Broken Sundown

I walked down the steps out of the police station and dropped my toiletry bag. It was too heavy and a majority of what I filled it with was now useless to me. It would be hard to come by another generator and a clean water supply in this world. The only thing I grabbed was my brush, toothpaste, and a tooth brush. I couldn't see needing anything else for quite some time, and I'm sure that if I ever did need them again, they wouldn't be that difficult to scavenge.

To be honest, I didn't know where I was going, I just didn't want to sit in that station while three strangers showered. I half considered whether or not I actually wanted to go with Rick. Him and I hardly spoke any in high school and it seemed weird to me that two strangers would join forces to find their families. But I guess joining up would avoid loneliness.

I wandered through town for awhile, not coming across many walkers at all. When I headed back to the police station, I stayed back to avoid the goodbye's that were being made in the parking lot.

"Hey, there you are." Rick called when he noticed me waiting there awkwardly.

"Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt." I said timidly and he nodded dismissively.

I watched as he shook the older gentleman's hand and then place a hand on the shoulder of the younger one, going through instructions for a walkie talkie he had handed over.

"Come on, we're going to take this cop car." He said to me, throwing a duffel bag into the back seat. I slid my back pack off my back and into the back seat. I moved the pistol in my shorts so I could sit comfortably in the car by sliding it into my boots. I kept my bow protectively in my lap, the arrows in their strap in between my legs on the floor.

When we exited the parking lot, Rick turned the sirens on for a split second and the other man beeped the horn. I'm glad that I was never introduced to the man and his son. It would be hard enough to say goodbye to Rick alone when the time came.

Before we even made it out of town, Rick came to a stop beside what used to be the old park, but was now overgrown and contained remnants of left over army vehicles.

"What are you doing?" I asked and looked over at him, my hands on my bow.

"I just have to do something real quick." He answered.

I nodded slightly and watched him get out of the car, running off. In his absence, I flicked through the channels on the radio, though I knew there would be no music playing. I did however come across the Emergency Broadcast Station, which was a replay of the same message that had probably been going on for months. I scoffed and turned off the radio, but the silence was still making me anxious so I began singing quietly as I so often did.

Back before the door went to shit, I listened to so much music that I was sure I knew a couple hundred off the top of my head. I wished more than anything for a guitar, but it would take up too much space and just be an extra thing to carry on my already sore shoulders.

I sang a few bars before I heard a gun shot, to which I tensed and went to open the door, but I saw Rick running toward the car.

"Everything is fine." He smiled as he slid into the car. "Just wanted to take care of something."

I nodded slightly and relaxed a bit as he began to drive. After twenty minutes or so, I propped my feet up on the dash, relaxing my grip on me bow. I figured if Rick was going to do anything harmful to me at this point, he already would have.

Not much was said between us. In fact, it was extremely quiet besides the breeze flowing in through the windows.

Rick picked up his cop car's walkie and made a broadcast. He just announced that the two of us were traveling together in a King's County cop car, headed for Atlanta. Just as I had assumed, no one answered but more fuzz over the radio, so after a few moments, Rick turned off the radio and we returned to the previous silence.

In the middle of the highway, the car ran out of gas and Rick cursed out his "piece-of-shit Ford" and got out. He messed with the engine a few times, or at least tried to, embarrassed of the fact he hadn't scavenged for extra gas back in town. But then again, I hadn't thought about that either. I was just thankful to be in a car rather than on my feet for the time being. But as circumstance persists, we were on our feet, our back packs strapped on, and the duffel bag full of ammunition in Rick's hand.

"I'm sorry." He murmured after awhile. "I don't mean to be so quiet and all, I just don't know what to say."

"It's fine." I nodded in agreement. "It's been a long time since we've had any human contact...well, for me at least." I trailed off.

The silence continued.

"What happened to your family?" I asked hesitantly after awhile. "I mean, why are you separated from them?"

"I was shot, a while back. I guess I must have been in a coma for quite awhile, because when I woke up, I woke up in a completely new world. Walkers everywhere."

"God, I couldn't imagine that." I said.

"What about you?"

"Well, I was in South Carolina for work, so I've been away from my parents for some time now. But when the break out first happened, I started driving home. It just got worse and soon it was impossible to drive down the main road into Georgia, so I walked. By the time I got back to King's County, my family was gone."

Rick nodded. "How do you know they're in Atlanta?"

"My mom left me a note, but I don't know how long ago that was. She just said she and my family were headed to Atlanta where the army was." I sighed and paused, "What about you?"

"Well, I don't know. But I know they're alive somewhere."

"Intuition?" I asked.

"No, Lori took all of the photo albums." He chuckled slightly to himself, referring to his wife.

I nodded slightly and took in a deep breath. It was hot out, and the black top beneath our feet didn't help the persisting issue.

"Look, Rick." I said after awhile, nodding my head in the direction of what looked like a farm house in the distance.

"Maybe they have a car." He said hopefully.

"Maybe they have water." I reiterated and wiped my forehead off.

"That too." He nodded and smiled.

When we approached the front steps of a lovely, older looking farmhouse, Rick was extremely cautious of the people that might be living there.

He knocked on the door several times and said things like "We just need some gas." or "Can you help us?" But there was no answer.

Rick opened the door, and the stench immediately assaulted me, and I knew that the worst had probably become of this family. Rick looked in, and quickly backed out and shut the door, looking over to me with a solemn look on his face. I nodded and frowned.

"Maybe they have a truck or something." He said.

"Well, they have these." I smiled reassuringly, discovering the two horses in the pasture.

"That'll work too." He smiled, his Southern accent lovely to my ears.

The two of us scavenged for food and water around the farm, but it looked like someone had already slaughtered the farm's pig. The bloody mess made me worry, and work harder to get my horse saddled so we could head for Atlanta.

And before I knew it, we were on the road again to Atlanta.

---

"What happened?" Rick murmured in disbelief upon finding the city of Atlanta in ruins.

I felt my heart slowly sinking to my stomach for what felt like the hundredth time in a month. If this was were my parents came- No, I can't afford to think like that.

The city was completely devastated. Embers were still burning inside stores, their raging fire finally giving out. Windows were smashed and glass littered the streets along with crashed cars, dead bodies and garbage. The city must have been hit hard, and quick. We turned a corner and discovered the overrun military blockade, a few walkers trudging around and trying to get over.

"We were to late." Rick said, his voice in disbelief too.

"A few weeks late, by the looks of it." I whispered.

Out of no where the two of our heads snapped up towards the sky, searching for the object which was producing the thunderous noise we heard. It took a few minutes, and some searching, but Rick and I each caught a glimpse of the helicopter we heard in the reflection of a mirrored-glass building.

"Quick, we need to catch it's attention!" Rick yelled. He and his horse took off in the direction of where he thought the helicopter was, and I tried to follow after him, yelling his name.

When I turned a corner to catch up to him, I saw that we had made a very wrong decision. A swarm of walkers heard us, and saw us and were beginning to ambush Rick from every angle.

"Rick!" I screamed as I watched his horse topple over and he as well. I tried to get closer, to help him, but walkers were swarming me too.

"Delilah, GO!" Rick yelled, and I saw him sprint to a tank, popping off rounds at the heads of walkers as we went.

It wasn't until after I had thrown myself off of my horse and pulled my bag back onto my back that I realized I was crying. I didn't know whether I was crying because the first positive human I had come across in weeks was about to be eaten, or if I was simply about to be left alone in this world again; but I was crying."

I ran through the streets of Atlanta frantically, trying to save my arrows but also trying to save my ass along the way.

"OVER HERE!" I heard a female voice yell, and I saw her, a blonde woman with her arms frantically waving from a propped open door just 20 feet or so in front of me.

I sprinted over to her, quickly running through the door and helping her pull it closed as a walker limped behind me in an attempt to have me as a meal.

I hunched over with my hands on my knees, gasping and trying to catch my breath, while also trying to wipe the tears from my cheeks.

"Thank you." I choked out after a few minutes, noticing the woman too must have been running, or maybe her adrenaline was just pumping, because her breaths were shallow too.

"Don't mention it. You alright?" She asked.

"Peachy." I managed and stood up straight, observing that a black man and woman and another ethnic man were also in the room.

They were staring at me in the same way that I was staring at them; terrified and cautious.

"Rick- my friend, I have to go help him." I began to panic.

"No, one of our own is helping him." The black woman said.

"He's safe?"

---

After a few minutes, two of the people from this group emerged from the same door I had entered through to beat walkers and bring one of their own back into the room.

The second Rick's eyes landed on mine, his arms were around my and mine were around his shoulders.

"Thank God, I was scared I lost you." I muttered, trying to hold back the tears. I could I still love this man, after so many years.