I'm so sorry for the late update! I was planning on updating maybe two days after Thanksgiving but since its near exams, I've been having a lot of school work to do. But, I hope all you guys had a wonderful Thanksgiving, mine was pretty fun! And thanks for the reviews, they mean a lot! Anyway, I might continue to be a little slow until exams are over.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

Diary of the Dead Days

Part 1: Atlanta

Chapter Five
Torn Apart

Glenn jumped out the bright red sports car that he had parked in front of camp, the enormous grin on his face had shown the thrill of the ride. The painful screeching of the alarm disturbed me, the constant loud sound would surely draw walkers near the camp. Jim was able to kill the alarm quickly, while Shane started scolding Glenn.

"Are you trying to draw every walker to our location." Shane growled, Glenn tried defending himself but was clearly at a lost for words due to the menacing glare from the former police officer looming over him.

Dale had stepped in, reassuring Shane that because of the mountains, the walkers might not be able to pin point the exact source of the noise. That didn't settle my nerves at all, but it had calmed some of the other survivors. Though if they couldn't exactly find our campsite, the alarm would still draw them near the hills where they would eventually find us.

The box truck that had followed closely behind Glenn halted to a stop, Andrea was one of the first to jump out of the back and she instantly raced after her little sister. Amy cried out for her, relieved beyond belief as she hugged Andrea tightly. Their closeness and affection for each other made me smile, hoping one day Rose and I could be the same. Morales raced towards his family, happily reuniting with them as well. I glanced over towards Lori and Carl, like every one else, they gathered around the group that had returned. Disappointment was clearly present on the little boy's face and Lori tried comforting him as best she could.

Rose had told me about Carl one night, his dad was a police officer with Shane but he died before the outbreak had occurred from being shot. I stood close to Rose and I could tell she felt bad him, I squeezed her shoulder to reassure her. My attention was so focused on Carl that I hadn't heard the others speak of the new guy who had helped them get out of Atlanta. Then suddenly, I saw the boy's face light up with surprise and sheer happiness.

"Dad!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, sprinting towards the man exiting the driver's seat.

I jerked my head, watching both Lori and Carl ran up to a man dressed in uniform with a stunned look in his eyes. He embraced his son, dropping to the ground with both of them crying. The rest of the survivors looked at the faithful reunion in front of them. I noticed Carol wiping away strays tears, and I myself felt my eyes get watery. For the first this since the world had gone to hell, my tears were tears of joy.

Like usual, the campfire was nothing but red flickering embers, emitting hardly any heat. The days were brutally hot but the nights were chilly. Rose was wrapped up in the blanket with me as we sat beside Amy and Andrea, listening to the newcomer's story. His name was Rick Grimes, and I couldn't began to understand his feelings of waking up to such a horror. Glenn made a comment of him riding into Atlanta on a horse, reminding me of our old farm and the number of horses we had. Most were devoured as the walkers started to attack our livestock, but I remember saying goodbye to the few that were still alive. My heart was heavy as I left them to die, but there wasn't much else I could do.

Sooner or later, the absence of Merle had became known. He had endangered the rest of the group and Rick had to take action, he handcuffed the redneck to a pipe on top the roof. I couldn't deny the fact that I was relieved that he hadn't returned and those thoughts made me feel guilty. Even though he deserved everything coming to him, being trapped like an animal was no way for someone to die, not even Merle.

"So, what do we tell Daryl?" Dale spoke what was on everyone's mind. The youngest Dixon brother hadn't yet returned from his hunting trip, oblivious to fate of his brother.

"Can't we just lie to him?" Amy said. The same thoughts crossed my mind, I've been lying to Rose so long that telling the truth didn't seem right anymore. It would be easier to tell Daryl his brother got killed by a walker instead of him being left for dead. I was going to back up Amy's plan, but her sister spoke up instead.

"We can't lie." Andrea pointed out, shooting her sister a disappointed look. I sighed, knowing Amy would go with whatever Andrea said and my comments would now be useless.

"I'll tell him." Rick offered, "I was the one who handcuffed him."

"I dropped the key," T-Dog countered. He had been messing with his hands all night, guilt emitting from him as he couldn't stop thinking about the man he left behind. I didn't understand why they were so concern about Merle, but I harbored ill feelings towards him ever since I'd first met him. I held my tongue, as I knew I didn't have the courage to go against the groups feelings.

A scream of pure terror echoed throughout the camp, my eyes darted everywhere in search of Rose, but I couldn't find her. Ripley was looking around with suspicion and a low growled emitted from throat, causing me to panic and another scream soon then followed. I had been helping Carol with folding some of the clothes, enjoying her company. I raced with the others to the source of the screams as I remembered Rose had gone off with Carl to explore. They might be in danger.

Neither of them were hurt, but the sight in front of me had made my belly churn with sickness. It was a walker bent over a deer, devouring its insides greedily. Rose was crying and I held her close, but the walker was too distracted by its current meal to immediately attack us. Rick, Shane, Glenn, and Jim had pushed past us with weapons in hand, beating down the walker. I shoved Rose's face into my side, not wanting her to witness the violence. Lori held Carl as well and Amy and Andrea also went to investigate what was happening. Dale approached behind them carrying an axe and dealt the final blow, decapitating the walker's head.

"They never come up this far." Dale remarked. Looking closer, I noticed arrows piercing the deer's side and it wasn't long until Daryl emerged from the woods.

"Damn," He cursed, checking out the deer he had been tracking, "Damn walker got my kill."

I felt awkward in his presence, even more so as we all knew the truth about his brother and Daryl was still clueless. Since the deer was inedible because the walker had been gnawing it, he left the pile of meat to rot, walking past us into camp. I felt him give me a sideways look before snickering at me, assuming I was unsuccessful with my bow training. What he did irked me, even though he was dead on.

"Merle!" He called out his brother's name, placing the squirrels he had manage to kill near his tent, "Merle?"

Everyone seemed to be watching the hunter carefully and he noticed all eyes were on him. It felt like an intervention by the way we crowded around him, waiting for him to react. I could tell he felt trapped, eyes darting around everywhere looking for an escape route.

"Merle didn't make it back." Shane finally spoke, arms crossed with a grim expression.

"Did he died?" He didn't sound concerned, like he was asking about some stranger on the news being in an accident. His expression was hard, constant and not changing as he awaited for Shane to finish speaking. Rick stepped in and told Daryl the truth.

"We left him, I handcuffed him to the roof." I kept my eyes on Daryl, waiting for the moment he would snap. The news didn't make sense at first, he paced around vigorously thinking about what he had just heard. Daryl reminded me of a wild animal, it would be any second now before he would attack. I felt my stance tense up, thinking that if something were to happen I'd jump in. That was foolish thought, I wouldn't be able to do anything if I tried stopping him, and the two in front of him were the best suited to deal with this situation, police officers.

"You did what?" His voice cracked slightly, dirty hands rubbing his eyes. He moved towards both Rick and Shane, pulling a knife from out his pocket and lunging at them. That was the moment he snapped. I felt myself lurch forward, even Ripley did the same as a small bark escaped from his mouth.

Rick was able to deal with the situation with ease, disarming Daryl in an instant as Shane locked him tightly in a sleeper hold. Daryl's breathing was labored, the wild look in his eyes still present as Rick bent down requesting a calm discussion.

"I'm going back." Rick said, "Merle is still alive."

As soon as Daryl had calmed down, Shane released him but kept his guard up. T-Dog also spoke up, claiming he dropped the only key down a pipe. He volunteered to accompany Rick and Daryl back to Atlanta to rescue Merle. Glenn was also going back as well by the request of Rick's help. I noticed the look of displeasure on Lori's face as her husband was going to leave her again. I couldn't believe they were planning on going back for him, telling the truth was one thing but risking everything to save him was another.

"We should just leave him there, he wasn't doing us any good anyway." The words escaped from my mouth before I had a chance to stop myself. During that short time when Daryl was teaching me how to shoot my bow, I had grown use to speaking to him without analyzing every word before I spoke. I was still shy around him, but my aggravation caused my fear of speaking to be forgotten. That's why I tried keeping my mouth shut most of the time and tried not getting comfort with people because I would end up saying the wrong things and regretting it.

He glared at me, approaching me with his fist clenched. I heard Rick and Shane shuffle closer behind, making sure he didn't try to hurt me. If he didn't hate me before, he surely did now. He stopped, looming over me with a menacing gaze. I returned his glare, trying my best not to look away and attempted to keep my body still as it was shaking uncontrollably.

"That's my brother." He snarled.

Ripley's tails was lashing furiously, he wasn't sure what to do and he whimpered, trying to move in front of me. Daryl snickered, walking away from me. Never before had I started shaking so badly because of someone looking at me. I swallowed the knot in my throat and turned away, I wasn't sure were I was going but I didn't want to stay here. Ripley followed me. I heard Rose trying to go after me but Amy stopped her, telling her I needed some space.

I kept myself busy, practicing the pull of my bow at the bottom of the quarry. I was worried about Glenn, he didn't seemed pleased that he was asked to go but did it anyway. Rick was grateful to him as Glenn was the one who saved him from certain death, so I was sure that Rick wouldn't let him die so easily. But I was still worried. He had promised me he would return my books and I kept him to that.

Amy was the one who found me later saying her and the others were getting ready to wash the final load of dirty clothes for the week. She asked if I wanted to join and I accepted, following her to the shore. I told Ripley to go back, hopefully he would find Rose and keep her company. The others asked about my bow as I placed it beside me, I simply told them it had been a present. My tone made it obvious that I didn't want to talk about it, and they didn't press the subject. We chatted about other things as we worked.

"I miss my laptop and texting." Amy sighed.

"Yeah." I agreed, "I miss taking a shower everyday."

She giggled and everyone agreed with me. I couldn't help but feel Ed, Carol's husband, watching our every move as he lazily smoked his cigarette. Jacqui glanced over at him, but didn't say anything. We kept talking about the things we missed the most of our past lives. I tried not thinking about it too much as it was starting to depress me, all those things we took for granted are gone now. Amy handed me another shirt and I dipped in the water, scrapping it against the board.

"I miss my vibrator." Andrea suddenly said, grinning. It took me a moment to realized what she meant, I blushed at her comment while the others chuckled. Carol looked around before speaking.

"Me too." She added. We all laughed, it felt nice to be able to laugh with everyone. But that fun was cut short as Ed approached us.

"Whats so funny." His tone wasn't friendly and he wasn't looking for a conversation.

"Just swapping war stories, Ed." Andrea chuckled, not intimidated by his presence. He ordered us to get back to work, saying it wasn't time for fun. His words irked me but I didn't say anything. I saw the bruises clearly present on Carol's skin, knowing he didn't care whether he hit a woman or not. Andrea, being the bravest out of us all, stood up confronting him. She argued about him just sitting around doing nothing while all the women were doing the work.

Everything went in a fast motioned blur. In the corner of my eye, Shane was approaching and seen Ed hitting Carol. I'm not sure what possessed the man to hit his wife as the argument progressed where he threatened Andrea. Shane had came racing up, being in the right spot once again, but he went overboard. He repeatedly punched Ed in the face, not appearing as if he was about to let up. Carol cried for him to stop but Andrea and I held her back until Shane finally came to his senses.

"If I ever see you putting your hands on anybody in this camp, next time I will not stop." Shane snarled, leaving him as Carol rushed to her husband's side.

The following night was a night I'd never forget. Since the group that had left for Atlanta to find Merle and the bags of guns that Rick mentioned, everything had been normal. They were late, however. Everyone was worried they might not make it back, but as the sun disappeared and the night took over, we all settled down at the campfire to eat. Amy and Andrea had went fishing earlier, bringing back plenty of dinner. Fish wasn't my favorite food, but I didn't care. We feasted that night, laughing as we told each other stories.

Ed was sulking in his tent alone because of his encounter with Shane, so for once Carol and Sophia had joined us at the main fire. Rose was laughing with Sophia and Carl, talking about how they wanted to learn to fish. Ripley laid next to where I was sitting, I felt his coarse fur rubbing against my arm. I placed my hand on his head, patting him softly as he chewed on his share of fish. Next to me, Amy got up and started to head towards the RV.

"Where are you going?" Andrea inquired.

"To the bathroom." She rolled her eyes, "So much for being discrete."

Another wave of chuckling erupted from our joyful group, I smiled, it was rare for everyone to be so happy. Though, deep down, I could tell everyone was worried about the Atlanta group. They should have been back hours ago, but there had been no sight of them. I was starting to wonder if they were ever coming back. My stomach twisted in guilt, feeling bad for the anger I harbored against Daryl. If I were in his situation, I'd try my hardest to get my sister back even if the rest of the group didn't want her. I quietly prayed for their return.

Suddenly, I felt Ripley jerk up from underneath my hand. A viciously growl emitted from deep within his throat. Everyone quieted down as Ripley growls grew louder and more fierce, he was standing on all fours with his hackles raised and teeth bared. His wasn't growling at anything in particular but my eyes grew wide. A horrified, pain induced scream verified what I was worried about.

"Walkers!" I yelled, the loudest my voice had been in weeks.

"Amy!" Andrea screamed in terror.

Amy had just exited the RV, a walker had surprised her by digging its teeth into the flesh of her forearm as she was the one who screamed earlier. Looking over, I seen another bite down on her neck. Screams sounded from every direction as walkers began to pour into camp. I've never seen so many before all in one place. My first instinct was to shove Rose behind me, shielding her as much as possible, and Ripley stood his ground near me.

"Get down!" Shane hollered, firing off a loud round of his shotgun, shooting walkers in the head.

Everything was a blur, but I managed to find a baseball bat. I wasn't sure whose it was but it hadn't been the one I brought along, all my weapons were stored away in the van. The one night I would need them, I locked them away instead of keeping them close to me. Rose was crying, fearing possible death. I wasn't strong so I kept close to Lori and Carl who were behind Shane. The stench of rotting flesh was almost unbearable but my senses were overpowered by pure adrenaline.

I felt a set of hands as it pulled at my ponytail with a strong grip. I screamed in pain, it felt like my hair was going to be ripped off my scalp. More gunshots were fired, though it wasn't only Shane's shotgun. The others had arrived, loaded with more weapons. I suddenly felt the grip release its self, a bullet zoomed past my head and hit the walker trying to catch me in the skull. My back felt wet with its blood, but I carried on. Another one was approaching from the other side, making its way towards Ripley who kept barking. I swung my bat as hard as I could against the walkers head, managing to force to the ground. I continuously hit until I saw the contents of its brain pouring out on the earth.

Gunshots continuously fired until all the walkers were shot down. The screams died away too. Scanning the area, I saw many bodies and not all of them belonged to walkers. I found myself on the ground, shaking as my adrenaline was wearing off and I came crashing back down to my weak self. The feeling of Rose's arms wrapping around me made me feel a great sense of relief, knowing she was still alive. Ripley too, his fur brushed against my arm as he sat protectively beside me.

"Amy!" Andrea screamed out, sobbing uncontrollably. I saw my friend lying dead on the ground, her neck mutilated by the walkers.

I'd never forget the feeling of complete, utter helplessness and primal fear of that night.

Thanks for reading! I hope to see some more reviews because I always love reading them! Sorry if this chapter seemed a little rushed, I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can ~