Here's another chapter! For those of you wondering where I get the time to post so often I'm currently somewhat disabled and unable to work. Writing this story makes me feel productive. Just wanted y'all to know I'm not batshit crazy.

Guest reviewer: Richonne and history were the two inspirations for this story and you're already enjoying both. Terrific!

Everyone enjoy!


Rick held his wife close to him. He listened to her soft, steady breathing as he watched his son sleep on the other side of the tent. The scene was completely serene and Rick never wanted it to end. This had played out once before. After the war had ended Rick had reunited with his family and he remembered sitting by Carl's bed in the middle of the night and watching sleep peacefully. For some reason this time it seemed better. Probably because he hadn't been sure they were alive. Why was God so cruel? He wondered, to make men kill their own brothers and then turn around and lay waste to the remains. With that depressing thought in his head Rick fell asleep.

That morning Rick woke feeling more rested than he had since his coma. Both Lori and Carl were gone and Rick pulled himself up, got dressed and left the tent. It was about mid-morning and the sun was shinning brightly over the camp. Rick took a look around taking it in once more. The ragged settlement was the strangest mix of odds and ends that Rick had ever seen. Several different styles of tents surrounded the large fire pit. He could see four wagons including the monstrous contraption the white haired Dale was sitting in and over a dozen animals roaming or tied up outside the camp.

"Hey you're awake." Lori said, appearing from around a tent.

"Yup." Rick kissed her. "Where's Carl at?"

"He's sitting on one of the wagon's outside of camp. He likes to watch everyone."

Rick smiled, "I'll go say good morning to him and then go find Glenn."

"Oh, actually Shane wanted to talk to you before you do."

"Okay. Where is he at?"

"He's - Oh he's right here." Rick turned and saw Shane walking toward him. His hands were dirty and there were sweat stains around his collar and under his armpits. He had his Enfield rifle slung over his shoulder as he came over.

"Hey Rick how are you feeling?"

"Better than I have in a long while." Rick told his best friend with a smile.

"I'll go get you some breakfast," Lori said, "Leave you two to it." Rick nodded his thanks to her as she left and turned back to Shane.

"Lori said you wanted to talk to me?" Shane's face suddenly turned serious.

"Yeah. I gotta ask Rick; what are you planning to do here?"

"What I'm planning to do?" Rick was confused.

"Rick we have a precarious balance here in this camp. The world just ended and many people think this is the chance remake it the way they like it. Some of them are saying that this is God's punishment for us freeing the slaves. We had fights breaking out every day for the first week we were out here. I managed to settle things down, made a kind of peace deal. Coloreds stay free but they do all the dirty work. It's been good. Merle and his brother only just arrived though, and they aren't too happy with the arrangement. They want all the coloreds in chains or at the end of a rope. Then you show up and the first thing you do is talk about how you shot up some Klansmen to prevent a lynching. That peace I created? It's this close to falling apart." Shane paused to judge Rick's reaction and then continued, "Last night I get to thinking, you were never really for slavery and you risked your life trying to save a couple negros. I gotta know Rick are you planning to remake the world too? Do you want to make it so whites and coloreds are treated exactly the same? Because if you are shit around here is gonna get ugly and it's gonna get ugly fast."

Rick shook his head, "No Shane. I'm not planning on doing anything of the sort. The system you've got is more than fine as far as I'm concerned."

"Good." Shane nodded his head, "In that case I need you to do something for me. I need you to make peace with Merle."

"How the hell do you want me to do that?"

"I don't know. Find someway to do it. Or at the very least don't aggravate him again. He's the only one besides you, me and Andrea who has a gun and he could cause some trouble."

"I'll see what I can do." Rick promised.


Carl sat next to his father and watched him eat his breakfast. The shock at seeing his dad alive had been almost more than he could take. Even now as he looked up at his father's face it seemed almost surreal. Carl had a thousand and one questions for his father. What were they going to do? Were they going to live at the camp forever? What did he think of the coloreds? Or Ed? or the Dixons? For now though, Carl was content to sit with his father in silence.

The young light-skinned man named Glenn walked up to the camp fire. Carl had never seen anyone like him before coming to the camp. At first he thought he had to be an Indian though he didn't look much like one. His mom had told him he was a Chinaman, from a country on the other side of the world called "China." The Chinaman seemed nice enough to Carl. Glenn came up to them, "I'm ready to head out when you are." he said, Rick nodded.

"I'll be ready in a few minutes." At that moment Merle walked up along with Ed and Jimmy. Merle was a little bit scary. He acted as if he didn't have a care in the world and for some reason that put Carl on edge.

"So I understand that the new guy and the Yellow skin are going into town to pick up our supplies." said Merle in a haughty voice.

"Yeah that's right." said Shane who was standing on the other side of the fire.

"Well I don't know about the rest of you." said Merle, "But I don't like the idea of trusting a Chinaman and a nigger lover with picking up our supplies. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me."

"Do you have a problem with me?" Carl watched his dad stand up and looked Merle in the eye.

"Yeah I do." Merle responded staring right back, "You shot two of my brethren from what I hear."

"Look you know the deal." said Shane, "Glenn and the negros are the ones who do jobs like running into town. Rick here volunteered so that's why he's going."

"Yeah well.. in case you don't remember I wasn't here when your precious deal was made." Merle rasped, "These people shouldn't be trusted with something so important as supplies. I think most of the people in this camp agree with me." He sneered at Glenn, "Most of the people that matter anyway."

"If you got such a big issue with it Merle why don't you go with them." Shane challenged.

"Ya know what? I think I will. Make sure none of you goes and steals anything."

"That is a terrible idea." said Rick, "Glenn said he can only take -"

"Rick." Shane interrupted. Carl saw Shane give his father a meaningful look. He couldn't tell what it meant but his dad apparently did.

"I don't give a damn what the Chinaman said." Merle stated, "I don't trust you so I'm going with you."

"Fine." Rick said, "We're going now."


"This is a terrible idea." Glenn muttered, Rick didn't answer. The two of them were sitting in the wagon next to the young colored boy James. Merle was riding on a dark brown light horse with his Springfield rifle slung across his back. Rick agreed with Glenn, bringing Merle along was the worst idea ever but Shane was right. They needed to keep the peace and for Rick that meant bringing along a brash, backwards woodsman from the wild west on a mission that required stealth.

James pulled the wagon to a halt a mile or so outside of town. Rick followed Glenn out of the wagon and Merle dismounted his horse. "Why are we stopping?" Merle asked.

"We um.. we go on foot from here." Glenn told him, "We make less noise that way." Merle grunted but didn't push the issue. The three of them began to walk toward Atlanta.

"What part of town do you normally go to?" Rick asked Glenn as they made their way down Foster street.

"I usually stay in the southeast corner but sometimes I go north as well. Yesterday we were trying to see if there was a way into the barracks. They were using it as a shelter for survivors so it ought to be well stocked with food and ammo."

"I was just there two days ago. There didn't seem to be a way in."

"Well we should take a look anyway. If we can somehow access it we'd be set." said Glenn. Merle didn't say anything he just strode down the other side of the road silently. The three of them followed Foster street until they hit the tracks where they turned left and headed into town. When they reached the next road Rick recognized it as the one they took when exiting the city the day before. Glenn brought them to a stop. "This is very important." he said looking at Rick but clearly intending his words for Merle, "When we enter city we need to stay very quiet. The whole trick to this is that we don't draw attention. We don't fight walkers we hide from them. We try not to get seen but if we do we run. We only fight as a last result and only shoot as a very last result."

"Yeah, whatever." said Merle. Rick nodded his acknowledgement.

"O.K." said Glenn. They started their way down the street.

They weren't two blocks down when they saw their first walker. "Hide!" Glenn whispered and dashed over to the side of a house. Rick followed close at his heels. As they neared the building a loud crack echoed through the air. Rick whipped his head around and saw Merle pointing a smoking rifle down the street.

"The hell is wrong with you?!" Rick demanded striding furiously back out onto the street. "We DON'T shoot unless we ABSOLUTELY have to!"

"If you think I'm gonna follow the orders of a damn Chinaman you got another thing coming Rick."

"Look I get that you don't like that were not making the negros and the Chinaman slaves but you need to learn to listen if you don't want to die out here."

"I'm not listening to you or your yellow friend so you best get over it." Merle said.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen." Rick told him and struck Merle on the head with the butt of his pistol. The brawny man fell to the ground. Rick hit him a second time to make sure he was unconscious and then holstered his colt again. "Help me get him up!" he called to Glenn who still over by the house. The Asian ran over and together they lifted the unconscious Merle.

"What.. are we gonna do with him?" Glenn asked straining under the weight.

"Let's get him into that house." Rick said nodding at the building he and Glenn had run to. They dragged Merle into the house and up the stairs and dropped him on the floor in the middle of a bedroom. Glenn was breathing heavily. "Go find some rope." Rick told him, "I don't want him waking up and chasing after us." Glenn nodded and disappeared out the bedroom door. Rick surveyed the man lying in front of him. On his belt Merle had two pouches for ammunition and caps. Rick was only carrying his pistol so the Springfield ammunition wouldn't do him much good. On Merle's left hip though was a large knife in a leather sheath. Rick reached down and drew it out. "Whew!" He muttered to himself. It was an old James Black Bowie knife* with a twelve inch blade; a deadly weapon. At that moment Glenn re-entered the room with a couple lengths of rope.

"Here." he said handing it to Rick.

"Take this." Rick responded trading Merle's knife for the rope. Glenn stared at the massive blade as he accepted it. "It's better than the little pig sticker you got." Rick told him nodding at the small knife Glenn had sheathed at his waist.

"But what if - what if he gets attacked while we're gone?"

"We'll lock the door. I don't want to leave it with him anyway. He could cut himself free."

"Okay.." Glenn eyed the huge knife uncertainly. Rick knelt down and began to bind Merle's hands behind his back. He pulled the Bowie knife's sheath off the man's belt and tossed it to the Asian.

"Don't cut yourself." he said half jokingly.

"Yeah. No kidding." Rick finished securing the knots and stood up, satisfied with his work.

"Let's get those supplies now." he said.


An hour and half later Rick and Glenn stood outside the front gates of Fort McPherson. They had wheeled an abandoned wagon up to the gates and much like Rick and Morgan had done two days earlier they were standing on it looking over the wall in awe and horror.

"Yeah. Doesn't look like we'll be getting in there any time soon." Glenn admitted as he looked out over the herd of dead Union soldiers and southern civilians.

"Probably not." Rick agreed. "Let's go ahead and check the perimeter of the fort anyway. Maybe there's or breach in it or perhaps there was some stuff stored outside."

The trip around the fort didn't take long, they didn't find any supplies but they did find four soldiers dead on the ground. They were all lying faces up feet toward the wall of the fort. Each one had walker bites on them. Rick knelt beside them and patted them down. None of them had weapons. "Their comrades inside the fort must have shot them and taken all their guns and ammo." Rick said.

"Well this was a waste of time." Glenn muttered.

"Speak for yourself." Rick told him. He unbuckled one of the Union soldiers belts and pulled it off of him. Rick removed his knife sheath and pistol holster from his braces and slid them onto the belt as he put it on himself. He looked up at Glenn, "You should take one. That big Bowie knife looks ridiculous hanging off the end of your brace like that.

Glenn chuckled nervously, "Okay." He took a belt off of one of the other soldiers and put it on moving both of his knife sheaths to it. "This feels funny." He commented, shifting his hips awkwardly.

"Yeah well you'll get used to it. Trust me soldiers wear these things for a reason."

"Should we get the others?" Glenn asked, "In case other people back at camp want them?"

"Yeah. Let's do that."

For the next several hours Rick and Glenn filled their rucksacks with whatever items they deemed might be useful. Knives, clothes and the occasional stash of dried food. Rick kept an eye out for any sign of Morgan while they were at it. Every few blocks or so he would make his way to the roof of a tall building and check the surrounding area. He never saw anything. Rick hoped desperately that the freedman was still alive. Eventually the two men finished their foraging and made their way back to where they left Merle. When they got there the house was surrounded.

"Oh shit." Glenn muttered.

A group of walkers three ranks deep were banging on the front door. Others spread around the building in a thin straggling line and Rick heard the distinct sound of breaking glass from around the back of the house.

"We gotta get him out of there." said Rick. Glenn looked up at him with a panicked expression on his face.

"How the hell are we gonna do that?"

"You lead them away. Do you know how to shoot a pistol?" Glenn shook his head, "Well then find some pans and bang them together, do something, just draw them away."

"Why does it have to be me? You have the gun."

"Because if you're the one who cuts Merle free he's likely to kill you, and as you said, I have the-" Rick stopped at a new sound coming from behind him. He turned and saw a herd of walkers turn the corner. Rick gave up all thoughts of rescuing Merle, "Ruuun!" he cried. They sprinted down the street. The walkers followed.

"This way!" Glenn shouted and ducked to the right between two of the houses. Rick followed. Behind the buildings the forest loomed in front of them and Glenn dashed toward the tree line. "We might be able to lose them in the woods!" He cried breathlessly. Rick didn't say anything and just followed him into the trees saving his breath for the running. The walkers chased them but their sharp turn off the road had gained Rick and Glenn some ground. Rick continued to follow the Asian's lead. He knew that the railroad was somewhere off to their left and that they were heading in some southeast direction but he lent his trust to Glenn's knowledge of the area. After about fifteen minutes of running Glenn slowed down to a much more tolerable jog. The walkers were out of sight but Rick could still hear them rustling in the bushes behind them. Not five minutes later they broke the treeline and Rick found himself running next to the railroad. They didn't stop. They just continued to jog down the track. Rick was suddenly brought back to the war. Quick marches filled his memory. There had been times he'd marched twenty and even thirty miles a day loaded with supplies. Men would throw all kinds of things away to lighten the load. Rick didn't want to ditch anything today.

Luckily it wasn't necessary. Forty minutes after arriving at the train-tracks they saw the welcome sight of a familiar wagon. "James!" Glenn shouted, "James! Get us out of here!" The young negro boy deftly turned the wagon around and raced toward them.

"You got walkers behind you?!" he asked they jumped into the wagon gasping for breath.

"Maybe." Glenn said breathlessly, "We might have lost them but they were on our tail not long ago."

"What about the -" James glanced at Rick, "What about Merle?"

"He - He got trapped."

"Just get us out of here!" Rick cried.

"You got it boss." and with a sharp cry James had the mules started up again and they were gone.


Whew! I think that was my longest chapter yet!

So we saw some more of Merle and got some more insight into the camp. What do you guys think of Shane's "peace"? And what do you think of Rick's reaction to it?

Also Daryl will be appearing in the next chapter so I want to hear your guesses on how he'll look. Points to anyone who gets something right ;D.