Author's note: So, I loved the feedback you guys gave for chapter one! I'm glad Cali is entertaining ;] it's what she lives for! In this chapter, we have the rest of the camp! So yay for copyright infringement! :D And if you have any suggestions on any of the characters do not hesitate to let me know, the tv show doesn't give you much to gone on with them! Season two! Come sooner!
Disclaimer!: I don't own the Walking Dead :) or Fer Sure by The Medic Droid!
Thank yous!: Thanks to Lotr3-Hp3, Fioras and Ricki101 for reviewing! :D You guys rock!
Chapter Two!: Fer Sure Maybe, Fer Sure Not
*California*
I gripped the bark of the tree tighter. I had managed to maneuver down the tree a little, but not enough to actually you know, reach the ground.
Best Friend Killer was already on the ground, his arms crossed, and looking rather pissed off. "Git yer ass down here!"
"It's too high up!"
"It's no' even five feet!"
"Lies!"
"Ya gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me." he ran a hand through his hair. I swung my legs from the branch I was perched on. "Look, if ya don't git down here, I'm gonn' just fuckin' pull you down!"
"I'll cry!"
"I don't give a damn!"
"Then just leave me here!"
"Temptin'…" He muttered in what he thought was under his breath. Asshole. First, he kills Dean and now he's going to pull me out of a tree.
"Sumbitch Daryl! What th' fuck takin' you so long?" The pride of Atlanta asked as he appeared from the trees. Daryl groaned and turned towards him.
"She won't com' down!" he growled. Merle howled with laughter and looked at me.
"Lil' bird's too comfortable in her tree! She doesn' like the ground little bro."
Actually, I would much rather be on the ground. Buuuuuuuuut, I'm fine in the tree. Survived for three days in it. That had to be a record or something!
"Lookit lil' bird," The Great Red Neck stared up towards me. "Ya don't wann' live in the tree forever right? We can take ya back tuh our camp, there's other people! Ya won't be reduced tuh talky talkin with squirrels!" He grinned up at me.
Hmmm, well, people would be nice. Squirrels weren't exactly the greatest conversationalists out there, and I had only picked up so much of the language from The Emperor's New Groove.
"AH!SHIT!FUCK!DAMN!" I cried out as I felt a hand curl around my foot and pull.
Me, my bag, and various words a young lady shouldn't be yelling accompanied me down.
Right on top of Best Friend Killer.
"Awh damnit!" He growled, my foot pressed against his face. "Git th' fuck offa me!"
"You know, you're a lot softer then you look." I grinned from where I was sprawled across his legs.
"Git off now!"
"I wouldn't be on top of you if you hadn't pulled me on top of you!" I argued back, not moving. Might as well make him suffer for doing the exact opposite of what I told him to do. I felt his hands shove me off him, and I became reacquainted with grass.
I missed grass.
"Lookit, I think she's tryin' tuh snort it!" Merle laughed again. The man was always laughing it seemed. Ugh. I rolled over so that I was on my back and looked at the Great Red Neck and Best Friend Killer.
What? Were they expecting a reward? All I had was some mints, pretzels and deodorant. None of which I was planning on giving up.
Merle gave a deep snort and spat, hitting a tree a few feet away. I raised my eyebrow. Damn. Not bad aim. Daryl pulled himself off the ground and stared at me. "Ya coming or wha'?"
"Where?" I asked. Him and Merle looked at each other.
"Camp."
"Yeah, camp. With the Saintly Deputy, and alla his cronies." Merle rolled his eyes. "We're short handed. And the good deputy tol' us if we found any otha stragglers, we was supposed tuh bring them back tuh the camp. And me an' Daryl never ever break the rules!" he howled again, and clapped his brother on the back. Daryl just smirked and followed his brother out of the trees.
I stood up and grabbed my bag. I thought hard about what I should to.
A. I could take off on my own, and hope that I didn't get eaten by a walker, or whatever they had been worried about eating me.
B. I could follow them, and hope that they didn't kill me.
Both of my options seemed to end in death.
At least death by redneck sounded interesting. I didn't really have the desire to be killed by something that could, you know, eat me.
I jogged so I could reach the two of them, and fell into step behind them. They continued to talk about how stupid the other campers were, and how sick of squirrel they were.
I could only stare at the string of squirrels on Daryl's back, most specifically, Dean.
Poor Dean.
"Pick up th' pace lil' bird. I ain't gonn' wait 'round forever!" Merle cried again, I lifted my head and realized they had gotten way ahead of me.
Damn rednecks, moved like ninjas in the woods.
I gripped my bag tighter and ran up to their car. Which in all reality was a pice-o-shit clunker that was being held together with duct tape and tobacco chew. I stopped in front of the car and raised my eyebrow.
"What's wrong now?" Daryl groaned.
You remember this California. You have to pick your battles. In life and with men. Ain't no point in arguing with a man over three things. Football, dinner and cars. You remember that!
"Nawh. It's fine." I answered, jumping into the backseat. My grandma was right, they weren't going to take too well to a girl calling out their car.
"Fuckin' finally. It's easy." Daryl grumbled and tossed the pile of squirrels behind him, and right into my lap.
"Awh God!" I moaned and pushed Dean and his fellow unfortunate friends next to me. No way in hell would I be eating Dean.
"Git over it lil' bird." Merle sniggered from the drivers seat. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little bag. He rubbed the power for a few seconds before pouring a little out on the dashboard, which he then followed with his nose. "HOOOO-WEEEEE."
Huh, the end of the world doesn't change some people I guess. I was slowly being accustomed to the idea of the end of the world. It was really the only thing that made sense. My first day in that tree, I had accepted the fact that everyone I knew was dead. I had too.
People are great Cali, of course they are. But you are a survivor aren't you? You don't need emotional connections. That's good. One day, the world won't thrive on relationships, and when that happens it'll be your time to shine.
Fuck, I missed my crazy old grandma though. When I had gone to visit her, she got a little more senile each time, but then she would pull out this random advice that I was convinced made no sense in any context.
But, it just looked like my grandma saw this coming before any of us.
"Awh damnit Merle, ya said I wouldn't have tuh drive back!" Best Friend Killer hissed as he kicked open his door. Merle just set up another line.
We'll stop at a stoplight, do drugs on the dashboard, look at the mess we've made tonight I smiled to myself as the lyrics popped into my head. Yeah, the Great Red Neck just got a theme song.
"Calm th' fuck down Daryl. Jus' have lil' bird drive." He shrugged. Daryl brought his hand up to his face.
"She dun't know where th' fuck we're goin'…"
"Oh yeah. Well, looks like yer drivin'!" Merle hopped over one seat and Daryl got into the driver seat. He was muttering as many variations of the word 'fuck' that he could think of.
We drove in silence for a while, I was just trying to figure out where I was. I could only see trees. And all the trees looked the same. How did these guys know where to go?
"Heh, pack for a trip lil' bird?" Merle laughed from the front seat. I leaned in between the two seats, and saw Merle looking through my bag.
"Hey!"
"Seriously? Ya packed shampoo and conditioner? What, you think we goin' tuh a hotel?"
"I packed for a hotel! I had been in Atlanta for maybe three hours before the-" I paused trying to find a word for them.
"Walkers." Daryl threw in from the drivers seat. He'd been a lot more talkative in the tree, now it seemed like he was going to be letting Merle run the show.
"Yeah, the Walkers attacked the Physical Therapy center I was in." I explained. "After that first session, I was supposed to check into a room. Never got to the room."
"Well, yuh'll smell a lot betta then most o' tuh campers." Merle continued to rummage through my bag. "So, whut, ya a cripple or sumtin?"
"Hardly." I rolled my eyes.
"Whut were ya getting therapy fer?" Best Friend Killer asked at the same time his brother cried "Hell yeah!"
Merle pulled out my bottle of sleeping pills. I reached for them, but he just pulled them out of my grip. "Ah, ah, ah! Whut's lil bird doin' wit sleepy pills?"
"I need them to sleep maybe?" I snapped, trying to reach for the bottle. Merle continued to play keep-away to the point where I had my knee on the center console and most of my body in the passenger seat. I was swearing, while Merle kept howling with laughter.
"GOD DAMN IT! IF YA BOTH DON'T SIT YER ASSES DOWN! I SWEAR TUH GOD I'LL KICK BOTH YER ASSES! YOU DUMB ASS MOTHER FUCKERS!" Daryl screamed at the two of us.
Me and Merle froze and stared at him. "Bitch started it."
"Asshole! I so did not!"
"SIT DOWN!"
I growled and obeyed. Merle threw the pills back into my bag, and continued to rummage through my stuff. I saw him pull out my camera, look through the pictures, grumble about the lack of nudes, then throw it back in.
I blew my bangs out of my face. Death by being eaten alive was starting to sound better and better.
"Hooooo! Lil' bird! Now these're sexy!" Merle laughed after a few minutes, and held of one of my pairs of underwear.
Oh, brilliant. I had Great Red Neck germs on my underwear. "Put those back!"
"Not 'til ya agree tuh model fer me!"
"You're a pig."
"I do have quite the pork sword if that's whut ya mean." he winked at me. I laughed.
"Your pickup truck says otherwise."
"You little bitch!" He growled. "'Sides, this here's Daryl's pickup."
"I second that 'bitch'." Daryl smirked. "I ain't overcompensatin shit!"
"Admittance is the first step to peace." I responded in a sing-song voice. Daryl grumbled to himself, something that sounded suspiciously like 'shoulda left her in th' tree.'
No Daryl, maybe you shouldn't have pulled me out of it. I would be in a much better mood if I had gotten down on my own.
Merle continued to invade my privacy, up until Daryl finally stopped the car. I snatched my bag back from them, and hopped out of the car. I was grateful they had saved my life, but never would I be riding in a car with them again.
The camp was much more extensive then I thought it was going to be. There were several tents set up, and a big ass RV. The entire population of the camp stopped to stare at the brothers and myself. A nice looking fellow approached us, a question etched on his face.
"Merle what's this?" he asked as he got closer. Merle snorted deep, then spat a wad near the guy's shoes.
"She would be a straggler. Figger that you'd want 'nother dishwasher. Although I still stand by the idea that we have too many women."
"I meant her name, Merle."
"Hmmm," Great Red Neck stopped and looked at me hard. "Don't rightly know."
"Hi. I'm right here." I waved to the man. "And my name's California."
"California?"
"You can just call me Cali."
"Right, where'd they find you Cali?"
"Up a tree." Merle sniggered. I nodded.
"And are you hurt?" The man asked again. There seemed to be another question behind his first one. Did they hurt you?
"No sir. Fit as a fiddle." I assured him. He finally cracked a smile.
"Well, I'm Shane." he stuck out his hand, and I shook it. "If you'd like, you can come with me, and I'll show you around." I looked back towards Merle and Daryl. Daryl was grabbing the squirrels from the car, and Merle just shrugged.
"Alright sounds good." I told him. He lead me towards the group of curious onlookers.
.:.
Shoot, there were a lot of people in this camp.
There was Dale, or, sweetest old man I've ever met. He'd shaken my hand like I was breakable and welcomed me. He told me to meet up with him later, and he'd give me some canned beans if I was up for it. Hell, anything sounded better then pretzels at this point. He owned the big ass RV.
He lived with Andrea and Amy, who were the most American looking people I'd ever seen. I mean shit, I was sure I looked almost lobster-esque, and those two were pale, pretty and perfect. Andrea seemed a little, uptight? But Amy had thrown her arms around me and told me she was glad to have another girl around.
There was a guy named Jim, who was nice enough, but gave me just enough of the chills to keep a little bit of distance there.
There was Jacqui and T-Dog. I'm not a racist myself, but…well…T-Dog? Didn't matter much I suppose, he was nice and Jacqui was model pretty. They camped near the center of everything. 'Safest place in camp!' Jacqui had smiled when I asked.
The group that shocked me the most was the Morales family. They had managed to escape, with their entire family. It was nice really, to see a family after convincing myself that the idea was nothing more then a dream. The little girl, Eliza, when I knelt down to shake her hand, she laughed at me and said I looked like Elmo.
Jeez, these people try living in a tree for three days! It's not as easy as it looked!
Lori and Carl were next, apparently Carl's dad had died in the epidemic, so Shane took them in. Shane had been the dad's best friend, so he had looked after Lori and Carl like his own. I heard it, but I wasn't buying it. There had to be some bed hopping there. They stayed in the same tent you know?
I didn't have Desperate Housewives anymore. I'd have to settle for watching these people.
I was sitting on a fallen tree, when I felt someone sit down next to me. It was an Asian kid that I hadn't met yet. "Hey! You must be the new girl huh?"
"I feel like I'm in high school again." I laughed and stuck out my hand. "Name's California."
"Seriously?" He raised an eyebrow so high, it almost disappeared into the hat he was wearing.
"Yeah seriously." I smiled. "Go ahead and call me Cali though? Everyone else does. What's your name?"
"Glenn."
"…And you were making fun of my name?" I scoffed. Glenn gave me a half glare, half grimace as he shook my hand.
"Well, it's not like I picked it."
"I didn't pick mine either." I reminded him. "Parents suck huh?"
"Yeah." He gave me a sad little smile. "They sure do."
Awh shit. Parents had to be the most taboo topic out there. It was kind of like in elementary school, and the one kid in you glass who had lost their mom or something, so you had to tip toe over every conversation that you had. That way you wouldn't offend them.
"Sorry about that." I gave him an apologetic smile and scratched the back of my black knot of hair. He just shrugged.
"We're all in the same boat you know? Things are like that now."
"Yeah, I guess so." I sighed. "So where were you when I was being passed around like a porno?" he looked at me like I was crazy.
"Well, I was trying to figure out a way to get Shane to let me go to Atlanta to get some supplies."
"Oh dude, bad idea." I quickly told him. "That city's done and done. That's where I came from."
"Yeah, me too." He nodded. "But we need supplies. And bad." he frowned and looked at me. "How did you get here?"
"I got picked out of the trees by the Great Red Necks." I threw my thumb over my shoulder, where it looked like Merle was getting up in Morales' face. I sighed and turned back towards Glenn, who suddenly looked a little sick.
"The Dixons brought you here? The Dixons?"
"Yes…?"
"And they didn't try to kill you?"
"Well, one of them did pull me out of the tree, but other then that no." I furrowed my brows. "Why do you look like you're going to vomit or something?"
"Look here Cali, those two, they're bad news."
"Really?" I asked. I glanced over at them again. Well, just Merle. I didn't see Daryl.
"Merle's worthless around here."
"I could've told you that I think." I smiled at him. He shook his head.
"Look. I've been stuck with them for near a month now, and well, they're mean, racist and haven't an ounce of humanity left in them. Doubt they had any to begin with." Glenn shrugged. "Anyways, I was supposed to see if you had a place to stay, cuz if not, Amy's offering a spot in the camper. And if you're not into that, I've got room in my tent too." He gave a kind smile.
"God that sounds great!" Anything other then tree bark sounds great
"And we're about to eat, so you coming?" He asked as he stood up. I told him I'd be a minute. Glenn nodded and went to rejoin the other campers.
I was having a hard time buying tickets to the 'Evil Dixons' show. They didn't seem that bad. I mean, sure Daryl killed my best friend, and was feeding him to that group of people, and sure he pulled me out of a tree. But it weren't for him, I'd still be up in that tree right now. And sure Merle called me 'bitch' and looked through my bag, and did cocaine, and fondled my underwear, and almost stole my sleeping pills….
Okay well Merle sucked. But, he did tell his brother not to shoot at me.
Besides, Daryl killed a whole bunch of squirrels, way more then he and Merle could eat on their own. They couldn't be all bad right?
"Hey! Lil' bird! Git yer bitch ass over here! Me and Daryl got laundry yer gonna do!" Merle called from where the smell of meat was radiating. "An' make sure it smell good!"
Then again, I've been wrong before…
So, once more, any suggestions on character would be *amazing*! And I didn't forget the wifebeater! He'll just show up later! Anywhichway, please review! :D I have the flu, and they honestly make me feel better!