Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and T-dog left into the city to save the great Merle Dixon. It was irritating. Carl had run off to his tent.

"Hey is the big guy okay?" I asked Lori she sighed and nodded.

"Yeah I think he's just worried that his dad won't come back."

"Lori, he'll come back. He went through hell and back to get to you guys. I know he will do it all over again." She smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder before walking off to her tent that she was sharing with Carl. Carol came over to me while I was cleaning my rifle.

"Hey Raven?"

"Hey Carol, What's going on?" She seemed a little nervous.

"Do you want to help me and the girls down at the quarry? We're doing some laundry."

"Yeah I'd love to." I grabbed my bag of dirty clothes and followed her down to the quarry. The girls and I were washing and scrubbing some clothes and I could hear Shane talking to Carl about catching frogs. Shane was getting into the water with a bucket. Sometimes I forget that he's my brother. I know it's weird but, we've always had something a little more than brother and sister. I mean we weren't related in any way, his family just adopted me. Shane was a good guy; he was always great with Carl, even when he was a baby. Any girl would be lucky to have him. It was moments like this that made me wish for a guy like Shane. And before you freak out, no I do not have a thing for my brother, adopted or not, but Shane always seemed to have a deeper connection than just family. Shane started splashing water towards Carl. I guess he was trying to drive the frog toward him. They were the cutest thing to watch. I started to giggle at the sight of them.

Jacqui and Andrea came down the hill with some more clothes.

"I'm beginning to question the division of labor here." Jacqui said looking over at Shane and Carl. Although I was pretty sure she was talking about Ed. Who did literally nothing all damn day long. Just sat on his ass smoking cigarettes all day. I mean sure I take smoke breaks but I don't just sit on my ass all damn day. And the fact that he did just pissed me off.

"Can someone explain to me how the women wound up doing all the Hattie McDaniel work?" I giggled as Jacqui kept complaining.

"The world ended. Didn't you get the memo?" Amy added I shook my head. I was never one to get into all the gossip type shit. Carol looked up at her husband Ed and he just scowled at her. That poor girl, her and her daughter.

"It's just the way it is." I looked over at Carol. She didn't really believe that she did. I thought she was stronger than that and maybe she is but, I think that piece of shit husband of her's is holding her back. Andrea and I were scrubbing stains out of some clothes. The walker blood wasn't really coming out of my favorite cargo pants which kinda sucked.

"I do miss my Maytag." Carol said, referring to a bad ass washer.

"I miss my benz, my sat nav." Andrea added

"I miss my coffeemaker with that dual-drip filter and built-in grinder, honey." Jacqui added.

"My computer, and texting." Amy was definitely the youngest out of us all. I looked at all of them.

"I miss my vibrator." I said putting down the scrubber and moving onto the next piece of clothing. It earned me quite a bit of praise from the girls.

"Me too." Carol said and I hugged her and we all started laughing. That was till the fat lard Ed got up and ruined our fun.

"What's so funny?" He said with his thick southern drawl.

"Just swapping war stories, Ed." Andrea said, turning to face him. We all fell silent as Ed got closer and we kept cleaning the laundry.

"You got a problem, Ed?" I asked, turning towards him. Andrea seemed to feel the same way about him as I did.

"Nothin' that concerns you. And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club." He responded finishing his I believe fourth cigarette since we got down to the quarry. Andrea huffed and looked at Ed then back at me. I just shook my head and rolled my eyes as we continued to wash clothes.

I looked up for a second and saw what seemed to be a slightly irritated Lori heading toward Shane and Carl.

'Uh oh, someone's in trouble.' I thought to myself. I would have kept watching them but, I felt eyes burning into the back of my head. I turned my head slightly and saw Ed death glaring at me.

"If he keeps staring at us I'm going to lose it." I whispered to Andrea. She smiled and looked up at him. I saw Lori and Carl walking back up to camp with Shane slowly following. Andrea started to get irritated with Ed and his staring.

"Ed tell you what, you don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here." Andrea threw a pair of what I assumed to be Ed's boxers at him. He caught them and threw them back straight at Andrea's face.

"Oh!" I got up and walked over to them.

"Ain't my job, missy." He said, taking another drag of his cigarette.

"Andrea. Raven. Don't." Amy got up trying to stop us from raining all hell down on this fat pig.

"What is your job, Ed?" I said, completely ignoring Amy.

"Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?" I finished my thought.

"Well, it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart-mouth bitchs."

'Oh hell no he did not just call me a bitch' I thought as my anger flared up with Ed's sexist comment.

"Tell you what. Come on. Let's go." Ed motioned for Carol to go back with him.

"I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed." Andrea said from next to me.

"And I say it's none of your business. Come on now. You heard me." He said back to her calling after Carol again.

"Carol." Andrea said, turning to her trying to stop her from going with him.

"Andrea, please. It doesn't matter." Carol cried, sounding a bit scared and sad.

"No, Carol it matters you don't have to go with him." I said to her, grabbing hold of her shoulders. She shook me off and I turned back to Ed.

"Hey, don't think I won't knock you on your ass. Just 'cause you're some college-educated cooze, and military guard dog. Alright?" I looked at Andrea and we both scoffed. Ed then looked over at Carol who was being slightly held back by Amy.

"Now you come on now or you're gonna regret it later." I knew exactly what this sick son of a bitch meant when he said that. Previous boyfriends of mine would say that before I got the shit beat out of me.

"So she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed? Yeah we've seen them." Jacqui said, putting down the laundry she had. Ed just laughed like the man beater he was. It made me sick to my stomach.

"Stay out of this. Now come on!" Ed was now pissed off at all us women for standing up for our new found friend.

"You know what? This ain't none of y'all's business. You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am done talking. Come on." Ed grabbed Carol by the arm and tried to pull her away from us. We all protested and tried to pull her away from him. It was a barrage of no's and you don't have to go with him.

"You don't tell me what! I'll tell you what!" Ed yelled, pulling on Carol harder. She was for sure going to have bruises on her arm from him.

Then he slapped her. And it was hard we all heard it. Carol's lip was now cut open. I couldn't stop myself. All I saw was red after that.

"Hey Ed!" I yelled at him and punched him in the face as hard as I could. He fell back onto the ground and I pounced on him. I kept throwing punches at him as every abusive ex came through my mind. Every man that tortured and raped me from my time in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was all those men in one and I couldn't stop myself. The girls were behind me yelling for me to stop. Carol was crying but I couldn't hear them. That was till Shane ripped me off Ed.

"No let me go! I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch!" I yelled trying to get Shane to let me go.

"Raven, Calm the fuck down. Now." I took a few deep breaths and walked back over to Ed

''If you ever put your hand on your wife, your little girl, or anyone else in this camp for that matter. I will not stop till you're no longer breathing. Do you hear me? Do you hear me?!" I yelled in his face.

"Yes." He slurred out and Shane grabbed me and we walked back up to the camp.

"Raven?" I was pulled out of my seeing red to find Shane shaking me to get my attention.

"Yeah?" I said looking at him.

"Are you okay?" I slowly shook my head.

"I just need to be alone. I'll be in my truck if you need me." I walked over to my truck and sat down. I must have beat Ed within an inch of his life by the look of my knuckles. I pulled out my first aid kit and poured disinfectant over my knuckles. I hissed at the stinging feeling and wrapped them with some gauze. I leaned back on the seat and wondered when the team sent out to get Merle's stupid ass was getting back.