Chapter 3: The Reunion
(Chapter 3 starts after the events of the first and second episode of TWD, and we see Merle handcuffed to the roof)
Rick's group had left Merle on the roof attached to a pipe, since T-Dog had dropped the key, they were unable to get him out of there, though T-Dog did chain the door closed so the walkers couldn't get at him. Merle began ranting to himself.
"That's right. You heard me, bitch. You got a problem? Bring it on if you're man enough, Or take it up the chain if you're a pussy. You heard me, you pussy-ass noncom bitch. You ain't deaf. Take it up the damn chain of command or you can kiss my lily-white ass. That's right. That's what I said. You heard me. And then this idiot, he takes a swing, You know, and well," Merle said, talking to an imaginary figure. He continues with his rant.
"Oh, you should've seen the look on his face when I punched out his front teeth. Yeah, five of 'em. Pow! Pow! Just like that. Huh. Oh my god. 16 months in the stockade… Oh, that's what them teeth cost me. That was… That was hard time, but by god, it was worth every minute of it Just to see that prick spit his teeth out on the ground. Yes sir, worth every minute," Merle said. He then realizes that he's trapped up on the roof by the chain. Merle started to panic.
"Oh no. No no! No no! No no! God! God! No no! God! Jesus! No no, merciful Christ! No no. No no. God, help me! God! God! Jesus, please! Jesus, please. Help me! Come on now!" He panicked and started to alert the walkers behind the door, as well as some circling pteranodons, which Merle assumed to be Vultures or some other big birds. He was more worried about the walkers behind the door. Merle prays to God as he reaches for the hacksaw close to him.
(Intro)
Rick was traveling back with the Atlanta group in the truck, while Glenn was in the mustang, the alarm still going off.
"Best not to dwell on it. Merle got left behind. Nobody's gonna be sad he didn't come back… Except maybe Daryl," Morales said
"Daryl?" Rick asked.
"His brother," Morales said. Rick and Morales heard a car alarm coming from behind them as well as an overjoyed Glenn.
"Whoo-hoo-hoo!" Glenn shouted passing by the truck.
"At least somebody's having a good day," Morales said smiling.
Back at the camp, Jacob was doing whatever he could to help out. He was washing clothes, cooking small meals, helping with the children, and anything else he could do to keep himself occupied. Lori was giving her son, Carl, a haircut while Zach was laying down looking up at the clouds trying to make out what they looked like. Jacob smiled at his brother from a distance, though Zach didn't know it. A few seconds later, Jacob heard what sounded like a car alarm coming from the base of the camp.
"Hey, Dale, can you see what that is?" A man in the camp asked.
"Talk to me Dale!" Shane said.
"I can't tell yet," Dale said.
"Is that them? Are they back yet?" Amy asked.
"I'll be damned," Dale said looking through his binoculars.
"What is it?" Amy asked again.
"Stolen car is my guess," Dale said, still looking through the binoculars.
Glenn popped out of car with everyone scolding him for leaving the alarm on. Shane managed to shut it off after he popped the hood. After the commotion with the car, the truck with the rest of the survivors drove in. Amy's sister, Andrea, ran to her, with Andrea doing the same. Jacob looked over to Carl and Lori with Carl crying as everyone's family ran to one another(Rick is Carl's father for those of you who don't know, and he was thought to be dead at the beginning of the series).
"How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane asked Morales
"New guy. He got us out," Morales said.
"New guy?" Shane asked again.
"Yeah. Crazy Vato just got into town. Hey helicopter boy! Come say hello!" Morales called to Rick. Jacob watched as the police officer got out of the car and watched when Lori and Carl ran to him as they hugged and sobbed in each other's arms.
"So that's guy that Shane said died. Rick... At least he gets to see his family again..." Jacob thought to himself. Zach watched as the families reunited with one another, and started to cry. Jacob went to his crying brother.
"Zach, what's wrong?" Jacob asked.
"Carl gets to see his family... I miss mom and dad!" Zach said still crying.
"I know Zach. I know. I know I'm not mom or dad, but I will do everything in my power to keep you alive. I promise. Ok?" Jacob reassured his brother. Zach nodded and went into the tent to read his book. That night, everyone including Jacob gathered around the fire. Rick talked about how he made it out of Atlanta and thanked Shane for keeping his family safe. They then started to discuss the actions of what happened on the roof.
"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind," Dale asked. Jacob heard about Daryl from the group earlier in the day, and had heard that he was 100% redneck.
"I'll tell him. I dropped the key. It's on me," T-Dog said regretfully.
" I cuffed him. That makes it mine," Rick said.
"What the hell are they talking about? They handcuffed a guy to roof?!" Jacob thought to himself. He still was nervous around this group since he didn't know too many people here.
"Guys, it's not a competition. I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy," Glenn said. Jacob couldn't handle anymore of this talk about leaving people behind. They left so many people to die back on Isla Sorna, he didn't want to hear it anymore, so he got up from the fire.
"Hey, heading to bed?" Shane asked.
"Yeah. I'm gonna make sure Zach falls asleep alright. Thanks for the fire. It was nice to meet you all," Jacob said standing up.
"You too, kid. Thanks for your help today. 'Night," Shane said to him.
"Goodnight," The whole group said. Jacob went off to bed while the rest of the group stayed at he fire.
"What's his story?" Glenn asked.
"He found my radio signal on the highway. He was comin' from the big hotel down in Atlanta when he got the message," Shane said.
"The Cobb center?" Andrea asked.
"That's the one," said Shane.
"Well, he seems like a good kid," Rick said.
"He is. I don't know why, but he's been quiet ever since he got here," Shane said.
"He's probably dealt with the same crap we have. He'll warm up to us soon," said T-Dog. And with that, everyone proceeded to head to bed themselves. That night, Jacob actually slept soundly, with no traces of dinosaur themed nightmares to be found.
The next morning
Jacob had slept better than he had in days. In fact, he slept until almost 9:00 which was pretty hard to accomplish in a world like this. When he woke up, he noticed Zach was already outside sitting in the sun.
"Anything is good for him to keep his mind off his mother," Jacob thought while staring at Zach.
"Morning Jacob," Carol said to him while smiling.
"Morning," Jacob replied back. Just then, Shane arrived in Jeep with what looked like barrels of something.
"Water's here, y'all. Just a reminder to boil before use," Shane announced.
"Water! Thank God! I'm so thirsty. He said boil it so that its drinkable. Was he a boy scout too?" Jacob thought, reflecting on his own years as a Boy Scout. His thoughts were interrupted by screaming coming from the forest. Everyone runs to the origin of the scream with the children running out of the woods, everyone else goes to investigate. Rick grabs a pole, and Jacob grabbing his fluorescent orange pistol, and followed him. When they arrive at the scene, they see a walker eating a deer carcass with an arrow in it. Rick, Shane, Glenn, Jim and Morales proceed to beat the walker's head in while Dale chops its head off with Amy and Andrea looking over to it in disgust.
"It's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain," Dale said looking shocked.
"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what," Jim said.
"They're hunting! Just like raptors!" Jacob said out loud. Everyone just looked at him with confused looks on their faces.
"Just sayin'," Jacob said. More rustling came from the bushes. Preparing for another walker, everyone readied their weapons. Out of the woods stepped Daryl.
"Oh, Jesus," said Dale, somewhat relieved that it was only him. Daryl took a look at the deer and angrily looked at the walker that had bit into its neck.
"Son of a bitch. That's my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this… filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!" Daryl said angrily as he kicked the head of the walker.
"Calm down, son. That's not helping," Dale said.
"What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'on golden pond'? I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" Daryl said insulting Dale. Jacob took another look at the chewed part of the deer.
"It really is chewed to hell. That thing took quite a chunk out of its neck," Jacob thought. But looking over it again, he noticed something else. There were more bite marks on the rear end and hind legs of the deer, but they didn't look like they were from a walker.
"Wait a second. These bites on the back aren't as cleanly bit through as the eater bites. These are... Ragged bites. They even look like they're clawed and mauled. This looks like the work of a-" Jacob was horrified when he thought he knew what it was.
"A velociraptor?! How is that possible?! Not a lot of animals around a city this big would be hunting like this, but how could it be a raptor?" Jacob thought to himself nervously. He decided to keep this to himself. After all, what were the odds of a velociraptor being here and who would believe him? He scolded himself for even thinking about such a thing.
"You're just paranoid Jacob, that's all,"
Jacob almost forgot the conversation at hand.
"I would not risk that," Shane said referring to the eaten parts of the deer.
"That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel… about a dozen or so. That'll have to do," Daryl said.
"Mmm. Squirrel. Delicious," Jacob said sarcastically. Daryl just gave him a sour look. Just then, the walker head started to move.
"Oh God," Amy said. Daryl then shoots the head with one of his arrows.
"Come on people, what the hell," Daryl said.
"It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?"
Jacob walks back to the camp with the rest of the group still thinking about the bite marks on the deer.
"Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up," Daryl said calling for his brother.
"Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you," said Shane.
"About what?" Daryl asked.
"About Merle. There was a… There was a problem in Atlanta," Shane explained
"He dead?" Daryl asked
"We're not sure," Shane said.
"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl yelled at Shane.
"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," Rick said.
"Who are you?" Daryl asked.
"Rick Grimes," Rick said
"Rick Grimes, you got something you wanna tell me?" Daryl asked angrily.
"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there," Rick Explained.
"Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!" Daryl screamed at Rick. Daryl tried to fight Rick but Shane held him back. Jacob was in the middle of the two and almost got punched in the face by Daryl. After the "fight" Rick explained himself.
"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others,"
"It wasn't Ricks Fault. I had the key. I dropped it," T said.
"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl asked angrily.
"I dropped it in a drain," T explained. Over the next few minutes the group discussed whether or not a guy like Merle was worth saving and who should go. After a few minutes, everyone stared at Glenn, since he was one of the most resourceful guys in the group.
"Oh come on," Glenn complained.
"You know the way. You've been there before… In and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask… I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too," Rick said to Glenn.
"That's just great. Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?" Shane said to Rick.
"Four," T said. Jacob was amazed at how many people he saw stepping up to save one guy, who apparently was the biggest asshole on the planet. He was debating whether or not he should go. At least if he did, he'd be able to get his mind off of what he saw on the deer.
"Make that five!" Jacob said, not actually believing that those words came out of his mouth. Every one just looked at the new guy that volunteered to go on this suicide mission to save a guy he didn't even know.
"My day just gets better and better, don't it?" Daryl said.
"You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?" T said to Daryl.
"I wanna help too. Ever since I got here, you've all done nothing but care for me and my brother, and I have to repay that. If I don't, I'll never forgive myself," Jacob said.
"I appreciate that Jacob, but are you sure you wanna risk your life for this asshole?" Shane asked.
"I'm positive," Jacob said.
"That's five," Dale said.
"It's not just five. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that Walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp," Shane said to Rick.
"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns," Rick said.
"Right, the guns," Glenn said.
"Wait, what guns?" Shane asked
"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up," Rick explained to the group.
"Damn. That's quite a stash," Jacob said also remembering how much John Hammond hated guns.
"Tell me about. It's quite a stash to loose too," Rick said.
"Ammo?" Shane asked.
"700 rounds, assorted," Rick said. Lori begs Rick not to leave as everyone prepares to head out and Zach does the same with Jacob.
"Please don't go Jacob. I don't wanna lose you too," Zach said sadly.
"Don't worry Zach. I promise I'll be back," Jacob said.
"But why do you have to go? This guy doesn't sound nice," Zach asked his brother.
"Because this group took us in and made sure we were safe, so now we have to make sure everyone else is safe. Even if they aren't a nice person. Besides, this is Daryl's brother and brothers have to look out for each other, just like you and me. Do you understand?" Jacob Asked his brother.
"I guess so. Please come back," Zach pleaded with his brother.
"I will Zach, I promise," Jacob told his brother giving him a hug.
"You be good and stay in sight of Lori and the other adults, ok?" Jacob instructed. Zach nodded and went to his tent to read again.
"Lori, would you mind looking after Zach while I'm gone?" Jacob asked.
"Not at all Jacob," Lori said smiling at him.
"Keep an eye on my husband?" Lori asked smiling at him.
"I'll bring him back. Don't worry," Jacob reassured her. Lori smiled at him and went to the tent to find Carl as the Five men left to find Merle.
Back in the Grimes' tent
"Hey. You know, I bet they'll be just fine," Lori said to her son.
"I'm not worried. Are you?" Carl asked.
"Yeah, a little," Lori said.
"Don't be," Carl reassured her.
"Why?" Lori asked with a puzzled look on her face.
"Think about it, mom. Everything that's happened to him so far… Nothing's killed him yet," Carl said, confident in his father's skills. Lori chuckled at this a bit.
"You're right," Lori said, feeling a little less worried. The two of them hugged as they heard the truck driving away.
Atlanta
"He'd better be ok or it's your ass officer Grimes!" Daryl said as Rick just ignored him.
"It's my only word on the matter. I told you the geeks can't get at him. The only thing that's gonna get through that door is us," T reassured Daryl. Glenn stopped the truck.
"We walk from here," Glenn said. The group got out of the truck and headed towards the railroad tracks.
Survivor Camp
"Dale have you seen Carl and Zach? I told Jacob I'd look after him," Lori asked.
"Shane took them down to the quarry. There was some mighty bold talk about catching frogs," Dale said. Down at the quarry, Shane, Carl and Zach and were catching frogs.
"I'm not getting anything," Carl said.
"Neither am I," said Zach.
"Yeah. Being all wily, staying submerged. Little suckers, they know something's up. That's what's going on. Just going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. All right, little frog catchers, look. You two are the… you two are the key in all this, okay? All I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go after one of them, all right, scare the rest of them off. They're all gonna scatter. I'm gonna drive 'em your way, okay?" Shane instructed the two boys.
"What you need to do is you need to round up every bad boy you see, all right? Are y'all with me?" Shane asked.
"Yeah. Yeah. Ok!" Carl said
"Oh yeah! I'm ready!" Zach said.
"Hells yeah. Give me your mean face. Yes sir. Are y'all ready?" Shane asked.
"Yeah!" Both boys said in unison.
"Are you ready? Here we go, boys. Here we go," Shane said as he splashing the water around the two young boys. Zach and Carl were both laughing as Shane was sending the water and presumably (to the boys) the frogs.
"All right, they're coming your way. They're coming your way. Go on, get 'em, get 'em. They're coming your way, come on. Catch them frogs. Catch them frogs. They're coming, here the come boys! Get 'em! Get those nets in there and get 'em!" Shane said to the boys as he was splashing around in the water. As the boys were catching frogs, nearby, the women of the camp were working and doing laundry and laughing and reminiscing about everything that they missed. Carol's husband Ed comes over when he hears the laughing.
"What's so funny?" Ed asked, not looking amused.
"Just swapping war stories Ed," Andrea said.
"Yeah," said Amy.
"Is there a problem Ed?" Andrea asked carefully, knowing how abusive Ed is.
"Nothin' that concerns you. And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club," Ed reprimanded them. Lori then comes down to the Quarry looking for Carl and Zach.
"Hey, Carl, what did I tell you about not leaving Dale's sight?" She asked.
"But Shane said we could catch frogs, remember?" Carl said.
"It doesn't matter what Shane says. It matters what I say. Go on back to camp. I'll be right behind you. Zach, you too. I told your brother I'd look after you and I want you back up at camp in sight of Dale ok?" Lori told both of the boys.
"Ok..." Zach said feeling a bit bummed. Both of the boys headed back to camp while Lori and Shane had an argument about Him not going near Lori's family and this made Shane very angry. On the way back to the RV, Zach stepped on something that looked like a bone.
"What's this?" Zach asked Carl showing him the claw.
"Looks like a claw," Carl said.
"Cool! Maybe Jacob will know what type of claw it is when he gets back. He's pretty good with animal stuff, even dinosaurs!" Zach said.
"Your brother is so cool!" Carl said. The two boys laughed and headed back to camp with Lori not far behind them. Later, the girls and Ed get into an argument about him doing his own work and hits Carol. Already angered by Lori, Shane "intervenes" and grabs Ed and throws him to the ground. Shane repeatedly punches Ed's face, with it getting bloodier with every punch as he mutilates Ed's face.
"Shane! Stop! Just stop!" Andrea pleaded
"Stop!" The women yelled.
"You put your hands on your wife, your little girl or anybody else in this camp one more time, I will not stop next time. Do you hear me? Do you hear me?!" Shane Yelled in his face.
"Y-Yes," Ed weakly tried to say.
"I'll beat you death Ed," Shane said throwing him back on the ground.
Atlanta on the roof
Rick, Daryl, Glenn, T-Dog and Jacob all arrive up on the roof looking for Merle.
"Merle! Merle!" Daryl called out for his brother.
"Oh my god," Jacob said.
"Is that?" Jacob asked pointing to a severed hand next to a hacksaw,
"No!" Daryl screamed seeing the hand.
"No! No!" He screamed again.
"No!" Daryl screamed one last time sobbing.
End
Ok I know this was kind of a boring and text heavy chapter, but this explained the key points of how the dinosaurs will soon appear and it gives good character development between Jacob and Zach, and it explained Jacob's role in the group. I promise that dinosaurs will appear in the next chapter and how they came to the outside world will be explained, but probably not until mid season 2 or early season 3. Not sure yet. Finally, I'm planning to create a chapter focusing primarily on Jurassic park characters. Most likely Alan Grant, as he will become a primary character later in the series. I hope you all enjoy this story so far and hope you keep reading! Reviews greatly appreciated! Thank you again!