Author's note: Thank you to all the new followers and people who added the story to their favorites! I'd also like to thank the three who reviewed, cause you're all awesome! : D Also, if anyone would be interested in being a beta reader, I'd love you for life. I find it difficult to find all my mistakes, but that's all ya can do I s'pose. :3

madison. g. johnson : I'm glad you liked the first chapter! And I do plan on making them longer (like this chapter) but without a beta I'm more cautious since I usually don't find all my mistakes. Thank you for your review~

mrskaz453: I'm not a fan of shipping Carol and Daryl either. :/ I'm glad you have questions from the first chapter to, they'll sure to be answered in the future chapters! And I agree, Glenn best be careful~ haha.

Emberka-2012: Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it! : )

Chapter Two
Pressure Points

The highway was blocked solid with vehicles heading toward Atlanta. Gwendolyne sat on the roof of Daryl's blue truck looking out over the crowd with a vacant expression. There were only three things she saw in the people around her; confusion, fear and anxiousness. No one knew what to think of the pandemic that had hit every corner of the world.

Gwendolyne didn't want to find out how the new disease worked. After arriving home from her fifteen hour shift at the clinic the woman didn't know what to believe. Three people had chewed and bitten into doctors and nurses in the clinic during her shift. Two of them bled out and then some security and police were injured trying to restrain the attackers.

The three-story house had been quiet when she walked into the foyer. Gwen had received a call from her frantic mother, and decided to end her shift to head home. Apparently her father had caught whatever was going around, and her mother wanted Gwen to come home to look at him. Unfortunately, by the time she actually got home, it was all over.

"Mom? Dad?" Gwen tossed her gym bag full of her nursing gear on the couch. The television was on but muted, the headlines were telling people in the Georgia area to go to Atlanta city for protection. Protection from what? The virus?

As she moved toward the back of the house to look around the kitchen and sitting area, she gasped at the sight of blood all over the island counter top. There were red towels and bandages everywhere, but still no sight of her parents.

"Mom? Where are you?" she called out, walking quickly to the staircase but stopped at the bottom. "M-mom?"

The woman at the top of the stairs was dressed in an expensive business suit, and the white dress shirt was stained red. As she literally wobbled around in a circle, Gwen grasped her neck as a scream caught painfully in her throat. Her mother gave a startling load growling gurgle before taking a step down the stairs.

Pressing herself up against the wall, Gwendolyne felt tears well up in her eyes before her vocal cords started working. When her mother tripped over the second step, a screamed echoed off the walls of the house.

The young woman jumped off the landing of the stairs as her mother crashed to the bottom. It was a nightmare, this couldn't be real. Her mother's head was turned backwards but she was still snapping in Gwen's direction. The business woman had only been able to move her arms when the front door burst open. An arrow shot through the foyer to her mother's forehead before a hand grab onto her arm. Gwen's dark brown eyes turned up to the man who was hauling her off the ground and she was honestly happy to see him.

"Where's yer father?" Daryl asked as he pulled his arrow from her mother's head with a sicken squish.

"I-I don't know… upstairs?" she whispered through the shocked state of mind she was in. She saw Merle nod and the younger Dixon moved up stairs with his crossbow at the ready. "I don't understand… her neck was broken-"

"I thought ya knew everythin' about diseases, girl?" Merle questioned sarcastically in his raspy voice. Gwen didn't even react to the comment as she stared at her dead mother. Merle gave an exasperated sound before testing if she could stand on her own.

After confirming she could indeed handle her own weight, Merle grabbed the dead body and dragged it to the living room. Gwen's eyes were stuck on the blood stained hardwood floor and only looked away when Merle closed the door to the living room. Compassion wasn't a word that Gwen would associate with Merle, but the brut was doing a good job at trying to help her.

"S'all clear," Daryl stated as he made his way down the stairs. Merle walked toward the kitchen, muttering about getting food and supplies when Daryl finally made it to Gwen's side. "Ya need to get clothes and shit together. We got ta leave town."

The nurse wiped the tears from her face as she moved her attention from the floor to her man. "What's going on?"

"The dead are walkin' and bitin' others and infecting them."

Gwen quickly made the connection to the clinic earlier that morning. Daryl nodded to the stairs and the woman moved cautiously around the blood and up the steps. She heard Daryl's boots behind her and was thankful he hadn't left her alone. The first door at the top of the stairs was her parent's room and it looked like a murder scene.

"C'mon," Daryl whispered, moving them down the hall to her bedroom. The queen sized bed was untouched but there were bloody foot prints everywhere. "Here, start fillin' this with the things you need. Only pack things that you need to survive, Gwen."

The urgency in his voice made it through the haze in her mind and she took the duffle-bag. Opening the drawers of her dresser, she started throwing clothes into it, along with other necessities. "Grab the First Aid kit in my closet," she said and watched the man disappear into the walk-in closet.

When he was out of sight, she shoved her photo album and two framed photos into the side pocket of the bag. After tossing it on the bed next to the kit Daryl had gotten, she went to the closet and took a pair of sneakers and hiking boots. As they made it downstairs, Merle had literally ransacked the entire kitchen and was now working on the garage.

"Where the hell are the keys to these things?" the older man growled at her as she stepped into the three car garage.

Gwen pulled open a drawer in the work bench and tossed the keys to Merle. "The guns, amo and other hunting gear are in the largest locker."

A quick whistle caused them to turn toward the garage door where Daryl pointed to the street. Merle cursed under his breath and hauled two hunting riffles out of the locker. Gwen went for the gas containers and moved toward Daryl's truck. Merle followed not long after and the three of them piled into the truck cab.

As Daryl pulled out of her driveway, Gwen watched the house as people –dead people- started swarming around it. A few were attacking the truck until Daryl flew off down the street and away from the town.

The brunette didn't even react to the man's crude comment. She didn't have the mental stability to deal with a dead end conversation.

Daryl was standing in front of the truck watching the people around them. Always alert for threats but no one could miss the newest threat heading their way. A man with a fairly built body was moving toward them with an angered expression on his face.

It wasn't his obvious anger that worried her, it was that he was African-American and she knew the Dixon's. Gwendolyne slid down the windshield and sat on the hood of the truck beside the younger redneck. It was clear by the way he was watching the stranger move through the crowd that he knew he was coming for Merle.

Gwen heard a load squeak of door hinges and looked to the R.V. the was only one car away. An elderly man and two blond women were gazing at the scene that was about to take place. There were a few other onlookers and the brunette really wished she wasn't here.

"Hey! What the hell did you just say?" the stranger questioned angrily. He was only two feet away from Daryl and Merle made his way around from the side of the vehicle. "You got something you want to say, hick?"

Daryl took a step forward and pushed the man back before he reached the truck. Whether he was protecting her or Merle was a bit of a mystery.

Merle gave one of his unattractive chortles. "Not to you, stupid nig-"

"Merle, fuck off."

The three men looked to the female that sat atop of the truck but Merle shrugged off her order quickly. "How 'bout you run back to you damn'd appetiser and shove it up your- ah!"

A few people gasped at the sight of Merle dropping to his knees in pain when Gwen grabbed his arm. Daryl had taken a step back at the yelp Merle gave out and watched the scene with interest.

"I'm sorry but please ignore him and go back to your family." Gwen really didn't have the strength to deal with this shit. "A fight really wouldn't help anything right now."

Anger was still evident in his expression as he flicked his eyes between the three of them before turning and stocking off.

Gwen released Merle, who how been grasping at her hand the whole time whimpering in pain, and looked to Daryl. "You're brother is going to get us killed."

If it hadn't been for the incident, Dale knew he wouldn't have made his way over to the three of them. Atlanta was being bombed, and they needed to get off the highway before people started killing each other in fear. Merle was definitely negative but his brother and the girl seemed nice enough to the old man. They could come in handy when they needed to survive.