Chapter 7

"Kris, you've gotta help me kid. My hand, help me Krista please!" I just stood there starring at his stump where his hand used to be. I shook my head clear and tore my shirt off to where I was standing there in my bra. The pained look on his face didn't change. I ran to his as his stumbled to the ground, clinging to his, not hand.

"Merle I have to stop the bleeding." I looked around the room where I'd found his and saw a stove. Over on the table was an iron. He was gonna hate me for this but it was going to save his life essentially. I stood up and ran to fetch the iron, then to the stove to heat it.

"What the hell are ya gonna do with that?!" I shouted. I ignored him. I watched the plate get red hot and I brought it over to him. Kneeling down beside him, I watched as beads of sweat formed on his forehead and his upper lip.

"Bite down on this," I said handing him my shirt. "You might not wanna look." He shoved the cloth into his mouth, closed his eyes and looked away. "I'll do it on the count of 5, okay?" he nodded his head briskly. I gripped the iron handle in my hand tighter. "1… 2… 3… 4…" I didn't wait for 5; I pressed the hot iron to his skin. Hearing him want to scream out in pain was one thing that I could handle, but the smell. I thought I was going to vomit. The smell of his burning flesh, and the blood all in one. I tried to keep it together.

When I knew that the wound was definitely cauterized I threw a hot iron away from us, ripped the shirt out of his mouth and wrapped it around his stump; using some electrical tape I always had on my to keep the shirt from falling off. He held it in his hand and pulled it to his chest. I couldn't believe that I'd just did that. For fuck's sake he didn't have a hand!

"Merle, I'm sorry. I had to. You would've died if I hadn't.." he wrapped me in a hug. The first time in a long time, I was touching another human being; one that wasn't trying to eat me anyways. I hugged him back tighter in fear that if I let go he wouldn't be there anymore.

"Thank you. Thank you." He kept saying over and over again. I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. For a while we just sat there in that warehouse. I didn't know where to go. Merle had fallen asleep and I thought that I should do the same but didn't. What if a geek came in while we were knocked out? No, I had to stay awake; I had to protect him.

A day or so after finding him, we both made our way into the woods. He kept rambling on about how we needed to find Daryl and how he was gonna kill "that monkey". I had no idea what the hell he was talking about, so I didn't ask. Crazy Merle is not one that I should be getting answers from. He was honestly scaring me a little bit. He was just going off in any direction he felt like going off in. I'd suggested another direction once and he nearly bit my head clean off. This wasn't the Merle Dixon I knew.

"Merle, we have to find Daryl remember? We're going in circles." I said calmly and collectively.

"I know where the fuck I'm goin'! Don't you think I know where my own brother is?!" he shouted. I didn't take any of it to heart, he was over heating and he was probably delirious. "God damn stupid bitch, tryna tell me I don't know where I'm goin'," he said under his breath but I still heard it, "I know where I'm goin'!" he turned around facing me and screamed in my face. I'd had enough.

"Merle, stop fucking screaming in my face! I'm only trying to help your sorry ass from getting eaten. So STOP DRAWING ATTENTION TO US!" I laid into him real good. He just watched me, waiting for me to blow up again. "I'm sorry, it's just; Merle you're scaring me. The way you've been acting; you're acting like a serial killer that's running from the cops. You just need to chill out a little alright? We're not being chased, we're not running for our lives; we're okay. Alright?" he sighed and looked away from me. He reached into his pocket and tossed me his knife. I looked at him confused, looked down at the knife and then back at him.

"You're right, I'm sorry. Your gonna carry that around from now on, ya hear?" it was the blade I got for him a few years ago for his birthday. He never left home without it.

"But, but.."

"No buts, I'm serious Kris. I can't protect you anymore." He said touching his arm where his hand used to be. I looked away from him. "You know how to defend yourself; with or without the blade. Biters are gonna be comin' from all sorts of places now. And you've gotta be ready. Ya hearin me?" I nodded my head and flipped he blade open. It glistened in the light of the sun, blinding me a little bit. "Come on, we have to keep movin'." He pressed on and I followed close behind.

I couldn't remember how many days it'd been since we left the warehouse. I knew it was more than three. I was hot and sweating all the time. Merle had barely said two words to me since our little "dispute" the other day, and we were tired; I couldn't even remember the last time I'd slept.

"Let's rest here." He said through his voice cracking. "You need to sleep Kris. You haven't in days, and you're lookin' sick." I wasn't getting sick, I was just that tired. I didn't even have the strength to argue back. I slunk down next to a big tree and rested my head up against it.

The next thing I knew I was awake and there were people all around me; people with guns, big guns. I couldn't see Merle anywhere, I tried to scream out for him but a large black man in Army colors picked me up but the arm, holding a gun to my head and pushing me around. I saw other men with guns pushing and hitting people with guns, tossing them into big trucks like they were sacks of flour. I felt the knife in my pocket and pulled it out and stabbed the black guy in the throat.

People were screaming and two other army guys came running at me. I dodged the one but the other one knocked me to the ground. I rolled away before he could hit me again. Staggering to me feet I threw punch after punch, few of them connecting with his face. He lay lifeless on the ground. Then I saw Merle, two very large men were shoving him into the same truck where they were putting the others.

"Merle no!" I shouted. I heard a gun shout, and I hit the deck. I didn't know where it'd come from and I didn't stop to figure out. My knife was sticking out of the last man that I'd stabbed. I turned my head to see a gun pointed at my face. My feet where in between his, I kicked his legs out from under his and stood up quickly and took his gun. He screamed in pain, grabbing his ankle; it looked pretty broken. I didn't care; I shot him, and he was dead. I turned to see the truck that now held Merle driving away. I chased after it but I couldn't keep up. He was once again gone. This time I think it was for good.

I stood there among the three dead men. One of them was gasping, or so I thought. I sauntered over to him and see that he was changing. I wasn't about to let that happen. I pulled my knife out of his chest and drove it into his skull between is eyes. Then I pulled it out and drove it in again, and over and over again. I stepped back and looked at it, at him.

"Over kill much?" I heard someone say behind me. I turned to see that no one was there.

"Great, now I'm hearing shit. He's gonna get a kick outta this when he finds out." I was talking like Merle never even left. Like he was just off takin a piss and he was already on his way back to me. Had to get those thoughts outta my head now, because this time I was really alone. "I'm never gonna be with anyone again, this time I'm really all alone…

ok so i know i haven't posted in a LONG time but i've had the worst writers block ever, so here's a really long one that i hope you guys are happy with. and i hope you're still follwing and reading because i think this just might be my come back chapter :)