There it is, walking right in front of me, unknowing of the danger that lurks close by. As long as it stays upwind of me, it'll never know I'm here. I slowly stand up, drawing back on the string of my bow, ready to let the arrow fly.

Crunch!

At that moment, the buck I had been tracking lifts its head up and rapidly bounds through the woods. I turn my head to see my life-long friend coming up behind me. "Daryl flippin' Dixon," I hissed, "I know you know how to walk quietly and now you've just cost me the biggest buck I've ever seen!"

"Sorry Ava," He shrugged, "but Merle just texted me. Said he's got something real big for us." I blew the bangs that lay on my forehead away from my eyes and jabbed a finger at his shoulder, "It'd better be something good or else you're makin' squirrel a la mode for dinner again."

Daryl smirked and tugged on the end of my braid. "Aw c'mon, A. You know you love it." He turned around and headed back the way he came. I slid the bow over my shoulder and followed behind him.

When we made it back to our camp, Daryl set his crossbow against a tree. "Merle! Where are ya?" A few seconds later, Merle came walking through the trees with something in a black bag over his shoulder. "I'm right here baby brother. No need to alert everyone where we're at."

I watched as he dropped the bag on the ground. With my arms crossed over my chest, I cocked an eyebrow at him. "What was so important that you had Daryl interrupt the biggest buck I had in my sights? And what's in the bag?" Merle crouched down, wiping his hands on his jeans. "Now sweetcheeks, no need to get snippy. Once ya see what's in this bag, you'll forget all about that buck."

He reached for the zipper and as he pulled it back, I saw Daryl take a step forward and exclaim, "Dammit Merle! You didn't?!" Hearing this peaked my interest so I took a few steps forward. When I got close enough to see what was inside, my hand flew up to cover my mouth. While some of the bag was pulled away, I saw a pair of legs with dirty jeans and muddy boots.

I took a step back, "Fuckin' hell Merle! What were you thinkin'? You went and killed somebody?!" I stuck my hand into my pocket to grab my phone. Before I could pull it out, I felt a hand grip my wrist and a voice growl, "Now sugar tits, I know you ain't fixin' to call the cops on me without hearing the whole story, am I right?" I looked over at Daryl who was looking down at the bag containing the body. I looked back up at Merle and jerked my wrist from his grip. "Fine," I snarled, "But you better have a fuckin' good explanation as to why you have a dead body in that bag!"

Merle walked back towards the bag and unzipped it the rest of the way. Now that I could fully see the body, I knelt down beside it as Merle started his story. "Well first off, this...thing, isn't really human I don't think. Now, when I found him, he was hanging from a tree with just a rope around his neck. Poor bastard probably had a bad life but for some reason, it didn't end."

Merle said, pulling a knife from his belt. Using the tip, he pointed out the rope markings around the neck. "See, you can tell his neck is broken so he obviously died from that. But, the minute I came close to him, he started floppin' like a dead fish." He then moved the bag and pulled out an arm. I about lost my breakfast at the sight of the mangled arm with skin and muscle hanging off the bone. "Son o'a bitch must've gotten hungry hangin' up there and is somehow still hungry. The minute I walked up to him, he started twitchin' and tryin' to claw his way to me. So I shot him in the heart and he just kept twitchin'."

"So, what did ya' do next?" Daryl spoke up. Merle looked at Daryl like he was crazy. "Well I did what anyone would've done next. I shot that motherfucker in the head. Only then did he stop movin'." Daryl let out a sigh and started pacing. He ran a hand through his hair, "Is this the only one you've come across? Have you seen more?"

I left before Merle could answer and went to my jeep, pulling out the portable radio that Daryl had hung in the back. I started going through all the stations but I kept hearing this one message being repeated,

The Office of Civil Defense has issued the following message. This is a Civil Emergency warning. Do not venture outside your homes. Avoid anyone infected at all costs. Remain calm. Help is on the way.

Turning the volume up, I looked back towards Daryl and Merle as the announcement was repeated once again.

"Guys, what does this mean? What do they mean by infected?"