Guts

"This is it? Are you sure?"

The small group stood looking down at a squared hole in the ground of the building's basement. It had a metallic ladder that led to a big sewer entrance; so big a person could get inside without even crouching. It looked damp, dark and ominous. Eleanor gulped, no matter what she had done before, she had never moved her way around the sewers. She eyed the people present, and she wondered if anyone thought the same way she did.

"I've been here before, this is the only thing that goes down," it was Glenn who stepped forward "Though I never went down myself... I mean, who would want to right?" he voiced her concern and smiled as if it was meant to be a joke. However, nobody was laughing, and his expression soon turned somber. "Oh... great,"

"I can go with you..." said Andrea with a reassuring smile, but Glenn shocked his head in denial and Andrea got annoyed "think i can't?"

"... n-no... i that's not what i-, I-I mean" the young man began, but his voice chocked out in the middle, and he looked down; going completely silent. Andrea moved to speak again, but Rick raised a hand, then looking at the young adult.

"It's okay. Speak your mind," he said, his tone calm. After a short moment, Glenn took a breath and began.

"Until now, it has always been only me, in and out... fast enough. But if something down there happens, I don't want to get trapped behind you, not being able to escape.

"Hate to brake it to you... but he's got a good point." said Ellie with lighthearted tone, "but you tripping and none of us being able to help you is just as bad. Say... let's do this. Glenn, choose someone that you know will give you space and can return as fast as you can," Glenn nodded. "That way, another person stays here to give alert to the rest of us if you found problems or a solution! That way, the rest of us take the opportunity to survey the glass wall with the walkers and can hold off until we are able to escape,"

With her hands on her hips and a self-satisfied smile, Eleanor looked at the group "How does that sound?" she urged; the group looked at each other.

"Sounds good to me" said Rick, a hand on Eleanor's shoulder.

"I agree," Glenn was the first one to talk from the group. "I'll take Morales," He signaled to Eleanor and Rick "I've seen you both at the street, I'll be more at ease if you stayed behind and covered our ass for some walkers" Rick nodded "Andrea should go with you, given she has the other gun we have," he said and she didn't complain "Jackie, you can stay behind and yell at us to come back if something is wrong," the black woman Jackie nodded with a small smile

"Everyone knows their jobs" concluded Rick with a nod and a pat on Glenn's back. The young man that accepted the compliment and went down the stairs, followed by the man now Ellie knew was Morales. She, Andrea and Rick returned to the front door and looked around. For a moment, she trained her eyes on the back of the former sheriff and she let herself have a giddy smile, Thinking that Rick was in many ways... just like her dad.

"You know,"

Rick turned and noticed that the young woman, Eleanor, was tugging at the dirty looking at the long sleeved shirt she had on. "I think it's time I go shopping; plus... the sales look good," she said with a wide grin.

Rick smirked, and she quipped contented. Sneaking her way in between the mannequins.

"Don't wander to far! or we'll leave without you," just like a warning given to his child. Eleanor giggled, lifting her thumbs while disappearing trough the mannequins. He shook his head, still amused, until his gaze landed on Andrea.

The woman was a mix of annoyance and fear; as if Eleanor's giddy attitude was somehow offensive to her and the situation. Rick frowned, recognizing that familiar feeling, when he had landed inside an empty tank and the young adult had laughed her ass off at him getting scared at a corpse. Now that he knew she was only trying to lift up the mood of people, he thought of that treatment as unfair.

"She seems weird but... she's just a kid," he said, serious. His words made Andrea look at him. "If she hadn't done what she did... I would be dead"

"I suppose you are right" Andrea said not really convinced.

"Will it make it up to you if we get you out of here?" asked Rick while Andrea passed trough a small jewelry section.

"It could be a start" she commented with a small smile. Rick could life with that.

"Before," Andrea began, she had taken a small mermaid necklace with her, "She had said something about a secure button on the gun; she turned it off but i didn't quite catch how she did it," Tempted Andrea unsure, pulling out her gun.

"You haven't used it before?" Rick lifted his eyebrows, and extended his hands. Andrea gave him a little glare before carefully handing the gun to him. She put it in his hand with the barrel pointing to her, and rick restrained a smile. He moved fast to turn it the other way.

"It was a gift, but... never really had opportunity to use it,"

Just like Eleanor, he put the gun in horizontal position, showing the handle. The took especial care into pointing the barrel to the floor... far form their feet, and then scooted closer to the blond woman. This one thought nothing of the proximity, she was concentrated on the image presented to her. With his finger, he signaled a black button that was just a little lower to the right of the hammer.

"This is the safety button, but it's more like a lever. So you press it forward," he said, pressing it with his thumb. With a circular movement, the button relocates and leaves a red dot appearing. "This red dot is telling you that the gun is ready to fire; but once you are not in danger it's better to have it back on secure mode. That way the gun can't go off accidentally. But you have to remember to press it, if not... it's never going to fire," pressing the safety button and making it go down once again, Rick moved to press the trigger.

Andrea jumped at the action at first, but not even the click of the gun was going of. Rick then turned the barrel and handed the gun back to Andrea by the handle, just like Eleanor had. Andrea took it with more confidence, and moved to inspect said safety button.

"Now I get why she was not even fazed when I pointed it at her," She was about to activate the gun again, and Rick moved fast to grasp her shoulders. Andrea turned to him with a glare, but let herself be moved a little to the right.

"You better point the barrel that way, just in case,"

"Sorry,"

"It's okay. Just, don't ever repeat what you saw with Eleanor. Handing you the gun while pointing at herself is still dangerous," Rick added and Andrea snickered.

"She's far more harmless than she appears to be, huh?"

"I actually think it's the opposite,"

Andrea wide-eyed, saying nothing more.

"I'm back!" Ellie announced. Rick stepped back when Andrea jumped and tried to create a safer distance between them. With a twirl, Eleanor walked to them, "How do I look!" Rick restrained a snicker, the young woman had a clean pair of black cargo pants, and light pink tank-top under a loose white knitted sweater.

"That sweater is going to get dirty fast,"

Eleanor gasped in outrage and hugged her frame. Unable to contain himself, Rick barked a laugh, that soon muted due to the walkers outside. Eleanor whined.

"But It's so pretty!"

"Just like my sister," commented Andrea. Rick turned to her and noticed she was smiling. "I'm going to check on Jackie, Can I leave you two here?"

"Sure, go ahead," Rick conceded and Andrea walked away.

"Something wrong?" Eleanor asked beside him. Rick turned, her joking attitude was gone. Again, he felt a tinge of guilt.

"She's going to check on Jackie. Don't take it personal, she says you are just like her sister,"

"She has a sister," Eleanor repeated, and she smiled. Yet, Rick could have sworn he had seen something in her eyes different that contentment.

A straining silence followed soon after. Rick had a question he wasn't sure of how to ask. Actually, he had a lot of questions he wasn't sure of how to ask. Why was she alone inside Atlanta? Where were her parents? Did she had an spouse, or boyfriend that was around? The exchange they had at the tank made him realize she wasn't as naive and trusting as she appeared when talking to others like Glenn or Andrea.

Then, Why had she chosen to trust him?

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard rustles beside him. Eleanor was opening her now voluminous bag. She put a small red case with a white cross over it inside, and then closed it.

"You also found a first-aid kit?"

"Yup! In the manager's office," she answered without a second thought. Rick gave her a look and Eleanor caught onto the silent question, "I won't show that to them either. If it's needed I'll pull it out," She let out a sigh. "She's still mad at me, isn't she?"

"You should be more careful," he began and she turned to him, "It's true she didn't know how to use that gun, but what if it fired off the moment you gave it to her; even by accident. You put yourself in unnecessary danger,"

She gave him a wide smile. Rick raised an eyebrow, he was expecting annoyance... not warmth or amusement. He looked away, unconsciously rubbing his left wrist. He wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure about what to say.

"Thank you, I was angry at that moment, so I didn't really think that much about it,"

"Who taught you how to shoot and use hunting knifes?"

"My father," she said, and her smile soon turned up, showing mischievousness. "Worried?"

"Curious," he corrected and she giggled.

Rick's own frowning expression softened while gazing at the young woman. She looked even younger than he had predicted when he talked to her in the radio, her complexion was a strange mix between Caucasian and Hispanic. He wondered what her father did for a living and he grew restless. Indeed, it could be anything, but those hunting blades were not something you usually passed by often. A hunter, had left a huntress behind. Rick remembered Andrea's words and he smirked; with that lost expression, placid smile, restless little fingers and cream white sweater, she looked harmless.

"Um, I wanted to ask you," she began and Rick turned his full attention to her words, "Back when we talked on the radio... You didn't mention you had a family. Your wife and son, were you separated?"

She grimaced, expecting to get nothing in return. He would later be baffled about it, but Rick decided he had no objections in such personal information.

"I woke in the hospital after I was shot. It happened during an emergency call, we were careless and I was shot... around here," he signaled to his lower middle, a little to the left, "I don't know how long have I been there. I remember almost nothing of the trip to the hospital. Only until I woke up and was alone. The hospital was...," he moved his hands, frowning.

"Overrun?"

"Yeah. When I managed to return to my house...they were already gone," he finished. He tried his best to contain a snicker when Eleanor filled in the dots and she wide-eyed. She did a double take and lifted her hands.

"Wait, wait. Hold it...," He kept on smiling, "You mean to tell me you were actually in a coma?" she half laughed "Are you kidding me?"

"Your description on my lack of awareness was painfully accurate," he added and she grabbed her forehead in complete amazement.

"Officer Grimes, you just blew my mind away!"

Rick cringed "When you call me that I feel I'm already retired,"

Eleanor blushed and laughed "What am I supposed to call you, Rick?"

"Why not," he said in an awkward yet friendly tone "that way I'll keep calling you Eleanor without any remorse" he teased.

Eleanor looked surprised, but she giggled soon after, that wide and giddy smile turning his way. "Okay, Will you call me Ellie?"

"No," he snickered and she pouted. Crossing her arms, she let herself rest beside the wall. But soon after, she gasped and stood straight, looking down at her shoulder and patting the sweater. Rick resisted the urge to laugh again. Eleanor turned to him, and let out a sigh, she seemed tired.

"It's a good thing that we found this group. Your wife and son, they have higher chances to be alright if they managed to ally themselves with groups like these;" She commented. "it's not to tell you that they might not..., you know-"

"I get what you mean," Rick cut her off and patted her shoulder. "I hope that too,"

"I'll help you; find your wife and son," she said with a serious expression, "You contacted me in hope you could find a camp; I told you I was alone and you came for me regardless. I'll do what I can to help you, I owe it to you, and that's what friends do," She added with a smile. "We are friends now right?"

Rick looked at her for a moment and then huffed. Again, his lips moved to form a lazy smile. Everything that she said was right, and still... he felt that he would have trusted her regardless of her sense of duty or gratitude. She was a good kid, and he found himself amused and intrigued by this stranger. He didn't feel it was wrong; he was glad he found her in the first place.

"Yeah... we are," her smile grew bigger. He wanted to talk a little more to her, but a strident sound stopped him.

With a jump Eleanor looked at the glass wall. A crack had erupted from one corner to the ceiling. As if it were ice, more cracks were starting to form. They exchanged a look, and all easiness left them once they hurried back to Andrea and Jackie. When they arrived, Glenn and Morales were just returning. Down the sewers, the way was blocked by large metal bars. even if they tried they wouldn't be able to get trough them.

"We can't return to the front area, the glass is giving in," Rick announced, and the others looked at him with panic. "We have to find ourselves more options, because it will brake soon,"

"But what else can we do?" Asked Jackie, also desperate. Eleanor looked at Rick and he noticed she turned back to look at her bag.

"We need a distraction," She suggested, and then moved to look around her, "We car reach the ceiling trough the emergency stairs right? The storage room is directly connected to it?"

"It is," Morales said with a frown, "Why is it important?"

"We need to barricade our exit," She said with decision, them started tugging on a metal shelf, "We still have another option. Walkers are attracted by many things, but specially noise. We can make a distraction, make them move to the opposite way of the alley and the street, and we can make our escape out of the city."

"The grenade," Rick announced and Eleanor turned to him. With a worried expression, she nodded. "But you'll have to go to the roof for that,"

"And imagine I'm a professional baseball player for 5 seconds," she added with a smirk, "if they hear the grenade from the other side, they'll turn that way, that will be our chance to be quiet and be fast to leave. We can find a vehicle on our way out, it's dangerous but I don't see any other way around it," she added with a sigh "we need to get back at the roof and tell Merle Dixon the good news,"

"I'll go with you," Rick stepped in

"Me too," Glenn said as well.

The others offered to start barricading. Glenn, Eleanor and Rick started their climb back to the roof.

"I don't see you so confident about the grenade," Rick started, Eleanor only gave him a side glance before she continued climbing. Beside them, Glenn asked what did he mean. Right, Glenn didn't know about the grenade. But it was too late to explain, and she was intended to use it.

"it's just that," she groaned "It's such a waste! That Beretta could save us from many other things, but I have literally nothing else to make us a distraction,"

They reached the roof. T-dog and Merle were at it again. The guy started back his barrage of insults at Rick as soon as they climbed up. Rick eyed him for a second, if Eleanor wanted to sneak out of the building, this guy was not going to cooperate. Glenn told T-dog what happened, and this one was also complaining of the situation. Rick leaned onto the railing and looked at the drop of the building. To the right side, it was empty. If Eleanor decided to make a mad toss in that direction, they could have a chance to get out from the other side, where they entered the building in the first place. It was good logic, but they were now part of a large group. Many things could go wrong.

His eyes caught a desolated area and he squinted. It looked like a construction site, and around it were some large vehicles. Eleanor also mentioned that as soon as

they were out, they had to grab a vehicle and bolt.

But what if it was done the other way around? What if, instead of the eight of them, only two or three made their trip to those vehicles?

Rick looked at the walkers that were now grouping against the wall of the shopping mall and noticed that no matter what... walkers didn't attack his own. What if they also looked like them? Will they not be attacked?

"I have an idea,"