Sheriff Rick Grimes sat in the driver's seat of his cruiser, Aspen Conners sitting in the passenger's. She looked like she was in her early to mid-twenties, had long blonde hair, and sparkling blue eyes. When he had asked her why he had found her in the situation that she was in, and she told him that that last thing she could remember was Aspen, her boyfriend, and a few of their college friends were on their way to the nearest airport to go on a trip to Europe, but her boyfriend, Jacob, had hit something on the road, lost control over the car and crashed it.

"I woke up alone and trapped. Then..." she stared ahead through the windshield, a distant gleam in her eye as she thought of her two friends, dead, and yet....not dead in some strange, twisted way. Rick didn't force the subject. "Jacob isn't one of those things." Aspen suddenly said after a moment of silence, taking a deep breath. "He and Sophie must've gone for help. He knew that the best thing to do would be to leave me where I was and find the nearest hospital."

Sheriff Grimes didn't correct her. He didn't tell her that thinking that her beloved sweet-heart was still alive was insane. Instead, he decided to change the subject.

"You seem oddly familiar." He started as he drove the car down the empty paved road. "Are you sure we haven't met before?" Aspen shrugged.

"I'll admit, your last name does sound like a name I've heard before. I just can't put my finger on it." She replied simply, then began a terrible coughing fit, spitting specks of blood into the palm of her right hand. Rick listened helplessly, keeping his eyes ahead as she fished out a red-stained hand-kerchief from her jeans pocket.

"Are you okay?" he finally asked after she had wiped the blood from her hand onto the piece of cloth, then shoved it back into her front pocket. She nodded.

"Yeah, I'm okay." she lied. "Why were you driving down this road anyway? When I was attacked?" Aspen switched subjects. She didn't like talking about the condition she was in, she sure as hell never made a big deal out of it. Aspen Connors made sure that all through her schooling years, nearly no one knew that she had cancer. Because when people found out, they treated her differently. They were nicer than they should've been, at least the decent kids were. The jerks were twice as mean, though. They'd make up cruel nicknames for her whenever she ran out of breath in P.E., names like 'Donkey-mouth', 'Zombie-breath', 'cruddy-lungs', etc. Even when the world was ending, she refused to let anyone know about her condition. Jacob didn't even know, and they had been a couple for three years. Or if he did, he never brought it up.

"I'm headed towards Atlanta. A friend of mine said that there might be some help there. Like a base for survivors or something along those lines." he told her.

"How far away is Atlanta?"

"Not that far, but we're gonna need to stop and get some gas soon. The tank's almost empty." He informed her. Aspen looked at the little monitor resting just behind the steering wheel. Sure enough, the tiny red stick was resting just above the capital 'E' for 'empty'. That wasn't good for her. She wouldn't be able to walk over three miles without passing out if she didn't have her inhaler, which they happened to leave behind in the busted up car miles back.

"I don't think any gas-stations are gonna be in business at the moment." Aspen remarked with a small grin. Rick smiled at her sarcasm, then looked to the right side of the road. Aspen followed his gaze to the green grass on her right as they ascended up one of the rolling hills natve to the area they were driving within. Once the cruiser reached the top, the two were welcomed with a very comforting sight. A farm house.

"Maybe whoever lives there might let us use some of their gas." Aspen suggested hopefully. And maybe Jacob's here with 'em.

"Only one way to find out."

Nearly a second after the words left his mouth, the vehicle stopped. The engine made a loud CAH-SSHHH sound, then fizzled out into a dying whimper. Yep, they were out of gas alright. Aspen and Rick exchanged glances, then the sheriff sighed.

"I guess we're walking the rest of the way to the house." He said, then stepped out of the cruiser. Aspen opened her own door, climbed out, then shut it behind her. The farm house was a few yards away, nothing she couldn't handle. Rick walked around back to the trunk of the cruiser and opened it up. Aspen followed. Once she was standing beside him, the blonde looked into the dark opening in the back of the car. Two large duffel bags filled with guns sat there, the muzzles poking out of the open un-zipped ends, next to an empty container of gasoline. The sheriff lifted one bag and slung it over his shoulder, reached for the gasoline container with the other, while Aspen grabbed the other bag. "You sure you can carry that?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay." she told him, copying his motions and slinging the bag over her left shoulder since her right one was still sore from smashing it against the jammed car door while trying to escape her two dead friends. The weight of the guns was a shock to her, they were way more heavy than she had anticipated. The weapons had to have been at least twenty, maybe twenty-five, pounds. But she refused to look weak in front of this officer.

"You sure?" Rick asked again. He could tell that she was already having some troubles with the duffel bag. Aspen Connors was an average-sized woman, nearly six feet tall and had some meat on her bones, but Rick wasn't stupid. He knew from her coughing and spitting up blood that something was physically wrong with her. But he figured that she'd let him know on her own time. Aspen gave him a slight nod, and he shut the cruiser's trunk door with a SLAM!

The two began walking up the dirt road towards the house, the only sound being Aspen's shallow breathing and their shoes scraping against the gravel.

"So, Aspen," Rick started up another conversation. "You said you were a college student?"

"Yep."

"Where?"

"Art Institute of Atlanta." She replied with barely noticeable smile. "My friends and I were fashion geeks. 'Always picking out outfits for each other, doing each other's make-up. That's what I majored in."

"Fashion?"

"Nah, make-up. I wanted to be a make-up/special effects artist after I graduated. Y' know, like in Hollywood on movie-sets and stuff like that." She told him. They were nearing the driveway of the farm house, now. And she had barely broken a sweat. Aspen couldn't keep the grin off her face. The hours of working with her trainer in the gym were finally paying off. Thankfully, Rick thought she was smiling because of the future she had planned out for herself and gone to school for.

"I'm sure you would've been amazing at it." He told her sincerely.

"Thank you, Sheriff."

Once they got mid-way up the drive, they dropped their bags of guns and ammunition.

"Hello?" Rick called out to the house, which was only a few yards away. Aspen remained silent and listened as Rick shouted. "It's a police officer out here! Can we borrow some gas?" Rick stepped towards the building, Aspen following like a homeless puppy. They were a few steps away from the front porch when Rick set the gas container onto the ground, and kept walking. The college student looked around at the property.

Beautiful flowers sat infront of the small country cottage, making it appear sweet even though the paint was chipping from the wood. A large tree stood tall a few feet away, a stone table and seat sitting nearby a tire swing that hung from its large branches. A barn rested just a few yards away to their right with a wooden pen around it. No doubt these people had had animals at one point, maybe even still did, hiding away inside the barn.

"Hello?" Rick called again and removed his hat, then stepped up onto the small white-painted porch. Just as Aspen was about to walk up after him, he turned around and gestured for her to stay where she was, just in case the people inside weren't safe. She nodded in understanding and kept her feet planted firmly on the ground. He knocked on the front door, then called out once more. "Hello?"

There was no response.

Rick strided across the porch to the next window over and peeked inside to see a normal-looking kitchen, a meal half-eaten on the table. It looked like it was over a week old, the water glasses filled with mold and the sandwiches sitting on white porcelin plates half green. He moved over to the last window and looked inside. Aspen couldn't tell what he had seen from where she was standing, but when he turned around, she saw the horrified look on his face.

"What-?"

"You don't want to know." he replied and quickly walked off the porch and past the woman. He put his hat back on and made his way towards the barn, Aspen once again following the sheriff. From the new way he walked, she could tell that it must've been a gruesome sight to behold, whatever it had been.

"So, no gas?" she spoke up. Rick shook his head as they approached the barn. It towered over the two like an angry parent lecturing two children; Rick grabbed the latch on the door and pulled it open. Crap: that was the first thing that entered Aspen's mind as the scent of animal dung wafted through the air. The two both covered their noses and tried not to gag as they looked around.

The barn was like any other barn. It had a loft and was filled with hay. Stalls for horses lined the walls, which was where the disgusting stench was coming from. Strangely enough, there were no horses inside. But, as the two started searching the place, the sound of yips could easily be heard from behind one of the nearby stall doors.