Atlanta

The group remained in silence while Rick put his sheriff shirt on, and I glanced between the members, stopping at Daryl particularly. I hadn't quite made up my mind about him yet.

"-for a douchebag like Merle Dixon!" Shane's voice followed Rick up from the tents.

"Hey, choose your words more carefully." Daryl warned Shane, but he shook his head.

"Nuh uh, douchebag's what I meant." The two men continued to bicker while I turned to Danielle.

"What do you think? Think he's alive?" She didn't even have to say anything - she just gave me one of her looks.

"So thats your big plan? You and Daryl?" Lori gave him an annoyed though concerned look, and Rick turned to Glenn, who groaned loudly. Poor guy.

"Aww, come on!"

"You know the way, you've been there before - in and out, no problem. You said so yourself." Glenn smoothed his hair before replacing his cap, obviously not wanting to do this. "It's not fair of me to ask, I know that, but i'd feel a lot better with you along." Shane stepped in.

"That's just great, so now you're gonna risk 3 of our men, huh?"

"Four." T-Dog stepped forward.

"My day just gets better and better." Daryl scoffed, and T-Dog gave him a stone hard look.

"I don't see anyone else stepping up to save your crack brother's ass."

"Why you?"

"You wouldn't even begin to understand, you don't speak my language."

I got tired of listening to the argument. It had nothing to do with me anyway.

"Hey Dani, i'll be down at the quarry." She nodded, and I slipped away behind the RV on the stumbly path on the way down to the quarry. I hadn't quite made up my mind what I was going to do. Sunbathe? Go for a swim? See if I could catch anything? In the end, I ended up just sitting there, watching the water. I tried not to think about everything that had happened, but eventually my thoughts drifted.

Why did I hate this Merle guy so much? And plus, why did I like his brother so much? The end of the world isn't exactly the best time to start a crush.

"Michelle?" I turned around to see Carol and Amy walking down the hill, carrying buckets. I smiled, and tossed a stone into the river.

"Hey guys." They came and sat next to me, dumping the buckets in front of them.

"You alright?" Amy asked, and I nodded.

"Just trying to get a grip on things, I guess." I flashed them a polite smile, and Carol put her hand on my shoulder.

"Want to help us with the washing?" I nodded, not really having much else to do. Shane and Carl came down the other side, chatting happily, while Jacqui and Andrea came down from behind. We each greeted each other, and then got to work washing and sorting. We began chatting about the silliest things, and for the first time since I was walking home from work that night, I felt normal. These people were my friends, and we were just chilling down by the lake. There was lots of splashing, and Shane jumped into the water, obviously messing around with Carl. I heard Jacqui sigh behind me.

"Can someone explain to me how women wound up doing all the daily work?"

"The world ended, didn't you get the memo?" Amy joked, and I chuckled.

"Always been like that, I guess."

"Yep, just the way it is," Carol added. There was a few minutes of silence before she spoke again. "I do miss my maytag."

"I miss my Benz," Andrea added. "My sat-nav."

"I miss my coffee machine, with that dual-drip filter and built-in grinder honey." Jacqui joined in. Amy stared ahead, remembering.

"I miss my computer. Texting." I nodded enthusiastically. That was definitely something I missed.

"I miss my vibrator." Everyone turned to Andrea, and began 'oooohh'ing. Carol glanced over her
shoulder, before leaning in.

"Me too." We all burst into laughter. It again, reminded me so much of talking to my friends. Being able to talk to anyone about anything.

"What about you, Michelle?" Amy asked, and I sighed.

"I miss my guitar. And music." Everyone nodded, staring out over the lake. Andrea began tapping her feet, and humming to herself. Amy was the first to notice, and laughed, and started singing something. I couldn't hear what she was singing, which annoyed me. It wasn't until they both started singing a little louder, I realised what it was, and started joining in.

"She said you gotta hold on, to what we got-" They both turned to me and laughed, before joining in again. Carol joined in quietly, while Jacqui just shook her head and laughed at us.

"We got each other, and that's enough for love, we'll give it a shot!" I jumped up to my feet and started to point out over the quarry, belting it out, and sending the girls into hysterics. Andrea and Amy jumped up too, and we sang the chorus at the top of our lungs, dancing around.

"Woooaaahh! We're halfway there! WOOOOAAAAH! LIVING ON A PRAYER!"

"What's going on over here?" We all turned around to see Carol's husband Ed sauntering down, eyeing us suspiciously.

"Just messing around, Ed." Andrea sighed, and we all went back to work, the good mood ruined. We continued in silence, but Ed continued to linger around. Andrea was the only one to point it out. "Problem, Ed?"

"None that concerns you." He remarked, and Andrea shook her head. "You wanna focus on your work? This ain't no comedy club." I scoffed, and turned around to face him. Who the hell did he think he was? Andrea continued to suck it up and let it go, but Ed didn't budge, and I could tell she was getting annoyed.

"Alright Ed, tell you what. You don't like how you're laundry's done? You are more than welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here." She tossed him the wet cloth, which he tossed back into Andrea's face. That was that. I got to my feet and stood directly in front of him.

"Right, who the fuck dae ye think ye are? Thinking ye can just go messin aboot some girls cause yee've got nothing better to do that sit on your arse and smoke?"

"Well ain't listening to some stuck up little Scottish bitch, that's for sure. Come on." I felt my arm twitch, aching to slap him across the face, but Andrea stood in front. I put an arm out to stop Carol from abiding, which she always did.

"I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed."

"I don't think I need to take orders from you. Come on now, you heard me." Carol tried to push past us, but Andrea and I kept her from the prick. "Hey, don't think I won't knock you on your ass."

"You so much as touch her-"

"That includes you." He leaned down into my face, but he didn't scare me. I knew guys like him. "Come on, or you gon' regret it later."

"So she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed?" Jacqui's words ignited the hate in my chest, and I turned to Ed, ready to smack him hard across the head. He was no better than a walker.

"Don't keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am done talking. Come on." He grabbed Carol's arm.
"No, you don't have to-" Everyone kept a hold of Carol, not letting her go, but Ed got rougher, and it was when his hand collided with her cheek that I sprung into action.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I cracked him hard over the head while Andrea pushed into him. Jacqui pushed us apart while Amy held Carol, protecting her from the dickhead behind us. I went for him again, but he was suddenly ripped away, and within a couple of seconds he was on the ground, punches thrown at him from Shane. He punched him again and again and again, fury in his eyes and in his fists. Carol burst into tears terrified, while the girls shouted for him to stop. It was when Ed stopped struggling that panic arose.

"Shane!" Carol ran straight over as soon as Shane let him go, apologising over and over. Shane stepped back, catching his breath and looked at us. I didn't complain, I just nodded. In my eyes, he did the right thing.

Bastard had what was coming to him.