Here it is! Finally on the chapter of Rick meeting the group. More specifically meeting Callie. Let's get started!
Disclaimer I don't own The Walking Dead just my ocs and plotlines
Jeremy's PoV
The group has been driving for a while now, but Jeremy could tell that they are getting closer to the Quarry.
"Best not to dwell on it. Merle got left behind. Nobody's gonna be sad he didn't comeback..." Morales pauses, "except maybe Daryl."
"Daryl?" Rick askshim.
"His brother."Morales tells himand Jeremy could see the guilt form on his face.
"Don't forget about Callie. She's the one that said it was a bad idea to bring 'im." Jeremy points out and Morales nods his head.
That's when they hear a car alarm and see a red sports car drive past.
"Whoo-hoo!" Glenn hollers and speeds past them.
This makes the whole group smile at the guy's antics.
"At least somebody's having a good day."
Josie's PoV
Josie is sitting next to Lori, who's giving Carl a haircut. While she is cutting Connor's hair as well. Josie could see Elijah in the distance, glaring. Clearly not happy about being kicked out of their tent.
Lori huffs. "Baby, the more you fidget, the longer it takes. So don't, okay?"
"I'm trying." Carl whines.
"Well, try harder."
"If you think this is bad, wait until you start shaving. That stings. That day comes, you'll be wishing for one of your mama's haircuts." Shane tells him and Josie hums in agreement.
"Yeah. Connor is almost at that stage."
"Wait, what?" Connor turns but Josie was finishedwith his hair. This makes all the adults smile at each other.
Carl scoffs. "I'll believe it when I see it."
Shane chuckles. "I'll tell you what... you just get through this with some manly dignity and tomorrow I'll teach you something special.I will teach you to catch frogs."
Carl narrows his eyes at the man. "I've caught a frog before."
"I said frogs... plural. And it is an art, my friend. It is not to be taken lightly. There are ways and means. Few people know about it. I'm willing to share my secrets." Shane tells him.
Carl turns to his mother, unsure. "Oh, I'm a girl. You talk to him."
"It's a one time offer, bud... not to be repeated." Shane says, sitting back.
"Can I join? To catch frogs?" Maya asks Shane and he smiles.
"Of course. We need the muscle." Shane says to herand Josie nods.
Carl narrows his eyes. "Why do we need frogs, plural?"
"You ever eat froglegs?" Shane retorts.
"Eww!" Carl groans.
"No, yum." Shane argues.
Lori scrunches up her nose. "No, he's right. Eww."
"When you get down to that last can of beans, you're gonna be loving those frog legs, lady. I can see it now.. 'Shane, do you think I could have a second helping, please? Please? Just one?" Shane mocks and Lori looks at him shocked.
"Yeah I doubt that."
"We've had frogs legs." Maya reminds excitedly to Josie and Connor.
"Yeah." Josie says and they all look at her for the story behind it. "We went to Paris one year, and they were frying frogs legs, and I have these two here wanting one which shocked me."
"Don't listen to your mom, bud. Listen to Josie here. You, me, and Maya, we'll be heroes. We'll feed these folks Cajun style Kermit legs."
"I would rather eat Miss Piggy." Lori mutters and both Josie and Shane lookat her amused. "Yes, that came out wrong."
Shane laughs. "Heroes, son, spoken of in song and legend. You and me, Shane and Carl."
Shane and Carl laugh.
That's when they hear a car alarm.
"Talk to me, Dale." Shane orders and everyone gets up towards the RV.
"I can't tell yet." Dale responds, looking through a pair of binoculars.
"Is it them? Are they back?" Amy asks, gripping tightly to Tabby.
"I'll be damned."
"What is it?" Josie calls up.
"A stolen car is my guess." Dale responds.
That's when a red sports car pulls in, alarm blaring and Glenn steps out of the vehicle.
"Holy crap! Turn that damn thing off!" Dale tells at him.
"I don't know how!" Glenn responds honestly.
"Pop the hood, please. Pop the damn good, please."
"My sister, Andrea-
"Pop the damn hood!"
Josie is looking at all this and poor Glenn, getting bombarded with questions.
"What? Okay! Okay! Yeah, yeah yeah. Yeah yeah!"
"Is she okay? Is she all right?" Amy asks.
Glenn manages to pop the hood.
"She's okay! She's okay!" Glenn assures her.
"Is she coming back?"
Glenn nods. "Yes!"
"Why isn't she with you? Where is she? She's okay?" Amy asks him. That's when the alarm stops blaring, thanks to Jim.
"Yes! Yeah, fine. Everybody is. Well, Merle not so much."
"Whatcha mean Merle not so much?" Callie asks him and Glenn swallows.
"Are you crazy, driving this wailing bastard up here? Are you trying to draw every Walker for miles?" Shane rounds on Glenn. Which is better than Callie right now.
"I think we're okay." Dale tries to calm the man down but Shane turns to him.
"You call being stupid okay?"
Dale blinks at him. "Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source." Dale pauses and Shane gives him a look. "I'm not arguing. I'm just saying. It wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?" Dale points a finger at Glenn.
"Sorry." Glenn says sheepishly. "Got a cool car."
That's when a truck arrives, and the first to step out is Andrea.
"Amy?"
Amy sobs and runs to her. "Andrea!" The two embrace in a hug. Josie grabs a hold of her two kids close, getting emotional.
Morales gets our next and goes to his family. "Papi! Daddy!"
"Hey. Come here, sweetie." He picks up his daughter. "Hey, I told you I'd be back, didn't I?"
Dale approaches Morales. "You are a welcome sight." They both hug. "I thought we had lost you folks for sure."
"How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane asks.
"New guy. He got us out." Glenn tells him.
"New guy?" Shane asks warily.
Morales nods, "yeah, crazy Vato just got into town. Hey, helicopter boy! Come say hello. The guy's a cop like you."
"Dad! Dad!" They hear Carl cry out and see him running to a man. The man cries out, and takes Carl in his arms.
"Carl! Oh!"
Lori finally reached Rick and embraces him.
"Where's Merle?" Callie asks Jeremy and they walk away from the group.
"This is gonna end well." Glenn murmurs.
"I'll talk to her." Rick says and forcefully rips himself away from his family, to speak to a stranger.
Callie's PoV
Jeremy takes Callie away from the group and looks to her. She was looking at him.
"Where is he, Jer?"
"I'm sorry about Merle. He was being a problem. He was high. Calling T-Dog all kinds of things and a fight broke out. The new guy-
"I handcuffed him to a roof." A new voice says and she looks at Rick. "I handcuffed him because he was a danger to himself and to the rest of the group. Then we left him there. Not on purpose. But he was left behind."
"T-Dog stayed to free him and I thought that they were right behind me. It wasn't until we were on the road that I realised that he wasn't there." Jeremy finishes.
"You left him there?" She hisses at the two of them.
He nods solemnly. "Yeah."
"This is Rick Grimes." Jeremy introduced and she gives him a weird look before looking nervously at the man.
"Thanks for letting me know." She mutters before walking off.
"I'm sorry, Cal."
"I'm mad." She says and looks to Shane. "Just not at you." Jeremy looks surprised before realisation sets in. "He allowed him to go."
"Ma'am, it was on me, I handcuffed him."
Callie turns to Rick. "You we're doing what you were doing based on impressions. You did right by the group."
Callie storms over to Shane, who is looking like he's seen a ghost, maybe he has? Was Rick a ghost to him now? After sleeping with his wife? Rick and Jeremy were right on her heels.
"You going back for him?"
This seems to break Shane out of the trance that he was in. "What?" He chokes on a laugh. "Absolutely not. That man is a waste of space, everyone here knows that."
Callie narrows her eyes at him. "Have you forgotten that majority of the fresh food came from the Dixon brothers' hunts? They hunt for living. All the meat that we have been eating for the past two months is because of them. Maybe you got too comfortable and safe to realise that we don't have a chance in hell without them."
Shane shrugs, like it meant nothing to him. "We'll make do."
"Make do?" Callie repeats. "I know Merle is a racist asshole but that doesn't justify leaving someone to die."
"Merle was a threat."
Callie throws her hands up. "Was?! You're acting like he's already dead."
Shane steps forward, angrily. "It's because he is!" He roars.
"Shane." Rick warns, putting a hand on him to keep him back.
Callie steps forward, threateningly closer, and Jeremy steps forward as well. "He. Is. Not. Dead." She emphasised on each word. "You're proving to the rest of the group that you're a coward. You're not a leader, you just want to be a boss. A leader cares for their own people. No matter who they are."
It was the next day. She literally took her food, ate it and left. Not hanging around anyone. They just left a man to die on a roof.
Screams erupt through the camp.
"Mom!" A boy cries.
"Carl?" Lori calls and everyone runs. Callie grabs a machete.
"Dad!" Carl screams. Callie notices Josie with her kids so it's not them. Carl and Sophia. Those are the two kids left. Apart from Morales' kids.
"Rick!" Glenn calls and tosses him a pole.
Callie passes as Lori embraces Carl, checking him for bites.
That's when she sees a geek, eating a deer that has Daryl's arrows in them. Oh boy, he's gonna be pissed. That's when the dead notices them and everyone starts to attack it. Callie just watches on amused. Dale finishes it off by chopping off its head.
"It's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain." Dale explains.
"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what." Jim points out. Which is a good point. There's nothing left in the city.
That's when a branch snaps and Daryl walks out of the forest.
"Oh, Jesus." Dale moans, ready for the insults.
"Son of a bitch!" Daryl exclaims, pissed at seeing the deer he was hunting has been eaten by a geek. "That's my deer! Look at it all gnawed on by this... filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard." He kicks the geek with each insult.
Dale winces. "Calm down, son. That's not helping."
Daryl gets in his face. "What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'?" I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?"
Shane crouches. "I would not risk that." He advises and Daryl sighs.
"That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel... about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."
The head starts to move and everyone steps back.
"Oh god." Amy gags and is escorted away by Andrea.
Daryl rolls his eyes. "Come on, people, what the hell?" He shoots it in the eye. "It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?"
"You're telling him?" Callie asks Rick as they walk together.
"It's on me."
The group comes back to camp, following Daryl.
"Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up!"
Shane walks forward. "Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you."
Daryl turns to him and notices everyone standing around, watching. He makes eye contact with Callie and knows something is wrong.
"About what?"
Shane sighs. "About Merle." He pauses. "There was a problem in Atlanta."
Daryl tenses. "He dead?"
Shane shrugs. "We're not sure."
"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl snaps.
Rick walks forward. "No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it."
Daryl narrows his eyes at him. "Who are you?"
"Rick Grimes."
"Rick Grimes." Daryl mocks. "You got something you want to tell me?"
Rick sighs. "Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."
Daryl wipes at his eye. "Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!" Daryl roars.
Rick nods guiltily. "Yeah."
Daryl throws squirrels with him and goes to attack him but Shane knocks him down. Daryl pulls his hunting knife out, pissed off.
"Hey! Watch the knife!" T-Dog warns.
Daryl goes to attack again, but Rick manages to avoid the knife and Shane comes up behind and puts him in a chokehold.
"Okay. Okay." Shane eases and Daryl struggles even more.
"You'd best let me go!" Daryl hisses.
Shane shakes his head. "Nah, I think it's best if I don't."
"Choke hold's illegal."
"You can file a complaint. Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day."
Rick crouches down to be eye level with Daryl. "I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?" Daryl stays silent. "Do you think we can manage that?" Rick repeats.
"Hmm?" Shane urges.
"Yeah." Daryl finally agrees and is let go. He coughes, finally able to breathe properly.
"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others."
"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it." T-Dog informs. That's news to Callie.
Daryl glares at the man. "You couldn't pick it up?"
T-Dog looks down on the ground. "I dropped it down a drain."
Daryl scoffs. "If that's suppose to make me feel better, it don't."
"Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof... so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock."
"It's gotta count for something." Rick points out to Daryl.
"It's better than nothing." Callie speaks up and he drops his head.
"Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him."
"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" Lori says and Rick nods.
"I'm going back."
That's a good way to introduce Rick to the rest of the group. I wanted to end the chapter there. The next one will be them getting Merle.