The firetruck continued on the same path it had been on for the past nine hours without turning. Abraham was driving, with Glenn and Maggie crying next to him. It had been a week and Beth's death still stung for both of them. Behind was Rick driving a truck they had found along the road, Daryl next to him, Michonne, Carl and Judith in the back. Finally, Sasha drove a white sedan with Tyreese next to her, Gabriel, Rosita and Eugene in the back. It still probably wasn't a good idea to put Eugene and Abraham near each other, and not for as long as they had been driving. A street sign they passed read "Read now entering Albuquerque city limits". Abraham gave three short honks and pulled over to talk to Rick.

"It'll be warm here. I suggest we hole up here for a few days, maybe try and find some food and gas before we head south for mexico and possible shelter" Abraham suggested.

"Yeah, it'll be a good idea. But not we won't hole up here for long. This is a desert. We'll split up, search around and then move on to the suburbs for more before heading south." Rick was thinking right now. It took Abraham some getting used to, seeing Rick so...sane. They had met during an insane time, and Rick had always seemed murderous and crazy. But not everyone could be like that.

Rick turned to address the group. "We're staying in Albuquerque for just tonight. Then we'll move to the suburbs, scavenge what we can for a few days, and we're heading straight south" he said to everyone. "Carl and Michonne, head south, take Judith. Sasha, Tyresse, Gabriel. Ya'll head east. Abraham, Rosita and Eugene. You guys go North." Rick was oblivious to the tension between Abraham and Eugene. "Daryl, Glenn, Maggie and I'll head west. Be back here in two hours. If there's trouble, fire off two shots in the air and we'll be there quick as we can.

The groups split apart in search of anything that could be found and keep them alive for just a few more days. It was half an hour before Rick and his group found anything, and all they found was an old barn. When they searched through it they found the old remains of cows, long dead of starvation and thirst in the desert heat. Not all was lost, though. They found a gigantic fridge that seemed to be insulated from anything. They also found a family of four walkers, taking them out with knives. And they continued on their course.

After another fifteen minute they crossed over a big rock quarry and saw something strange. In the distance they saw an RV, with a smaller man cleaning it. He was a bit over twenty, wore loose fitting clothes and his head shaved, round head shone in the sun.

"HEY" Rick shouted at him. This only scared the man. He turned around and ran into the RV as fast as he could. "Looks like Dale reincarnate in there." Rick joked before he ran after the man.

He knocked on the door. "We're not gonna hurt you! We just wanna talk".

"No hablo ingles!" The man shouted in a poorly imitated hispanic accent. Apart from the strange air around this strange man, Rick could also smell something else. He saw the rest of the group did, too.

"Come on! Let us in! We have a group, we have food. We just wanna talk." Rick said.

"Thank you." Glenn whispered. It was a good thing Rick was taking people in again.

The door opened. "What do you want, Bitch? There's nothing wrong. I didn't do anything to you guys." Daryl could see this man was nervous, even if he had been hiding his nervousness for years.

"We've got food, supplies and people. Now I don't know, but it doesn't seem like you've got much of any of those here." Rick offered to him.

"Why do you say that? I go into the city for water. And I got a shit-ton of twinkies dude. Those little shits are the bomb." He hesitated before he said anything else. "Why would I want people. They just change life and make it hard. No, I'm fine by myself".

"You clearly aren't, so I'll ask just ask you. How many of the dead have you killed?".

"Jesus Christ, man. Fine. I'll play your game. About 20."

"Alright. How many living people have you killed?"

He looked sad before he answered. "Before or after?"

"Ever."

"Four."

"Why?"

"That's a long story. Here, sit down. You can't come in though." The man sat down on the stairs leading up into the RV. "I was a shit student in high school, you know? Well yeah, so there was this one teacher, total unbearable asshole. But the thing is, after I dropped out he came to me. I'm a drug dealer, okay. So, the dude came to me, and he said 'If you don't help me make drugs, I'm calling the cops'. What the hell else was I supposed to do? so yeah. We became partners. Then he killed two guys and sent his bitch wife after me saying I sold him pot. But yeah, we got together again, and shit really got fucked. We made this crazy shit. Some special type of Crystal Meth. Called it blue sky. The dude may have been an asshole, but he was a goddamn artist in drug making. Chemistry teacher, you know. So yeah, there were problems. And then it turns out the dude's got cancer. He's got a family, he's dying, and he comes to me trying to make extra money selling Crystal. But yeah, we get together and shit got crazy. I killed three dudes from some other gang. We were together for a while, but then, um, he finally died." Tears welled up at his eyes. "It was about a year before anything else happened. Y'know, all this shit. So yeah, then his asswipe ex-wife comes up to me, and she say 'Jesse, you asshole. You knew my husband, so you gotta protect me and my son!' so i took the bitch in. But the thing is her son can't walk. Got palsy or something. So there we were surrounded by like 10 of the crack-heads, that's what I call them. They grabbed the kid, but what was I supposed to do? Me or him, y'know. So I hauled ass out of there, and she had to come with me, or die. It was forever before we stopped hearing him screaming, and longer before I stopped thinking about it. Do you know what's that like? So then she comes up and says 'Jesse, I can't live without Walt or junior, so you have to kill me'. What do you say? So yeah. I killed the bitch. And I never thought about her again." By the tears rolling down his eyes, it's clear that isn't true.

Rick thought about this for a bit. "The offers still out there".

"What, you have to be kidding? You're still gonna take me in? I'm a drug lord, dude. I'm pretty fucked up".

"Are you saying you don't want protection? My son shot his Mother. I've killed almost twenty people. And you think you're too messed up for us? No, man. Come with us."

He stood there in silence for a while. "Fine. But I've got one question to ask. Can I take my lab? It's good shit that I make".

"I have kids. The one thing I'm not letting you do is bring drugs to their already fucked lives".

The man looked longingly into his vehicle. "I've wanted to kick the shit for ages. Alright, I'll come with. Just give me a sec." He went into the RV, and Daryl followed him. There were crashing noises for a minute or so, and then they walked out laughing.

Daryl shouted to everyone "Merle knew this sumbitch. Said his shit was the bomb all the time. Tried to get me hooked once. That shit really is blue!" He started laughing.

The man smiled. "Okay, I'll come with you guys. It may take a while to wash the smell out though. But, yeah. I got twinkies out the ass, so we may be good for food."

They drove back to the firetruck, telling jokes and having fun. It was the first time in a week that Maggie or Glenn had smiled. When people had started coming back, they had decent hauls, but none had new group members.

They all went up to meet him, and seem pleased when the man said "Nice to meet you. I'm Jesse Pinkman."