A dead and rotting man that wore a bloodied up and raggedy electrician jumpsuit snarled and roared as he tried to lunge forward with his arms reaching to grab whatever he was hungry for, but his attempts were all for naught as the head of a fire axe pushed him back by his throat.

Kate grimaced in disgust as Alex pushed the walking dead against an abandoned van, keeping him in place.

"This one must've been dead for quite some time." Kate observes, analyzing the state it was in.

"Smells like it." Alex mentions, rubbing her nose with an annoyed expression.

"Your enhanced senses?" Kate asks with a sympathetic look.

"The smell of a dead body is already unbearable. This...this is going to get some serious getting used to." Alex said with a shake of her head, "You done checking him?"

Kate looked over the body, getting a little closer, but making sure he didn't manage to grab at her or even leave a scratch. She sighed and shook her head, moving back to stand next to Alex.

"They're all the same." Kate concludes as she pulled out a notebook from her satchel and added to her notes. She shut the book once she was done and looked at Alex, "We're done here."

Kate started walking away and Alex pulled her arm back, letting the dead man free. He started stumbling towards her as she began to follow Kate.

With an eye roll at the groaning and growls gaining on her, Alex swiftly turned around and easily sliced through his neck, lobbing his head off.

She caught up with Kate who tossed her a can of beans and she caught it as the both of them continued their trek while the headless body fell to its knees with its head still cognizant, groaning and growling until the body fell to the ground with the head taking its final breath and going still.

~

"What do you think?" Kate asks, looking at Alex who stood on top of a truck, gazing at the distant city of Atlanta.

Alex hopped off the truck, glancing at Kate, "No soldiers. No people. No Jackson. Unless everyone is cooped up in the middle of town, I don't think Atlanta is much of a safe zone from an outside view."

"You don't think he's dead, right?" Kate asks worriedly.

"At this point, I don't know. But, what I do know, is that," Alex says, pointing at the city, "That city is too damn quiet to be safe. My guess is that the dead have overrun it already and now they're just aimless because they don't have any more food."

"We at least have to check, right? The possibility of survivors still being there is quite high." Kate said, and Alex looked unsure, "You're afraid."

"For you? Yes. I know I can handle myself, but that doesn't matter if I can't keep you safe. We have to consider the options of getting through this alive. Unnecessary risks aren't an option." Alex explains.

"You think I don't know that? Everywhere we go is an unnecessary risk at this point. I'm afraid as well. I've been terrified ever since this whole thing started. The only reason I'm not just dropping dead and letting those monsters devour me is because I know that the slightest and slimmest chance of surviving, no, living is with you Alex." Kate states, "If I'm lucky enough to get that chance then please give it to others in need of it too."

"I'm no hero." Alex states with a shake of her head.

"No, you're a soldier. Now, the perfect one. So, please, Alex," Kate said, holding her arm with a desperate look, "Protect and serve us."

Alex looked back at the desolate city and looked back at Kate with a serious look, "You stick with me, alright? You don't leave my sight and when I tell you to do something, you do it, alright?"

Kate nodded determinedly and Alex nods back at her, placing her axe over her shoulder as she looked back at the city.

"Let's do this then." Alex stated.

With that final statement, the two of them started walking into the desolate and ruined city of Atlanta.

~

Alex and Kate walked through the empty streets with their guards fully up. Alex had her axe on hand, ready for any kind of confrontation whilst keeping an eye out for any of the dead. Kate held her pistol and looked around for any people that could need help or any that were even alive.

Suddenly gunshots ring out from afar and both Alex and Kate looked at each other, quickening their pace towards the loud pops.

As they got closer, Alex's nose twitched at the prominent smell of the dead and they could both hear multiple growls, groans and snarls. They were there, and there were a lot of them.

"A lot of them are down that street." Alex informed as she stopped, both of them seeing more than ten walking and turning a corner to join the rest of the horde.

"The person shooting..." Kate muttered.

"Is most likely dead." Alex concluded, but then she perked up when she heard the faint sound of static.

"What? What is it?" Kate asked, looking at her.

Alex put on finger over her lips, to emphasize that they should remain quiet. Kate was confused by this, but slowly nodded nonetheless as Alex slowly creeped around to an alleyway. Kate followed her and was surprised to see a person standing at the other end of the alley.

The person was a man that didn't seem to take notice of them as he kept peeking out on the other side. They snuck to him and he only took notice of them when Kate accidentally kicked an empty beer bottle and clinked against the concrete.

It was too late though, because as soon as he suddenly turned, to identify the threat, Alex pushed him against the wall and held the sharp end of her axe against his throat.

The man was of Asian descent with short black hair, black eyes and medium skin. He wore a short-sleeved blue and white over shirt with red line designs, a brown shirt underneath, dark blue jeans and black sneakers. This man's name was Glenn Rhee.

"W-Wha-, Whoa..." Glenn muttered in surprise as his were wide with a mix of surprise, fear and nervousness at the sight of Alex's intimidating stare.

"A-Are you okay? Can you tell us your name?" Kate questioned.

"G-Glenn, I'm Glenn..." Glenn answered with a nervous gulp, glancing at the axe held against him.

"Who were you talking to?" Alex asked.

"W-What?" Glenn asked and she grabbed his arm and raised it up to show a handheld radio transceiver.

Kate looked at the transceiver and back at Glenn, "Are there people with you? A group?"

"Y-Yeah, I have a group with me, but I wasn't talking to them." Glenn said, as he tried to move, but Alex wasn't letting any of that happen, "Look, we can play 20 questions later, alright? Right now, there's someone inside that tank and he's surrounded by walkers. He needs help."

Alex peeked out of the alley and saw the amassing horde of the dead. They were separated into two parts, one half were crowding around a dead horse, feasting on its guts while another group crowded around a tank.

She pulled back and let go of Glenn, who gasped and held his throat while taking in a few breaths. She grabbed the transceiver and pressed the button, keeping an eye on the horde.

"I'm told there's a person in there," Alex said, glancing at Glenn, "Is that true?"

It took a few seconds of silence until the transceiver first responded with some static until a man responded, "W-Who are you?"

"Someone who's going to save your ass, that's who." Alex responded.

There was a moment of silence before the transceiver picked up again, "How?"

"They're feasting on a horse right now. So a lot of them are distracted." Alex informed, "You're going to hear three knocks on top of the tank. That'll be me. When you hear those knocks, open it up and get ready to book it. Understand?"

"You're coming to me? Are you crazy?" the man asked.

"Sure, let's go with that." Alex responded, "Get ready."

She cut their communication and handed the transceiver back to Glenn, taking off her backpack and handing it to Kate.

"You two stay here. Get ready to run when I get the guy, alright?" Alex asked and Kate nodded, but Glenn looked at her like she was crazy.

"You can't just run in guns blazing. They'll rip you apart." Glenn told her.

"They can try." Alex responded, starting to walk towards the tank, but then she turned towards Glenn with a serious look, "Oh, and, Glenn, if you hurt a single hair on her head, I'll rip you apart."

Glenn fearfully nodded, taking one step away from Kate. Alex took one last look at Kate, before sprinting towards the tank.

As she ran, she swung her axe on a nearby living dead, cleaving through his body. She tossed her axe directly at another one's forehead and it dropped dead, while she ran towards it and picked up the corpse by the axe handle and used it to tackle another living dead, barreling through more and more of them.

She barreled through enough, pulling her axe out of the dead one's head and shoved the multiple bodies to a wall, kicking the side of a car, aiming it towards them. The car flew and flipped, crashing onto the wall and slamming all of them, with their blood splattering and painting the building wall.

"Holy shit..." Glenn muttered as he watched in shock, while Kate looked on worriedly.

Alex vaulted onto the tank and climbed on top of it, slashing and kicking away any of the dead that were scratching and clawing at the top. She knelt down on the entrance and used the knob of her axe to knock three times.

The knocks alerted not only the man inside, but the walkers feasting on the horse and they turned their gaze onto her, growling and snarling. The man covered his eyes at the bright sunlight, but then he saw a hand reaching towards him.

He grabbed onto it and he was surprised by how he was effortlessly pulled up to the top of the tank. He looked at Alex in surprise, but she just kept a serious expression as she looked at him.

He was an older man with handsome features, short curly brown hair, blue eyes, the gruff stubble of a growing beard and he wore a dirty sheriff's uniform. This man was Rick Grimes.

"I'm crazy. Nice to meet you." Alex said to him as she hopped off the tank and he blinked a couple of times, looking back at the approaching horde in surprise, "C'mon!"

Rick hopped off the tank and started running as an effort to catch up with Alex, shooting any nearby walkers that were heading towards them. She did the same by decapitating of disemboweling any nearby ones, and she wouldn't lie, Rick's aim was quite impressive.

"C'mon! C'mon!" Glenn exclaimed, waving them over to the alley.

They both reached the alley with the horde fast approaching. Kate handed Alex her backpack, and she put it on, all of them starting to run.

"Up the ladder!" Alex shouted and Kate started climbing up with Glenn following behind her.

Rick started climbing, but he was stunned when he saw Alex grab a wide outdoor garbage bin, turn it horizontally and kick it towards the walkers. The bin slid towards them at such high speeds, it seemed like they were getting barreled through by a speeding car.

The bin slid through multiple of them and only stopped at the end of the alley, keeping more at bay for a few moments at the very least.

"Holy shit!" Glenn shouted with an unbelieving smile at the landing of the ladder.

"Alex, there's more of them!" Kate exclaimed, and both Alex and Rick looked to see the other side of the alley that she didn't temporarily block had walkers stumbling towards them.

"Climb!" Alex shouted and Rick started climbing up with her following behind him.

They both reached the landing and Kate, Glenn and Rick took a breath as Alex looked down at the increasing numbers. It was less than it should've been, but there still was a significant amount and she could tell they would be increasing.

"So, uh...the military teach you all of that?" Glenn asked with a pant, looking at Alex.

"Some of it." Alex simply responded, "You good, Kate?"

"A bit winded, but yeah." Kate responded.

"Thanks, for saving me." Rick said to Alex as he held his hand out to her, "Rick."

Alex shook his hand, "Alex. You're welcome."

"Rick, some advice, try not to start popping off shots in a city surrounded by walking dead people." Glenn said to him, "I'm Glenn by the way."

Rick nodded as he looked at Kate, and she gave him a nervous smile with a short wave.

"Kate. Good to meet you, sheriff." Kate told him.

"Now that the class is all here, let's go before they realize climbing is an option." Alex said to them, gesturing up to the rest of the ladder.

"On the bright side, it might be the fall that kills us." Glenn said, climbing up the rest of the ladder with Kate following behind him.

Rick was next to climb and Alex followed after him, all of them reaching the top of the roof. They followed Glenn across the roof and over to the roof of a different building. He ran over to a hatch and opened it, tossing his backpack inside and starting to climb down the stairs.

"Hey, wait," Rick said to Alex, before she climbed down, "I appreciate the help, but why did you stick your neck out for me?"

Alex took a glance at Kate before looking back at Rick, "I just did what I had to do. That's all."

Kate smiled as she watched Alex climb down the ladder, and she soon followed behind her. Rick being the last as he shut the hatch and climbed down.

They reached the bottom and followed Glenn as he led them to a side exit of the building. Bursting through, they started climbing down the stairs while Glenn started speaking into the transceiver.

"I'm back. Got some guests with me, plus four geeks in the alley." Glenn informed.

They reached the bottom and two walkers took notice of them, groaning as they stumbled towards them. Alex pushed past them and tossed her axe directly into the head of one of them, killing it. She ran towards the other one, grabbing her axe on the way and spinning, slicing the head of the other one clean off.

Just as the rotting body fell, the door of the building in front of her burst open and two men in armor ran out, but paused as they looked at the dead walkers in confusion and looked at Alex with wary gazes.

Her piercing stare didn't help their wariness as Glenn ran past them with Kate and Rick following behind them. They all ran into the building with Alex being the last to step in and shut the door.

She turned to only be met by the surprising sight of a woman holding Rick at gunpoint.

"Son of a bitch! We ought to kill you." The woman stated angrily.

Alex immediately stepped in and easily grabbed the gun from her, pointing it at her and she looked at her with fearful eyes and her hands raised with everyone else worried about what would happen next.