Once Upon a Walker

Chapter 6

The disfigured monkey let out another ear piercing screech. Its yellow eyes darted between them, finally settling on Beth. Whether the creature singled her out as the weak link of the group or just saw something about her that it didn't like was anyone's guess. Foul tinged saliva was dripping from its barred fangs as it advanced on the girl. She let out a little squeal, too soft for anyone to hear above the loud chorus of flapping that was coming from above. Beth panicked, fumbling for her gun. Her hands were slick with sweat and she lost her grip on the weapon, dropping it to the ground at her feet. Her eyes widened, focused on the creature that has its murderous attention fixated on her. The creature crouched slightly, tensing its muscles. Its barbed tail flicked back and forth behind it as it prepared to spring at her.

Beth saw the creature move, flying at her. But just before it made contact, she was tackled roughly to the ground. Landing hard with a larger person half on top of her hurt. But at least she was still alive. Merle rolled, pointing his gun towards their feet. He was prepared for the monkey to spring at them again. But the area where they landed was so thick with corn, the tall green tasseled stalks were all they could see. An eerie chill crept up Beth's spine. And for a moment she wasn't sure what about the situation felt so wrong. Then she realized that the loud flapping noise of the monkey arm had suddenly decreased. She knew the corn around them might be muffling some of the noise. But there was no way it was having this much of an effect. It was like someone suddenly turned the tv volume down to just above mute.

Beth followed Merle's example, clambering to her feet as quickly as she could. The corn seemed to be pressing in around them. It was so thick, Beth was scared that if Merle moved even one step too many away from her, she would lose sight of the man. Beth reached forward, locking her fist into the back of his shirt. Their movements were like a disjointed chain reaction. As he stepped forward, Beth moved with him. She tried to stay as close as possible to the man without touching him any more than she already was.

"What in the hickory?," he huffed, pushing through the corn and taking a few more steps. "The edge of the corn field was right flockin' there." Beth knew Merle was right. He'd knocked her into the corn. But there was no way he'd moved her body this far. It felt like they were suddenly in the middle of the field instead of right on the edge. "I can't see crud!," he hissed, whacking at the stalks in anger. He hollered for his brother a few times. Daryl! DARYL! But there was no answer.

"Merle," Beth whimpered. "I'm scared!"

Merle twisted his body, glancing back at her. Beth braced herself for whatever nasty biting comment the man had for her. But it never came. Instead, he offered her a few small words of comfort. It wasn't much. But it was more kindness than she expected from him.

"It's gonna be a'right," Merle said, "...just don't let go of my shirt." Beth bobbed her head. She never thought she'd be grateful to be stuck alone with Daryl's foul mouthed brother. But it was infinitely better than being alone in this nightmare. And if nothing else, Beth was confident in Merle's ability to keep them both alive. She tightened her grip on his shirt and watched her feet, trying to step where Merle was stepping. Every few minutes, Merle would stop and cup his hand around his mouth as he hollered Daryl's name. But there was no answer. And the world around them seemed to be growing more and more silent as they went. All the noise of the monkey army faded until all Beth could hear was her own hard draw breaths and the corn crunching under her boots.

The further they went, the thicker the corn field seemed to be. It was getting so bad that they were having to force their way through between the stalks. And if that wasn't frustrating enough, when Beth turned back to look behind them, the little path they had forged by stepping on stalks and walking over them had already filled back in. So they couldn't even tell where they came from or which way they were going.

Finally, Merle stopped. He tucked his gun away and raked his hands through the short crop of hair on his head. Beth hesitantly released her death grip on his shirt as he turned towards her. He raked his eyes up and down her body. Beth fidgeted under his intense gaze, staring down at her boots as she felt the heat creep into her cheeks.

"Yer light enough," he said. Beth's head popped up and she stared at him curiously. "I can lift ya up and you can get a look around, try to see where we are in this falcon mess." Beth felt her face getting even redder as her embarrassment grew. She thought he was looking at her in some sort of romantic way and really Merle was just trying to figure out if she was light enough for him to lift. Even though there was no way he could have known what she was thinking, it still made Beth want to crawl into a hole and die.

"Step here," Merle instructed, cupping his hands together to make a step. "I'll boost ya up." Beth moved hesitantly, lifting one cowboy boot and placing it into his hands. She bounced a little in place. And finally she grabbed his shoulder and pushed off with her other foot. Beth floundered, almost causing Merle to drop her on her ass. Finally, she was able to steady herself by putting one knee on his shoulder and gripping his head with her hand. She tried to focus on looking for anything she could see besides corn and not on how close her private area was to Merle's face.

"See anythin'?," he asked. Beth shook her head.

"Just more corn," she lamented. It was unbelievable. The corn just seemed to go on for miles and miles. Like there was no end to it.

"Gonna turn around," Merle warned, "...hold on." Beth twined her fingers into his hair, trying her best not to move around more than she had to as he readjusted his body. Once she was facing the other way, Beth gasped in excitement.

"I see something!," she said. She wasn't sure what it was exactly. It was far away. But it sort of looked like a patch of sunflowers. At this point, anything besides corn was a welcome sight. "Looks like the corn ends over there," she added, pointing her finger in the direction she saw the change in terrain.

"Good," Merle huffed, "...get yer ash down offa me." Beth apologized and she clambered to get back on her own feet. In her hurry to get down she missed her footing and fell back onto her butt in the corn. Merle grabbed her, hauling her back up onto her feet. They headed in the direction Beth indicated, stopping every so often so Merle could boost her up again and make sure they were going the right way. Soon, lifting her in the air to check became unnecessary. The corn was slowly thinning out. It was obvious that they were going the right way. Or at least out of the dense field of corn, which was certainly the right way for now.

Replacing the corn were rows and rows of sunflowers. As they walked, the sunflowers were gradually growing taller. The difference was subtle at first. But soon Beth realized she was having to crane her neck back to see the sunny yellow blossoms.

"Are the flowers getting bigger?," Beth asked, "...or are we getting smaller?"

"I dunno," Merle admitted, his hand resting lightly on his gun. "Just stay close." Beth nodded. He didn't have to tell her twice. She had no desire to be lost alone in this place. Instead of gripping his shirt, this time she reached forward and caught hold of his hand. Merle looked down, giving her an irritated glance. But he allowed the contact, pulling her along like a trailer on a truck.

The sunflowers soon opened up, revealing a large decorative gate. And beyond that was a beautiful garden filled with monstrous flowers in every color of the rainbow. Beth looked around, her blue eyes wide with an equal mix of wonder and trepidation. She could swear she saw the faint images of faces in the centers of some of the larger roses. When they arrived at the bottom of a giant toadstool, Merle stopped.

"I'll boost you up," he said, pointing to the large speckled mushroom. "See if you can tell where the hockey-sticks we are," Beth nodded. She used his hands as a step again. But this time he lifted her as she climbed up onto the top of the toadstool. The surface was rounded and Beth lost her footing, flopping down onto the mushroom top. She giggled as she bounced. The top of the mushroom was like a giant super bounce trampoline. Beth got back onto her feet. And then she jumped. There was a much taller toadstool next to her. And she kept jumping until she was able to get enough height to leap over on top of the larger mushroom. Beth leaned forward, shading her eyes with her hands as she peeked down at Merle.

"This is kinda fun," she said, "...wanna come up here with me?"

"NO!," he hollered back with more irritation than she felt the situation warranted. Fine then, Beth grumbled to herself, be a grouch. Turning her attention back to her task, Beth kept her hand up and looked around. She could see the cornfield. And it looked weird. Like it was maybe a tenth of the size as it was when Merle boosted her up to look at it from the inside. She guessed some kind of curse or magic was at work there. That was the only explanation Beth could think of to explain the strange phenomenon. She pointed her finger out past the corn field. There was an entire city there, surrounded by tall green walls. And in the middle was the emerald palace.

"I can see the palace," Beth announced. "Isn't that where we're trying to go?"

"Can you see anyone else?," Merle asked. His implication was obvious. He didn't care about Glenn or Rick or Carl. He was only concerned with finding his brother.

"I don't see anyone," Beth said. She didn't see anyone. But she hadn't really taken that good of a look yet. She stayed where she was, looking for any signs of movement inside the cornfield. Beth was almost ready to give up and climb down when suddenly the sound of a soft fluttering hum caught her attention. It was sort of like the sound you'd imagine that a hummingbird would make if it was large enough to make a noise. Beth turned towards the noise, unable to hide her shock when she realized that the sound was coming from a handsome young man. A handsome young man with a pair of iridescent gossamer wings on his back. He was hovering near the edge of the toadstool. And when he caught Beth's eye, his face lit up into a beaming smile.

The young man let his wings propel him forward, lowering himself on the toadstool next to Beth. He was taller than her by at least a foot. And the only thing more striking about him than his wings was the bright almost glowing green of his eyes. There was a thin gold crown atop his tossed copper hair. And Beth knew the moment she saw it that Mary Margaret's words by the campfire weren't just fairy tales. This must be her prince. And not just any prince. He was a fairy prince.

"I'm Prince Cornelious," he said, extending his hand to her and bending his legs slightly in a graceful bow. Since his wings were no longer fluttering, Beth could see how truly beautiful they were. The mix of iridescent sheer color was like light reflecting off a soap bubble.

"Beth," Beth said, placing her hand in his. Instead of shaking it, Cornelious lifted it to his lips, placing a lingering kiss on the back of her palm.

"Beautiful name for a beautiful woman," he said, still gently clasping her hand in his. Beth felt herself flushing. She didn't resist when he used her hand to pull her in close to him. Wrapping his arms around her waist, the prince kissed her. She'd been kissed before. But never by a fairytale prince that was about to make all her wildest little girl dreams come true. Beth swooned a little in his arms, closing her eyes as he deepened the kiss. When she opened them, they were both hovering several feet above the top of the toadstool. Beth gasped, clinging more tightly to the man in her arms. He moved his hands, adjusting his grip on her so that she was cradled gently in his arms. The prince placed one more kiss on her lips. And then suddenly the wind was whipping through her hair as he flew her away from the corn and the giant flowers and off to the start of her new life as a fairy princess.

"You've got ta be flocking kiddin' me," Merle groused. He flopped down on the ground, feeling dejected. If the little princess wanted to fly off into the sunset, that was on her. But Beth could have at least had the decency to point him in the right direction before she lit off. Now Merle was going to have to climb up there himself. Something he was not looking forward to doing. He grumbled what would have been a few curse words and were now just senseless gibberish under his breath before he pulled his cigarettes from his pocket and lit one up. He lit a second one after the first. And he was about to the end of it when he heard a few familiar voices.

"Hello?," Mary Maragert called out. "Emma? Ruby?"

"Over here," Merle called. Mary Margaret and David hurried to his location, explaining that they'd seen the smoke rising and followed it. They seemed more on edge than there was any need to be. David had his sword out and was constantly scanning the area above them.

"Have you seen anyone else?," Merle asked. Mary Margaret shook her head.

"You?," she asked. Merle nodded, sucking down the last of his smoke before he flicked it towards the base of the giant toadstool.

"Beth was with me," he explained. "But she took off with some fairy. Like an actual fairy. With wings."

Again, Mary Margaret and David looked much more concerned with this development than Merle thought they would be. He was a little irritated with Beth for just taking off. But he assumed she found her prince, like these fools told her she would the night before. But instead of being happy for the girl, they were muttering things like oh no and oh my goodness. Then they both started firing off questions at the same time, asking Merle what the fairy looked like and if he was wearing a crown on his head.

"He had red hair, he was wearing a crown, he said his name was Cornelius," Merle said. Mary Margaret's face went pale white at the mention of the fairy prince's name. "What the hill," Merle groused. "I thought she met her prince. Who the hickory was that flutterin' ash-hill?'

"Prince Cornelious is the prince of the fairies," Mary Margaret explained. "But his wife Thumbelina is human. Fairies live for hundreds of years. To keep herself alive, Thumbelina feeds on the life force of young women. She sucks the years from them to keep herself young."

"And that's not all," David added. "She can't feed on the innocent. So her husband will make sure Beth's not innocent before he feeds her to his wife."

"WHAT?," Merle hollered, finally jumping to his feet. That was some sick weirdo pervert shit right there. And he didn't like the sounds of it at all. He berated himself for letting Beth out of his sight. She wasn't technically his responsibility. But he still didn't want anything bad to happen to the girl under his watch. Especially not something like that. He turned and began stomping off in the direction that fairy took off in.

"Wait," Mary Margaret called out. "Where are you going?"

"To get Beth back," he said. Taking a look at the couple he shrugged his shoulders and asked, "You gonna help?" They knew more about this place than he did. And at this point, he'd take all the help he could get. Mary Margaret and David glanced at each other before they turned back to him and spoke in unison.

"Of course we are."