A simple supply hunt for a source of water in the middle of Atlanta turns sour quickly for Erin as she come fist to face with a fuming, handless Merle Dixon.
Alone in the middle of the apocalypse with only a racist guy who doesn't know the differen...
"We're painted red to fit right in ." - Radioactive, Imagine Dragons
--)->
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Eventually, what looked like a red sports car appeared on the horizon, but for all Erin could see there wasn't much else on the hilltop apart from that. It was glaringly obvious against the greens and browns of the woodland and grasses round it, making her wonder what sort of crazy people lived in this camp - didn't they realise the bright colour would attract strays just as much as a loud noise?
As she got closer, she realised there wasn't a single soul in sight. She scanned the clearing once, then twice, then three times, finding no trace that anyone had ever been there except for the car which was parked alongside a hedge overlooking the quarry beyond. Taped to the side of it seemed to be a piece of paper, but from her position in the truck she couldn't make out what was written on it and knew she wouldn't be able to manoeuvre the vehicle around the trees to get a closer look from the safety of the cab.
Sighing and making sure Merle was still out for the count, she pushed open her door and clambered out, careful not to wake the unconscious lump across from her as she closed it again behind her.
It was a nice feeling, being able to stretch her legs away from the confines of the truck, but she couldn't help but feel on edge, walking out in the open like that especially when she was so close to the stray beacon that was the car.
She came to a stop a few feet away from it, trying her best to read it without getting too far from the truck in case she had to make a quick getaway. From where she was, she could see most of what it said - some of the words were smudged by what seemed to be rain, but she wasn't going any closer to find out.
'--- --- not safe. Gone to CDC.'
Whether they'd been expecting someone to follow, she didn't know, but she imagined that whoever it was had either already seen the message or was somewhere back there in the city, roaming and groaning - she hoped for their sake it was the first one. Wracking her brains to remember where the CDC was, Erin was suddenly interrupted by a very different kind of groaning, not coming from a stray as she'd originally feared when she looked around but from inside the cab of her truck.
Merle was awake.
Her pulse quickened slightly as she saw his head lift at the window, moving slowly as he was no doubt slightly drowsy from being knocked out. Although, the dizziness appeared to pass pretty quickly as he shot upright in his seat, fist and stump raised to punch something - Erin got the feeling that if she'd still been in the driver's seat, she would be that something, even if they were hurtling down a road at full speed.
From Merle's actions up until that point, she figured he was a 'shoot first, ask questions later' kind of guy...
As she pondered on whether to run and hide, he suddenly turned around, his gaze immediately settling on her and his jaw setting like stone. She felt frozen to the ground beneath her feet, as though her boots were stuck in thick mud, Merle's glare keeping her in place as he shoved open the door and climbed out, looking angrier than ever.
"You punched me," he accused, jabbing a finger towards her, his face reddened and luminous against the 'white' of his t-shirt, "How dare ya punch me! After all I done for ya-!"
Erin found her voice again as he stepped closer, looking as if he was considering taking a blow at her in return, "All you've done for me? What exactly do you think you've done for me, Merle? Apart from hinder my survival?"
"I helped ya get outta the city! I helped ya get ya truck, though to be fair I was expectin' somethin' a bit better..." he argued as she shook her head in disbelief. How could a guy be so ungrateful? Especially in the middle of the apocalypse...
"All you've managed to do so far is take my weapons, make it harder for me to get out of that building and be a pretty first class racist asshole." He seemed to reel back slightly at the insult, probably shocked that someone was being brutally honest with him for once in his life, "I had planned to get into that place, find supplies and then leave again without drawing too much attention to myself, but you had to show up and I had to feel guilty about leaving you there alone. You should be thanking me. For all I've done for you..."
She let out the breath she'd been holding in for the entirety of her rant, avoiding his gaze and staring down at the knife she'd forgotten she was grasping in her hand. She heard Merle sigh, but couldn't really distinguish if it was in anger or something else entirely as she walked around him and went to climb back in the truck.
"Eva-"
"It's Erin!" she snapped, pulling the door handle and climbing in before glaring at him through the windscreen. He'd made no attempt to move from where he was stood. "What is it?"
He looked up at her for a moment before muttering something she assumed was offensive under his breath, "Nothin'"
"Get in, then..." She didn't really want to spend another hour or more with him in the cab, but she couldn't bring herself to leave him on the hilltop to fend for himself. He could probably survive alone in the woods, but she didn't want to have it weighing on her conscience that she was the one who left him.
-------------
Merle didn't need to be told twice as he clambered back into the truck, not saying a word for fear of having his head bitten off. He'd never come across someone who would stand up to him like that, not even Daryl liked to get on the wrong side of him, and yet here was this woman who'd come up against him twice now and hadn't backed down - and it worried him to admit it sort of scared him.
Wait, he took that back. He wasn't scared. More taken aback than anything else and he guessed the lack of food he'd had in the past few hours was making his head crazy. That weakness coupled with this chick's strange opposition to him was sending him nuts, that was the only clear explanation here - she was messing with his mind, making him feel inferior when he obviously wasn't.
Merle Dixon didn't fear no one. Especially not some crazy Asian bitch who had countless knives and guns strapped to her back, he definitely didn't fear her.
He looked across to where she was sitting as she put the truck in reverse and pulled away from the Hot Rod he'd watched the other Chinese kid drive out of the city from his 'vantage point' on the roof. For a moment, he considered asking her where the hell they were going, but he figured if she was planning to kidnap and murder him she'd probably have done it by now.
He'd seen the murderous look in her eyes before and it was safe to say that he wasn't exactly comfortable spending another God knows how long stuck inside some beat up truck with her...
