So, I used a more recent photo of Madison Lintz for this story, because sometimes its kind of hard to picture a kid you watched on TV as a teenager lol. Thanks for reading! =)

Chapter Three

Merle's hands were shaking as he eased his bike through the traffic that clogged the interstate for miles. Yells, angry honks and shaking fists was what he left in his wake. He ignored them, gunning the engine harder and forcing himself to stay calm. He had to keep his emotions in check and focus on finding Piper. The phone service went to shit before he could tell her where to meet up with him and he knew how dangerous it was out there.

His whole body felt like it shook with the memory of what he had seen and he quickly pulled off onto the shoulder as his stomach swirled with nausea. He gripped the handlebars as the powerful engine idled between his legs. He wasn't getting enough air into his lungs and he was sure that he was going throw up again.

He had went to his uncle's house as soon as he got news that the Government was actually evacuating the city. He had found Odin and June, mutilated in their home. They had been torn apart to the point where he couldn't tell when one ended and the other began. They were just puddles. And he just stood their too stunned and sickened to do anything while a group of... people... fed on them.

He had stood there for what felt like hours but he knew only seconds had passed. He'd been unable to really think about what he was doing. He simply reacted. He'd shot the man closest to him. The son of a bitch had actually turned his head and looked right at Merle, pieces of skin hanging from his lips as he chewed. The second shot was right in the chest once the man had stood up and that hadn't deterred him either. Finally Merle focused and put a bullet in the things brain. It wasn't a man at all. He didn't know what it was but it wasn't human anymore.

The other ones slowly stood, grunting and stumbling towards him. More head shots dropped them quickly as he backed away from them. That had happened only ten minutes after Piper had called.

He swallowed down the bile that rose in the back of his throat and pulled away from the shoulder, driving much too fast through the traffic. He didn't know where his brother could be but he wasn't as afraid for him as he was the kids. He shook his head angrily at the thought of telling Damon that his parents were gone. Damon was a tough kid but this was going to do some real damage.

Daryl probably heard that there was some sort of haven at Fort Benning. Merle knew that was bullshit. There wasn't a safe place anywhere. He had seen some of the shit those reserve guys were pulling in the city. They had opened fire on people. Not those walking dead fucks that had killed his aunt and uncle either, but actual living people. He didn't trust that they would create any sort of safe zone. Not for anyone other than themselves anyway. But his brother didn't know what they had been up to. He would head straight there in the hopes of finding Merle.

But Merle knew that the kids weren't heading there. So where would they go?

"The cabin?" He asked out loud, his voice lost in the roar of the engine. That was the first place he had thought of going.

But that was a damn drive indeed. It was a place their grandad had built on some land he owned up in Tennessee before Merle was even born. Daryl spent a lot of time up there during hunting season. Hell Daryl had even built himself a trapper's shack just around the mountain from the main cabin. Merle had taken Piper and Damon several times. Would the kids risk a trip out of state to get to the place? And should he head towards the damn cabin or should he try to find his brother at Fort Benning? He scowled when he realized what the hold up was. Up ahead was a tractor trailer that was stretched across the road.

He drove across the median, passing the overturned trailer without a backward glance at the people standing around. These people weren't his problem. As soon as he hit an exit he was taking it. He knew these roads like the back of his hand and even though it would take longer, he could get to that cabin. He was more resourceful than the kids and the bike was a lot more agile than a fucking school bus. There was a possibility that he would either find them on the road or he would get there before them. If that was even where they were going. But he was almost sure that where they would head. There was no where else for them to go.

~H~

Sophia peered out the windshield, squinting through the dark. They were on a lonely stretch of back road that would have been pretty damn terrifying even if the world wasn't turned upside down. Fields stretched out into blackness on either side of them. The sun had set about a half hour ago and they hadn't passed another vehicle for at least an hour.

"This is so weird," she muttered to herself as she adjusted the bag in her lap.

Piper glanced over at her. "What's that?"

Sophia shrugged and tried to hide her anxiety. "Well, I don't even know the two of you and already I've been an accomplice to all sorts of crimes. Stealing a school bus. Running over people. Robbing a gas station. Before today I had never dared to even break curfew." She wasn't trying to be funny but they both laughed. Even if it did sound a little strained, it was something anyway.

"Hey, the gas station was abandoned," Piper said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "If there had been someone in there then we would have paid for the refill and all the food and drinks we swiped."

Damon glanced up in the mirror then. "Looks like a barn or somethin' up ahead. You think we should take a break? Maybe try to figure out what the fuck we're suppose to do? If I pull around to the back then we should be pretty hidden from the road."

Sophia sat up straighter. "What if more of those people show up?"

Damon shook his head. "I don't see that happening all the way out here." After he parked the bus he went rummaging through the glove compartment and found some flares and a few flashlights. Other than a first aid kit there wasn't anything else of use to them.

The barn was old and falling apart but that didn't bother them. All three of them made a trip around the barn and the bus, stretching their legs and working the kinks out of their muscles. Piper was the one to break the silence. "You think the loft is sturdy? Maybe it would be smarter to camp out here for the night."

Sophia felt her anxiety spike at that. "You guys, really, it's been fun and all but I really have to try to find my mom."

Piper and Damon both just stared at her and it was Damon who finally spoke. "Look, I hate to be the one to say this but the chances of you findin' your mom any time soon are slim. I mean, the whole city was evacuated. We don't know where the hell anyone ended up. I wanna find my own folks just as much as you do, alright? But let's be realistic here. We need to figure out the best course of action. We can't just keep driving. Me and Piper need to find our folks and then we can go try to find your mom."

Sophia stared at him even though his face was bathed in shadows. She felt her eyes fill with tears but she blinked them back, refusing to seem weak in front of these two. "So, it's okay for us to try to hunt down your family, but I need to wait until you find them before I can go after my mom?"

He shook his head. "No. Well, yeah. But there's a reason. With Piper's dad, my dad and Daryl, we'll be able to hunt your mom down and actually find her. Just the three of us? There's not a chance in hell."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "And you think we have a chance of finding your dads and this Daryl person? But none at locating my mom?"

Piper and Damon shared another one of those looks. The kind that was seriously working her nerves. Piper spoke up this time. "Yeah. We own a cabin up north. It's the only place I can think they would go. And even if they don't go there first, that's where they'll end up when they don't find us."

Sophia scoffed. "That's really great. For you two! But I don't know you. I'm completely alone in this and I'm sure that you two will get a real laugh out of it but since the world is going to complete shit all around us all I want to do is be with my mom. I don't have any business running around everywhere with the two of you when she's out there probably scared to death and alone!"

"You don't have a choice. And I wouldn't laugh at you for that. Family is important and, trust me, I get that. But goddamn it, we can help you if you come with us! Just trust me," Damon barked.

"Trust you?" Sophia snapped, her anguish over knowing her mom was out there thinking the worst turned to anger. "I don't know you," she bit out from between clenched teeth. "I'm not going any further away from the last place I seen her than here. If you two need to go somewhere else then fine. Take me to the first car and I'll go back myself to look for her."

"You can't just-"

"Forget it," Piper said, cutting Damon off. "If she wants to go back then she can go back. We can't force her to stay alive. That's her call." Piper eyed her, like she was challenging her to argue.

Sophia nodded. "So you'll let me go as soon as we find another car?"

Piper shrugged. "You ain't a prisoner."

Sophia felt a little bad now. Damon looked troubled. He had done nothing but help her since the very start of all of this and she knew she sounded like she didn't appreciate it. But that wasn't true at all. She did. But she knew her mom, she knew that she would be worried and alone.

She was about to insure them that she would be fine when something strange happened. She felt more than heard an intense rumbled that vibrated her very bones. She was standing a few feet away from Damon and for some reason she closed that distance as all three of them looked up. The rumble became louder and she could feel the pressure in her chest. A darker shadow against the black of the sky shot over them. Sophia couldn't even count how many.

"What the fuck is that?" Piper barked, as their eyes followed the shadows.

"Jets," Damon muttered.

None of them said anything else for about a minute and then they all watched in horror as, far off in the distance, flames appeared. Sophia felt her stomach roll, dangerously close to nausea. She knew what was happening but her mind almost couldn't process it.

"They're blowing up Atlanta," Piper breathed.

They all watched, unable to say anything at all.