Hey everyone! I'm back! For the month at least. I have had a hard time working my stories because I went back to school. I've literally been doing classes for 12 months straight! I thought I gave myself a 2 month break but somehow I ended up with only 1. I'll try to get out another couple chapters before then, we'll see. I've literal not gamed or read for leisure in the last year so I have many things I want to do. Anyways, enjoy!

Two days later, Anna walked down the stairs into the kitchen. At the crack of dawn, Merle and Daryl had gone out together to do a bit of hunting, something they now did with some regularity. Anna was exhausted from the night before and still hurting from getting a piece of heavy equipment dropped on her legs, so she'd slept in a little.

There was a single knock at the door, as Anna sat at the island to eat her breakfast, as the door slowly opened and in stepped Glenn. Anna was surprised to see him, smiling slightly as he came in. She had hardly talked with Glenn, the whole group really, since they had first met. Glenn, in particular, seemed to be avoiding her; making Anna wonder if her relationship with Merle had something to do with his distance.

"Good morning." He said as he stopped just passed the doors threshold. "I hope you don't mind me coming in."

"Of course, I don't mind." Anna replied, she thought he'd be looking for some. "What happened to your face?"

Glenn touched his forehead momentarily where a red line ran up into his hairline, a definite bullet graze, among other wounds. "That's partly what I came here for. To ask for your opinion."

Anna cocked an eyebrow, spoon in mouth. Once she had swallowed, she turned to face him more fully. "My opinion? I always figured you hated me. I mean this is probably our first true conversation, especially without anyone present."

Glenn winced as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll admit, my first impression of you wasn't great but then again, when I met Daryl it wasn't great either but he's a good guy." Glenn came the rest of the way into the room and sat on the stool beside her, letting out a long sigh. "Honestly, I let my past with Merle colour my opinion of you. That wasn't fair. Honestly, I should have let my opinion of Abraham colour my opinion of you more than Merle. But really, neither should have. I'm sorry."

Anna shrugged. "Don't worry about it. You won't be the first to judge me by my choice in men, and you won't be the last."

Glenn chuckled. "Abraham said you were unnaturally forgiving."

"Unnaturally?" Anna asked, this time both eyebrows shooting up then chuckled. "I also got one hell of a temper."

"Obviously." Glenn said pointing towards her red hair.

"Just like you're obviously a computer whiz."

Glenn chuckled. "Touché."

"So. What can I do you for?"

"I imagine Merle told you what happened back at that warehouse?"

"He did. It was all I could do to keep him from running from the house and pummelling that turd into a grease spot."

Glenn grunted. "It would've saved me from yesterday."

Anna frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I had a talk with Nicholas, yesterday morning. He threatened me but I wasn't fazed, which really pissed him off, I think. I told him he should never step outside the walls again. I told him that if it wasn't for these walls, he would have died a long time ago."

Anna scoffed. "Without a doubt."

"Then, just before nightfall, I saw him climbed over the wall. I followed him. The bastard shot at me while I was following him but missed. I managed to tackle him, but he got away when the walkers showed up and like a coward, he ran off."

"Obviously, you survived that." Anna ground out, getting more pissed by the minute. She we wished Merle had put the beat down on the bastard like he'd wanted.

"Yeah. Got free, tracked Nicholas down and was this close to shooting him." Glenn said clearly irritated as he held up his hand in a fist except his index and thumb, indicating how close he was. "But I didn't. He was so pathetic, begging for his life. I just didn't have the heart."

"Other than to make me mad and to make me want to strangle Nicholas, why are you telling me this?"

"What do you think I should do? Tell Deanna? Or what should I do about Nicholas?"

Anna looked at him confused. "Why ask me? You're close with pretty much everyone else who came with you from Georgia. Why not ask them?"

"Because, I know how they will react." Glenn said tiredly. "And I don't know if I want to do what they'll suggest."

"And you hope I'll tell you something you want to hear?" Anna asked cocking an eyebrow.

Glenn grunted. "No. More like hoping you'll give me a suggestion I haven't thought of. Abraham says you tend to think a little differently than most people. I'm inclined to believe that since, you know—Merle."

Anna smirked slightly. "Think I should start gettin' annoyed with people constantly tellin' me Merle is my shortcoming, my flaw. The thing that makes me unique, unusual." Glenn winced, which made Anna grin. "I'm plenty weird on my own. I don't need no man to make me strange."

Glenn laughed, which made Anna decide that she like him. He was different from the others. Rick and the others seemed so hardened, cold but Glenn, he seemed like such a kind soul, warm. He'd survived this long, out in the wild, so he undoubtedly had grit but somehow, he still managed to keep his humanity. Something most people seemed to lack now days.

"How'd the prick respond after you let him live?" She asked after a moment.

Glenn thought about it for a moment then looked back at Anna. "He seemed thoroughly terrified of me. Not something I'm used to. I'd like to think he's learned his lesson and believes that I'll kill him if it comes to it, but I don't know for sure."

Anna stared at Glenn for a moment as she thought the dilemma through. "You should tell Deanna, maybe they'll punt him out with Pete or just forbade him from leaving Alexandria's walls. I think she has finally seen the light and now she might actually believe you if you tell her that that bastard is basically the reason her son and Noah died, and the reason Tara got hurt."

Glenn nodded. "Not exactly an original thought but it makes me feel a little better."

Anna chuckled. "Hey, sometimes the straightforward way is the best way. Sometimes there is no out of the box solution."

Glenn frowned, "Where's your dog?"

"I was plannin' on taking the day to rest so Merle asked if she could go with him and Daryl." Anna said with a shrug.

"Why?"

"She's become a good hunter and also acts as an early detection system. If there is a walker nearby, she'll alert them before any human could."

"And she obeys Merle?"

"If I'm not there, yeah she'll obey him. Maybe not as blindly as she'd follow me, but she'll do most things." Anna studied Glenn for the moment, then finally asked the question that had been on her mind since the conversation had started. "So, what happened between you and Merle? I mean other than him being obnoxious."

"There's a list, really. Merle has been forced to clean up his drug and alcohol addiction but back at the beginning, he still had a supply and nearly got me and a couple of others that are no longer with us, killed. Although, to be fair, he paid for that with his hand. He was gone for a long time but the first time I saw him again, he pointed a gun at me then kidnapped Maggie and I, beat the crap out of me while I was tied up. Before that, he had injured Michonne then hunted her like an animal."

Anna sighed. "Sorry about that, he mentioned that he'd been…hard on the people he knew."

"It's Merle who should be apologizing, not you. You didn't even know him then." Glenn sighed as he looked at his hands then rubbed his face. "I've moved on from that a long time ago. I don't want to be one of those people who hold onto anger and hate. Besides, Merle does seem…different. Even Daryl is surprised to see how much he's changed. Anyways, thanks." Glenn said then moved towards the door.

"Hey, don't be a stranger." Anna said, smiling softly as she watched Glenn reach for the door.

"Will do."

111

"Hey Abe, lets go for a walk." Anna said leaning against the door frame of the condo him and Rosita had just moved into.

Abraham looked up surprised, then smiled. "Sure Annie. Where to?"

Anna got the sense that she must have been interrupting something as Rosita glared at her unhappily while Abraham seemed overly happy to get out of the room. Unfortunately for Rosita, she would rather help Abraham escape a conversation he didn't want to have, then force him to have whatever conversation his girlfriend wanted to have with him.

"A short walk in the woods would be nice." Anna said straightening up then handed him an assault rifle she had taken from the armoury.

He suddenly looked at her suspiciously as he took the gun from her but didn't pause to follow her when she turned and walked down the steps. They walked down the road in silence, all the way to the gate. It wasn't until the walls were out of sight that the silence was broken.

"So, what do you want to grill me about?" Abraham asked, his eyes constantly roaming as he spoke.

Anna chuckled as she continued to follow him. "Who says I don't just want some bonding time with my brother? We've literally had no time alone for over two years."

"True." Abraham said as he finally stopped and put his back to a tree. "But you had that look."

Anna grinned as she too put her back to a tree, facing Abraham so she could see anything or anyone coming up behind him.

"Okay, so you caught me, but I do want to spend some time with my big brother and one of the two reasons I brought you out here was to get your advice. I've always trusted your opinion and you've always been truthful with me, even when I didn't want to hear it."

"Is this 'bout Merle?" Abraham asked, shocking Anna.

"How did you…?"

"Because I'm your big brother!" Abraham said, cutting her off. "We used to talk about everything, remember? I've learned to read you."

"Okay." Anna said smiling slightly. "So, what exactly was I going to ask you about?"

"You were going to ask whether your history of poor taste in men was continuing and if he is any good for you."

"Wow, two for two." Anna said the chuckled as she shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest as her rifle dangled from her shoulder. "And?"

"Now that you two have been together for a little while, I still don't care for him much, but he seems to care about you. I think he is really trying to treat you right but if he hurts you, I will put a bullet in his knee cap." Abraham sighed. "Honestly Annie, if you're genuinely happy than I can't be against that, even if he is older than me."

"He does make me happy. I feel like I can be myself with him, something I've never experienced before…besides you of course."

"Then why ask me?" Abraham asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"You know what they say, 'love is blind'. I've made mistakes before." Anna stared morosely off into the distance, thinking of her last relationship.

"That you have, and I was very frank 'bout it. Wish I could have met that Grainer prick. He sounded slicker than greased weasel shit on a doorknob." Abraham muttered angrily.

Anna laughed. "You always have a way with words, Abe."

"What was the other question?" Abraham asked, as he smiled broadly.

Anna bit her lip as she considered if she really wanted to get into it with her brother, he was unlikely to be happy with the next topic.

"Uh oh." Abraham said wincing "That look doesn't bode well."

"I wanna talk about Ellen and the kids." Anna said softly.

Abraham's face darkened considerably as he looked away but surprisingly, he didn't seem angry. She'd tried to broach the subject several times before, but he'd just gotten angry with her and refused to say anything other than they were dead.

"Why do you want t know so badly?" Abraham asked. The anger was there but he was keeping in check, along with his anguish. "Pretty much everyone wants to forget all the people they've lost. It's an unspoken rule to not ask about the past."

"If you don't know the person! Abe, I loved them too. Don't I deserve to know what happened to my family?"

Abraham didn't say anything immediately, he just stared at the ground as emotions rapidly progressed from one to the other. After a moment, he put his hands to his face and rubbed it vigorously.

"Its my fault they died." Abraham's tone was pure anguish, and it ripped Anna apart to hear him is such pain. "We-we all survived the initial outbreak, escaped the hardest part of it by camping out in the woods. Eventually Ellen wanted to find a solid roof over our heads, some place the kids would be safe, so we went back into town and found it deserted. The grocery store hadn't been hit to hard yet, so we all holed up in there for a while. We could just walk to a shelf, grab a can and cook it over the fire. Then one day, I'd just stepped outside for a moment, to grab some more firewood. I heard Elle scream—so I ran back inside. This guy was threatening Ellen and the kids, I attacked him. We scuffled. Then I beat him to death with can of tomato soup.

Abraham's face started to redden as his chest heaved, trying desperately to control his emotions. "You should've seen how she looked at me, Annie. She just saw a monster. I dragged the bastard's body out of there as quickly as possible but by the time I got back inside, Elle and the kids were gone. She'd left this long note on a roll of till receipt paper which upon thinking about it, makes me wonder if she was planning on leaving before I killed that bastard. I didn't really read the note, I just ran outside to stop her but…"

Finally, a sob surfaced as he put the heel of his hands to his face and pressed them into his eyes as Anna stepped forward and gently laid a hand on his shoulder. Abraham took a couple deep breaths to calm himself then cleared his throat as he dropped his hands.

"I don't know exactly what happened. I think Elle was putting the luggage into the back of our car. The doors were all open, I-I didn't seem them but there was a lot of blood and-and chunks. I was just about to let the walkers take me too when I heard Eugene's cries for help. He was so pathetic; I don't know why I decided to help him."

Anna finally pulled her brother into a hug as they both finally broke down. "Oh Abe." She sobbed. "It's not your fault."

Abraham hugged her tightly, to the point that she couldn't breath, but Anna wasn't about to tell him to let go. Abraham didn't sob again but Anna could feel his tears running hotly down her neck. She got the feeling that this was the first time he'd let himself feel his loss since it'd happen and while she didn't want to see him in pain, she wanted him to confront his pain before it caught up with him and potentially destroyed him. Finally, after several minutes of holding each other, Abraham let her go and turned away so that she wouldn't see his tears.

Abraham cleared his throat as he took a couple steps away. "I guess I should thank Eugene, he unwittingly saved my life. He gave me the drive to live long enough to see my little sister again." Abraham let out a tired sigh. "I think part of me knew he was lying about the cure but I desperate for something else to live for. Maybe I wasn't as ready to die as I had originally thought."

"And thank God for that." She said softly as she put a hand gently on his shoulder once more. "Abe, I'm not trying to hurt you. I just needed to know. I loved them all so much."

"I know." Now satisfied that he had wiped his tears away, he turned around. "You're right, you deserved to know it just…I just…"

"I know."

The two of the stood there for several long minutes, silently mourning their loss together. They might've remained as such for quite a bit longer if they hadn't been interrupted but four walkers came stumbling towards them. They snapped out of their grieving and went to work to dispatch the walkers. After a quick exchange, the two of them sat down in the dirt, staring at the walkers.

"I was thinking about breaking it off with Rosita." Abraham said after a moment.

Anna looked over at him, shocked. "Why?

"We got together for all the wrong reasons…or at least I did. I thought she was the last woman on earth, and by the time I realized that she wasn't, I was in too deep. Now, we're here, in Alexandria. We're as safe as it gets in this world and she's so young still. She can have anyone, someone who'd actually love her like she deserves."

"So, you don't love her?" She asked as she studied her brothers face.

Abraham shook his head. "No." He said confidently.

"Is there someone else?"

"No and I don't know if I can really fall in love again. The pain I still feel from losing Ellen…the kids, I don't want to feel that again."

"I don't blame you, but we very seldom have a choice in whom we fall in love with." Anna sighed and rested her head on her brother's shoulder. "As for Rosita; if you don't love her, you definitely should break it off with her. Its unfair to her, although she may not agree for the time being. She'll probably be angry."

Abraham sighed. "I know." Suddenly Abraham brightened. "Rick told me this morning that you and Merle were gettin' your own space."

"That'll be great." Anna said lifting her head once more. "It'll be nice to truly get some privacy again. The last time we had that, we were more focused on surviving that building a relationship."

Abraham got up and held out his hand to her. "Alright kid lets go back. We've been gone long enough."

111

"About time you two came back. Rick's calling a meeting, there's something important he needs to discuss." Rosita said. Apparently, she had been waiting for them by the gate.

Abraham frowned. "What's going on?"

"Him and Glenn were driving that bastard Pete, out to the middle of no where's when they saw that kid…uh, Ron I think, running for his life. They pulled over and went running after him. Managed to save the kid but found a massive herd of walkers."

"Is it coming our way?" Anna asked also frowning.

"Not yet but that's all I know. Rick is going to fill us in on the rest." Rosita answered as she indicated for them to follow her.

They followed Rosita down the street to Deanna's house then inside. Once inside, there were already several people starting to gather. Most noticeably, it was their people who were already all there, even Daryl and Merle had already come back from their hunting trip. Daryl was obviously trying to fade into the background, but Merle was never the sort to allow himself to be overlooked.

"There you are!" Merle said with some volume, calling attention to their entrance.

Merle wrapped his arms around Anna as Rosita and Abraham took a seat on one of the couches in Deanna's living room. After Merle stepped back, he leaned back against one of the bookcases then encouraged Anna to lean back against him. When it became clear no one else was going to enter the meeting, Rick started speaking.

"You are all here because we need to discuss what needs to be done about the herd of walkers presently trapped at the bottom of a quarry." Rick started.

"Presently?" Anna asked.

Rick nodded in appreciation, obviously happy that she had noted the subtle clue to a potential danger.

"The entrance to the quarry has been blocked off with two sets of semis but there is a potential for the one semi to slide off the cliff." Rick replied. "Which is why we need move the herd, guide them in a direction that takes them away from here."

"Did no one know about this place?" Carol asked in confusion, still playing her role of concerned housewife.

"We did." A man that Anna had yet to see, replied. "My team…we saw it early on, back when we were on one of those first scouts, finding out what was around here. There was a camp at the bottom. The people, they must have blocked the exits with one of those trucks back when everything started to go bad. They didn't make it. They were all roamers. Maybe a dozen of them."

Maggie craned her neck back a bit, so she could see the new man better. "No one's been back since?"

The man shook his head. "DC, every town worth scavenging are all in the other direction. And I never felt like having a picnic next to the camp that ate itself."

Anna smirked; she was starting to like this guy. From what she'd gathered, this man was probably out scavenging with the other two people Anna had never seen. Those three people were likely the ones most likely to truly understand what it was really like out there. Maybe they could convince the rest of their ignorant community members, that they needed to change. To take the threat that was out there, seriously.

"So, all the while the walkers have been drawn by the sound and they're making more sound and drawing more in." Michonne observed.

Rick nodded. "And here we are." He said then looked around the room. "Now what I'm proposing, I know it sounds risky, but walkers are already slipping through the exits. One of the trucks keeping the walkers in, could go off the edge any day now. Maybe after one more hard rain. That exit takes them east. Right at us." Rick paused to let what had said, sink in then continued. "It's not a matter of if it will give way, but when. It's gonna happen. That's why we have to do this soon."

"This is—I don't have another word for it. This is terrifying." Carol said. "All of it. But it doesn't sound like there is another way."

Anna had to admire Carol, she understood how the world perceived her and she used it as a weapon against them. They saw a middle-age housewife who spent her whole life cooking and cleaning for her family. They saw a mother figure. While Anna had never really seen Carol in a dangerous situation, she knew that she was not at all the defenseless stay at home mom that Carol projected. She was the wolf in sheepskin.

"Maybe there is." The man Anna was pretty sure whose name was Carter. "I mean couldn't we just build up the weak spots? I could draw up plans with Reg. I worked with him to build the walls."

"He was a great help and we can definitely assess the situation." Reg agreed.

"So that it can be an even bigger problem later?" Anna asked.

"Construction crew—we can make it safe." Carter persisted.

"Anna is right, even if you could," Rick countered "the sound of the walkers is drawing more and more every day. Building up the exits won't change that."

Finally, Deanna spoke up. "We're gonna do what Rick says, the plan he's going to lay out."

"We're going to have Daryl leading them away." Rick started, taking his queue from Deanna and finally laying out his plan out in more detail.

"Me, too." Sasha volunteered. "I'll take a car, ride next to him. Can't just be him. I'll keep 'em coming, and Daryl keep 'em from getting sloppy."

"If y'all hadn't abandoned my chopper back in Georgia, they would never get distracted." Merle grumbled behind her.

Anna looked back at him awkwardly, "You had a chopper?"

"Yeah but the motorcycle kind." Merle replied smiling down at her.

Anna laughed. "Yeah, I kinda figured."

"I'll go with her." Abraham injected, interrupting their conversation. "It's a long way to white knuckle it solo."

Rick nodded slightly. "We'll have two teams. One on each side of the forest helping manage this thing. We're gonna have a few people on watch from now on. Anna, can you take charge of that?"

"Sure." Anna agreed.

"So that makes Anna, Rosita, Spencer and Holly out. Who's in?"

Almost immediately Michonne said "Me."

Glenn and Maggie had a quiet conversation that Anna couldn't hear but finally Glenn spoke up. "I'm in."

"I'd like to help." Gabriel volunteered.

"No." Rick said firmly. "Who else?"

"Oh, c'mon Rick, give him a chance to help." Anna said, standing up for the father.

"No." Rick said again, obviously not ready forgive Gabriel's part in him nearly getting kicked out of the community. "There has to be more."

"Hell, if Darylina is in this who am I to sit back and just watch." Merle said, earning a glare from his brother.

Rick studied Merle critically. "You'll follow my lead? Not go rogue?"

"Sure, officer happy, I'll follow yer lead. You kept a pizza boy, a beaters wife and two kids alive this long, you gotta have some good instincts."

For the first time since they'd arrived, Carol's façade falter but quickly recovered. Carter didn't seem to notice, though, as he spoke up once more.

"There's gotta be another play." He said, still not convinced. "We just can't control that many."

"Walkers herd up." Rick explained. "They follow a path if somethings drawing them. That's how we'll get 'em all at once."

"So, what? We're supposed to just take your word for it? We're just supposed to fall in line after…"

"After Rick stood up to an abuser?" Anna interrupted. "Should he have done it a little differently? Probably. But unlike the rest of you ostriches, he didn't stick his head in the sand and ignore the problem, he dealt with the problem."

"He waved a gun around!" Carter complained. "He was screaming, pointing it at people."

"Okay now yer just bein' downright dramatic." Anna said, rolling her eyes.

"That enough bickering!" Deanna said, sounding like a scolding mother.

After a moment, the new guy finally spoke up. "I'll do it."

Francine quickly raised her hand. "Me too."

"Whatever you need, I'm in." Tobin added, slightly surprising Anna. He didn't have much in the way of balls.

"Who else?" Deanna asked, staring the group down.

Anna suddenly noticed that Nicholas was there. When she looked at Glenn, she saw him staring Nicholas down shaking his head, trying to discourage him from volunteering but Nicholas ignored Glenn and raised his hand.

"We need to do this. I need to help." Nicholas said.

Rick studied Nicholas, apparently having some idea of what Nicholas had done. "You sure you can handle this?"

"You need people." Nicholas pointed out.

Rick studied the group for a moment but when no one else volunteered he nodded his head. "We'll make this work. We'll make this place safe. Keep our families safe. We will."

"The plan." Carter started. "Go through it again."

"Man, he just said it." Daryl growled.

"Tch, about as absorbent as sieve, this one is." Merle sneered.

"Every part again." Carter said, undeterred by the Dixon's hostility and mocking.

Rick sighed, "Not now, in a moment. That's all for now, I'll work out the finer points of the mission with Reg and Eugene. We'll have another meeting with the volunteers in the morning and start getting everything ready."

So, I had been speed reading some of my chapters and I noticed some big oopsies, one day I'll go through it and fix them...but I plan on doing that with all of my stories...one day.

-Shockra