Atlanta

The following morning was almost pleasant: there was a fresh atmosphere, and everyone was about, doing their duties. Since I had none, I asked around to see how I could help, and was eventually asked by Carol to give her a hand. She was washing and ironing clothes, and I offered to fold them once she ironed. It wasn't that big a task, but it helped her. We ended up delving into a conversation about Atlanta, and she explained that everyone had been told that Atlanta was the safe spot, that there would be food, shelter and medicine. Only, they got there to see nothing but walkers, so banded together, and set up camp outside of town.

"I've never even been near the city. I mean, I saw it from a distance, but there's only so much you can see." She shook her head.

"The best advice I can give you is to stay as far away from Atlanta as possible. The walkers are absoloutely everywhere." I nodded an okay, and continued folding. I wondered what it would be like to be surrounded by hundreds of walkers. I had only ever seen one at a time, and that was terrifying enough for me. I suddenly thought of Merle again, and screwed my eyes shut to not think about him.

"Morning." I looked up to see Rick approaching. I gave him a kind smile before returning to my work, not wanting to eavesdrop on him and Carol's conversation. When he walked away, I watched Lori's reaction as he approached. I instantly remembered how she reacted when she was reunited with Rick. There was something in her eyes...fear maybe? The sound of an engine filled the camp, and Shane pulled up in his jeep.

"Water's here, y'all. Just a reminder to boil before use." Everyone flocked over to collect a tank of water, but I noticed Shane watching Rick and more importantly, Lori. The issue had been bugging me for a day now, and I needed to talk to someone about it.

"Carol, you don't think there was anything going on between Shane and Lori, do you?" She gave me an awkward look, and then glanced up to Shane.

"Everyone thought Shane was Carl's father before Lori explained the whole thing with Rick. I don't know for sure, but it seems in every likelihood." We both abandonded our post to collect water for ourselves, until we heard the scream. Everyone froze, and I felt my heart stop. It could only mean one thing.

Rick and Shane were the first to react, bounding across the camp into the woods in the direction of the cry for help, and Lori was only a foot behind them.

"Dad!" I instantly recognised the voice as Carl's, and sprung to my feet, chasing the others. It sounded like everyone in the camp was running. Lori called out for her son, and he emerged from out of nowhere, running staight into his mothers arms. Jacqui was behind them, ushering him and Sophia to their parents. Rick and Shane shot forward, and I started running again once I made sure the kids were okay. Glenn caught up to us, and we finally closed in on a lone walker in the middle of a clearing. Rick, Shane, Glenn, Jim and I circled around it, ready to attack. It didn't notice us though, it was too busy feeding on a deer. I suddenly wished I had a weapon, and was about to decide on my foot being a weapon, until Andrea handed me my pole. I turned around, and suddenly everyone was there: Dale and Morales had appeared with weapons of their own, and Amy, Andrea and Dani stood away, trying to contain the contents of their stomachs. The walker lunged for Rick, but with one clean swipe he cracked it in the head. Shane was next to take a swing for it, and suddenly it was a free for all.

"Take this you son of a bitch," I muttered quietly to myself, and suddenly all the emotions I had bottled up over these past few days came pouring out as I hit the creature as hard as I could with the pole again and again. With one big lunge, Dale swung his axe high above his head, and chopped its head clean off. Everyone stopped, catching their breath, and staring in horror at the beaten thing before us.

"That's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up in the mountain," Dale expressed his worry.

"Probably running out of food in the city, that's what," Jim suggested, and some of us nodded. I glanced back to the walker, and then noticed the two arrows lodged into the deer's backside.

"A walker couldn't have done that, could it?" Everyone looked to the deer for a split second before the rustling of leaves caught all of our attention. Shane pointed his shotgun at the leaves, and everyone watched intently, waiting for a walker to appear. A figure pushed past the leaves, and a man emerged, a crossbow hanging from his right hand. He stopped suddenly, taken aback by the welcome he'd received, until he carried on not bothered. Shane lowered his weapon, and the others let out a sigh of relief as the man came into the clearing. He caught sight of the deer and groaned.

"Oh, son of a bitch!" His strong southern accent caught me off guard somehow. Whether it was because I wasn't expecting it, or maybe because it was well...sexy. I suddenly paid more attention to him as he got nearer. Well he wasn't too bad looking. Not too bad looking at all... "That's my deer! Look at it all knawed on by this...FILTHY, DISEASE RIDDEN, MOTHERLESS, POXY, BASTARD!" He groaned, kicking it hard with each word. I saw Rick eye him up suspiciously.

Well. This must be Merle's brother.

"Calm down son, that's not helping," Dale remarked softly, and Daryl advanced toward him. I took an instinctive step toward Dale, not going to let this guy - no matter how hot he was - touch Dale.

"What do you know old man? Why don't you take off that stupid hat and go back to On Golden Pond?"

"Hey!" I called out, almost taunting him. He stopped and turned around to face me, giving me the most derogatory look his face could form.

"And who's this then?" I didn't let my glare slide from my face.

"Michelle Reid. And you must be Daryl Dixon." He stepped back, his gaze not leaving me.

"When'd she get here, huh?"

"Two days ago, came with her friend Danielle." Shane explained, gesturing over to where Danielle was standing, but he didn't shift his gaze. He just shook his head and turned away, muttering under his breath, but I heard it.

"Stupid prissy chick coming and-"

"HAWL!" I shouted, my anger emphasising my Scottish accent. I lunged forward, but Rick and Dale held me back. Daryl just chuckled and faced his deer once more.

"I've been tracking this deer for miles. I was gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison." He muttered, removing his arrows from the deer. "What do you think, think we could just cut around this chewed up part around here?" He looked up at the group for an opinion, and Shane shook his head.

"We can't risk that." Daryl sighed and got to his feet.

"Damn shame. I got us some squirrel, that'll have to do."

"Actually, we're alright for food," Glenn pointed out, and Daryl turned to him confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"Michelle and Danielle. When they found us, they had loads of food and supplies, so we let them stay with us in return for them sharing what they had." Daryl turned to me again, giving me the exact same look.

"Is that right?" I nodded slowly and clearly. What was this guy's problem? I was giving up my own food to feed him and his group, and I still wasn't good enough to be in his presence. The dismembered head began to snarl and roll around (causing Amy and Danielle to get as far away as possible), and Daryl turned to face it. "Come on people, what the hell?" He aimed his crossbow at the head, and without taking a second fired an arrow directly through the walker's eye. Not bad. I still wasn't sure of him though. "Gotta be the brain, don't you people know that?" He muttered as he pulled his arrow out, and put it back into his crossbow, walking away. We all set off back for camp, Daryl in front, and we just got to the RV when the inevitable happened.

"Merle! Hey Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! Got us some squirell! Come stew 'em up." I shared a look of uneasiness with Lori, as Rick and Shane walked ahead to catch up with him.

"Hey Daryl, slow down a bit, I gotta talk to you a bit." Daryl turned around to face Shane, looking a little calmer, though still absoloutely terrifying.

"Yeah? 'bout what?"

"'Bout Merle. There was a, uh, problem in Atlanta." I went to stand next to the rest of the girls at the RV, waiting to see how he would react.

"He dead?" He asked quietly, and most of us shifted uncomfortably.

"We're not sure." Rick stepped forward, and Daryl spun around to face him.

"What do you mean you ain't sure? He either is or he ain't!"

"Look, there's no easy way to say this, so I'll just come out and say it." Daryl suddenly lost a lot of authority (or so it appeared) as Rick stood next to him, but his harsh personality remained.

"And who are you?"

"Rick Grimes." He groaned, looking over toward Danielle and I.

"What is it with all these new people today,huh?" He looked back to Rick and continued his glare. "Rick Grimes. You got something you wanna tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all." Rick kept a stern tone, but still calm enough as to not infuriate Daryl even further. No wonder this guy was a Sheriff. "I handcuffed him to a roof, attached him to a piece of metal. He's still there." I inhaled deeply, preparing for what was coming. Daryl walked away from Rick for a second, before turning around wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Alright, let me process this. You say you handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you left him there!?" His voice echoed around the camp, and but no one moved. Rick was the only one brave enough to breathe.

"Yeah." Daryl paced for a couple of seconds, before he suddenly tossed his squirrels over Rick's head and lunged for him. Shane took care of it, as he barged into Daryl knocking him over. On the ground, I noticed him pulling something from his pocket.

"He's got a knife!" Danielle warned, but Rick faced him again. He dodged a couple of swings, before grabbing his arm and disarming him, while Shane got him around the neck. My heart was pounding faster with the thrill of the fight, but mostly the fear of someone getting hurt. Shane kept Daryl in a choke hold while Rick spoke to him.

"I would like to have a nice, calm discussion. You think you can do that?" You could almost feel the heat of Daryl's anger, and he was still breathing very quickly. Shane finally released him, and Rick leaned in closer. "What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work or play well with others."

"It's not Rick's fault." Everyone turned around to see T-Dog standing in the background, a hard expression on his face. "I dropped the key."

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl spat and T-Dog exhaled.

"I dropped it down the drain." Daryl scoffed, and then let his body collapse to the ground in defeat. There was something unnerving about the sight - Daryl Dixon was a tough as nails, ruthless, badass, and here he was, lying helplessly on the ground in front of everyone. He stayed down for a couple of seconds before he pushed himself up onto his feet, and started walking away.

"If that's supposed to make me feel better, it don't." T-Dog stopped him.

"Maybe this will - 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 added. Daryl ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"To hell with all y'all! I don't know where he is! How's I gon' get him?"

"He'll show you." Lori said suddenly, and I turned to her confused. "Isn't that right?" Everyone turned to Rick for answers.

"I'm going back."