I've been awake for a few minutes, though I've just been laying on my cot and staring at the top of the tent.
When I hear Alyssa giggle with Sophia, I decide to finally get up. I throw on black jean shorts, a dark green t-shirt, and my black converses. I holster my gun and dagger on my belt and step out of the tent.
Today is hot.
I woke up way later than everyone so it's around eleven o'clock.
My dad pulls up in a black jeep with water barrels in the back. "Water's here, folks." He says, hoping out of the jeep.
I grab my water bottle from my backpack and walk over and get in line for water.
I see Amy staring at my thighs and I look down, "Oh." I forgot that I can't wear shorts. Or t-shirts but my wrists are less noticeable.
I tug my shorts down and fill my water bottle.
A loud scream comes from deep in the woods.
"Carl?!" Lori yells and runs to the woods. "Alyssa?!" I follow her, Rick, Glenn, T-Dog, and my dad. Carl, Jaqui, and Alyssa emerge from the brush.
I hug Alyssa and without saying anything, she points behind her. I nod and follow the rest of the men and find a Walker chewing up some deer. A deer that has Daryl Dixon's arrows in its leg.
I scoff, "Paybacks a bitch." I mumble.
The men start to beat the Walker and I just stand back and watch.
Dale comes (from what seems like out of nowhere) and chops it's head off with an axe.
"Cool." I think, as I see the head roll away.
We hear leaves crunching around us and I unsheathe my dagger. All of us are looking around when Daryl Dixon emerges from behind a rock.
"Son of a bitch! That was mah' deer!" He walks over to the Walker's headless body and begins kicking it. "Piece of shit, no good, skin eating, disease welling, bastard!" "Calm down, Daryl." Dale says.
"Calm down? I' been trackin' this damn thing for miles!" Just then, the head begins to chomp and opens it's eyes.
I crouch down and stab it in the brain with my dagger.
"The brain guys," I stand up and look at everyone. "It's the brain."
"I got us about a dozen squirrels or so, it'll have to do." Daryl says, showing the squirrels tied to a rope that's resting on his shoulder.
"Alyssa's not gonna like that."
Everybody makes their way back up to camp again.
"Yo! Merle! Get your dirty ass out here! I got us some squirrels to eat!" Daryl yells, setting the squirrels down.
Everybody looks around nervously.
"Daryl, I actually uh...have something to talk to you about." Daryl turns to Shane.
"Yeah? 'Bout what?"
"About your brother. There was um...a problem, back there, In Atlanta."
"'s that mean he's dead?" Daryl questions, looking around.
"This is about to get good."
"We don't know." I scoff at my dad's words.
"'The hell you mean 'you don't know'?! He either is or he ain't, there ain't no in between." "Well now there is." I mumble. "Shut your mouth, girl!" Daryl says, glaring at me. I decide to bite my tongue since Daryl's worried about Merle and I really don't want to escalate the situation.
Rick walks towards Daryl and makes eye contact with him. "It's a little hard to say this but we're both men so I'll just say it."
"Who the hell are you?" Daryl asks, glaring at Rick instead of me.
"Rick Grimes."
"Well, Rick Grimes. Wanna tell me where the hell my brother is?"
"Your brother became dangerous to all of us, so I handcuffed him to a metal pipe on a roof. We didn't go back for him so...he's still there."
He turns away from Rick. "Hol' on, gimme' a sec to process this shit." Daryl turns back to Rick. "So you handcuffed Merle to the roof, and you left him there?!" He screams, getting up in Ricks face.
Rick looks down but then back at Daryl. "Yeah."
He scoffs and turns away from Rick and takes a few steps away. He turns back to Rick and glares at him. Then without warning, he throws the rope of squirrels at Rick and goes to lunge at him. Before he can manage to hit Rick, Shane tackles Daryl to the ground.
Shane gets up but Daryl unsheathes his knife. He starts to swing at Rick but Rick shoves him back into Shane and he puts him in a headlock.
"Isn't this illegal?" Daryl asks, struggling to get out of the headlock. "Then file a complaint."
Alyssa hugs me and buries her face in my side.
Rick crouches down in front of Daryl and says, "I think it's best if we have a calm discussion about this. You think we can do that?" Daryl doesn't respond, he just continues to breathe heavily. "Do you think we can do that?" Rick says again, this time firmer.
Daryl still doesn't respond but Shane and Rick take his silence as a yes and Shane lets him go.
"I didn't do that on a whim, Daryl. Merle does not do well with others."
"It's not Rick's fault, man." T-dog says from behind everyone. Everyone turns their heads and looks at T-dog, even Alyssa.
"I had the key and I dropped it."
"Did your fingers not work or something to be able to pick it up?"
"I dropped it down a drain."
I purse my lips to stifle a laugh.
Daryl scoffs and stands up. "Well you ain't make me feel better if you were tryin' to."
"Well then this will-I chained the door to the rooftop with a chain and a padlock to keep the Walkers out. Unless the chain didn't hold up," T-dog looks around. "He should be fine." He looks back at Daryl.
Daryl looks around. "'Hell with all y'all!" He turns back to Rick. "Tell me where he is. So's I can go find 'im."
"He'll bring you." Lori says, from the door of the R.V.
Daryl looks at her.
"Isn't that right?" Lori glares at Rick.
"I'm goin' back." Rick says, looking around.
Daryl walks away without another word.
T-dog, Glenn, Rick, and Daryl began to pile into the white cargo van.
I approach them with my backpack on and my bow-and-arrow.
"I'm coming with." I say, making sure they know that it's not a question.
Daryl scoffs. "Hell no. The last face Merle would want to see is your face, girl."
"Adrian. And I'm pretty sure the last face Merle would wanna see is Rick's so..." I think for a second and then say,
"I have Fentanyl." I raise an eyebrow and motion to my backpack.
Daryl, without another word, scoots over and I sit in between him and T-dog.
Daryl smells like must, pine trees, and cigarettes. For some odd reason, the smell is kind of comforting.
T-dog stares at me until I say, "What? You gon' take a picture or somethin'?"
T-dog continues to stare at me and say, "Why do you have Fentanyl in your backpack?"
"Why don't you? If we're gon' die soon, might as well enjoy it."
He nods and looks away, looking at Daryl.
We walk into the clothing store that Merle is on top of.
We decided to go there first since we would have to double back for the guns.
The racks and mannequins are all still full of clothes though the store is trashed. The store smells like mold, rotting corpses, and lavendar.
"You best get that Fentanyl ready. He's gon' need it." Daryl whispers.
"It's the first thing in my backpack." I say, without looking at Daryl.
Rick puts his hand up and we all stop walking. He points to a Walker that's stumbling around and Daryl approaches it with his crossbow.
"You are one ugly skank." He mutters, shooting the Walker.
I roll my eyes at his comment and follow Rick up the steps to the roof.
T-dog runs in front of us and cuts open the chain on the door.
I grab the Fentanyl out of my bag, ready to toss it to Merle like he's a stray dog.
Daryl kicks open the door, "Merle!" He yells, running towards the left of the roof.
"Merle!"
We all follow Daryl until we see him stop and start walking in slight circles.
"No!" He yells.
"No!"
I look at T-dog with my eyes wide.
"Good luck." I mouth.
I look back to where Merle would be and all I see is a bloody saw and Merle's right hand.
T-dog and Rick walk to where Daryl is, while Glenn and I stay on the metal steps.
As soon as Daryl hears T-dog behind him, he aims his crossbow at his head, Rick aiming his revolver at Daryl's.
"I won't hesitate, man." Rick says, glaring at Daryl. "I don't give a damn if every Walker in the world hears it."
Daryl's lip quivers but he, reluctantly, lowers his crossbow and Rick lowers his gun.
Daryl and T-dog stare at each other for a beat until Daryl asks, "You got a do-rag or somethin'?"
T-dog, without looking away from Daryl, reaches into his pocket and pulls out a dark blue bandana.
"No he's not..." I whisper to myself.
Glenn and I walk down the steps and walk to Daryl.
"I guess the saw was too dull for your damn handcuffs." He says, picking up Merle's hand by the finger and inspecting it.
"Son of a bitch." He whispers, putting it in the bandana and wrapping it up.
Daryl approaches me with the wrapped-up hand and stares at me for a second.
"Hell no." I say, flatly.
He rolls his eyes and walks behind Glenn, putting the hand in his backpack.
Glenn doesn't seem too happy about it but he doesn't say anything.
"Musta' used his belt as a torniquet, be way more blood if he didn't." Daryl says, following a trail of blood leading to a door on the opposite side of the door we came out of.
Rick follows close behind and T-dog, Glenn, and I just stand there for a second.
"Did he for real just-" I motion to Glenns bag but don't finish my sentence.
I shake my head, put the Fentanyl back in my backpack, and follow Daryl and Rick, T-dog and Glenn following behind me.
We climb down the steps and enter a kitchen, two dead Walkers are laying on the ground with a bloody wrench next to them.
"My brother's the toughest asshole I've ever met." Daryl says, loading his crossbow.
"Feed him a hammer and he'll shit out nails."
I smirk and look around.
"Holy shit." I mutter, walking towards a gas-burning stove with a burned substance and blood all over it.
"'He cauterize the stump?" I ask, turning to Rick.
Rick nods, "Yeah, that's burned skin right there."
Glenn makes a disgusted face, "Cool." I mutter.
"I said he was tough. Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."
"He's lost a lot of blood," Rick says, looking at Daryl. "Don't take that on faith."
"Yeah?" Daryl asks, walking away. "Well, it ain't stop him from getting out of this death trap." He points to a broken window with blood on it.
"Why the hell would the leave the building?" Glenn whispers, looking out of the window with Daryl.
"As far as he knows, he's alone. He's survivin', doin' what he's got to do."
T-dog looks at Daryl as he walks away, "You call that surviving? Just walking around the streets and maybe passin' out? I mean what are the odds out there?"
"Not any worse than bein' handcuffed to a roof to die by you sorry pricks."
Daryl walks up to Rick, "You couldn't kill 'im. Ain't so worried about a dumb, dead bastard."
"What about a thousand 'dumb, dead bastards'? Is that a different story?"
"Go take a tally, I'm findin' him."
"Daryl, wait." Rick pushes Daryl back before Daryl can walk away.
"Get your damn hands off me!" Daryl yells.
Glenn makes a "shush" sound and looks around.
"Daryl," I say, approaching him.
"The only way you're finding that son of a bitch is by keeping a level head. Not trying to fight every person you see."
Daryl glares at me and says, "I can do that." I nod in response and look at Rick who looks at T-dog.
"We need those guns first. I can't stroll the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?"
Glenn grabs a dry erase marker and draws a diagram of the city on the ground, marking the tank that Rick was first in with a binder clip and the bag of guns with a crumbled up sticky note.
Glenn explains how he'll go grab the guns since he's smaller and faster and Daryl will be waiting in an alley to the right of him. He then explains how Rick and T-dog are going to be in an alley two blocks away in case he gets cut off by walkers.
I throw my hands up, "What am I, bait?"
Glenn looks at me.
"Aw fuck no. You gotta be kidding me."
"It'll be safer for me."
"But not safer for me?"
"You have a bow-and-arrow, Adrian. It's quiet in case you need to escape."
I glare at Glenn and look around.
"I-"
I stop talking, then groan and throw my head back, "Where am I going?"
"You go here," He puts a paper clip a few inches away from the binder clip marking the tank.
"It'll lead them away from me, Daryl, and Rick and T-dog."
I sigh and cross my arms. "If I die, I'm gonna kill you."
"Good thing you won't then." Glenn says, gathering his stuff and standing up.
"What'd you do before all of this?" Daryl asks.
"I delivered pizzas...why?" Glenn asks.
"Explains a lot." I mumble.