"Why did he go with them? He doesn't even like them."

Daryl shrugged before fixing a bolt to his crossbow.

"You're leaving too?"

"Someone's gotta get food around here. I don't see anyone else doin' it."

"Um…alright."

He put his hand on his hip and sighed heavily.

"What's wrong?"

"I'll be worried with both of you out."

"You wanna come with me?"

"Nah. I'll stay and wait for your brother. Besides, you're a better hunter without someone breathing over your shoulder."

"Damn straight. See you later."

"Bye. Be careful!"

"Who do you think I am? You?"

I smirked up at him and shook my head. He walked into the woods laughing. Behind me, I heard the rest of the camp getting up to start their day. I decided to walk over and say hello. Dale was on top of the mobile home watching over us. I waved at him.

"How are you?" He asked.

"Troubled. But, I guess I can't complain."

He moved to the edge of the roof.

"He'll be fine."

"Actually, it's not him I'm worried about. If I know Merle, his alpha dog attitude will come out when no one really needs it to."

Dale shrugged his shoulders, "You've a point."

I looked out over the rest of the quarry and sighed. "I should have gone with."

"They can handle it. Don't worry."

"I hope you're right."

He looked up at the other side of the camp where the brothers and I stayed.

"Did Daryl leave too?"

"Yeah, he's gone out hunting. I was going to go with, but I figured he needs a break from all of this."

"I see."

I looked over at Amy and saw that she was carrying a bucket with her.

"What's she doing?"

"Looking for mushrooms so we can eat."

I looked down at the ground, and then back up at the tent Daryl had put up yesterday.

"Be right back."

I walked up to the stash tent and unzipped it. Inside, the brothers had neatly arranged canned goods, cases of water, and lots of beer. I picked up a case of water and piled a few different types of canned food on top. I carefully balanced it all and carried it over to where Amy was standing and talking to Lori and Shane.

"You can stop digging for mushrooms."

Lori's face lit up and looked over at Shane.

"That's real nice of you, Chris," he said. "But won't that get you into trouble with Merle?"

"He probably won't even notice it's gone," I replied.

Lori put her hand on my shoulder.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Before I turned to walk away, Amy stopped me.

"How did you end up with Merle? He would never do anything like that."

"Well," I said as I rubbed the back of my neck. "Merle and his brother both have trust issues. It's nothing personal against you guys. He's just…well, stuck in his own ways."

"Maybe you can teach him some new ones."

I shook my head. "You obviously don't know him very well."

"What's going to happen when he finds out you did this for us?" Lori asked.

"He'll yell and throw his beer around. Pretty much it."

Afterwards, I decided that this would be the opportune moment to clean up the campsite and get some laundry done. I filled up a basket mixed with Merle's and my clothes. I didn't do Daryl's; he insisted on doing it himself. I stacked the basket of clothes inside two wash bins. I juggled the clothes, the bins, and a bottle of detergent. On the way down to the lake, Amy stopped me once again.

"Do you need help?"

"Well, I wouldn't mind some company down there."

She took the detergent and one of the wash bins.

"Thank you."

"No problem. I need something to do to get my mind off of Andrea being gone."

I nodded, "That's why I'm doing this."

"You're worried about Merle?"

"Of course I am. Atlanta isn't the safest place right now. And Merle isn't exactly submissive. If someone tries to boss him around, God help them."

"Yeah…I'm just scared that my sister isn't going to come back."

"I'm sure she'll be fine. It looks like a lot of them went with."

We set our laundry supplies down next to the lake front. I kicked off my boots and dunked the wash bin down into the lake to gather water. Amy did the same with the other bin.

"So where did you and the brothers live before all of this?"

"We actually just met a few weeks before we came looking for water."

"What? You three act like you've been around each other forever."
I smiled down as I poured detergent in the water and started to scrub one of Merle's dirty shirts.

"I just have an understanding for guys like them, I guess. They remind me of some of my family."

"Do you come from an obnoxious family?"

"Some of them are," I laughed.

I set the shirt down into the rinse bin. Amy picked it up and started to wring it out.

"You don't have to do that Amy."

"It's no big deal. Like I said, I'd like to keep myself busy."

"Alright, just don't tell Merle I let you help me. He'd never let it go."

"Would he be angry?"

"No, it would go to his head, and he'd think he's a ladies man," I laughed.

She giggled and put the shirt back into the basket. I grabbed another one of his shirts and placed it down in the bin. Amy's face turned when she saw it. I looked down and saw it was the shirt covered in dark red stains.

"It's a long story."

She put her hand up. "I don't wanna know."

I held the shirt up and looked at it for a while .

"Do you need to talk about it?"

I looked up at her. "I do, but I don't want to vent on you."

"Well, if you change your mind, I'm here."

"Thanks."

I looked down at the shirt again.

"If we weren't so short on clothing, I think I'd be throwing it away."

"Would he notice?"

"I'm not sure. It definitely stands out, so maybe. I'll wait till he gets back and ask."

After she wrung out the stained shirt and placed it in the basket. She blushed when I pulled a pair of Merle's boxers out of the pile of dirty clothes.

"I'll wash these," I laughed.

"Yeah, that would have been really weird."

"Iiiii agree."

For the better part of the afternoon, we sat and washed clothes. When we were finally done, we struggled to carry them up the hill. They were a lot heavier than when we started. Lori and Carol sent the kids down the road to help us. Carl and Sophia both took one of the wash bins. The bins were bigger than the kids were; making them struggle just as much as we were.

They set the laundry and bins down in front of the line hung near the tents.

"Thanks guys," I said.

"My mom said I had to," said Carl.

I covered my mouth and laughed at what he said.

"Well, you were very good to do what your mother asked," I said.

Carl smiled up at me, then walked away. Sophia remained behind.

"Do you need any help?" she asked.

"Well, not right now. I think I can manage hanging the clothes."

"Oh…are you going to take us out today?"

"Hmm, probably not. All of the guys are gone, we have no one to go with us."

"What about Shane?"

"Shane needs to stay here and watch the camp. We'll go again, Sophie, I promise."

She looked back at her mother and father before looking back towards me.

"You don't want to go back over there, do you?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"Alright, well, I'll tell you what, you can hand the clothes up to Amy and I and we'll hang them. That sound good to you?"

She nodded and smiled up at me before moving to one of the baskets and pulling out a pair of pants. She handed them up to Amy. We continued in this fashion until her Sophia's father came over.

"Sophia, what the hell are you doin'?"

I put my face in my palm. Sophia immediately stopped what she was doing and looked up at her father.

"I..um…well, daddy…I."

"She asked if she could help, and I agreed. You're always talking about ladies doing laundry. We're just making sure she's good at it when she's older."

His squinting eyes shifted between me and his daughter.

"First good idea you've ever had."

For Sophia's sake, I didn't let my inner redneck out and lash at her father. I smiled and waited for him to leave us.

"Jackass," I said as he sat back down.

I heard Sophia gasp behind me.

"What?"

"You said a bad word."

"Well, Sophie, sometimes there's just no other way to describe things."

She looked at the ground for a moment.

"You're right. My dad is a jackass."

Amy and I giggled. I really liked having the kids around, especially because of moments like that. They always had something funny to say.

After we'd finished hanging all of the clothes to dry, Sophia went back to her parents, and Amy and I sat around our fire to wait for the rest of the group to return.

"They should be back by now," she said. She was starting to panic.

I picked up a bottle of water and handed it to her.

"They'll be back soon."

No sooner had I said that did a loud siren-like noise come echoing down from the top of the quarry. We looked up to see a bright red car come barreling down the road. Amy and I looked at each other before getting up and running towards the front of the camp. The bright red car came to a fast stop in front of us.

"Turn that thing off!" Dale yelled.

Amy covered her ears. I looked inside the driver's seat to see Glenn wearing the biggest shit eating grin I'd ever seen.

"Turn it off!" Dale said again as Glenn got out of the car.

"I don't know how," he laughed.

Shane walked up behind us.

"Pop the hood!" Shane yelled over the car alarm.

Glenn did what Shane asked him, and Shane reached into the car to pull a fuse. The car alarm stopped immediately.

Amy approached Glenn right away to ask about her sister. While they talked, I saw a truck coming down the road. I smoothed out my hair and clothes, anxiously anticipating a reunion with Merle. When the truck stopped in front of us, Morales, and T-Dog stepped out first. Soon, behind Andrea came up and greeted her younger sister. While the others were talking about their experiences, I waited for Merle to show his face. Instead of my lover, a man in a sheriff's uniform came out from the driver's side of the truck. Upon sight of Lori and Carl, he ran to them and embraced them. I walked past their family reunion and jogged to the truck. I checked the cab and back of the truck for Merle. He wasn't there.

"No…no, no, no, NO!"

I punched the door of the truck and went back to where everyone was standing.

"Where is he?!"

T-Dog looked around the group, then stepped forward.

"Chris, I'm sorry. It's my fault."

"So you left him behind? Or you killed him?!"

I stepped towards him, ready to punch him till I felt better. The man in the sheriff's uniform stepped forward.

"Chris, is it?" He asked.

I nodded and wiped my tears.

"I'm sorry about your husband. He…"

"He's not my husband."

He looked up at Shane before continuing, then looked back at me.

"Well, that man was a threat to the group. He was out of control, I had to subdue him."

"SO WHERE IS HE?!"

"He's handcuffed on the top of the building that we were in."

I covered my face with my hands and stepped back.

"He's…he's going to die up there."

"No," T-Dog started. "I chained the door shut before leaving. The walkers won't be able to get to him."

"Fuck…," my voice trailed off. "What set him off?"

"I pulled a bottle of coke out of his shirt pocket. I'm sure that had something to do with it," said the sheriff.

I shook my head in disbelief, then walked past the sheriff and the others.

"Where you goin'?" Shane asked.

"I'm going to Atlanta! I'm gonna get his ass off that roof, and then I'm gonna kick it!"

The sheriff walked towards me.

"You can't go in there alone. I'm sorry that this happened, but we need to wait until morning so we can go back."

I put my hands on my hips and smiled at him. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. Just wait until Daryl gets back. He's gonna go ape shit."

"Daryl? Who's Daryl?"
"Merle's brother," said Dale. "She's right. He's not gonna be happy when he gets back. Have fun explaining that to him."

The sheriff looked back towards me.

"Regardless, we need to wait until the morning. Then I promise we'll go back into Atlanta."

I crossed my arms and stared at him for a moment.

"He'll die of heat stroke before then."

"He'll be fine," he reassured me.

"You'd better be right, sheriff. That's all I gotta say."

I turned away and went back up to the tent. I sat inside until night fell upon the camp. I was too angry to converse with anyone. Especially the sheriff. I knew Merle had his differences with police. Being handcuffed by one after the world had ended must have been a huge kick in the teeth.

But Merle's absence wasn't the only reason I was fuming. The sheriff mentioned one of Merle's little drug bottles. He didn't get rid of them like he said he would. While I was in the tent, I busied myself with gathering the rest of the bottles together and placing them inside my bag. After that, I grabbed some of mine and Merle's clothes off of the drying line and into the bag. I put our pistols and some extra ammunition inside as well. My next destination was the supplies tent; I went inside and stuffed the bag with bottled water and a few cans of food, just in case we needed it. The last thing I did was go into Daryl's truck and grab a fresh first aid kit. I put the bag next to me as I sat at the fire. I heated up a can of vegetables and ate them slowly as I waited for everyone to go to bed. The last one to turn in was Ed. After he zipped up his tent, I quickly put out the fire and threw the bag over my shoulders. I picked up my bow and quietly moved to the side of T-Dog's church van. I picked my gun out of my bag and carefully opened the door to the van; trying not to alert T-Dog, who was sleeping inside, or Shane, who was on watch for the night. Before climbing into the van, I set my bag down on the ground. I cocked the gun back and covered T-Dog's mouth after placing my knees on his shoulders. His eyes shot open and stared back at me.

"I'm going to ask you a couple of questions, and you're going to answer them. Got it?"

He nodded slowly. Sweat was starting to soak his brow.

"If you yell out to anyone, I will shoot you. Now, what building is Merle on top of?"

I uncovered his mouth and held the gun against his head.

"It's on Trinity Avenue. It's a big clothing store."

"Good. Now give me the keys to the van."

"What?"

I pushed the gun into his skin.

"You deaf?"

He reached into his pocket and dangled the keys between his fingers. I took them and put them between my teeth.

"Thanks."

I knocked him out with the butt of the gun and dragged his unconscious body out of the van. After I set him down in a nearby bush, I threw my bag into the passenger's seat and quickly started the vehicle. The noise immediately got Shane's attention; I locked the doors before putting the van into reverse and stomping down onto the gas pedal. I hit the side of the truck that the sheriff had brought into the camp on my way out.

In front of me, I saw Shane running for the van. I kept going backwards until I reached the lake front. I put the van in drive so I could turn it around; it almost tipped as I jerked the steering wheel. By this time, Shane had caught up to me. He stood at the door and yanked on the handle.

"Okay, Shane. You caught me."

I unlocked the door, and whipped it open. The door caught him on the head knocking him backwards. I shifted the van into reverse once again and sped up the road out of the camp.

As the van's headlights lit up the road in front of me, I paid special attention to my surroundings to I could get to the city fast. In the back of my mind, I couldn't help but thinking I was going to be too late to save him.

It took a little more than an hour and a half to reach a good stopping point. Before I left the van, I picked a map up out of the glove box and examined it to determine the best way to get to Trinity Avenue. I stuffed the map into a pocket of the back pack, and hopped out of the van. I grabbed the keys from the ignition before leaving, just in case anyone had the nerve to take it while I was gone.

I loaded an arrow on my bow and kept it at the ready. I quietly jogged across the highway and up into the streets of Atlanta. There were a ton of walkers roaming around, but they didn't seem to notice me much. I ran what I imagine to be around two miles before I reached Trinity. On the side of the building, I noticed a fire escape leading all the way up to the roof.

"This is going to be easier than I thought."

I took out a couple walkers with my bow and knife before approaching the ladder up to the escape. I whipped the back pack off of my shoulders and threw it up on the landing of the escape before heading up the ladder. A few flights up, there was an open window with a couple of geeks climbing out. In an attempt to make as little noise as possible, I coaxed them out of the window and stomped on their skulls. As I lifted my bloody boot up off of the grate, I heard screams coming from the roof.

"Oh my God. Merle! Merle hold on!"

I continued running up the escape; dodging the rest of the walkers in the open windows. The top of the escape was a small ladder that was broken in half. I heard Merle screaming out in pain.

"I'm almost there, Merle!"

I threw the bag up over the side of the building, then ran back down the escape to one of the open windows.

"Psst! Hey! Ugly! Don't I look delicious?"

The geek from the window screamed at me and chased me up the escape. At the top, I stabbed it in the head and used its body as a stepping stool so I could reach the half of the ladder that was still attached to the building. I pulled myself up and looked over the quarter wall surrounding the roof. There was Merle: lying on the ground in a large puddle of blood. His back was to me, so I couldn't tell whether or not he'd been bit. I went to his side and rolled him over. The blood was coming out of his wrist where his hand should be.