Hello everyone! Thank you for you patiently waiting for this update. I'm working on a couple original stories which has taken a bit of my time away. On top of that I've been learning more about writing and honing my skills. So perhaps my time off will have a positive affect on this story.

Guest Reviewers:

Cleo: Lori is definitely not an angel. The real question is what is Rick's opinion? Is he being a good leader because he truly sees the freedmen as equal? Or is he just trying to make sure they don't leave like he told Lori? Keep reading to find out! ;)
Shane is totally a punk; however he's one of those punks that's actually useful up to a point.

Guest: I'm glad you're liking the story :). The update is here!


Rick pulled the trigger. CRACK! The walker's forehead burst open and the already dead body fell to the ground. Ricked watched it fall and checked to see how Shane was doing. Shane nodded at him from other side of Jimmy's mules.

"Looks like there's a few coming out from the houses up ahead!" Shane called. Rick looked up ahead of James' wagon where Daryl rode his mustang. Three walkers were heading towards him. As soon as Rick saw them one fell to the ground with an arrow in his head. Daryl knocked a second arrow drew the bow back and released. Two were down. Daryl drew his third arrow, knocked it and within seconds of Rick seeing them all three walkers were dead.

The coast was now clear up front and Rick looked back at the end of the convoy. Andrea was somewhere behind Dale's covered wagon. Rick couldn't see her but what he did see was a steadily growing group of walkers trailing her. At the moment they weren't close enough to be a threat.

The wagons moved quickly through the town and Rick jogged along side them to keep up. As he did so Rick continued to scan his side of the road. They passed through an intersection and Rick could see a couple walkers turn their heads and start walking towards them. They couldn't reach the convoy before it passed so Rick ignored them. CRACK! Rick snapped his head around to look at the other side of the convoy and saw Shane's pistol was smoking. No walkers were standing so Rick turned his attention back to his own side of the road. Vaguely Rick noticed that there were more trees and less houses. He didn't think much of it and watched the woods sharply keeping and eye out for movement. Suddenly Shane broke him out of his reverie.

"I think we're in the clear now!" His friend shouted. Rick glanced around and realized there wasn't a house in sight. No walkers were visible either. He looked back behind the convoy and saw they still had their tail. The group of walkers behind Dales wagon was closer and bigger now.

"Right!" Rick shouted back at Shane, "We got some behind us. Let's go help Andrea clear 'em out!" Shane nodded and the two of them jogged to the rear of the convoy.

When they reached the back of Dale's wagon Andrea was jogging behind it slowly all but ignoring the ten or so walkers nearly fifty yards behind her. When she saw Rick and Shane she gestured at the group, "They're too far away to catch us." She said, "Figured I shouldn't waste the ammo."

"Good thinking." Rick told her, "But it looks like we're in the clear except for that group now and I'd like to let the wagons slow down before we kill the animals." Rick stopped jogging came to a halt. Andrea and Shane stopped with him. "Let's wait until they're about twenty yards away." He said, "Then we'll start shooting." Rick knew a well trained shooter could shoot a colt at fifty yards or more but he wanted to make sure the walkers were well within range. It had been ages since Shane had fired a pistol and Andrea couldn't have as much experience as he himself did.

The walkers neared and Rick fired the first shot. Andrea and Shane followed. Three walkers fell dead. Rick recocked his pistol and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Shots sounded from Shane and Andrea's weapons. Cursing Rick cocked hist Colt again and the gun automatically rotated to the next chamber. Rick pulled the trigger and this time the shot went off and another walker fell. Rick fired two more shots as the other two emptied their pistols next to him. More bodies fell and only two walkers remained a mere twenty feet away. Rick rotated his cylinder back to the misfired chamber and recapped it. He cocked, aimed, and pulled. The cap exploded and the shot cracked striking the lead walker, blood splattering out of it's pale gray forehead. Rick reached for the knife at his waist to deal with the final walker. He took a step forward with the knife in his hand when an arrow whizzed over his head and struck the walker between the eyes. It stumbled, and then fell slowly to the ground. Rick turned around and saw Daryl sitting on the back of his horse holding his bow. The woodsman dismounted from the mustang and walked past Rick, toward the dead the walkers.

"At least I can get this one back." He growled, "Every other arrow I've fired in this mess is gone."

Rick watched Daryl yank his arrow out of the walker's skull and wipe it on the front of his cutoff shirt. "Hey can you ride back and let the drivers know they can slow down?" he asked

"Yeah fine." Daryl responded gruffly, returning the arrow to its quiver and walking back to his horse

"Thanks; and tell James to set an easy pace. We'll be stopping for the night soon but I want to get near Sheffield before we do."

"Got it." Daryl was mounting his horse. He sat in the saddle and looked down at Rick, "Anything else you want me to say?" He demanded.

"Yeah. Let James know I'll be needing a ride into Sheffield when we get there."

"Anything else..?"

"No."

"Good." Daryl turned the mustang around spurred the animal forward after the convoy.


"Make sure you are pointing the gun away from you when you load it!" Shane cried. "And make sure it's pointed DOWN as you cap it. Do NOT fully cock the weapon until you are pointing it at your target!" A ragged line of trainees stood out in the forest with targets of varying distance marked on the trees in front of them. On the left end of the line Theodore held the double barreled shot gun. James stood to his right aiming Rick's Springfield Rifle. and Glenn was beside him holding one of the Colts he and Rick had found. Next to them Jimmy held the other one. At the very end of the line Carl was loading Rick's Colt. Shane refused to let his Enfield be practiced with and it was slung over his shoulder as he went pacing back and forth shouting orders. Dale stood behind the group with Rick and waited for his turn with one of the weapons.

"We're gonna fire one at a time so we don't make too much noise at once and so I can see how each of you do! Shane continued in a loud voice, "Theodore! Fire." The stocky freedman pulled one of his triggers and struck target marked about 30 yards in front of him.

"James fire." Shane ordered. James' target was set at closer to fifty yards as the Springfield rifle was by far the most accurate fire-arm in the line-up. The young freedman hit the tree but missed the target.

"Glenn fire." The Asian's pistol target was set at about 40 yards. He narrowly missed.

"Jimmy." Jimmy pulled his trigger and struck the target.

"Carl. You fire now." Shane said nodding at the boy. After his son's performance the day before Rick had set Carl's target up at a full fifty yards. The boy looked at it, turned around walked about five yards back before spinning back again to aim. He cocked Rick's colt and fired. Wood chips flew out of the tree where the bullet struck; right on target. Shane whistled, "Try that again Carl." He said. Carl recocked the pistol and fired again. Again wood chips flew out of the target. Shane looked at Rick, "I think your son needs to pick a harder target." Rick smiled.

Shane turned to the rest of the group, "Alright, let's get back to it. Theodore! Fire your second shot. James! Start reloading that rifle. The rest of you check your primers and get ready to fire!" As they followed Shane's orders Rick walked over to Carl.

"Looks like you've become quite a sharpshooter." Carl's face flushed at the praise. "Tell you what. I think you deserve the hat." Rick said and taking his Boss hat off he placed it on his son's head.

"Won't you need it?" Carl asked looking up at him from beneath the wide brim.

"Nah. Besides it looks better on you." Rick reached forward and tilted the front of the hat upward so his son could see better. "Now how about you go back to the line and we'll see just how far you can shoot."


It was mid afternoon when Glenn gave in to his tired legs and climbed up onto the front seat of James' wagon. His friend smiled at him; Glenn was too tired to return it and just leaned back against the back of the seat.

"How long before we reach Monroe?" he asked.

"Rick said it was about eight miles away when we were foraging Broken Arrow," James replied, "So maybe three hours away now."*

Glenn just nodded, "Hopefully we'll get more supplies there than we did in Broken Arrow. Rick says it's the county seat so there ought to be more houses there."

James nodded and the two men rode in silence for a while. Glenn glanced around and took in the convoy from his new position. Shane was still up ahead of them leading the way but Rick had dropped back with his family and was walking next to Jimmy's wagon. Jimmy's kids, Sam and Eric were playing along side of them. Occasionally the two boys would try to get Carl to join them but the young Grimes never did.

Further back, Andrea and Amy were almost out of Glenn's sight. They had been up by Jimmy's wagon earlier but they had been steadily dropping further and further back all day. Now the two sisters were obscured by Dale's team of mules as they walked next to his wagon.

"So what's it like carrying a gun?" James asked. Glenn consciously reached down touched the colt pistol holstered at his hip. Rick had insisted he carry one because he went foraging every day. No one had argued.

"It's kind of scary." Glenn admitted, "I mean this thing can kill a man with the simple pull of a trigger. That's frightening."

"Surely it makes you feel safer though." James insisted.

"I guess... maybe." said Glenn, "I don't know the thing feels dangerous even in my hands. I don't really like it."

"Well think of it like this. You holding that gun helps keep the peace."

"What do you mean?"

"Couldn't you tell? Rick was playing politics with who got the guns."

"Playing politics? Why?" Glenn asked, flabbergasted.

"Because the white people don't want us to have guns."

"Okay, but he gave us guns."

"Yeah, but not all of us. Just you and Theodore."

"He's letting you use his rifle."

"He is, but only when we go foraging. I don't blame him. He had three guns to give. The whites want all their people armed before we are, especially Jimmy. But Rick knows we won't stand for that. So he plays politics. He gives Jimmy a gun to appease him and then he gives Theodore the shotgun because he's the most outspoken Negro. Of course that's not enough he can't have only one colored person while five whites are carrying and expect everything to go smoothly. So he gives you a gun and says it's because you risk your life all the time. No one can argue with that, not even Jimmy. Now most of the colored men are armed, only four white people are armed and the two most outspoken men in both groups are armed. Crisis averted. For now anyway."

Glenn considered what James had said. It was obvious Rick had given guns to Jimmy and Theodore to appease them, but Glenn hadn't considered the idea that giving him a gun had been a calculated move. Now that James had said it it seemed rather obvious. Glenn wasn't sure how he felt about that. Unfortunately he didn't have much time to dwell on it. A few hours later they got to Monroe and Glenn had to prepare for their push through the town; and of course his subsequent forage of it.


What did you think of the adventure through Rock Bridge? The logistics of travel is probably the most significant difference between my story and the show. Driving through a small town in a car is insanely easy. Characters in the show constantly rely on the doors and windows of their cars to keep them safe. That doesn't work when your "engine" is a living animal that's unprotected.

*On average a heavy mule drawn wagon will travel two miles an hour. James says that Broken Arrow and Monroe are eight miles apart which would mean about four hours travel time. By the time Glenn asks how long it will take they've been traveling for about an hour so they're about six miles away.

I've posted pictures on my tumblr of the "Boss of the plains hat" that Carl is wearing. The hat was the first of the famous "Stetson" hats that ruled the Wild West. The hat was famous for having a relatively wide brim and being extremely water proof. Advertisements would actually claim that a Boss of the Plains Hat could be used in lieu of a canteen to carry water. There are personal accounts from cowboys that affirm this. To see what it looks like and for more information on it check it out on my tumblr page jasonblakeposts. The latest map has been posted there as well and you can see exactly where Rock Bridge is and how far the group has come.