Safe & Sound ↠ R. Grimes

Chapter 2

The following morning, everyone was cautious when they emerged from the house. It wasn't for lack of sleep but nerves that had them on edge. As Morgan had said the previous night, more walkers were around than usual. It was a risk, taking Rick out to show him how to deal with the things. It was a risk, going to his house to hunt for clues. It was a risk, just stepping out onto the porch but it was a risk they were going to have to take. The adults all had a weapon in hand; no guns were out but both Morgan and Annie had theirs just in case. Morgan had a crowbar and Rick borrowing the boy's bat while Annie kept her big hunting knife. Strapped across her back was her pack. She never left the house without, Morgan explained. They watched and waited as Rick hesitantly approached a walker on the lawn, sitting lethargically against the fence. As soon as the monster saw them coming, it heaved itself up and lurched to its feet but Rick was faster. Without pause, he hauled off and split its skull with a few brutal strokes of the bat. The walker collapsed, feet twitching until finally going still. Rick was breathing hard, pausing to see how he felt about what he'd just done.

"You okay?" Annie asked, a hand on his shoulder.

Rick nodded slowly and quietly told her, "I don't feel a thing."

"Yeah, that's to be expected." He looked at her and she shrugged helplessly. "If you don't kill them, they'll kill you. Just think of it as self-defense. Or justifiable homicide, Sheriff." Chuckling under his breath, Rick nodded and the group moved down the street and Morgan informed him on some more basics. Like how if the walkers couldn't find a fresh kill, they'd just eat one of their own, the weaker ones. As they approached Rick's block, he pointed out his house and asked if they'd seen anybody there.

"Area was pretty deserted by the time we got here. Saw a few folks scurry out, a few last holdouts. But not that house," Morgan told him. Rick let that sit for a moment before leading the way into his home, stopping to search around at the wreckage that used to be his home.

"They're alive. My wife and son," Rick announced, rejoining them downstairs. "At least they were when they left..."

"How can you know? By the look of this place..." Morgan looked around doubtfully.

"I found empty drawers in the bedroom. They packed some clothes. Not a lot, but enough to travel." Morgan hesitated a moment before telling him as gently as possible that anyone could have broken in and stolen clothes. Rick gazed at the walls, shaking his head. "See the framed photos on the walls?" Morgan and Annie looked at the walls but saw nothing. "Neither do I. Some random thief take those too, you think?" Rick abruptly crossed to a cabinet, rummaging wildly. "Our photo albums, family pictures, all gone." Annie looked around and spotted one framed picture left behind, knocked over. Picking it up, she turned it over and saw it was a family portrait, Rick was smiling beside a dark haired woman and little boy that looked about Duane's age standing in front of them. She couldn't explain why but, as she stared at it, she frowned a little. Maybe it was because he wasn't wearing a wedding ring. If he was really married, where was his ring?

"Photo albums..." Morgan shook his head in wonder, sinking onto the arm of the couch and laughed. "My wife, same thing. There I am packing survival gear, she's grabbing photo albums." He laughed until he cried, wiping his tears away when Duane appeared in the doorway.

"I did the same," Annie confessed. "Only had one picture that mattered but it was the first thing I grabbed."

"They're in Atlanta, I bet." Morgan considered this moment and nodded, telling his son he was right.

"If they got out of here okay, they're in Atlanta," Annie tried to assure him.

"Why there?"

"Refugee center," Annie answered, putting the picture back, face down. "A huge one, they said, before the broadcasts stopped. Military protection, food, shelter. They told people to go there, said it'd be safest."