Atlanta.

"Broadcasting on emergency channel, will be approaching Atlanta on Highway 85. If anybody reads please respond."

Rick had been talking on that radio for the past 2 miles of road.

"Hello? Can anybody hear my voice?"

"I can." I replied with a grin. "How about I take over for a while?" I offered as his voice was starting to get on my nerves.

"Alright then." he replied before handing me the CB.

I pushed the button down as I slowly adjusted the frequency on the scanner, ever so slightly.

"Hello, does anyone hear my voice? ... Broadcasting on emergency channel... If anyone hears me please respond."

"...He..He...lo.." To my glee I hear a garbled reply through the receiver.

"Hello, can you hear me?" I say as I tune the radio ever so slightly and Rick pulls over.

"...Yes, I ...n hear you. You're coming through, over." I finally got a good signal with a wide smile on my face before replying.

"Hello, it's good to hear someone shoot back. We're heading down highway 85 to Atlanta, can I ask you where you are?" I was honestly happy that I managed to get a hold of the group, I wasn't really expecting to.

"We're just outside the city. Don't go in there, Atlanta is overrun." Amy nearly shouted back through the radio.

I went silent as I looked over to Rick who seemed to be having some kind of crisis.

In the intermission Amy seemed to call on Shane to help because that's the next voice that came through the receiver.

"Hello, hello. Is the person who called still on the air?"

"Yeah we're still... wait a minute. Shane?" I asked in a mock quizzical voice.

There wasn't a response for a moment so I double checked. "Shane, it's me Leon. I'm here with Rick."

At the mention of Shame Rick perked up like a puppy so I handed him the receiver.

The receiver was still silent to the point that I thought we'd lost the signal until we heard Shane call back.

"Are you guys really alive?" He must have been having a bit of a crisis as he sounded a little shaken.

"Shane! Brother, I'm so glad you made it." Rick said with relief "Do you know anything about Lori and Carl?" He asked the second part filled with hope.

"...Rick?" A feminine voice came through the CB, a voice that brought Rick near to tears.

"Lori?... Oh thank god you're alive." he replied brimming with joy.

Rick proceeded to have a short exchange of praises for Shane and loving words with his wife and son before they got into the grit.

"Rick, Atlanta's a bust... If you head off of highway 85 about a half mile out it'll lead ya to an abandoned quarry, that's where we're staying." Shane gave directions to Rick after a long while. Then we headed out.

###

Lori couldn't describe her emotions with a single word.

Her husband was alive, the father of her child. The man she loved before it all changed. The man she cheated on.

She was both elated and heartbroken, she thanked God for saving the father of her child and yet cursed herself for not being worthy of him.

Shane was largely the same. He had known Rick for years, they were like brothers. Yet he had broken that bond when he left him in that hospital. He knew he had to get Lori and Carl to safety, he felt they were just as much his family as they were Rick's.

But he took it too far.

He slept with Lori, Rick's wife, the mother of his child.

Yeah he knew that they never had the best relationship, he knew it was unlikely that Rick had survived, he knew...

And he felt justified in his actions.

Why shouldn't he be with a woman like Lori? He had saved her life after all, as well as the life of her son. There aren't many guys who would but her needs first like that, especially when they weren't even related.

And yet he had, he had given her a chance to live. A chance to survive.

Yet now she looked at him with a look of disgust, she projected her vile inner thoughts about herself onto him. How dare she?

He had given her everything, and now she couldn't even look at him.

Rick was coming, they both knew it, and neither wanted to know what would come next.

###

Turns out we had just enough gas to get us there.

Rick was driving like a madman, which was a little unnerving since we were on a dusty quarry track, but we got there in record time.

When we reached the camp Rick hopped straight out of the car, he didn't even take out the keys.

He ran up the slope towards his wife and son who were waiting at the top.

What followed was a rather wholesome scene as all three of the Grimes' cried tears of joy.

As the scene played out I set my gaze on the rest of the crew that had gathered around.

I appraised everyone there only to find that nearly no one had any skills to speak of, there were only three people.

/Name: Amy Harrison

Status: Healthy (Anxious)

Skills: Bestial Sense (Lvl2)

Traits: Survivor, Alive, Fisherman/

/Bestial Sense - Level 2 - Gives the user the senses of a beast. Includes an acute perception of danger and a defence against mental influence. (Skill is passive and so doesn't have energy consumption. This skill evolves with the user)/

She had the only level 2 skill I had seen thus far. And I wasted no time in copying it, it cost 40 points to copy.

/Name: Dale Horvath

Status: Healthy (Tired)

Skills: Voice of Reason (Lvl1)

Traits: Survivor, Alive, Hunter, Pervert/

/Voice of Reason - Level 1 - Allows the user to exude a calming aura. Gives the user the ability to slowly influence the mind of those with weak willpower (Skill has a slow energy consumption and may cause the user to feel tired if used often)/

He had an interesting skill, as well as a rather accurate trait, I'd have to keep my eye on him.

The last one was none other than Carl Grimes himself.

/Name: Carl Grimes

Status: Healthy

Skills: Heightened Regeneration (Lvl1), Mental Boost (Lvl1)

Traits: Survivor, Alive/

/Heightened Regeneration - Level 1 - Allows the user to heal themselves from almost any wound. Doesn't cure the Virus (Skill is active until the user's energy depletes or the wounds are healed)/

/Mental Boost - Level 1 - Gives the user higher capacity for the mind stat. Current capacity: 10.1 (Skill is passive and so doesn't have energy consumption)/

I wanted to copy both skills but I would have to wait a while for my energy to regenerate until I could nab the second one.

I introduced myself to the camp inhabitants and they greeted me in kind.

"Shane, it's good to see you." I said as I approached, I could tell he wasn't in the best of moods.

"Heya Leon, I'm glad you guys made it out." He replied after he broke his gaze on Lori.

We chatted for a while and I got the basics of their situation.

To my surprise I did notice a certain blonde-haired beauty stealing glances at me as I talked with Shane, which I welcomed with a charming smile.

This earned a blush from the girl before she walked towards the CB radio that started to act up.

"Hello, base camp... Is anybody out there?" A voice came through the receiver and she quickly pounced on it.

"I can hear you but the reception is bad." She said before Dale came and took the receiver from her. She shot him a glare but allowed him to use it.

"We're stuck in the department store... We.. kch... Geeks all ov.... ndreds of the..." The words came out very broken.

"He said they're trapped. The department store?" Shane spoke up to Dale who nodded his head.

I couldn't help but be surprised, if Rick didn't go to Atlanta then how did they end up being trapped?

"Who's that?" Rick asked as he finally broke the embrace of his family and stood by Shane and me.

"The rest of our group. They went into the city to gather supplies... Supposed to be back by now." Shane replied to his former best friend and partner. "Seems like they're trapped in the city."

There was a silence after that before people started clamouring around and voicing their opinions.

"Shane, we've gotta go in!"

"No, way. We don't go after them."

"It would risk everyone else's safety..."

"You're not leaving my sister in there!"

It was Amy who spoke the loudest, she seemed more defiant then hysterical at the potential loss of her sister.

"She volunteered to go! For the rest of us..."

She seemed to quiet down towards the end of her statement as Shane approached her.

"She knew the risks though, right? If she's trapped then she's gone. There's nothing we can do." He said with almost mock sympathy, you could tell he didn't really like anyone in there.

"No! We have to go! I'll go myself if that's what it takes!" she said as she stormed off, clearly more hysterical now.

Shane just shook his head and sighed before coming back to Rick.

"About how far into the city are they?" I asked. It was against my better judgement to go in after them, but I knew they were unlikely to survive without external help.

"About a quarter mile. But you can't go in there Leon, not with just that peashooter." Shane said as he pointed to the Glock on my belt.

I smiled at him before beckoning him to the boot of the car.

I pop the trunk only for him to almost gasp in surprise when he saw the assortment of weaponry laid in the trunk.

"We ransacked the armoury at the station." I said when I saw his face. "I'm confident I can get in, draw the geeks away and get out before I'm in any danger."

I didn't want to take anyone with me, I couldn't use my powers freely if other people were there. I could use this as an opportunity to test them out.

"Look if you think you can get in and out with them then you can go right ahead." Shane said, agreeing quite quickly. "But you can't expect us to go with you."

"I'd rather go alone anyway." I replied, it worked in my favour if they didn't want to go anyway.

Shane looked surprised and Rick remained silent, I honestly don't think they like me all that much.

"I'm coming with you." A voice came from behind us which caused us all to turn to see Amy decked out in leather pants and a jacket, holding a shovel.

I had to admit she looked very sexy decked out in leather, the shovel kind of ruined it though.

"Amy there's no way we can let you go in there. Leon's trained for combat, he has guns and he'd probably be a lot faster in getting out Andrea and the rest of you didn't follow." Shane interjected as soon as she spoke to which she replied with a violent stare.

"There is no way I'm putting my sister's life into anyone else's hands, let alone some stranger. I'm going."

I looked her up and down once more before handing her a Glock from the trunk and taking the magazines from the remaining ones.

"Well alright then. But you can lose the shovel." I said which made her violent stare turn into a surprised expression. She managed to nod before heading to a station wagon down the road.

"You're taking her with you? You sure that's a good idea?" Rick said while Shane just shook his head again.

"There's no way I can say no to a face like that man. Plus she seems pretty determined." I replied to which they seemed to get my just and just wore a wry smile.

"Alright then Leon. Be careful." Rick said before heading off with Shane, back towards his family.

I knew it was naive of me to bring Amy along, but I couldn't help myself. She was stunning and I wasn't going to let her fall from my grasp.