A/n: ZOMB-AY ACTION! I own nothing but Callie and Jon and anything you don't recognize. Enjoy and please review :)

Chapter Six: Sea of Bodies

It was now night. Callie was still hopeful that Daryl and the rest were still alive, just taking their time. Of course, with the beautiful fire burning and everyone circled around it swapping more stories and beers, she felt a little happier. It kind of felt like a party or maybe she felt like this was a big family. They all laughed together, drank together and ate the fish Amy and Andrea had caught together. It felt almost…homey.

Shane held a guitar in his arms. He tried strumming, but it sounded terrible to everyone. They all laughed and told him to stop.

"I'm sorry, Shane, but that sounds terrible."

He gave her a sarcastic look, "Well, Miss Perfect. Can you play guitar?"

"Actually, I can."

"Then by all means, play something decent," he challenged, tossing the guitar across the fire. Callie just barely caught it. She sat back down in her chair and settled the guitar on her lap.

"What do you want me to play?" she asked, unsure of what kind of song they'd want to hear.

"Something quiet," Shane answered, twirling a stem in his mouth, leaning against his chair as if he were the most invincible man in the world.

She began to sing a soft song that seemed to only float around them. Lori enjoyed her voice and thought it was the best voice she had ever heard live. Shane was rather impressed and astounded by the sweet voice that came out of her plump lips. Her smile was sweet and a sort of shyness over-took her. Shane smirked to himself.

When she was finished, Andrea said, "That was quite the performance. Where'd you learn to play guitar?"

"I haven't ever really learned. I just play by ear. Actually, I don't play guitar much. That was one of the few songs I know how to play on a guitar. Sorry if it was bad—"

"Nonsense," Dale said as Amy got up, "It was brilliant."

"Where do you think you're going?" Andrea asked, looking up at her.

She huffed, "I need to go to the bathroom. Geesh, you try and be discreet around here…"

Everyone chuckled under their breaths as they watched Amy walk up to the RV, slamming the door and coming back out only to be bit by a Walker.

-x-

They walked through the gate on the outskirts of the city and began walking towards the truck they had left outside of Atlanta.

Daryl scratched his neck as he turned to Rick, "Uh…sorry about almost killin' ya when ya told me about Merle…. And thanks for pickin' up Callie."

Rick smiled and patted his shoulder, "It was my pleasure."

Daryl took his crossbow off his shoulder and glared at Rick, pointing his crossbow at him, "'N wha' the hell do ya mean by that?"

"Guys!" Glenn yelled, "The truck is gone! Who could've taken it?"

Rick hissed, "Merle."

Daryl shook his head, "He'd be headin' to get vengeance at camp." He then looked up towards the direction of the camp. "Shit, Callie." He darted along the highway, running as fast as his legs would take him. Rick, Glenn and T-Dog followed behind him, but they could never catch up.

Night was beginning to fall over them and they were all getting tired of running. They began to slow down, Rick, T-Dog and Glenn finally catching up to Daryl. They were so close to the camp, but they just couldn't run anymore. When they did catch their breath, they heard clear gunshots.

"CALLIE!" Daryl shouted, no longer caring how tired he was, he raced into the camp, shooting whatever Walker was in site. As he did so, his eyes darted all around looking for Callie, but he couldn't see her anywhere. Many of the campers screamed and headed towards the RV. He went up to Shane and asked where Callie was but he only shrugged and continue to defend Lori and Carl.

Daryl felt angered, finally hearing a scream.

"Daryl!" Callie had yelled. Walkers surrounded her. All around her, no matter which direction she turned, there was a Walker closing in on her. Tears streamed her eyes as she suddenly felt alone. She noticed that everyone else was safely around the RV with others who had weapons.

A Walker reached out a hand to grab her, but it suddenly fell down, a bullet through its head. Many more Walkers fell to their deaths, having been shot in the head. Callie felt shaky, as she felt a hand pull her closer and walk her up to the RV. Daryl had saved her and walked behind her making sure no more Walkers were going to pop out.

Everyone looked all around, seeing that all the Walkers were taken down and many of their Campers had been taken down…including Amy.

Callie began to feel dizzy. All she saw was a river of blood and a sea of bodies surrounding her. She smelled the rotting bodies of the dead Walkers and she felt like puking up her guts. Instead, she cried out to Amy, the sweet girl who didn't deserve to die that night. The girl who should have been alive right now, feeling relieved with Andrea that the Walkers were now dead.

Callie turned to Daryl and wrapped her arms around his waist, not wanting to see Amy's bloody body. Daryl dropped his gun and held her tightly, putting a hand on her ratty brown hair.

"Now I remember," Jim whispered, "Why I dug those holes."

-x-

Daryl never felt more pissed in his life…other than when he saw his son lying lifeless on the floor. The idiots in the camp were not even paying attention to Callie. They didn't care whether she lived or died. No one was looking out for her.

Cursing to himself, he had suddenly wished he hadn't even left to Atlanta in the first place. Yes, he missed his brother and wanted to search for him, but he could take care of himself. Callie, on the other hand, couldn't aim a gun to save her life. He looked over at her. She had her head in her hands, feeling tired and scared. Daryl sighed and continued to whack every damn Walker's head.

This was a good way to let out the anger he had kept in most of the night after the ambush.

Callie sighed and got up, walking over to Andrea who had never left Amy's side. All she did was stare at her, her mind drifting away in memories that were deep in the past. Callie folded her shins under her thighs and placed her hands in her lap. Her dress looked horrid now and she needed so bad to take a shower, but now wasn't the time to think about those things when her friend was grieving over her sister.

"I know how you feel," Callie whispered, placing her hand on Andrea's shoulder.

The blond didn't look back at her. She continued to stare at the lifeless Amy, "Do you? She was my sister. Because I was so much older than she was, I was off to college and busy with my adult life while she spent most of her birthdays and Christmases without her sister there. I wasted all my time worrying about how much I was making, how good I was doing in school… On her birthday, she'd call and see if I was coming to celebrate her birthday. I always told her that I would come and then…I never would. I wasted so much time."

"It isn't your fault, Andrea. You weren't expecting such a short time with your sister. You were supposed to look after yourself and do great in school to get a job. I can't imagine how regretful you feel, but I know that clinging on like this will only make you go insane."

"You don't understand. You have Daryl left…" she let the tears fall on Amy, "I now have no one. Now leave."

Not knowing what more to say, she got up and walked over to Rick, "She won't move from that spot. There's no way."

"We should just shoot the damn girl," Daryl said, " Hell, I can shoot a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

"Good God, Daryl, just let the girl be," Lori sighed, sitting on a chair. She put her head in her heads, feeling exhausted from the emotions that ran through her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Shane hissed. He seemed to be making sure Callie heard so that her husband looked bad.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with ya'll," he glared, "Ya'll jus' left my wife surrounded by Walkers with nothin' to defend herself with. I was jus' sayin' we should shoot the girl in the head before it wakes up as a fuckin' Walker 'n attacks the rest of the group. Ain't nothin' wrong with me." He stormed off the other direction, picking up the bodies that were still scattered around the camp.

Callie laid her head on the picnic table and closed her eyes. She felt someone sit next to her and whisper, "Why don't you go into my tent and sleep? I'll make sure no one will bother you."

Looking up, she saw Shane smiling at her. She shook her head. "I don't need sleep."

"We don't burn them!" Glenn yelled. Callie looked back to see Glenn curling his lips, trying hard not cry. Daryl and Morales changed their course.

"Suit yourself," Daryl huffed.

"Dude, shut up," Morales snapped.

Daryl walked away more angry than he was before, "You left my brother for dead! Ya'll had this comin'!"

Callie wanted to calm him down, wanted to tell him his brother will be alright and wanted to keep him from yelling, but she didn't move from her spot.

Suddenly, Jacqui began to freak, "A Walker got him! A Walker bit Jim." Everyone turned and surrounded Jim and Callie stood up, walking over to Daryl, who she was sure was going to do something about this bad news.

Daryl moved towards him. "Show it to us," he demanded to Jim."

Jim didn't take his situation too kindly and picked up a shovel and gripped it tightly in his hands. T-Dog ran up to him and held his arms back. Jim began to breath hard, "I'm okay. I'm okay."

Running up to Jim and lifting his shirt, Daryl checked for a bite. When he saw it, he walked back towards Callie with the axe firm in his hand, breathing hard in fury. "I'm okay, I'm okay," he kept saying, looking drunk as he took baby steps around him. The group looked at one another, wondering what they should do with him.

-x-

"I say we put a pickaxe in his and the dead girl so we can be done with it." Daryl looked at the group.

Shane shook his head, "Is that what you want? If it were you?"

"Yeah, and I'd thank ya while ya did it." Callie shivered at the thought of Daryl being bit.

"I hate to say to say and I never thought I would," Dale said, feeling overwhelmed, "But maybe Daryl's right."

"Jim's not a monster, Dale," Rick said, looking at the ground, hands on hips, "Or some rabid dog. He's sick. He's a sick man. If we stalk down that road, where do we draw the line? "

Daryl piped up, "The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for Walkers or the bitten."

Rick thought about it, "What if we can help? I heard the CDC was working on a cure. What if the CDC is still up and running?"

Shane shook his head again, thinking it preposterous, "Man, that is a stretch right there."

"Why?" Rick asked. "If there was any government left, they'd protect the CDC at all costs. They got shelter, food, protection, anything you want, they got."

"I think we should go," Callie agreed. "I mean, why not? If there isn't anyone there, we can leave. It isn't like it's a far travel. We should see what's left before we go anywhere else. Especially since Jim has been bit."

"Nah, they'd be up at Fort Benning," Shane argued.

"That's a whole hundred miles the opposite direction," Lori said in disbelief.

Daryl looked at the ground, listening intently to everyone's opinion. Callie stood beside him, looking down at the nasty blood

"You go lookin' for aspirin," Daryl said, lowering his voice, "Do what you need to do, but someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!" Daryl raised his axe over Jim's head and was ready as ever to swing. Rick readied his gun at his head. Callie let tears stream down her face, feeling hurt that Daryl would try to do something like that and afraid that Rick would actually pull the trigger.

"We don't kill the living," Rick said angrily.

Daryl glared at him and lowered his axe, "It's funny, comin' from a man who jus' put a gone to my head."

Shane was behind him, guarding Jim, "We may disagree on some things, but not on this. You need to put it down. Go on." Daryl thrusted his axe to the ground and stormed away in the opposite direction Rick was heading. Rick leaned over to Jim and asked him to follow him.

Callie looked at Daryl, a tear leaving her eye. She shook her head and walked away. Daryl switched his direction and jogged over to Callie who was walking away from the camp. "Callie! Wait!"

When she felt far enough from the group, she turned to Daryl, "Why would you do that? What is wrong with you? Can't you just let the people mourn over their losses without being an ass about it? A woman just lost her sister and she has no family left. A man who lost his wife and child to Walkers and only made it out because they were too busy eating his family just got bit and his life is ending. How can you be so heartless towards them? You lost your son. Tell me that made you hurt in some way to feel compassion towards those who've lost."

He walked closer to her, as if he was sure to hit her, but he stopped and didn't say anything. "I ain't got compassion for those who left my family to die and I sure as hell ain't gonna let some stupid bitten idiots stay alive when they could turn at any moment and bite the only girl I care about. My world was torn apart when I saw Jon lyin' on the floor. You're sick for thinkin' I felt nothin'." He marched away from her, hitting his fist against a tree. Callie stood there, not knowing what to say.