Daryl and Merle Dixon drove down the road in a dusty brown pick-up truck that belonged to their father. They ran away from home because of the outbreak. It was traumatizing to see their neighbors come up from behind their father and just tear him limb from limb. They didn't know Mrs. Reese and her kids had it in them, if that was Mrs. Reese's family.
"What in the hell were those things, Merle?" Daryl asked a rugged older brother.
"I dunno, baby brother, but I won't let those things get you." Merle said as he continued driving, he noticed on the dashboard, there was the picture of Daryl, Merle, and their parents, smiling over the stag that their father was holding with a hunter's pride. He also noticed that they were running on fumes of gasoline at this point, but they were so close to that camping spot they used to go to with their father when they were kids. Now, being 30 and 28 respectively, they were going without a father. Suddenly, the engine began to sputter.
"Shit! Not now!" Merle cursed as they pulled off to the side of the road, and banged the dashboard.
"Man… this sucks." Daryl said. "We won't get to the camp spot before dark."
"Oh yes we will," Merle said, "Get your stuff, we're hoofin' it." Merle said, getting out of the car, followed by Daryl. Daryl got his duffle bag, and the crossbow he got as a birthday present from his dad, while Merle got his bag, the tent, and food bag he packed before they left home. They started walking down the road, away from their father's pick-up truck.
Ten minutes down the road, they took a right down a side street where they would go to get to their campsite. But they heard some shuffling in the woods to the right of them. The two brothers looked at each other, and walked into the woods to the left of them.
"That was a close call." Daryl whispered.
"It was, baby brother, now people may already be there, so we need to be careful not to cause any alarm." Merle said.
"Got it… Merle look out!" Daryl said, then exclaimed as a walker came up from in front of them, and attacked Merle, who was fighting to get it off of him.
"Gah! Dammit!" Merle said as he pushed it off, meanwhile, another came up behind Daryl, and made him fall over. The walker straddled Daryl while Daryl tried to push him off, but the walker had better muscles than he did. It almost got to Daryl's neck, when an arrow pierced through its head and killed it.
Daryl pushed the walker off, and looked in the direction that the arrow came from, it came from a young man wearing a T-shirt under and orange flannel, dark blue jeans, and a pair of brown and black boots. On his face he had a pair of goggles, and a bandana over his mouth. He ran over to Merle and kicked the walker off Merle, and curb-stomped it in the face.
"Are you two alright?" the young man asked, taking off his goggles and bandana, revealing his face. But there was more growling from behind them.
"Come on, we have to go, follow me." The young man said, helping the two brothers up to their feet.
"Wait! Who in the hell are ya?" Merle demanded, pulling a gun out on the young man.
"Look, what you want to do, whether getting killed by a mob or fleeing to safety, I'm not stopping you, but I have a good understanding that you'll both survive longer in safety," The young man said, looking at Merle, "Oh and speaking of safety, your gun's is on." The young man added walking on.
Merle looked at his gun, blushed, and then growled while he gestured Daryl to go with the young man. Meanwhile Merle took the safety off the gun, and followed closely alongside his brother. They came to a reinforced, metal and wood fence and a gate that had wooden spikes and sentry guards.
"Lewis! It's Chase!" the young man called up to one of the sentries.
"Chase! Who are those guys?" Lewis, a sentry guard with bark brown messy hair asked. "Did they get bit?"
"No, they had a run in with some walkers, but they seem unscathed." Chase said after looking at the two brothers.
"Open the gate, Scott!" Lewis shouted down to behind the gate, the gate opened partway, and Chase gestured to go through the gate, which they reluctantly proceeded through. They looked and saw rows of tents and campers, and many people cooking and talking, kids playing, and some people even stopped what they were doing and looked at the new arrivals. Daryl and Merle were surprised at the amount of people in the camp. But then, a familiar face recognized them and walked toward them.
"Daryl! Merle! It's great to see ya!" a burly man said, hugging the younger brother and then the older brother.
"Bill! It's good to see ya too!" Daryl exclaimed, getting squeezed by his father's best friend.
"Yeah, how's the unit?" Merle asked.
"Oh they're great, Riley and Sandy are doing well, they're with Melinda right now, where's Beck?" Bill asked with a smile on his face. But his face dropped when he saw the look on their faces. "… I see… So he was gotten."
"Mrs. Reese and 'er kids got 'em." Daryl said, trying not to tear up.
"Damn… Well I bet he's glad it wasn't you two. You two are his pride and joy." Bill said, "But don't you two worry, we reserved your favorite spot for you two."
"Why thank you, Bill, that's mighty kind of ya." Merle said with a redneck grin.
Chase then went over to the three rednecks. "Well, you are all clear, if you guys want I can give you guys a tour." Chase said, smiling.
Daryl looked at Chase up and down, but he shook his head. "Nah, we alright." Daryl said to Chase.
"Oh, okay, well I'll be by later to give you two some blankets and food." Chase said, smiling.
"Thanks, little man, and thanks for savin' our backs, but we could have handled them without your fancy sharpshooting skills." Merle said, sneering at Chase.
"I see. Well, have a good stay." Chase said, with a smaller smile, and walked away.
"Come on, Melinda is worried about you two." Bill said, leading the two brothers over to his camper.
Melinda was sitting by the camper, looking at Riley and Sandy play with the other kids. Melinda looked at them running when her eyes caught sight of Bill walking toward the camper with Daryl and Merle walking behind him. She stood up and walked over to the three men. She was a medium-built woman with long red hair, wearing a crimson blouse, dark cerulean jeans, and brown boots that went over the ends of her jeans.
"Bill! You found them!" Melinda said, hugging and kissing her husband. Then she went over to Daryl and hugged him tightly, almost choking him.
"Haha! Well, that kid Chase found 'em actually." Bill said, smiling. Melinda then hugged Merle, lifting him off the ground.
"Whohoa there, missy." Merle said, smirking at Melinda.
"I'm so glad you two are alive and well." Melinda exasperated.
"Yeah, I am too." Merle said, "This boy almost got his face bitten off." Merle added patting Daryl on his back.
"Shut up, I was about to kill that thing." Daryl said, smirking at his big brother.
"Well, Riley and Sandy will help make your tent, they can make up a tent in under 20 minutes," Melinda said, "How about you get familiar with this place? Dinner will be ready in several hours."
"I'm gonna take a load off, I've been driving all day." Merle said, going over to the camper, and setting his stuff down inside the camper.
"Alright Merle, I'll be back later." Daryl said, setting his stuff down in the camper and then, leaving to check out the camp.
Daryl looked around and saw some guys who lived around his way, he saw some women and men that he went to high school with, and their kids. He passed by a tent where he saw Chase going out and toward the shower hall with a bag full of a change of clothes, a towel, and cleaning products. Daryl looked at Chase walking, and walked in the direction of the shower hall. Daryl saw Chase going into the showers, so he looked around, and saw a tree near the window, he took off his boots, and started climbing up the tree.