The next morning I stood next to Glenn, trying not to laugh, as some of the guys took apart the Charger that Glenn brought back.
"Look at 'em." Glenn said as Rick stood on the other side of him, "Vultures. Yeah, go on, strip it clean."
"Generators need every drop of fuel they can get." Dale replied, "Got no power without it. Sorry, Glenn."
"Thought I'd get to drive it at least a few more days." Glenn said.
"Maybe we'll get to steal another one some day." Rick replied, patting him on the back before walking over to his wife.
"Sorry, Glenn." I said before walking over to Amy and Andrea to help with the laundry.
"Water's here, y'all. Just a reminder to boil before use." Shane said after driving his jeep here with a few barrels of water from the quarry.
I just finished folding my jeans when I heard screams.
"Mom! Dad!"
It was Carl. And Jamie was with Carl. I ran behind Rick and Lori until we got to the other kids.
"Are you alright?" I asked Jaime, looking at his arms.
He nodded before hugging me and started crying.
"You're okay." I whispered as I picked him up and walked back over to camp.
He cut up his knees a little, but other than that, he was fine. We sat down on a rock and Carol came over with a band-aids for his knees I thanked her before putting them on.
Carl said there was a walker eating a deer, and that's why they were screaming. They were lucky it was too busy eating, other wise it could have gone after them.
A few minutes later I heard footsteps and looked over to see Daryl walking into camp. I knew it was time to tell him.
"Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up!"
I set Jamie on the rock next to me and I stood up.
"Daryl, just slow up a bit. There's something we need to tell you." Shane said.
"About what?" Daryl asked.
Everyone looked to me and Daryl turned around, facing me.
"About Merle." I answered, "There was a incident in Atlanta."
"He dead?"
"We're not sure." I replied.
"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl yelled and I flinched.
"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." Rick said, walking up to Daryl.
"Who are you?" Daryl questioned.
"Rick Grimes."
"Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?" Daryl asked.
"Your brother was a danger to us all." Rick replied, "So I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."
"Hold on. Let me process this." Daryl said, wiping his eyes, "You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!"
"Yeah."
Daryl threw his squirrels at Rick, which he dodged easily. Shane pushed him to the ground and Daryl grabbed his knife.
"Watch the knife!"
After trying to cut Rick, Shane grabbed Daryl, getting him in a choke hold.
"Best let me go!" Daryl yelled.
"Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Shane replied.
"Chock hold's illegal."
"You can file a complaint." Shane responded, "Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day."
"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?" When Daryl didn't answer Rick repeated the questioned, "Do you think you can manage that?"
Shane let him go and stepped back.
"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work or play well with others." Rick told Daryl.
"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it." T-Dog said.
"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl asked.
"Well, I dropped it in a drain." T-Dog answered.
"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."
"Maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock." T-Dog replied.
"It's gotta count for something." Rick commented.
Daryl wiped his eyes again, "Hell with all y'all. Just tell him where he is so's I can go get 'im."
"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" Lori replied.
"I'm going back."
A while later I continued to help Amy with the laundry while Jamie sat next to me, coloring. He hasn't spoke much since the incident this morning.
"I don't, okay, Rick? So could you just- could you throw me a bone here, man? Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?" Shane asked Rick.
"Hey, choose your words more carefully." Daryl interrupted.
"No, I did." Shane replied, "Douche bag's what I meant. Merle Dixon- the guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst."
"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst- me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way of anything to die, let alone a human being." Rick said.
"So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" Lori asked.
Rick turned around to look at Glenn.
Oh, come on."
"You know the way. You've been there before, in and out, no problem. You said so yourself." Rick said. "It's not fair of me to ask, I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would, too."
"That's great. Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?"
"Four." T-Dog said.
Daryl scoffed, "My day just gets better and better, don't it?"
"You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?" T-Dog asked.
"Why you?" Daryl questioned.
"You wouldn't even to begin to understand. You don't speak my language." T-Dog answered.
"That's four. It's not just four. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp." Shane said.
"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns." Rick replied.
"Right, the guns."
"Wait, what guns?" Shane questioned.
"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen hand guns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up." Rick answered.
"Ammo?"
"700 rounds, assorted." Rick replied.
"You went through hell to find us. You just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave?" Lori asked.
"Dad, I don't want you to go." Carl said.
"To hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in." Lori continued.
Rick walked over to her, "Tell me. Make me understand."
"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy. Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn him."
"What's stopping you?" Lori asked.
"The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer." Rick answered.
"These our walkies?" Shane asked.
"Yeah."
"So use the C.B. What's wrong with that?" Andrea questioned.
"The C.B's fine. It's the walkies that suck to crap. Date back to the 70's, don't match any other bandwidth- not even the scanners in our cars." Shane answered.
"I need that bag." Rick told Lori before going to Carl, "Okay?"
"Alright." Carl replied.
I hugged Glenn before he got into the van to drive and I turned to Daryl, "Be careful."
He nodded and I hugged him. I felt him tense up and I pulled away before walking over to Jamie. After Rick, T-Dog, Glenn, and Daryl left to go get Merle, Andrea, Jacqui, Amy, Carol, and I decided to go down to the quarry to wash clothes. I decided to have Jamie come with, so I changed him in the swimsuit that Andrea brought back from Atlanta. I grabbed a basket and walked over to Daryl's tent and went inside to grab his clothes.
While Jamie played in the water we started washing clothes. Yards away, Shane and Carl were trying to catch frogs.
"Can someone explain to me how the woman wound up doing all the Hattie McDaniel work?" Jacqui asked.
"The world ended. Didn't you get the memo?" Amy answered.
"It's just the way it is." Carol replied. "I do miss my Maytag."
"I miss my Benz, my Sat Nav." Andrea said.
"I miss my coffeemaker with that dual-drip filter and built-in grinder, honey." Jacqui replied.
"My computer... and texting."
I looked to make sure Jamie was too far away to hear me, "I miss my vibrator."
"Oh!" They looked at me and laughed.
Carol looked back at Ed before turning to us, "Me too."
We all laughed louder and Ed walked over to us, "What's so funny?"
"Just swapping war stories, Ed." Andrea answered.
Ed didn't go back to his car, just stood there, smoking his cigarette, watching us.
"Problem, Ed?" I asked.
"Nothin' that concerns you." He answered before looking at Carol, "And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club."
Andrea stood up, "Tell you what, Ed, you don't like how your laundry's done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here."
She tossed a shirt and Ed caught it before chucking it back at Andrea, "Ain't my job, missy."
"What is your job, Ed?" I asked, walking next to Andrea, "Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?"
"Well, it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart-mouthed bitch. Tell you what," He looked at Carol, "Come on. Let's go."
"I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed." Andrea said.
"And I say it's none of your business. Come on now. You heard me." Ed replied.
"Carol."
"Violet, please. It doesn't matter." Carol said.
"Hey," Ed said to me, turning me around, "don't think I won't knock you on your ass, just 'cause you're some college-educated cooze, all right? Now you come on now or you gonna regret it later."
"So she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed? Yeah, we've seen them." Jacqui asked.
Ed laughed, "Stay out of this. Now come on! You know what? This ain't none of y'all's business. You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am done talking. Come on."
We started arguing and pulling Carol back, "You don't tell me what! I tell you what!"
I stepped in front of Carol to get her away from Ed and he slapped me. Andrea and Jacqui started hitting him and Carol and Amy pulled me away. I watched as Shane pulled Ed away. Andrea and Jacqui put their arms around Carol and I felt Jamie hugging me as Shane beat the shit out of Ed.
"Shane, stop!" We all started yelling for Shane to stop, he was taking it too far.
"You put your hands on your wife, your little girl, or anybody else in this camp one more time, I will not stop next time. Do you hear me? Do you hear me?!" Shane told Ed.
"Yes."
"I'll beat you to death, Ed." Shane said before punching Ed and kicking him one more time before leaving.
Carol ran over to Ed, telling him she was sorry. I wrapped a towel around Jamie before picking him up and we watched Carol and Ed.