The Sharpest Lives

Ace stared at the slightly gray haired man, who looked a good deal older and bigger than her muscle wise, and currently had no right hand connected to his body. He looked very pale, dirty, and delusional from the pain and blood loss, but that still didn't stop him from making his sexual remarks at her.

"What's a pretty lil' thing like ya doin up here?" He slurred out, but Ace stayed silent. She wasn't the type to say all the things she was thinking aloud, or even just talk much in the first place. She was also weary of this man, not sure if she could trust him, but she knew she had to help him.

She jumped off the little platform she was on, not using the cement stairs up here, and made her way over to this man, still gripping her knife. And as she inspected him and her surroundings, it gave Merle a good time to fully take her appearance in. She had her hair thrown back in a small pony tail, short bangs not included and brushed to the side in front of the red bandana tied to around head. She had lots of dirt also covering her and her clothes. She had on an oversized gray checkered shirt that was tucked into her light blue jeans and also looked like she had been wearing it for a while.

But, that wasn't what Merle was seeing. He was seeing the multiple buttons of her shirt undone at the top, long slim legs, pretty face, and the curves of her breasts and ass. No matter how injured he was, he still was a rude sexist, treating woman as his property. Plus, he still was a little twisted from his drugs that the sheriff from earlier had thrown off the building. He was still pissed about that. "Well, ya really are a pretty thing aren't ya?" He smirked, feeling his energy drain, about to open his mouth to say more, but was completely shut up when she turned to look at him, meeting his eyes. He was speechless when her hard and intense eyes bored into his. He had to squint to make sure he wasn't imagining the odd colors. One being the palest blue he's ever seen, and the other a brighter green.

She walked over to him and crouched down so she was his level, inspecting his blue eyes with her hard ones. "You're bleedin out."

Merle snorted, "oh really? Thanks for pointin it out, Darlin."

Ace's jaw clenched from irritation of being interrupted, but let ignored it. "There's a stove inside, gotta cauterize the stump to get the bleeding to stop. And you're gona need help, so if you keep your mouth shut, I'll give it to ya."

Merle couldn't think of anything to say, he rarely had a woman speak to him like that before, so he just nodded, desperately needing her help. Ace shifted over closer to his side, throwing his good arm around her shoulder and helping him stand, which ended up in both of them letting out grunts of struggle. He wasn't the lightest and was still in a lot of pain and delusion. When they did get up, Ace still held onto him to help him walk because he was walking like he was drunk. "Don't need ya damn help walkin, get lost," he grumbled.

Ace ignored him and just continued to push him towards to the door. He should be thanking her for helping him, not being an ass about it.

When they got to the metal door leading down the staircase, Ace moved him so he leaned against the doorway while she peaked down. "Stay here," she pointed to the ground firmly then ran quietly down the stairs, checking to make sure the coast was clear. She looked around quickly, checking most of the floor they were on, only finding two biters wandering around. She gulped at the thought of killing them, but this was one of those times where she had to. And as much as she hated killing them, she knew she had to do now, so she ran up and shoved her knife through the back of their heads, gagged a little, then ran back up to find Merle getting paler by the second.

Ace signaled for him to get up off the wall and once again put his arm around her shoulder and helped him down the stairs. She still kept her eyes peeled for biters as she led him to the small kitchen area, but saw no more other than the two she just killed. Merle saw them too, and let his eyes linger on them for a little, impressed. His stereotypical view of women was weak and needy.

When they got into the kitchen, Ace went straight to where she spotted the stove and let him lean against it while she searched around for a set of matches, luckily finding them in a cupboard not too far away. She pulled one out and turned on the gas from the stove, striking the match to set the gas up in flames. Ace would have preferred an iron to do this, but when she looked around earlier, there wasn't one in sight, so she took one of the dark metaled, small saucer pans and put it over the flame, letting it heat up. "Belt," she pointed to Merle's belt and he so badly wanted to make a sexual comment, but knew it would end up in him getting smacked.

It was a little difficult for him to undo it with one hand, but there was no way Ace was going to help him with that. She did though help him when he got it off to wrap it tight above his stump. She was getting ready to pick up the now very hot pan, but thought of something that might help. She grabbed onto the wooden spoon on the counter next to the stove and then gave it to Merle. He understood and put it in his mouth getting ready to bite down.

Ace picked up the hot pan, positioning it in front of his bloody stump. She cringed at the sight slightly. "Ready on the count of three," she informed him. "One..Tw-" she pressed it hard to his stump with out warning, cutting herself off from her counting. Merle's jaw clenched down hard and his whole body tensed, letting out a loud groan of agony while Ace worked the burning pan all over his stump, making sure she burned it all as his body lightly thrashed out in pain.

The smell and sound of his skin burning was making her stomach churn, but she just bit down on the inside of her cheek and started taking deep breaths to focus. Merle was trying to swear and yell at her, but his words just got muffled by the wooden spoon that he was sure he was about to break in half with his teeth. "Done."

Merle sighed out greatly when the hot pressure was released from him, and spit the spoon out, looking at Ace as she started to dig through her bag. "Here," she mumbled, handing him some of the pain pills she grabbed earlier and he gratefully took them and swallowed them dry. She went back to put them in and closed her back, and while she did Merle was taking a good look at her. He would be lying if he didn't say he was totally impressed and thankful for this interesting girl, but didn't say a thing about it. To him he had a reputation to uphold.

"It's gona get dark soon," Ace stated, pointing out the window to the streets with biters roaming in them. Both of them knew that there was no way either of them were going out there tonight. "We'll stay on the roof tonight, keep it chained up."

She threw her back pack over her shoulders again then looked at the man in front of her. "You good?"

Merle nodded, not knowing what to say and then yet again let her help him to their next stop, going up the stairs to get there. When back on the roof, Ace led him to a spot that was a little bit away from his amputated hand. She set him down, letting him fall with a little 'thump' on his ass, making him roll his eyes as she ran back over to the metal door they came in from. She grabbed onto the chain she had got off earlier and closed the door, but left enough space for her to get her arms through. It was a little difficult, but she managed to wrap the chain around the front handles of the door tightly and put the lock around it while she was still behind the opposite side of the door. She did have to yank her hands from the now small crack in the door she created, though.

"How we gona get down if ya locked us up here, smart ass?" Merle asked Ace when she got back over to him.

Ace pointed over to a different door near them that had the words 'Caution, watch for step' on them while mumbling "Smart ass," under her breath, imitating Merle.
Merle snorted and Ace sat down on the ground across from him, leaning against the large cement barrier surrounding the edge of the roof and being careful of her aching back.

"What's yer name?" He asked her, looking at her while she didn't look up at him, just down at her boots, picking at them.

"Ace."

"Ain't that a man's name?"

"So?" She looked up at him, squinting her eyes at him.

Merle did the same, but gave in and nodded lightly. "Merle."

That sat in silence for a little while after that, Merle starting to get fidgety and bored while she sat perfectly still, eyes back down on the ground below her. Merle could not figure her out, but he could tell she was a quiet one that had a mind which goes a mile a minute. He watched as she dug into the bag of hers again, pulling out a can of food and sliding it over to him before grabbing another one for herself. "Make it last," was all she said before opening hers up and then they went back to silence.

"Ya got a job? Before all this?" Merle asked while he chewed, not being able to take the boring and uncomfortable silence anymore.

Ace looked up at him, just looking at him in silence for a moment before she responded. "Yeah, a few."

"Well, ya gona tell me what they are, girl? Shit, just tryin to make conversation, stop bein so damn quiet," Merle huffed and after a second heard Ace as she started to laugh, covering her mouth with her hand so it would stay quiet. Merle didn't know what was funny, and Ace really didn't either, but her laughter was a little contagious and made Merle bite his cheek to hold a smirk back.

"Sorry," she got her small laughter under control. She was started to warm a little bit to Merle. She normally is unbelievably quiet and somewhat shy around a large group of people, but she can contril that when with just one. "Used to be a receptionist at a damn groomer's. Can't say I'm sad to see the place blown to pieces."

"Those dog tags?" He asked, signaling to the chain around her neck, changing the subject after a second.

"Ex-marine."

"Ahh, Army girl."

"Marines, not Army. Big difference," Marines were a branch of the Navy, a world different than the Army.

Merle snorted, "whatever," he eyed her for a second, still trying to figure her out. "Ya get kicked out?"

"Of the Navy? Sort of.."

"T'hell ya mean sort of?"

Ace sighed, not really liking all the attention, "why did you cut your hand off?" She changed the topic.

"Nuh-uh, answer my question, girl."

"Answer mine first and I will," she squinted her eyes at him, watching as he huffed in defeat.

"Some pricks from my group, handcuffed me up here, left me to rot."

That didn't really make sense to Ace. Why would someone do that? Leave another person to starve, possibly be eaten by biters? And why would they chain one of the doors shut? "You don't think they'll come back?"

"T'hell don't ya understand about left me to rot?" He snapped, but then calmed his voice. "Well, my baby brother might, but I ain't gona stick around to find out."

"Why not?"

"'Cause M'gona go find myself a car and take my ass right back to their camp, surprise 'em."

Ace just nodded, it really wasn't her business and if people were bad enough to leave him up here to rot, then they probably deserve it. "Gona answer my question now?"

Ace sighed, she never really talked much, especially about this or the other shitty things in her life. She really had only joined the Marine Corps in the first place when she was 18 for an excuse to get the hell out of dodge, but it stuck with her for a while, until the accidents. "I was stationed down in some shit part of Germany. My unit was out during this battle against some serious hard asses and I had to make a decision."

"Wha' kind of decision?"

Ace took a deep breath in, "The enemy was not to far away and right in front of me, I had a clean shot," she used her finger and pointed as if she was pointing at the enemy in front of her. "But, as a Marine, you're taught to fight for the people next to you, your fellow Marine's... I made the decision to focus on killing the enemy over protecting my others.. I got some people killed because of it." It was why Ace came to save Merle. Ever since the accident she never hesitated at the idea to save someone.

"They kicked ya out because of tha'?"

She bit her lip, "they were thinkin about it.. The people I got killed, they were important," Ace sighed, "but, lucky for them, they didn't have to make a final decision on me."

"Ya quit?"

She nodded, "had to."

Ace didn't know why she was still talking, or even telling this stranger all this. But, she thought why the hell not? She wasn't going to ever see him again after tonight and according to others, talking about it was supposed to help. She never did talk about it, but she might as well give it a shot, even if it is the end of the world and it doesn't make a difference now...

Merle didn't really know what she meant when she said she had to, but it slipped his mind when Ace started to untuck her shirt. A sly smirk came over his face, thinking she was going to undress, especially when she turned so her back was to him, but his face fell when she only lifted up the back of her shirt to show a gross looking scar on her lower back. "What the hell?! That shit's nasty," Merle scowled and she rolled her eyes, turning around and letting go of her shirt.

"Really?" She gave him a look then pointed to his stump.

Merle put his hands up in the air. "Touche.. What's it from?"

Ace sighed and rubbed her fingers over her eyes before speaking. "Cancer."

Merle was a little taken aback. "Shit, girl."

She didn't respond and just put her half eaten can of beans to the side before starting to adjust her bag to the most comfortable position for her to put her head on. "Enough with the questions. I'm getting some sleep," she was about to lay down before she froze and turned to face him, pointing a finger in his face. "If you even think about touchin me in any way, I will cut your other hand off."

Merle rubbed his chin, barely letting out a chuckle and giving her a slight nod. He hadn't known this girl for long, but she had definitely earned his respect for her.

As soon as Ace's head laid on the bag, she let her eyes close, her mind still buzzing. Bringing up her cancer only made her more stressed out, and that she really didn't need to be. The end of the world was already stressful enough. But, her cancer really did have her worried.

It was one of the reasons they wouldn't let her baby sister live with her. At the time she had just gotten diagnosed with it and there was a 50% chance of her dying. But, she survived it after going through a long process of chemo and surgery, leaving her with that nasty scar. The back pains were supposed to go away for good, along with the cancer, but the past month they have been acting up again. She new that it could mean nothing... or they either didn't get rid of all the cancer in the first place, or it came back, but neither of those were good news.

She sighed and turned onto her side, really hoping that tonight she could at least get some much needed sleep.

*----

Ace had been up for hours. She had always been an early riser.

She decided to let Merle sleep a little while longer because he was already going to be weak from blood loss and his injury, so he needed as much rest as he could get.

While he was asleep, Ace organized her back pack, twice. One time so she could make sure everything was easy and accessible if she needed it and the second time because of OCD. When she willed herself to stop organizing, she finished the rest of her can of beans, changed her jeans into shorter cut off ones since it was already hot today, and then sat just relishing in her own thoughts for a while.

She was used to always having time by her lonesome, so she became almost a friend with herself, knowing how to keep herself entertained for hours. That and she always had a thousand things going on in her mind at a time.

It was a good trait to have picked up as a child, especially when she was stationed out as a Marine and they had to wait for hours in the quiet for their next order.

She noticed the sun was rising up high enough that it had to be almost 10, so she decided that was enough sleep for Merle. She got up from the ground, brushed off, and went over to Merle. She lightly kicked his foot a few times, standing over him with crossed arms until he groggily opened his eyes. "Get up."

"Damn girl, I can't get another hour of sleep? It's still early," Merle groaned.

"No, I'm leaving and didn't think it would be very kind if I left you layin here," she walked over to her back, putting it on and adjusting the straps so they were tight.

"Where ya off to?" He asked, sitting up, picking at his stump.

She didn't answer and just bent down, picking up her knife and brass knuckles that she pulled out of her bag, sliding them on. Merle sighed and wanted someone to just shoot him in the face for what he was about to offer. "Ya should come with me, back to my camp, we got it set up pretty good away from the city," he would have never believed in a million years that those words came out of his mouth. Merle Dixon was being nice to a woman? A woman that he would normally just rob of her stuff, probably try to get the stupid bitch to sleep with him, and leave her to rot.. It must really be the end of the world..

Ace thought about it, thought about Frankie. She didn't know if her baby sister would still be in the city or maybe if she was on the bus that left and is out somewhere else. But, even if she did go with him, for a ride and a place to sleep before she went looking for Frankie again, the people didn't sound so good if they chained him up to the roof to starve. She stood up straight and gnawed on the inside of her cheek, "I don't know..."

"Well ya ain't gona find me offerin again, so make up ya damn mind," Merle stood up, still cautious of his stump.

"Fine."

Merle nodded and grabbed his can of beans, dumping the rest in his mouth before throwing the can across the roof. Ace rolled her eyes and then thought of something. She spotted a box of tools over by the amputated hand, and walked over. She grabbed a few, putting them in her bag just in case she'd need them, but then grabbed one that looked best to be used as a weapon.

"Hey, don't pick at that, you're making it bleed!" Ace scolded Merle who was messing with the already scabbing stump as she walked over. He scoffed and she handed him the wrench, "you need a weapon."

Ace looked down at his stump one more time, seeing that he had ripped a decent size scab off so now blood was dripping from it. "You drip blood on me, I kill you," she said and then turned, heading to the door that wasn't chained off, Merle following behind.

Ace peaked down the stairs, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, so she and Merle ran down, feet making the steps clink. They ended up back on the floor they were on yesterday and no biters were near so they ran down the stairs leading to the first floor, sneaking past a few clueless biters, and then getting out onto the street.

They both walked on in silence, with their eyes pealed for anything to jump out at them, but since they were using the alley ways to get around, nothing too bad was there.

"Why?" Merle asked randomly, breaking the silence they were walking in. "Why'd ya save me?"

Ace didn't look over to him, just kept scanning her eyes in front of her. She didn't really have a good answer to that besides it wasn't in her to just leave him to rot like his group did. "Ya could of just left me, went on with ya day."

"Like your group did?" She now looked up at him and that got Merle to go quiet. "Plus, your sexist comments and irreplaceable personality had me hooked," she mumbled to herself, sarcasm dripping through her voice.

"Hey, I heard that!"

Ace just smirked to herself as they walked on, content with knowing Merle was a means to a budding new friendship. She didn't have to be alone.

All was quiet again, until they spotted a few empty cars across one of the roads. "Why don't ya keep watch while I try and get these babies started," Merle said once they both ran over to the cars. Ace was going to retaliate and tell him to keep watch, just because she was a girl didn't mean she couldn't hot wire a car, but he had already climbed inside one, digging away under the wheel before she could say anything.

The first one started up for them, but she heard Merle curse when the fuel meter read empty, so he moved onto the next one a little bit down, starting the same process, only to be let down again. He was cursing under his breath as he moved onto the third car, Ace following, but stopped in her tracks when she heard the familiar sound of bloody growls. Her heart beat accelerated in an instant and she slowly turned around, praying that it wasn't what she thought it was. "Fuck... MERLE!!" She yelled when she saw the biggest groups of biters she's ever seen together make their way towards them.

She spun around and started to run towards Merle who was climbed inside a car. "MERLE!!" She yelled again, causing him to sit up and notice the biters behind her. "Time to go!" She shouted and he jumped out of the car, joining her side and taking off in sprints. They weren't in the alleyways anymore and on the main streets, so biters were appearing out of nowhere. "We need somewhere to hide out," Ace called over to him, her breathing heavy. She was taught to keep calm and have a level head during dangerous situations, but she had never really mastered that.

Merle had the same words she said in his head, trying to figure out what to do as well, but a few of the dead bastards were coming too close for comfort, distracting him. Ace wanted to go over and help him, since all he had was a wrench and one hand, but soon a few biters were coming at her as well. She gripped her knife tight and quickly started heading over to take out the ones closer to her, not thinking about what she was doing, but more kept coming when she would look back to see how Merle was doing.

More kept coming and her and Merle were getting spread further and further apart, especially when many caught up to them, taking over the space between them. She tried yelling to him over all the biters, but their groans were too loud and sickening. She couldn't even make out the sight of him anymore, but she was able to hear one more thing from him. "RUN."

Ever since the accident years ago when she got people killed, she always wanted to make sure the people fighting beside her were safe. She didn't even know Merle, but she wanted to save him.. again.
And even though the chance to save him was low, she yelled back "No!" and started trying to shove and kill her way through to him. It was easier to kill when you have a reason to do so and not have to see it and think about it.

"Ace, you run RIGHT NOW!" Merle yelled back, noticing she was fighting to get over to him. "SAVE YOURSELF!" He yelled, surprising himself. He didn't know why he was putting this girl over himself, but he felt the need to. She is a good kid.

"Merle!" Ace called back, but was getting shoved further and further back by the biters.

She wanted to save him. She had to. But there was no way. So she did the last thing she wanted to do..

She turned and ran as fast as she could, dodging the biters that were near by, slicing at them if she needed to. Maybe she could wait and circle back to look for Merle? Maybe he ran too?

Or maybe there was no way.

She was alone again. She couldn't save him.