Minority page 6

Glenn tensed when he woke up. For a moment he didn't recognize his surroundings and he could hear someone talking. It was Merle – he recognized his deep raspy voice and turned his head. He suppressed a yelp when he found Daryl's face right next to him. Daryl just smirked and put a finger to his lips – indicating Glenn should be quiet. He nodded towards the bed and Glenn listened for a moment. "…Jew bastard has a damn staring problem." Merle rambled on.

"Jew? You mean Shane?" Peaches asked. "What makes you think he's Jewish?"

"It don't matter what he is, the next time I catch that long nose fucker staring at your tits I'm gonna smack them beady eyes right out his head." Merle threatened. Peaches laughed quietly and shifted a little. Glenn couldn't really see them but it looked like Merle had his head on her chest as he talked. "I'm gonna put my name on 'em so he knows who they belong to."

"Oh yeah?" Peaches asked. She seemed to be reveling in his possessiveness. Glenn imagined this was how they were when nobody else was around. In public they yelled obscenities at each other but behind closed doors they were sickeningly sweet.

"Yeah, big black tattoo, right here on your left one. M.E.R.L.E." He said. From her giggling Glenn guessed he had traced his name with his finger across her skin. "Make it in those nice cursive letters."

"With a scull for one of the 'E's." Peaches indulged him. Merle laughed. Glenn heard a shift like he sat up. The bed springs creaking under his shifting weight. When he glanced up he saw Merle was now leaning over her.

"Mm…you know me so well, Peach-pit." He said. Daryl snorted – unable to stay quiet anymore.

"Ain't they just so cute together, Glenn?" he asked loudly. Merle sat up and glared at them. Daryl looked over his shoulder with a cheeky grin. "I'm getting cavities over here."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. We suddenly had children last night." Peaches sighed. The mood had been ruined but it didn't diminish her desire to get off. She'd give them five minutes to get dressed and get the hell out before she ceased to care and pulled Merle on top of her – whether they were out of the room or not. Merle covered her breasts with the sheet as he moved out of bed.

"Take note, little brother – that is how you romance a woman." He said as he pulled on his jeans. "Not that it'll do a 'fudge packer' like you any good." He added and dodged a boot Daryl threw at him.

"Good morning boys." Peaches said as she sat up – the sheet tucked under her arms securely. "I trust you'll be cleaning out a room of your own today."

"Hell yes." Daryl said.

"They how about you get started. Like…right now."


They all ventured back to the farm after a quick breakfast. Returning to bury their family and friends and gather supplies for their temporary stay over at the motel. They had already started clearing rooms when Shane and Rick got in an argument about what needed to be done. He suggested that they split up since there was so much to do but Katherine mentioned that the farm would need all the hands they could get so everyone went. Even Carl and Lori. None of them looking forward to putting down their friends.

Dale was the first to be found. When they drove up in the RV he came lumbering over. Even after being killed and reanimating he recognized the vehicle and reached for the door handle when they stopped. He couldn't open it – his dexterity diminished when he changed. Andrea also noticed he was missing his fingers. She loaded the rifle after she climbed on top of the RV. He looked up at her. Grunting what clearly sounded like an 'A'. She let out a sob as she pulled the trigger. He went down and she climbed off the roof. She went to his side and stroked his face. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She cried as he let out his last gasps. She suddenly yelped at the sound of loud groan. Rick was by her side a second later aiming at something in the grass. A random walker was crawling towards them – it was all he could do with one leg gone and the other badly mangled. As he reached for them what was left of his hand dangled off of his wrist sickeningly. Rick put him out his misery and sighed. Carol put her hands over her face and went back inside. Maybe she should've stayed at the motel – occupy herself with cleaning so she wouldn't have to witness it. After losing Sophia she lost whatever tolerance she had for such things. Daryl and Robin went around the perimeter – picking off the remaining walkers that ambushed the farm. Some of them had wandered of into the woods and it took a great deal of the day to hunt them down. They loaded most of the bodies on the old blue truck to take back to the motel.

"What the hell for?" Andrea asked when she over heard Katherine and Merle discussing it. "Why don't we take the ones we know?"

"Because we use the bodies to ward off other walkers." Katherine explained.

"I call it the 'body guard'." Merle said – rather proud of his clever wording. "We've seen it work. It'll allow us to cook and stay at the motel longer. The walking-walkers won't be able to smell us over their buddies."

"We don't use the people we know because…well would you want him out there?" Katherine asked as she looked at Dale. "He deserves to be buried don't you think?" They all ran towards the farm house when they heard Maggie screaming. Hershel was on the porch – holding Patricia's arms, trying to talk to her as she growled and reached for his face.

"Please! I know you're in there." He pleaded. "You just saw me yesterday."

"Back up." Merle said as he grabbed her. With Maggie's help, Katherine separated Hershel from her and turned him away as Merle put a knife through her temple. "What were you thinking!" He yelled at Hershel.

"I never got to say good bye." He cried as he eased down into one of the chairs along the porch. "Couldn't you have let me say good bye?" Merle made a face like he had a bad taste in his mouth before he stormed off. Katherine sighed. It had been a really long time since they lost someone in their group. And Wyatt had been no real love loss – they had just left him there in the road where Merle killed him. She didn't realize how hardened they had become. How unsympathetic. She put her hand on Hershel's shoulder and helped him down to the floor as he went to kneel next to Patricia. Dealing with his children would be more taxing. It was probably better to do it where he couldn't see.


Hershel insisted on staying at his farm after they cleaned it up. He was mourning and even though he told the others to go Maggie, Charles and T-Dog stayed with him. The others went about business as usual. The Randall problem persisted, especially when he escaped and ran off. The next morning when they found him gone they were on high alert. He had stolen some water and food. It looked like he tried to hot wire the food truck but couldn't figure it out. He ended up destroying the starter.

"If we do find him I'll kill him myself." Katherine said. She had made it across five states in the food truck and now it was out of commission because of some idiot, backwoods kid that didn't know what the hell he was doing. Shane and Glenn tried to fix it but there were several parts that needed to be replaced. "What's the old saying about being idle and the devil?" she said to Glenn as they headed out. She mentioned going to find the parts at a used car dealership she spotted and he jumped at the chance to do something.

"Call it 'distracting myself'." He answered when she asked why he had wanted to go suddenly. Just the other day he had been relieved to not go anywhere. "If I sit still for too long Maggie or Daryl might find me and start talking about life or whatever. Or I'll have too much time to think about my place in the universe. Plus you couldn't go alone. Merle and Shane are on guard, Daryl's hunting. Rick is attached to Lori until further notice."

"I suppose you're right. Mischa said she wasn't feeling well and Robin in not exactly 'Miss AutoParts'." She said. When they got to the car dealership half the stock of cars was burned, some others were booted. The bullet casings on the ground suggested the military rolled through the area and had done this to prevent people from leaving. But why? Katherine paused for a second and pulled her gun out. Glenn followed suit hesitantly. He got her attention and signed something to her. She gestured back and he swallowed. They moved through the dealership slowly until they found an SUV. It would more than likely have the part they were looking for that would fit the truck. As Katherine kept watch Glenn went to work boosting what they needed. He thought about what they had signed to each other.

'What's wrong?'

'Could be a trap.' He hadn't even thought that. Randall had broken their truck – who's to say he wasn't waiting there to ambush them with the rest of his group. Waiting until they came to replace the parts he seemingly broke by accident. The SUV had most of what they were looking for. They broke open another and got spares just in case. When it became apparent that they weren't going to be jumped they took a few minutes to look around. Glenn held back a smile when he spotted a relatively new RV parked behind the dealership.

"Katherine." He called quietly. She ran over to him and they walked around the vehicle. "It's a little too good to be true."

"That means it usually is." She said as she tapped on the window. After a few moments of silence she pulled the handle and opened the door. When it flung open out came a half decayed woman – her head hitting the pavement with a sickening smack. A flurry of trapped flies followed her out with a horrible odor. The smell from inside made them both turn around and gag. Katherine tried to keep her food down but when the wind pushed another whiff up her nose she threw up. She stumbled away and Glenn followed.

"You okay?" He asked.

"That was gross." She answered.

"Surprised you're not used to it. You guys use dead bodies to line your—

"No, I mean barfing like that. Now my breath smells like old hotdogs." She said and spit.

"Let's get back." He chuckled a little. He found it funny that not the dead body but rather the fact that the smells made her throw up grossed her out.


"Where's Mischa?" Peaches asked as she started cooking the chicken Charles had brought them from the farm. They all knew Hershel gave him the birds and told him to go share with the others as a way of getting rid of his constant caretakers. With some persistence Maggie and T-dog joined them at the motel as well. Charles assured her that part of the grieving process was 'wanting to be alone' and that Hershel would be fine. There was also the possibility that Hershel wanted to kill himself but Charles kept that thought to himself.

"She's got a migraine." Robin answered as she cleaned the surfaces in the food truck. Cleaning supplies we not exactly needed for survival so they were one of the few things that were still abundant. And one of the many things people forgot about using. With Merle, Daryl and Robin bringing back wild animals to eat there was a serious need for cleanliness. Especially around their cooking surfaces. One time in South Carolina they had forgone the regiment and everyone got food poisoning. A few days of spouting from both ends was enough to make them all mysophobes. It was a miracle if you survived a paper cut now a days. They sterilized a pot of water everyday, specifically for washing their hands. Another pot of boiled water was for washing food. They had yet to run out of plastic forks and plates. When they did and they were forced to use metal and porcelain flatware they'd have to have another pot for washing and sterilizing them.

"Got anything stronger than ibuprofen?" Katherine asked as she looked at Charles. He reached for the black bag that was constantly at his side. But before he could search through it T-dog handed Katherine a bottle of pills.

"Got these from Daryl – he got them from Merle." He said when she lifted her eyebrow at the label.

"You still got my 'oxy' stash?" Merle asked.

"Had." Daryl corrected him. "We uh…had a string of injuries."

"God damn it." Merle pouted. It would've been nice to have at least a little. His back and feet ached every night. And getting Peaches to rub him down was an uphill battle that could've been avoided with pills.

"She'll have to eat before she takes these." Katherine said before she tossed them to Robin. "Can you give em to her when you bring her dinner?"

"Yeah, but I doubt she'll be able to eat anything. She's been nauseous all day." Robin said.

"She's not pregnant is she?" T-dog joked. Robin laughed.

"No. She said headaches like this were normal for her when she gets stressed out. She got one a while back when we were in Rabun. After cleaning up the farm and everything else…" she trailed off and gazed up at the room door. "I just hope her nosebleed is better."

"That normal for migraines?" Katherine asked.

"No," Charles answered with a shrug. It was reflex – when someone asked a medical question he new the answer to he responded without even really thinking. He looked up when he noticed everyone was looking at him. "But the nausea is. I'm sure the nose bleed is from the elevation change." He assured them. Everyone still looked worried.

"Maybe you should go take her temperature, doc." Daryl suggested.

"She's not sick." Robin insisted. "If she was I would've noticed a bite. Believe me, she doesn't have one."

"She's right. Let's not jump to conclusions like that." Rick said to Daryl. "People do still get regular ailments. Allergies, minor infections and the occasional stress-induced nose bleed."

When the food was ready everyone ate and Katherine made a plate for Robin to take up to Mischa. When darkness fell they kept their lights low just incase Randall decided to come back with his group. Shane was on one end of the motel strip, keeping watch from the rental office. Andrea was on the other end, at the top the stairs – periodically watching the woods through her scope. She nodded to Robin when she made it to the top of the stairs.

"Isn't that cold by now?" She asked – referring to the plate of food.

"Yeah, but the smell will have diminished somewhat as well. It'll be easier on her nausea." Robin said with a small smile. She continued on to the room and went in the door. Andrea jumped when she heard Robin scream. She raced to the room to find she had dropped the plate of food. "Oh my God…" Andrea followed her line of sight to the bed where Mischa lay. Her skin clearly paler than it had been before – her eyes already forming dark circles around them.

"Oh my God…"


Everyone gathered in the room once they heard the news. Mischa had passed away. Sometime between when Robin last talked to her at noon and sunset when they gathered for dinner. Robin said she had gone in the room to see if Mischa wanted to join but she had been asleep. "She looked asleep. I'm…I'm sure her chest was moving." Robin stammered as she wrung her hands around her bow. "I thought her headache had made her sleep and I didn't want to disturb her. She was up all last night in pain."

"Oh well. Don't make a difference now." Daryl said as he pointed his crossbow at her head.

"NO!" Robin screamed and shoved him. The arrow shot into the bathroom door instead. "You redneck retard! She wasn't bitten!"

"How do you know? She could've hidden it." Daryl said as he went to retrieve his arrow.

"From me?" Robin asked. She glared at him when he reached for her body. "Don't touch her!"

"Push me again and we are gonna have a problem." He warned as he pointed his crossbow at her. She just grasped an arrow in her quiver. Her glare daring him to fire and see what she would do about it.

"She's right." Charles said. They all looked at him as he knelt next to the bed. He looked at her arms before lifting the sheet and examining her legs. With a slight grunt he turned her stiff body over and looked for any sign of a bite. "Mischa doesn't have a scratch on her. The last time she even came near a walker was nearly a week ago. Besides, she's cold. If she had the fever it would've lasted at least this long if she's been dead since earlier tonight."

"Then what was it? People don't just die for no reason." Lori said.

"Actually, they do." Charles said. "Some people – their hearts give out, their organs fail, they get sleep apnea and never start breathing again…but that's mostly in babies." He eased Mischa on to her back and pulled her eyelid open. He shined a tiny light in her eye and sat back after a moment. "It looks like she had an aneurism."

"A what?" Merle asked.

"A burst blood vessel in her brain." Charles explained. "A big one."

"Impossible – she was in the army. It would've shown up in her physical when she enlisted." Robin said.

"Not unless it started developing afterwards or if she ran out of her medicine to treat it. A hard blow to the head could've aggravated it. Her migraine may have caused it to finally burst." He said. Katherine's eyes went wide.

"A blow to the head? You mean like when we were attacked at the outlet mall?" she asked. They all absently touched where the cannibals had hit them in their heads.

"Yeah." Charles answered. "Even something lighter than that – like a hard punch to the face or a bad knock against the roof of a car could do it too." Rick and Shane looked at each other. Lori shuffled back and forth as she rubbed her neck. Merle and T-dog avoided looking at each other.

"I had forgotten." Lori said. "About stuff like this. Appendicitis. Heart attacks. Cancer. I completely forgot about dying somewhat naturally." No one said she was right but she was. Thoughts of dying from something that was considered normal had taken a back seat to walkers chewing your face off.


They buried Mischa at the farm the next day at sunrise. Maggie was delighted when Herschel offered to say a few words. It seemed he was feeling better and getting back to his old self. They had yet to perform a official funeral for all the people they lost in the walker attack on the farm two days ago. They buried them and after his short sermon Herschel asked if anyone had anything to say. Robin stepped forward and pulled an arrow from her quiver and a pen from her pocket.

"When me and Mischa got involved with one another we promised that if either one of use got bitten that we'd be the ones to take each other out. She took a bullet out of her gun and said she would always have one with my name on it should that happen." As she talked she wrote something on the shaft of the arrow. She showed everyone once she was done what she had written on it: Mischa Cassin, 29. She reached in her pocket again and pulled out Mischa's dog tags. She stabbed the arrow into the dirt as a marker and wrapped her dog tags around it. What little possessions she had were buried with her in her camouflage backpack – no one but Mischa knew what was in there and it seemed fitting that it go underground with her. "Unfortunately, our pact had its flaws." She admitted and let out a little laugh.

"She was a good marksmen." Peaches said. "Picking off walkers on the road won't be the same without her 'betting money' that she can hit one."

"Betting money?" Daryl asked. "Where would you spend it?" Peaches laughed but he didn't get why. She'd explain it to him later.

"She was resilient. She survived four weeks, holed up in a 7/11 in Pennsylvania. She hadn't lost the ability to trust others – she asked me if I was a cannibal, I said no and she believed me." Charles said and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'll miss her. It's going to be a long, long time before I meet another person from Delhi."

"We'd be trapped by walkers in some military base that promised a safe haven if it wasn't for her. She's the one that told us all of them had gone down after they lost track of the joint chiefs and the president." Katherine said. Everyone in Rick's group looked at her shocked but Katherine didn't seem to notice – she just sighed and placed a few rocks around Robin's arrow to keep it steady. Merle just shrugged.

"She was quiet. That's what I liked best." He said. Peaches hit him lightly in the arm but laughed despite herself. They all did. They stood there for a few more minutes before Katherine clapped her hand together.

"We should get back before dark." She said and they headed for the trucks.


"What else did she tell you?" Rick asked. Katherine turned to him with a somewhat puzzled look until she remembered what she said earlier at the funeral.

"Oh um, not much else. All the bases were taken out from the inside – y'know someone who was infected but got in anyway. The last base to go down according to Mischa was one in Nevada. It's so hot out there in the dessert it gave them an edge against the walkers during the day. But any extreme whether will do that. I've seen the walkers stop and look up at the sky like turkeys when it rains. They don't do so good in deep puddles either. But at night…it's weird – it's like they can see in the dark or something." Katherine said.

"Did Mischa know anything about what causes it? Maybe something about a cure?" Lori asked.

"No, nothing like that." Katherine answered. "Her higher ups just told her to hold out as long as she could. Don't get bit, don't get scratched, and don't eat anything they've touched. They'd eventually die off without eating, just like normal humans." She eyed them for a second. "What makes you think there's a cure?" Rick told her about Doctor Jenner and the CDC and she had to sit down after hearing the infection had gone global. She had been thinking the whole time the United States was just cut off because all their means of communication were down. There had been nobody tending to the satellites or power grids for months now. One of her plans including acquiring a ship or a yacht and sailing south to the isolated islands down there. She was thinking about the possibility of an immunity-type of cure when something suddenly hit her. "Do you think the infection itself was supposed to be a cure?" she asked.

"Jenner never said."

"What do you mean?" Lori asked.

"It reanimates a dead body. Wouldn't it be a bitch if this whole thing was caused by a bunch of scientists trying to find a cure for death?" She let out a laugh but Rick and Lori just sat there stunned. They had never thought of it that way. "Like the fever – it's like it's meant to kill everything bad inside, like germs or a cancer that might be in your system but instead it just kills you. The 'restart' part was more than likely supposed to restart your immune system."

"And the flesh eating thing?" Carl asked. They all looked at him suddenly – they thought he fell asleep a while ago. "Why do they eat people?"

"That… I do not know." Katherine admitted. "And I can't imagine how it became a 'side effect'."

"Some side effect." Lori snorted.


Merle looked up when Daryl came upstairs to relieve him of night watch. He knew they were both thinking about their father after Mischa's death. The old bastard had basically died the same way. He had gotten his fat ass out of his recliner and was in the middle of screaming at them for 'being losers' when he seemed to choke on his own words. He went red in the face and then BAM – he collapsed to the floor, dead. The coroner had deemed it a heart attack after the autopsy. They didn't even know their family was at risk like that until then. Red meat, cigarettes and bourbon would do it every time. Merle had quit smoking and took up recreational cocaine – not that it was a healthier switch. The high kept him blissfully oblivious of his 'ticking clock' though. Daryl had been a vegetarian for all of two days before he said 'fuck it, if I'm gonna die I'm gonna die eating what ever the hell I want'.

"Hey." He said as he took Merle's perch on the stairs. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Merle asked.

"You lost one of your girls." Daryl pointed out. Merle snorted when Daryl referred to them that way. He just shrugged.

"She didn't suffer. And we didn't have to put her down like one of those poor fuckers." He nodded towards the 'body guard' outside the chain-link fence. "She was lucky. She went peacefully in a non-peaceful world." Daryl just nodded. They shared a cigarette before Merle went to bed.