Chapter Four

Not Approachable

There was a rumble of thunder from above then the occasional drop of rain around the camp.

Drip.

Traveler woke up- she fell asleep in the chair by the fire pit, which now had a small fire going and a pot hanging above it. She glanced up at the grey clouds and shuddered at the chill in the air the clouds brought. She knew it would be gone soon, that was just how the weather was in Georgia, it will be a bright sunny day with a mild interruption from rain clouds, but the sun would be back soon to dry up the earth.

She hugged herself to try and get warmer when she felt a drop land on her head. She reached up to feel it and got a good feel at her hair. She left it in a pony-tail but she knew it looked horrible with mud, sticks and leaves still stuck in it. She brought her hand down and looked at her hand, it was filthy; all of her was filthy. She would give anything for a bath right now. Yes, a bath sounded great right now-

"Hey, how are you doing?" asked Amy interrupting her train of thought. The blonde girl was kneeling down and removing the now warm ice pack.

"Do you think there will be a shower or is this the outside of it?"

"Oh, it looks like just the outside, only a few drops, but it is headed straight for Atlanta. Not sure how that will affect the group there." Amy had a far off look on her face before shaking it off and grabbing the first aid kit. "I'm going to wrap your ankle and then get you some lunch. You were sleeping when we had ours and we didn't want to wake you."

"Okay," she said. Amy went about doing what she said she would do. She stayed quiet and Traveler could tell that something was on her mind. Probably how late in the day it is and the group- more importantly, her sister- weren't back yet.

Amy finished on her ankle and quickly fetched a bowl of soup and handed it to Traveler without a word.

"I have a question," said Traveler deciding to act on her earlier thoughts.

"Yes?"

"Well, it's just you all look really clean, aside for some dirt and sweat…" She left the question open. Amy laughed, happy to relieve some of the stress on her shoulders as she glanced over the filthy girl in front of her.

"You want a bath?"

"Yes, or, do you guys have a tub or something?"

"Yes and no. We have a quarry. It will take some skills to get you down there, but it's where we all bathe…and wash clothes, and get water. But it does the trick. How about I ask some of the other women to help you down there and get you cleaned up. Maybe that will make you look more presentable and approachable then you are."

"What's not to approach?"

"Well, it's also that you are staying with the Dixons, who are a little short tempered and stick to themselves, you know, not approachable."

"Right, I understand after experiencing both of them."

"Finish your soup and let me know when you're done. I'll go and talk to some of the other women to help us out. Be back soon." Traveler nodded and dug into her soup as Amy walked off to where she knew some of the others were.

The soup was okay, nothing spectacular but food is food and it was warm which Traveler greatly enjoyed. There was the occasional drip from the clouds above, but soon the weather cleared and the sun was back out which warmed her and made her feel toasty warm. This cold feeling was making her worry if she had an infection, she hoped not because they didn't have the medicine to cure her. Maybe it was just how she was living for the past week on her own and finally she was able to maintain a healthier lifestyle…and get some proper rest, lots and lots of it.

The soup was quickly gone and Traveler let the warmth spread in her stomach and warm as many crevices as it could. Relaxing into the chair as best she could she then lifted her arms and stretched, hearing a few things pop as she did so.

"Hey," said a woman walking over. She had really short hair, almost no hair at all, and had a kind yet somewhat frightened face, like a deer in the headlights. Traveler had seen her hanging around one of the guys and with the younger girl. Her family possibly.

"Hey," she responded from her spot in the chair.

"Um, Amy said you wanted to get washed up. I'm here to help. I'm Carol."

"Where's Amy?"

"Getting some soap."

"Ah." A silence fell over them until Amy came over.

"Here," she said and tossed the soap at Traveler who caught it put it on her lap, "do you have any…cleaner clothes?"

"Yeah, in my backpack inside the Dixon tent. Should be by the bed on the left side of the tent. Amy nodded and ran off to get the clothes. She hesitated before going into the tent and quickly grabbing a shirt and pants out of the black back pack and running out of the tent and over to the other women who were still silent.

"How did you sleep in there, that tent does not smell to fresh," commented Amy as she took in the fresh air and tossing the clothes to Traveler.

"Ah yes, ode du Merle. Smells great doesn't he."

"I never really wanted to get close enough to him to know," said Amy shaking her head, "well let's get you down to the water and cleaned up before the sun goes down. Carol you're going to grab other side of her and we're going to lift her on our arms like she's on a throne. Got it?" Carol nodded silently and moved to pick Traveler up. It was shaky at first but soon they got it and were able to carefully carry her down to the quarry and sat her on the edge of the water. Amy unwrapped the bandages and pulled Traveler's shoes off.

"So do you want to clean your underwear at the same time or are we going full birthday suit here?" asked Amy as traveler took her outer shirt off leaving her in a camisole.

"Might as well go all the way." Amy and Carol nodded and helped her get her pants off while she stripped her top and bra.

"We can add these to tomorrow's laundry, they are disgusting," said Carol as she made a small pile of all of Traveler's dirty clothes.

"You don't have to," she said as she scooted her way into the water.

"Trust me, the state that those are in, it will be doing everyone a favour," commented Amy as she handed Traveler the soap.

"Quiet," said Traveler. She lathered the soap up and began to wash her arms while Amy took out her hair tie and began to pick leaves and twigs out of her hair.

It was a few minutes later and Traveler was feeling cleaner and slightly better, a bath really was a good idea. Carol and Amy helped her into her clean clothes and then bandaged the cup and ankle before carrying her back up to the fire pit. They placed her back in the chair she occupied all day and handed her a hair brush.

"I'll just go put these in the laundry bin," said Carol and she walked off.

"I have a few more chores to do, but I'll be back later," said Amy as she walked off. Traveler just nodded and began to brush the knots out of her hair, there were a lot of knots so this was going to take a while.

She had just gotten the last knot, and by this time half her hair had dried in the heat, when the sound of a car alarm was fast approaching their direction. The noise would clearly draw any corpses in the area towards it, and she didn't like those odds. Anyone of those things in her condition was close to a death sentence. Still the car drew nearer and everyone was on edge.

There was a lot of back and forth shouting, trying to figure out who and what it was before a very nice red 2009 Dodge Challenger with black stripes stopped next to the other cars and out popped a Korean guy that was with the Atlanta party. Everyone was then in flurry to turn the alarm off and to figure out where the rest of the group was. Traveler just watched, setting the brush down on her chair, and watched as they started discussing what they should expect, 'walker' wise. She couldn't hear the conversation over the rumbling of a truck pulling up behind the Dodge.

She could feel everyone holding their breath as the doors opened, almost in slow motion, and one by one people she recognized from that morning came out and families were happily reunited again. She shifted the chair around so she could watch everything unfold. There was some talking, she couldn't make it out, before everyone turned to the truck and over walked another cop. Shane's movement seemed to stop, could they be from the same station.

"DAD! Dad!" shouted the young boy rushing over to the new cop, his mother following behind them. So even more families were reunited this evening. Everyone was smiling at the family embracing before them when Amy looked up and saw Traveler watching, she then glanced around and remembered that Glenn had said Merle had been trouble; he wasn't there. She walked over to Glenn and tapped his shoulder.

"What happened to Merle?" she asked and he dropped his smile and looked at her.

"He went crazy, tried to take over and was shooting geeks off the roof the department store, making unneeded noise. He lost it and attacked T-Dog so new guy here handcuffed him to the roof. Last I understood, he is still there," explained Glenn.

"Oh my gosh, that's horrible," she said pausing, "who should tell her?" She motioned to Traveler. Glenn looked up then back at Amy.

"I don't know," he said.

-.-

The fire crackled as it burned through more wood, no longer cooking dinner for a while now. Everyone was sitting around the fire enjoy the large amount of company, except one fellow who was stationed on top of the RV to keep a look out, even thought he really couldn't see anything in the dark. Even Traveler was sitting with the camp, but that's because she didn't move from that chair. At the beginning of dinner Amy introduced her to everyone so now she knew all the names and they were aware of her label but that was extent that they knew of her. She had to keep it that way.

Everyone had just finished laughing at Glenn's face as he described how they got out of Atlanta; apparently he wasn't too fond of cutting a corpse open and smoothing himself in it's guts. To be honest it sounded repulsive, but it was smart thinking. The laughter died down and Amy shared a glance with Glenn. He caught her eye and she motioned her head towards Traveler and he understood.

Glenn cleared his throat and looked at his hands before talking, "So, Traveler, about Merle. You have to understand that was a danger to us. I think the heat might have got to him or…it was just Merle being Merle. We didn't want to leave him but…"

There was a silence as everyone watch Traveler's face. Her expression was neutral before she burst into laughter, confusing everyone. It took a while before she calmed down and felt she had to explain a few things.

"Oh boy. I needed that laugh. Do I think it's horrible that you left someone handcuffed to a roof with only a door blocking him from being slaughtered by corpses? Yes that is utterly horrific. But do I care? No. I've only had one extended interaction with Merle Dixon and the only conclusion I can really come to is that he's an," she paused and glanced at the kids, "a-hole. To be honest I am kind of relieved that I don't have to share a tent with him tonight."

"So you weren't close to him?" asked Rick.

"Nope, but you're going to have a fun time with his brother," she said with a smug smile and standing up, with a little difficulty, "I'm going to bed now. Night." There was a chorus of 'good night' and they watched her as she limped back to the Dixon tent. She was happy she left the flaps down and the screens up so no bugs could get in, but the scent could get out. She got ready for bed which included putting a dagger under her pillow, or Daryl's pillow, and happily fell asleep.

A/n: what else am I suppose to do during the superbowl than write, right? I was happily watching the Walking Dead season 1 marathon on AMC, but at 3 my mum changed the channel to the super bowl reminding me that we have the season 1 and 2 on blu-ray. I knew she would watch the superbowl anyway, though because she did go to high school with the coaches.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

-Charlotte