The Prisoner Of Woodbury

Chapter 5

Old familiar faces open old familiar wounds.

Andrea is a welcome source of entertainment in Merle's routine existence, but ultimately serves as a reminder of what he has lost. That she quickly succumbs to the Governor's 'charms' is also depressing - Merle has stories to tell that would turn her stomach if she'd pull the stick out of her ass for five minutes together.

On second thought, he probably wouldn't. People make up their own minds, don't they? Hear what they want to hear. See that which fits with the picture they've painted in their minds. The whole town was built on it.

You should take a walk down to the cellars folks.

In keeping with this sentiment, Merle became a regular. Caught between this reminder of his past and the knucklehead routine that was his present calling, he was more restless than ever. Nightly forays in search of drugs had come up empty and with nothing stronger than booze to scratch the itch, he found himself drawn to the only other person who was as lost as he was.

It started with a bucket of soapy water and some clean clothes.

"Girl, you smell like a dead polecat caught in a shit pipe - we can't go fixin' nothin' till we fixed that."

The offended look on her face had been priceless. Merle finds himself chuckling just thinking about it.

A splint for her arm had followed. He took a shelf down from in his room, it wasn't as if he had anything to put on it. Funnily enough, Milton asked about its absence, prompting Merle to remark that it was probably in his room for his 'stuffy collection'. Hell, he even got a smile out of Martinez for that one.

Then came a first aid kit. He doubted the meagre assortment of bandages and sticking plasters could do much for her, but she'd proven herself resourceful thus far, putting all he brought to use, so it didn't surprise him to find the kit empty the next time he visited.

Indeed, she's laboriously attempting to bandage an ankle when he arrives and honours his presence with a slight nod, oblivious to the stunned expression he greets her with.

Eventually, she's forced to look up from her task because he's never normally this quiet, and finds a highly amused smirk has taken over his dial.

Her puzzlement has him crack up. "Darlin', you should take a look atchu," he wheezes, pausing to suck in some air - lungs barely coping with laughing and talking at the same time, "you look like some kinda f*cked up superhero!"

He's bent double now, completely lost to a cackling fit, and she looks at him as if he's out of his gourd. Naturally, this makes him worse and it takes the best part of ten minutes for him to calm down to the point where he can inform her how much he's enjoying her current outfit. She frowns and inspects herself, finding nothing wrong with the foil blanket draped round her shoulders, triangular bandage wrapped clumsily round her head and haphazard arrangement of gauzes and adhesive tapes applied to her limbs. This sets him off again and if she wasn't what she was, he'd be inclined to pat her on the back for giving him the best laugh he's had in weeks.

"It's Walkergirl!" he crows, grinning from ear to ear, revelling in his own humour as he so often does when confronted with someone looking at him as if he's an outpatient from the funny farm.

"Half walker, half girl - all first aid kit! May your twitchy ass save us all from the shitbirds of this town!"

He's on a roll now and would readily continue were it not for something catching his eye that takes the wind out of his sails completely. Beside her lies the empty first aid kit and crudely scratched into the metal casing is a word.

'How in god's name has she done that..?' is the first thought that springs to mind, and the answer is swiftly found in the form of the medical scissors on the ground nearby. The second thought is something we won't repeat here, because it's Merle, and his very Merle-esque reaction upon realising that through his inattention, she is armed once more. All these thoughts pale in comparison however, to the just punched in the stomach sensation he feels as he finally makes out the word on the kit...