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...
"You say a lot of words, but they don't make sense // No, I think I'm better off by myself in the end." - Make Me Cry. Steffan Afgus.
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"I'm sorry you've been dragged into all this, Maggie," Erin broke the silence that had fallen heavily in the room after the men's abrupt exit, "You and your family."
The young girl looked down at the gun in her lap before turning her head, her gaze firmer than Erin had been expecting, "We could only live in my daddy's peaceful bubble for so long. The world was gonna pop it eventually."
Erin hummed, resting her hands on her thighs, "Okay, well I'm sorry we were the ones to pop it. Shane is only here cause of us... Merle's only here cause of me..."
"Other people's issues ain't your fault. You've been nothin' but helpful since ya arrived. Wouldn't have helped patch ya up if ya hadn't." A small smile graced Maggie's lips, barely visible as her hair fell in front of her face.
"Thank you for... that," Erin nodded earnestly. She gestured vaguely with one hand towards her bandaged body.
"No worries. I think if I hadn't, Daryl would've done it himself."
Erin felt a twinge in her chest and she knew it had nothing to do with her injuries. Daryl continued to do that to her, causing silly little feelings inside her chest regardless of what he did. Good or bad, her heart reacted to his every action. Sometimes it felt nice, almost pleasant, and others it was like a bolt directly to the lungs.
His disparaging words to Merle had been the second type.
"This has to stop," she muttered after a few moments of silence. Maggie's head lifted, signalling she'd heard, and she looked confused. "This fear. This uncertainty."
"What do you-? This is how the world is now," the older Greene daughter reasoned with a somewhat dejected tone.
"It doesn't have to be. We should be fearing the walkers or strays or whatever you call them. We shouldn't be fearing other people."
"The men will find Shane," Maggie said, removing her hand from the gun and reaching to touch Erin's blanket-covered leg, "Ya don't need to fear him. That's why I'm here-"
"But Shane won't ever stop," Erin gritted her teeth, trying not to get too worked up as Maggie tried her best to reason with her. She appreciated the younger woman's efforts, but she was too sure of her decision to be talked down now. "As long as I'm here, as long as I'm in the camp, he'll keep doing this. He's not the sort to get bored. He's the hunter and he sees me as the prey, it's been obvious since we first crossed paths!"
"What are you sayin'?"
"I'm saying I've got to take the high road... He'll never back down. He'll never leave... So I have to," Erin breathed, her chest rising and falling at a faster rate as adrenaline pulsed through her. She pulled the blanket abruptly off of her as Maggie stared back incredulously.
