CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

"Come on, let's go!" Daryl calls as Andie and Michonne are each killing walkers in the field. He and Glenn just nailed down some barbed wire into the grass while the girls were using blades to put down anything that got too close.

Michonne hops into the passenger seat of the truck while the other three climb into the bed, and then Maggie and Carl leave the gated path when they see Carol driving them back toward the gate that leads to the courtyard. The other two were making a bunch of noise to draw as many walkers over as possible.

"Do you do anything safe anymore?" Glenn asks, and Andie glances over her shoulder at him; she's standing in the truck with her palm on the top of the cab.

"What am I doing wrong now?" The brunette questions.

"You're the most likely to fall out if something happens."

"In the ten foot drive up a shallow hill?" Her eyebrows furrow. "Am I really that helpless to you now?"

"It's not helpless, it's reckless." He argues as Daryl glances between the two of them. "And you've been getting worse."

"Why? Because I took Merle and Beth on a supply run?"

"He's more reckless, and she's the least experienced."

"Merle's a dumbass, but he's not stupid." Andie says as she walks to the end of the truck bed after it stops. "And that's exactly why I took Beth. She wants to learn, and no one's teaching her. I guess it's expected that we teenage girls sit back and let the grown men do all the heavy lifting."

"It's not about age or gender — you know I don't care about that."

"Then what is it, Glenn?" She questions as Daryl goes to talk to Rick.

"I don't think that the risks you take are worth losing you over." He tells her.

"You ever stop to think that I only take the risks that I take because I trust my family to have my back?" She asks, and all three men look at her. "Despite your views on what happened to me back in Woodbury, none of you have failed me yet. It's not about risk to me, it's about having the faith in the people around me that we can take care of each other... And we have."

She wanders off, away from the others, and Daryl finds her a little while later. She's trying to mend a broken gate, get it locked up so that it can't be used as an entry point from enemies.

"Hey." Daryl calls as he walks up behind her, and she glances over her shoulder before getting back to the task at hand. "You seen Merle around?"

"Last I saw him, he was tearing up mattresses to look for drugs." She tells him. "No, uh... He was asking Carol if we have any whiskey...or vodka."

He helps her position the doors before locking chains in place. "I noticed you two talk every now and then." He says as he turns to face her.

"If by talk you mean I don't kick his teeth in while he's harassing me, sure, we talk." She says as she walks over and picks up a box full of glass bottles.

"He say he was sorry yet?" He asks as she sets the box on a nearby table. "'Cause he is."

"Sorry you beat his face black and blue, maybe."

"He's gonna make it right. I'm gonna make him." He insists. "There's gotta be a way. Just gotta be a little forgiveness is all."

She looks up from what she's doing. "And how do you suggest he makes what he did right?" She questions. "I listened to him beat the hell out of Glenn and then sick a walker on him. Then, his puppet master came in and threatened to bring me Glenn's hand unless I took off my shirt and bra so he could stare at my naked chest. Then he slammed my head down and kept me bent over a table while he pressed himself up against me. But tell me, what can Merle do to make that right?" She raises her eyebrows.

"The next time I see the Governor, I'll kill the sumbitch myself." He tells her, jaw tight.

"And that'll make it easier for me to sleep at night?" She asks as she returns to her task. "Your brother found me in the generator room before Andrea got here. He spouted some half-baked apology, said he didn't know that the Governor was gonna do anything like that, said he'd seen him do a lot of things, but never anything like that. Merle and I are never gonna be friends, but I don't give a rat's ass that he's here. He wants to be with you, let him. Tell him to make things right with Glenn, he's the one Merle hurt."

"Hold on, are you... You're mad at me?" He questions. "If your problem ain't with Merle, then... What, because I chose to leave with my brother? He's my blood."

"Blood's thicker than water, I guess. Never really been a factor for me, but you do what you gotta do."

"You got issues because of your old man, I get that. But don't take it out on me." He says as he starts to walk past her.

"Your brother can talk all the shit he wants, but he doesn't know a damn thing about me." Andie says, and he turns back to her. "I don't have Daddy issues. I loved my father. My entire life, he was the best man that I ever met. All I ever wanted was to be everything he was. He put other people's well-being above his own, he saved lives. He was brave and damn-near fearless, and he didn't let anything stop him from doing the right thing. The only thing he failed at...was making time for me and my mom. But even when I was pitching a fit and screaming at him, I understood why he did what he did. He was who he was, and I didn't want him to change that. I didn't want him to come home, I wanted him to take me with him.

"I have been second-best my whole life. I came second to my father's job. I came second to my mother's love for him. I was always the second choice when it came to the guys that I liked, to the friends I hung out with. But at least when they put me last, they had the balls to look me in the eye when they did it.

"You saved my life, you brought me into this group, you made me care about the people in it, you made me love them. I depended on you, I needed you... After the Governor left that room, I sat there and I wished that I had died in that barn. And then you showed up, and you saved me again. I was broken and terrified, and all I wanted was to feel safe...like I did after you found me in the prison after T died. I'm not mad that you chose your brother over us. I'm pissed that I let myself depend that much on someone else, and that I was that crushed when you didn't even care enough to say goodbye. I thought we were friends. I thought we were family."

Andie turns away from him as she wipes tears from her cheeks. He stands there a moment, eyes on the ground, then he hears her sniff. He takes a step toward her, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder. The brunette whirls around and shoves hard on his chest, causing him to stumble.

"I don't need you anymore. I don't need anybody. I was better off on my own, I should've stayed that way." She bites back her anger. "But don't worry. I won't make that mistake again." She tells him before walking away.

—

"Leave me alone, Merle." Andie sighs as she tries to walk past him in her cell.

"Don't worry, señorita, this isn't about whatever you did to upset my brother." He tells her, and she rolls her eyes. "You two can settle your own marriage disputes."

"Will you move?" She looks up at him. "I'm done asking nicely."

"I just thought you might like to hear the rest of what happened between Rick and the Governor the other day." He says, his voice growing softer, and her eyebrows furrow.

"What are you talking about?"

"He offered Rick a deal." He whispers. "If Rick gives him Michonne, the Governor will leave the prison alone... Now, I don't think your precious leader has the balls for it, but I'm gonna take her."

"Why... Why are you telling me this?" She questions, tears welling up in her eyes as she realizes that this is all so much worse than she knew.

"Something tells me that if anyone can take on the Governor and win...it's you." He says. "You do whatever you see fit with that information." He turns around and walks away, leaving the teenager standing alone in her cell, completely stunned.

It's a strange pairing, the rock music blaring from the car and the sound of the walkers' groans and snarls. It's been a year since Andie's heard any music at all — apart from Beth's singing — and now it feels almost tainted by the sounds of the dead. Still, she follows it.

The gunfire starts, and she hears the Governor's men yelling as they take out as many walkers as they can shoot. The herd is pretty big, but the brunette has no trouble sneaking past all of them — dead and living alike.

She finds her way into the same abandoned shed that Merle's currently hiding out in, and she kills a walker that was headed toward him. Pulling the knife out of its skull, she moves into the shadows, remaining unseen even by the man she intends to save.

A couple of the governor's men start beating on Merle, but then he joins the mix and drags him away from them. They start fighting, and Andie can see that it's going to go from bad to worse very quickly, so she intervenes.

The teenager runs forward then and rams into the Governor's side, sending him flying through the window that Merle was shooting out of a few minutes ago. The other two start to advance, but come to a halt when she looks up and they see her eyes shining a bright, icy blue.

"What the hell?!" One of them scrambles backward after falling to the ground, and Andie's eyebrows furrow when she sees that the Hispanic man looks relatively unfazed.

The brunette growls, preparing to lunge at him when she sees his eyes turn the same color as hers, but he takes a step back. "It's been a long time since I've come across my own kind." He says, watching her claws return to their normal state.

"That makes two of us."

Martinez puts a bullet in the head of his own man, wanting to preserve his secret. "Get out of here, get ready for what's coming." His eyes turn brown as he backs toward the door, then he runs out to find the Governor's unconscious body.

Andie takes a deep breath as she turns to look at Merle; he blinks as he watches her eyes go from blue to brown.

"What... That's interesting." He says as she looks down. "What are you? You ain't human."

"Werewolf." She tells him, and he starts laughing.

"My brother's gotta love this." He chuckles. "He thinks he saw a Chupacabra once."

"You can't tell him." Andie shakes her head. "You can't tell anyone."

His eyebrows furrow as he looks at her. "Your group doesn't know?" He asks, and she shakes her head before turning around and walking away from him. He's quick to follow.

They get away from the walkers easily enough, then Merle walks a few paces behind her. She purposely keeps herself ahead of him.

"Wait, wait, wait." He jogs to catch up, and she reluctantly slows down. "None of them know?"

"No."

"Why?"

"You saw how the Governor's man reacted." She glances at him. "People either think it's cool and they accept you...or they're afraid of you. It's better to keep this secret, prevents hunters from coming after you."

"Hunters?" He echoes. "People hunt werewolves?"

"Most hunted us."

"I thought this shit only existed in the movies."

"Where do you think the movies got the idea?" She glances at him, and he nods.

"Fair enough." He hums. "You ain't ever gonna tell 'em?"

"No. And you better keep your mouth shut too."

"Well, don't I feel special." He smiles, and she rolls her eyes at him. "How exactly did you manage to keep this secret for so long?"

"It's a long, exhausting story." Andie sighs. "Cliff Notes version — my mom found a way to, uh, to kind of put a cap on my abilities. That's the first time I've been able to turn in years."

"What abilities?"

"I'm not getting into this with you." She shakes her head.

"You can't not tell me." He argues. "I just found out that werewolves are real, and my savior is one of 'em."

"If I tell you, will it get this out of your system?" She asks. "And you'll keep your mouth shut about what you saw and what I am."

"Scout's honor." He says, and she scoffs.

"Like you were ever a Boy Scout." She mutters. "I have a stronger sense of smell, heightened hearing, sharper eyesight, increased sense of strength."

"All that and you look part dog." He chuckles when she shoves on his arm, calling him an asshole. "You don't think they'd accept you?"

"That's not a risk I'm willing to take."

"Mm. And that's saying something for you, ain't it?" He looks over at her. "So, what exactly got capped off when your mom...did whatever she did?"

"All of it." She sighs. "Mostly the shifting — I couldn't do that at all anymore. The rest of it got dulled, but it was still stronger than what most humans have."

"Huh... I knew there was something about you."

"Good for you. Leave it alone now."

"Wait, why can you turn now?" Merle asks, but she shakes her head.

"I don't know."

They round a corner in a neighborhood and see Daryl headed toward them. His eyebrows furrow as he looks between Andie and his older brother. "What's going on here?"

"He was trying to get us killed." Andie says as she keeps walking, and the Dixon men follow after her.

"Hey, why did you keep coming to save me after you knew I let Michonne go?" Merle asks, but she doesn't answer. "Aw, did you save me because you love my brother?"

"Fuck you."

"I'm growin' on you, ain't I?" He asks, and she turns to face them as she walks backward, clearly annoyed. "Yeah, I know. Fuck me." He says, and she starts walking correctly again.