Author's Note: I'm extremely glad you all seemed to enjoy the first chapter. This one is a bit longer, though I don't know how it'll be perceived in desktop. Either way, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I don't know when I can update again because I'll be gone for the next week for vacation. Otherwise, enjoy!


The horse continued to trot, Rick sitting astride it adorned with his uniform and weapons. Atlanta was silent, to the point it frightened him seeing the upturned vehicles and corpses scattered either across the blood splattered streets or in their cars with the windows bashed in and the doors torn off. He never knew something like this could be so bad. Morgan had explained to him, with the time they had together, that the world just wasn't what it was. It no longer belonged to the living. Just thinking that sent a shiver down his spine.

The buildings, most towering above him, were also empty and rid of any kind of sign that anything living were inside them. The only indication of something alive were crows lining up on broken telephone poles, looking for anything that they could eat that wouldn't poison their stomachs. Rick half wondered whether the animals could be infected like the humans could as well. Really, he was just trying to keep his mind moving while the horse continued its way down the path Rick guided it through.

His mind was often wandering to Lori and Carl. How could it not be? He fell under a coma thinking about how frightened they'd be, but now he was awake not knowing where they were. He only knew he wasn't going to drop the hope that they were alive. Lori and Carl were stronger than most knew. They wouldn't go down without a fight. He just wished they had left him a note or something that could help him be led to them and not have him wandering around like a complete idiot on the back of a horse he just happened to find in a pen where its owners were dead.

He sighed, taking out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead with, sweaty from the sun that sat squat middle in the sky, able to overlook the tall buildings and beat down on him. Returning the cloth to his pocket, he tightened the reigns on the horse, redirecting him down a path, deciding to try west for a bit before going north again. He just didn't seem to be going much of anywhere and Morgan told him a location to try and see whether it was livable or not, but if Atlanta, a big city as it was, didn't seem to haveone person.

Passing what looked to be a traffic jam, coated in police cars, overturned jeeps, and one giant bus, Rick meant to turn a corner, only to jump back in horror to see about a mile long herd of Walkers, all snarling and grasping at nothing until they turned and noticed the fresh meat. Rick meant to turn silently, but the poor horse whinnied in terror, standing on its hind legs and completely tossing Rick from its behind, sending Rick painfully to the ground.

"God, no...no..." he hissed, grabbing his shoulder which was now throbbing in pain. The Walkers easily slid forward, making grab motions with their hands as they quickly approached Rick and the horse. He frantically reached around for a gun, finding the bag to be out of reach. He whipped around, seeing the bag had fallen from his arms when he fell from the horse. Cursing, he reached for his belt instead, where his own gun laid before aiming and shooting, catching only one Walker in the chest, not affecting it as it moved closer while the others tore into the crying horse.

"Shit, shit, shit," he repeated, getting to his feet and attempting to make a run for it, but they were closing around him. He tried to find something, anything that could save him other than his gun which only had a number of bullets. He panted, pushing Walkers back, otherwise blowing their brains out with his gun. He looked around until he noticed the bus. Making a beeline for it, he grunted as he took hold of the roof, pulling himself above and out of reach of the herd, panting and holding his stomach as he stood above.

The horse was already dead, its pained cries no longer echoing through the grunts and groans of these Walkers. He stood tall, glaring down at them as he aimed his gun, taking down Walker after Walker, watching the pile increase until his gun failed to shoot anymore, completely out of bullets. He looked down longingly to the bag of guns, which he knew had more.

He backed up toward the middle, now standing over the emergency exit of the bus, trying to think of a way out of this, but there seemed to be nothing. Finally thinking the worst, the emergency door suddenly opened and he fell through painfully onto the ground, yelling out as he grabbed the shoulder he landed on, the same one from when he fell off the horse. He groaned, slowly coming to realization that he was now inside the bus. He quickly sat up, looking around trying to find any Walkers, but there were none. Instead teenagers and a guard stood before him, all staring at him in silence.

"What the hell?" he breathed, shakily getting to his feet. "What are y'all...?"

"He's a sheriff!" one kid called out, pointing to Rick's badge. "He can help! He's got a gun!"

"Yeah, but the bastard also led an entire herd to us," one male called from the front of the bus, where he sat on a blood covered seat, pointing to the herd that was now shaking the vehicle.

"What the hell is this," Rick demanded, keeping a tight hold on his gun which was out of bullets, but they didn't have to know that. "Where am I?" A blonde female stood, placing a hand on the guard's shoulder, almost as if to say he needed to stand down while she took charge. He reluctantly obliged, moving to stand near a shorter female brunette who was glaring Rick heavily down.

"I don't understand," Rick shook his head.

"Look around you, dude," the boy who had brought the herd to attention previously sneered. "Does this look like any ordinary school bus to you? The bars on the windows should've been a nice hint." Rick hadn't noticed them before, but as he stared at them, he finally understood what this was. All these kids, hopefully excluding the guard, were delinquents.

"Shut it, Murphy!" the blonde snapped to the male before returning her attention to Rick. "I'm sorry...I'm Clarke Griffin, one of the...one of the people who were arrested until this world went to complete shit. We got stuck here about a week ago. We haven't eaten or drank anything. Right now, we could just really use some help."

The brunette who stood by the guard laughed aloud. "C'mon, Clarke, the last thing a sheriff wants to do is save a lot of delinquents locked up for something. Hey, Mall Cop!" Rick directed his attention to her. "I'm Octavia Blake, arrested for attacking two cops arresting my mother for prostitution. Think you wanna help me now?"

"Octavia, now is not the time," Clarke sighed, before returning her gaze to Rick. "Do you mind introducing yourself so I don't have to keep it so formal? I think we're past that now since you did kind of put us in the shitter by bringing those things to us."

"If I'm the enemy here, why didn't y'all leave beforehand? Had an entire week to," Rick snapped back, keeping a good distance from any of them.

"A big crowd like us wouldn't make it far. We've been trying these few days plotting a way to leave where nobody can die, but there doesn't seem to be a way. But we've lasted so long without the proper necessities of eating and drinking...we need to leave and we need to leave now," Clarke explained seriously. "What about you?"

Rick looked around her, seeing all of the delinquents turned their eyes on him, obviously all curious as to what he was doing there. "My name...my name is Rick Grimes. I only woke up a day ago in a hospital, an abandoned one. Had been in a coma for a few months. Got shot." He pointed to his side where the bullet had hit so long ago.

"Holy shit, that's awesome!" another boy called, staring at Rick admiringly.

"Jasper, hush," Clarke hissed, before turning back to Rick, nodding for him to continue. He didn't understand how a kid like her seemed to have such power over everyone already.

"Got rescued by a man and his son. Stopped by my station and grabbed guns. He gave me a destination that offered hope. Fort Bennings...I just took off and ran into the wrong crowd." He didn't know, as well, why he was telling this to a bunch of delinquents who obviously had nothing else to live for. "Now...I need a way out of here, because I ain't staying."

"Get in line, douche, we don't wanna stay here either!" Murphy snapped his way. Clarke gave him a warning look, but he didn't seem to care. Anything and everything to do with Rick he seemed to loathe.

"We're just kids," Jasper protested, getting to his feet and joining Clarke, an Asian boy tailing behind him. "We don't know what the hell we're doing."

"Hey," the guard yelled from beside Octavia. "I have it all figured out. I know what I have to do."

"Tell us, then," Murphy gave him a lazy glare. "Oh, wait, that's what you've been doing this past week!"

"Look," Clarke said loudly, catching everyone's attention again. "We can help you. A group is better than one person and as far as I'm concerned," she paused to point to the Walkers shoving at the walls of the bus. "you need all the help you can get."

"I'm out of bullets," Rick sighed finally, shrugging lazily. "I don't have anything I can do without someone getting hurt or dying. I'm not going to be responsible for that." He looked back up at the emergency door, reaching for it to pull himself back out.

"So you'll be responsible for all of us dying!" Clarke cried out, grabbing at Rick's wrist. "Please, we don't know what else to do!"

"I can't save an entire bus-"

"Hey, dumbass."

Everyone froze.

The static rose again and they all turned to the front of the bus where a radio stood.

"Dumbass, you cozy in there?"