Early the next morning, Mellody wakes up and sits up, her eyes heavy with sleep. As she rubs her eyes, she unzips the tent and crawls out, putting her shoes on. Standing, she takes in the scenery around her. She looks for any signs of Daryl, but he's still nowhere to be seen. Uncertain what to do, Mellody scans the group once more, hoping to see something she missed the night before.
Mellody zipped up the tent and started walking into the forest, but as soon as she did, Shane yelled out to her, "Hey, where are you going?"
"Nowhere," Mellody replied quickly, spinning around and putting her hands behind her back.
"Yeah? If you're going nowhere, then you should eat some breakfast," Shane called out, throwing some meat towards her.
Mellody managed to catch it just before it hit the ground, "Thanks," she said with a smile, turning around
"Just stay in shouting distance," Lori called out, and Mellody nods in response before running off into the forest. She scans the trees and bushes, searching for any sign of Daryl, but she has no luck. Suddenly, Mellody hears the distant growl of a walker, causing her to duck behind a nearby tree for cover. She peers around the trunk, her heart pounding with fear. She can't see where the walker is, but she can hear it getting closer, closing in on her. She holds her breath, waiting to see if it will pass by or if she will be discovered.
As Mellody peers out from behind the tree, she hears Carl's voice, yelling out in alarm. Looking in his direction, Mellody sees a walker ripping at the remnants of a dead deer. She rushes forward, surrounded the walker, and steps on a twig, causing it to snap under her foot. Shane, who was just on the other side of the walker, reacts instantly, pointing his gun at Mellody before realizing it's her. He quickly lowers the weapon, and Mellody breathes a sigh of relief. The commotion had alerted the group, and she watches as Carl and Shane exchange a few words, the tension in the air slowly subsiding.
The group comes across a walker that is busy devouring the remains of a deer. Andrea and Amy quickly spot the gruesome scene and express their disgust. The walker turns towards them, and the rest of the group moves in, armed with their weapons. Rick, Shane, Glenn, Jim, and Morales charge the walker, bashing it with various objects. They manage to take down the walker, with Dale striking the final blow by severing its head with an ax. Dale is stunned with what just happened.
"It's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain," Dale says, still processing what just occurred.
"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's for sure," Jim adds.
Melody stares at the fallen walker, trying to comprehend the situation. She had never seen anything like this before, and the experience has left her shaken.
As they hear the sound of snapping branches and approaching footsteps, the group quickly raises their guns, ready for anything. But when Daryl Dixon steps out of the forest, the tense atmosphere fades slightly.
"Uncle Daryl!" Mellady calls out, running up to him. Daryl nods at her, but his usual warm smile is absent.
"Hay," he replies, still lost in his own thoughts.
"Oh, Jesus," Dale says, his voice heavy with worry.
"Son of a bitch. That's my deer!" Daryl exclaims, walking out of the bushes. He gestures towards the dead walker, which has clearly been feasted on. "Look at it. All gnawed on by this... filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!"
Daryl yells kicking the dear
Mellody stares at the remains of the deer, noticing Daryl's arrows protruding from its body. She feels a pang of guilt, realizing that they are responsible for taking the deer.
"Calm down, son. That's not helping," Dale asserts, in an effort to calm Daryl down.
As she looks around, Mellody realizes that the others don't seem to have a positive opinion of her family - including Merle, Daryl, and Archie. They all seem to have a temper and act mean at times, and Mellody stands out, the only Dixon who doesn't have such a temper or if she does, she's better at hiding it. But the group seems to like Mellody, who despite her family's shortcomings, continues to maintain a kind and gentle demeanor.
"What do you know about it, old man?" Daryl says, walking up to Dale with a scowl on his face. "Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'?" he adds dismissively.
Daryl storms back over to the deer and continues to vent his frustration. "I've been tracking this deer for miles," he continues, still speaking to no one in particular. "Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed-up part right here?" he asks, motioning to the affected area on the dead deer's body.
"I would not risk that," Shane asserts, His gun is firmly placed over his shoulder, and Mellody wishes she could be as comfortable with handling firearms, as the rest of her family. Merle nor Archie had ever taught her, considering her too soft.
Daryl lets out a heavy sigh,
"That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel... about a dozen or so," he says, finally looking up
As the group stares in stunned silence, the head of the dead walker starts to move, its teeth gnawing mindlessly. Mellody gasps in horror, taking a step back.
"Oh god," Amy murmurs, feeling just as shaken as Mellody.
. "Come on, people. What the hell?" daryl says, raising his crossbow at the reanimated corpses.
With a steady hand, he shoots the walker with one of his arrows. The arrow hits its mark, and the walker lifeless once again.
As the group listens to the sound of the arrow piercing the flesh of the walker, Mellody winces, and makes a face.
"It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?" Daryl says, not sparing anyone a glance as he heads back to camp, fetching the arrows he shot.
"Keep up," he growls at Mellody, not even bothering to turn around. Without any second thought, Mellody quickly hurries to catch up to Daryl.
"Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up," Daryl shouts at the top of his lungs, while Mellody grimaces, uncomfortable
"Daryl, just slow up a bit," Shane calls out, trying to catch up to Daryl and get his attention.
Without much hesitation, Daryl finally stops turning around, and Mellody stands directly behind him.
"About what?" Daryl says, sounding a little annoyed, as he glances back at Shane.
As the group listens to Shane's words, they all stand still, their attention focused on him. A silence falls over the group as they try to comprehend the weight of what Shane is about to say.
"About Merle. There was a... There was a problem in Atlanta," Shane begins, and Daryl immediately cuts him off.
"He dead?" Daryl asks, his voice heavy with emotions.
The group stands mute, not able to provide Daryl with an answer.
"We're not sure," Shane replies softly, feeling equally uncertain and unsure.
As Rick steps forward, everyone's heart skips a beat as they hope for the best.
"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," Rick begins, and the group listens
"Who are you?" Daryl asks, his tone harsh and annoyed. He clearly has no clue who Rick is and doesn't seem to care.
Rick, unfazed, replies confidently, "Rick Grimes."
Daryl's expression is filled with anger, and he takes a step towards Rick. "Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?"
Rick's face remains stoic and determined, as he holds Daryl's gaze. "Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there," he says,
As Rick finishes his story, silence fills the air. Daryl takes a moment to process this information, unable to believe what he is hearing.
"Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!" Daryl yells, his voice filled with anger and disbelief.
Mellody takes a step back, realizing that things could get violent at any moment.
"Yeah," Rick replies, his demeanor calm and straightforward, as if he had done nothing wrong.
Daryl lunges toward Rick, but he reacts quickly, shoving Daryl off
As Daryl falls to the ground, he quickly pulls out his knife, and gets back up on his feet. He lunges forward, wildly swinging at Rick, while Mellody desperately tries to intervene.
"Daryl, stop!" She shouts, trying to pull him back, but Daryl accidentally cuts her wrist with his knife.
as her arm begins to bleed, but Shane jumps into action, managing to put Daryl in a chokehold.
As Shane continues to hold Daryl in a tight choke hold, Daryl struggles against his grip, breathing heavily.
"Okay. Okay," Shane says, trying to calm him down.
"You'd best let me go!" Daryl yells, trying to sound tough.
"Nah, I think it's better if I don't," Shane replies confidently.
"Choke hold's illegal!" Daryl exclaims, trying to find any excuse to get out of Shane's grasp.
"You can file a complaint. Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day," Shane replies with a hint of humor in his voice, letting Daryl know that he has the upper hand.
As Rick kneels down beside Daryl, he tries to calm him down and initiate a conversation.
"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that? Do you think we can manage that?" Rick asks, his tone soothing and understanding.
Daryl takes a few heavy breaths, trying to process everything that's just happened. "Mmm. Yeah," he manages to say, still not calm but willing to listen.
Shane finally let's go of Daryl, and he leans against the ground, trying to catch his breath.
"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others," Rick explains in a calm manner,
"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it," T-Dog says, looking guilty.
"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl asks, still sounding angry.
"Well, I dropped it in a drain," T-Dog replies,
"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't," Daryl says standing back up
"Well, maybe this will," T-Dog says, trying to calm Daryl down. "Chained the door to the roof... So the geeks couldn't get at him... With a padlock."
"It's gotta count for something," Rick adds, looking at Daryl, who looks like he's on the verge of tears.
"Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him," Daryl says, his voice cracking, "I'm gonna bring him back."
"He'll show you," Lori says, looking at Rick,
"isn't that right?"
"I'm going back," Rick says, determined.
Daryl nods, then turns to look at Mellody. "Where's your brother?" he asks,
"He's... he's with Merle," Mellody replies quietly, her eyes dropping.
"Mother fucker," Daryl exclaims, kicking at the dirt,
"Archie's ok... he's gonna be alright," Mellody says, trying to reassure Daryl, a small smile playing across her face. "He's like daddy, he's strong," she adds.
Daryl squints and then sits down next to Mellody, leaning closer. He looks at her, his expression serious, as he tries to process everything that just happened.
After some time, the group starts preparing to find Merle.
"I'm leaving!" Daryl calls out abruptly, looking at Mellody.
Mellody smiles at him and says, "Good luck!"
Daryl nods and heads out to join the group, leaving Mellody behind. She watches him go, feeling a twinge of sadness as the group disappears from view.
Shane calls out to Mellody, "Hey, Melly, you ready to get some frogs?" She turns around and sees Carl waiting with Shane by the lake. She runs up to them, feeling excited, and they all make their way to the water's edge.
As they start looking for frogs, Carl and Mellody start to realize they're not having any luck. "I'm not getting anything," Carl says glumly. "Me neither," Mellody agrees, looking disappointed.
"Yeah, being all wily, staying submerged. No wonder we can't catch them, those little suckers know we're onto them," Shane says, getting into the water.
"Alright, kids. You are the key in all of this. You know what we gotta do? I'm going to go after one of them, scare the rest of them off. They're all going to scatter, and I'll drive them your way. You guys just need to be ready with a bucket to catch them," Shane says, smiling as he hides a bucket behind his back.
"Alright, here's what you need to do. You need to round up every bad boy you see, got it? I'll scare 'em all right over here and you two are gonna be waiting with your buckets, sound good?"
Mellody nods excitedly and Carl smiles too, ready to get to work.
"Hells yeah. Give me your mean faces," Shane says, making a menacing face. Carl and Mellody grin and mimic his face. They all start laughing.
"Are you guys ready?" Shane asks, still making silly faces.
"Yaah!" Carl and Mellody yell in unison, their excitement palpable.
Shane jumps into the water, splashing around as Carl and Mellody laugh and cheer.
"All right, they're coming your way! They're coming your way!" Shane calls out, his voice filled with excitement. "Go on, get 'em! Get 'em! They're coming your way!"
As Shane encourages Carl and Mellody to catch the frogs, Carol, Jacqui, Andrea, and Amy are busy doing laundry nearby. The sound of water splashing and giggling fills the air, creating a joyful and playful atmosphere.