VIVIAN SAT ON TOP OF THE DEPARTMENT STORE, BINOCULARS TO HER EYES.

"What dumbasses." Glenn sighed, as they watched the two fall of their horse and rush into the tank.

"Dumbasses that are also gonna get us killed." Viv stated, handing him the binoculars, "Those gunshots are gonna draw walkers from all over the city."

"We can't just leave them in there." Glenn replied,

Vivian rolled her eyes, "Tell you what, you come up with a plan to get them out, I'll help you."

Glenn nodded, staring down at the street, "They're going toward the horse. We might be able to get them out."

"I want a solid plan before I risk my life for those dumb shits." Vivian replied,

"While they're distracted, they can run from the top. They make sure none of the geeks follow, they can get to the alley. We can meet them there." Glenn explained,

Vivian nodded, sliding her crowbar into her belt loop, "Alrighty, Glenn. Let's do this."

The Korean reached for the walkie-talkie and changed the frequencies, "Hey, you. Dumbass. Hey, you two in the tank. Cozy in there?" When there was no response, he tried again, "Hey, are you alive in there?"

"Hello? Hello?" A thick southern accent asked from the other side,

"There you are. You had us wondering." Glenn stated,

"Where are you? Outside? Can you see us right now?" The man asked,

Glenn nodded, "Yeah, we can see you. You're surrounded by walkers. That's the bad news."

"There's good news?" The southern man questioned,

Glenn and Vivian shared a look, "No."

A female voice filled the speakers, "Listen, whoever you are, I don't mind telling you we're a little concerned in here."

"Oh man. You should see it from over here. You'd be having a major freak-out." Glenn stated,

The man returned, "Got any advice?"

"Yeah, I'd say make a run for it." Glenn answered,

"That's it? 'Make a run for it'?"

"My way's not as dumb as it sounds. You've got eyes on the outside here. 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." Glenn explained, "With me so far?"

"So far."

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

"In that duffel bag that was dropped out there, and guns. Can I get to it?" The man asked,

Vivian shook her head and Glenn spoke, "Forget the bag, okay? It's not an option. What do you have on you?"

"Hang on." The man went silent for a moment and they waited, "I've got a Beretta with one clip, 15 rounds and a Winchester with 7 rounds."

"Make 'em count." Glenn and Vivian began to head towards the ladder, "Jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe 50 yards. Be there."

"Hey, what's your name?" The man asked,

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

MARCIE AND RICK GRIPPED THEIR KNIVES AS THEY OPENED THE TOP HATCH.

She stabbed the lone walker that was still on top before climbing out, Rick following. She let Rick go first, since he had the gun.

They jumped from the tank and Marcie rolled to her feet. She stayed close to Rick's back, stabbing anything that got too close.

The duo sprinted back towards the bus and stopped when a man and woman jumped out from the alley, "Whoa! Not dead! Come on!" The man yelled,

The biters followed them into the alley and the woman began climbing a yellow ladder and the asian man went next. Rick kept cover while Marcie went after them.

He fired his last round and tossed the gun on the ground when he realised he was out of bullets.

Marcie glanced down, noticing the biters weren't following. Maybe they didn't know how to climb ladders?

They got up to a platform about halfway up the building the the woman grabbed onto her hand, hauling her up before helping Rick, "Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town?" The asian man panted,

"It wasn't my intention." Rick responded,

"Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw." The brunette woman sighed, "You're still a dumbass."

"Did it look cool at least?" Marcie asked, looking over at them to be responded with stares, "Too soon? Okay."

The sheriff held out his hand, "Rick. Thanks."

"Glenn. This is Vivian. You're welcome." The Asian man introduced.

Marcie waved, "I'm Marcie."

"Oh no." Glenn glanced down at the walker that had began to climb, well there goes that, "The bright side: It'll be the fall that kills us. I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy."

Vivian rolled her eyes, "Just climb, Glenn."

The four of them climbed up the ladder that lead to the top of the building. They found a bridge that led to the other building and slowly crossed it, "Are you the one that barricaded the alley?" Rick asked,

"Somebody did... I guess when the city got overrun. Whoever did it was thinking not many geeks would get through." Glenn replied and they jogged over to another opening,

"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for us?" Rick asked as Glenn tossed his bag inside and got on the ladder that led into the building, "Call it foolish, naive hope that if I'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me. Guess I'm an even bigger dumbass than you."

Glenn went down and Vivian turned to them, "What the hell were you guys doing anyway? Riding in the city like that?"

"We were looking for the refugee center." Marcie answered,

Vivian raised an eyebrow, "There isn't one." The duo shared a look, "Welcome to the end of the world."

The three of them followed Glenn down into the office building before running down the emergency exit, "I'm back. Got a few guest plus four geeks in the alley." Glenn spoke into the radio,

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Vivian took out her crowbar from her belt loop and approached the walkers that were limping towards them. While they were distracted, the door to the department store opened up.

Two men wearing riot gear with baseball bats began bashing the biters, giving them enough time to run inside the store.

Once inside, a blonde woman grabbed Rick and shoved him against a stack of boxes and a gun was aimed at his head, "You son of a bitch. We ought to kill you."

"Just chill out, Andrea. Back off." One of the men said as he took off the riot gear,

"Come on, ease up." The African American woman told her,

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

Vivian rolled her eyes and stepped forward, standing between the barrel of the gun and the sheriff, "Andrea, back the hell off. Pulling that trigger will just cause more problems."

Andrea backed away and turned to Marcie, "We're dead... All of us... Because of you two." She cried,

"I don't understand." Rick said, standing up straight,

"Look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies." Morales grabbed him by the shirt and led him towards the front of the store, "You 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."

"Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds." T-Dog told them,

"You just rang the dinner bell."

Marcie paused, staring at the front doors. Dozens upon dozens of biter were clawing at the glass, trying to break in. And the glass had started to crack.

"Get the picture now?"

Marcie grabbed her gun and pushed it into Rick's hand. He looked down at her, "You're better off with it than I am." She whispered to him,

A biter gripped a rock in it's hands as it smashed against the glass. It began to crumble and the group stumbled back, "What the hell were you doing out there anyway?" Andrea asked,

"Trying to flag the helicopter." Rick answered,

"Helicopter? Man, that's crap. Ain't no damn helicopter." T-Dog snapped back,

"You were chasing a hallucination, imagining things. It happens." Jacqui comforted,

"I saw it." Rick replied,

"Hey, T-Dog, try that C.B. Can you contact the others?" Morales asked the other man,

"Others?" Marcie questioned,

Vivian nodded, "We got a group just outside the city."

T-Dog turned on the radio, "Got no signal. Maybe the roof?" He suggested,

Just then, they heard shots being fired above them on the roof. Marcie turned to Andrea, "And you got mad at us for firing a gun?"

"Is that Dixon?"

"What is that maniac doing?"

"Come on, let's go." Glenn led them towards the roof,

Morales moved to the front and shoved through the door, narrowing his eyes towards the large white man with a rifle, "Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?!"

Dixon laughed and pointed his gun towards them, "Hey! Y'all be more polite to a man with a gun! Huh? Ah! Only common sense."

"Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got!" T-Dog argued and Dixon laughed, "And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill."

"Hey! Bad enough I've got this taco-bender on my ass all day. Now I'm gonna take orders from you? I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day."

Marcie stood on the grated bridge, her arms crossed over her chest. What kind of dysfunctional group was this?

"'That'll be the day'? You got something you want to tell me?" T-Dog questioned the redneck,

"Hey, T-Dog man, just leave it."

"No." T-Dog argued,

"It ain't worth it." Morales told him, "Now Merle, just relax, okay? We've got enough trouble."

"You want to know the day?" Merle took a step towards the man,

T-Dog nodded, "Yeah."

"I'll tell you the day, Mr. 'Yo'. It's the day I take orders from a nigger." Merle spat.

The two began to fight and Marcie turned towards the brunette next to her, "Some group you got here."

"No kidding." Vivian scoffed,

Marcie gasped as Merle landed a punch to Rick, sending him flying over a pipe. The others tried to stop him and Merle pinned T-Dog to the ground, landing punch after punch.

Vivian walked forward and grabbed Merle's abandoned rifle. She lifted it up and rested it against her shoulder before aiming it at Merle, "Hey! Asshole!" She yelled.

Merle paused and turned to look at her, "You even know how to use that thing, missy?"

"I know it's loaded. I know the safety's off. Now... my aim ain't the best. But when you're this close, I don't need good aim. Want to test my theory? Throw another punch." Vivian stated, resting her finger over the trigger,

Merle glared at her and stood, "Who do you think you are to tell me-"

He was interrupted by a punch to the jaw, sending him to the ground. Rick took out his handcuffs and cuffed the man to the pipe, "Who the hell are you, man?!"

"Officer Friendly." Rick growled, "Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no niggers anymore. 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." Merle spat at him.

Vivian lowered the rifle and rested it against the edge of the building before going over to Jacqui and T-Dog to make sure he was okay.

"I can see you make a habit of missing the point." Rick responded,

"Yeah? Well, screw you twice."

Rick gripped Marcie's gun in his hand, pressing it against Merle's temple, "Ought to be polite to a man with a gun. Only common sense."

Marcie watched the commotion go on. Even if they did get out of this building, were they gonna stick with these people? Merle seemed dangerous, Andrea was sticking guns in people's faces, and there were others? What if they're worse than Merle.

Rick finished his little talk with Merle and moved to overlook the city and Morales followed.

Vivian stood and looked over at Marcie who was on the far side of the room, looking over the south side of the city, "You okay?"

"I just... I came here looking for the refugee center. And now I find out there's nothing?" Marcie scoffed,

"Who are you looking for?"

Marcie glanced over at her, "My parents. I went to find them...and they said they came here. But if they are, they're dead."

"So you gotta hope they didn't come here. You hope they didn't go in." Vivian said,

"Did you see what happened to the city?" She asked her,

Vivian nodded, "The bombs... the terror. I saw it all."

"I'm sorry."

The brunette shrugged, "I don't have any family here. Like you, I don't know where they are. So I hope that they're okay, wherever they are."

Someone cleared their throat and the girls turned to see Rick, his hands on his hips, "Thanks for saving my head back there." He told Vivian,

She smirked, "The only reason why I stepped in front of that gun was because the safety was on. Andrea's a hot head, so next time, if the safety is off, you're on your own."

"How's that signal?" Morales asked T-Dog, who was leaning against the edge, radio in hand,

"Like Dixon's brain... Weak." He answered and Merle flipped him off,

"Keep trying." The three of them walked back over to the group,

"Why? There's nothing they can do. Not a damn thing." Andrea responded,

"Got some people outside the city is all. There's no refugee center. That's a pipe dream." Morales told them,

"Then she's right. We're on our own. It's up to us to find a way out." Rick said,

"Good luck with that. These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear." Merle looked over at Marcie, "Ain't that right, sugar tits?" She rolled her eyes, "Hey, honeybunch, what say you get me out of these cuffs, we go off somewhere and bump some uglies? Gonna die anyway."

"I'd rather." She scoffed,

"The streets ain't safe. Now there's an understatement." Morales sighed,

"What about under the streets? The sewers?" Rick questioned,

He was right. If they couldn't go over, or through, why not try under? Maybe the biters didn't find their way in there yet.

"Oh man." Morales turned to Glenn, "Hey, Glenn, check the alley. You see any manhole covers?"

He ran over to the other side, checking the alley before jogging over, "No, must be all out on the street where the geeks are."

"Maybe not." Jaqui spoke up, "Old building like this built in the '20s... Big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding down in the subbasements."

Marcie raised an eyebrow, "How do you know that?"

"It's my job... was." She corrected, "I worked in the city zoning office."

Glenn and Vivian shared a look. She remembered the large hole in the ground in the basement, that looked like it would lead to the sewers. Her and Glenn found it their first time getting into the building. That's what Jacqui was talking about.

Everyone but T-Dog and Merle headed down. Glenn led them into the basement and there it was. An entrance into the sewer.

"This is it? Are you sure?" Morales questioned,

"I really scoped this place out the other times I was here. It's the only thing in the building that goes down. But I've never gone down it. Who'd want to, right?" Glenn let out a nervous laugh and everyone looked at them,

"Oh. Great."

"We'll be right behind you." Andrea encouraged.

"No, you won't. Not you." Glenn responded and Vivian fought to hide her smile,

She wouldn't want Andrea down there with her either. The blonde would think she was a walker and shoot her without questioning. That is, if she could figure out the safety on her gun.

"Why not me? Think I can't?" The blonde questioned,

"I wasn't..." Glenn trailed off,

"Speak your mind." Rick encouraged,

"Look, until now, Vivian and I always came here by ourselves... In and out, grab a few things... No problem. The first time we bring a group... Everything goes to hell. No offense. If you want me to go down this gnarly hole, fine... But only if we do it my way." The others nodded, "It's tight down there. If I run into something and have to get out quick, I don't want you all jammed up behind me getting me killed. I'll take one person..." Glenn looked over at Rick, "Not you either. You've got the gun and I've seen you shoot. I'd feel better if you were out in that store watching those doors, covering our ass." He motioned to Andrea, "And you've got the only other gun, so you should go with him." He pointed to Vivian, "You be my wingman. Jacqui and Marcie, you two stay here. Something happens, yell down to us, get us back up here in a hurry."

Jacqui nodded, "Okay."

Rick put his hands on his hips, "Okay, everybody knows their jobs."

Vivian let Glenn down first before following. She grabbed her flashlight from her jacket pocket and the duo went into the sewers.

"Gross." She mumbled, stepping into the muddy water, "You owe me new shoes."

"There's plenty upstairs for you to choose from." Glenn responded,

Vivian stared in disgust as they stepped around the rats. She accidentally stepped on its tail and it screeched at her.

"Ew, go, go." Vivian ushered Glenn forward,

"Dude, do not make me regret choosing you." Glenn told her,

"Dude, do not act like you did me a favour by choosing me. I'd rather be up there with Racist Ronny than in the dark down here." Vivian hissed.

They came across a barred off section of the tunnel,"Yeah, we've got ourselves a sewer tunnel. Jacqui was right." Vivian sighed,

"Can we cut through it?" Glenn asked her,

She raised an eyebrow, "If we had a blowtorch and half a day, sure. Dale's hacksaw sure as hell won't do it."

On the other side of the grate, they spotted a walker eating a rat. It screeched at them and tried reaching through the bars to grab them, "Gross." Vivian tapped his shoulder, "Let's go."

Jacqui and Marcie were waiting for them above, "You find a way out?" Marcie asked,

"Nope." Vivian sighed, "We need a new plan."

They rushed upstairs to the main level of the store, where they heard glass breaking. The ran over to Rick and Andrea, as they watched the walkers break through the first set of door,

"What did you find down there?" Rick asked,

"Not a way out." Glenn answered,

"We need to find a way... And soon."