Chapter 55: "It's a Shot in the Dark"


"C'mon Merle, we gotta check this place out. Maybe we can sleep on a pillow top mattress tonight. It's getting late and I for one don't wanna spend another night in the car" I said keeping my eyes on our surroundings.

We were parked outside of The Brick, there were bars going across the main door. So I was guessing it wasn't open when everything went down…meaning inside could be relatively untouched.

"What, gettin tired of snugglin up to ol' Merle every night Girly?" he chuckled, I knew he was tired of sleeping in the car too though.

He wasn't lying about that one part, since the temperature dropped we'd been sleeping as close to each other as we could. Body heat was a precious thing and I was glad he hasn't tried to pull anything all these nights.

He was an amazing guy alright, and it's just been me and him…but sex was the last thing on my mind…and his too surprisingly.

We just wanted to live, to survive.

"let's jus go, we can check it out…and see if there's a garage or delivery door to pull the car into while we're at it" I said turning the car off, it was starting to get dark now and I didn't wanna be sitting out here when night fell.

"A'right Girly, lead the way then" he said grabbing his new machete from the floor, I took out my hunting knife and made sure my gun still had some bullets in it before I tucked it in the waist band of my jeans.

We had a routine set for these types of things now, I'd keep watch while Merle picked the lock…if the door was locked that is. Then we'd go in and do a sweep of the whole area, I go left and Merle goes right.

We meet up in the middle and then head back to get our supplies. I was insistent on not leaving anything in my car if we weren't staying in it, it wasn't a very good thing if we had to leave somewhere fast…but it also insured nothing would be stolen from us in the middle of the night.

We had everything packed in bags anyways, so it wasn't that hard to grab if we had to make a run for it.

It took a while this time for him to pick the lock, but he finally did it, and he swung the heavy looking metal bared door open. The glass one behind it had been automatic, it took only a minute for Merle to be able to pry it open.

He let me in first before closing only the glass doors back together, if anyone passed and seen it open they would probably come investigate.

I was right when I said it was pretty untouched, there was no smell of decay or even mold like so many of the other places we've stayed in.

There was no walkers in here at all, no windows so we didn't have to worry about boarding anything up. All we had to do was make sure the front was locked up.

"This place is friggin heaven, I'm glad mattresses weren't on everyone's wish list when the apocalypse started" I said flopping down on one of the most expensive mattresses in the store.

"Tis pretty awesome, but we ain't done yet Girly. So git yer lil ass outa tha bed so we can git our stuff in here" he said as he walked away towards the door.

"I know I know, geez Merle. This ain't my first rodeo ya know" I said loudly, I chuckled to myself.

I skipped to a jog to catch up to him since he was out of the door now. I froze when the dimly lit store was all of a sudden brighter, my eyes quickly went to the door where the source of the light was coming from.

I could see Merle's shadow stretching along the ground, he was standing right in front of the door. His machete in his hand but not raised yet, I completely forgot to ask him if his gun was still loaded.

It's been a while since we've used our guns, I knew mine only had three bullets in it

"Well lookie here, got yerself a lil army hey ther Opie" I heard Merle call out, I knew he was being purposefully loud so I would know there were people out there.

I quickly moved to stand just beside the door so I could hear whatever was going on.

"Seen yer car thought we'd come check it out. Ya all alone?" I heard a man call back, there wasn't any walkers in the area when we got here so I was sure right now that these people were the only threat.

"Yeah, been alone for a while. Lookin for my group though… ya seen anyone else lately?" Merle asked, going through the procedure we had set.

We've run into other unfriendly people, a rare few that were actually friendly and helpful when we asked if they've seen anyone. It's been forever since we've seen anyone.

"Naw, man. We ain't seen no one" I heard someone different answer.

"So, ya mind sharin this place tonight? It's kinda late now, don't wanna be on the road at night ya know" the guy who talked first said after a minute of silence.

"How many of ya are there? Any women or children?" Merle asked, his shadow getting bigger…he was walking towards them.

The tone in his voice told me he didn't trust them, I checked to make sure my gun was still there and I held my knife tighter. Merle had said it looked like the guy had himself a lil army, so I knew we couldn't take them.

"Naw, no women or children. What do ya say man? Let us stay?" the man said, it didn't go unnoticed that he never answered how many of them there are.

"Horrible smell inside ther boys, I was jus bout gonna leave myself actually. Why dontcha follow my lead n high tail it" Merle said, I knew if this didn't work then we'd have trouble. There were no women with these guys…

It was always better for them to not know I was with Merle when it came to situations like this. Groups like this that were made up of only guys, most of em haven't been around girls for a while.

"Don't think so man, put down yer weapons. Kick yer gun over, ya seem like a guy I can use…so I won't hurt ya. But I am gonna send my guys in to check out the place, yer lyin when ya say yer alone" the man's voice no longer sounded polite and nice.

"I ain't lying, so go right ahead. The place has been Cleared right Out" Merle said our signal words loudly and I hoped they didn't catch onto it.

As soon as the word Clear left his mouth I was running further into the darkness of the store, away from the light coming in from the door. I had to try find the way out back, Merle had checked the backroom so I wasn't sure what was back there.

Last time we had to be separated it was for no longer then a few hours, we found each other again in the morning…because we never left the area, it was a bad idea and we shouldn't have stayed…but we wouldn't leave each other.

Merle was all I had, and I was all he had.

"Hey! Stop! Boss we have ourselves a runner!" I heard a guy yelling but I didn't stop, not even a second later there were footsteps thumping after me.

I could detect three running behind me, possibly a few others throughout the store.

"Well stop them! We can't let em go," I heard the main guy shout from the door. I just got to the door leading to the backroom when I heard Merle yelling outside.

Someone hit him, with something…if it was just a fist he would've never made that sound.

"RUN Girl! You mother fuckin hicks, you're never gonna catch…" his words were cut off by him grunting and then there was nothing.

The only thing I held onto was the fact the main guy had seemed to take a liking to Merle, he said he could use a guy like him…so I was praying the oldest Dixon wasn't dead

My steps faltered and that was my first mistake, my second was looking behind me.

They had knocked Merle out, they were gonna take him, and in the darkness of the store I could just make out five guys closing in on me.

"Easy Girl, he's alive…now take it easy, we don't wanna hurt ya" the one that was getting closest to me yelled.

I turned and tried to keep running, glad that Merle was alive, I was sure I'd know if he was really dead…I would feel it. Like I knew Foster was dead, my other brothers weren't, and Daryl was alive too.

When I was just about to round a corner when a loud bang echoed around the whole store, pain shot through my side and I was knocked forward by the force of the bullet.

I was hit, I tried to keep my breathing calm though I wanted to scream. I couldn't allow myself to go into shock right now, I still had to get out of here.

Taking a deep breath, I clenched my jaw before I wrapped an arm around my side. I could hear them only feet away from me.

I used all the energy I had and made myself stand, I didn't have time to run anymore.

Taking my gun out, I raised it, I wasn't going down without a fight. They already had Merle… I knew I wouldn't win, but maybe I could take at least one of em down.

Before they even got to me one of them shot again, whoever it was must've been the green horn…cause they only got my arm. The amount of pain in my body increased of course…but I was still alive.

"Son of a bitch! Stupid fuckin assholes!" I gritted out before I moved to slide down the wall. I was losing blood and there were too many of them.

I didn't want to be separated from Merle….so I decided to stop, if I gave up the fight maybe they wouldn't kill me.

They could do a lot worse than kill me. I didn't care…as long as I was still able to see Merle.

I could feel the bullet in my side, just under my ribcage. Thankfully the other one went right through, so my arm just had that burning feeling in it.

My eyes were getting heavy, my vision blurred, one of them had a flash light but it did nothing to help me see since it was pointed right at my face.

There was nothing, no sound but their breathing for almost 2 minutes though it seemed like an hour.

"No fuckin way" were the last words I heard before the pain in my side became too much. I was engulfed in blackness once more.

I really had to stop making a habit of that….so I got shot, there was no need for me to blackout.


ahh, I jus saw I made a mistake on the A.N. after the last chapter lol I meant to say that this is the time between season 2 and 3, not 1 and 2...I'm sure you all knew that though haha

I'M EXCITED ABOUT WHERE THIS IS HEADING! XD I can't wait to get the feedback from you guys too, it really helps me move along with my writting

you guys are AWESOME 3