Untold Secrets

Chapter 19- Meeting Uncle Merle

Chapter song: Do I Wanna Know? ~ Arctic Monkeys

I woke up the next morning to everyone moving around. I must've really slept in later than normal. I vaguely remembered falling asleep outside and Daryl carrying me back in, but after that I was out like a rock. I walked out of my cell and was greeted by Daryl. "Morning sunshine. Get something to eat. You're coming with Oscar and I to clear out more of this block." I nodded.

I ate some cereal with water quickly (all that we had at the moment) and got my knife and gun ready. We headed into the dark hallways, weapons up and ready to attack if needed to. Daryl led, followed by me and then Oscar. "Why did you have me come?" I asked him. "Because...keeping your mind occupied." He said. "Man check it out." Oscar said to Daryl. He notioned at a pair of doors moving slightly. I moved a little farther away from them, seeing walkers on the ground, mostly dead prisoners, really. Daryl whistled and got my attention. "C'mon." He said and we continued to walk slowly through the hallways.

"You know my mom, she liked her wine and she liked to smoke in bed. Virginia Slims." He chuckled slightly to himself as he peeked into a door way. I didn't know where he was going with this story, but I was eager to listen, I wanted to know about my grandma. "I was out playing with the kids in the neighborhood, I could do that with your Uncle Merle gone. They had bikes, I didn't. We heard sirens getting louder, they jumped on their bikes and ran after it. You know, hoping to see something worth seeing. I ran after them but I couldn't keep up. I ran around a corner, saw my friends looking at me. Hell, I saw everybody looking at me. Fire trucks everywhere, people from the neighborhood. It was my house they were there for. It was your grandmother in bed, burnt to nothing. That was the hard part you know? She was just gone, erased. Nothing left of her." He finished his story. We stopped walking and I kept my head down, looking at the floor. Not exactly what I would've like to hear about my grandma but at least I knew. I knew he was trying to make me feel better about Lori and I was grateful for that. "I'm sorry." I told him. He nodded saying "Me too kid, me too."

When we finished, we came back to our cell block. "Daryl, Casey..." Glenn walked up to us. "I was planning on going for another run for the baby. Casey seemed to know what she was doing and what the baby needed. Mind if she tags along?" He asked Daryl for permission. He looked at me and there was a slight pause. "Don't see why not, gotta make her useful somehow." He teased me. "I'll be right back." I told Glenn.

I gathered my backpack and packed a few waters and came back out. "Ready." I said and looked at Glenn. Daryl squeezed my shoulder. "Be safe." I nodded and hugged him. "I will, daddy. Promise." Glenn said goodbye to Maggie and she gave me a list of things to try and find if I could. After that, we got into the car and drove off.
***
"Would there be anything in there?" I pointed to a line of shops, one being a discount store. "Might as well check it out." He said, and pulled up in front of it. We got out quietly and I looked around. "It's clear." I told him. "Alright, let's take a look." He said and pulled a giant pair of pliers out of the car to break the store doors open. He opened the doors and immediately birds flew out right above our heads. I squealed a little and we ducked. (No pun intended). Glenn told me it was safe to come in so I did. I grabbed a shopping basket and stuffed it with anything I could find. I even snagged a few stuffed toys. After about 15 minutes of searching, we concluded we had enough. We started loading everything back into the car. "The prison's a straight shot from here, probably make it home in time for dinner." Glenn said.

All of the sudden, I heard a loud voice and a strange man appeared out of nowhere. "And where is it y'all good people call home?" He had his gun cocked and pointed at us. I dropped the basket and we pointed our guns back at him. "Merle?" Glenn asked. Merle? As in my Uncle Merle? His face was busted, and he had some contraption on his right arm with a metal knife at the end. Yup, this had to be him. He started laughing and lowered his gun to the ground. "Wow!" He said, raising his hands, walking towards us. "Woah, back up!" I raised my voice at him. He may be family, but he was dangerous. I could tell. "Okay, okay honey. Jesus!" He said and stopped. "You made it." Glenn said.

"Can you tell me, is my brother alive?" Merle asked. Glenn and I looked at each other, and he reluctantly said "Yeah." Merle smiled in relief and started talking again. "Hey, you take me to him and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta." I didn't trust him. I looked at this man and saw the man who ruined my life. The low life who drove my parents away from each other, and most importantly, Daryl away from me. Merle laughed as we didn't answer him right away. Finally, Glenn said "We'll tell Daryl you're here and he'll come out to meet you." That didn't fly with Merle. "Hold on, just hold up. Hey, the fact that we found each other is a miracle. Come on now...you can trust me." I glared at him. "You trust us. You stay here!" Glenn said to him sternly.

Merle quickly pulled out another gun out of nowhere and shot it. Glenn and I moved out of the way just in time not to be hit as he shot the back window of our car. I ran to one side of the car but was forcefully stopped. Merle got me on the ground quickly, holding his weird arm across my chest and in his other hand he was holding a gun to my cheek. Glenn came back around, gun pointed at Merle's head. Glenn looked at me, probably wanting to reveal to Merle that he had a gun to his niece's head. I shook my head at him. Revealing anything about me would not help this situation. "Hey buddy, hold up." Merle warned him. "Let go of her!" Glenn yelled. "Put that gun in the car right now. Put it in the car, son." Merle commanded him. I whimpered at the force he was using to keep me down, it hurt. Glenn did as he was told.

"There you go. Now we're gonna go for a little drive." Merle said. "We're aren't taking you back to our camp." I said under my teeth but loud enough for him to hear. "No, we're going somewhere else sweetheart. Get in the car! You're driving! Move!" Merle yelled and then I was forcefully dragged up to my feet. I was thrown into the car, hitting my head against the opposite window. I don't remember anything after that, because as soon as I hit my head on that window, I passed out.