Merle's Messenger

Meeting Hershel

I woke up with a pulsating headache and a throbbing pain in my ass.

Through the sparkles of my migraine I could make out the details of what looked to be a prison cell.

"What the fuck..."

I tried to sit up but fell back down while groaning in pain.

I let out a long sigh and tried to think of what to do next.

"HELLO?"

I yelled hoping someone would hear me, also keeping my knife at my side out of cautiousness.

I heard footsteps and a man walked in, he had a white beard and resembled Santa Claus.

"I see you're up..Good! I'll be right back."

The man seemed nice and pretty happy...considering the world has gone to complete shit.

The man came back a few minutes later with a plastic bag, that had an assortment of things in it, and a couple of bottles.

"How do you feel?"

"Well my head feels like it's gonna explode and there's a pain in my ass and leg."

The man chuckled slightly, reached into his bag and got out a bottle of what looked like painkillers.

He handed me an ibuprofen and a bottle of liquid, I stared at the bottle for a second and looked back at him.

"What's in the bottle.."

"Water."

"Oh OK...Thank you."

I threw the pill back into my mouth and took a swig of water.

"The painkillers will take about 20 minutes to work. Have you tried walking?"

"Well, I tried sitting up and I fell back..So I'm not sure how well I could walk."

"Well that's OK. I'm Hershel."

The man extended his hand and I gladly shook it.

"Nice to meet you Hershel, I'm Eden."

"Soo, what is this place and about how many people are here?" I asked.

"We're at a prison in cell block C and there are about 10 to 15 people here."

I nodded and looked around, taking notice that my bag wasn't in the room.

Hershel noticed my panic and asked:

"What are you looking for?"

"M-My bag. It had something very important in it."

"Oh yes, your bag. Sorry about that, I'll go get it."

Hershel got up and walked out; I felt relief immediately wash over me.

Hershel seemed like a good, trustworthy, and smart guy.

As I laid there I got to thinking of the asshole that shot me and just how familiar he looked.

I knew I had seen him somewhere before, but I just couldn't think where.

"Here you go."

Hershel came back with my bag, handed it to me, then sat back down.

I rummaged through the bag hastily to find the small package with the slightly crumbled note tied to the top.

I sighed a sigh of relief.

"Hey Hershel.."

"Yes?"

"Do you know who the as-uh man who shot me was?"

I started to say asshole but I felt rude swearing around Hershel for some reason.

"Oh yes..I'll go get someone to find him."

"OK..Thank you..I'm truly sorry for asking you all these things after you've been so kind to me."

"Don't worry about it." He said and smiled a smile that was genuinely kind.

When Hershel walked out I looked at the small package that was poorly wrapped in newspaper with the note on the top, wondering just what could be in this package and how in the hell I was supposed to find Merle's brother if I didn't even know what the man looked like.