Hey guys! :D

This is just a little note to say that I and my partner nefislab are writing this story as a joint effort, here is his first chapter! It's long to compensate for the fact I splurged out and did three before he could catch up! XD

Enjoy! :D

Rick's POV

Rick gritted his teeth as they approached the back door to the department store. It was all well and good putting a front up in front of the people he was leading but he was starting to feel the strain. The strain of leadership and all of its burdens. Being the leader, even if it was just of this small section of the larger group for now, was rather scary. He was responsible for the safety of Glenn, Daryl and now Daryl too. How was he supposed to just deal with the fact that at any minute they could die and it would be his fault?

His right hand gripped his handgun tighter as he tried to push the doubts from his mind. What he did not need were doubts clogging up his mind when it mattered the most. A clear head would give him the killing shot on a zombie or let him make the right decision to save the lives of the people following him rather than doom them by leading them in completely the wrong direction, or into a dead end.

Reaching the back door, Rick was suddenly aware that everyone was looking at him. Glenn was afraid but he was looking at him like he could get him through this safely. In that instant he hated Glenn. How could he just pile on all that pressure? How could he just trust his safety to him? He didn't want that kind of responsibility. But the moment was over and he didn't hate Glenn anymore. He understood that the small man just needed someone that he could look to, someone who would give him advice that was both practical and morally right.

Thankfully Daryl only expected him to take out as many Walkers as he could. As far as he could tell he had some measure of Daryl's respect but that was all. Evangeline… was new. She was hard to read but he knew that she wasn't expecting anything too much from him. She just expected him to follow through on their deal, which he would. Just as soon as they were out of here. Holding his gun at the ready, he nodded to Glenn because he was closest to the door. Glenn nodded back and opened the door, pushing it wide open before stepping to the side.

Bursting through the door and into the back alley, Rick immediately scanned the area for any threats, Walker or human. There were three Walkers in the alleyway. Thankful that there were only three of them, and apparently only one had noticed them. He nodded to Daryl. The southerner was the one with the quietest weapon after all and they really didn't want to attract more attention than they had to. Watching the mouth of the alleyway as Daryl shot a crossbow bolt clean into a Walker's eye; Rick was beginning to get a little bit twitchy about the fact that some of the Walkers seemed to be turning in the direction of the alleyway.

He was so focused on the mouth of the alleyway that he didn't notice the final Walker getting almost on top of him until he heard it snarl hungrily. Panicking slightly, he tried to back away quickly. Before he could think of what to do the Walker grunted once in pain before falling to the ground, dead again. Sticking out the temple of the Walker's skull was a throwing knife that he vaguely recognised. Pulling it out of the Walker, he handed it back to Evangeline, who was looking rather unimpressed with their fighting style so far. Truth be told he was more than a little embarrassed by the incident,

"Thanks for the save."

He waited for a response but Evangeline just nodded and turned away, looking for anymore threats. Taking her lead, Rick did the same and saw that there were dozens of Walkers shambling their way down towards them. Swearing a little bit, he saw that Daryl had switched his crossbow for a shotgun and Glenn was nervously readying his own shotgun to fire. Looking around frantically for a way out of the alley, Rick spotted a chain-link fence that blocked the alleyway off from the dry land that represented the outer city. He looked through the fence and smiled widely. The car they'd taken to get her was visible from here. All they needed to do was clear this fence and then make a little dash for it across the field. He turned to his companions,

"Hold them off!" he told them, "I'm getting us out of here!"

Rick didn't look back to see if his command was followed, he just got to work.

Daryl's POV

Now this was a bad situation for Daryl because although he was a crack shot with his crossbow, there were just way too many Walkers for him to fight them all off with it. The reload was a bitch when it came to that weapon and even if he made every shot a perfect headshot he didn't have nearly enough bolts for all of these Walkers. It was easy for Rick to tell them to hold them all off but in reality he knew that he was the only one who could reasonably be expected to do well in this situation.

Evangeline, even if she was any good, would be limited by the fact that she only had four throwing knives and two combat knives. He could tell she was a mid-range fighter and without a gun of some kind she was closer to be defenceless that even Glenn. And Daryl knew that Glenn, although a decent shot, was prone to nerves. If the Walkers got any closer, which they would do, then Glenn's shots were going to get wilder and wilder until he wasn't even aiming at the heads anymore.

Daryl gritted his teeth in annoyance as he pumped his shotgun and took aim. Firing once, a Walker's head disappeared in a spray of red gore that painted those around it. The unmoving body of the headless Walker tripped dozens of other Walkers, all of which were too stupid to get out of the way. Taking this as a good omen, Daryl really started laying into the Walkers, firing shot after shot into their slowly shuffling ranks. Walker after Walker fell to his well-placed shots, dozens more staggering back at having been hit by some of the spray from his shells.

Pausing to reload, Daryl noted that Glenn was firing consistently but was failing more than a little bit. The guy had trouble hitting the head of a moving target at the best of times but when they were shuffling towards him in such a large group, Daryl couldn't help but think the Chinaman's chances of getting out of this one alive were low. Unfortunately his survival might depend on Glenn's continued firing and his continued breathing. That meant that he was going to have to save the guy's worthless ass in order to save his own. Scowling as he finished reloading and pumped the shotgun, he turned to Glenn,

"Chinaman!" he growled, "Get one a' those wheely bin things! Yer use it as a ram… push the fuckers back man!"

Daryl was not known for his military strategy but he was an excellent hunter. And one thing you learnt when you were a hunter was that when you had to hunt the dangerous game, you boxed them in. You restricted their movements so that you were free to take them down however you wanted. Of course these things required bait. Gritting his teeth as Glenn went to get the large wheelie bin from the side of the department store, Daryl moved forwards and began to fire rapidly, as fast as he could,

"Yer want something to eat?!" he called out to the Walkers, drawing their attention with the volume of his challenge, "Genuine home grown beef right here yer ugly fuckers!"

He ran out of shells fairly quickly at his increased rate and swore loudly. Noting that he still needed time to cover for Glenn, and now Evangeline apparently, and the bin, Daryl turned the shotgun round in his hands and rammed the butt of it into the head of the nearest Walker, cracking it's skull clean open. Another one lunged for him and Daryl had to kick it away savagely, making it knock over several more on its way backwards. The Walkers were getting closer when he heard the sound of wheels on tarmac behind him getting closer. Waiting until the last minute, he dove to the side as the wheelie bin was rammed into the thin alleyway; smashing into the sea of Walkers and driving them all back as one.

Daryl looked and saw both Glenn and Evangeline pushing at the bin with all their might, pushing back the seemingly relentless tide of the Walkers. The bin was big enough that it blocked most of the very narrow alleyway too, leaving only enough room for one Walker to squeeze through on either side. Reloading his shotgun, he started shooting the ones who tried to make it through the gaps, keeping the alley plugged up. As he reached into his pocket for more shells, Daryl noticed that they were a lot scarcer in number,

"Whatever yer gunna do, do it now Rick!" he called out angrily towards the 'leader' of this little expedition, "Get us outta here ye damn pig!"

Rick's POV

Growling in frustration and exertion, Rick pushed the solid metal dumpster closer to the chain-link fence. Annoyingly enough they'd left their bolt cutters where they'd cut through the fence before. Which was halfway across town and through a large mob of Walkers. So he had no way of cutting through the chains in the fence and a burning desire not to be eaten alive. Seeing the only thing available to him now that Daryl had taken the wheelie bin to use as a ram was a metal dumpster… he'd decided it was their only real shot at getting out of here.

When it was near enough to the fence he found another issue. The edge they'd had to stand on to jump over the fence was rather small and he had no doubt that the Walkers would be knocking the dumpster, wobbling in all the time. That would probably cause at least one of them to fall either into the dumpster or into the mob of Walkers. Considering that the dumpster was actually empty both options ended with the person's skull being cracked open. He paused. There was only one way this was going to work now.

Rick gripped the edge of the dumpster and pulled downwards with all of his might. Slowly, ever so slowly, the dumpster moved up until it was resting on its side. By this time Daryl and the others had some idea of what he was aiming to do. Glenn and Evangeline rushed over to help him while Daryl tried to keep the Walkers at bay. While it was on its side, the three of them moved to the back of it and pushed, knocking it over so that it now lay on the ground, bottom up. Rick moved round again and his helpers followed, giving him a hand as they positioned the upturned dumpster against the fence. Rick grunted with satisfaction as he helped both Glenn and Evangeline up onto the dumpster,

"Daryl!" he called out, getting the hunter's attention, "You're up next! Get your ass out of there!"

Needing no further prompting apparently, Daryl accepted the leg up offered to him and turned before offering his hand to Rick. The 'leader' took the hand and the help up on top of the dumpster. Looking back, Rick cursed when he saw Walkers streaming around the sides of the wheelie bin, making their way to the dumpster. He nodded to the fence,

"Go go go!" he commanded them all, "Evangeline and then Daryl! Then me and Glenn!"

Daryl was the first one over, vaulting the fence now that the dumpster made him level with the top of it. When he was at the bottom he held his arms out and caught Evangeline before setting her down and leading her towards their parked car at a run. Rick nodded to Glenn and the Asian delivery boy jumped over the fence a second before Rick himself did. It just so happened to be the right time as the Walkers were pressing hard against the fence. Glenn moaned in pain,

"Ah fuck man!" he groaned, "I think I twisted my ankle… fucking hurts man!"

Rick swore as he turned back to Glenn and the fence. The sheer number of Walkers pressing against the fence was threatening to break the entire thing from the concrete. Seeing no other choice that he could live with after this, Rick leant down before picking Glenn up. With Glenn slung over his shoulder, Rick started to move as fast as he could to the car where Daryl was already inside with Evangeline just getting in.

Half way between the car and the fence, the Walkers broke it down, pouring forwards like a never ending sea of decaying bodies. Glenn shouted a warning in his ear and Rick focused on the car, running as fast as he could now with Glenn on his shoulder. Daryl was taking shots at the faster Walkers with his crossbow to give them more time as Evangeline waited at the wheel, looking somewhat uncomfortable. Of course that was to be expected considering the mob of Walkers following Rick and Glenn.

Reaching the car, Daryl opened the door wide from the inside as they approached. Rick grunted before taking Glenn off his shoulder and half-throwing him into the backseat. No time to be nice and friendly about it when they had Walkers snapping at their heels. Diving in after Glenn just before a Walker could grab his shirt, Rick almost laughed for joy when Evangeline hit the accelerator, speeding them away from their diseased enemies. Closing the door as both he and Glenn sat up properly; Rick couldn't help but lower his head at his performance. His first outing as a real 'leader' and it had very nearly ended in disaster. He was a failure.

The sound of laughter, desperate but relieved, filled the car and Rick blinked in confusion. Why were they laughing? They couldn't be laughing. Looking up though, he saw that it was true. Glenn was laughing like a madman while even Daryl and Evangeline were chuckling away to themselves. The kind of laughter that came from escaping the jaws of death unscathed. Glenn patted him on the back and grinned gratefully,

"You really saved my ass back there man…" he paused before smirking slightly, "Even if it was in danger because of you."

Rick laughed a little bit himself but before he could say anything Daryl threw at beer in the back and he caught it on reflex. The southerner smirked,

"When yer almost die but don'… that's worth celebrating." He told the little group, making sure that everyone had a can of beer. Rick opened his own bud and held it up as Daryl did the same. Glenn raised his and Evangeline slowed down enough to raise her own. The cop in Rick hoped she wasn't going to have more than the ceremonial sip for the toast, "To bein alive!"

It was simple and he loved it. Rick grinned,

"To being alive."