First Contact

Rick and Maggie spoke for a while after she told him to bring Sasha. He was confused at first but she told him that, in the grand scheme of things both of them could die at any minute. She said that they should enjoy as much as they could while they can. Maggie also mentioned that she was attracted to women too, and Sasha was very attractive. Rick being the man of culture he was, would not turn this down.

Rick left the apartment after asking Maggie to find Michonne. He wanted to start a school and she was the most familiar with everyone in the compound. There was around one hundred and fifty children in the compound. He wanted to set up several classrooms in the underground bunker that was built. He thought that it was secure, was comfortable year round, a lot of supplies were already down there, and if anything did ever happen hopefully the children would already be down there. He had planned to have the usual type of classes math, English, science, and history. But he also wanted to add the same things Carl had learned. How to hunt, track, shoot, and fight. He felt like these would more beneficial then regular curriculum. He knew that society would be rebuilt one day and it was better to have a solid foundation with the children still undergoing a somewhat regular curriculum.

Rick was planning to head back into the city. Now that they had the power plant, and a secure base of operations. He wanted to expand. The next plan was to start to secure the area block by block. And clear the buildings before they secured a new area. It would be a slow process but would be the best way to minimize casualties. There was also a national guard base in the area he wanted to secure, and any hospitals in the area.

The scouts had reported back that there was other survivor groups. There was a group of people in a nursing home. A group that consisted of several local gangs that had joined up to form a group. They were called the Blood Raiders. They had several leaders all of them having names involving blood. They one that brought them together believe or not was a priest, and he was turning them into something like a Cult. There was a few other smaller groups that were spread throughout.

The one Rick was most concerned of was the Blood Raiders. His scouts had reported they were heavily armed and were committing many acts of violence and rape. Rick wanted to take them out but it would be to costly right now, and he needed more intel. What he did know though was that the group had taken over the Passion City Church, and apartment building across the street. They are heavily fortified and they are expanding outwards. Rick told his scouts to continue to watch them and report back. He also told Hermes to use the drones and try to figure out their numbers and weaknesses.

Over the next couple of weeks Rick had managed to take over a large part of downtown Atlanta. He now had all the way from the interstate to the Centennial Olympic park. With the park under his control he started to plant more crops at this location. With each area they claimed he would find more and more survivors. His group was now over three thousand, and a lot of them did not have very useful skills. He promised everyone at least one meal a day. But if you didn't work you would not get anymore then that. Children and the elderly were the exceptions, but even they had to help where they could.

They had also built some forward safety bases. They were not big or sophisticated, essentially it was a box made of wood and sheet metal. There was a step ladder on the outside that would flip over to the inside. Inside there was a tent a few days rations of food, water, and a radio. This came about after a couple of scouts left the city and got trapped in a car for two days, after they were surrounded by a small herd. They were found after a search party was sent out when they didn't check in. They were lucky but the next time they might not be. The small bases were strategically placed around the city and a few outside of the city. If they secured an area they would just move the base to a new location.

Everything was progressing as planned. Rick was now getting a group together to take the National Guard armory. The group would consist of an armed convoy with about a hundred people. They would load everything up and then move it back to the city to be inventoried and stored. Since the beginning Rick had kept extremely detailed records of everything they had. There was three different records and only he and a few others were aware of the total amount.

Rick brought his best people with him for this mission. He knew it was important and wanted it to go smoothly. He had brought Shane, Xiang Fe, Michonne, Sasha, Jesus, Merle, Daryl, and Glenn. Each would be given a team to secure the area and then sweep the place clean.

The drive to the base was without incident. There was a couple of walkers that were put down on the way. The scouts on scene advised that there was a small group of walkers. Most of them appeared to be soldiers that had tried to make it back and had turned one way or another. They convoy arrived after a two hour drive, the first thing Rick did was call the scouts back and assign each one to a different group. He then released some drones that would scout the area and keep watch for him. Hermes controlled the drones and could directly send the camera feed to Rick's nano-link.

The Armory was also a staging base for the National Guard. It was a small airport, with a large hangar, a warehouse, and several barracks and office for the officers. Rick sent everyone to secure and clean out a different area, while Xiang Fe and Shane were sent to patrol the area and keep guard. Rick made his way to the control tower, he was checking the radio equipment and this would allow him a good view of the area. From here he could be the best over watch. Rick was armed with with a M40A5. The base was surrounded by a high chain link fence, and was surrounded by an empty field on all sides.

After a couple of hours, everyone had loaded up almost everything that was on the base. And was loading up the tank. Rick was still watching over everyone when Hermes notified him that there was movement on the south side of the base.

"Sir there is a group moving towards your location at a high rate of speed. I recommend you take defensive positions." (Hermes)

"Show me." (Rick)

Rick was now shown the live footage from the drone. There was an armed group coming his way. There must have been at least sixty or more vehicles. Each one had was full of people. It was easy to guess that they were coming to take the armory as well, and his people would be out numbered. The group was still about two miles out.

Rick grabbed his radio.

"Everyone get ready, we have contact on the south side of the armory ETA is six minutes. Hermes can you get me into their radios?" (Rick)

Everyone outside stopped what they were doing and began to maneuver vehicles and whatever they could find for cover. While Hermes accessed the radio system in the control tower and began to scan every frequency.

"Sir I have their radio channel. They will be arriving in the next three minutes." (Hermes)

Rick could now see the vehicles in his scope. They were all painted with blood red symbols and a few of them had people or human body parts strapped to them. He thought to himself It hadn't even been that long and people were already turning into this.

"Hermes patch me through to them." (Rick)

"Done sir." (Hermes)

Rick cleared his throat and keyed up.

"I would stop if I were you." (Rick)