RICK GRIMES WAS BACK. Ella set her bowl of the dry oatmeal down on the floor when she heard him ask if the group were fine. She slowly stood up from the stairs, relief flooding her inside and out. She remembered what happened the last time she saw him, sure, but that didn't matter for he was ill. He still was. No one would admit.
Especially not him.
"How are you holding up?" Hershel asked him.
Rick sat down. "I cleared out the boiler block." he announced.
Ella took a look at Glenn.
"How many were there?" Daryl questioned.
"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen." Rick guessed. He stood right back up and clapped the back of Carl's shoulder. "I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl."
Glenn stopped Rick. "Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies. You don't have to."
But he feels he has to, Ella thought.
"No, I do," Rick stormed over to Ella. "Everyone have a gun and a knife?" he asked.
She nodded. "Not enough bullets though."
Maggie spoke up, "I was planning on taking a run to town near here this afternoon. I was gonna take Ella with me to watch my back." she glanced at Ella. "I found an old phone book with places we'll hit, we'll look for bullets and formula."
Daryl nodded and looked at Rick. "We cleared out the generator room. Axel's there trying to fix it in case of emergency. We'll sweep the lower levels as well."
With that, Rick took off.
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HERSHEL HAD TRIED to break through to Rick. He almost had Rick, but he wasn't able to convince him that isolating himself wasn't the way to heal. He told Ella Rick had gone insane for he was hallucinating someone calling the prison phone lines. . . the phone lines that were completely dead. Ella realized she had to do her part in trying to help Rick. He had to get over Lori and realize that she was gone. He might have already realized that, but he was still unsure about it. Everyone could see it.
She despised Rick for the things he called justice, the things he did to her father, and the despise and hate for him was so strong still, but Carl didn't deserve to not have a father nor did the baby that Lori died for. Ella needed to bring him back, or at least motivate him to come back before she got back from the supply run she'd be going on later.
Ella stepped down the steps, a reminder of what happened here in this very room fresh in her mind. It happened mere days ago. She heard Rick talking to himself, asking someone how they knew his name. She peeked around the corner. "Rick?" she questioned as he hung the phone up.
Rick turned to her. "What are you doing in here?" he asked.
"I thought you'd like some company before I leave."
Rick shook his head. "You should go. It's not safe here." he pointed at the stairs.
"If its unsafe then I'll stay," she leaned against the wall. "Rick, we need you to come back. You may be there physically when you come by. . . but you are not there mentally," she paused. "Carl needs you, and so does that baby."
Rick chuckled. "You know that baby is not mine-"
"Does it look like I give a shit?" she asked him as she walked closer. "That baby deserves a father. It deserves you. You can't just pretend she doesn't exist, Rick. Lori died for her, she wanted the baby to live, and she wanted you to be a father to her. Can't you do Lori that solid?" she asked. "Without you, the baby is going to grow up thinking what she did wrong to not have a father."
Rick stood still for a moment. "I am not her father. I killed her father." Ella froze, her face paling and the world zooming away from her grasps. She couldn't believe he said that. He tried to walk away, but Ella grabbed his arm.
"Please don't push everything away."
Rick lowered his head. "I'm sorry."
"Rick, please!" she yelled as he went up the stairs. "I need you too! I need you to be there for me too! You're the closest thing I have to a father!" she cried.
He stopped and slowly turned. "No, I'm not, Ella. Your father is right here," he dangled Shane's necklace in front of her face. "I've been meaning to give it to you."
She took the chain in her hands as he disappeared into the hallway faster than the speed of light. Ella choked on air, holding it close to her chest. She used the wall to fell keep herself up, and she began to weep in sorrow and pain.
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MAGGIE AND ELLA ended up taking Glenn with them to be their tank and plan C as he put it. They doubted things would go awry, but it was good to have more than two people together. The more, the merrier. Glenn put the car to a stop and the three got out. Ella looked at the many stores, wondering which one they should try to break inside first and which would have formula or bullets, if there was anything to begin with. Most looters would've took everything to survive.
Hopefully that wasn't the case.
"Clear outside." Maggie called out.
"Alright, let's take a took." Glenn walked over to the door.
Maggie stopped Ella with a smile. "Hey. Give me the deets with you two." she whispered.
"What?" Ella giggled. "There's nothing going on, Maggie. Just friends, that's all."
"Just friends? There's no way." she rolled her eyes. "You go up to the tower everytime he is on watch, you hug him, hold his hand, act like you're in love. I've seen how you look at him. There's no way you're just friends."
"The last time I was in "love", the girl broke my heart by telling me she never loved me when I asked her to marry me after high school. She just wanted me to feel validated by women, specifically her," she sighed. "And I don't want that to ever happen again, Maggie. He's a good man, he is, but some men are vile and would anything to play with a woman's heart. Do know that, okay?" she whispered.
Maggie sighed. "Glenn is not that man and you know it. He loves you, you know that. You love him, or you at least have feelings for him, which you know you do," she looked up at Glenn who was pushing the door open with a crowbar. "Tell him before it's too late, and you break your own damn heart. Today would be a good day to tell him because it's beautiful day today."
With that, the door broke open. Glenn gasped, ducking down when a flock of birds flew out of the store. Ella laughed at the look on his face, before he glared at her and walked inside. The two women stood outside the store as he walked around.
Ella thought about what Maggie said. It was true what she said. The more she waited, the more she was breaking her heart in the future. Glenn would one day realize she wouldn't be worth waiting around for and he would lose feelings. Though she didn't think another woman would cause that for the group weren't going to take on anymore people. It was too risky.
Or that's what she would think.
"Hey! Glenn, get that duck!" Maggie pointed at the toy with her flashlight.
"What?"
"Get that duck!"
"Are you serious?"
Ella smiled. "Did you not hear her? She's being serious. It's for the baby. Get that duck!" she told him.
"Yeah, she's growing up in a prison. She could use some toys." Maggie reminded him.
Ella nodded. "It wouldn't be too ideal if we didn't give her toys. She'd feel like we're abusing her. Half the time, we might not be able to play with her, you know."
Glenn sighed. "Alright, alright!"
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THEY CARRIED ABOUT four dufflebags into the back of the car already. It was an accomplishment, a good one, they were going to be well fed for weeks, and they would be well protected with all the ammo. They were grabbing more bags too. Ella was smiling, she just couldn't stop. She was so proud.
"We just hit the powdered formula jackpot!" Glenn exclaimed. "I also got beans, batteries, cocktail wieners, and many mustards. It's a straight shot back to the prison from here. Probably make it in time for dinner." he carried the last of the goods to the car.
"Good job, Glenn." Ella high fived him and followed him to the back.
Maggie picked up a bag. "I like the quiet. Back there, back home, you can always hear them outside the fence mo matter where you are."
Ella agreed with that.
Suddenly, they heard someone yell at them and a gun clicked. Ella turned her head to see it was the ghost of a dead man. He was supposed to be dead.
Merle fucking Dixon, she thought.
"Merle?" Glenn asked, gun aimed. Ella noticed there was a literal machete attached to his arm. Holy hell, he is crazy, she thought.
Merle began to laugh. He put his gun down and approached. "Wow!"
"Hey! Back the hell up!" Maggie shouted.
"Okay, okay, honey, Jesus," Merle stepped back to difuse the tension.
Ella locked eyes with him. Maggie glanced at her and Glenn in confusion. "We thought you were dead." she stated.
"Can you tell me, is my brother alive?" he asked. "Huh?"
Glenn hissed, "Yes."
Merle smiled in relief. "Hey, you, uh, take me to him and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta. No hard feelings. Huh?" he laughed when he noticed they were looking at his arm. "You like that? Well, I found myself a medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself. Pretty cool, huh?"
Glenn was having enough. He didn't want to stand here and talk anymore. "We'll tell Daryl you're here and he'll come out to meet you."
Merle protested about it. "The fact we found each other is a miracle. Come on, now. You can trust me." he told them.
"You trust us. You stay here."
Suddenly, the glass shattered from Merle shooting it. Ella dropped the ground, panting from the fact that she almost got killed while she looked up at the broken car window. She noticed Merle was making his way over to her when she heard the glass crunching. Going to grab her gun, he kicked it.
Merle grabbed her, causing her to scream, and he put her in a headlock, aiming his gun at her head. Glenn and Maggie made their way back to the back of the car again, aiming at the two.
"Hey! Let go of her." Maggie yelled.
"Let go of her, or I will kill you!" Glenn threatened.
"Put that gun in the car right now," Merle demanded. Glenn didn't move. "Put it in the car now, son!" Glenn did as he was told. "There you go! Now we're gonna go for a little drive."
With that, he knocked Ella out cold.
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LISTENING TO GLENN'S screams were the worst thing possible to listen to. It was like Merle knew this would be torture for Ella. He knew their weak spots, their strengths, he knew how they used to work, he knew everything about them. So he knew Glenn was Ella's weakness, as she was his. But she glad he didn't know what Maggie's were. He wouldn't break her as easy.
There was one thing she knew about this whole interrogation though. She was next, and if she wasn't next, then it was Maggie. She knew Merle wouldn't go for Maggie next though. Ella closed her eyes, waiting for that door to open and for Merle to come marching in.
But the moment never came like she thought. He was being slow about this.
Ella opened her eyes and wiggled her fingers around the back of the chair to find a weak spot in it to use it to break free. It wasn't there. They knew to make sure there were no weak spots. They must have done this a bunch of times before or something to know the chairs were used to break free. Must have been why she had a metallic chair.
That only theory though.
Suddenly, and finally, the door opened. Ella glanced up to see it was Merle, he seemed to have been enjoying the beat down on Glenn. He would definitely enjoy this then.
"Why hello, Miss Walsh," he shut the door. "I had a talk with Glenn about thirty minutes ago. You heard most of it, I hope. So, you know why I'm here." he smiled.
"I'm not telling you."
"Oh, you will, sweetheart," he sat on a chair in front of her. "You owe it to me. You left me on that roof-"
Ella scoffed, "I wasn't even there! I was at camp!" she yelled. "I haven't done anything wrong to you, you racist cock sucker!"
With that, Merle stood up and slapped her across the face.
"Daddy's not here to save you this time!" he hit her again. "This time, I can beat the shit out of you without Shane in my way!"
Ella screamed at him, "Take his fucking name out of your mouth right now! You don't deserve to speak badly on someone who is dead."
Merle cracked a smile. "Well, I guess, this will be more fun than I thought."
He beat her over and over again until her nose was bleeding and her ribs cracked underneath his knuckles. He didn't like being told the truth, which was being called a racist amongst many other things. So, he didn't like Ella because she told him the truth back in Atlanta about his girlfriend and why she probably left him for he was abusive towards her, and she told him the truth just now for he wasn't nice to people of the same race, nation, culture, if he had one, or ethnicity.
Ella gasped for air when she felt that he fractured one of her ribs. It wasn't all of them, thank god. She only knew it wasn't all of them because the pain was only in one spot, not all over. She looked him in the eyes, wanting him to feel remorse for this. She hoped that when the group found them, Daryl would beat the hell out of him.
Daryl was a much better man than his brother now. She was thankful for that.
The day would come when Merle would earn his due, that day would come soon. With the people Merle was with, it was clear Merle did this a little too much and they didn't care. He would be their downfall, they would die because of him and they deserved that if they they let people they didn't know be beat in their home, their safe haven, their sanctuary.
Merle got in her face. "Where is the group?"
Ella didn't answer.
"Tell me now or I will cut Glenn's throat."
Still, no answer. She knew he wouldn't dare.
"Okay, you wanted it." he banged on the door.
The door opened. A man pushed Glenn inside the room, causing Ella's heart to drop. She couldn't believe he was actually going to kill Glenn. Merle pulled Glenn inside and pushed him on top of the table. Glenn widened his eyes at the sight of Ella, he wanted to kill Merle.
Merle flicked out his knife and pushed it against his throat. "One, two-"
"Stop!" Ella choked. "Please don't hurt him, let him go!" she cried.
Merle glanced between them. "Oh. . . you thought I would really kill him! Honey. . . no, not yet. I want you to feel what I had to go through to escape that roof after you left me. I'm going to cut off a toe from both of you." he explained. "Hold him down." he instructed.
The man held Glenn down the best he could while Merle took off Glenn's shoes. Ella felt so helpless. He was going to suffer. He grabbed a machete and with a swing, Glenn's middle toe was off. He let out a yell of pain, blood spilling everywhere. "Suck it up. Be a man! I'm sensing you get zero pussy, if you were, you'd be able to handle this!" he laughed.
Ella squirmed in her chair, screaming at Merle. "You're fucking crazy!"
"Your turn now." Merle cackled.
Before he could touch her, another man walked in the room with a topless and scared Maggie, gun to her head. What did he do to her, she thought. She didn't look okay whatsoever. Ella wanted to hug her and get her away from these evil and cold hearted monsters.
"Fun is over, boys," he shut the door behind himself, still having a grip on Maggie. "Look, one of you is gonna give up your camp."
No one answered him.
The man pushed Maggie out of the way and pushed his gun into Ella's head. Maggie gasped, she didn't want anyone else to get hurt more so. "The prison!"
Ella closed her eyes and shook her head. She didn't blame Maggie, it looked like she'd been though alot. She was only worried for their people.
Merle turned to Maggie, astonished. "The one near Nunez?"
Of course you'd know. You've probably been there, she thought
"That place is overrun?" the man with the gun to Glenn's head added.
"We took it." she informed.
"How many are you?"
"Ten," she paused. "We have ten now."
The man could've smiled, he didn't. "Ten people cleared that whole prison of biters? Huh?" he started to walk away as Merle cut the tape off Ella's hands. Ella made eye contact with Maggie, tears in their eyes. He stopped beside Maggie. "Hey, hey. It's alright." he wrapped her up in a hug.
Ella stood up as he pushed Maggie into her. Ella wrapped her arms around her tightly, letting her cry it all out on her shoulder.
They were going to get what was coming. That was for sure.