Just a warning, this chapter is LONG which is part of why it took me so long to get it out, which I apologize for. Life got hectic, so even when the chapter was done being written, I had little time to do my editing. I hope you enjoy this long-awaited chapter!

][=][ Ryan Goldman's POV ][=][

"Ryan, you've gotta be more careful, bud," Dad said as he cleaned the scrapes on my knees. "This gravel will tear you up."

"I can't help that I slipped, Dad," I said as I rolled my eyes at him. "I can clean my own scrapes, you know."

"I know you can," he said as he ruffled my hair gently. "But that doesn't mean I don't want to help you. I am your father, after all. Don't grow up too fast on me."

We both chuckled as I rolled my eyes again, but I let him continue to clean the minor scrapes I'd received as a prize for winning the race Carl, Sophia, Eliza, and I had just done. Of course, my clumsy self slipped and slid on the gravel right after passing the finish line. The others were all sitting by one of the cars, waiting for me to come back and join them.

"Ok, kiddo, you're all set," Dad said as he closed the peroxide bottle and set it aside. "Please be more careful next time you're trying to be a gazelle."

"I will, Dad," I said, smiling at him and standing up. "I promise."

I rolled my eyes as he ruffled my hair again, then I went and rejoined my friends. Sophia and Eliza had gone to a table to draw, and Carl was playing in the dirt with a toy truck. I sat beside the Grimes boy and picked up another toy truck.

"Are your knees ok, Ry?" He asked as he tilted his head and looked at me with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I'm ok," I answered. "Just forgot how clumsy I can be sometimes."

He nodded silently, and we started to play with the trucks, pretending we were working together to build a little town. Soon, Carl's mom walked past us toward the woods with a small red bucket in her hands.

"Carl, stay where Dale can see you," she instructed as she looked up at the man keeping watch from the top of the RV.

"You too, stay within shouting distance," the old man said as he looked between us and the mother. "If I hear anything, I'll come runnin'."

"Yes, Mom," the woman said sarcastically as she turned away and headed into the trees.

Carl frowned at the tree line where she had just disappeared.

"You worried about her?"

He nodded quietly in response, his frown deepening.

"She'll be ok. Dale is keeping an eye out, and there are plenty of people around who will be able to hear if anything happens and if she needs help."

"I hope so," he said as he glanced over at me, trying to hide how scared for his mom he really was. "Aren't you worried about your mom?"

"Yeah, I am, but I know Daryl will make sure that she stays safe... even if he is a jerk sometimes, I responded as I thought about my mom and the gruff hunter who had left yesterday afternoon in search of some fresh food.

"How do you stay so calm about it?" He asked curiously as he set his truck to the side. "I mean, she's just... gone. And you don't know if she'll come back, but you're so calm. You don't seem worried at all."

"I guess I'm just used to it... I mean, my dad was in the military. When he would ship out, we had no way of knowing if he'd come back, so I got used to just believing that I couldn't really do anything about it, and worrying about it all the time would keep me from doing the things I needed to do," I answered as I shrugged slightly.

"That makes sense, I guess... maybe I'm just overly cautious anymore because of what happened to my dad," he said as he looked down at the ground.

"Hey, let's think about something else," I said as I nudged his shoulder with mine. "Where are we gonna build the next house?"

][=][ Time Skip ][=][

After about an hour and a half, we had built twenty-three little houses out of everything from dirt to rocks to Legos. Our little town sprawled from the front of the car to the back, full of cars, little Lego people, and toy animals. We were both covered in dirt from digging around to make different levels of the town. We were playing around with the Lego people, making them go to and from work, home, and the park we put at the center of the town, when Carl seemed to remember that his mom was off in the woods somewhere and still hadn't returned.

"Carl, I promise she's ok. She knows not to go too far," I said as he leaned his head over onto my shoulder, still staring at the trees, while we sat against the car behind our town.

"I'm trying to believe that. It's just hard... especially now since my dad got hurt and ended up in the hospital."

"I know," I said as I leaned my head over on top of his.

We sat there silently, watching the woods for a while. I pulled my sketchbook out of my backpack next to me and started sketching. I started out by drawing the part of the campsite that I could see from our spot here. The RV, the campfire that Amy was sitting at, the woods that had engulfed Lori Grimes in the background, and the assorted vehicles and tents between them and us.

"You're really good," Carl said, pulling his head away from my shoulder and watching as I drew.

"Meh... I'm ok, I guess," I said as I shrugged and glanced at him.

"Oh no, you're really good," he insisted, raising his eyebrows at me. "I'm not just saying that based on this drawing, I remember seeing your art throughout the halls at school hanging on all the boards."

I could feel myself turning red at his compliment, and I smiled awkwardly, muttering a quiet thank you before trying to focus on my drawing in order to escape his praise. After I had calmed down and felt my face cool off, I looked at him with a side-eye. He kept glancing between me, the drawing, and the woods.

"How'd you even know it was my art you were seeing in the halls?"

"Some of it I saw you hang up. I just looked at some of it and saw the name. I guess I didn't know it was yours specifically at the time because I didn't know you, but now that I do, I remember some I saw and liked a lot with your name on them."

Once again, my face started to turn red and get hot. I smiled slightly and returned to drawing, trying to calm down again.

][=][ Zuri Bryant's POV ][=][

We stared in shock at the radio, not believing what we'd just heard. The radio was beeping and hissing now.

"Did that actually happen, or are we crazy?" I asked as I stared at the device.

"Hey, are you alive in there?" Came the man's voice through the radio once again.

"Oh shit, we're not crazy!" I said as Rick jumped up, hitting his head on the ceiling, and moved towards the radio to respond.

"Hello? Hello?" Rick spoke frantically into the microphone.

"There you are. You had me wondering."

"Where are you? Outside? Can you see us right now?" He asked desperately as I came closer to the radio to listen over the clanging of hands and arms and who knows what else on the sides of the tank.

"Yeah, I can see you," the voice replied. "You're surrounded by walkers, which is the bad news."

"There's good news?"

"Nope. Not at all."

Well, that's just great, I thought as I stared at Rick, raising my eyebrows in exasperation.

"Listen, whoever you are, I don't mind telling you that my friend and I are a little concerned in here," Rick said, irritation evident in his voice.

"Oh, man. You should see it from here. You guys would be having a major freak-out."

As if we aren't already freaking out, thank you very much, I thought. Glaring at the radio and wishing it was the face belonging to the voice coming from it.

"Well, got any advice for us?"

"Yeah," the voice stated simply. "I'd say make a run for it."

I scoffed as Rick stared at the radio. We made eye contact, and then both glanced back at the radio.

"That's it? 'Make a run for it,'" Rick asked in defeat.

"Look it's not as dumb as it sounds," the voice replied hopefully. "You've got eyes on the outside. There's one geek still up on the tank, but the others have climbed down and joined the... feeding frenzy where the horse went down. You with me so far?"

Rick and I made eye contact once again, and I shrugged, "What other choice do we have?"

"So far, yeah, we're with you," Rick said as he nodded at me.

"Ok, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. You stand a chance if you guys move now while they're distracted. Got ammo?"

"In the bag we dropped out there, got guns too. Can I get to it?"

"Forget the bag. It's not an option," the voice replied insistently. "What do you have on you?"

"Hang on, let us see," Rick said as he let go of the walkie-talkie he was using to speak to the man on the other side of the radio.

I reached for the gun in the holster on my hip and pulled it out to check how much ammo I had. Twelve bullets remained in the clip, and there was one in the chamber. Rick checked the weapon he had found on the walker in the tank, set it down, and hurried over to the corpse to check for anything else, finding nothing more than the grenade I had pointed out earlier.

"Whatcha got left, Zuri?"

"Thirteen rounds total," I answered as I held my weapon up, "my backpack fell off out there when I got tossed from the horse, so the rest is in there, and since the duffle bag was a lost cause, I'm gonna assume my backpack is too."

He nodded before returning to the radio, "We've got a Glock with thirteen rounds and a Beretta with fifteen rounds."

"Make 'em count," the man instructed. "Jump off the right side of the tank. Keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe fifty yards. Be there."

"Hey, what's your name?" Rick asked in response.

"Have you been listening? You're running out of time."

"Right."

With that, the sheriff dropped the walkie and held the handgun in one hand, a small shovel in the other. I readied my weapon as well.

"Ready?" The man asked as he got ready to throw the top hatch open.

I nodded in response, and he opened the hatch and climbed up. The walker that the man on the radio had mentioned was still on the tank moved towards him but he swung the shovel at its head, knocking it off the decrepit vehicle. The sheriff jumped off the tank, and I followed. We ran down the sidewalk, shooting any walkers in front of us that were a little too close for comfort. We reached the alley that we'd been told to head to.

"Woah! Not dead!" The voice we'd heard over the radio before shouted as Rick unconsciously aimed the gun at the person in front of him. "Come on, come on!"

We followed the man through the alley, shooting back into the walker swarm that was behind us as we went. Rick's weapon made the clicking sound of a gun trying to fire without having anything to shoot out of it. We reached a ladder, and the man immediately started to climb. Rick followed while I fired my last few bullets before stuffing my empty weapon into its holster and began climbing as well. When I was close to the top of the ladder, where a small landing hung on the wall of a building, Rick grabbed my arm and helped me the rest of the way up. I immediately bent over with my hands on my knees, panting heavily.

"Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood... Annie Oakley... y'all the new sheriffs, come riding in to clean up the town?"

I chuckled slightly at his comment but couldn't bring myself to rise from my crouched position just yet.

"That wasn't our intention," Rick replied.

"Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You're still dumbasses," our savior stated with a scoff.

After a moment of silence, Rick sighed, "Name's Rick. Thanks for the help."

"Glenn," the other voice replied. "You're welcome."

I finally stood up straight, then turned to also thank our rescuer, and my jaw dropped.

"Uncle Glenn?!" I asked in surprise. "Is that you?"

"Zuri?!"

Rick looked between us, a smile appearing on his face. After my surprise dwindled and turned into excitement, I wrapped my arms around my uncle.

"Zuri, I can't believe you're here," Glenn stated. "Your parents have been worrying like crazy. Where's Zhen?"

"Zhen is fine. He's back in the community we came from with some other people we met," I explained briefly before his comment about my parents struck me. "My parents are ok? How bout Grandma and Grandpa?"

"Yeah, they're all ok! Your mom and grandparents are back at camp, but your dad came into the city with me and our supply group."

I sighed in complete relief as I leaned back against the wall. Rick gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze, and Glenn couldn't stop smiling as he looked at me, clearly still not quite believing I was here.

"Uh oh," Rick said as he looked down the ladder, we had just climbed. "Can these things climb?"

"Not sure, but I'd rather not be here to find out," Glenn replied as he gestured up the remaining distance up the ladder to the roof of the building. "Let's go. We'll meet up with my group after we get up there."

Rick and I both looked at the ladder suspiciously.

"Hey, on the bright side, it'll be the fall that kills us."

"You have always been a glass-half-full kinda guy," I muttered as I raised my eyebrows at him and rolled my eyes. 

With that, we all chuckled before climbing the rest of the way up. On the roof of the building, Glenn led the way with Rick behind him and me behind Rick.

"Are y'all the ones who barricaded the alley?" Rick asked as we passed a large alleyway blocked off by a bus.

"Somebody did... I guess when the city got overrun," Glenn answered as we went. "Whoever did it was thinking not many geeks would get through."

"Hey, Glenn... back at the tank, why'd you risk your life for us?" I asked curiously as we reached a hatch. "Granted, it ended up lucky that it was your niece and a friendly officer, but... that could've been anyone."

"Call it foolish, naive hope that if I'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me," he responded as he opened the hatch and started down the ladder. "Guess I'm an even bigger dumbass than y'all."

I rolled my eyes and chuckled as he started down the ladder, followed by Rick. Once there was space for me, I began climbing as well.

"Make sure you close that hatch before you come down, Zuri," Glenn shouted, prompting me to swing the hatch shut before starting my descent.

The two men were waiting for me when I reached the bottom, and once I was there, Glenn led the way to an exit with a flight of stairs going all the way down to the alley with four walkers stumbling around.

"In back. Got some guests plus four geeks in the alley," Glenn stated into a walkie-talkie as we ran down the staircase.

As we reached ground level, two people in riot gear and carrying baseball bats ran from a back door belonging to one of the stores and knocked the two closest walkers down to the ground, swiftly smashing their heads with the bats. Glenn ran for the open door, followed by Rick, myself, and finally, the two people in riot gear. Immediately, a blonde woman yanked Rick to one side and put a pistol a few inches from his face while she pinned him against a large box. I instantly grabbed my gun and held it up towards the woman. Maybe I don't have any bullets, but she doesn't know that.

"Woah! Chill out, Andrea, come on, ease up," one of the men who had run out into the alley said as he removed his helmet, "you too, chica," he finished as he gestured to me.

"Andrea, relax, honey," an African American woman with short hair muttered with her hands raised in front of her.

"Ease up? Relax? You're kidding me, right? We're dead because of these stupid assholes."

Glenn placed his hand on the top of my gun and pushed it toward the ground, shaking his head at me when I looked over at him with raised eyebrows. He pushed my arms harder, and I finally gave in, allowing him to aim my weapon to the ground while the Hispanic man who had first attempted to placate the angry blonde put his hand on her shoulder, pulling her back.

"Andrea, I said back the hell off," he said as she refused to budge or drop the weapon as he was requesting her to. "Well, pull the trigger then."

After a moment, the woman finally relaxed and lowered her gun, backing away from Rick, "we're dead... all of us... because of y'all," she said as she shook her head, eyes brimming with tears as she went.

"I don't understand. What did we do?" I asked as the situation calmed down to a point where I felt I could holster my weapon.

Glenn pursed his lips and grabbed my arm as the Hispanic man gently pulled Rick. The two of them led us toward the front of the store, "look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies. You guys know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving. You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O. K. Corral."

With that last statement, the Hispanic man gestured to the glass front entrance of the store we were in. Walkers piled up on the doors to the point where you couldn't see anything else.

"Every geek for miles around heard you two popping off rounds," a young, well-built African American man stated as he came up behind us.

"Yall just rang the dinner bell," Andrea stated in annoyance as she, too, appeared behind us.

"Get the picture now?" The Hispanic man asked as he glanced between us.

"Oh yeah. Clear as... well, anything but that doorway, apparently," I stated as I stared in shock.

"That was not a nice comparison," Mr. Tall-dark-and-handsome stated as he looked at me wide-eyed. "You are short as hell, girl. I mean, I'm only five-ten, but I'm towering over you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't worry. My fifteen-year-old brother towers over me. Most people tower over me. It happens when you're only four-ten."

We all backed farther into the store as the windows began to crack under the weight of all the bodies on the other side.

"What the hell were y'all doing out there anyway?" Andrea asked as she glanced bitterly between us.

"Trying to flag the helicopter," Rick stated simply.

"Helicopter?" Tall-dark-handsome asked as he stared at Rick like he was crazy. "Man, that's crap, ain't no damn helicopter."

"You were chasing a hallucination, imagining things," the African American lady stated sweetly, as if it was totally normal and ok for people to daydream about seeing helicopters in the middle of the apocalypse.

"Uh, no, there was definitely a helicopter out there," I stated certainly as I glanced between everyone, receiving a smile of thanks from Rick. "I saw it."

"We both did," Rick finished as we stood together, facing the disbelieving crowd.

"Hey, T-Dog, try the C. B. Can you contact the others?"

"Others?" Rick and I both asked at the same time.

"The refugee center?" Rick continued desperately.

"Yeah, the refugee center. They've got biscuits waiting in the oven for us," the still-unnamed woman stated sarcastically.

"Got no signal," T-Dog said in disappointment as he tried to use his walkie to communicate with whoever the others were. "Maybe the roof."

As if on cue, a gunshot fired from what I assumed was the roof of this building. Everyone looked up instantly at the ceiling.

"Oh no. Is that Dixon?" Andrea asked in disbelief.

"What is that maniac doing?!"

"Come on, let's go," Glenn said desperately as he grabbed Rick and me by the arms, pulling us to follow everyone else towards the stairs leading to the roof.

Everyone ran up the stairs, the Hispanic man in the lead, and when he crashed through the door leading to the roof, he instantly shouted to someone I couldn't see yet.

"Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?!"

This was answered with some fairly psychotic-sounding laughter.

"Oh jeez," Andrea muttered in disappointment.

"Hey! Y'all oughta be more polite to a man with a gun!" A man, who looked like the picture I imagined would show up if I searched 'redneck' online, said enthusiastically. "Huh?! Only common sense!"

"Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got!" T-Dog shouted as he ran towards the man, with the Hispanic guy closely behind. "And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill!"

The man, who must be this Dixon person the others mentioned, just kept laughing as he approached the two men in front of him.

"Hey! Bad enough, I got this taco-bender on my ass all day," the redneck said as he gripped the rifle in his hands tighter. "Now I'm gonna take orders from you? I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day."

"Glenn, is this about to go where I think it's about to go?" I asked under my breath as I stared at the exchange.

"Probably."

"Great. Just lovely."

"Oh, 'that'll be the day'?" T-Dog asked as he stood his ground in front of the man. "You got something you wanna tell me?"

"Hey, T-Dog man, just leave it." The Hispanic guy said, trying to keep things from escalating.

"No!"

"It ain't worth it," he said as he shook his head at the angered man beside him. "Now, Merle, just relax, ok? We've got enough trouble."

Rick and I exchanged looks, which Glenn noticed, and he put his hands up to keep us from saying or doing anything.

"You wanna know the day?" Merle asked as he got closer to T-Dog.

"Yeah."

"Oh, I'll tell ya the day, Mr. 'Yo,'" Merle said as he gestured around like a high schooler. "It's the day I take orders from a nigger!"

"Motherfu-" T-Dog shouted as he swung a hard punch at the man, receiving a smash in the face from the butt of the rifle that the man was holding.

"Hey, come on, Merle. That's enough."

Merle was beating T-Dog ruthlessly. Rick jumped over to try and intervene and got hit in the face by the burly redneck, who then continued to beat on T. I knelt down to check on Rick, but he must have had a rush of adrenaline because he was already starting to get back up.

"Whoa, cut it out, man!"

"Stop it!"

"Dixon, get off him!"

"Dixon, you're gonna hurt him, stop!"

"Merle cut it out!"

Rick was dazed, but once he got all the way up, I knew he was about to shut this shit down by the look on his face.

Everything got very silent, and I looked over to where the commotion had been seconds before, my breath catching in my throat as I saw Merle holding a pistol right to T's forehead while he pinned him to the ground.

"No, no, no. Please. Please." Andrea pled with the man.

I got up as Rick collected himself and went over to the crowd of people around the two men on the floor.

"Merle, you gotta stop this, dude," I muttered as I stood between Andrea and the other woman, reaching down to the holstered gun on my hip and held the grip.

The man looked up at me in confusion, then looked around at all the fearful faces around him. He rolled his eyes before looking back down at T-Dog, spitting on his chest and then rubbing it all into his shirt.

"Yeah!" The man grunted as he stood up over T. "All right! We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh? Talk about... who's in charge."

All of us took the opportunity to drag T-Dog away from the man who had just nearly killed him moments ago. As we stared at the redneck, who was now clearly attempting to take over the whole group.

"I vote me. Anybody else?" Merle asked as he waved his weapon around. "Huh? Democracy time, y'all. Show of hands, huh?"

We all stared at the man and then glanced around at each other.

"All in favor? Huh? Come on."

The Hispanic man slowly started to raise his hand, which I scowled at.

"Come on, let's see 'em," Merle continued.

"Oh, come on," Andrea muttered as she stared at the Hispanic guy.

I glanced over at Glenn and noticed that he was raising his hand, which caused me to sigh. It wasn't until the man waving the gun around aimed it directly at me, causing my breath to hitch, that I slowly raised my hand away from my undrawn weapon and up into the air. As I looked around, all of us except for T-Dog, who was still in shock over nearly being killed, and Rick were raising our hands.

"Good. Now, that means I'm the boss, right?" The very dangerous man said with a giant smile on his face. "Yeah. Anybody else? Hmm? Anybody?"

"Yeah," Rick stated simply as he came up behind the man, holding the rifle that had been tossed to the side before, and slammed the butt of the weapon into Merle's head, knocking him over. Once he was down, Rick pulled out his handcuffs and cuffed him to a pipe on the roof. Once the cuffs were secured, he yanked the front of Merle's shirt so they could be face-to-face.

"Who the hell are you, man?!" Merle asked with difficulty.

"Officer friendly," Rick stated angrily as he snatched the pistol from the dazed and cuffed man. "Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no niggers anymore." He continued as he started removing bullets from the pistol. "No dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart."

"Screw you, man."

Rick chuckled coldly before staring the man in the eyes, "I can see you have a habit of missing the point."

"Yeah? Well, screw you twice," Merle challenged.

To all of our surprise, Rick cocked the pistol and aimed it directly at the man's head, "ought to be more polite to a man with a gun. Only common sense." He stated in cold anger.

Merle chuckled in response and shook his head, "You wouldn't. You're a cop."

Rick shook his head with a humorless smile on his face. "All I am now is a man looking for his wife and son. Anybody that gets in the way of that is gonna lose. I'll give you a moment to think about that."

Rick then searched all of Merle's pockets, found a cigarette and nothing else, and leaned back. He chuckled, then flicked the redneck's nose, "Got something on your nose there."

"Oh yeah? What're you gonna do?" Merle asked insistently. "Arrest me?"

With that, I turned away and stopped listening. Andrea, myself, and the other woman started tending to T-Dog's wounds with the small first aid kit that one of them had produced.

"So what's your name, honey?" The woman I didn't know the name of asked.

"Zuri," I answered as I smiled at her as nicely as possible after the whole event that had just happened. "Yours?"

"Jacqui," the woman responded. "It's nice to meet you, Zuri."

I nodded but kept my eyes focused on stitching a cut on T-Dog's forehead. "Nice to meet you too, I guess. Even under these circumstances."

"We haven't properly met yet either, I guess," Andrea stated as she cleaned some blood from the injured man's face. "My name's Andrea. Sorry for the rough start earlier... I was just upset because I have a sister to get back to at camp."

"It's ok, I understand. I've got a brother I'm worried about... and parents, hopefully out there somewhere... long story short, I know the feeling," I stated as I looked at her and gave an affirming smile. "So, what's the guy talking to Rick's name?"

"That's Morales," Jacqui answered as she gestured towards the two men talking a short distance away. "And that's G-"

"Oh, I know Glenn, he's my uncle."

"Oh!" Andrea said in surprise as she glanced between Glenn and me. "You're the Bryant's daughter?

I nodded in response and smiled widely.

"That's incredible! Where's your brother? And we need to go find your dad so he can see you!"

"Zhen is in the community we came from with a few people we met, and yes, absolutely! I forgot Glenn said he was here! Where is he?"

"He went to find an alternate escape route from the building since the one we'd planned on is compromised by all those geeks out there," Jacqui responded. "I'll go find him and bring him up here. We need to discuss a plan anyway, so we all need to be here.

We finished our first aid and then pulled T-Dog into a seated position against the wall of the roof. He started messing with the walkie-talkie he'd been trying to use before as we all looked over the edge. I anxiously tapped my finger on the stone, waiting for Jacqui and my dad to join us.

"Your parents have been worrying about you and your brother nonstop," Andrea stated as we looked at the ruined city together.

"Yeah, I know they have. I'm glad I found them, even if it was completely by accident," I said as I chuckled and looked towards the door.

The people around me were muttering to each other, but I wasn't focused on what they were saying; I was just staring at the door until my dad showed up. Soon, it opened, and I saw him appear through it; as soon as he saw me, his face lit up, and he bolted for me, jumping over pipes and things that were in the way. Before I knew what was happening he was hugging me.

"Oh my god!" He exclaimed. "Zuri, it's really you?!"

"Yeah, Dad, it's me. I missed you too," I responded as I hugged him and cried into his chest.

We stood there hugging for what felt like an eternity while the others went about their business and their conversations. Soon, he stepped back with his hands on my shoulders and looked at me with a smile on his face... a smile that soon faded.

"Where's your brother?"

"He's ok," I stated reassuringly, "he's with some people we met because he didn't feel right about leaving them behind. They were going to be headed this way soon."

"When did y'all split up?"

"Just earlier today, when Rick and I came this way from King County. That's where Zhen and the people we were with are now."

He nodded, clearly still concerned but less so now, knowing that Zhen was alive and well only earlier today.

"What happened to the city? The refugee center? All of it?"

"Well, as you know, your mom and I came to get your grandparents to leave their apartment and go to the center because they wouldn't listen to Glenn, and he wanted some help getting them to go. Once we made it into the city, it was chaos. The military was rounding people up and checking for bites. Anyone they deemed a risk, they separated from the ones they deemed they could save, and we don't know what was happening to them... but judging by what you see, you can probably guess things didn't go the way they wanted."

"Yeah, clearly," I said as I looked out over the destroyed city.

"People started rioting, and the military couldn't get it under control, then more and more of the geeks started showing up and biting more and more people. The soldiers lost what little control they had, and the place became a war zone. Geeks versus soldiers versus everyone else. Luckily, your mom, Glenn, and I finally got your grandparents to move, so we ran and got out of here as quickly as possible. We were on the outskirts of the city when the planes flew over and bombed the place to hell. We ran into a man named Jim, who had lost his whole family trying to escape. We all went off together and found our way into a small camp of survivors that had formed outside the city led by a police officer from one of the little towns south of here."

I was about to respond when Glenn ran by us to look over the edge of the building, catching our attention. He soon came back over with a look of disappointment on his face.

"No, must be all out on the street where the geeks are," my uncle stated as he rejoined the group.

"What are we talking about?" Dad asked as the two of us moved closer to the group so we could participate in whatever was going on.

"Sewer tunnels," Rick answered briefly before looking around the group with his lips pursed.

"Maybe they're not all out in the road. Old building like this, built in the twenties... big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding, down in the basements," Jacqui stated as she looked around at us excitedly.

"How do you know that?" Glenn asked curiously.

"It's my job. Or it was, at least. I worked in the city zoning office," the woman answered matter-of-factly.

"I think I saw one when I was looking around for tools and supplies down there," Dad said as he nodded along to what Jacqui was saying.

"Let's go take a look at that tunnel, shall we?" Rick asked as he gestured between Jacqui and Dad.

"I'm gonna stay up here. Keep trying at this radio," T-dog said as he waved the device around in front of him.

"Sounds good, let's go y'all," Rick agreed as he gestured towards the door. "Zuri, you mind keeping an eye on our friend here so T-Dog can focus on that radio?"

I glanced at the psycho redneck who was handcuffed to the pipe, then back at Rick and nodded. I sat down against the wall next to T-dog and watched as the rest of the group went down the stairs into the building. Merle was yanking on the cuffs, hardly paying me any attention.

"Anybody out there? Hello... anybody read?" T started to say into the radio in a desperate attempt to get ahold of someone from their camp. "I'm hoping to hear somebody's voice 'cause I'm getting sick and tired of hearing mine."

"Well, that makes two of us," Merle stated as he glanced over at the two of us sitting against the wall. "Maybe three if the lil' miss agrees."

"I prefer his over yours, that's for damn sure," I replied sarcastically as he pulled on his cuffs again.

The man scoffed indignantly before looking away and spitting on the ground, "Why don't you cut it out with the damn radio. You're giving me a headache."

"Why don't you pull your head out of your ass? Maybe your headache will go away," T-dog responded as he rolled his eyes at the man, causing him to chuckle. "Try some positivity for a change. Damn."

I chuckled at T-dog's quip and nodded in agreement. Merle scoffed and yanked on his cuffs some more before replying.

"Now I'll tell ya what. You get me outta these cuffs, and I'll be all 'Sammy Sunshine' positive for ya."

"Oh no, you aren't going anywhere, bud," I said as I shook my head.

"Come on, sweetie," Merle said as he looked at me with a crooked smile.

"Ok, I cannot stand listening to your voice anymore," I said in exasperation as I stood up and glanced at T-dog. "You gonna be ok up here without me?"

"I'm good. Go ahead and escape for a while," he said, smiling at me and waving towards the door. "You can come relieve me here in a bit after you've had your break from him."

"Sounds fair to me."

With that, I glared at Merle and headed down into the store to see what the others were up to. I made it to the front of the store, where Rick and Andrea were talking quietly next to a jewelry display case. The walkers still hadn't made it through the first set of doors, but they looked like they might cave in any minute.

"Hey, Zuri," Andrea said with a wave as she tucked something into her pocket and noticed me. "Got tired of Dixon already?"

"Oh yeah. That man is... something."

The woman scoffed quietly, "Oh yeah, that's certainly one way to put it."

I was about to reply when there was a loud shattering sound from the doors. The first set was breached, and walkers flooded the small entrance area and began attacking the next layer. All three of us aimed our weapons toward the entrance as Glenn, Morales, Jacqui, and my dad all ran in from the basement area.

"I sure hope y'all found a way out," I said as I glanced back at the four that had just entered. "Because those doors won't hold long."

"No safe way out through the sewers," Glenn responded as we stared worriedly at the already cracking doors.

"Well, we need to find a way... and soon," Andrea said as we backed away from the entrance together.

"Let's go look at what we've got around us from the roof," Rick stated as he holstered his gun.

We spread out on the roof and started looking at our surroundings, pointing out different things we could see from here. Rick looked through a pair of binoculars and seemed focused on something the rest of us couldn't see easily from here.

"That construction site. The trucks always have keys on hand," the officer explained as he pointed toward the site he had mentioned.

"No good," Dad said as he pointed down at the horde of walkers between our building and the site. "You'd never make it through all those geeks in one piece."

"Glenn got me out of the tank," Rick stated as he gestured towards my uncle, who shook his head.

"They were distracted, feeding, and we still barely made it," he responded, still shaking his head.

"Would it be possible to distract them again?" I asked with a shrug.

"Now there ya go," Merle jumped in from his seat next to the pipe he was cuffed to. "The lil' miss is onto something. Diversion, like on 'Hogan's Heroes'."

"God, Dixon, give it a rest," Jacqui groaned in annoyance as she glared at the man.

"They're drawn to sound, right?"

"Right. Like dogs. They hear a sound they come," Glenn answered.

"Also, they see you and smell you," I continued.

"And don't forget that if they catch you, they eat you," Morales stated.

"They can tell us by smell?" Rick asked as he looked around the group.

"Of course, I mean, can't you?" Dad asked as he raised his eyebrows at the officer. "They smell dead, like they're rotting."

"Exactly, and we don't smell that way. The difference is pretty distinct," Andrea jumped in, agreeing with what Dad had said.

Rick stood there momentarily, thinking, before gesturing for us all to follow him. Everyone except for T-Dog and Merle walked behind him as he made his way down into the store.

"What're you thinking, Rick?" I asked as the man walked quickly through the aisles of products.

"We need to smell like them. That way, we blend in," the sheriff stated as he grabbed gloves and some oversized ponchos. "We cover ourselves in their scent then walk through them as if we're dead, same as them."

"Oh wow. If bad ideas were an Olympic sport, this would take the gold," Glenn said as Rick handed him some of the supplies.

"Yeah, man, take some time to think about this," Morales jumped in, placing a hand over the sheriff's chest to stop him from walking away.

"How much time?" Rick asked as he gestured to the cracking doors. "They already broke through one set of doors, and those ones won't hold much longer. We don't have time to waste."

We all looked around, cautiously nodded, and allowed him to finish gathering his supplies.

"Come on, let's go grab one of those walkers y'all killed in the alley when Glenn, Rick, and I arrived," I said as I glanced at Morales and my dad.

They nodded, and the three of us ran to the back door. The two of them grabbed weapons to fight off any walkers who had made their way into the alley if necessary, and I ran to the nearest corpse and dragged it inside while the two of them stayed close to protect me if I needed it.

Once inside, the three of us carried the corpse to the room where the others were waiting. Rick smashed open a glass door covering a fire axe and came over to the body as the rest of us stepped back. Wincing as he started to swing, but he stopped before he made contact.

"Rick?" I asked as he set the axe down and searched the corpse's pockets, withdrawing a wallet.

"Wayne Dunlap, Georgia license. Born in 1979," Rick said as he investigated the wallet. "He had twenty-eight dollars in his wallet when he died and a picture of a pretty girl. 'With love, from Rachel.'"

He passed the wallet back to me and looked around. I glanced through the belongings and then passed it along to Andrea.

"He used to be like us... worrying about bills and rent and the Super Bowl. If I ever find my family, I'm gonna tell them about Wayne."

The wallet had now made its way to Glenn, who studied it carefully before clearing his throat, "One more thing... he was an organ donor."

We stood there momentarily, silent as we thought about the man who this once was. Then Rick stood up and swung the axe down, hard, directly into Wayne Dunlap's stomach. After that, he began hitting repeatedly, hacking the body up, and splattering blood around. I turned away and struggled to keep myself from throwing up. T-Dog came over to me as I leaned over with my hands on my knees, staring anywhere but at the body behind me. He placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently, helping me stay steady. Once the sounds of the axe mutilating the corpse stopped, I slowly stood up and turned back around. T-Dog stayed next to me and gave me a supportive smile.

"Everybody's got gloves, don't get any on your skin or in your eyes, and definitely not your mouth. Cover me and Glenn in as much of it as you can."

And so we set to work, gagging and choking as we smeared blood and guts on the two men. Pieces of the body that were still somewhat intact got draped over their shoulders or tied to the sleeves of their ponchos. More giant globs of guts were shoved in their pockets.

"Oh God, this is bad," Glenn complained as he looked towards the ceiling, his skin paling.

"Think about something else," Rick said confidently. "Puppies and kittens."

"Heh. Yeah. Dead puppies and kittens," T-Dog muttered under his breath, clearly hoping nobody would hear, but Glenn clearly must have, and he keeled over and vomited.

"T, that is so wrong," Andrea stated judgmentally.

Jacqui tapped on Rick's shoulder to get his attention.

"Next time, let that Cracker bear his ass," the woman stated insistently, to the point where I couldn't tell if she actually meant it or not.

"I'm sorry, yo," T muttered as he looked over at Glenn and between the two women.

"So, do we smell like them?" Rick asked, attempting to change the subject.

"Oh yes. Absolutely," Andrea said as she nodded quickly. "Glenn, take this... just in case."

The woman was holding her silver handgun out as she finished her statement, and then she gently tucked it into his jeans underneath the gut-covered poncho.

"We make it back; be ready," Rick said as he looked around at those of us not joining him and Glenn.

"What about Merle Dixon?" T asked as he gestured towards the roof.

Rick nodded, then tossed him the key to the cuffs. Then, he took the axe from Morales.

"Ok, we need more guts," and with that, he swung down once again, mutilating the already mutilated body even more.

][=][   Ryan Goldman's POV   ][=][

"It's late. They should've been back by now."

I hadn't realized that I'd fallen asleep until the sound of Amy's voice woke me up. I blinked a few times and rubbed my eyes. That's when I discovered that it wasn't just me who had fallen asleep. Carl had fallen asleep with his head leaned on my shoulder again. My sketchbook had slipped off my lap. My drawing was mostly finished. Me waking up and moving around had roused Carl as well, so he was waking up and looking around.

"Hey, boys, y'all wanna learn how to do a very cool, very helpful knot?" Shane's voice came from behind the car we were leaning against.

Carl looked back at him with a tired smile and nodded.

"Yeah, sounds cool," Carl exclaimed through a yawn. "Ry, you wanna come too?"

"Sure, sounds fun," I responded, shutting my sketchbook and putting it back in my bag.

Lori had returned from the woods at some point and was working on laundry. Shane led Carl and me over to a campfire, and we sat on the rocks we'd been using as seats around it. The man then began showing us how to tie this specific knot. He walked us through it step by step and then gave us each some rope to practice.

"Ok, three-two-one... pull it!" The man shouted as he watched the two of us try the knot.

"Ah! Aw... it didn't work," the grimes boy muttered as his knot failed to hold.

"Mine too... I thought I had it that time," I said, disappointed as I straightened the rope out again.

"That's ok. Start it over," the officer said as Carl glanced between me and the man on his left. "Let's go slow, ok? Step by step."

We both nodded and held our ropes out in front of us, awaiting instruction.

"Ok, make your P," the man instructed, "other way, Carl. Around your finger. Ry, yours looks ok so far."

"Oops," the boy said as he adjusted his rope and looked at mine to see how I'd done it.

"Yeah just tie it, like, around your finger," the officer said. "Attaboy, just like that."

"Ok, what ne-" Carl started to ask for the next step but was interrupted by the radio chirping to life.

"Hello, base camp!" T-Dog's voice suddenly came through the static, drawing Shane away from us. "Can anybody out there hear me?"

The whole camp gathered around the RV where the radio had been sitting on the roof with Dale.

"Hello?" Dale said through the mic on our end. "Hello? Reception's bad on this end. Repeat, repeat."

"Shane, is that you?" Ty's voice came through again, still staticy.

"Is that them?" Lori asked as she stood behind me and Carl with her hands on our shoulders.

Dale shrugged and held the speaker closer to his ear.

"We're in some deep shit. We're trapped in the department store."

"Did he say trapped?" Dad asked as he cocked his head to the side, trying to hear better.

"We're completely surrounded by geeks. Hundreds of 'em."

"T-Dog, repeat that last. Repeat," Dale said as he tried to get through the interference.

"He said the department store," Lori stated simply.

"Yeah, I heard it too," Dale responded.

"Same here," Mai agreed, crossing her arms and biting her nails.

Everyone stood there silent for a few minutes, absorbing what had happened. Soon, Lori went over to Shane.

"Shane?"

"No way," the man said before she could finish what she was thinking. "We do not go after them. We do not risk the rest of the group. Y'all know that."

Mai scoffed and shook her head, glaring at the leader angrily. Lori just sighed in defeat and looked around.

"So we're just gonna leave her there?" Amy asked in disbelief.

"Look, Amy, I know that this is not easy-" Shane started before getting interrupted by the young blonde woman.

"She volunteered to go. To help the rest of us."

"I know. And she knew the risks, right?" He asked as he pursed his lips. "See, if she's trapped, she's gone. So we just have to deal with that. There's nothing we can do."

"That's bullshit, Shane, just like ninety percent of what you say is bullshit," Mai said as she shook her head and walked away.

"This is my sister we're talking about, you son of a bitch!" Amy shouted before running off after the other woman.

Shane looked around for support, receiving mixed looks from everyone. I glanced after the two women and then quickly ran off after them.

"Mrs. Bryant, Amy, wait up!" I shouted as I went after them.

Amy turned around after hearing me and stopped. I could see the tears glistening on her cheeks from here.

"I'm sorry, Ry," she said as I came up next to her. "I shouldn't have yelled like that."

"No, it's ok. Don't apologize. I know you're scared."

She nodded and sat down on a lounge chair nearby, patting the spot next to her for me to sit.

"It's just... today was supposed to be my turn to go on the run, and she knew I didn't want to... so she volunteered to go instead," Amy said, putting her face in her hands and slumping over. "Now she's trapped and... and I already lost everyone else, I can't lose her too," the blonde wept.

I wrapped my arm around her and hugged her as she cried. After a few minutes, she seemed to have calmed down, so I pulled away.

"I know you're scared that she's gone, but Shane was an asshole earlier," I said as I looked into her bloodshot eyes. "Nobody is actually gone until they're gone. Right now, we know they're alive but trapped. The most important part of that is that they're alive. Alive means they can still make it back. I know they will do everything they can to get back here to us."

"How old are you again?" She asked as she chuckled.

I rolled my eyes in response and shook my head.

"I'm twelve, but I used to have similar talks with my Mom any time my Dad shipped out when he was in the military," I answered after a moment of silence.

"Well, she taught you well," Amy responded as she smiled at me. "You're right. They're alive, and I need to stop worrying about them being gone because they're not. You're right that they will do whatever it takes to get back here."

I nodded and smiled as she calmed down and wiped her eyes. When she seemed ok, I nodded my head toward the rest of the group, and she sighed before nodding in agreement. We walked back to the group together. Lori gave the young blonde a side hug and then guided her toward the campfire where they were preparing food. I sat with the kids around another campfire, Carl on my left and Jasper on my right.

"Is Amy ok?" Carl asked as he smiled at me and handed me my backpack.

"She's worried, but I think I was able to help her feel a bit better," I responded as I took it from him and unzipped one of the pockets, pulling my book out to read while I waited for lunch.

"That's good. Im glad you went to talk to her," the boy replied as he went back to his comic book.

"Yeah, me too," I agreed as I glanced at his comic. "Whatcha reading there?"

"Oh, just a Spider-Man comic," he said as he shrugged. "I've always loved superheroes."

"Me too! Which comic is it?" Jas exclaimed in excitement as he moved to sit on his knees in front of us so he could join the conversation.

Carl handed the book to my brother, who quickly skimmed the cover and nodded in approval.

"Yeah, that's a really good one! I've read it before. I have the whole collection if you want to read more of them and don't have them," my brother stated happily as he handed the comic back to the Grimes boy.

"He probably has enough comics to fill an entire comic store ten times over," I joked as I ruffled Jas's hair.

"Hey! That's not true... maybe five times over," Jas replied as he pushed my hand away and laughed.

"Well, it sounds like I'm gonna have to raid your stash once I finish this one," Carl said as he laughed at us.

"Sure! We can be comic buddies!" Jas exclaimed, smiling widely. "Maybe you can help me get Ry into comics, too. Every time I've tried, he hasn't wanted to."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, "Jas, I know you think it's silly, but I just don't enjoy comics that way. I prefer books like this one." I said as I waved the book I had pulled out around.

"Come on, Ry, comics are so much better than books like that," Carl joked as he bumped my shoulder playfully.

"Oh no, don't you team up with him on this," I said as I chuckled and bumped his shoulder back.

"I have to when teaming up with you would make me wrong," he joked as he bumped my shoulder again.

"Can y'all help me out here, please?" I asked as I glanced at the others around the fire. "I'm a bit outnumbered here."

"I think you're all being ridiculous," Sophia responded as she laughed, causing everyone else to laugh as well.

"Ok, kids, don't laugh too hard while you eat; otherwise, you'll choke," Carol said as she, Lori, and Amy approached us with plates of food.

"Yes, please, no choking," Lori agreed as she gave Carl and me each of our plates. "You guys can keep laughing and messing around after you eat."

][=][   Author's Note   ][=][

Ok, y'all, that's all I've got for you at the moment. I hope you enjoyed this long-awaited chapter. Once again, sorry it took so long for me to get this one out for you. The next one will be out much quicker because I'm already almost done writing it; then it'll just be a quick bit of editing and it'll be out as well. Hopefully, I'll have it out for you sometime next week.

Time for the questions for this chapter.

1. How're you feeling about Joshua (Ry's dad) so far?

2. What do you think about Karia going hunting with Daryl?

3. Any thoughts on Carl liking Ry's art and even remembering seeing it around school?

4. Were you surprised to find out Glenn is Zuri's and Zhen's uncle?

5. Any thoughts on Zuri's personality now that you've gotten to see much more of it?

6. Whatcha think about Zuri's and T-Dog's little interactions throughout the chapter?

7. Why do you think it seems like Mai has little to no respect for Shane?

8. What do you think about Ry going after Amy and their little chat?

9. Are you enjoying the fluffy moments with the kids so far? (I sure hope so since fluff only lasts so long on this universe)

][=][ THANKS FOR READING ][=][