Ben's POV

"Don't shoot me! I'm not one of them," I screeched at the sheriff standing in front of me, wielding a gun. Honestly, deja vu much?

"Sorry," the dude clipped his gun back in his belt before reaching a hand out to help me up. At least this dude was nicer than when I first met Arlynn. That girl was terrifying. Still is.

"What's your name? I'm Ben," I dusted myself off.

"Rick. Rick Grimes," the guy looked around the tank, seeming to look for something.

"Thanks for helping me back there," I awkwardly stood around, crinkling my nose at the smell inside the tank. It smelt like crap.

"It was the right thing to do," Rick shrugged. I opened my mouth to comment further when I heard a snarl from that one body inside the tank. Just my luck. Thankfully, Rick turned around and shot the thing in the head, killing it but blasting off our eardrums at the same time. I cringed, covering my ears before shaking my head, trying to get rid of the ringing.

"Ah, damn," I moaned. Rick stumbled towards the hatch that was open, climbing up to see outside. After a brief moment, he scrambled back down, closing the hatch behind him just as thumpings began to sound throughout the tank.

"Fucking hell!" Rick groaned in despair before lifting up the gun he took from the soldier, putting it beside his head.

"Whoa, wait-"

"We're trapped. We can't make it out," Rick half cried out. I stumbled back a bit, realizing that there really might not be a next time for when I see the little dipshit and his badass sister. I thought for a second about what to say when I heard a voice.

"Hey."

"Huh?" I looked around dumbfounded.

"Hey, you. Dumbass," Rick looked around and spotted a walkie-talkie, frowning as it insulted him. Or me.

"Yeah, you in the tank. Are you cozy in there?"

"Am I hearing things or…?" I glanced at the cowboy sheriff, gulping.

"Hey, are you alive in there?" the voice popped up again. Rick quickly answered the radio.

"Hello?" He clicked some kind of button. "Hello?"

"There you are. You had me wondering," a man spoke on the radio, kinda leaning back.

"Where are you? Outside? Can you see me right now?" Rick walked around a bit in the tank.

"Us," I corrected.

"Yeah, I can see you. You're surrounded by walkers. That's the bad news," the dude replied.

"There's two of us," I reminded them again.

"Oh," the dude on the other side said.

"There's good news?" Rick asked hopefully.

"No."

Wow. Okay, way to crush my hopes and dreams.

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

Thank you for finally remembering me, Sir Rick Grimes.

"Oh, man. You should see it from over here. You'd be having a major freak-out," the guy seemed to cringe.

"Got any advice for us?" Rick glanced at me before talking into the radio again.

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

"That's it?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"'Make a run for it'?" Rick practically snorted.

"My way's not as dumb as it sounds," aha, so he knows it sounds stupid.

"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?" Rick glanced at me and I nodded before he answered.

"So far," Rick replied.

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

"In that duffel bag I dropped out there, and guns. Can I get to it?" Rick pursed his lips.

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

"Hang on," Rick counted the number of bullets in the Beretta. I simply took out my hatchet, the only weapon I had on me.

"We got a hatchet," I answered into the radio. "Other dude's still checkin'."

"Yeah. Yeah. I've got a Beretta with one clip, 15 rounds," Rick finally answered.

"Make 'em count. Jump off the right side of the tank, and keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe 50 yards. Be there," the dude helped us.

"Hey, what's your name?" Rick asked as I readied myself to leave. I snorted in amusement.

"Have you been listening? You're running out of time," the dude sassed.

"Let's go," I beckoned him as he grabbed some kind of hunk of metal before following me out into the sun. He cut up a zomb on top of the tank before running for it with me. I took down one that came too close to us, saving a bullet. Rick was popping off like one of those popping candies, taking down eight of them.

Walkers swarmed around us further as we made our way to the alley the guy had talked about. We bolted for it, me swinging my hatchet and Rick with his gun. We ran into someone who shouted:

"Whoa! Not dead! Come on! Come on! Back here! Come on! Come on!"

We ran up the alleyway together, the guy in the baseball cap, the guy in the cowboy hat, and me with the visor. A ladder appeared in front of us, and the baseball cap reached up to it, climbing it one by one. Rick stared at him.

"What are you doing?! Come on!"

We climbed up the ladder together, zombs snarling and groaning for us.

"Come on, get up," he urged the sheriff who had a nice rear-end. I should know since it's literally in my face. He finally reached the top and the two of them bent over to help me up the last few. We stopped for a moment, trying to catch our breaths.

"Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town?" the guy asked Rick.

"It wasn't my intention." Rick shrugged a bit.

"Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You're still a dumbass," I snorted and the other guy looked at me.

"And you," the guy said, scrutinizing me. "You Korean?"

"Yeah," I answered, closing my eyes to focus on my breathing.

"Rick. Thanks," the sheriff offered his hand to the other guy. I took this time to stand up completely.

"Glenn. You're welcome," the guy answered, nodding at both of us.

"Ben. And what he said," I smiled a bit, nodding towards Rick for the last part. He shrugged a bit before walking over to the edge of the building.

"Oh no. The bright side: It'll be the fall that kills us. I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy," Glenn shrugged before turning around. He went towards yet another ladder and we finally stood at the roof. I was the last one up, so I missed snippets of their conversation, but when I reached them, I heard some parts of it.

"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for us?" Rick asked.

"Call it foolish, naive hope that if I'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me. Guess I'm an even bigger dumbass than you guys," Glenn grunted before turning to another ladder and going down into the building. Honestly, this place must be built off ladders.

As I turned around, I thought I saw a car zooming past the alleyway, but it might have just been my hallucination. I hesitated, wondering if I should go and check again when Rick clapped me on my back before following Glenn. I looked one last time but saw nothing and followed the other two.