"Look ere girly" He was gruff, but his fingers on her chin were warm. Jenny focused on drowning out the pounding in her head long enough to look up.
"Let me see yer eyes" She opened her eyelids as far as she could, stemming another wave of nausea.
"You got a concussion sure as damn it, did one of em bastards bang yer 'ead upside a tree or someit?" She nodded and wrenched again.
"Sit still 'en. You gotta stay awake thought, so just keep talking." Her face, already pale had drained of all color.
"They grabbed me, and they would have, they would have, oh God!" Jenny could sense Merle moving around, he slid off the log to sit beside her.
"Hey, Hey now. None of that ya hear. It'll attract the geeks. Now, I'll get you all patched up and you'll stop all that snivelin' alright." Although his words were assertive, it was obvious that a crying assault victim put him so far out of his depth he might have been in the marianas trench.
Jenny gave a watery giggle and nodded, even though it made her head throb. Merle motioned for her to lean forward. As she did her removed what was left of her white silk shirt. Jenny stiffened, not sure what would be coming next, but he only began ripping it into strips.
"So Merle," she grimaced as he bound a particularly nasty gash, "How do you know about concussions?"
Merle sat silent, shredding more strips of cloth. He rubbed one between his fingers, lost in though. Jenny was just about to apologize for asking when he opened his mouth. He considered, shrugged and began.
"I was in high school, well, I was enrolled en high school, didn't do much on ta attendin end, but anyways I was 'bout eighteen, I went out fer the weekend. It was just me en Pa en Darylina then so 'e must ta been about elven. So I ghet back from my weekend en what do I find, but no Pa en little Darylina sittin on the stoop with 'is eyes all glassy en unfocused. Well he had a concussion, that was plain as day, en he was crying en wimperin' and bein' a little girl. In Juvi the doc would let us help sometimes, let us clean the surgery en shit, so I knows he had to be kept awake. We go inside, I make a good pot of coffee, and sit 'im down"
Jenny smiled, she had been an only child and her mother, well her mother had no maternal instincts to speak of. Having someone to watch your back, to be your mentor and your friend, that would have been lovely.
"So, little Daryl is drinkin' 'is coffee, which is thick and black as tar, en he's complain' all the way, but even then he starts noddin' off. So, I does what I have to, I start in on a good 'ol ghost story. I can't remember what it was 'bout but there was this guy with a bum leg en he made this ker-thumpin' noise when he walked. So he starts twitching and lookin' over 'is shoulder. Anyway, I tells 'im stories for a good few hours. Then I have ta ghet up to piss, I come back in and he's slumped over, almost asleep. So, I walk in all quite like, en I got my work boots on, I was doin' construction about that time. So I gots these thick boots on en I start draggin' the one leg 'hind ta other. He almost pissed himself. Poor lilly little Darylina."
Merle chuckled and Jenny smiled. Being occasionally horrible to your younger siblings seemed a requirement.
"So you two are close then?"
Merle looked away, his face in shadow.
"Na, I was quite a bit older then Daryl. I left home when I was sixteen. Spent a few years in en out-a juvie. Came back just long enough to see him about to high school then I cleared out and spent some time in the army."
Jenny nodded, shivering without her shirt. Merle pulled off his vest, throwing it round her shoulders.
"Thanks," He nodded. Jenny smiled, her eyes taking on a far away quality, "I ran away at fifteen. I saved up money. I started working. I made up this elaborate lie about after school programs and I would go and work at a diner for a few hours, I didn't make great money, but if you're polite and friendly and memorize the specials, you can get some pretty good tips. I got about six hundred dollars and I bought a ticket to Phoenix. I was going to run away, go live with my Dad and Sally. There was an amber alert out on my by the end of the second day. I never got to Phoenix, but I did get a hell of a lecture."
Merle chuckled, "Woulda gotten a hiding in my family."
"I think I would have rather had the beating then the lecture. Anyway after that, I just waited, and as soon as I could I left. I went to Vanderbilt."
Jenny trailed off. She wasn't one to share her personal story, and the last thing she wanted to do was show weakness. She didn't need him thinking she was some lost little girl. Lost little girls were vulnerable. He had saved her, but then again, the world being what it was, his motives could be anything.
The silence stretched on, unpleasant in the darkening night. After yet another uncomfortable pause Merle spoke up.
"What did you study?" Merle wasn't terribly interested, he would listen, but then he had to. She needed ta like 'im, ta trust 'im if she was gonna tell the do-gooders what a reformed saint he was. So he asked.
"Like I said, I'm just finishing up my doctorate in military history. I always liked reading about the battles, and the uniforms. I did a lot of research into the medicine, but really I liked all of it. I worked a summer or two at..." Merle lost interest, he focused instead on not yawning. It wasn't like he'd have to recite this back to her, he just needed to look vaguely interested long enough to convince her that he was worth vouching for. He suddenly tuned back in,
"...my sister. So the last time I saw her she was pretty little. We were going to move somewhere else, just the two of us. Maybe travel, you know, see the world. We wanted to get to England, up to where Beatrix Potter lived. She used to love those books about the little animals. Peter Rabbit, Mother Gooses you know?"
Merle scoffed and didn't answer. Yes, actually, he did actually. Daryl had liked the story about Peter Rabbit, and so, surprisingly, had Merle. The rabbit had balls. He could identify with that, he'd always wanted to give farmer McGregor a piece of his mind.
"What was er name?" Merle was whittling a spare bit of wood, balancing it with his stump against his knee.
"Sally. She was only my half sister, but we wrote to each other a lot. She's dead now. I mean, I didn't see her die, but I just know. Like you know that Daryl is alive I know that Sally didn't make it out. She loved people. She was always volunteering, trying to save the world. When people started getting sick she would have been right with them, in the hospitals or a nursing home. She wouldn't be able to leave, I couldn't stay. I never had the heart for it. She could keep that distance, but me, I cried over worms on the side walk, cats and squirrels by the side of the road, even other people's pets."
Jenny looked upset now, her wide mouth downturned, her eyes hooded. Merle weighed his options and decided that now was the time to lie, well, to lie out loud.
"I've seen it, it's fast, she wouldna felt much pain."
Jenny smiled, a little sadly,
"Yes, yes she would have. The fever cleans you out, makes every nerve feel like it's burning. I can only hope that maybe there would have been someone to put her down. I was interning. You know, trying to finish up a science credit so I could do more history during my grad work. Anyway, I was at a research lab and we had samples of it."
They sat in silence for a while before Jenny spoke again.
"So, are you going to leave me?"
Merle shrugged, "Naw, I like you now, yer funny. 'Sides, three hands are better than one." She grimaced at the poor joke but he continued, "I got a car not far from here, we can travel together, find Daryl and the others." Jenny nodded, smiling her too big smile again.
"I need to get to my car as well. It's the other side of the orchard. We can scope out the farm house too, but I think the car is the best bet."
Merle wanted to tell her that the men, her would be rapists, had probably cleared out the car, but he didn't. They could check quickly, and maybe there would be some food in the farmhouse. He nodded.
Jenny smiled, her eyes looking darker, chocolate flecked with forest green and tiny specks of gold.
"You sleep, I've got to stay awake anyway, who knows what's out there, or in here for the matter, she added, tapping her own head."
Merle nodded, leaning back against the log. Although he had no intentions of sleeping, he did.