We remained silent as we drove out of the town, and it wasn't until we were a few miles out on the deserted road that I let out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

Rick picked up his radio and began speaking into it. "Broadcasting on emergency channel, we'll be approaching Atlanta on highway 85. Anybody reads, please respond."

He let go of the button and waited to see if there was any response. After a few seconds he pushed the button again.

"Hello? Hello? Can anybody hear my voice?"

Silence.

"Anybody out there, please respond," Rick tried again. "Can anybody hear my voice?"

Finally, after more radio silence, Rick gave up and set the radio back down.

We rode in silence for a few more miles before Rick glanced at me.

"Do you remember anything about yourself?"

I looked out the window, thinking about his question. My eyes squinted in the sunlight. We were passing some fields that looked like bean fields, a large span of trees just out in the distance.

I turned back and saw Rick eyeing me curiously.

"Nothing," I told him with a shrug. "Couldn't even remember my name when I woke up."

Rick looked suddenly deep in thought for a minute. "Said your chart claimed you had been in a car accident? You were in a coma for two months?"

"Yeah," I said with a nod. "Why?"

"I remember the call over the radio. An accident in our county, drunk driver hit a young girl's car head on. She was rushed to the hospital with a serious concussion and possible internal bleeding." He looked over at me. "I wasn't covering the accident, but I think that was you."

I took in the information, letting it sink in. None of it sounded familiar, but I suppose it matched my description.

"That police station might have had information on you in the computers. Your address, maybe some way to find an emergency contact," Rick added.

I felt my stomach drop. "There's no power to access those computers though."

"I know," Rick said in a small voice.

I let out a sigh. "Then why say anything?"

He shrugged. "There could have been a house there that was yours. Maybe your family. Some clue about where they went or who you are."

I turned my attention back out the window, my eyes squinting in the sunlight again. "If I had anyone I'd guess they'd be in Atlanta at that refugee camp with your family."

"Suppose you'd be right," Rick said, his voice a little unsure.

The squad car managed to take us about forty five more minutes before it started sputtering. Rick cursed and smacked a hand against the steering wheel.

"Out of gas," he told me. "Hand me the bag with the guns."

I did as he asked and watched as he got out and made his way to the trunk of the squad car. I grabbed my duffle bag and got out, throwing the strap over my shoulder. When he closed the trunk I saw him holding a red gas can.

"What are you doing?" I asked him. "You planning to find gas somewhere nearby?"

"Worth a shot. Come on."

I followed beside Rick, our strides soon syncing with each other. I felt sweat start to drip down my chest and back. I tried to ignore how hot and humid it was but failed.

"There's a house up there," Rick said pointing just ahead.

When we reached the front of it, I noticed it looked empty. Rick dropped his duffle to the ground and remained holding only the gas can.

"Hello? Police officer out here!" Rick called towards the house.

I felt a little nervous with him calling out and making so much noise. What if there were walkers nearby? My eyes immediately started darting around us, looking for any sign of moment.

Rick started moving forward towards the door, still calling out. I followed close behind him.

"Rick," I whispered. "I don't think anyone's here."

He went up to the front door and knocked, looking in through the windows for a moment before walking along the porch and looking inside another window. I followed after him, peering into the windows behind him as he went. He paused and pushed away from the last window, grabbing my arm.

"Don't look," he told me.

"Why?" I asked nervously, pushing around him to see what was in the house.

Rick didn't stop me, but he still kept a firm hand on my arm.

When I looked inside I spotted an older couple, both dead from gunshot wounds to the head. The man must have shot his wife and then himself. There was dried blood all over the couch and carpet, flies were swarming from body to body. This time I really couldn't hold back the bile that rose in my throat, and I leaned over the porch banister and threw up. I felt Rick's hand move from my arm to my shoulder in a comforting way for a moment before he removed it. I wiped my mouth off on the sleeve of my shirt and tried to remain calm.

"You didn't need to see that," Rick told me gently.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "But I can't let myself hide from what's really going on, either."

Rick nodded in understanding after a moment.

"There's a truck over there," I pointed out. "Maybe it has keys."

I followed after Rick as we made our way towards the truck. The door was unlocked so he opened it and leaned in. He reached towards the ignition and found no keys, so he checked the visor. Nothing.

"Was a good idea, at least," Rick said before shutting the truck's door and leaning against the hood.

I turned my attention back towards the house, staring at the dark windows. How many people had gone out that way, taking their own life?

"There's a horse," Rick said suddenly.

"What?" I asked, turning my attention to what he was looking at.

Across the grounds there was a fenced in area near a stable, a brown horse staring straight at us. I felt a sudden jolt looking at the horse, almost that sense of déjà vu.

"Yeah," the word tumbled out of my mouth. "A horse."

Rick turned to me, his brows furrowed. "You okay?"

"I just…" I paused, unsure. "I feel like there's something, like that feeling when there's something on the tip of your tongue. But in my head, like the back of my mind."

"Like a memory?" Rick asked. "A memory coming back to you?"

I nodded but then shook my head. "It felt like it at least, but whatever it was, I lost it."

Rick frowned but then nodded. "Maybe it'll come back to you. Come on."

We made our way towards the stable and Rick grabbed a rope before we entered the pen with the grazing horse. It whinnied and let out a fearful sound as we approached, but I held out my hand cautiously, almost instinctively.

"Calm down, we aren't going to hurt you," I said soothingly.

The horse stamped its front hooves a few times in protest at my approach, but I kept on, moving slow and steady and reassuringly saying, "Calm down, it's alright."

Eventually the horse calmed and trotted slowly forward, cautiously rubbing its muzzle against my outstretched hand. I smiled at the show of trust before turning back to Rick. There was a curious smile spread across his face.

"Horses, huh?" Rick said, coming over to where I stood with the horse and making a makeshift rein out of the rope in his hands.

"Yeah, apparently so," I told him, still not understanding it myself.

"Maybe you were a veterinarian," Rick teased.

"Or worked on a farm," I said with a smile.

"Can you lead him to the barn? We can get a real bridle and a saddle on him then," Rick said as he handed the rope to me.

I took the rope and led the horse towards the stable, him following after me willingly. When we got inside, Rick hoisted up a heavy saddle and began fastening it on the animal. I spotted a bridle and grabbed it, putting it on the horse with no problem, almost as if I'd done it many times before. Once we had finished, we led the horse out of the stable and grabbed our duffle bags. Rick climbed up onto the horse first before offering me his hand. I lifted myself up and around, awkwardly wrapping my arms around the man's waist.

"Now let's take it easy," I heard Rick tell the horse. "I haven't done this in years."

The horse started off a bit at a slow trot before picking up speed, which made Rick uneasy as he gripped the reins.

"Whoa, easy now!" Rick said, trying to slow the horse's speed.

Finding humor in the situation, I let out a laugh over Rick's shoulder.

"You're fine, Rick. Let him go, just lead him back to the road," I told him.

After a few minutes and some guidance from me, Rick got the horse to take us back onto the road. We were a few miles away from Atlanta, and with riding a horse instead of using a car it took a little longer, but we eventually made it.

My heart dropped into my stomach when the city finally came into view. I could feel Rick's immediate change from the way he slumped into the saddle. The road into the city was empty, but the road leading out was jammed with cars, bumper to bumper. The area, including the big sky scrapers in the distance, looked like they'd been bombed. Trees were leaning sideways as if they'd been pushed back by an impact, and so were the trains on the tracks next to us.

I was too afraid to say anything to Rick, but I had a bad feeling growing in my gut. I didn't think his family was here—at least I hoped not. I don't think they would have survived whatever happened.

"I have to find my family," Rick said, turning his head to look at me behind him. "You don't have to come with, I can't ask that of you."

I swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat. I had nowhere else to go, no one else to go to. Over the last couple of days, Rick had become my only family. Almost like a brother.

"I know," I told him as I tightened my grip on his waist. "I'm still coming with you."

He gave one quick nod before urging the horse forward, taking us right into the city and whatever was waiting for us inside. I tried to keep the images of the hospital from my mind.

The streets were empty, littered with trash. The traffic lights weren't running. I noticed not all of the buildings looked destroyed by whatever had happened here, and I tried to find hope in that.

Rick led the horse further into the city; we were now passing Marietta Street, and the horse let out a disgruntled sound but still went forward. The sound made me uneasy.

We passed a bus that looked as if it had been badly burned, a few bodies sitting in the seats still. The horse took a few steps before jolting away from the bus.

"Whoa!" Rick said, trying to control the animal.

"Rick," I whispered, "there are walkers!"

He glanced around as he urged the horse to move a little quicker.

"It's just a few, nothing we can't handle," Rick assured me.

I reached for the baseball bat that was sticking out of my duffle bag, keeping one hand wrapped around Rick's waist.

"There's more of them, they're following us," I whispered to him again.

Rick turned the horse onto another street and we spotted a large tank with a dead body on it. There were three crows pecking at the dead man's flesh. He maneuvered the horse around the tank but stopped abruptly.

"What is that?" Rick asked me suddenly.

I listened intently, hearing a humming in the distance. My eyes turned to a big sky scraper in front of us, completely covered in reflective windows. Rick followed my gaze and saw it too.

"A helicopter," Rick muttered.

He urged the horse into a fast gallop and it obliged, leading us after the airborne vehicle. But just as we were going to turn onto the next street, the horse stopped dead.

There had to have been a hundred walkers all huddled together. The moment they spotted us, they all turned as one and began moving forward.

"Rick, get us out of here!" I said, gripping my bat tighter.

He turned the horse around the way we'd come, but a second herd of walkers appeared from another street. We were trapped.

"Oh shit," I heard Rick mutter under his breath.

They closed in on us, grabbing at my legs, grabbing at Rick's legs, grabbing at the horse that was neighing in terror. Rick and I were pulled off the horse, and then the horse went down after, crying out in pain as the walkers began tearing into it. My heart broke for the animal but there was nothing I could do.

A walker turned to me and reached out, I kicked him away with my foot, sending him tumbling back.

"The tank, get under the tank!" Rick shouted to me.

I scurried on my hands and knees after Rick, crawling under the tank with him. A walker tried to follow after us but Rick landed a hard kick to its face before crawling towards the other side of the tank. Another group of walkers suddenly fell to their knees, blocking our only exit. Rick pulled out his gun and shot a few that had managed to crawl under towards us.

That's when I spotted an opening in the underside of the vehicle.

"Rick, this way!" I shouted before turning and pulling myself inside.

I looked down to see Rick crawling up after me, my hand reaching out and pulling him inside before shutting the hatch after him.

Rick caught his breath but then his eyes widened.

"Behind you!" he shouted.

Jumping, I turned and saw a dead soldier leaning against the wall of the tank, but he wasn't moving.

"I think he's really dead," I said, my voice shaking.

We took a moment to try to calm our labored breathing before I suddenly realized I'd lost my bat.

"I lost my baseball bat," I told Rick.

"I left the bag of weapons out there," Rick admitted. "You still got yours?"

I nodded my head and handed it to him as he reached out for it. He pulled out a hand gun this time, showing me how to load it, what bullets it used, and how to turn the safety on and off. My mind was reeling with all the information.

"It's more practical than a rifle right now," Rick told me. "And since you've got nothing else, you need the gun."

I nodded my head hesitantly before tossing the duffle bag onto my shoulder again, glad I hadn't lost it.

"Isabell he's not dead!" Rick suddenly shouted.

Confused, I turned around to see the dead soldier looming over me. Panicking, I lifted the gun up to the thing's head and pulled the trigger. He dropped but the sheer volume of the gunshot in the enclosed tank nearly made my head split in two. My ears were ringing and I dropped the gun and clutched my head.

It was a few minutes before the pain lessened and I noticed Rick was trying to recover from the gunshot as well. I managed to sit up and grab my gun. I watched as he crawled up to the top hatch that I hadn't realized had been open. I saw him poke his head out for a few seconds before hurriedly closing the hatch and sitting back down.

"They're all over the tank," Rick told me. "We're trapped in here."

My heart was racing now. "There has to be some way out. Maybe we can wait them out?"

Rick tried to catch his breath, raising a hand to his forehead and breathing heavily. A moment later he was eyeing the dead soldier, something on him catching Rick's attention. He reached over and took something off the dead man's belt. My eyes widened in fear when I saw what it was.

"You're not planning to use that are you?" I asked, eyeing the grenade.

"I don't know," Rick answered, tossing the grenade into his pocket. "We may need it."

"We just need a moment to think. There's got to be a way out of this," I said.

Silence passed between us as we both retreated into our heads, trying to find a way out of this predicament. So far waiting them out seemed like our best bet. There was no way we could fight through that many. Or we could use the grenade as a distraction—but I wasn't sure if it would distract them.

A sound suddenly erupted inside the tank. Rick looked up in the direction the noise had come from. I felt myself hold in a breath.

"Hey you. Dumbasses in the tank. Cozy in there?" a voice asked over a radio.

I shot a look to Rick, eyes wide.