This story is Highly AU and told from the perspective of Michonne, Rick and Carl. It doesn't follow the TV series, game, or the comics in any particular order, and though there are characters from the show, game, and comics I've changed them up and rearranged things to fit my story. Comments and constructive criticism are welcomed, but in the immortal words of Erykah Badu: Keep in mind that I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my shit.

10. Things are Getting Worse but I feel A Lot Better

Rick struggled with the literal dead weight on top of him. He breathed through his nose, but nothing could prevent the fetid odor of death that invaded his nostrils. Above him the undead body continued to act like a living one and tried to bite him. It's toothless mouth opened and closed like a baby bird crying for it's dinner, in this case Rick.

"Come on Rick show that rotten fucker who's on top of the food chain." Shane shouted.

One of Rick's arms was pinned underneath him and the other was wedge between him and the "rotten fucker" but he still had the use of his legs. He kicked the body off to the side and then managed to scramble atop it. Freeing his buck knife from his utility belt he held it securely in his hand before plunging it skull deep into the biters head.

"Not bad Grimes." Master Sargent David Wolf said.

Rick wiped a shaky hand across his forehead. He had thought that his physical therapist, Sven, was a sadistic fuck, but he had nothing on the army who'd made him feel like a just spit out piece of gum that someone had stepped on. When the army told him he'd have to attend a two week boot camp before he started his job as a patrolman he figured it would be a basic refresher course in what he learned in police academy, plus a few extra military maneuvers he might not know. Instead it'd been a highly intense course on how to kill undead virus victims. Two weeks ago he knew next to nothing about what the army referred to as biters and he wished that he could go back to that place. So many innocent people had been turned into walking virus incubators, men, women, children, and the army had him put all of them down. Killing a child had been the hardest for Rick. He knew that the little boy that he had "killed" had been dead for a long time and he could not feel pain, but it was still a child underneath all that rotten flesh.

Today was their last day of boot camp and they were just running through basic maneuvers. He watched as Shane easily killed his biter.

"Excellent execution Walsh." The Master Sargent called. Shane was at the top of the class and never seemed to struggle with a kill the way that Rick did, but Shane had always shone brighter than him.

After class was officially dismissed for the last time Rick and the rest of the recruits headed to the locker room to shower, change out of their camos, and into their street clothes.

"Man I feel like a whipped piece of shit." Shane said as he pulled on his Atlanta Falcon's t-shirt.

"That's a hell of a lot better than what I feel like." Rick replied.

"Yeah, well I'm going to have Layla give me a full body massage."

"Who?"

"That spunky little red headed masseuse I was talking to yesterday."

"Oh." In high school Shane was Mr. Popularity and Rick was Mr. Nice Guy, but at least he hadn't finished last. He had a beautiful woman and a family to go home to every night, and Shane was still popular. Rick always saw a different woman leaving his room in the mornings. Somethings never changed.

"Ya should get your little woman to give ya a massage, Shane said looking him up and down, ya look like ya could use a happy ending."

"Hey man fuck you!"

"Pour a few drinks down me and I just might." Shane responded.

"I'll see you later asshole." Rick called out good-naturedly. When he dragged his sweaty exhausted body through his front door the first person he saw was Michonne. She was sitting on the couch going over plans for her job at the daycare. She was talking softly to herself and highlighting things on a piece of paper with a marker. Her locs were pulled up on the top of her head in a bun, but one in the front had escaped and bounced off of her cheekbone every time she moved her head. He hated that he was going to have to ruin her serenity with what he had to tell her.

"Is Carl here?" Rick asked.

"No, he took Judith swimming, why?"

"Good, I need to talk to you." He took her papers and marker from her and set them on the cushion beside her, and then he grabbed her by the hands and lifted her to a stand.

Michonne's eyebrows instantly knitted together in concern. "Rick what is it?"

Instead of answering her Rick led her to the bedroom, locked the door behind him, and then sat her down on the bed. "I don't want Carl or Judith walking in on us."

"You're scaring me Rick." Michonne said. She stood up and crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight from one foot to another.

"At boot camp they taught us how to kill people infected with the virus. " Rick's heart was beating frantically in his chest as he spoke. It was like everything he'd done for the past two weeks in boot camp, and everything he'd seen was real now because he was telling someone else.

"What?" Michonne took a wide step backwards bumped into the edge of the mattress and sat down on it.

"I don't mean people who are living with the virus, I mean people who have turned, like the person I hit with my car. The army calls them biters and that is what the two week boot camp was all about."

"They've got infected people here? What if they get out? What if one had bitten you?"

"They're not people, they're not alive,-

"They're not dead either!"

'They're corpses. They are the walking dead Michonne, that's all they are. I swear"

"Should you even be telling me this?"

"Yes. Most of the people inside of this Q.U.A.D. have seen a biter, and those who haven't know someone who has. It's the people outside these walls they don't want knowing."

"Why though?' Michonne asked. "Why wouldn't they want people to know?"

"They're afraid of what people will do." Rick told her. "They're afraid of all the people with a stockade of guns who have been waiting for something like this to happen. The police and military are already stretched thin dealing with the fallout from this, the last thing they want to deal with is a bunch of doomsday preppers going out and using this virus as an excuse to kill whoever they want."

"So where did these people- biters come from?

"The USAMRIID supplies the bodies.

Michonne leaned forward. "So the army is keeping those things here. I feel sick."

"Their finger nails are capped and their teeth have been removed so they can't scratch or bite. They aren't a real danger to anyone."

"It still seems so dangerous and irresponsible." Michonne replied.

"I know it's a lot to take in, but the biters are kept in the convention center and they're always on lock down and guarded. Now that I know how to take them out we'll be safer."

"Rick are you sure you want to do this?" Michonne asked. "I know I can't tell you what to do, but Rick you were just shot and you didn't even get to finish your physical therapy, please think twice about taking this job. I don't want you getting hurt again."

"I have to do this Michonne, it's the best way i know how to protect our family. I want to be prepared in case something pops off in here. Shane and I are going to teach Tyreese and Morgan how to kill biters too, and I want you to learn"

Michonne shook her head. "No! I'm not a warrior Rick, I don't think I could kill a person even if they are dead."

"Today is the anniversary of Lori's death and if I were to die today you would be all Carl and Jude have. You're like their mother and they'll need you to keep loving and taking care of them if I can't. Do it forthem, please."

"All right Rick, I'll do it. I'll do it."

"What's happening to these people Is a fate worse than fucking death we're doing them a favor."

"I'm not ready for all of this to be quite so real."

"Look at it this way we'll have something of an advantage when the walls come tumbling down."

"I swear I think they're just trying to kill you." Michonne said.

Rick laid back and stared up at the ceiling. "Nah, It's just boot camp was easier when I was younger and before I got shot." He assured Michonne who had been worrying about him, so much so apparently, that she thought he was on his last leg.

"If you feel up to it come to the table for dinner, if not I'll bring you dinner in bed."

"I'm not decrepit Michonne I can make it to the dinner table."

"I was just trying to be nice." Michonne informed Rick as she straddled him. "I won't ever make that mistake again."

Rick wrapped his arms around Michonne's waist. "Good. I like it when you're mean to me. Now teach me a lesson Ms. Mitchell, I've been bad."

Michonne began to unbutton his t-shirt. "Just remember this is going to hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me." She teased and yanked off his belt.

The front door of their apartel opened and slammed a second later. Rick heard his son shouting.

'I'm never taking you swimming again." Carl raged.

"I'm telling daddy!" Jude screamed. "Daddy!" She yelled from outside of the bedroom door.

"Move out of the way Jude I'm talking to dad first." Carl interrupted.

"Oh great it's the little cockblockers." Rick groaned and closed his eyes.

Michonne smacked Rick's bare chest. "Don't call them that!"

"Oh what you've never thought the same thing?"

"I plead the fifth." Michonne said and buttoned up Rick's shirt.

"Dad I have to talk to you." Carl insisted from the other side of the door.

"I'm coming." Rick said. "Or I would have been if you hadn't interrupted us." He added so that only Michonne could hear.

"You're wrong for that." Michonne replied.

He went out into the living room. "What is it you need to talk to me about so urgently?" Rick asked.

"Do you know what she did?" He asked pointing to his little sister. "She took off her bathing suit and then her swim diaper and started running around the pool naked!"

"Carl yelled at me and called me stupid. "You not my brudder."Jude screamed.

"I did not." Carl said to Jude and then turned to his father. "I told her it was stupid to throw her diaper in the fountain at the kiddie pool, I didn't even tell you that part! She threw her diaper in the kiddie fountain, and the diaper clogged it up! I had to fish it out while the idiot lifeguard there yelled at me!"

Michonne, who'd come out the bedroom, had to turn her head to hide the laugh that had bubbled up inside of her.

"Carl she's only two."

"That's what you always say!" It's not fair that I have to share my room with a toddler, can't I move in with Shane?"

"No you can't move in with Shane, we're a family and we stay together." Rick snapped at his son. Jude held her arms out to be picked up and he obliged.

"Well can I at least sleep in the living room then?"

"No. You know your sister is too scared to sleep in that big room all by herself."

"I don't want to keep sharing a room with Jude it's undignified." Carl complained.

Rick took a deep calming breath. "Carl sharing a room with your little sister is not the end of the world, what's going on outside is."

"What does that even mean?" Carl asked.

"The answer is no and that's the end of it!" Rick shouted.

"I fucking hate this damn place." Carl shouted at his father and then threw himself down on the couch and turned on the TV.

Rick set his daughter down. "Go in the kitchen and draw me a picture with your crayons, OK." Rick told her, and then led Michonne gently by the arms back into their bedroom and shut the door behind him.

"I know why he's really mad. I haven't talked about Lori's death because on top of everything else my son has been through I thought it might overwhelm him."

"What do you usually do on this day?" Michonne asked.

"Do? Besides acknowledge what the day is we do nothing. We try and forget all about it."

"You should remember, the good things I mean. We're all so far away from everything familiar, we don't know how most of our scattered loved ones are doing, and the world feels like it could end any second, memories are important now more than ever. They're one of the only things left that can't be taken away from us. Tomorrow take time to remember the good things about Lori."

Rick peeked out his door at his son who was balled up angrily on the couch staring at the TV with a blank expression on his face, yet Rick knew that Carl felt anything but blank inside. When things got too tough Carl shut people out. He had taught Carl that, just like his father had taught him. He sighed now was a good of time as any to break the cycle.

'I've got a scrapbook Lori made it's full of pictures if he feels up to it maybe we can all look at it together."

"You're a good father Rick."

"You're a good mother Michonne." Rick countered.

"Couldn't do it without you."

"You can , and you will if you have to."

"Are you sure you have to take this job Rick?"

"To protect my family, yes, yes I do. You didn't see those things not the way I did. biters only exist to make other biters. Biting and rotting away slowly that's their life. I'm not going to let that happen to my family, not if I can do something about it."

"Why did I have to fall in love with a Southern gentleman?"

"So you're in love with me then?"

"I am, but you knew that already."

"I did, but it's OK because I love you too. Now come on let's go make sure our children haven't killed each other yet."

Michonne smiled broadly when Rick said "our" children.

They went into the kitchen and as Michonne began to set the table Rick stood over Judith's shoulder to see what she was drawing.

"You drew me a monster. How scary!" Rick said.

"It's not a monster it's Carl. He not my brudder anymore. " Jude reminded her father.

Rick inspected the picture closer, Jude who showed signs of artistic talent, had captured Carl's angry expression surprisingly well. She had added dripping fangs, a unibrow, and hairy claws. Rick laughed there was nothing else to do.

Michonne looked at the picture and laughed too. The sound of their laughter drew Carl into the kitchen.

"Is that supposed to be me?" Carl asked when he saw the picture. His son had to grin in spite of himself.

"You mean!" Jude told her brother.

"I'm sorry Jude, do you forgive me?"

"OK." Jude chirped. She never held grudges for very long.

"Well now that we've all made up why don't we sit down for dinner." Michonne suggested.

It wasn't until Carl sat down that he noticed the scrapbook that Michonne had set on his plate. Lori never believed in storing pictures on the computer, she left that up to Carl, instead she made scrapbooks that she filled up with pictures. Every holiday, every birthday, every vacation. Every milestone in their life had some kind of scrapbook to accompany it.

Rick sat down beside Carl and flipped open the scrapbook. The first photos were of their vacation to Hilton Head when Carl was six years old. He remembered how Carl kept trying to run into the ocean and how Lori kept pulling him away from the shore. "You were so damn determined to drown yourself that year." He told his son.

"I remember."

There were pictures of the family at Marchetti's the only pizza place in Possum Holler. They had gone there when Carl's ittle league team and won their baseball tournament.

"Mrs. Marchetti still has that picture of us holding our little league trophy hanging up at her shop. She never spoke badly about mom." Carl said.

Michonne, who had Jude in her arms, sat on the other side of Carl. "You have her smile." She noted.

"Everyone tells me that."

Rick looked at Lori's face searching for the parts of Carl that looked like her. He had his mother's chin and cheekbones.

"It's momma!" Jude cried and touched the picture.

"That's right sweetie it's your momma." Rick said in a tear strained voice. He was shocked that Jude recognize her mother. He looked at photos of Lori so infrequently that he didn't think that she would. He wished that Jude could have known her mother more, seeing her in pictures or videos just wasn't the same. He sighed his heart felt heavy, but it did not feel like it would crush him as it usually did this time of year.

The last picture was of Lori holding Judith the day she was born.

"Hey look Jude that's you." Carl told his sister.

Jude looked at the picture and frowned. "I not a baby!"

"Not now, but you were." Michonne told her.

Rick was glad when he had reached the end of the scrapbook. Seeing those pictures was what he needed, but you could overdose on nostalgia. His past had been tragic yes, but he no longer felt guilty about moving on. He didn't have time to feel guilty anymore. His new family was just beginning as the world was just ending, and every moment he spent dwelling in the past was a lost moment in the future. Michonne was right memories mattered more now than ever, and since they were one of the only things they had left that couldn't be taken away, Rick knew he needed to work hard to create enough good memories to see them through the dark times ahead.

It was the middle of the night and Rick and Shane were out on their first patrol of the hotel grounds. If Rick closed his eyes he could have sworn they were back in their patrol car in Possum Holler shooting the shit.

"I told Michonne about the biters

"Really, and how did she take it?" Shane wanted to know.

"She was freaked out at first, but that's completely understandable."

"Can't see Michonne killing biters. She doesn't even like guns, what about Carl ya tell him?"

Rick looked at Shane like he was insane. "No, and I don't intend to. He doesn't need to know and he sure as hell isn't going to be killing any of those things."

"Let me tell you something." Shane began.

Rick braced himself a Shane Walsh verbal beat down always followed those words.

"Things are only gonna get harder from here on out, and if ya want Carl to survive this he's eventually gonna have to do shit a lot harder than killin biters, so you best pull your head outta of your fuckin ass for your family's sake."

"You think it's so fucking easy don't you? I know what's happening out there will eventually come in here, but I can't use that as an excuse to go all vigilante. I know Carl is gonna see some shit, but I can't turn him into a child soldier" Rick said. "Now is the time to hang on to our humanity we're gonna need it."

"Damn it Rick stop acting like a flower child! Ya got kids and a woman to think about. When someone has your back against the wall their ain't no humanity. I promised you that I'd protect your family with my life if anything ever happens to ya, but that don't mean ya get to check out before the real shit even hits the fan."

"That's your way not mines, and I'll protect my family my way and not yours so don't try and psychoanalyze me I'm not in the fucking mood."

Shane slammed his body back into his seat. They had been friends for so long that he knew when it was pointless to keep on arguing.

Rick started the SUV up and began their patrol around the perimeter of the hotel. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Just the silent flat black endless night. The way the world kept on doing it's thing without skipping a beat while the entire human race could be wiped out by something smaller than the head of a pin made Rick realize how insignificant they all were. The SUV's radio was tuned to a twenty-four hour government news feed. The announcer was reporting that an estimated seven percent of the world's population had died due to the Cadere virus and there were no signs of the rapidly spreading virus slowing down. The pandemic was like a huge monster attacking the city and Rick could feel it moving towards them.

"So you really think it's going to be that easy?' Rick asked breaking the awkward silence. "What we did in boot camp will be a lot different than what we have to do out here. Do you really think it's going to be that easy to just kill them?" He asked thinking of the little boy he killed. He couldn't have been more than five years old. Only a few years older than Jude.

"They ain't living to begin with so yeah."

"What if we run into someone who's sick with the virus but hasn't turned yet, do we Just put them down too?"

Shane looked at Rick smiled and then made his hand into the shape of a gun. "Bang, bang." He said pointing his imaginary gun at Rick's head and pulling the trigger.

2

Carl did not want to get out of bed. He lie face down in his pillow and listened to the sound of the alarm clock on his cell phone buzzing like a swarming hive of angry bees. Today was the first day of school and he was not looking forward to it. He thought of his two best friends Kevin and Roy Wayne Paul and hoped that they were still alive. Yesterday had been the anniversary of his mother's death and that got him thinking about everyone who wasn't with him now. Were is grandparents dead? His uncle Jeffery? He didn't know and he didn't like to think about it. There was nothing he could change by wondering, and besides he still hadn't picked out what he was going to wear to school. Most of his clothes were between his house and Shane's, so he picked out his newest t-shirt and his newest pair of shorts. He jumped into the shower where the water pressure was a joke. He didn't bother to style his hair he just ran a comb through it and let it dry on it's own. He walked out into the living room and could smell bacon frying on the stove from the kitchen.

"Morning Carl." Michonne greeted him.

"Morning Michonne."

Judith was already at the kitchen table coloring."I want to go to school with you."

"You can't." Carl told her.

"Why?"

"You're going to play school with me remember?" Michonne reminded her.

"You come to play school with me Carl." His little sister demanded.

"I'm too old Jude, sorry.'" He gulped down his orange juice and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.

"Use a napkin." Michonne said.

Carl managed to not sigh and wiped his mouth off with a napkin.

"Are you nervous?" Michonne asked tipping bacon on to his plate.

"Not really. None of this feels real. Nothing really has since I've come here."

"I think we all feel like that to some degree. Things like this are only supposed to happen on TV, and when they happen in real life we have no proper reaction for them." Michonne explained.

"Everything just seems so fake. It's a paradox, we're alive but we're not living. " Carl said.

"I see you paid attention in my class. You're very smart Carl and I know you don't want to go to school, but promise me you'll try your best in all your classes even if you think school is pointless."

"OK." Carl said.

"Better get a move on. You don't want to be late for your first day."

"Neither do the two of you." Carl reminded her. He grabbed up his school supplies that been provided by the government and put them into his backpack that had also been supplied by the government. He kissed his sister on the cheek. "Bye Jude, be good in school."

"You too." Jude told him.

Carl grinned and rinsed his dishes off and put them in the sink. "I'll see ya." He called out to Michonne.

His friends were waiting for Carl outside of his apartel. He noticed that Duane was dressed as causally as he was, but Keisha and Tamekia were dressed like they'd just stepped off a runway. Now he wished he'd put a little more effort into his hair and outfit.

"Carl where's your badge?" Keisha asked.

Carl stopped in the middle of the hallway and felt around for his badge. He had to have his badge. It would be scanned at the beginning and end of the school day to prove that he had attended. Carl didn't know what happen to you if you skipped school but it seemed impossible anyway

"Shit, I must have left it on my dresser." Sighing he turned around to go get his badge. "Go ahead without me I'll catch up." He raced back down the hallway ran into his room and grabbed his badge. As he made his way back towards the elevators he didn't see any other students and began to wonder if maybe he was late. He started walking faster he didn't want to be late on his first day. The thought made him break out into a sprint and he would have ran straight through the catwalk, but he saw Sarah and her father standing in there talking to the principal, Mr. Henderson. They were speaking in hushed tones, but Carl could still hear them.

"As you can tell my daughter is not like other fifteen year olds. Even before the outbreak she suffered with anxiety." Sarah's father was saying to Mr. Henderson. "Sarah witnessed her mother turn and attack her little brother. As a result the national guard was forced to killed both of them right in front of her. Sarah became so hysterical afterwards that she was inconsolable. I had to sedate her to keep her from hurting herself and when she woke up she was different. I noticed that she started acting very childlike, wanting to play with dolls and refusing to sleep by herself. She can't or won't accept that her mother and brother are dead so she tells everyone that they are visiting her grandmother."

"I'm so sorry Carlos." Mr. Henderson said putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I go along with Sarah because If she knew how bad the world is out there she would cease to function. The psychiatrist here told me that Sarah's PTSD has cause her to regress into a childlike state. She acts more like an eight year old. If I can't attend classes with Sarah I need to know that you will be looking after her at all times. All times."

"Of course. I've already talked to the teachers about Sarah's delicate situation."

"Remember this is only a trial basis. If I find any reason at all to pull Sarah out of school I won't hesitate." Carlos said to Mr. Henderson.

"Of course."

"You be good in school for daddy, OK. sweetie." Carlos said turning to his daughter and giving her a hug and kiss.

"I will daddy." Sarah said.

When the trio had gone Carl went through the catwalk and got on the elevator. He felt badly for how he'd talked to Sarah earlier. She had lost her mom too, not only her mom but her brother as well and in the most horrific way possible.

As he stepped out of the catwalk he saw Tamekia and waved. She saw him and she waved back.

Other students were standing around talking in small groups.

"Are you excited?" Keisha asked. "I know you probably think it's silly, but I'm actually excited!"

"I just don't see the point." Carl said.

Keisha put her hand on her hip. "You sound just like Tameika."

"Well then he sounds like somebody with some damn sense." Tamekia replied.

"At least it will give us something to do." Duane said. "It's starting to feel like The Shinning in here."

"I know right." Keisha said. "All we do is stay in this damn hotel waiting to die it's like we forgot how to live, well I want to liiiiive damn it, liiiiive!" Keisha cried dramatically.

Tamekia rolled her eyes. "Don't sit next to me. "

"As if I would sit amongst the peasantry, Keisha said, I'm sitting next to Sir Grimes."

"More like Sir Grimey." Tamekia shot back.

Before Carl could think of a come back Mr. Henderson began speaking."It's good to see all of your bright, young, and eager faces. He greeted them.

Carl looked around at everyone's listless and vapid expressions. Oh yeah, they looked bright and eager all right.

"I'll bet you're all dying to checkout your new school." Mr. Henderson said and pushed the button for the elevator a few seconds later the doors pinged open. "Come on, come on, don't be shy we'll all fit." Mr. Henderson assured them as he ushered them onto the elevator like a hen clucking after her chicks.

Their "school" was just one big room, and it reminded Carl of a high school on the set of a teenaged sit-com because there were only twelve desks, an actual chalkboard, and a wooden desk that looked like every other teacher's desk he'd ever seen. According to his schedule his first class of the day was history.

"Sit where you'd like there's no assigned seats here." Principal Henderson told them. "Your history teacher will be here shortly."

The desk were arranged six desk on each side with a row down the middle. True to her word Keisha sat next to Carl and Duane and Tamekia sat behind them so that it would be easier to talk to each other. Sarah sat on the other side of Keisha and a girl with blonde hair sat on the other end of Tamekia.

The boy in the seat in the row directly across from Carl was carving something into his desk with an X-Acto knife. He saw Carl looking at him flicked him off and then went back to carving into his desk.

"I'm Mr. Royce and I will be your history teacher."

"He looks just like my uncle, Duane whispered in his ear, same tall ass teeth and everything."

Mr. Royce, who did have some rather large teeth, began taking roll call. When he was finished he began writing on the chalkboard "Who's ever heard of The Plague of Athens?" He asked.

A tall boy wearing his high school's jacket, who Carl now knew was Ben Paul, hand shot up.

"It was a plague that happened around 430 b.c., and it's thought to be the earliest recorded pandemic in history." He said.

"Correct. In this class we'll be going over how epidemics and pandemic have changed the course of human history." Mr. Royce told them.

School turned out to be like nothing that Carl had expected. He had all of his regular classes, but it was what he was learning in his classes that made it so different from regular school. In science he was learning how to make small generators. In English he was reading eyewitness accounts of people who lived through pandemics and keeping his own journal. In health he was learning CPR and first-aid. There were even two classes that were mandated by the government. Horticulture and Environmental Preparedness.

Horticulture was held on the convention center grounds by a huge green house and a garden plot. It was taught by a young college student named Shawn Greene, all of the girls in the class thought he was cute.

"Hi I'm Mr. Greene, but please call me Shawn. I'll be your horticulture teacher and in my class we'll be growing an organic fruit and vegetable garden. Everything we grow here we'll eat here, and if times get any harder this maybe the only food we have to eat, so let's make the best garden we can, OK."

Shawn had them divide up into three groups of four and each take a section of the garden plot he'd already laid out to work. All of their gardening supplies were kept in a shed, and like everything else had government issued and a serial number stamped across it.

Having worked on his grandfather's horse farm and having helped both his grandma and mother out in their gardens Carl took right to gardening.

Tamekia hated everything to do with gardening. She hated the dirt, the worms, and when Shawn told her she had to shovel manure she flat out refused.

"I don't fling poo for anyone." She told him.

Shawn had just laughed and let her put wiring around the rabbit run instead.

Keisha didn't like it any better than her cousin did, but she lived with a father who had drilled the idea of teamwork in to her head and so she did it, even if she did make a face that looked like she had just sucked a lemon. Duane was just happy to have something to do. Out of everyone Carl thought that Duane hated being cooped up in the hotel the most.

After class the were allowed to wash up and go to lunch. Their lunchroom was in the food court and their lunches were standard school lunches.

Carl carried his tray of suspicious looking chicken fried stake to the table.

"I wish we hadn't of watched that video about the black plague." Keisha said looking down at her tray. "All I see when I look at this chicken is a puss filled bubo."

Tamekia dropped her fork. "Really, Kiki?"

"I'm sorry! I'm a very visual person."

"Next time keep your visions to yourself."

Carl wondered if he and Jude would act the way Keisha and Tamekia did if they were closer in age. The cousins carried on all the time but they acted as close as sisters. Right now his sister mostly followed him around and got in his things.

"Can I sit next to you?" Sarah asked Keisha.

"Sure."

"Thank you!" Sarah cried. "I wanted to sit next to you because your dress is so pretty. Do you like my charm bracelet? My mom got it for me for my quinceanera." She held up her wrist so that Keisha could see the bracelet.

"It's beautiful." She told her.

"Can we be friends?" Sarah asked.

"Of course, we're already friends."

"Goody!" Sarah cried clapping her hands and hugging Keisha.

"Goody!" The boy that had been carving into his desk earlier cried mocking Sarah's childish voice. Carl had heard him answer to the name Jeremy Tramer during roll call.

Sarah's mouth fell open and she turned to look at Jeremy as if she'd never seen anyone so rude in her life.

Jeremy mocked Sarah's opened mouth expression. "Hurr durr I'm fifteen and I lezz on thirteen-year-olds." He said.

Sarah's face crumpled and her lips trembled.

Carl could see that she was going to start crying any minute now.

"Leave her alone." Keisha said and put a protective arm around Sarah's shoulder.

"Sorry didn't mean to insult your mentally unstable girlfriend."

"Grow up!" Keisha snapped.

"Forget about him. He's a pathetic loser looking for attention." Carl said loudly.

"You wish kid. You're not going to be able to forget me. I guarantee that!"

Carl sighed just what he needed. The rest of his classes went smoothly until their last class of the day. Environmental Preparedness. There was nothing wrong with the class itself, Carl actually liked the class. It was like a cross between science lab and the survival skills course he'd taken at summer camp. Their very first project was to make water filters with a plastic bottle, charcoal, and rocks. . By the end of class everyone but Sarah had theirs completed. Sarah had started hers but then kept getting up to inspect everyone else's handiwork and didn't have time to finish her own.

"I hope I don't get an F." She lamented as she began to clean up her work station. "Oh no. Oh no, no, no!" She cried.

"What's wrong?" Tamekia asked.

"My charm bracelet it's gone!" She shouted. "I took it off when I was making my filter and now it's gone!"

"Don't worry we'll help you look for it." Keisha reassured her.

"Where's the last place you remember having it?" Duane asked.

"On my desk. I laid it on my desk because I didn't want it to get bangged up.

Carl and everyone in the class looked but could not find Sarah's charm bracelet.

"My mom is going to be so angry when she finds out."

"Your mom not here in this Q.U.A.D.?" Jermery asked. "That probably means she dead then. So your bracelet doesn't matter after all."

Sarah burst into tears and Keisha walked her home.

'Too bad about Sarah's bracelet." Jeremy said as he watched her going across the catwalk with Keisha. "Maybe if she wasn't such a 'tard she'd remember where she put it."

"Or maybe you stole it." Carl said. Bullies he knew and he knew that Jeremy took Sarah's bracelet just because he could.

"Maybe I did, what are you going to do get your daddy to shoot me?" Jermery asked. He brushed past Carl and purposely bumped into his shoulder and then walked away laughing all the way down the hall.

"Fucking asshole." Duane said. "Don't worry I got your back."

The next day at school Mr. Henderson announced that Sarah would no longer be attending school with them. Carl looked at Jeremy's face when the principal made his announcement and he looked like a man that just been told he'd won ten billion dollars.

It was like going to school with Nick Hayden all over again, but this time Carl refused to be bullied, this time and he refused to let Jeremy bully anyone else. His days of being a punching bag were over. This time he was going to punch back.

3

Michonne tiptoed around the sleeping toddlers. Staff Sargent Deann was coming to relieve her for a break, one that Michonne had felt was well deserved. Initially she was only supposed to have eight children to watch, but one of the military personnel's child care plans fell through, so three more children were added to her roster. Now she had eleven toddlers to take care of. She had spent her morning wiping, feeding and chasing toddlers around.

"You got them all to go to sleep, well that makes my job a lot easier." Deann said when she spotted the children.

"Yes and they'll probably be ready to wake up just as my break's ending. I better make it count."

"They've opened up that coffee bar that's in the lobby, why don't you go get yourself a cup."

Coffee did sound good. She let her nose guide her to the coffee bar, called The Snooze Bar. It was already crowded with people wanting coffee. Now that most people were working life in the Q.U.A.D. was starting to feel more like real life.

"Can I help you?" The tall blonde girl standing behind the counter asked.

"Amy!" Michonne shouted. She could not believe her eyes! Amy Harrison, her late best friend's Andrea's younger sister, was working as a barista in The Snooze Bar.

"Oh my god Michonne!" Amy ran from behind the counter and gave her a hug.

"I can't believe how grown up you look." Michonne said stepping back to look at the young woman. "You're what, a sophomore in college? My god I feel so old."

"I don't feel very grown-up, I cried everyday during my freshman year."

"Wait until it's time to pay off your student loans." Michonne teased.

"If the world ends I won't have to!"

"All ways look on the bright side of life." Michonne sang and whistled the tune.

Amy grinned fondly. "You don't know how much I've missed you."

"I've missed you too. Do you know how your parents are doing?"

"Last I checked they were hold up in Andrea's old house, you know they've kept the inside exactly the same ever since that day. It's like there still expecting her to come home. I just wish they'd sell the house. I miss her too, but she's never coming back"

Michonne picked up Amy's hand and gave it a squeeze. The day of the school shooting Michonne had been holding Andrea's hand much like she was holding Amy's now. Andrea Harrison had been hired as the new civics teacher the exact same day Michonne had been hired on as the new English teacher, and when Andrea had found out they were both from Georgia, she told Michonne it was a sign that the were meant to be friends. By the end of that first year they had be come best friends, and two years later Andrea died in that school and Michonne stayed beside her the hold time holding her hand.

"Tell my family that I love them, and look after my little sister for me." Had been Andrea's dying request.

"How did you end up here?'" Michonne asked Amy.

"I go to the Art Institute, but my roommate's parents took us out to dinner and we got stopped at a road block on our way back, how about you?"

"The man I just started dating got shot and the life flight brought him here to Atlanta. While he was getting better I stayed with one of his friends and watched his children. He's better now, but we had to leave Atlanta to get somethings from home and we got stopped at a road block on our way back."

"He has kids and you watched them, wow so you're like their stepmom. This is like some serious shit, hun?"

"I'm only twenty-seven, I never expected any thing like this before I turned thirty, but yeah it's some serious shit."

'"Is he cute? What's his name?"

"Yes. Rick. Why don't you come over for dinner and you can meet him and Carl and Judith."

"I can't wait." Amy said.

"I hate that it is under these circumstances, but I'm so happy you're here." Michonne told Amy.

"Me too it's like having my big sister here with me."

"Don't make me cry!"Michonne said

"I'm sorry." Amy said who was teary eyed herself. The two hugged again.

"Don't forget six o clock for dinner."

"Free food I don't have to cook myself, oh don't you worry I'll be on time."

When Michonne got back to the daycare the children were waking up just as she had predicted. She had them sit on the reading circle while she played the Sesame Street theme song on the acoustic guitar she found in one of the cupboards. Later she took them out into the courtyard that was their little patch of outdoor freedom. She watched the children laughing and playing and hoped that this kind of life wouldn't be Judith's future.

There were some tears, some fights and some messes, but overall her first day on the job went smooth. Judith talked non stop about their day as the pair rode the elevator up to their apartel.

"How did it go?" Rick asked as soon as they came through the door. He only worked three days a week and today was one of his days off.

"Mimi played her gitar." Judith informed her father. "We sang!"

"Really, I didn't know you played the gitar Michonne." Rick teased.

"I learned in college, but I haven't played in years though."

"What else don't I know about you?"

"Actually I did want to talk to you about something in my past."

"Oh no, should I be sitting down?"

Michonne smirked."It's nothing like that. It's not some dark secret, it's just hard to talk about."

Rick took Judith in the living room and put Babe in the DVD player. Since it was her favorite movie it meant they could talk with out interruption. He sat down on the couch and Michonne sat next to him.

"We're having a guest for dinner. Her name is Amy Harrison, and she's my best friend Andrea's little sister. Or she was. "

"Was?"

"She died in the school shooting."

"Michonne I am so sorry." Rick said

Michonne closed her eyes pressed her nails into the palms of her hands and began to tell Rick about that day.

"It was the middle of the day and at first I thought the sounds I heard were fire works, it was the end of the year and seniors and been pulling pranks all week, but then I heard the yelling. I told my students to get under their desk and cover themselves with their books. It was like I was a robot because there was no time to think about anything, I just did it. I don't know maybe I should have stayed in the classroom, but I didn't. I told two football players to put something heavy against the door, and not to open it until the police came. As I stepped out into the hallway students were running past me screaming and crying. Some of them were covered in blood. I couldn't tell if it was their blood or someone else's or where they were bleeding from. Then I saw Andrea lying down on the hallway floor covered in blood. I held her hand until she took her last breath"

Michonne was crying now. She still remembered the sickeningly painful feeling in the pit of her stomach when Andrea's eyes went from focusing on her to seeing nothing.

"I can't believe you were dealing with this yourself. You don't have to you. We're a couple we support each other." Rick said pulling her into him.

"I know, but the memories are so painful. It's been years since I could even say her name."

"I know the feeling." Rick said stroking her hair.

Michonne sighed deeply and pulled herself off the couch. "I'd better get this place straightened up before i start on dinner.

Rick helped Michonne to straighten up and then put Judith down for her nap.

"Put your things away and put on something nice for dinner." Michonne told Carl when he came home from school.

"Why?" He whined.

"We're having a guest for dinner."

"Really, who?"

"An old friend of mines."

"You ran into an old friend here?"

Michonne nodded.

"That's really cool."

"Yes it is. Now go get washed up and changed."

Dinner was ready by six and Amy showed up on time. Michonne made spaghetti and meatballs because it was Amy's favorite. In turn Amy was full of stories and entertained everyone throughout dinner.

"I looked up to my sister and Michonne so much it was embarrassing." She confessed. "They would go clubbing all the time and I'd be so jealous because I wasn't old enough to go."

Michonne remembered those days in her early twenties when she could dance and drink all night and still get up and go to work the next morning, and as much fun as she had, those days were gone and she did not miss them.

"Oh and then there was that New Years Eve you two went out and got tattoos."

Rick perked up suddenly. "You have a tattoo?"

"She does." Amy said.

"What's it of?" Carl asked.

"A flame lily it's Zimbabwe's national flower that's where my grandparents are from."

Rick was staring at her intently no doubt wondering where her tattoo was on her body because he had not seen it yet.

"I don't know why you looked up to us Amy, you were always cooler than us. She sewed her entire wardrobe for her senior year. I used to love seeing your outfits."

Michonne and Amy did most of the talking during dinner with Rick and Carl chiming in occasionally. After dinner Michonne sent Amy home with a plate of food. Carl left to play video games with his friends and Rick called Shane over to watch Judith over night.

After dinner was over Rick helped Michonne to clean up the kitchen and took the trash down to the incinerator.

Michonne got into the shower to wash away the days dirt and when she stepped into their room Rick was sitting on the bed staring up at her.

"We've got the place to ourselves, why don't you go ahead and show me where your tattoo is." Rick said.

"No, you're just going to have to find out where it is yourself."

Rick's eyes lit up at the challenge. He popped off the bed and unwrapped her towel from around her still damp body and threw it in he hamper. His blue eyes had grown darker with desire as they slowly traveled down her body. His eyes lingered on her breast for a moment, the corners of his mouth turning up in a smile, before he started his journey downward.

Wetness was beginning to pool between Michonne's legs as Rick's eyes hungrily searched her body. Her skin was heating up and starting to feel sensitive to the air it was exposed to. She needed him to touch her. Her whole body was anticipating so long she had been waiting to be with him.

Rick stepped closer to her his large hands cupping her breast his thumbs swirled around her nipples causing them to harden.

Michonne groaned.

Rick trailed kisses up her neck. "Am I close?" He whispered in her ear."

"Cold." Michonne replied.

Rick trailed his hand down from her breast to her bellybutton. "How about now?" He whispered giving the skin on her neck a slight nip.

"Warm." She said.

He slid his hand down a little further. "How bout now?"

"Warmer." Michonne almost sank to the floor when Rick slipped one finger inside of her. It had been too damn long she thought as his finger flicked inside her wet walls. Just that little movement harden her nipples even more and she let out a soft moan.

"Am I in the right spot?" Rick growled in her ear and added another finger.

"No-not if you're s-still looking for the tattoo." Michonne panted.

"Oh yeah that." Rick said removing his hand from inside of her.

Michonne could have killed him.

Rick trailed his hand down Michonne's right thighs slowly, causing her to shiver under his touch.

"You're getting so hot."

Rick dropped to his knees and then grasped her right thigh, and there on the inner part of her thigh was her tattoo. Rick kissed it.

"You're on fire." Michonne purred. Her fingers slipped into Rick's hair.

"It's a very sexy tattoo." Rick said his mouth was against her tattoo when he spoke, and the vibrations his mouth made cause the most pleasant sensation.

Michonne closed her eyes and gasped her she felt Rick's tongue slip inside of her. She tightened her grip on his hair. Rick gave her ass a little slap and he pulled her down on to his face.

Michonne's eyes rolled into the back of her head and her hips tightened and buck around around Rick's face. His tongue, oh god if she'd know he had this kind of cunnilingus skills she would have show him her tattoo a long time ago! she looked down and saw the muscles in his jaw working his eyes looking up at her taking in her face that was contorted in the throws of passion.

When they finally made it to the bed Michonne was more than ready. Rick slid into her slowly and she savored the feel of each hard, thick, pulsing inch. She had needed this. Wanted this. Wanted him completely and now she had him.

"Michonne, what a wet pussy you have!" Rick teased.

"The better to fuck you with, my dear." Michonne responded and tightened herself around him.

Rick groaned and began to move his hips stroking her. She wrapped her legs around his waist. Rick kissed her neck, mouth, and breast. Kissing any part of that he could as he stroked her harder. Michonne whimpered. She could feel herself coming apart she dug her nails in his back trying to stay in control. Rick slowed down his pace setting a hypnotic rhythm as she watched him pull out of her only to slide the length of him into her slowly again.

She reached up to caress his cheek and he pushed himself into her again kissing her on the lips. Michonne met his stroke and it pushed her over the edge, and as she came she took Rick with her.

"I told you I wasn't decrepit." Rick panted.

Michonne laughed. "I never thought you were decrepit, and definitely wouldn't think it after today."

"I've wanted this for so long, but I wasn't ready before now." Rick said and pulled her closer to him.

"I'm glad we waited it's what we both needed."

"The two of us have been through so much in such a short time, but we've gotten through it. No matter what life has put us through lately we just roll up our sleeves and deal with it. It's like we're married. It's like you're my wife and I think you should be."

"What?"

"I'm asking you to marry me Michonne."