Daryl reloaded his crossbow and looked around for another of the dead as he went to pull the first one from the head of the now fully-dead man. It didn't look like Zayla's boss, but it was lingering around her bar, so he couldn't be sure. He hoped she was here; it was the only other place she could be if she wasn't at her apartment and it looked like her place was cleaned out beforehand, so he knew she was on the move somewhere. He reached the front and found the gate down, but there was a note attached to the metal shade. He would've cursed himself if it was something telling him that she was already out of Atlanta with her Dad.
Dad, Daryl & Merle:
Holed up at inside.
If you can get to it, knock twice on the backdoor so I know it's you.
Be careful.
-Zayla
With that confirmation that she was alive and in the bar, he quickly rounded the back and killed another of the growling dead, this one being a former brunette. He made sure the back-alley was clear before knocking twice and taking aim down the alley in case any stragglers were lured in by the faint noise. He heard the door open and looked inside the darkness just in time to see arms pulling him inside.
"I thought you were already outta the State." Zayla said to him as she re-chained the lock keeping the backdoor secure and once she was finished, she gave him a long hug. "You okay?"
"Still in one piece." He told her as they detached. "Where's Joshua?"
"Place was locked up when I got here and I haven't seen him since I got in. Where's Merle?"
"The station."
She rolled her eyes. "Of course."
"He's still there, ain't like he can go anywhere." She nodded and he followed her into the bar floor where she had what looked like a mountain of food piled on two pool tables. "Damn, girl. You got enough food in here?"
"I managed to raid some of the stores around here while I was securing the bar. That plus the stuff from my place and we've got two, maybe three weeks' worth of food." She proudly explained. "When we get Merle, we should start moving away from Atlanta. We're too close and it's infested with those things."
"Find Merle and high-tail outta here, sounds like a plan."
After locking the bar up, Daryl and Zayla sneakily made their way through the downtown area of the city with their sights set on the police station about 2-miles from the bar. Between them both, they killed 20 of those monsters before they finally had the building in their sights and were taking cover behind an overturned car.
"Look, on the roof." Daryl pointed to a figure on the roof that seemed to be shooting at whatever moved down below, but the gun- and the whooping whenever one dropped to the ground- was attracting more of the dead. "Is that Merle?"
Zayla nodded, spotting Merle's short-cut hair and biker vest. "Think he's high."
Once Merle stopped to reload, they come out of cover and made their way to the entrance of the Police Station. The place looked to have already been looted because all of the lockers were open and most of them were empty. They made their way through the first floor, killing three more of the walking dead before they reached the stairwell to take them to the roof.
"Don't shoot, Merle!" Daryl yelled through the door and knocked to signal they were there. "It's us! Open up!"
"I'm gonna kick your ass if you shoot me, Dixon!" Zayla threatened.
From the other side of the door, they heard Merle moving something from in front of the door before it unlocked and he was smiling at the both of them. "Y'all finally decided to join the party." He grinned.
It took a few minutes of sweet talking Merle away from the mounted gun, then they were making their way back to the bar, but they had to keep stopping because Merle wanted to kill every brainless body they came across; they didn't have an unlimited supply of ammo for him to do so. They all but dragged him into the bar and as soon as he saw the pile of blankets Zayla was using as a bed, he was out like a light. At least that was one less thing they had to worry about.
As he watched her tend to his brother to make sure he was still breathing, Daryl mentally recalls how Zayla's learned to take care of his brother just like he's been doing most of his life. He tells her to get some rest too, but she decides to take the first watch shift and Daryl stays posted next to Merle until he dozes off. Zayla doesn't wake Daryl up to trade shifts in the morning, but Daryl gets up somewhat early and switches with her until they both wake up, clear-headed, around noon.
"So, what now?" Zayla asked through a yawn.
"Them safe-zones broadcastin' on the radio are null and void, too many people there." Merle dismissed as he ate the last banana from the pile. "If one person's gotta Geek bite, won't nobody know 'till it's too late."
"We gotta get outta Atlanta." Daryl added.
"Damn right, we do." Merle agreed. "I say, we head towards Pine Lake, smallest city in all of Georgia. Might find supplies there, places to sleep, won't run into a buncha people. After that, we keep goin' East to Stone Mountain."
Merle always knew when to be the big brother to Daryl or Zayla. He's been easily switching into that role since it was clear to him that the redhead was going to be sticking around and chalked it up to him having some parental intuition, having raised his brother.
"Should we go lookin' for your Pop before we leave?" Daryl asked Zayla, but she shook her head.
"I'm not worried about him. He's already outta Georgia and can definitely take care of himself. If anything, he's probably manning one of those safe-zones, but I'm with Merle on that one. Too many people, anyone infected could get in. I don't wanna take the chance."
"What about your brothers? They were due for another visit, weren't they?"
"Maybe the airports shut down before they could get on a plane?" She thought out loud, helplessly shrugging her shoulders. "Danny and Desmond have guns and a lot of people to fight with them in Cali. I'd rather them be there and know how to get around than be in Georgia with their dicks in their hands. They're okay…they gotta be."
"We'll stay here for another day or two to stock up on more weapons and food." Merle advised the two. "We run into your brothers and they can tag along. The more redheads, the better."