I know when the husband and I watched the first season, we assumed Merle had either enticed or otherwise driven the zombies to the campsite, yeah.

Well damn, how did I miss that? I am just going with how I was so worried about everyone all the time watching that first season - (man, that was an intense ride) - that I missed some key obvious things. Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. ;)

You and your husband are smart!