Notes: So this is a sequel to my other story Home is where the heart is, if you haven't read that story I would advise you to first otherwise some parts won't make sense. This story will coincide with season 2 of the Walking Dead with some changes made, but be warned there will also be a lot of spoilers! Anyway hope you like the story and how I've changed it.

Chapter One:

They had been driving all day in relative silence, no one really knowing what to say but what could they say? They have just driven away from the first place they thought they might have been able to call home because it blew up with one of their people deciding to stay behind; there were no words for that kind of thing. So now they were heading for Fort Bene, Shane had finally got his way so they were making the 125 mile journey hoping there might be somewhere for them there. Rick looked over at his partner to see him staring out of the window resting his elbow on the window with his head lying on hand. He reached over and grasped Daryl's other hand in his and gave it a squeeze, causing Daryl to look over at him with a faint smile on his face.

Up the road they noticed Merle had come to a stop on his motorbike, looking round they noticed there was a traffic jam of unused cars. Slowly they crept through them looking out for signs of walkers and trying not to think about what caused all of these cars to be abandoned. A loud bang echoed through the silence and the RV in front of them came to a halt.

"Damn it" Rick muttered exiting the car to see what the problem is already guessing that it was the RV breaking down.

After a discussion everyone decided on looking through the cars for more supplies while Dale and Glenn fixed the RV, after all these cars were going to full of other peoples survival gear so they might as well put it all to good use right? Trying not to study the corpses to much everybody started to rummage through the cars picking up food, drink, clothes and the odd weapon.

Working their way through the cars things were looking up, they now had a nice stash of supplies and enough fuel to be able to turn around and try the other route that Glenn had found that should be clearer. Looking further down the road Rick knew it had been too good to be true, he had noticed a massive group of walkers coming straight towards them.

"Oh Christ"

Running back towards the group Rick whispered for everyone to get down under the cars whilst pulling Lori and Carl down with him. Rick prayed Daryl and T-Dog where okay as he had yet to spot them but knew they should be able to look after themselves. He held his breath as he heard to scuffling of walkers walk past them and prayed they just kept on walking. He suddenly realised Merle wasn't with them either but the stupid bugger was crafty enough to stay out of harm's way anyway, he was probably enjoying this knowing Merle.

It felt like an eternity before the scuffling seemed to finally fade out, leaving it a minute to be safe he slowly creep out from the car. As he did this a scream broke out that seemed a lot like Sophia's, looking round he noticed Sophia running down the bank into the trees being followed by two walkers close behind her.

"My baby, she's being chased by two walkers" Carol cried out desperately trying to get out of Lori's grip. Knowing what he had to do Rick climbed down the bank to save Sophia from the walkers, spotting the walkers he headed in the same direction.

Rushing through the tree's Rick had his eyes glued on Sophia waiting for the right time to intercept her to get her to safety. Finding his moment he grabbed Sophia round the waist and pulled her into his arms.

"Shhh Shhh, are you okay?" he whispered trying to quieten Sophia so that the walkers wouldn't hear them.

"Shoot them, you gotta shoot them" Sophia cried frantically trying to grab Ricks gun.

"I can't those walkers on the road would hear it and then it wouldn't just be two of 'em"

Rick picked up Sophia and ran away from the walkers keeping an eye out for a place to hide Sophia; he couldn't kill the walkers and look after her as he couldn't risk using his gun. Spotting a stream with bushes all around Rick knew he had found the perfect spot.

"Alright, listen Sophia you have to do exactly as I say, hide in there and squeeze in tight. I'll draw them away from you"

"No no don't leave me"

"Listen listen, I need to draw them away from you, I can't do that if I'm looking after you. This is how we both survive, you understand?" Rick asked desperate for Sophia to understand that he had to do this; it was the only way he could save the girl. Seeing Sophia nod in response he hugged her trying to calm her down a bit before nudging her to go and hide.

"If I don't make it back head to the highway to the others, go back the way we came, keep the sun on your left shoulder"

Hearing the walkers approach them Rick turned away from Sophia and starting splashing the water in front of him, distracting them from Sophia.

"Come on. You ugly son of a bitch" Rick growled at the walkers, slowly edging backwards hoping the walkers follow him.

"Come on. Come on"

Running through the woods whilst calling out to them Rick ran deeper and deeper into the trees away from Sophia. He prayed she was alright and managed to remember what he said, she was rather distressed and he was worried what he said wouldn't have sunk in. Pushing those thoughts to the back of his head he picked up the stone he found on the ground, perfect, the stone was just what he needed to kill the ugly beasts. Waiting until the walker was right in front of him he lifted the stone above his head before bringing it back down onto the walkers head with as much force as possible. A sickening crunch was heard and the walker fell to the ground with a strangled cry before lying motionless on the ground. One down, one to go. Picking the rock back up Rick looked around for the other walker knowing it had to be somewhere close. Hearing shuffling in the trees nearby Rick headed in that direction and came across the other walker. Once he had the walker in his sights Rick charged at the walker and threw the stone at the walkers head before the walker had a chance to do anything.

…

Merle had been in the woods smoking, completely oblivious to what had been going on the highway. In was nice to be out in the woods in the relative silence and solitude, he didn't get that much anymore being in a big group which he wasn't used to. He was used to it being just him and his brother, well his brother not so much nowadays but he didn't mind that, Rick was a nice guy despite the fact he teased him a lot. This just meant Merle was always looking for time alone, he may constantly make jabs at people and seem like a jerk but that was only because he was afraid of getting close to people as in the past that had only caused pain. Their dad didn't exactly give a good example of people, meaning Merle never let anyone get close, it was safer that way.

He was leant up against a tree when he heard it, someone running through the tree's sounding scared. Looking round he spotted Sophia running towards him constantly looking over her shoulder and whimpering.

"Whoa hey Sophia, what's up, what ya doin' out here?" he asked concerned, shouldn't she be with her mum?

"Walkers, we gotta run, there's four of them" Sophia cried her eyes darting around everywhere before grabbing his hand and tried to pull him along.

"Whoa hold on little girl, where's your mum shouldn't you be with her?"

"There all still on the highway, I lost them running away from walkers. Rick went off to kill the walkers, told me to go to the highway but more walkers came" Sophia replied bursting into tears.

"Hey come on, let's go find your mum" Picking up the frantic girl Merle started to head back the highway when he heard the groans. Those must have been the walkers she was talking about.

"Crap" Merle muttered causing Sophia to whimper in his arms. She hadn't been lying there must be about five of them. Turning around Merle started to run away from, knowing there was too many of them to deal with when all he had was a gun with two bullets in.

Trying to find a way back to the highway whilst outrunning the walkers Merle didn't spot the big tree root ahead of him, causing him to trip and fall to the ground with Sophia still in his arms.

"Ahhh, Sophia you okay?" he asked worried he had hurt her.

"Yeah I'm okay"

Standing up Merle nearly fell back down again when he put pressure on his right foot. Realising he must have badly twisted his ankle he limped forward. Damn it, he wasn't going to get anywhere fast now. Grabbing Sophia's hand he pulled her along determined to keep going despite the throbbing pain in his ankle.

"Merle their back" Sophia whispered pointing towards where they had come from. Turing around the noticed the five walkers were still on his trail.

"Shit, come on girl we gotta get back to the highway, we must be nearly there" he said trying to convince Sophia to keep going- and himself.

"Their getting closer"

"Keep going, come on" Merle started to run, however the pain was too much and leg buckled causing him to fall to the ground.

"Merle stand up, please, there getting closer" Sophia cried grabbing his hand to help him up.

Standing up Merle noticed the walkers were only a few steps away from them. He knew they weren't going to be able to outrun them now; he was going to have to try and kill them.

"Sophia hide behind that tree, now!" he shouted at Sophia who did exactly as he said. As the walkers got closer he looked around trying to find something he could use a weapon, and found nothing. Panicking a bit and pulled his gun out, he only had two bullets left so he was going to have to make them count. One of the walkers flung his arms out at him and tried grab him arm so Merle grabbed them by the neck and shoved it to the ground. What he didn't notice was, was that a walker had snuck up behind and was about to take a chunk out of his shoulder.

"MERLE!"

Turning around Merle came face to face with a walker who was lunging towards him, millimetres away from his neck. A series of bangs suddenly echoed through the woods and all the walkers fell to ground. Merle stood there in shock as he watched the walker who was about to eat him alive fall to the ground with a bullet in it's head.

"You okay there lad, you get bit or scratched?" A voice asked causing Merle to turn around to face his saviour.

"Umm thanks, nah ya got me jus' in time?" Merle replied a bit perplexed, he wasn't used to people saving him he usually had to save himself.

"You're welcome, people call me the governor"

Notes: so that's the first chapter of my sequel, I hope you enjoyed it and liked my twist to the story.