Amy knows what's happening when her sister announces that she's going on a run. A run to Atlanta, with a group. Amy and Michonne take turns doing solo runs so that one of them is always with the kids. Jim doesn't go farther than the highway with T-Dog and Shane. Only Glenn still goes into the city but that's because he knows it so well. So, when her sister decides she wants to do her part with Glenn, Merle, T-Dog, Hector, and Jaqui; Amy loses her patience, just a little.
"You don't even know how to use a gun!" The younger blonde had been dogging her sister's steps all morning. Coming out with small go bags for the entire run team. They were the drawstring backpacks with water, a little first aid, an MRE, a towel, an extra knife, and a multi-tool. "Not that it will be much use in the city that's crawling with the dead!"
"I'm the older sister." Andrea squares off, taking the backpack with no reluctance. "I should have been out with you since the start!"
"But you weren't!" Amy throws her hands up in exasperation. "It's only getting worse out there! The dead are moving in big groups and don't even get me started on other survivors! Not to mention, everyone else that is going has never gone on a run before! Then, there's Merle!"
"I can handle Merle." The older woman says it with such conviction that her sister almost throws up in her mouth.
"You have the worst taste in men!"
"You ready?" Glenn walks up to them with an easy smile, his own drawstring backpack already on.
"Are you ready?" Amy questions, her eyes narrowed as she looks over everyone else crowded around Jim's truck. "Are you sure you want to bring them into the city? I haven't been there in a week, but it looked pretty dangerous."
"Don't worry." Glenn tried to be reassuring and her sister had already stalked off to stand next to Merle. "We won't be going anywhere near downtown, just a big department store."
Michonne shared a look with Amy when the CB radio announced that someone was on their way to Atlanta. Shane was loudly bickering with Lori about putting up signs of all things. The young blonde could only look on in confusion. They didn't want to take in the kids, but they wanted to direct strangers away from the city to their camp. When Lori looked to Amy of all people to back her up, the young blonde herded the children back to her bus.
"We can't have people running off." Shane said a few hours later when T-Dog informed them they were trapped.
"I understand that, but we need to make a plan." Amy urged, looking around at all the campers who were averting their eyes. Except for Michonne, that badass had her back.
"They volunteered to go." He said it like that was the end of the conversation.
"That's my sister, you son of a bitch!" She snarled, pointing a finger in his face just to make her point clear. "Come morning, I will be getting her and the others back then we are gone."
Shane decided to follow after a huffy Lori instead of Amy. Michonne already had a map of the city on the table when she got back to the RV, the children were all on the bed watching a movie. None of them seemed particularly put out by Andrea being trapped, not much fazed them anymore.
"Where do you want to go?" Michonne asked in a quiet undertone, opening up a notebook filled with the blonde's lists and ideas. What started as jotting down everything she remembered from zombie movies in her old life, turned into her own apocalypse journal. The older woman started one of her own, copying down useful facts and recipes found in the How-To books Amy found.
"Well, first I need to figure out what department store Glenn took them to. He only said that it wasn't downtown and with the weather, the signal is awful." Amy hummed, glancing at the lists with narrowed eyes. "I know I said I wanted to go to an island but there's no way we could keep everything going with just us."
"I don't think we'll be alone. Glenn might come and you know Dale will." The older woman nodded before smirking. "Dixon."
"I don't want to deal with a junkie." She shook her head, purposefully misunderstanding her. "He's a funny man but I don't see him being particularly helpful. Not to mention him and Andera, urgh."
"His brother would be worth it though."
A car alarm interrupted any further planning, making them rush from the RV in a panic. Luckily Jamie had the forethought to leave Braden and Andre in the playpen before rushing off with everyone.
"Talk to me, Dale."
It was the red sports car, with a gleeful Glenn behind the wheel, making Amy breathe a little easier. However, there was no guarantee that Andrea and Merle were in the back of the box truck slowly making its way to camp. Shane was yelling, Dale was trying to play peacekeeper, and no one was turning off the damn alarm until Michonne muscled her way in to rip at the connection.
"It's not that bad." Dale was saying in a placating manner. "The sound bounced around."
"Where's Andrea?" Amy cut it before Shane could continue to complain. "Where's my sister?"
"She's fine! Everyone's fine! They're right behind me!" Glenn shouted, throwing up his hands in defense. "Well, Merle, not so much."
Then the van rolled to a stop and her sister was alive. Amy wasted no time in rushing to the older woman, almost taking them to the ground. Andrea sobbed into her younger sister's hair, so grateful to be alive. Emma squeezed in, wrapping her arms tight around Amy's legs while the older two joined in the group hug quickly before backing up.
"Dad!" Carl was being squished between his sobbing parents, with all eyes on them. Shane was staring at the ground as if it had all the answers. For a moment, she felt for the man. He had saved them and made sure everyone knew they were his priority. However, Amy already knew how this played out. At the moment, she was too afraid to set out alone with just her people. Maybe one day she could get away from the story she knew.
Amy refused to let the kids out of the RV after dark so her first introduction to Rick Grimes the next morning wasn't great. Her brood was busy feeding the quail, they turned out to be more of a pain than Amy first thought. They had to be brought out of the trailer every morning because they needed sunlight. Although they were much easier to manage than the camp's chickens, it was turned into the kids' morning chore with one of the women supervising. Emma loved them to pieces and wanted to carry her favorite, Cookie, around with her.
The sounds of the other children screaming sent everyone running. Braden and Andre safely in their mothers' arms with Emma riding on Jamie's back. It was a perplexing sight, all the women crowded around the children while the men treated a single walker like a pinata. Even Jim and Glenn who have gone out on runs were just taking turns smacking its body until it was beheaded.
"That's the first one that's made it up here." Dale said with a shaky voice. All of the campers turned to the rattling bushes, but others were more focused on the still kind of alive head.
"They're running out of food in the city, that's what." Jim stated, a faraway look in his eyes.
"That's my deer!" Daryl thundered, moving forward to kick the walker's body like it owed him. "Son o' a bitch! Look at it! All gnawed on by this filthy, disease bearing, motherless poxy bastard!"
Dale reached out to the angry hunter, when he started picking up steam. "Calm down, son. That's not helping.
"What you know about it, old man? Why don' you take that stupid hat and go back to On Golden Pond?" Daryl turned his ire back rapidly, circling the deer in thought. Taking a knee, he examines the bite wounds at the throat. "Been trackin' this deer for miles! Gonna drag this bitch up to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Can we cut around this chewed up part?"
"I would not risk that." Shane turned away in disgust.
There was a sudden squelsh of Jamie removing her knife from the walker's head, drawing everyone's notice. The women looked at Amy with silent judgment when she only handed the young girl a rag to clean her knife with a smile. It was gross but the blonde was very proud of how well Jamie handled her first walker in a month. The other men just looked on in confusion, like they had not realized that it wasn't dead.
"It's gotta be the brain. Don't yall know nothin?" Daryl muttered, still angry about his deer. "Got some squirrel, it'll have to do. Merle! Get your ugly ass out here!"
The women rush off to camp but Rick and Shane lead the men to catch up with the grumpy hunter. When they got to the clearing everyone arranged themselves to watch in anticipation except Amy and Michonne. They shared a look of exasperation at the spectacle. Everyone but Daryl knew about his brother, and they all wanted to see the show.
"Daryl hold up!" Shane places a hand on his arm to stop him. "We need to talk."
"What?"
"About Merle. There was a…There was a problem in Atlanta." Shane informs him carefully, boxing him in with Rick.
"He dead?"
"We're not sure." Shane says surprisingly calmly.
"He either is or he aint!" Daryl shouts in his face, losing patience quickly.
"There's no easy way to say this so I'll just say it." Rick spoke up with authority, trying to get the man's attention.
"Who are you?"
"Rick Grimes."
"Rick Grimes." Daryl mocks him with an angry drawl. "You got something you want to tell me?"
"Oh, that's enough!" Amy shouted, stepping forward to scowl at the masses who were surrounding the drama. "You guys back up, right now!"
"You gonna tell me what the fuck is going on?" Daryl threw his arms up, losing his patience completely.
"There's no easy way to say this but your brother was a danger to us all." Rick says all this calmly like he was discussing the weather. "So, I handcuffed him to a piece of metal on the roof. He's still there."
So, it wasn't a surprise when the hunter lost his shit and decided to attack. Michonne locked arms with Amy, keeping the other children behind them while the other campers looked close to cheering them on. They couldn't hear the whispered conversation going on when Shane got Daryl in a chokehold, but the redneck was still seething when he was let go. Lori was practically spitting nails, by the time they calmed down a little to announce her newly returned husband would be joining Daryl in his excursion to the city.
"They are such jerks." Amy muttered as they guided the kids back to the buses.
"Mhmm." Michonne just nodded in agreement, looking over at the main campfire where Rick was arguing with his wife.
"They left his brother behind, but they made it a total spectacle instead of just getting the man back to his tent to let him know privately." The young blonde huffed some more, much to the amusement of her kids. "I know that we dont have TV-"
She was interrupted by Jim's truck tearing through the winding access road to the quarry. A giant dust cloud was kicked up in its wake. The front grill was a little dented, smothered in blood that streaked across the body of the cab. There was a tense silence when the driver side door opened, and Merle Dixon stumbled out with a loopy smile.
"Miss me, fuckers!" The older redneck swayed as he marched right up to Rick, punching him in the nose. The former sheriff fell on his ass with Shane tackling Merle to the ground. Daryl was quick in diving right into the scuffle, getting payback for his earlier manhandling. Michonne laughed as she watched her friend finally snap.
"Enough!" Amy was beating anyone she could reach with a broom, shocking everyone who crowded around. "Enough, all of you!"
"I think-" Rick was beside her, using his cop voice but Amy wasn't having it.
"You don't think that's why Merle was left behind. Just like your partner. I told you guys this run would be a bad idea." Amy huffed, crossing her arms around Braden's body to stare down at the men still on the ground staring at her and her broom. "Merle, your wrist looks like you attacked it with a cheese grater, take your brother over by my bus. I'll clean it up."
"Yes, ma'am." Merle still wasn't all that there as his younger brother practically dragged him away.
"I don't know how cops delivered bad news in Bumfuck, Georgia but they don't do it for entertainment purposes anywhere else!" The blonde turned her ire on the former partners. Braden was copying her scowl, looking adorable while still strapped to her chest. "Next time you leave a man to die, maybe let his brother know in private."
"Damn, girlie!" Merle slurred when Amy stalked towards him. Andrea had already cleaned up his wrist and was cleaning the blood from his face guiltily. "Didn' know you had that kina fire."
"This can't go on, Merle." Amy said quite sternly, shocking everyone present. "You're going to get yourself killed if you don't clean yourself up."
"Don' need you in our business." Daryl scowled, crossing his arms defensively next to his brother.
"Not your business when it puts other people in danger." Amy snapped right back, pointing at her sister in emphasis. Her sister lowered her eyes to the jagged wounds on the man's wrists, stomach churning in guilt. "I don't care what he does in the privacy of his own tent, but he was in the middle of Atlanta high off his ass and probably had a heat stroke. Just like before, if you wanna pickle your liver with liquor, stay your ass home and off the road! Want to smoke some meth or whatever, make sure you lock yourself in the damn closet."
"I'm grown, blondie." Merle huffed, trying to stand up and falling right back on his ass in exhaustion. He hissed in pain when Andrea grabbed his arm to start wrapping his wrists in clean gauze.
"You can stay in the RV I took from the refugee center." Michonne spoke up, her tone stern and full condemnation. "It's a mobile infirmary so you can dry your brother out. I'll keep Andre with the other kids for a week or two."
"Don't need your charity!" The hunter growled, looking to his brother for support but he was pale and unconscious at the table.
Andrea wiped his dirty forehead with a cool washcloth with a soft look on her face. "He needs help. I know that he only has the strong stuff left and he's been trying to cut down on the pills."