Marcine was strangely calm as she watched Merle and Daryl pull the woman from the back of the Cadillac. They let her go and she hit the ground face first, a sob coming from her lips. Marcine looked over at Daryl where he was standing off in the middle of the thin road, eyes glazed over. They had driven to a subdivision, a few miles from camp, just outside the city, no one saying a word. Marcine had thoughts on what this could have been, this…this was not on her list of possible outcomes.
"Daryl…" Marcine reached out to touch his arm but retracted her hand, rubbing the wrist. "Daryl why didn't you tell me about this?" she looked back down at the woman on the ground.
The woman twisted and cried, begging. "Please…please you have to let me go…" she whispered, looking between the brothers.
"Merle why'd ya bring 'er along for this?" Daryl growled, stepping towards his brother.
Merle looked his younger brother up and down, his tongue hanging from the corner of his mouth. He smirked over at Marcine, arms swinging at his sides. "So girly…ya gonna help us with this or not?"
"With what?" Marcine stepped back when the woman reached for her with bound wrists.
Merle waved a hand down at the woman. "Help us get rid o' her."
Marcine looked over at Daryl and he looked at her. "Can' help ya make up ya mind. Do it or don't, don' matter."
"Yes it does," she stepped closer to Daryl, looking down at the woman. "Daryl I can't ignore this."
"So go tell everyone else," Daryl threw his hand at her, turning around he walked a few feet from her and put his hands on his hips. "I didn' wanna tell ya but…"
Merle took a step forward. "Ya can stay with us and help or ya can go back to th' group and play house wife, choose now."
They were making her choose in this situation? She looked between brothers, fear and indecision in her eyes. Who's to say if she chooses the group they won't kill her or give her the same treatment they had given this woman? But if she stayed would she have to do this with them like they were asking now? Marcine swallowed hard and looked back down at the woman. She was groaning into the concrete, her body covered in small and large cuts, streaked with mud and blood. She was naked and most of the blood was centered around the junction of her thighs so Marcine could guess what happened. But her only thought was on whom did that deed. Merle, she could see that. In the back of her head she was just worried that Daryl had done that.
She took in a deep breath and stepped towards Daryl, her fingertips brushing against his elbow. He looked over at her, his eyes still clouded. "I don't want to leave you…" she whispered.
His haze lightened but he snorted and walked around her. "Don't be so fuckin sappy."
Marcine sighed and walked back over to the girl, placing her hands on her hips. "So what do we do with her?" Marcine asked.
Merle walked over, pressing his boot against the girls' joint wrists. She sobbed but went unheard as Daryl stuffed his red rag in her mouth, hovering around Merle.
"Don' know yet…" Merle pressed down onto the woman's wrists. She screamed into the rag gag as Marcine heard bones crunch and snap beneath Merle's boot. Merle laughed and took a step back. "Take 'er in one of the houses."
Merle hefted the woman over his shoulder and started towards one of the houses nearby. Daryl and Marcine trailed behind him, both looking around rapidly; one out of nervousness, the other with simple curiosity. Marcine had never been inside such a beautiful place before, it was elegant and small. The house looked untouched, as though it had never been lived in, but Marcine could see a few suitcases by the couch in the living room. Daryl marched over to the windows and pulled the curtains shut, looking around before he pointed at the couch.
"That's fine, don' need ta drag this out," Daryl muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
Merle snickered and threw the woman on the couch, pulling out a large knife as he rested one knee between her and the couch. "Like em ta fight back," he sneered, cutting through the rope around her wrists. The young woman fought back the best she could, her hands sort of limp because of the broken wrists. Merle ripped the gag from her mouth, Marcine watching intently. "What's ya name sugar tits?"
The young woman whimpered, looking over at Marcine. "Please…please you can stop this…"
Marcine opened her mouth to speak but Merle took a rough hold on the girls chin and jerked her face back to look at him, his nose against hers. "What's ya name?" he growled.
She screamed when he took a hold of her left wrist and squeezed. "Shiloh! My name is Shiloh!"
Merle chuckled and pushed off from the couch, working on the buckle of his jeans. "Nice name, now ready ya self girl. Thanks ta my baby brother, I didn't get to nut with his girl and I'm jus' dyin' ta get mine."
Shiloh's eyes widened and flickered over to Marcine who was huddled against Daryl's side, transfixed by this. Merle leaned back onto the couch, hovering above the woman as he held his tool in his hand. Marcine watched her face as it twisted into pain from him brutally thrusting himself into her. Merle groaned and his head lolled back, his hips rotating against hers. He grinned back at his brother and Daryl looked away, towards the kitchen behind him and Marcine. He touched her elbow and she nodded, following behind him as he walked towards the kitchen.
"Daryl…"
He smacked his hands flat against the granite island, glaring up at her through his brow. "Don' ask me why, aight?"
"But Daryl," she flinched at the sound of the woman sobbing in the other room. "I just want to know why. Don't you think I deserve that?"
He looked up at her then shook his head, leaning onto his elbows as he rubbed his face. "Started simple 'nough. Merle…he came home one night had this bitch in the back of th' truck, said he raped her, needed to get rid of her. Didn' wanna help at first, but I had to. He was ma brother…after that I liked it," their eyes met. "But I can tell ya, Marcine. I never raped a girl, not one of em."
"But you killed them…" she whispered.
He nodded. "Too many ta count."
Her brow furrowed but she couldn't find herself disgusted by any of this, couldn't see herself running away or even turning them in. Who the hell would she turn them in to? She couldn't bring herself to do that, not to them. As a matter of fact all she could think about was joining in on the fun. She wanted to witness it, become a part of it. Since her teen years she had wondered what it would be like to kill someone, of course that was her morbid curiosity she inherited from her mother.
"My mother…my mother had been tempted to try these things, always had the desire but those were only thoughts in her journals," Marcine rubbed the back of her hand. "I have to admit I've always had that curiosity in me but couldn't act on it. I bet I could now."
Daryl's eyes shot up to her. "Maybe we can help ya with that."
Her eyes sparked. This was wrong, thinking this way, acting this way, but it was the truth. Marcine wanted to know, wanted to feel it. It was dangerous, she knew, she had been told. She had witnessed it first hand, from a masked stranger that had let her live when she was eight. She was at school, it seemed like a normal day. Playing in the computer lab and stuff you know, then the alarms started going off and someone came into the lab. She was the only one to make it under her desk, but he found her, at the end. She watched a lot of her friends die and knew her momma would love to see this.
When he found her he started humming, completely in bliss with what he was doing and had bent down to her level. She had been shaking so bad, begging him not to kill her, let her live, and he did. But with parting words.
Killing someone is easy to do, that's what makes it so dangerous.
She would never forget those words, she never wanted to because they made her understand things strangely enough. She moved around the island, fingers trailing through the dust built up on the counter top. Daryl watched her, his body tense as she moved closer, eyes set on him. She reached up slowly, placing her hand against the left side of his neck before she pushed herself up the extra foot and met his lips with hers.
It was gentle, compared to the background noise.
Their lips moved against each others, Daryl moving as though he was new to it. Marcine reached her other hand up and placed it against the other side of his neck. Her eyes flickered open for a second, seeing his half lidded and on her. Marcine stopped, pulling back from him to look him in the eye.
"Daryl…I like being around you guys, even if you are the way you are and Merle is the way he is. It doesn't matter to me, you're the only people I've fit in with for years and I don't want to be out there on my own."
"Ya could stay with th' group."
Marcine shook her head and took a step back. "No, I couldn't. Not after what I did to Ed. Even if he was a slimy prick they hate me now."
"Lori doesn't," he looked up sideways. "She'll stick wit'cha no matter what."
"And Glenn and Amy, but that doesn't matter, I want to stay with you and Merle, even if I have to do what you do. Even if I have to kill a bunch of people."
"Why?"
Marcine sighed. "Daryl…can't you just be happy that someone wants to be with you?"
He shrugged and moved to the cabinets. "I like ta pick things apart."
