𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚁𝚈 𝙵𝙾𝚄𝚁𝚃𝙴𝙴𝙽/𝙿𝚃 𝚃𝚆𝙾 - 𝚂𝙾𝙵𝚃 𝚄𝙽𝙲𝙻𝙴 𝙼𝙴𝚁𝙻𝙴
When I got to the courtyard, I saw the entire group shooting at a group of people outside of the walls. This was the Governor. He had a group of men and even a tank and he was shooting at all of us. Axel died today. Rick was outside of the fences by a bridge and Hershel was covering himself in the middle of the courtyard. Everyone else was taking cover and shooting at the Governor's men. I even spotted Merle at one point outside of the prison, saving Rick's life from a muerto who was a second close to taking a bite out of his shoulder.
Once the shootout with the Governor was over, everyone had to go inside because the Governor tore down one of the fences which caused the courtyard to be filled with muertos. Anita couldn't understand why Andrea was staying in his town. Was she just ignoring all of this or did she not know what the Governor was up to?
"We're not leaving." Rick said to the group once they had gone inside the cell block.
"We can't stay here." Hershel said.
"If Rick says we're not running, we're not running." Glenn said and Anita agreed.
"He's right. We should listen to Rick. I've always believed he's a smart man. He knows what he's doing." Anita said.
"If y'all ain't runnin', it may as well be better to live like rats." Merle said from behind a locked gate. "We should have slid out of here last night, lived to fight another day."
"We ain't scared of that prick." Daryl said.
"Y'all should be." Merle said and that got Anita thinking.
"Maybe...he's right." Anita said. "Merle was the Governor's right hand man. He knows how he thinks, what he could be planning next, all of his tricks. If Merle thinks we can't defeat the Governor, maybe we can't."
"We will defeat him. I'll kill him myself." Rick growled. He was not happy at all. He still had a lot going on.
"That truck through the fence thing? That's just him ringing the doorbell." Merle shrugged. "We may have some thick walls to hide behind but he's got the guns and the numbers and we don't."
"He's got a point." Daryl sighed. He didn't want his brother to be right but he was.
"Axel's dead. We can't just sit here." Hershel said and as Rick began to walk away, Hershel told him off, telling him he had to start leading again, he had to fix things before more people lost their lives.
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Whilst Daryl, Rick, Glenn, Michonne, and Hershel were talking at the bottom of the cell block, I decided to pay Merle a little visit. I felt like we should talk about everything that was going on, about the Governor and about Daryl. When I got to his cell, I saw him wrapping his metal contraption on his arm.
"Hey, Merle." Anita said, making Merle look up.
"You're my baby bro's girl, ain't ya'? Jasmine?" Merle asked, making Anita shake her head.
"No, Anita. Daryl just likes to call me that." Anita said as she leaned against the wall.
"From that stupid Disney movie, ain't that right? All those times I tried to make a man outta him, I caught him watching Aladdin four years ago. Disgusting." Merle grumbled, making Anita smile a little in amusement. She could imagine Daryl sitting in the living room, singing 'A Whole New World'.
"You should give him a little credit, though. He's come a long way, especially after everything he's told me about his past." Anita said, making Merle freeze a little.
"He told ya'?" He asked, his tone a lot softer and quieter.
"This morning. I'm sorry you both went through that. No-one deserves that. I get why you are the way that you are, why you wanted Daryl to toughen up so bad." Anita said, making Merle sigh.
"I stayed for as long as I could, taking the beatings from our bastard of a father so my little bro wouldn't have to but then I would get sent to juvie and eventually, I got sick of it so I left. I would have killed him if I hadn't." Merle explained as he looked at the ground.
I have never seen Merle so vulnerable. The first time when I saw him taking Glenn and Maggie, he seemed tough and dangerous and even when I tried to kill him yesterday, he was just sarcastic and uptight. Today, I saw a whole different side to Merle. A human side with feelings and emotions. Of course Merle wasn't born like this. Everything he and Daryl had suffered through in the past, that's what made him who he is today. Daryl is just lucky enough to have been surrounded by good people, Merle wasn't so lucky.
"I left my baby bro all alone with that bastard, to take all of his beatings, all of his anger. That's why I want to get him to man up. I taught him not to care about anyone or anything to stop him from getting hurt 'cos he was hurt. Our own father would beat us, his own sons." Merle said and Anita nodded. "I just don't want him to be hurt no more. I ain't gonna allow him to be vulnerable so everyone in this damn group can walk all over him. It ain't gonna happen no more."
"I get where you're coming from, Merle. I really do." Anita said before moving to sit in front of him. "You don't want Daryl getting hurt by people anymore but he is a valued member of this group. Everyone here cares about him, they love him. I love him, and no-one wants to see Daryl get hurt. He's earned his place here. He's saved my life countless times. He stopped me from hurting myself because, like you said, he was hurt himself. And Daryl caring for people isn't a bad thing. Especially in this world, you can't do anything without people anymore. You need people you can trust with your life if you're going to survive."
"You really love my brother?" Merle asked, making Anita nod.
"More than anything." She said to him.
"Then I need ya' to take care of him. The Governor is out to get me and he's gonna find me, one way or another. This group ain't gonna do shit to defend me, I already know that." Merle said.
"You know Daryl would die for you." Anita said.
"I know. My baby bro, I can always count on him. But everyone else, especially that Sherriff, they ain't gonna hesitate to hand me over to the Governor on a silver platter. And when he does get his hands on me, he will kill me, I know that. Yer gonna be the only one left to take care of my baby bro." Merle said, making Anita sigh.
"You don't know that the Governor will get to you." Anita said but Merle shook his head.
"I know what's written in my destiny. I know my time here is short. I know the Governor. He ain't gonna stop till I'm dead. And when I am dead, I need ya' to look after Daryl. I need ya' to give him the love and attention he's always wanted from me but I always failed to deliver. He's gonna need it, a lot of it." Merle sighed as he used his hand to rub his face. He had accepted what was going to happen to him. He just needed to make sure his brother was taken care of.
"Yeah, of course." Anita said softly. "And he's going to know how much you love him. He's going to know how much you care about him. I promise."
"Ya' gonna tell yer babies about their Uncle Merle?" Merle asked Anita, taking her aback slightly.
"Um...I don't think that's gonna happen for a long time, if ever." Anita said.
"Please, I can tell when my baby bro gets all soft for a girl. It only ever happened one other time. He has a look and he gives ya' that look. I noticed." Merle said. "I may not like it but I noticed."
"I'm never going to hurt Daryl if that's what you're worried about. I love him. I wanna do whatever I can to keep him happy. I don't want him to go through any pain, especially not the pain he went through with your father. I'd never want that for him, ever." Anita said.
Merle nodded a little and just looked at the ground. "And if kids ever do come into the picture, they'll be sure to know about their soft Uncle Merle." Anita teased, making Merle playfully glare at her.
"Do not ever call me that again." Merle said, trying to look intimidating but he was struggling to hold back a small smile.
"Soft Uncle Merle. They're definitely gonna call you that." Anita joked, making Merle roll his eyes.
"Welcome to the family, Anita." Merle said, making her smile.
"Thanks, and by the way, sorry for trying to kill you yesterday." Anita said, making Merle shrug.
"Ain't nothing nobody's tried before." He said. Anita got up, squeezing his shoulder reassuringly before leaving Merle's cell.