Minority page 13

"We're starting to match." Merle tried to joke as he looked at Peaches' bandaged hand. But she could see the crease between his brows. The lines around his mouth twitching as he forced a smile and his failed attempt to hold back tears. When he looked her in the eyes he finally broke down. "I'm so sorry!" he wailed. She couldn't help but feel for him. He looked absolutely miserable. He probably didn't get any sleep while she was in quarantine for the pass four days. When she didn't develop a fever after the first day it was clear that what Merle did saved her from turning. Charles still didn't let her out of the clinic. The pot had only sealed one knuckle. He had to sew up the other one and for the other three days he was monitoring her for signs of gangrene. She came through with flying colors – although it wasn't hard with how many antibiotics Charles pumped into her. He gave her a bottle of iron pills to help with her blood loss and sent her on her way around dinnertime on the forth day. She had entered her room and was pleased to find Merle. After a tight hug and a few kisses the guilt overwhelmed him. "I'm sorry!"

"Shh…" She hushed him as she patted his hand. "Stop that now. Baby it's okay."

"Do you hate me?" He asked. She had never seen him so unsure. Daryl had his bouts of insecurity – biting the nail on his thumb and shifting around. But Merle was always so confident. Her guess was that he hadn't had to do anything like that since cutting off his own hand and he had hated himself for it – had nightmares about it and cried over it when he thought she couldn't hear him.

"What? Of course not!" She cupped his face and made him look at her. "You saved my life." This time his smile was genuine. She leaned up and kissed him. "Did you figure out how the walker got in?" she asked – changing the subject somewhat. "Did we miss one?

"There was a hole in the fence in the back – some rotted wood planks fell out of place and he came right in. Probably attracted by all the commotion lately. Felt the heat coming off the building and smelt the leftovers in the kitchen and that's where you met him." Merle answered.

"There's never just one." She pointed out.

"We've been doing sweeps." He assured her. He looked at her hand again, he couldn't help it. "Can I see it?" It was an odd request – she had only needed to see his stump once to get used to the idea of it. More often than not the veterans at her former job were missing limbs and littered with disfiguring scars. She never recoiled at the sight of it or gave him that disgusted looked that seemed to be permanently plastered on Lori's face. She unwrapped her bandages and revealed it to him. Her skin was still very gross looking but he just studied it – almost amazed. "You keep that blade sharp as a tack. It took them clean off." He gently took her hand and kissed the back of it.

"What'd you do with them?" She asked. "I know Daryl is fond of trophies—

"Oh God, Peach!" He scoffed. "I buried them in the woods… for Christ's sake." He assured her.

"I was just asking." She said and patted his shoulder. "Be careful. If water gets on that spot another 'me' might grow." He laughed at her joke before he hugged her again. She rested her head on his chest until she heard something. "So the new group is still here?"

"Unfortunately yes. A useless coon, a punk rock mamas boy and a rat bastard and his creepy hoes – they're a real good group." He said sarcastically. She slapped his chest and he grunted. "Don't get all pissy – you're a useful coon."

"Merle! Stop trying to make racial slurs a term of endearment." She pushed away from him.

"Don't start." He said as he pulled her back to him. "Life's too short and all that shit. I almost lost you…" He pressed his forehead to hers and smiled. "I'm beat, you wanna take a nap with me?"

"You haven't been sleeping?" she asked – her tone switching to 'counselor mode' in an instant. She held his face so she could examine the dark circles under his eyes. Merle didn't have the energy to tell her not to read into it. She knew when he didn't sleep he was prone to fits of rage and flashbacks. And with her in the clinic the others wouldn't know how to settle him down.

"Who can sleep with that other little bastard moaning and groaning? He's hanging on day after day when he can just lie down and die. Or ask anyone to put a bullet in him and put him out of everyone's misery." Merle said.

"He's still alive? It's been four days!" Peaches said.

"Define alive. Cause he stopped walking around two days ago. Stopped making sense yesterday. Stopped talking an hour ago. Charles said his eyes are unresponsive – should be any minute now."

"Whose gonna put him down?" Peaches asked. Merle just shrugged and kicked off his boots.

"Not gonna be me. Let's hit the sack." She smiled when he dove into bed and made himself comfortable against the pillows. He patted the spot next to him and she never thought the lumpy motel bed looked better. The cot in their makeshift clinic left much to be desired. She eased into bed and rested her head on Merle's chest. She'd get back on top of things tomorrow.


"What the hell is this?" Peaches asked when she spotted Bobby. He had died and reanimated some time in the night. But instead of killing him, his friends had chained him to his bike.

"Well we were thinking some kind of 'blaze of glory' funeral pyre with him and his hog but it'd be a waste of good Harley. What with no one making them or any car anymore – it's priceless." Kevin said. So we pinned him down and pulled all his teeth so he can't bite anybody and chained him up good so he won't be going anywhere until we know what to do with him."

"Outside the gate." Peaches demanded. "No way in hell that thing is staying in here with us." Kevin understood her right away – glancing at her hand for a moment. After her last encounter with a walker she didn't want Bobby so close. She unchained the gate and opened it wide enough for him to get it out.

"Yes ma'am." Kevin said as he moved to roll the bike out. Bobby let out several grunts and growls as he tried to get free and get to Kevin.

"That thing is our friend, bitch." Jo said when he over heard their conversation. "And he stays in with us." Peaches looked at him. Not glaring or scowling - just looked.

"Is that so? Well you and your friends don't have an 'in' right now." Peaches said.

"You planning on throwing us out?" Lucy asked as she backed up Jo.

"Ask anyone. I'll do it if you pose a threat. If you want to go on the other side with your 'friend' there I can have it arranged."

"You threatening me bitch—" Jo reeled back when Peaches backhanded him.

"The name is Peaches. I'm only gonna tell you once before those get a lot harder." She said. Jo grabbed her wrist.

"Hot damn! I think I'm in love cause I definitely love finding rueful little skanks like you and beating them until they do anything for me—

"We got a problem here?" Jo let go of her when he heard Daryl. He tickled Peaches under her chin and she flinched away from him.

"Just having a word with your leader about what to do with Bobby." He lied. From the look on Daryl's face he wasn't fooling anyone. Peaches looked like she wanted to drive her machete through the back of his head.

"She ain't our leader." Daryl clarified. "But if she wants your friend outside the fence – out he goes."

"No problem there, Daryl." Lucy said – feigning compliance. She bumped past Peaches and helped Kevin push the bike out.

"You're popular." Daryl said quietly. Peaches shot him a look.

"I was handling that." She insisted – clearly annoyed that he had stepped in to 'save her'.

"With all the grace in which you handle my brother. You can't beat and fuck everyone." He said. She smacked his arm and he just gave her a cheeky grin.

"They need to learn."

"You catch more flies with…well they're all attracted to rotting corpses lately. I couldn't tell you where to find honey. But you could trap some bees but then you'd need honey to get them first and then you run into your first problem." He noticed she was looking at him oddly.

"You've been spending too much time with Glenn." She said when she realized he usually went on tangents like that.

"My point is try a lighter 'punch' with these people and maybe they won't kill us in our sleep." Daryl said. She smiled at him. "Plus…" He flicked her three-finger hand. "You don't need to prove nothing." She tapped her forehead against his before going back to watching the others lock the gate back up. Kevin smiled at her as he trotted off to do whatever with them.

"He might be alright."

"You're just saying that cause he's black." Daryl said. Peaches laughed.


Merle couldn't help but notice Kevin as he talked to Katherine. Not only was he a large individual but also there was level of distrust that Merle automatically had for all black people that had him watching the man nearly all day. He was getting too friendly, too quick. Katherine had barbs of her own – if she didn't want his company she'd find away to get rid of him. But Daryl often referred to the members of his group as 'his' and because of that he found himself on the verge of 'mother-henning'. His Peaches, his girls—

"Your Katherine has got a boyfriend." Daryl said as he came up next to Merle. He gave Daryl a look before he went back to watching the two as they talked.

"Jealous he's not making eyes at you?" Merle asked. Daryl just shrugged and let his eyes linger on Kevin. "Stop."

"I can look." Merle just rolled his eyes.

"Without thinking with your asshole…what do you think of him?" Merle asked.

"He's black." Daryl answered.

"Besides that."

"He's got a nice ride."

"And?"

"He's somewhat more agreeable than the other douchebags in his group." Daryl said. "Peaches asked him to do something and he had no problem listening to her. Where Lucy and Jo were about to lynch her."

"They what?" Merle growled.

"Yeah, I'm more worried about them than Kevin."

"First time for everything." Merle snorted. They both looked around when the lights flickered on. Merle looked over at the trees, the sun making the sky bright orange. "Another night."


Peaches jumped when Merle suddenly sat up in bed. She groaned, she had just gotten to sleep about an hour ago. She had spent half the night on watch duty – trying to convince everyone she was okay. Merle had been treating her with kid gloves for a week and it was driving her crazy. She was glad that he had already been asleep when she got back to the room. She had slid into bed without waking him. As they slept he had rolled over and wrapped his arms around her – so when he suddenly sprang up she was nearly thrown out of bed. Merle said something slurred and for a second Peaches thought the man was sleep walking. He looked one way then the other like he was confused. But when he suddenly hopped out of bed and started getting dressed she knew Merle was wide-awake. "What's wrong?" Peaches asked as she followed suit. She learned long ago that when Merle got moving it was wise to move with him.

"You don't smell that?" He asked as he walked out on the strip. Peaches noticed Daryl was out there too. Glenn was right behind him – rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Are you sure you're not having a flashback – try to calm down." She patted Merle's shoulder.

"No, he's right. Something is on fire." Daryl said as he sniffled a little. They all jumped when they heard loud boom. The force of a sudden explosion knocked them all over on top of each other as the kitchen went up in a huge plume of smoke and flames. It cut the motel in half and the fire spread over the dry wall like they were fueled by gasoline.

"Get the truck!" Merle said as he shoved Peaches and Glenn down the stairs. Daryl was already down the strip kicking in the door to Katherine's room and going to get her out. Merle jumped over the gap in the walkway to get to Rick, Carl and Lori. They came out their room and he pushed them for the other flight of stairs. He looked over the edge and saw T-dog, Andrea and Beth running for the gate. He looked back, nearly blinded by the light of the fire. Through it he could see Herschel's room – he was right above the kitchen, he never had a chance to wake up – his body burning rapidly in his bed. "Shit." He jumped when Charles and Maggie bumped past him. Carol shrieked when he caught her before she fell to the ground. He followed her to the stairs. He spotted Daryl running to the other one.

"Daddy!" Maggie cried when she saw he didn't make it out. Merle also noticed Lily and Lucy running around back – undoubtedly to get to Bruce and Jo and the bikes. Glenn pulled the food truck around before he hoped out to help Charles get as many supplies as they could out the building before the whole thing went up.

"Get—AH!" He screamed when a walker rounded the building a grabbed him. It was an inch away from biting him when an arrow suddenly pierced it's temple. It dropped and he bolted for the truck – his legs arching from the heavy pack on his back.

"Walkers!" Rick yelled as more wandered into the parking lot. The kitchen explosion must have blown out what remained of the wooden fence in the back. The scene was chaos. Thick smoke made visibility nonexistent in the darkness. The walkers moved through it like it was nothing, attracted by the fire and all the screaming food around them. Glenn felt a hand on his back and nearly took Maggie's head off.

"Run!" She yelled and they dodged a few walkers on their way into the truck.

"Daryl!" he called as they ran. He knew if the other man heard him he'd be able to follow. He spotted Beth and they grabbed her before she could get lost.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Just drive!"