Hello!

My apologies for taking forever with this chapter. These past few weeks have been absolutely hectic so I appreciate your patience everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and here's to a fresh start in 2017!

Enjoy~

Back in the car and on the road again, Scarlett attempted to clean her bat using a few leaves she had picked up. She wouldn't use tissues or cloth, knowing that they would come in handy later. Once she was done with one leaf, she'd toss it out the window and move onto the next one.

Along a long stretch of road, Scarlett watched as Rick reached out and grabbed the car radio speaker, bringing it up to his lips.

"Broadcasting on emergency channel. Will be approaching Atlanta on highway 85," he began saying, speaking into static. "If anybody reads, please respond."

Rick dropped the speaker onto his lap while Scarlett turned her attention back out the window, watching as a few thunderclouds circled off in the distance.

"Hello, hello, can anybody hear my voice?" He continued. "Anybody out there? If anybody hears me, please respond."

Stringing out the same line over the radio every few minutes, Rick eventually gave up and put the radio away. It was depressing, hearing nothing on the other end of the broadcast. It made the pit in Scarlett's stomach deeper and she knew he felt the same way. She figured it would be all right eventually and was glad that they at least had a moving vehicle with them.

Scarlett was almost in disbelief when the car ran out of gas roughly thirty minutes after she'd praised their luck with the car. She looked over at Rick and he did the same, a loud sigh coming from the two of them.

"Now I know never to be optimistic ever again." Scarlett mumbled to herself as she got out of the car and grabbed her pack.

With all their things in hand, the two began their journey on foot. She'd offered to carry the bag of guns, but Rick refused. Figuring he could use a bit of a boost to his man-ego, Scarlett didn't push him too much on the matter. A few miles of walking in silence did her some good, knowing that talking would only make their journey more difficult than it needed to be. While there were thunderclouds off in the distance, the air was thick with humidity and Scarlett's hair had stuck itself against the sweat of her neck. Rick had offered her his hat for protection from the somewhat bright sky, but she politely refused him.

She'd almost missed the white house that had come up on their right, her eyes clouded with thought. It was only when Rick placed a hand on her shoulder that she stopped to see the small home. They approached it with an air of curiosity and caution, weary of the unknown. It looked abandoned, no sign of movement coming from inside the house. They walked up onto the porch, Rick keeping a hand on his gun while Scarlett did the same with Stella. Peering into one of the windows, it took every ounce of her being to not gag at the sight inside the house.

Two bodies remained in what looked like the living room of the small home. One of them was a woman, who remained spread out on the floor with a bullet wound protruding from her temple. The second of the two bodies was a man, seated in a lazy boy chair with a shotgun between his legs and the top of his head blown off. The words "GOD FORGIVE US" were written on the wall in blood.

Scarlett shook her head and looked away, trying to get the image out of her mind.

"Let's check the car." She mumbled after a moment.

While they had gotten lucky with the door of the car being open, Rick had let out a sigh when he failed to find the keys to get it moving. Scarlett slowly made her way around the back of the house and she came across a fenced in plot of land that looked just as disserted as everything else they had come across.

Well, that's what she thought at first.

"Rick!" Scarlett called, not caring about the volume of her voice. She was too shocked to look away from her discovery.

The sheriff had come running from the front of the house at her yell of his name, coming to a halting stop beside Scarlett as her discovery let out a neigh of protest.

A lone horse remained standing amongst the abandoned plot of land, it's only protection being the fence that kept it in place. It was a beautiful thing, seeing something so majestic. Especially in times like these.

"You know how to ride a horse?" Scarlett asked as Rick slowly opened the gate.

"It's been a few years, but I've done it before," he replied, carefully approaching the horse and uttering praises to it. "Hey there. What are you doing out here all alone?"

Somehow, Rick had managed to gain the trust of the horse. He stroked its face while Scarlett searched for some sort of reins for the stallion. Eventually finding something usable, she slowly approached the content animal and the sheriff.

"Think we can ride to Atlanta by horse?" Scarlett questioned as she gave Rick the reins.

"It's better than walking," Rick replied, sending her a quick look. "You ever rode a horse?"

"No, but there's a first time for everything, right?"

Rick chuckled at her nervous reply, carefully managing to get on the horse's back. Giving Scarlett a hand up, the man steadied the both of them on top of their new ride before giving a slight tug of the reins. The horse shot forward and Scarlett let out a small yelp as she tried to keep their supplies from flying off.

While her thighs and hips were screaming from the lack of a saddle on the horse, Scarlett was glad to be off her feet. She held on tightly to the back of Rick's shirt as they slowly made their way closer to the city. It was odd not seeing any walkers on their journey to Atlanta, leaving Scarlett unsure of whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe the army had cleared out all the infected near the city, but something about that logic didn't sit well with her.

They had somehow managed to get onto the highway that lead straight into the heart of Atlanta, the road leading into the city remaining abandoned with the one that lead out was packed with deserted cars. The sight made her stomach turn uneasy. Plus, she didn't notice any sort of military set up. Perhaps they were still on the outskirts of the safe zone.

She was looking for anyone at this point, her breathing turning shallow as they entered further into the city. There were no tents, no moving vehicles, and no people. The silence that rang in Scarlett's ears couldn't manage to drown out the rapid beat of her heart or the sounds of the horse's hooves hitting the pavement. Windows were smashed in, cars were burned into nothing, and the occasional bloodstain could be seen on the sidewalks. This was not the safety zone they had been looking for. The exact opposite feeling of safety sat heavy in the air, Scarlett keeping her eyes peeled for any movement and steadied her grip on the back of Rick's shirt.

"Rick, I don't like this." Scarlett stated, just barely above a whisper.

"Neither do I, but we need to keep going." The man replied, his gaze cast upon the street as he scanned the area.

"This isn't right. We should have come across someone by now…"

"I know, but let's go up a few more blocks. If we don't see anyone, we'll leave the city and figure out what to do next, okay?"

She didn't like the idea, but Scarlett remained quiet. Wanting to hold on to that tiny glimmer of hope of finding a safe zone just like Rick, her gut was telling her something completely different. She didn't feel safe, and she figured there was a pretty damn logical reason behind it.

Walking past a burned bus and hearing the sounds of shuffling, their horse let out a sound of fear. Scarlett watched as a few walkers trickled out what was left of the bus and begun moving towards them. Rick gave a quick snap of the reins and they trotted down the road and away from the approaching infected.

As she was about to state her displeasure of their surroundings once again, the sound of helicopter blades twirling picked up in her ears. She knew Rick had heard it as well by the way he stiffened and slowly looked up. Bringing her attention to the sky between the buildings, Scarlett searched for any sight of a living being. The continued through the streets, following the sound until Rick let out a small gasp.

"There, did you see it? In the reflection of the building?" He questioned, but Scarlett failed to see anything.

"No, but I definitely heard it," she replied, adjusting the bag on her back. "I say we go-"

It was when they had rounded one of the city corners that her voice halted in her throat. Scarlett had thought that she'd felt all forms of fear in her life, but nothing compared to the sight in front of her in that moment.

It was the largest herd she'd seen by far. Hundreds of walkers were packed together in between the city buildings, taking up every inch of space available to them. Their clothes were ripped, their bodies soaked with new and old blood, certain organs were pouring out from wounds in their skin, and their dead eyes had landed on them the moment they had trotted into their point of view.

Rick urged the horse to turn sharply and go back the way they came, the animal quickly following its instructions. Holding onto both Rick and the bag on her back, Scarlett could hear the herd of walkers coming after them. Their footsteps sounded like thunder and their voices all coursed together with moans and groans, echoing off the tall buildings that loomed over them.

In their attempts of getting away from the mob, yet another group of walkers blocked their path back out of the city. The two of them had nowhere to go as the infected slowly approached them from all angles. They were screwed and they knew it.

In a fit of panic and adrenaline, Scarlett began looking around at their surroundings. The majority of the buildings had their doors bashed in, a good number of the cars were burnt into nothing but metal frames, and the both of them were slowly losing time by the minute.

Only when the two of them had fallen off the horse did Scarlett notice the tank.

"Rick!" She cried from the pavement as she heard panicked and horrific noises coming from their horse, which was now overrun by the dead. The man had fallen just off to her left, locking eyes with her as dread filled both of their eyes.

Scarlett was beyond terrified. There was only the slightest chance that the two of them would get out of this alive and that scared her more than anything. She'd been through a lot in her life, enough to make her want to end it a few times. Never having the strength to leave her sister alone in this world, Scarlett came to the conclusion that she had only struggled through it for her. She'd gone to university, managed a few part time jobs at once, and worked her ass off as a paramedic to put food on the table all for her baby sister.

She'd wanted to give Victoria something Scarlett had never had.

A safe place to call home and the loving care that she deserved.

And now that Scarlett remained flat against a street with the dead walking around her and the possibility of death so close, she realized she wasn't ready to die. Not yet at least.

"Tank!" Was all Scarlett could yell through the crowd of walkers at Rick as she began crawling towards the armored vehicle. Not having a chance to see if he was following her, she managed to dodge a few walkers and slide her frame under the body of the tank. Much to her mild relief, Rick had managed to slide in beside her, though not without gaining the attention of a few infected.

The walkers had started trying to crawl under the tank after them, to which Scarlett and Rick reached for their firearms and began firing at will. Rick shot at one end while Scarlett shot at the other, the bodies slowly piling up but not fast enough to stop the trickle of walkers that were coming towards them.

Scarlett could feel Rick's eyes on her and she couldn't bring herself to look back at him, knowing that was his way of saying goodbye. She wouldn't do it, no matter how screwed they were, she couldn't look at him. Her eyes were watering either from fear or sadness and managed to un-blur her eyes to look up at a round opening into the tank.

She hadn't even thought of there being an entrance into the tank through its belly.

Grabbing Rick's arm, Scarlett crawled up into the body of the tank, urging him to follow her quickly. With bewildered eyes, her friend managed to get into the tank just in time for Scarlett to close the small circular door on the frantic hands of hungry walkers.

The both of them backed away from the sounds of scratching coming from the bottom of the tank, Rick ending up beside a dead body and Scarlett beside some radio equipment. That was when she had noticed that the hatch on top of the tank was still open and made a beeline up the ladder. Poking her head out to see the walkers ripping out the insides of the horse as well as crawling up the side of the tank, she quickly slammed the hatch shut and bolted it. The banging overhead startled her back into her spot by the radio, barely hearing both her and Rick's heavy breathing through the noise.

They weren't dead, but they were most certainly trapped.

Scarlett had almost mistaken the moaning from outside the tank to the one that came from the body beside Rick. She looked over just in time to see the walker grabbing a hold of him as he fired a shot into the walker's head.

The sound almost shattered her eardrums. It was astonishing that the bullet hadn't ricocheted off of one of the walls and buried itself into one of their heads. Clutching her ears like her life depended on it, Scarlett closed her eyes to try and ease the pain. It eventually subsided, much to her relief, and looked up to see the walker unmoving beside a worn-out Rick.

"A part of me wants to smack you for thinking it was a good idea to fire a gunshot inside a bulletproof tank, but you didn't have much of a choice." Scarlett mumbled, just barely managing to get a few breaths into her aching lungs.

She got nothing in response and she was fine with that, considering that it was a miracle that they were both still alive somehow. Closing her eyes and focusing on her breathing, Scarlett tried to ignore the sounds coming from outside the tank. They had a moment to rest, and she was truly grateful for that.

The sound of rumbled static startled her from her thoughts, her eyes darting to that of the radio equipment beside her. Rick had looked up from his lap as well and they both eyed it in surprise.

"Hey, you," a voice called through the radio, making Scarlett's heart stop at the sound of another human being. "Dumbasses. Yeah, you two in the tank. Cozy in there?"

Scarlett's eyes were wide in shock, slowly turning her head in Rick's direction. The man mirrored her exactly, both of them unsure on how to proceed. Were they hearing things?

The radio gave a few hisses, along with a few beeps.

"Hey, are you alive in there?" The voice asked again, and Scarlett shifted the equipment around in search of the returning walkie. Once she found it and had it securely in her grasp, Scarlett pressed the speak button.

"Yeah, we're still alive, smartass." Scarlett replied as Rick crawled over to the radio and sat beside her.

"There you are, you had me wondering." The voice answered, though the person didn't sound exactly thrilled by the name she had given them.

"Where are you? Outside? Can you see us right now?" Scarlett continued to question, her mind racing a thousand miles a minute.

"Yeah, I can see you," the voice said with a sigh. "You're surrounded by walkers. That's the bad news."

"There's good news?"

"No."

Scarlett sighed and passed the radio to Rick, figuring that he would get better answers from their new friend than she would.

"Listen, whoever you are, I don't mind telling you we're a little concerned in here." Rick told the person.

"Oh, man. You should see it from here. You'd be having a major freak-out."

"Got any advice for us?"

"Yeah, I'd say make a run for it."

Rick turned and looked at Scarlett who simply raised an eyebrow at him.

"That's it? 'Make a run for it'?" Rick questioned.

"My way's not as dumb as it sounds," the voice replied. "You've got eyes on the outside here. There's one geek still up on the tank but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down. With me so far?"

"So far."

"Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you move now while they're distracted, you two stand a chance," the voice continued. "Got ammo?"

Rick let out a sigh, giving Scarlett a troubled look. It was then where she realized their duffel bag full of ammo was nowhere to be found inside the tank.

"In that duffel bag I dropped out there, and guns. Can I get to it?" Rick questioned, his voice somewhat strained.

"Forget the bag, okay? It's not an option. What do you have on you?"

"Hang on."

Rick gave Scarlett the radio as he searched the clothing of the dead military walker that had attacked him only minutes ago. Scarlett counted her own bullets, and took her own inventory. The man crawled back to her, roughly a round of bullets in his hand and a grenade in the other.

"He's got a Beretta with one clip and I've got a Colt with the same, along with a metal bat." Scarlett spoke into the radio.

"I would stick with the bat if I were you. For him, he better make those shots count," the voice replied. "Jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe fifty yards. Be there."

Scarlett dropped the radio and gathered her things. She still had her bag with her and slung it on her back, sticking the Colt in the waistband of her jeans and gripping Stella firmly in her hands.

She hadn't even noticed that Rick had reached for the radio once again.

"Hey, what's your name?" He asked.

"Have you been listening? You're running out of time." The voice replied harshly.

"Right." Rick mumbled, turning to face Scarlett. She had already crawled up the ladder and had a hand on the latch, ready to leave whenever he was. Her friend gathered his wits, letting out a huff of air before giving her a quick nod.

Scarlett threw open the hatch and hoisted herself out of the tank, moving to the right side of the tank like the voice had told them too. Rick followed quickly behind her as she jumped off the side of the tank, swinging her bat into the head of the closest walker. The thing crumpled to the ground and they kept running. Rick was firing off his shots like a madman, not caring about the noise he was making. While they had already gathered the attention of the nearby walkers, they sure as hell weren't going unnoticed by them all now.

Continuously swinging her bat into the heads of the walkers that got a bit too close, Scarlett noticed that they were approaching the alley. Rounding the corner and ready to swing again, she came face to face with an Asian guy roughly her age, his panicked face and waving hands telling her not to attack him.

"Whoa! Not dead!" The guy yelled, ushering them to follow him down the alley. "Come on! Come on!"

Scarlett bolted, managing to keep up with the stranger. She continued to hear gunshots being fired and turned back to see Rick still firing into the crowd of walkers following them.

"Enough shooting! Get over here!" She screamed at him, grabbing his attention not just by the volume of her voice, but the tone. They were so close to getting out of this mess and she would not be losing him to something as stupid as him trying to be a hero. She could tell he understood that from the look in her eyes.

Scarlett followed the Asian up a shabby ladder that lead all the way up to a metal fire escape halfway up the building. Looking down, she watched as Rick just barely made it onto the ladder before the hoard of walkers replaced the pavement below like a wave.

Once on the fire escape, the three of them were a wheezing mess. Scarlett couldn't bring herself to look back down at the walkers below, fearing that a whole new wave of dread would wash over her.

"Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood," The stranger said, still breathing quite heavily. "You the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town?"

"It wasn't our intention." Rick replied, looking over at Scarlett.

"Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You're still a dumbass," the Asian replied, as he too turned his attention to her. "At least she brought a bat with her and wasn't firing away at everything that moved."

"Does that mean I'm no longer a 'dumbass'?" Scarlett questioned, still trying to breathe normally.

"Yeah, you've been promoted to smartass."

"I can live with that."

In other circumstances, Scarlett would have laughed. Everything seemed so surreal.

"I'm Rick, and this is Scarlett," her friend introduced. "Thanks."

"Glenn," The guy replied. "You're welcome."

The feeling of the fire escape shaking had them all looking down at the hoard of walkers, watching as some of them were attempting to either climb or shake them off the side of the building. Scarlett didn't know which one it was, but neither of those options turned out good for them.

"Oh no." Glenn mumbled.

Their new friend turned his attention to the ladder that continued up the side of the building all the way up to the roof. The only downside was that there was no protective ring to keep them from falling to their doom.

"On the bright side," Glenn continued, looking at the both of them. "It'll be the fall that kills us."

"An optimist," Scarlett sighed, her breath shaky. "Good, we need one of those."

"I'm a glass half full kind of guy."

"Noted."

One by one they all carefully climbed up the rickety yellow ladder and managed to get to the top of the building without anyone falling into the hoard of walkers down below. They walked across a few of the roofs belonging to moderately high buildings, cautiously walking along the air vents that connected them. Crossing over one of the alleys, Scarlett noticed that a large bus had blocked it off. She was about to comment on it, but Rick beat her to it.

"You the one who barricaded the alley?"

"Somebody did," Glenn answered as the hopped over a pipe, onto the next building. "I guess when the city got overrun. Whoever did it was thinking that not many geeks would get through."

They jogged along the rooftop and approached a hatch, which Glenn quickly opened.

"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for us?" Scarlett asked, eyeing him out of curiosity.

"Call it foolish, naïve hope that if I'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me," He replied, glancing at her quickly as he dropped his backpack down the hatch and began descending the ladder into darkness. However, he stopped and looked up at them. "Guess I'm an even bigger dumbass than you, Rick."

Disappearing down the hatch, Rick turned and gave Scarlett a look of mild bewilderment. Glenn had a point. Maybe they could have attacked him or gotten him killed, but he still went out of his way to help them. She gave Rick a halfhearted shrug before following Glenn down the hatch.

I don't know about you guys, but Glenn is one of my all-time favourite characters to date. I'm relieved to finally bring Glenn into the story, and more characters will be introduced in the next chapter :)

See you all in the new year!

All the best,

- GuiltyCalamity