Rick's POV
I opened my eyes and saw a ceiling I didn't recognize. A hospital room, clean enough, with a little dust here and there. Then it all came back: chasing thieves with my brother Shane, getting caught in crossfire, a bullet hitting me, and everything going black.
I tried to stand, but my legs gave out, and I fell back on the bed. That was when I noticed a pack of wolves spread across the room, circling a little girl who was standing guard at the door.
"You're finally awake," the girl said. "I'm Rose. You've been in a coma for two and a half months. While you were asleep, the world went to hell. It started with a plague that made people act weird, and they started attacking others. Anyone they bit started the cycle again. Now most of the world is infected."
"Rick," I said. "My name is Rick."
That was almost three months of my life gone. I had no clue what she was talking about, but I knew that if the hospital staff were still here, they would never allow a pack of wolves to run around with a little girl. I needed to see what was happening.
In the corridor, I found blood stains and spent shell casings all over the floor. The wolves were the only thing I could think of that could have made that much blood, or maybe the girl. I gave them plenty of room and headed down the hallway, thinking only of my family.
At the end of the hall, a young man sat eating breakfast with the news playing. He looked up and told me the world had changed, and that if I wanted to go outside, I would have to change how I saw it.
He looked familiar. It took me a moment: Jake, from the shooting range. Shane had gone there one day to burn off some anger and came home talking about an amazing kid who had everyone watching him shoot. Shane gave him some tips, and Jake kept getting better. He even showed me a photo.
After that I'd heard Jake's name around town now and then. He had become a close friend to Carl, helping him deal with bullying at school. I had tried to help my son myself, but my involvement only made it worse. I'd been working overtime to cover for other deputies, and Lori and I fought about it. In one of those fights she told me Shane spent more time with her and Carl than I did.
I was grateful for Jake, and I knew I needed to be a better father and husband. I told him I appreciated what he was telling me. If the news was true, I would need to change my worldview, but first I would find my family and protect them.
Jake's POV
Explaining things to Rick took a while, but it was better than throwing him out into that world blind. I wrestled with a decision: should I follow Rick to find the main cast, or spend my time building something with the system? In the end, I chose to help Rick find his family, then use my knowledge of what was coming to change as much as I could.
I spent the morning preparing. The hospital supplies went into bags. Over breakfast of canned chicken, two eggs and apple juice, Rick looked restless, and across the room, Rose was sharing her own breakfast with Fenrir, Thor, Rex and Dawn.
Watching the four of them play, I noticed how much they had changed. I had given each of them a nerfed dose of the super soldier serum, paid for at ninety Z coins a dose. It had boosted their wolf bloodlines. They were bigger, stronger, and their coats and eyes looked deadlier, like true predators.
Rick's impatience was obvious, so I told him to rest while I loaded the jeep. He offered to help, but I refused. He still needed time to get used to walking.
Rose helped me load. Rex saw her dragging a bag, copied her, and soon the others were fighting over who could carry the most. Thor hauled three bags at once, showing off in front of Rose. What a fine wolf-dog of culture.
In five minutes, we were done. The dogs and Rose piled into the back, Rick took the front, and I pulled out. We drove for a few minutes without trouble, until we turned a corner and found a group of walkers struggling toward us. There weren't enough of them to worry about, so I ran them over and kept going.
We reached Rick's house, and Rick bolted ahead. I stayed behind to check on Duane and his father, Morgan.
Rick's POV
I burst through the door and found my house in shambles: clothes, papers and furniture strewn everywhere. I turned the corner into the kitchen and barely ducked a shovel swinging at my face. A boy, terrified, was swinging at me again. I caught the shovel. He was Duane Jones, and he thought I was a walker.
Jake's POV
I came in just as Morgan appeared with a gun on Rick and his son on the floor. Rick, seeing how bad it looked, dropped the shovel and raised his hands.
I drew my own gun and pressed it to the back of Morgan's head. Rose stood behind me, and the wolves circled Morgan and his boy.
"Lower the gun," I said. "Nothing will happen to you or your son. But I want to know what you're doing in Rick's house."
Where the Photos Went
Morgan didn't want to lower the gun. I could see him looking at the wolves around his son, so I told them to back off. His shoulders eased. He lowered the gun and finally explained.
He and Duane had been living in the house next door. When he and his family of three first moved in, everyone else had already left. They'd been searching nearby houses for supplies when they reached Rick's. He told us about the last few months: how the dead had started rising, and how they preyed on the living.
With the tension gone, I lowered my gun and invited Rose in. I asked Morgan if he had seen Rick's family. I knew they were with Shane, camped in the woods outside Atlanta with other survivors, but I couldn't exactly say that yet.
Rick's POV
Walking through my house, I noticed something that made my chest tighten: every family photo was gone. Lost clothes or electronics I could understand. A looter might take those. But why would anyone take photos? Lori treasured those pictures. She wouldn't leave them behind even at the end of the world. That told me she and Carl had gotten out.
I told Jake that Lori and Carl must have left to find shelter. Her parents lived in Atlanta, which was the most likely place she would take Carl. Jake said he would help me find them. I hadn't known him long, but I knew he'd been close with Shane and Carl, and I trusted him.
Jake's POV
I wanted to follow Rick and meet the main cast, since I knew most of them and trusted them. But first I had to ask Rose what she wanted. I wanted her to come, but it was her choice. I explained my plan.
"Please," she said. "Don't leave me. Take me with you."
The dogs padded over to her, and Thor rubbed against her leg while looking at me. They had never played with anyone except me before, and they clearly cared about Rose.
"Let's take her with us, Dad," Fenrir said.
"I'm not leaving without her," Thor added with a smirk.
"It would be unwise to leave her behind," Rex said.
"I like her, Father," said Dawn. "It's more fun having another calm female around than just Thor, who's a muscle-headed monkey in wolf's skin. Or Fenrir, the sloth. Or Rex, the wise one."
I laughed. Dawn had a way with words. I hugged Rose and told her she was coming with us to find Rick's family.
Then I turned to Morgan and asked what he planned to do. He gave me the same answer he gave Rick in the show: he wanted to stay with his wife, who had turned. Rick talked to him for a while, and eventually Morgan agreed to leave for his son's sake, but first he wanted to let his wife rest.
Rick had an idea: the police station. More guns and ammo would help us against other survivors. I liked it, and not only because ammo cost ten Z coins a box and the dogs' doses had left me almost nothing. In the system store, I had found packs of NPCs, including doctors, builders, soldiers and cooks, that I could unlock after building a camp that the system recognized as my territory. Each pack cost 500 coins, so that was for later, and every coin I didn't spend on ammo counted toward it.
I loaded the jeep, and Rick took the front seat while everyone else piled in the back. At the station, the front gate was broken, and the ground was smeared with blood and worse. Morgan and I were fine, but Rick and the kids threw up beside the jeep. I was relieved the kids hadn't done it near Dawn, or they would have caught a paw to the face.
We cleared the stragglers around the station, then entered the armory. It had been looted, with three walkers still inside, and Dawn and her brothers took care of them. Rick used his keys to open the vault in the secret room. It was full of guns, ammunition and handguns. We loaded as much as we could into the jeep, and I stashed the rest in my inventory.
Back at Rick's house, I asked Morgan for something that carried his wife's scent, and I split us into four teams to find her:
1. Dawn and Rose
2. Thor and Duane
3. Rick and Rex
4. Me and Fenrir
A few hours later, Fenrir and I found Jenny two roads away, caught in a wooden fence in a backyard.
I asked Rose and Dawn to keep Duane busy, then brought Morgan to the spot. He wept. At first he refused to believe it, but Rick helped him accept that she was gone, and that what stood in front of him was only the dead that hunted the living. Morgan gave Jenny peace, and Rick and I told him he had done the right thing.
Back at the house, we gave Morgan a day to grieve. The next morning, we packed up the jeep and a van Morgan had found near where Jenny had been. As the sun rose, we set out for Atlanta.