120 A Rocky Start

120 A Rocky Start

I knew something was wrong with my plan to ingratiate myself with the group when it was Merle that came out the side door of the building and approached the tank. I held in my sigh at them sending the crazy nut out to meet me instead of Glenn, whom I had been nice to and thought I had established a good connection with.

“Hey there, fella.” Merle said with a slight southern drawl. “Come on down from there so we can have a nice long talk about your offer.”

Since I wasn't an idiot, I knew he was trying to get me close enough to attack and probably rob me, not to mention the implication he made about us talking that I knew he really meant interrogating. I carefully stood and walked over to the side of the tank and he took a step back, clearly not enough room for me to safely climb down without him being right there on top of me.

So, I did the only thing I could do. I jumped and drop-kicked him right in the chest.

Merle grunted with the hit and wheezed out of breath as we both fell to the ground. The rifle on his shoulder clattered and slid a short distance away and out of his immediate reach, which was great for me. I stood up, only slightly hurt from the short fall after making sure Merle took the brunt of it, and I straddled the guy's chest with my fist raised. The resigned look on his face let me know that he knew that I knew what his plan was.

I smiled and punched him as hard as I could, popping his head on the pavement and knocking him out. I looted him of his bullets for the rifle and heard the sound of running feet come from the alley where the side door was, so I quickly stood and walked over to the dropped rifle and picked it up before I rested it on my shoulder casually, just like Merle had when he walked over to the tank, and I watched as several men arrived.

They stopped about fifteen feet away and gave me angry looks as they held baseball bats threateningly.

“It seems my generous offer was rejected, if you're here to attack me instead of welcoming me.” I said and the three men tensed up, ready for an attack. “I can clearly tell when I'm not wanted, so I'll graciously let you pick that asshole up and carry him back to your group instead of arresting you all for threatening an officer of the law while performing his duties.”

Those words made them look a little pale and they took a step backwards.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” I asked and motioned to the unconscious Merle. “Go ahead and take the trash back inside and tell Andrea she made the wrong choice.”Cheêck out latest novels at novelhall.com

The three men exchanged worried glances before two of them stepped forward nervously and grabbed Merle's arms and dragged him back over to the third guy that had kept looking at me, as if making sure I wasn't going to shoot them. His eyes shifted from mine to the rifle on my shoulder and back to my face.

“Confiscating a dangerous weapon during a criminal act is well within the law.” I said and rubbed it in their faces.

The guy winced and then sighed. He motioned for the other two to withdraw and they all walked backwards to keep me in sight and dragged Merle all the way down to the side door in the alley. Several other people came out to help carry him and they all went back inside together before the door was slammed shut behind them.

I walked over to my patrol car and put the rifle in the backseat, in case anyone was watching me from somewhere, and I hopped into the driver's seat and drove away. Hopefully, they took the hint and went to get one of the vans instead of ignoring all of my advice. Did everyone suddenly become less intelligent? Why would they choose to attack an officer of the law after he offered to help them? I had to shake my head at those questions.

The problem I had now was that I didn't know where the survivor's camp was. I had wanted to help the group and travel back to where Lori and Carl were, since they were there at the camp with Shane and the other survivors. My only hope now was to keep an eye out for any moving vehicles and then I could follow them at a safe distance.

Memories of stakeouts and tailing suspects floated up from the back of my mind and I smiled because they were going to be very useful. For the next few hours, patience was going to be a virtue.

*

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Andrea cursed and almost stomped around the break room as everyone talked about what just happened. She didn't know how the guy knew Merle wasn't going to be friendly with him or why he quickly disarmed him and knocked him out. Then again, in her mind, she knew it was the best way to deal with the borderline psycho.

“What do we do now?” The black woman asked when the conversation wasn't going anywhere.

“We've been away for a lot longer than we planned for already. We can't waste any more time without risking more walkers showing up.” T-Dog said and looked at Andrea. “Did you call the camp and let them know we're okay now and not trapped?”

“Yes, and they cheered.” Andrea said and sat down after burning off her nervous energy.

“Did you tell them about the cop showing up?” Glenn asked. He had stayed inside and didn't want to get involved with whatever the others were going to do to the officer. He was a gofer, not an interrogator or an enforcer.

“No, and neither are you.” Andrea said and Glenn looked surprised. “They already questioned this mission from the get go. We don't need to give them proof that we could screw up something like that.”

“We'll lose everyone's trust.” One of the guards said.

“I wish we thought of that before letting Merle make a move.” The other guard commented.

“We all supported it, too.” The black woman said, remembering her opinion had swayed them.

“It should have worked.” The other man complained. “How did he know not to trust Merle?”

Almost everyone shrugged and said they didn't know.

“Maybe he has a cop sense or something.” Glenn offered.

Andrea's sister Amy also felt really happy at the reveal, because it meant she didn't have to settle for either of the assholes that were still single in the camp. She hated both brothers, despite their skills at survival, and had hoped more people would eventually show up at the camp to give her some options besides bad and worse.

Rick let Carl go to stand up, or tried to, and Carl held onto him. Rick chuckled and scooped the boy up into his arms and stood, easily carrying the extra weight like it was nothing. Before he could do more than nod at Shane, there was an inarticulate yell from the back of the moving van.

The back door slid up and Merle stumbled out. “What the hell just... wait...” He stopped mid-rant and looked around, realizing he was back at the camp. His eyes saw Rick and he stomped over to him.

Everyone was prepared to witness a knock-down dragged-out fight and Rick tried to put Carl down, only he wasn't letting go. Merle reached them and raised his hand... then he burst out laughing and clapped Rick on the back.

“What... what the hell are we seeing?” T-Dog asked, shocked at the reaction.

“You gotta respect a man that can hit hard enough to knock me out long enough for you guys to drag my sorry ass all the way back here to camp.” Merle said and kept laughing at everyone's shocked looks. He walked away from Rick towards his own living area at the campsite. “I'll look for you later to talk about getting my rifle back.”

Everyone watched him until he disappeared from sight, fully expecting him to run back and tackle the sheriff. He didn't. Merle meant what he said and wouldn't cause trouble over someone getting the drop on him when he was trying to get the drop on them. Plus, he knew with a sheriff around, things were going to change within the group and he wanted to see what happened next.

“You're alive.” Lori said, her voice soft and full of disbelief.

“I am now.” Rick said, confusing her. “I'm pretty sure I died at least once back in the hospital.” He said, shocking her and everyone else. “With no power and no nurses or anyone else taking care of things, I was left all alone when everyone else was evacuated.”

Lori felt tears come to her eyes at his words.

“Hey, it's all right. I eventually woke up and made my way out and came here looking for Carl.” Rick said and Lori almost choked on the sob she held back at being so easily dismissed. “We can talk about that later.” He said and looked over at Glenn. “At least you didn't ignore everything I said and used my moving van idea.”

Glenn looked embarrassed. “The group decided not to trust you and I wasn't going against that.”

“What does he mean?” Amy asked and glared at her sister. “He's a goddamn sheriff!”

Andrea looked embarrassed, too. “He showed up out of nowhere with all the answers to our problems and even had our radio frequency. It was too suspicious and too convenient, so we discussed it and voted on it.”

Amy's glare didn't lessen at all. “Really? His job is to protect and serve! He showed up to help and you decided to not trust him? What would he have to do to convince you he was being honest? Strip off and hand over his weapons?”

“No, Merle was going to interrogate me and find out where I stashed the supplies I found.” Rick said and several people gasped, because they knew Merle wouldn't be gentle at all. “It's all right, since I handled him before he could handle me, and he apparently respects that.”

“You also took his gun from him, so he's a little lost without it.” T-Dog said.

“It's useless as a weapon in close quarters, anyway. The stock will only last a few hits before splintering and rendering it worthless for shooting afterwards.” Rick told them and they looked surprised. “I brought five more with me from the police station, so there's plenty to go around if anyone else wants one.”

They all looked surprised at the offer.

“I have some ammo for them, as well as a few shotguns. The handguns were all gone except for this one.” Rick said and patted the holster on his hip. “I won't be handing anything over without some gun safety lessons first.”

A few of the survivors chuckled at the qualification.

“Before any of that happens, who wants a meal of army rations?” Rick asked and they were surprised again. “I have a crate of them in the trunk of the squad car.”

“Why not? I've always wondered what they tasted like.” Amy said and stepped away from her sister and gave Rick a very welcoming smile. “You'll have to teach us how to prepare them.”

Rick gave her the same smile back and motioned to the car's trunk. “Sure, it's really easy. Step into my office and the lesson will commence immediately.”

Amy laughed and her hand went to his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “By the way, welcome to camp. It's really nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Rick said and shifted Carl to his hip and used the keys to unlock the trunk, then held a hand out to her to shake. “Sheriff Rick Grimes, at your service.”

Amy took the hand and held it without shaking it as she smiled at him. “Amy Harrison, and I can't wait for you to service me.”

A few people made surprised sounds and someone laughed loudly.

“I think you and I are going to get along just fine.” Rick told her and smiled back.