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Charlotte Blues

Hunters, bandits and a sheriff

Summer made way for autumn, changing the landscape around them to hues of orange and yellow. Leaves crunched underneath his feet as he walked to the edge of the clearing, just outside the tree line of the surrounding forest. He stopped at the tree line and turned around to check on his brother and their three little charges. Two boys of about twelve years old had been handpicked by Collyn to receive their first lesson. The third was little Caden. Merle had managed to convince Collyn that Caden could use lessons himself. After all, the more hunters and protectors a group had, the safer they would be. And they wouldn’t go hungry anytime soon.

“You’re an idiot.” One of the teenage boys drawled to his twin brother. The two boys were pulling and pushing each other around, much to Merle’s annoyance.

“Shut up, both of you!” Merle snapped at the boys, glaring as the two teenagers fell silent and straightened out. “Behave ya selves for a couple minutes, you got skills to learn.”

Daryl walked up next to him and stopped at his side. His brother sighed and looked down for a second or two. “These two are hopeless.” Darlyna muttered and he couldn’t help but agree.

Caden came up to him and sought out the safety of his legs almost immediately. The small arms wrapped around his right leg and cuddled up close while the little boy stared into the forest trees. “What are we dooing?”

He looked down and chuckled at the little boy meeting his gaze. “We gonna find ourselves some ‘coons and squirrels. Learn you boys to track and hunt. Ya up for that, sport?”

Caden nodded enthusiastically and slowly let go of his father’s leg. Merle guided Caden along as they entered the forest while Daryl guided the twins along. He stopped when he spotted a small trail, most likely made by a couple of raccoons. “C’mhere. Tell me, Kay. Whatcha seeing right here?”

“Uhm…” Caden paused as he tried to focus on the forest floor. “Leaves and sticks?” He asked, speaking very slow and without any confidence.

“Yeah, see that too. Here, watch. See these paws on the ground and those broken twigs?” Merle pointed out the tracks on the ground and the scrubs that were broken.

“Yeah.” Caden replied looking at everything in great interest.

“That’s coon tracks. They went through here.”

“How can you tell?”

“By the prints in the ground and the disturbed and broken twigs and leaves. Come on, we’ll go track this coon and Darlyna over there can teach the twins how to track.” Merle pointed up ahead and slowly made his way along the raccoons trail, Caden following right behind him.

The little boy struggled to keep his child sized compound bow on his back as they tracked through the forest. Merle couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched the boy fiddle and struggle with the damn thing. But it was a good thing Caden had a bow like that. The child may only be four and a half, but he was growing up in a world filled with danger. He was gonna need that bow later on.

He heard the groaning of a walker before he could see one but immediately pulled Caden down into the scrubs. “Shhh.” He instructed, placing a finger against the child’s lips to keep him quiet. Merle slowly stalked towards the groaning, walking corpse and stayed low to avoid detection.

An arrow soared through the air and embedded itself in the creatures skull before he could attack it himself. He narrowed his eyes and carefully took in his surroundings to find Daryl, only to find out Daryl was just twenty yards from him. His brother was crouching down, shielding the twins from the freshly killed walker. He checked behind him and saw Caden looking at him, fear apparent in his eyes.

He nodded at the child in an attempt to offer some form of comfort and focused his gaze back onto the trees ahead. There was movement between them and he detected several humans coming their way. If they got up now and moved they would be detected soon enough. The best thing to do was stay quiet and stay down, to avoid detection above all else.

Voices drifted closer and the brothers shared a look with a slight nod of the head. They’d stay put until the strangers had come into their direct range, only then would they rise up and take them out. Anything else was to dangerous with the kids behind them and all.
Caden pressed himself flat against Merle’s back, he could feel the little boy shaking in fear and he tried to calm the child as best as he could in this situation.

The strangers finally came into range and Merle’s mouth fell open. He shared a quick look with Daryl and saw a similar look of surprise on his brother’s face. What the hell were they doing here? He resisted the urge to just jump up and announce their presence. He couldn’t trust these people. He wouldn’t endanger Caden just to get his revenge. Caden was far more important to him.

The little leader of the group stopped just ten yards from his hiding place and seemed to be looking around. Merle looked at Daryl and calculated out their chances of staying undetected for much longer. The brothers nodded at each other as the other group pointed their weapons in their hiding places and they slowly rose to their feet with their hands up in surrender. “Well, well, well. If it ain’t officer friendly and his merry band of bandits.” Merle drawled once he and Daryl had come out of hiding.

The group turned to face them, almost all of them wore similar expressions of pure shock. And if it wasn’t so damn dangerous to make too much noise he’d have laughed at their dopey expressions. “Merle? Daryl?” Andrea said as she came up to them and just stared at them, it was getting rather annoying, actually.

“No Blondie, we’re Santa and his damn elf.” Merle drawled sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. Caden slowly stood up and clung to his leg as he studied the strangers from the safety of Merle’s giant form.

“Wait, but if you’re here, with kids… that means your friends camp is nearby, right?” Sheriff Rick asked looking at him and Daryl with a strange desperation in his eyes. He didn’t know what these guys had been through in the last couple of months but he had a feeling it wasn’t the same safety and luxury that they’d had.

“What if it is?” Daryl asked as he closed the distance between himself and the little wife robber. Why that guy was still in the group was a mystery to him, especially since he just held that crazy vibe in his eyes and entire persona.

“Can we join you? Lori’s pregnant and the baby… We got our own medical staff, Hershell is a vet and we can help with other stuff.” Rick tried reasoning with Daryl, probably because they figured he’d be easier to persuade. Thing was, they probably were right on that one. His bro could be a little sap when it came to baby’s and young kids. And officer friendly and his group? They had that boy of his and the little girl from that mouse and the abuser with them. Daryl would cave and hard.

“Well, I…-” Daryl started.

“It ain’t up to him!” Merle interrupted the group, not intimidated in the slightest by these bozo’s.

“Now you listen here, you-.” The fucking asshole started, the little wife robber needed to know his place and shut the hell up in his opinion.

“Shut it, ya lill’ piece of shit. And back the hell off before I kill ya.” Merle snapped, showing off his prosthetic with his trusted knife taped to it. He held it up right in Shane’s face to teach the damn asshole some boundaries.

Caden let out a little hiccup and a soft sob as he pressed closer and tightened his hold on Merle’s leg. He relaxed a little and gently laid his elbow on the little boys head in comfort. “It’s alright, sport. I ain’t gonna let him hurt you.”

Caden nodded bravely and wiped his tears away, straightening up a little despite his obvious fear. “K-K-Kay.”

Merle looked at his brother and two nodded before looking back at Rick and his bitch. “It ain’t up to us. Collyn will decide if you can join or not.” He told them before picking up the terrified Caden. “You can come along up to the gate, after that ya’all will have to await Collyn’s judgment.”

The little boy buried his face into Merle’s neck and hugged him tight. He didn’t like Shane at all it seemed. His son had great judgment of character already it seemed. Clever little thing he was and he couldn’t help but feel a little pride at that.

Daryl gently guided the twins to walk in front of him and the two brothers started the short track back to base with the Atlanta group on their left. The tower guards were on alert immediately, calling out for reinforcement and Collyn.

Emilio yelled at them to stand down when he spotted the Dixon brother and the kids on the groups right and signaled his men to take them inside for protection. The gate opened for the brothers while the watchmen kept the Atlanta group outside the fence for security reasons.
The bunker door opened again and a lonely figure emerged from it’s depths…

It was Collyn.

Notes

And here's today's update! I hope you guys enjoy this, the plot thickens from this point on, so stay tuned as we close Act 1 (first ten chapters) and go on to Act 2. There are three Acts in total and each act has a problem that has to be worked through. Obviously the first was Caden's parentage, although the set ups for Act 2 and 3 are also there as subplots in Act 1, they'll become really important later in the story.

So comment, like, subscribe or vote if you enjoyed it or have a tip to improve the story, let me know! Thanks for reading and I'll see you guys tomorrow.

Comments

Hot redneck sexy

dombast dombast
1/17/15

Love this in good call on lori

dombast dombast
1/17/15

Selfish bitch Lori should have let it go as well as rick. I know he would do anything to keep his family safe but Shane brought on himself.

dombast dombast
1/17/15

I would think Lori would be grateful . but since doesn't call the shots she a bitch. Tells me she doesn't care about her children

dombast dombast
1/17/15

I would think Lori would be grateful . but since doesn't call the shots she a bitch. Tells me she doesn't care about her children

dombast dombast
1/17/15