𝟥

𝖢𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖳𝗁𝗋𝖾𝖾 — 𝖦𝗅𝖾𝗇𝗇.

𝖪𝖺𝗍𝖺𝗋𝖺 𝖦𝗋𝖾𝖾𝗇𝖾.

Silence and Stillness.

Is all you heard and saw when they were on the highways, the woman had to admit she'd never thought this part of Atlanta could've been so quiet.

Before the pandemic, loud beeping was heard, and the engines of cars and motorcycles could be heard. And if morning traffic was angry or cranky, you would hear yells come from the drivers.

Whether it was about them trying to switch over to the lanes they needed, or moving too slow for their liking.

Katara and Theodore had took Morgan's advice to leave, to help the man look for his wife and child. To help them survive if they were alive, to try and create a community with the group of people they might've found.

They seem to believe that it's a group they travelled with, because in a world such as this, you cannot survive it without someone at your side to help. If you didn't, your chances in surviving this deadly world wasn't possible.

Duane was quite heartbroken when he heard of the two leaving, even refused to speak to them before they left. It made Katara shed a few tears before actually leaving with the two men who awaited her presence in the car.

"Is your thighs supposed to hurt this much while riding?" Theodore adjusted himself on the horse he was on. The three was traveling towards the city to start the search that they were on.

They were quite close to it as well, but they were also on the horse's for quite a long time. The woman was directly behind him, holding holding onto Theodore's waist to ensure that she didn't fall off the horse while on back.

"When your not used to riding, yes. You didn't break him in yet" she educated him slightly as her eyes roamed around the abandoned streets.

"Want to switch over?" She asked the male after telling him what she knew, she could tell by him adjusting every few seconds that he wasn't comfortable.

Theodore had gave her a nod and with the help of her words, he brought the horse to a stop. The man slid off of the horse and she inched up onto the saddle before putting her hand out to Theodore. The male took the woman's hand before leading himself back onto the animal.

She waited until he was adjusted to follow Ricks lead once again as she held onto the reins of the animal. "So when we get deeper into the city, what will we do?" She looked at the deputy officer who was in his uniform as they rode side by side.

"Find somewhere to lay low, try and find clue's" he turned his head towards her and his eyes followed suit and Katara have him a nod.

It only took them a few minutes to enter the city and see how horrifying it looked. The walkers corpses laid around the ground, most of them dead, whether it was from a stab to the head or a bullet. Or limbs separated but the head was severed from its body.

It was sad to see what the world really became, but she really wondered how all of this started.

Did a scientist do something he wasn't supposed to do? Like play with hazardous things that wasn't made to be tampered with?

That's a question that'll never be answered.

But all three of their heads lifted once they heard a helicopter flying in the air and Theodore's head tilted. "Is that a helicopter..?" He asked aloud.

"It is. Follow me" Rick clicked his heels in on the horse making the horse pick up its pace and run faster throughout the streets.

The female followed Rick but when she felt her horse turn the corner, it's hooves had skid to a sudden stop. She didn't know why the horse had stopped until her eyes met the group of walkers that was in front of them.

"Turn! Turn!" Rick yelled aloud to the girl and her hands that was on the reins pulled the horse into a different direction. Out of fright the horse already ran so quickly, forcing her body to lean forward to help her body catch up with the horse's strong and steady movements.

"Shit. They're following!" Theodore head was turned back to warn the two people that was leading the horses. It made Katara's teeth click once another crowd of walkers turned the corner of the other street.

Oh they were absolutely fucked.

Both of the horses had came to the stop, but Katara's horse was so scared out of its mind that the upper body had lifted and a shriek came from its mouth. Knocking her and the boy from the animal, falling directly onto their backs.

A groan came from Theodore's lips as he turned onto his side to be greeted by a walker. But before it could bite him, a knife came plunging into its head, the knife who's initials was carved into it, Katara.

"Under the tank, let's go!" She told him watching her brother like figure scramble underneath the car first before turning her head to see Rick kicking a walker off his body. "This way, come on!" She said to the male who was currently out of it mentally.

Katara watched him crawl underneath the tank before following after him, but she felt a walker grab onto her foot with its hand. But when she kicked it's head, it let go.

Theodore was up inside the car via latch, so that's where Rick went up along with herself.

When she got inside vehicle she instantly threw herself back inside so she wouldn't get sucked back down or anything. Rick used the time to quickly secure the latch by closing it and locking it up so they couldn't get in.

She could tell he was scared of out his mind when he scurried backwards until his back hit a stabled surface.

His hand shaking as his breath was unsteady, but it wasn't only him who was afraid. No one would ever get used to this world, it was still so scary, even after three months of living in it.

Walkers were surrounded by the tank and it just made the man's anxiety spike more. Until they heard the radio spark up and their heads turned and eyes pierced into the radio.

"Hey, you guys alive in there?" A male voice asked and before she could grab the radio, Rick had already done it for her. Better that he grabbed it, she would've probably let it all loose on the poor boy.

"Hello? Hello?" Rick called out for the male voice that all three heard earlier.

Katara pressed Rick's thumb being impatient, "Are you there." She said in a stern voice.

He was probably gonna get back to them but the walkers surrounded around the tank and hitting at it only made eager to find a way out.

"Good your both there, you had me wondering" The male spoke once again making her heart rise again since it dropped before.

"Oh just forget about Theodore I guess" Theodore mumbled underneath his breath as he remained in his crouching position.

"Could you see us right now?" She cut to the chase. Katara was an impatient girl, neither did she like being in a nerve racking situation such as this.

"Yes I can, your surrounded by walkers, that's the bad news" the voice spoke again.

"There's good news?" Rick spoke up again being curious.

"No"

Katara's eyes closed and her head leaned forward with a small sigh. Rick looked towards the girl before clicking the button to the radio again hoping that they could find a way out.

"Listen, who ever you are, I don't mind telling you that I'm a little concerned in here" all of them were anxious and fear reeked in their voices.

"If you saw them-" Katara cut the man off by grabbing the radio and clicking it on once again. "We don't need the small talk, neither do we need the panic your making us have. It's either you tell us a way to get out or I break this damn radio." Her grip on the radio was tight and trails of sweat came rolling down her head like tears rolling down a cheek.

The male behind the radio took a few seconds before clicking back in. "I say make a run for it." He told the three and Theodore head lifted.

"A run for it? That's it? All your giving me?" Rick pressed on the girls thumb to talk with him.

"My way is not dumb as it sounds. You have 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. You with me so far?"

"So far" all three spoke this time when the radio cast aired to the other male.

"Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you leave now while they're distracted, you stand a chance. Got ammo?" The voice behind the radio sound as if he wanted them to be just as safe as he was, and he barley knew them until now.

"The duffel bag I dropped out there and guns, can I get to it?" He questioned and Katara removed her gun from her waist holster checking how many bullets that she had.

Five rounds.

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

Katara pressed on the button with her thumb, "I have a gun on me, five rounds." She said before watching Rick scramble around before picking up his gun and then scrambling back to look for more.

"Good. Anymore?"

When Rick had come back over he pressing her thumb again, "I have a beretta with one clip, and fifteen rounds" he told the man and the female in front of him handed him the radio.

She saw how anxious Theodore, his hands were shaking and his chest was heaving, like it was trying to grab all the oxygen that in the tank with them now. Sweat spots developed on his chest and underneath his arms area.

The woman was so used to the stench that it never bothered her nose anymore. "Look at me." She spoke just as stern as she did with the male on the radio earlier. Theodore was eyes hadn't met hers, he was quite embarrassed.

She used her free hand to grip the back of his neck and lift his head to her gaze.

"We have a chance of survival. To get out of this predicament, and I need you to be my eyes as you always are when we are in bad situations. But you can't when you're like this."

She placed the gun down and used her other hand down to grip his jaw, holding it tightly so he couldn't move even if he liked too.

"When we buried your sister you promised me that you'd always stick by my side, correct?" She questioned him watching the tears that welled in his eyes fall and he gave her a nod.

"Yes." He tried to lower his head but his her grip was very tight.

"Then suck it up." She had grabbed her initial embedded dagger and handed it to him. She had stood up afterwards with her head lowered following Rick towards the latch.

And a few seconds later she heard Theodore footsteps trails directly behind her, which made a faint smile appear onto her lips.

Rick had closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths in then he would open the latch of the tank and look around with his eyes.

Katara heard the shriek of a walker and saw the way Rick body shifted around before actually getting out. Indicating that he must've killed one of them.

The two on the tank had followed the man out of it, running down the top of the vehicle before jumping off of it and towards the street.

The walkers that wasn't even looking at them, looked there way and the ones that was, started walking towards them eager to taste the human flesh.

"Get up, let's go!" Katara scurried to her feet helping Rick and Theodore off the ground before running in a direction that was close to them. Rick was as shooting the walkers that had gotten to close to him or Katara.

While Theodore was using the dagger to stab directly in the heads of the walkers that was behind him, leaving Katara's ammunition in tact.

They ran down the street quick in a hurry, gunshots still being heard and the gushing of a knife going in and out of heads of the head as well.

It was such an uncomfortable sound.

When all three turned the corner, Rick gun was pointed at someone, a male that she guessed was the voice who helped them earlier. "Woah! Not dead" he backed away from the gun before running down the alley.

He was an Asian boy, you could tell by his facial features. "Go in front. Now" Rick pushed the two people that he travelled with in front of him and they ran after the boy and climbed up the same latter than he did.

Rick was still shooting and trying to kill as many as he could off before following, "what are you doing? Come on!" The Asian chanted to the deputy as the three were already halfway up the latter.

It only took Rick a few seconds to place his gun away and rush up the latter with the quickness that he should've had earlier.

When all of them had got to the second level of the latter, Theodore let out a small breath as he wiped his face of the sweat with his shirt. Rick arms leaned over the edge as his head hung low and Katara was about ready to go up the rest of the latter so she wouldn't see the walkers.

As Rick and Glenn engaged in conversation, her head leaned onto the latter step allowing herself to finally letting herself take a small break. Everything was so overwhelming and happening at once so this was a great time to process it all.

She also placed her gun back into its holster.

She saw Glenn go towards the next latter quite quickly since the walkers were trying to climb up, which was weird. "The bright side, it'll be the fall that kills us" he started, "I'm a glass half full kind of guy" he said before starting his journey up the next set of steps.

And with that all of them went up the latter, Katara before all of them since she was the fasted and then followed by Glenn, Theodore and Rick.

"Are you the one who barricaded the city?" Rick asked the male as they walked the rooftop of the building.

"He's too scrawny, I don't think he did" Katara answered the question Rick asked gaining a snicker from the Theodore who was now calmed.

"Your an asshole"

"I know" she grinned.

"Someone did, I guess when the city got overrun, whoever did it was thinking not many geeks would get through" he rolled his eyes but then they got to the latch making the runs come to a stop.

"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for me?" Rick finally asked the question all of them were wondering.

"Call it foolish, Naive hope" the Asian man dropped the bag down the latch, "That's 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" Glenn told him before getting inside of the latch fully.

A small snort came from Katara's lips before watching Rick go down, along with Theodore before going down herself and closing the latch after she entered.

They were safe now, it was all what mattered. She was so surprised that it was survivors in the city, usually the cities were the hot spots for walkers mostly because it's where they all died last when the outbreak began.

Weird to think that, they were all alive and had thoughts of their own, families of their own, lives of their own once upon a time.

Now they were running after Glenn, trying to get somewhere that held other survivors by the looks of it. Glenn speaking on his radio to someone confirmed her thought.

"Are we almost there?" Theodore asked as Glenn led them through another door and ran down the stairs with all three after them.

"Almost" he muttered when he saw the two walkers, her hand went behind her back, attempting to grab her gun until two men in black came out from another door with bats.

They did the damage before she had too, and with the sound of the gun, it would've brought more right to em. Good save. "Let's go!" Glenn yelled, Rick was quite quick for a person with a wound and had just woken up from a coma a day ago.

Theodore was directly after Rick meaning she was the only lagging one, "Sorry!" She said as she ran across and through the door.

When the doors closed after them, she got a sight of Rick being pushed against an object with a gun in his face. Her eyebrows lifted before looking towards the woman.

"Put the gun down." She told the woman who was visibly enraged by something that he had done. Everyone was telling her to calm down, or ease up as if she was a crazy woman on her last strand.

"Who are you to tell me to calm down! We're dead because of all of you" The blonde who name was Andrea head turned towards hers.

"Alright then, since we have to do this the hard way" she revealed her gun from the back of her waist holster and removed the safety from the gun positioning it against Glenn's temple.

"Place the gun down before I blow his his head from his body yeah?"