ACT TWO
(merle dixon)

THE GROUP ate in silence, nobody felt like talking after current events so the silence wasn't a shock. What was a shock was when Rick's voice filled the air, pulling everyone's attention to him. "Everybody okay?"

"Yeah, we are. We got Roníca back." Maggie spoke up, smiling at her friend as she did so.

"Good. Glad you're okay." Rick spoke to Veroníca, nodding his head once before changing the topic. "I cleared out the boiler block."

"How many were there?" Daryl asked from his seat on the stairs.

"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen.. I have to get back, just wanted to check on Carl."

"Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies." Glenn butt in, standing up from his spot to get closer to their leader. "You don't have to."

"No, I do... Does everyone have a gun and a knife?"

"Yeah, we're running low on ammo, though." Daryl answered the man.

"I was planning on making a run this afternoon.. I found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula."

"I'll go." Veroníca added, instantly making Glenn shake his head.

"No. No. We just got you back."

"I'm going." Veroníca repeated making Glenn sigh as he opted with talking to her about it later, in private.

Daryl cut the two off as he changed the topic. "We cleared out the generator room. Axel's there tryin' to fix it. Incase of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well. Veroníca said she didn't see Carol die.. Could be alive down there."

"Good. Good." Rick replied, nodding before exiting the area again. He ignored as Hershel yelled after him, closing the cell-door behind him.

As soon as Rick was out of sight, the same silence filled the group. Glenn being the first one to break it. "Vee, can I talk to you?"

Veroníca nodded, standing up and placing a kiss on Rory's head before heading to the duo's shared cell. Glenn close behind her.

As soon as the pair were in the cell block, Glenn spoke up. "I don't think you should go on the run."

"Well, I am."

"Veroníca.. I—What if something happens? Something like what happened a few—"

The woman stopped her friend as she held her hand up, instantly making him stop talking. "Glenn, nothing is going to happen. Okay?——I'm going."

Glenn sighed, his frown turning upwards when Veroníca teasingly pinched the man's cheek. "You being worried for me is cute, miel, but it'll be okay."

The woman then dropped her hand, making her way further away from the man who now held a light pink tint on his cheeks.

-

    Aiden wiped the blood off of his machete and onto his jeans. While normally he didn't mind blood, seeing as it was walker blood. The fact that he knew the blood on the machete belonged to humans was enough to make the man gag.

He hadn't killed any humans so far, while he had thought about it. He never had acted on his thoughts.

Aiden didn't have time to think about it seeing as Michonne began shushing him, even though he hadn't been making any noise.

At the shushing, Aiden looked up, a little surprised to see Merle and a young adult with him.

Before he could stop Michonne, she tapped on the younger man's back. Immediately cutting into his chest when he turned around.

Merle stepped into action as well, he held up his hand-knife, struggling against Michonne's sword.

The two fought for a moment, Aiden watching in awe as Michonne dropped to the ground. Just as Michonne kicked him in the balls, Aiden sliced his arm with his machete.

Merle groaned at the actions, crouching in pain which ended in Michonne kicking him in the face.

He groaned again, this time falling on-top of the woman as blood poured from his newly-found wounds.

Aiden immediately yanked Merle off of his friend, helping Michonne up as he placed a harsh kick into Merle's ribs. "Dick!" Aiden yelled in his face before spitting on him.

He placed one more kick to his ribs, only stopping when Michonne picked her sword up off the ground.

Just as she did so, a small herd of walkers began coming at them. Immediately heading for the men on the ground first. "We gotta go!" Michonne whisper-yelled to Aiden.

Unfortunately, at her yelling, a walker headed right for her.

She pulled her sword up, slicing open it's stomach as its intestines poured out. While Michonne gagged at all the blood that had gotten on her, Aiden ignored the sticky substance as he pulled Michonne behind him. Running further away from the walkers and Merle.

-

Veroníca glanced around the surroundings while Glenn grabbed the bolt cutters from the back seat. As soon as he shut the door he turned to her with a smile. "Wanna do the honors?"

"I'll take you up on that." Veroníca replied, taking the bolt cutters from his hands as she went to the locked door.

As soon as the door opened fully, a few birds flew out making the duo duck. "Holy shit." Glenn mumbled as he laughed quietly.

The duo then entered the store, a smile on the man's face while the woman's remained straight. They split up, examining two different areas of the store in silence.

Glenn was the first to break the silence as he yelled across the aisle. "Jackpot!"

Veroníca smiled at this, picking up a few toys from the ground before making her way over to the man. "What'd you find?"

"Look at all this powdered formula. This is enough for like six babies." Glenn happily exclaimed as he began placing them into his hand held cart. "What's that?" He asked pointing at the toys in the woman's hands.

"Kid's growing up in a prison.. Figured she should get some toys."

Glenn nodded, agreeing with her words before changing the topic. "I'm going to see if there's any food left."

It was now Veroníca's turn to nod as she watched the man walk away from her.

She then silently turned around, smiling when a pink object caught her eye. She immediately picked the object up, her grin growing when it extended.

The item was a pink Hello Kitty pocket knife, while Veroníca already had her own knives. She had decided this would be the perfect knife for Rory.

Before the apocalypse, the two would wake up extra early on Mondays to watch Hello Kitty before school. While Rory said it was necessary to start his week off right, Veroníca just liked the tradition.

She smiled to herself at the memories, her smile only dropping as a hand was placed on her shoulder. "You ready?"

Veroníca hummed in response, following behind Glenn as he walked out the door. "Found a knife.. I think Rory will like it."

Glenn glanced back at the knife, a smile appearing on his face when he saw it. "Does Rory like hello kitty?"

"He loves hello kitty."

Glenn nodded, handing his crush the handheld cart as he changed the topic. "I found beans, batteries, cocktail wieners, many mustards. It's a straight shot back to the prison from here, probably make it in time for dinner."

"I assure you, when we get home they'll adore us... Especially because these cocktail wieners." Veroníca smiled, high-fiving the man.

Once their high-five stopped, Glenn continued holding the woman's hand.

While Veroníca didn't mind, when an unfamiliar voice filled the air she dropped the man's hand. She also dropped the hand-held cart. "Where is it y'all good people are calling home?"

Glenn immediately pulled out his gun, Veroníca pulling out her throwing knives as the duo stared at the stranger. "Merle?"

The man then laughed, placing his gun on the ground. "Wow!" He exclaimed as he took a step closer to Glenn with his arms raised.

"Hey, tonto! Back the fuck up!"

"Okay, okay, baby... Damn." Merle said, stopping in his tracks as Glenn spoke. "You made it."

"Can you tell me, is my brother alive? Huh?"

"Yeah."

Merle laughed in relief at this, glancing at the ground before looking at Glenn again. "Hey, you can take me to him and i'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta. No hard feelings. Huh?"

Glenn was silent, instead he opted with glancing at the man's arm. Or lack there of, making Merle glance at it as well. "You like that? Well, I found myself a medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself. Pretty cool, huh?"

"We'll tell Daryl you're here and he'll come out to meet you."

"Hold on. Just hold on." Merle spoke, taking a few steps closer to Glenn. Veroníca took a step between the men her knife raised at his face. "Back the fuck up."

Merle laughed at this, taking a small step back before rambling again. "The fact that we found each other is a miracle. Come on, now. You can trust me."

"You trust us." Glenn corrected. "You stay here."

Merle laughed at this, looking back at Veroníca with a smirk in his eyes. Before she could figure out why he was smirking, he suddenly screamed. "No!"

He then shot the back of the car window, making Glenn jump away.

Merle immediately grabbed Veroníca keeping his knife hand on her throat as he pointed his gun at her head. "Shh, girl. It'll all be over soon."

Veroníca tried to get him off of her, only ending up in him cutting her upper arm. "Stop moving." He said as he pulled the two to a sitting position.

As if on cue Glenn came around the car, his gun raised at the man. "Let go of her. Let go of her!"

"Put that gun in the car right now. Put it in the car, son." Merle commanded. Glenn shared a look with Veroníca, sighing when the woman shook her head at him.

He knew she didn't want him to listen to Merle, he also knew there was no way he was letting her die. So he complied, placing the gun in the backseat through the now-busted window. "There you go. Now, we're gonna go for a little drive."

"We're not going back to our camp."

"No, we're going somewhere else." Merle laughed before his laughter abruptly stopped. "Get in the car Glenn, you're driving!"

"Don't—Just don't hurt her..."

When Merle didn't reply, Glenn nodded and made his way back to the driver's seat.

"Get up!" Merle yelled in the woman's ear. Veroníca rolled her eyes at the man, standing up before pausing and spitting in his face.

Merle immediately wiped off the spit, a dark chuckle in voice as he yanked the woman closer to him by her hair. "You're gonna regret that. Get in!"

Merle quickly shoved the woman in the back seat, Glenn watched from the driver's seat with an angry frown over his face.

As the car began driving away, Aiden angrily kicked the car beside him and his friend. Michonne didn't bother scolding him, seeing as she was in far too much pain at the moment.

"I'm gonna kill him." Aiden spoke mostly to himself. "I'm gonna fucking kill him." He repeated, finally receiving a nod from Michonne.

-