“Don’t worry, Meghan. Daryl will come back.”

“I know, Soph. I’m just on edge. We’re runnin’ low on food, and Daryl said I can’t leave the camp.”

Sophia frowned. “But he’s not here to stop you.”

I shook my head and shooed her away. She stuck her tongue out at me and ran off. I got to my feet and put the several man-made arrows into my sheath. I waved up at Dale, and he looked directly at me. I pointed toward the trees and held a finger to my lips. He nodded once, and I happily ran away from the camp. I checked all of the rabbit traps I knew Daryl had set up, and I quickly shoved the dead rabbits into my kill bag before moving on. I heard the soft growling of a Walker, and I soon came upon it. A Walker split in half was crawling, agonizing slow I might add, toward me. I rolled my eyes, picked up a sharp stick, and walked up to the pathetic creature. I got down on my knees and stabbed it through the head. I got to my feet after pickpocketing it.

“Fancy meeting you out here.” A rough southern drawl laughed.

I pulled out my knife and held it backwards when Merle walked into my view. His right hand was missing.

“Thought ya got handcuffed to a roof.” I said.

“I did. I cut my hand off. I was just comin’ to collect my brother and leave the group.” He answered.

“Daryl’s in Atlanta. He went back for ya.”

“Oh yeah? Why else did the Bastard go? ‘Cause that damn cop told him to?”

“Don’t talk ‘bout Daryl like that.”

“Why not? Ya love him or somethin’?”

I let out a frustrated noise and stabbed him in the stomach. He growled in anger and tried to grab me, but I was faster than he was, even with an injured ankle. I was careful as I ran away, and I returned to the camp after losing him.

“Where did you go?” Carol asked when I came racing into the camp.

“Huntin’……Bear…..Not fun…” I lied.

Carol laughed. I hesitated before I joined her at the camp fire, taking a glance over my shoulder before following her. I skinned the rabbits, throwing the skin at Carl whenever he bothered me, and chopped up the meat. It took a while to cook, but I was able to hand out food to everyone. I gave hardly any to Ed, which pissed him off.

“Ya gonna give me more, Bitch?” He snapped.

“Bite me, Fat Ass.” I replied, handing Sophia her food and slapping his hand away when he tried to take it.

“Give me yers!” He ordered, glaring at Sophia.

I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled my hand back. He stared at me as I gave him a wicked smile. Carol took the plate from his hands, and I gladly punched the hell out of him. He growled and tackled me to the ground. I pulled out my knife and held it to his throat when he started choking me, the wicked smile on my face never faltering.

“Hey! Cut it out!” Shane barked, pulling Ed off of me.

I got to my feet and wiped his saliva off of my face. I put my knife away and headed over to the RV. I climbed the ladder to the top and gave Dale his food.

~

“Walkers!”

“No!”

I did my best to protect Sophia and Carol as the Walkers came closer. It was dark out, making it harder for us to see.

“Megs!” Daryl’s voice yelled.

I turned on my heel and fired an arrow into another Walker’s head. Daryl jumped over a bush and started shooting other Walkers. I ushered Carol and Sophia to get in the RV, along with Carl and Morales’s kids. Once all of the Walkers were dead, Daryl ran to me. He checked me over for bite marks, being that I had been in the middle of the herd, and hugged me when he didn’t find any.

“Merle wasn’t there. I wasted my time lookin’ for the prick.” He mumbled, burying his face in my hair.

“I know. I saw him.” I muttered.

“You what?”

“I’m sorry, Daryl. We ran outta food while you were gone, so I went out to check the rabbit traps. Merle showed up, and I got scared. I stabbed him and lured him away from camp before I came back. I lied to Carol about it, too. I told her I came across a bear. I didn’t mean to lie.”

I started crying and buried my face in his chest. He held me, and I could feel the anger rolling off of him. I sighed and kissed his cheek.

“I’m sorry, Daryl. I should have brought him back, but he was so angry. I didn’t want him to hurt anyone.”

He didn’t say anything. I looked up at him to see worry in his eyes.

“Did he hurt ya? Say anything to ya?” He asked.

“Say what?”

He shook his head and grabbed my arm. I didn’t argue when he dragged me to his tent. He made sure to zip the entrance before he spoke.

“Merle and I were gonna steal from the group and run. I didn’t want to, but he did. I had no choice but to listen to him. And then I met you. I didn’t wanna hurt ya, so I pretended to follow my brother’s order. I was never gonna steal. I swear.” He said.

I stared at him. “You were gonna steal from us?”

“Merle was. I was supposed to help him, but I said no after I met ya.”

“That doesn’t justify anything, Daryl. You were gonna steal from us.”

He moved closer, forcing me to lay down on the mattress. I still refused to look at him, so he kissed me. I tried to push him away, but he was stronger than me. I gave in and let him kiss me.

~

“How the hell do we get around them things?”

“Stay here. I’ll distract them.”

“I ain’t letting ya go out there alone.”

“Daryl, I know what I’m doin’.”

I ran out from behind the car and easily slipped by the Walkers. I went to the top of one of the buildings and set my bag down. I pulled put a wireless amplifier and hooked it up to a guitar I had brought with me. I strummed the strings as hard as I could and laughed as the amplifier made the noise echo. I started tapping my foot as I played, and I watched as the Walkers started gathering around the building.

Daryl and Glenn ran to the abandoned food store. I continued playing my guitar until they came back out about half an hour later, pushing loud ass shopping carts as they ran away. I packed up the amplifier and guitar before jumping down onto a bush behind the building and running to catch up with them. Daryl smiled at me when I reached them.

“That was incredible.” He said.

“Had to do it. There wasn’t no other way to get ya in there.” I muttered, refusing to look at him.

Glenn followed behind me as I walked away. Daryl took up the rear.

“Why are you mad at each other now?” Glenn muttered, standing beside me.

“No reason. He was threatening to kill Dixon. That’s about it.” I answered.

“That’s it?”

“I couldn’t tell you the real reason even if I wanted too.”

Daryl grabbed my arm and pulled me behind an abandoned truck. Glenn responded to his actions by climbing almost silently into the bed of the truck.

“What the hell are you doing?” I growled, yanking my arm free.

“Shut up! There’s a herd of Geeks!” Daryl snapped.

I looked around the side of the truck and saw the massive amount of Walkers. Daryl grabbed my arm when he saw what I was going to do.

“No! Ya ain’t going out there!” He snapped.

“Why not? I can get around it!”

“No, Megs! I can’t lose ya, too! I’ve already lost my brother! If you died, I don’t know what I would do!”

I shook my head and ran away from him. The herd of Walkers immediately took notice of me.

“Dammit! Meghan!” Glenn’s voice yelled.

I easily dodged one of the Walkers as it tried to grab me. One that was laying on the ground caught my leg, making me trip. I hurriedly pulled out my pistol and aimed it at the Walkers coming toward me.

BANG!