A simple supply hunt for a source of water in the middle of Atlanta turns sour quickly for Erin as she come fist to face with a fuming, handless Merle Dixon.
Alone in the middle of the apocalypse with only a racist guy who doesn't know the differen...
"Don't you see that the lion is silent yet feared, while the dog barks constantly and is despised?" - Imam ash-Shafi'i
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"Before the group lef' me in the city, they was up near some quarry in the woods," Merle recalled, his breathing slowing slightly as he leaned back with his eyes closed, "I started to think you weren't comin' back. Was gonna come hunt ya down like I said..."
Erin laughed slightly, feeling more than a little sure that he'd been deadly serious about that threat, "I ran into another mob near the truck... Didn't want to lose the weapons I've collected so I had to make a run for it." She swerved the truck left and started heading towards the mountains where she guessed the quarry would be.
At the mention of weapons, Merle craned his head back to look in the bed of the truck, his eyes widening considerably at the array of guns and melee weapons that lay in it. He let out a low whistle, "Not bad. I think we agreed I get pick of any of 'em, right?"
"You get to have one of them," she confirmed, knowing he'd like to take more, "I'm sure you've got plenty back at your brother's camp..."
He hummed in response, "True. Most of 'em don't belong to me, though. Reckon Mr. Fancy Pants Sherriff's probably taken his unfair share of 'em, 'less Daryl's had somethin' to say about it..."
Erin assumed Daryl must have been his brother by the change of tone in Merle's voice when he mentioned him, "Why would Daryl have something to say?"
He shuffled slightly in his seat as though trying to get comfortable as he leaned against the door and lay the bat down at his feet, "Most've the guns and things camp had were brought to it by me and him. Imagine he'd be pretty pissed if they tried takin' 'em away."
"Where did you two get them from?" She felt like she was being nosy, but it was better than sitting in silence and being unsociable the entire journey.
Merle seemed to think differently, "What's with all the questions? I don't see why it matters to you where we got 'em."
"Just trying to make conversation," she reasoned, keeping her eyes on the road ahead though she knew there were no other drivers to watch out for, "and I'm very interested in weapons as you might have guessed. I was wondering how you managed to get some."
"I could ask you the same thing. Shouldn't you have samurai swords and nunchucks instead'a guns?" he replied, chuckling. It was true, he could ask that question. She didn't appreciate how he asked it though.
Ignoring his racist remarks, she nodded, "Well, you can just as soon as you answer mine."
He looked like he was going to make a snarky comment, but seemed to bite his tongue, thinking better of it - perhaps due to the amount of weapons she did have and probably knew how to use, "Fine... Our uncle was a hunter - carried a lot of guns, bows and things. When these creepers started roamin' the streets, I grabbed Daryl and the weapons and loaded my bike into my truck and did'n look back..."
Erin noted his reluctance to share anything else about his past, but decided that it was his choice what he wanted to tell her and she could respect that. "Okay," she nodded, trying her best to ignore the guarded look in his eyes, "Well, I was in Macon with my brother when the virus broke out, and there were a few stores round us that stocked guns so we looted them completely. We lost a few knives along the way to strays' heads, but as you can see I'm still pretty stocked up."
Her throat had seemed to close up as she mentioned Todd, making it hard to breathe, but she hoped it hadn't been obvious enough for Merle to notice. Therefore, she was kicking herself when he turned around and said, "'Ey, where exactly is your brother? He get killed or somethin'?"
She gritted her teeth together, biting back a harsh retort as tears pricked in her eyes. God knows Merle deserved a few choice words after all the things she'd let by in the hour or so she'd known him. "That's none of your business."
"What? I told you abou-" he stopped as she shot him a death glare, the tears in her eyes visible even to someone as cold as him, "Alrigh', alrigh' no need to bring out the katanas..."
As he rolled his eyes, something inside Erin snapped, "Shut up! Just... shut up!"
"Okay..."
"No! It's not okay! I pretty much saved your life and you haven't said so much as a 'thanks' for that. I could have left you!" she tried to reign in the beast, but the smirk on Merle's face as she glared at him only fanned the flames inside her, "I could have left you for dead! I should've left you for dead! I should've-"
She cut herself off, tearing her gaze away from the asshole sat beside her in the truck and focusing on the road. Said asshole let out another low whistle which she tried her best to ignore as he chuckled at the sight of her knuckles, bright white against the dark of the steering wheel, "Go ahead, Mulan. Leave me, then."
"Don't tempt me..." she growled in reply through gritted teeth, "because I will..."
"Come on, then, Chopsticks. Do it," he pushed, chuckling again as she purposefully turned away from him to check the side mirror though, of course, there wasn't going to be any vehicles behind them. He leaned closer, his face only a foot away from hers, "Do it."
Erin sucked in a sharp breath through her nose, clenching her fists tightly on the steering wheel. The temptation to do what he said was strong, almost strong enough to convince her to actually 'do it', but she maintained some level of self control as she calmly turned her head to face him.
"Merle," she sighed peacefully, causing a greatly confused look to wash over his face, "Will you do me a favour and shut the hell up? Before I make you..."
"Whaddya' mean by tha'? Like you could take m-" he began to question, but was soon stopped by the sight of her fist nearing towards his head. He had no time to fight back before her knuckles collided with his temple with a thwack and his world fell into darkness as he slumped back in the passenger seat, unconscious. It was almost like karma...
She hummed in slight shock, not expecting him to go down so easily, but she supposed she'd had the element of surprise on her side. At least he'd be quiet now.
She just needed to get to wherever this camp was before he came back around - and make sure she was quite a few miles away when he did. Realising that probably wouldn't be long, she sped up, pushing her foot on the accelerator and heading off into the mountains up ahead, the sweet sound of silence hanging in the air...
