Carolina in my mind
Chapter 21
"Carolina! Hey! Can I have some water?"
Carolina turned towards the raspy sound of her voice being called. Approaching the cell where Martinez was being held, she leaned against the bars and raked her eyes over him. He didn't look like such a tough guy now. The entire left side of his face was red and swollen, the rapidly forming bruises clearly visible even under his tanned complexion. From the way he was gripping his side, Carolina guessed that Michonne also broke or badly bruised a few of his ribs before she turned his face into her personal punching bag. He winced as he rolled onto his side, spitting a mouthful of blood out onto the dirty cement floor.
"Why should I get your ass anything?," Carolina asked. "You just tried to fucking shoot me." Thinking about what this trigger happy jerk just did pissed her off all over again. Carolina flipped her middle finger up at him. "Fuck you," she added.
"What were we supposed to do?," he argued. Martinez pushed against the mattress with his hands with the intention of sitting upright. But he quickly thought better of it, hissing in pain and lying back down on the stained mattress. "One of your new friends lit the whole damn town on fire! We had to defend ourselves!"
Carolina raised a brow, almost laughing at how easily the governor's propaganda was rolling off this man's tongue. Seriously, she thought, how stupid would you have to be to actually believe that crap?. They needed to defend themselves against people that ran away from their community and were hiding in a prison? The only person Martinez managed to even hit with his macho sniper bullshit was an unarmed woman that was still recovering from childbirth. Lori didn't look like much of a threat from where Carolina was standing.
"We didn't light the fire. He did!," Carolina barked. "The Governor. Your fearless fucking leader. He's lost his damn mind. He has your friend's head in a fishtank in his closet." Carolina thought back, struggling for a moment to remember the name Merle hollered when he peered inside the governor's trophy room. "Garcia," Carolina said, the name finally coming to her.
Carolina watched the different expressions that flickered across the unmarred side of Martinez's face. It was obvious that he didn't want to believe her at first. But her story was too strange for her just to have made it up. And deep down, Carolina figured that the governor's men had to know that he was slowly losing it.
"Are you shittin' me?," he finally asked.
"No," Carolina said, "...we're already at war. What reason would I have to lie about this shit now?"
"Okay," he agreed. "I believe you. Can I have some water now?"
"No! Do I look like a fucking waitress?," she asked, flipping her middle finger up at him again.
Carolina heard the low rumble of laughter behind her. And she turned to see Michonne sitting at one of the small card tables with her head in her leather clad hands, her body shaking with laughter. When she spun slightly further around, Carolina realized that Hershel was standing a few feet behind her with a bag of medical supplies in one hand and a large bottle of water in the other. And he wasn't looking too impressed with the way she was talking to their prisoner.
"Merle is looking for you," he announced.
Carolina wasn't sure if Merle was actually looking for her. Or is that was just Hershel's polite way of telling her to fuck off. But either way, the look of intense disapproval on his face was enough to send her scurrying away into the main part of the cell block. She looked around for Merle, just in case Hershel was telling the truth about him wanting to talk to her. He was easily spotted, inside the cell he'd claimed for them. The one that was right next to the cell they filled with the supplies from Morgan's bunker.
"Help me with this, willya?," Merle asked, gesturing to the dingy sheet he was attempting to hang along the inside of their cell bars to allow them some privacy.
Carolina stepped inside and reached her hands up, pinning the edge of the sheet to the wall just above the cell bars so Merle could pound a few nails in to hold it in place. He didn't have a hammer. But the business end of the large metal wrench in his hand seemed to be working just fine. Since they both had to stretch up to reach the area above the cell door, his front was pressing into her back as he worked. Carolina wriggled her hips, thrusting them back slightly so that her ass was rubbing against his groin and making it harder for him to concentrate.
"Better knock that off," he teased. "...or yer gonna get it."
"Isn't that why we're hanging this curtain up?," she asked with a flirtatious giggle.
Merle knocked the last nail, lowering his arms and wrapping them around her waist. She hummed as she leaned back into his embrace. From the way his body was moving, she could tell he was still laughing a little at her. He dipped his head down, kissing her neck and the sensitive spot behind her ear.
"What'dya think we should do?," he asked. Carolina turned, eyeing the narrow dirty prison cot with distaste.
"I dunno," she teased. "There's barely room on that bed for my ass let alone the both of us."
"Not in bed, ya retard," Merle chortled. "What should we do about the gov'ner?"
Carolina burst into laughter. She spun in Merle's embrace, wrapping her arms around his neck and nipping at his bottom lip until he kissed her back. She racked her brain back to season three, trying to remember what the governor might do next according to the timeline of the show. All the kissing was making it harder for her to think. And some of what happened was getting mixed up in her mind with the things that happened differently But finally she remembered what was mostly likely to happen after the walker bomb attack.
"If things happen the way I think they will," Carolina said, pulling her head back and breaking their kiss. "...Andrea's gonna show up here wanting to set up a meeting. But I don't think that's a good idea."
"A meetin'? With the governor?," Merle repeated. "Fuck every bit'a that shit."
Carolina breathed out a sigh of relief. She wasn't sure what would happen at the meeting in this reality. But whatever it was, it wouldn't be good. And there was no point in negotiating with a man they already knew was a psychopath. Especially when they knew the governor had no intention of making any sort of truce. All he wanted was Michonne. So he could torture and kill her. Carolina's body suddenly went tense. And she wrapped her arms around Merle, gripping him in frightened desperation. After the meeting with the governor, she clearly remembered what happened next. This Sorrowful Life. The episode she only watched the end of once. Because it was too horrible to ever watch again.
"Whatever you do," she warned. "You can NOT go after the governor on your own. If you do, you'll die. He'll kill you for sure." Carolina fisted her hands into the back of his shirt, fighting back the emotion that was rising in her chest. She could feel Merle's hand on her back, softly rubbing the space between her shoulder blades.
"It's okay sugar," he soothed. "I'm not goin' anywhere."
Carolina jerked back slightly, locking her eyes with his. She was still gripping Merle with intensity as she spoke.
"Promise me," she demanded. "Promise me you won't."
"You saw me die in one of your dreams?," he asked.
Carolina didn't answer. She just wrapped her arms around him and held on tight, tucking her face into the crook of his neck. She moved with him when Merle walked her backwards, lowering them both down onto the lower bunk. Carolina kept her arms locked around him as she sank down onto his lap, her knees on either side of his hips. She wasn't convinced that everything was going to be alright. But it still felt good to be held and told that it would be. Carolina forced herself to relax the vice-like grip she had on the back of Merle's shirt. She took a deep breath, letting the air out slowly through her nose.
Merle twined his hand into her hair, pulling her head back so they were nose to nose. She felt his breath first. And then the hard press of his lips on hers. Carolina parted her lips, moaning softly into his mouth when his tongue tangled up with hers. With what she knew about his background and childhood, Carolina assumed that having someone other than his brother care whether he lived or died probably meant more to Merle than it would to most people. She could feel it in the way he was kissing her that he really meant it when he pulled her into his arms.
A sharp rap on the metal bars of the cell brought their stolen moment to a halt. Carolina turned her head, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand as Daryl swiped their sheet curtain out of his way.
"Rick wants to have a meetin'," Daryl said, unaffected by the fact that he'd obviously interrupted the intimate moment they were having.
"We'll be right there," Carolina said, swinging her hips around so that she was sitting on the cot next to Merle instead of straddling him. Daryl hovered in the cell a little longer, narrowing his eyes at Merle like he was sure they were going to relatch their faces the moment he stepped away.
"I didn't realize you were officer friendly's errand boy," Merle snarked, sending Daryl stomping away out of the cell. Carolina rolled her eyes as she rose from the bunk. She was well aware that Merle and Daryl had a complicated relationship. One that she couldn't even begin to understand. But there was no reason for Merle to be so rude. Just because Daryl was rounding them up for the meeting, didn't make him Rick's bitch.
"You should be nicer to your brother," she chided.
"Fuck him," Merle grumbled. "...and fuck that asshole cop."
When he rose from the bunk, Carolina wrapped her arms around him again, this time kissing him on his cheek.
"We got bigger fish to fry," she whispered, smiling when Merle hugged her against him. He laughed as he pulled loose from her embrace.
"Let's go cook 'em then," he teased, delivering a hard smack to her behind as he headed out of the cell. Carolina squeaked at the sudden rough contact. She laughed and rubbed at her ass as she followed Merle out of the cell.
The rest of the group was already gathered around the table. Carolina gave Carol a grateful smile, taking the bowl of oatmeal the woman offered her and claiming the open spot next to Michonne. She was trying her best not to show it. But Carolina was secretly thrilled to be sitting at the table. All the best characters were here. One legged Hershel, little Carl, still short hair Daryl, Merle, Rick, Tyreese, Carol, and Michonne when she was still the most ruthless bitch on the show. They were all having a meeting about how to kick the governor's ass. And Carolina was included as part of the group. It was like all her wildest walking dead dreams come true. Or at least almost all of them.
"Are we even sure he's going to come back?," Hershel asked. "We ran him off today. Maybe he'll leave us in peace." Carolina looked around. Everyone looked hesitant to argue with Hershel. Even though it was obvious that he was wrong.
"He's got a wall full of heads as trophies. Humans and walkers," Michonne said. "He's coming back."
"That little stunt today was just him ringin' the damn doorbell," Merle confirmed.
Carolina kept her trap shut. But she secretly found it hilarious that Merle and Michonne were in total agreement. The beatdown they had on the show was one of her favorite fight scenes ever. But she was still relieved that it never came to that in this version of reality. They made better teammates than enemies. And Carolina was beyond thrilled to see how hard they were about to fuck over the governor now that they were firmly on the same page.
"What do you propose we do about it then?," Hershel asked.
Carolina waited on Merle to answer. But it was clear he didn't have a solid plan in mind yet. Either that or he just wanted to hear what everyone else had to say first.
"We've got high walls here to hide behind," Daryl offered. "...but he could just wait and starve us out." Carolina knew she was probably the only one that noticed. But as soon as Daryl said something about starving, she saw the light of a wonderfully awful idea flicker in Merle's eyes.
"Or we can starve him out," Merle countered. Daryl turned, eyeing his brother with interest. They'd already talked a little already about Woodbury's limited food and supplies when they were making their plan to leave the place after they killed the governor. "The governor keeps the bulk of their food storage outside town. It's easier to get people to comply with the rations if they don't know how much there is."
"And ya know where all of it is, dontcha?," Daryl confirmed.
"You bet your ass he does!," Carolina exclaimed, earning her an almost silent laugh from Michonne.
Hershel didn't seem as excited about Merle's plan as everyone else. But since they were only talking about raiding food supplies to keep the governor from being able to starve them out, he didn't voice an actual objection. Michonne produced a map she stole from the governor's office. And they laid it out on the table, marking the spots where Merle knew the food was being stored. Carolina felt herself getting excited. This was a great plan. Much better than what she remembered happening on the show. If they took Woodbury's food and supplies, they'd be sitting pretty while the governor panicked. And he'd have no choice but to come for them at the prison. Once that happened, they could blast him into the next fucking century.
There were four storage areas they wanted to hit. And since Rick and Merle were in agreement that the best course of action was to hit them all at once, they were dividing people into groups. They wanted to go as quickly as possible, since the running theory seemed to be that the governor would have all his people locked down inside Woodbury after his attack on the prison went bad. It felt like everyone was talking at the same time, getting amped up about what they were about to do. Carl had to yell twice and rap his gun on the table to get their attention.
"What's the problem?," Rick asked, looking up from the map to focus on his son.
"Andrea's outside the gates asking to be let in," Carl explained.
Carolina snorted out a laugh at the near rhino stampede of people that charged towards the outer door, leaving her and Merle alone. He leaned forward, staring across the table at her. Andrea was here, just like Carolina said she would be. And they both knew what might happen next.