So sorry for the delay! Thanks for reading!

Chapter Thirty Six

"I want two to each tower," Rick barked, getting the attention of the rest of the group as they stormed back into the prison. "Tiny, you take the west corner with me since it's closer to the gate, Carol and Maggie, you take the east corner. Glenn and Carl can take one tower and Merle and Axel can take the other." He shoved a pistol into Andrea's hand. "Can you stay close to the rest of them? I need someone in here. I don't think anyone will be able to get through us but if they do-" He let the sentence hang there.

Andrea nodded stiffly, taking the gun and checking the clip before shoving it back home. "You sure you don't need me out there?"

Rick shook his head and then looked up when Lori closed the distance.

"What do you mean, Carl and Glenn. He's a child!" She hissed.

Rick ran a hand over his face, obviously not in the mood to talk to his wife. "He's a child that's a better shot than a lot of people here. He's going."

Sophia was staring at the rest of them with wide eyes. "I'm a good shot too."

"That's why you're gonna keep a lookout and cover Andrea's back inside," Daryl said quickly. "You got your piece?"

Sophia lifted her shirt, showing him the gun tucked into the holster he'd rigged to her belt.

He nodded. "Check the clip and make sure it's ready to fire. Andrea can guard the door and if something happens and somebody gets past her I want you on the perch. Aim for the head."

"Got it," Sophia said, heading up the stairs. He was relieved that she was so quick to follow orders. She didn't whine like Carl often did. She was smart and he hadn't just sent her up there so she'd feel like she was playing a part. He sent her up there because he knew that if someone did get past all of their defenses, she'd be able to take aim, and cover, a lot easier up top.

"What the hell is happening?" Carol asked as Daryl shoved a rifle into her hands.

"I was about to ask the same thing," Maddy said, arms crossed over her chest.

Daryl shot Merle a look. "This one is all yours, big brother." He almost grinned at the exasperated look on Merle's face but Carol was suddenly pulling him towards an empty cell. This wasn't going to end well and he knew it.

"Where are you going to be?" She asked, her eyes wide. She wasn't like she had been. She didn't jump at every sound and she wasn't scared of a whole lot but she was scared now.

"I'm gonna go with a few of the others and make sure these people-"

"Have you lost your mind!" She hissed, eyes flashing.

His jaw clenched and he took in a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "You got two choices here. You can get pissed off and you can stay that way until I get back behind the fence, or you can let me do what I need to do without getting pissed off until I get back behind the fence. Either way, I'm goin' out there."

"Why you?"

"Because I don't trust nobody else to do it, damn it," his voice was low but harsh.

"I could-"

"No," he growled. "Don't even fuckin' ask. You cover me just like Rick said. And be glad you're goin' at all."

Her eyes narrowed and he knew why she was pissed but his mind was made up. Everything was already worked out. Finally she nodded. "Don't get yourself killed out there," she said in a stronger voice than he thought she would have.

"Didn't plan on it," he said, the corner of his mouth turning up.

She went to step out of the cell but he caught her arm, pulling her back in. She looked up expectantly. "What?"

He hesitated for a moment and then ran a hand through his hair. "If something does happen out there and things go south, get your ass back inside. Don't stand out there and get yourself gunned down."

She bit her lip and swallowed hard but finally gave him a stiff nod.

"But I don't think these people are here for trouble. I think they're just after the same thing we've all been after."

She turned without a word and left the cell. He felt bad for her. If there was any way around it then he wouldn't go at all but what he had told her was the damn truth. He didn't trust Rick to handle it. He sure as hell didn't trust his brother to handle it. He wanted to do it himself. She got that and he was damn grateful she didn't give him a lot more shit than she had.

~H~

Merle almost went through with it. He'd been fine with the plan, actually. It made sense to him. More often than not, Merle came off more aggressive than he actually meant to. He didn't have the face or the stance of a man that generally put others at ease.

He was about to head to his designated tower when he happened to glance over his shoulder and saw his brother heading to the gate with the others. Daryl was a grown man. He was strong and capable of handling his own shit. Merle knew it. He didn't always show it. Half the time he acted like Daryl was still twelve fucking years old. But inside, he had a lot of confidence in him.

But tonight, it didn't matter. None of that mattered at the moment because he wasn't going to let him walk out the gates without him. Everyone had their designated spots and Merle had been okay with that but he wasn't anymore. He turned from the tower and stalked after his brother. Maddy was going to wring his fucking neck but that didn't matter either. Rick was going to be pissed, but that was just a bonus.

"What the hell are you doin'?" Daryl asked as Carl pulled the gate open once the others had the walkers heading to the far side of the fence.

"You really think I was gonna let you go alone?" Merle snorted.

Oscar, Michonne and Martinez all shot him an annoyed look, since it was obvious that Daryl wasn't going anywhere alone. But Merle didn't have any faith in any of them. He'd keep his brother safe his damn self.

He grinned, shouldering the rifle and gesturing towards the open gate. "After you, princess."

Daryl cursed but knew better than to try to put up a fight. Merle wasn't too worried about this group they were about to check out anyway. If they wanted to take what they had here then they wouldn't be standing out there like a bunch of dumb fucks waiting to be gunned down. Merle didn't have a whole lot of faith in the overall intelligence of most people, but surely if they were here for trouble, they would have gone about it differently. They were acting like they wanted to be seen.

But he knew the importance of being careful and he thought that all of their precautions, though for nothing, was still smart. This group needed to stay on their toes.

The closer they got the more Merle could make out. There looked to be three men and two women but one of the men was holding one of the women up. His guard didn't drop. He was still more than willing to gun down every one of them if it came to that, but any doubts he had that this group was more than just a downtrodden lot dissolved.

Merle and the others didn't walk close to one another. They each walked about ten feet away from the next person and as they approached the other group started backing away slowly. Like they just realized that they could have possibly stepped into something dangerous. They were actually damn lucky they hadn't.

He kept his gun trained on the bigger man but his eyes flicked to all of them. The closer they got the more Merle was sure they weren't here for trouble.

"Who the hell are you?" Merle asked, once they were close enough to be heard even though they were speaking low. He noted that one of the men wasn't a man at all but a boy. He stayed close to the man with the woman leaning heavily on him.

"I'm Sasha and this is my brother Tyreese. That's Allen and his wife and Ben, their son. She's hurt. We're just looking for a place to lay low for a few days."

"You got weapons?" Oscar asked, keeping his own gun trained on the big man.

Tyreese shook his head. "Nothin' that really amounts to anything. No guns if that's what you want to know."

Michonne returned her weapon to her back and stepped forward. "What happened to her?" She asked, taking one more step before Oscar grabbed her arm to stop her. Smart man.

"She's been-"

"She got hurt out there in the woods. She's bleeding and we just need to get her cleaned up," Allen snapped, eying the boy standing next to him.

Merle and Daryl shared a long look. It was obvious that the man didn't want them to know what the hell had happened to the women, and that could only mean one thing.

"Look," Sasha said quickly, "We're barely ahead of about thirty of those things. They're gonna start coming out of the woods any second. We aren't here to cause anyone any harm. We'll just rest and go when those things are gone, okay?"

Merle's eyes scanned the trees and he quickly made a decision. His decision was, leave these mother fuckers to take care of themselves. He shrugged and then turned. "We ain't runnin' no fuckin' free bed and breakfast. We don't know you," he said over his shoulder.

He heard his brother talking to them but he was already walking away. Surely those bleeding heart assholes weren't planning on letting more fucking people in. They came out here to see if there was a threat and there wasn't one. Now they could go back behind the fences and he could get back to the warm willing body that he had been about to ravage before Rick came and fucked up his game.

"Hey man," Oscar hissed, catching up with him quickly. "You can't be serious. We can't leave women and a kid out here."

Merle stopped and turned with a glare. "And why is that?"

Oscar regarded him and then shook his head. "Cause it ain't right. You people let us stay."

Merle chuckled. "Actually that was them. I voted to use you for target practice."

"How the hell was I locked up in there while the likes of you was walking free?" Oscar asked, not sounding upset, just curious.

"Cause I didn't get caught doin' stupid shit very often." He turned back and walked through the gates. He was disappointed but not surprised when he turned and saw that Daryl and Michonne were herding the newcomers through the gate. He rolled his eyes and stormed back into the prison, ignoring the others that were now coming to greet them. "Fuckin' idiots," he grumbled.

~H~

Maddy was pacing. She was nervous and her shoulder was starting to ache like crazy and she was sure that if everything had been okay then they would have came back in by now. She wasn't reassured by the fact that so far it had been quiet. As far as she was concerned they were surrounded by a group of fifty murderers and they were all going to be slaughtered, even though that never failing voice in her mind was telling her that things were going to be fine.

She was mad because she felt useless but she hadn't wanted to volunteer because she still couldn't shoot a rifle because of her shoulder and she wasn't very good with a handgun. She hated feeling useless and she hated waiting. She hated worrying.

Andrea showed up suddenly, looking relieved but Merle stormed into the room with a scowl on his face. Maddy stayed still, her hand on the banister, her eyes watching the man. She'd seen him like this plenty of times and knew it would do her no good to try to talk to him. If he wanted her to know what was wrong then he would tell her.

Lori came out of her cell then, her eyes wary.

"Two women, two men and some boy. Five more goddamn mouths to feed," he growled, walking towards her. "Come on down kid, we don't get to do any killin' tonight!" He called up to the perch.

"Everything okay?" She asked, unable to hold her tongue anymore.

He grimaced and then gestured towards the doorway where the others were finally filing in. "Won't be. I'm pretty damn sure that one of them women is bit. Her old man ain't admitting it, of course, but I'm sure of it."

Maddy felt a thread of ice wind down her spine. "She can't turn in here. Not with Carl and Sophia so close," she whispered.

"You just keep your distance from'em," he said, his voice softening.

She shook her head, watching as the newcomers finally came into the room. Rick was walking with Daryl and Carol followed them. Rick was at least smart enough to keep the gun raised, just in case. The woman in question was barely walking and Maddy could see the blood covering her from a wound in her shoulder.

"Fuckin' idiots," Merle grumbled, leaning next to her.

She looked up at him, feeling bad about what she was about to say but needing to say it. "I'll kill that woman my damn self if she starts to turn. Why are they letting her in here? She's in pain and she isn't coming back from that. It's cruel to watch her suffer like that!" She kept her voice low.

Merle's eyes met hers, the ice in them thawing a bit, replaced by a fire she recognized. "You think you could just walk up there and put a person down? Killin' ain't as easy as it looks, woman."

She shook her head. "If it meant keeping you or anyone else I care about safe then I could do it. I will do it."

He grinned and then hooked a finger through the belt loop in her jeans. She crashed into him and then looked up. "You know, you talkin' about puttin' somebody down is pretty hot."

She rolled her eyes and tried to squirm away but only managed to turn enough so now her back was pressed against his chest. His arms were banded around her middle and she wasn't about to try to fight him to get away. Instead she leaned against him and let him have his way. Mostly because she simply liked feeling him solid and safe behind her and partly because as long as he was giving her a hard time, he wasn't anywhere near that woman. She had meant what she said. She'd kill her herself if it meant keeping her own people safe.

Merle's hands slid up her torso, right there in front of everyone and she had to elbow him hard to keep him from groping her right there. "I'm goddamn dyin' here, woman," he growled into her ear.

She blew out a breath. "There's too much going on right now for us to sneak off and mess around, Merle."

He grumbled, something about killing them all but finally stopped trying to put his crude version of seduction to use on her.