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Kindred

Chapter 4

Chapter Four
Another night sleeping in the van had left both of its inhabitants a bit cranky, neither one of them liked being cooped up. Heather had taken first watch this time, letting Merle sleep off his exhaustion. The five hours passed slowly, the area they'd found this time wasn't quite as secluded as the one Merle had picked previously. A few stray walkers had walked past as they hid, though they paid the van no attention, so Heather gave them the same courtesy, not wanting to make unnecessary noise.
At around 4am Heather woke Merle up, as soon as she hit the thin sleeping bag, she was asleep. Her dreams were punctuated with the fight from that day. The fitful sleep didn't last long, as she started to walk through the boxes towards the front of the van, she could see Merle was studying a map intently.
"Mornin" he grumbled, not looking at her.
"Good Morning! Making plans?"
"I reckon we need a base, somewhere to stay for a bit."
"What about Fort benign?"
Merle chuckled, "Benning, I just thought we should hunker down somewhere for a while, get some rest. I dunno just.."
"If you think so, I'm not gonna argue over a good night's sleep and a change of clothes."
"Didn't ya hear, bloods the new black darlin'…"
After a while of deliberating, mainly Merle with himself. Pouring over the map, talking about towns and populations and when they could have fallen. In the end It was decided that they'd head to a town called Oxford, Merle said the population was small so they wouldn't need to worry. Heather laughed, she was thinking back to England, where the population of Oxford sat at way more than she'd like to imagine.
Back on the road again Merle was more lighthearted than he'd been since the quarry, the window down he'd even turned the CD player on and was humming along as they drove along the back roads.
Here and there they saw a few walkers, nothing like the horde they'd driven into the day before, some groups of five, Merle didn't stop for any of them, choosing to swerve the car around them and speed off instead.
The drive was, Heather had no other words, enjoyable! They drove along for hours, sometimes forgetting that they were in an apocalypse completely. Merle regailed her with stories of bar fights he'd won while Heather spoke of the sleepy town she'd come from and her reasons for coming to America.
It wasn't long before Merle pointed at a street sign, they'd made it with little difficulty. Merle was right, this town was tiny. The houses were mainly one story, along straight roads with huge gardens. Trees lined each side, it almost looked unaffected by the new world. None of the houses looked looted, all of the cars intact. There were a few obvious signs, no humans in sight being the main one.
Merle said their best bet for safety would be to find something near stores, where they'd have supplies and possibly more security. The town was so small, it didn’t take long. Down one of the even smaller roads, they came across a sports supply store. It wasn't big, but had shutters which Heather pointed out looked pretty intact.
Slowly pulling up in front of the store, Merle and Heather quietly exited the van. Heather couldn't believe how silent the town was now that the engine wasn't running. The world was a lot quieter now, Heather knew that, this town seemed eerily hushed though.
Merle didn't seem to notice, or if he did he didn't let it bother him. He'd gone straight over to the shutters, shoving his blade under it trying to figure out how it worked. Heather slowly made her way over, studying the whole building as she did. From her view, Merle had chosen well, the front entrance seemed pretty secure, or at least Merles struggles make it look so. It was also two stories high, which Heather could see them using to their advantage. Grabbing her knife Heather travelled further round the side of the store, to see if there were any other entrances. Smiling as she found a lot less secure looking side door, they could easily board this up if needed.
"Merle!"
"Kinda busy here English, if ya' hadn't noticed."
"Just come here Merle."
A few more heavy bashes were given to the shutters and Merle seemed to give in, seconds later he was with her, looking annoyed.
"Whats the point in these fucking shutters if they just have a flimsy door here?"
Heather just shrugged, moving aside as Merle motioned her to. Bracing himself, Merle faced the door sideways and rammed his body into the door, practically knocking it off his hinges. Heather stood, agape.
She'd only ever seen that done on TV, and it always took 3 or 4 tries. Looking at Merle, his face was smug.
Wordlessly he turned and walked into the now "open" door. To Heather, it seemed the store had just shut the day of the apocalypse, not to be opened till they'd barged in. The door they'd knocked down led them straight into the back room, shelves of boxes covered the walls, with piles of more in the middle of the room. Towards the back of the room Heather saw another door, looking like it led to an office or possibly break room, and stairs to the other level. There was only one other door in the room, apart from the one Merle had knocked down, which must have lead to the store itself.
Merle working faster than her had already headed towards the door towards the rear of the room, knife in hand, ready for attack.
"Stay there English, I'm gonna check for Walkers."
"But what if.."
"I said stay there."
She didn’t argue, Merle had helped her so far, she wanted to help him but knew when she'd be pushing her luck. Instead she stayed near the broken door, making sure all the noise Merle had made with the shutters hadn't attracted anything to them.
She studied the storage room, it all seemed untouched. Smaller boxes lined one of the walls, stacked neatly in rows that must have been footwear. One wall had a poster about the perfect smile to give customers. This made Heather, unintentionally smile. The thought of having a job, of being a customer, of buying clothes just seemed so alien to her already.
Crashing from the stairs alerted her to Merles return, as he seemed to plough through the door a smile on his face.
"We’ve hit the jackpot here English!!!"
Before she was allowed to look herself Merle said they should try and get the stuff from the van they needed, so they could make a temporary barricade for the door. Following Merle out of the building Heather felt the smile return to her face. During the weeks she was on her own, she really felt like her life was over. She wasn't surviving so much as just delaying the inevitable. The last few days with Merle had been an improvement, but this felt like something solidly good.
The van was packed with unmarked boxes Heather hadn't wanted to just rifle through, whenever they needed something, Merle had got it. Heather stood at the back of the van, while Merle went through the boxes, occasionally passing her one that he thought they would need. In the end they had a few trips to make to clear everything important from the van. Finally Merle grabbed Heathers backpack and bow, slinging them over his shoulder he jumped down from the van and closed the doors behind him.
"What've you got in here Sugar?" Merle said, lifting the bag off of his shoulder.
"My boots," Heather laughed, she had swaped them for her trainers on the first night she'd stayed with Merle. He just made an inaudible noise making Heather laugh more.
Once they were inside the store, with all their boxes piled into one of the corners they got to work boarding up the door.
"Right English, hold these" Merle said as he held out nails he'd procured from one of the boxes. Heather felt useless as Merle lifted the door back into place easily, pushing a wooden plank against it and keeping it there with his stump.
"English, one of us is gonna have to trust the other one..."
"I'll hold the nail."
"Good."
Walking forward Heather held her hand just above where Merles stump kept the board in place. He backed off to find a hammer as Heather positioned the nail where she thought it should go.
"Good work sugar" Merle was behind her already, close to her she felt his hand shift hers slightly so the nail was fractionally higher.
With precision Merle stood by her side and carefully started to hit the nail into place. He didn’t miss, not once. By the end they both stood back and admired their (mainly Merles) work.
"Ready for the grand tour?" Smiles wide on their faces, Merle led Heather to the back door.
He pushed open the door, motioning her to go ahead of him. Cautiously moving into the room, Heather realised it was just a staircase to the second floor of the store. Going faster now she bounded up the stairs, pushing through another door to see what was behind.
Jackpot may have been pushing it, but Heather was impressed. The room she was in now was obviously the break room, a small kitchenette lined one wall with a table and chairs in the middle, towards the back there was a soft looking sofa next to a door that look like it led to an office. What Merle was pointing at though, were the windows. They gave them a view of the town, across some of the houses, fields and roads.
Merle was walking towards the office door, pushing it open he propped a chair against it. Heather walked through, noting the lock on the door, incase they ever needed it. The office was fairly small, room enough for a desk, chair and safe.
"So...whatcha think English? Good enough?"
"Good enough? It's brilliant Merle."
Down on the first level again, they decided to investigate the store. It was, again quite small. They mainly stocked simple sports stuff, clothing and a few bits of equipment. It didn’t take them long to
clear the store, Merle and Heather both picking out clothing they wanted as they walked through. Heather wasn't being particularly picky, anything in her size would do. So far she'd got herself a new pair of shorts (something she desperately needed after being in jeans so long in the Atlanta heat.) She had a few t shirts and jackets in her pile as well, going for practicality and comfort.
Once they were upstairs Merle said she could have the privacy of the office to change, throwing her a bottle of water and some wet wipes he'd pulled from one of the boxes she smiled thankfully. Pushing open the door to the office Heather didn't hesitate to get undressed. Pulling of her filthy hoodie and jeans she stood in just her once white t-shirt and underwear. Grabbing the wet wipes and water Merle had thrown her way she got to work cleaning the wound in her leg, it was certainly looking a lot better and wasn't nearly as swollen as a weeks ago.
The wipes did a better job at cleaning her skin than she even thought possible, the dirt between her toes which hadn't washed off even in the lake, had finally gone. Grabbing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts she'd raided from downstairs Heather put them on, relishing the feeling of clean fabric against her skin. Pulling her hair into a ponytail she carefully pushed open the office door, making sure Merle had finished changing before she went in.
He stood, in clean cargo pants and a vest, almost a carbon copy of his previous outfit. Turning to look at her he held out his arms so she could get a proper look.
"Very nice Merle..."
"Looking good English! Now...how 'bout we get to know each other a little better?" He said shaking a bottle of whiskey in his hand.

Notes

Comments

Omg. I bet its Rick! Can't wait to find out!!!!

Xxjerr19xX Xxjerr19xX
6/5/15

Merle and Heather need to get there, they've waited long enough :-)

gneebee gneebee
6/4/15

@HangerLane
Another good one! The dream Heather had - that was just amazing writing once again!!!! I was laughing at how you fooled me. LOL - can't wait til the next update :)

merlesgerle merlesgerle
6/2/15

@merlesgerle
Thank you so much! I always find it hard and I sometimes think I'm making Merle too nice...I think that's very easy. I feel like maybe this is how Merle would be BECAUSE of Heather?

I will try my best to make all your Merle dreams come true...or at least make Merle as true to character as I can.

Thanks agian!
xoxo

HangerLane HangerLane
6/1/15

@Xxjerr19xX
I'm reallllllyyyy not sure. I have a plan but it keeps changing.
There are some surprises I have planned but I think Heather and Merle (for now) are still gonna be very will they won't they...just to annoy you all lol!!!

Hope you enjoy the new chap!

HangerLane HangerLane
6/1/15