A/N Thanks for sticking with me guys! I'm glad you still like the story.
A few more days of camping, hunting and scavenging roll by before they find anyone else. Keeping to back roads and side streets made it take days instead of hours. They follow a dust trail up into a small set of hills and find a somewhat large camp. People are gathering around the jeep that must have left the trail.
Daryl parks the truck away from the rest of the vehicles. Merle pulls up next to him and by the time they shut off the engines almost everyone in the group has stopped what they are doing to stare at the newcomers.
Daryl turns to Sam "You should introduce us first."
Sam states at him "Why me?"
"Cuz you're the least threatening of us."
Sam sighs and slowly gets out of the truck. A tall man, built like a football player comes to the front of the group, casually holding an automatic shotgun,
"Hey." Sam says simply "Is there room for a few more?"
"That depends," he says, resting the gun on his shoulder "anyone been bit? Scratched?"
"Nope, we're all clear. I'm Samantha." she steps forward "The guy on the bike is Merle Dixon, the one in the truck is his brother Daryl."
The man shakes her extended hand "Shane. How'd you find this? We're pretty far from the highway."
"We didn't take the highway" Sam explains while Merle and Daryl come up to join her "And your jeep leaves a pretty big dust trail."
"Let me show you where you can set up, then we can do introductions." Shane says, signaling everyone to get back to what they were doing.
The camp consists of almost thirty people, mostly families, but there are some who are alone. They end up setting up their camp near the edge of the group, close to the woods. Shane does introductions as promised while everyone is gathered, preparing dinner.
Lori, who's husband died at the beginning of all this, and her son Carl. Amy and Andrea, sisters on a road trip from Florida. Ed and Carol Peletier and their daughter Sophia, and a handful of others.
"Glen should be back from Atlanta soon," Shane says "so you'll be able to meet him then."
"Wait, Atlanta?" Sam is shocked "That can't be safe. The city must be so far gone by now."
"It's an absolute disaster. Completely over run." Amy, the younger of the sisters confirms her suspicions.
"Glen is our runner. He goes in when we need supplies, he's good, he can get in and out of the city on foot in just a few hours." Shane reassures her "Why don't you see if they need any help with the food. I'm sure there's something for the guys to do too."
Sam walks over to the group of women around the big central fire pit "Is there anything I can do?"
"We can always use more hands." Lori, the dark haired woman with the son and dead husband says, giving Sam a short list of things to do.
Daryl searches for Sam, distracted from what he is supposed to be doing. Merle should be helping set up the camp, but he is nowhere to be seen. He manages on his own though, having learned a long time ago not to depend on Merle for anything.
Sam rotates some of the cans heating over the fire, "So you guys were headed to the city?"
"Yeah. It was awful. The highway is so clogged with cars." Amy says "We couldn't even get close. Which I guess was a good thing. Considering what happened."
Sam looks confused until Lori offers an explanation quietly "They fire bombed the city, dropped napalm in the streets, a few days ago."
"Was it just to kill the eaters? Or were they killing live people too?" Sam asks horrified.
"We were too far away to tell, but I like to think the streets they bombed were full of the walkers, but there's no way they could have made sure there were no living people down there."
The sun starts sinking lower, and Glen finally returns with new supplies. The lanky boy receives many pats on the back while he unloads some of the most needed supplies.
"We have new people." Glen states the obvious when he sees Sam.
"Yeah, three more people." Amy explains excitedly "This is Sam, and the Dixons, over there, Merle and Daryl."
Sam can see the wariness in Glens face as he observes the guys.
"I know they look like rednecks," Sam defends "but they're good guys. Just a little rough around the edges."
Glen glances between Sam and the guys skeptically before walking away.
Daryl starts walking over to where Sam is sitting, even though there's no sign of the eaters around he doesn't trust any of those new people to keep her safe.
"Hey Daryl," Sam says, seeing him approaching "the food's just about done. This group seems pretty well off. What do you think?"
"They're fine, I guess." he sits near her, but not too close.
"You don't really like people, do you?" Sam asks, making him fidget a little.
"Not really. 'S always been just me, or me an Merle. We look out for our own. An it's easier if we keep it that way."
"You wanted me to stay. So I'm betting that mentality is all Merle."
"Well, I knew you from before. The bar," Daryl struggles to find a nice way to say 'I didn't want your face getting ripped off' but what comes out is "I didn't have to go out of my way to save yer ass, but I did."
Sam watches in confusion as Daryl stalks off to his truck and slams the door. She can feel at least a few pairs of eyes staring at her.
"What was that all about?" Amy asks, coming over to Sam.
"I honestly have no clue. We were just talking, then he got mad and stormed off." Sam sighs "He seemed fine when he came over here."
"And they say we're the confusing ones." Amy says with a laugh.
Daryl sits in his truck, trying not to chain smoke the rest of the cigarettes he has left, forcing himself to calm down and smoke slowly. Sam opens the passenger door and gets in the truck with him.
"You know Dixon, you confuse the hell out of me" she reaches over and grabs the cigarette before he can bring it to his lips again, and takes a drag "I expect one thing, and you do the compete opposite. Merle might be a dick, but at least he's consistent."
Sam takes one last drag and gives him the cigarette before closing the truck door.