We'll be alright

#8

Mackenzie saw Andrea and Jacqui looking over the edge at all the dead motherfuckers roaming the streets. The only thing she could ask herself was 'Why would they do that to themselves?' watching their predator circling them, waiting to find their prey. The thought made her sick. The thought that somewhere out there millions, if not billions, of people were being eaten by those exact things that they were watching. The thought that not too far away her dad was walking around as one of them. She couldn't deal with it. How could she? How could they?

The whole thing hurt her brain, she refused to think too much about it. Refused to think about her dad, Finley. She couldn't. If she did it would reveal to these people, these strangers, how weak she was. So instead, she stood watching the man who oddly gave her comfort, the same man that tried shooting her and the same man that beat T-Dog up so bad the collar of his top was stained with blood.

Rick had left her now, he went to look over the edge with the others. They were all having a conversation but Mackenzie was trying to convince herself that Merle was bad and she shouldn't feel bad he was alone, she knew he was bad but it didn't stop her feeling bad. She only heard small parts of the others conversations, the main thing she heard was T-Dog calling Merle's brain weak, another reason she felt bad for him.

Probably against her better judgement, in fact definitely against her better judgement, Mackenzie walked back over to Merle. Yes, he had been mean previously but maybe he was like Tyson. Tyson was a dog that her Uncle Smith had adopted way before the dead stopped dying. He was an American bulldog that was supposed to be put down, Mackenzie never knew what that meant until she had to put Finley down. The place that Tyson was adopted from told Uncle Smith that he was aggressive and reactive and he was, for 3 months, until he realized that Uncle Smith was a good guy. So, maybe Merle was like Tyson. Maybe that was why she found comfort with him.

Mackenzie didn't know this then, maybe she never did, but the reason she found comfort with Merle was because he did remind her of someone only it wasn't Tyson. It was someone she shared half her DNA with. Mike.

"What d'ya want now kid?" Merle asked quietly, he knew if he spoke too loud that Rick would hear and intervene again.

Mackenzie only shrugged. She didn't want anything, she just felt bad for him.

"Clearly ya want somethin', ya like a sad puppy." Merle continued.

Mackenzie looked at the others and again just shrugged, she was sad but she couldn't tell him that. She couldn't be weak as well as young, that would get her killed. She had to be one or the other and she couldn't exactly change her age.

"Come 'ere" Merle told her quietly, reaching for something in his pocket. He had a small smile on his face, only he knew what it meant.

Reluctantly, Mackenzie walked over to him. He didn't touch her, steal anything or shout at her he simply gave her something. It was a small glass bottle, it had something white in it, it reminded Mackenzie of flour or sugar.

"When ya feel shit sniff it. A real good sniff. It'll make ya better. Just don't go 'round blabbering 'bout it, got it?" Merle asked his sly smile growing.

Mackenzie didn't reply, she was inspecting the little glass bottle closer. Her dad had something similar, if not the same, quite often. Only she wasn't allowed to touch it, he would get real mad if she even got close to it.

"Got it?" Merle repeated. Mackenzie nodded while putting the bottle into her pocket "Can't say I'm anybody's bitch now. Now scram."

She nodded once then walked to the others, none of which had noticed that Mackenzie had spoken to Merle or that he had given her anything. When she reached them, she heard them talking about how they could potentially use the sewers to get back to their camp. It turned out that Jacqui had worked in the city zoning office before everything went down, so she knew all about the sewers and where the manholes were.