When I relieved Dale he seemed sullen to get off of his RV. He looked at me with a tired, sad smile and patted me on the shoulder. "Thanks," He yawned. He handed me the rifle and I felt better with a firearm in my hands. I lifted my bow off my back and took the seat on the lawn chair where everybody else had sat before me, watching the darkness. Beneath me were endless miles of pure wilderness and forestry, something that I adored a little bit more than everyone else. I grew up being surrounded by the trees and it became home to me. I would rather be deep in the woods and have the green protect me from society than have a huge, decorated house complete with a pool and garden. And now just watching over the trees below made me smile. The moonlight jumped across the leafy tips and sunk through what they could to get to the ground. The sight before me was more than beautiful. It was something that couldn't be described in words. I loved when I could get lost in the trees. Maybe that's why it attracted me so, because I could be free and not give a rats ass for anything in the world. It was home, certainly more homey than that run down trailer. That trailer wasn't a home, it was a prison, windows were barred and inside the guards were far from nice.

I had sat there for hours when the sun finally started to rise, peaking out from above the horizon and casting a morning light on everything in its path. As if on queue my brothers woke and busted from their tent, sluggish and lazy from the deep sleep. I turned back to look when I heard a tent unzip and there they were, Merle still barefooted and rubbing his eyes like a child who had just gotten done crying, and Daryl who already had his boots on and crossbow in hand.

"Hey baby sis! What'cha doin' up there?" Merle asked and walked towards the RV.

"What's it look like I'm doing? I'm on watch." I replied as quietly as I could but to where he could hear me, I – unlike Merle – didn't want to wake the others.

"Well when ya get done I need ya to run back to the trailer and get my bike. That thing could come in handy. We have a city right there, we actually might have places to go than when we were in the middle of the trees." He shielded his eyes from the sunlight with his hand and squinted up at me.

I growled. "Why me? Why can't Daryl go?"

"'Cause me and Daryl are goin' hunting today and you're the quickest outta us so you could get in and out in a hurry."

Merle had a point. I was light on my feet and certainly faster than them, so going back wasn't a bad idea. If I got overrun I could just run my way out.

"Fine."

The women and kids woke after Merle and Daryl left. I overheard Sophia asking her mama how she got in the RV overnight. Carol just shrugged it off and said it was warmer than in the tent. The women swarmed around the fire pit and started to prepare breakfast, going through the crate of canned goods they had and unwrapping the left over venison from last night. Ed was surprisingly the first of the men to wake, I'd expected him to sleep until someone came and rolled him over and told him to get his lazy ass up. I knew it was Ed because he came stumbling out of Carol's tent and whenever he got closer to the fire pit Carol shifted uneasily.

I wasn't sorry for her, I was just angry that she let it go on. She didn't have the courage to stand up to him. At least I got out of my Daddy's hands when I was old enough, at least I left him. Ed stood there and pulled out a box of cigarettes from his shorts and lighting one, all while keeping his eyes on Carol. Occasionally he would glance over at Sophia who was playing with Carl. Ed was a big guy and had a beer gut he seemed proud of and now my full attention was on him instead of what I was supposed to be watching.

"Damn, woman, I've been waiting here all day for my breakfast. How long it take ya to give me a few cans of fruit?" Ed snapped, flicking his cigarette at Carol's feet who sat on a log, bent over what was left of the meat. She jumped when the lit stick came close to her.

Andrea narrowed her eyes at Ed. "You can have one can of fruit or if you want some of the venison then go ahead. But we don't have enough to go around for you to have a few cans."

"Who are you to tell me what I can't have, woman? Most of these are mine anyway, I've been feeding all'a ya'll!" When Ed rose his voice I decided to make an entrance. I climbed off the RV as quick as I could, putting down the rifle and grabbing my bow. I stared at Ed when I made it to the fire pit, who looked like he was going to blow a fuse.

Carol laid a hand on Andrea's arm and offered her a gentle smile. "He can have mine, it's alright, I'm not hungry."

"Ain't no way you're not eatin', Carol." I growled, reaching out to push back Carol's hand that held her can of peaches towards Ed.

Ed shoved me on my shoulder and made me stumble back. "The hell you doing, lady?"

Without thinking I drew an arrow from the quiver on my back and readied it in the bow, the tip staring straight at Ed's shaved head. "You put a hand on me again and I swear you'll be dead afterwards." I growled. "You can have one can. One, fucking, can. Just take it and get the hell outta my sight." There were gasps from the women around me and I could hear Sophia calling for her mom over them.

"Please, Harl, it's fine." Carol tried to assure me.

Ed was hesitant for a moment, like he was testing if I was bluffing. His eyes watched my face and he looked for signs that I was bullshitting him. I was close to letting go before Shane intruded.

"What's going on here?" He grabbed the tip of my arrow and held it tightly with his hand, staring at me.

I relaxed and loosened my grip on the cocked arrow. "This fat ass here wanted to have Carol's breakfast."

Shane responded before Ed could get his big mouth open. "You know we don't have enough, Ed."

"Whatever." Ed picked up a random can from the crate with an attitude and walked off with an angry huff.

Carol put a hand on my shoulder. "Thank you."

I just nodded before I was pulled in the opposite direction by Mr. Buff by the arm. He pulled be away from the pit and towards the tents before he let me go with a spin. "There was no reason to pull your weapon at Ed."

I chuckled sarcastically. "So you're just gonna let him take Carol's food and let her go hungry? What a great leader you must be, Officer."

Shane sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Harl, just don't do it again."

"Whatever," I strapped my bow to my back. "Merle and Daryl went huntin' and I've gotta go back to the trailer to get Merle's bike."

"And you're gonna go alone?" Shane asked.

"That's the plan." I left Shane in the dumbfounded in the dust and took Daryl's truck back to the trailer. I went back into the city to find out where to go. I stayed on the back roads of the city, knowing that walkers were probably crawling the streets. I passed a few as I went on and never looked back to see if they had changed their direction and decided to follow me. After about an hour or so I finally made it to the dirt road that lead to out trailer. It was clear, oddly enough, a big change from when we left. When I rolled up on the trailer a few walkers limped out from behind it, I guess they'd heard the truck. I grabbed my bow and got out of the truck, pulling an arrow from my quiver and within a few moments all three walkers lay dead, again, on the ground. I pulled the arrows from their heads before I went on.

Merle's bike was always parked in the back of the trailer. Since the trailer itself was in a clearing on the dirt Merle could easily drive it in the back. For as long as I can remember that's where he's kept it. He didn't like to leave it out in the open for fear someone would grow some balls and come take it or the people Merle owed something to would. I grabbed the thing by its handles and pushed it out in front to the truck. I lay down the hatch and leaned a piece of plywood Daryl kept in the bed at a slant against the truck. It took some muscle to get it up there but after a while Merle's bike was sitting in the back of the truck. I slid the plywood next to it and closed the hatch.

The ride back to the camp was easy, the back roads were a life saver. Merle and Daryl weren't back yet when I pulled up, I hoped they were actually getting something. Shane was on watch and when I stepped out of the cab he pulled his hat off his head and waved to me. Since I was gone for a couple of hours everybody had time to wake up and were bustling around. Mama Bear and Jacqui were doing laundry while Andrea, Amy, and Lori were sitting by the fire pit and chatting away. I couldn't see Morales' wife in sight. Dale and Jim were bent over the front of the RV. Sophia and Carl were lounging away from everyone else but still in sight of their mothers. I couldn't see T-Dog anywhere.

After watching the group for some time, letting my eyes jump from person to person, I guessed it would be a great time to get some sleep. I'd been up for at least 24 hours, possibly more and I was still going. I didn't feel tired or drowsy but since there was nothing else to do I took the tent for myself. I laid down and stared up at the blue see-through roof of the tent and locked my fingers behind my head. It wasn't long after that I fell asleep.

.x.

Merle's friendly facade slowly disintegrated and the real redneck came out. It started with him smarting off to Shane, the leader of all people, although I don't blame him, Officer Buff pressed my buttons too. Then he started with sexist comments to the women, who again in turn went back right on Shane because they started complaining. Then he wouldn't pull his own weight and do nothing but sit down in a lawn chair and bitch at people, it was only me and Daryl who brought everyone's food after that.

Everyone thought it was the drugs that made him that way. When I went back to get Merle's bike I didn't think that I would be starting the timer on a time bomb. I forgot he hid the stash in the pouch of his bike until my brothers came back from their hunt with some squirrel on a string and he went straight for his bike. He tried to hide the fact that he stole a pill bottle from it and stuffed it in his pants, but we all saw. The only thing was it wasn't the drugs that made him rude, that was just Merle.

"I need to make a run tomorrow." Glenn said one night while we were all eating. "We need all I can find. The women need supplies, then maybe I could get some clothes and shoes for all of us, we're all running a bit thin. Some food and medical supplies if I can find 'em."

"You should take Harley here with ya. Girlies fast, I can tell ya that." Merle chuckled, flicking me on the head. I sat in front of him, more by the fire and Daryl sat on the log beside him. We all stayed together and most of them noticed that. Not once did they ever come near us during dinner, they just let us sit together, they didn't try to sit on our log or within a close proximity. I thought it was smart, they learned quickly.

Glenn shook his head. "It's easier if I go by myself. I can get in and out, I don't have to worry about someone else."

"Let her go, it might be for the better. You can cover more area with someone there." Shane said.

Glenn nodded and went back to eating, admitting his defeat. "Okay, fine. We're leaving tomorrow morning, Harl."

Glenn wasn't happy about me going but he sucked it up. In the car ride the next morning he loosened up and stopped pouting.

"You ever done something like this before?" He asked.

I shrugged. "What'chu mean? Go to town?"

Glenn chuckled and shifted in his seat. "Well yeah but...make runs, I mean."

"No. We never made runs when we were in the woods, me n' my brothers. We had everythin' we needed." I answered.

"Oh, cool." Was all he said. Glenn was quite the awkward individual, I learned. He always treaded carefully. He watched his words and his actions, which was something I think Officer Buff should take lessons on from him.

"Merle kind of scares me." He said after a few minutes of silence.

I laughed. "He scares everyone."

"Does he scare you?"

"No. He scares everyone 'cept me and Daryl." I replied. "You get used to him. It's not the drugs talkin', that's actually the way he is." I stared out the window, watching the slow moving trees go past us.

"Must've been hard, yeah? Living with him, I mean." Glenn stuttered.

"He was rarely there," I confessed, my voice becoming more quieter as I spoke, much to my dismay. "From the beginning it's been me and Daryl. But yeah, it was hard when he was there." I snapped myself out of the snappy moment and ran my fingers through my hair. "But besides that tell me about you, Short-Round." I punched him in the arm.

Glenn just chuckled and took a hand off the wheel to rub his shoulder. "I'm nothing exciting."

"Oh come on. It doesn't have to be exciting." I pressed. It was better for me and him if we talked about his life, not mine.

"I used to be a pizza boy." He glanced at me with a smile.

I laughed. "To be honest I kind of expected that."

.x.

We parked just outside of the city by a pair of railroad tracks. It was an easy way into Atlanta without getting detected. We grabbed our backpacks and threw them on before we entered through the gate. I readied my bow the instant we crossed the fence , I was the muscle on the run. Glenn didn't carry a gun, only a knife and a flashlight. I figured he must have been really good if he goes by himself and only carries those things.

"Where you wanna hit first?" I asked as we were running. We were heading straight into the middle of Atlanta. Glenn lead the way since he knew where he was going and I brought up the rear, circling around to watch our backs.

"There's a pharmacy maybe four blocks away from the hardware store I hit for Dale last week. I say we try there first." He replied in a hushed tone.

"That'll get us deeper into the city, China-man, you realize that?" I snapped.

"I'm Korean." He growled, "And I'm not stupid, Harl."

"Try and convince me otherwise." I chuckled. I followed him into a back alley and we took a ladder up to the roof. Once you could see the all of the streets and the buildings you finally saw how infested it was. I didn't see any walkers coming in besides the few that roamed beside the treeline on the outskirts. These were the first undead I saw in the city and goddamn, it was a lot. "This is how it usually is?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah. But once you get on a roof like this it's easier to plan and look at where they all are." He pointed down the road at the hardware store he was talking about. I followed his fingers as he went down the blocks and pointed at a group of buildings. "It is somewhere over there."

"So how we gonna do this? We can't just jump right in there."

"The roofs, they're all connected. And even if we have to cross the street it wouldn't be that bad, you'd just have to run like hell." Glenn chuckled at this. I found it funny how he treated the whole situation nonchalantly. He turned to me now, pointing a finger at me. "Keep up."

"Yeah, yeah." I muttered. Getting over the rooftops was easy. We managed to go fro a few blocks free from the risk of walkers but of course there has to be complications. It was the last strip too, we couldn't find a way onto the other building so we had to go down. Our formation was just as it had been when we had gone in, Glenn in the front and me providing protection from the back. We went through an opening in the horde of walkers. It was a short, narrow path. Once we step foot on the street they noticed us and it was high tailed from there. I managed to stab a few in the head with my knife, I didn't want to risk losing some arrows for a simple task. Plus since Glenn was also sending his blade through some heads as well it made it a lot simpler than it seemed it would be. I saved his ass more than twice. I was busy with my own walker problems when I hear him yelling my name. He had snapping teeth inches from his face and another one was coming up quickly behind him. I stabbed a nearby walker in the head and loaded my bow as fast as I could and aimed for the one that was hungrily groaning in his face. Once an arrow went straight through that one's head Glenn let him fall and pulled it out before turning and stabbing the one behind him with it.

"Come on!" Glenn yelled and waved his hand at me. We ran through the rest of them, we had put a decent sized dent into them and we could just run and dodge them the rest of the way. Glenn lead us into a back alley behind the set of buildings the pharmacy was supposed to be and on both ends the walkers started piling in. I looked around for a way out, there was no ladder but there was a door.

"In here!" I opened the door and we piled in. It was dark inside, it was probably a storage room or something. Glenn turned on his flash light and spanned it around the room. Cardboard boxes spanned around the room. When the circle of light hit a door I readied my bow. Glenn cautiously stood in front of me, a shaky hand reaching out to turn the cold knob. In a flash he threw it open and out of the corner of my eye I saw him brace himself. As far as I could see there was nothing but a store in front of us and once I saw the section signs that hung from the ceiling I knew it was the pharmacy he had been talking about. "S'clear."

"Great." Glenn rushed past me and took the bag off his back and zipped it open, starting to go up and down the isles.

"Be careful, we still don't know if this is safe." I warned him. "You have yer knife?"

He turned to me with a disappointing look on his face. "Na, I left it out there. I dropped it."

I groaned. "Great going dip-shit." I pulled mine from the sheath and held it out to him. "I want it back."

He nodded and stuttered, "T-thanks."

I took a tour of the store for myself, to check every little crevice and corner to make sure the whole place was clean. We were in there for a while, Glenn emptied the whole place, even taking things we didn't need. It wasn't overly stocked and had been ransacked before but there were a couple things left behind. He had a few items in his hands when he came up to me.

"Let's put these in your bag."

I turned and let him put them in there.

"I found some shampoo, body wash, and whatnot. Dale said we're running out in the RV." Glenn came back with his stuff on his back and my knife in hand, sending me a nod before going towards the front windows. "The back is probably overrun by now," He scratched the back of his neck, "It's not too bad out here. We could weave our way back around to where we went down on the street."

I nodded and tightened my grip on my bow. "Lead the way."

The trip back was successful. We made it out the city easy and followed our tracks back to the rail road. Glenn threw me the keys when we started coming up on our car. "You can drive back." He grinned at me.

I climbed into the driver's seat and started the car. Glenn had to direct me all the way up back to camp, I didn't quite know how to get three which is why I don't know why he gave me the keys. He was probably just tired and I couldn't blame the kid, Glenn was a machine when he was on his runs and I saw that first hand. I understood why he was good at it. Glenn had the skills capable of getting in and out safely and he wanted to do it.

"Thanks fer takin' me with ya." I murmured as we started up the trail.

I didn't take my eyes off the road but I could hear Glenn shift in his seat. "It's no problem. It was a helluva lot easier with you there, to be honest."

My lips turned up at the corners. "That's mighty nice of ya, China-man."

When we rolled up onto camp everyone was waiting for us. "How'd it go?" Shane asked, taking mine and Glenn's bags while we walked towards the center of camp.

Glenn answered. "Went good. Found some useful things."

I subconsciously searched for my brothers among the group. When I didn't see a hint of Merle's smart smile or Daryl's uncomfortable look I turned to Shane. "Where are my brothers?"

Shane adjusted his hat. "Where ya think?"

I huffed. "They better catch somethin'." Of course they were out hunting. I was silently praying they would get something other than squirrel. I shuffled around in my bag that Shane had sat down by the fire pit. I pulled out the new shampoo and body wash Glenn had got. "I'm takin' a shower." I went by my tent and got what clean clothes I had before heading to the RV. Dale's RV was complete with a bathroom and fortunately it had a shower. But when you share that thing with at least 30 other people it gets a little hectic. We didn't have shower schedule like everybody wanted so most of the time you had to put up with not taking a shower for a couple of days and when you finally got under the running water you couldn't take your sweet little time. I shut the RV door behind me but didn't bother to lock it, when someone took a shower no one came into the RV because you couldn't change in that little bathroom. I did lock the bathroom door, however.

The shower was small and compact, there wasn't enough room t bend down and shave your legs if you wanted and the women didn't do that anymore. I didn't worry about it, I was never one to shave anyway, let alone wear shorts and have someone look at them. I put the bottles of shampoo and wash on counter the sink sat on and leaned on it, staring at myself in the mirror. I don't know why I stared or even glanced at myself, I don't do that often. I don't like looking at myself because my mind automatically starts comparing me to others and how I should be different. I bit my bottom lip before pulling away and stepping into the shower. The water wasn't warm, it never was, although it wasn't ice cold either.

I didn't stay in there long, I washed up in record time and wrapped a towel around my waist before heading out to the back of the RV where I threw my clothes on the bed. I presence behind me made me tense and the voice that followed made me freeze.

"Harl?" It was Glenn. Why wasn't he running out? He obviously saw me and the right thing to do was walk out but he didn't. I could feel him standing there, I could feel his eyes piercing my back.

My back. That's what he was staring at. He was seeing the scars, the old and new, the deep and shallow. He was seeing the burns from the cigarettes and the old imprints that the buckle of the belt left in my skin. I didn't know what to do. "Get out of here." Was all I could muster. I could hear Glenn's feet shuffle across the RV floor and out the door. He slammed it shut as if to assure me he was indeed gone. I stood there for a moment a reflected on what happened, it was the unexpected. All I was thinking was that China-man better not say anything. I got dressed slowly and threw on what clean clothes I could find, just a new shirt and a new bra. When I walked out of the RV I gave the rest to Carol who went around doing what she did best; being Mama Bear.

"You okay?" She asked when I threw the clothes into her basket that she held at her hip.

"Yeah, m'fine." I huffed before heading to my tent. Glenn was waiting for me. He sat in front of the tent with his knees brought to his chest. Once I saw him I turned on my heel and headed the other way but I didn't get far before he came after me.

"Harl, Harley,"

I stopped and turned, crossing my arms over my chest and raising a brow at him.

"I-I'm sorry that I stepped in. I didn't think you were already done," He shook his head as he spoke and I notice he tried not to meet my eyes. He kept staring at the ground. "T-those...on your back. Where are they from?"

"Where the hell do you think?" I snapped.

He sat there for a moment, a hand on his chin. "Merle? How can y-"

"No, for fuck's sake, no! Merle's not like that," I said, shaking my head with my words. He opened his mouth to talk. "Daryl either." I said before he could get anything out.

"I know you don't want to talk about it but it might be for the best, to get it off your chest." He hushed and took a moment to look around and make sure no one was near.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "I don't want no counseling shit, Glenn." I turned away and tried to stomp off but once again a hand found my arm and stopped me.

"I want to help." He whispered. I didn't know how to react. Was I supposed to fall to the ground and cry? Was I supposed to walk away and forget he every said anything? Should I tell him? I was scared to tell him, I was scared that he would everyone else. I didn't care if he judge,d I've dealt with that more than once in my life. I can handle discrimination but I can't afford everyone coming up to be and giving me sympathy; I didn't need it. I didn't want it, it made me feel weak.

I stayed put, with my back to Glenn. "It was my father," I breathed as quietly as I could. "And Daddy's done a lot more than what you saw."

Glenn's hand didn't waver from my arm and it made me uncomfortable. After a few minutes I jerked my arm away and waited for him to say anything. I expected an 'I'm sorry' and some pity but instead I got nothing so I walked away.

I didn't want to tell anybody, but Glenn knew now, he knew my secret.