Enjoy.
xXx
23rd October 2010 - Atlanta
Rick had hoped to hold off from calling Six for help for a couple of days at least. It'd give him time to drive to Atlanta and search through all the refugee centres for his family. Unfortunately, circumstances forced him to change his plans altogether.
After splitting ways with Morgan and Six, Rick drove off to Atlanta while occasionally speaking into his CB radio in the hopes of contacting others. If not the military then maybe he could get into contact with other survivors but he never got a response back. While driving on the deserted highway leading into Atlanta, he had to make a stop because of a number of scattered cars blocking the road. While annoyed his journey to Atlanta was slowed down, he took the time during the stop to search for fuel in the gas station that sat at the bottom of a nearby hill. When he walked down the hill with a gas can in hand, he found wrecked and abandoned cars, corpses and the walker of a little blonde girl who he put down. But no fuel.
With no choice, Rick drove around the scattered cars and drove as far to Atlanta as he could with what fuel was left in the police cruiser's tank. He hoped to reach the city within the day while the sun was still out. Sadly, his luck ran out when the cruiser eventually stopped dead in the middle of the road. Taking his duffel bag of guns, radio and gas canister, he ventured down the highway in search of fuel. After close to an hour of walking, he came across a farmhouse. Hoping the people there would have gas to spare, Rick peaked through the house window only to find the grisly sight of a couple's rotting corpses being feasted on by flies, the pair having killed themselves with a shotgun rather than living in the world as it was now.
Shaken by the sight but not deterred from his goal, Rick discovered the couple had a horse on their property. With no other alternative, Rick saddled up the horse and rode it the rest of the way to Atlanta.
When Rick finally arrived in the city, he found no sign of any refugee centre or a safe zone. All he found was an abandoned city littered with corpses and abandoned military vehicles. Some walkers were milling about but pushing his horse a little faster was all it took to keep himself ahead of them. As he rode through Atlanta, searching for anything that might point him in the direction of his family, he spotted the reflection of a flying helicopter through the windows of a skyscraper. The helicopter sparked new hope for Rick who sped up his horse to give chase to the helicopter.
In his excitement, Rick nearly rode straight into a horde of walkers when turning a corner. He tried to ride off but the small army of walkers quickly swarmed him and the horse. In the chaos, Rick toppled off the horse, dropping his bag of guns in the process. He managed to fight and crawl his way under a nearby military tank but walkers crawled after him, hungry for his flesh. After wasting five rounds to keep the walkers at bay and realizing he was trapped, Rick brought his Colt Python to his temple, intending to use his final bullet to escape an agonizing death, only to find an open hatch that led into the tank. Once he climbed into the tank, dealt with the lone walker inside and closed the hatch on top, Rick found he was just as trapped as before. With no way out, he contemplated suicide again but a stranger's voice broke through the tank's CB radio.
The voice belonged to a survivor named Glenn. With his help, Rick was able to escape the military tank since most of the walkers were too busy eating the horse he rode into the city. Following Glenn's instructions given through the radio, Rick fought through the less-packed streets to an alleyway where Glenn was waiting for him. Walkers gave chase but Glenn led Rick to a ladder which they used to climb to the rooftop of a building, just narrowly escaping the hungry horde of undead. Once safe from the walkers and introductions were made, Rick gave his thanks to the young man for saving him. Afterwards, Rick followed Glenn across the rooftop and then down a staircase which led to an alley occupied by two walkers. Glenn radioed to his group which prompted two men in riot gear and wielding baseball bats to storm out of a nearby door and kill the walkers. During the brief fight, Rick and Glenn ran through the door the two men came out of with said men quickly following behind them.
Once safe behind closed doors, Rick quickly discovered the rest of Glenn's group weren't as nice as he was, what with the blonde woman named Andrea taking him at gunpoint the moment he walked in. There were others, T-Dog and Moralez who were the two men in riot gear and a black woman named Jacqui. They all berated Rick because his gunshots attracted the horde of walkers to the store they were hiding in. They showed Rick the large number of walkers who battered against the glass doors of the store with their bodies. The glass cracked but held for now. There was another set of glass doors for them to get through before they could get into the store but that would only give them only so much more time.
It was through them that Rick learned there was no refugee centre. It had been overrun by walkers long ago. Gunshots on the rooftop then had the group rush to the rooftop where they found the last member of the group, Merle Dixon, shooting at the counterless number of walkers littering the streets below them with a scoped rifle. Morales and T-Dog shouted and chastised Merle for wasting ammo and attracting more of the undead but Merle's openly racist tendencies quickly led to a fight breaking out between him and T-Dog. The fight ended with T-Dog hurt and Rick handcuffing Merle to a pipe after surprising him with a punch to the skull.
Searching through Merle's pockets for weapons, Rick only found a small bag of white powder. Eying the bag of cocaine, Rick studied Merle's nose and spotted some of the white powder on it. "Got some on your nose there," he said, flicking the drugged-up redneck's nose.
Merle merely laughed. "What are you gonna do? Arrest me?" The southerner's laughter quickly switched to outrage when Rick tossed the bag of cocaine off the roof. "Hey! What're you doing!? That's my stuff!" He continued to shout obscenities and threats to the sheriff who walked to one side of the rooftop with Morales following after him. "If I get loose, you better pray! You hear me, pig!"
"Yeah, your voice carries" Rick muttered to himself, leaning his arms against the parapet. He clenched his right fist which ached after he punched Merle in the face. The redneck had one hell of a thick skull on him.
Morales stepped up to his left, watching him in interest. "You're not Atlanta P.D." he stated, noting the different coloured police uniform Rick wore. "Where you from?"
"Up the road a ways" Rick answered, in no rush to tell his life story while emotions were still high.
Morales chuckled. "Well, officer-friendly from up the road a ways, welcome to the big city." Both men then stared out at the city streets that were filled with countless walkers.
Andrea and Jacqui were looking down at the streets as well from another side of the rooftop. "My God, it's like Times Square down there" mentioned Andrea in dread. There was no way to get through the countless number of undead that surrounded them. Glenn sat on a metal pipe close by, silently thinking to himself.
"How's that signal?" Morales asked T-Dog as Rick and himself wandered back to the rest of the group. Rick took a spot beside Andrea by the parapet, searching for a way out of their predicament.
Sitting against the same parapet on the right side of Jacqui while fiddling with the CB radio was a hurt T-Dog. "Like Dixon's brain. Weak" he answered, all while glaring at Merle who responded by flipping him the middle finger. As T-Dog said, only static could be heard through his radio.
"Keep trying."
"Why? There's nothing they can do. Not a damn thing" remarked Andrea, seeing no hope of escaping their predicament, not even with the help of the others at their camp.
Rick watched as Andrea walked off before turning back to Morales, looking for an explanation.
"Got some people outside the city is all" explained Morales, remembering Rick had been looking for a refugee centre. "There's no refugee centre. That's a pipe dream."
"Then it's up to us to find our way out. As luck would have it, I might have a solution" said Rick, getting the attention of the others.
"Good luck with that" scoffed Merle, voice filled with amusement. "These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear."
"I have a friend who can help with that" mentioned Rick while he took his radio out from the belt of his pants.
Morales eyed the radio in Rick's hand in interest. "You've got friends of your own out there?"
"Only one but he could help."
"'One' he says!" laughed Merle. "You hear that, folks? We're saved!" The redneck laughed, his words dripping with sarcasm.
"As much as I hate to agree with the dickhead" said Andrea, ignoring how Merle puckered his lips at her. "But how in the hell is one man gonna get us out of here?"
"Believe me, if anyone can, it's him," told Rick. Pressing the push-to-talk button, Rick spoke into the radio, hoping to reach Six. "Courier Six, this is Rick, you copy?" Static was his response back.
Glenn and Morales shared a look. Glenn mouthed 'Courier Six?' and Morales shrugged.
"Six, this is Rick, can you read me? Over" After a couple of seconds of static, Rick tried again. "Courier Six, are you getting this? Over."
Andrea sighed and shook her head. "Give it up, sheriff. He can't hear yo-"
"This is Six, I'm reading you loud and clear. Wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon, Rick. It hasn't even been a day yet. Were you missing me that much already?" Six's voice broke through the radio, to Rick's relief and the others' surprise.
"Woah! You actually got to him!" exclaimed an excited Glenn who jumped off the pipe to crowd around Rick with Andrea, Jacqui and Morales. Since T-Dog couldn't reach their own group who were camped outside the city, he hadn't been expecting Rick's radio to get through to this 'Courier Six' person.
"Ask him if he can help us," asked Jacqui, showing more life than Rick had seen since meeting her.
Rick pressed down on the radio's receiver and spoke. "Sorry, I wasn't planning on calling for you so soon but I'm in trouble. We're stuck on a rooftop in the city and need help getting out."
"We? Who's we?"
"There's a group of survivors here with me. One of them saved my life." Rick patted Glenn on the shoulder and the young man became flustered by the attention.
"How many are there with you?"
Rick did a quick headcount before answering. "There's seven of us."
"That shouldn't be a problem then. What's the situation like over there?"
Rick walked over to the edge of the rooftop so he could look down at the horde surrounding the building. "We're surrounded by a horde of walkers. Thousands of them. They can't get in but they will eventually. When they do, that'll only leave us the rooftop, unless they climb all the way up here from the stairs."
"Which they will" commented T-Dog.
"Wow. That's some rotten luck there, Rick" Six's laugh could be heard through the radio.
"Is that fucker laughing!" shouted an angry and frustrated Andrea who looked ready to tear the radio out of Rick's grasp and say some colourful words into it.
Holding his hands out to calm and hold back Andrea, Rick spoke into the radio. "Can you help us?"
"Of course I can. Listen, I need you and the others to take anything you're bringing to the rooftop now. When you've got everything, close or lock any doors between you and the dead. You won't be getting out street level if there's really that many of the dead. You know how I'll pick you up. I should be with you in about twenty minutes. Thirty at most. See you then." The radio then cuts off, filling the air with silence for a few seconds.
Rick then turned to the others. "You heard him. Let's grab what we can and bring it up here."
"Hold on, are we not going to talk about how your friend told us to hole up here and wait?" asked Jacqui, arms folded. She didn't exactly like that plan.
"Yeah, I'm not a fan of getting trapped up here either" admitted Morales.
"Waiting up here for Six is the best plan we could possibly hope for," said Rick. His confidence perplexed the others.
Idly picking his nails from his spot by the pipe he was handcuffed to, Merle openly scoffed. "What? He gonna fly on over here in his big fancy helicopter, pig?" he asked before chuckling to himself.
Rick made strong eye contact with Merle while answering. "Yes, he will."
"Bullshit" denied Andrea in disbelief.
"What blondie said" Merle said, pointing a thumb at Andrea. "Your buddy sure is shit got no helicopter."
"Oh, but he does and that is how we're getting out of here."
"If your friend has a helicopter, why didn't he just fly you here to Atlanta instead of you coming in on horseback and shooting up the place?" questioned Jacqui with narrowed eyes.
"Six had different arrangements made at the time" Rick answered, growing slightly annoyed by how sceptic the others were. He provided them a means of rescue and they still doubted him. "You can search for another way out yourselves if you want but I know which way I'll be going."
Silence filled the rooftop, the group of survivors either looking at each other in uncertainty or deep in thought.
Eventually, someone had to break the silence and that person was Glenn. "I mean... why would lie about that?" he said with a shoulder shrug.
A serious-looking Morales stepped up to Rick and stared at him strongly. "Is this helicopter legit? Not a made-up fantasy like the one you supposedly saw in the city here?" He interrupted Rick before he could answer. "Because if you're lying or just straight up crazy and there is no helicopter coming to save us, then I want you to tell us right here and right now. I've got kids waiting back for me at camp and I'll be damned before anything keeps me away from them."
Rick kept his eyes on Morales's own and nodded. "A helicopter is coming, you've got my word on that. If it doesn't show, you can throw me off this rooftop yourself."
A few seconds later, Morales nodded and a somewhat friendly expression grew on his face. "Yeah? And let you take the easy way out? I don't think so. If we're all going to get eaten, you're joining us at the buffet table. You can be the starter." He slapped the sheriff on the back, the banter enough to rid the tense silence. "What are you all looking at? You heard the man. Get all the supplies up the rooftop. We've got a helicopter to catch!"
"Wait, so we're actually doing this?" asked Andrea, looking between her fellow survivors. "Risking our lives 'cause he says there's a helicopter coming?" she asked, gesturing to Rick.
Morales shrugged with a smile. "Guess we'll find out, won't we?" he answered before he made his way to the stairs with Rick right behind him.
They were quickly followed by Glenn who offered Andrea an innocent shrug. "Why lie, right?"
Andrea watched the two men walk down the stairs and after sharing a look with Jacqui, the two women followed after them.
That left Merle still handcuffed to the rooftop with T-Dog sitting nearby to keep an eye on him. Merle watched the women leave and then looked up to the sky. "Shit, no way is this 'ere Merle dies."
Nobody kept count of how long it took for them to pack up everything they could into bags before carrying them to the rooftop. All they did know was that it was long enough for the horde of walkers to finally smash through the two rows of glass doors. Morales had been the only one to witness it happen, having been the last person left to bring their bag of supplies to the rooftop.
"Mierda!" Morales cursed, having been zipping up his bag of supplies halfway when the doors were smashed open. Walkers flooded into the building with many eying him like he was a big juicy steak. Zipping the bag closed, Morales hoisted it over his shoulder and ran for the stairway, all while hundreds of walkers followed after him. Even with the heavy bag of clothes he was carrying, Morales was still faster than the walkers while running up the stairway. Too many walkers were trying to climb up the narrow staircase at the same time which made them get in each other's way, leading to the stairway getting clogged up.
Halfway up the staircase, Morales met Glenn who had been running down to see if there were more supplies to bring up. "Run!" That was all Morales said but his panicked shout, sweaty body and the groans of hundreds of the undead below them helped Glenn to figure out what was going on. The young Korean immediately turned around and ran back up the stairs with a sweaty Morales right behind him, though slower.
Once an exhausted Morales ran out the rooftop door, T-Dog and Rick closed it behind him and wrapped a metal chain around the door handle before securing it with a thick padlock. Once the door was secured, the two men stepped away from it as if expecting it to be blown open by the undead.
A very sweaty Morales put his hands on his knees, panting heavily. "T-They're in... the geeks... are inside..." he panted in exhaustion. Those had been a lot of stairs to run up and the heavy bag of clothes he'd been carrying did not help. If not for the fact they were clothes meant for the children to keep warm during winter, he would've tossed them down to stairs and never looked back.
Despite them all now being officially stuck on the rooftop with no way to escape, an amused Merle chuckled over Morale's exhausted state. "Aww~, what's wrong, Burrito Breath? I thought you people were supposed to be good at running and climbing over things. It's how you got into the country, right?"
"Man, shut up, will you? You're doing nobody any favours while spouting your racist shit" told T-Dog, glaring daggers at Merle who chuckled in response.
Andrea, Jacqui and Glenn were looking out at the sky, trying to spot any sign of the helicopter meant to pick them up. After two minutes of frantically looking around, Andrea turned to Rick with her arms spread out to gesture the empty sky. "Well, sheriff? Is your helicopter buddy coming or not?" she asked, looking and sounding frantic. She then jumped and shrieked in fright when walkers slammed into the chained door, slightly opening it. The chain and padlock prevented the door from being opened but it did leave enough of a gap for the walkers to stick their heads and arms out. Their groans and moans echoed across the rooftop and were only interrupted by a crying Andrea who dropped to her knees. "We're dead. We're so dead" she said, her voice dripping with despair.
Rick wished that Andrea didn't break down now because it wasn't helping the group at the moment. Looking between everyone, he could tell they were all scared. Even Merle had gone quiet when the walkers started banging at the door. They were now all trapped on the rooftop of a department store which was filled with hundreds if not thousands of walkers. Their only hope now was to wait for Six and hope he could pick them up.
A nervous droplet of sweat dripped down Rick's forehead as he tried to see or hear Six's vertibird but to no avail. He took out his radio and spoke into it. "Six, you there 'cause we could use a pickup like right now!"
"Just flying into the city now. Keep an eye out for me so I can find out where you are."
That may as well have been music in everyone's ears. Rick could visibly see the tension in their bodies lessen somewhat. Even Andrea stopped crying and was back on her feet, working with everyone else to spot the aircraft. Soon, they started hearing the sound of spinning blades cutting through the wind. The noise had everyone looking in every direction in the sky to try and catch sight of the source.
"Well, fuck me sideways, the pig was telling the truth," said the still-handcuffed Merle once he heard the helicopter blades.
It was T-Dog who spotted the aircraft first. "There!" he shouted, pointing at the helicopter he had just seen fly by a skyscraper in the distance.
Rick spotted the vertibird as well and spoke into the radio. "Six, we're to your right. Make a ninety-degree turn and fly straight ahead. We should be close to your path."
"Roger that."
Everyone let out a deep breath of relief when the aircraft turned right and was flying in their direction. They all started shouting and waving their arms to try and catch the pilot's attention.
"Over here! Hey!"
"We're over here!"
"Help us!"
"Down here, jackass!"
For a moment, it looked like the vertibird would fly past them, Six likely not being able to see them. Thankfully, the aircraft made a sudden turn and was now heading directly for them.
"I've got my eyes on you," said Six through Rick's radio.
Six's confirmation and the sight of the vertibird flying towards them was enough cause for celebration. Glenn and Morales loudly cheered with their arms draped over each other's shoulders. A very emotional Andrea hugged Jacqui with both women crying in relief. Merle laughed while throwing up his uncuffed fist in the air. Rick himself was looking down at the floor with his hands on his hips, smiling in relief.
"Fuck yes!" cheered T-Dog who threw his arms up in the air, only to wince in pain. He was still hurting from the beatdown Merle had given him earlier.
The vertibird lowered until it was hovering nearly 20 feet above their heads. The spinning blades blew a strong gust of wind at the group of survivors, not that they cared. They all watched as the aircraft's side door slid open, revealing a tanned man wearing a duster. The man then kicked a rope ladder down for them to climb.
Rick grabbed the rope ladder to steady it before waving the others ahead. "Climb up! Now!"
"You don't need to tell me twice!" shouted back Andrea, her voice just barely heard from under the loud noise of spinning blades. She shouldered one of the five bags of supplies and started climbing up the ladder.
Andrea was soon followed by Jacqui, Glenn and Morales, all while the others kept a close eye on the chained door that held against the wave of walkers wanting to tear them apart. Soon, it was only Rick, T-Dog and Merle left on the rooftop.
"You okay to climb!?" Rick asked T-Dog who he knew was still hurt.
T-Dog merely grinned back confidently. "If it means getting off this godforsaken rooftop, yeah, I think I can!" Just as he was about to prove he could, a sharp whistle made the two men turn to an angry Merle.
"Hey, assholes! You forgetting something?!" Merle banged his handcuffed hand to the pipe it was restrained to. "Get me the fuck out of this!"
Rick would admit, in the excitement of seeing Six's vertibird and getting off the roof, he'd forgotten about Merle. He held his hand out to T-Dog. "Give me the key, I'll set him loose!"
"You won't see me complaining, man!" After handing back the key to Merle's cuffs, T-Dog picked up Dale's toolkit and started climbing the ladder. He knew he'd get shit from the old man if he forgot his tools.
As T-Dog climbed, Rick marched over to Merle and dropped to one knee to be on the same eye level. He held up the key for Merle to see. "I free you, you'll climb up that ladder without complaint, right?" It was clear by his tone that Rick was in no mood to deal with any more of Merle's shit.
Merle scoffed and shook his handcuffed hand. "Just open the cuffs, pig."
Guessing that was the closest thing to confirmation he was going to get from the redneck, Rick freed Merle from his handcuffs. The pair stood up with Merle rubbing his wrist while glaring daggers at the sheriff. Rick returned Merle's glare with a hard look, showing he wasn't one bit intimidated.
The two stood there for a moment, eying the other. Rick silently wondered if Merle was going to throw a punch, he looked that pissed. He got his answer when Merle let out a grunt before moving towards the ladder. Rick watched on as Merle climbed up the ladder without complaint. Once Merle climbed into the vertibird, Rick picked up the last bag of supplies. Giving one last cursory glance at the chained door, Rick climbed the ladder. Once safely inside the vertibird and sliding the door shut behind him, Rick sank to the floor in relief, the stress of the day practically leaching off him now that he knew he was safe.
"Nice of you to join us, helicopter boy" joked Morales from the seat behind Rick. He patted Rick on the shoulder, the man was in a far better mood now that they were safe in the aircraft. Rick waved him off while lightly laughing.
Once his laughter died down, Rick saw how the vertibird was a bit cramped with eight people and five heavy bags of supplies taking up room. T-Dog, Merle and himself had to sit on the floor with the bags since there were no other seats available.
"Everyone comfortable back there?" asked Six, looking over his shoulder at the group.
A shaky Jacqui nodded in confirmation. "W-We're good. Right? We're good?" She asked the others as if wanting it confirmed to her that they were good and safe. Getting so close to being eaten alive had stressed her out far more than she would've liked.
Rick let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, we're okay back here."
"Great! Now, is there any place you people want me to drop you off at?" asked Six.
After gulping down some air to calm his racing heart, Morales spoke up. "We've got a camp at a quarry nearby."
"Then someone get up here and give me directions. I'm not a mind reader!"
Glenn volunteered himself to guide Courier Six to their campsite. Getting up from his chair, he awkwardly shuffled around the bodies and bags on the floor to reach the front of the aircraft. He sat down in the co-pilot's chair and after a minute of gawking at all the buttons and knobs displayed before him, he pointed roughly in the direction their camp was located. "Quarry should be in the direction over there... somewhere."
Throwing a glance at the young Asian man sitting beside him, Six silently turned the vertibird in the direction given to him and flew. Within minutes, the vertibird flew beyond the city limits of Atlanta, leaving the city behind.
When everyone finally calmed down, Morales turned to the man piloting the aircraft. "It's Courier Six, right?" When Six slightly tilted his head to look over his shoulder, Morales continued. "I just want to say thanks. You saved our asses out there. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have gotten out of there alive." Similar gratitude was offered by the others, except for Merle who gave a halfhearted wave.
"It's no problem. It's always good to lend a helping hand to those in need. Besides, I couldn't leave Rick to hang out there to dry after promising to help him. Wasn't expecting to be called so soon though."
Rick had the decency to look apologetic. "I hadn't planned to call so soon, but circumstances changed."
"I'll say. You'll have to tell me how the hell you got stuck on a rooftop in the middle of the city within a day."
"Yeah, helicopter boy. You wanna tell him how we ended up there in the first place?" asked a grinning Morales, voice alight with humour.
A tired Rick chuckled and waved him off. "No, I'd rather not."
"Turn a bit to your left here," told Glenn, pointing in the direction. The vertibird made a slight turn before continuing onwards over a forest.
The rest of the trip was spent in relative silence, everyone still grasping how close to death they had been. The only one to speak was Glenn when giving further directions to the quarry.
Shane Walsh had been returning from patrol when he heard the familiar sound of spinning helicopter blades. Once he was sure the noise was real and not a figment of his imagination, he hugged his shotgun to his chest and ran through the woods, not stopping until he broke the treeline and entered camp. When he did, he found the rest of the group fluttering around like headless chickens, searching for the same noise he could hear.
He ignored them all, instead searching for Lori and Carl. He didn't have to look far, having spotted them standing by Dale's RV with others from the camp. Dale himself was standing atop the RV, looking at something through his binoculars. Shane marched up to the RV, looking up at Dale expectantly. "Speak to me, Dale."
"It's a helicopter!" Dale called out the obvious but to most in the camp, it was joyous news. The rest of the survivors finally calmed down from the initial excitement and were now gathering around the RV with the rest of them. From the front, Shane could hear words being spoken between the other survivors. Some were saying how the military was finally here to deal with the infected. Others were gushing over how they were finally going to be saved.
Shane didn't share their enthusiasm. When he tried to get Rick out of the Harrison Memorial Hospital, he saw the military take away some of the patients and most of the doctors. The rest were lined up in the hallway and executed without mercy. Soon after that, he witnessed the military drop napalm bombs on Atlanta in a desperate attempt to contain the city's outbreak. If the helicopter was military, Shane wasn't sure if that would be a good thing for the group. What if they were here to drop more napalm and burn the forest to the ground? What if they were here to wipe out anything that moved, whether they be geeks or humans? Shane considered himself a loyal patriot of the United States of America but even he wouldn't trust the military on that alone. He would stay his hand for now but if bullets were to start flying, he would grab Lori and Carl, and get away from here. Those two were his primary concern, the rest of the camp was secondary.
"Just one?" Shane asked.
"Just one" replied Dale with a nod. "Military. Got to be with that big gun on the front of it, though it's not any helicopter design I've ever seen before."
That worsened Shane's nerves. He eyed his jeep parked nearby and patted his right pocket, confirming he had his keys on him. If the worst were to happen, he could at least make a quick getaway with Lori and Carl.
Soon, everyone could see the source of the noise flying high over their heads. Even from how far away it was, others could make out the strange design of the aircraft. Shane furrowed his brows, staring at the oddly shaped aircraft, cautiously.
"Is there any way to get their attention?" asked Amy, speaking for the first time since earlier today when she publically cursed Shane for not sending anyone else to look for the group who'd gone to the city for supplies. An understandable rage since one of the people missing was her older sister.
"What about the radio?" offered Lori, arms holding her son close to her while they stood next to Shane. Their radio was on top of the RV with Dale.
Dale watched the helicopter through his binoculars for a little bit longer. "I don't think we have to worry about signalling it," he said, bringing the binoculars away from his eyes so he could look down at the crowd below him. "'Cause it looks like it's coming right for us."
Just as Dale said, the aircraft was starting to drop altitude and looked to be heading straight in their direction. Shane wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He decided it wasn't good once he spotted the gun strapped to the front of the helicopter.
Everybody could only watch as the helicopter lowered until it was hovering directly over the quarry. Excited shouts and waves were made by many within the group which only served to annoy Shane. The helicopter was loud enough on its own, they didn't need to shout. It was like they'd forgotten all about the undead who were attracted to noise.
The camp didn't offer many options for the aircraft to land on. The only suitable space available was the empty space surrounded by the RVs, cars and tents, which the pilot chose to land in. Survivors crossed their arms in front of their faces to stop the wind made by the landing aircraft from blowing dust into their eyes. Some tents were sent flying by the winds, not that anyone cared at the moment. Many gasped when the landing struts extended out from under the aircraft before it touched the ground.
Shane kept a tight grip on his Mossberg 590. He glared at the aircraft's lone sliding door, not knowing what to expect when it opened. Maybe it would be soldiers here to help. Or it could be soldiers here to put a bullet in their brains. He didn't know but if they fired the first shot, he had his shotgun on hand to return fire.
It turned out he didn't have to worry about that because when the door slid open, he was met with Morale's smiling face.
"Guess who's back!"
Shane felt the tension lessen seeing the familiar face who was soon followed by other familiar faces.
"Papi!/Daddy!" The moment Morales hopped out of the vertibird, he was beset by his two children, Eliza and Louis. They were quickly followed by their very relieved mother, Miranda. The father dropped to one knee so he could bring his children into a hug. Then standing up, he picked up Eliza with one arm while the other was used to hug his tearful wife. "Told you I'd be back, didn't I?"
When Andrea exited, she tearfully ran to her younger sister, Amy, who was just as tearful as she was. "Amy! Oh my God!"
"Andrea!" cried Amy as the two crying sisters wrapped their arms around each other in relief.
The others climbed out as well. Jacqui, T-Dog, Merle, Glenn, Ri-
Shane's hardened expression faded as he stared in sheer disbelief as Rick Grimes, his best friend and who he thought to be dead, stepped out of the aircraft looking no worse for wear. He was even wearing his sheriff uniform as if he was walking into work. His disbelief was shared between Lori and Carl once they spotted him.
"Dad!" With a loud cry, Carl ran towards Rick. An equally happy Lori followed after him, both reaching Rick who was crying in pure joy. The emotional hug shared between father and son had them fall to the dirt floor, not that either cared. The only thing that mattered was that they were together again. Carrying Carl, Rick climbed to his feet to meet Lori who was standing before him, looking like she couldn't believe he was standing right in front of her. Once she was sure he was real, she brought him in the tightest hug she could.
A conflicted Shane could only watch with a bitter smile. On one hand, he was overjoyed to see Rick, his brother in all but blood, alive and well, even though he was sure he had died in the hospital. On the other, he and Lori...
"Hahahahaha!"
Loud laughter drew everyone's attention away from the family's happy reunion to see a stranger in a black coat sitting on the edge of the aircraft's doorway, feet hanging off the edge.
"You're shitting me! Rick, you and I got to play cards one of these days 'cause your luck is insane!"