Once they were deep in the forest they stopped running to catch their breath. Merle sat on the ground.
"Everybody, ok? Nobody bit or nothing?"
"No"
"Alright well thats, um, good"
"Yeah"
"We um, gotta find a place to stay"
"No shit Merle"
"Shut up, I'm leading, maybe we should find a bigger group or something"
"More people, never ever thought I would hear those words from my own brother"
"Daryl, what'd I just say?"
"Your leading"
"I'm leading, now shut up"
"Daddy maybe we should just stay in the woods. Find some tents. Just stay here"
"Or find an empty house"
"Or just stay here"
"Or find a refugee center" Miranda and some others gave suggestions.
"Or stay here"
"Bambi!"
"What?"
"We aint stayin here it aint safe"
"But I like it better here"
"I know me too but we cant"
"We could make it safe, people could keep watch and-"
"Baby listen to me! We aint stayin'"
"Why the hell not?!"
"Because I am just tryin' to keep my damn family safe and they wont let me and yes I'm talking about you!"
She sat down under a tree. "I just wanna stay home"
Merle walked over to her and cupped her face in his hands. "Right now, home is wherever we can live through the night"
She dove into his arms. Right then they heard moans. They gathered all their bags and started running again.
They couldnt keep going. Sofia couldnt run anymore and Daryl sprained his ankle carrying her. They found a spot between some office buildings and the forest and they spent the night there. Merle and Daryl stayed up and made a plan off of one of Danny's gas station maps (He worked at a 7-11). Danny did turn back to get the truck, conveniently with Merle's bike in the back. So they had the cars. It was the only reason they were planning so far ahead.
"What if we go here?"
"No, thats where the geeks came from"
"What about there?"
"Look at that street"
Merle looked down at it. "Yeah so what?"
"Thats where we just came from"
"Shit"
They were trying to pass the time until morning. They couldnt sleep. It didnt help that the tent was crowded enough with the girls...And Danny.
"What about Atlanta?"
"Lots of people...Lots of food"
"Lots of protection. Military. Bombs"
"You want your daughter runnin' around with grenades?"
"Better than just her good intentions"
"She's the only one who has intentions!"
"Shut up"
Daryl mumbled something Merle couldn't understand. "What?"
"Nothing"
"No, whatd you say?"
"Nothing!"
"Say it"
"Or what?"
"Or you have to sit in the car with Danny"
"I drive the car"
"I'll make him go shot-gun"
"So"
"I'll make him talk to you"
"Fine! Stop threatening me!"
"What'd you say?"
"...Nothing"
"Daryl!"
"Merle!"
"Shut up, and tell me what you said!"
"...Thats...not...physically possible"
"Tell me!"
"Its just that...I mean, the dead are eating the living"
"And..."
"Have we even decided that..."
"What?"
"That...we want to live?"
"..." He just stared at Daryl for a while "DARYL!"
When Merle screamed at him he jumped. "What?"
"Yes we want to live!"
"Why! Whats the reason?"
Merle looked at the tent. "Here it comes"
Daryl turned around as Sofia dove into his arms in fear. "Merle?"
"What now?"
"You...are an ass"
"Aint I?"
The next morning, when everyone was awake Daryl and Merle went over the plan.
"So, were gonna head towards Atlanta through the forest"
Bambi didnt get it "Didnt the news people say it started there?"
"They probably cleared it"
"I thought the forest 'wasnt safe'"
"Well its safer than the roads"
"We cant exactly drive through trees"
"Bike trails wide enough"
"Why didnt we do that first then?"
"We were panicking ok!"
"You coulda just let me stay there"
Merle interrupted "No, we couldnt have left you out there by yourself! You coulda got killed!"
"But I didnt!"
"You werent out there"
"Screw that"
They thought they heard some walkers so they started to pack their stuff and head into the forest.
They were walking for a while. Just hunting, saving some gas too if they had a better sense of where they were going.
"Daddy, I cant walk anymore, Im too tired"
"I know but we gotta keep goin"
"But-"
"We can stop walkin when we find a place to spend the night."
"Theres a nice tree right there, can we stop now?"
"Bambi..."
"Fine, if you dont want me to whine I'll just wait here"
"Just shut up and follow us"
"Fine"
They saw a two story house hidden in the trees and Merle and Daryl knew immediately that they had to raid it.