"Now, you just stick this in the lock— and moved it around till you hear that-" CLICK!

Maxine smiled wide, grinning along with Carl as they both managed to open a lock that she has been teaching the boy for a few hours now. So far, they were surrounded by a lot of padlocks— all opened by the technique that Maxine has taught him. Next, she'll taught him how to open doors.

It's been two years since Maxine met Rick Grimes, and in that specified time, Rick Grimes let Maxine met his infamous son, Carl, who she soon adored the moment his blue eyes met hers. It was so just like his daddy.

Maxine has concluded at that moment that she has a weakness.

"Are you teaching my son how to open locks?"

Both froze at the sound of Rick's voice, looking behind them was the raised brow of Sheriff's Deputy, Rick Grimes, leaning on the doorway with his arms crossed on his chest.

Maxine gave out a gulp while Carl brightly opens his mouth to tell but Maxine covered his mouth quick and huddled the boy near so she can whisper.

Rick watched them both in amusement and mirth. Keeping himself silent and letting the two think low of him, as though he cannot fully hear them.

"Carl, remember what I said on a few things we'll keep classified?"

"Yeah... Is this one of the..." Carl glances slight on his father with narrowed eyes before turning back to Maxine with a hushed voice. "Classified?"

A low laugh behind them was heard but Maxine and Carl ignored it and clasped hands. "Yep. Plead to the fifth."

Carl nods, now intending to keep silent. "Plead to the fifth." Just like nothing happened, both turns back with feigned eyes, innocently blinking them towards Rick. The sight of them, real funny to the cop who heard every little thing.

"Why, hello father. We didn't know you would be coming home early."

Rick chuckles, "Plead the fifth?" He repeats— completely hearing what Maxine and Carl were whispering about.

Maxine tilts her head in confusion, "Plead the what? What nonsense are you spouting again, Rick? If this is about me beating your tuches again—"

Beside her, Carl nods along as though agreeing despite not knowing its meaning before Maxine could finish. "Yeah, total tuches!"

Uncrossing his arms, Rick instead places them on his hips. "Honey, do not talk about my tuches— I know you cheated in that game. And Carl, don't repeat that." Giving the two a stern gaze, though softened at the sight of Maxine and Carl's smile.

The moment he let Maxine and Carl met, Rick himself knew that woman loved his son more than him. He didn't know if he should be jealous or worried that his son might run away with Maxine once he turns his eyes away from the two but he is glad that they get along.

"You two are planning something. A coup?"

Maxine gasps, placing a hand on her chest while Carl broke character and started snickering, even he didn't know what Coup meant— he was just happy to see a happy moment between the three of them, it honestly felt like a complete family moment, one he never had before. "How dare you accuse us of such thing! Come on, Carl— let me teach you how to hot wire a car with a screw driver!"

Rick laughs, shaking his head as Carl and Maxine excitedly left him alone in the living room. With a content sigh, he went to follow.

In Atlanta, Rick is still sitting in the tank when the voice once again is heard on the radio. "Hey, are you alive in there?"

In quick haste, close to clumsy— Rick crawled immediately to hold the radio in his hand, shaky and tight but he held on to hope. Crackling it alive. "Hello? Hello?"

"There you are. You had me wondering."

"Where are you? Outside? Can you see me right now?"

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

Rick lets a breath of air leaves his lips, a sliver of hope coming out of it as the voice continued to talk with him. He wasn't alone. "There's good news?"

"No."

Rick's shoulders deflated, but he couldn't take that now. Losing hope when someone out there actually took their time to reach him. There must be something to gain from it, "Listen, whoever you are, I don't mind telling you— I'm a little concerned in here."

"Oh man." The other side lets out a weak laugh. "You should see it from over here. You'd be having a major freak-out."

"Got any advice for me?" Please say yes.

"Yeah," Rick perked, waiting for the next words. "I'd say make a run for it."

Rick waited for a few more but when nothing came through, his head tilted. Was that it? "That's it? 'Make a run for it.' ?"

"Hey, my way's not as dumb as it sounds." The other side pushed, close to spatting. "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 stand a chance. Got ammo?"

"-In that duffel bag I dropped out there, and gun. Can I get to it?"

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

Rick took a look back behind him, before answering the question. "Hang on."

Rick checked back on the dead soldier, managing to take out a gun— opening the magazine to only seeing one clip inside. Letting out a grunt, Rick pushed to find more until he sees something poking on the belt. A grenade.

Rick held it in his arms, contemplating om bringing such an explosive with him— but the sounds of his wife telling him to be prepared even for nothing rang his ears. "Yeah. Yeah. I've got a Beretta with one clip, 15 rounds." Rick said back to the radio,

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

Rick listened to the instructions intently, repeating it on his head: Side of the tank; Alley up the street; 50 yards. Got it.

"Hey, what's your name?"

"Have you been listening? You're running out of time!"

"Right." Rick grabs a metal shard, discarded on the side of the tank. Making his way to the hatchet that would lead him to the top of the tank. His eyes closing tight for a deep breath, hoping and praying to his family that he'll live after this.

Rick opens the top, turning right on time to see a Walker perched in front of him— with a quick swing of the shard, the walker falls down, with his face sliced wide open.

Rick makes a break, jumping down the tank and running towards the street, firing at any walker that came close to his path. The shots rang loud on the empty street, when Rick reached the 50 yards, he turned right to the alley and pulls out his gun when a body stood in front of him.

"Whoa! Not dead!" Glenn yells out, stopping Rick from pulling the trigger. "Come on! Come on! Back here! Come on! Come on!"

The two proceed to run down the alley and start climbing up a ladder. When a few Walkers behind them were close to reaching, Rick took the time to shoot them in the head as they paused slightly to a metal ladder. Glenn climbing up ahead, only to see Rick was still below,

"What are you doing?! Come on!"

Rick quickly follows him up and climbs the ladder. Both panting from their run, deciding to take rest on a higher ground, looking down on the Walkers below them.

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

Rick takes a deep breath in, taking a gulp. His accent coming clean out his lips. "It wasn't my intention."

"Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You're still a dumbass." Rick ignored the jab, letting out a small laugh towards the Asian boy.

Extending his hand, "Rick. Thanks."

"Glenn. You're welcome." Glenn greets, shaking Rick's extended hand. Both took enough of their time to rest before noticing below them: a walker already learning to grab a step. "Oh no. We got to go."

The two looked up, assessing the ladder that reached the very top of the building. "The bright side: It'll be the fall that kill us." Glenn gives a small smile back to Rick. "I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy."

"Was that a gun shot?" Somewhere on the end of the City, a woman stood straight. Her brows furrowed in confusion but the glint in her eyes focused on the danger it could lead around them. On her hand, bags filled with any medicine they could find. They got to be prepared even for nothing,

While the other beside her, whose black hair flowed straight on her back signed with matching eyes that glimmered fear, similarly hearing gunshots ringing out. "We should go."

The woman nods, fully agreeing. "You're right, let's go."

"Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?!" Rick runs up the stairs to the roof, following Glenn and the others. A colored-man named T-Dog yelling out, aiming his words towards a man with a sniper rifle perched on his hands, standing on the edge of the roof.

Dixon laughs and continues shooting before turning to the others with a grin, hopping down the ledge. His words drawled and slurred. "Y'all be more polite to a man with a gun! Huh? Only common sense."

Rick watched it all with a frown, as a cop— he knew these types of men. Knowing what his actions could lead or what he would do, Rick took a glance towards Glenn, and the Korean man knew what Rick wanted to convey but shook his head to stop Rick and let them handle it.

T-Dog continued to spat, "Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got! And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill."

Merle paused his laughter, starting to frown. Rick took note of his change of expression. "Hey! Bad enough I've got this taco-bender on my ass all day. Now I'm gonna take orders from you? I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day."

T-Dog let out a scoff, repeating Merle's last words. Trying to keep his calm despite his body walking closer to the redneck. "You got something you want to tell me?"

Morales placed a hand on his shoulder, "-Hey, T-Dog man, just leave it. All right? It ain't worth it." Morales kept his hand on T-Dog's shoulders even when it was being pushed away. Facing the redneck, Morales says: "Now Merle, just relax, okay? We've got enough trouble.". But it seems both men ignored his good intentions of cutting the conflict.

"You want to know the day?" Merle steps forward, keeping his eyes on T-Dog who continued glaring at him, daring him to continue. "I'll tell you the day, Mr. 'Yo.' It's the day I take orders from a nigger."

T-Dog lost it, launching himself to Merle, who fought back and turned the tables on him. Soon, Merle was beating T-Dog to a pulp, the yells of the group going through unheard ears he pulled out a pistol on him.

Unaware to the eyes of his hesitance, staring up to the others, seeing their wary gazes and fear. Looking back to T-Dog, Merle gave a spit. "Yeah! All right! We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh?" Stepping back up, Merle lifts his hands. "Talk about who's in charge. I vote me. Anybody else? Huh? Democracy time, y'all. Show of hands, huh? All in favor? Huh?"

"Yeah. Anybody else? Hmm? Anybody?" Merle gave out a sickening grin as the others lift their hands in defeat, Rick having enough of his bullshit— came striding in from behind and hitting him in the head with a pipe. He could just hear it. His wife snapping at him to hit the bastard home. Having enough of his nonsense.

"Yeah." Rick then proceeds to handcuff Merle to a pipe, dragging him close to effectively clicking the cuffs.

"Who the hell are you, man?!"

"Officer friendly." Was his short introduction, taking out Merle's pistol and one by one clicking it in place and reloading. "Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no niggers anymore. No dumb-ass-shit, inbred white-trash fools either." A bullet jumps out, which Rick easily catches. "Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart."

"Screw you, man." Merle groans out, Rick let out a scoff, shaking his head with his lips quirking up at Merle with fake amusement.

"I can see you make a habit of missing the point."

"Yeah? Well, screw you twice." That made him snap.

"Ought to be polite to a man with a gun." To further give his words impact, Rick cocks his gun. Pushing it further Merle's temple. Repeating Merle's words to stuff it back on his face, "Only common sense."

"You wouldn't. You're a cop." With a menacing lean, Rick glowered.

"All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and children. Anybody that gets in the way of that is gonna lose." Rick takes a step back, noticing something on Merle's face. Connecting the dots, he narrowed his eyes. "I'll give you a moment to think about that. Got some on your nose there."

Merle arrogantly laughs, cockily asking in a belittling manner. "What are you gonna do? Arrest me?

Dixon continues his belittling until Rick patted his coat and takes out a plastic out of his pockets. His eyes bulged as anger replaced his laughter. "Hey! What are you doing? Man, that was my stuff! Hey! If I get loose, you'd better pray… Yeah, you hear me, you pig?! You hear me?!"

Rick walks away towards the edge of the rooftop to gaze at the overrun city, cradling his wrist. "Yeah, your voice carries..."

"You're not Atlanta P.D." Rick glances to the side as Morales steps beside him. "Where you from?"

"Up the road a ways."

Morales nods, not bothering to ask how Rick kept his answer simple and general. "Well, officer friendly from up the road a ways, welcome to the big city."

After losing their first plan to the sewers, this was their next best thing. With bodies chopped up from the two walkers the guts were used as a camouflage. So far their plan was working till the clouds turned gray and rain drops started to hit them; Rick and Glenn tried as best as they can to control their thoughts, not to panic, as they continue to walk at the normal pace.

Glenn looked around with a shaky head, his voice starting to follow, while Rick tried his best to remain calm and both limped faster. "The smell's washing off. Isn't it? Is it washing off?"

"No, it's not." Rick followed the sight of a Walker, stopping her steps to get a whiff of his scent. "Well, maybe..."

To make fun of them much longer, nature pulled bigger drops of rain as it poured even with a bright sun. Having the scent fully washed off, Rick takes out his axe and plunging it quick on a Walker's head. "Run!"

And they did, as fast as they can till they reached a fence, throwing their weapons over it then climbing with quick shaky hands. Adrenaline pumping them up. While Glenn searches for the keys to the truck, Rick pulls Merle's pistol and shoot more Walkers with it to lessen their load.

"Rick!"

At hear of his name, Rick raised his hands to catch the keys and both once again sprinted over the truck. Thankful that it was left unlocked, and soon Walkers climbed over the fence and runs after them. The truck finally starts, just in time before a Walker taps on Glenn's window after he came in.

"Go go go go!" Then the two sped away before the walkers catch up. Glenn, on the passenger seat started to fret at the sight of dozens of Walkers. More than his fingers could count. "Oh my God. Oh my God. They're all over that place.

Rick though kept driving, trying to lose the walker following behind them by going through different turns. "You need to draw them away. Those roll-up doors at the front of the store— That area?" Glenn nods, "That's what I need cleared. Raise your friends. Tell them to get down there and be ready."

"And I'm drawing the geeks away how? I— I missed that part."

Rick glances at the boy, declared. "Noise."

The two drove for a few more minutes, finally losing the Walkers and Rick spots a red sports car on their next turn. Stopping the truck next to it, both Rick and Glenn pulls up next to the sports car and Rick smashes its windows; car alarms blared loud,

"Thanks a lot, baby." Rick mutters to himself as he took out a screwdriver that was in the truck. With quick precision, hotwires the car.

With an accepting nod, Rick pats Glenn on the back and makes his way back to the truck. "All yours." and Rick didn't need to look back to see a glint of excitement passing through the Asian man.

The rest of the survivors make it to the loading dock. Running down the stairs with their things, their hurry making them forget— more like ignored everything else.

"Okay. Okay. I got it." Andrea shakily utters as she and the others held unto a string of chain that would open the screen doors to their safety.

Morales though froze, shushing the others. All of them hearing the same thing. "What is that?"

"Hey! Wait for me!" Unaware that outside near the gates was Glenn with his reviving sports car, piling and grouping the Walkers to focus on his noise while T-Dog manages to join the rest of the survivors just in time before the Walkers break through the second set of doors and storm the store. "They're here! Let's go! They're in here!"

Rick parks the truck in reverse, its back doors open and runs immediately to the screen gates, hitting it with clenched fists. The others reacted, their hands moving in speed. "Let's go! Open the door!"

"We've gotta go!" Seeing that they had no time to lose, Rick runs back to the driver's seat, waiting for everybody to get inside before he drives away.

"I'm in!" Morales calls out, being the last person to get inside. Rick quickly drives away, Morales closing the back before the Walkers manages to get inside along them. Finally. They all make their escape. Relieved emotions, their brains trying to keep up their adrenaline and process everything that has happened whilst everyone was huddled close to each other— the presence of actual living providing a sense of comfort at their near deaths. Yet Rick wasn't the only one who notices a tensed silence; looking back he notices a lack of presence, everyone noticing that Merle Dixon wasn't with them.

"I dropped the damn key." T-Dog admitted and the group continues to drive away from Atlanta in silence.

"Where's Glenn?"