This Night

Chapter 168

Author's Note: OC's in the safe zone just need to shut up right now. I'm busy trying to get these guys reunited. So SHUSH. Yeah that doesn't work, if you are interested! Let's see what Merle and Jes are up too (while Jes is behaving and not changing her mind on how she's getting into Terminus on me) Jes is like an onion, she has more layers to her then visible. She also only tells me those layers in pieces! Please review.

Merle and Jes POV:

Jes watched Merle as he turned over every body that had surrounded the over turn bus. "Merle, can you just stop a minute? Please?" she asked.

Merle gave her a glare. "Not until I find her, she was supposed to be on the bus."

Jes straightened herself up from her leaning position and grabbed his arm. "Merle, look at me."

Merle glared at her. "You better remove that hand Jes," he warned.

"Or you'll what? Hit me? You caught me off guard the last time, it won't happen again," Jes warned him. "Whatever happened here, Jewel got off the bus. Look, she's not here. Her bag is gone from the bus, and the medical supplies, and the food. She got off this bus, Merle. She's not gone, she's still alive, she's a Dixon. Nothing can kill a Dixon but a Dixon right?" she asked.

Merle pulled his arm away from her. "What chance does she have? Being that far pregnant, being alone, out here?"

Jes crossed her arms and looked at him. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but Jewel fights ten times harder when it comes to protecting one of her children?"

"She's momma bear, always have been, doesn't have to be one of her own," Merle answered. "What's your point?"

Jes slapped the back of his head. "Has all the years of drugs sucked up all the brain cells in your head?" she asked. "My point is, that she may be pregnant, but that just means she's going to fight harder, her mind is going to be on getting somewhere safe so she can have this baby. Somewhere where the rest of will be able to find her."

Merle glared at her. "No place is safe, and if it seems safe, it's run by a maniac," he pointed out.

"I'll be sure to tell Rick you think he's a maniac when we find him," Jes told him.

Merle looked at her. "You know who I meant," he said. "I should have been out there looking for him, keeping guard better, instead of doin'…doin'…whatever the hell I was doin' back at the prison. I became weak," he simply stated.

Jes looked at him in disbelief. "No, Merle, you didn't become weak. You became the big brother that Daryl and Jewel deserved, the uncle that Summer needed. You became the man you always were meant to be. They are still out there, they need your help, especially Jewel. Our main focus is finding her tracks, getting to her. The rest of them can take care of themselves."

Merle came closer to her. "Why the hell do you care so much? You can just walk away, you aint got blood out there."

Jes let her face go white for a moment before quickly recovering. "You're right, Merle, I don't."

Merle looked at her. "Shit Jes, I'm sorry."

Jes shook her head. "You're right, I don't have blood out there. I could walk away. But, you need me."

Merle looked at her. "I need you?" he asked, obviously confused at the statement.

"Yes you need me. You are hot headed and go off fully cocked, not half cocked, no you like to react before you think. One of these days, it's going to get you or someone you love killed," Jes pointed out. "Plus, you aren't really good at the first impression thing," she added as she glanced down at his arm. "Don't think you can afford to lose another body part or your life, do you?" she asked.

Merle glanced at her. "What exactly did you do in the Army, Jes? You never really told me."

Jes grinned. "Now Merle, if I told you that, I'd have to kill you," she informed him as she patted his face. "Whatever happened here, happened yesterday, so she's got a days head start on us. Lot's of tracks, someone else did this," she said as she nodded to the dead Walkers' on the ground. "Probably some of our people, but Jewel was gone before that."

"How the hell can you be so sure?" Merle asked.

Jes looked up at him from her crouching position. "Get your ass down here and tell me what you see. She's your sister, so you get to do some of the work in finding her."

Merle sighed. He never took orders well, especially from a woman, a Hispanic woman at that. But Jes had never let him down and he wasn't going to start doubting her now. "Four set of tracks…..looks like three women and a man. None of them are walking like a duck," he pointed out.

Jes raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you just seriously compare your pregnant sister's walking to a duck? I feel like I should kick your ass just to stick up for her," she told him.

Merle rolled his eyes as he went further out. "Faint steps, along with littler ones. Might be one of the Samual girls. Hopin' it's the all rainbows and puppy dogs and not the crazy one."

Jes just shook her head. "You're full of something today," she said. "They are sticking to the woods. Smart, stay off the tracks, more cover."

"She's a Dixon, of course she's smart," Merle huffed. "She would have got her and the kid somewhere for the night, looked for a car, knowin' she couldn't walk that far," he said as he walked following the footprints.

"You all hunted before this, so you all had some kind of signs right? In case you all got separated?" Jes asked.

"I taught Daryl and Jewel the basics when they were kids, not that I ever used it," Merle stated.

"Well for our sake, I hope that she does," Jes told him. She walked up toward the train tracks. "That's new."

Merle turned and looked at her and moved his eyes to the sign. "Sanctuary for all Community for all for who arrive. Those who arrive survive," he raid as his eyes moved down to the map. He huffed. "Yeah why don't I believe that? I mean they are freakin' advertising sanctuary?"

Jes nodded. "Have to agree with you there, but I bet if Jewel saw the signs, she'd head there."

Merle looked at her. "Jewel aint that stupid. She's a Dixon, she aint gonna buy into something like that."

Jes sighed. "See this is why you are going to let me take the lead on this. She might not buy into it, but she knows the others will see the signs, she needs to get herself and Mika or Lizzie out from the open. She's going to think about the baby, she's going to be smart about it. So are we. We go, we scan it out, and then make a plan. But I guarantee you, that we'll find signs that she is heading there," she insisted as she fixed her gun on her shoulder as she looked up at the sun. "It's about noon. We're going to have to leave the bike."

Merle glared at her. "We aint leavin' the bike. Plus we'll make more time with it."

"We are leaving the bike. It doesn't have a lot of gas, and we can't track on a bike. Not to mention it's quite loud. We don't need to be attracting any unwanted attention," Jes said as she started to walk. "We're leaving the bike," she called back.

Merle sighed as he picked up his bag and followed her. "You are irritating as hell, you know that?"

"Been told that a time or two," Jes answered.

"You know I was wrong," Merle told her.

Jes raised an eyebrow. "Can you be a bit more specific? Because you're wrong a lot of times," she teased.

Merle shook his head. "I was wrong about sayin' you don't have any blood out there."

"You are right, I don't," Jes replied.

"May not have blood, but you got family," Merle responded.

Jes looked at him. "Not family, just people that I trust."

"Damn it Jes, they are you're family. I'm your family. No matter what happens, you got family," Merle told her.

"Are you getting sentimental on me?" Jes asked.

"Now don't be goin' that far," Merle told her.

"I appreciate that, really do. Now let's go find our sister," Jes responded.