Summary: Set in S2 months after they got overrun by walkers on Hershel’s farm. What if Merle and Andrea found each other months after she got separated from the group?
It was a beautiful day, as Andrea limped through the woods, gun in holster, knife in hand, ready for anything. She had had a rough night during the walker chaos. She had managed to take down two walkers before running out of ammo in her gun, and had taken down the last one that had followed her into the woods, with her knife. She only guessed that the others were long gone by now. She hoped they were all okay, though she thought they would’ve gone to look for her by now. She knew Daryl would have. She figured they hadn’t though, because of all the walkers on the farm. She understood that. Now she was on her own with a possible sprained ankle. It hurt every time she walked, but she knew she had to keep walking. She needed to find a road and follow it. If she was lucky enough, she’d find the others. She was sick, too. She hadn’t been able to find any water since the first month she was out in the woods and had found a stream, and the woods didn’t exactly have any food. She didn’t know anything about surviving in the woods. She wasn’t like Daryl. She didn’t know how to track or hunt, and she sure as hell didn’t have a crossbow to kill anything with.
Merle Dixon was in the woods, when he heard twigs snapping a distance away. He knew it couldn’t be a walker, so he followed the sounds to investigate. Unlike most people, he knew any type of woods and how to survive in them. Like his younger brother, Daryl. That was actually why he was here. He was tracking down Officer Friendly’s group, in order to find his brother. He had to find Daryl. He was all he had left in this world. Even though he hadn’t been there for him before all of this, except to protect him from their no good father, of course, it had always been Daryl. He would do what he had to to get him back; even if it meant joining the group again.
Andrea stopped to lean against a tree for a few minutes, before continuing on. Then, as she continued on, she heard someone behind her that she thought she would never hear or see ever again. He wasn’t Daryl, but she was happy for once, to be in his presence. After several months, she needed to see a familiar face. And he was just that. He might be an ass sometimes, but he wouldn’t hurt her. She wasn’t blind. She knew he had a crush on her. She just wasn’t ready. That, and she didn’t want anything to happen to him. She had loved her sister, Amy, and she had been killed. She had even gotten close to Dale and he had also been killed. She thought if she got close to Merle, something would happen to him, too. If that happened, she could never look Daryl in the eyes again.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Blondie. What brings you out in this neck of the woods? This ain’t your cuppa tea.”
She turned around to face him, which was slow because of her injury.
“We got overrun by walkers on a farm. I got separated from the others. I’ve been trying to track them down.”
“Looks like we’re in the same boat. I’m lookin’ for my brother. He’s with them. Why don’t we team up, and we’ll find them together?” he replied. Then, seeing her appearance, he had to know what happened to her. “What the hell happened to you, darlin’?”
“I sprained my ankle and I haven’t exactly had anything to eat or drink in months. I’m not like you and Daryl. I don’t know about finding food in the middle of the woods,” she answered him.
“Here,” he said, handing her his canteen of water, in which she gladly took.
She had a few drinks, before handing it back to him.
He took it.
“Thanks, Merle. You’ve changed. You’re not such an ass anymore.”
Merle had never cared about anyone but Daryl. He had never even taken care of anyone before. Right now, though, he knew that she needed him. He had to take care of her. In fact, he wanted to take care of her. Other than Daryl, she was the only person that he cared about. She was like him; an outcast. They had abandoned her, just like they had done to him a year ago up on that rooftop. She had been separated from them and they hadn’t even gone back for her. They had just left her here alone. And she was hurt and sick. She needed someone to take care of her and he was there. He’d look out for her, but he didn’t like that she thought he’d changed. He’d show her soon enough that he was still the same pain in the ass, Merle Dixon that she hadn’t liked a year ago.
“I haven’t changed. I’m jus’ helpin’ you. That’s all it is,” he told her. “We better get goin’. Gotta find a place before sundown.”
So that’s what they did. They kept going through the woods until he led her to a dirt road. Then they kept on walking until they found a house with an abandoned Ford pickup.
“That’s what I’m talkin’ about,” he commented, before opening the door and messing with wires to hot wire it.
He’s definitely a redneck alright, she thought, as glad as he was to find the light blue truck.
She leaned against the side of the box, while she waited for him to hotwire it.
Finally, after a few minutes, he got it and they got in, before driving off.
They were silent, as he drove, nothing much to say to each other. Despite both being outcasts, they didn’t have anything in common.
After about a month, Andrea was well again, including her ankle, and they were continuing their journey to find the group. And throughout this time, they had gotten closer and gotten to know each other better. And Andrea started to not see him as an ass. Instead, she saw him in a completely different light. She even found herself starting to fall for him, just as she knew he had done a year ago with her.
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