Chapter 1

Violet was standing on the side of the road with her bags in her hand trying to wave cars down to stop and help her, but none of them did. She stood there for a good hour before anyone stopped. To her surprise it was a truck with two men in it. "Well c'mon blondie get on in, we ain't gonna bite." He said to her as he laughed. She decided she'd rather take her chances with them than on the road so she got in after placing all except one of her bags in the back. "Thank you guys, you have no idea how long I've been out here for. I didn't think anyone was gonna help me. My names Violet, and you are..?" "Well I'm Merle Dixon and this here's my brother Daryl. Nice to meet ya sweetheart." Said the man who was driving who she now knew as Merle Dixon. "Well nice to meet you guys too, where we headed?" She asked as she looked in the mirror and started applying eyeliner. "Atlanta." Daryl said quietly.

After a moment of silence Merle spoke. "Why you bothering putting that shit on anyways? I mean it's the end of the world not like it's a beauty contest." "Well.." Violet started. "..better chance of someone helping me out if I look pretty. Its pretty dumb how shallow people are, but if that means taking five minutes to put this shit on could save my life so be it." She said smiling at them. That made Daryl smirk. "Makes sense, so where ya from anyways sweetheart?" Merle asked. "Again with the nicknames? Well if ya must know redneck I'm from a small town outside of Atlanta. I was on my way to work when my car broke down and all this crazy shit started happening. That's why I'm dressed like this." She said referring to her slightly unbuttoned white button up shirt and tight black skirt. "I work..or worked as a bartender in Atlanta while I went to school studyin' the field of medical marijuana, was about three quarters of the way done studyin' to be a doctor when I decided to switch career paths so I basically had to start over again." This seemed to interest Merle. "Medical marijuana, eh? Interesting.." He said trailing off.

After a while the truck got caught in a traffic jam, everyone was stopped. "I'm gonna go out and see what's happening." Violet said as she grabbed her machete opening the truck door. "I'll come too, we don't know what's out there." Daryl said giving her a nod. When they walked out they found a woman and a man with a child who couldn't be more than twelve. "Hi my names Violet and this redneck here.." She said pointing to Daryl. ".. is Daryl, do you have any idea what's going on?" Violet asked forcing a smile on her face. "Hi I'm Lori, this is Shane and this here is little Carl. We saw them..dropping bombs on Atlanta..it was so horrible." Lori said as she tried holding back tears. "We're gonna go set up camp in the forest with a few others, you guys are welcome to join us the more the better." The man named Shane said. "Well I'm up for that, how 'bout you Dixon?" Violet asked. "Might as well, ain't like there's anywhere else to go." He said roughly. "Okay well why don't you go tell Merle and I'll go see if there's anyone else who wants to come with us." Violet said softly. Daryl just grunted and walked to go find his brother.

Eventually Violet came across a young Asian guy who looked to be about twenty-two. She approached him giving him a sweet smile. "Hey my names Violet and I've got a few others who are gonna set up camp near the forest, should be pretty safe and you seem nice enough. Wanna join us?" She said as she reached a hand out for him to shake. He took her hand and spoke. "I'm Glenn, but yeah uh sure that would be great. I was actually looking for somewhere to go now that Atlantas fallen." Her and Glenn talked for a while, she told him how she was a waitress and what she was studying. She also told him about some of her hobbies which included hunting, fixing cars, fishing, and drums. They told each other all about their life before and when their birthdays are and who their parents were. It was nice. "Wow, well you're definitely more exciting than I am, I'm just a pizza delivery boy." He said looking down. "Well think of this as a chance to restart your life, a fresh start." She said smiling at him. "Besides its not like what job you have defines who you are, as long as you're a good person that's all that matters. God what I would give for pizza, knowing that I'll probably never have it again." She said as she laughed. Glenn disappeared to his car. A moment later he re appeared with a box of pizza holding it out to her. "Here I was supposed to deliver it, but looks like it doesn't matter now." He said as he laughed and took a slice himself. "Thanks Glenn, that's really sweet of you!" She exclaimed as she took a slice and smiled at him.

When she brought him back to the others everyone seemed happy to see them. He gave everyone a slice of pizza sneaking Violet an extra slice while he winked at her. She just smiled and gave him a quick hug of appreciation. After everyone was done their pizza Violet and the Dixon boys walked back to the truck and drove off to camp. "Got any music?" Violet asked Daryl. "Nope." He muttered. She rummaged through her bag grabbing a Motley Crue CD out and handed it to him. "Put this in then." She said smiling at him. "You like the Crue? Shit woulda never guessed." He said as he took it and put it in. "Like them? Um no I fucking love them, and there's a lot you don't know about me redneck." She said giving him a quick wink as she laughed. He couldn't help but to smile back.

Eventually they got to a place they decided to call their camp. "Fucking fuck I knew I shoulda brought a tent." Violet muttered to herself. "Well darlin' you're more than welcome to sleep in mine and my baby brothers tent if ya like." Merle said giving her a smile. "Well thanks redneck, much appreciated." She said as she smiled at him and laughed. "I've got dibs on the cot though, sorry sweetheart I'm not that much of a gentleman, unless you wanna share it." Merle said winking at her. "Merle stop bein' such a fuckin' pig, give the lady a break I'm sure bein' a bartender and all she got hit on enough by guys like you." Daryl said sounding annoyed at his brother. "Aw little baby brothers got a crush, huh? Well watch out I might have a nice little cuddle buddy tonight." Merle replied. Violet laughed. "No thanks sweetheart, I'll be takin' my sleepin' bag." She replied causing Daryl to laugh.

They finally got their tent set up along with everything inside it. "I'm gonna go get changed, do you mind staying out front of the tent while I do that? Just to make sure your brother doesn't come in pretending he forgot something." Violet asked as she laughed to herself. Daryl couldn't help but laugh too. "Man you know my brother better than he knows himself, yeah I can do that for ya." A few minutes later Violet came back out saying that it was safe to come in. Violet didn't want Merle to accidently step on her if he got up in the middle of the night so her and Daryls sleeping bags were practically right beside each other. Violet could hear Merle snoring so she turned her back to Daryl and began to silently cry. For a minute she just sat there crying then out of nowhere Daryl put his hand on her shoulder in a comforting way. He didn't say anything he just laid there with his hand on her shoulder as they drifted off to sleep.