A/N: Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a lovely day. I just wanted to say thank you for sticking with me and my story. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. don't forget to review! :)
It had been a few hours since Santana and the rest of the group left to retrieve Merle, leaving the camp members completing their duties and preparing for supper. Dale, the old man, stands on top of his RV to keep watch and look for nearby lurking walkers. However, something- or someone- caught his eye: Jim, the group's mechanic. Dale saw Jim digging various holes away from the group's main area and began to wonder why and how long he's been at it.
Back in the Big Apple: New York City
The three men and Santana drove and parked their car near the opening of the same fence that Santana and Glenn had jumped over to escape the herd of walkers during their first meeting. However, luckily the city was more peaceful than the last outing, when Santana was stuck in a tank, but there were still a few walkers roaming around.
"Merle first or the guns?" Santana asks
"Merle! We ain't even having this conversation now." Daryl shouts.
"We are!" Santana says as she now looks at Glenn, "You know the city better than anyone."
"Merle's the closest. So Merle first." Glenn says, as the group starts making their way to the rooftop. Taking down four or so walkers on the way to the stranded department store they had been in before.
T-Dog kicks down the locked door and Daryl was the first to run out on the roof.
"Merle! Merle!" Daryl shouts and sees that there was no sign of Merle. Well, there was one. His severed hand.
"NO! NOO! NOOO!" Daryl cries out and kneels on the floor, defeated. He had lost his only brother. His blood.
After a few minutes, Daryl feels a hand on his back. Angered at the situation, he turns his crossbow towards T-Dog to kill him right then and there, but Santana takes out her pistol and aims it at Daryl.
"I won't hesitate. I don't care if every walker hears it." Santana says, as she sees as Daryl slowly lowers his crossbow.
"Wait! You guys look! There's a blood trail." Glenn speaks up. Heads turn, now facing Glenn, and realize that he was right. There was a blood trail leading back to the door that they had entered. The group then starts to follow the drying blood trail.
Back at the campgrounds
Dale wanted to walk out and see if Jim was feeling alright, so he had asked Puck to take over. Dale climbed down the RV and went to check up on his dear friend.
"Hey Jim. You feeling okay? Have you had anything to eat or drink?"
Silence.
"Alright, then I'll bring something out to you okay. Let's just take a little break, okay? Let's go lie down for a bit."
Silence.
"Alrighty then. I'll be back."
Dale leaves Jim and returns back to the main campground area and sees that the group is gathered around Amy and Andrea, who had brought in some fish from their trip.
"I, uh, I don't want to alarm anyone, but I think we might have a bit of a problem." Dale speaks up and then explains the situation with Jim, leaving Finn to check up on Jim, along with other group members.
"Hey, Jim. Jim, why don't you hold up for a second, all right?"
"What do you want?"
"We're all just a little concerned, that's all. Dale says you've been out here in the sun for hours."
"So? I'm not hurting anyone."
"Yeah, except maybe yourself. It's a hundred degrees today, you have to rest Jim."
"Sure I can. Just watch."
"Jim, they're not gonna say it so I will. You're scaring people, you are scaring my son and Blanie's daughter." Quinn speaks up.
"They got nothing to be scared of. Why don't you all just go and leave me alone?" Jim responds.
"Jim, we just think you need to take a break, okay? Please, go take a break." Finn replies
"Or what?" Jim says, but as soon as he releases those words he sees that Puck starts walking towards him angrily. Jim shoves Puck away, but Puck throws a punch that connects with Jim's face and tackles him to the ground.
"You got no right!" Jim shouts
"Puck get off him!" Finn yells out, "Jim, no one is going to hurt you. Puck stop it."
Puck continued throwing punches at Jim, who did his best to dodge all but a few, but eventually stopped when Finn and Mike pulled him off of Jim.
"That's a lie. That's the biggest lie there is. I told that to my wife and my boys. But it didn't matter. They came out of nowhere. You know, the only reason I got away was c-cause the dead were too busy eating my family." Jim says with his head hanging down.
The group stood there in shock at Jim's confession. No one would move. No one spoke. Just silence.
Back in the City:
After running down the staircase still following the trail of Merle's blood, the group had come across a small break room. In the break room, there were three dead walkers and rags soaked in blood and a small lighter.
"He took down walkers one handed. Toughest son of a bitch, my brother."
"Any man can pass out from blood loss. No matter how tough he is." Santana replies.
"Merle!" Daryl shouts
"We aren't alone here. Remember? It's getting dark and we don't know how many there are."
"Screw that. He could be bleeding out, you said so yourself." Santana gives him an annoyed look, and goes closer to the kitchen to turn off the oven.
"He cauterized the stump. He melted his skin to prevent it." Santana speaks up.
"Told ya. Toughest son of a bitch ever. Nobody could kill Merle, but Merle."
"This looks recent. He must be out in the streets now then. We should go for the guns now and we'll be able to spot him. I'll go with T-Dog towards 45th street, pick up the guns, and Santana and Daryl you guys find Merle, then we'll meet you back in the car." The group nods and heads off.
Nightfall and the groans of walkers had taken over the group's senses rapidly. Santana and Daryl start running toward the opposite direction of Glenn and T-Dog and start shouting for Merle.
"MERLE! Merle! Where are you?!" Daryl shouts. "Brother it's me!"
"DARYL WATCH OUT!" Santana yells as she pulls out her pistol and shoots the walker that was behind Daryl. However, as soon as Santana pulled the trigger, she realized her mistake. Groans became louder and louder as walkers started crowding the two from all directions.
"Shit! We have to go Daryl! I'm so sorry, but there's no way we can find him. We have to come back in broad daylight. It's too dangerous for the two of us." Santana shouts as she pulls out her knife and stabs the two walkers that were behind her as Daryl took care of the two in front of her.
"Go! I'll cover you." Daryl yelled out.
"Where are they?!" Glenn shouts as he starts driving in search of the rest of their group.
"THERE!" T-Dog yells as he sees the light of a gunshot. Glenn starts driving faster towards Santana and Daryl, knocking over a couple of walkers along the way.
"GET IN! GET IN!" Glenn shouts out the window, as Santana and Daryl get in the getaway car.
"Fuck that was a close one. Thanks for the save Glenn. Again." Santana says she puts a hand on the driver's shoulder. "Thank you."
"Of course. No sign of Merle?" Glenn asks, as Daryl shakes his head.
"We'll come back once the sun is up again." Santana responds.
Back at the campgrounds
After having comforted Jim after his confession, the group had never left his side. Kurt and Quinn started cooking the plentitude of fish that Andrea and Amy had brought from their trip. As they began to cook, Quinn started sharing a memory with Kurt about the one time where she and Santana had invited him, Blaine, and Ella, for dinner and Santana was the one assisting him.
Flashback:
"How does this taste, Satan? I uh-I mean Santana." Kurt says bringing a plastic spoon to Santana's mouth as she looked annoyed by the mispronunciation.
"No. I think that needs some kick. I mean come on Kurt, don't all you gays love and worship Julia Child?" Santana says disappointedly, as Kurt takes another taste.
"Well I guess I can add a little more salt then." Kurt replies, as Santana dramatically nods, receiving small giggles from Quinn, who was with Blaine and the kids.
End of Flashback.
"Oh my gosh, but guess who was right after all, ME! It was already perfect, until Santana added hot sauce and none of us could eat it, except her." Kurt laughs.
"We had a lot of leftovers in the fridge…but she was the only one that was allowed to eat it." Quinn chuckled.
The rest of the group had been at the campfire telling stories until Quinn and Kurt brought the cooked fish and basket full of rice for the group.
"Alright everyone, dig in!" Kurt says and smiles.
"I'll be right back." Amy says as she stands up and excuses herself to go to the restroom.
"This is absolutely delicious. Thank you so much Kurt and Quinn. And Andrea and your sister, thank you all." Finn says as he gets joined by others 'thank yous' from the rest of the group.
Quinn smiles and stands up and takes 5 paper plates, fills them up with food, and wraps it with aluminum foil to keep it warm for her wife and the rest of the scavenging group, who is yet to return. She then stacks it on top of each other and sets it aside and returns back to the group.
"Hey! We're out of toilet paper." Amy shouts as she opens the door to exit the RV. However, little did she know, there was a walker right around the corner.