Thank you Caffiend04 for the reviews! Not much interest in this story but it's all mapped out in my head so I'm pressing on.

Chapter 4

She found herself being shaken awake none too gently. Daryl was looking down on them, smiling at how Emily's body was draped over Merle .

"It's Merle's turn for watch, you should go with him learn what to look out for."

She sat up, stretching. Merle let out a groan of annoyance at losing her body heat. Daryl sniffed a laugh.

"Get up asshole, your turn."

"Fuck." Merle rubbed his eyes, "Alright."

"Emily's gonna go with you, might as well start teachin' her now."

"You just want all the blankets."

"Two birds, one bolt." Daryl said gathering up their covers and carrying all of them back to his sleeping bag.

"Fucker." Merle mumbled. "Make sure you dress warm, it gets cold at night." He told Emily as he dragged on a couple more layers. Emily nodded, but he noted that she didn't have much to wear. He strolled over to where Daryl was snuggled under the covers and yanked off a blanket.

"What the fuck!" his brother protested.

"She ain't got a jacket." Merle snickered at him.

"Ugh, here." Daryl grabbed his jacket and threw it at his brother.

"Thanks." Emily told Daryl's back as he settled back down. All she got in return was a noncommittal grunt.

Merle handed her the garment before ducking out of the tent. Emily put the warm jacket on, grateful she wasn't going to have to face the cold in just her thin sweater. Merle was sitting on a log smoking a cigarette when she stepped outside, she sat on the opposite side facing away from him. She figured he could watch his side and she could watch hers.

He didn't say anything to her as she sat down, but Merle was pleased that she seemed to be taking watch seriously and not as an excuse to sit and chatter his ear off. Merle smoked his cigarette and enjoyed the silence for a bit.

After about an hour and a half of nothing from her end he leaned over to make sure she wasn't asleep on him. Emily was wide awake scanning the area around her, he chuckled.

"Good to see you ain't fuckin' around."

"I definitely do not want to be surprised by those bastards." She shook her head. The look of seriousness and wide eyed fright she gave him made him chuckle a bit more.

"One or two ain't bad, they're slow and stupid. It's a group ya gotta watch out for." Merle nodded.

"Right now I gotta watch out for all of them, even one gives me a problem." She gave a little unconscious pout.

Now that's damn cute Merle adjusted himself, now was not the time. He got up and walked along the perimeter of their camping area. So far they had been lucky, it had been very quiet here but he was getting a bad feeling that their luck wouldn't last long.

He sat back down on his side of the log, Emily glanced at him, a small smile on her lips. He studied her as she continued to dutifully watch the woods for signs of trouble. Merle realized this was the most time he'd spent with a woman. They had been basically living together for about two months, true he didn't talk to her much, but he took care of her, she was around. He was surprised that she didn't bother him. He'd had several girlfriends in his time, they never lived with him, Daryl's never did either, after a night maybe two (if they were on a bender) they were dropped off at their own place.

Emily was not his type. She was attractive but wholesome looking. She didn't look like she'd had a hard day in her life. Merle had a feeling she was a bit unstable too, just the way she shut down when faced with something she didn't like. She didn't seem to really face anything, her survival instinct didn't go to fighting it went to mental shut down, to deluding herself. He wondered what would happen if she ever reached her breaking point. What would happen if she ever got face to face with something she couldn't close her eyes and mind to? He was no stranger to crazy women, but they usually lacked filters and self-confidence, they weren't deep down unhinged, like he suspected Emily might be. He went for the cheap kind, the kind that grew up like Daryl and himself. They were low maintenance and less likely to be surprised when he and Daryl fucked up. He admitted the Dixon's were no Prince Charming, but at least they were better than their father, didn't promise the world, only to pull the rug out from under some poor stupid bitch.

He hated to admit it but he was proud to land a woman like Emily, before the world went to shit she would have run like hell from him, crazy or not. He loved the first time they fucked. She was soft and smooth, not a mark of hard living on her, if after Daryl's little pep talk he was getting the responsive woman he first fucked back he was going to be a happy man. He decided to learn a little more about her.

"So….What the hell were ya doin' 'for all this?" he asked.

Emily looked surprised at his question. "I…uh..I was going to school. I wanted to be an English teacher."

"mmm I like readin'." Merle nodded.

"Really? It's my favorite thing." Emily smiled enthusiastically. She was so grateful to have something in common with him and even more grateful to have him talk to her.

"Yep," Merle said noting how happy she got with just a stupid question. "What about a boyfriend? Husband?"

"No, I broke up with my boyfriend about a month before," she gestured around, "all this. My sister and I were here for the weekend, to help me get over it."

He avoided any more questions on that subject, he didn't need to hear her sob story. "So how many guys ya fucked?" he smirked at her.

"Um, counting you and Daryl…five." She looked down.

"So ten." He nodded knowingly.

"No, five. Why ten?"

"Chicks always cut their number in half, tryin' not to seem like sluts."

"I really didn't…..Is five slutty?" she asked curiously.

"Fuck, girl ya askin' the wrong man. I had more than five 'for I was 13." He snorted. "Daryl's probably worse."

"Wow." She looked out into the woods, suddenly standing up. "Merle! There's something."

He got up lazily, he'd heard the geek making his way to the camp for the past five minutes, from what he could hear it was only one.

"You kill one yet?" he turned to her. She shook her head, eyes wide. Merle handed her his knife.

"Merle," she shook her head again. "I can't."

He laughed. "You can and will, I ain't teachin' ya ta fight just yet. I'll get 'em you just gotta kill the bastard."

She swallowed, eyeing the dead girl coming their way. She was small, just a teenager, her throat had been ripped out. Emily felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest as she watched Merle circle the dead girl quickly. He pinned her arms to her sides, holding her out for Emily to kill.

"Go on girl, this is as easy as it gets."

Emily slowly walked up to the snarling girl, trembling she lifted her arm. "Merle….I…"

"Do it!" he ordered. She slammed her arm down, obeying his harsh order quickly. The knife went through the girls eye, stopping her snarling and struggling immediately.

"Oh my God! I did it." She breathed out, as Merle tossed the body to the side. "I did it!" she said louder. "I did it!" she jumped up and down, before throwing herself into Merle's arms. He automatically caught her.

"Chill there gir…." His sentence cut off as she slammed her mouth onto his, kissing him hard and fast before letting go and turning to the body.

"Ha!" She yelled pointing at the corpse.

"fuck that." He said grabbing her arm and turning her to face him again. Her eyes were bright with excitement. This time he slammed his mouth into hers, determined to take advantage of her good mood.

To his delight she responded immediately, he lifted her up, bringing her legs around his waist and slammed her against the nearest tree. He reached in-between them to unbutton his pants. Emily was naked from the waist down and Merle was pushing himself inside her when she stopped him.

"Merle! We're supposed to be keeping watch."

"Ugh." Merle sheathed himself completely inside her before walking back and sitting on the nearest log.

"You look back and I'll look front." He began thrusting hard and fast, setting a brutal pace. Emily stopped thinking seconds into it. Her adrenaline racing making this sex better than even the first time with Merle. She matched his vigorousness and climaxed hard and fast. Merle followed soon after, holding her to him for a few minutes after, as they caught their breath.

"Y'all done? I'd like ta get back ta sleep, don't want my ass eaten cause y'all's getting' laid." Dary's voice drifted out to them from the tent's entrance.

Merle flipped Daryl off as his younger brother ducked back into the tent.

"Damn girl! Maybe you need ta kill the geeks every time." He grinned up at her. Emily blushed and tried to get up off Merle. He held her tight, studying her for a bit before he let her get up.

"Sorry, I got a little excited." She searched the ground for her pants. "I never thought I'd be able to do it."

"Listen to us an you'll do fine." He tucked himself back into his pants, if this was her reaction to everything he was going to be one happy instructor. They sat back down on opposite sides of the log and continued their watch in silence. Merle lit another cigarette and basked in the relaxation only a satisfying fuck can give. He'd have to thank Daryl for whatever he said to bring about this change. Maybe he'd give him a break and handle Emily's education on his own.

Emily was thinking over what happen between her and the brothers tonight. Merle was happy with her again, in truth she hadn't thought about pleasing him when she threw herself at him, she was just really happy. She chanced a glance at Merle, he was relaxed, blowing smoke rings into the cold night air. He'd given her power, she understood now that she had the power to defend herself, if push came to shove she could do it. She wasn't so naive that she thought she could take down the dead on her own but Merle was going to teach her that soon enough. He watched him a bit, he was handsome even if he was quite a bit older than her. She turned away from him before he could catch her staring, she wondered if he'd ever let her see him completely naked the way Daryl did. Maybe if she initiated the sex he would, she blushed as she looked out into the dark woods, he was exciting. She had to admit Daryl was right, when she just went with it things improved.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Before he knew it daylight had come and Daryl was making his way out of the tent, stretching and popping bones.

"I'm goin' huntin' be back later." He groaned at Merle as he rotated his left shoulder. He motioned to Emily with his chin, "What are we gonna do with her, I ain't much for teachin'."

Merle smiled, seems his brother had the same idea he did. "I got her. I'll take care of it."

Daryl narrowed his eyes at him, "Alright." He eyed him a bit longer before picking up his crossbow and heading out. He had the sneaking suspicion Merle was getting attached to this girl, he didn't mind so much Merle had steady girlfriends before but right now women were scarce and he had needs too. He didn't want Merle getting possessive on him.

Merle didn't like the look Daryl gave him, like he knew something he didn't. Emily was standing by the fire pit making circles in the dirt with her foot. His cock twitched at the innocent little gesture Jesus, she's gonna have you by the balls if you keep this up. He shook his head, he wasn't opposed to having a woman but not now, it was him and Daryl, he wasn't going to get distracted. He'd help her and he'd fuck her but she was second to Daryl and surviving. She wasn't made for this world, she wouldn't last, even with their help. No, Merle Dixon wasn't going to get attached, besides she'd probably trade up first chance she got.

"Come on girl, gonna show ya how to build a fire." She looked up at him with a grin and nearly skipped over, his cock twitched again. Fuck! At this rate I'm gonna be fuckin' her more than anything. He grabbed her neck bringing her to him for a deep kiss. She brought her hands to his chest and gripped his shirt tightly as she kissed him back. Maybe the lesson could wait just a bit.