Eternally Yours || Daryl Dixon

|2|

Merle found himself circling Lucy, his eyes studying her form as she held a gun up. The only thing wrong with her form was how close together her feet were. "Keep your feet shoulder-width apart," He instructed, his foot nudging hers, "Remember, don't jerk back when the gun fires. You want to have a strong base."

Lucy muttered a small okay and nodded her head, her throat bobbing as she swallowed thickly. Merle settled behind her, his good hand resting on her shoulder, adjusting her aim. Slowly, the trigger pulled, and the gunshot echoed around them, followed by the pop of shattering glass. Merle watched her intently as she turned to face him with the largest of smiles on her face, making him roll his eyes in response. He couldn't help the smirk that quirked at his lips as he grabbed another empty bottle and jogged forward, placing it on the fence and shooting a thumbs up Lucy's way.

She took her stance, her left eye squinting before she pulled the trigger. The bottle next to Merle shattered into a million tiny pieces, causing another smirk to spread across his dirty face. They'd been at this for a few weeks now, and he was pleased to see how quickly she was learning. When they first struck their deal, she couldn't even hit her target, but now she was hitting them dead center. Merle rejoined her and took the gun from her, checking the chamber before tucking it into his waistband.

"Quick learner," He voiced, "I'd say we can move on to moving targets,"

"Nah," Lucy shook her head, "We don't have enough ammo for that. We should hit the next town soon – see if we find bullets, food, water, and antiseptic." She held out a hand, her eyes darting to his stump. Merle sighed heavily but obeyed, wincing as she unraveled the used gauze. The skin still had a blackish tint from the cauterization, but the pinky color started to return. The cut was uneven, and the stump was lumpy, but despite working quickly, he did a pretty damn good job if he said so himself. Lucy started to tightly wrap it once more, her brown eyes meeting his light blue ones.

"How does it feel?"

Merle felt strange. Something about having a woman taking care of him filled him with some unknown feeling that he's never felt before. Hell, having someone looking after him like Lucy was is probably the first time in his life that anyone's even given a damn about him. In response, he shrugged his shoulders, clearing his throat and shrugging away the uncomfortable emotions swirling in his stomach.

"Ain't hurt much," He croaked, his eyes racking over her figure. Something about Lucy drew him in that was different from the typical lust he felt. He didn't do relationships, and he definitely didn't believe in love, but whatever he felt was stronger than pure unadulterated lust. He did what he knew best to combat the confusing sentiments within him: make a suggestive advance.

A smirk spread across his lips, and he met her eyes, his uninjured hand sweeping across her temple to brush her fallen hair back behind her ear, "Whaddya say about bumping uglies, baby? Rollin' around in the hay?"

His heart raced when she placed a hand on his chest but immediately stuttered as she rolled her eyes and smiled, her head shaking, "I rather use a cactus as a dildo than do anything with you, jackass."

Merle chuckled, amused by her vehement refusal to sleep with him, and turned around, walking back towards the cube van they had stolen back in Atlanta. A smirk spread across his lips, the idea of close quarters making him excited.

"There's a town a few miles from here," Merle called back, changing the subject, "We'll hit it and spend the night in the back of the truck." Yeah, this is gonna be fun.

-⋆-

"Stop!" Lucy shrieked loudly into the darkness, her hands trying to slap away the large beefy one that painfully smacked against her mouth. Her body was ignited in agony as Marco hovered over her, forcefully flipping her onto her stomach, violating the crying, withering woman underneath him.