Mercy|TWD¹

chapter twenty-six: Jesus

Mercedes quietly entered her house. It was way past curfew thanks to that herd earlier that held her at the fairgrounds. She carefully made her way up the stairs, praying that she doesn't wake her dad and Ross up.

"Shit." She groaned when she saw that her bedroom light was on. She most definitely turned it off that morning after she got dressed.

Hesitantly she entered her room. She sees Ross laying across her bed reading one of Mercedes' comics. "Rick was looking for you earlier." He said, closing the comic. "Where have you been?"

Mercedes shrugged as she walked further into her room. "Just out with Chloe and Michelle." The Warren girl responded.

"All day? Hmm... Kane was the only one that said he saw the three of you all day." Ross said as he stood up. "Clearly he was lying but... I backed him up."

"What was the lie?" Mercedes hesitantly asked.

Ross shrugged, heading to the doorway. "You don't wanna know." And with that the older boy took off into the dark hallway.

Mercedes sighed and flopped down into her bed. "Dang it, Kane."

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Mercedes woke up to tapping on her window. She quickly shot up out of bed and went straight to her window. She saw Carl crouched down on the awning attached to her window. Her eyes widened and she pushed her window open.

"Carl?" She asked as she gave him a confused look.

"There's somebody in my house." Carl whispered.

Mercedes nodded as she let out a yawn. "Yeah, your dad, Judith and Michonne. What's new?"

"No! A stranger. Get your dad and come on." Carl told her before climbing back down to the ground.

"Shit." Mercedes muttered. She quickly put her shoes on and ran out of her room. "Dad! Ross! There's someone in Carl's house!" She yelled as she ran down the stairs.

"Yeah! Fucking Carl!" Ross yelled from his room, it was clear he was still trying to sleep.

"Jesus!" Jesse yelled from his spot on the couch where he had fallen asleep the night before.

Mercedes stopped dead in her tracks and looked at her dad weirdly. "I thought Jesus was everywhere... But mainly our hearts." She placed her hand over her heart.

Jesse rolled his eyes as he grabbed his shoes. "Just go get Abraham, Glenn and Daryl. Meet me at Rick's."

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The group now sat around The Grimes' kitchen table with a man named, Jesus. "I checked out your arsenal. Haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well equipped, but your provisions are low for the amount of people you have. Fifty-four?" The man asked.

"Lots more." Michelle said as she narrowed her eyes at the man.

Jesus hummed. "I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef."

"Carol." Mercedes told the man. "She's not here right now."

The man smiled at her. He then looked at Daryl. "Look, we got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side, the living side. You, Rick and Jesse had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't. I'm from a place that's a lot like this one. Part of my job is searching our other settlements to trade with. I took your truck because my community needs things, and the three of you looked like trouble. I was wrong. You're good people. And this is a good place. I think our communities may be in a position to help each other."