𝙴𝙿𝙸𝚂𝙾𝙳𝙴 𝚃𝙷𝚁𝙴𝙴 - 𝙻𝙾𝚅𝙴𝙳 𝙾𝙽𝙴𝚂
"Hey, Dixon?! Are you crazy?!" One of the group members asked when everyone got to the roof. There was a man with a rifle, shooting walkers on the ground.
"Oh geez!" Andrea yelled as the man fired another shot.
"Huh? Hey! You ought to be more polite to a man with a gun!" The man yelled. "Only common sense."
"Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got, man!" A group member yelled. "And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill!"
"Hey, bad enough I've got this taco-bender on my ass all day." The man everyone called Dixon said. "Now I'm gonna take orders from you? I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day."
"That'll be the day? You got something you wanna tell me?"
"Hey, T-Dog man, just leave it." The Latino man said. "Merle, just relax, okay? We've got enough trouble."
"You wanna know the day?" Merle asked T-Dog.
"Yeah." T-Dog said.
"I'll tell you the day, Mr "Yo." It's the day I take orders from a ******" Merle said.
"Mother-" T-Dog went to punch Merle but he shoved the rifle in his face, making T-Dog fall over.
"Okay, that's enough." Andrea said as everyone went over to stop the fight. Merle carried on beating T-Dog up before pulling out a gun.
"Oh my god." Madelyn said. "Don't."
Merle looked up at Madelyn and smirked. "Well, aren't you a pretty little thing?"
Madelyn looked away as Merle checked her out. She was obviously uncomfortable. "Just stop, please." Madelyn said.
"You know, you are exactly my brother's type." Merle said. "They whore around with him for a while but in the end, all his pussies come running to me."
Madelyn gasped and slapped Merle, only making him smirk and let go of T-Dog. "I say we vote for whose in charge." He said as everyone helped T-Dog. "I vote for me! Anybody else? Show of hands. All in favour?"
Everyone sighed and raised their hands except for Rick, Madelyn and T-Dog. "Yeah, that means I'm the boss, right?" Merle asked. "Anybody else?"
"Yeah." Rick said, making Merle turn around, only for Rick to hit him with a rifle, making him fall. Rick then pulled out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed him to a pole so he couldn't move.
"Who the hell are you, man?" Merle grunted.
"Officer Friendly." Rick said. "Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no ******* any more. No dumb as shit, inbred white trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart."
"Screw you, man." Merle said.
"I can see you make a habit of missing the point." Rick said. Madelyn sighed and went to look down, seeing walkers filling the streets. T-Dog was trying to get the walkie to work.
"How's the signal?" Andrea asked.
"Like Dixon's brain, weak." T-Dog said, making Madelyn chuckle under her breath as Merle stuck up his middle finger to him.
"Keep trying." Morales said.
"Why? There's nothing they can do." Andrea said.
"We got people outside the city. There's no refugee centre. That's a pipe dream." Morales explained.
"So, there's nowhere we can go?" Madelyn asked.
"We're on our own." Jacqui said.
"It's up to us to find a way out." Rick said.
"Good luck with that." Merle said. "These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear."
🧟♀️ 🧟🧟♀️ 🧟
After a few hours, the group were able to get out of the city, leaving Merle stuck on the roof of the building they were trapped on. They were in a van and approached the rest of the group members where they had their camp set up.
"Come and meet everybody." Morales told Rick and Madelyn. Everyone got out of the truck and meet their family members.
"What do you say?" Madelyn asked Rick.
"I say we're gonna need help." Rick said. "We'd be fools to walk away now."
Rick smiled at Madelyn and she smiled back before the two got out of the truck. Rick looked around and his eyes widened. He was looking at another man, like he knew him.
"Oh my god." Rick said when he saw a woman and little boy.
"Your wife and son?" Madelyn asked Rick who nodded and ran over to them, hugging them tight. She was glad Rick found his family. Nobody deserved to lose their loved ones.
"You are?" A man asked Madelyn when he approached her.
"Madelyn." She said.
"I'm Shane. Rick and I used to work on the force together before the world went to shit." Shane said.
"He saved my life. I would still be stuck in the city if it wasn't for him." Madelyn said.
"That's Rick. Always saving people." Shane said before looking at Rick hugging his family.
"Wait, where's Merle?" Amy asked.
"We had to leave him behind." Jacqui explained.
"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon?" Dale asked everyone. "He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind."
"I'll tell him. I dropped the key to the handcuffs. It's on me." T-Dog said.
"I cuffed him. That makes it mine." Rick said.
"Guys, it's not a competition." Glenn said. "I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy."
"I did what I did." T-Dog said. "Hell if I'm gonna hide from him."
"Is Daryl as bad as his brother?" Madelyn asked.
"He's not as bad but he's still bad." Glenn said.
"We could lie." Andrea's sister, Amy suggested.
"Or tell the truth." Andrea said. "Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed. Rick did what was necessary. If Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Merle's."
"And that's what we tell Daryl?" Dale asked. "I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you? Word to the rise, we're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt."
"I was scared and I ran." T-Dog said. "I'm not ashamed of it."
"We were all scared. We all ran." Andrea said. "What's your point?"
"I stopped long enough to chain that door." T-Dog said. "Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through it. Not that chain, not that padlock. My point...Dixon's alive and he's still up there, handcuffed on that roof. That's on us."