Chapter Twenty-Nine
Soon, Merle stumbled out of the room he was keeping Glenn in. Delilah looked up from her shoes, and he looked at her.
"I couldn't get anything out of her," Delilah said.
Merle raised an eyebrow, and shut the door behind him. "Did you even try?"
"Of course I tried," Delilah replied. "You know I don't do violence unless I have to."
"I told you to get the information out of her by any means necessary," he said, stalking towards her. Her back was against the wall, but she wasn't afraid. She knew he wasn't going to hurt her.
"You did."
"And you didn't."
"And how do you know that?" she demanded. "You weren't in the room. She shut straight up when she could hear you beating up her boyfriend in the next room."
"Well, tough shit," Merle replied. "You should've made her talk!"
"You should've taken the deal!"
"We're not getting into this again," he growled, walking away.
"Where are you going?" she asked. "Merle. Merle!"
Soon, he came back with a walker held by the neck with a clamp. Delilah backed away.
"What the hell are you doing?!" she demanded.
"Open the door, Princess!" he yelled. "Open the door!"
When she didn't, he promised her she'd regret this later, and then opened the door himself.
"What the hell are you doing?!" she demanded, but he pointed his makeshift weapon at her, and she backed off, hands raised.
"That's what I thought," he replied, turning back to Glenn.
"All right, I want you to imagine how I felt fightin' my way off that roof! One hand, loosing blood, walkers chomping down at me every step of the way! Last chance, where's your group?!"
"Merle, don't do this!" Delilah yelled. "Come on, don't do this, please!"
"All right, suit yourself!" Merle said when Glenn didn't answer. "You're a pretty big snack for this fella, but you know what they say! He's gonna be hungry again in an hour!"
"Merle, no!" Delilah screamed as he let the walker go and slammed the door.
"You bastard!" she yelled, punching him everywhere. Chest, arms, stomach, neck. Finally, he pinned her against the wall, her left cheek scraping against the rough texture. She could hear the sounds of Glenn fighting the walker.
"You been gettin' on my damn nerves today, Princess," he said, his voice right in her ear. "You're lucky I didn't tie you up and throw you in the room with him."
"Go fuck yourself you sick son of a bitch," she said lowly. Tears were in her eyes – she never cried.
Merle chuckled and let her go, pushing her down and walking away.
"If he dies in there, she's never gonna talk!" Delilah screamed down the hall as he walked away. The tears overflowed, the salt burning the fresh cut on her cheek.
"If he dies in there, you're never gonna see your brother! I bet he's just as much of a prick as you are!"
There was a meeting called. Just the Governor, her, Merle, and Martinez. It was the last thing that she wanted to go to – she just wanted to stay in her apartment – but she had to.
"So, they know Andrea?" he said when Merle had filled him in. Delilah had stayed quiet.
"But they don't know she's here," Mere replied.
"But they do know your brother and Delilah's sister."
"He does. I don't know about her, I've never seen her before."
"Their people may come for them," the Governor said in a warning tone.
"Maybe. The kid and Andrea both said they went back for me."
"So, what? He won't break, say where his people are?"
"He's a tough son of a bitch," Martinez said. "Picked that walker apart in minutes."
"Maybe a winter in the sticks put some hair on his balls," Merle said, and Delilah rolled her eyes. She'd handled worse than a winter in Georgia.
"We'll need him for leverage if his people come," Martinez mused. "What'd you try to kill him for?"
"Pissed me off," Merle answered shortly, as if it was so obvious.
"What's the girl say?"
Silence. Delilah felt eyes on her.
"I couldn't get her to say a damn thing," Delilah said, looking at the Governor.
"She didn't try," Merle said.
"I did try," Delilah retorted, her tone short. "And I suggest you shut your mouth before I cut out your tongue."
"I'd like to see you try, Princess."
"All right, enough, you two," the Governor said before Delilah could reply. She nodded, mumbled an apology, and continued to look at the car to the right of her.
"I was just about to talk to her next," Merle added.
"I'll take care of it," the Governor said. A hand on Delilah's arm. She looked at him, and he motioned for her to go with him. Martinez followed, too, but at a distance where he couldn't hear.
As soon as they were far enough away, the Governor turned to her.
"Can you explain that to me?" he asked, and Delilah sighed.
"I'm sorry, boss, it's just been a long day. I snapped. It won't happen again – I'm sure you're under a lot more stress than I am."
The Governor laughed and rolled his eyes. His arm went around her shoulders, and they continued walking.
"I questioned her how I usually do," Delilah explained. "You know it usually works."
"I do."
"It didn't on her. And she shut right up as soon as she heard Merle kicking Glenn's ass. She wouldn't even look at me, so, I left."
The Governor nodded. At this point, they'd reached the door to the room where Maggie was. He looked at her, his hands moving to her shoulders.
"I believe you. Why don't you go back to your apartment, get some rest? You look like hell. I'll find something for Merle to do so he'll leave you alone. Martinez will go with you."
Delilah nodded, thanked him, and left.
There was a worry for Maggie tugging at the back of her mind. She did her best to ignore it.
They'd ditched the car awhile back. Michonne said they'd be better off on foot. The sun was beating down on them, and they walked until they heard walkers.
"Rick!"
"Down!"
They all quietly crouched down, and Carrie drew her knife.
"All right, get in formation," Rick instructed. "No gunfire."
He took out a walker, followed by Daryl and Oscar. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Joel take out one, and she forced her own knife through the eye of a woman who had beautiful blonde hair at one point.
"There's too many of them!" Daryl said. And so, they skirted off the path, into the woods, where they reached a cabin.
Immediately, the smell of death hit them, and Carrie coughed, covering her nose with her loose button up.
"Keep it down," Rick whispered.
"That smell," Joel said. "It's loud."
"Can say that again," Carrie replied.
They followed the sound of the flies, to find a rug with a ragged, white dog covered in mud lying on it. It wore a black collar with a tag that had a name Carrie couldn't make out.
"What the hell is that?"
"It's gotta be a fox, or what's left of one."
"No, it's not," Carrie replied. "I guess Lassie went home."
It was then that the walkers began pounding at the door, demanding to get in.
Carrie turned when she heard Rick make a noise, and saw him staring into one of the rooms. Knife raised, she followed him, watching with a racing heart as he slowly pulled the once plush blanket off the bed.
Carrie jumped back when a man – alive – jumped out of the bed.
"Who the hell are you?!" he demanded.
"We don't mean any harm," Rick promised.
"Get out of my house!"
"Okay, okay, we will! But we can't right now."
"Now!" the man yelled, causing the walkers to try harder to get in.
"Shut him up," Michonne said, nervously watching the door.
"Get out! Get out right now!"
"There are walkers outside!" Carrie hissed. "Listen!"
And, he did. His eyes darted between all of them, and she felt Joel move closer to her.
"I'll... call the cops!"
"I am a cop! Now, I need you to lower the gun. Don't do anything rash... let's just take this nice and slow, okay? Look at me, hey, hey -"
The man raised his rifle to Rick's face, cocking it to make a point. Carrie flinched.
"Show me your badge!" he demanded.
"It's in my pocket," Rick promised. "It's in my pocket. I'm just gonna reach down nice and slow..."
He knocked the barrel of the gun towards Daryl, causing it to go off and make a hole in the door. The walkers were making more desperate attempts to get in the cabin as the man made more noise, demanding to be let go. Somehow, he got away, and ran towards the door.
"Don't open that door!" Rick said.
Before he could, Michonne stabbed him with her Katana. Silence. They watched as he bled on the floor before Carrie got an idea. She looked out the space between the boards on the window.
"Remember the Alamo?" she asked, and Rick nodded.
"Help me with the door," Rick said.
"You've got to be kidding me," Oscar objected.
"He's dead. Check the back."
Oscar obliged, and opened the back door while Rick and Daryl picked up the body.
"It's clear!"
On three, they shoved the body out of the front door, then ran out the back, after locking the door. They snuck right past the walkers, towards the town.
I hope you'll let me know what you thought in a review, 'cause I'd love to hear it.
I hope you have a great day, and I'll talk to you next time. Thanks for reading!
-SparrowEyedGirl
