Hey everyone! I just wanted to say thank you for all the reviews, follows, and favorites this story has gotten so far! I've been away from the fanfiction writing world for a while and I'm finally back in the game! Please review! Thanks and as always, happy reading!

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Johanna's knees were tucked up to her chest and her bangs were flopping against her forehead as they traveled towards Atlanta. She had been silent, not so much as a sniff came from her. She didn't talk to Daryl, the only other person in the car, and didn't make a gesture towards Merle. Johanna was sure that Ben knew at least one person from his gang would come to help them out, he probably didn't count on Merle Dixon to be one of them or his tag-along brother, Daryl. If anyone, she thought that their mother might show up before the Dixon brothers. While she had known the brothers for a while, she wasn't entirely sure if this was their best idea. Sure, she could handle herself and Daryl wasn't really her problem either. It was Merle. If he was to get out of control all hell would break loose. But Merle and Ben had been friends for years, she had to look on the bright side. She had known the brothers for years and never had a problem with Daryl. While he didn't talk much, he still talked to her. Merle was more of the chatterbox and usually had some cool stories to tell.

The windows were down in the old truck and the sun had disappeared from the dreadful day. Merle was on his motorcycle scouting ahead while the other two were listening to the reports and urging people to go to the city. Daryl huffed, took his thumb away from his mouth, and punched off the radio.

"Turn that shit off." He grumbled. Johanna side eyed him, but resumed her place and didn't say a word. Her baseball bat rattled in the bed of the truck, her only silent weapon that the brothers made her take.

"How did you guys make it from the mountains?" She uttered.

"I did." He corrected and she nodded. "Dad got bit, Uncle Jess got bit, got Merle, got you. Was hopin' to get Ben too." She looked down at the knobs of her knees and sighed. "Sorry."

"It's fine." She lied. She knew Daryl and Merle were probably mad at her for letting Ben get bit, so she thought it was best if she kept quiet and stayed low for a while.

"What happened to him?"

"He was goin' outside to try and see if anyone was alive. Maybe if anyone needed help. I guess our neighbor wasn't himself." She explained. "Daryl, why is this happenin'? How did this happen?" Daryl shook his head.

"Dunno."

Daryl had never been very vocal. He would often come into a restaurant with Merle that Johanna worked at during her teenage years and summers to get some extra money and help Ben out with the bills. They were good customers and tipped well when she was their server. They always came for dinner and stayed for a couple of beers. Daryl didn't have anything against Johanna. She was sweet, funny, she could hold her own, he considered her a friend…or at least a friend of a friend. Unlike most of the people in town, she didn't really look down upon them even though she knew some things about them Ben probably wouldn't want her to know.

"Do you think Atlanta will be safe?" He didn't answer and she frowned. "Daryl-"

"What?" He snapped.

"Are we even doing the smart thing? That's what I'm askin'."

"We'll see-FUCK!" Daryl slammed on his breaks and the only thing saving Johanna from launching into the windshield was the tattered seat belt.

"AH!" She squeaked when they came to a sudden halt. Merle's bike screeched and swerved but he was able to maintain control.

"You alright?' He asked as she tried to control her heart rate.

"Yeah…yeah I'm fine. You?"

"Fine."

"Bunny! You alright?" Merle asked, using the nickname that he'd given her who knows how long ago.

"Fine! Daryl's good too!" She called back. The two got out of the truck to meet up with Merle. They saw the long lines of cars all going one way. People had even created their own lanes in the grass or on the shoulders to try and get to the city faster.

"Looks like we ain't gettin' in." Daryl muttered.

"Where's yer sense of adventure." Merle cackled. Johanna looked up when choppers hovered overhead and towards the city.

"Guys-"

"Dammit Merle! How we gonna get outta this one now!"

"Don' get frustrated with me, baby brother!" Merle snapped back. "I saved your ass back at the stadium so you better-"

"GUYS!" She yelled and they looked at her. "Those weren't medical." The brothers looked at her with their brows furrowed, but heard explosions and screams in the distance. All three looked back at the city as their faces were lit up with the bright lights from the city. Fire flew up from the ground and Johanna covered her mouth when she realized what they were doing.

"The hell?" Merle asked.

"They're bombin' Atlanta?" Daryl asked in frustration. Johanna shook her head in denial.

"They can't be! There's too many people down there…too many people trying to get in there!"

"They govment don't care when it comes to national security." Merle told her and cupped her shoulder. "Ben probably just saved us."

"We gotta find another place to go." Daryl said. "Nowhere too populated, don't wanna chance those freaks comin' to us."

"Everywhere we've been has them crawlin' everywhere."

"Maybe we just don't need to go that far?" Johanna suggested, coming out of her daze. "There's a rock quarry maybe an hour and a half away from here." Cars crossed the meridian and sped away as they conversed their next move.

"It safe?"

"Probably is. Not many people camped there before this. I went there a couple of times with a friend. It's got a nice lake and everything." She explained. The brothers looked at each other with wary looks and she put her hands on her hips. "What other plan do we have?"

"First thangs first before we do this, we need more supplies: gas, water, food, anythang we can get our hands on." Merle began.

"Tents and shit. Don't got enough room for all three of us in a truck bed." Daryl added.

"I don' mind getting' cozy." Merle smirked.

"Well, I think Daryl has a great plan." Johanna replied. "Any kind of weapon I think will help us out. Considering that the government's pretty much given up on everything, it's time to find what we can and defend ourselves." The brothers nodded and Daryl motioned for her to go back to the truck.

"Doubt anyone thought to hit up some of the pharmacies in this shit storm! Try the CVS up the road!" Daryl called back and Merle started his bike up and headed the opposite direction.

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They took their stock after their raids of a couple different stores. Everyone had thought to stock up on gas, but not much else. They had just enough food and bottled water to last a while.

"Got enough of yer lil' girly supplies, Bunny?" Merle teased and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Merle." She called back as she set more supplies in the back of the truck. She looked around the area to see if anything was coming their way. Her brows furrowed and she shook her head. She bent over and scraped her hair up into a high pony tail to sit on top of her head. A few loose strands of chocolate copper hair fell down but she could really care less given how hot it was.

"What're ya lookin' round for?" Daryl asked as he packed another water case into the bed.

"Those…corpses."

"We got it." He told her and she shrugged.

"I'm surprised there aren't more out there." She commented.

"Means they're probably nearer to the city than anything. They're attracted by the sound." He said and she tilted her head at him.

"What else do you know about them?" She asked.

"Quarry, now!" Merle directed. They sat back in the truck and he started it up once more.

"Gotta hit them in the brain, only way they'll die."

"Yeah, figured." She shrugged.

"They like noise and and can smell you. That's really all I know about 'em." It was early into the next morning and Johanna was close to passing out. She hadn't slept the last two, going on three, days. She didn't even want to look in a mirror at that moment. All she really wanted was to be alone in whatever tent she was given. They only found two that wouldn't take up too much space. "Jo." She looked over at him and he was still staring at the road smoking a cigarette.

"What?"

"Go to sleep, ya look like the dead." He commented and she sniffed in laughter.

"Wrong choice of words." She told him and one of his eyebrows quirked up.

"You okay?" He asked before he took another drag. She never minded the smell of smoke. Ben smoked in moderation so it never really bothered her much even though she had only smoked one cigarette in her lifetime.

"I will be."

"He was a good guy. Thought if anyone would make it, he would."

"I thought that too." She sighed. "I miss him. I know you miss Uncle Jess too. He was a good guy and I liked him a lot." He just grunted and threw out his cigarette. She nodded and leaned her head against her seat and closed her eyes. She fell asleep almost immediately even though the motorcycle was incredibly loud.

Daryl glanced over at Johanna and pressed his thin lips together. He wondered if this was her way of coping with everything. She was unusually quiet and didn't seem like she wanted to be around anyone. He felt sorry for her but if she could make it through day one, she could make it through the whole thing. However long that lasted.

XXXXXXX

"Johanna, wake up!" Daryl grabbed her shoulder and shook her up from her hour long nap.

"Wha-what?" She asked and sat up straight. She saw cars and tents in the quarry and groaned. "Looks like I wasn't the only one."

"Seems like it." People looked at the two vehicles coming into the quarry and Daryl reached back to grab his crossbow. Johanna looked closer at the camp and slapped a hand to his arm.

"Wait, they have kids!" She warned. It was early in the morning, probably around seven, when they came up to the quarry. A man with black curly hair came towards them and Daryl put down his crossbow. "Come on." Johanna got out of the car first and the Dixons joined her, one on each side.

"Hello." The man greeted in his southern drawl. Johanna looked as they were surrounded by the people in the camp. Merle had his hand over his gun and she looked over at him and gave him a look. They wouldn't try to hurt them with kids around, right?

"Hello." She greeted back. "So…I didn't think a lot of people knew about this place?"

"That's what I thought too. Apparently we were both wrong." He replied and she chuckled. "I'm Shane Walsh." He stuck his hand out and she took it.

"Johanna Snow." She replied and looked back at the two brothers. She rolled her eyes and elbowed Merle.

"Merle Dixon. This is my brother, Daryl." He replied but didn't shake Shane's hand. The rest introduced themselves fairly quickly.

"Hi." Said a shy little girl.

"Hello there." Johanna greeted softly. "What's your name?"

"Sophia."

"That's one of my favorite names." Johanna replied and Sophia smiled.
"Get back here, girl." Her father ordered and Sophia cringed. Johanna looked over at Daryl and he almost snarled at the father.

"So, y'all tried to make it to Atlanta too?" Lori asked.

"Tried but it didn't go so well." Johanna explained.

"Well, you can stay here as long as you'd like just as long as you can contribute." Shane replied.

"We can certainly contribute!" Merle replied with a smile. That was very out of character for Merle and Johanna knew it.

"Every little bit helps." Dale smiled.

"Well, Merle can fix cars and Daryl can hunt-"

"You can hunt?" Jacqui asks and Daryl looked like a deer in the head lights.

"Yuh."

"That's amazing! Our prayers have been answered." Daryl just grunted.

"What about you, Miss Johanna?" Carl asked.

"I have some practice in the medical field but-"

"I think we're all set!" Jim praised and the group laughed. "You can set your tents up anywhere."

"Come on, baby brother! Let's go set up tent and have a chat." The brothers let Johanna alone and she just glared at Merle. Something wasn't quite right with this situation. It wasn't because of the new people though.