CR: wondering about Bree's elusive family? Finally some info on that in this chapter! And a new camp?

PRISON DOWN/ THE GRAVEYARD

When the Governor comes to end Rick's prison camp (which is right as Bree and Merle are arriving back to the prison city from the rescue), Merle goes to help his brother while Kate meets up with Bree and promises to help them beat the Governor, once and for all. The prison and defectors fight against the eyepatched maniacal leader. Kole is killed in the gunfire, and Bree is torn on whether to feel pity for him or relief that someone who continued to follow the Governor was gone.

Merle saves Glenn during the shootout, placing himself just a little off Maggie's list of people to kill. Bree still isn't good with a gun, especially aiming it at living people, so instead she hangs back and watches out for the younger kids and elders.

Like in the episde, Governor kills Hershel, takes down the prison's protective gates, draws in hundreds of Walkers, but is ultimately taken down by Rick in a fisticuffs battle hoohaa!

After the base is compromised and deemed a loss, the group is once again split up: Beth and Daryl; Tyreese, Carol, Mika and her sis; Rick, Carl, Judith, and Michonne; Sasha, Bob, Glenn, Maggie, and Kate; and finally Merle, Bree, and Eva Mae.

For a long time, Bree, Merle, and Eva Mae traveltogether through the woods, trying to find food and supplies. Bree is happy they have Merle, who does a good job hunting and setting up camp and things for them. Eventually, she feels guilty that he's doing most of the work while she and Eva Mae wait around, so she asks what she can do to help. He says it's alright, he's just doing a man's job.

"Please, it's the apocalypse; let's help each other."

He relents and suggests that she skin the animals and start the fire. Eva Mae is going through drug withdrawals and can't help. Bree is afraid of the skinning part, but with Merle's help, she gets it done. While they're out hunting, it starts to rain and they take cover inside a hollow tree trunk.

Inside, Bree and Merle are worried about Kate, who came with them, but wandered off. Bree wants to go after her but Merle warns that she's going to be hard to find in the storm and with the downpour, it will be even tougher to hear the Walkers sneaking up. They decide to wait out the storm together. They talk about what they'll eat once this thing is over, what they'll see, first thing they'll do, where they'll go. Merle is surprised when she says she'd like to stick around him and Daryl, if she can. What's wrong with ya? Ya ain't got no friends your age? He says we gotta focus on the now—that future stuff ain't promised to any of us. She agrees—it's just a Dream, but maybe they can make it happen. Merle says they can take turns sleeping, and lets Bree take first sleep. Bree eventually falls asleep with her head against his shoulder. He's annoyed at her loud snoring at first, but with no prying eyes to judge him, he eventually gets used to it.

The heavy set black clouds push on, and the two are able to move on. Eva Mae has survived by climbing up a tree, but several Walkers are at her feet. She's shot at some, missed, drew more, and now she's on the verge of tipping and falling out. Acting fast, Bree and Merle take out their guns and dispatch of them. Quickly, Merle gets her down and carries her to safety while Bree provides shaky cover.

The Phantoms

Bree, Eva Mae, and Merle manage to get caught by a group that call themselves the Phantoms. The black-clad members keep to the woods, surviving off of nature, and taking what they can from people who stumble inside their part of the woods by sneak-attacks, traps, poison darts, and scare tactics. In reality, the group is little more than a bunch of older, rich retirees and celebrities being protected by a ragtag group of bounty hunters and ruthless mercenaries who have been promised payment for their services and have a place to stay in a ritzy neighborhood near Stone Mountain. They came into the area specifically to offer their services to affluent neighborhoods. Merle thinks they're smart and likes them right away, Bree thinks they're stupid especially since money doesn't and isn't going to mean anything after this outbreak.

A crotchety but affable army vet named Kanem (nicknamed Gargoyle) is in charge. He's tall, built sturdy like a tree, skin like ebony, hair soft and white like is very intelligent and very powerful. He can break boards, lift men, and comes off as a friendly giant. He's also taken down multiple rivaling gangs that try to take over their camp. The camp feels safe with him in charge. He allows Bree and Merle to stay with them for a while to fill them in on the outside world and because Kanem knows Bree's family. In what way, she's not sure, but he knows enough details about her mother that she believes in him. In fact, Bree's older brother turns out to be part of Kanem's group. Kanem tells the new members that he found her brother at the edge of Florida, and took him in on his way to the north.

Alonso, Bree's older brother, is now donning military garb and helping the Phantoms. He's much colder than she remembered, although they'd never been very close, and won't tell her what's happened to their mom and dad. This stems from his guilt, which is explained later. He says that he has to focus on where he is now and admits to his sister that their parents are most likely gone.

"They're old, Breanna, he snaps when she keeps asking him. "You really think they survived this long. Heck, I'm surprised you're even here, to be honest."

Bree gets mad about this and feels the distance and that time apart has pushed them even further apart. Still, Alonso plays the tricky big brother role, making sure Merle keeps his distance from his little sister. Merle quickly gets annoyed with this as her brother, whose been showing them around the camp, warns him to not walk to close to Bree.

"You starting to wish you hadn't found him yet?" he mutters loudly to Bree.

After showing them around the neighborhood, he sighs and turns to face his younger sister. "That's all there is. Now, if you don't mind, keep your distance from me. I've been doing good on my own, alright? I don't need anyone's life as my responsibility, so don't expect me to babysit you."

Merle has an instant distaste for the troubled young man. He feels for Bree, too—she never gave up hope but her brother barely seems happy to see her. She glares at her brother as he leaves her, Merle, and Eva Mae to themselves.

"Something's up with him," she explains to Merle.

"Yeah, he's got a stick shoved up where the sun don't shine. It's called being an a-hole, sweetheart." He quickly gets distracted by a group of women passing by with bottles of malt liquor in their hands. He follows after them while Eva Mae wanders away, leaving Bree on her own to explore.

About the Phantoms Design

The Phantoms wear black biker helms with varying scary faces spray-painted over them, black bulletproof vests and black leather suits. They call the zombies Ghouls. They give each other terrifying nicknames or legendary monster names. As they mesh with the group, Bree, Merle and eva Mae are given nicknames. Eva Mae is called Banshee because of her booming voice and knack for finding good places to hide. Bree, because of her tendency to read books and maturity, is called Sphinx. Merle, because of his spontaneous nature and love of death, is called Dullahan.

The group has their own troubles, which our two heroes slowly take on as their own. They need to gather more supplies, and Stheno, a former FBI agent, hears that DC is the place to be. They are saving up to make a trip there. With this group, Bree feels like family, and she's excited that her own family is closer than ever. They have a good time picking out their names and she feels honored to get hers after a few missions. Merle likes the place and finds the helmets cool and the arsenal of weapons they've stockpiled even cooler. He wants to meet back up with his brother as soon as possible, so he takes on faraway missions to keep looking for him. He thinks this would be the perfect place for the brothers to live.

Bree and Merle grow to respect Kanem, who takes on the role of father figure to most of the group because of his kindness. He lost his teenage daughter at the start of the apocalypse, so he sees young Eva Mae and Bree as surrogate daughters, he tells them.

As Bree gets closer to Kanem, she begins to find disturbing clues on what might have happened to their parents. He gets a strange, almost passionate look about his face when he kills Walkers, almost as if he enjoys it. She notices many of the women he spends time with have bruises or marks on them after they get together with him.

One night, as Kanem is out giving a pep talk to the group after a successful supply run, she passes by his room on her way to the speech and notices bloodstains on the door handle and the bottom of the door. Curious, she scratches at the fresh blood. Thinking he might have been injured, she goes into the darkened room. She is horrified to find one of the older women murdered on his bed. Hearing someone walking down the hallway, she hides in the closet, only to find bloody clothes that look familiar. She digs through the clothes and finds her own mother's wedding ring and her favorite pair of earrings the siblings had given her for Mother's Day one year.

Once she's sure the hall is clear, she goes to Alonso's room.

"Alonso," she pants. "Alonso, what happened to Mom? Where and when did you last see her?"

Alonso looks at her panicked state, sees that she's on the verge of tears, and realizes that she knows.

He falls back on his bed and covers his face.

"Kanem ... He did something bad to Ma," he whispers, voice cracking with his last word. "When things got bad, when they started locking everyone in their homes, Mom didn't have anything to eat. Dad had left for Atlanta to find you. Mom ... She told me this man came by and offered to give her some of his food if she let him stay there a few nights. So, she did... She was desperate."

"In a couple of days, Kanem shows up at my doorstep with Ma's phone in his hand. He looks ... sorry about something. And he tells me that something horrible happened to my mom, and she wanted him to take me somewhere safe."

"And you just believed him?" Bree wonders incredulously. "You just went with him?!"

"He had food, Bree!" Alonso snaps. "Don't we all do crazy stuff when we think there's hope now? A-And what would I do against him? You see how big he is? He's the only reason I'm still alive. So what happened to Ma is a mystery, and it's in the past. We don't bring it up. Got it?"

"No, I don't got it," Bree hisses. "This man has Mom's ring and her bloody clothes in his closet, Alonso! He did something to her!" She spins on her heel and rushes out of the room with Alonso yelling at her not to do anything stupid.

She runs outside to where Kanem is cleaning up the bonfire after his speech. He's lifting the chairs and benches with ease, stacking them atop each other like they're children's letter blocks instead of seventy pound log benches. He looks up and sees her seething expression, the way her fists are clenched, and her rising and falling chest. Slowly, he goes back to rearranging the benches. After a while, he begins talking, like he's having a conversation with himself, "Everyone makes mistakes. It's imbued in human nature for us to fail. Sometimes, we let ourselves, our better selves, go for a moment, and in our blindness, we are led straight into darkness. But we rinse the blood from our hands and move forward. It's a new day, we create new memories, new ... families. And if anyone wants to remind us of those past mistakes, they're not a part of this family."

"Shut the hell up," Bree warns him. "I don't care about your philosophical crap, you psychopath. What did you do to my mom?!"

He looks at Bree, seemingly hurt by her cruel words. But then a slow, maniacal smile creeps onto his face. "Your mother was a beautiful woman. She put a spell on me, she did. I could tell she wanted me, but she was too loyal to her husband, even if I was the one taking care of her in that moment. He was gone to find you, wasn't he? Left your poor mother defenseless."

Bree feels her stomach drop with guilt.

"I lost control of myself for one beautiful moment," Kanem says with a chuckle. He smile disappears suddenly. He sighs. "But I'm taking care of her children now. So it's alright. I'm a good person."

Bree runs towards him, blinded by anger, pocket knife drawn to stab, but Alonso appears behind her and quickly grabs a hold of her arms. She calls him a coward and tries to twist out of his grasp, but he warns her that he's not going to lose another family member. He pulls her away from Kanem, whose dark eyes never leave hers until she and her brother have rounded a corner. Alonso pulls her back to his room and slams the door behind them.

"Kanem's too strong for you; he could easily break you in pieces!" he yells. "You don't think I'm mad enough to kill him? But I'm biding my time! I'll kill him when he least expects it, when he's smiling like crap doesn't matter."

Bree breaks down in tears. Alonso stands back for a moment until his own eyes begin to water. His face contorts with the sobs he's been holding back for so long. He reaches out and hugs his sister to him, and together they mourn for the loss of their mother and their inability to save her.

After telling Merle what happened, she, Merle, and Alonso devise a plan to kill Kanem. She would get him to trust her again, then off him on a mission. Merle is shocked at this new, callous side of Bree but knows he would do the same if his family's life were in danger. He knew she had a bit of a smart mouth when she got mad, but he wouldn't have guessed she had it in her to kill anyone.

Kanem does NOT make it easy to bide their time—hurt by his "daughter's" lack of loyalty, he starts whispering in her ear about what he did to her mom and what he will do to their dad when he finds him. Hard as it is, she plays along and acts like she buys into the new "let bygones be bygones" mentality. When she gets him alone, at a rainy outpost where they are supposed to be raiding an oil station, she draws a gun on him and asks him why he killed her. He doesn't blink and tells her to lower the gun. Before she can pull the trigger, he knocks the gun out of her hand and grabs her around the neck. She bites his hand to get free and then uses all her weight to tackle him down a muddy hill to get him away from the gun, too. He quickly gets the upper hand, punching her in the jaw hard enough that her vision turns black, and she's flung to the ground. Kanem puts his foot on her head, ready to stamp down, when Alonso helps her out by sniping Kanem's shoulder.

"Man, don't give your position away without having a kill shot!" Merle warns the younger man as they lie side by side atop the hill that Kanem and Bree had slid down. "He's gonna make it hard as hell to shoot him now!"

"I know, but he's hurting my sis, man!" Alonso cries. He shakily hurries to put another round in his rifle. Finally, all the fear and hatred towards himself pushes to the surface as Alonso screeches bloody murder and starts firing as rapidly as he can manage at Kanem while Bree is still on the ground. Once the bullets start flying and Kanem realizes this was organized, he begins to rage.

"This is the thanks I get?!" he roars as he yanks Bree up by her neck and turns around so that she's held up between him and Alonso. "For taking you and your sister in? Giving you a roof over your heads? Well, go ahead and shoot! Fail to protect another one of your family members, young man!"

Alonso is beside himself with anger but can't shoot. Instead, he flings his gun aside and races down the hill towards the gigantic man. Kanem flings Bree aside, who rolls away. As Alonso goes to punch Kanem, the older man grabs his fist and twists it downwards until there's a definite snap and his hand flops around loosely on his wrist. Enraged, Bree throws herself at the hulking man, plunging her pocket knife as deeply as she can into the front of his throat. He tries to swing her off him, but he can barely concentrate as his esophagus is suddenly flooded with blood. He finally succeeds at shaking her off of him, but a bullet to the back of the head from Merle finishes him off. He falls face first into the mud.

With this, the siblings step up and take over the Phantoms, with taking on the moniker of the Gargoyle Twins. She appoints Merle as her second in command. Remembering how Rick runs his camp with leadership, loyalty, and understanding, she does her best to imitate.

End of Episode Song: Widow's Peak by Odetta Hartman