Some Things Are Meant to be Broken
Rule #4: Avoid altercations.
"Glenn has been gone for a while," Nichole said from her seat atop the RV. "Shouldn't he be back by now?"
In the lawn chair beside her, Shane shook his head. "He's been gone longer than this. Hours before. He always makes it back."
"It's already been hours," she replied, scanning the area around her. The two of them had been atop the Winnebago since Glenn left that morning, Shane teaching the girl how to watch the camp if ever she needed to. They day had been fairly uneventful, and Nichole wandered if everyday was like that at the quarry. Being stationary for a while was better than riding her bike for miles everyday on the highway. And sleeping in the tent she had been lugging around was better than stringing up her hammock high in the trees, not being able to really sleep in fear of falling and finding herself in the hands of some waiting walker. But now, she was bored and the only thing left for her to do was worry.
And now her concern was directed towards Glenn who had been gone for much longer than she thought he should have been. Shane obviously wasn't worried, and neither was anybody else. The kids - Sophia, Carl, Eliza, and Louis - were playing with Uno cards under Dale's watchful eyes. Andrea, Amy, Lori, and Carol were all at the lake doing laundry, something Nichole was very grateful for because she didn't realize how ragged she must have looked until she actually got around other people. Merle was lounging in the flatbed of his brother's pickup truck as always and Daryl was only a few paces away, wiping down his already clean crossbow.
The sun was now directly overhead, bearing down on the Nichole's back and shoulders. Shane had offered to go get her the umbrella from inside the RV, but she said she liked the heat. She had learned to appreciate the things that she took for granted in her past life. The girl adjusted the baseball cap on her head and glanced up at the city's skyline in front of her.
"If he was havin' a problem, he woulda radioed us," Shane assured Nichole as he watched her anxious movements. The girl nodded her head in agreeance and scanned the camp once more. She picked up the binoculars sitting between the man and herself and watched as a white van drove up the path towards the quarry.
"What is it?" Shane asked her.
"Looks like a church van," she replied. "It says Atlanta New Baptist on the side."
Before she could even finish, Shane was already down the ladder and making his way towards the vehicle. Nichole followed, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and putting the binoculars down where she was sitting. She walked slowly to where everyone else was congregating. Daryl and Merle were the first people on the scene, watching and waiting as the van park beside another car. Dale tried to stand in front of the kids, but Carl had snuck his way from under his arm and was walking towards where Shane was at the head of the group, shotgun in hand as he watched the people exit the vehicle.
"Hey, bud," Nichole said as the boy made to pass by her, "how 'bout you stay here with me? Keep me safe?"
Carl smiled and agreed to her request, stopping to stand beside her with his head now held a little higher. To Nichole's relief, Glenn was the first out of the car, hopping from the driver's seat with the goofy grin that was ever-present on his face. Another man followed, stepping out of the passenger side and sliding open the back door so a woman could get out too.
"You aight, Glenn?" Shane asked and the man nodded his head.
"He helped us out of a tight spot," the woman explained when she saw everyone's curious stares. "We couldn't be more thankful."
"This is Jacqui," Glenn said loud enough for the whole group to hear. He then motioned towards the man. "And this is T-Dog."
"Somebody should check them, to see if they have any bites," Morales said from the front of the group. Nichole took a few more steps forward to get a better look at the strangers, Carl close in tow. They didn't look hurt - just tired and dirty. And a hot meal couldn't hurt.
"We don't need nobody else 'round here," Merle called. "Best ya'll take that old van and go back to where ya came from."
Shane turned to the man and cocked an eyebrow at him. "I'ont think you got the right to make that decision," he said.
Merle pushed through the crowd of people until he was right on the other man. Nichole watched Shane's gun arm tense as he studied the approaching Dixon. "How I see it," the man said, "is we got two and a half too many people here."
"If there's somethin' you wanna say, you needa say it," Shane said and a rustling came from the crowd as Daryl walked between a few people and took a couple steps towards the two men. Nichole stole a sideways glance at him, wondering what he was thinking of doing, but Daryl didn't notice. All of his attention was on his brother and Shane.
"Bad enough I gotta stay here with spics," the elder Dixon told the officer, "I ain't livin' with no coons, too."
Nichole realized he was talking about her just as much as Jacqui and T-Dog, her being the extra half he was referring to, but she stayed silent. Daryl was restless beside her, shifting his weight from one leg to the other and then finally stepping forward again. T-Dog was now standing infront of his companion, shielding her from Merle and the rest of the crowd.
"Maybe you should go," Shane suggested, "if you feel that way."
Now they were practically nose to nose, and the group looked on in silent distress as they sized each other up. Merle laughed at the officer. "No, man. I ain't goin' nowhere."
"Maybe we should just cool down for a while," Nichole said. A fight wouldn't do anyone any good, and the guns in both men's hands unnerved her. Merle turned from Shane and stared at the girl. He laughed even louder.
"Why should I listen to someone like you? Touched with the tar brush, ain't you?"
Nichole glanced at Merle's weapon, then gripped her own bat tighter in her hand. If he chose to use his gun, she would have no way to defend herself, but for now it was dangling casually from his hand, so stepped a little closer, gently pushing Carl back into Dale's waiting grasp. "What's that 'sposed to mean?" she asked.
"It means your white trash mama spread her legs for some nigger, that's what," Merle told her.
Daryl and Shane moved toward the man at the same time, Shane reaching him first and giving his chest a hard shove. "That's enough," he growled. "You need to go on and cool down like Nick said. Go on!"
The younger Dixon tried to grab his brother's arm, but he pulled away from him. "Let's go," Daryl said. "It ain't worth it."
Despite how it seemed, Daryl was comfortable where he was at. In countless miles and he doesn't even know how many weeks, he had only seen three walkers around the camp - and he despised walkers more than anything. And the people weren't so bad, if Shane learned to mind his own damn business and Merle could keep his mouth shut. The new girl wasn't so bad, either. She gave him a cigarette, expecting nothing in return. That was the first nice thing anyone had done for him since the world went to shit. Hell, the first nice thing anybody had done for him for longer than that, really -
"There's only two people left in the world," Shane yelled, pushing Merle back again, "the livin' and the dead. That's it! And you can be either one, it don't matter too much to anybody here I wouldn't think."
Merle's face turned red as he pursed his lips together and then brought the butt of his shotgun up to hit the other man in the face. Shane stumbled back for a second before he lunged back at the Dixon. The guns were knocked from both of their hands in the fall, and there was a fury of wailing limbs as they hit the ground.
Daryl tried to pull Merle off of Shane, but the elder cocked his arm back and elbowed his brother in the nose, causing blood to flow from it in a dark red rush. Now Shane was ontop and the other men from the group were pulling the fighters apart. It took both Daryl and Jim to restrain Merle, and Morales and T-Dog had to work together to hold back Shane.
"Get off me!" Merle yelled and broke free of the two men. "To hell with all ya'll! And you, too," he said as he pointed at the brother. "You 'sposed to have my back."
Daryl wiped at the blood still flowing from his nose with the back of his arm, but didn't say anything in return. Merle shook his head and bent down to snatch up his gun from the ground beside him. Everyone took a cautious step back as he stared at the group, then turned away to walk towards the woods.
Don't worry, there will be much more Daryl in the next chapter. Please review!