Hope I didn't keep anyone waiting too long. This follows the four OCs as they arrive at the Atlanta Camp. I don't own anything that I don't own.

It felt like a death march into the roadside camp, all eyes staring at the four as they were led past multiple tents and a crowd of people. There were close to a hundred people, all wandering around doing different things. Uri saw clotheslines, pans frying on fires, and children running around playing. Shane got everyone to gather around, demonstrating the hold he had over everyone.

"Listen up," he called. "We got some new members. They're part of us now, so treat them as such." It seemed like a strange change from the way he'd been earlier, but she understood when she saw a boy with short brown hair staring at Shane with admiration. They didn't look related, but he looked like the pretty woman behind him with dark brown hair.

Everyone dispersed after the announcement, and after a warning glance she was left alone by Shane to walk around. All her companions had been guided to another area, she wished even Matthew was here next to her. There was a pair of sisters that came up to her, both blonde.

"My name's Amy," said one of the sisters. "This is my sister Andrea. We're always glad to have new members." Andrea didn't look as welcoming, but Uri wanted to get to know the sisters. She extended her hand and Andrea took it, managing a smile.

Eddie stuck by T-Dog, learning that his name was Theodore. T-Dog walked him around camp, showing him where everything was. He even offered to share some tent space with Eddie, since there weren't any extras and he was just by himself at the moment. Then he introduced him to a young Asian man named Glenn.

"Where you from?" Glenn asked.

"Macon," Eddie answered. "I lived with my parents." Glenn didn't ask about them, understanding.

"I used to be holed up in Macon," he stated. "Then I tried to reach Atlanta."

"You're lucky," Eddie told him.

"Yeah," Glenn agreed. "It was nice to meet you." He trotted off and Eddie continued to walk around with T-Dog.

"What's with Shane?" he inquired.

"He's a hard-ass," T-Dog explained. "Used to be a cop. His best friend got shot and he had to save his friend's wife and kid during the outbreak. Everyone listens to him because he knows what he's doing." That was debatable, but Eddie liked most of the other people around here.

"I like your van," he commented.

"That thing's gotten me through a lot," confessed T-Dog. "When the shit hit the fan, I took that thing around my neighborhood to every house searching for someone that had survived. Had to make a lot of quick getaways."

"I feel the same way about ours," Eddie sympathized, nodding his head. "We used to be with a group in the old grocery store, but we got overrun. As far as I could tell we were the only ones who made it, thanks to Uri."

"Everyone's been through the ringer," T-Dog said. "Some of us a few times." There was one thing Eddie knew, T-Dog could be trusted.

Frank had wandered off by himself and kept passing people, but made no effort to really talk to people. There was one guy that he managed to strike up a conversation with, a mechanic named Jim. Jim was just sitting near his tent, drinking a beer.

"You one of the new kids?" he inquired. "Name's Jim. I fix things around here."

"I'm Frank," Frank greeted. "This looks like a nice place." Jim shrugged, taking another sip of beer.

"The people are nice enough. We survive. You found a tent to sleep in yet?" When Frank shook his head, Jim continued, "I got space if you need it." It could've come off creepy, but the way he said it made Frank like him.

"Thanks Jim."

Morales had taken it upon himself to show Matthew around. Matthew got to know Morales' family first, his gentle wife Miranda and his energetic little daughter Eliza. He also had a son named Louis, no doubt close to his father because he hugged him very tightly as soon as they got back. Afterward they walked to an RV. Morales knocked on the door and an older man came out with a big smile on, a bearded man with a gut on him and a knowledgeable nature to him.

"Who would this be?" inquired the smiling man curiously.

"Matthew," Matthew whispered. This didn't shake the man's smile.

"Dale. Not much of a talker, are you?" Matthew shook his head and Dale laughed.

"Dale is a good guy," Morales assured him. "I'm going to have a word with him, okay? You should get to know the place if you're staying." Matthew nodded and quietly walked off to explore.

As he walked he passed by redneck central, where he saw Daryl standing. There was another man with him, a bald guy with a wicked smile and a generally intimidating presence. Daryl glanced at him with a stone-faced expression, but Merle took a few steps toward him.

"What do we have here?" he demanded, smirking. "The zombies didn't catch up to you yet, Porky Pig?" Matthew remained rooted to the spot, too scared to say anything but too scared to run away.

"Go check on the snares, Merle," Daryl said, more of a suggestion than a command. Merle seemed irritated, but nevertheless left Matthew alone and retreated into the woods. When he was gone Daryl walked up to him and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a knife and Matthew flinched. But then he placed it in Matthew's hand.

"What's this?" Matthew asked.

"It's your knife," Daryl replied as if it was obvious, which it was. In his nervousness Matthew had forgotten that his knife had been confiscated. T-Dog must have given it to Daryl to give back.

"Thanks."

"Don't fuck up." With that Daryl left him alone, confused as to what he should think. Merle was clearly just a bully, but he couldn't figure out Daryl.

Eventually he made his way over to the lake and sat by the water, staring at his reflection on its surface. He grabbed a few rocks and skipped them, counting each time how many bounces he could get. Every time it would ripple and distort his face. There was no sound, no birds or gunshots or screams.

"Did you want some food?" asked a woman from behind him. When he turned around there was a middle-aged woman and her young daughter standing there. In her arms was a paper plate with some chicken on it. That had to be hard to catch, since domestic animals were much more difficult to find these days. The little girl was hiding halfway behind her mother, holding a doll.

He accepted the plate and ripped a piece off with his fingers. No one really cared about manners in the apocalypse, so she looked at him no differently for it. It tasted so good to have some solid food and not soup from a can. Afterward he glanced back up at her and gave her a grateful smile.

"I'm Carol," she told him somewhat meekly. "This is Sophia." In spite of himself he waved a little at the little girl and she grinned back.

"Carol, get back over here!" commanded a large and out of shape man from a nearby tent. Carol flinched just from his voice and guided Sophia with her back over to the tent, sneaking one last look at Matthew. He instantly hated that man. It didn't take much to tell when someone was just an ass, and that's what Carol's husband was.

At first he thought he'd be alone for a while, but then the blonde kid came strolling over to him. They hadn't actually talked, but he'd been the nice one. For a moment he was silent, so Matthew just continued to skip rocks. The blonde picked up a rock and tossed it at the water. Instead of skipping it merely splashed and sunk, causing the boy to swear quietly.

"Never was very good at that," he commented with a smirk. "We never got to actually meet before. I'm Eddie." When Matthew said nothing he continued, "So what do you think of this place?"

"Haven't decided yet," Matthew answered.

"The people seem nice," stated Eddie.

"Not all of them." Eddie was impressed, this was the most he'd heard Matthew talk.

"You're right, Shane's not very welcoming," he agreed.

"Or Carol's husband or Merle," Matthew added.

"You know, you never said where you came from," Eddie reminded, trying to poke around a little. Matthew froze in that moment and shut off again. Eddie picked up that he'd stepped too far and took it as his cue to leave. Baby steps.

After another few hours of exploring, Uri met with Eddie and Frank alone in the woods. No one had noticed them leaving and they likely wouldn't care either way. Eddie had wanted to bring Matthew along but Frank wouldn't have it. Besides, they didn't know where his head was at.

"How are you guys feeling?" she inquired.

"I think this place could be safe for us," Eddie asserted. "They have guns here and people who know how to use them. It's a hell of a lot safer than staying out on the road."

"Is it?" asked Frank. "These people are dangerous. I don't know who's worse, the trigger happy cop or the redneck brothers."

"What about the other kid?" she questioned, "Matthew? He seemed like we can trust him." Eddie nodded his agreement but Frank snorted in derision.

"Leave him here," he suggested. "When they were coming at us he hid in the minivan. And he hasn't said anything to anyone the whole time we've been here."

"He talked to me," said Eddie with a glare. "If we don't trust other people, how are we going to survive?"

"There are good people here," Uri interjected. "We should give this camp a chance, maybe it'll work out."

"This is a mistake." With that Frank stormed off back toward camp, resigned to his unheard objections.

Shane had called another meeting not long after that, and everyone gathered in the center of camp. Eddie was apart from his companions and stood next to T-Dog. Frank was to Uri's right and Amy was to her left.

"We need to make a run into the city," he announced. "Some of us need to stay back and protect the camp, so the run will be a volunteer mission." Andrea and Morales were the first ones to volunteer, followed by a middle-aged woman with short hair named Jacqui. T-Dog patted Eddie on the shoulder before stepping forward as well and Glenn raised his hand from the back of the crowd.

"I'm going too," shouted Merle from outside the group. Everyone gave him a skeptical look, including the three teens.

"This is a team mission Merle," Shane reminded. "You can't just run in shooting by yourself."

"Like I'm going to trust y'all with my food," Merle spat, "I'm going." With fists clenched, Shane kept his mouth shut and Merle joined the other five. It was clear that everyone at camp felt the same way, too complacent to say something and content to let him make doormats out of everyone. Everyone dispersed after the group had been selected and the six left to prepare. Shane walked up to the teens as they were moving together toward the tents.

"Hey," he called out. "Where's that other kid in your group? He didn't show up." The three looked around and noticed that Matthew was nowhere to be seen.

While the meeting was going on, Matthew was wandering through the woods by himself. The camp was still in his view and he had the pocket knife in his hand. He didn't even know what he was looking for but he wanted to explore the area anyway. Trust wasn't a vocabulary word that he knew too well and their word that the camp was protected didn't mean very much. He wasn't sure how much he trusted these new survivors. Eddie maybe, and he could see no reason why Morales couldn't be trusted, but it wasn't very easy to earn his faith.

There was a sound that made his heart instantly start to beat faster, the sound of moaning. When he turned there was not just one, but three walkers coming toward him. He walked up to the first one with the pocket knife and stabbed it through the forehead. The second one he did the same, then threw the knife into the third's head with perfect accuracy. Once they were dead he breathed a sigh of relief and forced himself to calm down, trying to get his heartbeat back to normal.

A hand grabbed his shoulder suddenly and he spun, finding two more behind him. Its jaws tried to bite him and he jumped back instinctively, tripping. He landed on the ground with it on top of him, using his hands to keep it inches away from him. His legs pressed against its stomach and rolled it off to the side. As he jumped up the two came at him again and he threw the first through the sharp end of a tree branch. The last one lumbered at him and he knocked it down. He wrapped his fingers around a rock and started beating it to death. After about six times it finally stopped moving and he dropped the blood splattered rock.

It was too late to stop the panic from setting in. He thought about its jaws and how he'd come so close to death and he started to hyperventilate. His heartbeat was so loud that he could hear it and everything started to spin. Soon he was down on the ground, blackness making its way into his vision. There was a face above him for a second, but he couldn't make it out through the blurriness. Then he saw nothing.

So Matthew did get to kill walkers, but now he's unconscious. Sorry about focusing so much on the OCs but I wanted to integrate them into the story. Next chapter the Grimes family will take a part in the story and the other characters will get some time as well. Let me know what you thought.