TWD: Merle - Chapter 2: Rescue Operation Underway (Patreon)

After putting away his binoculars, Wade pulled the Glock 19 from his Storage Space, raised it, and fired a shot into the air.

“Bang!”

The gunshot caught the attention of Merle, who had been kneeling on the ground cursing God. He hurriedly scrambled to his feet and looked over. On a rooftop more than a hundred meters away, there seemed to be someone standing there.

That shot just now... Did that kid fire it?!

Merle immediately broke into a grin, revealing a mouthful of yellowed teeth. Laughing through his tears, he shouted,

“Holy shit! I knew it! I fucking knew it! Fuck the walkers, fuck Rick, fuck T-Dog! Hahahaha! God... God is on my side! Hahahaha!”

Still laughing wildly, he frantically waved his left hand to show that he had seen Wade.

Wade waved back, then tucked the pistol into his waistband.

He slowly exhaled and rolled his neck, hoping his Level 7 Strength and Level 6 Speed would be enough to get him across the distance between them.

Otherwise, he would have no choice but to watch Merle saw off his own hand and then find some way to escape.

He wanted to save the man, but not at the cost of his own life. At least for now, Wade wasn’t willing to take that kind of risk.

On the other rooftop, once Merle’s initial excitement died down, he clearly realized just how badly his outburst had backfired.

He turned toward the white door that represented his only way out. It was now being slammed much harder and faster than before.

Wade had already disappeared from view, leaving Merle with nothing to do but pray.

“Oh, holy shit. Run faster. Come on, bro, run faster.”

After judging the distance, Wade broke into a sprint across the rooftop. To lighten his load, he quietly transferred everything in his backpack into his Storage Space.

He built up speed, pushed off hard, and launched himself through the air, clearing an alley more than three meters wide in a single leap.

He hit the ground in a roll, sprang back to his feet, ignored the walkers shambling toward him, and immediately charged toward the next rooftop.

More than ten minutes later, he finally reached the building closest to the rooftop where Merle was trapped.

But from here, he could no longer travel across the rooftops.

What separated the two buildings was no longer a narrow alley, but an entire street packed with walkers.

By now, Merle could finally get a good look at the person coming to rescue him.

He looked like a very young Asian guy, probably around the same age as Glenn.

He was tall, though, with a short buzz cut, a tactical backpack on his back, and knives strapped to both his waist and thigh.

Definitely not someone who looked easy to mess with.

Merle silently formed his first impression, then put on the friendliest smile he could manage and waved.

Wade waved back, but now he had another problem.

How was he supposed to get inside Merle’s building?

Then an idea struck him, and he ran toward the other side of the rooftop.

Sure enough, most of the walkers in this area had been drawn away by the commotion Rick and the others had made while escaping. There weren’t many left, and behind them was another fire escape.

Wade gestured for Merle to stay calm, then quickly headed downstairs.

He had to move fast. If too many walkers gathered before he crossed the street, trying to force his way through them would be suicide.

A few minutes later, Wade reached the ground floor and glanced outside.

The number of walkers hadn’t increased. In fact, they were still steadily moving in the direction Rick and the others had fled.

It was doable.

Taking a breath, Wade burst out from the corner and sprinted straight toward the alley, ignoring the walkers around him.

He kicked the nearest walker away, sending it crashing into the walkers behind it. Taking advantage of the opening, he rushed to the fire escape and climbed onto it in just a few quick movements.

Something seemed to brush across the sole of his boot.

Wade looked down.

Countless hands were reaching upward, desperately trying to drag him back down.

He gave a dismissive snort and ignored them, continuing up the fire escape. Before long, he successfully climbed onto the rooftop.

“Oh, fuck! Man, you’re a goddamn angel!”

Wade smiled.

“You guessed wrong. I’m definitely not.”

With that, he walked over to the locked door first.

He drew the hunting knife from his waist and thrust it through the gap beside the door, stabbing the walkers on the other side through their eye sockets one after another.

Squelch. Squelch. Squelch.

After a few quick strikes, Wade killed every walker that had been trying to force its way through the door.

Only then did he walk over to Merle.

He bent down, picked up a hammer from the tool bag on the ground, and gave it a small lift.

“Hey, man. Ready?”

“Sure. Just don’t smash my fucking hand. Even if you saved my life, I’d still have a few words for your whole damn family.”

“Heh. You won’t get the chance.”

Wade raised the hammer and brought it down hard on the rusted support.

The sheer force of the impact sent a numbing shock through Merle’s wrist.

“Holy shit, man! What the hell did you do before all this?”

Wade didn’t answer.

Instead, he swung again with even more force.

With a harsh metallic screech that set their teeth on edge, the rusted support snapped apart.

“All right. Congratulations, you’re free again.”

Wade tossed the hammer aside and casually shook out his sore, tingling wrist.

The handcuff was still locked around Merle’s wrist, but compared to being stuck here until the walkers ate him alive, that was hardly a problem.

Merle grinned as he pulled his arm free, his rough voice dropping into a low rumble.

“Thanks, man. Got anywhere to go? Wanna come with me?”

Hearing the footsteps around them growing louder, Wade nodded.

“Sure.”

Merle gave Wade a heavy slap on the arm.

“Come on. We’re heading back. I’ll even treat you to a free boxing match when we get there. Oh, right. Merle Dixon. That’s my name, and from now on, I’m your boss.”

Wade snorted.

“A guy who got himself chained to a rooftop doesn’t qualify to be my boss. As for my name, Wade Lin. Your boss, starting now.”

Merle froze for a moment, then burst into loud laughter.

“Hahahahaha! We’ll see about that!”

Wade glanced toward the locked door.

The walkers had started slamming against it again, apparently drawn over by the loud hammering from earlier.

“You’ll come around. But right now, we need to get moving.”

Merle walked over and picked up the Winchester M70 hunting rifle he had dropped earlier, resting it on his shoulder.

“Let’s go, man. I’m already getting impatient.”

What he was so eager to do was obvious, and Wade had no intention of trying to stop him.

The reason was simple.

Wade wasn’t the one who had been chained to a rooftop, so why the hell should he tell Merle to forgive and forget?

Besides, if this hot-tempered bastard didn’t vent his anger today and kept it bottled up instead, Wade had no doubt he would eventually kill T-Dog during some future outing.

There was no question about it. Merle, that racist old white bastard, was absolutely capable of doing it.

Other than Daryl, there really wasn’t anyone he wouldn’t kill.