𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 | 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥 𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐨𝐧𝐞

Birds flew straight from the building when the doors were opened, causing us to gasp and half-way scream when they flew over our heads. I let out a deep breath, brushing my hair from my eyes and squinting my eyes from the sun before laughing at myself; only lightly.

"Glenn get that duck." Maggie tells him as he steps inside the building.

"What?" He chuckled confusedly.

"Get that duck." She repeated, leading him with her flashlight and showing off the little toy on the ground.

"Are you serious?" Glenn laughed at her.

"Yeah. A kid growing up in a prison could use some toys."

I noticed how distracted I was getting. (It was nice to have just a little bit of fun since everything always felt do or die.) The gun on my hip was now in my hands, my eyes glancing side to side; something felt off, I couldn't put my finger on it but something was strange. If it was possible, I restricted myself from anything Maggie and Glenn were saying; only paying attention to all the shit that surrounded us.

And I was right. Something was off.

"And where is it y'all good people are calling home?" A scratchy and raspy voice shouts our way. There was a gun in the man's hand, pointed our way and I didn't waste a second, aiming my gun at him.

It was Merle.

"Merle?" Glenn asks in complete surprise, Maggie and himself were now aiming their guns at him as well.

The redneck laughed, raising his hands and dropping his gun to the ground when he realized just who he was looking at. "Wow!" He approached us— at little too quickly for Maggie's liking.

"Hey, back the hell up!"

"Ho-oh-oh okay, okay, honey. Jesus."

"You made it." Glenn says, taking in his appearance. Nothing in his voice seemed happy for him; if anything it sounded like he wanted him to turn around and go away.

"Can you tell me, is my brother alive? Huh?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, you, uh, take me to him and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta. No hard feelings. Huh?" Merle asks but he noticed how hesitant he was; a laugh puffing from his lips when he glanced at Maggie and I, then to the contraption on his hand. "You like that? Yeah. Well, I found myself a, uh, medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself. Pretty cool, huh?"

"We'll tell Daryl you're here and he'll come out to meet you."

"Oh-oh. Hold on. Just hold up." Merle stutters growing closer.

"Whoa. Whoa." Glenn shouts, stepping back just like Maggie and I. "Whoa!"

"Hold up. Hold up here. Hey, the fact that we found each other is a miracle. Come on, now. You can trust me."

"You trust us. You stay here."

Merle chuckled, again, but it wasn't amused at all. There was a thick heaviness in the air before he scowled and rushed at us. Merle whipped a gun out from behind himself and shot at us; he missed and ended up shooting the back window out. Maggie and Glenn went to the one side of the car and I went the other way, but I wasn't fast enough. The dirty redneck caught me by the arm and pulled me to the ground, causing my gun to fly from my hands just as he pointed one to my head.