⌜ chapter seven ⌟

"Hey, Jess." MJ gets her attention as she and Jack make it back to the camp. "I'm headed back to Atlanta. Can you keep an eye on Jack for me while I'm gone?"

"What?" Jack looks at her. "You can't go back. It's not safe."

Daryl walks back into camp calling for his brother, saying something about the squirrels that he caught. The others are following behind him, and MJ looks at them.

"Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Shane tells him.

"About what?" He asks as he turns around.

"About Merle." He says. "There was a, uh... There was a problem in Atlanta." He tells him, causing Daryl to look around at everyone who's watching them.

"He dead?" Daryl asks.

"We're not sure."

"He either is or he ain't!"

"There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." Rick says as he walks forward.

"Who are you?" Daryl questions.

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes. You got something you want to tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all—"

"He touched MJ." Jack interjects.

"Hey." She looks at him. "Quit it."

"You're not going back."

"Oh. Thanks for the input, Dad. I'll take that under advisement." She says. "In the meantime, zip it."

"The hell's goin' on?" Daryl demands.

"I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." Rick tells him as T-Dog walks back over to them.

"Hold on. Let me process this." He says as he takes a couple steps away from Rick. "You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!"

"Yeah." He nods, then ducks under the squirrels that Daryl throws at him.

Shane runs forward and grabs him before he can try to throw a punch at Rick. They end up on the ground, and then Daryl pulls a knife as he gets up. He swings it at Rick and then brings his arm back again. MJ gets ahold of his wrist and bends it in an awkward position, causing him to drop the knife in his hand.

Daryl spins around and throws a punch, not realizing who disarmed him. MJ dodges the hit with ease and kicks the knife over to Jack, who immediately takes the cue to pick it up so no one else can try to use it. She then gets Daryl on the ground, her knees on either side of his torso, pinning his arms down. She's got one hand around his throat and the other on the ground by his head.

"Do I have your attention now?" She asks as she looks down at him. Daryl grunts as he fails to move his arms. "So, like I was saying before all​ the testosterone kicked in around here..." She glances between the three men who were taking part in the fight. "I'm heading back to Atlanta to get your dick-wad of a brother."

"Why?" Daryl questions, his jaw tightens as he looks up at her, and she shrugs.

"I don't leave people behind. I'm just not wired that way." She tells him. "You wanna come? I may kill him myself on the way back if you don't."

"I'm comin'."

"And you'll stop trying to punch people when I get up?" She smirks at his silence and then gets to her feet.

MJ holds her hand out, and Daryl narrows his eyes at her before taking her hand, she helps him to his feet. Jack quickly walks up behind her and snatches the angel blade from its sheath on her hip.

"You're not going." The teenager says.

MJ sighs as she turns to look at him. "Not your call, bud. Give it back." She tells him.

"Why should I?"

"Because Sam would." She says, and his face falls. "He'd also support my decision. Hell, he'd go back himself."

"Then I'm coming with you."

"No. You have no experience with a gun and you don't know how to use that either." She points at the blade. "You're staying here."

"I thought you said we don't separate. We split up and bad things happen." He argues.

"In this case, we stick together and bad things happen. I can't be worrying about watching your ass out there." She tells him.

He sighs as he looks at the blade. "I'll give this back if Rick goes with you too." He says, and she sighs as she looks at Rick.

"That's not your call either." She says as she looks back at Jack. She moves toward him quickly and swipes the blade. "We don't have the key, but I can pick the lock. I can kill the walkers fast and with a knife. I'm sorry that you don't like it, but I've been making decisions for myself my whole life. I don't take orders from anybody, not even you. I'll be back. I always come back." She turns away from him, looking back at Daryl.

"Until you don't." Jack says and she freezes, knowing what's​ coming. "That's the last thing that Sam ever said to us. He promised that he'd come back, and now he's dead. And so is Dean, and John. Everyone's dead. They all promised that they'd come back. And they didn't."

"I know damn well what happened to my family, Jack." She says as she looks back at him. "I couldn't save my brothers, but I can save his. And I'm going to. Give him his knife and stay with Jess. I'll be back before nightfall."

They all get ready, and Jack walks over to MJ before she can get in the truck. Lori's pissed off because Rick told her that he's going because he can't let MJ go without him. So she has Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and T-Dog.

"They could still be alive." Jack says. "Dean and John — they could be alive."

"We went back to Bobby's, Jack. The salvage yard was full of walkers, it was overrun." She reminds him. "If they were in there, there's no way that they got out."

"Maybe they didn't go back to South Dakota." He says. "And we don't know where Addy and Dana were. Maybe they found them. They could all be together."

"We don't know anything, Jack. As far as we know, all the family you and I have left is standing right here. You, me, Jess...and Rick. If his wife doesn't make that impossible." She says. "I need to protect you. And I need to keep someone else from ending up where I am."

"You really think they're all dead?"

"We know Sam is. And Bobby. Dean answered my call right after it happened. He told me before the line went dead." She reminds him. "We don't know where Addy and Dana went. And I don't have it in me to hope that they're alive. Okay, I just don't."

"What am I supposed to do if you​ don't come back?" He asks. "I don't know Jessica or anyone else here. You're the only family that I have left. I can't lose you too."

"And you won't. I've got Rick, Glenn, T-Dog, and Robin Hood helping me." She tells him, and he looks at Daryl who snickered when she called him that. "I'll be okay, Jack."

"I don't like him."

"Do you trust me?" She asks. "I mean, have I let you down even once since you were born?"

"No, you haven't." He shakes his head.

"I will be back." She tells him. "I promise."

He holds his pinky up, and she chuckles before wrapping her own pinky around his.

"I love you, kid." She kisses the side of his head and laughs when he wipes it away. "I want you to stay with Jessica, alright?"

"Okay." Jack agrees, and the five of them load into the truck to leave.

Glenn's driving, Rick's sitting shotgun, and the other three are in the attached trailer part of the truck. Daryl closes the back door, not missing the glare that he was getting from Jack as he did.

"How old's your boy?" He asks MJ as he sits behind the passenger seat.

"He's sixteen." She lies. "And he's not my son. I was friends with his mom. She asked me to look after him before she died."

"And why was looking at me like he wanted to kill me?" He asks, and she laughs.

"Jack's harmless." She tells him. "He just doesn't like anyone being mean to me. He's protective that way."

"I never thanked you." T-Dog says, and she looks at him. "For standing up for me like that. Most people hide from the guy with a gun. But I guess not much scares you, huh?"

"Not really." MJ shakes her head.

Daryl watches her as she talks to T-Dog. It's not something he can explain, but he's curious about this new girl who suddenly showed up at their camp. It's obvious that she's been through a lot, and that it's all shaped something about her — the way she talks, the way she carries herself, the way she deals with the people that she comes across. Not to mention her apparent knowledge of different types of weapons.

"Why'd you do it?" T asks. "Why get in the middle just when we were about to go at it?"

"What he said, what he called you... It made me think of my friend, Cassie." She tells him.

"What about her?"

"The last time I saw her was... God, four years ago." She shakes her head. "She called me after her dad was killed. Some guy — a white man — was killing black men in their town. I didn't understand it, I-I don't understand it."

"What?" He asks.

"Killing someone because of the color of their skin." She says. "I've traveled my whole life, met a lot of interesting people. People from different cultures and religions, people of different ethnicities. Black, white, Asian, Hispanic — you name it, I've probably met 'em. They were all different, but the same."

"What do you mean?" Rick asks. "Different, but the same?"

"Everybody wants to live a good life. They want to grow up, get a good job, fall in love, provide for their families. We all do it different, but we're all working toward the same thing." She says as she glances at each of them. "So what if I'm white and he's black? That doesn't make me better. Hell, I'd be willing to bet that you've got a higher education than I do." She looks over at T-Dog.

"I doubt that." T-Dog says.

"I got my G.E.D. as soon as I turned eighteen, and I dropped out of school." She tells him. "My older brother and I both did. He calls them our Good Enough Diplomas."

"Why?" He asks, and she just shrugs. She has a reason, but not one that she can give truthfully.

"Anyway, I heard what Merle called you and my first thought... What if Cassie was dealing with that too?" She sighs. "I never met her dad, but the way that she talked about him — he was a good man. He did well for himself and he took care of his family. He didn't deserve to get run off the road and killed just because he was black... So, that's why I defended you."

"You said that your dad was a Marine." Rick says, and she nods as she looks at him. "He's the one who taught you to shoot? And how to fight? How to use a knife?"

"Yeah." She nods. "He, uh... He served during the Vietnam War before I was born."

"Is he the one who taught you how to tear apart cars?" Glenn asks, and she chuckles.

"Sorry about that." She says. "But yeah. He had a 1967 Chevy Impala. He and my older brother taught me to work on it. I loved that damn thing." She smiles as she rests her head against the wall of the truck.

The ride's silent between them for awhile after that, but then Daryl looks over at T-Dog. "He'd better be okay." He says. "It's my only word on the matter."

"I told you, the geeks can't get at him. The only thing that's gonna get through that door is us." He tells Daryl.

"That's if she can actually pick locks." He says as he looks at MJ.

"I can." She says as she looks at him.

"That something else you learned from your pop?" He asks, and she nods. "Where was your mom in all this? In this learning to fight and work on cars, when you dropped out of school — where was she?"

Her jaw tightens and her dark eyes fall. She doesn't say anything, and that's answer enough for the four men.

"Oh." Daryl mutters. "Sorry."

"We walk from here." Glenn says after he stops the truck.

Rick and Glenn get out of the truck through their doors, and the other three exit through the back. They jog down the train tracks, and MJ pulls her angel blade out, wanting to be ready for anything that comes at them.

They make it the rest of the way to the city and get in through a hole in the fence. Rick turns to look at the others. "Merle first or the guns?" He asks them.

"Merle!" Daryl snaps. "We ain't even having this conversation."

"We are." He looks at Glenn. "You know the geography. It's your call."

"Merle's closest. The guns would mean doubling back." Glenn says. "Merle first."

"Look at that, Robin. You get your way and you didn't even have to whine." MJ says.

"Quit callin' me that." Daryl says, glancing in her direction as they start jogging again.

The group gets to the department store and they move in quietly. When they left yesterday, the place was full of walkers, so they don't know how many are left in there now.

They see one, and MJ looks at Daryl. She motions for him to go forward because he's got the crossbow. He can kill it from a distance while still being quiet about it.

"Damn. You are one ugly skank." He says and then shoots the female walker in the head. He then goes for his arrow, and MJ continues past him. She's the first one into the stairwell and she pulls her lock-picking kit out of her back pocket as she heads up.

They don't come across any walkers on the stairs, and she's the first one to the top. By the time the four boys get there, she's on one knee by the door trying to pick the lock. The men all look down at her.

"What did you say you did before all this started?" Rick asks.

"I didn't." She mumbles and then the lock clicks. She pulls it off and then frees the door of the chain keeping it shut.

Daryl kicks the door open and runs out onto the roof. "Merle!" He calls. "Merle!" The other four make it to the end of the platform as he rushes over to look for his brother.

"Oh, God." MJ mutters when she sees the severed hand where they left Merle.

"No! No!" Daryl yells, tears running down his face. He looks at the others, and MJ's head drops as Rick glances at her. "No!"

There's a saw laying on the roof near the hand, and the cuffs are still locked in place, hanging from the metal — they're covered in his blood. Merle used the saw to cut off his hand so he could escape. He's already gone.