It Comes With The Name

Chapter 1: The Dixon Duo

Lauren had wanted to head back to Kings County weeks ago. As soon as she had gotten the call about her brother's accident it took everything in her not to drop what she was doing and leave then and there, but she had responsibilities. She had stupid veterinary classes that her parents could barely afford tuition for and they would kill her if she just left. So, she waited. She managed one-weekend visit after the accident, but that was all she could do.

Then the reports started. First, it was just a few news stories here and there. "A strange unknown virus" they called it. Pretty soon every day a new incident was reported. "Crazy neighbor attacks family dog", "Unresponsive woman wanders the street". Then the Universities shut down. Lauren packed a duffel bag and loaded her young Staffordshire Terrior, Tank, into the car. It took over an hour to even make it out of the city. The streets were in complete chaos with hoards of people swarming into Firesign Stadium.

It was dark once she finally made it out of the city with Tank. They passed dozens of cars on the other side of the highway, there seemed to be some kind of traffic jam heading into the city. She had no idea why anyone would want to go into Atlanta with all the chaos it was in, but she was less concerned with that and more concerned with the fact that nobody was answering their goddamn phones. Pulling off to the side of the road, she dialed Shane's number for the fourth time, and once again, no answer. She was about to call a fifth time when the ground beneath the car shook, and in the rearview mirror, she saw smoke. Grabbing Tank's leash, she hopped out of the vehicle, looking in the direction of the smoke. It was coming from the city. Lauren glanced around at the terrified faces on the other side of the interstate, she debated asking one of them what was going on. Then the second bomb hit. Then the third. Then fourth.

Lauren felt her stomach drop as she and Tank watched the helicopters fly over the place they had been mere hours ago. Lauren knew that she needed to put as much distance between herself and the city as possible. Unsure of what else to do, she urged Tank back into the car and took off, watching in the side mirror as the city went up in flames.

They made it a few more miles before the car sputtered to a stop. "Shit," Lauren muttered to herself. They were stuck. She sighed, cracking one of the windows just enough to let some airflow in, she reclined her seat back and tried to drift off to sleep.

Lauren was jolted awake by a knock at her window. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the now morning light.

"Well hey there, lil' lady." She looked out her driver-side window to find the source of the voice. There stood a man, maybe 50 or so, with short graying hair and a smirk. Upon further inspection, she noticed the small handgun held loosely in his hand. A low growl came from the back seat. Tank clearly had the same feeling about this guy as Lauren did.

"Merle! The hell are you doin'?" A few yards behind him, another man emerged from the treeline. This one was younger, maybe in his early 30's with a crossbow slung over his shoulder.

"Relax, Little Brother." The older one, Merle, called back. "I'm just asking this lovely lady a question."

"Merle, we ain't got time for this. Can we just go back to camp?" While Merle was turned around, Lauren quietly reached over to retrieve the handgun she kept in her glove box.

Lauren didn't love guns, she never had, but Rick and Shane had insisted that she get a license to carry once she announced she would be going to school in the city. Thank god they did. While the man, presumably Merle, was still turned around, Lauren swung the driver-side door open, slamming into him and knocking him to the ground. She hopped out of the car, keeping the gun trained on Merle.

"Woah now." Merle half laughed while rising from the ground. "Wasn't expecting that from you." Lauren kept her eyes on him, not responding. "Look now, we ain't here ta hurt cha. Jus wanna see if we can help each other out. Ya see, there's strength in numbers sweetheart."

"Merle, no." The younger man argued.

Merle ignored him. "We got a camp a couple miles out. A girl like you shouldn't be out here all by her lonesome. What's your name, Sweetheart?"

"Lauren." She said after a moment. She wasn't sure why she gave them her real name. But it was too late to take it back. "This is Tank." She added, opening the back door and grabbing the leash.

"Merle." He said. "And Daryl." He continued, nodding towards the other man. Lauren shifted her gaze to Daryl. His crossbow was no longer slung over his shoulder, but it was now trained on her.

Lauren noticed his sleeveless flannel and she must've made a face or something because he snapped at her. "What?"

"You allergic to sleeves or somethin?"

She knew that probably wasn't the smartest thing to say to a man who had a weapon aimed at her, but it seemed to go over all alright. I mean, she'd been with them for two weeks now and he still hadn't shot her. So she took that as a win.

So now here she is. Stuck in a camp with two random dudes. Merle, who wanted to sleep with her, and Daryl, who tolerated her at best; He did seem to like Tank though. Maybe it was the fact that he was a hunting dog, or maybe he just had a soft spot for him.

"I'll take first watch." Lauren declared, hoisting herself atop the old pickup truck.

Merle let out a groan as he rose from his position on the forest floor, stretching out his limbs. "M'gonna get some shut-eye. Unless ya wanna join me, sweetheart. Have a lil' fun?"

"Hmm, tempting." She rolled her eyes, not even bothering a look in his direction. "But actually I'd rather stay here and do literally anything else."

Daryl let out a soft chuckle, amused with her bluntness towards his brother. Merle simply shrugged before heading towards the tent. "Suit yerself." Daryl followed.

"Y'ain't gotta talk to her like that ya know." She heard Daryl say to him. He was obviously trying to keep his voice down, but the fabric walls of the tent didn't provide much of a sound barrier.

Merle scoffed. "Don't go soft on me lil' brother. She owes us, I'd say I can talk ta her anyway I like."

There was a long pause before Daryl finally muttered, "She can handle herself. She don't owe us nothin'."

"Heyyy now, Darylina." Merle laughed. "If ya want that piece of ass all to yerself all ya gotta do is ask."

"It ain't about that, man." He let out a sigh of frustration. "Ya ain't gotta be such an ass all the time."

With that, Daryl emerged from the tent. Tank immediately ran to him. He had really taken a liking to Daryl, and Daryl seemed to reciprocate. He leaned against a tree a few meters away from the old pickup truck Lauren was perched on, the both of them scanning the treeline for any possible signs of a threat.

"You can sleep, Dixon." Lauren finally broke the silence after deeming the area safe enough. Turning to face her, he found her looking down at him with a slight smirk. "I've been with y'all for two weeks and I haven't seen you sleep once while I'm on watch. If I was gonna kill you in your sleep I would've done it by now." She added.

Daryl scoffed at her remark, shaking his head. "Nah. It ain't that. Just don't sleep much lately."

Lauren nodded, shivering slightly. "Yeah, I get that."

Making his way over to the truck, Daryl hopped up into the bed of the vehicle. After rummaging around for a minute, he pulled a thick blanket out from one of the bags. "Here." He said, thrusting it towards her. She accepted the blanket, scooting over a bit so he could sit down as well.

"M' thinkin' bout headin' out tomorrow morning." He said after a moment. "Hunt for the day and be back by night."

"Is this you asking if you can take Tank with you?"

He nodded. "He's a good huntin dog. Real quiet."

"Yeah, you can take him. Just bring him back safe." Lauren didn't love when Daryl took Tank out, it made her anxious to let Tank out of her sight. But Tank loved it so much, and it was good for him to not be cooped up in camp all the time so she agreed.

"You gon be alright alone with Merle?" He asked.

Lauren laughed lightly. "Yeah, I'll be fine. It's nothing I can't handle"