"Do you know the difference between men and women?"

Shane threw his head to the side, cocky smile in place. "Don't tell me you've finally fallen for that feminist crap?" Rachel cocked an eyebrow at her partner and playfully tossed a fry in his face.

"I'm serious Shane! Do you know the difference between men and women?"

This had to be about the husband, so Shane humoured her and thought up one of his adventurous stories, hopefully she wouldn't hit him. "Okay than… women, and I do mean all of you-" That earned him a half-hearted glare. "-do not know how to turn a god damn light switch off!" "Oh really?" she mocked, "Like this last girl I had, you know all shacked up and everything. And she makes it my job to turn off all the lights once I get back home. I mean it! I'd come back, and I'd have to walk around the whole damn house turning off every single light this dumb bitch leaves on. So I confront her…"

Rachel tried not to crack any kind of smile but from the smirk on his face it wasn't working. "I'm sure that went well."

"So I say to her, When did it become my job to come back home and turn off all these damn lights, bitch you're running up my electric bill! And that's when the exorcist voice comes out- 'You sound just like my damn father! Always getting mad at me for the damn electric bill!" Rachel choked on a gulp of pop in laughter. She coughed a few times before giving him an incredulous look. "UhCough! huh I'm sure Cough!"

"I go with the polite version of course when I tell her all that." He tried to look all suave.

"That would be best."

"And than I tell her, Girl, you've been hearing this your whole life and you're still too damn stupid to turn off a damn switch." Rachel couldn't contain her laughter at his bullshit of a story. "Of course again I use the polite version."

Their fit of laughter finally died down leaving only silence, but Shane had to ask. "How is Leon, haven't seen that slimy bastard since my last visit." He tried keeping the venom out of his voice as he said this but from her expression she didn't notice his distaste for him. Rachel's entire demeanor changed in a second, although she tried keeping the happy atmosphere.

"You know… I forget to turn off the lights from time to time. He always has to turn them off for me…" The look on her face told him everything, things weren't looking so good with their marriage.

"Ain't what I meant Rach, you know that…. Listen, I may have failed to amuse with my sermon but the least you can do is… speak." Rachel's mouth twitched upwards in a sad smile. "…That's exactly what he says… speak, you'd think I was the most closed mouthed person in the world." Now Shane felt like shit.

"Well… don't you tell him your feelings and stuff? You know like what you do here? I mean when we use to date we were always talking." A pained look crossed her face, maybe it wasn't the best idea to bring up their past relationship. "That was different… we were 17, only kids… and even when I do tell him how I feel, he gets mad like he didn't want to know in the first place. His jealousy is really getting the best of him." She tactically avoided that conversation. "You know what he told me this morning?" Shane listened intently to her, hoping to comfort her anyway possible. "You go ahead and leave us for him… and the worst part was… Carl was in the room when he said it. Picture him going to school with that in his head!" Her partner's eyes widen slightly. "He thinks we're…?" Shane wouldn't verbally admit it, but it was a long time coming.

Rachel and Leon finally breaking up, than there he would be to pick up the pieces, at least that's what he was hoping for in the beginning but their relationship lasted a lot longer than he expected. After a while he followed her out of school, getting this policing job, becoming partner to the sheriffs deputy, and still being her long-time friend without losing his mind. Rachel seemed pretty content on being friends even after everything they went through together their whole lives… But Shane didn't quite feel that settled.

"I don't know the difference between men and women… but I know the difference between Leon and me. And I would never say something like that in front of our son." Her mouth tightened into a thin line of frustration. She never showed too much emotion, but from years of spending so much time with her Shane could tell she was bothered by what he said.

"Do you still love him?" The question caught both off guard. Her partner didn't expect the words to fall from his mouth either, she suspected, especially from the look of shock on his face.

Before she could give any indication to an answer the radio's static warnings blared to life. –All Available units-

Suddenly they were off, leaving their unfinished meal at the bottom of a trashcan, nothing came before the job… not even love.

"Been chase'n these bastards through every back roads."

"Maybe we'll get on one of those TV shows like worlds craziest police chases!" She looked at him from her crouching position behind their wall of police cars. The kid was new and a little on the dim-side, not a good combination.

He looked over in her direction with a nervous smile. "What'd ya think Ma'am?"

Rachel glared at him from the corner of her eye, she had no tolerance for young idiots in these situations. "What I think Neil is that you need to stay focused, make sure you have a round in the chamber and your safety is off…" His smile faltered and now he was looking scared all over again. Neil fumbled to check the chamber and quickly ran his thumb over the safety switch.

"…It would be kinda cool to be on one of 'em shows." Shane gave his half-focused input, making Rachel shake her head.

The banter died down and now a whirring of sirens was heard on the horizon. Shane shifted from foot to foot, trying to find the perfect position to stand with the armed shot gun in his hands. Rachel narrowed her eyes, preparing herself for any surprises.

A car hopped over the hill, torrent of police vehicles following closely behind. Its speed accelerated, practically flying over the road spikes and flying into the air with a couple of flips. It's hard shattering decent to the ground had Shane's eyes widen in shock "Holy shit…" They waited a few moments before advancing towards the now totalled wreckage, Sheriff's deputy in front.

Coming within 40 feet on the upside down vehicle, the door creaked open and a bloodied frazzled man crawled from out the car.

"Gun! Gun! Gun!"

"Put it down!" Rachel bent her knees a little in instinct in case she had to run. The man looked around a little disorientated before shooting off rounds in every direction. A stray bullet got her in the right side of her chest making her tumble backwards to the ground at the impact.

"Rachel!" Shane screamed from his spot, and fired a couple rounds into the mans chest. He registered a second man coming from the other side of the vehicle but his attention was on the squirming pile in the tall grass. He hid behind his vehicle and reloaded, hoping it wasn't too late to save her. The second man's head rocked backwards from a bullet the chaser cops had shot off. Without waiting for more men to appear Shane jumped over the car's hood, face pale with worry.

"Rachel!"

"I'm alright!" She checked the rounds in her six-shooter and slowly climbed to her feet. Her partner exhaled heavily. "Jesus! Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Her breathing was laboured and her eyes were wide with panic. "He shot me! did you see that?!" Shane turned her around on her feet and pried open her uniform, relief washed over him at the sight of the bullet proof vest. "Thank god…" He was holding her, making Rachel feel very uncomfortable.

She stepped back from his hold a couple feet and shook her head. "Shane you do not tell Leon that happened, ever!" His head dipped in a nod, Feeling foolish for grabbing her like he did. Rachel wasn't convinced he understood and pointed at him to get his attention. "I mean it! Don't say any-Ahh!"

Her body was tossed forward into his chest, blood splattering across his face. Shane immediately killed the third unseen guy with a single shot and gently laid her down on the grass. Applying pressure to her wound between her shoulder blade and arm, the bullet passed clean through her chest. Rachel's blue eyes widened in shocked and then pain, the whites slowly becoming bloodshot.

"Rachel! No-no-no come on baby stay with me! Officer down!"

Shane's bloodied comforting face shushed her as she opened her mouth in pain to speak, tears built at the corners of her eyes at the intense pain that shot through her.

"Shh-shh you stay with me…. no, you can't do this… love you... don't…" Her eyes looked to the sky and the whole world was flashed in white.

White tiled ceiling was all she could see and Shane's blurry face, her body unresponsive, only her mind and peripherals taking in the tiny hospital room. "…Hey Rach… We're still here, we're still hanging in there…" The bouquet of flowers he held nestled comfortably on his knee when he bent to peck her forehead. "I'm still waiting for you…" He looked to be on the verge of tears.

A chuckle escaped his lips once he pulled away. She couldn't move her eyes to follow his movement out of exhaustion, something was holding her back, as if she were a prisoner inside her own body. "I'm sorry, I say the same crap every time I come in here…" He hoisted the flowers into her line of sight. "Everyone pitched in on these… Told me to bring'em down and they send their love. They hope you come back real soon…. Linda and Dianne from Dispatch picked out these' said that they matched you… although, I think you're much prettier than a bunch a flowers." He was looking a little awkward now. "I'm gonna just set these on your side table…"

Something released her, and Rachel cracked a smile. "That vase…. That's something special, did you steal that from you're grandma Jean's house?…" Her body shook with weak laugh. "…I hope you left her that spoon collection." She coughed and looked around the room feeling as if she had awoken from a long dream, that's when she noticed there was no one around. "…Shane?" An empty room answered her back with more silence.

"Shane! You in the Jon?" Her voice was raspy and weak.

Rachel turned her head to look at the wilted brown flowers at the side of her bed, and reached out to touch them. They crackled away at her sensitive touch, her hair hung in long ringlets around her head. She was here for a while. Feeling confused and disorientated, Rachel climbed out of bed, the muscles in her legs giving out from the weight. She tried to call out for help, but no one came. It was sometime before she got full control of her body.

She swung the door open to the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. The person in the mirror looked back in shock with round dark circles under her eyes and concaved cheeks. Hair clung to her sweaty pale forehead and stuck up everywhere in random places. One glance at the tap and she threw herself under it, greedily gulping down water in content.

After sometime of finding something to tie her hair back in a frazzled bun Rachel walked out of her hospital room and into a dim cluttered hallway. Paper's thrown on the ground and wheelchairs tipped over in some kind of rush.

She moved a heavy girder out of the entryway to the room and proceeded down the hallway, occasionally crumpling papers underfoot to get to the receptionist desk. Disappointingly, No one was there either.

Leaning heavily on the desk Rachel picked up the phone and panicked when there was no noise. Telephone line was plugged into the wall, than a pole must've been down somewhere. She blindly searched the desk to find any kind of light source and came up with a book of matches. Lighting one, she searched for anything else. In a fit of frustration, she tossed the burning stick and walked more down the hallway to hopefully the exit.

The left side of her sight caught flickering lights and immediately headed in that direction, hoping to find people. Buzzing of the lights irritated her already throbbing head as she looked through the window. Body flew back in fear at the dead woman who lay in the middle of the hallway.

Skin and organs missing, the red skeleton laid in a puddle of dried blood. Her bones shined with green and brown, rotting most likely, her meat had been picked clean off her corpse. Quickening her pace down the hall, she slipped in a red substance. Her stomach convulsed at the smell of blood and rotting bodies. A loud bang made her turn her head to her right and stare wide eyed at the heavily barracked door. Black painted lettering on it reading 'DONT OPEN DEAD INSIDE'

Chain's wrapped securely around the handles, nothing was getting out of there. Long grey fingers slowly scratched at the sides of the door. Becoming more frightened, Rachel hurried her search to find an exit and came across an elevator. She gave up on it after a fearful second of waiting and shuffled over to the staircase that was beside it.

Rachel coughed at the smell of rotting meat and continued her descend down the dark stairs, using her toes to search the ground where ever she stepped. The burning match in-between her fingered got hotter the more she took her time. A few staircases and numerous matches later, Rachel finally found the exit doors to the outside. It was only a moment of blinding light but she quickly adjusted and shuffled her way past rows of white sheet covered bodies. Holes where their heads shoulda been. It was a sad and disgusting sight to see.

Walking a block away from the hospital, clutching her old wound the whole way, Rachel finally found a bike. She tipped the bike upwards and rose her leg to climb up when a growling hissing noise caught her attention. The bike fell from her grasp at the sight of a half body of a rotting person reaching out in her direction. It's gums and teeth chopping robotically at the sight of her.

Suddenly she was on the bike, peddling faster than humanly possible. Going in the direction all her fear was most concentrated on.

Rachel sat on her front yard, tears streaking down her face as she rocked herself back and forth, arms wrapped securely around her legs. "This can't be happening! This can't be happening! Carl… Leon…" more tears blurred her vision.

Something out the corner of her eye had her wiping her nose and raising her hand to shield her eyes. The person in black changed their course and advanced in her direction. She didn't hear the silent footsteps come up behind her, only the hard mind jumbling Thawck! of the shovel when it connected with the back of her head. Her sight was blurry, but her mouth pulled up in a straining smile at the figure. "Carl… My baby boy…." He was yelling, but she couldn't hear anything from the sound of ringing in her own ears. But he was yelling for someone, as far as she could tell. Looking to the other man on the street, Rachel almost didn't make out a second man coming up behind the other and placing an object in the side of his head. BANG! The first man fell sideways to the ground.

"She said something, I thought I heard her say something!"

"She called me Carl!"

The days stressful events finally caught up with her and exhaustion hit her hard. Eyes rolling in the back of the head Rachel let the peaceful feeling of weightlessness take her.

Eyes snapped open in fear, breathing coming out in pants, She pulled on the restraints on her wrists. "Woah! Woah! Stop!" A voice whispered harshly beside her, their hand placed firmly on her abdomen to keep her from struggling. She looked up at the person and breathed harder at the giant male. "Why I am tied up? Whats going on here?" Her mind was playing out dozens of scenarios that this man could have done to her… or was going to do to her, this made her struggle harder.

Suddenly a gun was placed between her eyes, making all the blood from her face drain at the sight of it. "You keep making noise and I'll have to kill you…" all her strength was sapped from her muscles at that statement.

"All I did was change you're bandages… nothing else." He was dead serious from the look in his eyes. Rachel didn't notice him before but a boy was sitting in the doorway, threateningly holding a bat in his hands.

"What was the wound?" the dark man asked, getting up and washing his hands in a basin of water on the side of her bed. This caught her off guard but she answered anyway. "…Gunshot…"

"Anything else?" Her attitude seemed to kick in at his question. "Gunshot ain't enough?" they could hear the venom in her voice. But the man didn't seem to be in the mood for any evasive answers.

"Look, I ask and you answer. Its common curtsy right?" he glared down at her. This time he got closer to the bed, towering over her with a no-nonsense look. "Did. You. Get. Bit!" he demanded.

"Bit?."

"Chewed, scratched, anything like that?" His questions were beginning to grate on her nerves. "No, I was shot. Just, shot."

She flinched away from his hand when he tried to reach for her head. "Hey, just let me." She allowed him to but turned her head away, refusing to look at them. "Feels cool enough… fever woulda killed you by now."

"I don't think I have one."

"It'd be hard to miss."

He reached to his back pocket and flicked a knife open and reached over to the restraints on the bed polls. "I ain't gonna do anything to ya. But if you try anything to hurt me and my son… this knife will be the last thing you see, got it?" her head dipped in a nod, not fully trusting this man but complied anyway.

They were out of the doorway but he turned around and looked her right in the eyes. "Get yourself cleaned up and come out when you're ready… we got food." Rachel absentmindedly rubbed her wrists and ignored the growl in her stomach.

"This is Fred and Sydney Drakes place." Both males stopped and stared at her with caution. The father was the one to speak. "It was empty when we got here." She was confused but nodded her head anyway. Walking over to the windows, Rachel made a move to open the drapes. "Don't do that," she stopped and looked back at him "They'll see the light, more out there than usual." her hand went back to clutching the oversized blanket wrapped around her small hunched frame. He turned back around and tended to the food, preparing it for dinner. "Never shoulda fired that gun today. Sound draws 'em and-than their all over the street… stupid." He was sounding tired. " Things just happened so fast you know?" That's when she remembered him shooting down the other man on the street.

"You shot down that man today." she stated plainly, eyes narrowing.

"Man?" He looked at her amused

"It weren't no man!" His son finally spoke up, feeling offended that this unknown woman would imply that his father was a murderer.

"What the hell was that out your mouth?!" His father was looking at him accusingly. "It wasn't a man." he corrected.

"And you," He turned his attention back to the only woman in the room. "You need to get your eyes checked that was a walker, not a man."

It was a minute of tense silence before everyone sat down to eat. Rachel's stomach did flips of joy at the sight of beans and hash browns. Just as she was about to dig in and consume the food in front of her, the man's son spoke in a quiet tone. "Daddy… blessings," He nodded his head once and took his sons hand, giving the woman an expectant look. She took father and sons offered hand and quietly bowed her head, hoping they'd hurry up so she could get to eating. "…Father we thank thee for this food, our blessings. We ask that you watch over us in these crazy days. Amen." "Amen."

Rachel noticed the man's hard questioning stare. Like he was trying to understand her in that exact moment, but she ignored it and went straight to eating once all praying were done. "Do you even know what's going on?" She looked up from her food barely even half chewing, but answered him anyway.

"I woke up today in the hospitable… came home, that's all I know." She swallowed,

"But you know about the dead people right?"

"Oh yeah, I saw alotta that out on the loading pad and piles on the trucks." He quickly shook his head at her glibness.

"I'm not talking about the one's they put down but the ones they didn't… the walkers, like the one I shot today." He was giving her a critical stare, "He woulda ripped into you, try to eat you, take him some flesh at least."

Her eyebrows pulled together in a frown, becoming confused by that absurd statement. He let his guard down at her expression, she was telling the truth. "I guess if this is the first time you're hearing it… I know how it must sound."

"They're out there on the street?" She asked a little skeptically,

"Yeah, they get a little more active after dark. Maybe it's the cool air-hell, maybe it was me firing that gun today on the street. But we'll be fine as long as we stay quiet, probably wonder off by morning." Rachel picked at her food, appetite slowly disappearing… this man was telling the truth.

"Plus, one thing I do know… don't you get bit. We saw your bandage and that's what we were afraid of. Bite's kill ya. Fever burns you out and you die… than after a while you come back as one of them." he said matter-of-factly.

The candle on the table flicked back and forth at the slight breathe they exhaled. "We seen it happen." His son's eyes stared at the flame with a faraway look. The man reached over and squeezed his son's shoulder lightly, giving him a reassuring smile. After moments of silence they were back to eating, She had nothing more to ask.

Quiet was always something she liked… but right now she would give anything to hear the thumping of feet and cars driving on the street. What she missed most was the roughhouse play her husband and son would do in the next room, her son's whining voice to stay up just a few more minutes.

Now silence scared her.

Clutching the blanket closer to her body, Rachel stared at the make-shift curtains expecting a giant monster to storm through and just eat them all right then and there.

"Carl… he your son?" The man pulled her out of her disturbing thoughts.

"He's a little younger than your son." She answered and returned to staring at the curtains.

"Father? Is he with him?"

"I hope so…" Happy days with her family seemed like such a long time ago.

"Did you ask her?" The mans son asked his father in a tired voice beside him. A smile tugged the sides of his lips. "Me and my boy have a little bet going on, your gun shot makes him think you're a bank robber…" Rachel couldn't help the chuckle slip past her lips.

"That's me alright, puckish rogue Jane!" She was feeling happy, but she knew she shouldn't be happy. Everyone they ever knew was gone and laughing at a time like that just felt wrong. With that sudden realization her upbeat mood was dowsed.

"…Sheriffs Deputy."

"Really?" He looked surprised.

Everyone jumped at the sound of a car alarm going off. The man's boy sat straight up and looked at the covered windows in fear.

He shushed his son quiet and tried to calm his panicking nerves. "Shh-shh-shh It's alright, daddy's here… It's nothing, one of 'em must a bumped a car." Rachel was just about to pop right out of her skin at the unexpected sound.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it happened once before. Went off for a few minutes. Get the light Dwayne…" Doing as told, the boy moved to the side of the living room bed and turned the lantern lamp's light off. Rachel followed his lead and turned off the one closest to the window.

They peaked through a tiny opening in the drapes, quickly pinpointing the source to the loud honking. "Won't the noise attract more of them?" "…we'll just have to wait'em out till morning."

Dwayne gasped, his eyes becoming teary and wide. "She's here…" His father quickly nudged him in the shoulder, trying as gently as possible to get his son away from the window. "Don't look, Go." When he didn't move, he pushed him a little harder. "I said go!" he harshly whispered.

The boy fell into the blankets, sobbing uncontrollably. His father tried his best to comfort him, coaxing him to be quieter.

Rachel watched one particular one with actual flesh still attached to their body, giving it an almost bewildered human look. She followed the walker towards the front door of the house and watched her through the peephole.

It searched the door back and forth, mouth opening and closing in a biting fashion. Then it looked down almost curiously at the door knob. Her eyes followed the noise of the turning door knob and slowly backed up. She was now sitting in her original place she had been before staring at the door in silent terror.

"She uh… She died in the other room on that bed, There was nothing I could do about it…. That fever, came off her skin like a furnace… I shoulda put her down, I know that! But I just couldn't hurt my child…" Rachel looked to the still turning knob with a blank expression, even though dread built in the pit of her stomach, she had no emotion to comprehend the fear she felt at that moment.

Waiting for morning felt like an eternity; but within that time she earned the trust of the father who told her his name was Morgan and the son Dwayne. Rachel only got a good two hours of sleep before being awoken to the hot humid air of the boarded house. Even though there was still a risk of the hoard, they needed to really get out of the house before they boiled alive in their own sweat.

With some difficulty, Rachel had taken them all to her house and scoured for any clues to the whereabouts of her family. Even though Morgan told her numerous times that her family might not have survived, she just couldn't hear any of it.

"They're in Atlanta I bet." Dwayne spoke, after hours of searching and finding nothing. "That's right." Morgan confirmed.

"Why?"

"Refugee center… huge one they said before the broadcast stopped, they'd said it'd be safest…"

"Plus they got that disease place." His son offered. Morgan nodded his head. "Center for Disease Control… said they were working out how to solve this thing."

Without another word Rachel turned on her heel and walked straight to the key cabinet. If she was even thinking of going anywhere, than she was going to need supplies. "How do you know their alive?!" Dwayne's father questioned.

Her glare was hard, and her jaw was set. "I don't!...but I gotta believe they are…" He didn't say anything after that, her stubbornness was clear.

No walkers roamed the police station, it was literally clean of any creepy crawlers and Rachel was thankful.

The LED flashlight she used to search the dark hallway unnoticeably shook in her left hand, the other hand loosely holding a bat at her side. The walk was long and quiet, only noise they made was the soft tapping of their shoes on the hard ceramic floor. They finally arrived upon their destination, so she turned around and unhooked a key from the keychain of her hoop. "These are the women's showers those are the men's…" Her flashlight shined on both signs above their heads.

"The hot waters been off for about half a month now…"

"Stations got its own propane system… if anything happens, call out. I'm only across the hallway." Rachel proceeded to walk into the women's bathroom, leaving Morgan and Dwayne to look at her skeptically.

The hot water hit her skin, soothing away all the bad memories of the last 24 hours. Something felt normal for once. Just as she lathered shampoo into her greasy matted hair shouts of joy were heard from the other room. A smile formed on her lips but it quickly faded from the feeling of guilt that ate away at her inside. This was the second time, how could she feel happy when the entire world was in total ruins? But their joyous laughter and singing couldn't keep the grin off her face. It felt good to hear laughter again… even if it wasn't hers.

A silent understanding of the eyes passed between them once Rachel handed Morgan the sniper. "Take it…" He did without question or hesitance.

"You should think about going to Atlanta."

Now he hesitated.

"…We tried before, but my wife couldn't travel with her heart. So we just hunkered down and tried to stay quiet."

"You could've left whenever you wanted after your wife… why didn't you?" He was at a loss for an answer and smiled.

"I guess I just never got around to it." This made her smile a little.

"You sure you don't want to tag along?" Rachel adjusted the bag of weapons around her shoulder, feeling the strain in that area.

"Maybe in a few more days… by then, Dwayne will know how to shoot and I won't be so rusty." She dropped the guns in the back sit of her police cruiser and grabbed an old walkie-talkie. "You have one battery… I'll turn mine on a few minutes every day at dawn. You get up there? That's how you find me." She handed it to Morgan who accepted it gratefully.

"Another thing about the walkers… They may not seem like much with jus one of em. But, When their in groups… you better watch yourself." She gave him a tight hug, and bent down to Dwayne's height to give him a hug as well. "You take care of your old man now, ya hear?" He nodded his head enthusiastically.

Just as she turned to get into the car a familiar walker shuffled its way towards them. It fingers entwined themselves in the fence wires, trying to get past the barrier. "Neil…" Rachel whispered in horror. Regret welling up inside her. "…I didn't think much of him. He was young, stupid, and tried hitting on me more times than I could count. But I don't think he deserves this…" she referred to his still walking dead body.

Morgan understood her meaning and quickly hurried into the car. "You'd better be quick. The shot'll draw em here." Dwayne and him gave Rachel a final goodbye before jumping into and starting up their truck.

Placing the barrel of her six-shooter in the middle of dead Neils forehead, she brought the hammer back and pulled the trigger.

Things seemed peaceful, birds chirped in the distance the soft uncut grass cushioned her feet with every step. She scoped out the trees and wide stretches of grass hoping to find that crawler from yesterday.

Soon Rachel had found a trail of pushed grass, something had been crawling here. She finally found the creature she had been searching for. The first walker that so pitifully reached for her, it's teeth still trying to chomp on air. Rachel inhaled a lung full of air and kneeled beside it. Eyes becoming watery once its eye sockets opened to nothing. For a moment she covered her mouth with the edge of her fingertips. Tears streaked down her face and dripped from her chin. Her hand balled into a fist as she tried to rein her emotions.

"I-I'm… sorry this happened to you." She pulled out her gun and squared it straight between its eyes. It took her a moment to pull the trigger, its head snapped and bobbed to the right at the recoil of the guns hit. A weight lifted from her shoulders when Rachel rose back to her feet and walked back to her car.

-Hello, anybody out there? Please respond.-

A blond headed teen perked up at the sound and dashed for the radio, dropping all her sticks in the process.

"Yes?! Hello?! I can hear you!"

-Hello? Can anybody hear my voice? Please respond.- The teen fumbled with the button of the radio, trying desperately to get the stupid thing to work. "Please! We're just outside the city!"

-I'm broadcasting on the emergency channel, we're coming into Atlanta on highway 85. If anybody reads, please respond.- The radio crackled with static making it harder to hear what the person on the other line said. The girl tried to talk to the person but silence soon filled the airs. "He can't hear me!"

An old man in a fishermen's hat walked up beside her and pointed to the radio. "Come on son, you know how to work that." He called for the young sweaty man holding an axe.

"Hello, hello? Is the person who called still on the air? This is officer Shane Walsh, to the person unknown please respond!" Shane casually gripped the radio in his hand. Leon and Carl gathered around as well, a look of concentration on their faces as they waited for the person on the radio to respond. Static filled the silence, and when no one answered back Shane let the object in his hand fall carelessly to the table.

"He's gone…"

"There are others…" Leon announced. "It's not just us…"

"…yeah I knew there would be, that's why I left the CB on." Shane reminded him. "A lotta good it's been doing." The curly haired man contradicted. A battle of glares started up between the two. "I've been saying for a week that we gotta put up signs to warn people away from the city."

"Folks got no idea what their getting into…" the blond teen agreed sorrowfully.

Giving the crippled man one last glare, Shane stood up to his feet and shook his head. "Well we ain't got time." He quickly dashed their ideas of a rescue, but Leon wouldn't let up. "Well I think we need to make time!"

"That's a luxury we can't afford! We are living here day to day."

The old man looked back and forth between the two, sensing a fight. "And who do you suppose we send?" He asked Leon in a quiet tone.

"I'll go! Give me a vehicle!" Carl looked at his dad in horror. The look on his small 9 year old face reminded Shane too much of Rachel, what would she think if he made her crippled husband go out on his own in a Geek infested city? No, he had to keep her family safe. It was the only thing he could do to honor her memory and show his love for his dead partner.

"No! you're in no condition to be running around trying to save people!" Leon pushed Shane back with all his might, making the bigger man tumble backwards in surprise. He quickly got up and shoved back.

"Dad!" Before Leon can go in to attack, Carl's voice killed any intent he had to harm the man. But Shane didn't notice his non-hostility stance and slugged the injured man across the face. He fell away in a heap on the ground, clutching his sore jaw. With every ounce of authority he could gather into his voice Shane glared down at his long-time rival. "You ain't goin! You have to stay and protect your son!" ugly looks and snarls were the only communication the two men shared after that.

Dale sighed and shook his head at their childish behavior.

After long hours of talking on the radio and being answered with nothing, Rachel's gas tank had emptied. She was only a good 30 miles out of the city before she was stranded, but she wasn't stranded for long before she had found a ranch.

Owners were dead, but their horse was alive. Bag of guns secured tightly over her chest she rode her way into the city, finding nothing but black charred vehicles and old newspaper prints flying on the wind. Military looked to have set up on the street she came into but there was no people.

Her companion whinnied when they came across two walkers, but she was quick to calm him and continued onwards. "It's just a few of 'em. We can outrun 'em…" She soothed. A crow cawed ominously from its perched spot on the tank, picking at the stringy red remains of a person thrown across the top.

Rachel was almost about to turn around and head out of the city when the sound of whirling had her searching the skies. By Pure-chance she looked to the tall reflecting building and spotted a helicopter. Kicking her heels into the animal's sides, she sprinted off after it. Once she rounded a corner to the next block, a sea of matted hair and grey skin turned in her direction. It took her a second to register the number of hands reaching outwards at her but she turned around and speeded back the way she came.

To her horror another hoard had built up behind her, blocking her exit. She was surrounded now, hands pushed and pulled at the animals fur causing it to buck Rachel off its back and fall to the ground out of the crowd. Looking around, she caught sight of the tank and quickly ran up on top of it, leaving the bag of guns behind in her wake. She closed the top of the cover and closed the one on the inside.

Now she was alone, Rachel didn't even bother looking back when she heard the cries of pain coming from her horse. Her legs clutched to her chest, she rocked herself back and forth in the small space of the tank. That dead solider only had one gun on him, a magazine with only fifteen bullets… he didn't even try to end it himself. Must've thought someone was going to save him.

Her chest tightened at the growling, scratching and banging coming from outside the tank. They were trying to get in but Rachel had sealed the doors shut, and who knew how long they were going to be roaming outside. She was trapped…

The gun in her right hand glinted with a silver light. Was it glowing? She rested her temple on the side of it, feeling sick. This wasn't the time to be thinking of that.

-Hey, you… dumbass!- Rachel looked up at the Radio overhead in surprise. –you in the tank! Cozy in there?-