Chapter 7

The building the group had stopped at to stay in, at least for a night or two, was a small one story building with a bedroom, a bath, a large kitchen and a single large sitting room. It was a small, average looking house. It was quiet and dark in the building, the sun wasn't up yet. The house was full of furniture, so the group could spread out a little on the large living room furniture, and empty of food, typical. But since the house was empty of blood, bodies and people, the house was nice, compared to most nowadays, so the lack of food and equipment went on forgotten.

The group was spread around the living room, lying comfortably across the large furniture, asleep. Norman and Sean slept on either side of a couch (set against a wall facing an opposite wall with an old TV sitting in one corner and a large cabinet sitting in the other), with legs draped side by side across the sofa. Daryl and Merle each sat in a personal arm chair facing the fireplace with their feet up, while Connor slept taking up a whole couch to himself. Murphy had been kicked off the couch by Connor in his sleep sometime last night and hadn't even bothered to wake up; he just rolled closer to the couch and continued to snore quietly on the carpet below.

As the sun came up an hour later everyone slowly started to wake up with it. Connor was the first to wake up and he laughed when he found his brother curled into himself on the floor below him. Kicking him in the back of the head, he woke up his younger brother and was pulled to the floor into a playful wrestling match. The fight woke Daryl, who did nothing, as he just sat and watched the twins fight amongst themselves on the floor, looking amused at the mornings entertainment. Sean was the next to wake up about ten minutes later, just in time to see Murphy get the upper hand and pin his older half to the floor. Murphy laughed in his brother's face, boasted that he had won, stood, and turned to walk away, when Connor tripped him from behind and he hit the floor with a loud thud. This not only woke Norman, but also began another fight that lasted longer than the first. Merle stirred in his chair, but continued to sleep as the fight renewed.

"I've got Murphy," stated Sean a minute later, looking over to Daryl who was leaning forward in his chair to watch the fight as it continued.

"You're on," Daryl replied with a nod, and turning back to the tussling on the floor, Sean reached over and the two touched fists to acknowledge the agreement.

"What are we betting on," Norman asked aloud.

The two looked at each other for a second then Sean looked at Norman, his expression slightly shy. "I've been hiding a chocolate bar in my bag."

"You did what," Norman hissed through clenched teeth.

"I've been saving it and just haven't gotten around to eating it yet. We can use it," Sean suggested, smiling at Norman's reaction.

Another loud thud came from across the room as the twins rolled into a cabinet.

Now Merle was awake. "What the hell is going on? What's with all the noise?"

"Connor and Murphy are wrestlin' and we're takin' bets for a candy bar," Daryl informed his brother in a hushed tone as not to disrupt the fight. He watched as Murphy threw a punch hitting his brother squarely in the chest and then the brothers continued, rolling away from the cabinet.

"Oh alrigh'…I've got Murphy," Merle stated after a pause for a few seconds of consideration. Then he leaned forward in his chair, mirroring his little brother, to start watching the fight.

"Norman," Daryl asked, turning his face to ask for Norman's input.

"Alright, I've got Connor," he replied and they both turned back to watch the fight continue.

"Nice," Sean praised and the two bumped fists. The Dixon's did the same and the group continued to look on in silence until the fight ended about twelve minutes later.

Twelve minutes later and Murphy was leaning over his brother trying to pin him yet again. Then suddenly, Connor was able to move his leg and kicked his brother in the stomach. Then he was able to flip the two and he pinned his brother, trapping him so he couldn't move.

After a few seconds of struggling Murphy realized he couldn't move to escape the hold. "Get off, alright ye won," Murphy screamed in his brothers face. "Get off!"

Connor released his brother with a smile on his face and climbed back on the couch to sit, his brother doing the same. They were tired and sweaty from the fighting and Murphy was especially winded from that last winning blow to the abdomen.

A few seconds later, after the twins regained themselves, they looked over to the rest of the members of the group who they now saw were awake.

Sean stood and walked over to the pile of bags by the front door. He returned shortly and dropped the only slightly melted candy in Norman's lap, looking extremely displeased, and sat back down beside him. Merle had seen the fight end and chose to roll over and go back to sleep, no longer interested. Norman opened the large candy bar and carefully broke it into thirds, rising, and taking a few short steps to hand Daryl six small bars of chocolate, smiling. Daryl took it happily and the two slapped hands before Norman turned and walked over to hand Connor six small pieces of his own as well, before sitting back down by Sean. Connor took it gladly, though he looked slightly confused.

"What's this for," he asked, holding up a small piece of candy before eating the piece and melting himself at the taste.

"We took bets to see who would win the fight," Daryl answered, looking pleased as he ate the prize greedily.

"I thought you deserved some for winning," Norman continued as he took another small bite, trying to savor what little he had. None of them thought they would ever have something this sweet again and they were more than happy to be eating it.

"You took bets on us," Murphy asked curiously. He vaguely remembered a conversation taking place during the event.

"Yeah, Merle and I lost," Sean stated, still looking upset. Then he looked to the slightly older of the two and declared, "I think you cheated."

XXXXXXX

That night the group found their selves sitting in the same positions after dinner that they had started the day in, and they were so full they could hardly move.

During the day, Daryl, Merle and Norman had snuck out of the house for a quick hunt and brought home a buck for that night's dinner. Now the buck was over halfway stripped of meat and all the meat was eaten. So now the group sat in the darkened house, recovering from their feast. They were spread comfortably across the furniture, some with blankets and some with cigarettes, and a small flashlight was shining in the center of their circle to give the group a bit of light.

The group had woken up together, some had hunted together, and they had spent most of the day together as a group (as they had done for a few weeks now). As each man in the group looked around the circle at each of his newly found companions, at some point during that night, they all began to have the same sort of thought, 'We're going to be alright'.

Around midnight Sean dropped off to sleep, followed shortly by Merle. The group had just spent the last couple of hours talking on and off, as they had the whole day, and now they were all worn out. Daryl got up from his chair and turned off the bright flashlight after realizing the group was beginning to fall asleep.

There were a few whispers of a conversation with the remaining conscience members of the group for another twenty minutes in the darkened room. Then, as the conversation died off, the rest of the group slowly began to fall, one by one, into a deep sleep. The dark house grew quiet and then began to fill with the sound of soft snoring.

Tomorrow the group would pack up and leave the small house. They would go farther back into the town to gather some extra food and get more fuel for the car, and then they would continue on their path to the coast, hoping to find another house like the one they were currently staying in to settle down in for the long haul. But for tonight, the group slept peacefully, content on where they were and the people they were sharing the house with. The group would awaken in a few hours, fully rested and ready to take on the day.

And in that moment, before each man had fallen asleep that night, they truly believed that everything was going to be okay.

END

Authors Notes: Sorry this update took forever, but school got in the way and it took me forever to decide whether to continue the story or end it here. Not to mention my editor all but abandoned me. So obviously I'm ending the story here, sorry. Thanks to all that have read and followed my story, hope you enjoyed reading it while it lasted. If you care at all, keep an eye out for other stories in the future, I have a few I'm working on now. So again, thank you to all that have read this story and I hope you enjoyed it! Remember to leave a finale review, if you would like to see more of this story please let me know because I'm considering continuing to write more chapters. Thanks!