"I don't know, Lydia. You need medicine, right? If you tell me what it is I'll try to find it for you. I just don't think it's safe-"
"I don't need medicine," I smiled like we were just having a pleasant conversation. That's what I wanted it to look like to everyone else. "I'm not crazy. Sam is a psychopath. I don't even know him. He was my neighbor. I'm not his wife. And the only reason I'm smiling like an idiot is because I don't want him to walk by and suspect I'm telling someone the truth," Glenn blinked at me and let out a nervous laugh.
"Wait, no, Sam said you have delusions-"
"He's lying. Look, you don't even have to do anything. You don't have to watch my back or worry about me being in the way. All you have to do is say yes to this," I was getting desperate. The whole delusions thing was a good thought on Sam's part. It basically guaranteed all of my claims to be dismissed.
"You can't be serious. Why would he lie?" Glenn wasn't turning out to be the easiest person to convince, but he was probably better than Shane or Lori.
"Because he wants to keep fucking me, Glenn," I hissed. "And beating me, because apparently I deserve it. Look, Merle is the only other person who knows and he was smart enough to figure it out himself. If you don't let me go with you horrible things are going to happen to me tonight. Just say yes," I grabbed his shoulder tightly before I realized how much trouble I'd be in if Sam saw.
Glenn looked at my wide eyed expression, stunned.
"Uh," He closed his gaping mouth and blinked a few times. "Yeah, yeah, okay. You can come," I nodded, satisfied with my results, and began to walk away,
"You should really tell Shane what's going on," Glenn called after me. I appreciated his concern.
Sam was nowhere in sight, which I was thankful for. I found Merle throwing some things into the back of a pickup truck. I ran to him and ducked out of view of anyone who might look that direction.
"The hell do you think you're doin', Girlie," He glanced down at me only briefly.
"I'm going with you," I whispered just loud enough for him to here.
"The hell you are," He responded with a grunt.
"I am not staying here," My voice was firm and my gaze locked on him. He stopped what he was doing and turned to face me.
"I ain't savin' your ass out there,"
"But you'll save it here?" I raised an eyebrow.
He chuckled.
"Well, ya caught me," I relaxed then for the first time since everything went to hell. I felt safe knowing he was going to save me whether he wanted to or not. I promised myself that once I was free I'd pay him back somehow.
"What the fuck is this?" My short lived moment of relaxation came crashing down. I should have seen it coming, but I was blindsided. The sight of Sam had me folding back within myself and cringing. I realized in a split second how this looked. I was hiding behind a truck on my knees in front of Merle.
"Nothin' you need to worry about, Sam. Your girl's just sharin' the love," Merle said, sounding all too happy with himself. He looked down at me and winked.
"Ain't that right, sugar?" My eyes widened and I shook my head vigorously.
Sam licked his lips and then lunged at Merle. He wrapped his fists up in his shirt, but Merle pushed him off with one arm. Shane rushed in and grabbed Sam. Merle stood back, looking amused.
"I thought we were done with this," Shane complained, clearly angry at both Sam and Merle this time. "If you two can't stay away from each other somethin's gonna have to be done," By now I was on my feet. Shane seemed to notice me standing closer to Merle than I was to Sam. He gave me a strange look, flicked his tongue over his lips, and shook his head a bit.