"Merle!" Daryl yelled in despair. The only thing left of Merle when we got up to the rooftop was his hand. "Merle!"

He was crying now, and so was I. Merle was like a brother to me, even though that would awkwardly make Daryl my brother too. I loved him like family.

"Maybe he's somewhere in the building," I offered, sniffling my nose and cautiously making my way towards him. He inched away.

As I looked back at Glenn, T-Dog, and Rick, who all stood there with frowns spewed across their face, Daryl gathered up his crossbow and stalked away to another door that sat across from the door we entered in. He slammed it open, scoping out the insides before heading in without us.

We all followed after he was no longer in sight, going in much more quietly than Daryl's huffs, grunts, and sniffles. He started slamming things around, and before Rick could yell at him to calm down, we all discovered a bloody towel and a turned on gas stove.

"Cauterized," Daryl grunted, moving the towel with his foot. "Told you my brother was a survivor."

"He's still lost a lot of blood," Rick commented, motioning to the piles of crimson blood that pooled in the cracks of the linoleum.

"He's alive," Daryl still muttered, walking to a broken window. Merle must've escaped from there.

In Daryl-like fashion, I strode to another door and peeked out of the glass window in it. It seemed like where we stood was the break room of some sort of office.

"Meet you by the van in an hour," I muttered, looking back at Rick as he nodded reluctantly.

I opened the door to the cubicles carefully, looking around the room like Daryl did before stepping inside, closing the door behind me.

There had to be at least twenty cubicles in a boxed in fashion, all with abandoned family pictures and personal trinkets spewed everywhere. Papers were scattered everywhere, most of them with some sort of legal matter printed on them with official back ink. It reminded me that there was absolutely no warning when the outbreak spread. No one had a chance.

A rustle of breeze came from the east end of the room, next to another bigger room that only held one person's office supplies. I assumed it was a draft, coming up from the emergency escape stairs. They usually had some sort of direct connection with outside.

"Hello?" I called out, just in case it was Rick or somebody coming up the stairs. There was footsteps, but no reply.

There were no groans or moans like the sounds that Walkers would make, but the footsteps became more and more pronounced.

"Daryl, is that you?"

The footsteps became louder.

"I swear, if you're trying to scare me, I'll kill you."

The last footstep before they ceased echoed through the empty cubicles, making my heart beat a few more times per minute. It wasn't until I heard the doorknob turn that I got out the Desert Eagle that Shane gave me.

Speaking of Shane…

The door opened quietly as I rounded the edge of the cluster of cubicles, pointing my gun right between the crack.

"Don't shoot me," Shane whispered, popping his head out of the crack. I almost screamed.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I shrieked, putting the gun back in my waistband. He opened the door all the way and waltzed through, going straight for my waist. He hugged me like we haven't seen each other for ages.

"I couldn't stand you being in danger," he sighed. I scoffed and pushed him away.

"I don't need your help, thanks."

Shane pouted, coming closer as I walked away. He caught up with me and pushed me against one of the cubicle's desks.

"Are you on crack?" I yelled, pushing myself farther into the desk when he trailed his palms up my back. "What about Lori?"

I didn't resist him any longer; I didn't have the willpower to do so. His needy hands were commanding in a way I've never felt before.

"Forget Lori," Shane said softly. He grabbed my waist from behind, swaying me slightly as he set his chin on my shoulder.

"I thought you guys had something going on," I thought out loud, and then I remembered Rick Grimes' sudden appearance. I quickly got angry. "What, your piece of ass got reclaimed so your scoping out a new one?"

"That is so not true," he said quickly, "if it was, Andrea would be the one I'd go to."

"What, I'm not prettier than Andrea?" I asked seriously but was laughing my ass off inside. I quickly swiveled around to face him.

"No, I didn't say that," he claimed.

"Are you now? Well?" I snickered, watching Shane's mouth open and close quickly, narrowing his eyes at me after. I put my index finger over his mouth.

"Shut up before you dig yourself a bigger hole," I purred, removing my finger and kissing him lightly. I completely forgot about Daryl whenever I was around Shane, which was not good. At all.

Shane traced the curve of my hips with both of his first fingers, as he stared into my eyes. He had a much more powerful gaze than Daryl did; it locked me in place, I was absolutely mesmerized.

He grabbed my hips tighter than before, leaning in for the hungriest kiss yet. Along with the gaze, Shane was better at kissing than Daryl, although I felt love through his and lust through Shane's. That's all this was, though. Lust. At least I hoped that's what Shane felt.

Shane's hands went lower, grabbing my ass and lifting me up, setting me on one of the desks as I wrapped my legs around his waist.

"Where is Daryl? Rick and the others?" I asked before we went any further. I especially worried about Daryl being up, the light sleeper he is.

"Don't, worry double checked the locks," he whispered, coming closer to the counter so nothing on my body didn't touch his. And I mean everything was pushed up against him. He peeked down, at the top of my bra. My breasts pushed up against his chest, making them lift slightly. For obvious reasons, he enjoyed it.

It didn't feel wrong to be with Shane like this.

He unzipped my pants while kissing me heavily. His tongue slipped in and out of my mouth, which I wasn't often fond of. This time, though, I welcomed it.

Footsteps kept me from unzipping his. We both froze in place, looking toward the hallway that led to the front.

"It's nothing," Shane quickly said, moving down to my neck and kissing its side. A secret of mine: I love my neck being kissed. Love.

"I hope for the sake of you that you're right," I said, cautiously returning my attention to Shane's pants zipper. After I unzipped it, he once again grabbed me tightly, making my arms jerk forward to hold onto his neck. He lifted me up and carted me to what seemed like the bosses office, which shouldn't have been more than 10 feet from the first cubicle. Shane dropped me on the expensive foam couch, bringing a little excited squeal out of my mouth.

"Are you sure about this, Shane?" I nervously asked him as he lightly crouched down on top of me.

Without answering me, he lifted up my shirt slightly and licked in a line from my belly button up to the underwire of my bra. Tingles formed where the warm wetness remained.

Shane suddenly stood up, practically tearing his shirt over his head. My heart got caught in my throat when my eyes traced over his stunning stomach muscles. I reached out to trace them with my hands, not long before he helped me prop up to a sitting position. In turn, he laid down on the oversized couch just to the side of me.

"Come here," he said fiercely in his sexy commanding tone he seemed to use a lot. This was a different situation, though. Obviously.

I growled playfully and extended my torso to rake my fingernails against his chest. He shivered in anticipation as I straddled his waist and became very close to his face. It was a maneuver I used a lot on Daryl.

"What changed your mind?" Shane asked sensually as I planted kisses across his collarbone.

"About what?" I asked, leaving a trail across his neck to his jawbone.

"This," he answered, gripping my hair tightly and kissing me on the lips.

"I guess you're just too irresistible," I finally replied after he slid away from my face.

He slipped my thin tank top off and grabbed the straps of my bra, sliding them down in a rush.

"Admit it," he whispered, sliding his fingertips down my back to the edge of my pants, "you wanted me from day one."

"Actually," I answered, "you're right for the first time."

His smile grew when he reached my pants waistband, tugging at it as a signal to help him take them off. I bit my lower lip and grabbed his hands, helping lower my favorite pants to my ankles. I kicked them off and scooted lower, so my mouth was adjacent to his pants zipper. I tugged on it with my teeth before letting my hands help, slowly sliding down his pants.

"Wait," Shane whispered quickly, putting his hand on my head. I stopped and listened for what he was hearing for. Footsteps. Little pitter patters down a hardwood floor becoming loud ones on linoleum floor. Whoever it was, they were in the break room.

That's when I heard an all too familiar groan of pain, something not quite dead but definitely not human.

Walker.

Shane realized too, and quicker than I could get off the couch, he pulled me up beside him and covered my mouth.

"Daryl," I mutedly yelled, scratching at his hand and wriggling my bare legs.

"Shh," he whispered, putting his chin on my head. If he was trying to comfort me, it sooo wasn't fucking working.

The Walker droned on, knocking things over in the break room before heading to the office cubicles. Heading our way.