Living Like You're Dead

Rick and Glenn had interrupted the scene, they were unsure of what they had witnessed. Had Addie actually killed Merle? Granted she should have enough hatred to easily complete the job, but everyone knew how she felt about Daryl, and she should’ve known that Daryl also loved his brother very much.

“What’d you do?” Daryl asked her, he was still clutching Merle’s limp body.

“I took a chance.” She said.

“A chance? With what exactly? He’s dead!”

“Just wait, please just wait.” Addie was upset, she was torn with what she had done, in her head at the time she thought it was the best option, the only option. The gurgling of blood interrupted her. Merle was coughing it up.

He wasn’t dead.

Daryl wasn’t exactly realizing what was happening, he thought… Addie had killed Merle. The syringe had rolled away from them, Addie was looking at Merle trying to see how responsive he was, “fuckin’ hurt.” Was all that Merle told her. Daryl realized the syringe hadn’t been empty, but filled with blood… her blood.

“You’re trying to… save him?” Daryl realized, gratitude again returning to his face.

“Of course you idiot, you think I’d let you loose your brother after all this time?” she asked.

“I love you.” was all Daryl really had to say.

“Pussy.” Merle managed to cough at his brother.

“I know you do. But uh- Daryl, Rick… It’s getting dark.”

“Come on, let’s get him inside.” Daryl said. “Glenn grab his legs.”

Glenn was all but eager to help the infected man inside.

“He’s infected Daryl, we can’t let him inside – I’m not risking the others.” Rick told him, he was being just as cautious as Glenn.

“GOD DAMNIT RICK! He is MY brother, and he IS NOT going to die out here!” bg

“I ain’t allowin’ them to come near my kid and my wife.” Rick told him again.

“Well ‘yer the one that left him on a fuckin’ roof in Atlanta, you owe us this, you owe me this, and you fer fuckin’ sure owe his this!” Daryl yelled at him, Daryl was now standing right in front of Rick, he was pressing himself against Rick, trying to get him to take the first swing. “I’m taking my brother inside.”

“Daryl I cannont allow that.” Rick said.

“Oh but you could allow leaving him on a god damn roof in Atlanta?!” Daryl questioned him.

“Daryl you know that was different we had no choice!”

“No choice but to handcuff him to a fuckin roof?”

“He had a fuckin’ gun!” Rick said. “I wasn’t riskin’ any lives, what happened with Merle was a mistake.”

“You’re right it was.” Daryl said, “That’s why you’re lettin’ him inside!”

Daryl pushed Rick backwards, Rick nearly tripped over his feet, and Daryl couldn’t help but start this fight. Glenn immediately mustered up the courage to put himself between the two men while Addie was still checking Merle for a fever.

Glenn took a nice hit to his right eye, and with him being so small he fell to his knees. But with bravery he stepped right back in to try and keep Daryl from hurting Rick. Rick was unhappy with Daryl’s actions and Rick always waited to fight until he had to. He swung for Daryl’s stomach, and with Rick and Glenn on Daryl, he was down faster than the fight has started.

“Rick!” Addie said. She was now the pissed off one, she had to do everything around here. “Knock it the fuck off!”

“Addie I’m sorry but I can’t have this happen. I ain’t bringing no infection near my son.”

“Good thing I’ve got it covered then?

“What do you mean? I can’t just let you watch over Merle with a gun until he turns.”

“That’s not what I mean. Have I ever lead you astray? When we first met I gave you my supplies, my home, my help. And we were safe for months!”

“Well yeah but Merle’s infected Addie, I don’t think you get that for some reason.”

“So am I.” she told him. Rick and Glenn both looked at her with worry, they like Addie, they all did, the women, the children… she was a too sweet of a soul to lose. Rick ran his right hand over his sweaty face and through his hair, contemplating on what to do.

“We should’ve never let you guys go. It wasn’t safe.”

“Yeah, but Rick… I don’t have a fever.”

“Well Addie it takes time for things to develop, we saw back at the CDC it takes a couple days for someone to get a fever, get sick, and turn.”

“Happened almost a week ago.” She said biting her lip.

“Then you must not have been infected, maybe you just got nicked.” Rick told her.

“Fuck Rick, I got bitten, several times, by a small child, and a man who was most likely her father while trapped on a dining room table, while being served to cannibals.”

“This isn’t some joke Addie, this is real!”

Addie muttered the word fuck several times under her breath while she undid the top button of her jeans and zipper. And slid her pants low enough to show Rick and Glenn her inner thigh. Even though the wound had healed you could see the uneven skin where the muscle had been torn out.

“Addie oh my god.” Glenn said covering his mouth with his hand. Daryl jumped up and helped her pants find the top of her hips once again. He was slightly angered with her for being so eager to show off her legs to other men.

“Addie that wound is completely healed, it had to have happen months ago.”

“So’s my face right?” she said pointing to her cheek where that large cut had once been.

“Well yeah, I guess… but you just got that.. I saw that gash.” He said.

“Right, not even a scar.” She said back, cocking an eyebrow.

“But how is that… possible?” Rick asked astonished.

“Not completely sure, but I have a few ideas. Now I know that Merle may not be completely safe… but I’ve got a hunch, Rick please?” she asked touching his arm. “Please trust me?”

“Are you saying you’ve found a cure?” he asked her, hoping for the answer yes.

“Guess we’re about to find out.” She said coldly. “Now help me get him inside.”

Daryl gave Rick an icy stare, for treating his brother poorly, and laying eyes on Addie’s skin that only he was supposed to see. But he helped Rick lift Merle’s heavy body. They were able to use the lift because of the generators. They picked the seventh floor, It was a floor beneath everyone else, just in case the plan went wrong. There was a slightly furnished room that Rick had the key to. By slightly furnished, it meant that everything was still boxed from the distributor, but Glenn ripped the plastic off of a beautiful white leather couch. They hoisted Merle’s body onto the couch, and then everyone wondered what to do next.

Addie pulled some water from her backpack and gave it to Daryl to make Merle drink. She found soft cloths in the kitchen area where she poured another bottle water to dampen the cloths for cleaning the wound. Rick came up behind her. She could see Merle drinking from Daryl’s hands like a small thirsty child, Glenn just stood over and watched him, curious as to Merle’s behavior.

Rick blocked her exit, giving her a stern, but bewildered look. He asked: “Why… why him? Why are you so intent on saving the man who raped you?”

She herself had asked that question many times, but she knew she hand an answer. “Do you see that man? Merle’s younger brother?” she asked him.

“Daryl…? Yes.”

“I have come to care for Daryl more than anything in the world, he may be stupid, he may be rude, but I love him. And that is his only family member. Despite what he did, I can look past that. I won’t ever forgive him, but I can know that he made a mistake that he regrets. And he proves it every day. He’s saved my life more than once, he’s saved Daryl’s and he hasn’t touched a beer since he’s been with us.”

“So his life is worth saving?”

“Well, I owe him one – that’s for damn sure.” She said stepping to Rick’s side and freeing herself from the confines of the kitchen.