Horror Fan Fiction ❯ Til The World Stops Turning ❯ Ain't Gonna Stop Til the Clock Runs Out ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Summary: What if there was another reason that the Dixon brothers joined up with the group at the quarry and she wasn't what they thought her to be after all? Would they re-think some of the behavior issues they had with a disgruntled Daryl and a prone-to-violence Merle? Meet M.J. and see her take on this new world that she is surviving in.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything from the Walking Dead. Although I do enjoy borrowing Merle and Daryl and tormenting the HELL out of both of them. All OC's are mine. Anything you recognize isn't mine and belongs to AMC and Frank Darabont.
AN: This story is currently un-beta'd but I use Libre so hopefully the only errors you find are verbs and point-of-views. If anyone wishes to volunteer to figure out the workings of my mind it would be appreciated.  :) Transcripts used from online and Netflix, but changed to reflect on the speech of some of the people. Google and Wiki are my friend.  Rated T because of Merle's potty mouth and his kin.
AN2: This story is AU. Some scenes were cut because they had no value to my plot and words added for the effect of my OC. WARNING:If you haven't watched any of the series yet, it begin on episode 2 just after Glenn brings Rick into the store. Reviews are much loved with helping along with a few of my plot holes. Flames will be used to fricassee walkers and light a fire under the Gov'nor's ass.
Words: 5186

Muffled sounds of a gun firing.
Hurried footsteps echoing up the stairwell.
More gunshots being fired in succession.
A steel door is thrust open and bangs forcefully against its concrete housing as a group of people spill out of the stairwell onto the rooftop and into the sweltering Georgia heat. In the lead of the group, a Hispanic man runs towards the man who was standing on the ledge of the building and shooting down at the street below. The gun fires yet again and the bullet slams into the forehead of a partially decomposed body that was stumbling around in the crowd below.
“Hey Dixon, are you crazy?” He yells at the man holding the rifle.
The one called Dixon laughs as he fires off one last shot before turning around to confront the group behind him. At first glance you would think REDNECK. HICK. Hillbilly. No good White Trash. And most would be right. Wearing a ripped black shirt with a leather vest over it, a pair of worn and dirty blue jeans, and scuffed black boots; he fit the persona of a typical redneck. On his left wrist was a newish wide leather band in lieu of a watch. His hair was shaved in a close militarian haircut. At five foot ten inches, some would think he was a tad short for a man of his presence. But with a stocky build, a wide chest, and slightly well toned arms and legs he had an imposing aura of danger and barely leashed violence.
A blonde woman mutters, “Oh jeez,” as the gunshot echoes in the open area on top of the roof.
“Hey! Y'all outta be more polite ta the man wit a gun.” Dixon laughs again. “Huh?” He jumps down off the ledge and grunts. “Ah.” His lips twist in a smirk. “Only common sense.”
Suddenly one of the group runs towards Dixon. It was a large black man wearing an over-sized white shirt with the word Brooklyn scrawled on it and baggy black shorts. Even with a slight look of trepidation on his face he yelled out.
“Man, you wastin' bullets we ain't even got!” He then sighs with disgust as Dixon laughs at him. “Man. And you're bringin' more of them down on our ass!” He points his finger at Dixon. "Man, just chill!"
“Hey!” Dixon glares. “Bad 'nough I gots this taco-bender,” he points over to the Hispanic man, “on m'ass all day. Ya think Im'ma take orders from ya?!” Dixon growls as the black man looks away from him in disgust. Dixon gets up into his face. “I'd don't think so bro. That'll be the day.” he snorts.
“ 'That'll be the day?' ” A look of disbelief washes over the black man's face. “You gots something you wanna tell me?” He gestures to himself as he stares at Dixon.
“Hey T-Dog, man just leave it.” The Hispanic man says trying to stop the fight he knew was brewing between his friend T-Dog and Dixon.
“Nah, Morales. Dixon can explain what the hell he means by that comment.” T-Dog puts his hand out to tell him to be quiet.
“All right? It ain't worth it.” Morales tries to reason with them both. “Now Merle,” he faces Dixon who just smirks, “just relax. Okay?” Near the back of the group a young Asian man shakes his head and gestures to the man beside him in the police uniform not to do anything. “We got enough trouble.”
“Ya wanna know the day?” Merle interrupts him.
“Yeah.” T-Dog replies.
“I'll tell ya the day, Mr. "Yo".” Merle brings his left hand up as if he was attempting to make a gang sign but was just making fun of T-Dog. “It's the day I take orders from a Nigger.” He sneers as he waves the rifle at T-Dog.
“Mother-” T-Dog snarls as he takes a swing at Merle.
“Hey Merle that's enough.”
But Merle ignores them and slams the rifle butt into T-Dogs face. The cop runs towards them and attempts to jump Merle as he swung his fist at T-Dog, but was punched in his own face for his trouble. He then flew over the pipe from the force of the punch.
“Dixon!” the blonde woman cries out.
Merle turns back around in enough time to stop T-Dog from pounding him and kicks him in the chest in retaliation. The Asian man jumped over the pipe on the roof and tries to help the cop and stay out of Merle's way at the same time. Morales yelled out. “Whoa, cut it out man.” But of course Merle ignores him and grabs onto T-Dog's shirt and hits him with a solid right hook. Which causes T-Dog to slam face first into the pipe.
“Stop it!” The blonde woman screams. “Dixon, get off him!” she pleads. Merle begins to kick T-Dog in the ribs while he laid on the rooftop. T-Dog tries to curl around himself to protect his ribs from being shattered. “Dixon, you're gonna hurt him.”
Merle kicks T-Dog twice more before sitting on him and grabbing his shirt again and repeatedly punches him in the face. Around him the others of the group are screaming for him to stop, to let him go.
“Merle cut it out!” Running forward Morales tries to pull Merle off T-Dog and gets elbowed in the stomach for his trouble.
Behind the pipe the officer slowly stands up and wipes his face where he was busted in the lip. One of the women squeal as Merle slugs T-Dog one last time and pulls a handgun and flicks off the safety.
“NO, No, no. Please, please.” The blonde woman pleads with Merle as T-Dog groans in pain.
High overhead a few scattered dark clouds roll in and thunder rumbles. Merle looks around at the group. A skinny middle-aged black woman, the blonde woman who looked to be in her late twenties maybe early thirties, the young Asian man who barely looked out of his teens, and Morales - the Hispanic guy who was probably in his thirties. Merle shoots them a brief scowl before he looks back at T-Dog. He hocks a loogie, spits it on T-Dogs shirt, and rubs it in. T-Dog groans in pain from the pressure on his chest and ribs.
“Yeah.” Merle grunts. “Alright.” He begins to stand up. “We's gonna hav' 'rselves a lil powwow. Huh?” He looks up at the group. “Talk 'bout who's gonna be in charge.” The group pulls T-Dog away when he begin to crab-walk backwards. “I vote me. 'N'body else? Huh?” he asks sarcastically. “Democracy time ya'll.” Slowly he raises his left hand. “Show of hands, huh?” He grunts. “All in favor? Huh?” He looks over at Morales and grunts again. “Com'on. Let's see 'em.”
Morales raises his hand and looks away from Merle as the blonde woman states with scared disgust. “Oh come on.”
“All in favor?” Merle asks playfully. He looks at the group as the Asian shamefully raises his hand and the black woman slowly shots Merle the bird as she raises her hand. “Yeah, that's good.” He adds as the blonde finally raises her hand also. "Now, that means I'm the boss righ'?" he adds cockily. “Yeah. 'N'body else?” He asks knowing that none of them would stand up against him now. “Hmmm? 'N'body?”
Merle turns around startled when he hears a mans voice behind him stating, “Yeah!” And receives the rifle butt to his own face in return for punching the officer minutes before. Once knocked to the ground the cop proceeds to place a knee on his face and pulls out his handcuffs and cuffs Merle to the metal screw holding the long round pipe into place.
“Who the Hell are ya man?!” Merle sneers at the cop.
“Officer Friendly.” The cop replies as he pulls Merle up by his leather vest. He then turns around and picks up the hand gun that was pointed at T-Dog seconds ago and released magazine.  “Look here, Merle.” He says a little roughly. “Things are different now. There are no niggers,” he pulls the bullet from the chamber. “anymore. No more Dumb-as-Shit, inbred White-trash fools, either. Only dark meat and white meat.” He leans in towards Merle. “There's us and the dead.” Slowly he replaces the lone bullet back into the magazine and puts it back into the gun and re-chambers the round. “We survive this by pulling together, not apart.”
“Screw you, man.” Merle sneers.
“I can see you make a habit of missing the point.” Officer Friendly leans closer as if imparting words of great importance.
“Yeah? Well screw you twice.” Merle declares.
“You ought to be polite to the man with the gun.” Officer Friendly places the gun to Merle's head and cocks it. “Only common sense.” He threw Merle's earlier statement back at the man.
“Ya wouldn't. Yer a cop.” Merle states as his head is pressed to the side from the force of the gun being pressed into his left temple.
“All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son.” Officer Friendly declares softly. “Anybody that gets in the way of that is going to lose.” He stares Merle straight into his eyes to see how serious he was about that last statement. “I'll give you a moment to think about that.” He pats Merle down looking for any other weapons hidden.
“Yeah, well I got a girl myself.” Merle looks him back determinedly in the eyes, his sharp steel blue eyes darkening with meaning as he stared back into a blue that was a few shades lighter than his little brother's azure.
"You should have thought about that before this little stunt you pulled." Officer Friendly said sadly and then looks down as he felt something in Merle's pocket. He pulls out a vial of white powder and looks at it with disgust. “Look's like you got something on your nose,” he tips Merle's head back with two of his fingers and stares pointedly at his nose before flicking the tip of it, “there.”
“Wat're ya gonna do?” Merle watches as the cop walks away from him. “Arrest me?” He chuckles harshly. “Hey man!” He shouts as the cop tosses the vial over the roof's ledge. “Wat're ya doin'? That's m'stuff!” he yells. “Hey!” He grunts as he tries to get up. “If I get lose, ya best pray...!” He shouts at the cop as he walks further away. “Ya hear me, ya PIG!” He hollers as he struggles to get free of the pipe and handcuffs. “YOU HEAR ME?!”
“Yeah, your voice carries.” Officer Friendly mutters to himself. He stops once he reached the ledge and cradles his right fist and ignores Merle's screaming. “YA HEAR ME YA FILTHY PIG?!”
“You're not Atlanta P.D.” Morales states as he comes up besides the cop. “Where you from?” he asks.
“Up the road a ways.” The cops responds.
“Well, Officer Friendly, from up the road a ways,” He chuckles as they both look out and down on the ravaged city of Atlanta and try to ignore all the walking dead people stumbling around and banging on the glass below. Just up the street you could see a closed off section of the street where construction had been started. “Welcome to the Big City.” He chuckles again as he looks up at the sky when more thunder sounds.

“God, it looks like Time Square down there.” The blonde woman turned to say to the black woman as they peered over the side of the roof. Behind them the two men come back to join the group.
“How’s that signal?” Morales asks.
“Like Dixon's brain...” T-Dog smirks as Merle sneers, “weak.” Merle then proceeds to flip him off.
“Keep trying.” Came a tired response.
“Why?” The blonde looks over at the cop. “There's nothing they can do. Not a damn thing.”
“Got some people outside the city,” The cop looks at Morales questioningly. “That's all.” He shook his head. “There's no refugee center. That's just a pipe dream.”
“Then she's right, we're on our own.” The cop turned slightly to look at the other survivors. “Then it's up to us to find a way out of this mess.”
“Good luck wit that.” Merle snorts. “These streets ain't safe in this part o'town from wat I hear.” He looks over at the blonde and leans forward. “Ain't that righ' sugartits?” She glares halfheartedly at Merle. “Hey, honeybunch, wat say ya get me outta these cuffs an' we go off som'where an' bump uglies?” He leers at her. “Gonna die an'way.”
“I'd rather.” she snorts in disgust. “And I've told you my name is Andrea. Not sugartits, honeybunch, sweet thang, or any of those other degrading names you call your women.”
“Rug muncher.” Merle states sulking. “Figured as much.”
“The streets ain't safe.” Morales repeats as he turns away from Andrea and Merle back to the cop. “Now there's an understatement.”
“What about under the streets?” The cop asks. “The sewers?”
“Oh man.” Morale says with hope. “Hey Glenn?” He turns to the Asian man. “Check that alley. You see any manhole covers?”
Glenn runs over to the other-side of the building and peers down to the alleyway below. He spots the two walkers still stumbling around aimlessly but doesn't see the entryway to the sewers below.
“No, must be all out on the street where the geeks are.” Glenn says breathlessly as he jogs back over to the group.
“Maybe not.” The black woman speaks up slowly. “Old buildings like these, built back in the '20's... Big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers.” She looks to the cop. “In case of flooding. Down in the subbasements.”
“How do you know that?” Glenn asks confused.
“It's my job... Was my job.” she corrected herself. “I worked in the city zoning office.”

Down in the subbasement the group, minus Merle and T-Dog, walked slowly towards a railed off ladder that lead down a concrete hole. Everyone shines their flashlights down into the darkness and sees an opening that leads further into the abyss. They could all hear rats scurrying around.
“This is it?” Morales asks. “Are you sure?”
“I really scoped this place out the other times I was here.” Glenn reassures him. “It's the only thing in the building that goes down.” He tries to hide a shudder. “But I've never gone down it.” His nose wrinkles at the smell wafting up the dark hole. “Who'd want to right?” He looks up just as the others all look at him and a feeling he really didn't like ran down his spine. “Oh, great.” He states as he realizes that they want him to go down into the unknown.
“We'll be right behind you.” Andrea spoke up quickly when she saw the look on his face.
“No!” Glenn says quickly and changes his tone at their startled looks. “You won't. Not you.” He states.
“Why not me?” Andrea quickly got defensive. “Think I can't?”
“I wasn't...” Glenn tried to explain but trailed off.
“Speak your mind.” The cop says encouragingly.
“Look," Glenn began, “until now I always came here by myself... In and out. Grab a few things... No problem. First time I bring a group...” Glenn continues. “Everything goes to HELL. No offense.” He quickly adds. “If you want me to go down this gnarly hole, fine... But only if we do it my way. It's tight down there. If I run into something and have to get out quick, I don't want you all jammed up behind me getting me killed. I'll take one person. Not you either, Rick.” Glenn said quickly as Officer Friendly moved to adjust his gun. “You've got Merle's gun and I've seen you shoot. I'd feel better if you were out in the store covering our ass.” The cop nodded in agreement. “And you got the only other gun, so you should go with him.” He points to the Andrea. He points to Morales. “You be my wing-man.” Glenn then points to the black woman. “Jacqui stays here. Something happens, yell down to us, get us back up here in a hurry.”
“Okay.” Jacqui agrees.
“Okay, everyone knows their jobs.” Rick states.
Glenn places his flashlight into his mouth and begins to climb down the ladder. Once he was almost at the bottom the other man followed. Glenn shines the flashlight into the darkness and looks back up at the others hesitantly. The two groups look at each one more time before they go their separate ways. A couple of rats scurried away from them as they entered the tunnel. Glenn steps on a rats tail by accident and causes it to squeal out in pain. Slowly the two men venture down the tunnel, both hoping for another way out away from the walkers.

Back up on the ground floor the Rick and Andrea head towards the door to see what damage the geeks had done to the glass doors that stood between them and certain death. Hopefully they had enough time and a way out before the walkers got inside.

Up on the rooftop exposed to the hot Georgian sun, Merle glares over at T-Dog who was sitting semi-comfortably in the shade, clutching his ribs from the kicking he received several minutes beforehand.
“Anybody out there?” T-Dog spoke into the walkie-talkie. Thunder rumbled in the distance, coming closer. “Hello? Anybody read? I'm hoping to hear somebody's voice, 'cause I'm sure gettin' tired of hearing mine.”
“Yeah well that makes two o' us.” Merle grunts. “Won't ya knock that crap off. Yer givin' me a headache, boy.” He turns and spits.
“Why don't'cha pull your head out of your ass?” T-Dog scowls. “Maybe your headache will go away.” Merle chuckles. “Try some positivity for a change. Damn.”
“Tell ya wat...” Merle says, “Ya get me out o' these cuffs an' I'll be all 'Sammy Sunshine' positive for ya.” He smiles. “Hey, ya see that hacksaw over there in that toolbag?” He points to the red bag several feet from both of them. “Get it for me an' I'll make it worth ya while. Hmmm? Wat'dja say man? Com'on. Get me out o' these things.” He wiggles his hand so that the metal clinks against the pipe.
“So you can beat my ass again?” T-Dog huffs. “Or call me nigger some more?”
“Oh com'on now. It weren't personal.” Merle says cajolingly. “It's just that yer kind an' m' kind ain't meant ta mix. That's all.” T-Dog sighs in disappointment. “Don't mean we can't... work together.” Merle sits up on his one leg and turns halfway towards T-Dog. “Parley, 's long as there's some kind o' mutual gain involved.” Thunder rumbles some more and the air starts to become muggier in the thick heat. “So... 'bout that hacksaw?”
“I guess you want me to get you that rifle over there too so you can shoot that cop when he comes back up, huh?” T-Dog asked as he looked at Merle as if he was bored with the whole discussion.” Merle chuckles darkly. “Huh?”

Deep underground the buildings and street, two men turn a corner and come about a metal grate covering the hole and stopped them from going any further in the tunnel.
“Yeah we got ourselves a sewer tunnel. Jacqui was right.” Morales declares happily.
“Can we cut through it?” Glenn asks.
“If we had a blow torch and half a day, sure.” They both looked over the grating. “Dale's hacksaw sure and hell won't cut it.”
A rat squeaks and is suddenly silent. They shine the light onto the other-side of the grate and a walker now chewing on the rat turns around and spots them. Reaching through the grating the geek tries to grab them. They both turn and run as the rapid beating of their hearts and the pounding of their feet against the concrete drown out the groans and cries of the geek stuck behind them.

Back on the ground floor you hear the walker still pounding away at the outside glass door. Partially ignoring them in favor of particular necklace, Andrea reaches out to brush her fingers over it. “Hmmm.”
“See something you like?” Rick asks.
“Not me but someone I know.” she replies softly. “My sister.” A small smile. “She's still such a kid in some ways.” she explains. “Unicorns, dragons, she's into all that fantasy stuff. But mermaids, they rule. She loves mermaids.”
“Why not take it?” He leans over and asks.
“'Cause there's a cop staring at me.” She replies ruefully. He chuckles. “Would it be considered looting?”
“Don't think those rules apply anymore. Do you?” he points out. She smiles at him as she take the necklace and places it carefully in her back pocket.
Suddenly the sound of glass shattering echoes loudly in the mostly empty store. Several of the walkers charge through the now broken first set of doors and begin to beat upon the second set. It was all that was keeping the dead from the living and soon it would also be broken. As Rick charges towards the doors with his gun raised, the group from the subbasement rushes out to see what the commotion was.
“What did you find down there?” Rick asks.
“Not a way out, that's for sure.” Morales states dejectedly.
“We need to find a way.” Andrea stresses. “And soon.”

Back up on the rooftop the group stand near the ledge while Rick looks down the street with a set of binoculars. Overhead the thunder sounds ominous.  Looking over the construction site he notices a box van on the other-side of the chain-link fence.
“That construction site... Those trucks. They always keep keys on hand for them.” he points out as he hands the binoculars to Morales. Quickly he glances down at the street below.
“You'll never make it past those walkers below.” He points out sadly.
“You got me out of that tank.” Rick looks over at Glenn who grimaces.
“Yeah, but they were feeding. They were distracted.” Glenn points out the flaw in the forming plan.
“Can we distract them again?” Rick asks hopefully.
“Righ'. He's on ta som'than.” Merle points out mockingly. “Lis'en ta him. A diversion. Like on 'Hogan's Heroes'.” he chuckles.
“God give it a rest.” Jacqui says exasperatedly.
“They're drawn by sound right?” Rick asks unsure.
“Right. Like dogs.” Glenn says in agreement. “They hear sound and they come.”
“What else?” Rick asks wanting to know more.
“Aside from they hear you? They see you, they smell you, and if they catch you, they eat you.” Morales states.
“They can tell us by smell?” He stresses to make sure.
“Can't you?” Glenn retaliates with a note of disgust.
“They smell dead and we don't.” Andrea stated. “It's pretty distinct.” Rick sighs.

On the ground floor in the back of the store where the cleaning and gardening section was, the group began gathering several rubber gloves.
“If bad ideas were and Olympic Event, this would take the gold.” Glenn declares as he stands there.
“He's right.” Morales states as he walks towards Rick. “Just stop okay? Take some time to think this through.”
“How much time?” Rick asks as he pulls some long white over coats and places them in Morales' arms. “They already got through one set of doors. That glass won't hold forever.” He points out. He tosses one coat to Glenn to catches it halfheartedly.

Once they are all wearing their protective gear, Rick and Morales run out the side door and grab one of the geeks and drags him into the building. Back inside, with the safety helmet on, Rick uses a crowbar to smash the glass of the emergency axe. With the group looking on with trepidation, Rick raise the axe and just as he is about to chop into the dead man, he stops. Bending over the body, he frisks it and pulls out the deceased man's wallet. Slowly he goes through it and reads to the group the man's stats. Pointing out how much money he carried, to a picture of a pretty girl found with a loving note on the back. Last, Glenn pointed out that the dead man was an organ donor.
Quickly they began to chop the body apart. Making sure to mix the black blood with as much of the mangled flesh and decaying organs as possible. With a final note from Rick about making sure none of the mess touched any exposed skin, they began to paint both Rick and Glenn with the bloody mess. Quickly they draped body parts and smeared the stagnate blood all over the long white coats.
As soon as they were covered, Rick and Glenn proceed out into the alleyway and slowly walk by the two geek, hoping that the plan will work. When neither one paid any particular attention to them, they then crawled under the bus blocking the alleyway and made their way out onto the street. During this time, Morales, Jacqui, T-Dog, and Andrea rush back up the stairs to the rooftop to watch their friends attempt to make it to the construction site.
“Hey, wats happenin' man?” Merle shouts out as they all rush by him to look over the ledge.
“Hey, T-Dog, try that C.B. again.” Morales says as he ignores Merle.
“Com'on talk ta me ya'll. Hey!” Merle shouts again.
“Base camp, this is T-Dog. Can anybody hear me? Can anybody out there hear me?”
Morales looks at the street below and spots them, pointing on the street their location. The thunder that had been rumbling for the past hour finally gave notice of the down pour that would happen quite soon. The dark clouds promising rain that was unwanted at the present time.
“That asshole out on the street wit the keys ta the cuffs?” Merle asks with disbelief. T-Dog reaches into his pocket and dangles the key as Merle glares and tries not to snarl.
“Reception is quite bad on this end. Repeat. Repeat.” came a voice over the walkie-talkie barely understandable from all the static.
“Shane. Shane is that you?” T-Dog called back. “We're in some deep shit. Trapped in a department store.” More static. “There's geeks all over the place. Hundreds of 'em. We're surrounded.” More static and the signal is lost.
As Andrea hands the binoculars back to Morales the rain begins to fall.
“Oh man.” Morales looks at both women as they try and brush away their sopping hair. “It's just a cloudburst. They pass real quick. We get them all the time.” He notices them running and attacking the walkers as they went. “Come on. Come on.” He urges them on as if they could hear him. They watch as both men barely make it to the fence and hop over it.
“They’re leaving us.” Andrea declares as she notices them driving away.
“What? WHAT?!” Merle yells out.
“Where they going?” Morales asks confused. “Where they going?”
“NO, No, come back.” Andrea pounds on the ledge.
The sound of a car alarm echoes throughout the streets and everyone on the roof hears Glenn come over the walkie-talkie.
“Those roll-up doors at the front of the store at the front of the street. Meet us there and be ready.”
“Come on!” Morales shouts as they gather up the backpacks with the supplies they came for. “Let's go! Let's go!”
“Hey. Ya can't leave me here.” Merle shouts out. “I'm not foolin' man. Morales.” He calls out to the retreating group. “Hey man. Don't do this.” He struggles against the pipe. “Hey that m' gun. Ya can't leave me.” T-Dog pauses just a few feet shy from the door. “Don' leave m' here ya'll.”
Morales looks back at T-Dog, “Come on, we got to go.”
“Morales! Ya can't leave me like this man! Hey, T-Dog,” he pleads, “No, man. Ya can't leave me. Ya can't leave m' here... not like this. You can't man.” Merle begs. “It's not human.” T-Dog looks at the open door and hesitates. “Com'on. Don't do this.” T-Dog fights with his conscience and finally turns around to run back to Merle and knocks over the toolbag. “Com'on T! Com'on. Yeah, com'on... that's it baby. YES!” As T-Dog rushes down the couple of steps he trips and falls forward and loses the key. He scrambles after it as it flies through the air and they both watch as it falls down a drainpipe. “Son of a BITCH!” Merle shouts angrily. “Ya did that on purpose.” he snarls.
“I didn't mean to!” T-Dog stutters as he climbs to his feet.
“Ya lie! Ya did it on purpose!” Merle yells.
“It was an accident!” T-Dog shouts.
“Don't leave me man.” Merle struggles with the cuffs and the pipe. “Don't leave me! Don't leave me!”
“I'm sorry!” T-Dog says as he runs back to the door. “I'm sorry.”
“Ya liar!” Merle pulls and pulls on the cuffs. “Don't leave me. Damn you all!” He shouts out as T-Dog shuts the door behind him. “Wat are ya doin' man? Yer gonna rot in HELL!” T-Dog pulls the chain tight as he can and locks it so that none of the walkers could get out onto the roof. “Come back man! Don't leave me. Please m' girl. Ya can't make me leave m' girl! M.J.!” he screams with despair.
“Wait, don't leave.” T-Dog yells as he runs as fast as he can down the stairs and misses Merle's last screams.

Down at the roll-up doors, Andrea and Jacqui grab the chain ready to pull it up. They hear the car alarm close by and wait. As T-Dog finally makes it to the ground floor the glass finally breaks under the abuse from the walkers and they follow him to the back of the store.
“They're here! Let's go. They're in here!” he shouts as he burst through the door. “Let's go!”
“Open the door!” Andrea shouts when Rick bangs on the door from the other-side.
“We gotta go!”
Quickly they throw the bags and supplies they gathered into the back of the van and hopped in. As Rick began to drive away the walkers came pouring out of the store and after the truck. Quickly Morales pulls the door close.

Up on the roof Merle pulls and yanks on the cuffs and pipe, trying to get lose.
“You'll die! Go ta Hell! Damn ya!” he shouts cursing the group that just left him to his fate. “NO! Damn ya! M' girl, ya bastards! Don't leave her wit'out me! Yer gonna ROT IN HELL!”

As they are driving away from the store, Rick turns around to see if everyone was okay. When he notices Merle missing, he doesn't know what to say. Everyone is looking at T-Dog for an explanation.
“I dropped the damn key.” he struggles to catch his breath and tells them as he tries not to cry. Nobody wants to say anything and look away, trying not to catch anyone's eye.