Born 2 Be Wild-A Merle Dixon love story

Chapter 47

Rick was still in the tombs a few days later. I wonder if he'll ever come out of there. We were all gathered in the commons area eating breakfast when he finally did show up. He didn't come through the door. He just stood behind the bars, looking at us.

"Everybody okay?" He asked before opening the door.

"Yeah, we are." Maggie answered.

Rick walked forward to the table. I was beside Daryl on the steps.

"What about you?" Hershel asked Rick.

He looked a lot better than he did yesterday.

"I cleared out the boiler block." Rick announced, instead of answering the question.

"How many were there?" Daryl asked.

"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen. I have to get back. I just wanted to check on Carl." Rick answered, patting Carl on the back.

"Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies. You don't have to." Glenn told him.

"No, I do." Rick argued. "Everyone have a gun and a knife?" He asked Daryl.

"Yeah. We're running low on ammo, though." Daryl answered.

"Maggie and me were planning on making a run this afternoon." Glenn announced. "Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula."

"We cleared out the generator room. Axel's in there trying to fix it, in case of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well." Daryl told Rick.

"Good. Good." Rick said as he headed for the door he came out of.

"Rick." Hershel called, trying to stop him.

Rick didn't respond though. He went out the door and shut it behind him before walking off down the hall.

Later that day I went with Daryl, Carl, and Oscar to do a sweep. I really didn't want Carl to go but Daryl insisted that he'd be okay with us. So, like I always do with the Dixon boys, I relented.

As we were creeping through the halls, a door to a closet was shaking.

"Check it out." Oscar said while shining his flashlight in the door. "Must have missed it last night."

"It's probably just one or two of 'em. Don't look like they got much fight." Daryl said, pushing on the door lightly. "They ain't going nowhere. We'll take care of it on the way back." Daryl decided.

Oscar split away from us to go down a different hallway. I raised my eyebrows at him and he motioned for me to join Daryl. I shrugged and fell into step behind Daryl and Carl. As we were walking, Daryl told Carl a story.

"You know, my mom, she liked her wine. She liked to smoke in bed. Virginia Slims. I was out playing with the kids in the neighborhood. I could do that with Merle gone. This was before I'd met Jess. They had bikes, I didn't. We heard sirens getting louder. They jumped on their bikes, ran after it, you know, hoping to see something worth seeing. I ran after them, but I couldn't keep up. I ran around a corner and saw my friends looking at me. Hell, I saw everybody looking at me. Fire trucks everywhere. People from the neighborhood. It was my house they were there for. It was my mom in bed burnt down to nothing. That was the hard part. You know, she was just gone. Erased. Nothing left of her. People said it was better that way. I don't know. Just made it seem like it wasn't real, you know?"

The way Daryl talked about it was like it had happened to someone else. He made it sound like he didn't still have nightmares about it. But I knew differently. I'd always wished I had met them earlier. So that I could have helped Daryl through it, instead of him having no one. Well besides an emotionally constipated dad and a brother who was gone most of the time.

I let them get a few steps ahead of me, knowing this conversation was completely between them. I don't feel like talking about my ruined childhood today.

"I shot my mom. She was out. Hadn't turned yet. I ended it. It was real. Sorry about your mom." Carl said in response to Daryl's story.

Daryl studied Carl for a minute. "I'm sorry about yours." He said, putting his hand on Carl's shoulder. "Come on." Daryl told Carl softly.

I followed, still a few steps behind. We were going through another cell block when Oscar stopped.

"Oh that's what I'm talking about." He said, going into a cell.

Daryl, Carl, and I stopped then followed him. Oscar was knelt down in the floor next to a pair of red plaid slippers.

"What the hell you need slippers for?" Daryl asked him.

"You know, end of the day, relaxing." Oscar answered.

Daryl stared at him as if he'd just grown another pair of arms. Just then I heard a growling sound behind us. We turned around and all of us fired at the same time. The walker hit the floor with a thud.

Daryl took a deep breath and lowered his crossbow. "All right." He stepped forward and looked it over with his flashlight.

"Must have been in the cell at the end. We checked everywhere else." I told him.

Daryl pulled a knife out of the side of the walker's neck. "That's Carol's knife." He said. He wiped the knife off on the walker's shirt then studying it for a moment.

Daryl insisted that we leave him in the halls. I didn't want to, but he's grieving and he's gotta do it his own way. I walked with Carl back to C block. Not long after we got there Rick came back. He took the baby from Hershel and held her for the first time. He looked okay again, he looked happy. Pride shined in his eyes, the same way Daryl's did. This baby could be what keeps us together. We all walked outside, to the prison yard, in need of fresh air.

"She looks like you." Rick told Carl.

Then Rick must have seen something. He handed the baby off to Carl and walked towards the gate. I followed him until we got to the hill. I stopped and shielded the sun from my eyes. From what I could tell a black woman was standing at the fence holding a shopping basket. It had to be a person, walkers don't generally carry things. I watched, confused, as Rick stared at her through the gate.