Hey everyone! Here's chapter 7! It's a little bit shorter and it was a bit harder for me to write, but hopefully you guys like it! Please leave me a REVIEW so I know what you think! :) Huge thank you to Pastel Shades for Beta reading this for me :) Go check out her stories! They're fantastic :)

~Disclaimer~ I do not own The Walking Dead, I only own Piper, Bailey and Claudia :)


They picked their way through the city, dodging walkers and hiding behind cars as they made their way to the mall where they had left Merle. Daryl shot a couple stray walkers still wandering around the destroyed mall before taking off up the stairs to the roof. Piper and the others followed close behind him.

When Daryl broke through the chain keeping the door shut, Piper heard his anguished cry as she made her way onto the roof. She saw Rick's gun trained on Daryl's head, with Daryl's crossbow aimed at T-Dog's head.

"Daryl, put it down or so help me I will shoot you. I don't care if it attracts every walker in the area." Rick kept his expression blank as he stared Daryl down.

Piper clung to Glenn's arm as they anxiously waited to see what was going to happen. Daryl lowered his crossbow slowly before shaking his head and walking up to what Piper now saw was a severed hand. She covered her mouth with her hand as she gagged at the sight, nearly losing it when Daryl put the now wrapped hand into Glenn's backpack.

"Ain't nothin' gonna kill Merle but Merle. Bastard cut his own hand off. Musta used his belt as a tourniquet. Look, blood leads that way." Daryl gestured towards the spots of blood making a trail downstairs.

They followed the trail until they found themselves in a room with stoves, one of the burners still lit and going. A foul smell invaded their senses as they walked further into the room.

"Oh gross, what is that smell?" Piper gagged and covered her mouth and nose with her free hand, keeping her machete in a tight grip in her right. She saw Rick and Daryl walking up to the burner and watched as Rick picked up a metal tool-looking object.

"What's that on there?" T-Dog asked as he risked venturing forward.

"Skin." Rick grimaced as he placed the object back on the stove. Piper couldn't hold it in anymore and heaved in the corner. Glenn walked up to her and rubbed her back while trying to control his own churning stomach.

"Told ya. Nothin's gonna kill Merle but Merle." Daryl snapped as he continued following the now less obvious blood trail down the hall.

~Back at Camp~

Claudia was down washing laundry with Carol, Andrea, Amy and Jacqui in an attempt to drive away the worry that was coursing through her as she waited for her daughter and the group to return. They passed the time with random little conversations, followed by awkward silences as they tried, but failed to ignore the patronizing stares being sent their way by Ed. Claudia turned to look for Bailey, seeing her further along in the water with Shane and Carl, splashing and giggling.

She was shocked back into the conversation after hearing Andrea mention something about missing her vibrator. She let out a quiet chuckle at the young woman and resumed scrubbing the overalls Bailey had been wearing before she changed into the bright pink summer dress she was now dressed in.

Carol's mumbled "Me too" about the vibrator sent the women into hysterics, laughing loudly and unfortunately attracting the attention of Ed.

He walked down and stood a few feet away from the group of girls, sending them a sneer. "What's so damn funny?"

"Nothing Ed, we're just talking." Andrea rolled her eyes and turned away back to the clothes.

"You'd best just get back to work. This ain't no comedy club." Ed sent Carol a warning glare, causing Claudia to stiffen and wrap her arm around the timid woman protectively.

"Hey Ed, if you don't like the way your laundry is done, how 'bout you do it yourself?" Andrea glared as she threw the shirt in her hand at Ed, who caught it and whipped it back at her face.

This caused all the women to rise to their feet and glare at him. "C'mon, let's go." He gestured for Carol, but Claudia firmly grabbed her by the shoulders, holding her back.

"I don't think so Ed. She's not going anywhere with you anymore." None of the women had seen such livid expression on the gentle woman's face, but this didn't deter Ed.

"You'd best come now, or you'll regret it later." Still Claudia refused to let Carol go. Ed, sick of the disobedience from his wife and the arrogance of the new woman, shoved Claudia to the ground hard and slapped Carol hard in the face. Amy, Andrea and Jacqui all started yelling and hitting at Ed. Before he had a chance to react, Shane slammed into him and dragged him a little ways away from the group of girls and started punching him in the face repeatedly.

Most of the girls watched in horror, Carol crying and calling out for Shane to stop. Claudia watched on, slightly disturbed by the violence, but feeling that it was just what the man deserved. She had zero tolerance for abuse of any kind, and this man was beyond cruel. Any man who could make his wife so withdrawn and his daughter terrified of her own shadow got no sympathy from her.

Eventually Shane heard the distraught women, bent down and whispered something in Ed's face before punching him again and sending one last glance at the girls before storming off. Claudia ran to catch up to him, placing a soft hand on his shoulder. He turned around and sent a very small smile at the woman as he stopped.

"Thank you. For helping us. I know the others appreciate it too, they were just a little…shocked at your method." She smiled warmly and kindly at him. He relaxed slightly after hearing that they didn't all think of him as a monster.

"No problem. Just lemme know if he causes any more problems." Claudia nodded her head and started scanning the area as if searching for something. "Bailey is with Lori and Carl. Figured she could do with some lessons." He smirked, knowing that no three year old had any interest in school work.

Claudia laughed and turned to face the small area of camp they had set up as a make-shift school and saw Bailey running laps around the table and Lori, who was desperately trying to settle the little girl down. "Yeah, she is a feisty one. But she's an absolute sweetheart. Couldn't ask for a better granddaughter." Her smile was gentle and loving as she watched the little girl giggling and playing without a care in the world. Shane couldn't help but think that the only true peace during this hell was watching the innocence of the children playing, and wishing desperately that they could all be so carefree and happy.