Familiar Taste of Poison

Title: Familiar Taste of Poison

Author: Violet Sunrise

Fandom: The Walking Dead

Rating: M

Pairing: Merle Dixon/Michonne

Disclaimer: Graphic depictions of sex, language and racial slurs

I do not own these characters, nor do I own the rights to them.

The tide may change but, the fire still burns.

Chapter 4

And all that I want is you…

"That little show in the woods was just that a fucking show," Michonne says to herself as she leans against the bark of an oak tree. It's not surprising that the asshole is a good actor. Merle Dixon deserved a round of applause for the things that he did to her. Those emotions that he revealed as his body seized up and expelled every ounce of his seed into her. All that was left was a blubbering, writhing mess. She would've sworn that he fell asleep not too long after that. The memory is still a bit hazy although her body recalls every minute of it adding to the moisture and sweat that already stains her panties.

Less than a mile away, Merle is walking with a small crew of three men, one of which appears barely old enough to shave let alone kill. She never caught anyone's name in Woodbury other than Merle, Milton, Martinez, and the Governor. Though, she was pretty far away from them, Michonne took off running to find a place to hide. Eventually, Philip was going to send someone out to kill her. She prepared herself for three days. Two walkers staggered into her path one evening and she slices them both with her sword. Rather than leave them intact, Michonne continued slicing until, there was nothing left but a pile of body parts oozing rancid, black blood. That was when she got an idea.

She carried some of the parts over to a clearing near some trees. Then it all came together as she arranged the parts. Just as she had climbed a tree to make sure that her creation was perfect that is when the Governor's rag-tag bunch of idiots appeared. Clearly, no one else was brave enough to go with Merle on this task. There are about a half a dozen men sitting on the wall that could have come. However, Merle had no intention of coming back with these men alive. Considering the look of irritation on his aging face, he was growing just a bit impatient. Rather than continue watching, she climbed down carefully.

As the men drew closer the sound of leaves crunching and twigs snapping provided a great cover for Michonne's getaway. She took the opportunity, running as fast as she could towards the nearest tree that provides enough coverage. The sound stops as the men pause to look at her creation. "What the hell is this mess," Merle asks.

"She did this," one of the men inquires. Obviously.

Merle ignores his question and tries to figure the message out himself. "It has to mean something the way it's all set up like that."

"The Governor was right to send us out."

"Damn straight, Tim," Merle replies, "We're doing a righteous public service here."

The coward can't even do his own damn dirty work.

All of a sudden, a shaky voice replies, "Go. Back."

"The arms are a G. The legs make an O and that's a back. It says Go back."

Michonne recognizes that voice as the awkward boy who sat by himself at the BBQ. He is kind of cute. Why the hell did Philip let Merle bring this kid into this?

Merle starts to laugh. It sounds like he is clapping or at least attempting to.

"This is too good," he says, "Look at this, she sent us a biter gram y'all."

If he says y'all one more time….

"I don't believe this is happening," says the boy in a shaky tone.

Michonne turned slightly to peer around the tree. She watches as Merle faces the boy. The smile on his fades as he immediately grabs hold of the kid's shirt collar. "Hey," he says, "hey knock it off. The hells wrong with you. Now that Governor chose you, because he thought you were ready." Michonne has the overwhelming urge to pop out and just get the ball rolling, but that would take the fun out of it.

"I want you to succeed," Merle continues, "...I do. (But) If you keep announcing to the world that you're pissing your pants I'm gonna have to smash your teeth in…."

He let's go of the kid and then inquires about his last him. The boy says that it is Garguilio. Merle settles on calling him Neil. Michonne wonders whether that is the young man's name. The young man does not correct him trying his best not to cry in front of the other men.

A walker is more than fifty feet away and moving closer. She decides to move and not fight this thing and draw attention. Her idea of moving through the trees quiet like a ninja fails. The crunch of one too many twigs draws the men's attention. They stand together guns drawn. Merle calls out, "What's the deal Mi-chonne?" She makes her way over to a tree that is right next to two of the men. Michonne climbs the tree quickly not making a sound. "You gonna leap out of the woods one against four of us armed to the teeth and you and your little pig sticker," he continues. She makes it to a branch and watches the men.

"Oh," he says, "no, no, no, Michonne…"

They turn their backs towards the tree and she takes the opportunity to jump down. All that she remembers is the look on their faces of horror. It was like they knew exactly what was about to happen. Either way their fear seemed to fuel Michonne. She sliced off the head of the man on the left. Everything falls down to ground with a loud thump. The man known as Tim was about to fire his gun as she impaled him with her sword. Merle being the trigger happy jackass fires off a few shots. However, every bullet enters Tim's back. She pulls back her sword releasing Tim's body only to take off running. Adrenaline courses through her veins so fast that she barely feels the bullet as it pierces through her thigh.

He fucking shot me.

Michonne continues running with sword in hand. She refuses to allow her limp to slow her down in any way. Merle takes off running behind her nearly catching up. Somehow, she is able to lengthen her stride and accelerate so much so that she disappears into the woods. The clearing is twenty feet away, but she manages as detour. Merle must have continued running towards it. He stopped to take his breath. "(Are) we having fun, yet," he yells out as his voice echoes through the woods.

"We having fun, yet!"

He had to sell it. The plan completely backfired the moment that Michonne jumped out of the tree and took out both Tim and Crowley. It was a big fucking shock for him, but he kept his game face on. She was in rare form with that look on her face the same one that stared through him the night that he fucked her. Meanwhile, Neil stood in the background doing nothing. Of all the young boys in Woodbury, The Governor had to choose that little shit. This kid was a volunteer in the fucking library. He ain't never talked to anyone and seemed too weird out everyone around him. Everyone except for Merle. He paid the kid no mind even tried to set him up with one of the women. That idea failed miserably when the kid couldn't even look at the girls. It was the last damn time that he trifled with him until this day.

Of all the damn people…..

Merle stood in the clearing circling around with gun pointed straight towards the trees. Where the hell did she go? His breathing started to slow down just a little as exhaustion started to creep up on him. Merle Dixon, you getting' way too old for this shit. If Daryl was with him, he'd be laughing his ass off talking about canes and shit. He could hear him just as plain as day. Blondie said that he is still alive. She ain't seen him in almost eight months. Knowing Daryl, he is alive. The little shit has nine lives like a cat. If anyone could survive this shit Daryl could.

Merle remembered his bike and his stash. He wondered what his brother did with his shit. More importantly, what did he do with the drugs? Going cold turkey was bitch in the woods especially as it got colder. Once the Governor and his men found Merle then it was a nice dose of morphine to ease the pain. There is still a strange phantom feeling his hand itches or something that occurs every once in a while. He knows that the hand is gone but brain still thinks that it's still attached. Watching that key slip out of that homeboy's hand, it bounced off the ground twice before landing in the drain. Fucking TDog did it on purpose just because the piece of shit got his ass kicked. That's what he gets for getting uppity.

A minute passes before, Merle goes back over to see what's keeping Gargulio. He takes off running through the trees remembering that he left the little shit alone. Hopefully, a walker came along and ate his annoying ass. However, he found the kid leaning over the bodies in dry heaving. "Let's go," Merle replies, "She's hit. I slowed her down." The kid starts muttering something about Tim and Crowley, but Merle cuts him off. "We're close to the red zone," Merle says trying to catch his breath, "Them shots just pulled every bitter in this area right here." He scans the area noticing a couple of walkers in the distance.

"Let's go," he says to the kid. When he does not respond it annoys Merle even more especially since he is now crying. This little shit is going to get us both killed. "Neil," he yells then kicks him in the side. Once Gargulio falls, he puts his boot right on the kid's chest. "Now, "Merle barks, "you are gonna rise to the occasion son some serious shit is about to go down. I need you here. You read me amigo. I don't want you to die here."

Honestly, Merle doesn't care what happens to the kid. It's the idea of explaining to the Governor why once again another crew died during the last mission. He can no longer chalk it up to coincidence. Now that Andrea was in the picture it would be easier to convince Philip being that he was a little preoccupied. Gargulio nods as the tears dried on his face, replying, "Yes." He looks pitiful like a deer staring down the barrel of a rifle right before the hunter fires.

"Get up now," Merle says, "You know we don't ever let our own turn. Never." He sinks the bayonet right into Tim's face. He turns to watch Gargulio staring down at Crowley with a knife in hand. For a moment, the kid reminds him of his kid brother. Daryl had the worst time killing his first walker. It took him a minute to truly understand that the son of a bitch was dead walking towards him. He hesitated for a brief second only to impale that thing, stabbing it in its eye. The funny part was watching him puke up everything that he ate. A big softie is what he was and always will be.

"Come on," Merle replies, "just do it." Gargulio struggles at first, but he musters up the strength to stab Crowley in the skull fighting back tears. "Thatta boy, "Merle says, ''Come on, let's get going. She ain't running." He puts his hand on the kid's shoulder. "She's hunting," he continues as Gargulio gets up, "and so are we." As they walked away, he found himself conflicted about how this situation will end. The last thing in the world that he wants to do is to kill Michonne. He has to think of a plan and fast before she appears again and this little shit decides to play hero.

Michonne appears again standing right behind Gargulio. If it wasn't for Merle the kid was mincemeat. Merle immediately pushes him out-of-the-way. Then he clanks his bayonet against her sword staring her dead in the eye. . So much so that she loses focus. There is a calm look in his eyes like nothing she has ever seen. Merle motherfucking Dixon is all that she screams in her head. All of a sudden, the knife slips from her grip throwing her backwards. For a mere second, she floats in the air before landing hard on her ass.

Before, Merle can make another move, she lifts up her feet only to slam them directly into his crotch. Serves his ass right. He bends over in pain holding back every harsh word that he can think of. During this moment of weakness, she decides to kick him in his face. Blood seeps out of the cut above his nose. Disoriented, he immediately falls right on top of her. She immediately pushes him off coughing to catch her breath that the force of his body nearly knocked out.

All of a sudden, she hears a loud growl. Some walkers drag themselves quickly into the area. They eye Merle at first and attack him. One decides to come for Michonne. She crawls over to her knife. Just as he is about to pounce on her. The katana slices straight across his belly sending dark red blood and entrails splattering on her face and clothing. She spits as some of the blood enters her mouth. Rather than wait for the next wave, she gets up off the ground and takes off running. The adrenaline quickly wears off as the string of the wound grows worse.

Where did she go?

Once again Michonne disappeared leaving Merle with a headache a handful of rotting corpses and Gargulio. The blood that trickles down his face enters his mouth. It tastes like salty, coppery shit. He turns to Gargulio who is panting and looking around. The kid definitely stepped up so maybe he is useful after all. Merle congratulates him for stepping up. He promised to get him a beer as soon as they return.

He begins collection the weapons on the ground. Something in the air changes. "Come on," Gargulio says, "she can't have made it far." Merle shies away from the idea of chasing Michonne into the woods. His main goal is to find a car, return to Woodbury and in his words "haul ass home." The story comes together in his mind. The bitch overpowered us. A herd of bitters appeared and almost prevented the mission. Her black ass is dead though. We had the head, but lost it in the battle. "It's been a good day's work," Merle says tucking the gun into his back pocket. Still, he knows that Gargulio is not about to let this go.

"But, she killed Tim," he cries, "and Crowley." Merle walks over to pick up another gun. This decides now is the time to step up. Son of a…. "Yep," Merle says, "but, we messed her up real bad. Anyway, she's headed for the red zone." Gargulio tries to catch his breath. "She's as good as dead," he continues.

"What do we tell the governor," Garguilio inquires. Seriously, this kid can't take a goddamn hint. "What do you think we tell him," Merle says, "Tell him we killed her. She's as good as dead." For whatever reason, the kid wants to keep on going. Merle takes a step forward and gestures with his good hand. "She ain't right," he says, "She's gonna die. Ain't worth our time. Definitely, ain't worth our blood." He assumes that the subject is over and turns to walk away. "Now let's go."

Merle starts walking away, when Gargulio says, "This is some serious shit. That is what you said." He stops in his tracks. The kid has some seriously large brass ones. Gotta give him credit." I'm not gonna lie to the governor about it," he then admits. The smirk on Merle face fades for a moment. I know this little pussy is not trying to undermine me. Rather than completely chew his ass out, he decides to reason with the kid. Being in Woodbury has softened him just a little. If he was still hopped up on shit, best believe that he certainly would have put his foot in the kid's ass a few times. Now, he is a bit mellow and reasonable.

"You're right," he says, "can't cut corners on this one." He laughs to himself thinking about how far he has come. "You've come along pretty quick," Merle replies, "there kid." Gargulio's face relaxes with a sense of pride. It was the same face that Daryl made when they found each other once all the shit hit the fan. The same look that TDog made when he held the gun on Merle while he sat handcuffed to the pipe. The same fucking facial expression that Michonne made when she allowed him inside of her and had him nearly speaking in tongues as he came.

Merle is about to call the kid "Neil" again, but decides to ask him again how to pronounce his name. Once again he replies, "Garguilio," with a hint of an accent. Merle calmly repeated the name finally getting the hang of it. Gargulio smiles slightly feeling slightly validated. The chirping around them starts out soft, but grows louder. "Hear that bird," Merle says. He watches as the young man peers up at the branches slightly blinded by the pale, white sunlight. It is then that Merle takes out his gun and fires blowing a large hole in the kid's head. His brain matter sprays out littering the ground as his body falls back in slow motion.

Problem fucking solved, he says to himself. He repeats Garguilio's name one last time as he puts away the gun.

Michonne shifts her body to the right side trying not to lie down on her hip again. The guy known as Herschel took the bullet out. He gave her a sedative which is slowly starting to work. As her eyes close, she thinks about how hard it was to walk with the limp. She made it to the edge of the forest to retrieve her bag. There was a small herd of walkers in the distance. It took every ounce of her strength to continue but, she did it.

She walks toward a couple of walkers that dragged themselves across the road. Not one turns to engage her in any way. The stink of rotten flesh seems to mask the smell of her own blood seeping out of the wound staining her pants. Strangely, she makes it out of the crowd only to break out on her own up the road. Considering how tired Merle looked after their battle, he is not going a problem. He is on his way most likely back to Woodbury to gather the troops. It will be dark by then…..

She continues walking only to come upon a brick building of some kind. Please say there are no more zombies now, Michonne says to herself pressing her hand against the wall to steady herself. Being in the shade is a temporary relief from the heat. What I would do for some water right about now. She hopes that this building is some sort of store. Once, Michonne reaches the end of the building, she let's go, teetering slightly, but manages to peer over to the side. There is a parking lot filled with filthy abandoned cars.

Just as she begins to pass between a car and an SUV, an engine approaches. This son of a bitch is relentless. Michonne crouches down peering through the dirty front passenger side window of the SUV. An old trucks pulls up, the drives kills the engine. Out pops a pretty red-head with a gun and an Asian gentleman who immediately moves towards to the backdoor. They exchange a few words and kiss. Then they break away only to kiss again a second time, this one is longer and passionate.

Where are these people from? They damn sure are not from Woodbury. The man sticks a flashlight in his mouth and retrieves a pair bolt cutters. He breaks open a lock. As this man opens the door, a couple of birds come flying out. Its startles both of them, but he enters the building. "Glen," the red hair calls out, "Get that duck." Michonne hears him yell back "what?"

"Get the duck," red replies.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah a kid growing up in a prison could use some toys…."

Kid? Toys?

Glen says, "We just hit the powered formula jackpot."

"Thank God," says the red-head.

"Also got beans, batteries, cocktail wieners…"

Michonne wonders where they came from. More importantly, she wondered whether to approach them or not. It was her only shot if she was going to survive. Then there was the off-chance that they would turn on her and try to kill her, but it was worth a shot."It's a straight shot back to the prison from here," Glen replies. Prison? Is this the group that Andrea was talking about?

"Probably make it in time for dinner," he then replies.

"I like the quiet," red replies picking up a red basket filled with huge cans. "Back there, back home you could always hear them outside the fence no matter where you are."

All of a sudden a voice says, "And where is it that y'all good people calling home."

Michonne recognizes that voice suddenly. Shit. Its fucking, Merle.

She watches the woman and Glen draw their points pointing them at him. "Merle." Glen reacts the same way Andrea reacted when she first saw him.

"Merle," says Glen in surprise. Are they apart of that group Andrea was with...

Rather than return to Woodbury, Merle decides to go out in search of Michonne. Out of the two possible directions that she can travel, he chooses the logical one. There is no way in hell that Michonne made it on foot up the road not with her injury. If he wants to have a smidgen of a chance to make it up to her, he will have to reason with her. Merle remembers seeing a general store across the way not too far from the road. This is the first place that she will stop. Just as he rounds, the corner, he sees two people, a woman and a man talking. Rather than interrupt them at first, Merle decides to eavesdrop. That is when he hears something about a prison. He realizes that this Intel would be music to the Governor's ears.

Merle believe that this is some sort of mirage that he sees. There is no way in hell that Glen, that Korean boy from the Atlanta camp is stand twenty feet away. He is with a hot little fire cracker with clear blue eyes. He figured that some biter had mistaken him for takeout by now. This means that Daryl is alive somewhere as well. He holds up his bayonet and sets down his gun laughing. "Wow," he says walking towards Glen knowing that the kid is too much of a pussy to fire his gun. Guess he grew some balls somewhere along the line.

"Hey," yells the redhead, "back the hell up." Damn, she is fine.

"Oh," he says, "okay honey... Jesus." A smile still plastered on his face. "You made it." Glen never lowers his gun as he speaks. Officer friendly is giving firearm lessons or something. "Can you tell me," Merle asks him, "is my brother alive?" He tries to figure out who is the easier target, Glen or the red-head he is with.

"Yeah," Glen replies. He is still mad at me for all those kung Fu and ninja jokes I made. I was high as fuck and well some of that shit was the truth. "Hey," Merle says, "you take me to him and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta." Or I'll kill you and take your little piece back to Woodbury with me as soon as I find out where the hell Michonne went. "No hard feelings." Glen eyes the bayonet attached to the contraption on Merle's arm.

"Oh," Merle says waving it around a bit, "you like well, I found myself a medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself. Pretty cool, huh." Clearly if this kid had any fucking sense, he will shoot me dead now. But, Glen is the same stupid ass, he was in Atlanta. Glen shoots a look at Merle which translates into I am not taking your ass anywhere. The kid says something about going back to get Daryl to meet him. I guess a family reunion is out.This move is a brave one, but it ticks Merle off.

Merle tries to explain to Glen that he has changed. Glen ain't buying it. No, this definitely not the kid that he remembered. Guess the kid finally got himself laid. "The fact that we found each other is a miracle," Merle replies. He goes so far as to explain to the kid that he is a man of his word. Right! Glen tells him to trust them and wait here at the store. Ain't no way in hell that they gonna keep me from my brother. Merle eyes the redhead for a moment then distracts Glen with his shirt. He fires a shot into the back window of their truck. The glass shatters sending jagged fragments into the flat-bed.

All of a sudden, Merle grabs the girls from behind pulls her to the in front of him. By the time Glen, comes over Merle's gun is at the girl's head. Play time is over. Glen comes around begging him to let her go. She is his little girlfriend. I don't want to kill Red, but if I have to I sure as hell will. "Hold up buddy," Merle says. Glen tries to get him to let go of red still holding his gun. Clearly, he ain't dumb enough to pull the trigger while I got his girl. Merle tells him to put his gun in the back of the truck. He puts in on top of the pile of glass. . Smart move. He holds up his hands not taking his eyes of Red.

Merle tells them that they are going to go for a little drive. This little shit won't let me see my brother so, I won't let his ass see Officer friendly or any of those other assholes at their little prison camp again. Once the Governor sees these two he won't care about Michonne's sword or head. Merle informs Glen that they are going somewhere else.

Woodbury.

"Get in the car, Glen," Michonne is helpless at the moment. She can come out of hiding to help out. However, that will put her in danger. She thinks about sneaking up and attacking Merle. That idea will add another bullet hole in her body. Instead, she continues to hide. "You're driving," Merle yells to Glen, "MOVE!"

Glen is about to say something again, but instead he yields. He shuts the back door and climbs in. Meanwhile, Merle makes the redhead stand up then forces her into the truck. They start the engine and pull out. Michonne watches them U-turn and drive away. I should have done something. Stupid Merle and his trigger happy ass. She limps over to the store to fetch the red basket. The prison is a straight shot according to the red-head so all she has to do is make it.

Somehow, Michonne garners up her strength and started walking. She met a few more walkers, but like the ones by the woods they ignored her existence. The heat is unbearable at the moment. Judging by the sun, she assumes that it's around midafternoon. Perhaps, its 3 or 4 o'clock. Either way, he tongue feels like sandpaper. The stench of her clothing and skin makes her dry heave a few times. Yet, by the grace of God, Michonne makes it to the prison. There is a white gate which reminds her of the one outside of her son's preschool. It's taller and stretches around what looks like a courtyard

There are walkers staggering back and forth through the grass outside. Michonne decided to take a chance and make it to the gate. At first no one is the wiser. Strangely, she can see some people gathered in the courtyard. All I have to do is make it to the gate with this heavy ass basket and tell them what happened. One of the men starts walking down a short path. He eyes her and pulls out a gun from its holster. Michonne limps closer to gate standing between the walkers who attempt to claw and chew their way through with their rotten teeth. She interlocked her fingers through the gate staring into the man's eyes. Please God, just let me in…

To be continued.

Thank you all for being so patient.

Thank you for reading my fan fic.

I have another chapter coming asap.

Have an awesome weekend everyone :)