Rick cursed harshly under his breath. They hadn't been ready for a walker attack and Rick sure as hell wasn't ready to be lost in the woods, by himself, and up shit creek without a paddle. He ran deeper into the woods without looking back, not thinking about Daryl or Glenn as a small pack of walkers staggered towards him with the intent of having him as their main course. But Rick figured if Glenn had stuck by Daryl's side they'd be just fine. Rick, on the other hand, was not.

He had spent his last rounds on thinning the herd chasing him and even when his shots were dead on there were still a few persistent ones. Rick wasn't able to catch a break until he came across a conveniently placed shed obscured by trees. He spared a glance behind him, seeing nothing but vague movement in the distance. It was a risk but then again Walkers weren't capable of putting two and two together. Options were going slim anyway.

Lead heavy feet dragged him toward the shelter and Rick burst through the old creaky wooden door without securing the small room first. Adrenaline was pumping heavily through his veins and Rick was so pressed up against the door he thought it might shatter. He couldn't calm his breathing. Rick had been close to death on several occasions but he never got used to it. It was like that moment of hesitation he got before shooting a Walker.

Rick stepped away from the door slowly, making sure to not make a sound, before tip toeing over to the lone window to take a peek outside. The Walkers that had been following him approached in a disjointed fashion, a few craning their heads over to the shed. Rick ducked down, putting a hand over his mouth and nose to steady his breathing. He peeked an eye out around the corner of the pane of glass to see the Walkers losing interest in this particular part of the woods and then staggering away.

When the Walkers were out of sight Rick braced his back against a wooden wall and proceeded to slide down to the ground, closing his eyes tightly as the thumping organ behind his ribcage finally slowed down. The blood in his head was so loud that Rick hadn't noticed the door had slowly swung open, but not entirely on it's own. Rick didn't see that a straggler stayed behind to inspect more closely.

There was a breathy groan and in an instant Rick's eyes shot open, burning gaze on the Walker that would be the death of him. Rick sprung up to his feet, gripping his gun by the barrel in an attempt to use the but of it as a club. It wasn't the most effective weapon but it was better than nothing at all. Not that he had many choices.

He was pressed against the wall as much as he could with a sweaty shaky hand wrapped around his gun that was held out before him as if to appear threatening to a lifeless corpse. The Walker just stood there for what seemed like a long time just gazing at him with a dead and expressionless face and it made Rick freeze up for the longest second.

This Walker was just a boy. Probably not a day over twenty. His clothes were dirty and consisted of a plain white t-shirt that was covered in a few blood stains and holes from where he might've been shot and stabbed in the past. Dirty blue jeans with muck caked on them in different places and a worn red hoodie that gave away his young age. His face was pale and lightly scarred by his lips but he had a genuinely kind and soft face, despite being dead of course.

The Walker stepped forward and by instinct Rick reeled his hand back and hit it upside the head with the butt of his gun, causing the Walker to stumble slightly backwards to give Rick some breathing room. Rick was about to hit it again but this time the Walker extended an arm out and caught Rick hand dead in the air before yanking his gun away and throwing it behind him.

Rick was pressed up against the wall again and there was nothing else he could do but scream, so he did. Rick screamed as loud as he could and the Walker seemed to be panicked by this. The look of shock on this kid's face didn't go unnoticed and before Rick could register it the Walker advanced on him, sealing a grimy hand over his mouth to silence him.

All Rick could think about was that this was it. He was a goner and this corpse would feel no nothing happened. The Walker's bright blue eyes fixed on him and his purple lips opened and closed a few times as if he was struggling to form words, but Walkers couldn't talk so what was he doing? Rick tried for another scream but it was muffled but a cold dead hand.

"D-Don't... Scream..." The Walker groaned out with an obvious heavy strain. Blue eyes watched fascinated as this human went wide-eyed by his use of words. He pulled his hand away from the human's mouth and pressed his fingertips into his own chest, explaining himself with one word. "Nice."

Rick nodded, still not believing that this Walker was talking to him. The Walker nodded back as reassurance, showing his own expression of a smile to the human. He placed a clammy hand against Rick's chest, still smiling that goofy and misplaced grin of his.

"Safe," was all it said.

Safe from what, exactly? Rick pondered.

"What are you?" Rick asked, hoping this Walker could understand his words better than he could speak. It seemed to be having a hard time to gather his thoughts and Rick could tell this thing didn't have the slightest clue.

"R..."

"R?" Rick inquired with a hint of curiosity. R nodded."I'm Rick."

R's hand lingered on Rick's chest and his bright eyes twinkled with excitement and admiration. He's never been this close to a human without being shot at or having the urge to eat them and when Rick smiles at him something inside of R's chest begins to ache. For a split second R's heart beats within his chest and then goes in to dead air once again.

"R-Rick is... safe," R assures with a grin.

Rick can see the blood stained on R's teeth, making him squirm just a little. What the hell is he doing anyway? How could Rick possibly trust a Walker that still had remains of his last meal in his teeth? Simple. R hasn't eaten him yet and he's capable of forming coherent words, so that was always a plus. If Rick wasn't going to be dinner then he wasn't complaining, but he still had to get back to the others.

He just needed a way out of here.

"R, I need to get out of here and back to my people. Do you know a way through the woods?" Rick asked slowly so R could absorb his question.

R concentrated on Rick's words, looking away for a moment as if to contemplate the question before turning back to Rick for his answer. Rick looked expectant and it only made R smile like a goof once again. Pulse starting and stopping. R tapped the front of Rick's chest, quivering purple lips trying to form words.

"Not... Safe..."

Rick's face dropped. That was not the answer he wanted to hear.

"Stay..." R said, fisting his hand into Rick's shirt and not wanting to let go. "Stay R-Rick..."

"I can't, R," Rick replied solemnly, feeling terrible all of a sudden. He placed his warm hand over R's chilled one and began to rub it as if to warm it up. "I have a son I need to get back to. My family will worry. Do you understand that, R?"

R just shook his head.

"Not dead. Not safe."

"I don't understand," Rick puzzled, eyebrows furrowed at R's broken speech.

"Don't... smell... dead," R explained, hoping to get his point across. R brought his other hand up and ran three fingers down Rick's right cheek, streaking it with blood. Rick cringed slightly at the action but it seemed to be a good thing because R smiled again. "Dead."

"Safe?" Rick asked as he dabbed a finger in the blood smeared on his face, finding it awfully endearing that R was helping him. Come to think of it, R was actually kind of cute despite being dead.

R nodded. "Dead."

Rick cupped the boy's pale cold face in his warm hands and it took R by surprise, stiffening under this human's kind and gentle fingertips. Rick's thumb smoothed over a scar running over R's chapped lips affectionately and his eyes softened. R looked so sad and to imagine that a boy like him was once alive and vibrant was now dead broke Rick's heart. He wished he could take him back with him.

"Will you help me now?" Rick pressed closer to the Walker, venturing out on a limb, and gently shook R's head. "Please, R?"

"Help... Rick," R agreed, words stammering out in quakes. He didn't want Rick to leave but he knew that Ruck was alive and he had people who remembered him and loved him. R couldn't take that away from him out of greediness. "I will lead the way... through."

"Anything else I need to know?"

"Be dead."

R stayed true to his word and lead the way through the woods while Rick successfully fooled the Walker with R's scent and staggering jerky motions. Rick wondered why a simple mark on his face was enough to fool the Walkers. Maybe R's scent was more potent than others or maybe he was just different. Well, obviously he was something rare and special but Rick still puzzled it over in his head.

The surroundings became more familiar as they staggered along and despite being a cautious man most of the time, Rick relaxed and spent his time flicking his eyes around the woods and over at R. R was such an oddity and Rick wondered why he wasn't like other Walkers or why R was so special. He wondered if R was the first step in discovering a cure.

Rick shook his head. He didn't want to think of that. If R was ever discovered certain people would take an interest in him and begin to run experiments and Rick couldn't deny that that made his stomach turn. The kid died once already, dying again would just be putting salt in the wound. Which reminds Rick...

"Sorry about the gun to the head earlier. I panicked," Rick explained in a low voice as to not attract attention. He looked over at R and saw him rub vaguely at his cranium. Rick blushed. "You're lucky I had no bullets or else you'd be dead. Indefinitely."

"Cop," R agreed, seeming to understand that Rick's previous employment supplied him with the proper training of firing a weapon. "Good shot."

"That's right," Rick enthused with a smile, catching R's longing gaze. R looked at him in such a hungry way. Not like he wanted to eat Rick but with that certain fiery undertone of passion in his dead gaze,. Rick flushed. Did he have feelings for R? Did R like him? Rick shook his head mentally. "What about you?"

"Can't... remember. No... name. No..." R trailed off, trying to remember the word he was looking for, having forgot some of the more useful descriptive words. "...pictures. No... flashes."

Rick scrunched his brows together, trying to piece R's words together. R was working with a forgotten language from a barely remembered dream and he tried in vain to find the right way to explain his predicament to Rick. He watched as Rick's face went through a series of emotions until it finally clicked in his functioning brain.

"No pictures from... past."

"Do you mean memories?" Rick asked with an arched eyebrow, gauging R's reaction.

"Y-Yes," R nodded approvingly, smiling big and awkwardly. "Pictures..." R said pointing to his head.

That's it. Rick's heart had officially broken right then and there. R had no memory of his previous life or a vague idea of who he was except for the first letter of his name. Rick didn't know whether R was lucky to still be somewhat alive or not. It was like being unable to remember a dream right after waking up. That certainly wasn't a fate Rick wanted for Carl.

They progressed further and eventually they'd have to part. Rick would have to go with his people, with the living, and R would have to stay behind with the dead, hoping to one day change and be able to refuse to feed on flesh like he did today. Oddly enough, this isn't what either of them wanted. R wanted Rick to stay and Rick wanted R to come with him amongst the living. But they both knew that wasn't an option. It just couldn't be.

They both stopped their trek when they came upon a farm in the distance. Rick motioned at it as home and R got the hint. This was goodbye. R was feeling selfish again as he plotted ways to keep Rick with him, but that wouldn't be fair. Rick had people who loved him. People who needed him. But R had no one. He was all alone.

"Thank you, R. I couldn't have made it home by tonight if it wasn't for you. I really appreciate it." Rick stepped close to R and embraced the thin frigid form in his arms and he nearly melted when R hugged back. This shouldn't be that hard. Rick pulled away, despite not wanting to, and he felt R clutch at him as if he didn't want to either.

Rick curled his lips inward and bit them lightly, holding back tears he feared were coming. Rick nodded as if to reassure himself that this was the right choice and he accepted it. R reached out and grasped Rick's hand in his, smiling faintly.

"Rick... friend."

"You're my friend too, R," Rick agreed, biting back tears as their hands let go.

Rick leaned forward and planted a well-placed kiss to one of R's cold pale cheeks, lips warming the skin there in their wake. Before Rick turned to walk away and back to the life of the living, he swore he saw a faint blush creep along R's colorless cheeks. That thought alone made Rick feel more reassured. It riddled him with a positive outlook on this whole situation. R on the other hand...

He was sure that his heart started to beat again because it was aching.