A/N: I did a little revision at the end of the last chapter. I made a mental note to mention what happened to Merle in the last chapter, but obviously that didn't work the first time! Thanks to FanFicGirl10 for mentioning it in her review or it never would have occurred to me.

I woke up earlier the next morning. It was a lot harder to sleep with nightmares appearing everytime I shut my eyes. I got out of my tent and saw Mom walking towards the quarry. I quickly ran up to her. I needed something to do to get my mind off of Daryl's absence.

"What are you doing."

"I am going to wash Rick's clothes. I thought he would like something to put on today other than someone else's clothes." She turned and looked at me. "Why?"

"I'll do it. I woke up late yesterday and didn't help you with cooking breakfast. It's the least I could do." I quickly took the clothes and soap form her and started towards the quarry before she could stop me.

As I walked to the quarry I thought about how lucky it was to have found Rick in Atlanta. That in turn made me think about how many others someone at camp wanted to magically show up back from the dead. I am one of the few people that didn't lose anyone over the last few months. I know I'm the only person who wishes that someone would die. I know that I'm the only one. Mom is still in love with Dad and Sophia is way too sweet.

When I got to the quarry I went to our usually cleaning spot. I quickly went through the pockets of Rick's shirt to check for anything, but they were empty. I then went through his pants and in the left pocket it felt like he had some sort of rock. I pulled it out and saw that it was a grenade. I wonder how he got it? I don't think police officers were standard issued grenades. I made a mental note to return it to him before tucking it into my back pocket, which was pretty uncomfortable.

I was glad that mom was going to wash clothes. Of all the we had to do now, washing clothes was my favorite. It was relaxing for me. Especially if no one else came along. I could just lose myself in my thoughts for as long as it took. Since I only had Rick's one outfit it didn't take very long and I was on my way to camp after a few short minutes. As I stood up I was releaved that the grenade became a lot more comfortable to have in my pocket; otherwise, walking back to camp would have been a nightmare.

When I got back to camp my mom had already set out the ironing board and the old fashion iron was resting over the fire getting warm. I put Rick's clothes on the board before grabbing the folded dishclothe and going to the fire to pick up the iron. I quickly started working on Rick's shirt to try and get all the clothes done before the iron needed to be heated again. As I was finishing up with Rick's pants I heard someone walking up. I looked up to see Rick. I'm glad that I washed his clothes because the shirt he was wearing him swallowed him.

"You washed my clothes?" Rick asked once he got next to the board.

"Thought it might be nice for you to have something of yours to wear."

"Well thank you. I appreciate it." Rick said with a smile.

"You're just in time too. Everything is ready to wear." As I finished folding Shane walked up with some of the others.

"We need to talk about Daryl. How are we going to tell him that his brother is handcuffed to a roof in Atlanta?" Shane started.

"We tell him the truth. He was acting out and a danger to us all. He had to be dealt with." Andrea said.

"I don't see that opening a reasonable discussion. I think that Anna should tell him." Dale said looking over at me.

"Me? Why me?" I was shocked.

"You are the closest person to Daryl. Out of anyone here you're the only one who has spent any time with him. You've actually spoken to him and he's talked to you. If Daryl is going to go easy on anyone about this I think Anna has the best chance."

Before anyone could respond screams came from the woods. We all took off into the woods in the direction of the screams. When we got into the trees Jacqui ran up with Carl and Sophia. She assured us that they hadn't been bitten or hurt in anyway. I grabbed Sophia and pulled her close to me. She gripped my neck and was close to crying. I could hear the others going on ahead. I gave Sophia to Mom and went on after the others.

We arrived at a small clearing to a walker eating a deer. It turned and stood, stumbling towards us. The men all started to beat the walker until Dale chopped its head off. Then we all turned towards the bushes as we heard a rustling. Then men immediately lifted their weapons again as a figure came around a bush. Daryl pulled back when he saw everyone ready to attack. We all relaxed once we saw that it was Daryl.

"Damn! This is my deer. I've been trackin' it for hours. Now it's worthless thanks to this stupid, motherless, bastard." Daryl started kicking the body of the walker with each insult. Then he went back to the deer and started pulling out his arrows before kneeling next to the deer. "Think we can salvage it. Cut off this part an' eat the rest?" He turned and looked back at us.

"I wouldn't risk it." Shane said before turning away.

All of a sudden the walker's head opened it's mouth and started to move around. Amy made a noise turned and walked away followed by Andrea. Daryl turned towards the head and fired an arrow into it. He walked over towards it.

"Come on people. Ya gotta get it in the brain." He put his head on the skull and pulled out his arrow before going towards the camp. I hurried to catch up with him.

"Daryl can I talk to you for a second? It's important."

"What ya want?" He briefly turned to looked back at me, but continued into camp. "Merle get out here I got us some squirrels."

"Just wait a second, please let me talk to you."

"Why do I need to wait just tell me while Merle and I skin. Merle!"

"Daryl, it's about Merle." He stopped and turned around and looked at me. Then looked around at everyone else.

"Where's my brother." Rick came up from behind me.

"There was a problem in Atlanta. " Daryl looked at him angrily.

"What sort of problem. He dead?"

"We're not sure."

"Well he either is or he ain't."

"We left him handcuffed to a roof."

Daryl quickly turned and threw the squirrels at Rick before grabbing his hunting knife. He lunged at Rick, but Shane grabbed him from behind and got him in a chokehold. Rick spoke to him for a while before Shane finally let him go.

"It wasn't Rick's fault I dropped key." T-dog said as he dropped some firewood next to the fire.

"Well couldn't ya pick it up?" Daryl was furious and rightly so.

"I dropped it down a drain." He obviously felt really bad about what had happened.

"If that's supposed to make me feel better it don'"

"Well maybe this will. Before I left I chained the door shut. There's no way any geeks could get in."

"Hell just tell me where ya left him so I can go get him." Daryl was turned away from the group and he was wiping his eyes.

After awhile it was decided that Rick, T-dog and Glenn would go back to Atlanta to get Merle. While they were getting ready I noticed that everyone was saying goodbye. Rick was saying goodbye to his family and Shane. Everyone else was cluttered around Glenn and T-dog as they got ready. I turned towards Daryl's tent and saw him standing and fixing his crossbow before moving to the van. I followed him and before he could get in I grabbed his arm. He turned toward me without letting go of the side of the van.

"I hope you find him OK. Be careful." I looked right at him.

"Won' be a problem." He looked at me briefly before getting into the van. "Be back soon." He then walked toward the front of the van. I smiled before walking back toward the campfire.

After the guys left the ladies went to wash clothes, Shane took Carl to catch frogs and I used some of the water Shane brought earlier to wash the breakfast dishes. It was quite and peaceful and went quickly because Sophia was helping me. After a while I saw Mom coming into camp with Dad resting mostly on her. His face was bloody and swelling.

"Sophia get a rag from Dale and bring some of the boiled water." I then quickly got up and went to help Mom carry him into the tent. Once we got there we placed him on the cot. Sophia showed up shortly and I took the water and clothe from her. I started to slowly wipe the blood from his face. He cursed at me, but didn't move too much. Once all the blood was gone I soaked the rag again and left it on his face to try to stop the swelling.

"Come on Sophia let's finish the dishes. Mom why don't you see if Dale has anymore aspirin." As we all left the tent I let Sophia get little bit ahead and turned to mom.

"What happened?"

"The girls got your father upset and Shane got involved. He just lost it and wouldn't stop hitting him." Mom still had tears in her eyes. I rubbed her arm before we split off to our different tasks.

As Sophia and I finished up the dishes Andrea and Amy came back with a lot of fish. The group started to cook up the catch and I lead Sophia back to the tent to check on Dad. When we got there he seemed to be sleeping and Mom was just holding the rag sitting near his feet on the floor. I could see a bruise forming on her cheek and I now understood what she meant by the girls getting him 'upset.'

Mom and I had an understanding when it came to Dad. We never discussed how he treated either one of us as long as he kept his hands off of Sophia. Sometimes I got the feeling that he liked her a little too much and I knew that feeling. He never got too bad with me, but he would occasionally get a little bit handsy. Inappropriately so, especially considering he was my father.

After awhile of sitting we heard Amy saying that dinner was ready while she scratched her fingers against the tent side. She then walked away laughing and I smiled. Amy was always happy and I really like that. Mom stood first and waited at waited at the door for Sophia and I. As we stood to leave Dad held his arm out in front of me and I stopped and felt Sophia run into my back.

"Why don't my girls stay and keep me company?"

"No they need to come eat dinner." I turned and looked at Mom. Her face was set and it was the first time I had ever heard her disagree with something Dad had said. He moved back his arm and rolled over.

"Fine! Then I don't want ya comin' back."

We all left and sat around the fire with everyone else for the first time since we had been at camp. It was really fun and it felt so much easier to breath without him sitting there watching us. People told stories about their lives before the outbreak and Dale explained about his watch. After I finished eating I got up to go and check on Dad and see if he wanted some dinner. I walked towards the tent while looking at my feet and thinking about when the others would be getting back. It was starting to get dark.

As I looked up at the tent I froze. There was walker going into the tent and I could hear me father screaming. I was horrified and I couldn't help it when I screamed. Many of the walkers still coming from the woods turned and started to hurry after me. I turned and started to run back towards the others, but after only a few steps there were walkers blocking my path. I quickly turned and ran towards the woods. I got to the treeline, but once again there were walkers in the way. I turned back and saw that several of the walkers had followed me. I was backed up against a tree with no where to run.

A/N: Uh oh cliffhanger! I know I skipped the whole Jim plot, but it wasn't really necessary to the story.

I just realized that Daryl and Merle are the only people who I write as talking with an accent. I am not going to change anything though because accents are a bitch to write. Also it's been so long since I watched the show that I can't remember what they really sound like. February her here sooner, Daryl is in peril!

I always really liked Amy and she was who I was originally going to have come see Anna immediately after Ed burned her. Obviously I changed my mind.