"What the hell was that?" I asked my brother.

"It looked like a dead person." Daryl stared at the walking monster he had just shot with his crossbow.

"Dead don't walk, dumbass." Merle stood behind us as we observed the monster. Daryl was the first to take a step forward. Merle did not move from his position as I followed close behind Daryl, ready to have my brother's back in case anything went down.

"Look," he pointed to the dead thing. "That is a freakin' person. He just tried to attack you, Air."

"No shit! That sumbitch tried to bite me."

"Oh, shut the hell up, Ariel. You complain too God damn much." Furiously, I turned towards Merle to give him a good beating.

"At least I ain't no little bitch, standing behind my younger brother and sister!" My arm flung. It was about an inch from Merle's mouth, when Daryl jolted me back.

"'Member last time you tried that, he nearly killed you." He held his arms around my built stomach. "Now can the both of you calm the hell down so we can figure out what exactly is goin' on?"

Merle stared into my glaring blue eyes with a grin upon his lips. "Yeah, can we little sista?"

"Whatever. Just let me go," I demanded. Daryl released me and continued his investigation. I wasn't in the mode to stick around and hear about his findings. I stormed off, more dramaticly then usual.

"Ariel, get your ass back here," Merle called.

Without taking another look at them, I shouted, "Screw both of ya'll."

Two week later

"Listen, we need a stable place to stay. We can't just keep running through the forest. Those crazy ass things are everywhere."

"And where we gonna go?" Daryl snapped at me.

Merle chuckled when I jumped back slightly. "You are as weak as him," said Merle as he pointed to Daryl.

"Will you just go and get the hell outta here. You ain't an asset. You're gonna get us all killed." Merle and I never got along very well. He never liked the fact that he had a sister. He didn't have any respect for women and thought they should be in the kitchen all day or pleasing him when he wanted it. Since I refused to stay in the house for even a second and there was no way in hell I would do anything to please him, he hated me. I loved to show him up when I would kill a deer and all he could get was a squirrel. That really sent him over the edge.

"Well, I vote we find a place that got a lot of ass. I need to get me some."

"Fucking disgusting," was all I could manage to say.

"Merle, will you please get your damn mind outta the gutter so we can come up with something. And Air," Daryl was the only one to call me by that nickname. "Leave him alone. Why can't you guys just cut this crap out?" Merle and I have been going at it nonstop since the beginning of the outbreak. Daryl was starting to lose his patience with the both of us.

Daryl walked ahead, keeping his crossbow ready to fire. He was the best tracker in Georgia and knew these woods better then anyone. It all looked the same to me. All I could see was different shades of green that were brighter when the sun shown through the roof of the trees. Daryl was able to find smaller things more significant. To me, it felt as if we were traveling in circles, but I trusted Daryl's instincts better then my own.

Finally, Daryl put his hand up, signaling us to stop. He began to walk slowly, cautiously towards the edge of the trees. I readied my gun and followed pursuit. It was at that moment when I realized that we had found something I thought I would never lay my eyes on again. Not that I was too happy about seeing this but at least I knew the world hadn't completely ended. People were carrying out their lives in a small little community outside of the city. There were men, women, children. The whole nine yards. Civilization still existed.

I lowered my fire arm. Daryl still had his up. He didn't seem as surprised as I had been. Looking back at Merle, I spoke quietly, not wanting the people to hear us. "Lower your guns, you idiots. They have children in there." Daryl obeyed quickly but Merle was a different story.

"Look, I ain't got to listen to you. Just 'cause you're my sister doesn't mean I can't hit you." His threats were nothing new to me.

"Merle, shut the hell up and listen to her for once in your life." Daryl was beyond pissed at this point. "There's children in there, dumbass."

Merle thought to himself for a brief second, then lowered the gun reluctantly. "Well we ain't gonna stay here, are we? We can just take the shit we need and get out."

"Use your brain, asshole. We can't just hold them at gunpoint. There's more of them then us. Meybe this is our chance to survive. Maybe we can stay here and live with other people." I tried to insist to Merle that this could be the best thing to happen to us.

He had become even more pissed then before. He was no longer quiet. "Well then-"

Merle's bitching was cut off by a woman who called, "Shane. Shane I hear something." Merle's hissy fit had given us away. We had all fallen silent, hoping that they wouldn't bother to listen to her.

A man responded to the woman's cries. "What? What did you hear?" He ran over to the woman who made the complaint as fast as he could go. Something about him intrigued me. He was a rather large man with broad shoulders. His muscles were pressed against his plain gray t-shirt and his head wore a police baseball cap. Under the cap was what appeared to be curly, dark hair. This was the man I assumed was Shane.

I stepped forward, as if I was attracted to him like a magnet. Daryl grabbed my arm. "Air, what the hell are you doin'?" I jerked away and took a few more steps until I was out in the sunlight, out in the open.

Shane stared at me. He seemed to be speechless at first. I didn't know what to say either. After an awkward silence, Shane finally spoke. "Shane Walsh." He walked toward me with his right hand out.

I took his hand and shook it firmly. "Ariel Dixon." Again there was silence. He stared into my eyes and didn't release my hand. My eyes were fixed on his as well. The dark chocolate coloring in them made my soul melt. The stillness was then broken when Daryl emerged from the bushes.

"Daryl Dixon," Daryl said with his hand held out. This was very unusual. Daryl wasn't the kind to do this sort of thing. "I'm her brother."

Shane grabbed his hand. "Shane." He introduced himself again.

I was in some sort of trance but I still manage to speek. "Our brother Merle is over there. He ain't much of a people person." That was when Merle came out into the open. "We were lookin' for a place to stay. You have any room?" I could feel that Daryl and Merle weren't happy with my question, but I couldn't care less. We needed something like this.

"Yeah. You can set up where ever you like," Shane said with a smile. "When ya'll are ready I'll introduce you to the rest of the group."

"Thank you." My eyes still hadn't left his.

"No problem. Do you guys need help setting up?"

"No, we got it." Daryl had a harsh tone in his voice. I was definately, with no doubt, going to hear about this later.

Daryl, Merle, and I set up our tent. We only had one, so Daryl had to sleep in between Merle and me. Otherwise, things would get ugly.

Once the tent was up, we grabbed our stuff and started to pack it inside. "That Shane guy couldn't keep his eyes off you, baby sister." Merle had the worst timing to bring up stupid shit like this.

"Piss off, Merle."

"Don't tell me to piss off. You couldn't stop looking at him either. You two want each other." Merle began to make his sex noises to try to push my buttons.

"Jesus Christ, Merle. Give it a rest." Daryl really was as tired as I was with Merle's bull. "And you," Daryl turned to me. What the hell? I didn't do anything this time. "You stay away from him. There's something off with him and you ain't got to be part of it. Merle was right. The way he looked at you made me want to punch him in the face. Now you keep away from him, understand?"

I was slightly offened by the way that Daryl was treating me right now. "Daryl, I ain't no child. If I want to talk to him, I will. He seems fine to me."

"I don't care what he seems like to you. I just care about your life. For some reason, I feel like he would end yours." Daryl's explanation stunned me. "Promise me you will stay away from him."

Daryl's explanation gave me no choice. "Yeah I promise. But if he comes over to me and starts talkin', I'm not gonna risk them kicking us out because I ignored him. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it." Silence fell between the three of us, while we finished unpacking. It was a rare occasion. Merle usually had something stupid to say, but didn't.

Shortly after we were done unpacking, we decided that it was a good time to meet people. Before we headed out, Merle stooped us. "Don't get too close to these people. Once we been here long enough, we're gonna rob this place blind and get the hell out." Instead of arguing, I nodded in agreement.