As we were walking down the street towards the man's house it was deadly quiet, it felt so awkward. "So. . uh. . who are you two anyways. . ?" The man stopped for a second, shook his head and continued to walk down the street. I rolled my eyes, cursed under my breath and readjusted Rick's foot weight on my hands because they started to cramp. The man whistled, the boy stopped in his tracks, he knew what the man meant. He looked around, saw what he was looking for and went up to a person that looked like one of those things that was outside the hospital and stabbed it in the head and came back to us. I stopped dead in my tracks. "What the hell is going on?" I asked loudly, readjusting Rick's feet again. The man hushed me and tugged Rick's body, making me follow his lead.

When we got to the front of the house, more of those things started to come towards us. "Get the door, Duane!" The man quietly yelled as we climbed up the stairs to the porch and into the house. Duane shut the door behind us quietly and locked the door. The man led me into a small bedroom and we set Rick down on the bed. The man began to take out some rope and tie Rick's hands and feet to the poles of the bed. "What do you think you're doing?" I asked, glaring at him.

He sighed and continued to tie up Rick, "He might be a threat," he said calmly.

"A threat? How? He's passed out."

"Don't be stupid! He could be bit with that wound."

"I already told you he was shot!"

He got up close to my face, "How do I know you're lying, huh? He could've lied to you and you would never know." I could feel his hot breath on my face and just nodded.

I pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down and watch him as he finished tying Rick up. "Bit. . . What did he mean by that? Like rabies?" I thought to myself, I had no idea what he meant, but whatever, I'd probably find out sooner or later and it would probably be better to know what he was talking about when Rick wakes up. I sighed and asked, "What's your name? Since we might be here for a while. I'm Jade Waldgrave."

"I'm Morgan Jones and that's my son, Duane," He pointed out the bedroom door to the boy who was staring out the boarded up window.

When Morgan got done tying up Rick he started looking at me, "Do you want some different clothes?" I was confused for a second then I remembered that I was still in my hospital gown, "Sure, thanks." He went out the bedroom door," Follow me." I got up from the chair, looked at Rick for a moment and left the room. I followed him up the stairs, he took me into a room and opened a big closet filled with different kinds of clothes. "Pick whatever you want," he said as he left the room. I rubbed my hands together and smiled evilly, I would finally get out of this ugly hospital gown. I began to rummage through the clothes in the closet.

"You're back!" A voice in the other room exclaimed. Morgan and the other person began to talk, I couldn't help but listen in silence even though it was wrong. After a few moments of listening to them talking the voice sounded familiar, I dropped the piece of clothing I was holding and rushed out of the room and towards the voices. When I ran into the room we locked eyes for a moment, I ran towards her and gave her the biggest hug and tears began running down my face, "Kira. . ! I've found you!" She buried her face into my neck and began to cry. I pulled her back and began to look at her face, I rubbed her face with my thumbs and put my forehead on hers. "W-why isn't Trevor with you. . ?" She sniffled and began to talk, "He left me to get eaten by the monsters! . . Morgan found me and took me here." I hugged her again tightly, "If I ever see him again he's a dead man. ." I mumbled.

I stood up and took Kira by the hand, I noticed that Morgan was still in the room. I felt embarrassed for the scene I just made. "I-I'm sorry for making a scene. ." He shook his head and gave me a smile, "I would've reacted the same way." I gave him a smile and nodded. I took Kira back to the other room, she sat on the bed while I kept looking for an outfit that I could wear. After a while I found some clothes, I went to go find Morgan. "Stay here, Kira," I said as I left the room. "Okay," she sounded disappointed that I didn't want her to come with me.

I walked down the stairs and found Morgan putting blankets over the windows. "Could you get the other windows, Jade?" I nodded and grabbed a few blankets, "Sure." I stood up on a stool and began to put the blankets over the windows, when I looked between the boards of the window I saw those things everywhere, I decided not to think about it right now; there were other things I had to think about right now like Rick, Kira, and how I could kill Trevor the next time I saw him. It would be better anyways to ask the questions to Morgan when Rick wakes up so he wouldn't have to bother explaining it twice. When I finished putting up the blankets I went back to Morgan in the kitchen. "Hey Morgan, could I use your shower?" I asked as I itched at my dirty scalp. Morgan shook head, "I don't think that's a good idea. . . I would only use it as a last resort, the gas lines have been down for about a month and the water is bitterly cold." I sighed and went up the stairs to get changed in the bathroom.

I closed the door behind me and began to take off my gown. I stopped for a moment and took out the picture of Kira and her charm bracelet. I set them on the counter, let the gown fall at my feet and kicked them across the room. "Adios, ugly gown." I slipped on some light blue skinny jeans, a black tank top, a large, brown cardigan and a pair of plain socks and some converse. I opened a cupboard and pulled out a brush and brushed out my hair, it took forever to get everything decent and for it not to look a rats nest. I looked in the mirror, I looked normal except for the stitched on my forehead. Oh well, they make me look pretty bad ass, not gonna lie. I grabbed the picture, folded it neatly and put it in the pocket of my cardigan. I then picked up the charm bracelet and put it in my pants pocket.

I walked out of the bathroom and looked in the room Kira and I was, no sign of Kira. I rolled my eyes and headed down the stairs. I went in the bedroom Rick was in to check in on him and saw Kira sitting in the chair and staring at him. She looked up at me and asked, "Who is this guy?" I picked her up from the chair, sat on the chair and sat her on my lap, "That is Rick." I rested my chin on her shoulder.

"Why is he tied up?"

I shrugged, "Morgan wants him to be tied up, he says he could be a threat. . and that he's bitten." I could feel Kira tense up.

"I-is he bit?"

I shook my head, "I don't think so." I paused and reached into my pants pocket to grab the charm bracelet. "You missing something?" I asked as I dangled it in front of her face.

She squealed quietly and grabbed the charm bracelet from my hands, "How did you get it?!"

I smiled and helped her put it on her wrist, "I went home looking for you and when I got into your room I found it and I figured you might like it when I found you."

She hugged me tightly, "Thank you! You know how much I love this charm bracelet."

I tousled her hair, "You better love it! I got it for you for your birthday!"

She smiled widely, "I do! I love it so much!"

"I'm so jealous!"

"We can share it!"

I hugged her tightly, "Oh thank you, Princess Kira."

Kira smiled and jumped out of my lap, "I'm gonna go get a comic book from Duane, I'll be right back!"

I smiled at her and kissed her on the forehead, "Okay, Monkey."

After a few moments, Kira entered the room and plopped back down on my lap with some comic books. Kira and I had been reading comics for a while, then Morgan came in with a bowl of water, a rage and some bandages, "I'm just going to redress his wound so it doesn't get infected." I got up, placed Kira on the chair and went over to Morgan. "Do you need any help?" I asked as I put my hands on my hips. He nodded and handed me the bandages, "Hold these." I grabbed them and watched as he peeled the bandages off of Rick's skin and began to wash the wound with the rag. I handed him the bandages, took the dirty ones and threw them into a trashcan in the corner of the room. "That should do, for now," Morgan said, wiping his hands clean.

I went over back to Kira and sat on the chair with her on my lap and we continued to read the comics. A few minutes later Rick began to wake up. I looked up from the comic book we were reading, Morgan looked down at him while cleaning the rag he was using, "We got that bandages changed now. . It was pretty bad." He looked at Rick, "What was it? The wound." Rick looked confused for a moment but then answered, "Gunshot."

"Gunshot? What else? Anything?"

"A gunshot ain't enough?"

Morgan got closer to the bed and pointed at Rick, "Look, I ask and you answer, it's common courtesy, right?" He leaned in close to Rick, "Did. You. Get. Bit?"

Rick had a confused look on his face, "Bit?"

"Bit, chewed, maybe scratched, anything like that?"

"No, I got shot. Just shot. . far as I know."

Morgan reached out his hand towards Rick's face, Rick tried to move his face away from his hand. "Hey. . just let me," Morgan said as he began to touch Rick's forehead, "Feels cold enough. . . Fever would've killed ya by now."

Rick looked at Morgan, "I don't think I have one."

Morgan raised an eyebrow, "Be hard to miss." Morgan pulled out a knife and put it close to Rick's face, "Take a moment, look how sharp it is. If you try anything I will kill you with it and don't you think I won't."

I tensed up when he had said that, I wanted to do something but then decided it would be better not to. He seemed like a decent enough man, he saved Kira from. . . monsters? All I know is that he saved Kira and I'm so grateful he did that and even though his son hit Rick in the head with a shovel he brought him back here and redressed his wound. Morgan is probably just looking out for his family and probably wouldn't hurt us until we tried to hurt him or his son first. I watched as Morgan began to cut off the rope that Rick was tied to. "Come on out when you're able," he said as he walked out the bedroom door. He looked at me before he completely left and said, "Dinner will be ready soon if you're hungry." Kira jumped off my lap, "I wanna help make dinner!" She exclaimed quietly, rushing after them. I smiled, I had my Kira back and she was okay.

I looked down at Rick who was rubbing at his wrists, "You ready to eat?" He nodded and got up from bed, I offered my shoulder to him but he just shook his head. I wrapped a blanket around his body, "You must be cold, in your underwear and all." I laughed a little and he gave me a light smile and we left the bedroom so we go to the other room and eat. I went into the kitchen and sat down next to Kira, she couldn't stop smiling at me and I couldn't stop smiling at her. Rick began to look around the house, "This place. . Fred and Cindy Drakes." Morgan looked at Rick the doorway of the kitchen and shrugged, "Never met em."

Rick began to move around the living room, "I've been here, this is their place."

"It was empty when we got here."

Rick went towards the window and began to touch the blanket on top of it.

"Don't do that. . ! They'll see the light. There's more of them out there than usual. I never should've fired that gun today. . ." Morgan began to move food to the table, "Noise draws them, now they're all over the streets." He began to mumble to himself, "Stupid. . using a gun." He spoke up again, "But it happened so fast, I didn't think."

Rick entered the kitchen, "You shot that man today."

"Man?"

"Weren't no man," Duane chimed in.

"The hell was that out your mouth just now?" Morgan asked, disgusted in his son's grammar.

"It wasn't a man." Duane corrected himself.

Rick came closer to Morgan, "You shot him in the street out front, A MAN."

"You need glasses, that was a walker. ." He waved his hand toward the table, "Common, sit down before you fall down."

Rick sighed as he sat down at the table. Just as Rick started to eat Duane interrupted him, "Daddy," he said, "Blessin'." Rick and I looked at Morgan and Duane join hands so I grabbed Kira's and Rick's. "Lord we thank thee for this food," Morgan began, "Thy blessing. We ask you to watch over us in these crazy days. . Amen." We all began to eat our food, which was beans. Morgan started to look at us, "Hey, do you two even know what's goin' on?" I shooked my head and looked at Rick, and he looked right back at me. "We both only woke up today," he explained, "at the hospital. . . We went to Jade's house and then to my house, looking for our families and that's all I know."

I watched as Morgan and Duane gave glances to each other while I ate some of my beans. "You know about the dead people, right?" Morgan asked, breaking the silence. I swallowed down my beans and began to talk, "Yeah, we saw tons of them out on the loading docks." Morgan shook his head, "No, not those ones. They put those ones down I mean the ones they didn't." Morgan looked at both of our confused faces and kept talking, ". . Their walkers. Like the one I shot today. 'Cause he would've ripped into either one of you, tried to eat you. . or try to take the flesh at least." He sighed, "Well if I guess this is the first time you've heard this then, I know how it must sound." Rick pointed towards the boarded up windows with his spoon, "They're out there now? In the street?" "Yea. . They get more active after dark sometimes, maybe it's the cool air, or hell maybe it's me firing off that gun today. . . We'll be fine as long as we stay quiet. Probably wonder off till morning. There's one thing I do know. . Don't get bit. I saw your bandage, and that's why we were frightened of. Bites kill ya, the fever burns ya out. But then after a while . . . You come back." He looked at Rick and then at me, I got chills down my back. Duane looked up from his plate and at us, "Seen it happen. ." It was all silent again and we started to finish our beans.

After we got done eating our beans, we piled our dishes on the counter and made our way into the living room. Morgan threw a pillow on the couch where Rick was sitting and two in front of the couch were Kira and I were and then he got settled in his spot with Duane. We sat in silence for a moment. "Carl," Morgan said, breaking the silence, "He your son? You. . You said his name today."

Rick nodded, "He's a little younger than your boy."

"And he's with his mother?" Morgan asked with concern.

"I hope so. . ."

"Dad. . ?" Duane mumbled. He was almost asleep. "Did you ask him?

Morgan laughed quietly and said, "Your gun shot, we got a little bet goin'. My boy says you were a bank robber."

Rick smiled and shook his head, "Yeah, that's me. Deadly as Dillinger. Kapow!" He chuckled, "Sheriff's Deputy."

Morgan nodded, "Ah-hah, I see."

All of a sudden a car's alarm went off, everybody jumped, startled by the sudden noise. I put Kira close to me and I rubbed her back soothingly and began to whisper in her ear, "It's okay. . ." Morgan also began to comfort Duane, "Hey, it's okay, daddy's here. . One of them must've bumped on the cars." Rick got up from the couch, "You sure?" Morgan nodded, "It's happened once before. Went off a few minutes." Morgan and I got up from out spots too. "Get the light, Duane," Morgan whispered. Duane got one of the lights and Kira got the other one. Morgan moved one of the blankets slightly so Rick and I could peer through in between the boards. "It's the blue one, down the street," Morgan said, giving us more room to look. "Same one as last time, I think we're okay. ." Rick looked at Morgan with concern, "The noise, won't that bring more of them?" Morgan shook his head, "Nothing we can do about it now. Just gotta wait em out till mornin'."

Kira and Duane began to look out the window but through another hole. Duane gasped, "She's here. . . !" "Don't look! Get away from the window," Morgan demanded, but Duane kept looking. "I said go!" He whispered. Duane ran to where they were sleeping and began to weep into a pillow. "Quite, common, quiet. Shh. . shh. . ." I moved away from the window and went towards the door to look out the peephole, I saw a woman who was a walker, before she turned I bet she was beautiful. I hear Morgan whisper to Duane, "It's okay. . . cry into the pillow. . shh." The walker began to toy with the door handle. Freaked out I moved away from the door and sat next to Kira in front of the couch. "She, uh. . died on the bed in the other room there," Morgan said. "I didn't know about it yet. That fever, man. I should've put her down, I know I should've. I just didn't have it in me. . ."

You could still hear the rattling of the door handle. Kira and I snuggled with each other and after a few minutes, everything was all silent again. I put my forehead against Kira and closed my eyes. Kira was lying next to me and I couldn't be happier. But with what was going on outside made me feel uneasy. What was going to become of us?