Full Summary: Alex Montgomery has been running her whole life. Now that the world is over she is still running. But this time she is running straight into Merle Dixon's arms. "You ain't gotta run anymore. Just stay."-Merle

Carol Peletier has never experienced real love or affection. All her life she has lived an abusive life. But now with the world over, she may finally find the love she has been searching for from a rough redneck named Daryl Dixon. "Don't compare me to him because I ain't him and I ain't gotta hurt you."-Daryl

Sophia Peletier has never been allowed to live her own life without the worry about being hurt for making the wrong decisions. When she meets Hunter Dixon, a boy who is more rebellious and reckless than anyone she has ever met before, he encourages to live life to the fullest and be who she wants to be. "Rules are meant to be broken."-Hunter

Andrea Harrison has always been the second choice. She has never been anyone's first choice. She was never truly wanted nor needed. Not until Bow Dixon entered her life. He wants and needs her, something that scares the both of them. "I never needed anyone. But I come to find that I can't live without you, darling."-Bow

AN: This will follow season 1 and 2, but with some of my own things added and changed. After season 2 it will not follow the show. In this Daryl and Merle have a brother, middle brother, and Merle will also have a son, Hunter. Sophia and Carl will be sixteen and not eleven, or twelve, however old they were in season one. Now for the story.

Chapter One-

The trees were beginning to blur and spots of black were beginning to seep in. Her head felt heavy, almost as if it was to heavy for her shoulders to bear. Her eyes were just as heavy. They kept wanting to shut, to give into the darkness, but she refused to let them. She pushed forward, her limbs shaking from the energy it was burning. She hadn't eaten in days and the lack of food was beginning to hit her hard. She can't even remember when the last time she had any water in her was. She almost was beginning to look and smell like a walker now. She had dirt all over her, her hair was a tangled mess, and her clothes were torn. She had nothing, but the clothes on her back. She can't remember how long she has run, but she doesn't stop, too afraid of what's behind her. Blood seeps through her fingers that rest on her stomach. Her breath comes in short pants as she presses her unoccupied hand to a tree, trying to get back some much-needed air and energy. Her body trembled under the stress she was pushing it through. But she knew if she stopped now then she would never get back up and if she gave into the darkness then she'll never wake back up.

With another huff, she pushes off the tree and returns to running, but her energy wasn't up anymore and she was beginning to sway as she walked. "Shit." She curses as she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop herself from seeing double. She heard a noise to her right, causing her to take a deep breath and pull out her hunting knife, it was the only weapon of defense that she had on her. She turned, maybe too quickly, and almost goes tumbling down. "Shit." She pants as she clung to a tree, trying to keep herself upright.

"Hey, are you okay?" She looked up and saw a man standing there. He was rugged looking. Tall, muscular, and rough. He had buzzed hair that looks to be chestnut colored and his eyes looked like cobalt. The man is dressed in a pair of jeans, a plain muscle shirt, and boots that looked like they could break your face in. He had a crossbow in one hand and a string of what appears to be squirrels in the other. "Hey, lady. Aw, shit." She fell to the ground, the darkness consuming her.

Bow Dixon looks down at the woman with a huff. "I just need you to go check the traps, maybe shoot a few squirrels, it ain't nothing." His voice goes into a high pitch, obviously trying to imitate someone. "Yeah, well, baby brother, this sure as hell won't be easy." Bow kneels down by the woman and pulls back her tank top. The woman looked like she has been through hell. Dressed in nothing, but a pair of shorts, a tank top, and barefooted, it appears as if she just ran without bothering putting her shoes on. Her pale skin was covered in a thick layer of dirt and grime. Her dark red hair was a rat's nest and looked like it hadn't been washed in a while. Her emerald eyes had been bloodshot before she fainted. She looked young, but that may have to do with her chubby cheeks, her pouty lips, and big baby doll eyes. She has a small oval-shaped head, all of her was small. She couldn't be more than five feet tall and she is very thin like she hadn't eaten in days. She was more than half the size of Bow and she looked as if she has been through hell.

As Bow looked under the tank top he saw that she had whole gone straight through, which he can only assume is a bullet hole with the way it looked. "Damn girl, what the hell did y'all get yourself into?" Bow looks around, trying to figure out what he should do, but there was only one option and he really hated it. "We're a mile from camp and it appears I'm packing you." He huffed and put the strap of his crossbow over his head, causing the crossbow to rest on his back. He moved his arms under her legs and under her head before lifting her with a grunt. "For a small fry, you sure are heavy." He carried her through the woods, humming under his breath. "I don't the boys will be too thrilled with this. Bringing in some young thing with a bullet wound. Best hurry too if I want to bring you back alive."

The camp was alive with chatter from the gossiping women and the time-wasting men. Merle spits to the side as he looked around. It was like this every day. The woman would do the cooking and the cleaning, but spend most of it just talking and having a good time like the world hasn't ended. Merle could deal with the woman chatting away because it made them relax and be happy. It made them not worry and become frightful of every little thing, so Merle could tolerate the chatting. What he could not tolerate were the men that made a big show of doing something, but spending hours doing it because they like to waste as much as they could. Dale was supposed to be fixing the RV, but he'd been fixing that since they first showed up in camp weeks ago and yet it is still 'broken'. Shane was supposed to be getting the water for them to boil, but that was this morning and now it was late afternoon. It only took two hours to get the water, at the most. T-Dog had been chopping wood for the past two hours and the pile wasn't getting any bigger. All of them wasted more time standing around and staring off at the scenery or talking to others that by the time they finish the Dixons have already done ten times their work. Daryl had finished cleaning and dressing his kills. Daryl had finished reorganizing the tent. Daryl got wood for their campfire. Daryl cleaned his bow. Merle cleaned out the firepit, cleaned his guns and knives, finishing cleaning and dressing his kills, got their water for the day, and even had time to bathe and smoke.

It was pathetic how long it took them to do things. He hated procrastinators. If you got shit to do then do it, don't waste time thinking about it. Merle shakes his head and spits again before looking out at the woods. Bow's been gone for a while now. He didn't know how far he went to check those traps, but he should have been back by now. Merle frowns as he looked around the camp. Daryl was off cleaning up, while Hunter... Merle's frowns grows. Hunter was M.I.A. "Goddamn it kid." Merle growls as he stands up, his eyes searching for the sixteen-year-old. He knew Hunter could take care of himself, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that the kid likes to stir shit up and cause problems. He took after his old man in that way. Loved to antagonize people and if a fight broke out you didn't have to guess who'd be right there in the midst of it. Hunter loved fighting, loved pissing people off. The kid thinks because he's taller than most kids his age and bigger, he thought he was unstoppable and it was going to get him killed. He was reckless and arrogant and Merle knew one day Hunter would lose.

As Merle scans the area for Hunter he finds Daryl walking back up the road with Hunter by the neck. "Come on, Daryl, I was only kidding." Merle could already hear the teen. His chestnut hair falling into his face, hiding his mischief blue eyes.

"I'm sure your dad won't be seeing it that way." Daryl response back before walking towards Merle.

"What did you go and do now?" Merle asks, annoyance and a hint of anger settling in his words.

"I ain't done nothing wrong." Daryl pushes Hunter, causing the teen to slam into his father.

"He was about to whip his dick out right in front of the women before I got a hold of him."

"I was only kidding." Daryl narrows his eyes at the boy as Merle tried not to laugh. The problem with disciplining Hunter was that he was too much like his father. Merle was in no way shy. He said what he thought and did what he wanted. Merle's sure with the right situation that he would have whipped his dick out in front of a group women too.

"Do I even want to know why?" Merle asks with a huff.

"Carol said she would wash my jeans for me, so I said go ahead."

"And so you started undressing."

"It was a joke. I wasn't really going to." Merle raises an eyebrow.

"That, I highly doubt." Merle says before eyeing his son over.

"When Bow gets back you're dressing and cleaning those kills. You're also going to help blonde hype chick pick mushrooms."

"Amy?" Hunter looked horrified. "But... But... Amy..." Amy was the younger sister to Andrea. Many thought Amy was the better of the two, but Hunter was quick to find out it was not true. Amy was manipulative, selfish, and a total bitch when she wanted to be. The last time Hunter went out in the woods her she practically ripped his jeans off him to give him a blow job. Hunter wouldn't have mind that, but he hated aggressive girls who won't take no for an answer, the only thing that makes him different from his father. He likes submissive, shy, quiet girls and Amy was way too much like Hunter's mother for him to appreciate the offer of getting him off. "She practically raped me last time." Daryl snorts as he takes a seat as Merle grins.

"Take care of Bow's kills, mushroom hunt with the blonde sister, and..." Merle looks around for ideas before smirking. "Help the old man out on his RV and help deputy dick lips with that stupid radio."

"Are you for fucken real?"

"Watch boy." Merle snaps. "You don't talk back to your father. Next time you want to show that baby dick of yours off to women do it when Daryl nor I are around."

"First off, fuck you. Second of all, my dick is huge. Thirdly, go fuck yourself." Merle slaps Hunter in the back of the head, causing him to stumble. It wasn't hard enough to hurt, he'd never actually hurt his son, but it was enough to get Hunter to shut up.

"Get to fucken work with Amy, kid. When your uncle gets back you're cleaning and dressing." Hunter glares before turning and storming off. Daryl chuckles and pulls out his knives to clean. "Got something to say?" Daryl glances up at Merle and manages a small smile.

"You're good with him, but we both know you'd drop them too." Merle grins.

"Don't we know it."

"Merle, Daryl, need a little help over here." Both the brothers turn to see Bow rushing out with an unconscious girl in his arms. "She's been shot."