.:Raelyn | Age 27 *Present*:.
The boomin' sound of the rifle rounds explodin' into the air echoed down into the dark, narrow stairwell in even bursts.
It seemed like everything was happenin' in slow motion as I trailed after this group of strangers, scramblin' our way upwards. My heart pounded in my ears, and I kept my eyes glued to a sliver of light that peeked through the crack of the door leading to the roof.
My mind was focused on that one crucial word that had come out of Andrea's mouth just a few seconds ago... Dixon.
Could she really be talkin' about one of my best friends? One of the Dixon boys, who I had been hopelessly searchin' for ever since this stupid bullshit first started? Maybe it was some other guy with the same last name...
But somethin' in my gut told me it was one of them. I couldn't help but hope it was Daryl...
I had somehow managed to discover everyone's names just listenin' to them talk to each other, and T-Dog was first to burst out onto the roof, followed by Morales, the Hispanic man.
I was one of the last ones to trickle out from the stairwell and onto the rooftop, right behind Andrea and Jacqui, the African American woman. The bullets were still firin', piercin' the air and workin' the group into a frenzy.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Merle, are you crazy?!" Morales shouted from somewhere across the roof top.
My poundin' heart skidded to a screechin' halt. Did I just hear that right...? I had to have heard it right. He said Merle... Merle Dixon. My knees felt like they would buckle under my weight at any second.
"Merle...? " I muttered just loud enough for Jacqui to hear, feelin' my eyes grow wide.
"You should be more polite to a man with a gun!" A grizzly, swampy voice hollered back, followed by a dopey chuckle. "Only common sense."
That was him. That was definitely Merle... This had to be some sorta cruel dream. I'd be wakin' up in that little nook in the ceilin' any minute now...
But as my weak legs carried me forward and my arms absent mindedly nudged everyone out of the way, I knew this was real.
"Merle...?!" My voice croaked out, and finally as I pushed past Glenn and Rick, the two men who found me, I saw him.
Standin' up on the roof's ledge, holdin' a hunting rifle, was a tall, stalky redneck, dressed in jeans, boots, a black tank top with white bleach stains and a faded leather vest. His grayin' blonde hair was buzzed short, and a layer of scruff coated his cheeks and chin.
When I found his blue eyes with my green ones, I felt a jolt surge up my spine. It was really him. For a moment, I was slightly disappointed that it hadn't been Daryl... But just seein' Merle standin' there alive and well, someone who wasn't a total stranger to me... It was the best damn feelin' in the world.
"Holy shit," Merle said as a familier grin formed on his lips that was so contagious to me, "That ain't my little Rae'a sunshine, is it...?!"
He hopped down from the ledge, rifle in hand, gruntin' as his feet took the impact of his weight hittin' the cement. I quickly staggered over to him, throwin' my arms around his middle before his feet barely touched the ground.
Everyone else on the roof stood with their mouths shut, starin' at Merle and I in confusion. Andrea and Jacqui seemed like they were more disgusted than confused, but I just ignored them.
"We thought you were dead, girl!" Merle told me as he pulled me out of the embrace by my shoulders. "Looked for ya fer weeks b'fore we just assumed."
"I'm so glad to see you!" I breathed, smilin' a real smile for the first time in what felt like forever. Then, my lips fell flat again. "Daryl... Is he...?"
"My baby brother's just fine." Merle assured me, placin' his free hand on my head and rufflin' my already grungy hair. "Turned into a little asshole since you went missin', keeps to 'imself most' a the time. But he's alive."
A wave of relief like I'd never felt before washed over my body. Daryl was alive... All those weeks I spent wonderin' what had happened to him... To know he was alive was the best reward I could ever think of.
Other than seein' him, of course... But now that we were all trapped on the roof of this damn department store, with every geek from miles around poundin' at the doors straight below us... I wasn't sure I'd make it out alive for that to happen.
So much for thinkin' that findin' people was the safer bet.
"I don't mean to break up whatever kinda reunion this is," T-Dog's frantic, angry voice suddenly snapped from behind me, "But just what the HELL is the matter with you, Dixon?! You wastin' bullets we ain't even got-"
Suddenly, Merle held the rifle straight up in the air, firin' a single shot. The loud crack of the bullet exitin' the barrel caught everyone off guard. I flinched and threw my arms over my head, and I could hear Andrea and Jacqui squealin'.
"Whoops," Merle said in mock innocence, "Ya mean like that?"
"Merle...!" I hissed, but T-Dog was already shoutin' over me.
"Man, you bringin' all them geeks closer to us, just chill!" He stared at Merle intensely.
The man I grew up with raised his eyebrows, showin' the wrinkles in his forehead. He took a few steps closer to T-Dog, who stood his ground. Merle had always been... Well, a little racist.
I got a bad feelin' in the pit of my stomach, knowin' exactly how this was about to go down.
"Hey, now, I've had this taco vendor on my ass all day, and now I'm supposed to take orders from you?" Merle said boldly as he motioned from Morales, then back to T-Dog, "I don't think so. That'll be the day."
"That'll be the day...?" T-Dog repeated, narrowin' his eyes.
"Merle, come on, don't-" I groaned, glancin' around at everyone's uneasy faces.
This was definitely not the time or the place for this shit
I walked up behind him and grabbed his arm, but he shrugged me off and gripped the rifle in both hands.
"Not now, sweetheart, big boys are talkin'." He scoffed down at me over his shoulder, earnin' a glare back from me.
I absolutely hated when he talked down to me like that.
"I think you should listen to your friend, Dixon." Morales warned Merle in a serious tone.
"No, no!" T-Dog piped up, holdin' his hand up in agitation, "I wanna hear this. You got somethin' that you wanna tell me?"
"C'mon, T-Dog, just leave it-" Morales urged, but T-Dog wasn't having it.
"Naw, man!" He growled, glarin' fiercely at Merle.
"Merle, just relax, okay?" Glenn spoke up, drawin' the attention of both Rick and I, "We've got enough trouble..."
He stared at Merle hopefully, but his attempt at bein' the mediator did no good. Merle ignored him completely, smirkin' at T-Dog and takin' a step closer to him.
"Ya wanna know the day...?" He muttered, and T-Dog nodded his head. "Well, I'll tell ya... The day I start takin' orders from you is the day I take orders from a ni-"
Before the full word even left Merle's mouth, T-Dog threw a fist. In the blink of an eye, Merle ducked his head to dodge the blow, and nailed T-Dog in the face with the butt of the rifle, then tossed it aside to use his fists.
The grizzly redneck laid a few kicks into T-Dog's side, workin' the group into a frenzy before Rick leapt into action.
"C'mon Merle, that's enough-!" The sheriff said firmly, stepping to Merle and trying to reason with him, but it only earned him a swift punch to the jaw.
This time, even I let out a girly shriek, throwin' my hands over my mouth as Rick toppled to the ground, and we all watched a full on brawl unfold in front of our eyes. Everyone else seemed shocked and horrified, but this wasn't the first time I'd seen Merle wail on someone.
My first reflex when Merle pinned T-Dog to the ground and started beatin' his face in was to dive in, jump on his back and try to pry him away.
"Merle, you stupid son of a bitch, stop it-!" I shouted, when Merle suddenly whipped his elbow back and caught my lower lip. "Aah...! You fucker-!"
I growled in anger as the taste of iron filled my mouth, rearin' my own fist back, about to pop the oldest Dixon brother in the back of the head.
Before I could do that, though, a pair of thick arms wrapped around my waist, yankin' me away from the fight. I thrashed about, my anger searin' and bubblin' as I tried to break free.
"Let go of me!" I grunted through clenched teeth, "Get the fuck off me...!"
"Chill, just chill out!" Morales's Hispanic accent breathed hoarsely into my ear, above the screams of everyone else, "We don't need a three man brawl goin' on. I'm not putting you down if you're just gonna jump back in there!"
I struggled a little more, but finally let out an irritated sigh and relaxed my body. When Morales set me down on my feet, I shot a glare up in his direction.
Merle was really givin' it to T-Dog, poundin' his fist into his face over and over as everyone stared in horror. When Merle pulled out a handgun and pointed it in T-Dog's face, though, everything took a different turn.
"Oh, god, no," Andrea whimpered desperately, staring at T-Dog's terrified, bloody face. "Please, don't...!"
He pulled back the safety, and T-Dog's eyes widened in fear.
"No, Merle!" I shrieked, tryin' to step forward but Morales held me back by my upper arm.
There was a pause as Merle stopped and tossed his eyes around the entire group, until he landed on my face. Desperate and angry, I pleaded him to stop with my eyes. This wasn't right.
Finally, I could see he gave in... But still spat onto T-Dog's chest, laughin' triumphantly as he rubbed it into his t-shirt.
"Yea! That's right." Merle said as he stood up. "Now, we're gonna have ourselves a little pow wow... Talk about who's in charge. I vote me!"
Glenn, Andrea and Jackie rushed in, grabbed T-Dog and dragged him to safety. I glanced over at them before rippin' away from Morales and takin' a step over to Merle.
"Hey, Merle, just what the hell do you think you're-" I started to demand, but totally froze in my tracks as he turned his gun on me.
"Uh-uh, princess," the redneck said to me with a shake of his head, "I know you always gotta put yer two cents in but not this time. I said, I vote me, any one else?"
"You get that God damn gun outta my face, Merle Dixon." I growled, but he didn't lower the gun.
I could see just by the crazy look in his eye that he wasn't exactly the same person anymore... He was Merle, no doubt about it, standin' right there in front of me. But it was like there was a screw loose, or someone else was controlin' his mind or somethin'... And I didn't like it one bit.
"C'mon, let's see a show'a hands!" Merle ordered the group with a stupid grin.
I rolled my eyes as Andrea, Jacqui, and Glenn actually followed his instructions, slowly lifting their hands into the air.
"Don't raise your damn hands!" I snapped at them with furrowed eyebrows.
"Hey now, sugar, don't go stompin' on their own free will!" Merle scolded me, but I just tossed him my dirtiest look and turned away.
"Fuck off, Merle." I spat at him over my shoulder.
He had always been a prick, but not like this. He actually pointed a loaded gun at my head... That wasn't the Merle Dixon I knew.
"All right." Merle's voice continued on behind me, "So that means I'm the boss. Anybody else think different? Hm?"
"Yea." Rick's voice responded to him, followed by the loud 'crack' of a fist slammin' into a jaw, and a series of gasps from the group.
When I whirled around to see what had happened, Rick was in the process of handcuffin' a very dazed lookin' Merle to a thick metal pipe runnin' along the rooftop.
"Who the hell are you, man...?!" Merle groaned as Rick yanked him into a slouch by the collar of his shirt.
He leaned in close to Merle's face, which was already formin' a purple bruise, before growlin' his reply, "Officer friendly."
I sighed and listened to Rick give my childhood best friend a lecture about 'dark meat' and 'white meat', and survivin' together, not apart. That didn't change Merle, though. He simply offered up a half hearted "screw you", and turned his bruised cheek.
"You should be more polite to a man with a gun." Rick suddenly snapped, holdin' his own handgun to Merle's temple. "Only common sense."
My breath tightened in my throat as I watched but didn't move. Somethin' told me Rick wouldn't shoot, and I was right. He held the gun in place for only a few seconds before droppin' his arm away.
"Man, fuckin' cops..." Merle muttered.
"All I am anymore, is a man looking for his wife and son, and I got nothin' to lose." Rick whispered to Merle, his eyes serious, "I'll just give you a minute to think about that."
A part of me wanted to tell Rick his family was most likely dead, but I figured that might be a little cruel.
As Rick patted Merle's pockets, he pulled out somethin' I'd seen him use hundreds of times before... A crack pipe, and a tiny baggie of white crystals. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Even in a world infested with zombies, Merle found a way to feed his horrible drug habbit.
"What're ya gonna do? Arrest me? " Merle taunted with a laugh as Rick strolled over to the ledge of the roof. When he tossed the drugs and pipe over the edge, Merle's attitude completely changed. "Hey, what the hell're ya doin'?! That's my stuff! YOU BETTER PRAY I DON'T GET FREE, YOU HEAR ME, YOU FILTHY PIG?!"
He kept to shoutin' and thrashin' around, yankin' at those handcuffs like he thought they might come off. Rick trailed away as Merle screamed and hollered obscenities at him, and I quickly followed behind.
"Hey, you alright?" I quietly asked the sheriff as we stopped at the other edge of the building. "Got a pretty gnarly bruise under your left eye."
"I've been through worse." Rick grumbled back, "Survived a gunshot wound before all this." He then peered down at my lip, which was still stingin' a little. "What about you? He busted your lip pretty good, there."
I shrugged, tossin' a glance over my shoulder at Merle, who was still strugglin' to yank himself free from that pipe across the rooftop.
"Ain't the first time I've been caught in the middle of one'a Merle Dixon's brawls." I mumbled, avoidin' Rick's piercin' blue eyes as I stared out into the infested streets of Atlanta, "I grew up with 'im... He's always been an asshole, but never like this. This world's changed 'im for the worst, I guess..."
I could feel the sheriff's gaze on my face, tryin' to study the emotions I was so good at hidin'. Before long, he turned his blue eyes out into the streets, and spoke up again.
"I don't know you or Merle personally," Rick began, his voice hushed, "But I'm sure the man you used to know is still in there somewhere... World like this could change anyone."
I turned to look at him now, and smiled softly before turnin' away again.
"I hope so." I replied, suddenly thinkin' of Daryl.
I wondered if the fallin' out of humanity had brought a dark side out in him like it did in Merle...
Suddenly, I could hear footsteps trailin' up from behind. I turned just in time to see Morales strollin' up beside Rick, puttin' the sheriff between us.
"You're not Atlanta PD..." He observed as he leaned his elbows on the roof's ledge, eyein' Rick's tan and brown uniform, "Where you from?"
"Up the road a ways..." Rick replied, squintin' his eyes in the bright sunlight.
"Okay... What about you?" Morales turned his gaze to me, noddin' his head upward in a small flick, "I don't think I caught your name yet."
"Uh..." I stammered, "It's Raelyn. Or just Rae... I'm from... Well, I guess down the road a ways."
The Hispanic man chuckled a little.
"Well, all right, officer friendly, from up the road a ways... And Rae, from down the road a ways... " he cast his gaze out on the walker infested street below,"Welcome to the big city."
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.:Daryl | Age 31 *Present*:.
Seemed like the only thing that kept my mind off all this "end'a the world" bullshit anymore was huntin'.
I'd been out in the woods fer two days now, collectin' squirrels and sleepin' in trees. Today, though, I hit a gold mine; A buck, at least a ten pointer. I'd been trackin' it for miles, ever since I woke up that mornin'.
I managed to nail it in the back with a few arrows, so I knew it was hurtin'. Just had ta be patient.
A few weeks ago, Merle and I stumbled upon a small group'a survivors camped out just a few miles outside'a Atlanta. Neither of us never were much of the friendly type, but we figured combinin' resources with other survivors might be a smart way to go.
Still, didn't mean I had to be buddies with those people. Hell, I'll be honest in sayin' I didn't like not a god damn one of 'em. So I spent most'a my time roamin' the area an' searchin' for food to bring back to camp. In the short periods of time that I was around everyone, though, I kept my conversations brief.
Everyone was always so depressed and on edge, and honestly it drove me fuckin' nuts. I git it, there's dead people walkin' around all over, rippin' livin' people apart and eatin' their insides... That's scary shit. But that was in the city and towns, mostly. Up here, deep in the woods, miles out right next to the old rock quary, we were safe. Geeks hadn't hiked up this far... At least, not yet.
Twigs snapped under my boots and the brush rustled as I made my way through the thick trees. I kept my trusty crossbow aimed forward, ready ta put an arrow in the first thing that crossed me the wrong way; Livin' or dead.
I paused ta study the up-turned dirt on the ground, a sign that the buck had been through there... That, and the dark smudge'a blood on one'a the tree trunks to my right. He was gettin' weaker... Just had ta follow fer a little longer.
I didn't know what it was, but as I reached up to wipe the film'a sweat from my forehead, somethin' reminded me of Rae... My stomach twisted into knots as my mind teased me with her face... Her pretty green eyes, her crooked little smile...
"Stop it, Daryl..." I growled to myself through clenched teeth as I forced the blonde girl that I grew up with outta my head for the millionth time, "She ain't here no more..."
I'd been tellin' myself that for months, ever since Rae got separated from Merle and I back home. It made me sick to think what had probably happened to 'er... I couldn' t picture my best friend, really the only friend I ever had, walkin' around as one'a those droolin', flesh eatin' freaks...
So I pushed 'er memory out of my mind, over and over again. It was finally gettin' easier comin' to terms that I'd never see Rae's face or hear her laugh again, but it had definitely taken time. The first few weeks of the outbreak, when it was just Merle and I, I'd go days without sleeping, searchin' high and low for that damn girl... I was so determined, confident that I'd find 'er... But I never did.
So, I started tellin' myself it was better this way... It was easier. Rae was a tough girl and I knew she could hold 'er own, but if she was around I'd just be worryin' constantly, worryin' about her gettin' hurt or killed, and not bein' able to protect 'er.
Who knows, maybe she fought 'er way through this bullshit and found 'er own group. Or maybe her body was roamin' somewhere, cravin' flesh and blood...
But it didn't matter what had happened to Rae... Whatever it was, I couldn't change it.
All I could do now was worry about my own survival.
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To be continued...