The Doctor instinctively put himself in front of Amy and Rory when Rick lifted his gun. "I hate guns." the Doctor muttered under his breath.
"What're you doing here?" Rick asked.
Moments passed until Rick broke the silence with a more intense version of his previous question. "Surviving!" the Doctor replied with his years seeping into his voice. "Just like you! Isn't that our right? A universal right?"
"Give me a reason why I shouldn't pull the trigger."
"Would you kill an unarmed bunch of people? People who pose no threat at all?"
Rick thought for a moment then said to Maggie and Glenn to pat them down.
"We're unarmed, I swear. This isn't-" the Doctor began.
"You shut your mouth or I'll blow it off." Rick said moving closer to the Doctor until the barrel of his revolver was inches away from his forehead.
The pat down continued. Rick moved away, still pointing the gun. Glenn went to pat down Amy. When he did so Amy lifted her eyebrows in a flirty manner. "You're going to have to take me out to dinner first, pretty boy." Glenn blushed and Rory was both angry and jealous.
"Oh please. You can just ask for the eyebrows anytime, Mr. Roman." Amy said to her husband. That made him feel much better.
Maggie was patting down the Doctor when she felt something of considerable length in his coat pocket. She took it out while the Doctor's brain ran through many different cover stories at once in desperate search to find a good one. Maggie held it up to Rick and Rick, still pointing the gun, took it and held it up. "Explain." he said.
"It was a gift. From an old friend. Two weeks before this happened," the Doctor gestured to the world, "he gave this to me on my birthday."
"Happy birthday." Carol said.
Rick looked at Carol. Had it already been this long? Two more weeks and it would have been three years. When was it going to end? Rick held up the sonic screw driver. What in the world is this and what did it do?
"What's it do?" asked Rick, pointing the gun at the group of strangers.
The Doctor's hearts were pounding because he didn't know what to say. "It's uhh…it's a prop from a science fiction TV show. My friend worked on set of a TV show. Raising the Sun, it was called." The Doctor laughed inside at the fake name he had given to a fake science fiction TV show. "See, press that button there. It doesn't get more science fiction than that."
Rick, still pointing, press the little button and make a tolerable noise that made a whizzing sound. Rick released the button and there was a long silence of which there was a battle in Rick's head debating whether or not he should save them. They posed no immediate threat. Heck, no threat at all.
"Rick," Carol broke in, "why do we have to take lives? Aren't we trying to survive just like them? You said we don't kill the living, so why are you pointing a gun at a scared group of people?"
Rick thought about it. He ignored the whole "we don't kill the living" motto. But, it was there right, wasn't it? To live and let live. He was a man of protecting people's rights before any of this happened. If he wasn't in the hospital his office would be all over this, protecting the welfare of the people, giving them a chance to live. He'd be putting his life on the line for someone who probably deserved to die. So why would he kill someone for trying to live? Whatever police officer or soldier died to protect anyone would be in vain. If they gave their life because they were trying to protect these people, giving them a chance to see light at the end of the tunnel, then their life would be in vain. Rick, if he hadn't been in the comma, if he was out there at the start and gave his life for someone he didn't know, he wouldn't want his life to be in vain if whoever he would have protected was shot by some idiot who was scared to have another living person live with them. With the good side winning the debate in his head, he lowered the gun. Amy, Rory, and the Doctor all gave an exhale of relief. Awaiting their new adventure, Rick continued to think. How many people died in vain because someone chose to kill someone else?