Decided to post another update for everyone! Thanks for the review casper6six6! Glad so many seem to be enjoying the story so far! There's a nice Daryl and Isabell scene coming up at the CDC soon, too!

The sun was down by the time we reached the dirt road that lead up to the camp. I could feel a stitch in my side from how hard Rick had pushed us to move to get back. I felt like I was going to be too winded to do anything if Merle was at the camp—I didn't know how any of them would have the energy.

"Guys," Glenn said from somewhere behind me. "I think I hear screaming."

The group paused a moment, stopping on the trail just outside of the camp. At the sound of gunshots, Daryl sprinted forward, pulling his crossbow from over his shoulder.

"Shit," I heard T-Dog curse beside me.

Pulling the gun from the waistband of my jeans, I forced my feet to push forward despite how bad my legs were pleading for a rest.

It wasn't Merle wreaking havoc on the camp I found out immediately. A bunch of walkers had somehow found the little community. Panic began creeping up my chest, causing me to freeze at the scene unfolding. There were a few walkers chewing on people that were still screaming. I saw a few of the women trying to carry their children away from the walkers. Others in the group were taking them out with whatever they had—baseball bats, machetes, guns.

It was the sound of Shane's shotgun that drew me back to the moment. I couldn't just stand here panicking, I needed to help. I tightened my grip on the gun in my hands and aimed at a walker that was ripping apart a man's neck. I fired and hit the walker in the back. It fell forward onto the dead man before turning its rotted and bloody face towards me. I chewed my lip and tried to aim at his head, not wanting to miss and accidentally injure a member of our group.

It was on its feet now, rushing towards me. I could feel the gun shaking in my hands. My heart was hammering wildly in my chest as I pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the walker in the leg, nowhere close to the thing's head, but it was limping now. I re-aimed the gun and took a deep breath, holding it as I pulled the trigger again. This time the walker went down, unmoving.

"No!" A voice screamed out nearby.

I spun around and saw a walker had bit into Andrea's younger sister. I ran forward just as a man with a bat took out the walker.

Andrea dropped down on top of her sister, completely in hysterics.

"Oh God, oh God!" she kept repeating over and over.

"Everyone, this way!" Rick's voice carried over the screams.

I spun around and saw him with his family, Shane bringing up the rear, huddled together and heading towards Andrea and I at the RV.

I spotted another walker sneaking up behind Andrea. She was too preoccupied with her sister to notice it coming right at her. I aimed and shot it in the head, not missing this time since it had been so close. Andrea didn't even flinch.

I spotted Dale making his way towards the RV, his expression pained when he realized what had happened to Amy. Not far behind him were a few others that were taking out remaining walkers.

"Isabell!" a voice suddenly called out.

I spun and saw Rick pointing behind me. Hands were suddenly on my shoulders, the weight catching me off guard and causing me to fall to the ground. The walker was on me then, his face straining forward, snapping at my neck. I pushed back on his chest with as much force as I could, trying to keep him at bay, but there was no way I could maneuver the gun in my right hand to shoot the walker in the head. I could feel spittle fall from its mouth onto my neck. I could see its eager, hungry gaze from this close distance.

I struggled under the weight of the walker, pushing as hard as I could. At one point I pushed so hard that my left hand dug into the soft skin beneath it, tearing some of the flesh from the walker's chest.

"No you don'," a gruff voice called out.

Blood splattered the front of me as an arrow suddenly cut through the walker's head, stopping mere inches from my own face. My eyes widened in fear at just how close it had come before it was suddenly ripped out of the thing's head. The body was soon rolled off of me and a rough hand was suddenly before my face. Hesitantly, I reached out and took it, being pulled up by Daryl and coming face to face with him.

"Thank you," I told him.

He gave me a quick nod before surveying the group's campsite. He aimed his crossbow and shot one more arrow, momentarily disappearing to retrieve it.

When I had calmed down and caught my breath, I noticed that the walkers were all finally dead, but they had taken quite a few of our group. Andrea's sobs over her sister were mixed in with the faint crying of a few others. Rick was clutching Carl tightly to him as the boy cried into his chest; Lori was nearby, her face buried in her hands.

Nobody slept during the night. Andrea sat quietly over her sister, not allowing anyone to come near her or her sister. I wasn't sure what she was doing or what she was waiting for, but my heart broke at the sight.

When the sun had finally risen, the camp finally seemed to come back to life. Most people had gone off to dig graves for the dead at first light, a few of us staying back to keep an eye on those who were at the little campfire in front of the RV. My eyes followed Daryl as he made his way from each dead body, wincing every time he swung the pickaxe in his hand into the body's head. Someone would come after, carrying the dead body towards the RV so they could be buried, or they were brought to the pile of walkers that were burning nearby. The stench was awful but after a while I had stopped paying attention to it.

Movement from my right caught my eyes and I spotted Rick making his way towards the few of us around the campfire. He looked worn out and his shirt was covered in dried blood and dirt.

"She still won't move?" he asked as he stood beside Dale and me.

Dale shook his head, his eyes not having left Andrea hardly at all ever since her sister had been bitten.

"Won't even talk to us," Lori told her husband from her place beside me.

"She's been there all night," I added.

"We can't just leave Amy like that," Shane spoke up. "We need to deal with it. Same as the others."

I knew Shane was right and I could tell Rick thought so as well, but he appeared to be having an internal struggle. A mixture of emotions crossed his face before he set his jaw and nodded firmly.

"I'll tell her how it is," he said before making his way towards the silent woman.

My eyes followed Rick as he approached the woman, each step actually looking like he was losing confidence in what he was about to do.

He was halfway to kneeling when Andrea whipped around, gun pointed firmly in the man's face. Rick paused in between a kneeling and standing position. I couldn't hear what she said to him, but Rick slowly rose, backing away from the woman. Andrea's hand eventually lowered the weapon and she turned her attention back on her dead sister.

The sun rose slightly higher in the sky as the morning crept on, everybody still on edge after last night. I kept quiet, listening in on Rick and Shane's discussion about what was next for the group. Noisy footsteps caught my attention and I looked up, spotting Daryl heading towards our small group in front of the RV. His pickaxe from earlier was replaced with a shovel now, which he had slung easily over his right shoulder.

"You can't be serious," he growled when he spotted Andrea still hunched over her sister. "That dead girl's a time bomb!"

"What do you suggest?" Rick asked him.

Daryl briefly shot Rick a look of disbelief, as if the man should already know the answer. He took a few steps closer, catching Rick's eyes as he leaned in.

"Take the shot," Daryl stated matter-of-factly. He raised two fingers to his temple, replicating a gun. "Clean, in the brain, from right here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

"No," Lori's voice rang out. "For God's sake, let her be."

Shane and Rick exchanged a look as if they were on the same page with Lori. Daryl shook his head, the same way he had done to me when we had been in disagreement in the nursing home yesterday, before he turned on his heel and sauntered off.

"How're you doing, Carol?" I asked to the woman who had been sitting silently beside me for a few hours now. I knew her husband had been killed in the walker attack last night.

She shrugged in response, a vacant look on her face as she watched her daughter sleeping on the ground beside her. I didn't know what else to say so I kept quiet.

Glenn's voice a few minutes later broke the silence that seemed to linger over what was left of the camp.

"We don't burn them!"

My attention turned to a man I didn't know who was helping Daryl drag a body towards the fire. They paused at Glenn's outburst.

"We bury them, understand?" Glenn asked, his voice still carrying towards where I was sitting.

Daryl didn't look like he agreed but he picked up the man and dragged him towards the other bodies lined up against the RV.

"Reap what you sow," Daryl shot at Glenn as he dropped the body down.

The man that had been helping him carry the body told Daryl to shut up before he walked off. An angry expression crossed Daryl's face suddenly.

"Y'all left my brother for dead," he snarled before pointing at the dead lined up on the ground. "You had this coming!"

I saw many angry eyes turn in Daryl's direction. His outbursts since we had returned from Atlanta last night hadn't been making him too many friends.

"A walker got him," Jacqui's voice called out suddenly. "A walker bit Jim!"

A man I had yet to meet was standing near her, his eyes downcast. Almost like wolves ready to attack their prey, Shane, Rick, T-Dog, and Daryl were quickly encircling the man who was starting to panic.

"Show it to us," Daryl ordered.

Jim's eyes darted around before they landed on a nearby shovel. He grabbed it before anyone could stop him and was brandishing it before him, trying to keep the men at bay. Immediately I was on my feet, rushing over to join the group.

T-Dog had managed to sneak behind Jim and when the man wasn't paying attention, he lunged forward and grabbed his arms. Daryl reacted quickly, running forward and raising Jim's shirt to reveal the bite on the man's stomach. The perfect teeth punctures in his skin were red and covered in blood. Daryl dropped the man's shirt and took a step back.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Jim kept saying, trying to reassure everyone.

T-Dog released Jim's arms and stepped back beside Daryl, eyeing the man before them.

"I'm okay," Jim continued saying, his voice getting quieter with each word. "I'm okay."

Jim was instructed to sit by the RV while everyone figured out what to do next. Daryl immediately volunteered to kill Jim, ending the problem as quick as possible, but no one else appeared to be on board with his plan. Truth was, killing a man who wasn't a walker, even if he was going to turn into one at some point soon, just felt like murder.

"That what you'd want us to do to you?" Shane shot at Daryl.

"Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it," Daryl shot back.

"I hate to say it, I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right," Dale spoke up.

"He's not a monster Dale, or some rabid animal," Rick said, interrupting the old man.

"I'm not—" Dale tried to explain, but Rick cut him off.

"If we start down that road, where do we draw the line?" Rick asked.

"Line's pretty clear," Daryl answered. "Zero tolerance for walkers."

"What if we can get him help?" Rick suddenly asked the group. "I heard the CDC was working on a cure."

"Heard that too," Shane said. "Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell."

With the way that Atlanta looked, deep in my gut I didn't think the CDC had found a cure. I wasn't even sure if I would believe anyone would be there or that the building was even still standing.

"It might not even be up and running," I told Rick.

"What if it is?" he asked me.

"That's a stretch right there," Shane said.

"Why?" Rick shot. "If there's any government left, any structure at all they'd protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn't they? I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection, refuge."

"We all want those things, believe me," Shane spoke up. "If they still exist, they're at the army base, Fort Benning."

"That's a hundred miles in the opposite direction," Lori pointed out.

"Yes, but it's away from the hot zone," Shane replied. "If that place is operational it would be heavily armed and we would be safe there."

"The military was overrun by these things already," Rick said. "We've all seen that! The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance."

The group fell silent for a few moments before Daryl spoke up.

"Somebody's gotta have some balls to do what needs to be done," he said.

The next few seconds seem to move in slow motion. Daryl was racing towards Jim, pickaxe raised above his head and ready to land in the man's skull. Rick was immediately behind Daryl, gun trained at his head.

"Hey, hey!" Rick shouted, his voice causing Daryl to stop with the weapon ready to swing. "We don't kill the living."

Shane jumped in front of Jim, protecting the man from Daryl. I could feel everyone holding their breath beside me as Daryl slowly turned his head to Rick, lowering the pickaxe in his hand as he did so.

"That's funny," Daryl grunted. "Coming from a man who just put a gun to my head."

"We may disagree on some things," Shane spoke up, catching Daryl's attention, "but not on this."

Seeing that Rick and Shane weren't going to change their minds, Daryl dropped the pickaxe, grumbling something under his breath, and made his way to the tree line. He stopped and leaned against one of the trees, just outside of the group, his eyes narrowed at nothing in particular.

It was at least an hour or two later that we had buried the bodies of group members that hadn't been so lucky last night. Amy had turned not long before we had started burying the dead and it was Andrea who had been the one to put her sister down. The scene had been hard to watch.

It was Rick's decision that we would make our way to the CDC in Atlanta and try to find a cure for Jim. In my gut I knew Jim was a lost cause, but I still took down my tent and packed it into the duffle bag I had found in my hospital room when I'd woken up.

A few people from our group had decided against making the trip to the CDC once everyone was packed and ready to go. Everyone said their goodbyes and wished them well and I loaded up into a car with T-Dog and Andrea. I tossed my duffle bag into the backseat and crawled in, trying to make myself comfortable for the drive ahead.