the gods forbid [the walking dead]

1.03

She didn't want to intrude, but she wasn't sure where or what to do.

"You comin'?" Daryl questioned, his voice muffled from being in the tent.

"Y-yeah," Opal stuttered. She climbed into the tent and saw two open spaces, where people would be able to sleep.

Opal wondered if another person was staying in the tent. "You can sleep in the middle area. Merle and me also sleep in here," Daryl explained, throwing a sleeping bag to Opal.

"Who's Merle?" Opal asked.

"My brother." He told bluntly.

Opal nodded, she didn't want to ask so many questions, but she was curious. She fought the urge to question the man.

"He's on the run to Atlanta," he explained. Opal nodded, thankful that she didn't have to ask more questions. "You can put your sleeping' bag closer to my bed, ya won't want to sit that close to Merle," he said, pulling Opal's neat sleeping bag to his. His southern accent was strong, seeing as he probably grew up in Georgia, or somewhere south.

"Thanks?" she said, hoping that Merle wasn't that bad. "When is Merle supposed to get back?" she cursed herself for asking more questions.

"Tomorrow. Now, I'ma go hunting til the morning cause you interrupted me earlier," Daryl said, making Opal feel guilty.

"Sorry," she apologised. She didn't mean to interrupt the hunter. She just didn't want to die.

Daryl shrugged, he didn't really mind. He was stating a fact. If anything, he felt a little bad for making Opal feel bad.

He stalked into the woods, leaving behind the girl and the group.

Opal sat in the tent. It smelled like sweat and there was only one word to describe the tent's stench. Gross. She wasn't sure if she could possibly fall asleep in this smelly tent. Times were dire and energy was a need. She couldn't just stay up for nights on end. She had to learn how to use weapons. Opal's life depended on it. Opal got out of the 3 person tent and saw Lori and Carol sitting with their children by a tree stump. She walked over there, her feet shuffling, "Hi."

The quartet looked up, all at the same time. Lori smiled, "Hey! Opal, right?"

Opal nodded, "Yeah."

"So how are you settling in?" Lori asked.

Opal shrugged, "Pretty good. Do y'all know what Merle's like?"

The two older women sighed.

"He sure is a handful," Carol said.

"In what ways?" Opal questioned, knowing that it was okay to ask repeatedly because she knew that Lori and Carol didn't seem to mind her. And they didn't, they understood why Opal asked the questions, she just wanted to know what her new roommate was like.

"He's just a bother. Ya know? Loud, unapologetic. Doesn't care what you think," Lori spoke, getting annoyed at just the thought of the eldest Dixon brother.

Opal nodded, she went to school with those type of people continuously throughout the years. Good thing she knew how to deal with them.

"Mom, can we stop doing math?" Carl asked. Opal frowned, the kids still had to do math work? She would hate having to do math still.

Lori patted Carl's back, "just a little longer baby."

Carl sighed, "but I don't get it though."

Opal smiled, "could I help?" Just because she didn't enjoy it, didn't mean she wasn't good at it.

Carol and Lori made eye contact, were they going to trust this total stranger with their precious children? Carol seemed fine with it.

"I can watch 'em too. Have some free time. Do what you want." Opal said, sealing the deal between the women.

Lori nodded, "we'll be back in 20 minutes." the two walked off.

"So what're you guys working on?" Opal asked, squatting down to be at the children's height.

Carl stayed silent, obviously not trusting Opal yet.

Yet, Sophia was quick to reply, "multiplication."

Opal smiled, she actually slightly enjoyed multiplication, "great! That was my favorite subject in math."

Sophia smiled, "good. That means you were good at it then."

Opal let out the most hearty laugh than she had since her boyfriend "captive." "I guess so, Sophia."

"Can you help me with the decimal problems?" Carl asked, his voice as small as him.

Opal nodded and leaned over to see his math book. She started to explain the so called 'complicated' problem.

"OH. THat's a different way than how Carol and Mom explained it. That actually makes a lot more of sense," Carl said, smiling and quickly finishing his math problems.

Carl and Sophia quickly finished the math in no time, thanks to Opal's math skills.

The three just sat where they were, playing and joking around. Opal had a good time, she hadn't had that much fun for the longest time.

They all looked up, hearing a siren echo throughout the quarry. Opal stood and walked to the middle of the camp, Sophia and Carl followed, going to their mother's sides.

"Dale! You see anything?" Shane yelled.

"Looks like a stolen car to me," he said, taking the pair of binoculars from his eyes and looking down at Shane.

Shane ran a quick hand over his face and hair. They were bringing walkers around from all over to their surroundings.

They car strolled up to the small camp, a young Asian man stepping out.

Dale, SHane, T-Dog and a few others started to yell at the driver, telling him to turn off the loud siren.

Jim sighed, tired off all the commotion, he jogged up to the car and opened the hood, thankfully unconnecting the wire that made the horn go off. Everything was quiet, until Amy yelled.

"Is my sister okay?"