Ellie Dixon

Dad's Back

Me, Sophia and Jacob were helping Carol fold laundry before we heard the loud sound of an engine and the security alarm going off. I ran over and saw a red car driving over to us. Dale pulled me back just to make sure that I wasn't run over by the thing, but I wanted to see if it was Uncle Merle. "Holy crap, turn that damn thing off!" Dale yelled at a smiling Glenn.

"I don't know how!" Glenn called over the noise.

Glenn went to turn off the engine as Jim and Shane looked under the hood to try and get the noise to stop. Amy started questioning Glenn about her sister Andrea who had gone with the group into the city. "Why isn't she with you? Where is she?" I heard Amy ask when the noise stopped. "She's okay?"

"Yea, yes, she's fine. Everybody is." Glenn told us. "Well, Merle not so much."

"Merle? What happened to Uncle Merle?" I asked, walking forwards.

"Uh... It's probably best we tell your dad first, and then he can tell you." Glenn said.

"Is he alive?" I questioned.

Glenn hesitated. "Probably?"

"Are you crazy driving this wailing bastard up here? Are you trying to draw every walker for miles?" Shane's voice was slightly raised.

"I think we're okay." Dale pointed out.

"You call being stupid, okay?" Shane raised his eyebrows.

"Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills. It's hard to pinpoint the source." Dale said, Shane looked annoyed. "I'm not arguing, I'm just saying." Before Dale turned to Glenn. "It wouldn't help you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?"

"Sorry." Glenn apologised. "Got a cool car though." He indicated to the red sports car.

That's when the truck the others in yesterday drove into view. It parked behind the car and people came out, but no Uncle Merle. I watched as Amy hugged Andrea, as Eliza and Louis ran over to their father. I walked over to Sophia, and she hugged me. I missed my father, and I wondered where Uncle Merle was.

"Hey, Helicopter Boy!" I heard Eliza and Louis' father yell. I turned around to see who they were talking about. A man in a sheriff's outfit walked out of the truck. His hands on his hips and he didn't look so happy, considering he had found a camp. "The guy's a cop, like you." He said to Shane.

A few seconds past where familiar glances were shared between new guy and Shane. New guy then looked over to Carl and Lori with a shocked but overjoyed expression. "Dad! Dad!" Carl screamed, running towards his father. The cop wrapped Carl up in a hug before he hugged Lori as well as Carl. Over the new guy's shoulder, Lori shared a strange glance with Shane.

Turns out the new guy was called Rick, Lori and Carl thought he was dead, as did Shane who was Rick's best friend. Rick was describing what it was like for him when he first woke up, but I didn't want to listen. I wanted to pretend everything was normal. Ed had made Sophia, Carol and Jacob sit in a different area, about ten feet away, with a different fire. I was sitting between my mum and Glenn.

I looked over when Ed threw another log onto his fire. "Hey, Ed, you wanna rethink that log?" Shane called over.

"It's cold, man." Ed responded.

"The cold don't change the rules, does it?" Shane replied. I looked to Sophia who had her head bowed, she was clearly embarrassed about her father's actions. Carol also couldn't meet the eyes of anyone, nobody blamed anyone apart from Ed though. "Keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?"

"I said it's cold." Ed replied. "You should mind your own business for once."

Shane got up and walked over so the family of four, but I couldn't hear what they were saying.