Several hours after the supply group had returned to the camp with Rick, it became nighttime. The members of the camp was all scattered near a few different campfires and several of them were with Rick and were all listening to his story about his survival, with the man himself sitting while holding his son close to him and his wife on his left. It was nothing short of remarkable... Apparently several weeks before the outbreak began both he and Shane were chasing after some armed suspects from neighboring Linden County in a high-speed pursuit, and although they and several other officers from both King County and Linden County succeeded in getting the suspects to crash, two of them came out with guns and fired at the cops.
Rick said that he got shot in the stomach, but as he was wearing a bulletproof vest originally he was very winded but fine nevertheless. Both the suspects were taken down and the officers all let their guard down since they thought this incident was over... Unfortunately their dispatcher or someone somewhere in the neighboring county screwed up because the officers weren't informed that a third suspect was in the crashed car... When Rick turned to tell Shane to not tell Lori he took a shot to his vest, he was shot right in the back before anyone could stop the suspect. Although Shane killed the son of a bitch with a shotgun, Rick was taken to the hospital and he fell into a coma.
Weeks after that Rick finally woke up in his hospital bed. He said that he saw a lot of terrible things inside the hospital, but somehow he managed to get out of the building and he even made it back to his old neighborhood in an effort to find Lori and Carl. A kid named Duane hit him in the back of the head with a shovel as he mistook Rick for a walker, but Duane's father Morgan saved Rick from any further harm when he realized that he was still human. Rick was with the pair for another day or two before they all went to the King County Police Station to raid the armory and to get whatever supplies they could find. After that Rick went his separate ways from Morgan and Duane, and when he got into Atlanta on horseback he was ambushed by hundreds of walkers in downtown.
Rick desperately took shelter inside of an abandoned tank left by the military, but Glenn managed to save him even though Rick's horse was killed by the walkers outside the tank. He and Glenn met up with the rest of the camp's supply group, and eventually they all aside from Merle got out of the store together... After that, Rick and the supply group came back to the camp, and Rick finally reunited with his wife and son.
He actually found them despite the odds...
"Disoriented... I guess that comes closest..." Rick said to everyone who was listening as he explained how he felt when he came out of his coma days ago. "Disoriented. Fear, confusion... All those things, but... disoriented comes closest." Rick added.
"Words can be meager things. Sometimes they fall short..." Dale wisely commented.
"It's very good to see you again, Rick... We're all happy you found your family." Yumi smiled on behalf of her and the other four original Lyoko Warriors that he saved.
"Same to you about your friends... I knew you guys would make it and find your friends. I knew it..." Rick smiled back.
Rick continued to smile at the Japanese girl for a moment before he looked back down at the fire, his smile fading away as he remembered all of the horror he saw and all of the feelings he felt in just the last two days.
"I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else..." Rick continued. "For a while, I thought I was trapped in some coma dream. Something I might not wake up from... ever..." he added.
"I'm so sorry, Rick..." Aelita said with sympathy.
Rick looked back up at the pink haired girl and he gave her a thankful nod as a reply before he looked back down at the fire. If it wasn't for Morgan and Duane then he definitely would have died long before he met up with Aelita and her friends. Like him, those two had been through a lot of bad things in such a short time... He hoped that those two would make it out there, wherever they decide to go.
"Mom said you died..." Carl suddenly said as he looked up at his father.
Rick and everyone else at the campfire were surprised to hear Carl say that. That poor boy legitimately thought that his father was gone forever... Lori obviously believed the same due to Rick's shooting and his coma and the outbreak, so an assumption such as this could hardly be anyone's fault. The odds of his survival were basically zero before now...
"She had every reason to believe that... Don't you ever doubt it" Rick assured his son.
Carl mulled over his fathers words and he replied to him with a simple nod of understanding, as his father was right about his mother assuming that he was dead. All that mattered was that he had his dad back...
"When things started to get really bad they said that they were gonna medevac you and all the other patients to Atlanta... and it never happened..." Lori explained with a hint of sadness.
"Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell." Rick nodded.
"Yeah, looks don't deceive... I barely got them out, you know?" Shane said as he gestured towards Lori and Carl.
Rick nodded as he heard this and then he turned to look at his partner and best friend. If it wasn't for Shane then Lori and Carl would certainly have died during the first weeks of the outbreak, and he certainly would have been doomed to never see either of them again. The Lyoko Warriors made sure to leave unspoken their suspicions that Lori and Shane were screwing each other...
"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane. I can't begin to express it..." Rick said with true gratitude.
Shane gave his best friend a smile and a nod of confirmation after hearing his words, but after that his smile fell and he went back to silently staring down at the campfire in front of him.
"There go those words..." Dale chuckled. "Falling short, again. Paltry things..." he added.
The others aside from Shane began to chuckle at Dale's statement and how correct it was. All of them were happy and thankful to have a moment like this once more, and for a time it truly seemed like it was just a normal campfire without any of the undead walking around the earth. It was all great until the group suddenly heard a crackling noise, which was caused by a survivor named Ed Peletier putting another log in his family's campfire. This was a problem as the camp had a rule to not put too many logs in a campfire, as the smoke caused by that could rise up far into the sky and maybe draw attention, whether it be from walkers or perhaps from some bad people out there...
"Ed... you wanna do me a favor and rethink that log?" Chase asked. "You know we have rules about this, man... We can't afford to draw attention to the camp..." he added, trying to be reasonable.
"It's cold, man.." Ed replied while rudely not even looking at the teen.
The others in the camp were silent as they kept looking over at Ed. The Lyoko Warriors in particular noticed that Ed's wife Carol and their daughter Sophia were both sitting with him, and both appeared to look very uncomfortable as they sat with him...
"The cold don't change the rules, does it? Keep our fires low... Just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?" Shane asked, likewise trying to be diplomatic.
"I said it's cold!" Ed snapped with a frown as he finally looked back at the others. "You both should mind your own business for once!" he added in a tone that seemed to be somewhat threateningly.
Shane was about to get up and go to Ed to try and make him pull that log out of the fire, but Chase stopped him with one of his hands. After that the teen used a cane to get up onto his own two feet and he slowly made his way over towards the Peletier family, with Chase cringing with a bit of pain whenever his injured foot stepped due to the pressure against the ground that walking caused. Aelita and the other Lyoko Warriors made sure to keep an eye on this situation, as if Ed dared to try anything even remotely threatening against Chase then they would all get up to go to his defense without hesitation.
"Hey, Ed..." Chase began as he approached the family.
Carol and Sophia both cautiously looked up at the teen as he approached, whereas Ed just rudely kept staring down at the fire without saying any word of greeting back towards Chase.
"Are you really sure you want to have this conversation with me, man...?" Chase quietly asked the older man as a warning that any further kinds of hostility from him would not be welcomed.
Ed finally looked up at the teen from his chair and after a moment he scoffed and began to smirk, taking this mostly as an annoying joke at first. But when he saw Chase's frown and realized that he was completely serious his smirk faded away, and with a feeling of annoyance he turned to frown at his wife.
"Go on..." Ed frowned as he gestured towards the log that was sticking out of the campfire. "Pull the damn thing out!" he also barked as an order.
Due to the fear she felt of her own husband, Carol initially kept sitting exactly where she was next to Sophia, causing Ed to grunt with a rising feeling of anger. Both Chase, the rest of the Lyoko Warriors and the camp in general were all deeply disturbed by witnessing all of this.
"Go on!" Ed demanded of his wife.
After another moment of hesitation Carol finally stood up from her chair and walked over towards the fire, cautiously grabbing the log that was sticking out in order to pull it out and place it on the ground. Chase watched with disbelief at this scene unfolding in front of him. Ed was treating Carol like she was nothing more than a fucking dog...
"Jesus Christ..." Chase muttered under his breath.
After pulling out the log, Carol quickly returned back to her seat without looking at her husband or the teen. Chase was about to completely go off in an angered disgust towards Ed about how he was treating his family when Shane came up to stop that from happening before it could begin, so Chase just simply frowned at the abusive husband before he began limping back towards the campfire, sitting back down at his orignial spot between Aelita and Jennifer.
Shane simply walked over to stand in front of Carol and Sophia before he crouched down in front of them, giving them both a small reassuring smile.
"Hey, Carol, Sophia... How are y'all this evening?" Shane asked in a gentle tone.
"Fine... We're just fine..." Carol quickly replied to the former police officer with a noticeable hint of reluctance, nervousness and hesitation within her voice.
Shane nodded at what Carol said and he swiped a quick glare towards Ed while the wife-beater wasn't looking, but he looked back at Carol and Sophia after another moment.
"I'm sorry about the fire..." Carol apologized.
"No, no, no, no... No apology needed." Shane politely assured. He felt so terrible for that woman and her daughter. "Y'all have a good night, okay?" he asked.
With a thank you being said by the mother and wife as she held her daughter close to her, Shane got back up onto his feet and he began to head back towards the other campfire where most of everyone else was. But along the way he made sure to stop at Ed's chair and give the guy a firm (more like pretty damn hard) pat on the back, forcing a fake smile on his own face as he did so.
"I appreciate the cooperation..." Shane smugly said.
Ed frowned as the former officer resumed his trek back towards his group, and the wife-beater himself turned to frown at both his wife and daughter. Ed was an absolute prick and Shane knew he would have to often keep an eye on him, and the others may have to do the same as well. In any event Shane sat back down at his chair and sighed, trying to relax after what happened moments ago.
"That motherfucker! Who fucking treats their own wife and daughter like that?!" Chase growled under his breath.
"I don't know, but he does seem like a source of concern..." Jeremie stated.
"We'll all watch out for Carol and Sophia, don't worry..." Jennifer assured her boyfriend, with his sister and the rest of the Lyoko Warriors nodding in agreement.
Chase gave out a sigh and turned to look back at Carol and Sophia for a moment out of concern, but when he saw that they both appeared to be fine for the moment he decided to just drop the subject and make a mental note to keep an eye out for them from now on.
"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon...? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind..." Dale stated.
"Who's Daryl Dixon?" Odd asked.
"The brother of the guy they left on the rooftop in Atlanta..." Patrick sighed as he suddenly realized they had a whole new problem: Daryl.
"The guy's out hunting right now but he should be coming back sometime in the next day or two... He's definitely not going to be happy at hearing what happened to Merle." Miranda stated.
"From the sounds of things you didn't really have a choice. Maybe he will see it your way...?" Aelita theorized.
"I doubt it." T-Dog replied. "But I'll tell him. I dropped the key. It's on me..." he added with a hint of regret.
That was true. While on the rooftop of the department store, Rick had handcuffed Merle to a piece of pipe after Merle beat up T-Dog and even aimed a gun at his head. T-Dog later tried to free Merle while they were evacuating from the store, but alas he tripped and the key to the handcuffs accidentally fell down a drain. Merle was absolutely infuriated and severely distraught at that...
"I cuffed him. That makes it mine..." Rick replied.
"Guys. It's not a competition. And I truly don't mean to bring race into this, but it might be better if Merle hears all of this from a white guy..." Verity stated.
That was also true. Merle had some (more like dozens of) certain racial and gender views that basically no one else in the camp agreed with. He very much loathed specific people of other races such as T-Dog, Glenn, Morales, and even Alexandr to a certain extent since although he was white he was also a Slav. Merle Dixon was an absolute prick to be honest...
"I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from him..." T-Dog said to the others.
"We could lie about it..." Verity suggested.
"Or tell the truth..." Andrea interjected. "Merle was out of control... Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed!" she stated.
Andrea turned to look over at Lori, who was pretty worried about what will happen to her husband when Daryl comes back.
"Your husband did what was necessary... And if Merle got left behind, then it's nobody's fault but Merle's." Andrea assured.
"And that will be what we tell Daryl?" Yumi asked.
"Yeah... I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?" Dale asked a little bit sarcastically before he sighed.
The others knew that Dale was speaking the truth and the fact on this matter. When Daryl Dixon comes back from his hunt there was definitely going to be a situation between him and the people who left Merle in Atlanta, no matter how they phrased it to him...
What'll they even tell him? 'Hey, sorry dude, but we left your miserable dick of a brother handcuffed on the rooftop of a vulnerable building with no supplies of any kind while also in the middle of a city filled with thousands upon thousands of man-eating walkers. Aside from that how's your day going?' Their discussion with Daryl was something no one was looking forward to in any shape or form...
"We are totally gonna have our hands full when this Daryl person gets back from his hunt..." Aelita sighed.
"Damn right... We'll have to be ready for whatever his reactions will be. He'll blame all of us." Jennifer agreed.
T-Dog was arguably the one who felt the most guilt out of everyone who was in Atlanta when Merle was left behind. Hell, he may have been one of the few who did. Even if he was a mountain-sized asshole he still didn't deserve to die up on that rooftop... and he may not even be dead yet. He felt guilt, but absolutely no shame whatsoever.
"I was scared and I ran. I'm not ashamed of it..." T-Dog commented.
"We were all scared... We all ran. What's your point?" Andrea asked.
"I stopped long enough to chain that door." T-Dog began to explain to the others. "Staircase leading to the roof is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time... It's not enough to break through that door. Not that chain, not that padlock. My point...? Dixon's alive. And he's still up there, handcuffed on that roof..." he explained.
Silence fell upon the entire group when they heard what T-Dog said. True there was a good chance that Merle Dixon was already eaten alive by the walkers, but what if he wasn't...? What if he's still sitting alive up there on that rooftop, chained up like an animal as he slowly dehydrated and starved to death with nothing to save him at all...? The door leading up to the roof was chained shut, and T-Dog was right on how only half a dozen walkers or so could go up the stairs at any given time. The chain and padlock were also pretty strong as well... Merle may have better odds then the group originally thought.
T-Dog sighed and he stood up from his chair before he stared down towards the others around their campfire. Whatever Merle's fate would be, he hoped everyone could live with it.
"That's on us..." T-Dog stated.
And with that, T-Dog walked away from the campfire and he went back into his tent, leaving everyone else with their own thoughts on Merle and Daryl Dixon. By then most of the camp was pretty tired due to the events of that day and many of them began to likewise get up and start heading for their tents to go to sleep. Chase said goodnight to his sister and his friends, and Jennifer did the same before the pair retired to their tent for the night. Patrick and Verity likewise both said goodnight and headed back to their tent to sleep... or hell, maybe they would just make out for a while like how they did earlier that day before being caught by Yumi and Jennifer. They were both still trying to decide if they were too tired or not for anything like that.
Every non-Lyoko Warrior from the camp aside from Shane soon went back to their tents to go to sleep. The Lyoko Warriors Miranda, Robert, Odd and Alexandr kept sitting by the campfire with Shane as they wanted to enjoy its warmth and each other's company for just a little bit longer, while the other Lyoko Warriors themselves just simply wanted to go and find a place to sleep. Shane noticed when Aelita, Jeremie, Yumi and Ulrich all got up from their chairs and looked around for somewhere to rest.
"We got a few extra tents set up in camp. But y'all are probably gonna have to share..." Shane explained from his chair, deciding to stay by the fire for a little longer.
When she heard that, Aelita couldn't help but look directly at Jeremie and flash him a flirty grin at the prospect of them sharing a tent together, along with her giving him a wink just for good measure. Aelita almost broke out laughing when she saw Jeremie immediately and shyly begin to blush, which was something she thought was very adorable every single time he did so. Aelita and Jeremie grabbed their backpacks from the RV and Aelita then gently took her boyfriend's hand and gave him a kiss on the lips before she led them straight to one of the tents that was unclaimed, whereas Yumi and Ulrich both said goodnight to everyone and were blushing as they likewise locked hands and quietly went for another unclaimed tent together.
The pink and blonde geniuses went into their tent together, and Aelita finally began to quietly laugh a bit after seeing the look on Jeremie's face when he realized that there was only a single sleeping bag inside. They both would have to share. Aelita took Mister Puck from her backpack along with her classic oversized pink t-shirt that had a large maroon-colored letter 'A' printed on it, which she most often wore for sleeping at night. Aelita then proceeded to take off her jumper dress along with her hooded pink long-sleeved shirt and she set them both down on the floor, followed by her pink and white boots and her pink socks. Jeremie turned his back to Aelita and gave her a little bit of privacy as she took off her bra since wearing it felt uncomfortable to her while sleeping, and she quickly put her oversized pink nightshirt on to cover up both her chest and underwear.
Jeremie turned around after this and he saw Aelita settle herself inside of the sleeping bag, smiling up at Jeremie as she did so. Jeremie smiled back at his girlfriend before he dug around in his backpack for his own pajamas, which were just a normal grey-colored two-piece set of nightwear. Aelita giggled and she covered her eyes with her hands so as to let Jeremie have some privacy as he changed out of his own clothes. He took off his blue sweater and his brown pants before quickly getting into his grey pajamas, and once he was done he climbed into the sleeping bag with Aelita, setting his glasses to the side.
The young couple snuggled up to each other and gave each other a loving kiss on the lips, both staring into and admiring each other's eyes as they felt their tiredness finally beginning to overtake them.
"Goodnight, Aelita... I love you." Jeremie tiredly smiled.
"Goodnight Jeremie, I love you too..." Aelita tiredly smiled back.
And with that the pair gave each other one more goodnight kiss on the lips before they began to fall asleep together with smiles on their faces, with Jeremie holding onto his princess and Aelita holding onto both her doll and her genius.
Little did they know that they would all have a very long day tomorrow...
The next day saw the group up and about once more, doing things such as more chores or just keeping an eye out for any walkers that could have possibly been drawn by Glenn's awesome new sports car. Dylan, Kyra, Rebecca and Charles all came back to camp from their journey very early that morning and they thankfully made and/or put up no less than thirty-five signs along the highways that led into Atlanta, so hopefully if anyone tried to enter the city they would see the warnings to stay out at all costs. If they were lucky then they may have saved some lives... The four teens were informed by their friends about the surprise arrival of Rick and how Lori and Carl were his wife and son, and they also were informed about how Rick saved the supply group and how they all escaped Atlanta together, minus one of course. They were also informed about the situation with Merle and the hell that most likely will arise when Daryl comes back from his hunt, so the four made sure to be prepared for that when that happens.
Inside his and Yumi's tent, Ulrich slowly opened his eyes as he began to wake up. He yawned before he groggily sat up and stretched out his arms and his neck and his back, quickly noticing a flurry of black laying next to him out of the corner of his eye. Ulrich turned to see that Yumi was still peacefully sleeping next to him in her black pajamas with a smile on her face. Although both he and Yumi seriously had to get up and start doing something productive at the camp, he decided to just watch her sleep for a little longer, a loving smile growing on his face as he did so.
After a few minutes of this Yumi began to stir, signalling that she was about to wake up. The young girl slowly began to open her eyes and squinted as her vision began to focus on her boyfriend, a smile beginning to form on her face once she saw that he was already looking at her.
"Good morning..." Yumi smiled groggily.
"Good morning, Yumes..." Ulrich smiled back, saying that affectionate nickname of hers that he uses sometimes.
Yumi leaned up to Ulrich's face and the two gave each other a welcoming kiss, and after Yumi pulled back to place her head back on her pillow she grinned up at her boyfriend.
"Were you watching me sleep...?" Yumi playfully asked.
"Maybe, maybe not..." Ulrich sheepishly replied with a grin.
Yumi chuckled and she placed her hand on the back of Ulrich's head, gently grabbing his hair and pulling him down so her lips could meet his once more. The two kept lovingly kissing each other for several more moments before they had to pull away due to the simple need to breath.
"That's cute, but we really should start getting up..." Yumi smiled.
"Do we have to...? Not even for a few more minutes...?" Ulrich smiled as he moved his face to Yumi's shoulder in order to give a series of playful kisses to it through her shirt.
Yumi chuckled once more and she playfully rolled her eyes before gently pushing Ulrich's face off of her shoulder, and after that she sat up in her sleeping bag and unzipped it before she climbed out.
"C'mon, Ulrich... We've got stuff to do today." Yumi stated with a grin.
Ulrich grinned back at his girlfriend before he likewise climbed out of his own sleeping bag. The two stood up and then turned back to back in order to give each other some measure of privacy as they began changing out of their pajamas and back into their normal everyday clothing. Soon the pair were back in their normal clothing, and the two gave each other one more kiss before they locked hands and climbed out of their tent together...
Ulrich and Yumi climbed out of their tent to see that the camp was bustling with activity. Some members of the camp was chopping more firewood, some were hanging out by a campfire, Dale was again on top of his RV and a bunch of the others were doing some other stuff as well. The pair kept holding hands as they walked away from their tent and looked around for their friends. The pair also said their goodmornings to the people they passed by as they walked.
The couple eventually noticed that Glenn's sports car had several members of the camp around it and working on it, as from the looks of things they were stripping the car for parts and gasoline and whatever else seemed to be useful. Ulrich and Yumi walked over to there to see Glenn was standing a short distance away, staring straight at the car with a noticeable look of resignation and sadness at what was happening. Rick and several others from the group also walked over to see this as well.
"Vultures..." Glenn muttered under his breath.
"What's going on?" Yumi asked.
"What does it look like...?" Glenn sighed with resignation.
Glenn and the couple continued to watch as the car was stripped apart. Anything that was useful for the camp on or in the car was stripped out, much to Glenn's sadness.
"Yeah, go on... Strip it clean..." Glenn said with a tone of disappointment.
"The generators need every drop of fuel they can get... Otherwise we won't have any power at all. Sorry man..." Miranda apologized as she worked on siphoning some gas from the gas tank.
Glenn sighed once more and just gave a simple nod of understanding as he continued watching his dream car being murdered right in front of him by the camp. It was nice having it while it lasted, even with the god-awful car alarm. Better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all, right...?
"Thought I'd get to drive it at least a few more days..." Glenn sighed.
"Maybe we'll get to steal another one someday..." Rick suggested in an effort to cheer up his new friend.
Glenn simply shrugged at that since he had no clue if or when he would find another sports car that was this amazing. Rick then gave his friend a pat on the back before he walked further into the camp to do something else. The car itself continued to be stripped apart bit by bit, and Ulrich and Yumi both likewise gave Glenn a supportive pat on the back before they walked away so as to leave that poor man to his own thoughts.
When they walked back into the camp they saw that Chase was back up on his own two feet and was walking and talking with both Dylan and Aelita on the way to do some camp chores with them, albeit now without a cane but still somewhat with a limp. Ulrich and Yumi were very happy to see them walking together again as those three were always inseparable back at Kadic Academy... The two then heard the familiar sound of a vehicle approaching and they turned to see Shane driving a jeep up from the bottom of the quarry, and he also had a few large jugs of water from the bottom of the quarry to distribute. Shane parked the jeep just outside of the camp and then stood up onto his seat so everyone could hear him.
"Water's here y'all! Just a reminder to boil before use!" Shane informed, cautioning the camp since drinking unboiled water was pretty risky.
Everyone heard Shane and they all made sure to make a mental note to boil any water from those jugs that they were going to use. Yumi and Ulrich proceeded to lock hands again for one more moment, and after giving each other one more kiss they separated to go and find something productive to do. Wood had to be chopped, pots and pans had to be cleaned, clothes had to be washed, water needed to be boiled, trash definitely needed to be disposed of, inventory had to be checked, Glenn's awesome car had more things to be stripped... There was a lot of things to do and the things mentioned barely scratched the surface. Ulrich went to chop some firewood with Odd whereas Yumi went with Rebecca to check the inventory of the camp, namely to see how much food and bullets and whatnot that they had.
Unfortunately this lasted for about five minutes, as a loud scream from the forest caused nearly everyone in the camp to immediately stop what they were doing. That scream sounded like it came from a person... it sounded like it came from a child!
It sounded like it came from Carl!
Much of the camp immediately began running towards the forest to find the two children. Lori was screaming Carl's name in an effort to find him and much of the runners already had their weapons out and ready to go. The Lyoko Warriors were among them. The group quickly saw Carl and Sophia running out of the trees in fear, and after the kids ran into their mothers arms the others pressed onwards to see what caused them to scream.
They found their answer seconds later, as in a small clearing of the forest the group discovered that a walker was feasting upon the remains of a dead deer that it took down and killed. It was truly a horrific sight to see...
"Oh Christ..." Jeremie muttered with both shock and disgust.
"And here I was craving some venison..." Miranda sarcastically muttered under her breath.
The group then noticed that the walker was looking directly at them, and they correctly assumed that the walker was about to try and get a brand new meal out of them. The walker gave what was simply an inhuman snarl and it stood up before beginning to limp its way towards the group, but Kyra quickly ran up and kicked the walker to the ground with her foot. The others joined in and they began to hit the walker with whatever weapons they were currently holding, which ranged from a few baseball bats to the butt ends of a pair of shotguns. This kept on going for another few seconds before Ulrich finally unsheathed his samurai sword and used it to fully decapitate the walker, much to the relief of the others.
The group stared down at the remains of the walker and of that poor deer as they felt very unnerved. What the hell was a walker doing up here in the first place...? The group looked closer at the corpse of the deer and they noticed that it had a few crossbow bolts buried into its skin near its rear, much to their surprise... However the most pressing concern was still the walker itself. Why was it here?!
"It's the first one we had up here... They've never come this far up the mountain! Ever!" Chase stated to the others.
"They might be running out of food within the city..." Rebecca theorized before her eyes widened with realization. "Oh God... They might be heading out of Atlanta to look for more things to eat! If that's the case, then we're-"
The group suddenly heard a twig snap in the forest, causing Rebecca to go quiet and every single one of them to immediately raise their weapons and ready themselves for action. However this time it wasn't another walker but instead it was a somewhat dirty-looking man who was wearing a sleeveless mustard yellow tank top and who had a crossbow in one of his hands. This had to be Merle's brother, Daryl Dixon...
When Daryl saw that the deer he was hunting had already been caught by one of the walkers, he quickly felt his temper beginning to rise... He was chasing after this damn thing for God knows how far and a walker got it before him?!
"Son of a bitch... That's my deer!" Daryl angrily frowned.
Daryl lowered his crossbow to his side and the group watched as he approached the corpses of the walker and the deer, his frown only intensifying as he saw their bodies.
"Look at it..." Daryl frowned as he gestured at the corpse of the deer. "All gnawed on by this..." he also said before trailing off.
Daryl then suddenly turned to face the body of the walker and he suddenly and violently began to kick its corpse, trying and failing at relieving himself of some of the fury that was within him.
"Filthy, disease-bearing, motherless, poxy bastard!" Daryl growled to the corpse with each kick he gave to it.
The others were not happy to see that Daryl was just kicking the walker over and over again. If he was like this towards this walker imagine how much hell he would raise when they will tell him about Merle...
"Calm down, son... that's not helping." Dale stated.
"What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'?" Daryl replied as he angrily insulted Dale and his fisherman bucket hat.
Dale sighed and both he and everyone watched as Daryl walked back over to the deer, crouching next to it in order to examine its corpse and to pull his crossbow bolts out of it for later reuse.
"I've been tracking this deer for miles..." Daryl grumbled as he pulled the bolts out. "I was gonna drag it back to camp... cook us up some venison..." he added.
After Daryl pulled his last crossbow bolt out of the deer he proceeded to use one of the bolts to gesture at the bites the walker left on the deer itself, examining it closely.
"What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" Daryl suggested.
The others just simply blinked at Daryl's suggestion for a moment as they processed what he said. There was absolutely no way in hell that anyone in the camp would take even the smallest bite of the deer after the walker got a hold of it, no matter if it was a bite or even a tiny scratch... Now it was simply tainted meat, no more no less. Plus God only knows what would happen if you would eat from any creature that was bit by a walker... nothing good, probably.
"I would not try to risk eating any of that, Daryl..." Jennifer stated on behalf of herself and the others.
"That's a shame..." Daryl replied as he shook his head out of frustration.
Daryl sighed with disappointment as he stood back up on his own feet. He noticed that there was more than one new person here with the members of the camp, although he really didn't give a shit to be honest. Even the new teenage girl with the weird pink hair was just another random person to him that he didn't care to get to know... Daryl stared down at the deer for another moment before he showed off a bit of rope that he had hoisted onto one of his shoulders, and the group could see that it was connected to several dead squirrels. They obviously weren't a deer, but they'd have to do for now.
"I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so... That'll have to do..." Daryl informed.
Suddenly the group could hear a bit of noise coming from under them and they all looked down to see that the decapitated head of the walker was horrifically still conscious and was even opening and closing its mouth, as if it was trying to still bite members of the group.
"Oh my God..." Aelita gasped with shock, horror and pure disgust at seeing this.
Jeremie felt the exact same way as his pink-haired girlfriend, so he gently took her hand and he began to lead her away from the scene and back to the camp, much to Aelita's own relief. The others all kept staring down at the conscious severed walker head with disgust and shock, causing Daryl to frown with annoyance as he raised his crossbow.
"C'mon people... What the hell...?" Daryl asked with confusion as to why everyone was merely standing there.
Daryl suddenly aimed his crossbow down at the walker's right eye and he fired a bolt straight into it, quickly causing the head to die once and for all. The others were still surprised at what they witnessed but at least this situation is dealt with... Now all that was left was to tell Daryl about Merle...
"It's gotta be the brain... Don't y'all know nothing?" Daryl asked the others with an annoyed roll of his eyes.
Daryl kept his crossbow and his squirrels close to him as he began to walk back up towards the camp, not thinking anything was wrong at all. The group cautiously began to follow him up, as they absolutely needed to be prepared for when he'll notice Merle wasn't there at all...
The group soon saw Daryl walk out to the camp through the treeline and the others followed behind him. Daryl already had drawn the gaze of literally everyone at camp, but he didn't notice at all. He just simply kept walking up towards the RV with his squirrels, assuming his brother was in there.
"Merle!" Daryl called out.
No answer...
"Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel!" Daryl informed.
No reply...
The others watched as Daryl walked up past the vehicles before he went to set his crossbow down near one of the campfires, as he intended to begin skinning and cooking the squirrels for a delicious meal. Merle was gonna miss out if he didn't get over here fast...
"Let's stew 'em up!" Daryl said, his mouth nearly watering at the thought of some tasty squirrel stew.
"Daryl...? Hey, man, just slow down a bit... We need to talk to you..." Patrick cautiously informed.
Daryl stopped in his tracks before he could sit down near the campfire. Daryl rose an eyebrow as he saw Patrick and the group approaching him. Something obviously was going on... but what?
"About what...?" Daryl asked.
Some of the camp members and a lot of the Lyoko Warriors made sure to loiter around the area that Daryl and Patrick and the rest of the people involved with this were at, just to monitor the situation and to be able to jump in should anything bad happen... There was no telling what Daryl would do when he's told about Merle being left in the city. They were going to need to be ready for anything that comes next...
"About Merle..." Patrick began, trailing off with a sigh.
"There was a problem in Atlanta..." Miranda quickly said, finishing what Patrick was trying to tell him.
Daryl rose an eyebrow as a feeling of confusion and then realization built up within him. He noticed Merle wasn't out with the rest of the camp... Did he get killed in Atlanta...? Or worse... was he a walker now?
"He dead...?" Daryl bluntly asked.
"We're not sure..." Patrick truthfully replied.
"Well, he either is or he ain't!" Daryl growled with a noticeable tone of anger.
The others noticed that Rick was walking up towards the scene so as to speak with Daryl about the events that occurred back in Atlanta. This was it...
"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it..." Rick informed.
"Who are you...?" Daryl asked.
"Rick Grimes..." Rick replied with a nod.
"Rick Grimes..." Daryl replied in a mocking tone. "You got something you want to tell me?" he asked, a menacing tone dripping from his lips.
The group all stared at Daryl and a few of them made sure to check to see if any weapons were nearby. Chase even set a hand on his pistol just to be extra cautious, although Aelita made him pull his hand away as she didn't want Daryl or anyone else to be harmed, let alone shot...
"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..." Rick finally told Daryl without hesitation.
Silence immediately settled in as Daryl began processing what he just heard. Merle... Merle was left on a rooftop?! As his anger began to rise, T-Dog walked back into the camp while carrying a load of logs, and he immediately froze when he noticed that Daryl had been told about Merle... Aelita, Jeremie, Chase and Ulrich all looked at T-Dog and all of them went wide eyed as they each moved their hands on their necks to move them in a 'cut it out' gesture, signalling T-Dog to stay where he was for his own safety since things were about to get very heated.
"Hold on... Let me process this... Are you saying that you handcuffed my brother to a roof?! And you left him there?!" Daryl shouted with fury.
"...Yeah." Rick finally admitted after a moment.
Daryl had an expression of pure fury on his face, and after a moment he threw his rope of squirrel straight at Rick and attempted to stun him and rush him in order to kick the shit out of him. Rick thankfully managed to duck from the squirrels and both Ulrich and Alexandr quickly rushed forward to try and tackle Daryl in an effort to save Rick. Unfortunately Daryl easily punched Alexandr right in the face before pushing him off, whereas he managed to get a good punch right in Ulrich's stomach before he likewise kicked the teen off of him, much to the shock and concern of Yumi. As Ulrich and Alexandr laid on the ground absolutely winded and with blood coming out of Alexandr's nose Daryl proceeded to pull a Bowie knife out of a sheath he had on his waist before he stood up, full of fury.
"Knife!" Yumi warned everyone.
"Jesus, Daryl! Put that down!" Verity gasped.
"Watch out, guys!" Jeremie exclaimed.
Daryl angrily held up his knife at anyone who dared try to approach him. Unfortunately it was at that moment that Odd decided to try to rush at Daryl in order to grab his knife and disarm him, but as he tried grabbed the blade with his left hand Daryl just simply slashed it downwards, causing a large cut on Odd's palm before he kicked the teen straight to the ground.
"AGH!" Odd exclaimed with pain due to the brand new bloody wound on his palm.
"ODD!" Aelita exclaimed with horror at witnessing her friend being hurt.
Thankfully Daryl didn't get a chance to harm anyone else as he was suddenly tackled by the combined effort of Chase, Patrick, Dylan and Charles, who all made sure to grab Daryl's arms and to get that damn knife out of his hands. Daryl was struggling and thrashing as he tried his hardest to break out of the grip of these teens, but he just simply couldn't.
"You best let me go!" Daryl warned with a growl.
"I think its better if I don't, buddy..." Dylan frowned as he merely tightened his hold on the angry man's arm and kept it pinned.
Ulrich coughed a bit into one of his hands and he managed to sit up from his spot on the ground, still clutching his stomach. However despite taking a very hard hit from Daryl and despite feeling incredibly sore from it he managed to regain his composure pretty fast, and then he quickly hurried over to the teens pinning down Daryl and he helped them by wrapping his arm tightly around Daryl's neck, putting him in a pretty hard chokehold to get him to stop resisting.
"Chokehold's illegal!" Daryl growled.
"I don't care, dickhead!" Ulrich growled right back.
Daryl was quickly forced to the ground by Ulrich and Patrick as Dylan, Chase and Charles all backed away. Aelita ran to help Odd off the ground and to help him find something to bandage up his blood-covered hand as Miranda went to help Alexandr with his bloody nose. Daryl kept struggling as hard as he could, but Ulrich kept a very tight hold on his neck that made it nearly impossible for the infuriated man to escape from.
"C'mon man! We'll keep this up all day!" Shane frowned as he watched Daryl struggling.
After a couple of more moments the infuriated man finally ceased his struggling, although Ulrich continued to keep a tight hold on Daryl's neck just to be cautious and just to give a little payback for both Alexandr and Odd. Everyone continued to watch the scene as Rick walked up to the pair and he crouched in front of Daryl with a frown on his face.
"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic... Do you think you can manage that...?" Rick asked.
Daryl panted due to his own exhaustion and the fact that he was unable to breath due to Ulrich's strong headlock. He definitely wasn't gonna win this one...
"Yeah..." Daryl managed to say to the police officer.
Rick looked up at Ulrich and gave him a nod, signalling for him to let go of Daryl. Ulrich nodded back and he quickly let go of Daryl's neck before he pulled away, allowing the man his freedom and the right to breath once more. Daryl coughed and he gasped for breath, but after a moment he was fine aside from his feelings of anger and tiredness.
"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others..." Rick stated with a frown.
T-Dog finally stepped up to speak with Daryl, even at the risk of harm like what happened with Ulrich, Alexandr and Odd. He had to let him know it was his fault and not entirely Rick's...
"It's not Rick's fault... I had the key. I dropped it." T-Dog admitted.
"You couldn't pick it up...?!" Daryl asked with a tone of shock as he was absolutely dumbfounded.
"I dropped it in a drain..." T-Dog sighed.
Daryl simply frowned up at T-Dog after he heard him say that. Around this time, Aelita had led Odd to the RV and was working on bandaging his hand with a roll of gauze she found, thankful that Chase and Dylan had taught her how to properly bandage a wound. The wound didn't look deep enough for stitches to be needed either, so at least that was something positive at the moment. Alexandr was also led to the RV by Miranda so he could get the blood to stop flowing out of his nose with whatever paper towels she could find.
The group continued to watch the scene as Daryl got himself up and off of the ground, brushing himself off with anger at the events that had occurred today...
"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't..." Daryl frowned.
"Well, maybe this will..." T-Dog replied. "Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him... Locked it with a padlock." he explained.
"That's definitely going to have to count for something..." Ulrich stated.
Daryl kept frowning at the group for several more moments as he took in their words, taking a moment to wipe a tear of pure frustration from one of his eyes as he felt distraught and angry. They did have a point... With that padlock on that door leading to the roof, there was a much better chance than he originally thought that Merle was still alive.
He had to rescue him...
"Hell with all y'all!" Daryl angrily dismissed. "Just tell me where he is so's I can go get him!" he ordered.
"He'll show you." Lori suddenly said of her husband.
Most of the camp was taken aback by this, especially Rick. The officer looked over at his wife and saw she was standing in the doorway of the RV, staring straight at him... She knew he wanted to go to try and save the man he himself left in Atlanta, even if both she and Rick himself thought it absolutely foolish.
"Isn't that right...?" Lori guessed of what Rick's answer was going to be.
Rick stared at his wife for a moment before he gave her a nod of confirmation, much to her disappointment and worry. He just came back from the dead and now he was gonna risk his life all over again...?
"I'm coming back..." Rick assured his wife.
Lori wasn't convinced whatsoever as she knew the odds of survival out there these days, but she simply sighed and went straight back inside the RV to be with Carl. Rick then proceeded to go and grab his Python revolver with an annoyed Shane following close behind him, as he absolutely couldn't understand why Rick would risk his life for someone who's such an incomprehensible asshole. Meanwhile, the Lyoko Warriors all gathered back up together, with Odd still clutching his bandaged hand and Alexandr holding a paper towel on his bloody nose.
"That could've gone so much smoother..." Jennifer stated with a sigh.
"Christ, Odd, that looked real bad... You okay?" Verity asked out of concern.
Odd showed off his bandaged hand to his friends as he nodded at Verity. He knew that he'll be fine, but damn was his hand hurting real badly at the moment. Hopefully it wouldn't scar his palm, but he wasn't having any expectations to be that lucky at the moment...
"I can't believe that son of a bitch did that!" Ulrich growled with fury about Daryl as he saw his best friend's bandaged hand.
"I can't believe that jerk almost broke my nose!" Alexandr likewise growled with anger at what Daryl did.
The others all were just as flabbergasted about what happened as Alexandr was. Hopefully his and Odd's wounds were going to heal without any trouble in the near future... The group noticed that the rest of the camp was already gathering up together to speak about something, so obviously there was yet another thing going on. Lori and Carl both had likewise came out of the RV and were sitting at a campfire with a few of the others as they listened to Rick, Shane and Daryl. The Lyoko Warriors all walked over to the others to see what they were speaking about.
"What does that sodding douchebag want now?" Rebecca frowned as she gestured over towards Daryl.
"Hey, choose your words more carefully..." Daryl warned with a menacing tone dripping from his lips.
"No, she did. 'Sodding douchebag' is exactly what she meant considering what you did to Odd and Alex... You best not try to confront her on that, Daryl." Dylan bluntly threatened in order to defend his girlfriend.
Daryl simply rolled his eyes and shook his head as he didn't give Dylan or Rebecca the satisfaction of any answer. The couple simply shrugged with annoyance at Daryl after seeing this and both they and the rest of the Lyoko Warriors soon turned their attention back to the others.
"They're talking about going back to save Merle..." T-Dog informed the teens.
The group was surprised at hearing that. Rick going by himself was one thing, but was he going to go with others as well? Who would even think of doing that?!
"Merle Dixon...? The guy wouldn't give you a crumb of food even if you're in the middle of dying of starvation!" Miranda stated.
"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest us. I can't let a man die of thirst... Thirst and exposure..." Rick stated as a reply.
"As much as I absolutely loath Merle, Rick has a point..." Chase agreed. "They left him like an animal caught in a trap... No one deserves to die like that, not even a prick like Merle Dixon. I'm going with Rick." he added.
The group all looked over at Chase and Rick, and Aelita was absolutely shocked to hear her brother saying he was going to help Rick. She just reunited with him and now he was just going to take off to rescue a terrible man? Granted, Aelita agreed that no one deserved to die like that, but she was hoping that Chase would just stay at the camp with her and Dylan.
"So you, Chase, and Daryl? That's your big plan?" Lori asked with a bit of sarcasm.
Both Rick and Chase then suddenly looked directly at Glenn, causing the Asian man to blink for a moment before he quietly groaned with realization. They wanted him to go with them since he knew how to get around the city...
"Oh, come on..." Glenn groaned.
"You know the way. You've been there before. In and out, no problem. You said so yourself..." Rick stated. "It's not fair of us to ask, I know that. But we'd feel a lot better with you along..." he added.
"That's just great... Now you're gonna risk four men, huh...?" Shane again asked with an annoyed frown.
T-Dog then approached Rick and Chase, immediately drawing everyone's attention.
"Five..." T-Dog added himself.
Ulrich appeared to have a deep look of thought for several more silent moments, but after that he simply frowned and likewise stepped up to Rick and Chase. His friend was going to need some help in Atlanta, regardless of whatever he personally thought of Daryl or Merle Dixon.
"Six." Ulrich simply said.
"WHAT?!" Yumi exclaimed with shock and a bit of horror.
Ulrich was going to go out into Atlanta?! Yumi was absolutely shocked at what her boyfriend had just said... Did he just want to get himself killed?! Chase was very surprised to see that Ulrich wanted to come and so was the rest of the Lyoko Warriors, whereas Daryl just simply scoffed with annoyance.
"My day just gets better and better, don't it...?" Daryl asked with sarcasm.
"You see anybody else here stepping up? To save your brother's cracker ass...?" T-Dog frowned.
"Why you...?" Daryl frowned back at the man who left his brother behind.
"You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language..." T-Dog simply replied.
The others were all still surprised at what was going on. Six men were going to head into downtown Atlanta...? That seemed suicidal... Yumi and Odd then quietly went to go and stand next to Ulrich, causing him to stare at the two with a feeling of confusion.
"That's six..." Jeremie stated as he was likewise keeping track of how many were going.
"I'm going with them..." Yumi announced.
"Me too!" Odd added.
Ulrich's eyes widened with hearing this. No... There was absolutely no way that his best friend and the girl that he loved would be coming along for this. It was too dangerous! And besides... if they got bit then he wouldn't know what to do. He couldn't risk losing either of them...
"What?! Absolutely not! You guys are both staying here! Odd, you just got your hand sliced open by that hillbilly!" Ulrich said in an effort to try and get both Yumi and Odd to stay.
"If you're going, then we're going. No arguments on that." Yumi sternly replied to her boyfriend. "Neither of us are even considering letting you go out to 'hell on earth' by yourself! Non-negotiable!" she stated.
"Absolutely! We'd be crazy not to back you and Chase up on this, Ulrich! My hand's fine!" Odd said as he gave a reassuring smile.
"We probably could use their help on this one, Ulrich..." Chase suggested to his friend with a shrug.
As much as he hated to admit it, Ulrich knew Chase had a point. If they were going to go after Merle then they would need all the help they could get. Ulrich looked over at Yumi and Odd, and with a sigh he gave them a resigned nod of acceptance. They would come with, but Ulrich was damn sure not going to let a walker bite either of them...
"Then that's eight..." Charles stated.
"It's not just eight." Shane frowned.
Shane was very annoyed that this situation was happening, let alone even being considered as an option. Merle Dixon's fate was something he wouldn't wish on anyone, but he wasn't worth the lives of eight people from the camp!
"You're putting every single one of us at risk, just know that, Rick..." Shane frowned. "Come on, you guys saw that walker! It was here. It was in camp! They're moving out of the cities... If they come back, then we'll need every able body we can get. We need 'em to protect camp!" he added.
"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns..." Rick simply replied.
Glenn's eyes widened in realization as he immediately realized what Rick was talking about. He nearly forgot all about the guns due to the fiasco back in Atlanta and here at the camp!
"Right... The guns!" Glenn said.
"Wait... What guns?" Miranda asked.
"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles and over a dozen handguns..." Rick replied.
The others had absolutely no idea what Rick was talking about. All of them except for the original five Lyoko Warriors that is... Aelita, Jeremie, Ulrich, Odd and Yumi all remembered that when they were rescued by Rick on the highway he had a large dufflebag full to the brim with rifles, pistols, shotguns and seemingly enough bullets to invade a small nation. The last time that the teens saw that bag was on Rick's back after he got on that horse to get the rest of the way to Atlanta... he must've lost the bag in the city!
"I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left... I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed." Rick explained.
"Then... that means that it's still sitting on the street!" Rebecca stated.
"Waiting to be picked up..." Rick confirmed with a nod.
Admittedly Shane's absolute hesitance to agree with this rescue mission for Merle softened a bit when he heard about these guns. If Rick and the rescue team could somehow get that bag and bring it back to camp, then the guns would definitely make defending the camp and its people much easier in the event of an attack by walkers. Hell, all they really had right now was some pistols, Shane's shotgun and a rifle or two, along with the weapons that the original five Lyoko Warriors brought with them when they came to the camp yesterday.
"Ammo?" Shane asked.
"Seven hundred rounds, assorted..." Rick replied.
"Those guns alone would be worth the trip... Even with the guns we brought with us aren't enough to arm the rest of the camp." Jeremie stated.
Although Shane and the others in the camp were slowly coming around to the idea of having more guns at the camp, Lori was still absolutely worried about her husband.
"You went through hell to find us... You just got here, and now you're gonna turn around and leave?" Lori asked with confusion at her husband's actions.
"Dad... I don't want you to go..." Carl likewise said to his father.
"To hell with the guns! Shane is right..." Lori commented to her husband. "Merle Dixon?! He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in!" she added.
Rick went over to talk with his wife and son in order to explain to them as to why he felt he had to go and save Merle, even without the guns being brought back if necessary. As he did that, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd and Chase all walked over to talk with the rest of the Lyoko Warriors, who simply could not believe that their four friends would volunteer for this.
"Are you guys insane?! You're seriously going to try and rescue that son of a bitch?!" Jennifer asked, completely dumbfounded.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?! It's Merle Dixon for Christ sakes!" Rebecca added.
Aelita walked over to Chase and she firmly grabbed one of his shoulders with her hand, staring at him with a wide eyed expression of shock and pure worry. Chase looked back at her and felt his stomach drop when he saw the look on her face, making him feel saddened and a bit guilty.
"Are you seriously going to head into that deathtrap...? You, Odd and Yumi...?" Aelita asked out of concern.
"We have to, sis..." Chase replied in an effort to ease her worry. "Look, Merle's an absolutely terrible human being, but we can't just let him die from thirst up there... Hell, even if we weren't going back there for him we still need guns. We'll be back..." he explained.
The two siblings stared at each other for another moment and Chase could tell that Aelita was still definitely very worried at the prospect of her brother and three of her closest friends heading into a whole city full of cannibalistic monsters. Yumi, Odd and Ulrich all noticed that both Aelita and the rest of the Lyoko Warriors all seemed to be either nervous, worried or unnerved about their rescue mission.
"We'll come back, Princess... You can bet on that." Odd assured.
"Exactly... Once we get Merle and those guns we'll head straight back here." Ulrich assured.
Yumi smiled and went over to the pink-haired girl she thought of as a little sister before she quickly pulled her in for a hug to try and evaporate whatever worries she felt about them. Aelita was surprised by this but she soon returned the hug as well.
"I promise we're coming back... We won't end up like William, Aelita..." Yumi assured.
"A- Alright... Alright..." Aelita replied as she tried to not worry about her brother and her friends. "But you four made a promise and I will definitely hold you guys to that..." she also stated.
"We wouldn't have it any other way at all, 'Lita." Chase smiled at his sister. "While we're out in Atlanta I'll be sure to look for a chocolate bar or something for you, Dylan and Jenny to make up for this..." he smiled.
Aelita immediately perked up and a smile formed on her face when she heard Chase say that, and Dylan likewise smiled at the prospect of eating something sweet for the first time in weeks. Unfortunately Jennifer overheard Chase saying he would try to find chocolate for them, and her eyes widened with excitement and pure craving since she loved eating anything made of either chocolate, beef or chili. Without saying a word she began to run as fast as she could to her boyfriend and she literally jump-tackled him straight to the ground before he could do anything to stop her, causing the other Lyoko Warriors to break out laughing at this.
Rick then came walking over to the group and noticed that Jennifer and Chase were both on the ground and that the others were laughing, causing him to blink with confusion.
"Did I miss something...?" Rick asked.
Jennifer and Chase both looked up at Rick for a moment before they quickly got back up on their feet, blushing a bit and averting their gazes from everyone around them due to what they mutually saw as an awkward situation. The Lyoko Warriors either chuckled to themselves or just grinned at the couple before they turned their attention back over to Rick.
"Uh... right. What was I saying...?" Rick blinked before he remembered what he had to tell the teens. "Oh, right. Dale told me that he'd let us take the U-Haul van and some bolt cutters if in exchange we get his tools back in Atlanta. We accidentally left them on the roof of the department store with Merle when we left..." he explained.
"Alright, we'll keep an eye out for those as well. They could be pretty useful later on." Yumi agreed.
Rick nodded at the Japanese girl and then he left to go and gather what little ammunition was available for his Colt Python from Shane, leaving the Lyoko Warriors to themselves for the time being. The teens all looked at the four Lyoko Warriors that would go with Rick, Daryl, T-Dog and Glenn before they began to form a huge group hug with each other, with Ulrich, Odd, Chase and Yumi all returning it to their friends.
They were going to get Merle, Dale's tools and those guns and then they were going to come back... ALL of them. Amy and William were the only Lyoko Warriors to die so far and they damn sure were going to be the last.
"Good luck, guys..." Aelita smiled.
"Thanks, 'Lita... We'll be back before you know it." Ulrich smiled back.
The group then heard a loud banging noise and they turned to see that Daryl was already in the back of the U-Haul truck and impatiently banging his hand against the interior wall, frowning at the teens, Rick T-Dog.
"Come on! Let's go!" Daryl said with anger and impatience.
With that the Lyoko Warriors saw Rick and T-Dog heading for the U-Haul, with Glenn already sitting in the driver's seat and ready to go. Yumi grabbed her AR-15, Ulrich kept his sword close to him, Chase took his M1911 pistol and Odd kept his snub-nosed revolver with him as all four of the teens walked to the back of the U-Haul and climbed in with T-Dog and Daryl, with Rick going to sit in the passenger seat next to Glenn. All four of the teens looked back at their friends and smiled as they waved at them, with the rest of the Lyoko Warriors all waving back at them and wishing them well.
Daryl went to shut the back door of the U-Haul after this, and soon the entire camp was watching as the rescue team and the U-Haul began to drive away with the city of Atlanta being their destination.
The odds were against all of them.