On the drive, we passed the farm where Rick would get the horse for his grand entrance into Atlanta in the show. We kept going. The first roadblock took twelve minutes to get around, and half an hour later we reached the entrance to Atlanta.
It was quiet, and gloomy, and something was wrong. There wasn't a single walker in sight.
As soon as I stepped into the city, the system lit up in front of my eyes.
Quest: Welcome to Atlanta Rescue the survivors from Shane's camp. Reward: 5 Z coins per survivor saved, 10 bread, 20 bottles of water, and the trust of the survivors. Penalty: −10 Z coins per survivor lost (taken from future drops if my wallet is empty). [Accept] / [Decline]
I accepted. The timing was perfect, since I had only fourteen coins left, and repairing my weapons cost twenty. Rick must have noticed me spacing out. To keep him calm, I asked if he'd seen any walkers. Not seeing them is scarier than seeing them, because you never know where they'll pop up.
Rick's POV
Jake was right. Since I'd woken up, there had been walkers everywhere I looked, so seeing none was strange. I checked behind us and saw Rose sleeping peacefully among the dogs. She was always working so hard to prove she was reliable so she wouldn't be left behind. It was sad that a girl her age had to grow up so fast.
A loud noise broke my thoughts. A helicopter was flying low over the city. That had to be a government rescue team. I turned to Jake and told him we should follow it.
He looked at me like I was a fool.
Jake's POV
That was exactly what I'd expected. It was still hard to believe a man who knew walkers reacted to noise would want me to chase a helicopter into a city full of them. I asked him what he knew about walkers.
At first he snapped about the helicopter. Then he saw my face, and he cooled off and told me what he'd learned in the past few days. Somewhere in that explanation, I think he realized he'd been chasing the dead. He apologized for nearly putting us all in danger over something he knew nothing about. I let it go. He wasn't the survivor yet, only a cop. He'd get there.
Rose had woken from Rick's shouting, and he apologized to her too.
I pulled the jeep to the side and asked Rick to try the radio and the walkie-talkies we had taken from the police station. While he fiddled with the radio, I picked up a walkie-talkie.
"Hey, can anyone hear me? If there's anyone in or near Atlanta, please answer."
No reply. When I checked on Rick, he seemed to have a connection but the sound was bad. I fixed a few things, and the voice cleared up:
"Hello? If anyone can hear this, please help. Some of our friends went into the city for supplies and haven't come back."
"We hear you," Rick answered. "Who are you, and who's missing?"
"I'm Amy. My older sister and some of our friends went in to get supplies. Can you help us find them?"
Rick looked at me. He wanted to help, but he was waiting to hear what I thought. I smiled and nodded. I told him we would help if we crossed paths with them, and that he should ask her about his family while he had the chance.
"We promise to help them if we find them," Rick said into the radio. "But I need to ask something. Have you seen a family, a mom and her son? Their names are Lori and Carl. They're with a friend of mine, Shane."
There was a pause. "Yes, I know people with those names. I don't know if it's the same ones. Let me get Shane."
Rick's face lit up. I left him to it and went back to contacting survivors in the city.
"Hey, can anyone hear me?"
"Yes! Yes, we hear you! Thank God. We're trapped in a store, and there are tons of those things outside. Can you help us?"
My friend, you are truly in a pickle. But we had promised our new friend we would help.
"Stay quiet," I told them. "And don't use your guns unless you absolutely have to."
The Tunnel
When I turned back, Rick was talking to Shane. Knowing his family was safe had calmed him, like anyone who had been separated for so long. All he wanted was to hug them. But he also wanted to rescue the survivors in the store, because they were from the camp that had taken in his family, and they were in trouble for trying to bring food back.
Rose wanted to help too. We all agreed.
We drove to the street with the store. Even from a distance, I could see walkers crowded around the front door. I circled to the back, with a stream of walkers following the jeep. I told Rick my plan: I would clear the area while he and Rose took care of the stragglers with help from the survivors inside. If they found a working car, Rick could drive to the camp and let me know where he was by walkie-talkie, or wait for me.
I dropped Rick and Rose at the back door and drove around front. I laid on the horn, and the walkers turned and shambled toward the sound. I led them on a long loop through the streets, being careful not to leave too many behind.
On the second lap, I found what I needed: a short tunnel for train tracks. I parked the jeep across three-quarters of it, leaving a gap only wide enough for two walkers at a time.
I turned to Dawn, Thor, Rex and Fenrir and told them, "Dad's going to teach you how to farm some Z coins."
The first two walkers squeezed through. I kicked the first onto its back, drove my knife through the second one's skull, and finished the first on the ground. Then I settled into a rhythm. It took me a full hour to put them all down, and when I finished, I found Rex had helped, and the other three sat watching like a bunch of ungrateful brats.
Side quest complete. Reward: 650 Z coins, 60 bread, 60 bottles of water. Title unlocked: Z-Slayer. Awarded for slaying over 600 zombies. 10% more coin drops. Recover 1% stamina per zombie kill.
"Yes!" I shouted. That's what I'm talking about.
I paid the twenty-coin repair fee on my weapons and put them away, then picked up the walkie-talkie. Rick answered immediately. He'd been worried, but he was waiting in the store as I'd asked. I brought the jeep around for Dawn, the others hopped on, and I drove back.
When I got to the store, the survivors were ready to leave. Everyone was there except Merle. I already knew why. In the show, he had been cuffed to the roof by Rick, and the same thing had happened here. I headed up.
T-Dog was kneeling on the roof, searching for the key he'd dropped. I told him I was with Rick and asked what had happened. T-Dog said that when Rick and Rose arrived, Merle was up there firing his gun, attracting more walkers. Rick had gotten angry about him endangering the others, there was a scuffle, and that was how Merle ended up cuffed to the roof.
I told T-Dog to get ready to leave and walked over to Merle. He was hurling insults and slurs, and when I asked why he was making things harder for the group, he said he wouldn't be lectured by some kid, and that I should go home to my mother.
I drew my arm back and punched him on the jaw, knocking out a front tooth. He kept running his mouth through the blood, so I hit him a few more times in the stomach, and he crumpled, gasping.
I knew men like Merle. They bark loudly until someone stronger stands in front of them, then they fold. Superior strength was the only language he would understand.
I grabbed his hair and pulled his face up.
"Look at where your mouth has gotten you. You don't want to work with them. Fine. You work for me now. I don't like troublemakers, so keep that in mind. If it doesn't work out with Rick's group, I have a backup. I can buy NPCs from the store, and their loyalty is never in question. But you've got what it takes to survive in this hell, and that makes you useful."