Playing With Fire (A Merle Dixon Story)

Chapter Three

Merle

The chick holdin' it looked just about ready to squeeze the trigger and put a bullet in my brain. Her expression suddenly faltered though.

"You gonna pull the trigger, princess, or we just gonna stare at eachother all day?" I asked, cocking my head to the side.

"Jesus Christ, I could have fuckin' killed you!" She spat, shaking her head. She lowered the gun, giving me a glare. "I thought you were a god damn walker."

"Likewise." I answered, taking in her tiny, slender build. Man, did this check have some legs on her. Not a bad rack either.

"Hey mother fucker, my eyes are up here."

A smirk flitted across my lips. "I know that, sweetheart." I said, takin' my good ole' time travelin' up her body and back to her face which wasn't bad to look at either. "Ain't it kinda dangerous for a woman to be out on her own...ain't you afraid some strangers gonna come along and snatch you up?" I taunted.

She sent me a forced a smile. "I can take care of myself. I'm a big girl."

"Mmhm. You keep tellin' yourself that, princess. Now why don't you get the hell outta here. I'm busy." I said, waving her off as I turned back to the car, ignorin' the poundin' that had suddenly started in my head. Even outta the corner of my eyes, though, I caught the look on her face.

"Holy shit, what the hell happened to your hand?" She asked, eyes wide and mouth gapin'.

"It pissed me off so I set it loose." I grinned.

"You didn't get bit, did you?" She asked cautiously, and I could tell she was just waitin' for me to say yes so she could raise up that gun and blow my god damn head off.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but no. Gonna take a helluva a lot more than one of them geeks to bring ole' Merle down." I said, shootin' her another grin.

"It looks...bad. Maybe you should try to find some help."

I snorted with laughter before gesturin' to the rundown, abandoned buildings and empty street that surrounded us. "Look around, princess. You see any doctors? You see any hospitals? Ain't nobody to get help from. Don't need it anyways." I paused, lickin' my bottom lip before eyein' her up and down. "Unless you wanna stick around and play doctor."

She rolled her eyes, crinklin' her nose in plain ole' disgust. "Not even in your wildest dreams, asshole." She said coldly.

"Well then I guess you better git to movin'. Like I said, I'm busy." I retorted, noddin' my head in the direction she had come from.

"Fine. But I'm telling you with somethin' like that, if you don't get antibiotics or some kinda meds you'll be dead in a week." She said, gesturin' to my arm before tuckin' a dark strand of hair behind her ear.

"You worried about me, princess? Ain't that cute." I chortled, leaning back against the car.

She shot me a glare, takin' a few steps back before turnin' around completely and headin' off back down the sidewalk. I watched she went. Damn, wouldn't it be somethin' to feel those long legs wrapped around my waist? She sure was a taste piece of eye candy.

She threw me a glance over her shoulder and I could almost hear the sigh of disgust as she caught my eyes still lingerin'. "By the way, " She called out. "I'm not a fucking princess!"

I laughed, my shoulders shakin'. Maybe not, but she sure was somethin'. She disappeared around the next corner and I turned my focus back to findin' a way to get the hell of Atlanta.

I went back to diggin' around inside the car and found the key tucked under the visor on the passenger side. My grin was pretty damn big as I climbed inside the car and turned the ignition. The engine roared to life and I let out a holler of happiness. Just enough gas to get me at least half way back to camp. I'd take it.

I reached across the steering wheel with my left hand to put it into drive. That would take some gettin' used to. I glanced down at the end of my right arm, takin' in the charred black layer of film that covered my bone and tendons. It was startin' to hurt pretty bad again. What I wouldn't have given for a strong ass pain killer. Good thing I had enough meds back at camp to run an illegal pharmacy. I'd have to man up till then.I hit the gas pedal and sped off, headed towards the highway.

I was makin' good time. The car was a beater, but drove just fine and still had plenty of time to get back to camp before it was dark. The only thing slowin' me down was the fact that I was feelin' less than alright. Every time I'd hit even the smallest of bumps or did anything to jostle the car, my entire arm felt like it was engulfed in red hot flames. The pain would get so bad, I'd be doubled over in my seat. It'd be a few minutes before I felt okay enough to move again. I kept my foot down on the petal, though. Ain't nothin' was gonna stop me from gettin' where I needed to go.

I started to feel tired and slow. Like I was in some sort of half -awake, half-asleep state. Every now and then a wave of nausea would creep over me and I'd fight it back. It was gettin' hard and harder to ignore the fact that I was in a bad state and it was only gettin' worse. I gripped the wheel tighter in my hand, my knuckles turnin' white. Maybe that chick had been right after all. Hell, maybe I should have played the crippled card with her so she'd take me along wherever she was headed. I wouldn't mind gettin' friendly with that piece of ass. Them long legs and tiny waist...shame she wasn't a blonde, though. I liked blondes. Still, this end of the world shit made it hard to be picky. Had to take whatever ass was handed to you. She was probably a good fuck regardless.

I felt my stomach clench as another wave of nausea rolled through me. I gritted my teeth and fought it. Not hard enough though 'cause next thing I knew I was slammin' on the brakes and throwin' open the car door so I could empty whatever was left in me. Which wasn't much of anything. I had sweated it all out sittin' up on that god damn roof all day.

"Son of a bitch." I groaned, draggin' my torso back into the car. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, leanin' back into the headrest. My eyelids felt heavy like concrete, the world sort of felt like it was movin' even though I knew the car was in park. I pressed the lock down on the car door before pressin' back into my seat and squeezin' my eyes shut. I was out in seconds.

It wasn't the good kind of sleep, though. I kept wakin' up what felt like every couple of minutes. Long enough to feel my arm screamin' with pain and long enough to know that I still felt like shit. So I'd close my eyes and try again. When I woke the third time, it was dark outside the car. I couldn't see a damn thing out the window and hoped like hell a horde of walkers wouldn't come by in the middle of the night and see me thrasin' around inside as I tried to get comfortable and wait out the night. I'd have to try again in the daylight. I was pretty damn sure that by now the others had told Daryl what they'd done to me. There was no fuckin' way they could keep that from him. As soon as I got back, I'd settle my scores and we'd take off. Don't know why we saw fit to join up with another group anyways. We were doin' just fine on our own. Always have done just fine on our own. Dixons didn't need anybody. I tucked the stub of my arm close to my chest and tried to keep still. The less I moved the better. I finally felt myself drift off again.