Mercy

All that surrounded Mercy when she woke up was blackness. She could faintly remember being hit over the head almost as soon as Ian had found her and Daryl. In an instant, her eyes widened and her head jerked up, turning to both sides as she tried to find him. What had happened to him? Was he gone?

“Daryl?”

She could barely whisper his name from how dry her mouth was, but she croaked it out anyway, a frantic edge to her words as she searched through the darkness with her eyes. She pulled at her arms, expecting them to be bound but surprised when she found that she wasn’t tied up at all.

As soon as she realized that nothing was keeping her tied to a chair or a post, she began walking around the room, hesitant because of the darkness but needing to find him. She’d never forgive herself if something had happened to him.

Maybe Merle was right. Maybe Daryl should have just left her behind, because if he had, they surely wouldn’t be in the mess that they were in now.

“Would ya quit talking before they figure out you’re awake?” Daryl muttered under his breath after she’d said his name a little bit louder a few more times. She flinched when she felt a hand touch her shoulder before she realized that it was just him.

“Where are we?”

“If I knew the answer to that question, would we still be in here?” He asked her before he sighed. She heard him slump against the wall of whatever room they were in. Mercy had to wonder exactly where they were. There had been no house near the camp, so she had no idea what this place was.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured as she sat next to him. The room was cold, but she didn’t dare reach for Daryl or try to move closer to him. They weren’t what they used to be, even if he had called her family. There was definitely a strain of sorts between them, especially right now.

In the silence, she could hear moans and gurgled sounds coming from around her, sending chills down her spine. There was no mistaking the fact that those sounds had to be coming from the walkers. But the question was…why could she still hear them through the walls? They usually weren’t that loud unless there was a group of them.

If there was a group of walkers closing in around the room they were in, Mercy was willing to bet they were fucked. She was sure Ian had taken all of their weapons, and with how dark the room was, there was no way either she nor Daryl would be able to tell where they were at. Neither of them would stand a chance against one walker right now, let alone a group of them.

“I’ll keep you safe,” Daryl promised her as he grabbed her hand. His words sounded soft, even though she knew his personality was anything but. Mercy couldn’t help but smile. It made her feel safer hearing those words come from his lips, even though she knew it would be hard for him to keep that promise.

“You know Ian, and you know how sadistic he can be,” Mercy told him quietly. “I don’t think either of us is safe, Daryl. Not here, not now.”

“Hey, when have I ever let you down, hmm?” Daryl asked her, tilting her chin up so that she was looking up at what she assumed was where his face would be. “I ain’t never done it, Mercy. And I never will. I’ll keep you safe.”

Mercy nodded, not knowing what else she was supposed to do as she pulled her knees to her chest.

It seemed like hours went by as they sat in the darkness. Gradually, Daryl pulled her closer to keep her warm as the air got more frigid. His arms were wrapped completely around her and her head was lying on his shoulder by the time the first rays of the morning sunlight started peeking through boarded-over windows.

The second Daryl realized they were in an old house, he cursed under his breath.

“Son of a bitch,” he muttered. “Merc, wake up.”

Her eyes shot open and her body became still the second he started shaking her arm. She hadn’t even realized that she’d fallen asleep, let alone on his shoulder. He frowned at her before nodding over at the windows.

“You know that old house you wanted to come to earlier?” He asked her, his frown growing. “We’re in it. You’re about to find out why me and Merle didn’t wanna come anywhere near this place.”

“What—”

“Listen, we don’t got much time before something happens,” Daryl told her as he stood up, helping pull her to her feet before he walked over to the window, pulling one of the boards off the window and handing it to her before he pulled another down.

“What are you talking about?” She asked him quietly. “Ian’s going to come back, and—”

“Ian ain’t gonna come back ‘round here, Mercy. And neither is anybody else. We’re on our own now, with no protection and nothing to stop those things from takin’ us alive. That’s his punishment. That’s his fuckin’ game.”

Daryl was growing angrier with each word he spoke as he took the board he’d handed her away only to break it in half over his knee. It was a rotted board, so there wasn’t much to it. She immediately knew what he was talking about and her eyes widened.

“T-They’re in here with us?”

Daryl nodded as he handed her one of the pieces of wood that he’d broken in half. I was now sharp enough to be used as a type of dagger. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing, she realized.

“Yeah, they’re in this house. I’m pretty sure he’s got at least three in every room. He don’t know I know, or he probably woulda just shot us. This is why me and Merle took off, Mercy. He puts people in here and expects them to die. That’s his price for people who get out.”

Mercy’s breath hitched in her throat and she turned and faced the window again, swallowing hard.

“Why don’t we go to the window and—”

“We’re three stories up, Merc. Ain’t no way we’ll make it to the ground without breaking our necks. And even if we did somehow manage to survive that fall, there’s walkers outside, too. There’s a reason his group calls this place Walker Hill.”

She whimpered and immediately moved closer to Daryl. She didn’t feel safe anymore, and even with Daryl’s words, she didn’t think she was going to be okay. There was no way they’d be able to fight their way through that many walkers. Even if they did somehow manage to get out of this room, there were bound to be other walkers downstairs and in other rooms, waiting to tear their flesh from their bodies.

“Daryl, I— ” She started to whimper before Daryl shook his head, pulling her up against his chest and wrapping his arms around her. Kindness wasn’t one of his strong suits and neither was intimacy. This was definitely both, and she could tell it took a lot.

“I made you a promise, Merc. I don’t break my promises. I’ll get you out of here safe and sound, sweetheart. All you gotta do is follow my lead, okay? Just like when we was kids.”

She nodded, her body still shaking as she looked up at him. It was hard to imagine the two of them getting out of this place. She knew that Daryl probably hadn’t slept the night before while she had. That left them automatically weakened.

“Now, here’s what we’re gonna do,” he murmured to her as he squeezed her hand tightly. “We’re gonna go through the door as quietly as we can. It’s gonna take awhile to get out of here. Maybe more than a day or two,” he muttered. “We’re gonna go room by room, eliminate the walkers in each. We’ll get outta here, Merc. I promise.”

She nodded and squeezed his hands.

“I know.”

He smiled reassuringly at her before he walked over to the door, nodding at her to stand back. She was hesitant to let him do this on his own, but she knew already that she had no choice Daryl wasn’t going to let her help him right now – at least, not right away, he wouldn’t.

She watched as he pulled the door open slowly. It creaked a little, but it wasn’t loud enough to get too much attention from the walkers that were in the room. Mercy watched with wide eyes as he stepped into the other room before he cursed under his breath, stepping back and slamming the door shut.

“Change of plans,” he muttered. “We gotta find another way out.”

Mercy didn’t want to know why, she decided. She just nodded and without saying a word, both of them looked over at the window. Daryl had earlier said that it was a death trap to go out that way but now? Now, she frowned, it was their only redemption.