TWD: Merle - Chapter 19: The Farm (Patreon)

Wade and Hershel walked toward the small cabin, while Merle, Daryl, and the others returned to the pickup trucks and headed for the large grassy area to the south.

Hershel walked ahead and casually asked, "Where are you folks from?"

"A quarry near Atlanta. We got hit by Walkers during the night. Nobody was hurt, but we decided the place wasn't safe anymore, so we headed south to look for a new base."

Maggie, Otis, and the others watched Hershel approach with Wade, the two of them talking casually, and quietly lowered their weapons.

Once they reached the house, Hershel began making introductions.

"These are my two daughters, Maggie and Beth."

"And these are my farmhands. Otis, his wife Patricia, and Jimmy."

Wade nodded politely.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Wade Lin. Just call me Wade."

Everyone nodded and returned the greeting, though there was a clear distance in their voices.

Wade didn't mind. If complete strangers started treating him like an old friend the moment they met, that would be far more suspicious.

After politely excusing himself, Wade returned to their temporary camp. The others were busy pitching tents and organizing their belongings.

Marcus stopped what he was doing when he saw him.

"How'd it go?"

"They agreed. Just don't bother them unless you need to, don't walk around waving your weapons, and stay away from that barn over there. Other than that, we're free to do what we want."

The others looked a little puzzled, but nodded anyway.

Wade nodded as well, then spotted two Walkers slowly making their way toward them in the distance.

He had no idea where they'd spawned from, but they'd probably been drawn by the sound of the trucks earlier.

He retrieved his Recurve Bow from the pickup, estimated the distance, then fired two arrows in quick succession before lowering the weapon.

The arrows streaked through the air and buried themselves in the Walkers' skulls, dropping both of them before they got anywhere near the camp.

"Wow, he's really good with that bow. That's so cool!"

Maggie smacked Beth lightly on the back of the head.

"Quit swooning over him. That guy kills people without even blinking."

Beth pouted.

"I'm not swooning. I'm just saying he's really good."

What stood out more to Hershel was how routine the whole thing seemed. Neither Wade nor any of his companions looked even slightly surprised.

Whatever else could be said about him, Wade was definitely capable.

"Kids, let's focus on our own lives. Try not to deal with them unless you have to, and whatever you do, don't start any trouble with them."

Hershel paused before adding, "Make some extra food for dinner tonight. I'd like everyone to eat together so we can get to know each other."

No one objected, and they all nodded.

Meanwhile, Wade started setting up his own tent. Once everything had been unloaded from the trucks, he took stock of their supplies.

Water was no longer a concern. There was a well not far from their camp.

They still had a decent amount of food, but after adding everything up, it would only last a little over twenty days. They'd need to keep stockpiling.

Their medical supplies were also badly unbalanced. They had plenty of stronger painkillers like morphine, oxycodone, and fentanyl, but only a few boxes of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication.

That made sense. Marcus had mostly handled things like stitching wounds and removing bullets before. Post-operative care hadn't been his responsibility, so naturally, he hadn't stocked much for it.

Then there were weapons and ammunition.

Don't even ask.

There wasn't enough.

Did anyone really think Wade had been joking before? If he learned about a stockpile in the morning, by that afternoon the whole thing would belong to him.

Once he'd finished counting everything and had a rough idea of what they had, Wade grabbed a fire axe, rested it on his shoulder, and walked outside.

Merle glanced over at him.

"What, planning on becoming a lumberjack?"

"Pretty much. I'm going to look around, cut down some trees, and check the perimeter for any weak spots we need to patch."

"Need help?"

"Nah. I'm taking Daryl with me. Might bring back some fresh meat while we're out there. You and Marcus finish setting up camp, and deal with those two Walkers over there too."

"All right."

Merle nodded without insisting on coming along.

Daryl heard them and quickly got himself ready, then came over carrying his crossbow.

Before they could leave, however, Hershel approached with a basket in hand.

"You two heading out?"

"We're going into the woods to check for any potential threats. Figured we'd see if we could hunt something while we're at it."

"All right. Come back early. We're having dinner together tonight, so everyone can get to know each other a little better."

With that, Hershel handed the basket to Wade and walked away.

Wade opened it and found four sandwiches, a piece of cornbread, and a small bowl of cheese cubes.

He handed one sandwich to Daryl, grabbed another for himself, then passed the basket to Marcus.

Wade took a bite, and his eyes lit up.

"Wow. This is actually pretty damn good."

Daryl nodded.

"Mm."

Then he wiped his hands on his clothes and looked at Wade again, clearly telling him with his eyes to hurry up.

Wade gave up on taking his time and finished the rest in a few quick bites.

He turned to Marcus.

"I remember we've still got plenty of smoked venison jerky. Let Hershel try some later."

Marcus nodded.

"Okay. Leave it to me."

With that settled, Wade and Daryl headed south from the camp.

After crossing a wide stretch of grass, they reached the oak fence surrounding the area.

At first glance, every section stood straight, with no obvious leaning or collapsed posts.

Wade grabbed the fence and gave it a shake. It moved slightly, but held its shape.

"Not bad. Should be enough to handle a small Walker horde."

Daryl stepped onto the fence and climbed over.

"I'm gonna scout around. Don't wait for me."

Wade nodded.

"All right. Stay safe. Fire a shot if something happens."

As a precaution, Wade had made everyone except Cathy carry a handgun with a full magazine at all times.

It gave them something to fall back on in an emergency and a quick way to signal the others if they ran into trouble.

Daryl silently nodded, then headed into the woods. It wasn't long before he disappeared from Wade's sight.

Wade began his own inspection.

After all, in the original show, Dale had been caught off guard by a Walker.

Wade had no intention of letting one of his own people die such a stupid death.

He carved a mark into the section of fence beside him, then started working his way left, stopping every so often to give the fence a firm shake.

If it couldn't even withstand that much force from him, there was no chance it would hold back Walkers.

He hadn't gone fifty meters before he found a section that felt unusually loose.

Wade gave it a light push.

The fence snapped in two.

He stared at it for two seconds.

"What the fuck? Is this thing messing with me?"

For some reason, he suddenly felt like a kid who'd broken something and was worried someone might catch him.

He glanced behind him.

Good.

Nobody had seen that.

Then things got even worse.

It wasn't just that one section.

The entire stretch of fence was bad.

Wade put a hand on the next section and gave it a shake.

The support post creaked loudly, producing a grating sound that made his teeth hurt.

Wade: ?