Zayla waved goodbye to the boys as they went off into the dawn light in search of game for their breakfast that they wanted her to cook because 'she made it taste better'. She didn't know if they were being honest or lazy, but she was stuck making breakfast due to it. Once they were out of sight, she grabbed her water bottle and holstered pistols, putting them on before grabbing the empty duffle bag from the firepit. She had the map too and was going into the city to find more food for them because they were picking at what they had left from the bar.
Zayla made the 20-minute walk to the city's gates and killed five Walkers on her way before reaching the chain-link fence and climbing over it. She followed the map deep into the center of the city before it finally transitioned into the shopping district. She raided a pharmacy for painkillers and a small bodega for snacks before she was out on the streets again. She just rounded the corner when she heard the growls of Walkers and ran back around the corner, looking over her shoulder at the small horde following her.
She couldn't barricade herself in one of the stores because there was no way she could pick off all thirteen of those Walkers by herself without them breaking the door down. She had to stop thinking when she was stopped by an overturned public bus and went around it, finding one the next one upwards and someone was waving at her from the top.
Zayla took the man's hand and climbed on top of the bus, quickly slipping down the emergency hatch on the roof. They both were hiding under the windows and waiting to hear the dead migrate past the bus. It took one long hour for the dead to finally get far enough away from the bus, but the man looked out of the windows first and gave the all-clear, but she wasted the rest of her morning and needed to get back to camp before the boys were due back.
"So, you've been alone all this time?" Zayla asked the dark-haired, Asian man and he sadly nodded.
"Yeah, it's just been me. I never knew how quickly I'd miss people until the world ended and it seemed like everyone was gone."
She held her hand out for him to shake. "You saved my life and you're pretty handy to have on a supply run. The least I can do is invite you to my camp."
"Are there people there?"
"Just me and the infamous Dixon brothers."
"Not discriminating or anything, but are you three...together?"
"Oh dude, that is foul!" Zayla stuck her tongue out at the insinuation as if something bad was in her mouth, making the man smile at her. "I would never ever never let Merle Dixon so much as whiff my cookie jar!"
"Okay, point taken." Glenn laughed, but he stopped when he heard Zayla's rumbling stomach.
"Are you hungry? I've got these tasty cereal bars for breakfast."
Glenn said that he had a bag of food that he wanted to bring to share with the group, so he grabbed that while Zayla went to keep watch on the roof. The horde that chased her on the bus was out of sight and nowhere to be seen or heard. She helped Glenn up, then off the side of the bus before getting down herself and leading him back to the quarry under the afternoon sun, eating four of the cereal bars between the two of them. They were talking along the way and Zayla found herself enjoying the man's company; she hoped the boys would be just as welcoming because it wasn't every day that she brought home a survivor.
When they reached the campsite, Zayla was surprised to see that there was a station wagon and a 1979 Jeep Cherokee SJ parked on the land and a new group of about five or six people were watching a tall, brunet man exchange words with Merle and Daryl.
"Who are they?" The man asked her and Zayla shrugged.
"The hell you been, girl?" Daryl asked as she approached from behind the new brunet man.
"I went into the city for supplies, group of Geeks got in the way. Lucky for me, I found someone nice enough to take me in." She explained, getting closer to him. "I'm okay, cubby." She quietly assured him, knowing that he had a soft spot for the nickname even though he claimed to hate it. "Who are these people?"
"Nobody, they're leavin'."
"We don't have anywhere else to go." The brunet man spoke up.
"And you sure as shit ain't stayin' here."
"There's enough room for all of us up here." That came from a brunette woman and due to the rings she was wearing as a necklace, Zayla pegged her to be the wife of the first man. "We'll stay out of your way."
"Get movin', lawman." Daryl grunted, unmoved by the female's appeal.
"Oh, you really gotta kick rocks now." Zayla said with a frown, sneering at the man. "We don't play nice with cops. Military's one thing, but all cops are bastards."
"Please, let us stay here." The quiet plea came from a woman with all her hair cut off, but some of it was growing back in a short cut. "We've been on the road for days and we have children. They're scared, tired and hungry."
She pointed to the station wagon and two little faces were watching the adults converse, one being a blonde girl and the other belonging to a brunet boy, both freckle-faced.
"We don't give a shit 'bout your sob story, lady." Merle stepped in front of his brother and Zayla, almost coming tow to toe witht the cop. "Pack up your young'uns, your pig, that lummox of yours and get the hell outta here."
"They got kids, Merle." Daryl reminded.
"And what the fuck do those kids gotta do with us? Ain't my damn blood." Merle argued and sent a particulary scary grin to the spectating children. "Goddamn liabilities is what they are, Geek bait."
"Shut up, stop scarin' them." Daryl scolded his brother when he saw the kids duck down under the window.
"Girlie, what say you?" Merle asked Zayla, hoping she'd back him up. "You wanna take on all this dead weight or cut it loose?"
"I'd rather just keep the kids safe, but I know that ain't gonna happen...could use the extra hands though." She thought out loud as she inspected the new people. "Have any of you been scratched or bitten by one of those things?"
"We're not infected, not one of us." The brunet man assured.
"Mm-hmm, lift your shirts up."
She went as far as poking and prodding them from their heads to their feet just to ensure there wasn't some hidden injury while still allowing the newbies to their dignity. Once she was assured that none of the new faces were hiding a Geek bite, she went to the pile of cans they had yet to string up to use as something of a security system and grabbed four of them.
"Y'all stay on your side of the land," She told the new people in an inflexible tone as she speared the cans into the dirt to make a line, separating the new group from she and the Dixons. "And we'll stay on ours. Gimme a couple days to figure out what the hell to do with all of you, learn names and ration out everything. Do not make a lotta damn noise or we will put you out, kids and all."
"Thank you for letting us stay." That was the woman with the jade eyes and her brown-eyed, blonde daughter was by her side now, offering a small smile to the new ginger woman.
Zayla quickly smirked at the girl, but openly sneered at the fat man sitting out of the driver's seat of the brown station wagon he and his family must have been traveling in. He didn't say a word to her and held her stare for a moment, quietly provoking her by the second, but something in his head must have told him to back off because he set his sights on the steering wheel before she decided to act.
"You stay far away from us." She firmly told the brunet cop. "I might be the nicest of those men, but don't go thinkin' I'm your friend, lawman. I will kick your ass into next November just for breathin'."
"Understood." The cop nodded, raising his hands to show he was going to keep things civil. It would take her a few days to sort out the bad apples of this bunch, but so far, she only felt like she had to keep her eye on that gigantic walking dumpster. "I didn't get your name."
"Zayla Krest." She nodded behind her where Daryl and Merle were tending to the deer they brought home. "Those are the Dixon boys. Big one's Merle and the blond's Daryl."
"Deputy Shane Walsh." The officer introduced himself, holding his hand out for Zayla to shake. She glanced down at his extended hand, then back to his eyes and Shane got the message that she wasn't going to shake. Glenn nudged her in the side and she took that as him inaudibly asking her to be nice. She knew he was happy to be around more people, but she couldn't help the feelings she held towards cops and it was going to take more than the end of the world for her to start cuddling up to a badge. "This is Lori and Carl. Over there is Ed, his wife Carol and their daughter Sophia."
"Remember the terms of this agreement, Shane." She reminded the Deupty. She only noticed his belt was carrying a holster for a pistol and he was out of uniform, so hopefully he could act like a civilian and not a cop for however long they'd be staying together.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Never knew you could be so bossy." The Asian man teased as they made their way over to the Dixon's firepit. "Seriously, you just walked in here and told everyone what was gonna happen. Everyone just fell in line too, even the big guy."
"What can I say? It's in my blood." She smiled at him before patting him on the shoulder. "C'mon, let's get you settled in."
"Chinatown goes over there with the rest of 'em." Daryl grumbled as he passed the pair, purposely bumping into the man as he went.
"I'm Korean, actually." Glenn corrected, though he still held his hand out for Daryl to shake. "And my name's Glenn."
Daryl nodded to the other people. "Don't care, get on."
"Don't be an ass, Daryl. It's bad for your skin." Zayla chided, shaking her head as Daryl went to sit with his brother. "Believe it or not, he's actually the sweet one."
"I guess I'll go introduce myself to my new roommates."
"I'm sorry about that."
Glenn beamed at her as he backtracked towards the new people. "Don't be. I'm just happy to be around people again."
"Pretty decent haul ya' got here, girlie." Merle complimented as he rummaged though the duffle bag full of food and other supplies.
"Half of that belongs to Glenn."
"Like hell it does. This loot is ours, all of it."
"He saved me from a horde of Geeks, has a map of the city and gathered all that on his own." She snatched the bag from his hands and slung it over her shoulder, making Merle stand and look at her in confusion, but she simply repeated, "Half of this belong to Glenn."
"He just paid this month's rent for himself and his little friends."
"Don't try her, Merle." Daryl blindly warned his brother. "I ain't for that shit today. Just shut up and do what she says."
"That's a lotta lip comin' from a man that takes orders from a little ginger girl." Merle teased with a grin.
Daryl narrowed his eyes at his brother. "That's a lotta blood comin' from a man who don't know when to shut his big, fat fuckin' mouth."
**Making a change here. Jenner's videos and the explosion at the CDC were the last things to ever be televised and Shane's group watched it, so they inform the Dixons and Zayla about what they know. I know that's an important part, but I wanted to change things because the group won't be going to the CDC after they leave the quarry.**