And here's y'all go! Finally, I'm finished with that episode. Phew. It's about time!

DISCLAIMER: The Walking Dead IS NOT MINE, as I have said so many times before. Just thought I'd let everyone know again.


Necessary Knowledge to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse

Chapter Three: Safer in Numbers

"Someone could be signaling for help," Andrea said hopefully.

"Sophia could be ringin' those bells herself," announced Rick with a flicker of hope in his voice before hurrying towards the sound, closely followed by the rest of the group.

Sure enough, there was a church to go along with the bells, positioned in a cozy green field in the middle of the woods.

"Cute," Daryl noted sarcastically as he and the others made their way to the front of the church.

When Rick pushed open the quaint wooden doors, Marlie couldn't help but snort at the sight before them. "Religious walkers," she said. "Who knew?"

Three uglies sat in the pews, eyes forward towards the large Jesus statue hanging on a cross at the front. But at the sound of newcomers, they craned their necks and snarled at the living group of people at the doorway.

They were dropped quickly and quietly. One took on Rick's blade and lost; another fell once Marlie's own knife was chucked into its face; the third's attention was focused on Daryl before he cut a deep gash through its head.

"How were there bells ringing?" Marlie wondered aloud, searching for the source.

"There's no steeple," added Shane.

And just as he finished his sentence, the bells sounded again, sending everyone out of the small building and searching the surrounding area for a source.

Daryl took the lead and frowned when he found where the sound had been coming from. "It's a goddamn speaker," he spat, pointing up at the white siren-looking speaker under the church's eaves.

Glenn hurried forward to a little fuse box and yanked the battery out, silencing the bells.

"It was on a timer," Marlie informed. "No one was ringing them." Her voice fell.

Carol turned away then. "I'm gonna go back in for a bit," she announced sadly and disappeared along with everyone but Shane, Lori and Andrea, who was leaned against the side of the church solemnly.

Meanwhile, Marlie hung back inside and sat down on a smooth wooden pew halfway down the aisle. She was, in no sense, religious. She went to church every Sunday was she was little girl, but after she turned fourteen, the divorce happened and her mother stopped going. Any bit of religion Marlie had was long gone.

But being the church now felt nice. It reminded her of times long ago when she was apart of a complete and happy family. Mom, dad, brother, the whole shebang. The dead stayed dead and there were no monsters lurking everywhere. Times had changed, though. Everything was different and sad and stressful. Marlie had hope, however, that things would change for the better or that things would at least stop getting worse. So far, she'd seen people change and she, herself, had changed. That was a start, Marlie realized.

Up at the front of the church, much closer to the hanging Christ, kneeled Carol. Her slim form looked so much frailer to Marlie than it ever had. But there was still some residing strength left in her shoulders as she prayed.

"Father, forgive me," the older woman began, kneeled before the statue. "I don't deserve your mercy. I prayed for safe passage from Atlanta and you provided. Prayed for Ed to be punished for laying his hands on me and…" She hesitated and glanced at the floor, her hands clasped in front of her. "And for lookin' at his own daughter. Whatever sickness was growin' in his soul, I prayed you'd put a stop to it."

Marlie's head lowered. She hadn't prayed in a long time, but she was praying now.

"Give me a chance to raise a right," Carol continued, tears steadily growing thicker in her pale blue eyes. "Help her not make my mistakes. She's so fearful. She's so young in her way. She hasn't had a chance."

And as Carol went on, a stone settled heavily in Marlie's heart. Heavier than she had felt yet. There were tears filling her own eyes and she tried to blink them away, but they just fell onto her lap, creating dark little spots in her jeans.

"Praying for Ed's death was a sin. Please, don't let this be my punishment. Let her be safe. Alive and safe. Please, Lord. Punish me however you want. But show mercy on her. Show mercy on my little girl." Carol sniffled and rose carefully from her position before the cross to sit beside Lori on the front pew.

But Marlie couldn't remain in the church any longer. She left once Carol was finished and found herself leaning against the tall tree planted out front. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, her arms cross over them.

Rick accompanied her a short time later, squatting down in front of her with the black nine mill held outwards.

"Take it," he commanded gently, blocking the gun from Shane and Andrea's view.

Marlie refused. "It's yours and I've got this," she said, patting the knife on her hip.

"It won't be enough if you come across one too many walkers."

Frowning, Marlie looked past the officer's shoulder towards Andrea.

"Don't worry about her. I make the rules. Besides, I'd feel a lot more comfortably if you had gun as opposed to Andrea."

For a moment, Marlie continued to refuse, but eventually took the offered weapon with reluctance, tucking it back into her pants.

Rick nodded before joining Lori who had just appeared from the church.

A minute later, Marlie felt Daryl sit beside her before she saw him. Without looking, she said quietly, "I never wanted to stay here. With you guys. I wanted to fill my stomach, get a good night's rest and then leave in the morning. I never wanted to stick around."

"Then why did you?"

She scoffed. "You know why, Daryl. The moment you left to go search for Merle, I didn't want to go anywhere until I knew you were safe." Marlie pushed a lock of curls behind her pierced ear before going on. "And then when you came back, I didn't want to go anywhere without you. I just…I don't know…I just couldn't leave."

"I'm confused."

Marlie looked over at him.

"I thought stayin' had been a good thing for you, but your tone begs to differ."

Shaking her head, her gaze left Daryl's and landed on Shane, who was talking tensely to a blonde Andrea. "I'm glad I stayed, Daryl. Safety in numbers. But it's reasons like this that remind me why I walked alone for so long." She motioned at Carol who was exiting the church with Lori beside her. "The constant threat of losing your friends, it's…well it sucks."

Daryl chewed on the inside of his lip, his mind working up an answer. "That's the sacrifice of carin' for people. You can make friends easy enough, but losin' 'em is something you gotta learn to deal with."

She couldn't help the smile that formed on her lips then. Who knew that Daryl had such wisdom built up inside? But Marlie realized that he was thinking of Merle then, and it broke her heart even more. "There's still hope for him, you know. Just like with Sophia." In a turn of the tables, Marlie began to comfort Daryl. She jumped up and stood before him, blocking the sun from his denim eyes. Her leather-covered hand reached out to him and she smiled when he grabbed it.

He was hoisted up a moment later and dusted his pants before noticing the gun in Marlie's pants.

The young woman saw Daryl eye her piece. "Rick gave it back. Said he'd rather I had it just in case."

Daryl didn't need to be convinced. He could tell that Marlie knew a little bit about firearms and how to use them properly, so he didn't say anything more. He accompanied Marlie to join Carol and the others.

Shane cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention then. "Y'all need to follow the creek bed back to the RV. Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick are gonna stay behind for an hour or so and search the area. Just to be thorough."

"You're splittin' us up?" Daryl asked, his gaze on Rick. "You sure?"

Rick nodded. "Yeah."

"Well then I wanna stay, too, and look," demanded Carl, stepping forward. "I'm her friend."

Marlie smirked at the balls on this kid.

"Please?" the boy asked, looking up at his mother.

After a moment of deciding, she shrugged. "As long as you stay close to your father, I don't mind." She bent down and embraced Carl, shuffling up his hair and asking, "When did you start growing up?"

"Where's your other gun, Rick? To give to Lori?" Shane asked when he noticed one of his friend's weapons missing.

Lori shook her head. "I'm not leaving you unarmed."

"Then take mine," Daryl offered, handing the woman a small piece that he carried with him for backup.

All the while, Andrea looked on with a very unhappy expression.

"What about your nine mill?" Shane asked persistently.

Marlie could tell than Rick wasn't sure if he should tell him or just pass a little lie his way, so she decided for him. "He gave it back to me." She glared at Andrea who was quick to stare back, the notable look of what-the-fuck plastered on the blonde's face.

"And nobody's going to freak out about it, you hear?" Rick ordered, casting his gaze to everyone in the group, specifically Shane and Andrea.

No one objected as the group split and went their separate ways—Glenn, Andrea, Daryl, Marlie, Carol, and Lori went back into the woods while Rick and Shane stayed behind.

"So this is it? Is this the plan?" Carol asked eventually, plopping tiredly on a fallen tree, giving everyone the chance to take breather.

"She's right," commented Marlie beside her, leaning against a different tree.

Daryl shrugged. "Guess the plan is to split us up into smaller and smaller groups."

"Armed with knives and pointy sticks," Andrea added crossly. She glanced at Lori and then to Marlie. "I see you two have guns."

Marlie rolled her eyes and sighed. She had zero patience left. Removing her piece from the back of her jeans, Marlie held it out to Andrea. "Take it."

There was severe confusion and surprise on the blonde's features.

"You've been staring at Lori and I for the past hour, looking pissed and smug and I can't take it anymore. So take it." Marlie shook the weapon at her, tempting Andrea. She could feel Daryl's curious eyes on her, but she didn't turn to look.

"No," Lori intervened. "Keep yours, Marlie. She can have mine."

Brows furrowing, Marlie prepared to object, but Lori was quick to speak up again.

"Put it away. Andrea, take it."

Snatching it, Andrea obeyed and took Lori's piece, watching the other woman drop onto the log beside Carol.

"Honey," she began, looking at the short-haired lady, "I can't imagine what you're goin' through, but you have got to stop blaming Rick. I see it in your face every time you look at him."

Carol blinked with surprise, but didn't object because she knew Lori was right.

"He didn't even hesitate to go after those walkers. Not for a second. Now I don't think any one of us would have gone after her like he did. Or make the hard decisions that he had to make." Her eyes flowed over everyone in the small group, waiting for a response, or denial, or anything. "Anybody?"

But no one said a word, because in the end, it was true. Rick had done more for the group in the past day than anyone had done in an entire week. No one would deny that or wrong his choices.

Lori looked away then. "You all look to him and then blame him when he's not perfect. You think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stoppin' you."

In an act of respect and kindness, Andrea returned the gun back to Lori, who took it without question.

"We should keep moving," Andrea suggested quietly.

Suddenly, Marlie's dislike for Andrea lessened as she followed her and the others further through the forest. When Daryl's hand touched her arm reassuringly, Marlie took it and kissed it softly.

Lori was right—nobody was perfect. But it's the imperfections that make people who they are.

Marlie respected that, respected Lori, respected Rick for his heroism, Daryl for his comfort, Carol for her honestly, Shane for his willingness to make tough decisions, Glenn for his quietness, Dale for his understanding, T-Dog for his caring, Sophia for her strength, and Carl for his bravery.

This is was Marlie's family, and that was all she really needed. Her job now was to protect it. Her new purpose lifted her weighted heart a little.

But it quickly sank at the sound of a single gunshot.


To be continued...TOMORROW! Comments, anyone? They keep me going, so they're greatly appreciated!