Mercy

Mercy didn't sleep all night. The camp didn't make her feel as safe as it should with its fences and guards. Instead, it made her feel just the opposite - she felt as though she were a sitting duck. Time was counting down and she knew that this group she was with was definitely not a forever thing. A couple of them were okay - like Tonya and Boyd. But the rest of them weren't people she could trust - and especially not Ian.

Something he'd said put her stomach in knots. He'd said that Shelly was the mother of his child. In this world, it was possible that he was talking about Annie. The truth of Annie was that neither Mercy nor Derek had ever gotten her to say so much as a word about her life before the outbreak. They hadn't known if her parents were dead or turned, they'd just assumed and taken her under their wing.

What if her situation had been something else entirely different? What if her parents had been Ian and Shelly?

By the time the sunlight was peeking through the front flap of her tent, Mercy was more than ready to try and leave the camp. She knew that it wasn't safe, sitting in the forest like this. Walkers were all over the place outside the fences and it was only a matter of time until those fences came down. And when that day happened, Mercy knew that no one would stand a chance - not if a horde of walkers ambushed.

But now wasn't the time. Mercy knew that she needed to be strong. She had to try it for a day or two before moving on. She'd come up with some lie - maybe something about the Dixon brothers. These people didn't seem to have liked them too much, and she had a feeling it was entirely because of Merle. Daryl had probably followed out of pure loyalty - after all, Mercy had seen him look up to his older brother throughout their entire childhood.

Soft footsteps on fallen leaves outside her tent caused her to look up, body instantly on alert as a hand opened her tent. Within seconds, Tanya's friendly face was peering into the tent, a cheerful smile on her face.

"I see you're awake already." She smiled. "Your name was Mercy, right?"

She nodded, not bothering on correcting Tanya. She hadn't just woken up - she'd never gotten any sleep at all. But that was something she'd keep to herself for now. The last thing she wanted was a bunch of strangers whose camp she was in to have any reason to dislike her from the beginning.

"Yeah," she replied before she bit her lip, realizing that this was her chance to ask some questions she had. No one else was around - namely Ian. She didn't want him hearing anything she had to say, or asking questions about her own questions. "I uh...I was wondering about something, though."

Tonya arched her eyebrow, as though this was something that didn't happen often. Truth be told, it was likely that no one in this camp raised questions about the way it was run. It was clear that the men were the leaders here - and that women weren't quite at the same level. Mercy also realized that Ian was definitely a leader here, and that frightened her a little bit.

"Sure," Tonya murmured, stepping inside of the tent before she sat down. "What did you want to know?"

Mercy thought about how to phrase her question very carefully. The last thing she wanted was to offend Tonya. She wasn't looking to make ripples here. She just wanted to pass through as fast as possible, and making enemies was no way to do that. That wasn't something she'd learned from Derek - it was something she'd learned on her own, with Daryl when they'd been kids.

"Yesterday, Ian said something about a Shelly..." She murmured as she trailed off.

Tonya's face drained of color and she looked around, as though she was afraid that Ian had heard the name whispered. She then turned back to Mercy and shook her head, her voice lower now than it had been before. She was significantly less cheerful, and there was something more urgent about her words.

"We don't talk about Ian's family here," she whispered harshly. "Shelly was his girlfriend or his wife...we're not completely sure what they were legally before the outbreak happened. But they had a child. She was lost to them, and then Shelly..." Tonya trailed off before she shook her head. "Just forget about it, okay? Don't bring them up again. It's not something we discuss here."

Tonya didn't say another word as she exited the tent, making Mercy even more uneasy about this whole place. If Ian wasn't willing to talk about his past, how did anyone know what he'd been or what he'd done? And the child...Tonya had said it was a girl.

Could it have been Annie?

She knew then that she couldn't stay here long. She stood up, finding her shoes and putting them on. She looked over at Daryl's Catcher of The Rye, wondering if she should take it. After several seconds, she tucked it into the bag she carried most of her extra clothes in before she left the tent, her bag on her back.

She was leaving today, whether or not they liked it. She couldn't stay here after learning what she'd learned - it was far too unstable and unsafe.

She walked down the same path that Alison had lead her down the night before, not expecting to come across any people at all. She groaned when she heard several voices - all the same ones as the night before - in the center by the bonfire, just the same way they'd been the night before at dinner.

Ian was the first to notice her, his eyebrow shooting up when he saw her backpack.

"Where are you off to?" He asked her. His tone was polite, but she could see into his eyes and there was no friendliness or good intention to be found there. He didn't want her to leave - she knew it.

She put a small smile on her own face and tried to make it as grateful as possible. She was not going to give them any reason to be suspicious of her.

"I really appreciate that you let me stay here last night," she told him. "But I've got to go now. I've got a few people not too far from here that I know I can lean on, and they'll help me out."

Okay, so that was a lie. She'd been thinking of Daryl and Merle when she'd said it, but she didn't know that she could lean on them. She certainly knew, however, that the last thing Merle would be willing to do would be to help someone out. He was only out to protect himself and Daryl. That was all Merle cared about, from what she understood.

Though, she doubted that he even truly cared about his baby brother sometimes. After all, Merle was the one who'd abandoned Daryl to the monster that had been their father. Mercy had never forgotten the pain etched on the younger Dixon brother's face when Merle had stormed out that screen door for the last time so many years ago.

"Oh?" Ian asked her, pulling her out of her thoughts. "I thought you'd stay a bit longer. You know, since you saved Tonya and I out there. The group could use someone with your skills."

She smiled back at him, as though she was grateful for his offer. The truth was, she was anything but pleased with his offer. It was a trap and now more than before, she could see that. This group wasn't a safe place to be. Maybe that was why Merle and Daryl weren't here before. They always trusted their instincts.

Mercy knew she needed to trust hers this time, too. And her gut was telling her to run.

"I thought about it, but I've known those boys for my whole life," she declined again. "They're family and they're all I've got left."

It was another lie, but maybe family would mean something to Ian - especially since he'd lost his own. She saw his eyes harden for a moment, but he just smiled back at her.

"Well, I guess we can't force you to stay if you don't want to," he told her before he stood up. No one was eating their breakfast anymore - and all eyes were on her. Was this the first time anyone had tried to leave this group? She thought about Daryl and Merle, but she doubted they'd asked to leave. They'd probably just done it.

"I really do appreciate the hospitality," she told him again.

Ian nodded, not saying anything to her as he walked with her over to the gate. It was far enough away from the rest of the people in the group that no one could hear or see them any longer. By the time they were standing outside of the gate, she could sense that he was upset.

"You can leave, Mercy," he told her. "If that really is your name. But...You don't really expect to have just stayed here with no kind of payment or penance, do you?"

There was a dark smile on his face, and Mercy swallowed hard. She had known he wasn't to be trusted. She pushed the fear back - she'd killed walkers so what was so different about Ian? She liked to think that if push came to shove, she could do it. After all, in this world, laws no longer applied. Murder was no longer a crime - it was a method of survival. And she wanted to survive, right?

"I don't have money," she mumbled. "And honestly...In this world, money doesn't--"

"I wasn't talking about money," he snapped at her with a sarcastic laugh. "I was talking about your weapon. You hand over your weapon, and you're free to walk out that gate. Don't expect to come back, though."

Mercy couldn't stop her eyes from widening. What kind of asshole was this guy? If he took her weapon, she'd be going out into a walker-infested forest with no protection. That wasn't something she could risk and he knew it.

But why would he want her here? He hadn't liked her yesterday afternoon when she'd saved him and the others. Now, she was beginning to regret that decision. She should have just blended in the way Derek had taught her to. If she had, she wouldn't be in this mess.

"Let me make something clear, Mercy," Ian whispered to her, his voice harsh. "No one just walks into this group - and no one just leaves, either. You want to follow those Dixon assholes? Go ahead," he laughed. "But if seeing you die out there would bring them pain, I'll be the one to leave you defenseless."

How had Ian even known she was talking about Merle and Daryl? She had no idea what Ian was getting at, but she knew now more than ever that he couldn't be trusted. Something wasn't right here, and she would get out.

But it was clear to her now that there was no way she'd be able to leave this way. She'd have to do some thinking and figure it out. She put a small, almost apologetic smile on her face.

"I don't want to die," she whispered. That much was truth - she didn't. But she didn't want to stay here, either. That was a truth she'd keep to herself for now, though. "I'm sorry. I just thought that maybe since they weren't welcome here, maybe I should move on."

For the first time, she saw an actual smile light up Ian's face as he shut the gate again, backing away from her a few feet.

"That's nonsense, Mercy. Those assholes made their choice - and now you've made yours. You made the right one. I'm proud of that," he told her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. The sudden change in his personality was something that caused immediate tension to flood Mercy's mind, but she tried to ignore it as he led her back to the group. It looked as though she was stuck for now.

But one way or another, she was going to get out. She had to.