The Walking Dead - Dixon Bloodfall (A Walking Dead ff)

Chapter One - An Intro to The Outro

      “God damn it.” She spit at the ground, her eyes alight with anger.

“Watch it.” Merle cooed. He stepped gingerly and quickly. “Don’t want none of them walkers hearing your fussin’, do ‘ya?”

“Those damn fuzzy things keep sticking to my socks and pinching me.” She responded. “Haven’t seen a walker for days anyway, doesn’t matter if I fuss or not.”

“That’s right bumble bee, keep buzzin’. We’ll see ‘em soon.” Merle chuckled. She smiled too, eventually matching his pace and catching up. She froze when he did, his dismembered hand, now an unusual knife wielding contraption extending outwards as a warning. She pursed her lips but noticed nothing. Then there it was, the shambling of a walker twelve feet away. She felt her stomach knot up.

“I’m so-”

“Ain’tchour fault sugar.” Her patted his holster with his other hand and tilted his head just a little towards her. Her holster, she realized, he wanted her to take her gun out. Her hand flew to her holster and she pulled it out, shakily pointing it at in the direction of the noise. Merle stepped back, his eyes still on the walker. “You’re shaking. Point it straight.” She gulped and tried to straighten her arms. Gently he grabbed her by the elbow and applied a bit of pressure. “Now, wait for ‘em to get in your sights.” And so she did.

It wandered into view, the mangled, raspy corpse. Flesh hung from what was once it’s cheekbones, black coagulated blood clogging the gaping wound in it’s throat. It didn’t look human anymore, and as Merle had once mentioned, they weren’t.

“Shoot it girly. Aim for the head.”

“Won’t it attract more?” She turned to Merle, who looked at her and grinned.

“Yeah, but we ain’t without means of protection, n’ like you said, no walkers round here either.” He let go of her arm and motioned towards the beast, who now had them in it’s sights. “Put the thing out of it’s misery sweetheart. Ain’t hard.”

A single shot rang out through the forest.

“Not hard at all.”

The body shivered for a split second before collapsing into a heap of rotten flesh. The forest seemed untouched, as if it’s death and the bullet spent had done nothing to the cosmic powers at work. Quinn relaxed, letting her arms fall to her sides. She felt a little sick still but not from the burning smell of the corpse, it was the gunshot that jolted through her and left an impact in her chest, a slight reverberation that echoed in her throat. “Does that count as taking a life?” She asked quietly.

“Ain’t nothin’ living around here no more. Don’t be upset.” Merle patted her on the shoulder. “Come on darlin’, we need to get back before they send someone after us. I’m gonna be in a heap’a trouble for lettin’ you fire a gun anyway.”

“I won’t tell anyone.” Quinn mused, trotting alongside Merle once again. It was getting easier and easier to hit a smooth pace alongside him, and for some reason every time she did so it would light a prideful fire in her stomach and make her warm all over. Merle must’ve noticed because he flashed her another grin.

She wasn’t crushing on him, she remarked internally as Woodbury came into view. The watch was on alert, probably because her gunshot. They shouted a greeting and began opening the gate when they realized who was approaching. No, she felt close to him but not like that. He was sort of like, an older brother. A much older brother.

“We heard a gunshot.” Dillan remarked. He was standing on an old rubber tire. He’s much younger than Merle but seemed pissier and meaner. He always gave her an attitude. She hoped he would again just so Merle would put him in his place.