A/N: Things will really start picking up after this chapter, now that all the boring preliminary is out of the way. I do want to hear from you all as to what you would like to see in this story, I am open to suggestions. I think I have made up my mind about the pairing situation, but can be swayed. Just leave your opinions/comments in a review! Thanks for reading. Now, chapter three.
Morning came with me on top of the RV, watching over things for Shane to go get some water from the quarry. Lori and Carol were hanging clothes out to dry and Rick came crawling out of the tent. He went over to Lori and they were talking in hushed voices. I saw Shane's jeep pulling up and jumped down to help him pull out the jugs of water.
"Just a reminder to boil before use!" he called as everyone went to taking jugs away for their personal uses. There was a scream from the woods and everyone jumped, springing into action. I grabbed my handgun and heard Carl crying for his mom which made my legs run faster. Carl and Sophia met us just a little ways into the woods and the women stopped to tend to them while the men and I kept running. We came into a small clearing where a walker was leaning over a deer, eating his insides. I turned my head for a split second in revulsion. Everyone had grabbed assorted weapon that wouldn't cause a noise that could cause more to be attracted to the camp. The walker looked up and started coming for us and we sprang into action, beating him with bats, pitchforks, and fire pokers. Finally, Dale brought an ax down and his head came off.
There was a rustling in the brush and we all turned our attention to it. Then, Daryl came into view, crossbow slung over his shoulder.
"Son of a bitch. That's my deer! Look at it! All knawed up on by this," Daryl went into a tantrum of kicking the headless body and calling it names. He pulled the three arrows out of the deer once he was done.
"Calm down son, that's not helping," Dale said and I knew he'd made a mistake. Sure enough, Daryl got up in his face.
"What you know 'bout it old man? Why 'on't you take that stupid hat and 'on back on "On Golden Pond"? I been trackin' this deer fer miles! Gonna drag it back to camp an' cook us up some Venison. You think we can cut around this chewed up part?" he asked, looking up at all of us.
"We can't risk that," Shane said, rifle in his arms.
"That's a damn shame. I got some squirrels, about a dozen or so. That'll hav to do," he said and turned back towards camp. Before he got far, the disembodied head's eyes popped open and its teeth started chomping.
"What de hell people?" he asked, firing an arrow into the eye, making it go still. "'s gotta be de brain. Don' y'all know nothing?" he said and walked out of the woods back towards camp. I shared a look with Shane, this was not going to be easy.
By the time Shane and I made it back to camp, bringing up the rear of the group, Daryl was calling for Merle to come help him cook up the squirrels. No one made a move to speak. Of course, they could all talk a big game around the fire last night, but actually faced with the task and none of them had the balls to speak up.
"Daryl, just slow down a minute, I need to talk to you," it was Shane who finally shouldered the responsibility.
"'bout what?" Daryl asked.
"About Merle."
"He dead?"
"We're not sure," Shane continued after a moment of pause.
"He either is or he a'int!" Daryl exclaimed, advancing towards Shane. I tensed and stepped up, but Rick spoke up before anything happened.
"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," he said.
"Who ere you?"
"Rick Grimes."
"Rick Grimes. You got somethin' you wanna tell me?" Daryl's face was red now and I knew it was only a matter of time before the situation got out of hand.
"You're brother was a danger to us all. So I handcuffed him to the roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."
Daryl started pacing in a small circle, breathing heavily. It was almost a full minute before he spoke again. "Hol' on. Lemme process dis. Yer sayin' you handuffed my brother to a roof, an' you left em there?"
"Yeah." Quick as a flash, Daryl's duffel bag flew over Rick's head, hitting me square in the chest and knock me over. He lunged at Rick, and I have no doubt in my mind that he would have killed him if Shane hadn't jumped in and tackled him. Once he was on the ground, Daryl pulled out his hunting knife and jumped up and went at Rick again. I was back on my feet by now but Shane told me to stay back. He was able to catch Daryl in a chokehold and Rick knelt in front of him.
"I would like to have a rational conversation, you think you can handle that?" Rick asked. After a couple more moments and seeing Shane wasn't going to let up, Daryl nodded and Shane let him go.
"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother doesn't work or play well with others," Rick said and I wondered if he realized he was adding fuel to the fire.
"It wasn't Rick's fault. I had the key, and I dropped it," T-Dog said, dropping the lumber he had gathered for firewood.
"You couldn' pick it up?" Daryl asked and I laughed.
"I dropped it down a drain."
The redneck dropped his head and looked at the ground, still breathing hard. I felt for him. I glanced at Shane, who still stood tensed. I couldn't imagine loosing him, he was all the family I had. While I had been tuned in to my thoughts, T-Dog had told Daryl about chaining the door.
"Hell wid all y'all! Jus' tell me where 'e is so's I can go get em," he called out, pacing again.
"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" Lori said from where she was sitting on the RV steps.
"I'm going back," Rick said and Lori turned away disgusted, and walked into the RV. Rick headed back to his tent and Shane followed him, whispering quietly. They came back a few minutes later, with Rick telling Shane he couldn't leave Merle up there to die.
"So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" Lori asked him and Rick looked at Glenn.
"No," Glenn whined but Rick reminded him that he knew the way better than anyone else.
"So now you're going to risk three men?" Shane asked, looking irate.
"Four" T-Dog said.
"Make that five," I replied and Shane looked at me intensely.
"No way Addie, I need you here. If Rick want to go on a suicide mission with half of our camp, that's him, but I need someone here I can count on," he said, stepping towards me.
"Shane, you just said you can count on me, well why not count one me to get these idiots in and out safely and quickly?" I retorted and Shane shook his head.
"I don't like it. You're putting all of us at risk. Y'all saw that walker today! It was in camp! We need every able bodied person here!" he yelled.
"Seems like you could use more guns. I dropped a bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed full of guns and ammo, it's just laying there waiting for someone to pick it up," Rick said, and that got Shane's attention.
"Fine," Shane said, but now Lori was jumping all over Rick and he went to talk to her and Carl.
"Come here," Shane told me and we walked over to the RV. "Listen, I don't like you going, but you're right, I can trust you. I need you to get in and out and get back here, okay? Here, this one's better than yours, it's full of ammo but that's all I have," he said, handing me his handgun and taking mine. "Be careful lil' sister." He gave me a hug and I nodded to him.
I walked back to my tent and gathered a few essentials and shoved them into my duffel bag.
"Why ere you doin' this?" Daryl asked me once I was standing beside the truck.
"Because, I would want someone to do it for me if it was my brother," I told him and climbed in, casting one last look at Shane, praying we'd all make it back okay.