Warning: Lots of jumping around between characters, so this chapter might be hard to read.
Haley was on sentry duty until nine o'clock that night. It was almost seven so she still had a little more than two hours to keep watch. The sun was setting and the temperature was dropping even more. She paced back and forth along the top of the wall in order to keep warm, looking out into the .main road leading into Woodbury every so often for approaching biters or the team that had left that morning on a supply run. They should have been back by now. The rain had stopped an hour earlier and she had shed her raincoat and although she was wearing a heavy hooded sweatshirt over a turtleneck shirt and a nearly new pair of sturdy Levi's jeans, she was still cold enough to be uncomfortable.
Jeff was on gate duty and he watched her as she paced. She stopped to look at her watch and then started walking again.
"I'm getting exhausted just watching you." Jeff called up to her. "You've been pacing back and forth like a caged animal for almost two hours now. Sit down and take a load off."
"I gotta keep moving," Haley called over her shoulder, her bow bouncing against her back as she continued her walking without pausing. "It keeps me from freezing my ass off."
Jeff grinned a lecherous grin as Haley turned and his gaze moved down to her Levi's clad behind. "Keep walking then," he said, "because that would be a real tragedy."
Haley rolled her eyes. Jeff had been on a roll this evening and it seemed that every time she said something, he was able to come back with a suggestive or risqué comment.
She heard the vehicle engines before she saw the vehicles. "I hear them," she called down to Jeff. "They're coming! They're coming!" She looked down at him and he grinned. Haley narrowed her eyes at him. "Jeff, if you say something disgusting because of what I just said, I swear to God I'll…"
Jeff sighed. "You know what your problem is, Peterson?" he said, "you're too damned uptight." He turned and unlatched the gate.
Haley watched the two Navigators and the F350 as they approached the entrance to Woodbury. Three Navigators had gone out earlier that day and two trucks. Did they split up and only part of the group was back now? Or had something happened? She heard a clunking noise behind her and turned to see what was going on.
A family movie and popcorn social had just ended at the nearby library less than a block away and the noise she had heard was from the big front doors opening to let everyone out. People were spilling out of the building and into the street. The sunset cast a rosy golden glow over the town's wet lawns and the setting sun's light reflected in the puddles in the road and on the sidewalks. Children laughed and chased one another with bursts of pent-up energy that had built up as they had sat relatively still watching "Harry Potter" for the last couple of hours. They yelled and ran and jumped into puddles, splashing others around them. Their parents or in many cases, the people who were now their adult guardians, engaged in cheerful and animated conversation as the children ran circles around them.
Haley sighed. It was all an illusion. They all thought they were safe there but were they, really? She had been questioned by Martinez and the governor after it was discovered that Merle had left Woodbury with everything that morning's acquisition operation had brought in and Haley's suspicions that the man that had been brought in with the mother lode of weapons and food was Merle's brother had been confirmed. The governor was furious and yelled at Haley for not letting anyone know that Merle had left Woodbury in the wee hours of the morning and in his anger he had threatened to take her to the biter pit outside of town and toss her stupid ass into it.
Martinez had rushed to defend her and explained that Merle told him that he was going out of town for a few days as well and hadn't the governor himself given Merle permission to do that?
The governor had looked at Martinez as if he was crazy but then he had rubbed his chin and sighed. Yes, yes he had. He had told Merle to get out of town and take a few days off in order to grieve the loss of his brother in private. The governor calmed down and apologized profusely to Haley. He was overly sweet to her during the rest of their 'meeting' and aside from a few questions about Glenn and Maggie, he'd not bothered her again.
The Navigators and the truck come to a stop after entering the gate and traveling about thirty feet into the safety of the town. Jeff closed and locked the gate behind them.
Some men in the group exiting the library saw the Navigators and the truck enter Woodbury and then stop. Everyone was familiar with the supply runs that the governor's men went out on and many times when the trucks and cars returned, the men and teenaged boys in town were asked to help unload the scavenged items from the vehicles. A cannery about fifty miles from Woodbury had been a gold mine of canned butter beans and peas a few months ago and the men of Woodbury had carried hundreds of pounds of the canned legumes into the food storage section of the warehouse.
A few of the men started to make their way down the street toward Woodbury's main gate to see if they could be of assistance and some of the older boys followed along to see if they could help, too.
Jeff started to walk over to the F350 bed as Rodriguez and Shumpert exited the vehicle and came around to meet at the back of the truck. Rodgriguez motioned for him to stay where he was. "Thanks, Jeff, but we got it, stay at your post." he told the man.
Jeff nodded and with a disappointed look on his face, he returned to his place by the main gate.
Shumpert turned the handle and opened the cap's rear window as Rodriquez trained his Uzi on the tailgate. "Okay you assholes, everybody out." Shumpert called into the back of the truck as he lowered the tailgate.
Daryl had pressed himself against the tailgate and when Shumpert lowered it he quickly rolled over in an attempt to get out of the damned truck and onto the ground before all hell broke loose. His sudden motion surprised Shumpert and he reached over to grab Daryl. Daryl pulled out of Shumpert's grasp and rolled off the tailgate, falling onto the road.
Merle and Martinez had exited the Navigator and were ambling towards the F350 and when Merle saw Daryl hit the ground he broke into a run.
Gunfire suddenly erupted from the back of the F350 and if Shumpert hadn't lunged after Daryl when he did, the barrage of bullets would have killed him. A bullet grazed the back of his head, removing a quarter-inch wide strip of skin and hair. He shouted in pain and surprise as he fell onto his stomach on top of Daryl.
Rodriguez was directly in the line of fire and took five bullets to his chest and his stomach as he pulled the trigger on his Uzi and fired into the back of the truck. He managed to kill one of Dave's men and inflict a non lethal wound upon another one before he fell. He was dead before he hit the ground.
Martinez saw his brother-in-law fall and he screamed in anger as he ran towards and fired his Uzi at the men emerging from the back of the truck bed.
Dave's men dove around the side of the truck, shooting and yelling as they ran. Two fired off rounds as they ran towards the now screaming and running crowd of Woodbury residents who, seconds earlier, had been approaching the Navigators and the truck to offer their help.
Martinez saw three Woodbury men and two young boys fall as they were hit by a barrage of bullets and he fired towards the vehicles the shooters were hiding behind.
Shumpert had Daryl pinned to the ground and he had grabbed Daryl around the neck and was choking the hell out of him. Daryl twisted and bucked and tried to get away from Shumpert, but with his hands cuffed together and his legs bound, he wasn't having much success. Why the hell did everyone seem to think that choking him was the thing to do?
"Fucking asshole!" Shumpert screamed into his face, and Daryl almost laughed when a brain fart popped into his head. Shumpert's eyes were wide and Daryl didn't think he'd ever seen the whites of anyone's eyes so blindingly white. Spittle flew from the angry man's mouth as he shouted curses at him and suddenly Daryl was imagining Shumpert's face changing and morphing into that of an angry Rottweiler with big white teeth.
'Snoop Dogg, Gin an' Juice', he thought as the brain fart came and then left abruptly. Hell, it had been years since he'd seen that old music video. Why the hell was it still lurking around in his memory? Suddenly Shumpert's hands were yanked from around his neck as Merle tackled the man and shoved him off Daryl. The upside to this was that Daryl could now breathe. The downside was that Merle had come crashing down on him as he shoved Shumpert aside and Merle, although he was much leaner than he had been, was still solid and damned heavy.
"Fucker was in on it with them!" Shumpert shouted just before Merle pasted him one in the stomach.
"How?" Merle roared. "You tied his legs an' they're still tied! You can see he's still cuffed! The rest of 'em are all uncuffed, ya fuckin' idiot! He din't do nothin'!"
"Merle, get the hell offa me!" Daryl yelled hoarsely as Merle's weight pressed down on him and his handcuffed hands were pushed into his stomach.
Merle rolled off Daryl and jumped on Shumpert again and Daryl felt something sharp jab him in his right shoulder. He flinched and looked up at the young woman standing next to him and holding the compound bow on him, its arrow pressed against his shoulder.
"Merle," the woman said, "I don't know what the hell is going on, but you get off Shumpert right now! He's not the enemy here!"
Shots continued to ring out and Merle grabbed Shumpert's arm and said, "She's right, we're on the same damned side! Let's go get these assholes!"
Shumpert nodded. Haley and Merle were both right.
"What the hell are you doin', Merle!" Daryl shouted.
"Defendin' Woodbury an' protectin' you, dumbass!" Merle snapped.
"Fuckin' bullshit on that." Daryl retorted.
Merle ignored his brother and helped Shumpert to his feet. Haley grabbed Merle's sleeve. He turned to face her and she held out a Colt 1911 pistol to him. "It's loaded, but I only have the one magazine that's in it." she said.
Merle grinned and took it from her. "Thanks, darlin'," he said. "I'll make every shot count." He started after Shumpert who had drawn his pistol and was peeking around the truck towards where the shots were coming from, then he called over his shoulder to her. "Oh, an' don't worry 'bout Derle. He won't hurt you or nothin'." Then he turned back to Shumpert. "You hit bad? The back a your head is bleedin'."
"Nothing that'll kill me." Shumpert replied.
Merle chuckled. "Prolly losin' more air than blood." he said.
Shumpert turned and gave him a 'wtf?' look.
Merle shrugged.
"Okay," Shumpert said after watching the road ahead for a few seconds. "Let's go!" and he ran out from behind the F350 with Merle right behind him.
Haley crouched down next to Daryl as the sounds of shooting and frightened screams continued to fill the air. She began to look him over and he shot her an annoyed look and then turned his head and away from her. "Do I look like I'm a fuckin' threat?" he asked her, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Haley immediately decided that Maggie must have been nuts to have given up a nice looking and decent guy like Glenn for this rude, foul-mouthed mess of a man. His hair was on the long side and scraggly and he was dirty as all hell. His grimy clothes were wet and torn and his face and arms sported cuts and bruises and were those stitches in his forehead? His wrists were bloody and the skin was torn where the cuffs encircled them and was he missing a little finger? She decided he must be a fighter though, because his legs and ankles were bound with at least half a dozen bungee cords.
Haley moved away from Daryl and over near the back of the truck next to the tailgate. and peeked around the side of the truck down Main Street. She cringed as Shumpert screamed and hit the ground, clutching at this right arm.
Merle used two bullets to take out the man who had shot Shumpert and then quickly ran and knelt next to his friend.
Shumpert was holding his right arm just below his elbow and cussing and shouting. Blood ran through his fingers and Merle quickly glanced down at Shumpert's injured arm before continuing to scan his surrounding and then squeezing off a shot at one of Dave's men who dove behind a parked truck. "Stop your fuckin' howling! How bad is it?" Merle asked as he tried to assess the danger level.
"I'm howling because it fucking hurts!" Shumpert yelled angrily.
"You're callin' attention to yourself. If you ain't in danger of bleedin' to death within the next couple a minutes you'd be wise to shut up and maybe even play dead!" Merle suggested and then he was up and running for a car parked next to the sidewalk.
Daryl tightened the muscles in his stomach and sat up. The deafening sound of a rifle being fired at very close range startled him and he heard a bullet scream by. He quickly looked toward Woodbury's main gate and saw a man holding a 30-06 staring at him. The man raised the rifle to shoot at him again and Daryl 's eyes grew wide. He threw his body to his left and rolled under the F350. A second later there was another loud 'bang' and a bullet struck the pavement in the spot Daryl had just moved from, kicking up asphalt and gravel.
"Jeff! No!" Haley yelled. "He's Merle's brother!"
More shots rang out down the street and Jeff sprinted towards where Haley was crawling over to Daryl. Jeff crouched down next to her as she began to tug at one of the bungee cords wrapped around Daryl's knees. Jeff brought up the barrel of his rifle and pointed it at Daryl's head. "Merle's not one of us anymore." he said. "and his brother never was."
Haley grabbed the rifle's stock in front of the trigger and pulled the gun towards her. "You stop! Merle is too one of us and if he's not, the governor will deal with him. It isn't your place!"
Jeff looked in her direction, ready for an argument when he saw a prisoner run for one of the Navigators. The prisoner jumped into the driver's seat and pulled the door closed behind him.
Jeff jumped up and ran for the vehicle and Haley jumped up and ran after him. Gunfire erupted further down the street and they ducked for cover behind a Dodge Caravan parked on the curb parallel to the Navigator.
"You want to see if you can get him through the side window?" Haley asked.
Jeff was about to tell her that was a great idea when a man suddenly burst from where he had snuck up on them around the side of the Caravan and grabbed Haley. She screamed and dropped her bow when he pulled her backwards off her feet and against him. "Shut the fuck up!" the man yelled into her ear.
The man held Haley tightly around the waist with his left arm and he held the barrel of his Glock against Haley's temple with his right hand. He had dark, thinning hair tied back in a sparse ponytail and a long, thin mustache. He smelled like he hadn't bathed in months and Haley breathed through her mouth after getting a good whiff of him to avoid having to smell him. "You!" he said to Jeff. "You drop your rifle! Drop it now!"
Jeff slowly lowered his rifle and leaned it up against the van and then stepped back from it.
The man glanced around quickly and then took a few steps backward into the street and towards the Navigator, pulling Haley along with him. "You do as I say and the girl will be fine." he told Jeff. He side-stepped his way to the vehicle, dragging Haley along with him, keeping the gun pressed against her head.
The window of the Navigator opened slightly and a voice yelled, "Hurry the hell up Carson! We need to get the hell out of here!"
Martinez came running around the side of a parked vehicle and froze when he was what was going on. He was about forty feet from the Navigator and he immediately sized up the situation. Carson moved towards the front of the Navigator. It was obvious that he was nervous and very scared. Things were not supposed to go down this way. He looked over to see that Jeff had retrieved his gun and that Martinez now was watching him. "Y'all just put down your guns or I'll blow the girl here's brains out!"
He looked at Jeff who stood twenty feet from him looking at him down the scope of his Winchester 30-06. "I mean it!" he said. He looked around and licked his lips nervously. Two more men appeared around the sides of vehicles and trained their guns on him. There were four people holding firearms on him. He wasn't sure how valuable this girl was to any of them, but he was desperate. All he wanted to do now was to get the hell out of Woodbury and get to some place safe. Dave was in the driver's seat of the Navigator and was waiting for him. Carson didn't know it, but there were actually five people holding firearms on him.
Merle peered through the open sights of the Colt Haley had handed him moments before and lined up his target. He was crouched behind a parked car about a hundred feet from Haley and her captor and his mind immediately tapped into the knowledge he'd gained from his military training and experience. He knew very well that handguns were designed for close combat situations and that this was a situation that called for a rifle's accuracy. The gun Haley had handed him was a recently made Colt 1911 USMC model. It's accuracy from this distance would depend on many things, none of which he had any information about. He had no idea if Haley had used reloads or factory loads in the gun's magazine. Were the bullets lead tips? Hollow points? He did know he had only one bullet left and that with fresh and properly reloaded rounds or high quality factory rounds, he was able to shoot 3" groupings with his own combat 1911 back in the day at a distance of 100'. The bullets lost altitude as they traveled and depending on what he was using for ammo, wind conditions and so on, Merle would adjust his shot accordingly, shooting slightly above his intended target if he felt the bullet would have a tendency to start it's descent before it reached its destination.
Carson was done farting around. It was time to take control of the situation. "I'm gonna count to three and if y'all haven't dropped your weapons by then the girl dies." he said.
Merle took a breath and held it as he lined up his shot.
"One." Carson said loudly and he watched as two of the armed Woodbury men dropped their guns to the ground. He nodded. "T…"
A shot rang out and Carson's head jerked backward like his neck was made of rubber. The bullet that had entered his opening mouth split into three pieces and exited out the back of his head in an explosion of bone, blood and brain tissue. The mess hit the Navigator's windshield, shattering it as it splattered against it.
"Two!" Merle shouted.
Martinez and Jeff bolted towards the Navigator. Martinez had set the Georgia State High School 100' dash record in high school and fourteen years later, it still hadn't been beat. The man was fast.
Blood had spattered onto the side of Haley's face and in her hair when Carson was hit and she threw herself to the ground and ran frantic fingers over her face and the sides of her head to assure herself that she hadn't been shot as well.
Martinez threw open the Navigator's driver's door. Dave tried to tackle him, but Martinez sidestepped and smashed the end of his Uzi into the back of Dave's head, knocking the man to the ground. He was out of bullets and he threw the gun aside and unsheathed his knife to finish the bastard off.
"Stop Caesar! No! Don't you kill him!"
Martinez looked up quickly and saw the governor jogging towards him along with several other Woodbury men. Four Woodbury men were wrestling Merle to the ground and Martinez could hear him yelling and cursing as the men shouted for reinforcements.
Martinez put his knife back into its sheath as the governor approached him. Dave groaned and Martinez picked his Uzi up off of the ground and jabbed the barrel into Dave's back. He knew it was empty, but Dave didn't. "Don't move, you miserable piece of shit."
"What the hell happened here?!" the governor shouted. "I thought you had everything under control! People are dead! Our people! Men, women and even children! What the hell is going on!"
"This is Dave," Martinez said as he jabbed Dave in the back again with the Uzi. "We ran into his group when we went looking for that house by Forest Lake State Park and they started shooting at us."
The governor furrowed his brow and looked Dave over. He looked like a common, small time punk. He wore a black Pittsburgh Steelers t-shirt and expensive designer blue jeans and there wasn't a piece of his short, wavy dark hair out of place. The governor figured he was probably in his early thirties. This was the shit-stain that thought he could run Woodbury better than he could? Really?
Dave stared back at the governor for a few seconds and then turned his head and spit. He turned back to the governor and smirked. He showed no fear of the man at all. "We shot back because we were being attacked." he explained.
No fear at all. This infuriated the governor. Oh, this man needed an adjustment of attitude and Philip Blake was sure as shit going to give him one. Just wait.
The governor looked back at Martinez. "You can explain this whole….disaster… to me later. Do we have them all under control now?"
Martinez wasn't sure.
"Let him go!" Haley shouted as the governor's men hauled Merle towards where the governor stood speaking with Martinez. She turned to Jeff who was now one of the three men restraining Merle's left arm. "Jeff, please! You saw what he did!"
"Sorry, Honey," Jeff said as he helped to push Merle along, "I told you he wasn't on our side. Governor wants him locked up." Jeff turned to the other men. "I'm going to go get his brother, you guys think you can handle him?"
"You leave him the hell alone!" Merle snarled as he tried to pull away from the many arms restraining and dragging him towards the governor.
Jeff broke away from the group and ran for the F350 that had carried Dave's' group into Woodbury.
"Merle saved me!" Haley was yelling at the men bringing Merle to the governor, "He saved my life! Didn't you see what he did? He's on our side! Let him go!"
Residents of Woodbury who had not been on the streets when the shooting began had come out in force to see what was going on and the governor knew he had to get the people to calm down, so he instructed his men to spread the word that the townspeople were to meet in the arena and he would address them and bring everyone up to speed on what had happened and what they were going to do about it.
Dave listened as the governor fired off orders to his men and when the governor finally turned his attention back to Dave, Dave gave him a cocky grin. "So, big man," he said, "We gonna make a deal?"
The governor scoffed. Martinez had snapped a new set of handcuffs on Dave and the governor decided that he already really disliked the cocky piece of shit. "You're not in any position to make any kind of deal." the governor said. "Now keep your mouth shut. The next word out of you will be your last unless I tell you that you can speak."
Dave bit the inside of his cheek to keep from replying to the governor's warning. He would keep his mouth shut, for now, but he was already working on a plan to get out of this mess.
The governor turned back to Martinez. "I want these men taken to the warehouse and locked in one of the old holding cells we use for biters," he explained, "but I want Merle in interrogation room one and…." a grin suddenly spread across his face as he caught sight of something over Martinez's shoulder and Martinez turned to see what was behind him that had elicited such a response from his boss. Daryl Dixon was being shoved toward where they all were standing. The bindings on his legs had been removed below his knees and his wrists were still handcuffed in front of him. He hobbled along slowly, looking at the ground. Jeff shoved him to get him to move faster and he lost his balance and fell, landing heavily on his right side. Jeff kicked Daryl in the ribs and ordered him to get back on his feet and Merle bellowed like an angry bull at Jeff's mistreatment of his brother.
"Well look at this!" the governor sounded absolutely delighted. "It's Lazarus, come back from the dead!"
Daryl glared at the governor as he got back on his feet and then looked down at the ground again as he was shoved forward. The governor walked over to meet him and clapped him on the back like they were old friends, sliding his hand over and leaving it on Daryl's shoulder. "Daryl! I'm so glad to see you!" the governor exclaimed and he slid his hand over behind Daryl's neck and gripped it firmly, pressing his fingers and digging his thumb into the raw flesh he'd burned with cigarettes. Daryl cringed and sucked in a breath and the governor laughed.
The governor turned to Martinez and said, "I want this one in interrogation room three." He thought for a moment and then asked, "How are the acoustics in those rooms, anyway? If Merle is in room one, will he be able to hear his brother in room three scream?"
The question unnerved Martinez but he wasn't about to let his boss know that. "Yes, you can usually hear what is going on in another room if it's loud enough," he answered.
The governor looked pleased with his answer. "Very good. Get the prisoners to the warehouse and then send a group of ten to recover the bodies. Five people have already been taken to the infirmary with gunshot wounds. I want everyone in the arena in an hour. Is that understood?"
Martinez nodded and said, "Yes, gov'ner."
The governor turned to face Daryl again.
Daryl dropped his gaze and stared at the ground by his feet. The governor reached out and Daryl jumped when the governor's hand caressed his cheek and then patted it. "I am so glad that you're here." The governor said jovially. "and we are going to have.." and the governor leaned in and whisper-hissed the rest of what he had to say into Daryl's ear "…so much fun."
The governor whistled a cheery tune as he walked away from the group of men and captives and Daryl bit his lower lip. Back to interrogation room three again. Whoopeee. His fevered mind raced as he hobbled along down the road with his brother, Dave and two other captives and their captors. He knew things were going to get bad, probably very bad, and he tried to remember what he could about the layout of the room and what was in it so he could come up with an escape plan. He peeked over at Merle and caught Merle looking at him. He cocked a questioning eyebrow at Merle.
'You thinkin' of a way to get us out of this, big brother?' his expression asked.
Merle gave him a barely noticeable, tight-lipped shake of his head, answering his unspoken question without a word. 'No, baby brother. We are completely fucked.'
