Born 2 Be Wild-A Merle Dixon love story

Chapter 67

I passed out sometime in the night. My drunken sorrow fueled rage had sapped my energy. I picked myself up off of the floor, smelling like a distillery. My knees were cut up from dropping on the glass. But I gathered what I had and left anyway. I had my gun, my knife, and some out of date chips and water I picked up from the store. I stepped out of the door and felt my eyes fry in the bright sunlight, my head throbbing to the beat of my heart. I started off in what I hoped was the direction of a town.

I looted a house and found some clothes that actually fit. Now I don't smell quite so bad. All the cabinets in the kitchen had been raided, so looks like I'm gonna have to do some hunting soon. When I left the house I walked deeper into town. I stopped at a sign posted on a pole by the train tracks. Terminus: Those Who Arrive, Survive is what the sign read. There was a map with a big red star painted on it along with the little catch phrase. I sat down on the tracks and weighed my options. Terminus could be trap, psychos like the Governor could be waiting there to slaughter people. But if I try to rough it on my own I am definitely going to die. Whether it be from starvation or a walker it's gonna happen sooner rather than later. So either way I could die. But there is a chance that the folks at Terminus actually want to help others and that's a chance I'm gonna have to take.

I took off down the tracks, walking slowly because of the agony that is my knees. I know one thing for sure, I'm never drinking again. If I close my eyes I can almost imagine that I'm sixteen again. Walking with Daryl to the bus station to wait for Merle. The good old days before everything turned to absolute shit. But looking back I don't think I'd change a thing that happened, besides the apocalypse. Life could have been so much better if the dead would have never roamed the earth.

I was walking along the tracks, feeling half dead. What looked like three people walking in the distance made me pick up my pace. The closer I got the more I realized that I recognized them. I started to run, hoping that they were real. At the sound of my pounding footsteps they turned around. Carl, Rick, and Michonne looked at me in complete shock.

"Jess?" Rick asked.

I smiled at them as I tried to catch my breath.

They made me sit down and eat some of their food.

"How did you survive out there on your own? Did you see anyone from the prison?" Carl asked quickly.

"Luck and survival skills that were drilled into my brain by Merle Dixon. You three are the first people from the prison I've seen since we all split. I tried to track Daryl the day after but I couldn't find him. I killed the Governor before I left. I think I took off in the opposite direction of everyone else." I answered.

"We haven't seen anyone else either. I'm really glad you found us. I don't think you would've made it much longer." Rick told me.

I nodded my head.

"You smell like liquor." Michonne noted.

"Yeah, I pretty much bathed in it last night. I thought it was the end for me. I wanted to go out with a buzz. Guess I'm more like Merle than I realized." I said with chuckle.

"His good side, maybe." Michonne said as she shook her head.

We continued on down the tracks, stopping to make camp when it got dark. I sat by the fire with Rick and Michonne while Carl slept in a car we'd found. With all the water I've drank today I of course had to go to the bathroom. I stepped behind the car Carl was asleep in and prayed he wouldn't wake up. When I was about to pull my pants back up I heard footsteps. A man clamped his hand over my mouth and pushed me down in the dead leaves. The man smelled even worse than I did somehow. He got on top of me and held me down with his weight. With his other hand he pulled out a knife and stuck it to my throat. I could hear another man talking, but I was too panicked to understand any of it.