Problems in the camp

Putting aside his unnecessary thoughts, Daniel wants to build the story alongside Rick.

-Well, then I'll start ... -

Rick closes his eyes, gathers his thoughts and feelings from that moment. Daniel remembers well what happened to him, he will never be able to forget it.

-When I woke up from the coma, I felt disoriented, confused, lost ... my body was heavy and I couldn't move well-

Rick began.

-It was the same for me, I don't know how I woke up from the coma, even the same day as him, but more than disoriented I was afraid of what happened there or outside the hospital-

Daniel does not lie, although a little confused, the fear of the unknown was greater within him.

-It is true, a miracle very difficult to find happened to both-

As they sit alone across from Rick, Dale adds, and even though it's already dark, he still hasn't taken off his hat.

-I thought I was in a dream where he would never wake up-

Rick's eyes are unfocused.

-Mom said that you and Daniel had died-

Carl, seated, hugging Rick, says shocking words to Rick and Daniel.

-Don't doubt your mother, she had many reasons to believe it-

Rick kisses his son's head and rubs his arm.

-It's true Carl, Lori like any other would think the same in that situation-

Daniel supports Lori this time, because even he would think the same if someone goes into a coma for 2 months during the apocalypse.

-The hospital told me that they would take you and other patients to Atlanta to have better conditions, but that never happened-

Lori looks at Shane while he talks, Daniel noticed that, he will keep it in his memory, it might be important.

-It's something logical, the hospital must have been about to explode with people-

Rick feels complicated emotions about what would have happened there while he sleeps.

-When I went out into the corridor there was a lot of blood and bullet holes in the walls, a battle happened inside-

Daniel tries to imagine the infected people transforming into Wakers and then attacking everyone, the soldiers shooting anyone and everyone running from the scene.

-It was too dangerous to stay there, I barely had time to get Rick's family out of there-

Shane tries to justify himself by not being able to help either of them.

-Thank you friend, you don't know how much I thank you-

Rick is truly grateful to Shane for saving his wife and child who cannot express his gratitude in words alone.

-Again the words fall short, how ridiculous-

Dale shakes his head seeing this, it is difficult to express such great gratitude.

-Shane, didn't you see my grandmother? -

Daniel doesn't care about her trying to help him, but he wonders if he did something for his grandmother when he needed it.

-I did see her once, but the military did not allow her to approach the hospital, because of her age it was easy to contract diseases-

Shane did nothing for his grandmother, that was the only thing Daniel heard, they weren't very close anyway.

-Okay ... Thanks anyway, the first thing I did when I left the hospital was to go see her, and as you might imagine, she went into the hands of God-

Daniel also tells about the moment when he lost his grandmother.

How he felt that he was losing everything.

That stinging sensation in his chest, his voice didn't come out and his eyes get wet.

His emotions were very strong and he did not want to leave the place for the world.

Like being in a nightmare, but at the same time in sad reality.

He loves his grandmother very much, the good times they spent, the meals that were prepared, how they both made clothes for each other, they wished for sweet dreams or just a good morning was enough to make him happy, before it was ...

They all give him their condolences for the loss of his grandmother, but the ones who touched the most were Carl, Rick and Lori, they were the ones who knew Daniel's grandmother the most, they hugged Rick.

Andrea for some, cried like Amy, Amy hugged him as if she was trying to comfort him Maybe they experienced something similar.

Daniel hugs Amy too and caresses her back to stop her crying. Amy is warm.

After that, to brighten things up a bit, Daniel tells the story of how Rick fell asleep on night patrol work and a thief robbed a gas station in front of him. They almost fired him but he had previously been working 36 hours in a row so they let him go with a reduction in salary.

Lori and Daniel insisted that he should rest but Rick still went to work and that happened.

-Hey honey, you told me you had a little vacation that time-

Lori says something that makes everyone laugh a little because they see Rick nervous, at least they are not depressed.

Shane also adds something, he is mad at Daniel because whenever they went out together, the girls would flirt with Daniel, and he was just an invisible and ignored ghost.

That is why he does not like to be around this boy, because he is handsome.

-Come on Shane, don't tell me you're still resentful about that-

Daniel adds salt to the wound, causing Shane's face to turn red with anger, everyone laughs at this little joke showdown.

Looking at this group of people, Daniel remembers the moments he spent with his parents camping or with his grandmother on a picnic.

Daniel felt empty now, as if he shouldn't be here.

Now that he thinks about it, his grandmother transformed into a Walker after she died, so the virus that transforms us into Walkers is already inside us.

Daniel's parents died a year ago but did not become Walkers, for that reason, the time the virus began to spread was less than a year ago, but Daniel does not know when. Only something strange happened before he fell into a coma, the internet almost exploded with information about a space storm that will hit earth, but that never happened, or maybe it did? Could the Walkers be an alien virus?

Daniel shook his head and decided not to think about it, those are answers that he now he would not get or will not be useful in the situation he is in.

-Are you OK?-

Amy, with a few traces of tears, asks Daniel who she hugs. She is still affected by Daniel's earlier account.

-I'm fine, I'm sorry to have worried you-

Daniel wipes Amy's tears with her fingers and reassures the sisters.

At that moment the crackling is heard and the fire next to Daniel grew bigger.

There were 2 bonfires, one is the bonfire where Daniel and the others are, the other is Carol, a teenage girl and a middle-aged man.

The man threw a couple of branches into the fire and it grew brighter.

-Hey Ed, we talked about this before, we must keep the fire low so as not to attract the Walker-

Shane tries to reason with the man named Ed, he seems to be Carol's partner and that girl is probably his daughter.

-Take care of your own affairs and don't bother-

Ed responds in a grumpy manner and throws down another branch.

Ed is an obese man with very short hair, about 45 years old and frowning almost every moment.

Shane frowns, the atmosphere is awkward. Daniel is not going to speak now, this is their business, he has just arrived at the camp.

-Are you sure you want to have this conversation?

Shane gets up and walks over to Ed, standing next to him speaking a few words looking down at him.

-Turn that off. Turn it off!-

Ed doesn't continue the conversation, he orders Carol to put out the fire. She does it.

-Carol, Sophia, I hope you are well-

Shane talks to Carol and Sophia.

Sophia is an adolescent girl of approximately 14 years old, with freckles on her face but pretty, with short blonde hair to the nape and parted in the middle, blue eyes, she was in full growth and was beginning to develop her female areas.

She had a stuffed doll in her arms, she didn't speak a single word.

She appears to be shy, with her face down and her hands around her legs holding her stuffed animal. She wears a large blue T-shirt.

She just wants it all to end ...

-Sorry for the fire-

Carol apologizes to Shane on behalf of her husband, because they have both rings on her ring fingers.

Carol shouldn't do that, but she's scared ...

-Okay, have a rest-

Shane doesn't want to bother her and says goodbye to her.

-If you too-

Carol hugs her daughter with a listless face and they go to sleep with Ed.

-Daniel and Rick, maybe they don't know it but Merle Dixon has a brother, his name is Daryl Dixon, I think he will be angry when he finds out that they left his brother-

Dale talks about a possible conflict between the group, Daniel was not there when it happened, but that Daryl does not care.

-I'll tell you what happened, I lost the keys, it's my fault-

T-Dog didn't do it on purpose, but he still feels the guilt, now Merle might be dead and he didn't help him. At least he can let his brother decide what he will do.

Everyone who went to Atlanta thinks about it, they left Merle but almost nobody wanted him except for his brother, now that he is not the best for the group.

Merle is someone with an unstable mind, frequent and crazy mood swings. His brother Daryl is the only one who can stand it.

Such a person will not be accepted almost anywhere, unless they know how to control it.

And this group does not know how to control Merle so that she does not cause problems.

Today's world is very bad, where people's dark desires come to light, a world where good people are mistreated and bad people have power.

Although it is not always the same ...

-No, I will explain it to him, I handcuffed him in that place so that I am also to blame for what happened-

Daniel really felt a little guilty, Merle was a violent racist, but he was still human. Daniel could not get out of his head that if Dixon died then he would be his murderer, although indirectly, the weight of that death would fall on his shoulders. But if he was already dead, then there is nothing that can be done to him, he would face the guilt when the time comes.

-But I helped you handcuff, I'm also to blame-

Surrendering the handcuffs voluntarily and knowing what he was going to do, Rick also feels guilty. Although the world has changed, his values ​​are still the same.

He was a policeman and had a deeper sense of justice than normal people.

Although not all policemen will be like this.

-Hey, this is not a contest whose fault it is and no offense, but I think it is better to say a target-

He doesn't want to sound racist or offensive to T-Dog, but if they have to tell Daryl, he will have more patience with a white man.

Glenn is right, what they have to do now is not see who is more to blame, what's done is done, or they could change it. But if he has to prepare.

-I was to blame, I can't hide it-

T-Dog clutches his head guiltily, he didn't want to kill Merle, he doesn't want to be a murderer, he doesn't like Dixon, but that won't kill him.

It was an accident for which he wants to take responsibility, even if Daryl wants to beat him up in anger.

-We could lie to him, so we wouldn't have to worry about it-

Amy doesn't want Daniel, Glenn and the others to pay for not bringing Merle who she is very obnoxious, just like her brother Daryl.

The best thing would be if she does not know and they end the matter.

-Or we could tell him the truth, he at some point he will know and it is better that he finds out for us now-

Andrea, who is more rational, knows that they cannot lie, Daryl is perspective and will realize, although he is hateful, he loves his brother and will look for him everywhere.

It is best if they tell the truth and confront Daryl together, then decide what to do.

-Merle is crazy, he wanted to kill us to take over the group in a tyrannical way. Daniel defended us, he did what he had to do and if Merle stayed there, it is no one's fault-

Andrea keeps talking and he's right, Dixon got himself into that situation on his own.

It is better to have a madman in handcuffs than a madman with guns.

-Excuse me for interrupting, but will we tell Dayl that? He will not be happy-

Dale says something obvious, but nobody spoke.

This point is important, it is not known how Daryl, Merle's brother, reacts.

-Then we must prepare in case he tries to kill us-

Daniel already foresees the worst situation. Daryl gets angry and tries to kill the 'killers' of his brother.

-No! You don't understand it, I ... I was afraid-

T-Dog gets nervous and seems to hide something.

-What do you mean?-

Daniel I don't understand, it was just an accident, right?

-What I mean is that, I had enough time to chain the door, the stairs were narrow and only 2 Walkers could pass at the same time, it would be difficult for them to go through there-

Wanting to explain himself so that they do not misunderstand, T-Dog speaks in a hurried way, maybe Merle ...

"You mean Dixon could be alive?"

As he is hugged by Lori and Carl, who fell asleep, Rick frowns uncertainly.

-That's right, it is very possible that he is alive, handcuffed there, now he depends on us-

T-Dog nods his head, gets up and then goes to sleep, thinks that he already said what he had to say, saying something else would do nothing. They all do the same. Shane stays to put out the fire.

-Daniel wait-

Andrea talks to Daniel.

-I'm sorry but we don't have any more tents for you to sleep-

Andrea has a sorry face.

-Okay, I can sleep in the truck, he's big and safer anyway-

Daniel does not want to cause problems for him now when he has just arrived, besides, the truck is safe and has a lot of space.

-Sister, could you sleep with us-

Amy speaks innocently, she doesn't seem to understand the situation.

-Amy, you can't let a man sleep with you-

Andrea is surprised and quickly corrects her little sister, she does not know if she is innocent or she said it with other intentions, but she will not let it continue.

-Listen to your sister Amy, a bad man like me could take advantage of two defenseless sisters and eat them-

Daniel throws up his clawed hands and pretended to growl.

-Like the bad wolf? -

Amy seems to remember a storybook.

-Like the bad wolf-

Daniel nods an evil grin and takes a step closer to Amy.

Amy hides behind Andrea scared and only her head is visible.

-Come on, stop bothering her, I'm going to find some blankets so you can sleep more comfortably. I'm sorry again-

Andrea apologizes again, not that she doesn't want to, but they really don't have other better places to rest.

-Don't apologize, having a relatively safe place to rest is very good in these times. I appreciate the concern of both, they are not only beautiful sisters, they also have a kind heart-Daniel

Andrea tells her to stop saying that, but she was obviously pleased by her happy smile on her face, they rarely praised her.

Amy feels shy, with a little blush and continues to hide behind Andrea.

They both leave after saying goodbye to Daniel.

Andrea takes Amy with her while she goes to find some blankets where Daniel can sleep more comfortably.

Daniel lifts his leg and walks a bit finding Rick close to him.

-Hey Rick, give me the keys to the truck, I'll sleep there tonight-

Rick was about to enter his store, Daniel did not want to bother him but before he did not know that he would use the truck.

-Are you sure you will not leave? We did not discuss it but you agreed to help me find my family, now that you have done it I am eternally grateful, but I do not want you to go- (Rick)

-Don't worry about that, yes, I am sad and I feel empty for the loss of my entire family, but I accepted it and I will continue to live as long as I can, I will not throw away the life that my family protected- (Daniel)

-I trust that you tell me the truth and, as I have told you before, I am also your family, even if you do not accept me. And I know you won't let me hug you but, at least a handshake, would that be okay? - (Rick)

Daniel can't refuse Rick's genuine concern for him, and even though he can't accept him as his family, he shakes his hands.

-Here you go, have a good rest-

Rick hands Daniel the truck keys and says goodbye to go into his family store.

-Okay, that you and your family have a happy night of rest-

Maybe it's because Rick already has a family, that Daniel can't accept him as his own family. Or it could be something else, Daniel himself wasn't sure ...

With the keys in his right hand, Daniel walks and opens the truck, enters the driver's door, and closes it again.

The inside of the truck was clean, but it looked dark.

Daniel leaves his backpack behind the driver's seat, opens it, and takes the small flashlight out of his box. He turns on the flashlight and illuminates the interior, it was clean, it seems to have been stored in the shopping center from which they escaped since the beginning of the apocalypse.

Daniel uses one hand to illuminate and with the other he takes out his satellite phone, sits leaning his back against the wall of the truck and dials a number ...