandt's sneer disappear as quickly as it had come. "You go anywhere near her again, you lose the hand you touch her with. We're here for valuable resources, not prizes."
Brandt pushed Judith into Merle's arms and Judith clung to him in terror, still watching Brandt as if afraid that the man would snatch her up again. The strength in her tiny fist as she held onto Merle suggested that she felt protected even though her infant brain could not possibly remember him after having him be absent for long periods of time. As Brandt continued to gaze at her, Merle shifted her in his arms so that her face was hidden from view, pressed safely to his chest. One arm cradled her from underneath and the other curled around her, clutching a pistol at the end.
"You were leavin'," Merle prompted, and he didn't lower his gun until Brandt had left the cell block.
"I'll take her," said an adolescent voice, and Merle looked down—though not as far as he remembered—to see Carl standing beside him, a full two inches taller. He held out his arms for his baby sister, but the hatred Merle had last seen on the boy's face directed toward him was gone. Instead, there was—nothing. Emptiness. Defeat.
Merle handed Carl his sister, but Judith was loathe to let go of his shirt.
"She don't know me," said Merle, half apologetically. "Dunno why she—"
"Milton held her like that," said Carl. "Sometimes she'd only go to sleep for him and he held her the same way so that she couldn't see anything and fall asleep easier. She probably thinks you're Milton."
At the mention of Milton's name, Merle revealed to Carl that Milton and Andrea had lost their child, though what effect he hoped the news would have on the boy, he didn't know.
"Carl," Merle began, but Carl shook his head.
"Don't. It's over. All of it—it's over."
The helplessness in the boy's voice was difficult to stomach, but Merle couldn't breach the subject any further as Simon waved Asher forward and gestured out to the wash room where most of the other Saviors were waiting with supplies to be taken to the trucks.
"You're up, kiddo. Pack your things and let's get going," said Simon, grinning like this was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity instead of Savior training.
"What's Negan need him for?" demanded Bob. "He already took three of our people and killed another two and we don't have enough to hold the prison if you take Asher."
"Well, gee, I guess that's your problem, isn't it?" said Simon without sympathy. "Negan takes what he wants and he wants that boy. Be grateful it isn't the dead man's son because that kid would be fresh meat. For now, we just need Asher, but I'll offer y'all the chance to come back to our place if you're so worried about securing this prison. If not, you'll be compensated with another one of our fine people."
"We don't want more of your people," said Beth in a bold statement that shocked even Merle. "We want to keep the few people we have left."
"Sweetie, that's not up to you. Unless you're looking to take your boyfriend's place."
"You can't have him."
Seeing that Simon was on the verge of losing his temper, Merle asked for permission to talk to Asher on his own to avoid another scene like Sasha's murder, to which Simon agreed. Merle frog marched Asher from the cell block to solitary confinement deeper in the catacombs of the prison. The entire way there, Asher pleaded with him, but Merle ignored the young man, for he didn't care. Too many good people had died already because of someone else's mistakes and Merle wasn't going to let Asher join in on the tradition. When they were well hidden from sight and earshot, Asher put his hands together as if in prayer and dropped to his knees. The dim lighting showed a bloodless face with tears running down his sunken cheeks.
"Please, Merle, don't let them take me."
"You're gonna be fine, kid. I gotcher back—"
"You're a Savior. You were made for this life, but I'm not. I'm barely making it here, and if I go there, I'm not coming back. Negan won't let me."
"Nut up, boy. You're always goin' on 'boutcher mama an' how y'miss her, but if she saw you pussyin' out like this when you're bein' given a chance t'fight for your people, she'dda smacked you upside the head. Ain't nobody gonna holdjer hand through this, so it's time t'become a fuckin' man, unnerstand? You ain't doin' this for yourself; you're doin' it for all those people out there who you belong to. They took you in, boy, so show 'em thatchoo're grateful."
Asher shook his head. "I don't want to die, Merle."
"You'd rather somebody out there gets killed 'cause you was too damn cowardly t'go with the Saviors? You'd rather Simon shoots Beth down right in front've ya an' then take ya anyway?"
"No, but—"
"What're you so damn scared of, kid?"
"They'll rape me," said Asher, hanging his head in shame. "I'm an easy target."
"Only if y'let 'em see that side've you, but then ain't 'cause when we walk outta here, you're gonna come with me an' not make Simon ask twice. Do that, an' I promise ya, Negan won't let nobody touch you."
/ /
"Are we all set now, or do you need some more time to think this over?" asked Simon irritably when Merle brought Asher back up to the main cell block.
"Good t'go," said Merle, but Simon approached Asher and invaded the young man's personal bubble. Where Negan was intimidating due to his unpredictability, Simon was known for having a short fuse and as he hovered over Asher, breathing down the boy's neck, Asher quailed.
"Am I gonna have problems with you, boy?"
"No," said Asher in a small voice.
"No, sir," Simon corrected.
"No, sir."
"That's right. I'm not." Simon put his arm around the back of Asher's neck and Asher dropped his head, flinching away from the older man. "Or else."
"I think he gets it," said Owen.
"He ain't shit his pants yet, so we'll see."
"Simon, don't test me on this; leave the kid alone."
Simon let go of Asher and turned his pistol on Owen, making an indent on Owen's chest where the nozzle pressed into his skin. "I know I didn't just hear you threaten me. Did I?"
"It's sexual harassment against another man. With Thomas as my best friend, do you really think I'm not going to say something?"
"Oh, you're going to say something, alright. Right to Negan when we talk to him tonight, just you, me, and good ol' Negan. Go get your ass in the truck. Orson, take him outside and make sure he stays out there. You," Simon pointed at Asher, "let's go."
Asher hugged his bundle of clothes closer to his chest as if it were a stuffed animal that a child would use to ward off monsters of the night.
"Move, kid," said Merle, not unkindly.
With a final glance back at the ever-dwindling population of the prison, Asher followed Merle, head down as he passed between the rows of Saviors waiting to follow them out.
/ /
` Negan was waiting for them upon their return and promptly escorted Asher to the old bedroom that Merle and Milton used to share. The young man was not chained or beaten, but given a meal of reheated taco meat and tortillas as Negan instructed him on what to expect from his new life at Savior HQ. Merle had no right to feel resentment for Asher's favored treatment, especially after his promise to keep an eye on the kid, but his need to call foul play to Negan was practically overwhelming as he stood off to the side listening to Negan speak genially to Asher rather than talk down to him.
Merle's wrist still held scars from the chain that had bound him to Milton for the majority of his stay and here was Asher eating the equivalent of a feast in comparison to the cat food Merle had eaten for a month. It shouldn't have been so surprising that Asher wasn't put through the same type of boot camp that Merle and Milton did, for the two dozen new recruits that come under Negan's rule since October also went through a less strenuous initiation process. For whatever reason, Negan had chosen to put Merle and Milton through the worst sort of torture, perhaps to groom them for a higher position whereas the other recruits were still squabbling over scraps at the end of the night while Merle was at liberty to take whatever supplies he wanted at any time.
After Asher had settled into his room, Negan made him kneel and then locked him in for the night. He faced Merle, Owen, and Brandt who had all been ordered to stick around for Negan to have words with.
"So Simon tells me there was some disagreement over the younger population of the prison?"
"Disagreement's an understatement," said Owen, rather bravely.
"What would you define it as?" asked Negan.
"One step short of molestation. New people are open to being roughed up, but I know the difference between that and sexual harassment."
"I don't swing for that team, idiot. I was trying to scare the kid, not molest him," said Simon angrily. "What I would or wouldn't have done to him isn't your business, so you had no right challenging me."
"Put a hold on that," said Negan, moving on to Merle. "What's your crime?"
Merle shrugged, for once fairly uncertain what he had done to bring about Simon's wrath.
"He stepped up," said Simon. "Made the new kid grow a pair and didn't take no shit from any of his old people. And he called out Brandt before I managed to catch it. Brandt was eyeing that baby—"
"Don't word it like that," said Negan with a grimace. "But all the same, I can accept that the people working for me have their kinks and turn-ons when it comes to some pretty messed up stuff, but a baby, Brandt. I'd love to hear you talk your way outta this one."
"Nothing happened," said Brandt with none of his former cockiness. "I just picked the kid up, that's all."
"And that's all you're ever gonna do because if I catch you anywhere near that prison for the rest of your pathetic life, I'll castrate you and then use your own dick to fuck you before I rip your tongue out of your throat," Negan promised. "You stay away from anyone under the age of sixteen from now until the day you die. Now get the hell outta here."
Brandt retreated, leaving Owen and Merle to await their own sentences.
"Simon," said Negan thoughtfully, "I foresee an opening in upper management in the near future. What say we go ahead and fill that position and terminate the old employee?"
"I'll have Keller and Cooper take care of it," said Simon with a smirk.
"You're going to kill him?" asked Owen in a small voice.
"Wouldn't you if you knew he was going to do it again, threats be damned? I wanted him to think I was gonna let this one slide so that he won't see 'em coming when they cut his throat in his sleep tonight. I've got ten too many rapists and wannabes working for me and one who goes for the youth isn't welcome under my roof. Take care of the problem before it becomes a problem, isn't that the way to do it? And as for Brandt's former position, Merle, you've just been promoted. Welcome to upper management. You answer to Franco, Denunez, Jay, Simon, and me, but no one else. Any questions?"
Merle shook his head.
"Good. Now scram. Owen and I are gonna have a nice, long talk about challenging authority."
Owen looked to Merle for help, but after just being promoted, Merle didn't think it was wise to question Negan, so he walked away, hoping that Owen would not be getting a visit from Keller and Cooper later on this evening.
/ /
Back in his quarters, he was removing his blade attachment and tucking it away for the night when he heard a knock on the door. Calling out that it was okay to come in, he saw Lexi's small, heart-shaped face as she entered and stood staring at him expectantly for a solid ten seconds.
"What?" Merle asked.
"You haven't been to see her."
Confused and quite frankly, disturbed that Lexi had taken such an interest in his daily schedule that she knew for a fact that he hadn't gone to see Andrea, Merle felt a warning flag go off in his head.
"The hell's it matter t'you if I ain't seen her yet?"
"Because you love her and she needs you there. She wants you, you know."
"What the hell's your problem? I'm tellin' y'right now that I ain't puttin' up with you stalkin' me or hangin' round the infirmary while Andrea's in there. She just lost her kid an' almost died 'cause somebody here's got it out for her'n Milton. Back the hell off've her."
"You want her," said Lexi, and it was not a question. "Everyone in this whole damn building wants her because Negan wanted her first and that makes the pickings very slim for the rest of us women. It's not easy going from the most desired woman on the premises to leftovers in just one night because the person you were with suddenly gets horny for some other woman. And then you find out that the man you want to fuck has a hard-on for that same woman. I don't like being a second thought, Merle."
Her words registered, quickly at first, and then again in slow motion. She had been with Negan before being replaced. She had wanted to sleep with Merle, but Merle had denied her. And who was it that had replaced her both times? Who was it that then took matters into her own hands to try and remove the competition?
"Her luck does seem to hold out, though. It can't hold out forever. Sooner or later, if someone doesn't rape her to death, Negan's going to stick his dick—"
Merle threw his bedside table at her and the entire thing knocked her to the floor. He ran to her as she tried to push the table off and pinned her down with his knees, grabbing her hair and slamming her head down onto the concrete floor repeatedly even as her fingernails scratched at his face to throw him off of her. He felt the vibration through her head as the back of her skull cracked open and spilled her brains onto the floor.
A fog settled over her eyes and blood seeped out of her mouth as she lay still. Merle let go of her, stuffing his fist into his mouth to keep from screaming. She was dead, and Merle had committed murder out of rage. She was his first female kill, but he had had no intention of even touching her before she walked in his room this night. She had willingly told him that she was the one who tried to do away with Andrea; how had she expected him to react? Did she feel guilt and was secretly hoping for Merle to punish her for her actions, or did she truly believe that Merle would find her more appealing?
The reason behind her actions was what was so unsettling. The lack of concern for human life, and an unborn baby's life at that, was what struck Merle the hardest. Lexi was simply jealous of Andrea for drawing Negan's affection, but also for being the only woman on her rebound's mind (the rebound being Merle). A baby had died because of a woman's insecurities.
It wasn't his place to have killed her. If anything, it was Milton's, but Milton could not have lifted a finger to her because she was a woman, smaller and weaker than him, and an unsuspecting culprit. Milton would have gone to Negan even if every solitary brain signal was telling him to strike her down for attempting to murder Andrea. Merle, however, had no such restraint.
Get rid of the body.
Taking hold of Lexi's legs, Merle began to drag her toward the door, wondering how on earth he was supposed to smuggle out a body that was dripping brains all over the floor without being seen by the night guards. His answer came in the form of two people knocking on the door.
Jay and Thomas entered without asking permission, halfway through asking Merle to cover their shift for the night.
"Merle, we need a favor and it's last minute but-what've you done?" cried Thomas, covering his mouth with his hands in an attempt to not vomit on Merle.
"This bitch shot Andrea out've spite," said Merle, breathing like a charging animal through his nose. "She was with Negan, wasn't she?"
"Well…"
"Wasn't she?"
"Some details are a bit hazy," said Thomas, but Merle gripped his collar threateningly and Thomas relented. "Okay, okay, they were together right up until the night Negan found you all. He made Lexi go to the prison and she and Andrea started off on the wrong foot, so Lexi already hated her when Andrea came here, but she assumed that she was going right back to Negan, only Negan didn't want her back. Negan flat-out told her that Andrea was more of the material he was looking for and she hated it. So that's cause enough to want to get rid of Andrea, but we'll never know if she really did it."
"I know. An' so d'you two, which is why you're gonna help me dump her body an' play dumb if Negan ever asks what happened to her. S'far as anyone's concerned, she ditched this place an' ain't never comin' back, right?"
"Merle, I can't lie about this. Lexi was my friend," said Thomas fearfully.
"Bullshit she was, Thomas," snapped Jay. "She was a homophobe and sadistic and an all-around bitch. You've gotta stop trying to be everyone's friend or you're going to be everyone's dead friend. You never owed anything to her, but you owe something to Merle because he stuck up for you against Keller and Cooper. So keep your mouth shut and this will all be fine. "
"But this wasn't just murder, Merle, this was—brutal."
"She plotted t'kill Andrea 'cause she was jealous an' ended up killin' the baby an' sendin' Andrea into depression, so tell me again how this ain't justified," Merle dared.
"I'd understand Milton killing her like this—well, maybe not because it's Milton and that's not in his character—but you went a little off the rails here—"
"If she'd killed Owen, would we be havin' this conversation?"
Merle had struck a nerve. Thomas's unspoken love for Owen would certainly have fueled him to murder in the same manner that Merle just had, but since Andrea wasn't his partner to protect, Thomas saw a problem with that. Thomas, of all people.
"It don't matter if someone's yours or they ain't; y'do whatchoo gotta if they're in danger. Now, you can help me get rid've the body, or you can go t'Negan, but if you're not gonna help me, we're gonna have a problem."
"We're with you, Merle," said Jay. "For this—and anything else."
Suspicious at this sudden declaration of loyalty from one of Negan's best men and another who seemed to be having second thoughts about his own loyalty, Merle straightened up and rested his hand on his hip close to his gun.
"I told you that Negan had me kill my brother because he wouldn't let Negan own him and that that type of attitude would get you killed, too. But you've come out on the other side with the same stubborn idea of being your own man. I know my brother would have wanted me to fight Negan if I got the chance, so I'm going to take that chance. You have my support, whatever you need."
Thomas wrung his hands and stared at a spot on Merle's chest instead of looking him in the eye. "If…if I go along with this and some major shit goes down, I want you to promise me that you won't hurt Owen—no matter what he chooses to do. Promise me you won't hurt him."
"Would I do that?" asked Merle innocently. "S'long as he ain't gonna shoot at me, I ain't gonna be bothered by him, but I'mma tell ya this; he ain't gonna stick 'round here much longer. He's got a cousin at Woodbury who's dyin' an' he's in hot water with Negan after what happened at the prison. He ain't gonna last here, so if y'want t'protect 'im, convince 'im that he's better off with me than he is with Negan."
"We'll tell him," said Jay.
"An' if Negan finds out about this," Merle added threateningly, "no one'll ever find your bodies either."