Ok so here is chapter 3, I hope you're enjoying it! Please leave a review or drop me a message if there's anything you'd like me to include more or less of!
The smile on Merle's face lingered for a minute before he started to lower his hands. "How do we know we can trust you?" Shane said making sure he started Merle straight in the eye.
"Daryl here has dinner," said Merle pointing to Daryl who had flung about 9 squirrels over his shoulder.
"Ain't nobody's squirrels, 'cept mine!" Daryl exclaimed, clearly offended that Merle was bargaining off his squirrels.
"We ain't looking for trouble, been out here since the start, just need somewhere to settle," Shane eyed Merle up and down and turned to look at Daryl who had lowered his crossbow but was shifting his weight from one leg to the other, clearly agitated.
"Shane, safely in numbers.." Andrea trailed off. She wasn't wrong. It was better do be in a larger group, if walkers were to stumble into their camp, they'd need all the help they could get. Shane remained silent, not sure what to think of the Dixon brothers.
"Shane, is it? I understand the predicament is a lot to consider-" Merle was interrupted by Daryl.
"Would you shut up? Man ain't gonna want anything to do with us rednecks and your blabbery mouth!" Daryl paced and was getting more annoyed with his brother. Daryl knew what Merle was like, he had a way with words, often appearing charming but deep down was cold and harsh character. He didn't doubt that he'd fight by his side until the end and Daryl loved his brother, he was the only person he had in this world, before and after the turn. He'd never had many friends and certainly never had a serious relationship with anyone, only fooled around a bit. Growing up was hard for Daryl, his father was abusive and Daryl wore the scars to prove it. His mother had died when he was young which had shaken him up a bit. Daryl had a tough exterior, but underneath his steel walls, he was a shy and gentle man who isn't good with words or expressing his feelings but was a man of honour and loyalty.
"Now now little brother, no need to jump to conclusions," said Merle, shooting a strong glare in his direction. "We would be an asset to your camp, we can hunt and track and we're good fighters too, you know, so we can protect the ladies from those scary monsters," Merle explained while winking at Andrea who just raised an eyebrow at him, clearly not impressed by his attempts. Shane nodded reluctantly, he kept telling himself that the more man power had, the easier it would be to protect Lori and Carl and keep them safe. Shane had always had a soft spot for Lori, when Rick first met Lori, Shane was instantly jealous. He had never had a long term girlfriend, only one night stands and relationships lasting no longer than a few weeks.
"You can come back with us, but if you try anything, anything at all, I will shoot you down," Shane was right up in Merle's face, threatening him the stereotypical tough men do.
"Wouldn't harm a soul," Merle grinned. The group walked onwards, Daryl shooting squirrels as he went, tying them to his back pack. They reached a small clearing in the woods with a small house situated in the middle. Andrea and Shane went into the house in search of supplies. T-Dog was trying to start up the White pickup truck that was parked outside, the more vehicles the group had, the easier it would be for them to all escape if needs be.
The door of the house creaked as Shane pushed it open with the end of his gun. He held it up, ready to fire if required, Andrea stayed close behind him, following his every step, trying to avoid stepping on any squeaky floorboards. She pulled out a torch from her backpack and switched it on, looking at the paintings that hung on the wall. The house was silent and dark. The hallway had dark red wallpaper with a dark brown varnished wooden floor. There were no windows in the hallways and all the doors were shut so not a ray of light was seeping in. Searching for the kitchen, they opened each door and checked each room, shining the torch in every corner. After searching every other room, they finally found the kitchen and began packing everything they could carry in rucksacks, bottles of water, tins of beans and cartoons of juice. Andrea twisted the door knob of the pantry door, and realising it was locked, drew up her torch and broke the door knob off with the head of her torch. She pulled the door open, aiming her torch at the shelves which contained dozens of canned goods and food that'll keep for a long time. The smell of rotting engulfed her scent and she scrunched up her nose in disgust. A hand reached out and grabbed her forearm tightly before the rest of the body came hurtling towards her. A female walker had her by her arm and was coming closer and closer to her pushing Andrea against the wall. "Shane!" Andrea screamed, sweat beginning to drip down her face and she used all her strength to push the walker of her. The walker lunged for her neck before stopping dead and falling to the floor in a heap. A wooden arrow, sat neatly in the temple of the walker's head. "Thank you," said Andrea nodding in Daryl's direction. He gave a small nod of acknowledgement in return before retrieving his arrow from the walker's skull and exiting the pantry.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Daryl put it down," Andrea pointed to the walker who was lying in a heap. Shane placed his hand on Andrea's shoulder.
"Good, glad you're alright. Good find though. Let's get this all packed up into the car."
"Look at you little brother, helping the damsel in distress," Merle teased as Daryl cleaned his arrow and placed it back in the crossbow, "always doing the right thing, you're soft."
"I ain't soft!" Daryl shoved Merle, pushing him backwards.
"You've always been the good one." Merle laughed half heartedly before walking off.
Daryl found a small outbuilding, inside, there were a series of garden tools,pick axes, shovels and a machete. There was a large object covered up by a dusty bed sheet, Daryl pulled it off the reveal a Triumph Bonneville motorcycle. Daryl pushed it of the outbuilding before starting it up and climbing aboard. The rest of the group placed all the gathered supplies in the back of the truck.
"We best be getting back, it'll be dark soon," said Shane climbing in the driver's seat, T-Dog in the passenger's seat and Andrea and Merle sitting in the back. Followed closely behind by Daryl on his bike. The group drove back to camp. Upon reaching the camp, Andrea was reunited with Amy and embraced her into a hug and sighed with relief. Lori greeted Shane and gave him a hug.
"Shane, there's someone who we'd like you to meet-" Lori paused drifting her gaze to the Dixon brothers, "who are they?"
"Merle and Daryl Dixon. They're with us now." Shane said with a hint of nervousness. "What were you saying? Someone I need to meet?"
"Yeah, a young man, obviously had the same idea as us, searching for higher ground, he stumbled across our camp, asked if he could stay. I said it wasn't up to me and that he should talk to you when you got back." Shane nodded and headed towards the RV. Inside the RV, sat Dale and Jacqui with an Asian man.
"Hi, I'm Glenn."
Sorry if there's any typos! :') Hope you like it! More to follow soon :)
