So, I can't do a whole lot with all of the characters but I had to bring in some Milton. Him and the Dixon brothers are way too fun. Hopefully you will laugh. Thanks for reading! Oh, and I know that I've been posting these chapters way off schedule but I've been doing stuff and things and so it might be that way for while.
Chapter Fifty Four
Merle made his way towards the barn. He felt tense and he wasn't even sure why. Well, he knew that part of it was because of the way everyone had acted at dinner. That little show of group solidarity. All his brother had to do was threaten to leave and all of a sudden the whole damn lot of them were there to back him up. And it was all because of Merle himself and none of them seemed to care. That part hadn't mattered to them. And by God, it should have mattered. He didn't need these idiots backing him. He didn't want it. At the quarry none of them so much as walked near him or his brother for fear they would either get their asses kicked or catch some white trash disease from them.
He shook his head angrily. And he was also tense because of that damn girl. Fucking with his head like he was some goddamn play thing. What was the point in her doing all that? He grumbled to himself. It wasn't that he didn't like it. That was the problem. He did like it.
He looked out across the field. The sun was setting and then he found himself stopping in his tracks and staring as the orange light as it played on the grass in the distance. He stormed off, his long legs picking up the pace so he could get to the barn quicker.
Merle heard someone approaching from behind and whirled around. It was Daryl and Merle didn't like the look on his face. He almost looked nervous. Great. That's all he needed. More shit on his mind. He glared as Daryl strolled towards him.
"What the fucks wrong now?" He put his hand on his hip and scowled.
"Can't find Shane. His car is gone but so is half our guns. The son of a bitch took'em." Daryl grumbled. "The hells your problem?" He asked as he finally took in Merle's aggravated appearance.
Merle just continued to scowl at him.
"Alright then."Daryl shrugged. "What do you make of this Shane situation?"
Merle sighed. "Sounds like he split. If he took guns then it don't look like he's got any plans to come back."
"I thought the same thing at first." Daryl muttered as he gazed past Merle towards the woods that the men had emerged from earlier.
"But..." Merle pressed.
Daryl shrugged. "Shane ain't the type to let shit go. I don't think he went far. I don't know when the shits gonna hit the fan but I believe it will. And we'll be getting it from both sides. That kid said that Dave was one of four brothers. The others are comin'. We just don't know when."
Merle finally felt his mood lift a bit. The thought of a battle was right up his ally. Even if Shane took a lot of guns, they still had plenty. "That kid say how many were out there?"
"He said thirty or more." Daryl said worriedly.
"They got guns?" He asked.
"Not nothin' like what we got but we're still pretty outnumbered."
"But they don't know what happened. Hell, all we'd have to do is say we ain't seen'em. Problem solved." Merle shrugged.
"You think them assholes are gonna see this place and then not try to take it? Your crazy, Merle. It'll come down to a damn war is what'll happen."
Merle just shrugged. "Since when are you afraid to die, little brother? Especially since you became all honorable and shit." Merle gave him that smirk that he knew got under his brother's skin.
Daryl glared at him. "Since I got shit to live for now, you fuckin' prick. When are you gonna stop thinkin' that the only person in the whole goddamn world that matters is yourself?" Daryl shook his head.
Merle thought of all kinds of things he could say to that. But nothing came out of his mouth. The truth was, he was starting to think that maybe his brother was right. But then he shook that thought off. Daryl turned pussy on him. That's all this was. And it was going to end up doing the same thing to him if he wasn't careful. He decided on the spot to stay away from Maggie Greene. She was treating him like a science experiment. She was bored so she wanted to fuck with the big bad guy. Mess his head up a little. He was to the point now that he really didn't even want to screw her anymore. But then he started thinking about kissing her and then he was finding himself wanting to kiss her some more.
Without thinking he kicked at the ground and caused a clump of dirt to fly up and nail Daryl in the forehead.
"You asshole." Daryl grumbled as he shook dirt from his face.
"Excuse me."
Merle and Daryl both turned and saw Milton standing there awkwardly. Daryl frowned. "Milton? The hell ya doin' out here?" He asked.
"I was actually hoping to find the two of you. If you aren't too busy, of course." He pushed his glasses up and glanced around nervously. He almost looked embarrassed about something.
Merle and Daryl shared a look and then glanced back at Milton. Merle had no idea what the man could have wanted with either Dixon but he was curious enough to ask. "What the fuck ya lookin' for the two of us for?"
"Well, I wasn't sure who else to talk to and I think I may need some advice." He said, clearly embarrassed now.
"And you came to us?" Daryl arched an eyebrow and gave him a disbelieving look. "Why?"
Merle elbowed him and gave him a quick look of annoyance. "What can we do for ya, Milton."
Milton took a deep steadying breath and then blew it out slowly. "Andrea and I have become quite good friends over the past few days and tonight she asked if I would like to room with her in the house." He blurted out quickly.
"Okay." Merle said slowly. "You want us to carry your shit in for ya or somethin'? Need us to do the heavy liftin'?"
Daryl rolled his eyes when Merle flexed his bicep a little.
Milton shook his head. "Oh, no. nothing like that. None of my stuff is very heavy." He took another one of those deep calming breaths and finally pressed on. "I couldn't help but notice that out of all of the men here, you two seem to be the ones that know the most about women. So I was going to ask you what Andrea could have meant when she asked me that."
Merle and Daryl looked at one another again and then Merle couldn't help it. He doubled over laughing, causing Milton to blush furiously and Daryl to scowl at him angrily.
"Quit you're brayin' you damn jackass." Daryl growled and then he looked at Milton. "I can't help you out there, brother. You're on your own. I don't know shit about women, other than they are all fuckin' nuts in one way or another."
"But you and Carol seem to have come a long way in the short time you've known each other."
Daryl shook his head and felt his face heat up. "That's different."
"How?" Milton asked.
Daryl blew out a frustrated breath and put his hands on his hips. "It just is."
Merle was only half listening. He was still laughing. The thought of Milton asking Daryl for advice about women was hilarious. He finally quieted himself and looked at Milton, trying to make his face look at serious as possible.
Milton, still looking quite humiliated looked at Merle and squared his shoulders. "Do you have any advice?"
Merle snorted. "Of course I do, but I gotta ask. What the fuck made you come to us with this shit? Why not Rick or Dale or fuck, even the old man?"
"You two just seemed to be the better choice. I've noticed that women tend to fall for men like the two of you. You have a certain way about you that attracts females." Milton said logically.
"So ya think we're sexy?" Merle asked as his new found straight face crumbled under his laughter.
"Oh, no. Nothing like that. But you do both have that rugged dangerous quality that women seem to find attractive. I just thought I would come to you for advice but I can tell that that was a mistake on my part. I am sorry for having bothered you." he went to turn around but Daryl stopped him.
"Milton, wait. Seriously, if she's already tryin' to share a room with ya then the hard parts kinda over."
Milton turned and shook his head. "She said she was okay with sleeping on the floor."
"Oh." Daryl said, looking like he actually felt a little bad for the guy.
"So you ain't fucked her yet?" Merle asked when he regained control of himself again.
Milton blushed furiously in the dim light. "No. It isn't like that at all. I just thought maybe it..." He trailed off.
"Spit it out." Merle demanded.
"Well, I thought the two of you could help me out a little with that part. I've seen the way Maggie looks at you and everyone know what goes on in Daryl's room at night."
Daryl's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head but Merle kept himself under control now. This was too fun to let slip by. He was gonna enjoy himself a while. After the fucked up day he had had he felt he deserved it.
"What the hell you mean, people know?" Daryl blurted when he finally put his eyeballs back into his head.
"Well, I don't know for sure. Just people talking about it is all. All good things of course."
Daryl glared. "Of course."
"Look Milton. First off. Stop bein' so goddamn proper. Loosen up a little. You're always all stiff and shit."
Milton surprised them both by pulling out a small notebook out of his back pocket and started taking notes.
Daryl just looked on, now chewing on a thumbnail, maybe to keep himself from laughing.
"And quit talkn' so proper like. Say fuck every now and then." Merle went on.
Milton glanced up. "Why?"
Merle shrugged. "Works for me."
Daryl pulled his hand away from his mouth and squinted hard at Milton. Then to Milton's dismay he walked right up to him and started untucking his shirt from his pants. Daryl stepped back and looked at him with a critical eye. When he quickly took his knife out Milton backed up a few feet but Daryl followed him easily enough and then grabbed the sleeve of his shirt to stop him.
"Be still." Daryl ordered and nodded when Milton froze. He cut a small hole in the seam on Milton's sleeve and then ripped the sleeve away completely as he held the hilt of the knife between his teeth.
"That knife still has blood on it." Milton said with wide eyes.
"Oh, that's from Dave." Daryl said when he took it out of his mouth and repeated with Milton's other sleeve. He wiped the blade off onto his pants. He looked over at Merle and nodded towards Milton. "What'cha think?"
Merle rubbed his rough chin and then nodded. "It's a start."
Milton jotted a few more things down in his notebook and then looked up and actually smiled. "Thank you. I think this is really going to help." He walked away quickly and Merle waited until he was in the house before he let loose and joined his brother in another fit of laughter.
It felt good just to let go and have a good laugh with his baby brother. Maggie didn't know what she was talking about. Merle knew how to enjoy the small stuff. Then his laughter died away when he started thinking about her again. Stupid girl was ruining his whole evening.
"You alright?" Daryl asked as he wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand.
Merle nodded. "Yeah, little brother. I can't believe you tore the poor bastards sleeves off though." He chuckled.
"Andrea already told Carol that she had a thing for the guy. I just thought it would be fun to see what it looked like if he was rednecked up a bit. And Carol said she'd cut me off if I told Milton what Andrea said." He flashed Merle a grin.
"You didn't just say 'rednecked up'." Merle shook his head and grinned. "She already holdin' the sweet stuff over your head, huh? You're whipped, boy."
Daryl snorted. "No I ain't. And I best get back up there. Sophia's madder than hell that she didn't get to listen in earlier."
Merle just gave him a stiff nod, wishing that Daryl could have stayed out there a little longer. He didn't want to be alone with his thoughts.
Daryl headed off towards the house and then Merle was alone once more. He hurried back to the room he had been looking through the night before. He had an idea for something to use for his stump. Right now it was still wrapped up but it was going to be an ugly mess when it was all healed.
He turned on the light in the tack room. The low watt bare bulb that hung from the ceiling didn't give off much light but it was still better than using candles or lanterns. He wasn't used to being able to have access to electricity anymore.
He heard the door open up before he even made it all the way to the work bench. He didn't turn around right away. He already figured he knew who was there.
"Follow me out here for a little more of that teasin', girlie?" He asked making sure he kept his voice gruff even though his pulse had quickened a bit.
"No such luck, asshole."
Merle stiffened at the sound of Shane's voice. He turned around slowly and sure enough there the man stood. In the middle of the room. Gun aimed right at Merle's head. Again.