Mercy on Me

So, umm, who saw Walking Dead Sunday? Well, this girl did, and this girl BAWLED her eyes out. I never want to see Norman Reedus cry ever again. Ever.

I mean it. Never.

I was going to write this chapter Saturday, but I went to an Elbme3 concert that night and just crashed right against. Then I planned to write it Sunday night after WD, but after being thrown emotionally through the ringer, I just went straight to sleep after Talking Dead (speaking of which, Norman's going to be on Talking Dead Sunday!).

Tonight, however, the ideas started flowing, and boom! Chapter Eleven is written. Happy Wednesday!

It's long. So get some popcorn before you start reading.

It's been more than a week since my last update, so I apologize.

I really like this chapter, so I hope you guys do to!

Obviously, I don't own the Walking Dead, but after this past Sunday, I really just want to give Norman a hug.. but then again, don't we all want to do that all the time?

Okay, okay, get reading.

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HotRanger69; I missed you too! As of right now, it is 3:58AM.. By the time I'm done editing this? Gosh, who knows. I'm glad you loved last chapter so much! Daryl and Harper need to have SOME time alone, since Merle's always there. I thought long and hard about what to do with Sophia, but I felt that it wasn't her time. Not yet. Again, I'm glad you loved it, and I love you too! (:

Sissymac; Thanks so much, I'm glad you're enjoying the story! But good observation, nobody has asked that! If you check out all of my stories, each of them has something like that at the end of each chapter. Each of these are a special quote that showed some type of importance to the theme that I'm writing about. For example, my Hunger Games quote was: "May the odds be ever in your favor!", which is a very popular HG quotes. "You believe in dead people walking around?" was spoken by Daryl, who is my OC's romantic interest.

**Again, thank you, thank you, thank you for each and every review. They all remind me of why I continue to write these stories, and knowing that you're all reading them right along with me makes it so incredibly worth it.
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My head hurt.

Really, really, bad.

My eyes refused to open when I lifted a hand to place against my temple. I felt a slight bump there, but didn’t really care about it. Rolling onto my side, I pulled the covers up so they rested over my shoulders.

Wait.

My eyes popped open at the realization of me being under covers. Adjusting to the bright room, I looked down to see that I was, in fact, in a bed. The room I was in was a decent size.

At the foot of the bed were a dresser and a bathroom that jutted out of the wall. To my left were a coffee table, couch, and a closet. Sitting up slowly, I rubbed the corners of my eyes, stupidly remembering the fact that I had makeup on.

Where was everyone? Where was Daryl?

Pulling the covers back, I saw that I was still in my old clothes. My body shivered, despite the fact that it had to be at least ninety degrees out. After thinking about it, I had to be safe; Daryl was with me when I passed out, he wouldn’t have let someone take me free-willingly.

Tiptoeing into the bathroom, I looked into the mirror to see that I only had a case of bedhead; besides that, I was doing okay. Wait, what the hell am I doing? Here I am in some random house with not one living person in sight, yet the first thing I do is check my makeup.

“Guess old habits die hard..” I muttered, shaking my head.

When my hair swayed back and forth, I noticed that a new bandage was wrapped around my head where my old scar is. Shaking off the slight feeling of worry that was taking over my body, I exited the bathroom and headed for the bedroom door.

“Here goes nothing,” I sighed, cracking open the door to peek my head out of God-knows-where.

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I slid my fingers against the wall as I made my way down a nice hallway. The wall was adorned with family portraits from a happier time, when the idea of a zombie apocalypse was probably far off.

Farther along the wall were portraits of each family member smiling brightly, as if they didn’t have a care in the world. I stopped abruptly when I met the end of the hallway, turned left, and slowly headed down the long staircase. As I made my way down the long staircase, I could slowly begin to hear voices from all around the house.

Footsteps were rushing around, picking things up and putting things down. Leaning forward, I could peek over the railing just enough so that I could see the living room in full view. There were two girls that were hurrying through the house, gathering random supplies.

The short blonde looked to be the younger of the two while the older girl looked to be around my age. She was quite tall, probably taller than me, with a short brown hair cut that framed her face at the chin. I studied them for a while, trying to figure out if I should make a run for it or try and talk to them.

“Coming, daddy!” the blonde called out as she ran as fast as she could while juggling a pad of gauze and a bowl of steaming water.

“You got that, Beth?” the brunette asked who I assumed was Beth.

Beth nodded quickly but didn’t stop moving as she headed into a room that I couldn’t see past the stairway. The two girls looked pretty trustworthy; if they pulled guns on me, oh well, right? It was worth a shot. Clearing my throat, I spoke.

“Excuse me?”.

The girl’s head whipped to the side, clearly having no clue that I had been watching the two girls work. At first she stared at me in surprise, as if she didn’t recognize me. Just as that questioning look came, it was gone, for realization swam through her eyes.

“Oh good, you’re awake. Group’s probably looking for you,” she said shortly before looking the other way.

I was taken aback by her attitude; she wasn’t rude, but she wasn’t that helpful, either. I took the last few stairs in stride and made me way over to the girl, placing my hand in front of me. She stared down at it in question before shaking it.

“Harper Walsh,” I said smiling.

“Maggie Greene,” Maggie replied with a tight smile. I looked around the homey family room quickly before turning back to Maggie.

“So.. Where is my group?” I asked awkwardly, acknowledging the fact that I was technically just some random girl standing in some random person’s living room.

“The father of that poor boy—Rick, isn’t it? He’s in there with his son and my father. Heard some of your group still hasn’t gotten here, but the people that are here are outside,” Maggie rambled off nonchalantly. I nodded at her in thanks.

“Maggie! We’re going to need you in here soon!” Beth, who I was assuming was Maggie’s younger sister, yelled from the room that Maggie had said Rick and Carl were in.

“On my way!” Maggie called back, sighing heavily.

“Wait, wait!” I practically shouted at her, holding on to her shoulder. Maggie shot me a look of annoyance but stayed put.

“I was obviously unconscious when I got here.. Was there a man with me? Angel winged vest, crossbow? Full-blown redneck?”.

Maggie’s bottom lip jutted out as she though, but she eventually shook her head no.

“Sorry, Harper. Only people that came with you were Rick, his boy, and Otis,”. I thanked her quickly before heading outside to see who from my group had arrived at..

Well, wherever we were.

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Stepping outside, I gasped at the scenery that was laid out before me. A large barn stood on the far corner of the property, a fence wrapping widely around the yard. While I took in the plush land surrounding me, I couldn’t help but think that this family we had stumbled upon had at least an acre of property.

The large yard was shrouded in a forest of trees; from the road the place was almost invisible. Seeing the tall windmill that stood next to the barn, I could only think that this place was an actual farm. Smiling to myself, I stepped off of the porch and into the hot Georgia sun.

“What time is it?” I asked myself, stretching in the heat.

“’Bout noon,” a voice said from the side of the house. My head turned quickly at hearing Shane’s voice.

“Shane!” I called out gratefully.

Running over to him, I hugged him tightly, almost forgetting the argument we had had last time we spoke. Shane hugged me back tightly, wrapping a hand through a chunk of my hair.

“You okay?” he asked me, his voice muffled against the top of my head.

“I woke up in someone’s bedroom and was incredibly confused... I met Maggie and saw Beth, I think is her name; the family seems nice,”.

Shane pulled back suddenly, as if distracted.

“Shane, should I be asking if you’re okay?” I whispered, almost scared to ask him.

He didn’t answer me, no; instead, he was craning his neck around my body to look at the porch.

“Gotta get in there and see Carl,” he replied almost robotically. I pulled back and stared at him with a confused expression on my face.

“Shane.. No offense, but when Carl wakes up; well, if he hasn’t already.. He’s going to want to see his parents first—,”.

“But Harper—,”.

“No, Shane. Don’t do that. Not to Carl,” I told him in a harsh voice, but my hand on his shoulder was gently.

Shane’s tongue darted out quickly over his bottom lip as he looked at me in the corner of his eyes. I was surprised at how fidgety he was, but I didn’t bother him with that.

“You’re right. Give ‘em some time,” Shane sighed, patting me on the back.

“There ya go,” I smiled, running a hand through his thick black curls, only to have him swat my hand away playfully. “Hey, who else is here?”.

Shane looked around before counting on his fingers out loud.

“Let’s see: Andrea, Dale, Lori, and Sophia are here. Everyone else is on their way,”.

“Well where’s Lori?” I asked him, since I could clearly point out Dale, Andrea, and Sophia walking around the farm in awe.

“With her family, where else?” Shane scoffed, shooting me a dirty look.

Oh.

Well, now I felt stupid.

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I’d been walking around the farm for at least ten minutes and Rick still hadn’t emerged from the two-story house. Despite everything going on, I couldn’t help but enjoy being able to walk around without having to worry about a walker sneaking up on me.

It was crazy; it was as if every zombie in the world had just decided to leave this farm untouched. A warm breeze blew across the farm and I couldn’t help but want to start running through the field of grass at full speed. For some reason, I felt free here.

Looking towards the barn, I had to wonder if there were any animals in the barn.. I mean, come on, where else would the animals be hiding? Shoving my hands into my short pockets, I began to head over to the barn.

When I had cut my distance in half, I heard two loud engines slicing the peaceful silence with a knife. My body spun in a 180 so that I was facing the entrance to the farm. It was quite unfortunate, though, since that was the way the wind was blowing, so my hair was being blown completely over my face.

Pushing it away obnoxiously, I squinted in the sunlight to see Merle speeding through on his motorcycle with Daryl’s truck in tow. Lips breaking into a wide grin, I bolted towards them.

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“Princess, you’re breathin’!” Merle hooted over the motorcycle’s dying engine.

Although I had fought a lot with Merle in the past, I was ecstatic to see that he was okay. My sprint didn’t slow down, but sped up. As soon as Merle was off of his bike, I launched myself into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist.

“I’m so glad you’re okay..” I tried saying against his beat-up leather jacket. I could feel his laughter roaring in his chest.

“Careful, Princess. Darylena might get jealous,”.

“Oh, please, I’m just glad that you two are okay; I mean, how the hell do you drive with one hand?!” I laughed as I picked up his bad arm, placing it in front of his face.

“That’s it, I’m droppin’ ya,” Merle growled.

I didn’t think he would, but when my ass hit the dirt road, I groaned in pain.

“Douche bag,” I spat, pushing off of the ground to stand.

Looking behind Merle, I could see Daryl leaning against his truck awkwardly, watching our reunion. Merle stood between us with a giant smile on his face, but when he noticed my stares, he cleared his throat and began to walk away.

“Guess I’ll go be the elephant in the room somewhere else and give you two lovebirds a minute,”.

Spinning around, I kicked him, hoping he would trip.

He didn’t.

When Merle was far enough away, I turned back around to see that Daryl hadn’t moved, but watched me the entire time.

“Hi,” I said quietly.

“Hey,” he replied quietly, throwing a toothpick in his mouth to chew on.

“Where’d you find that?” I asked him, my eyebrows crinkling in confusion.

“One of them general stores we stopped at,”.

I nodded for a reply and almost blushed when I noticed Daryl’s eyes raking over my body.

“Yer still in the same clothes from yesterday,” he muttered.

I shivered as he expertly rolled the toothpick back and forth in his mouth; how can the man make that look sexy?

“That’s what happens when a redneck dumps you on some family you’ve never met,” I shrugged, taking a step closer to him.

“They rude to ya?” Daryl asked me, a hint of anger breaking through.

I could tell that Daryl had gotten the short end of the stick when it came to the direction of the sun, since he had to squint to see me.

“No, not at all. I woke up in a bed and almost panicked.. Thought you just left me,” I chuckled, even though it wasn’t really a joke.

Sure, I had been nonchalant about everything, but if Daryl had just left me? I got chills just thinking about.

“Dammit, girl, why do you think I would just up and leave ya?” he asked me angrily, throwing his arms up in the air.

My hands flung to my hips, ready to protest.

“I didn’t.. I mean; Jesus Christ, Daryl, I don’t know. You’re just so confusing, and then when shit hits the fan, I wake up alone in a place I’ve never seen before.. What else do you expect me to think?”.

We both stood there in silence, Daryl thinking up a reply and me waiting for one. When he finally opened his mouth to speak, he only said two words: “Lord’s name,”.

My head fell forward in confusion.

“‘Scuse me?”.

“Ya heard me; Lord’s name in vain,”.

Before I knew it, my head was shaking and my tongue was mimicking my brother’s as it ran across my bottom lip (something Daryl definitely noticed).

“You know, Daryl.. For once, could you get deep with me? Just once?” I scoffed, crossing my arms tightly against my chest.

His eyebrows rose as he started to speak.

“I would answer you, Barbie, but I have a feelin’ that I’m on a completely different level than you are,” .

Hearing that, I couldn’t help but shove him in the shoulder.

“You know what I mean, Daryl. Here I am telling you a story about how I thought you abandoned me and you close yourself off. Why can’t you open up me; be emotional? I mean damn, I swear Merle opens up more to me than you do!”.

Now it was Daryl’s turn to scoff as he rolled his eyes.

“You think I haven’t ‘been emotional enough’ with ya? Girl, I’ve opened up a lot more than you think I have,” he growled at me, but his words were muffled through the toothpick.

“Get rid of that, dammit,” I growled back as I plucked the toothpick out of his mouth.

As if it was possible, Daryl’s eyes squinted even tighter as he reached for the toothpick.

“Give it back,” he ordered, but I took a couple steps back when he lunged for it.

“No,” I said lightly.

“Harper... Don’t do this right now,” Daryl threatened, but I only took it as a challenge.

“Well now there’s no way in hell you’re getting this thing back. Thought you had a whole pack anyway, ain’t that right?” I smiled cheekily at him before turning around to walk away.

Even though I could hear his heavy footsteps crunching against the ground behind me, I let him pull me towards him.

“Harper,”.

“Daryl,” I replied, mockingly.

As soon as I saw Daryl’s hand reach up to grab the toothpick away from me, I did the only thing that I could think of, and that was plop the toothpick in my mouth. Closing my teeth around it, I couldn’t help but think about the fact that it had been in Daryl’s mouth no less than two minutes ago.

God, I hope he brushed his teeth today.

At the sight of me biting down on his toothpick, his nose scrunched up.

“Ain’t sanitary,” he muttered, still trying to pull it out of my mouth.

“Got any diseases I have to worry about?” I asked him, stepping back a few more steps.

“Fuck no!” Daryl growled back. His playfulness was clearly wearing thin, so I made due of the situation.

“Then I guess we’re okay,”. I pulled the toothpick out of my mouth with a pop and placed it back into his mouth.

When he opened his mouth again to speak, I stood on my toes and placed a kiss against his lips, our tongues both circling around the toothpick.

Pulling away, I bit down on the toothpick lightly before spinning on my heel to go check on the Carl situation, leaving a speechless Daryl in my wake.

“Wait!” I heard him call, so I turned around to hear him out.

My foot began to tap expectantly as he worked on what to say. He began fidgeting with his fingers and was practically pacing, which made me giggle.

When he couldn’t figure out how to start what he wanted to say, he walked over slowly and wrapped his large, warm arms around me awkwardly.

“Glad you’re okay,” he whispered gruffly against my ear.

Reaching up, I kissed him lightly on the corner of his mouth before leaning into the hug.

“Glad you’re okay back,”.

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“So you’re telling us that if you don’t get the proper tools you need to do the surgery, that boy’s gonna die?” Carol’s voice said, asking the question that everyone had been wondering.

The entire room shifted to look at little Sophia, who was at Carol’s side, as she stifled a sob. The doctor, Hershel, nodded.

“Unfortunately.. I would try to do the surgery with the boy awake, but he would be in too much pain; wouldn’t be able to sit still. If he moves as much as an inch during surgery, it could kill him,” Hershel explained to the group, who had by now fully arrived at the farm.

I had barely heard Hershel as my head fell into my hands; Carl was going to die.

“How’s Rick doing?” Glenn asked through his hands, as his face was buried deep into his dirty hands as well.

At that, Hershel shot us an even more severe look as if saying, “Do you even need to ask?”. The entire group fell into a gloomy silence that hung over us like a dark raincloud. Carl had really gotten shot? It seemed impossible; he, as well as Sophia, was just a kid!

“They shouldn’t have to be brought up in this world..” the words that flew from my mouth surprised everyone, including myself.

“They?” Dale asked me. Finally looking up, I nodded my head towards Sophia.

“Carl and Sophia! They’re only kids, it just isn’t fair,” I complained, shaking my head slightly.

“None of this is fair, but God works in mysterious ways, dear,”.

I almost wanted to snap at the doctor, but Daryl's hand at my back reminded me that he was the only one who could save Carl. Once again, we fell into an awkward silence, only to hear Rick and Lori sniffling in the room that Carl was being held in.

I couldn’t help but glance over at Shane, who was staring at the closed door that was blocking him from Lori and Carl. I was almost thankful for when Merle spoke up, until he finished his sentence.

“So can I start diggin’ a grave fer the kid, or what?”.

My mouth fell open when I heard his question, and Daryl leaned over to smack him in the back of the head.

“Fuck is wrong wit you?” Daryl growled as Merle rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head.

“S’only a damn question, asshole...” Merle spat back, but his anger disappeared in a flash; his usual snarky smile was back on his face, as if nothing had happened..

He had, however, gained a glare from almost everyone in the group, even Sophia.

“What if we could get you the stuff ya need for your surgery? You could save him?” Shane asked randomly.

He clearly had been off in his own world when Merle spoke; otherwise, Merle would probably be dead right now. Hershel Green crossed his arms, nodding slowly.

“It’s possible,”.

Shane shot a questioning look at me, so I spoke up.

“What do you mean it’s possible? I thought you said you could do it, what aren’t you telling us?”.

He sighed deeply as he got ready to speak.

“I’m a doctor, just not for people.. I’m a veterinarian; I’ve never performed this on a human,”.

“Oh, well that’s just fucking great!” Shane bellowed, throwing his arms up in the air.

Jumping up, I hurried over to Shane; we couldn’t let him blow our only shot at saving Carl.

“Shane.. If he doesn’t try the surgery, Carl’s going to die. Might as well give it a shot, right?”.

Shane stared at me with worry, but eventually nodded. When I went to sit back down, I noticed how Daryl and Merle were both staring at me intently.

“What?” I mouthed to them, but they both just shook their heads.

“So you’re saying that if we get you your medical shit, you can try and save him?” Shane repeated himself. Hershel nodded quicker this time.

“Yes. I’ll try everything I can,”.

The next fifteen minutes were used to decide who would go out to find Hershel what he needed; apparently there was a school about two or three miles down the road that had been set up as a sort of hospital. As always, a hospital means medical supplies.

Much to my dismay, Shane quickly volunteered to go. To my surprise, another man volunteered to go with him. Otis, the man who had shot Carl, wanted to go as well.

“I was the one who started this; I want to help end it,” he had told everyone, and since nobody really wanted to go searching for supplies, we all agreed on him going.

As everyone was getting up to go back to their business, Shane answered Hershel with a surprising answer, but I don’t think anybody was willing to comment on it.

As I followed the Dixons out of the house, I heard Shane say, “You better. That’s my boy in there,”.

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“What possibly made you think that saying that was okay, Merle?” I asked Merle angrily, wringing my fingers together.

On the other side of the farm, everyone was setting up their makeshift tents; the Dixons, on the other hand, had decided to camp out on the opposite of the farm.

Merle, who was a few steps ahead of me, groaned.

“It was a simple question, Harper; no harm done,”.

“No harm done? No harm done? Merle, you basically asked if we could bury Carl and he hasn’t even died yet! You’re lucky Shane wasn’t listening, otherwise he would’ve killed you!” I yelled, my voice blowing against the strong wind.

I heard Daryl snort from beside me, so I shot him a dirty look.

“I think we could take him, Barbie,” Daryl explained, shaking his head.

“That’s not the point, guys.. If Rick came up to you and told you he was gonna bury Daryl even though he had a fighting chance, you would be beyond pissed off!” I continued, unable to control my anger.

He was just a young boy; it wasn’t fair. Merle stopped walking, instead spinning his heel to point his finger in my face.

“Don’t ya start, Harper. Don’t. Unlike the damn boy, ma brother wouldn’t be so stupid to go run off and pet a fuckin’ deer and get shot! That boy don’t stand a damn chance, and you know it,” he growled, his voice slowly rising.

I didn’t back away, but I could tell he was only getting angrier. As he yelled at me, he took hold of my wrist tightly.

“Merle..” Daryl warned him, but Merle kept yelling.

“You’re gonna defend her? Over your own damn blood? Fuckin’ whipped is what ya are. And when it comes to your asshole nicker of a brother, I wish he had been listenin’! That way, I could’ve finally laid into that pig,” Merle berated me, his spittle flying across my face.

Using all of the strength I could, I ripped my hand out of his grasp; he could yell at me all he wanted, but he wouldn’t disrespect my brother.

“You may not respect your brother, but I respect mine. You don’t have the right to talk about him like that,” now my finger was in his face as I fought with Merle.

I was kind of surprised that Daryl was taking the backseat to this fight, but then again, he probably didn’t want to piss Merle off even more than he was.

“Why is it such a big deal to ya? Kid’s not yours anyway,”.

“If you didn’t think it was such a big deal, you wouldn’t be screaming at me right now!” I spat back, but Merle only laughed.

“You’re just upset over tha boy ‘cuz you’re probably just fuckin’ his father,”.

My head shot back as my eyebrows rose in shock.

Without holding back, my palm reached up and smacked Merle in the face, his head whipping to the side.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” I muttered, my voice quiet.

Taking a deep breath as an attempt to calm himself down, he threw his one arm up in the air in surrender and turned to walk away.

“You’re seriously going to just walk away from me?” I asked him, annoyed; leave it to Merle to walk away.

“Ain’t gonna waste ma time arguing with a prissy little bitch,” he snarled, but didn’t bother looking at me.

I didn’t want him to get the last word; he couldn’t win. My hips jutted out to one side as I threw my hands on my hips.

“Oh, right I forgot. You’re just a scared little asshole who can’t do shit unless it comes to beating on your little brother. Must’ve escaped my mind,”.

Even though it had sounded okay in my mind, as soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them; as soon as Merle stopped dead in his tracks, I knew that I had gone too far.

Before I knew it, Merle spun around and lunged at me, his arms outstretched. I tried to jump out of the way, but his strides were much larger than mine.

Before my vision blurred, I saw Daryl reaching for Merle’s arms, but that was before a loud crack emanated from my jaw, throwing me to the floor. My eyes were rolling as my head hit the dirt ground with a thud, a wave of nausea washing over me.

“What the fuck, Merle?!” I heard someone shout, but the voice was far away.

When my eyesight became somewhat clearer, I could see Daryl leaning over me, his hand against my cheek.

“You okay, darlin’?” he asked me, but I couldn’t find my voice to respond.

My head rolled to the side, where I could see Merle staring at me, panting heavily. His eyes were filled with regret; wasn’t he the one who had told me he didn’t believe in hitting women?

"Listen, Harper. I may say and do a lotta things.. But hurting a woman 'gainst her will is somethin' I would never do, hear me?".

Yeah. He had said that.

“You said.. You said, that you would never hurt me against my will...” I tried to say, even though it was probably just a jumbled mess.

Through a fuzzy haze, I saw Merle’s eyes pop open in surprise, as if he thought that I had forgotten his apology out by the abandoned cars at the highway.

“You promised me,” I coughed, choking on a small bit of blood that had run down my throat.

His gaze turned down towards the blood that I was spitting up, guilt raining over his face.

“Harper..” he started, but caught himself.

Wasn’t that what all Dixons did? They had to protect their pride.

“You’re just as psychotic as your damn brother,” Merle sneered before hesitantly deciding to walk off. I tried to chuckle at the remark, but I only coughed more.

“I’m getting Shane,” Daryl told me, but I shook my head no as much as I could.

“Please, don’t.. He has too much. Too much going on; he’ll freak,” I pleaded with him, and I could barely see him thinking it over.

Eventually, he picked me up with a grunt and headed for what I believed was his tent.

“Isn’t Merle..?” I asked him, not wanting to see Merle right now.

“If you’re staying in ma tent to stay away from Shane, Merle’s getting the truck,”.

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“Hey, man, have y’all seen Harper? I’ve been looking everywhere,”.

My eyes shot open as Shane’s voice filled the tent. Rolling over as quickly as I could, I braced myself for Shane’s reaction to my damaged face.

The black-and-blue marks that covered the one half of my face were pitiful. To my relief, Shane was standing outside of the tent, not in.

“No, man, sorry. Maybe she’s with the girls?” I heard Daryl say, lying straight to my brother’s face.

I sighed and closed my eyes, getting ready to go back to sleep. Just before I could completely fall into unconsciousness, somebody was shaking my awake.

"Go away...” I groaned, swatting the person’s hand away.

“Stop givin’ me an attitude, your brother was jus’ here,” Daryl snapped, rolling me over gently.

My eyes popped open slowly to see Daryl leaning over me, worry covering his face. Smiling, I reached up and kissed him lightly on the lips, sighing against him contently. His hand quickly made its way around to my back, but he pulled his lips away just as fast.

“Brother’s leavin’ soon for the supplies; you know he’s gonna wan’ ta see you before he leaves,”.

Shushing him, I leaned up yet again and bit down gently on his bottom lip. Pulling him against me as I laid back down, Daryl threw his hands to each side of my head to balance his weight.

“Need to go see yer brother; can’t hide you in here forever,” Daryl murmured against my lips, but I just continued to kiss him, pressing my tongue against his.

Daryl groaned, the noise rumbling through his body. Using as much strength as he could muster, he pushed away from me and stumbled to the other side of the tent.

“Why’d you leave?” I pouted, throwing my hands into my lap.

“Don’t wanna start what I can’t finish,” Daryl said, even though his gaze was focused on my lips.

“Who said you couldn’t finish?” I asked him back, laughing lightly.

Closing his eyes, he threw his head back and groaned, as if he didn’t want to leave.

“Wish I could, Barbie, but you’ve gotta see yer brother. Needs ta see you before he leaves,”.

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A few antagonizing minutes later, I nervously made my way over to Otis’ truck, where Shane was packing up the car for the trip. Hearing me approach, he looked up and smiled, even though the smile faded quickly at the sight of my bruised cheek.

“Harper..” he began to say, but I quickly stopped him.

“I’m sorry, so please don’t be mad. I went for a walk and got tangled up with a walker,” I lied, playing with my hands.

“You’re bit?” he asked, worry lacing his voice. He rushed over and began to inspect my face before I swatted him away.

“No, no! When I stabbed the walker, he fell on top of me and slammed the butt of the knife into my face; just a bruise,” I rattled off the same excuse that Daryl and I had practice only a few minutes before like it had really happened. To my surprise, Shane believed me.

“Gotta be more careful, Harper. You can’t go out in the woods that far by your own, you should’ve got a hold of me or one of the Dixons,”.

I almost flinched at the sight of Merle, but I pushed him out of my mind.

“Leaving already?” I chuckled lightly, trying to lighten up the event.

Shane’s eyes widened as he nodded. I watched him throw a duffel bag in the back of the truck before he turned to face me again.

“It’s gonna be okay, Harper,”.

“It needs to be okay. I need you here,” I admitted to him once again; he is my brother, after all.

“Which is exactly why I need you to stay with at least one of the Dixons until I get back; they’ll keep you safe at all costs,” Shane ordered.

I wouldn’t mind spending all of my time with Daryl until Shane got back.

Not at all.

Forgetting formalities, I threw myself into his arms, hugging him as tight as I could.

“Come back to me,” I pleaded against his strong chest. I smiled against him as he ran a loving hand through my long hair.

“Always,”.

“Always?” I repeated him, looking up into his chocolate brown eyes.

“I promise,”.

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“So you really didn’t think of bringing a pack of cards when zombies started eating people?” I whined as I rolled around Daryl’s tent.

Sophia had forgotten her pack at the highway, so now I needed to find a new pack. Everyone had just finished dinner and Merle was still nowhere to be found.

Daryl hadn’t minded keeping me in his sight until Shane got back, either; I doubted that he would’ve. When I began to barrel-roll back towards Daryl’s sleeping bag, he stuck his foot out to stop me.

“Neither did you, Barbie!” he laughed; yes, he actually laughed.

A grunt escaped my lips when I plowed into his large boot.

“Dick,” I growled playfully.

“Ya love it,” I heard him say, making me punch him in the leg.

“I bet someone has cards,” I thought out loud, before standing up quickly.

Heading out into the darkness, I headed for the Greene house that was illuminated with a gloomy light.

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“”It was a success!” I shouted happily as I flung myself back into Daryl’s tent.

Daryl eyed me warily as I began to shuffle a pack of playing cards.

"Should've waited for me," he reminded me, but I just ignored him. “Who had ‘em?” he asked me as he scooped up his half of the deck.

“Patricia; that family is just so nice, especially after everything,” I replied.

I set up my cards as they would look in Solitaire before placing the leftover cards to the left of my row. Daryl watched me set up my cards before mimicking my set.

“Know how to play Spit?” I asked him, shooting him a smile.

“Not the card game kind..” Daryl muttered, making me laugh.

“It’s easy. When I say go, we both place a card from our piles in the middle of our two sets of cards,” I explained to him but also demonstrated.

Taking two of our cards, I placed them between our two rows of cards: a 5 of Clubs and an 8 of Hearts.

“Now you look at your cards and see if you have a card that goes in consecutive order with either of the two cards that we put down.. For example, I have a 4 of Hearts; four comes before five, so I can place that down on top of the five,” as I explained more of the game to him, I slapped the four card down on top of the five.

“Doesn’t matter the suit?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

“Nope, doesn’t matter. When you put a card down, you just flip over the card that was under it and keep going,” I showed him exactly that as I spoke.

“So how do ya win?” he asked me, trying it out for himself by putting a 9 of Spades down on top of the red 8 card.

“Good you got it! Point is to completely run out of cards. When your row is completely empty, you slap whichever card pile you think has the smallest amount of cards on it; the other player has to take the pile you didn’t slap,” as I said this, I slapped my card down on the left pile.

Sliding the right pile over to him, he nodded and reshuffled his half of the deck.

“Okay, I think I got; go easy on me,” Daryl said, so I saluted him quickly.

“Got it, old man,”.

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After two or three games, Daryl finally had gotten the hang of the game and was actually pretty good. He ended up taking the next round and offered to shuffle the deck of cards. Watching him, I smiled happily.

These were the moments that mattered at a time like this; if we could salvage small pieces of our old lives, maybe we can rebuild everything.

“Hope ya don’t mind another player,” a voice said as it entered the tent.

Without looking, I knew it was Merle; not only by his voice, but by the look on Merle’s face. Watching Daryl’s eyes, I knew that he wasn’t going to keep his word and kick Merle out, but it made sense; they were brothers.

“You need two hands to play, sorry,” I spat, but he sat down beside me anyway.

“Oh, I think I can manage. Deal me,” Merle ordered, putting his hand out to accept his cards.

Daryl reluctantly dealt him into a new game and we set up our cards. When I said ‘Go’, we all placed down a card and began to play.

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I was surprised at how well Merle was keeping up. Most rounds he did okay, but some rounds he actually won. When his hand slapped over the tiniest pile, I cleared my throat and slapped my own pile.

“Not bad for a guy with a stump for a hand,” I said nonchalantly, as if it were completely normal.

Daryl looked entirely uncomfortable with the situation, but took his larger pile anyway.

“Ouch; that was cold,” Merle pretended to shiver at the comment.

“Hitting a girl’s pretty cold too,” I shot back, and thankfully, he didn’t answer. After another round, Merle finally chirped up again.

“Let’s make things interesting!” he said, as he attempted to shuffle his cards with one hand.

“And how would we do that; make the other hand a stump and see how well you do then?” I asked him with a glare.

“Shut it. Let’s do some ‘Strip Spit’,” Merle replied, grinning mischieviously.

“’Strip Spit’? What the hell is that?” I asked, grossed out by the name of ‘Strip Spit’.

“The card game Spit, but whoever loses the round has ta take off a piece of clothing,” Merle explained, emphasizing the ‘c’ in clothing.

Glancing over at Daryl, he shot me a look that said “Don’t you dare”, so I couldn’t help but agree.

“What does the final loser have to do?” I asked him, pulling my legs into my chest.

“If it’s Daryl, he’s gotta run around camp, including the inside of the RV, stark-ass naked! If it’s you.. Well, you’ve gotta kiss me,” Merle winked at me as he set up his deck of cards.

“No way in Hell,” Daryl growled, throwing his cards down.

“And if you lose?” I asked Merle, who looked up at me with a sly look in his eyes.

“You get ta do whatever you want to me,”.

“Is this how you expect to make me forgive you? By offering me sex?” I scoffed, but despite everything, I still set up my deck.

“I’d take it; I’m a hell of a partner.. Like to ride ‘em rough,” he said as he began to laugh hysterically. I rolled my eyes at him and crossed my arms.

“You’re disgusting,”.

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“You lose, princess! C’mon, take somethin’ off!” Merle hooted as he played with the small deck of cards in his hands.

We had all eventually agreed to play Merle’s game. Daryl was down to a wife beater and his boxers, Merle was down to just boxers, and I had on my bra, shorts, and underwear.

Sighing, I undid the button on my shorts and raised my hips, pulling them down my legs. Rolling my eyes for the umpteenth time as Merle whistled at the sight of me almost naked, I threw my shorts at his head, only for him to catch them with his one hand.

“I like a girl who’s a tease,” he winked again, making me hate him more, if possible.

“Cut it out, Merle. Yer pissin’ her off,” Daryl rumbled from his side of the tent.

“Am I pissing her off or you off? Worried I’m gonna steal your girl?” Merle countered his brother, shoving him lightly.

“You should be more worried about losing, Merle,” I reminded him, but he only smiled brighter.

“That’s what I’m lookin’ forward to,”.

“Merle, you have more luck of getting sex out of Daryl than you do me, okay? Cut the crap,” I snapped before stretching my legs out.

How long had we been playing cards? It seemed like forever.

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“No,”.

“You gotta do it, princess,”.

“No, I don’t. I am not taking my bra off in front of you, no way,”.

I had unfortunately lost the next round, but I wasn’t planning on taking off anymore clothes in front of Merle, something that Daryl seemed relieved about.

“Harper, if ya refuse to take off yer clothes, you automatically forfeit and lose ,” Merle explained, clucking his tongue.

“What? You never said that!” I argued, throwing my cards down.

“Jus’ thought it was obvious..” Merle sighed, shrugging his shoulders.

“Merle, she ain’t doing it. We’re all tired, let’s just go to bed,” Daryl finally stepped in.

Daryl stood up and searched for my shirt before tossing if over to me. Smiling gratefully, I pulled it down over my head.

“Putting that on means ya forfeit, Harper. You lose. I get a kiss,” Merle insisted.

“You aren’t getting shit, Merle,” .

As I pulled my shirt over my head, my eyes popped open to see Merle standing directly in front of me.

“Merle, I swear to fuckin' God—,” I heard Daryl growl as he headed over, but Merle was quicker.

Leaning down, he pressed his lips against mine before attempting to slip his tongue into my mouth. I pushed my hands against his chest and thought it had worked, but realized that it was Daryl who had pulled Merle off of me.

“Fuck you!” Daryl shouted as he landed a fist against Merle’s nose.

My hands flew up to my face in shock as the boys fell to the floor, wrestling around on the ground. Pulling his good arm free, Merle reached up and smashed his fist into Daryl’s jaw, sending his head up with a crack.

“Stop it!” I screeched, throwing myself between the two brothers.

They both froze in worry of hitting me by accident, thank goodness. I turned to face Daryl and helped pull him up before inspecting his battle wounds.

He had a gash under his chin which was bleeding, but as Merle began to stand up, I couldn’t help it. I took Daryl’s face in my hands and threw my lips against his, kissing him as hard as I could.

Daryl’s lips twisted into a smirk against mine, as he clearly knew what I was doing, but kept kissing me, maybe even harder than I was. My tongue jutted out and ran itself over his bottom lip before he pulled me back in for another searing kiss.

At this point, I had completely forgotten about Merle. Teeth were grinding against teeth, tongue against tongue, lip against lip. When we finally broke, we were both panting wildly. Eventually, I turned to face Merle, who’d body was rigid and clearly pissed off.

“Stop acting like I’m hard to get; I’m just not interested,”.

Before Merle could get another word in, I reached into Daryl’s pant pocket and pulled out his truck’s keys. Although he said I could stay in the tent, I didn’t want to be near Merle any longer.

Making sure I kissed Daryl on the cheek before I left, I hurried out into the cold night air and headed for Daryl’s truck.

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Just when I thought that I had made it safe and sound to his truck, I heard Merle’s voice pierce the quiet night.

“Harper, stop,” he said, his pace quick enough to catch up with me.

“Meant what I said; not interested,” I said simply, keeping my gaze directly on the truck.

“Harper, you know I’m sorry; I never meant ta hurt you,” Merle apologized, but it was a lie.

It was always a lie.

“So you didn’t plan on hurting when you swung your fist into my face? Merle, I forgave after you after you tried to kill me. Did you forget about that? Now, Rick’s child is dying and you don’t care; when you do feel some type of emotion, however, you take it out on either me or your brother. You need to stop pushing Daryl away before you lose him, Merle. You can’t afford to lose him,” I told him not so politely as I reached the truck.

I slammed the key into the lock and unlocked the car door, pulling it open by the handle. Merle watched me in silence but turned his head to see Daryl heading out into the night to check on us.

He cleared his throat before speaking, clearly wanting to finish the conversation before Daryl got to us.

“You didn’t say to stop pushing you away, Harper,”.

“You’re right,” I said simply as I plopped my butt down on to the truck seat.

I let my legs dangle over the side as I waited for Daryl to arrive. Merle’s eyebrows creased as if he were in deep thought, just as Daryl’s would.

“Look, Harper; you two are all I have. I can’t lose him or you,”.

When I finally looked at Merle, he was staring straight at me, his eyes full on sincerity. My eyes closed and I let out a deep breath, wishing more than anything that I could just forgive him like time; it would make everything so easy.

“I know that, Merle. I know we’re all you have left. I get it,”.

Hearing me say this made Merle smile, which made my decision even harder. I know that Merle was trying to be better; I had just pushed him to his limit.

“I’m glad we’re okay, Harper. I knew you would—,”.

“No, Merle it’s not okay. When I said you couldn’t push Daryl away, it was because you’ve already pushed me away,” I told him, my voice shaking.

Merle’s eyes narrowed, his lips set in a thin line.

“What are you saying?” he asked me, but somehow, his voice showed no emotion.

By this point, Daryl was standing by his brother’s side, clearly torn by what was going on.

“You can’t lose him because you’ve already lost me,”.

There. I said it.

Watching Merle’s mouth turn into a frown, I knew I would regret it. Despite what I said, Merle was still my friend; my brother. But he can’t just keep doing whatever he pleases and expect for everyone to be okay with it. Merle nodded slowly, as if taking everything in.

“Come on, baby brother, let’s go,” Merle said as he spun around to head for the tent.

“M’staying here,” Daryl replied gruffly, sleep already entering his voice. Merle turned his head with eyebrows raised.

“You’re what?” he asked, pretending like he hadn’t heard what Daryl had said.

“Said I’m staying with Harper. Night, Merle,” Daryl sighed, shaking his head before scooting me over so he could pull himself up and into the truck.

Without looking behind him, Daryl shut the door to the truck and locked it, not stopping as he pulled out the blanket that we’ve been using ever since the zombie attack on the highway.

“I’m glad you’re not like him,” I whispered as Daryl pulled me against him.

“Ain’t that I’m not like him; he’s going through withdrawal, Harper. This fighting has made it even worse,” Daryl explained as he ran a hand through my hair.

“Withdrawal? What do you mean?”.

Okay, now I was confused.

“Drugs, Harper. That’s all Merle does, is take drugs. That bag he had you lookin’ for in my truck? Had drugs in it, but he’s out now.. That’s why he’s been so cranky lately, and you fighting with him just set him off,”.

“Shit..” I muttered to myself; how had I not realized it?

After all this time of pointing fingers at Merle, all he needed was help.

All I could give him was rejection.

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