The Walking Dead: "Days Gone Bye"

Chapter 7: The Widow

Rick had been driving for about an hour till he turned on his radio.

"Broadcasting on the emergency channel. Will be approaching Atlanta on Highway 85. Anybody reads, please respond," he says into the radio, hoping for anyone to respond to his call. "Hello. Hello. Can anybody hear my voice? Anybody out there? Anybody hears me, please respond," he repeats. "Hello? Can you hear my voice?" Rick heard no response. Nobody responded to his emergency call.

But someone did hear him. A whole group in fact. A camp of about 20 survivors. This group has been hiding in the woods since the outbreak started. They had a radio of their own. Hearing Rick's voice in the static, they all rushed to the radio to respond.

The first person to reach the radio was a girl in her early 20's and had blonde hair.

"Hey. Hello?" she says into the microphone

"Can you hear my voice?" Rick said on the other end.

"Yes, I can hear you. You're coming through. Over."

"If anybody reads, please respond," Rick couldn't hear them. Their signal didn't come through to him, but they could hear him just fine.

"We're just outside the city!" she says, hoping he could hear her. People from the group were surrounding her confused. The radio crackles. "Damn it. Hello? Hello?" she lost the signal. "He couldn't hear me. I couldn't warn him," she tells the old man standing behind her.

"Try to raise him again," he said. "Come on, son, you know best how to work on this thing," he told a man who was holding an axe. It was Shane. He was leading this group. Little did he know that Rick was on the other side of the signal.

He slams his axe down on the wood stump and grabbed the microphone. "Hello, hello. Is the person who called still on the air?" he said kneeling next to the radio. They heard nothing but static.

"This is officer Shane Walsh broadcasting to person unknown. Please respond." There was still no response. Rick didn't hear them. Their signal didn't reach his.

"He's gone," Shane said, setting down the microphone.

"There are others. It's not just us," said a woman with long dark brown hair. It was Lori, Rick's wife. She was there too, along with his son, Carl. They were fine and under Shane's protection.

"We knew there would be, right?" Shane answered. "That's why we left the CB on."

"A lot of good it's been doing," she said.

"Okay," he said in an aggravated tone.

"I've been saying it for a week we ought to put signs up on 85 and warn people away from the city," she assured.

"Folks got no idea what they're getting into," said the blonde girl.

"Well, we haven't had time," Shane said, getting up to walk away.

"I think we need to make time," Lori said.

"Yeah, that's a luxury we can't afford," he said, growing impatient. "We are surviving here. We are day to day."

"Then who the hell would you propose we send?" said the old man.

"I'll go. Give me a vehicle," Lori demanded, looking at Shane.

"Nobody goes anywhere alone. You know that " he said, looking back at her.

She looks at the ground a little angrily and starts to walk away. "Yes, sir," she says under her breath. Carl tries to follow her.

"Hey, hey, hey," Shane says, stopping him. "Go on, take a seat, bud. You're all right. Go on."

Carl hesitates to turn away until he does. Shane follows Lori to her tent.

"What, are you pissed at me?" he says, catching up to her. She ignores him and walks into her tent.

"You can be pissed at me all you want. It's not gonna change anything," he says, following her inside. "I'm not putting you in danger, okay? I'm not doing it for anything," he tells her, while her back is turned. "That makes you feel like sometimes you want to slap me upside the head-- tell you what, girl, you feel that need, you go right ahead. I'm right here. Go on."

She turned around, giving him a disgusted look like she thinks he's an idiot because she won't slap him.

"You cannot walk off like that, all half-cocked," he tells her. "Look, you do not want to do it for my sake or your sake, that's fine. But just-- you do it for him," he said, talking about her son. "That boy has been through too much and he's not losing his mother too, okay?"

She nods, looking at the ground.

"Okay?" he says, asking her to say okay.

"I'm a good mom," she tells herself, still wanting to go.

"You tell me 'Okay'," he says in a serious tone.

She nods again, not wanting to say it.

"Hmm?" he smiles. "It's not hard." They both laugh.

"Alright? Hey," he says, moving closer to her looking into her eyes.

She looks into his and pulls him closer to kiss him. He happily kisses back and put his hand on the back of her head to make it last longer.

"Mom?" Carl interrupted from outside of the tent, not knowing what his mother is doing.

They break the kiss quickly and Shane walks out first.

"What's up, bud? She's in there. Go on," he tells him. Carl walked to the tent and met him mom in the doorway.

"Hey," she kneels down to meet his eye level. "I don't want you to worry. Your mama's not going anywhere, okay?"

He nods slightly.

"Yeah? Yeah?" she teases, nodding bigger to get him to nod as well. He smiles and nods too.

"Go finish your chores."

"Okay," he runs off.