Chapter Eleven

Allen was buried between the woods and the fence not far from the newly repaired hole. Tyreese and Sasha spoke of him fondly, even telling stories of their life together on the road. Tyreese hadn't let him turn. As soon as he stopped breathing they had taken him outside and he had shot him once in the head. Carol felt bad for the big man. He was a friend to her. Not like her group, not yet, but a friend non the less, and he was in pain. Daryl had been right. She knew that pain well.

Daryl didn't scowl at her for standing next to Tyreese during the service. He didn't frown when she held the mans hand. He didn't even glare at her when she hugged him after it was over, even though Tyreese had been reluctant to let her go. She wanted to comfort him. She wanted to make sure he didn't wallow in his loss, like she had done. Wanted him to know that she cared. It made her feel better about that feeling she had on the rooftop when she discovered it was Allen and not one of her own that had been bitten. It had scared her. She had grown a tough skin, but she didn't want to grow so hardened that she felt relief when someone other than her group lost their fight with the new world. That was wrong and it almost made her feel dirty.

"I need to go back to the prison." Tyreese said as they all returned to the building they had taken over earlier. "I need to be there to tell Ben. That boy has lost everything now." He shook his head sadly.

Rick nodded in agreement. "You and your sister go on back. I'll stay in your place. Maybe Glen and Maggie could stay too. We're gonna have to get this mess cleaned up as soon as we can. Do you think the two of you will be okay on the road?" He asked. "It looked pretty clear on the way in but you never know if all that noise is leading others here. We can send someone else with you if you want."

Sasha shook her head solemnly. "We'll be fine. You've all done enough. You've given us hope." She touched his arm. "With or without our whole group, we can't thank you enough for that."

Rick covered her hand with his own and nodded. "Whatever hope you have now was earned, Sasha. That didn't have a thing to do with the rest of us."

She didn't argue with him. Simply gave his arm a squeeze and back away.

"Wait." Merle said before they walked away. He was hurrying towards them, keys in his hand. "You ain't gotta go back into those woods. There's a Jeep bout a half block down from the gate. You get to it and it's yours." He tossed Tyreese the keys.

"You sure?" Sasha asked.

Merle just nodded.

Rick looked shocked at Merle's generosity but he didn't comment on it. Merle wasn't the type that wanted his good deeds pointed out."Tell the others to get everything packed up tonight. Anything they can find that we could use here needs to be loaded up. Leave out at first light. I don't like us being separated like this. And tell Ben how sorry we are."

Rick and Merle left with them so they could retrieve their vehicles from the hidden drive where they had parked them so they could get to work on moving out all those bodies.

Daryl made a face and then kicked at a body at his feet. "Guess we need to get these things stacked nice and neat so we can load'em up as soon as they get back. This is gonna take a while."

They didn't waste any time. They would soon loose the light and they knew it wasn't going to be as easy in the dark. And there was a greater risk of the same thing that happened to Allen happening to one of them if they couldn't see well. There were fire pits in the grassy area that separated the left and right sides of the road but that wasn't as good as the sunlight that they had now. By the time Rick and Merle were back they had three stacks of ten bodies. There had been more Walkers than they thought. The ground was still almost covered. They must have killed hundreds here. And there were still live ones wondering about in the distance.

"I think we've killed more here than we have since the very beginning. I can't believe how many bodies are out here." Carol grunted as she helped Maggie throw another body on another stack.

"I don't see how we can burn all these." Maggie grimaced. "Maybe burn a bunch every day. Hell even that might take weeks. This is a mess."

"Can you two ever just shut up and work?" Merle asked as him and Rick carried a body by. "Seems like you would get a lot more done if you stopped you're talkin'." He grinned.

"Shut it, Merle. Worry about your own stack-o-cadaver. Leave this one to us." Carol winked as they huffed on by.

They worked hard and eventually the sun started to go down. Merle went to feed the generators but they only planned on using electricity in the one building. They were all going to stay close and take shifts so the storage building could be looked after. They needed those guns almost more than they needed the food. They all agreed to take downstairs apartments, so they could get out quickly if something were to happen. Even though most of the Walkers were taken care of they weren't out of danger. They would never be out of danger. The more they had the more someone would end up wanting to take and this place was harder to secure than the prison had been.

Carol couldn't stop thinking about a hot shower. She was filthy and sweaty and smelled disgusting. They all did. Her and Daryl called the apartment that was closest to the door, thinking that they wouldn't be doing much sleeping anyway so it was better for them to be closest to the main entrance in case someone came into the building. Not that either of them said anything like that. But they were both thinking it. Rick, Merle and Michonne took the larger one across the hall and then Glen and Maggie took the one next to that. It felt strange for everyone to be going off on there own, even if they were all still going to be fairly close. They had gotten very used to being together. Usually within ear shot at least and most of the time they were all always in each others sights. Not only because they had to share a cell block but because it become second nature to keep a constant lookout for each other. That was how they had survived for as long as they had.

She hadn't wanted to touch anything until she was clean, and Daryl figured that it would save time and energy if they showered at the same time. That wasn't the case, however. The water had turned icy before they had stumbled out of the shower stall and made their way towards the bed. No, that hadn't saved them any time at all but neither of them were complaining. He didn't try to hide the scars anymore. He was now laying on his stomach with his arms shoved under the pillow, his head facing her. The sheet was pulled just up to his hips.

"Do you think there's anybody still alive?" She asked as she lightly traced the outline of the scar tissue that marred the otherwise perfect skin of his back.

He cracked open one eye and then shrugged. "If they don't show themselves tonight we'll find out eventually. We're searchin' all the buildin's tomorrow. This bed feels weird," He said distractedly.

"It's cause it's a bed." She laughed. "It feels weird to me too."

"Just as well. We can't lay around in bed all night anyway. We have first watch and we're late. You keep distractin' me. Gonna get us all killed." He grumbled as he got himself dressed.

"You're the one that busted in on me in the shower, jackass! You're the one that's distracting me." She pulled her shirt on without getting out of the bed. She rummaged through her bag for some pants.

"Hey, that's your fault. Believe me, that could have been a lot faster than it was. You're the one that said don't stop."

She flushed furiously and then grabbed a small figurine from the nightstand and threw it at his head. He ducked and slipped out of the room just as someone started pounding rudely on the door. She hurriedly got dressed in the spare clothes that she had thought to grab both of them at the last minute. She knew it was going to be a bloody day and the thought of being able to shower but then put their filthy clothes back on wasn't appealing to her. She'd actually expected to get dirtier than she had but that was okay. Her other clothes were disgusting. She made it to the living room just as Daryl was shutting the door.

"We have to take second watch. Rick and Merle said we took to long so we missed out on the first one. Best try to sleep. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow and we have to get back up in four hours for our shift. Told you that you were too damn distracting."

"Keep it up and I'll team up with Glen and make you spend four hours on watch with Maggie." She grinned.

"Truce. There ain't no way I could work with that girl. She's worse than you with her mouth." he grumbled.

"That ain't true. Maggie's the sweetest girl I've ever known other than her sister."

"Yeah, but just like you, she don't know how to shut the hell up."

She ignored the barb and pulled him back towards the bedroom by his shirt. She stifled a yawn but he had no true intentions of really letting her sleep. He had a whole lot of catching up to do.

Merle sat on the top step, his back pressed against the Storage buildings front door. It hadn't always been a storage building but that's what it had become after the Governor took over. He still wished the man was still alive. Payback was a bitch and he had wanted to make sure the man got what was coming to him. But there wasn't any sense in crying over spilled milk. He looked down the street, squinting his eyes to try to make out any sort of movement. Strained his ears for any sound. This was a damn boring job. He sighed to himself. He wished that Tyreese would have stayed so they could have even numbers. Rick was his partner right now but Rick had decided that it was a better idea for one to guard the front and the other to guard the back. Merle thought it was a stupid idea. Especially since the back could be barricaded from the inside so no one could break in without making a lot of noise. He would rather have Rick to talk to than to be by himself out here bored to death.

He sat there and listened to the quiet for so long that his ass started to go numb and he ran out of things to think about. He got up from the step and paced around the small grassy area in front of the building. He was trying to burn off all his nervous energy but there really wasn't anything to do. He decided to take off down the street and see if he could spot any Walkers to kill but then he stopped as soon as his foot touched the pavement. He needed to run that by Rick. He hated that. He was Merle Dixon and he was suppose to do whatever the fuck he wanted. He rolled his eyes and slipped around the side of the building.

"What do we have here?" He asked with a frown as he walked around the building and spotted Rick and Michonne talking quietly a few feet from the back steps. Now that wasn't fair at all. He was out front, bored out of his mind and lonely for conversation and here these two were out back just having a grand old time. He ground his teeth together.

"There any trouble around your side, Merle?" Rick asked ignoring his question.

"No. Ain't shit out there. I was plannin' on takin' a stroll down the street. See if I can't find me some Walkers or maybe a few live ones. We don't know of the whole town was wiped out or not. I'd rather not have'em sneakin' up on us in the dark." He wasn't asking permission but Rick nodded anyway.

"That sounds like a good idea as long as all is quiet on your end."

Merle just grunted and walked away. There were still a lot of bodies in the street as he made his way to the other end. He kept his steps light and listened carefully. There had to be something to do to kill time. He wished he could go wake up Carol and his brother. They were the only ones that didn't make him feel like a damn inconvenience. Well, Daryl did at times but he was coming around. Maggie too, she was a riot, always picking at Daryl. After his slip up in the kitchen when he told Glen about James she had been giving him doe eyed looks. Not that he minded, she was a looker. But he knew that wasn't what she was looking at him for. She thought he was a nice guy or some shit. He grunted out loud. Let'em all think what they wanted. He didn't much care anymore.

He stopped and crouched down amongst some dead Walkers when he heard a sound coming from further down the street. He was hoping it was someone alive. And hostile. Being able to fight would relieve all this boredom and bad mood. When the sounds grew closer he saw that it was nothing but a Walker. He was on it in an instant, knife driving into it's ugly eye socket.

He carried on, waiting and hoping for something exciting to happen. He was beginning to think about going and waking Carol and his brother up. If they were sleeping at all. Which he doubted.

Another sound caught his attention and he whipped his head around suddenly. On the porch of a nice Victorian style house were several Walkers. Maybe ten. He wasn't ready to have to try and battle through ten of them just to get into the house but he was definitely going to make it a point to tell everyone about it when he got back to the other side of town. There was a reason those things wanted in there. He turned and hurried back up the street towards the others.

Daryl was so close to finally dosing off. He couldn't get comfortable on the too soft bed. His body wasn't used to it. Hell, even before the end of the world he hadn't ever really had a bed. He usually slept on the couch of whatever rundown apartment that him and Merle were occupying at the time. Trying to sleep on lumpy cushions while hoping like hell one of the giant roaches didn't crawl into his mouth while he slept was what he had been used too. That and sleeping on the ground. The closest thing to a bed he'd ever owned was the stack of prison mattresses up on his perch. The only thing comfortable to him about the whole thing was the fact that Carol was halfway under him. His head was resting against her neck and his face was pressed into her collarbone. He smiled drowsily. She was just the right kind of uncomfortable, he'd sleep just fine.

She mumbled something in her sleep and found his hand, pulling it up next to her face. He drifted off thinking about her instead of giant roaches but was wretched back awake when someone banged on the bedroom door a few short times and then opened the door. Daryl sat up, making sure he didn't pull to much sheet with him since Carol hadn't bothered to put her clothes on... again.

"Merle, what the fuck? Don't you know how to knock?" He growled.

Merle flipped a switch and the room filled with light. Daryl squinted and Carol covered her face. Their eyes weren't used to artificial light, at least not this much. "I did knock. You didn't say anything so I came in. I got some manners, asshole."

"If no one answers you it means to go away Merle. Not to come in." Carol said as she tried to get her eyes to adjust to the light.

"Here," Merle started picking up their clothes off the floor and throwing them at them one piece at a time. Get dressed and come check this out with us. Officer Friendly's orders little brother."

"It ain't our damn turn yet, Merle. Go check it out yourself." Daryl grumbled.

Merle put his hands on his hips and glared at them. Then, in true Merle fashion he grabbed the corner of the sheet and gave it a hard yank. Carol was barely able to keep herself covered. "Goddamn it, Merle! What's wrong with you?" She yelled as she yanked the sheet back up.

"Think there may be some live ones down the street in one of the bigger houses." Merle said, he couldn't hide his grin.

This got Daryl's attention. "Why do you think that? Did you see anybody?"

"Just a bunch of Walkers tryin' to get in. Makes me wonder if they were followin' someone." Why that house and not the one next to it?"

"Get out Merle. We'll be out in a few minutes." Daryl said in a hurry. "Go, quit starin' asshole. You ain't gonna see nothin'." He shook his head.

Finally Merle left the room, shutting the door behind him.

"So, what are my chances of you stayin' here while I check that out?" He asked as he buttoned his shirt and then crawled across the bed and kissed her hard on the mouth. She hadn't even started dressing yet.

She pulled him down with her on the bed and smiled against his lips. "Pretty high actually. You make me all weak kneed, Dixon. I ain't used to all that." She kissed him again, threading her fingers through his hair. "I actually wanna sleep."

He forgot what he was suppose to be doing as his focus honed in on her and that all consuming hunger that she had ignited in him the night before overwhelmed him. He needed her again. It didn't matter that there was shit to do, didn't matter that Merle was waiting in the other room, didn't matter that he'd already had her twice in a matter of hours.

"Goddamn it, Daryl! We need to go. Now! There's plenty of time for all that later. Put your damn shirt back on!" Merle eyed Carol who was under Daryl but still covered up with the sheet. "What did you do to him? You're an evil thing." He shook his head and slammed the door.

"When did I take this off?" He asked out loud, not meaning too as he picked up the shirt. He'd apparently just pulled it off over his head cause it was still buttoned. Carol just shrugged and laughed at him. At least he hadn't taken off his pants without knowing it.

He bent down and kissed her on the forehead, not trusting her mouth anymore, and hurried to the door, grabbing a rifle on the way out. "Get some sleep. I'll wake you up for watch in a few hours." He said as he flipped the light off and closed the door quietly.

Merle was sitting on the couch, looking pissed off as usual. "I don't wanna hear it," He grumbled as Merle opened his mouth to say something.

To his surprise Merle did close his mouth. They met the others in front of the building. Michonne had volunteered to watch the apartments and the storage building while the men went and checked on the house.

"What the hell took you guys so long?" Rick said irritably.

"Talk to him." Merle threw Daryl a look. "He's a nympho or somethin'."

"Shut up Merle." Daryl whispered as they neared the house.

Sure enough there were Walkers on the wide porch clawing at the heavy wooden door. The good thing about houses that old was that they were built to last, unlike most houses now days. Those Walkers wouldn't be getting into that house anytime soon. Not unless they went through a window.

The men wasted little time. They cleared off the porch, kicking the bodies out into the yard. The door was locked but that didn't mean a whole lot. Merle and Daryl took turns kicking it until it finally gave and slammed against the wall.

They went in swift and searched the downstairs. The back door was wide open, indicating either whoever was hiding in the house escaped out the back thinking that Daryl and the others would hurt them or they were running because they were the guys Michonne had warned them all about. But Daryl didn't think that was the case. Those men would go straight for the guns if they found their way back to Woodbury, if they were out there at all. It was Andrea who told them that the men were out there somewhere and Daryl didn't believe a word Andrea said.

"Whoever it was, they bailed." Merle said quietly.

"Who do you think it was? Maybe the people that lived here?"Rick asked.

"I don't even really know who lived here to be honest. The Governor had a place for us and a place for his citizens. We didn't cross paths a whole lot."

Daryl took his gun and did a check of the upstairs just in case. The house was empty. There was quite a bit of blood on the floor in the kitchen but it was hard to say if it came from a wondering Walker or if it was from a person.

"We should just get on back." Daryl said quietly. "Wait for the others to get here in the mornin' and then tear this place apart. Somebody's here, and I intend to find out who they are."

They made sure the doors were secure and then took off back towards the buildings in the center of town. Daryl was feeling all nervous again. This place was too damn big. They didn't have enough people to secure it and make it safe. He wasn't a fan of coming to Woodbury in the first place. Now he thought that maybe they should just take everything they wanted from the town and go back home. But he knew no one would agree to anything like that. Truth was, he was afraid that they were going to get soft here. Get all comfortable and then boom, something major was going to slap them in the face and they were all going to end up dead.

He wanted to talk to Carol about it. She would tell him whether or not he was just freaking out for no reason. And then she would talk some sense into him and make him feel like a dumb ass for ever worrying to begin with. That was what they did. When he got to the room they were using for the night his hand hesitated on the doorknob. What if he opened it and she wasn't there? What if, while they were checking out that house, someone came in here and did something? He shook his head. He was delusional. He needed to sleep. He hadn't had much rest in a long time. Probably since before Carol had turned up missing.

He opened the door and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the small mound she made curled up in the middle of the bed. He was extra quiet as he stripped down to his pants. and eased in next to her. After that he didn't have much trouble getting to sleep. He fell asleep fast and slept like he hadn't in a long time. Maybe the too soft bed wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Carol had woke up a while before dawn. No one had came to wake either of them for their watch shift. She felt more rested than she had in longer than she could remember. Daryl was still asleep. Rick and Michonne were outside and Merle sat at the kitchen table, waiting on breakfast. It all seemed very domestic. Rick and Michonne would come up after the others came. She had offered to take Ricks place but he had shooed her away and insisted she cook them something since the refrigerators were stocked with actual food. There was even a coffee pot. It was the most beautiful thing Carol had seen in a long long time. She was filling up the back when Merle looked up from the magazine he had found to flip through.

"Carol?" He asked as she turned around and plugged in the waffle iron.

"Hmmm?" Was her only response. The smell of the coffee brewing had her head spinning. She could really get used to this.

"The hell's goin' on? Nobody woke us up for watch?" Daryl asked from the bedroom door. His hair was sticking up at odd angles and his shirt was hanging open. He rubbed his eyes and looked very much like a little boy. "Holy shit, is that bacon?"

Carol laughed as he sat down heavily in the chair across from Merle.

Daryl turned to him. "Well? Wasn't you about to ask her somethin'?" He asked his brother.

"Forgot what it was now." Merle grumbled.

Maggie and Glen came in then, timidly sticking their heads in the door. "Carol, am I smellin' bacon and coffee?" Maggie asked in her wide eyed way.

"And waffles." Carol laughed as they barged in.

"Daryl, I like your hair like that." Maggie said as Carol sat down cups of steaming coffee in front of everybody.

"Oh. My. God." Glen breathed as he inhaled the strong brew.

Maggie was spooning sugar and cream into her cup. Merle and Daryl made a face. "You're ruinin' it, Maggie. It's gonna be syrup by the time you get done." Daryl admonished.

"This is how I like it, Daryl. Mind your own business." She grumbled as he continued to make faces at her cup.

Glen and Merle laughed at them until Carol put food in front of their faces. She'd never seen grown people act that way in her life. There were no manners, everyone grabbing this and that. Maggie even stole the bacon from Merle's plate and he nearly wailed like Judith until Carol gave him more. Maggie laughed at him as she split her loot with Daryl. Glen guarded his food with his arm, nearly glaring at anyone who looked at his plate too long. Carol leaned against the counter and watched them. She was just glad to get the coffee. She wasn't about to fight the others for the food.

Daryl looked over at her and then down at his plate. Finally he got up and stood next to her, leaning into the counter with his feet crossed at the ankles. He held out his food.

"No thanks." She shook her head. She was having too much fun watching them.

"You gotta eat somethin'." He grumbled. Clearly he didn't want to give up his food but he would if she wanted it. She was actually pretty touched. "You're sweet, Dixon. Now go eat."

He ate but he stood right there with her watching Maggie torment Merle. Even Glen was having a good time. Daryl shook his head.

"Just like a bunch of damn kids." he grumbled around a mouth full of food.

"Says the guy that ate Merle's bacon when the kid sister of the bunch stole it from him?" Carol arched an eyebrow.

"I didn't know it belonged to Merle. I thought Maggie was just sharin'." He smiled innocently.

"You two nearly made poor Merle cry." Carol tried to hide her smile but she couldn't.

"Merle's a big baby. He'd have gotten over it." Daryl whispered as Merle turned to glare at him.

"The hell are you two back there whisperin' about?" He grumbled.

"Nothin'." Carol tried to give him a convincing smile. She didn't think it was working very well.

Rick and Michonne came in then. The prison group was starting on the clean up, which is something her and Daryl needed to help with since they had done nothing else last night. Nothing helpful to the group anyway.

"Rick, why didn't anyone come get us last night for our watch?" She asked.

Rick and Merle shared a look before Rick answered. "Because you both act like you are machines. Like you don't need food or water or rest. So we figured we would make sure than you got what you needed last night, as far as resting went anyway."

"Oh, Daryl got what he needed all right. Tried to get it again while I was right there in the next room." Merle grumbled.

"Merle!" Carol snapped but it was too late. Everyone was laughing at them.

After she made sure everyone had eaten enough her and Daryl left the apartment with Glen and Maggie. Rick, Michonne and Merle were going to take Carl and Ben and get started on searching the buildings while the rest of them were on body duty. Carol didn't mind it although she did wish like hell that it didn't stink so bad. It was going to be another hot day and it wasn't helping with the smell. But at least she could work knowing that she could shower later. That helped more than anyone could imagine.

Axel was a big help also which surprised her. But it shouldn't have. He was quick to get on her nerves with his persistence but every since her and Daryl became... whatever her and Daryl were, he backed off.

There was a clinic, a real one, a few buildings down from the one they all stayed in and Carol hadn't been able to wait to show Hershel. There was an exam room stocked full of supplies. A real hospital bed and even a two bedroom apartment tucked in the back past the waiting room and exam room. Beth had Judith there while Hershel took inventory. It was like Christmas morning for the old man.

By mid afternoon they had a lot of the bodies moved out. It was a relief to see the progress. Carol wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand and stood back with Maggie to examine their work.

"You know, I'd really like to know how all these things got in here just from that little hole." Maggie mused as she played with the cap on her water bottle.

"Well, the gate was left open too, I'm sure that's where most of them came in from." Carol muttered.

Maggie shook her head. "No. Andrea said it was completely overrun by the time she woke up on that roof. That was before the gates were opened. Do you think the men are right? That someone led those things in?"

"I suppose that could have happened. But where are the people that led them here?"

"That's what I've been wanderin'. What if they're here? Just waitin' for us to let our guard down?" Maggie said worriedly.

Carol put her hand on Maggie's shoulder and looked her in the eye. "Maggie, when have we ever let our guard down? We are strong. Stronger now with Tyreese and Michonne. I feel bad for the person stupid enough to even try to mess with this group." She smiled as she saw some of the worry leave Maggie's face.

"Do you think we can live in those houses or should we stay close in the apartments?" Maggie gazed longingly down the street and then she frowned. "Somethin's happened." She pointed.

Merle was storming towards them like an enraged bull. His face was red and he was glaring. When he saw Carol he broke into a run. She ran to meet him halfway.

"Merle? What's happened? Everything okay?" Carol asked frantically.

"Where is Daryl?" Merle roared.

Carol looked behind her. Daryl and Axel had just parked the truck to be loaded again. He jumped down from the drivers seat and looked over at Carol and his brother. Merle's face must have tipped him off that something was wrong.

"You two have to help me. You have to. Rick and Michonne are fuckin' crazy!" He was talking so fast it was almost hard to understand him.

"Slow down and tell us what's happened, Merle." Carol said, taking his hand and trying to comfort him.

"You just have to come with me. Everybody, they want everybody." Merle said as he shook his head back and forth.

Carol nodded and without another word she headed back down the street with Merle. Daryl whistled loudly and motioned for the rest of them to follow him.

Merle stopped so fast that he had to pull Carol back so she could face him. They were a little ways ahead of the rest of the group. Daryl gave him a nervous look. "What's goin' on, Merle?" He asked his brother.

Merle looked from his brother to Carol and then back again. "You to are the real thing, right? You ain't just messin' around to fill the time and get your rocks off, right? Ya'll are all in love or whatever?"

Daryl frowned and glanced over at Carol. They hadn't really talked about any of this and it wasn't something that either of them wanted to discuss with Merle. Merle's face was turning a strange shade of red again.

"Just answer me! Damn it, you two, please. Ya'll plan on bein' together till you're dead, right? Like, like a married couple or somethin'? It's true, ain't it? Ya'll plan on livin' together and bein' like a family, right?"

"Merle, what the fuck's wrong with you? What happened?" Daryl was studying Merle like he'd lost his mind and then his eyes narrowed. "Damn it, Merle! You're high as a kite ain't you? You found some pills somewhere and now you're freakin' out."

Merle looked at Daryl like he was the crazy one. "No, you dumb shit!" Merle threw his hands up in the air and turned down the walkway leading to the porch steps of the big house they were standing in front of. "Just follow me. I'll show ya."

Everyone else had caught up with them by now. Carol was worried about Merle. Maybe he really did find some drugs. That's the only thing she could think of. Why else would he be acting so insane?