The last chapter ended with Merle's comment so now it starts with his point of view. I wanted to get an insight of the man who once went berserk. He had become a bit too sensitive in my story for my liking :) Well, anything can happen. Have fun reading the next chapter! Enjoy.

Merle's POV

I simply watched the group around the fire while I enjoyed the booze in the dark. I wished Abraham wouldn't drink too, but if I would cause trouble I would be on the road alone again. I wouldn't mind about that, but I needed to know that my brother was save. My gaze shifted to the little thing on the back of my brother. That damn girl was stronger than I had imagined. Since she had told me about what had happened I had felt like I had failed once again. I hadn't protected Daryl of our father and now I hadn't protected her. After I had asked her if 'another governor shit had happened' I had almost bit my tongue. I had always been an asshole and it had been so easy to always disappoint than to meet expectations. But the way she had looked at me … her eyes … I wished to have the power to turn back time … not only to not ask my question like that but way back, to not let her get hurt. Her answer had hurt. "There is nothing left of … this is just a leftover of what used to be me. But life goes on, right?!" She had looked at me with a sadness in her eyes she couldn't hide. "It just goes on, 'cause what else is there left to do?" What the fuck had happened to her, telling me there was nothing left of her?! She was wearing the bandana of my brother, I thought this was a couple's thing. But she always was vigilant about the way it was hanging around her neck. She was wearing it even it was damn hot, just like the long sleeves and trousers. What was she hiding?

She wore a mask. I could see the broken girl through her eyes and sometimes the mask slipped when she smiled at me. There was too much pain visible in her smiles. The girl we had met on the road in the beginning had died somewhere along the way. She had grown … the woman I saw now was stronger and tough-minded. She did everything to look like the same little smiling happy nature when I sure knew that she was a broken woman with scars all over her body and soul. My heart tightened, I had no right to think about her like that.

Looking at her now, how she curled herself into my brother hurt even more. I took another sip but the booze wasn't strong enough to kill my feelings. I wasn't even close to be half-drunk. My brother was the one who deserved to be happy, not me. Suddenly Daryl stood up and went away, leaving behind a puzzled Ella. Our eyes met when her eyes followed the shape of my brother. Again I saw pained sadness in her eyes and when she turned to lie down alone I swear a girl would have cried. But not this badass. When I wanted to take another sip Abraham gave me a nasty smile. There was nothing left in the bottle. I threw the bottle away and stood up to sit down next to Ella. I knew how afraid she had been of sleeping alone during a thunder-storm and above all how much she loved my brother who wasn't quite himself right now.

All I had wanted in my whole life was to live with my brother in peace. Have a lot of girls and enough booze and coke to always be happy. I smiled about that dream. But it all changed with the apocalypse and Ella. Sitting next to her I swore to protect her from all the monsters that would come. And not fail again. I clenched my fists and fumbled in my pocket for a cigarette.

Suddenly the storm blew on the doors and a walker's arm was reaching into the barn through the gap of the door. A lightning highlighted not only one walker but a bunch of these bastards were waiting to be asked in. The group hastily went for the door to hold it shut. The walkers seemed to be thrusting the door open and the chain around the door sang loudly. Looking at the wet cigarette in my hand I smiled and sat back. But another thunder and lightning showed me another fight for survival. I put the cigarette back into my pocket and stood up to hold the door too. If there wouldn't be a sleeping Ella I wouldn't have moved but watched these guys laughing. Soon she joined our struggle and I smiled to myself, she would never sit back and watch. A walker's arm grabbed for me, but I cut it with my knife. I would love to have my hand back but this weapon came right in handy. The walker's arm fell down to my feet and when I looked up again Ella stood frozen to the ground, her eyes aghast, and one hand on her neck. What was wrong with her? I pulled her to the door and somehow out of her daydream … or nightmare. She nodded to me and pushed herself against the door. Again there had been a doleful sadness in her eyes.

Hours later the storm subdued and thanks to my handy weapon – I had to laugh about my own thought – and the daggers and knives of the others, the walkers were depleted. One by one left for to lie down and get some sleep. Daryl stayed put and looked at the door and the chain around it. "Let's rest!" I heard the tired voice of Ella. But I didn't move as Daryl kept on staring at the door. I heard how she sniffed. Taking a look over my shoulder she went to lie down opposite of the door. Maybe to have us in sight.

Moments passed and Daryl didn't move. "Come on Darlinya!" I grabbed his shoulder. "Take a break and rest ya ass." Reluctantly he turned is back to the door only to sit down exactly next to it. I was damn tired and finally the booze was making me drowsy.

"You're really adjusting." Daryl whispered and my attention was back again.

"Fuck me." Why did I have to act like that again? But I knew, it was so easy. Daryl stood silent staring at his girl. "Why don't you warm yourself next to the hottie? I'll keep watch." My brother just sniffed. "Let your big bro Merle do the job."

"Fuck you Merle." Daryl immediately turned to me with mad eyes. "Why do ya always have to …" His voice was like poison.

"Knock it off … I was talking about taking watch asshole." He would have had stood up but Rick looked at us with a questioning look. Daryl just shook his head and looked to the side. I bet Officer Nice Guy would immediately shoot me if Daryl gave a holler. "You should better stay with her then with the black sheep." I spat. That was all that damn Rick saw in me anyways.

"You know shit."

"I know she needs ya damn ass." Where was that coming from? Was I drunk or sleep drunk?

He starred at me. "Mind your own business."

But I couldn't let go. "You are dumber than her. Ya just don't see …"

"Since when are you Dr. Phil?"

"I have seen her, shithead." I saw it in front of my eyes how she had looked like when she had heard about his death. "She had been broken … knowing you dead she was dead herself." There was hunger, thirst and the need to sleep talking out of me. "I had never seen her like that … these dead eyes …" I looked over to her too, she was already asleep, her mouth open slightly, breathing even. Daryl's attention turned to his bag. He pulled out a small box and started to fiddle on it. "So ya don't want to see it." As if to teach him a lesson, I stood up and laid down next to her. Not too close, I didn't want to enrage him.

I should have told him about her behavior. About her words about his death … I should make him see. But I still was Merle … the outsider, the loner and the one who had almost killed some people of this group. This would never work. And somehow it hit me … I couldn't understand why Daryl wasn't my little brother anymore. Closing my eyes I wished for drugs to suppress this side of me. I wasn't caring … I was a bitch, a pain in the ass, someone who would always stay on the outside.

Ella's PoV

I kneeled down to touch Aaron's face. He was unconscious. To be honest he didn't look like a man who would survive the apocalypse. He looked so clean … he was shaved and even smelled after something … I didn't know what that was …

You mean soap, shampoo … he smells like a fucking bed of flowers.

So, did this community of his have a shower? Standing up and eying this man I really wanted to find out. There might still be a chance that this would be a trap … but looking around into the faces of my friends, we needed a shelter. The days on the streets without shelter and something to eat had really got to us. This people deserved a roof above their heads.

Maggie came to kneel next to Aaron to check on him too, while Daryl tied his hands with a rope. "He is bleeding." I noticed blood coming out of his nose. Hoping it wasn't broken. Somehow, I couldn't believe this man was a bad one. I had met bad people often enough to see this one wasn't one of them. No one cared about my comment, only Daryl shot me a puzzled look.

"Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction. They are coming for us!" Rick told us looking around. "We might not know how or when, but they are."

The others were at the walls, peeking outside. Glenn was at the door behind me. "I see nothing, only places to hide."

"All right, keep looking." Rick ordered and walked back and forth. You could see his brain working on a plan in case of an attack. Daryl joined Rick, maybe to talk about that plan.

Eventually Maggie handed me an almost clean tissue and I dabbed off the blood. A groaning Aaron started to move. And he smiled … That was a strange behavior. Maybe he wasn't so innocent like I had thought. "That's a hell of a right cross there, Rick." Okay I needed to correct my statement: It was a crazy behavior and I knew were crazy would lead us into …

"Sit him up." Rick ordered and I looked at him. Why did he order us around like that? I looked from him to Maggie.

"I think it's better if …" She started but Arron interrupted her.

"It's okay." Aaron groaned.

"He is fine. Sit him up." He ordered again, but I didn't move on his demand. This felt more like a scene from some Mafia movie. And Rick seemed to be the crazy hardened Mafia don.

Michonne came closer and helped Maggie to sit Aaron up. "You're being cautious." Aaron groaned again. "I completely understand."

Rick wasn't interested in what he had to say at all. "How many of your people are out there?" He pointed an orange gun at Aaron. "You have a flare gun. You have it to signal people. So how many of them are there?"

To be honest, I had never seen one of that before, only in movies. It felt like we wouldn't see any movies soon.

Isn't this horror movie around you enough?

I was serious … we might never see a movie again, never dial a number to call someone on the other side of the country. Washington had just been a dreamy bubble and so far I hadn't seen an army to rescue any survivors. Since we had known that we were all infected, no government or anything alike seemed to be doing any relief action. So maybe this guy was a hope for a better life. My eyes found Eugene again who starred at Aaron.

I knew you would hope for that. You can't pretend to have lost all hope in humanity.

I rolled my eyes. How could I ever fool him?! But this time it wasn't just me. Michonne seemed to disagree with Rick too. She looked at him with knitted brows.

"No matter what number I tell you, you're not going to trust me." Aaron told Rick. His voice was a bit shaky. Was he finally afraid of Rick? The blow had been quite hard … maybe now Aaron realized what he got himself into. And the stare Rick gave him was even worse.

"Well, it's hard to trust anyone who smiles after getting punched in the face." Rick gave back. Did I see that psycho eyes there again? There was a time at prison and later on the road when he had this eyes …

"How about a guy who leaves bottles of water for you on the road?" Aaron answered.

I stepped back from him. He had left the water for us … friend or foe? Then it hit me. He had followed us. Had he watched us? For how long?

"How long have you been following us?" Daryl was tensed.

He has all right to be tensed. I am wondering why you sympathize with this guy. You don't know him at all. And above all the people in this room, you should be the one being afraid of strangers …

"Long enough to see that you practically ignore a pack of roamers on your trail. Long enough to see that despite a lack of food and water, you never turned on each other." Aaron locked around as if he wanted to see the reaction on every face. "You're survivors." I took another step back. He had watched us a pretty damn long time. I didn't like to be watched without knowing. This was weird, crazy … "And you're people!" Aaron went on. "Like I said, and I hope you won't punch me for saying it again, that is the most important resource in the world."

Now I looked at Rick too, waiting for his reaction.

Now you turn to him for an order?!

My brother knew I didn't like to be ordered around. Never had. There was a heavy silence in the barn. Did everyone wait for Rick's direction?

He is the group's leader, always had been.

Rick walked towards Aaron again. I expected everything, a punch, a kick, or mean words. "How many others are out there?" Rick asked again with grim eyes.

"One." He answered. But Rick shook his head. "I knew you wouldn't believe me." He turned to us again, ignoring Rick. "If it is not words, not pictures, what would it take to convince you that this is for real?" I too looked around. Maggie was now joining the look on Michonne's face. She seemed to believe him too.

Merle just laughed again. "We have seen enough of solid walls …" The laughter died. "Ya talking shit!"

"What if I drove you to the community? All of you? We leave now, we'll get there by lunch." Aaron offered, now talking to Rick again. He definitely knew who our leader was.

I took another step back to stand closer to Daryl. "What do you think?" A man talking of taking us some place for lunch.

He said 'we'll get there before lunch.' My brother reminded me and my stomach's growl was response enough.

"Don't know …" Daryl retorted still staring at Aaron. "This guy is weird …"

"Why the pictures? Why the water?" I thought over. "Why would he want to save us? I mean I think he wants to save us …"

Now he looked at me. "We don't know him. Don't know if he speaks the truth."

"We can find out." I gave back and heard how Michonne suggested to check for the cars Aaron had mentioned. But Rick wasn't of the same idea. He still believed there were many people outside waiting to kill us. There had been better chances to kill us then to let one of them get captured and maybe dead … just to see us dead? There was no logic in that at all.

What was the logic in keeping a girl in a cell to torture her, what was the logic in chaining her to use her … is there logic at all in this apocalyptical world?

A cold feeling crawled back to me making my heart and body freeze. The memory of bad times made me sick. I couldn't stand another torture. My left hand started to tremble and I quickly put it into the pocket of my jeans.

"You know, you are sure of it, but you know what, I am not." Michonne told Rick. Finally someone who affronted him.

"Me neither." Now Maggie joined Michonne's opinion. My eyes were fixe on Michonne, on her determined features. Would there really be a happy ending? Well at least for the next few months until another governor, or walker attack of tank would come.

"Your way is dangerous, mine isn't." He told Michonne.

"Passing up some place where we can live? Where Judith can live." Oh man, that was a good one. I admired Michonne. She would be a great leader too. "That's pretty dangerous." She sighed. "We need to find out what this is. We can handle ourselves." Even her facial expression was the one of a leader. "So that's what we're gonna do."

The way she had been handling situations in the past – especially our recent struggle with Sasha – she had leader qualities too. Michonne had the guts to stand up to Rick, had the power to kill walkers and wasn't afraid to speak her mind. "Then I will, too." I said. Michonne would lead to a better solution. She had more brain right now, while Rick only seemed to have weapons.

"I'll go." Daryl stated and I turned to him wondering why he would want to go. "I ain't let ya go alone." He looked down on the hand in my pocket. Had he seen my shaking hand?

"What the hell." Merle smiled at me. "Me too."

"Abraham." Rick looked for the big red.

"Yeah." Abraham nodded. "I'll walk with them."

Rick turned to my brother-by-heart who nodded. Sure he would go, Maggie was going. I couldn't believe they would ever separate.

"If there is trouble, you got enough firepower?" Rick asked Daryl who was normally in command when Rick wasn't around.

"We got what we got." He retorted and Rick handed him his own revolver.

"Why not ask me?" Merle asked but Rick ignored him. It wasn't quite the situation to be funny. I quickly grabbed Merle to walk after Abraham.

On my way Carol handed me a small gun. "Take care!" I nodded in thanks, but deep inside me I was still mad at her.

Or jealous?

"If you're not back in 60 minutes, we'll come!" Rick told us while we left the barn.

We walked back to the road. There was a sign on the side of the street 'JTC 16' and I wondered where we were. Abraham had lost his map so we just knew we were north of Atlanta.

Does it matter?

Not really. But it would have been nice to know where we were going. Just a hint of a town or city. It would be nice to know if Uncle Ben was still alive.

You never know. He is a tough son of a …. That were his words not mine. He chuckled.

I smiled to myself. Uncle Ben really was a tough old man. He was the elder brother of my father. Living alone since his family had died in a car accident. But he had never lost his sense of humor.

That was the only thing keeping him sane.

Yeah, I knew about things keeping me sane … but telling someone I heard my brother's voice in my head made me look rather insane. But the humor part wasn't quite working like it had used to.

"Eyes open!" Merle waved a revolver in front of my eyes. I wondered where he got that from.

"Weapons up!" Glenn said pretty loud. So I was wrong, Glenn was the one in command in this group. "You see someone coming at us, you fire."

"So we just shoot at random people now?!" I asked him. I didn't think that's what Michonne had in mind. My gaze wandered to her. Wasn't it her mission? Shouldn't she be the one walking in front of us telling us what to do?

"What if they are someone like us?" She asked Glenn. "What if Aaron is telling the truth?"

"We are seven people walking with guns." Daryl looked back over his shoulder. "Don't think someone is coming up to say hello."

"But that is what happened." Maggie interrupted.

"You people think too much." Merle stepped in. "Shot what you see and don't know."

"What if they only wanted to separate us?" Abraham interposed.

"What for?" I asked.

"Who knows …" Glenn stated. "They had been watching us for days. Had seen what we did … Why would they want us to join?"

"Maybe they are just like us." Michonne shrugged her shoulders.

"The more we should be cautious." Glenn gave back. Did he think we were bad people?

"We saved a priest." Michonne wouldn't give up. "Saved a girl who rolled with the governor."

"Saved a woman with a sword." I joined the listing. Michonne gave me a smile, but Glenn didn't. "Took in a habitual runaway." Still no smile. "Took in Merle."

Why would he smile about that? Is that your 'humor part that is not quite working'? For me it works.

Merle grunted with dark eyes. He wasn't smiling either. "Hey, I am on the list too." I told him but that didn't change his facial expression.

What's going on with you? So suddenly there is the happy nature I had tried to tickle out of you for months … Don't get me wrong, I am happy about it but what changed? Daryl is a mystery to you, your group is starving and thirsty, there is a stranger, you have no home … and out of nowhere my happy little sister emerges?!

He sounded mad. And all I could think of was Aaron. He had been kind and kind of funny. I didn't sense anything bad about him. He had sounded so honest …

Wait … because of this weird stranger?! And sorry … but you 'sense' he isn't bad?! What are you? Some kind of Superhero?

"Yeah, I am Scar Girl, you forgot about that?" I gave back silently. "But I am not a dreamer and that naïve little girl you call sister is dead."

Maybe you have been right before. Your sense of humor isn't working. What …

Dark thoughts started to squirm in me again. Memories of dark times made their way back into my mind and clouded my brain once again. I did hope for a place for us, but Woodbury was always on my mind when I came to think of a save place. I just wished our group could be save again. It wasn't only Woodbury, which made me almost wretch, but the thoughts about Len too. Strangers had always led to no good. But I didn't want to be just negative … I had fought my way back to the living and here is where I wanted to stay.

We walked on in silence. We passed a field with high green grass and a tractor who hadn't done his job in quite a while. We walked on, Daryl now leading the group for he knew where to go. We walked towards high trees again and soon saw the fallen over trees Aaron had mentioned. There were four trees lying on the street.

"He was telling the truth." Michonne stated lowering her katana.

Behind the trees there was a camper and a white car. They both looked shiny clean. "Shall we?" I was the first to go closer to the cars. Daryl sped up to step over the tree next to me. The camper looked almost like Dale's.

You have to focus here. You don't know what situation you are in. You said it yourself. Friend or foe ….

I raised the gun again. The moment Merle, Daryl and I were at the first car, branches snapped and we pointed our guns at the bushes next to us. "Not one step closer, asshole!" Merle hid behind the car.

But it were walkers stepping out of the bushes. "I got 'em." Daryl stepped forward with a knife and took down the male one.

I grabbed the female walker to finish it with my raised knife but Merle stabbed it in the head. I looked at him bewildered. "What the fuck man?"

"Why should ya 've all the fun?!" He laughed and went for the camper. Abraham followed him.

As they secured the camper, I followed Daryl to walk around it. "This is crazy. What if Aaron is really telling the truth?!" I told Daryl while we went round the camper to check the windows and the tress around us.

"Maybe this is all a story." He gave back. "And we're doing what they want us to."

"But why … I mean that would be just crazy …" Saying the words I stopped talking. Crazy … that is what this world was. We had seen enough craziness in the last months. "Daryl …" I started when we entered the woods. He was looking at the ground, most likely searching for footprints. "Do you really believe there will ever be a place?" His attention went from the ground to me. There had been tears in his eyes … now there was sheer determination. We starred at each other. For all that had happened I thought back of the time we had been alone in the woods hunting. How we had shared our first kiss. I missed intimacy with him, I missed being close with him and missed his touch on my bare skin. There had happened a lot but I knew he would never hurt me.

"There has to be a place to keep your damn ass safe." And finally there was a smile on his face.

"I thought it needed more to see that one again." I told him almost falling over a big limb. That would have made him laugh if there wouldn't have been a walker coming straight at us. I took the limb and wielded it against the side of its head. The head fell off the body which went limp. But the head still made an all too famous snarling sound.

Daryl smashed the head of the walker with his right food. "If it's not his place, it will be another." He looked from the ground back to the trees. His eyes were scanning our surroundings but he didn't seem to see anything. "There are two cars … there has to be at least another one."

"After capturing Aaron he might have run away."

"No. He must be close … otherwise he would have taken the car to go back to their camp."

Loud laughter filled the woods around us. It was Merle's. We looked at each other maybe thinking the same. We turned simultaneously and walked quickly back to the camper. Back at the cars Merle held canned food in his hand. He threw one over to Daryl. "Do ya remember this shit?!"

Daryl smiled. "Best dinner you ever made."

I took a look at the can in Daryl's hand. "Never heard of canned spaghetti."

"Oh bad ass, I forgot you're a rich princess only drinking water and eating salad." He winked at me.

"There's more." Abraham stated still standing in the door of the camper. He had opened one can and was eating right out of it, with its bare hand. I had to see it with my own eyes. I squeezed myself through the open door and Abraham who wasn't moving but smiling. "There is enough for everyone." And he was right, they had opened all the cupboards and I saw canned food and water everywhere. This was like staying in the land of Cockaigne.

I am sorry the chapter is relatively short. But I wanted to update today, to not pospone it again. I hope you still enjoyed the chapter and have a great day! R&R