. Rick stopped the police cruiser at the outermost part of the hotel parking lot, obscured by the meticulously landscaped shrubbery.
Straight in front of them, through the windshield, they could see the Executive Inn and Suites, but it wasn't as they had left it. The infected somehow must have known that there were people in there. A good amount of people. Maybe the last ones in Jefferson. But there was another possibility. Maybe something had happened while they were gone. Maybe everyone inside was dead. Either way, the infected were at the hotel, a big wall of plague and pestilence separating them from their safehaven.
Rick blinked a few times, his face flat as if in shock. He pulled out his flip phone, opening it up with a snap and then pressing the little buttons until he dialed his desired number. He held the phone to his ear, and Leon could see through the rearview mirror a panic in his eyes that he was trying to suppress. It was nearly imperceptible, but he felt better knowing that Rick was doing his best to keep it together. A brave face for his little son perhaps.
Relief washed over his face for only a brief second, an unintelligible voice chattering on the other end of the line.
"Lori, thank God, you're okay," he said. "...Yes, Carl's fine. Leon's fine too. We got Amy too. Andrea's sister… Is everyone in there okay?... Oh, thank God."
Leon himself found relief at the trajectory of Rick's conversation with Lori. Lori was okay. He didn't seem worried from what she was saying, so everyone had to be okay. The hotel was still safe for now. They just needed to get through this barrier of infected.
"Listen, we're not going anywhere. I'm not leaving you behind. Amy's family is in there too. There's got to be a way we can all get in there… All of the exits are blocked?"
What Rick said got him thinking. The truth of the matter was that Leon had no one. Rick had a wife to get to, Carl had a mother, and Amy had her sister. Rick and Lori had done right by him, but at the end of the day, he was on his own down here.
But he could repay the favor of Rick saving his life back there.
"Let me call you back, Lori, we need a minute to think things over. We'll figure somethin' out… Lori, I'm not leavin' you in there."
Rick shut the flip phone and rested his head on his seat.
"What are we gonna do, daddy?" Carl asked.
Rick exhaled a big sigh. He looked over at his son, and ruffled his hair up.
"I know what to do," Leon said before Rick got a chance to answer Carl.
All heads turned to him.
"Those things, they hear something and they run. They don't seem that smart about it. I can turn on the police sirens and drive off. Lure them away."
"No," Rick said firmly, no hesitation, no thought to Leon's proposal.
"I'll be in a car. They won't catch up to me."
"Listen, kid, you don't have anyone back there. You don't owe us anything. You don't have to do that for us. If you were smart, you'd run. You'd leave us to deal with getting back to our families. Besides, a move like that, you could be surrounded in a matter of seconds. Don't forget that these ones at the hotel ain't the only ones in Jefferson. You saw them all back there. In the streets, at the school."
Leon was quiet for a moment, truly considering Rick's words. He pictured where he would go. What his life would be like if he backed out right now. Then he came to the conclusion that him getting out of Jefferson on his own was entirely unlikely. He had only arrived in this town three weeks ago. He wasn't ready to leave yet.
"Run to what?" he replied. "Truth of the matter is, Rick, I ain't got no where else to be."
"Well, you're not makin' yourself bait. Not over this, but you are onto something."
He smiled a smile that seemed out of place. Leon shook his head, furrowing his eyebrows in a way that begged Rick to elaborate.
"What is it?" Amy asked.
"Cruise control," Rick said, laughing a quiet laugh. "You guys go hide. I turn on the sirens, put the car in cruise control, and let it roll down Walcott Street at… say 10 miles per hour. The sound should lure them out of here."
"It might not work," Leon said.
"It might not work as much as your idea won't work. It's all we got," Rick argued. "You got a better idea? An idea that is a guarantee? We could always try to shoot our way through. Maybe get some help from some of the people in there. Shane. But all that noise is going to draw more of them in. We need to draw them away. That's why the sound has to be traveling that way-" Rick used his thumb to point at the road behind him.
"I can do it," Leon said. "You should stay with Carl."
Rick shook his head. "Do you know how to turn on the sirens?"
"No."
"We don't have time to go over this. I can't sit here and teach you all that. Carl, you'll go with Leon and Amy? It'll only take me a second."
Carl seemed to consider his father's words, looking completely hesitant and afraid before nodding his agreement. If Rick said this was the way, this was the way. Carl knew. Leon knew it. Amy knew it.
"Good," Rick said, running his hand over his boy's hair.
