Starting the car, Rick replied, "I guess we'll find out."
For a while, neither of them spoke.
Fields rolled by outside the windows, broken fences and abandoned cars scattered across the countryside. Now and then, they passed walkers stumbling through the grass or standing motionless in the middle of the road like forgotten statues.
Gray kept glancing at Rick.
It was surreal. He'd watched this man through a screen once. Saw the choices he'd make, the people he'd lose, the weight that would crush him piece by piece.
Now he was real. Tired eyes. Dust-covered uniform. Hands gripping the wheel tighter every mile.
"You got family?" Rick asked suddenly.
Gray blinked. "No."
Rick nodded slowly, eyes on the road. "Then you're lucky."
Gray looked out the window. "Maybe."
They drove on.
As the sun began to dip lower, the signs of civilization returned: more cars, more wrecks, more bodies left where they'd fallen. Smoke rose in the distance.
Then Gray saw it.
The skyline.
Atlanta loomed ahead, towering over the horizon.
Even from miles away, something felt wrong.
The roads leading out were clogged with abandoned vehicles. Doors hung open. Luggage was scattered everywhere. A stroller lay overturned on the shoulder.
Rick slowed the car.
"This many people trying to get out…" he muttered. "That ain't a good sign."
Gray said nothing. He already knew what awaited them in the city.
Finally, inside the city, they weaved through the wreckage as best they could, inching closer to the center. The streets grew tighter, more blocked, forcing Rick to take side roads and narrow lanes between rows of stalled cars.
Then the engine sputtered, Rick frowned, and pressed the gas pedal. The car jerked forward once, then again, then died.
Silence.
They coasted a few more feet before rolling to a stop. Rick tried the ignition.
Nothing but a dry clicking sound.
Gray leaned back in his seat and exhaled. "Well… At least we made it into the city, right?"
Rick stared through the windshield at the city ahead, towering buildings, silent streets.
No signs of soldiers.
No signs of safety.
Just a dead city.
He opened the car door slowly and stepped out.
Gray grabbed his shotgun, slung on his backpack, and followed. The two men stood beside the dead car, facing the city as the wind carried distant sounds through the streets.
Before they started walking, Gray turned to Rick.
"Got any 9mm ammo in that bag of yours?"
Rick opened the gun bag and tossed him a box. "This should help."
Opening his bag, Gray took out his magazines and reloaded them, putting the extra two in his pockets. Seeing that Rick wasn't paying attention, he opened the shop and bought a 'CAT Street Crack Modular Suppressor' for his handgun for 200 Gold.
Taking out the sledgehammer, Gray tossed it to Rick, "This should help out with a few stagglers, don't shoot until absolutely necessary, and keep your eyes open." Seeing that he had more space, he decided to store the shotgun in the bag.
With full magazines and weapons in hand, they started walking into the city, seeing some roadblocks ahead alongside a helicopter. They approached slowly, not seeing any zombies. Rick checked inside it but found nothing.
Looking down the street, they spotted a few military vehicles alongside a tank.
Walking up ahead, they spotted a burnt-down bus with two zombies inside. To the left, they found a lone wandering zombie. Getting close, Gray killed the one to the left while Rick killed the two from the bus.
After walking half a block more, they finally spotted the tank. Across the street from it, Gray found a huge gun with a lot of ammo still attached to it. "You think we could take it with us?"
Rick shook his head, "Nah, too heavy, we don't have a vehicle with us anyway."
Suddenly, they heard a helicopter flying overhead. Rick, eager to catch its attention, started running, but Gray remained in place, scanning their surroundings. They weren't the only ones who heard it; zombies began pouring out of storefronts in waves. In less than twenty seconds, more than fifty zombies were on the streets. Seeing this, Rick halted in his tracks as he spotted hundreds, if not more, zombies staring directly at him. Without thinking, he turned and ran back towards Gray, shouting, "Run! It's a dead end!"
Gray saw Rick running toward him, so he started shooting, trying to clear a path so they could retreat in the direction they'd come from. Turning back, he yelled, "Run to me! There's an alley up ahead! Hurry!"
Since Gray was a few yards ahead, he kept firing, doing his best to keep the zombies at bay while reloading as quickly as possible. He managed to hold them off until Rick finally caught up. "There's a fire exit ladder up ahead! Go!"
After firing his last bullet, Gray dashed after Rick. Climbing the ladder with his backpack was challenging, but he finally made it halfway up, where he could grip the railing.
Peering down, they saw hundreds of zombies at the base of the ladder. Rick and Gray exchanged relieved glances. "Sorry, I lost the sledgehammer," Gray said with a shrug. "At least it wasn't the bag of guns."
Before they had a chance to catch their breath, someone on the roof shouted, "Get up here, hurry! You've attracted way too many walkers!"
Seeing no other option, they scrambled up onto the roof, where they met another survivor. "You guys are crazy!" he exclaimed, glancing at Rick as he paced back and forth. "Did you think you could just walk into town like you're the new sheriff, shooting left and right and trying to clean it up?"
"Oh man, this is bad; we're all gonna die..." the survivor continued, until Rick finally interrupted him.
"Listen, we didn't know the city was overrun. I heard there was a safe place here, a refugee center. Is that true?"
"There is no refugee center, man. The city was overrun weeks ago."
Gray chose to stay out of the conversation and walked to the edge. He noticed a few zombies starting to climb the ladder. 'What the hell...that's the first time I've seen that.'
Finally tuning back into the conversation, Gray realized the pleasantries were over.
"Names Rick; that one over there is Gray," Rick said, pointing at Gray.
"Glenn," the survivor replied.
After they shook hands, Glenn led them to his group.
On the way, Rick tried to make small talk. "You're the one barricading the alleys?"
"Someone did," Glenn replied as they walked. "I guess they tried to keep too many walkers from getting through."
After five minutes of weaving through buildings, they arrived at an alley where two zombies lurked. Glenn took out a radio. "I'm back; got two guests, and there are two walkers in the alley."
By the time they reached the ground floor, two people burst out of a door wearing protective gear and wielding baseball bats, which they used to take down the zombies.
Once inside the building, Rick was grabbed by a girl pointing a gun at his face. Gray stood to the side, looking around. He recognized some familiar faces. 'The ones in protective gear are T-Dog and Morales... The girl with the gun is Andrea, and the last one is an African American lady. Sorry, I forgot your name.'
Andrea was shaking, staring at both of them. "Both of you idiots just got us killed... shooting like that in the middle of the city attracted walkers from miles away."
Rick appeared confused. "I don't get it."
Putting her gun away, she pointed at the front windows.
Morales grabbed Rick's arm and started to pull him toward the entrance. "You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving!" He showed him the dozens of walkers banging against the front doors. "And you know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, not shooting everything you see."
"You just rang the dinner bell."
Gray stayed to the side, watching it all unfold like a scene from a TV show. 'That zombie has a rock and is smashing the window with it... early seasons of The Walking Dead were crazyyy, I just hope they don't stay that way.'
Rick tried to explain himself, "Look, we saw a helicopter, and I tried to flag it down." Gray nodded, "That's true, that is also the reason we got surrounded like that, it attracted a lot of zombies out."
T-Dog just shook his head, "You guys are crazy, too much time out in the sun will do that to you." Gray just shrugged.
And just like in the show, Merle started shooting from the roof, prompting everyone to rush upstairs to confront him. Gray decided to stay downstairs, already planning his next steps.
'First, I'll have to change Merle's story. I wonder how saving him would change the outcome of the group...'
Making use of his time, Gray reloaded his magazines. After 5 minutes, he finally decided to head to the roof.
Opening the door, he saw Merle already cuffed and bleeding from the mouth, T-Dog lying down while Andrea tried to clean up the blood from his face.
"Whoa, the hell happened here?" Everybody just turned towards him and decided to ignore him.
Merle spat on the ground with a swollen lip. "The hell are you looking at?"
Gray ignored the attitude and crouched near T-Dog instead. "You still breathing? Good. Means he didn't hit you hard enough."
T-Dog groaned. Andrea shot Gray an annoyed look, but said nothing.
Rick stepped between Gray and everyone else, jaw tight. "He pulled a gun on us and nearly got T-Dog killed."
Merle barked a laugh. "That boy hit the ground softer than he deserved."
"Shut up," Andrea snapped.
Gray leaned against the wall, watching the group argue. Same shouting. Same tension. Same people trying to prove something while the dead packed the streets below.
He didn't need to interfere.
Not yet.
After another minute, Rick made the call, "We head for the sewers, see if there's a way out."
As they left the roof, T-Dog continued to try the radio while Merle, being his usual self, made snide comments. Turning to Gray, he started asking questions.
"So... you're friends with that pig of a cop?"
"I think 'friends' might be pushing it since I just met him a few hours ago, but yeah, maybe," Gray replied, gazing out at the walking dead on the streets.
After a while, Gray heard glass breaking. A minute later, the entire group was back on the rooftop. Rick had binoculars and was scouting the area until he eventually spotted a construction site at the end of the street.
"That construction site, they always keep those truck keys on hand. If we can get to them, we can get out of here," Rick announced.
"That sounds like a solid plan," Morales said, looking down at the street. "But how are you going to get to them?"
"We could create a distraction. Is there a car or truck on the street?" Gray suggested. "If we can trigger an alarm, they would swarm towards it."
"That's true," Glenn chimed in. "They respond to noise like dogs."
After scanning the area, they found that the only vehicles left were either burnt-out shells or military ones.
Rick continued to think aloud, "So, they're attracted to noise. What else?"
Morales added, "Well, aside from hearing you, they can also see you and smell you. If they catch you, they eat you."
"They can tell us apart by smell?" Rick asked, intrigued.
"And can't you?" Andrea responded. "They smell dead; we don't."
"So... we just have to smell and act like them, right?" Rick seemed to have an idea. Gray, standing to the side, already knew what was coming but wanted no part of it.
They found a dead body in the alley, and after paying their respects, they began to chop it up. The smell that hit them, along with the noises it made, was a completely different experience from just killing the undead.
'There is no way this is happening right now... Why do we need three people for this?'
Once they were covered in zombie blood and guts, Gray, Rick, and Glenn prepared to leave.
"What about Merle Dixon? Are we really just going to leave him cuffed to the roof?" T-Dog asked. Rick reached into his pocket and handed him the key.
Once outside and crawling under a bus, they began walking toward the construction site. A few zombies looked at them strangely but walked away after a few seconds.
Gray stopped about 100 yards from the fence and looked up, feeling water droplets hit his face. 'Right, this also happened in the show... great.'
As more zombies stopped and stared at them, the group grew increasingly tense until the first zombie lunged, swinging an axe. Gray took it out before they sprinted towards the chain-link fence.
While running, they had to kill a few zombies in their path before jumping over the fence. Glenn was already at the security box, breaking it open. He tossed Rick the keys and took off his blood-soaked gloves and coat before they drove away.
After five minutes, Rick stopped next to a red Challenger and broke the window. He hotwired it, setting off the alarm, which began attracting zombies. Turning to Glenn, he instructed him to drive to the storefront and attract as many walkers as possible before making an exit.
Nodding, Glenn got into the car and said, "I'll see you all at base camp," before driving off.
Gray climbed into the back of the truck and opened the sliding door when they arrived at the store. As the group opened the roll-up doors, he noticed Merle wasn't with them. 'So it still happened,' he thought.
Gray asked while they tossed bags inside, "Where's Merle?" Looking guilty, T-Dog replied, "I dropped the key! There was no time! I put a chain and a padlock on the door. There's no way they can reach him!"
"You left him?"
Gray grabbed his axe and headed back inside the store. Seeing this, Rick's eyes widened, and he shouted, "What are you doing? We have to go now! There's no time!"
He ignored him.
"Are you insane?" Andrea yelled from the cargo bed.
Gray backed toward the loading dock, pistol in hand. "Take the truck and go. I'll catch up."
"There's no catching up after this!" Morales shouted.
Gray gave them a quick wave. "Then I guess I'll see you later."
Rick cursed under his breath, torn between stopping Gray and saving the people already on board. The delay made the decision for him; more walkers were turning the corner.
Morales slammed the door shut. "Go!"
The truck peeled away, leaving Gray alone at the loading bay. He turned and headed back inside.
The department store was dim, filled with overturned shelves and broken glass. Moans echoed through the floor.
Gray moved quickly but controlled, the suppressor fixed to his Glock. The first walker stumbled out from behind a cosmetics counter.
Thip. It dropped.
A second walker emerged from a clothing rack. Thip. Another appeared from the escalator. Thip. He kept moving, adrenaline fueling every step.
Each shot was deliberate, every step measured. The remaining dead inside were scattered now, drawn apart by the noise of the truck. He counted as he went.
Five.
Nine.
Fourteen.
Seventeen.
By the time he reached the stairwell, twenty-five corpses littered the lower floor. He reloaded and started climbing.
The higher he went, the louder Merle became. "COME ON! SOMEBODY! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!"
Raw panic filled his voice now, no swagger, no threats, just fear.
Gray reached the rooftop access door. A heavy chain had been wrapped around the handles from the inside with a padlock. He raised the axe and swung hard into the lock, breaking it instantly. 'A master lock can be opened with another master lock or, in this case, an axe...'
He kicked the door open.
Merle was on the rooftop floor, sweating, eyes red, one wrist still cuffed to a pipe. He had pulled so hard that his skin was torn and bloody.
When he saw Gray, he blinked, as if he couldn't believe he was real. "...You came back?"
Gray walked over without answering.
Merle's usual smirk was gone, and his voice cracked. "I thought... I thought those bastards really left me."
Gray crouched beside the cuff, aimed carefully, and fired once. The metal chain shattered. Merle jerked back, clutching his freed wrist.
For a moment, he just sat there, breathing hard. Then he looked up. "Boy, you are either the dumbest son of a bitch I ever met... or the realest."
Gray offered a hand. "Get up. Compliments later." Merle took it and stood.
They crossed the rooftop and entered the neighboring building through a maintenance door. The halls were empty.
Moving down floor by floor, Merle now carried Gray's axe in one hand while cradling his injured wrist with the other. Once outside, they slipped through alleys and side streets until the city noise faded behind them.
At last, they reached a quiet overpass on the edge of downtown. From there, they could see the truck disappearing in the distance.
Merle spat over the railing, then glanced sideways at Gray. "Why?"
Gray kept watching the road. "Why what?"
"Why come back for me?" Merle asked. "You didn't know me. You could have rode out with the rest. Hell, you probably should have."
Gray was quiet for a long moment. Then he said, "I used to have an older brother."
Merle frowned.
"He was loud, angry, always in trouble. He thought acting tough solved everything." A small smile touched Gray's face. "He drove me crazy."
Merle looked away, his jaw tightening.
Gray continued, "When I saw you up there... I don't know. It felt like if I walked away, I'd be leaving him too."
For once, Merle had nothing smart to say. He cleared his throat and flexed his freed hand.
"Well..." he muttered. "Your brother must've been one handsome bastard."
Gray snorted. "Come on," he said. "Let's find somewhere safe before dark."