It's Over When It's Over

We all got up to go back on the road again. I didn’t get any sleep. I was so uncomfortable and Merle's snoring didn’t help. “Merle! You’re driving!” Daryl yelled as he packed up the tent. We got everything in the truck and we were off.
“Can we stop and buy blankets, and pillows.” I asked.
“Why buy, when we can just take!” Merle suggested. “I’m sure we’ll find a few empty houses on the way.” I wasn’t okay with the idea but they went along with it anyways. We stopped at a house, and they came out with what I asked for with more food and we drove for a few more hours again. Daryl passed out on my shoulder so I laid my head on his and soon fell asleep myself.
I woke up by myself. When I looked around I saw Merle sitting by a fire. I got out of the truck to ask were Daryl went.
“He went huntin.” I nodded and sat next to him to get warm by the fire. “Did you ever find out if you are prego?” Merle chuckled.
“You’re pregnant?” Daryl asked softly from behind us before I could answer Merle. This is the last thing I ever wanted. I looked at Daryl and he looked scared, shocked.
“No.” I said as I stood up. “I’m not pregnant. I thought I was though.”
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me? What if you were?” Daryl raised his voice. “Huh? We should be in Atlanta then!”
“But I’m not.” I softly said as I walked to Daryl.
“Dat ain’t the point!” He spat as he through a string of squirrels on the ground. “You thought you were gonna have my kid and you didn’t tell me! I could have helped ya! Why didn’t you say anything?” he continued to yell. As we fought Merle laughed and Daryl yelled at him to ‘shut the hell up’.
“Well I wanted to wait until I was sure.” I explained, “I didn’t want to get happy over something I wasn’t sure about.” Daryl glared at me without an answer. Daryl was mad. He had to understand that I wanted to see if I was actually pregnant before I said anything. I guess I understood why he was mad though. I mean there was a chance he could have been a father and it was my fault for not checking earlier.
Daryl ignored me for the rest of the night. Daryl does this thing all the time. I’ve noticed Daryl will catch on quickly that I meant the best but because he made such a big deal over something he doesn’t want to back out right away showing he was sorry. So he’ll wait hours or even days until he’ll admit he’s sorry so I just have to wait and say sorry myself.
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We’ve been driving for 3 days now. Daryl and Merle have taken down 17 walkers. I tried to stay in the truck as much as possible so the walkers wouldn’t get near me. Daryl was still angry with me though. He isn’t as angry about it as before but still he’s mad. I’m hoping he’d forgive me once we settle down somewhere. I was really glad because we were almost to the quarry. When we drove around the hill we saw that there were people up at the quarry already.
“Hell now we can’t stay there.” Daryl grunted.
“Wait, we can join them. We’d be stronger with a group. Let me talk to them.”
“I’m not alright with it but fine! Just don’t get us killed!” Daryl growled. As we got closer to the group a man standing on an RV pointed his gun at us. I was worried but I understood, the people have to protect each other. I told Merle to pull over a little ways down so I could walk to them; show I’m not a threat. When he did I walked to the group putting my hands in the air showing I had no weapons.
When I finally made it to the group I approached them slowly, “Hi. I’m no trouble we just need a group and we saw you guys. We thought we’d give it a shot and ask.”
A man with a shot gun in his hands walked up to me, aiming the gun at me. “Turn around!” He demanded. I looked over at Daryl’s truck and saw him getting out with his crossbow. I looked at him shacking my head. I didn’t want him doing anything to mess this up for us.
“Shane, let the poor girl go!” A woman with long brown hair yelled. The man Shane lowered his gun. As the women walked up to me I saw 3 kids behind her. One of the boys I knew, and thought I’d never see again.
“Daniel?” I yelled. He looked at me. It was my 9 year old nephew.
“Aunt Lora?” He yelled back. He stopped what he was doing, pushed passed the women and Shane and ran to me. I hugged him with all my might. I was so glad to see family. Someone I knew. I began crying I was so glad to see him. “Dad!” He yelled. I saw my brother Jack walk out of one of the tents. He saw me and his face lite up. He ran to Daniel and me.
“I thought I’d never see you guys again!” I cried. I looked at everyone’s faces at the camp. Their eyes began to water up at our touching moment.
“Is Daryl with you?” Jack asked.
“Yeah.” I got up and yelled at Merle and Daryl, “You guys get up here!”
“Welcome to the group.” The man Shane said. “Sorry about the whole gun thing. You never know who you can trust now. I’m Shane.” I smiled at him and introduced myself, and picked up Daniel hugging him again. When Daryl and Merle got up here, Jack hugged both of them when they got out the truck.
“Hi I’m Lori and this is my son Carl.” The woman said.
“Hey. I’m Lora. This is my boyfriend Daryl and his brother Merle.” Lori shook their hands. Merle and Daryl followed Shane and Jack to talk about protecting the group as Lori introduced me to the rest of the group. There was Amy and Andrea the sisters, Carol, Ed, and their daughter Sophia, Glenn, T-Dog, Jacqui and Dale. They were all nice good people, well expect for Ed. He seemed like a jerk. But I worried how Merle and Daryl would act to the others. Daryl doesn’t trust easily and he can be a real ass to people who he doesn’t really know. But we had a place to stay now, I had family and that’s all that really mattered to me.
“Lori.” I called out, “Do you know anything about Atlanta?”
“Um. Atlanta isn’t safe. When my family and I were trying to get in they bombed it. Walkers took over.” She explained.
“That horrible.” I softly spoke. “So Shane is your husband?”
“Oh no. Shane was my husband’s best friend. My husband past away.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s alright sweetie. This is our life now.” Lori went back to her son.
It was getting dark and we already ate our dinner. I wasn’t really sure on where to sleep tonight. I would like to sleep with Daryl but I thought it’d be best to give him his space and stay with Jack and Daniel. As I went into their tent I saw Daryl wondering what I was doing but I ignored it. Daniel was already asleep so I thought I’d stay up and talk to Jack.
“So did you hear from Mark, Billy, dad?” I asked Jack.
“Dad and Billy didn’t make it. I don’t know about Mark. I was hoping he was with you.” I started crying. Jack put his arm around me, squeezing me. “It’s alright. We have each other, and you got Daryl. We have to keep each other safe.” I sat there hugging Jack for awhile mourning over my father and brothers death.
“Lora, can I talk to you?” Daryl asked as he stuck his head in the tent. I got up and followed Daryl outside, whipping the tears off my face. “Are ya gonna sleep with me tonight?”
“I was thinking of staying with Jack and Daniel tonight. Why?”
Daryl sighed, “I’m sorry I was mad at ya. You wanted to make sure, I understand.”
“It’s alright, and I’m sorry.” Daryl cupped my cheek and kissed me. We haven’t touched each other in days so the kiss was extra nice for me. As we kissed I heard Amy go ‘mhmmm’ as she looked at us with a smile. As Daryl walked back to our tent I told him I’d be there in a second so I could tell Jack good night but I looked at Amy first and rolled my eyes at her as she laughed. I told Jack good night and went in the tent with Daryl and Merle. I was glad Daryl and I are okay now. I cuddled up next to Daryl to keep warm in his arms. Hopefully things would get better now. I don't want to lose anyone else.