I came too I'm not sure how much later. I was tossed over someone's shoulder, being jostled around left and right. When my vision came to all I saw was the ground and the back of the person's feet. Then I remembered who exactly was holding me. I began to panic, flailing on his shoulder wildly.
Merle dropped me to the ground harshly, throwing me from his shoulders. I coughed as I hit the dirt with a thud and Michonne bent down next to me, hovering over my face. Merle looked down at me, his face annoyed. I glared up at him, biting back tears.
I screamed, kicking my feet to try and trip him. Michonne grabbed my legs and I tried fighting her off too, until I saw her hands we also bound. A sudden realization hit me like a ton of bricks.
"You're selling us out…" I said quietly, looking up at him in disbelief. Merle said nothing, simply stared back at me unflinchingly. I growled at him. "You bastard! WHY?!" Merle didn't like my tone of voice and he pulled me to my feet violently.
"The Governor made a deal, the two of you and we all give peace a chance!" he screamed, pushing me back from him. I went to jump at him again but Michonne stepped in front of me, shaking her head warningly. "Rick woulda blinked."
"But not you." Michonne said sarcastically. Merle stared at her, amused.
"He had already talked The Governor down to just Michonne here, but I know Phillip a bit better than that. He's a proud man, woulda came down on the prison anyways until both of ya were dead." Merle sniffed. My lips quivered with a rage I had never felt "Like I said in the tombs, the needs of the many…"
"I stood up for you!" I growled, glaring at him. "I stuck my neck out for you, and this is how you repay me?! You're garbage!" I spat at the ground next to his feet. Merle glared at me, but he did nothing.
"Now that you're awake I think your fine to walk." He returned coolly. Merle turned away from me, tugging at the rope that was bound to my hands. I pulled my bindings to my mouth, trying desperately to chew my way through them. It was no use, so I resigned to walking as slowly as possible. Daryl would notice I was missing sooner or later, he'd come for us.
A walker growled from a lawn beside me and I glanced over at it. Merle chuckled, stopping us where we stood. He reached down for Michonne's sword, grabbing the hilt.
"May I?" He began to walk towards the walker, but Michonne stayed silent, both of us staring after him in disgust. "I'll take that as a yes." Merle called back. He squared off in front of it, and in one clean motion severed it's head from it's body. I jumped, watching the walkers head roll to the floor. Merle laughed, pleased with himself before sheathing the katana again. "You know what? I'd figured you woulda run."
"Wanted our weapons back before we get away." Michonne replied sweetly, smiling at him. I inhaled deeply, controlling my rage. Merle had lost his mind and Michonne was planning on using that to her advantage. Merle laughed at her, walking back over to us.
"It may go down that way, but if I were you two I wouldn't get my hopes up." Merle grabbed up our leashes again, pushing my shoulder. "Move." He commanded. I glanced up at Michonne and she nodded her head, so I did as I was told, slowly walking forward.
Merle led us down a few quiet roads, leading to small subdivisions. I watched the tree line carefully for any signs of walkers, feeling completely exposed to them at this point.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked again, this time more calm.
"I want to be with my brother." Merle said plainly. I glared at the ground in front of me, staring hard at the street ahead. "My brother wants to be in the prison. This little trip? Maybe it'll keep the place standing. If I pull it off, maybe all is forgiven." I narrowed my eyes, suddenly feeling like we weren't just talking about the deal with Woodbury anymore.
"That's a whole lot of maybes." I said quietly. Merle stopped us again, this time in front of a two-story home. It was pretty and perhaps before the world ended I could have lived there. But now it was deserted, run down, and I was fairly certain a few corpses littered the floor inside.
"You gotta play the hand your dealt, I only have one." Merle said coyly, walking up to the van and opening the door. He looked around for only a moment before shutting it again, disappointed.
"You talk about the weight of what you have to do, how you can handle it." Michonne started quietly. Merle shifted awkwardly, not looking at her. "A bad man, someone truly evil, they're light as a feather, they don't feel a thing."
"I've killed 16 men since all this went down." Merle stated matter of factly. He looked up at me and I looked to the ground, shuddering. There were moans off in the tree line behind us and frantically Merle ushered us back out onto the street. "Lets go." He aid quietly.
We ran swiftly, until my lungs were about to give out. I would never take my arms for granted again, it was hard enough walking with out the use of them, but running? That was another story in itself.
"Alright, I think we're good." Merle said after a while.
"Yeah, we're great." Michonne's words dripped sarcasm. I watched her curiously, wondering how she was able to keep such a laid back attitude about being kidnapped to be taken to our death. He led us over to a run down hotel, quietly tying us off at a pole next to an older, beat up sedan.
I watched him carefully, how hard he struggled with just one hand. I could take him down if he didn't have that stupid shank duck taped to his stump. I glanced up at Michonne to find that she, too, was studying him. Merle grinned up at us before taking off to the car.
"Don't go wanderin' off" he teased. I watched him quietly as he pulled the antenna off to jimmy the door open. I looked at Michonne, her eyes never leaving him and cleared my throat.
"Next time he takes us we should run, one of us can get away, I know we can." I said confidently. Michonne shook her head silently, still watching him. I turned to find the car door open. I could see his feet on the other side as he tried to hot-wire it.
"We have no weapons, I don't even know where we are." She reasoned with me.
"I can track us back to the prison, Daryl's been teaching me." I pleaded with her. Again she shook her head.
"He has our weapons. We can talk him down, I know we can." I sighed, realizing I was getting nowhere with her. I went to open my mouth again when the car alarm began to blare loudly. My heart dropped and I glanced around in horror. Snarling could be heard off in the distance and I shifted anxiously as walkers began to shamble towards us.
"MERLE!" Michonne shouted loudly. Merle didn't move and I grimaced as more and more cropped up out of the trees, from behind buildings. There was snarling behind me and I turned to see a walker step out of one of the open hotel rooms. My eyes widened and I stared at it terrified. I struggled against my bindings, but they didn't give.
The walker grew closer to me and I kicked it back, it stumbled, falling, slowly rising to its feet again. Michonne had just kicked another walker to the ground, smashing its head under her boot.
"Michonne, move!" I yelled. I ran at the walker, wrapping the chord for my binding around its neck. I pulled it backwards into the pole, pulling on the walker with all my strength. I felt the wire tearing at my flesh, but I pulled harder and harder. Michonne grabbed onto my cord, pulling with me and in an instant my cord had decapitated the walker, its head rolling to the ground.
I barely had time to breath when another walker jumped out of the room behind me. I was taken off guard and it grabbed on to my sleeve. I screamed, jerking away from it while Michonne tried to kick out it's knees. There was a gunshot, and the walker dropped to the ground next to us.
Merle stood a few feet away, his gun still pointed on our direction. He fired a few more shots at walkers that were advancing behind us before he ran over to us, cutting our bonds.
"Lets go!" he yelled guiding us t the sedan he'd hot-wired, opening the front and back doors for us. I piled into the back seat, eyeing my bow on the seat next to me cautiously. Merle closed our doors with two loud slams, running around the hood and hopping into his own seat. Faster than I could say 'drive', we had taken off and were heading down the street.
My heart was still racing as I glanced out the back window and down the street. The horde was huge, we were lucky to have made it out of there. I took a deep calming breath, catching Merle's eye in the mirror. They seemed so sad, so heavy. He quickly looked away, back out to the street.
We drove for a while, the car ride silent the whole time. We passed random walkers on the street, a few groups, nothing like what we just saw. I frowned, looking at my wrists. The wire had cut them up pretty good, but the bleeding had stopped, and now they just throbbed dully.
"So is this what you do? Take out the trash?" Michonne spoke up quietly, catching me off guard.
"Oh, don't be so hard on yourself darlin." I felt a pang of heartache and I sighed, looking at my lip. I may never hear Daryl call me that again.
"The Governor, Rick, anyone who needs their piss bucket emptied and you come a runnin." She continued, pretending like she didn't hear him. Merle chuckled at her lightly. "Things are different for your brother."
"Yeah they are. Rick says jump and he wants to know how high."
"Mmm-mmm." Michonne interrupted him. "Rick needs him. Respects him. Didn't ask him to do this little job now did he?" Michonne spat at him, looking back out the window.
"No, cause he wants it done." Merle said finally.
"You keep telling yourself that." I said dryly, staring out the window coldly. "The truth is, this could've been your shot. With your skills? A whole new beginning. Even with Daryl, Rick and I in your corner, you choose to stay on the outside. No one's gonna mourn you when they find out what you did to us. Not even Daryl." Merle glanced at me through the rearview, but I paid him no mind. "Especially not Daryl."
"You keep trying to get under my skin, I'm gonna cut that tongue out." Merle said, his eyes trained on me through the rearview. He said the words, but he didn't mean them, there was a lack of heart there, a lack of willingness. He was beginning to feel bad now. "Your buddy is turning you two over, because he's trying to save his own ass. Your as much on the outside as I am, Goldilocks."
"Don't call me that." I said coolly, glaring at him. He smirked at me in the mirror.
"Never heard you complain about it before." He stated bluntly.
"Yeah, that was when we were family. But you ain't mine anymore." I spat, sitting back in my seat. Merle grew quiet, I could discern a frown in his eyes through the rearview. Michonne turned her head slightly, glancing at me through the corners of her eyes. We were wearing on him, perhaps she was right.
We drove for a while longer, the entire time silently. Merle didn't say another word to me, and I remained quiet in the back seat, not once taking my eyes off of him in the rearview. When he looked I was there staring at him, just like I wanted.
"You said you killed 6 men since this game started?" Michonne asked calmly. "You ever kill anyone before?"
"No." Merle replied finally. I narrowed my eyes at her, wondering where she was going with this.
"And how about before Woodbury? Before you met him." Merle glanced over at her, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. He didn't like her question and I knew why. He remained silent. "Hmm. So he saves your life, cleans you up, fed you a line of bullshit. Why would you kill somebody else for him?" Merle stared silently out into the road, trying his best to ignore her. He couldn't though, I could tell in his posture he was breaking down.
"We could always go back." I said quietly from the back seat. His eyes turned to me and he shook his head, chuckling.
"Ain't happening." He replied.
"All of us." I ignored him, trying to sound as calm as I possibly could. "We can just go back." Merle shook his head again, opening his mouth to speak. He shut it, thinking better of it. He knew he could never go back, not after this. If Daryl didn't kill him, Rick would.
"I can't go back." Merle's voice cracked and he bit his lip. "Don't you understand that? I can't." I remained quiet for a moment or two, debating if I wanted to push the matter further. His shoulder's told me I did, they were slumped, beaten.
"Why?" I asked quietly. Merle sighed, slowly putting on the brakes. I looked at Michonne, my heart racing, and she glanced at me momentarily before her eyes returned to Merle. Merle threw the car in park, sitting quietly before turning to us.
"Because of all these things that I've done." Merle's words were sad. He reached in the backseat for my hand, taking it gently in his, running his thumb over my fingers. I looked up at him quietly and he frowned at me apologetically. In one swift movement he cut my bindings. I sat shock as they fell to the floor, followed by Michonne's.
"You go back with them." He said to Michonne. Merle looked at me again, swallowing hard. "You go back and you take care of my brother. Get ready for what's next." His eyes were wet and he blinked back a few tears. Slowly he reached over Michonne, opening her door. "I've got something I've gotta do on my own."
Quickly I grabbed up my bow and hunting knife, opening the door, and slowly stepping out. I looked back at Merle, our eyes meeting as he handed Michonne her katana. I shut the door quietly, Michonne closing hers as well.
"I mean it Goldilocks, Daryl is my blood. You best treat him well." Merle called to me before driving off down the highway. I stared after him, barely noticing Michonne checking the damage to my cheek and my wrists.
"Where is he going?" I asked her quietly, as the sedan faded into the distance.
"He's going to assassinate the Governor."
Sorry for teh long wait guys! My family is in town for the fourth of July so i've been doing stuff with them :( don't hate me!
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Stay beautiful!