Playing With Fire (A Merle Dixon Story)

Chapter Twenty-Six

I had barely stepped foot into the mess hall when I heard my name being called. I peered around the room, puzzled, until I saw Crowley jogging his way towards me from across the room.

"Hey, Harlow." He smiled. His eyebrows knit together as he studied my face. "You look…unusually cheerful."

I realized I was smiling again for no reason. Well, I knew why I was smiling but no one else needed to know that. Apparently I was not as subtle as I was trying to be. "Oh! Yeah, I'm just…I am just so excited to eat breakfast. Anyways, you need something?" I switched topics quickly, hoping he would just brush over my extremely lame reply.

If Crowley noticed my oddness, he didn't act on it. "Actually, I was just about to head over to your room. We need to make a run for food supplies this morning and I was hoping you'd take over my spot on watch. Unless you have something else to do in the clinic." He asked, pushing up the sleeves of his navy colored shirt.

"Oh, sure. I don't have anything else going on. That would actually give me something to do for a while." I replied with a nod. Something else besides let myself continue to overthink last night.

"Great, thanks. The shift starts in about half an hour." He pointed towards an old, round clock on the wall over the door. "Just show up then."

"Okay, no problem." I assured him. He was already out the door, though, giving me a halfhearted wave over his shoulder.

I turned back around and headed towards the coffee. It actually hadn't been so bad the past couple of weeks. Either that or I was starting to just get used to how awful it really was. Either way, it was worth the caffeine. I filled up a glass mug to the top with the steaming hot liquid before sliding into a seat at one of the plastic square tables. The room was mostly empty. I had figured out most people got there early before all the good breakfast rations were taken. I didn't care so much as long as I got coffee. I had never been much of a breakfast person anyways.

I took a careful sip of the coffee, and it burned down the back of my throat. Now that I was finally out of the bedroom and in public, my thoughts started to turn away from Merle and to the reason I had even sought him out last night at all. I cringed a little when I remembered the severed heads and the caged up zombie in the Governor's apartment. I wasn't sure how I would be able to look at the man, let alone how I would act around him. I was probably the only person in town who knew those secrets and I was pretty sure he would be more than just a little pissed if he found out about that. I hoped Merle had meant it when he said we'd leave Woodbury as soon as we could. I wasn't sure how long I could sit around, drink coffee, and go about my business pretending like everything was okay and like the man running this town wasn't a complete monster.

Crowley had said they were going out on a run. I was sure the Governor would be going to. I wasn't sure if it made me feel better or worse that he would be out of the town for a few hours. Better in the sense that I wouldn't have to worry about running into him. Worse, though, because I worried about what he was capable of outside the walls where there wasn't a town full of people to stop him. Merle would probably go with him. This made my stomach turn upside down. He usually always went out on the runs. I knew that I didn't have to worry about him acting on any of the disturbing information I had shared with him last night. I just had to worry about the disturbed man leading them.

I glanced up at the clock and gulped down the rest of my coffee. I would have plenty of time to sit around and think while I was on watch. Which was probably not such a good thing. I stood up from the table, dumping my glass in a dirty dish bucket before weaving my way through the mess hall and out the heavy wooden doors. As I got closer to the wall, I could see the usual convoy of vehicles lined up and ready to go. Martinez was lounging against the side of a rusted pick-up truck and sneered when he caught sight of me, turning his back and pulling himself up into the cab. I rolled my eyes. The feeling was mutual.