Hello! Here's chapter 4! Please leave me a review so I know if there's any interest in this story! I still have a few chapters all ready to post so please let me know what you think! thanks and enjoy!
After some time at the quarry and many successful scavenging trips completed by Glenn, the small Asian boy, Shane decided to risk sending out a group to hopefully find more things to bring back and get a feel for what was happening in the city while keeping each other safe. Glenn was highly opposed to the idea, but wasn't confident enough to put up much of a fight.
The group that ended up going was made up of Glenn, T-dog, as well as the man everyone knew as Morales, Jacqui, Merle and Andrea. Piper was not happy when she heard that Merle and Andrea were going. She knew the reasons for both, and while she understood that Andrea wanted to find a gift for Amy's birthday coming up, she still didn't think that her going to risk her life for a birthday present was a very sound plan. Dale seconded her opinion vehemently, but Andrea would not be swayed. As for Merle, Piper was not the least bit amused when she discovered his reason for going.
"Sorry darlin', my stash is runnin' low and I need to resupply." Merle told her as he loaded his rifle and packed his small bag with extra ammo and a bottle of water.
Piper stopped her nervous pacing and just stared at him. "Drugs? You're going into a city filled with dead things walking around eating people because you're out of DRUGS?!" She flailed her arms as she began shouting profanities at the man, causing Daryl to smirk despite his misgivings about his brother going to Atlanta without him. Bailey was tucked into his side, and whimpered slightly when she heard that Merle was leaving. She thought he wasn't going to come back for her and she flung herself at him and clutched his leg, holding on with everything she had.
"Don't go Mr. Merle. Pwease." Her bottom lip quivered as she looked at him pleadingly. Merle patted her head and gently removed her from his leg.
"Now listen here munchkin, Ol' Merle won't be gone fer more'n a few days, and I'll come back with a nice present for ya if'n yer real good while's I'm gone a'right?" The little girl's eyes brightened at the mention of a present and she nodded her head vigorously. Merle chuckled and shooed the little girl off, watching as she made her way to her grandmother, who was doing laundry with the other women.
Daryl then stood and offered to go as well, but Merle brushed him off, saying he needed to stay and feed the helpless lambs that made up their group. Daryl just huffed and gave a 'whatever' before heading out for his hunt.
When the group was ready to leave, goodbyes were said and they left to make their way to the city. With their partner in crime gone, Amy and Piper sulked around camp, helping with laundry and cooking, but spending a good amount of time near the radio, hoping to hear from their friends so they knew they were alright. Bailey floated around camp, sometimes playing with the other kids, but they were mostly too old to really let her get involved in their games. She spent a lot of time with Dale as well. The man reminded her of her grandfather on her mother's side, always telling stories with that kind smile.
More than once, Shane had shooed the girls away in the hopes of them finding something to do, as the anxious girls were beginning to get on his nerves.
There was one time where a man's voice came over the radio, saying he was heading into the city and if anyone could hear him, to please respond. Amy yelled for Shane, who tried to get a hold of the man, but the man never replied.
Two days came and went slowly before they heard anything from the group, and what they did hear was not reassuring. T-dog's voice came from through the speaker. "Dale? Dale, can you hear me? We're tr-…. roof, can- get out." His voice crackled and cut out and Shane slammed the speaker with his fist.
Amy began to panic and she rushed up to Shane, begging him to go find her sister. Shane shook his head.
"She's gone. I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do for her now. We can't lose any more people." Amy sent him a fierce glare before she snapped at him.
"That's my sister you son of a bitch." She stormed away back towards the tents and Piper followed with a confused and nervous Bailey in tow, rubbing the distraught girl's back comfortingly with her free hand. Claudia walked up to the girls and offered them both a water bottle and a kind smile. The girls thanked her and Claudia squeezed their shoulders comfortingly before returning to Lori and Carol to continue laundry.
The day passed by agonizingly slow. Amy continued to pace and worry while Piper tried in vain to comfort her. After hours of waiting and worrying, a loud blaring horn was heard, and to Piper it sounded like a car alarm. Everyone began crowding the RV, trying to ask Dale what was going on.
Shane yelled over the mob of voices, "Talk to me Dale, what's goin' on?" Piper pressed her niece into her side as she tried to figure out what was going on.
Dale was searching through the binoculars and shook his head slightly before he responded. "If I had to guess, I'd say it was a stolen car." Dale was right, not even a minute after he said that, a bright red sports car pulled up behind the RV and a very smug looking Glenn hopped out of the car. At least he was smug until Amy began harassing him about Andrea and the other family members of the Atlanta scavenger hunt crew began badgering him as well.
Glenn threw up his hands in surrender, saying "Everyone's fine! We're all fine! Well, except for Merle…" His voice quieted at the end and Piper's heart sunk.
"What happened to him?" She asked quietly. A new man approached her with a sorrowful expression on his face. Just as he was about to speak, a loud gasp came from behind Piper.
She turned to see what was the matter, and she saw Lori covering her mouth with her hands, tears flowing down her cheeks while Carl yelled out "Dad!" before bolting forward. Piper turned back to the man and saw tears running down his face as he ran forward and caught Carl in a tight embrace, lowering them to the ground. Lori ran up and hugged them both, kissing the man fiercely and running her hands over his head and face, as if figuring out whether or not he was really there.
Claudia was upset that Merle wasn't there. Despite his rough tendencies, he and Daryl had taken very good care of herself and Piper and Bailey, and she was very grateful. However she couldn't help but smile at the family reunion they were witnessing. Jacqui walked up next to her and quietly whispered to her. "That must be her long lost husband." Claudia smiled and nodded before turning to Piper.
She saw the sadness in her eyes and knew that her daughter was going to take Merle's disappearance hard. Claudia sent a glance over the whole camp. She saw the Morales family reuniting, the children climbing into the man's lap while Miranda kissed his cheek and embraced them all. Glenn and T-Dog were talking to Dale, who had an upset look on his face. When she turned back towards her daughter, her eye caught Shane staring at the Grimes family. She couldn't figure out what the look meant, but she walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He jumped a little at the contact but gave her a smile.
"Is everything okay Shane?" She asked him. He looked forward again thoughtfully for a while before he replied.
"Yeah, everything is… everything's great. I never expected to see my best friend again. I'm just…in shock." Claudia nodded in understanding and squeezed his shoulder before making her way back over to Jacqui.
Piper was still wondering about Merle, but when she turned around to give the reuniting family some semblance of privacy, she saw Andrea hugging and comforting Amy, so she rushed up and hugged her friend.
"We were so worried about you guys! Do you have any idea what was going through our heads when we heard T-Dog through that radio?" Amy spouted as she lightly shoved her sister's shoulder. Andrea just laughed a little and squeezed her shoulder.
Despite being happy that her friend had returned unscathed, Piper still wanted to know what happened to Merle. She nudged Bailey with her hand, telling her to go play, but stay near the adults. After the little girl nodded and Piper saw her walk up to Shane, she walked up to Glenn, figuring he'd be the easiest one to talk to, and was currently the only one not reuniting with loved ones.
"Hey Glenn, can I talk to you for a minute?" She wrapped her arms around herself as she looked up at him. He looked around nervously before sighing and nodding, muttering to himself as he led her a little ways away from the rest of the group.
When he was satisfied that he was far enough away that no one would be eavesdropping, he whipped around and starting wringing his baseball cap in his hands as the words starting spilling from his mouth.
"Look, I know you and Merle got along and you came here together and everything, and I'm sorry we left him there, but you have to understand that-" Piper cut him off as she processed what he had said.
"Wait, what do you mean you left him there?" Her voice had a dangerous edge to it as she tightened her stare on the nervous boy in front of her.
Before he got a chance to explain though, the new man from before who was dressed up in a sheriff's uniform walked up to them.
"Is this about Merle?" He asked. Piper sent him a suspicious glare before nodding her head slowly. Glenn slinked away while he had the chance, and ran over to the RV to go over the supplies they had retrieved with Shane, who was now holding a sleeping Bailey. Piper saw this, but said nothing as she fixed her steely gaze on the man in front of her.
He held his hand out to her and she slowly and reluctantly took it. "Name's Rick Grimes. If it wasn't for your group, I wouldnta' made it out of there." He began. She quickly cut him off.
"Then please tell me why one of that group is missing." She said coolly.
"He was a danger to all of us. I had no choice. He attacked T-Dog and I handcuffed him to a pipe on the roof of a shopping center. T-Dog tried to let him loose, but he dropped the keys down a drain. He chained up the door tight so the geeks can't get in." His face was apologetic but firm. She knew that this man had to have had a reason for what he did, but that didn't bring her friend back.
"I'll go get him. Tell me where you left him." She said determinedly. Rick instantly shook his head but she put out a hand. "You felt you had to leave him there, fine. But now I feel like I need to find him so that's exactly what I'm going to do."
"Piper please, be reasonable." Lori's voice came from beside where they were talking.
Piper merely shook her head and firmly planted her hands on her hips. "What do you think Daryl is going to do when he gets back and finds out you all left his brother on a roof to die in the middle of a monster infested city? I'm going to go get him before he gets back."
Shane walked up then and placed his free hand firmly on her shoulder. "Listen girl, I know your upset, but no one is going anywhere today. It's getting too close to dark and it's not safe. We'll discuss this more in the morning when Dixon gets back." Piper swatted his hand off her shoulder and carefully took Bailey from him and stormed her way back into camp, throwing herself and the little girl into their tent and packing her bag. Because tomorrow, no matter what anyone else said, she was going after Merle. After all, if it weren't for him and Daryl, she, her mother and Bailey would all be long gone.
Claudia apologized to Rick for Piper's rudeness, but he shook it off and gave her a kind smile. "No worries ma'am, I understand why she's upset." Claudia grimaced at the thought of Merle chained up to a roof in the middle of Atlanta, surrounded by those walkers, but quickly shook the image from her mind, sending Rick a quick forced smile before returning to the womanly duties awaiting her at the camp.