Dont own, dont sue.

Just thought that i would give this a try, some things may not be accurate and i know this already so there is no need to freak out on me. Please enjoy the story and let me know what you think.

It was the end of the world as it was known, the dead had taken over and were eating what was left of the living and it had only been a few months since the sickness had been started with what seemed to just be a cold but once the person expired they came back and started to rip through the population and because it wasn't known what was going on a lot of the population was taken out swiftly and the only way to get these things down was a shot to the head messing up the brain.

The military cordons were swiftly over run with the living, not having the appropriate screening process those that where bitten or scratched before coming in, turned and took out the people in the safe area including the military personnel and only a few escaped back into the city to hide out where they could and gather what supplies were left from looters and other people just looking to survive for a few more days.

A young woman looked out of the windows of the truck she was driving the back seat was full of medical supplies as far as the eye could see, the bed was loaded to the brim with fuel barrels, both petrol and diesel, and being towed behind that was an MSFV that was fully loaded with lots of food, clothes, MRE's and water and if rationed, even with a large group it could last for a couple of months. The young woman had been stationed in Atlanta, near the CDC but left the CDC it's self when she noticed that the clock was getting to far down for her liking, even with the extra fuel barrels from the Military being given over, knowing what would happen when the clock struck zero, the CDC would implode taking all of its diseases with it and anyone that was in the area as well.

The young woman sighed and came to a stop in the middle of the road and pulled out a map from the glove box and gave it a look over and saw a quarry not too far out of Atlanta that was secluded enough and had a water supply so the water in the MSFV wouldn't have to be used for a while.

The radio crackled as she drove, a military strike had been called in to napalm Atlanta to hopefully make it safer and take out the dead while they were at it. Putting her foot down on the gas and she hauled ass out of Atlanta before the strike could commence in a few hours. She drove pass the cars that were waiting to get into Atlanta, to the safe zone, and ignored the waving arms and kept driving heading to her destination feeling slightly bad for just driving past them and ignoring them but there was nothing for them in Atlanta anymore, especially not with the strike coming.

30 minutes later she pulled off on to a dirt track that led to the quarry and went up the hill and came to a stop and jumped out and moved to the back to unhook the MSFV so she could turn the truck around to the right place for it to stand for a while and then she hopped in the MSFV and reversed that back to sit up in front of the truck and pulled out a tent and propped it up. It was a medic's tent so she would be able to have the medical supplies in there and her cot, there was no way that she was giving up any of her supplies unless it was needed and even then the people she came across had best be nice.

Night fall had come and the people that were stuck on the highway paced nervously outside of their cars, waiting to be let in to the city and to safety. The line hadn't moved in quite a while and they were anxious to know why so a few fiddled with their radios to see if there was any communication coming through at all and only got snippets.

"Mum, I'm hungry." Carl Grimes complained to his mum, rubbing at his tummy.

"I know honey, let me see if I have anything in my bag." Lori responded and went back to the front of the car and looked through her handbag but came up empty handed, "Sorry honey, you're just going to have to wait a little bit longer."

Carl sighed and looked down at his swinging feet, "Okay mum." He muttered.

"I might have something he could have." Came the timid voice of Carol Peletier from where she was standing with her daughter, Sophia.

Lori sighed in relief, "That would be great if you do."

Carol nodded and headed to her car and as she reached in, Ed, her husband grabbed her arm in a bruising grip, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He snapped at her, "This is our food, no one else's."

Carol whimpered and pulled her arm out of his grip, "Okay." She whimpered and headed back over to Lori who had watched the whole exchange from the corner of her eye but knew that there wasn't really anything that she could say or do about the situation, "Sorry, we don't have anything snack like left." She told Lori softly.

Lori gave Carol a soft smile, "That's okay." She responded, "I'm Lori Grimes and this is my son Carl." She introduced.

"I'm Carol Peletier and this is my daughter Sophia and over there is Ed." Carol responded in kind, "Do you have any idea of what's going on?" She questioned Lori.

Lori shook her head, "No idea, Shane, who's with us, has gone up the road a little to see what's going on and if anyone up the road away has heard anything." Lori explained just as Shane made his way back to them, "Shane this is Carol, her daughter Sophia and over there is her husband Ed, Carol this is Shane Walsh." Lori introduced and Shane shook Carol's hand exchanging pleasantries, "Have you heard anything?"

Shane shook his head, "Not really, all I've heard is that no one is entering Atlanta." He explained running a hand over his head, "Haven't seen anything Military since that truck went by." He said just as jets flew over head toward the city and he took off over the barricade toward the woods.

"Could you watch Carl for a second?" Lori asked Carol and at Carol's nod she ran off after Shane, grabbing onto his arm as she came to a stop, "What's going on?" She questioned just as bombs dropped on Atlanta and screams were heard echoing from the city and from the people on the road at what was happening to the city, "Oh my God." Lori gasped, a hand covering her mouth in shock at what was happening, a tear trailed down her cheek.

Shane grabbed her arm and pulled her back to the road, "Carl, come on. We need to find somewhere to stay." He said pushing Lori in to the car and turned his attention to Carol, "Your family can come as well." He told her just as he was approached by an older man wearing a fishing hat, "Yes?"

"I'm Dale Horvath, there is a quarry about 30 minutes back down the road, I figure that would be the best place to go for now until we can figure something out." He explained to Shane.

"Shane Walsh, thank you for letting us know and I agree with your assessment, we should head there if you could lead the way?"

Dale nodded, "Of course, just follow me." He said and headed back to his RV and moved it the best he could from behind the other cars and onto the free side of the highway and went down the road a little until a couple of other cars followed his lead and they headed off down the road.

30 minutes later Dale came to the turn off for the quarry and headed up the road only to see the army truck from earlier parked on the hill and a body of top of the cab with a sniper rifle pointed in their direction, the woman moved her head from the gun and brought up a pair of binoculars to get a look at those in the RV and cars behind, sitting up she waved her hand for them to advance and the RV did a U-turn and pulled up next to the truck and the rest of the cars took their places around the camp and everyone climbed out of their vehicles.

Dale walked over to where the young woman was still sitting, "Hello there, thank you for letting us approach." He greeted, "I'm Dale."

"Major Marlena Tally." She responded giving a slight salute and watched as most of the men came over to where she was seated.

"What the hell are you doing here? Why did you leave the city?" Shane snapped at her.

Marlena looked down at the man with a raised eyebrow, "The city fell hours ago the dead outnumbered us 10 to 1, there was nothing else we could do, I lost a lot of friends and comrades to those menaces so I grabbed what supplies I could and came out here." She explained, "Not that I really have to explain anything to you." She sneered.

"Well you're going to be giving us what you have slut." Ed spoke up from where he was smoking a cigarette.

Marlena let out a laugh, a long hard laugh at his audacity at demanding anything from her, "Like hell I will. I was willing to share should it come to it but now that you think you can order me around you have another thing coming." She snapped, "Oh and if you want any medical help, don't come to me." She said to him. The fat pig could die for all she cared, there was no way in hell she was helping him, "Any way, if I have to share what I have, so should you." She told him.

Shane walked in between the two, Marlena's eyes going to him instead of Ed, "I'm sure that we could work something out between all of us, we all need to pool what we have so that we can survive here until there is a possibility to go and get more later on." He said speaking to everyone, "Do you happen to have another big tent like that one we could store everything in?" He asked Marlena.

Marlena nodded, "Yeah I do, and it's a mess tent so it's going to take a few people to put it up." She explained still not coming down from the cab of the truck, "It'd be best to do it in the light of day though." She explained.

"Do you at least have anything handy that we can give the children?" Shane questioned.

Marlena nodded and hung over the top of the cab and pulled out a bag from the passenger seat and brought it to her lap, "How many kids are there?" She questioned.

"I'll go and check." Dale said and moved off to walk around the cars and get a count of all of the children and soon came back, "There are 6 all together." He explained and Marlena threw down 6 protein bars to Dale, not trusting the look on Ed's face.

"High protein bars, they'll be good for the kids at a time like this. Make sure only they get them." She told Dale and with a nod he headed off to hand out the bars to the children.

"And what about us?" Ed sneered.

Marlena rolled her eyes, "I assume that some of you have canned goods, you can eat once you have made up a fire pit so that you can see what you're doing when you put up your tents and someone can cook for you. The kids are more important than you are you fat fuck." She told him point blank and got a few quiet chuckles from the other men, a very angry look from Ed and a belly aching laugh from one of the men standing a little away from the group.

"Oh Jesus, that was great. Haven't laughed like that in a while." He said looking up at Marlena, "Good one sugar tits."

Marlena looked down at the one that spoke, grabbing her torch and shining it down on the group so that she could see their faces clearly and put the names with faces, when the light go to the one that had laughed she almost dropped the torch in shock, "Holy hell Merle Dixon?" She questioned jumping down from the cab to the ground.

"What's it to ya?" Merle responded squinting his eyes at her, trying to place the face but couldn't see her very well, until she turned the torch to illuminate her face, "Well shit angel, thought you went and died." He said bringing her in to a tight hug and let her go.

"You two know each other?" Shane questioned, looking over Merle with suspicion, not trusting the white trash red neck in the slightest or his companion that arrived with him.

"We served together for a while." Marlena responded.

Marlena brought up her pistol as Ed charged at her, the barrel pressing into the man's forehead, Merle's gun had also joined hers, "You ever think again about coming at me intending to cause harm I will shoot you and that isn't a warning, it's a promise." She told him with a blank look in her eyes, "It wouldn't be the first time I've put down a pig." Merle let out a chuckle from behind her, "Now you head back over to your family and sort your shit out so ya'll can get some sleep."

"You'll get yours bitch." Ed snarled and stormed off.

"I'll be keeping an eye on him." Marlena grumbled as she watched him walk off.

"You're not the only one." Shane muttered from next to her, "I believe he's abusive to his wife and daughter."

Marlena spit to the side, "Fucking pig."

"Agreed."

Marlena opened the truck and pulled out a shovel and headed to the most central area of the 'camp' with the guys following after her, "What ya doin' sugar tits?" Merle questioned.

Marlena rolled her eyes and hit Merle over the back of the head, "Digging the bloody fire pit ya igit." She responded and went back to digging a slight pit, "Start gathering some rocks to put around the pit so that the fire can sit a little higher." She said indicating for the guys to shoo and get said rocks, Merle and a guy with a crossbow went and did as asked, the others following a few seconds later to help with the rocks.

20 minutes later the pit was done and a fire was going and everyone started to gather around it, the kids were happy that there was somewhere warm to sit as the night started to cool a little more and the people started to introduce themselves to each other as a couple of them brought over some pots and canned food so that something could be cooked up and passed around to everyone.

Marlena sat down on a log, "What are the sleeping arrangements like?" She asked, "Does everyone have a tent?"

Most of the people shook their head no indicating that they didn't have anything like that with them, "I have 3 tents, one is a 5 man and two are 3 man so to speak." Dale spoke up, "I won't be needing them since I have the RV so others are welcome to have them." He said with a smile.

"The napalm should be settled by tomorrow, I'll head into town and grab some more supplies." Marlena said as she took a bite out of her protein bar.

"You going to go on your own sugar tits?" Merle questioned from next to her.

"It's better that way, I don't want to get caught up with anyone." She responded.

"How well do ya know the city darlin'?" He questioned her softly, "How long were you here before you left?"

Marlena sighed, "Not long, but I can't afford to have someone with me. I need to get in and get out without any problems." She told him, she couldn't have another death on her conscious.

"I'll go with you." Glenn spoke up from where he was sitting eating his tea, "I know my way around Atlanta really well, all the short cuts and alleys." He explained, "I'll take care of myself." He told her.

Marlena nodded, "Alright, but no one else. It's just us. In and out before the day is through, get some sleep as soon as you can I want to leave at dawn." She outlined.

Glenn nodded, "You got it." He agreed.

"Are you sure about this?" Shane questioned.

"Yes, the fewer people the better at the moment until the situation in the city is assessed no one else." She said and headed to her tent, "I do hope that no one was scratched or bitten prior to coming here." And with that she disappeared inside.

Merle got up from where he was and followed after Marlena, the others watching him as he followed her, he wasn't sure her going to the city was sitting well with him, "I don't like this." He said to her as he entered.

"It's all good Merle, been through worse." She told him, "But you reckon you could do me a favour?"

"Anything doll."

"Keep an eye on the truck while I'm gone?"

"You takin' the MSFV?"

"Yeah, I'm going to empty it a little and I'll need you to keep an eye out." She explained.

"When they go to sleep, you'll move everything?"

Marlena nodded, "Yeah, I have a lot of stuff Merle, you know what a military zone is like with provisions and I've got pretty much all of it stuffed into those two vehicles from just the one I was in."

"Lock boxes?"

"Yep, I ain't trustin' no one Merle, they're code locked so there will be no one trying to pick the locks."

"Where ya gunna put 'em?" Merle wondered, there wasn't really anywhere that they could be secured even though they were secure themselves.

"You reckon you and your mate have enough strength between ya's to get them up a tree in a commo net?" She wondered.

Merle let out a snort, "That's ma baby brother I went and told ya about." He said, "Darylena."

"Then there is enough strength between the two of you then." Marlena laughed.

"How far out do you want it?"

Marlena paused in thought, "Not too far out, but in an area that has a lot of foliage to cover the net a little as well."

"Consider it done." Merle said, "We'll come by round 3am and get started?"

"Yeah but what if they put someone on watch?"

Merle ran a hand over his balding head, "If it's the old man, I don't think he'll say anything much, otherwise we could rig it up over the cliff with the heavy duty rope." He offered an alternative and since my truck was right by the cliff that met the water we wouldn't be seen.

"I'll take the night vision binoculars down to the water and see if it'll be seen from the edge of if there's a crevice or nook to settle it in." Marlena said and grabbed the binoculars, "I'll be back in a few." She said and disappeared out the back of the tent were no one could see her and she hurried down to the water's edge and scoped out the cliff and moved into the water to have a better look and saw there was an out cropping of rocks that would hide the gear nicely.

Walking out of the water slowly so as not to splash, Marlena went back to the camp and slipped back into her tent to see that Merle had been joined by his brother, "What's the verdict?"

"There's an area that's covered by an area of rocks poking out, it'll keep it all out of others view." She explained, "It'd probably be the best place until we no longer need the MFSV or if I could find another secure vehicle."

"Sounds good, we'll get it done tonight then. See you at 3." Merle said and he and his brother left the tent and Marlena settled down to sleep.