Him (TWD//Merle//)

Chapter 5

After jumping out of the truck, I follow Rick , with Andrea and Jackie in tow.

Rick holds his fingers to his lips and crouches behind a sale rack, motioning us to do the same.

After making sure the coast is clear, he signals us to move forward.

As we ascend the steps I hear multiple groans up ahead.

Well shit.

Slowly but surely, three walkers fill my line of sight. Rick looks at me and nods.

He wants me to cover him. Fuck.

Reluctantly, I nod back in agreement. I don't really have a choice, now do I? It looks like I'm the most qualified anyway. From what I've seen, Andrea and Jackie don't even know how to hold a gun, let alone take down a walker. I silently thank my father for being an obnovious backwoods hardass.

Rick suddenly surges forward, and forcefully digs his switchblade into the biter's skull. This catches the other two walkers' attention. As Rick grabs his second opponent, I'm left to dispose of the other.

This woman doesn't look like a woman anymore. She's so decomposed that her skin is a dark green color. It sags around her cheekbones and hangs down like overlapping waves. I have to resist the urge to empty all of my stomach's contents, and stab her in the forehead.

Im sorry.

I move ahead the others and make my way to the door.

"Merle, Merle are you alright?" i cry out.

"Theodore!" Jackie shouts.

"I'm here, I'm here," Theodore responds while unlatching the padlock.

I run forward to the pole on the left side of the rooftop.

Please be okay, please be okay.

" 'Ey, you lookin' fer me?" I hear on my right.

I stop my panicking and whip my head towards the voice.

There, smiling his crooked smile, and crinkling his Georgia blue eyes at me, is Merle Dixon. And he's fine as can be, well besides still being handcuffed to a pole. My eyes widen and even start to water a little.

"Merle," i whimper out in relief, " I thought, i thought-," I start to stutter out.

Apparently, the fear of potentially not rescuing the man that saved my life really took a toll on me emotionally.

His cocky grin falls as he notices the tear tracks that've made their way down my cheeks.

"Hey, hey," he soothes, "What's wrong darlin' ?"

Out if nowhere, I catapult towards the ground and squeeze the life out of him.

"You're okay," I muffle out against his chest. I feel Merle's laugh vibrate through me.

" 'Course I'm okay. Nothin' can kill Merle but Merle," he chuckles some more and smiles down at me.

I hear a throat clear and look over towards the rest of the group. They're all looking down while trying to hide smiles.

"Oh," I blush and stand back up. I can't believe everyone saw that. That was extremely out of character of me, I'm never like this with anyone. What is going on?

"Soo is anyone gunna uncuff me?" Merle questions.

T-dog steps forward and rummages the key out of his back pocket. He unlocks it and then takes a step back.

Merle stands up and looks toward me. After studying me for a moment he turns to T-dog.

"Sorry man," Merle says as he rubs the back of his neck. "I was outta line, didn't have no right to say those things."

Everyone held stunned faces except Rick and I. Was it rare for Merle to apologize or something?

T- dog yells, "Damn straight. Don't mention it again."

After the awkward exchange, they do this man handshake that I've soon most of the guys in my old town do.

"Umm," Andrea interupts, "Not to burst anyones bubble or anything but we better head back to camp soon, we still have to introduce our newest memebers to the family tonight," she grins. Rick and i look at each other and smile at her in return.

Finally, safety.