Ellie Dixon

Goodbye Merle

Light started to infiltrate my shut eyelids. A pain in my shoulder made me groan as I slowly opened my eyes. My right hand coming up to hold onto my hurting shoulder. "Ellie?" I heard my name, but I couldn't make out who said it.  "Ellie, are you okay?" The voice became clearer.

"Daddy?" I asked, my eyes adjusting to my new environment.

"Are you alright, princess?" He questioned, helping me sit up. 

I looked around and realised we were in some form of RV? I was laying on the bed in the miniature travel home. "My shoulder hurts." I muttered.

"Well, that's a given." My dad tried to joke but I just looked at him, unamused. "Sorry, to soon." He nodded.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Some old fella thought we were one of em geeks. It was too dark for him to make it out. Just thank Christ that he had terrible aim." My dad smiled.

"Well, he still shot me." I pointed out.

"He feels real bad. This is his bed. Gave it up so you'd have somewhere proper to rest up." My dad informed me.

"How long have I been out?" I asked.

"A day."

I looked out the window and saw quite a lot of people. "We found a group." I smiled before noticing my mum painting her nails, and uncle Merle helping cut open some fish.

"Yea... We ain't staying long though. So, don't get attached." My dad warned.

"Why can't we stay?" I looked to him with a frown.

"It's complicated, sweetheart... Listen, I'm gonna go out on a hunt. They're running low on food here. Hoping I can bring back a deer or something." My dad said.

"You're leaving." I nodded.

"I'll be back." Dad grabbed my hand.

"Yea, you always are." I muttered.

He got up to leave. "I love you."

I looked up to him with a sad smile. "I love you too."

"You rest up." Dad pointed at me with a smirk before leaving the RV. I watched him go talk to my mum, her rolling her eyes at something he said before he walked off. My mum finished painting her last nail before coming over to the RV and walking in.

"Hi, mum." I smiled.

"You feel alright?" She asked, coming over and sitting on my bed.

"I'd be better if I hadn't been shot, but I'm alright." I nodded.

"Good, cause you'll slow us down."

"Slow us down?"

"Daryl told you we were leaving, didn't he?"

"Yea." I looked down.

"Don't tell anyone though. They don't need to know just yet."

"Okay." I agreed, not really knowing why she was saying these things, but I knew what would happen if I didn't agree.

"You're not going to make it in this world." My mum shook her head.

"What?" I asked, hesitantly.

"You got yourself shot, like an idiot." She gripped onto my hurting shoulder, causing me to cry out. "If you slow us down, I'll feed you to one of the dead ones myself. You understand me?"

"Yes, mama." I cried.

"Good girl." She patted my cheek before getting up to leave.

"Your nails look nice." I tried.

"I know." She responded before leaving.

After wiping my face, I looked out the window and saw Merle and a few other people packing up. I got up and walked out of the RV and into the blaring sunlight. I squinted as the sun shone down on me. I saw myself getting looks from some of the people around, but I just walked over to Uncle Merle. I had bandages around my under arm and over my shoulder where they had cut my shirt to get to my shoulder. "Uncle Merle." I called, walking over to him.

He groaned. "Yes, child?"

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Out on a supply run." He answered.

"Why?" I questioned.

"Kid, I'm busy." He pushed past me as they headed over to the vehicles.

"My name's Ellie." I pointed out.

"I know." Merle chucked his bag in the boot as I followed them.

"Hi, Ellie. I'm Glenn. I'm glad you're okay, we were all worried about you." Glenn squatted down in front of me.

"Why?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Cause you'd been hurt." Glenn laughed.

"Yea, I know. But, you don't know me." I reminded him.

"Doesn't matter. Dale didn't mean to hurt you, we're glad you're okay." Another man said, I looked up to him and it was the policeman. "I'm Shane, by the way." He smiled at me, so I smiled back.

"Be careful." I said quietly, not knowing what else to say. I noticed that this Glenn, Uncle Marle, a woman and two more men were going on the supply run whereas Shane was staying back.

"We will." Glenn patted my good shoulder with a smile before walking over to the cars.

"Goodbye, Uncle Merle!" I called to him.

"Yea." He just said before getting in the car.

"He doesn't like me very much, does he." I said, talking to Shane who was standing next to me.

"Oh, come on now. I'm sure he does. Why don't we go find Dale so you can show him that you're okay." Shane held out his hand for me to take which I did.

We found Dale skinning some fish. "Oh, Ellie. You're up." Dale smiled, wiping his hands in his shorts when he put the fish and knife down. Shane let go of my hand and walked over to a boy with brown hair who was with a woman, also with brown hair.

"Yea, and I'm okay." I smiled.

"I'm so, so sorry. I thought you were a walker. If I had known-" I interrupted him.

"If you had known then me, my mum, my dad and Uncle Merle would still be wondering the mountain looking for shelter. I'm okay, so no big deal." I grinned. 

"If you ever need anything, then I'm usually in my RV. Anytime, I'll be here. And you can stay in my bed if you want." He offered.

"It's okay, you can have your bed back." I laughed.

"You sure?" Dale raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, I'll stay with my mum." I nodded.

"Oh, yea... Nice woman." Dale scratched the back of his neck, I knew he was lying, most people were when they complimented her.

"You don't have to lie to me about her. I've lived with her for nine years. I know how she is." I whispered, in case she heard me, even though she was nowhere to be seen.

He smiled sympathetically. "You want to come meet the other kids?"