"The Streets of Atlanta"

— TRAVIS FOLLOWED CLOSE BEHIND DARYL AS THEY MADE THEIR WAY OFF OF THE ROOFTOP. Following the path of blood that Merle had left for them. Merle was a freak of nature, Travis knew that. Merle wasn't going to let anything touch him if he didn't want it to. He wasn't going to die handcuffed to a roof, he would die when he was good and ready. But Travis couldn't exactly see Merle getting through the pain for sawing off his own hand without his stash that would put him into a whole other world to avoid the pain.

He also would have never picked up that hand and shoved it in the kids backpack.

      The moment he watched Daryl pick up the hand that was covered in blood and had graying skin, he wanted to be sick right then and there. Now he could only imagine Merle's hand being knocked around in Glenn's backpack being knocked around as the five of them followed Daryl. Who was desperate to find any trace of Merle as they made their way into a cramped kitchen that looked like it had been cleaned out long before they had set foot in the building.

As soon as Glenn crossed the threshold into the room, he immediately gagged at the smell the filled the kitchen. "Oh god..."

         Travis reluctantly took a deeper inhale of the warm air, letting the rotten smell fill his nose. To him, it wasn't anything to get sick over. It was much more bareable than the image of Merle's hand in the backpack to him.

"There's worse smells," Travis shrugged as he made his way over to the stove that was still lit. On the counter beside it sat Merle's belt. Covered with dried blood.

"What's that?" Daryl questioned observing the burner on the stove.

"Skin..." Travis replied, look at the black pieces of flesh burned onto the metal burner. "Son of a bitch burned up his stump."

"Told you he was tough," Daryl replied, turning his back to Travis and towards Rick. "Told you he was tough. Nobody's gonna kill Merle but Merle." he said arrogantly as he walked towards the window to the kitchen.

"I wouldn't take that on faith. He lost a lot of blood." Rick replied, reluctantly looking past Travis at the stovetop.

"Merle ain't ruin' till he's damn good and ready." Travis replied, "Hopefully that's before he finds any of you three." he added, earning a glare from Rick.

"Losin' all that blood didn't stop 'im from bustin' out of this death trap." he said motioning to the propped open window that was being held open with a drawer Merle had pulled out of the counters.

"He left the building?" Glenn questioned, with her hand covering his mouth and nose as he spoke. As if it would filter the air in the room. "Why would he do that?"

Travis scoffed, "Seriously?" he questioned, "Not like officer prick here made it obvious he'd be comin' back to save the day."

Rick sighed heavily, "Your cousin didn't exactly seem like the type that anyone wanted back at camp-"

"Hey! Watch what you say-" Daryl shouted quickly, pointing at Rick with an arrow he held in his hand.

"Trust me, they'd much rather have him on their side than not." Travis replied simply. "So either you help us find 'im before he finds you or we help him find you. Sure he's got a lot to say."

"Listen, he's family. I get that. I went through hell to find mine." Rick replied stepping closer to the two Dixons' standing in front of him. "I get exactly how you two feel. But he's not going to make it far with that type of injury. He couldn't have made it more than a few blocks."

"You don't know Merle." Travis started turning around and stepping past Daryl to begin climbing out onto the fire escape.

"After we get the guns," T-Dogg interjected, "sorry, but I'm not not strolling the streets with just my good intentions."

Daryl was quiet for a moment, Travis could see the gears turning in his eyes as he looked T-Dogg up and down. "Didn't think you had any to start with. Since you left my brother on a roof."

"I dropped the-"

Rick quickly held his hand up to silence him, "He's right, we need those guns. We gotta grab them before anyone else find them."

"Who knows maybe Merle's already got them." Travis interjected, offering Rick a smug smile as he moved out of the building and onto the rattling metal.

_________

       Although it was the last thing either of the Dixons' wanted to waste their time doing— they agreed to go for the bag of guns after they found nothing but Merle's hand. Part of Travis didn't want to find Merle— Merle was a loose cannon on a regular day, he couldn't imagine actually bringing him back to the quarry after being handcuffed to a roof, left for the dead to find. He and Daryl had a better chance of finding him on their own, and just moving on from the group back at the camp. The group was too big now, and Merle wasn't going to be at his best when they found him. It wouldn't be about taking what they wanted from the camp now, it would be getting his own revenge on everyone who had been on that rooftop when Rick handcuffed him there.

        If it had just been Travis and Rick that Glenn had assigned to be up the block, Travis would have had the thought to just get rid of him right there. The walkers would make it look like an accident, and Shane wouldn't think twice. Rick had barely gotten past them before Glenn had found him, it wouldn't be out of the question that he wasn't lucky a second time. But with T-Dogg's watchful eyes, Travis had no chance of going back to the Quarry without Rick. If he and Daryl decided to go back to the Quarry.

"Daryl and me could've just grabbed the bag." Travis started from his seat on the curb. "Been out and back in a few minutes."

"Not without drawing all the walkers out first." T-Dogg replied.

"The chinese kid drove a dinner bell all the way up to the Quarry. Kids not that bright, his plan could be worse than letting the two of us get it."

"He's Korean." T-Dogg replied.

Travis rolled his eyes, "Same shit, ain't it?"

"Listen, Glenn's the best chance we got. He's right, the quieter the better." Rick interjected.

"Sorry, forgot you and him were the ones callin' the shots." Travis replied bitterly, "Ya'know the most trouble we've had at camp is Ed. And then you stroll into town and all hell is breaking loose." he said looking up at the uniformed officer. "Wearin' that shit like it matters anymore."

"Travis..." T-Dogg groaned, "not now. Let's just focus on getting the guns and then looking for Merle so we can just go back to the camp."

"Wouldn't have to be here lookin' for Merle if he wasn't handcuffed to a roof like some walker bait." Travis replied sharply.

"I know we probably won't be seeing eye-to-eye anytime soon, but I'm here looking for your cousin a day after I found my family."

"They were doin' just fine without you." Travis muttered, biting his lip to keep himself from saying anything else.

"Excuse me?" Rick questioned, stepping off of the sidewalk and standing before Travis.

"I said-"

"Hey, hey! Shut up!" T-Dogg snapped at the two men, causing them to fall silent and look up at him just to see him staring down the street.

      Travis looked down the street, at first looking for whatever he saw. Instead he heard it. Yelling from down the street, coming from the direction where Glenn and Daryl were. Before Travis could stand up, both T-Dogg and Rick were sprinting towards the yelling. Leaving Travis only a few strides behind them. As they ran down the street, walkers that had been oblivious to them to begin with were now turning their attention toward the three men running down the street.

"Whoa, whoa-" Rick began as they came up on the alley that Glenn and Daryl had been in. However instead of Glenn, with Daryl was a kid probably not much older than Amy.

"Let me go!" he yelled as Daryl held him by his shirt.

"Daryl, chill-"

"They took Glenn!" he shouted over his shoulder at the three of them still catching their breath. When he looked back at the kid, he rose his fist to hit him again, although it already looked like he had taken a bit of a beating. Travis quickly reached down and grabbed Daryl's crossbow and yanked him back up onto his feet. "That little bastard and his little bastard homies! I'm gonna stomp your ass-"

"Daryl, Daryl shut up! You're bringing the walkers over here!" Travis ordered, his cousin quickly jerked out of his grip.

"Didn't you hear me, they took Glenn." Daryl said, looking at Travis with anger in his eyes.

"Let's go, you guys. We're cut off..." T-Dogg announced as he peered around the corner of the buildings and onto the street.