Yay y'all...Chapter 29. I might not be able to update tomorrow because Santa Clause needs to wrap her presents. Please let me know how I am doing and if you like/hate the story. All I ask is if you hate the story at least let me know why in a constructive manner. Not just to be hateful.

Thanks for all your support and thanks to all my new followers and those that have favorited the story. There is really no bigger complement to me. Its the little things that make me happy.

Enjoy!

XXOO

The next morning Daryl and Anna took Hunter and made their way to her Uncles' cabin. Daryl didn't even know there were more houses up on the mountain. "Hey Anna, how many homes are up here?"

She thought for a moment, "I believe thirteen, and then there is one down in the valley that doesn't have any road access, Four wheel drive only over a roughly cut path."

"Do you think anyone lives in any of them? I mean we haven't seen anyone, but that doesn't mean they aren't there?" He inquired.

"It's a possibility, I just didn't really think about it. Why are you asking?" she asked.

"Just a few thoughts going through my head. Maybe we ought to check it out. Just for safety sake." He said.

She nodded and opted not to respond. She wasn't sure what Daryl was thinking but felt he would tell her when he felt the time was right.

They finally pulled up to the heavy gate that led the way to her Uncles' house. Anna jumped out and opened the lock, and then they drove through. Daryl couldn't believe the house that he saw in front of him. It was a huge mansion like nothing he had ever seen before. He had thought Gus's house was huge, but this one dwarfed the one that Gus had built.

He looked at Anna in disbelief, and she looked back at him and smiled, "Um, lets just say that Uncle Marty and Uncle Joe were 'connected' and they sometimes needed to leave Boston while things calmed down a bit."

He had suspected as much. Well at least he knew they were well trained in covert actions. Their skills were definitely going to be needed if they wanted to take out McGrady via a surprise attack.

When they walked into the house it was like the Second Coming had happened. Daryl felt himself whisked in the arms of two very enthusiastic women. These were Anna's aunts. They were both heavy set women, whom despite the world going to hell, they still were both heavily made up and decked out in jewels and perfume. Her Aunt Vivianna was Marti's wife. She was a striking woman with jet-black hair and He guessed she was around Marti's age. The other woman was Anna's Aunt Isabella, Joe's wife. She wasn't quite as striking as Vivianna, and her hair was definitely a very bleached blond and she had obviously had a boob job that she was still very proud of, but her personality was off the chart. She had a smile that could blind a room.

The women began fussing over the baby immediately. Anna was loving all the attention that her reunited family was showering on them all. Even Daryl had to say that the jovial group almost would let you forget about the horrors that were going on in the world.

They were soon taken into the kitchen where the women had laid out a feast fit for a king. One thing Daryl couldn't deny was that Anna's family loved to eat and cook. The spread that these women had laid out on the table looked like a Golden Corral buffet. He didn't know how much food these people had stock piled, but he hoped they were being smart with rations.

After they all ate a huge meal the men all congregated together and Joe and Marty were giving Daryl a tour of the mansion. He was amazed at the incredible view of the valley that the house had. The house had been built with both security and luxury in mind. There were several lookout points in the house, and he could only assume that it had a kick ass security room and probably another arsenal of weapons somewhere on the property. One thing for sure, this family was well prepared for disaster.

It was decided that the men would take the Gator and do some reconnaissance of the logging trail to see if they could determine the condition of the bridge. They were also going to try and determine if any of McGrady folks had been up on the mountain since the night that Daryl had been burned. That had been well over a month ago, but he wasn't sure if they had followed Gus on that fateful day Daryl had found him murdered or if they just happened to come upon him on a scavenging or hunting trip.

Since Anna was with her aunts Daryl felt content that she would be safe while he was gone. He wouldn't want to be the man to come up against those women. He had a suspicion that they were probably packing heat and would have no problem taking care of someone they thought was a threat to their family.

Via the logging trail, McGrady was only six miles from the houses. This was too close for Daryl's comfort. The only saving grace was the assumption that the bridge had been washed out. It was obvious that no one had been on the trail in a long while. They had to stop and bushwhack some overgrown parts of the trail. Marty opted to be the one who performed the task. Daryl figured he wanted the chance to use his giant machete that he had carried with him. The man had incredible strength and cleared the overgrown brush with minimal swings of the blade.

After about thirty minutes they had made it to the bridge. Just as the map had said, it was washed out. But it wasn't completely beyond repair. The men got out and surveyed the damage and Uncle Joe surmised that with some chainsaws and some materials from a local home improvement store they could shore up the bridge. He estimated it would take about a week to make it secure enough to get a vehicle across it.

Daryl had explained to the men about his plans to create the "walker bomb". They thought it was a very good idea, but told him there wasn't going to be anyway to get a box truck down the logging trail. They decided that they what they would do is procure a horse trailer and a four wheel drive vehicle. The trailer would be more maneuverable and they could ditch it and return in the vehicle. Marty and Joe both thought it would be a good idea to actually get three vehicle and three trailers. They could then do a simultaneous release from three directions. It meant one of them would have to drive fifty miles to circle around the long way and come to the outskirts of the town to release the walkers, then they would return back the same way they came.

One thing that they had to their advantage was the fact that McGrady had no guards and no fences. These people were so naïve to what was going on in the world around them that they were oblivious to the idea that anyone or anything could be an outside threat. They had always been the aggressors, and that was how they survived. The had lulled themselves into a false sense of security because all the locals avoided them out of fear. They had no concept of what it was like to be attacked. That was why it had been relatively simple for Daryl, Gus, and Anna to kill Ricky Liles and rescue the baby.

While the men had been out planning their attack the women were visiting and enjoying themselves. Anna had filled Vivianna and Isabella in on her struggles since the outbreak. She had told them about the fluke of her getting pregnant after twenty years and about the tragic loss of John. Her aunts had both known John's parents and had thought the world of him. But they were happy that Anna had met Daryl, which led to "Girl Talk" from the women.

"So young lady, this Daryl is very ruggedly handsome. How is he in the sack?" Isabella asked without even batting an eyelash.

"Um, well, I, don't forget I just had a baby…"Anna managed to get out.

"What, You haven't slept with him yet?" Vivianna shouted. "A man like that needs to be kept happy, both physically and emotionally. If you don't he will go looking somewhere else."

"Aunt Viv, you have to keep in mind that we are in the middle of survival here. Between the baby, healing up from various injuries and then the death of mom and dad, we haven't really been focused on our love life." She responded. She didn't want to go into detail about Daryl's inexperience or the fact that she gave him a brief introduction to sex on his birthday. It had only been about two weeks earlier, but with everything that had been going on it seemed like months ago.

"Well, you need to doll yourself up and do something mind blowing for him to let him know you are interested. And I put the emphasis on the word "blowing" if you get my meaning." Isabella joked.

All three ladies laughed hysterically at that comment. The women continued to discuss men, cooking, babies, the end of the world, and family for the next two hours. It was getting late in the afternoon and the men hadn't returned yet. Anna had figured they would be gone for a while. Her uncles were experts at military tactics, since they had to be quite covert on their previous activities. It was decided that the women would prepare dinner for the men so they would have a nice hearty meal to eat.

The men had spent the rest of the afternoon in the Navigator searching the area for abandoned vehicles. Daryl had always considered himself an expert at hot wiring cars, but Marty and Joe had it down to a science. They could hot-wire and chop cars like nobody's business. Daryl thought it ironic that having experience in illegal activities was now a great survival skill.

They found two suitable four-wheel drive vehicles. Both black and less noticeable than a vehicle that had color to it. Tomorrow they would find a third vehicle and then they would work on trailers the rest of the week. They had decided that they would work on the logging trail and the bridge in the mornings and then work on getting the supplies and vehicles in the afternoons.

Marty and Joe also wanted to secure up not just the perimeter of their individual property, but also the perimeter of the mountain. The estimated that to properly do this they were going to need about a month. It also meant that they were going to need to find something such as a military surplus store or a police- training center. These men had no intention of leaving anything unplanned. Daryl didn't think he could have any better allies than these gentlemen. The men also decided that by not attacking immediately that McGrady would be caught even more off guard. They just had to make sure that McGrady didn't attack them first.

When the men had returned the women had prepared another huge meal. Daryl mentioned that he would like to get out and hunt some this week replenish their meat supplies. Joe and Marty offered to come along with him, but he kindly declined. He told them that he worked better on his own. Marty was concerned about Daryl being completely alone and disappeared for a few minutes. He returned with two top-notch military radios. They would be effective within a five-mile radius and had scrambled channels that would prevent anyone from listening to their conversations.

"Look, we don't have phones in this day an age, but these will work just as good as cell phones up here on the mountain. Communication is key to safety and I figure that Daryl can have one to use when he is out hunting and that will leave Anna one to use while she is alone." Marty said.

Daryl took the radios from Marty as he handed them over to him, "Thanks. Y'all don't know what lifesavers you are."

"Daryl, were family, and this is what family does." Vivianna said.

"Well, I never been around family that much coming up, but I think I could get used to this." He said.

"Well you better, because we aren't going anywhere." Joe said.

They sat down and enjoyed the feast. They all told stories and joked about life in general. When they were finished the women cleaned up and the men all went outside to enjoy a cigarette. Daryl had tried to keep his smoking a secret from Anna, but when the uncles invited him out to the back deck to enjoy a smoke, he couldn't resist. It had been a good day, and even as shitty as everything else was, Daryl had enjoyed himself.

As it was getting later in the evening Anna had gathered up the baby to get ready to return home. Of course her aunts sent her home with plenty of leftover food "in case Daryl gets hungry in the night". They were incredible ladies who loved to take care of everyone. That was one thing she loved about her Italian heritage.

When they finally got into the truck Daryl took the time to kiss Anna. She saw fireworks with the amount of passion he put into the kiss. She opened up her eyes and leaned over to him and simply said, "Next week is the sixth week…you better be saving some strength up for me."

Daryl didn't miss a beat, "No, you need to be saving your strength up for me. Hunter is going to have an overnight with her Auntie's." And with that they drove home. The days couldn't pass by fast enough for either one of them.