ch.22

made to suffer

me and glenn both sat on the ground, alone in empty and silent room. my body trembled from the prior experiences and abuse.

glenn was now shirtless, considering he gave me his shirt so i could cover up. blood covered his face and neck from the beating merle gave him.

"melanie, did he..." glenn mumbled as i turned my head, cutting him off, "no. no. he barley touched me"

my eyes examined his bruises and bloodied face, causing anger and sadness to rush through my body.

"look at what they did to you" i uttered, giving him a look before turning away, unable to look anymore.

"doesn't matter. as long as he didn't..." i shook my head, leaning back against the wall, "no. i promise."

glenn gave me a small nod, pulling me into a hug. i wrapped my arms around his body, feeling safe in his embrace. like i was home again.

my eyes fell on a walker, laying limp on the ground. my mind filled with ideas as i pulled away, "hey"

i picked myself up off the ground, limping to where he laid. glenn followed, watching as i bent down, pulling the walkers arm out of socket.

"here" glenn said, taking the arm out of my hand, already knowing what my idea was. he broke the bone in half, peeling the loose skin off.

"you don't hesitate to hurt or kill anyone who walks through those doors, okay? not after what they've done to us." glenn stated, giving me an intense look.

i nodded, pulling one of the sharp bones out of his hand.

a heard footsteps coming closer, causing my head to shoot to the door and then back to glenn, who nodded, moving in that direction.

i followed, watching as the door handle turned, opening the door. before they could enter, we burst through, each of us taking one guy.

i slammed the guy up against the wall, and pierced through his neck with the sharp bone. i gave it a twist, letting his body slide down the wall.

my eyes fell to the gun next to him, which i quickly picked up, turning to aim it at merle. "let him go!"

merle tilted his head, a grin forming on his face as he released glenn, raising his hands, "okay"

a gun clicked behind me, causing me to close my eyes in frustration, already knowing we had been trapped.

a hispanic guy grabbed me up by my waist, pulling me back into the room. tears began to fall as he placed me on the floor, forcing me to my knees.

glenn was soon shoved down beside me, looking just as defeated.

"glad we could catch up" merle mumbled, moving out of my view. glenns hand moved to mine intertwining our fingers.

"just keep looking at me." he uttered as i turned my head, giving him a frown knowing they were gonna kill us. these were gonna be our last moments.

"i love you" i cried out just before a bag was shoved over my head and forced to my feet.

just as they began to move us, i heard something hit the ground, soon followed by a loud explosion.

the bag was ripped off my head, revealing daryl who stood in front of me. "daryl." i sighed, relief flooding through my body as he grabbed me up, running out.

we ran until we got to a building, rushing inside before anyone saw us. i fell to the ground with glenn, holding him in my arms.

"how bad are you hurt?" rick questioned, glancing at us as he walked by, "we'll be alright" glenn replied, holding his side.

"where's that woman?" i questioned, wanting to know who she was. "she was right behind us."

"maybe she was spotted, should we go look for her?" oscar asked, causing rick to shake his head, pointing in me and glenns direction.

"no. we gotta get them out of here. she's on her own."

i nodded, sitting glenn up against a cupboard before standing up. "daryl, this was merle"

daryls eyes shot to mine, giving me a confused look. "you saw him?" rick asked, also looking towards me.

glenn nodded, "face to face. threw a walker at me, beat the shit out of both of us. he was gonna execute us."

"s-so my brothers this governor?" daryl questioned, completely ignoring the bad shit merle did to us.

"no, it's somebody else. your brothers his lieutenant or something" i informed, pulling a hoodie over glenns head.

"does he know i'm still with you?"

"he does now" glenn started, moving his eyes from daryl to rick, "rick im sorry. we told him where the prison was. we couldn't hold out"

rick shook his head, kneeling beside us, "don't. no need to apologize. can you walk? we got a car a few miles out."

"i'm good" glenn assured, earning a nod from us as we helped pull him to his feet.

"hey, if merles around i need to see him" daryl stated, glancing between all of us. "not now. we're in hostile territory."

as i held glenn up, my eyes watched the two, unsure if i should say something. "he's my brother. i aint-"

"look at what he did. look we gotta- we gotta get out of here now."

"maybe i can talk to him. maybe work something out" daryl pleaded, causing me to feel bad, knowing i would do the same if it were my sister. only my sister wouldn't do what merle dixon did.

"you're not thinking straight. look, no matter what they say they're hurt. glenn can barley walk, melanies body is covered in bruises."

i cut in before rick could say anymore, hoping my pleads would change daryls mind, "i need you. we need you. please say you're with us."

daryl looked at me hesitantly before nodding his head, "yeah"

i nodded, mentally preparing myself to walk into a war zone. rick opened the doors and we all rushed out, revealing ourselves.

i held the gun rick had given me, aiming for the first person i saw, not hesitating to shoot them.

i ducked behind a solar panel, shooting down as many guys as i could, even women. "shit." i cursed, hearing a click from my gun, knowing i ran out of ammo.

my eyes glanced around my surroundings, realizing the others were no where to be seen. i quickly turned around, only to bump straight into someone.

my eyes widened, noticing it was the hispanic man from earlier. "look who it is." he teased, clicking his tongue before raising his gun.

i felt a sharp pain hit my head, causing my world to go black. _____________

     yelling and shouting caused my eyes to flutter open, seeing stands of people, along with walkers, and torches that were lit.

     i blinked a couple of times, trying to remember what happened. that's when memories flooded my mind, remembering martinez.

       i looked down, seeing tan arms wrapped around my body, holding me from moving. "watch, blondie. you're gonna wanna see this" martinez mumbled, pointing to where the governor stood in the center of everyone.

    "i'm afraid of terrorists who want what we have. want to destroy us and worse" the governor started, glancing in my direction as he spoke, "... because one of those terrorists is one of our own. merle."

    i knitted my brows, hearing all the gasps from everyone around me. "what is he planning?" i whispered, earning a chuckle from martinez, "just watch."

   my eyes shifted to a couple guys, forcibly bring out another dude with a bag on his head.

    "this is one of the terrorist. we have another by-standing, isn't that right, melanie?" the governor taunted, looking to where i was, causing everyone's head to turn.

     i kept my eyes on his, watching as he ripped the bag off of daryls head, my body flooding with worry.

    daryls eyes met with mine, looking at me worriedly before turning his gaze in another direction.

    my eyes followed to where his were, seeing andrea, who stood watching the show take place.

    i soon put the pieces together, realizing she had been here all along. "kill em! kill em!" the crowd chanted, i shook my head, tears brimming my eyes as i watched.

    merle threw the first punch knocking daryl to the ground, starting to continuously kick him. "no! stop! stop hurting him!"

     merle pulled his brother up, surprising me as they stood back to back. my eyes met with daryls who started lipping words, in which i couldn't understand.

   "fuck this." i muttered, elbowing martinez right in the stomach, releasing his grip on me. i bolted towards daryl, who opened his arms pulling me into a hug.

     "stay close, i'm gonna get us out of here" he whispered, pulling me around so we made a triangle with merle.

    gunshots rang through the air, taking down the walkers, along with the people near us. soon the air became foggy, and all i could see and feel was someone dragging me with them.

    "daryl! melanie!" a familiar voiced shouted, causing me to ignore it. all i needed to worry about was getting out of here.

    when we were out of the smoke, rick appeared in my sight, causing me to let out a sigh in relief, "rick"

     he grabbed my arm, pulling me away from daryl like he was a stranger. i gave him a weird look, continuing on to where the gate was.

   rick pulled me through the hole merle made in the wall, letting me go when i could walk on my own.

     we all trudged through the woods, following rick to where he said glenn and a woman named michonne were waiting for us.

    "glenn!" rick called out, seeing light shine through the trees, meaning there was an opening close by.

   "rick. rick." glenn started, appearing in my view, letting out a sigh when he saw my figure behind rick, "oh thank god."

    "glenn, we have a problem here, you should back up" i warned, causing him to look behind me, realizing merle.

    "what the hell is he doing here?" glenn sneered, raising his gun at merle. "hey! hey! woah!" i yelled, stepping closer to him.

    "hey, put it down. he helped us get out of there." daryl stated, earning dirty looks from both me and rick.

"yeah, right after he beat the shit out of you!" i screamed in his direction, causing daryl to look at me with regret.

   "hey, we both took our licks, lady." merle grumbled, as i scoffed at his words "jackass"

"hey, shut up." he sneered, taking a step closer to me. i flinched from his actions, unsure of what he was gonna do.

"enough!" rick screamed, causing merle to stop in his tracks, not getting any closer to me

"get that thing out of my face!" daryl screamed stepping towards glenn. i quickly stepped in between them, giving daryl a death stare.

"man looks like you've gone native brother." merle grinned, causing all of us to turn our attention to him. "no more than you hanging out with that psycho back there." daryl yelled, throwing his hands up in merles face.

    "oh yeah, he is a charmer. been putting the wood to your girlfriend andrea" merle teased as i looked down, memories stung my mind, seeing her just stand there as she watched.

    "what?" glenn asked, turning to face me, "andreas in woodbury?"

    i nodded, looking up to daryl, "right next to the governor."

    we all paused, unsure what to say next. michonne swiftly raised her knife again, only to be scolded by rick, "i told you to drop that!... you know andrea?"

    nothing left her mouth as she stood silently, looking to rick, "hey, do you know andrea?" he gritted through his teeth, stepping closer to her.

    "yep, she does. her and blondie spent months in the forest. yeah, my nubian queen had two pet walkers. kinda ironic." merle informed, causing me and glenn to send unsure looks towards each other.

    "so what you gonna do now, sheriff, huh? surrounded by a bunch of liars, thugs, and cowards."

    "shut up!" rick sneered, turning back to give merle a death stare.

     "shut up yourself! bunch of pussies you"-before merle could finish, rick clocked him in the head, causing him to pass out.

    glenn shook his head, pulling my hand as he moved out of the woods, leaving the rest behind. ______________

   "the governors probably on his way to the prison right now. merle knows how he thinks and we could use the muscle"

   i shook my head, "i don't think it's a good idea, having him at the prison."

   "do you really want him sleeping in the same cell block as carol or beth?" glenn questioned, glancing between the group.

    "he ain't a rapist." daryl retorted, earning a scoff from glenn, "well, his buddy is."

i stared at glenn, who was about to get his ass kicked some more but daryl continued on, not picking up on what glenn had just said.

  "they ain't buddies no more. not after last night." daryl stated

    "there's no way merles gonna leave there without putting everyone at each other's throats." rick informed, causing daryl to throw his hands up.

   "so you're gonna cut merle loose and bring the last samurai home with us?" he questioned, pointing to where michonne was sitting, a distance away.

   "she's not coming back." rick shot down, causing me to step in, "she's not a state to be on her own."

    my eyes glanced back at her, feeling some kind of a connection. like she was needed in this group. like i needed to fight for her to be in it.

    "she's to unpredictable"

    "that's right. we don't know who she is. but merle, merles blood." daryl stated, causing me and glenn to shake our heads.

    "no, merle is your blood. my blood, my family is standing right here and waiting for us back at the prison." glenn uttered, never taking his eyes off daryl.

   "and you're part of that family. but he's not. he's not." rick finished as i glanced into the words where merle started to groan.

    "man, y'all don't know." daryl started, throwing his hand up, "fine. we'll fend for ourselves. no him, no me."

________________________________2/28/2021