Thanks for the reviews! and follows and favorites! Gosh I must be doing something right. I'm glad I have intrigued you and glad you like it so far. I hope I shall live up to the expectation. Some things in this story will be changed and different from the original storyline but I will keep it as close as I can.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead

The world had gone to shit. People were dead, dying and being eaten by messed up zombie people. Yeah, gone to shit was an understatement and as Daryl drove through another small town he found himself hating it more and more. His brother was driving in front of him on his motorcycle and by the way he was driving he probably shouldn't have been.

After that first initial scream the previous night things had gotten worse. Daryl had exited the small trailer he was held up in and had looked down the street to see people running in all directions. Most being chased by someone, or something else. It was crazy. Instantly Daryl had gone back into his trailer and grabbed his crossbow, a quiver of arrows, a duffel bag and filled it with what food he could carry in it. He had only just got back to the door when it had slammed open and Merle had been there.

"Well lil brother seems the world went to shit. Time to get the hell out of here" he had said as he grabbed a few guns from the case over on the far side of the trailer. Daryl had to agree and as he settled into his truck and Merle pulled up beside him on his bike, screams still in the air he had to ask.

"Where we goin?. Seems this shit is everywhere if it has ta do with whatever the hells been on the news" he said as he started the truck. Merle had shrugged on his bike.

"Heard from a friend there's somethin up in Atlanta that's supposed ta be some kind of shelter. I say we head on up and check it out" he had said and they had both started their way there.

Traffic had been bad as vehicles were backed up all along the highway. Putting things at a stand still for a while which made time for Daryl's thoughts to drift toward Carol. He would have liked to send her an email, not that there had been a chance. Hell there wasn't even any power let alone internet. He wondered if she and Sophia were okay. No doubt her husband would rather throw then at them crazy zombie people then risk himself. Daryl's fists had clenched the steering wheel harder at the thought and he knew it was true. He wanted to find them, help in whatever way he could but he didn't even know where they lived. According to the radio everywhere was being hit with whatever the hell this was so he knew they were probably doing the same thing he and his brother were doing. Hell maybe she was even heading to Atlanta as well, there was always that chance. Daryl let out a huff of breath through his nose. What would be the chance? And what would he even say to her if he did meet up with her and her family. He knew he wanted to beat the crap out of her husband for one thing. His mind wandered back too stories she had told him. Yeah, he definitely wanted to beat the crap out of him.

It was late afternoon when traffic started to get bad again. People were laying on their horns and by this time he and Merle had managed to get the motorcycle up on the back of the truck and Merle was sleeping away in the passenger seat. His snores were irritating so Daryl put a cd in the trucks stereo and turned the music up to drown out Merle's snoring. That worked for a while as traffic started moving forward bit by bit. What seemed like hours later but was probably only one hour Merle sat up in the truck seat.

"What a power nap that was. Hey lil brother what did you grab for snacks before we left? Ol Merle's feeling a bit hungry" he asked as he ruffled through the duffel bag that was sitting behind them on top of the seats. Moments later the sound of ripping bags filled the truck as Merle opened a bag of chips.

"Traffic aint moving to quickly by the looks of it" Merle said through a mouthful of chips. Daryl shrugged.

"Lotta people probably heading the same place we are"

"Well then, guess it was common knowledge about this ol shelter" Merle said.

"Guess so" was Daryl's only response. Merle looked at him.

"You're sure talkative today lil brother" he said.

"Lot on my mind" Daryl told him.

"Like what?" Merle pressed. Daryl glanced over at him as traffic stopped again.

"In case you didn't notice. There were literally walking zombies back at my place. Not to mention all this world ending shit"

"Well aint nothing I can do about that" Merle said with a laugh. "On the bright side we got our weapons in case we run across any of them zombies out there"

Daryl looked out the windshield, willing traffic to go fast so the conversation would end. At least Merle had gone back to eating his chips and silence fell over the truck. Aside from the car horns blaring in the distance.

It was near dark and people had gotten out of their vehicles and were walking up and down the highway, checking out what was holding traffic for so long. Daryl felt the stiffness in his legs and back from being in the drivers seat for so long so he opened his door and got out. He noticed Merle doing the same and the brothers moved away from the truck to stretch out a bit. They were out of the trucks for not even a few minutes before the sound of a helicopter flew over their heads. Everyone around them lifted their heads to look at the helicopter and some followed it through the trees. Daryl and Merle followed behind others as they moved through the trees. They came to an open spot and a little ways in the distance was Atlanta. Daryl heard the sound of another helicopter and it too flew over their heads. Both were over Atlanta and and not a moment later the sounds of screaming could be heard from the city as the helicopters release bomb after bomb. Gasps could be heard from the people watching.

"Well shit"Merle said. "There goes that place"

XXxxxxxXX

Carol fidgeted in her seat, alternating between playing with the seatbelt strap and wringing her hands together. Traffic was backed up all along the highway and they had been sitting there for quite a while.

"Damn traffic. What's the hold up people" Ed hollered out the window. The only response from others was they didn't know and the sounds of car horns honking up ahead.

"Mom, was there an accident or something?" Sophia asked from the back seat. She had been quiet for the hour long drive it took to get to this point.

"Not sure Soph. Seems to be backed up quite a ways so it's possible" Carol told her daughter as she turned back to look at her. Sophia only nodded before turning her attention back out the window. Long tree lines lined either side of the highway but there wasn't much else to see.

Due to the traffic still not moving Ed began to rant about road blocks or how people needed to learn how to drive and so on. Carol ignored him as much as possible and kept and eye out the window. She watched as families got out of their vehicles and let the kids play by the side of the road as the parents kept an eye on them from the front of the car or truck. One man was playing catch with his two sons and a woman was brushing and styling her daughters hair. Carol felt herself jump at the sudden static sound as Ed turned on the radio. It was much to loud but Carol didn't want to say anything. Theres wasn't much on the radio. Mostly static filled the channels except the odd one that was playing music. It wasn't long before even those channels grew silent. Ed began grumbling again as he smacked a hand down over top of where the stereo was.

"Damn thing" He said in an irritated voice.

"It's not the stereo, the radio stations have just all been shut down" Carol said before thinking better and held her breath. Ed sent a glare her way.

"I know that, I'm not stupid" he told her before grabbing the handle and exiting the car. Carol let out her breath before turning back to Sophia.

"Want to get out of the car?" she asked with a grin. Sophia smiled back and nodded eagerly. They both got out and walked around the front of the car to where Ed was standing. Ed started walking off to talk with a few people to see if he could tell what was going on.

"What's going to happen mom?" Sophia asked from beside her. Carol let out a sigh.

"I'm not sure. Unless this traffic clears up it will be hard to get anywhere" Carol told her. Sophia nodded.

"Do you think Daryl is okay?" she asked. Carol, startled turned to her. She let out a smile.

"I'm sure he's fine" Carol told her. She tried to keep thoughts of Daryl from her mind. She didn't really know if he was okay but figured with his history in hunting he'd be better off than anyone.

Carol looked around them again and noticed a young boy standing off by himself while she assumed was his mom talked with another guy who seemed to be fiddling with a car radio.

"Why don't you go over and say hello" Carol suggested to Sophia who looked over where her mom was gesturing. Sophia took a hesitant step before looking at her mom again. Carol just smiled and reassured, Sophia walked over to the boy. Carol watched as they started up a conversation with each other. She then started walking over to the woman leaning in the car. As she approached she could hear them.

"Anything?" asked the woman.

"Nope, nothing" came the mans reply.

"Seems all the radio stations are out now" Carol said as she stood a little ways behind. The woman looked back to her and smiled before straightening.

"Seems like" she said holding out a hand to shake. "Lori"

"Carol" she responder with a smile and took Lori's hand. "That over there is my daughter Sophia" she motioned over where Sophia and the boy were talking.

"That's my son Carl. And this is Shane" Lori said, motioning to the man in the car.

"You both have a lovely son" Carol told them.

"Oh Shane's not Carl's dad. Um his father passed" Lori cleared her throat. "He passed recently"

"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't realize" Carol quickly said. Lori waved a hand.

"Don't worry about it. Is it just you and your daughter or?" Lori questions.

"My husband Ed, went up to talk with some of the people up there" Carol told her. Lori nodded and hey started talking about other things to pass the time. Traffic wasn't moving at all so they had plenty of time to talk.

Dark fell around them as it got later and tension was running a little high as people didn't want to be stuck on the road after dark. Still no one knew why traffic was at a standstill. Carol, Lori and the kids were near Carol's car when Carl spoke up.

"Mom I'm thirsty" he told Lori.

"We have plenty of water and juice boxes in the car" Carol told them. "I can grab him one" Lori thanked her as she began moving toward the car doors. She opened the door but before she could grab a drink Ed's hands wrapped around her forearm.

"What do you think you're doing?" came his words. Carol looked at him.

"The children are thirsty, I was getting them a drink" she responded.

"These are our supplies. If we keep handing them out to people there wont be any left for us. Leave it" he told her. Carol went to argue that they had plenty of drinks but before she could everyone's attention snapped to the sky at the sound of a helicopter. It flew directly over them and Shane quickly began moving, following the helicopter as it went over the wooded area. Many other people did the same and Carol and company followed as well. When they came to an open spot they looked down at the view of a city.

"Is that Atlanta?" Lori asked.

"Yeah, that's it" Shane told her. They all stood and watched as the helicopter hovered over the city and watched as another one came from the opposite direction. Lori was about to ask another question when things began to blow up in the city.

They were dropping bombs.

So seems like they are closer than they know. I have decided that I hate dialogue and it does not help my confidence with these characters but I'm going to push through it anyway.

To answer a question They will meet up at the quarry or maybe a bit before. not 100% sure yet. Trying to figure out where I'm going with this. Reviews are encouraged and criticism is welcome to help me along with this story.

thanks again! Golden Promise out