I woke up to Morgan shaking me vigorously, "I'm up! I'm up!" I groaned. I slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes. I saw that Kira was already up, she smiled at me when she noticed me. I stood up from the ground and went into the kitchen. I picked her up and gave her a big kiss on the cheek, "Hey Mini-Me." She giggled as I put her down. I heard Rick coming down the stairs and saw him enter the kitchen wearing clothes. "Oh no, now I can't see your battle wound, it was quite attractive," I teased. Rick just smiled and shook his head at me. He stood by Kira and smiled down at him, "Who is this?" I grabbed some leftover beans from the table, "I never did properly introduce you two yesterday, huh? Well, this is Kira. The one I told you about."

"Ah, so this is the Kira. Your sister was worried sick about you."

I handed Rick some beans and began to eat some, "We'll start looking for your family today, I promise. . ."

Rick just looked down at his beans for a moment and began to eat.

Morgan entered the kitchen, "When ya'll are done eating meet me in the living room." We nodded and ate our food quickly. After we were all done eating we entered the living room, Morgan gave us all weapons and flashlights, he even gave Rick and I backpacks to put supplies in. "You're going to be needing these. Come, follow me. I'll show you what to do,"We all grabbed our things and headed out the door and onto the porch. "Are you sure they're dead?" I asked Morgan as we stood on the porch for a moment, "I have to ask just one more time. . ." Morgan nodded and headed down the stairs, "They're dead. Except for something in their brain, that's why it's gotta be the head."

The rest of us followed him down the stairs and into the driveway. A walker got up from a white fence and headed towards us. Rick went right to it and began to smash it's head open. When he finished he kneeled down to the ground and grabbed at his side. I went over to him and knelt on the ground, "Rick, are you alright?" "I need a moment. . ." Rick said in a shaky voice. "Jade," Kira whispered, "I've killed walkers before, all by myself!" I rubbed her on the head, "That's good, Monkey." I went up to a stray walker to test out my strength against them, I positioned the bat and myself, then WHAM. Straight at the head, but it kept coming, it took several times for me to take it down with just a bat. "Damn. . ." I muttered.

He slowly got up to his feet, "I know where to find some weapons." He paused for a moment and caught his breath, "They're alive, my wife and son. . . At least they were when they left. "He started to walk out of the driveway and out in the streets, Kira took my hand we followed him.

"How can you know?" Morgan asked, walking beside Rick.

"When I got there I found empty drawers in the bedrooms, they packed some clothes, not a lot but enough to travel."

Morgan raised his eyebrows, "You know anyone could've broken in and stolen clothes, right?"

"Our photo albums, family pictures, all gone. Do you think a thief took those?" Rick asked as he eyed Morgan.

"Photo albums. . ." Morgan started to laugh, "My wife. . same thang. There I am packing survival gear and there she is grabbing photoalb-" He couldn't finish his sentence, you could tell her was about to burst into tears.

Duane got in between Rick and me, "They're in Atlanta, I bet."

"That's right," Morgan said.

"Why there?" Rick and I asked.

"Refugee center," Morgan began, "HUGE one they said before the broadcast stopped. Military protection, food, shelter. They told people to go there. . . Said it'd be safest."

"And they get a disease place," Duane chimed in.

"Center for disease control. Said they were working out how to solve this thang. . ."

Rick walked up his driveway, he turned to us, "Stay here I'll be a minute." We kept watch while he went inside, moments later he came out with a duffel bag and a set of keys. "We're going to the station for the weapons." I looked around, "Don't you have a vehicle we could take to get there?" He nodded, "It is quite far away. I do have my police car in the garage." Rick walked to the garage door and pulled it up. Rick got to the car and opened the door, "Everyone get in." We nodded, Morgan sat in the passenger seat in the front and Duane, Kira and I occupied the back.

I held Kira's hand in mine, I rubbed her hand with my thumb and looked out the window while Rick drove. Before I knew it Rick was pulling into the station. I opened the car door and helped Kira out. We walked up to the station's door and Rick opened it. When Rick opened the door it was pitch black, except the lighting coming through the blinds. Rick pulled up the blinds, making the room much brighter. Rick lead us to a showering room and turned on a shower. "Morgan told me that the gas lines have been down for maybe I month," I informed Rick as I leaned against the wall. Rick reached out his hand towards the water and began to touch it, "Station's got its own propane system. Pilots still on." Rick grabbed Morgan and Duane by the shoulder and headed towards the door. "Ladies first," he said as they all left.

Kira and I began to strip. I kicked off my converse, started slipping off all of my clothing, folded it and set it on the bench. I walked into the shower and Kira went in the one next to mine. I turned on the water and enjoyed how hot and steamy it was. I squeezed some shampoo into my hand and began rubbing it into my scalp, when I was done I handed it to Kira. "This feels so good. . .I don't even know how long it's been since I showered. . !" Kira stared at the shampoo bottle for a moment, "You were in a coma for so long, Jade. . . When everything happened he wouldn't let me see you! Then he just left me. . . I was surrounded by monsters, Jade!"

I rinsed my hair from the shampoo and looked at Kira, "I know, Kira. . ." I put my hand on her cheek. "You're a brave girl, and you had Morgan to protect you when no one else did. But I'm here now and I am going to protect you."

Kira let out a shaky sigh and got out of her shower. She went into mine, hugged me and began to cry. "I thought you were dead. . ! I thought I was going to never see you again . . ."

I hugged Kira tightly, "I thought I was never going to see you again either. I had no idea what had happened to you or where you were but I was determined to find you. . . no matter what. But now look, here we are. We're together now and nothing is going to change that." I smiled at her and gave her a big kiss on the forehead, "Now finish showering, Mini Me."

She smiled at me and went back into her shower. I put conditioner in my hair, I found a stray razor and decided to use it even though it sounds gross it looked pretty clean and trust me, I needed to shave. After I rinsed off my hair from the conditioner and got done shaving I stopped the water and began to put on my clothes. I waited for Kira to finish and then me and her went into the other room where the others were at, "You can shower now, we didn't waste much of the hot water. The other rushed in there, I smiled as I heard them singing and saying how much the hot water felt good. I began looking around the room for anything that could be of any use to us, all I found were some office supplies. I guess Rick knew were all the big stuff was anyways. I sat down on a chair and Kira sat down on my lap and we waited for them to come out.

"Atlanta seems like a good deal," I heard Rick say as they all came out of the showering room. Kira jumped out of my lap and I got out of the chair. "Safer anyways. People," Rick began to lead us to another room. "That's where we were headed," Morgan said, "things got crazy. . Man, you won't believe the panic. Streets weren't fit to be on. And when my wife. . . couldn't travel we had to find a place to stay low. And then after she died. . We just stayed hunkered down. I guess we just froze in place." Rick opened a door and turned on his flashlight, "You plan to move on?" He asked. Morgan exhaled slowly, "Haven't worked up to it yet. . ." Rick pulled out his keys and unlocked a cage holding weapons. " A lot of it's gone missing." He turned on a light, grabbed a gun and began to examine it.

"Daddy," Duane said, looking at Rick holding the weapon, "Can I shoot? I'm old enough." Kira jump up and down, "Oh! I want to know how to shoot too!" I patted her on the head, "Calm down, you little monkey. I'll teach you how to shoot, okay?" She nodded, "I know how to shoot. . . sort of but I don't know how to aim well!" I laughed and patted her head again. "Hell yes you're gonna learn," Morgan said. "But we gotta do it carefully, teach you to respect the weapon." "That's right, it's not a toy. You pull the trigger, you mean it. Always remember that, you guys," Rick said as he handed me a gun. "Hey, Rick. ." I looked at him, "I know my way around a gun, but. . . I'm kinda rusty, do you have a shooting range? I'll take Kira and show her all the basics while you guys do your thing. I'll meet you when we're done." He nodded, "Just go down that way and make a right and it'll be there." I grabbed Kira's hand, the two guns and headed down the hall to the shooting range.

I opened the door to the shooting range and opened the blinds to the windows. I found a few pairs of noise canceling headsets and put one on. "Put this on, Kira," I said while tossing them to her. I walked over to where I was supposed to go, I noticed that there was still some pictures up to shoot at. I lifted up my gun, breathed in and out slowly as I pulled the trigger, I was a bit off but after a few tries I was perfect and got each place exact. "Damn, I didn't know I was this good," I laughed.

I motioned Kira to come here and she did. I moved one side of the headset off of her head so she could hear me, "Now listen, this is not a toy, just like Rick said. Now, only put your finger on the trigger if you're planning to shoot. Aim for the head if it's a walker. If it's a person we might not want to hurt them too bad, so try aiming somewhere else if they're threatening you." I showed her how to turn the safety on and off. "You got it?" She nodded, put the headset back into place and aimed for the picture. It took her a while but she was a pro in no time. "Good job! Just what I expected of you, you really are a Mini-Me!" I messed up her hair and she giggled. I grabbed the guns, put the safety on and put them in my pants back pockets. Kira opened the door and we left the shooting range.

We went back to the room where they were. "Where the hell is he?" I asked while looking around the empty room. "They might've gone outside, Jade," Kira said. I smiled at her, "You're so smart, Monkey." I grabbed her hand, we headed down the hall and up the stairs leading outside. When we got up the stairs Rick was putting the other guns in the back of the car. "I was wondering when you'd come up here," He said, smirking. I smirked back, "You might want to watch who you mouth off to, I'm a pro shooter." I made a gun out of my hand and pointed it at Rick. He held his hands up, "Oh my! I'm sorry, please don't shoot!"

"I'm afraid it's too late, you could beg for your life. . . But it won't help," I said in a western accent.

It looked like he was about to get on his knees to beg but then he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his hand in a form of a gun, "I don't think I'll be the one begging for my life."

I tipped my imaginary hat, "So be it." I pulled my thumb trigger, "Pew. Pew. Pew."

Rick aimed his hand gun at me, "Pew. Pew. Pew."

Kira, Rick and I bursted out with laughter. "Oh my God. . ." I mumbled, trying to stop laughing. After we calmed down I looked around and saw Morgan and Duane in another car, "Are they coming with us?"

Rick shook his head, "He told me a few more day so that they could get used to shooting guns and then they'll meet us. I gave them a walkie talkie so we can keep in touch. I'll try reaching them every few minutes at dawn for a while."

Kira rushed to their car, "Hey! Wait up, Kira!" I whispered. Kira opened the backseat door and gave Duane a hug, "I'm going to miss you, Duane. . !" Duane gave her a big hug back, "We'll see each other again, I promise. Here, take another comic book." Duane pulled out a comic book from his backpack and gave it to Kira. She smiled at him, "Thank you!" She gave him one last hug before hopping out the backseat and going into the car with Rick. I reached my hand in the backseat, "Thank you, Duane." I rubbed his head and closed the door. I made my way over to Morgan's window, "I can't thank you enough for saving Kira and taking care of her. . ." Morgan smiled at me, "It wasn't a problem at all. . . I would just hope that someone would do that for Duane if I wasn't around for him." Mogan and I said our goodbyes and I went in the car with Rick and Kira. "Where are we going? Atlanta?" I asked as I put my seatbelt on. He nodded and started up the car.

I looked out the window as watched as the city got smaller and smaller. When we got into the country Rick pulled out his radio and started to talk into it, "Broadcasting on the emergency channel. We'll be approaching Atlanta on highway 85. Anyone reads, please respond. . . Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear my voice? Anybody out there? Anyone hear me please respond. Hello? Can you hear my voice?" He kept trying over and over again trying to reach somebody, but got nothing. "Do you think anybody will answer?" I asked as I put my feet up on the dash. He shrugged, "I don't know. . . but we have to try."

A few miles out, I felt the car began to start slowing down. I looked at Rick, "We're outta gas. . . aren't we?" He nodded. I took my seatbelt off in frustration and got out of the car. Rick got out as well, "I'll go look for some gas." I shook my head, "No, we're not going to be separated, okay? What if something happens while you're gone?" I walked to the back door, opened it and began to wake Kira up. When she was up I grabbed the bag of guns, "Common, Kira. We're going to go look for some gas." She rubbed her eyes and hopped out of the car. We shut the doors and started walking down the road to look for anything that might have gas.

We walked in silence for the most part, until we a house got into sight. "You think there's gas there?" I asked as I shaded my eyes from the sun. Rick shrugged, "Might be." Rick walked up the house's porch and began to call for people in the house and asking for gas. I put the bag down on a wooden table and went to a truck and checked if there were any keys, none. "Look! Horses!" Kira pulled at my shirt. I hit my head on the roof of the truck, "Ah! Damnit!" I rubbed my head and looked down at her, "What now, Kira?" She looked down at her feet, "I'm sorry. . ." I tousled her hair, "It's okay, Monkey. Now, what did you say?" She grabbed my hand and led me to a fence with horses. "Oh wow. . ."

I heard Rick come down from the porch. I turned my head to see that he was sitting on a bench, he was looking down at his feet. I walked over and sat next to him to check on him, "What happened? You okay?" He stayed silent for a moment, "The people inside. . . they killed themselves. ." I got a sickening feeling deep in my stomach, "Oh. ." We sat there for a moment. "Kira found some horses, " I said, breaking the silence, "We could ride them into the city." Rick nodded, got up from the bench, walked over to the barn to grab some rope and went towards the horses.

When Rick opened the gate to the horses, they got startled. "Easy, now, easy," Rick said as he approached them. "I'm not going to hurt you, nothing like that. . . More like a proposal. Atlanta is just down the road aways, safe there, food, shelter, people, more horses like you guys, I bet. How's that sound. . ?" He began tying one of the ropes around one of the horses, he threw me the other rope and I did the same. "Rick. . ! The horse whisperer," I laughed as we led the horses into the barn and put saddles on them. Rick laughed, "You always have something smart to say, don't you?" I helped Kira onto the saddle, "You bet your sweet ass I do." Kira covered her ears, "LaLaLaLa! I. DID. NOT. HEAR. THAT!" I laughed and climbed onto the horse, sitting behind Kira on the saddle, "You ever ride one before?" He sighed, went to get the duffel bag and got on his horse, "It's been a while. . ." He looked down at the horse while it was walking a bit, "Just go easy on me, okay?" Rick squeezed the horse with his feet lightly and the horse bolted. "Woah!" He yelled as they speed away. "Hold on, Kira," I said as I chuckled and squeezed the horse with my feet, making it go fast to catch up with Rick.

When we got closer to the city, the horses slowed down. On the other side of the highway there were a bunch of cars. "Jesus," I muttered. "Do you think the city is safe, Rick?" "We'll have to find out, there might be a spot where they're be located, a safe place where the walkers can't get to them." As we kept going into the city all of the streets were empty, besides stray vehicles, but no sign of people. We turned down a street, and went beside a bus, you could hear the walkers' moans, the horses freaked out. "Woah!" We all exclaimed, trying to calm the horses down. When they calmed down, Kira rubbed our horse's mane, "It's okay," she whispered, "It's only a few of them. ."

We stopped for a moment when we heard a helicopter in the distance. Rick, Kira and I began looking around. Rick dug his shoes into the sides of his horse to make him go faster, I wasn't expecting him to do that, but when I was about to do the same, he stopped. He was frozen for a second, he made his horse turn and he started to gallop back, walkers started to follow behind him. I turned my horse around but it was too late, they were coming from that side too. I got off the horse and grabbed Kira, "Common, Rick!" I yelled. "We gotta do something!" I saw Rick fall off his horse and my heart dropped. Kira kept pulling at my shirt, "Jade! What do we do?!" I started to looking around for a place for us to hide, I started to panic but then I saw a tank. I pushed Kira under the tank and we crawled under it, a second later Rick was with us. "Kira, there's an open hatch, crawl into it!" Kira pushed herself in there, Rick and I followed.

When I closed the bottom hatch I was breathing hard and my heart was beating fast, "Oh my God. . . That was a close one. ." Kira screamed a little and I turned to what she was screaming at, it was a walker. Was it dead dead? I slowly slid out my knife and put it in its skull to be sure that it was truly gone. I saw that it had a gun, so I pulled it out of its holster and held onto it. I looked at Rick, "What happened to your duffel bag. . ?" He shook his head in disappointment and sighed, "I. . I dropped the bag." "Oh. ." I moved to the top of the tank and peek my head through the top hatch, I saw the duffel bag. Walkers were going on top of the tank, so I closed the hatch. I sighed, "How will we get out of here. . ?"

We sat in silence for a few minutes thinking of a way we would get out of here, but our silence was interrupted when we started hearing static, "Hey you, dumbasses, " they paused, "Yeah, you, in the tank. Cozy in there?" Rick and I looked at each other, with our eyes wide. "Hey! Are you alive in there?!" Rick hurried to get to the radio, he hit his head on the way, but he got it, "Hello?! Hello!?"