Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He wasn't even going to try sugarcoating it, Shane was ready for hell after Rick stabbed him.

...

This was not what he had in mind.

Not waking up to find himself in his bed, in his apartment, in his hometown.

How was this happening? Didn't he just die? Was it all...

No...it was too real, all of it was too real to be a nightmare.

But he seemed to be here, and there were no signs of walkers or a rundown building, everything looked fine.

So...was he somehow thrown back in time? If so, how?

...

Nope, to hell with those questions, he'd rather they remain unanswered.

...

But if this truly was the past then...

He rushed up out of bed, shirtless and only in his pajamas, going to his calendar hanging up on the wall nearby.

Three months.

That's how long he had until...all of it played out.

...

But he could...he could change things.

There were a few things he regretted.

Leaving Rick in that hospital.

Sleeping with Lori later on.

Actually considering killing Rick.

Disregarding Sophia.

Sleeping with Andrea.

Trying to murder Rick.

Rick.

The person at the front of his mind.

He couldn't do that again, already he'd betrayed the man he...doesn't matter right now.

All that matters is he's got three months.

And when that moment happens, well, at least he knows this time around about that third man.

When she came to, Lori found herself on the couch.

Walkers...Shane going insane...walkers on the farm...Rick...the prison...her baby...

"Lori?" 

She sat up and turned to see Rick sitting beside her, looking at her with concern.

"You alright?" 

She thought on it.

She could tell him right?

...

Then again he didn't seem...aware.

So she decided against it.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What happened?"

"We were arguing about...something...and you suddenly just...dropped." 

She nodded slowly.

She suddenly recalled how horrible a wife she was to Rick, he deserved far better than her.

"Sorry, I don't know what came over me. Where's Carl?" 

"I sent him to his room, he's fine."

Again she nodded.

...

All that arguing, and for what? Because she was mad that he wouldn't just go off on her? Rick wasn't like that, well not the one she grew to knew post outbreak, but this Rick was different, too kind for his own good.

Lori hated herself.

She had slept with Shane after, because she thought Rick was dead and so did he, but...regardless, she cheated on him.

Which led to Shane spiraling into insanity, and him trying and failing to kill Rick, and Rick becoming the man she knew while surviving all of that.

She was at fault for that.

She already kind of figured she was back in the past, so no issue there, but now she had things to do.

First this relationship.

Rick truly was too good for her, Lori would admit she was a terrible wife and not exactly a great mother considering that during the apocalypse she had constantly lost track of her own son.

Oh, she did, now it truly did hit her.

Honestly, this marriage was not really salvageable at this point, mainly thanks to her.

She felt it would be better if they separated.

No prenup or anything, for one the world would end in...was it three months? And secondly, she had no reason for it, so why would she need one?

Lori also wasn't naive, before the outbreak, the first go around, she'd seen the way Shane looked at Rick, and the way Rick, unconsciously, displayed similar feelings.

She knew Shane didn't discriminate on who he was interested in, male or female, but the way he looked at Rick was different.

Of course, after the world went to hell, she herself had fucked that up too, Shane by that point was at the point of no return.

But regardless...

And next she had to get them ready, Rick would be shot and in the hospital in two months, and the outbreak would happen only a bit afterwards.

She couldn't be weak, she couldn't rely on anyone else, she couldn't be the past version of herself, no, she was weak then.

She had to be strong, to be able to protect herself, her son, her daughter (if that still happened, which she doubted now), and the others who'd join their group.

She'd been muttering to herself and so deep in thought that she barely registered that the words had slipped out.

"Rick this isn't working anymore. I still love you, but...not in the same way, and I think we should get a divorce."

She didn't even register the look of shock and hurt on Rick's face.

Maybe that was bad of her, but right now she had to start preparing.

Because their world as they knew it ended in three lousy months.

Hershel stood out on the front porch, looking out at the land in front of him.

His morning had been...quite a shocker.

When he'd woken up, gotten dressed etc, he'd gone downstairs only to find his wife and stepson were alive.

Not sick, not walkers, but alive.

So was everyone else in his family who were at the moment.

He'd noticed Maggie having a similar reaction as him, though managing to quickly gather herself and hide it, except from him.

Similar story with Beth.

So his Maggie and Bethie remembered too, their past life, before waking up here, in the past.

Hershel didn't know if this was a blessing or a curse, but he'll be damned if he didn't take this chance to ensure his family is all here later on.

And also prepare for Rick and his group as well.

Step one, stop Annette and Shawn from helping any "sick people".

Step two, no walkers in the barn.

From there things should, hopefully, go far better.

Though he hoped Rick and his group didn't arrive in the same way as last time.

Morgan had locked himself in his bedroom.

Duane was alive, he was fine.

Jenny was too.

Three months until everything fell apart.

He didn't believe it at first but, it made sense.

He'd died, then woken up here, all the way back in the past, somehow.

Which meant...he could save them.

He could save Jenny.

He could save Duane.

He wouldn't separate from Rick this time around.

...

Rick.

...

No, he had a wife, so did Rick, that couldn't happen.

But...if Jenny still...then he'd have to be ready.

If so, he wouldn't hesitate this time, last time it cost him his son, he wouldn't make that mistake again.

Hopefully he could save Jenny, but...could he?

No, of course he could, and he would.

He wasn't loosing his family this time.

Ok, he must be high as shit.

Cause that whole dream, or nightmare, or whatever the fuck it was, was very...weird.

But Merle would admit, it made him think a lot.

He was a horrible brother, Daryl didn't deserve his dumbass.

It made him pissed off at himself for the first time in a long time.

He knew what he had to do.

He had to get off his ass, and step up, be a man, be the brother Daryl needed.

Sure daddy wasn't here no more to continue on his torture, but Daryl needed him, it didn't matter.

And for starters, he was gonna get off this god damn meth and shit.

Don't get him wrong, he ain't going to no rehab, but he is gonna get himself clean if it's the last thing he does.

Chapter Text

Two months later...

Alright, no pressure.

Over that time Shane had been going around everywhere and quickly.

During the first month, reports of the virus weren't that much, only a couple at most, but it was a sign.

After all it was already too late, as he well knows. The virus stayed decently hidden for the most part until things suddenly went to shit.

No deaths reported, though a few pretty bad cases of "the flu", which was a flat out lie. He had a feeling that the military were simply trying to contain these outbreaks and then trying to cover it all up. While he understands it's to prevent mass panic, it's unavoidable.

Shane had made absolutely sure he had enough money in his bank account to purchase at least several weapons, and also checked his wallet, and he had enough on hand.

After which, he proceeded to go to a couple of weapons stores, and most weapons he got were knives and handguns, though there were a few shotguns, a couple machine guns, and a sniper rifle mixed in.

He managed to get his rent and car payments put off until a month and a half from now, in part due to his landlord being somewhat of a conspiracy theorist, yeah, shocking right?

Which the world would go to hell only shortly, he'd bet a few days at most is when the chaos would ensue, so rent and all his bills were the least of his concern.

Not like he'd ever have to pay it anymore anyway.

Rick had known about all his purchases, and while he had questioned him on it once, Shane gave a very cryptic reply and never said anything else, and Rick simply dropped the subject, but still looked at him as if something were wrong with him.

The second month he spent planning.

The quarry was still the best option for now, after all he couldn't just bring them all to the farm, he couldn't justify how he knew about it to the group or to Hershel.

At least he knew of the group getting stuck at the department store in downtown Atlanta, as well as the herd that would come through the quarry only one night later.

Then the highway, and hopefully he could prevent the whole Sophia situation, and her later turning up as a walker.

He hoped Hershel would see sense about the walkers in the barn this time around, but he couldn't guarantee anything there. He'd bet it would go similarly as before.

He had noticed Lori going around, acting similar to him, so he'd inquired as to what she was doing.

While not outright saying it, she had hinted that she too was preparing for the outbreak, which could only mean she remembered too.

Turns out she did.

Which was a blessing because now he knew he wasn't the only one, but a curse since they both knew that Rick didn't.

Which made things a bit difficult since they couldn't just tell him everything, or he would just think they're crazy.

He could tell Lori and Rick were not telling him something, but he pushed it aside for now, because he had bigger worries.

At current time he was with Rick in the cruiser, talking, like last time.

Shane decided to keep the conversation similar as before.

Though he was making up some of it due to that fact.

Eventually he realized how much more...down, Rick was this time, and he couldn't stop his concern and intrigue.

"Enough bout that man, what's up with you? You look so gloomy." 

Rick looked to him, then back over and down at the steering wheel.

"Things ain't so great." 

"Yeah?" Shane maintained a more happy expression, though silently he worried what this was about.

"Tell me man."

Rick sighed.

"Lori wanted a divorce." 

...

"Huh?" Was the most intelligible reply he could muster right now.

That was both bad and good.

Good because maybe he'd have a chance, but bad because Rick might not swing that way and clearly isn't taking this well at all.

And while he hadn't been particularly happy about their marriage the first time, he'd been happy because Rick was happy, or at least content even if they had their problems.

But...

That would explain Lori acting how she is right now, she remembered what occurred between Shane and herself, and felt guilty about it, in turn she felt like a horrible spouse, so wanted a divorce.

"Yeah, I had no idea what to say either." 

"Damn...sorry I erm...didn't see that one coming. I knew y'all had problems but..."

"Me too, me too." 

Shane's expression morphed into sympathy.

'God as my witness I ain't screwing this up again.' he thought internally.

"So uh, what happened with that? How'd it happen anyway?" He asked.

"We were arguing, like usual lately. But she...she collapsed during, don't even know why and neither does she..."

'she really didn't tell him.' he reminded himself.

"I sent Carl to his room cause I didn't want him worrying about his mother. When she woke up, it wasn't long after that she said she wanted a divorce. Said it wasn't working, that she still loves me but not in the same way anymore. Asked her more about it a few days later, she said she felt like a horrible wife and mother, that she felt like she was taking me, Carl, and everything she had for granted, and that she hated herself for it."

Rick nodded.

"But I feel like it's me. Like I'm not-"

"Let me stop you right there Rick, it ain't you. No insult to Lori, but bitching to you just cause you won't lose your temper on her ain't right man. Worst thing about you is you think too much into things and are so damn nice. I mean the nice thing is annoying sometimes brother, well, in a weirdly adorable way."

'not what I meant to say.'

Rick snorted.

"Adorable? Really?" 

"What can I say? I'm charmin'." 

They both laughed, which took away some tension.

Not all, but it helped.

"Thanks for that."

"No problem."

"As for the other question..." Rick turned to him again.

"It's in her eyes every time she looks at me now. There's still warmth, kindness, fondness even but...there's no...affection, anymore. Truthfully I didn't know what I wanted, but I knew she did think it over and wanted it, and I wasn't gonna stand in her way or I'd just be a jackass. So last month we...finalized it." 

Shane nodded along slowly.

"So it's official then."

"It's official, Lori Anne Callahan is no longer my wife. It's...bittersweet."

"How?" This peaked his interest, somewhat.

"Because this divorce didn't happen like most where the husband and wife, or husband and husband or whatever, end up hating each other. She told me she still wanted to be friends, plus she still wanted to live with me so we wouldn't have to worry about custody arrangements or schedules of when we each get Carl, or things like that. The dynamics shifted, yet they're still the same somehow." Rick replied. 

Shane could hear how Rick was somewhat relieved about that, which was truthfully a good thing.

After all Lori could've just up and been a bitch about all of it, but she wasn't, she was still nice, though admittedly she was doing far better at looking after Carl than her past self had, which took pressure off of him.

She had remembered good and well how to use knives and guns, so she could defend herself and Carl, plus she was refining her skills there, so nothing to worry about there either.

He honestly liked this Lori far more than the other.

"Well, I'd say keep looking at the positive side, least your now ex-wife is nice and all and ain't a...I'll stop myself there."

"Please do." Amusement laced Rick's tone. "Never knew you as a glass half full kinda guy."

"I'm not, just trying to make you feel better. Can't have you in a mood during the job."

"You make it sound like I'm a woman on her period." 

"What's the difference?"

"Are you serious?"

Shane snorted, then giggled (mostly to himself), then he bursted in a cackling mess, which for him was quite unusual.

Rick tried to maintain himself, but he quickly joined him.

Which released more tension.

Eventually they stopped, by which point Rick was almost in tears from his laughter.

"I...I can't believe....you." 

...

"Thanks Shane, really, you don't...you don't know how much I needed this."

'of course I did, you big sap.' 

Shane gave a nonchalant shrug.

"I prefer seeing you with a dopey smile on your face." 

...

Wait...he didn't mean to say that either.

Well shit.

He started silently questioning why he could flirt so effortlessly, and, for the most part, subtlety.

Rick turned to look at him again, fondness and...something else in his eyes.

He couldn't decipher what and it was barely noticeable whatever it was, but he did see it.

"Sometimes I wonder what I'd ever do without you." 

...

The bitter irony in that statement, that Rick himself is unaware of.

Then they got the call from dispatch, the same one from before.

Things went similarly.

Though when the shootout happened, Shane kept Rick behind the car for cover, so he wasn't out in the open.

But the third man was nowhere to be seen, even a few moments after.

So Rick left cover, as did some of the others.

And Shane would swear on everything that God was laughing at his attempts.

The third man suddenly sprang up, hidden in the grass, and opened fire, hitting Rick in the exact same spot as last time, and the third man was promptly gunned down himself.

Damn it all.

He made Leon watch over Rick for a minute while he went to "check for any other surprises".

In reality he'd put a silencer on his handgun and was going to put the criminals out of their final misery

Maybe he was being overly cautious, but the dead were rising at this point.

Plus he recalled Jenner saying that the time it took someone to turn varied, could be hours, could be minutes.

Hell who's to say it couldn't even be seconds in that case?

So he put bullets into all three's brains, ensuring they'd never come back, and made his way back to Rick.

Damn, why couldn't this be his day?

After getting Rick to Harrison Memorial, Shane called Lori.

She of course wasn't surprised, as if she knew it would happen again regardless.

Which meant that certain things couldn't be changed or avoided, which didn't reassure Shane much in truth, because the question became...who could he save and who could he not?

But he'd save it for later.

Oddly enough, Carl, while seeming pretty sad, didn't seem surprised either.

Now Shane was questioning if Carl also remembered.

And he didn't know how to feel about that.

Either way, Rick was once again in the hospital, and at this point would still be in that coma.

Shane consulted with Lori on it, and it went like this.

"I can't...I won't leave him this time Lori, I won't." 

"I understand Shane, but you'll have to."

"Are you telling me to abandon him, again?" 

"No. I'm saying given how the first time went, we know for sure that he'll be fine. I don't get it but, I feel like this has to go the same way. I don't know why, but since we've come to agree that certain things can't be changed..." 

...

As bad as it was, Shane easily saw her point there.

She sighed.

"And I know you don't want to, neither do I, but I know you really don't. I know how much you care about him." 

He looked at her with some visible surprise at her statement.

It certainly better explained the divorce.

"...you...knew..."

She chuckled.

"Of course I did, my own conscience wasn't the only reason I wanted the divorce. The way you look at him with this...not so very well hidden adoration, the way your eyes are more lively anytime his name is so much as mentioned. I knew the first time too, but I was being too much of a selfish hag to care at that time."

His lips set into a firm and thin line, and he looked away.

"God, I was that obvious?"

"To me yes. To anyone else, I can't say." 

She patted him on the knee, trying to give him some comfort.

"He'll be okay Shane. So will we." 

He released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and nodded.

"I know, I know, I just...I hate it so much."

After that they just kind of watched TV to try and calm themselves (mainly Shane).

Which didn't help much given the reports coming in.

"...ver to Veronica with a look on scene. Veronica how are things looking out there?" A CBS news anchor, Sarah Fetterman he thinks? Was saying, as things moved over to the other woman, who was somewhere on that bridge in Charleston, SC.

"Well Sarah very chaotic, that's for sure. It all began when reports emerged out of downtown Charleston of full scale riots, after police shot and killed several unarmed people across the city. Now many are calling for accountability, but police say their actions were justified and aren't backing down. Chief Hollands said the people shot were told multiple times to stop and stay where they were, but did not listen to police. He says all these people then attempted to attack several officers, and so they opened fire in self defense. All this comes as cases of this mysterious flu have skyrocketed across the state and country, and now authorities are urging residents to remain indoors, and for-"

An explosion occurred behind her, not far from the reporter in fact. The sounds of gunfire and screaming became quite prominent.

"Oh my God...Cray, are you getting this? Sarah there's...I don't know what's going on..." 

Then someone emerged from behind a car, looking directly at the reporter and the cameraman, a woman in a business suit, but even from here you could tell her eyes were lifeless and glazed over, skin slightly pale, she was a walker, Shane knew.

She shambled slowly but surely, heading directly to the reporter, blood around her mouth, making it obvious she'd turned not long ago, and just made a meal of someone or something.

"My...miss, are you okay?!" Veronica quickly went over, cameraman right behind her.

'Idiots, the blood around her mouth, the skin, the lifeless eyes, and the light snarls and moans should have gave you enough warning.' he frowned at the live broadcast.

Of course it would only end one way.

And soon enough, as Veronica walked up to the woman, or what used to be said woman, the walker lunged at her, taking a chunk out of her shoulder as Veronica screamed.

The cameraman went to help Veronica, only for a gunshot to go off, and the cameraman hit the ground, presumably killed, and the camera still rolling in the ground.

The undead woman meanwhile took another bite out of Veronica's shoulder, and dragged her to the ground in doing so.

"Cray? Veronica?" Sarah inquired, staring at the camera feed.

Which promptly cut out.

"Someone? What's going on?" 

Someone whispered something to her which had her quickly putting on a fake smile, she was obviously nervous and fearful of whatever was going on.

"Uh...Cray and Veronica seem to be experiencing technical difficulties, um... we'll be right back after the break." 

Shane just turned the TV off.

That was reminiscent of the chaos they'd soon see here.

Only a couple days later he went to the hospital to see Rick.

And while in his room, the chaos ensued.

He exited, and this time didn't bother with trying to get help, he knew Rick would be fine as long as he blocked the door like last time.

And just like last time, the military was killing people in the halls, except Shane didn't stick around, simply got the bed, gurney, whatever you want to call it, and blocked the door.

He didn't risk sticking around, better he not get killed off early by the military before he can help change things.

So he rushed out, still feeling like an asshole, but...he knew things would be far better this time, he knew it.

He just hoped that Rick still found them later.

Chapter Text

Yep, things happened quite similarly.

Of course he'd gotten Lori and Carl sooner, so they managed to get out before things got too chaotic.

They'd still gotten stuck on the highway though.

Which was good as they did still run into Carol, and her husband and daughter (he made a mental note to deal with Ed sooner rather than later).

He ignored the radio this go around, considering it had gone down by this point.

Plus there was no refugee center, and if there was, it has been lost very early.

"I'm hungry." Carl said just as his stomach rumbled a bit.

"Well maybe I could get you a protein bar or something. Jeez, in such a hurry that I forgot to pack necessities, although I remembered the weapons." Lori whispered the last part to Shane, who nodded in understanding.

Truthfully he had been focused on the same thing that he took forgot about packing food.

"You know what, why don't I get 'em somethin' to eat? Ed's into all this survival stuff, I'm sure he packed something." Carol offered.

Lori nodded.

"Yeah, sure. As long as that's fine with you."

"It's no problem." Carol smiled before walking to the other side of the car, though Ed blocked her before she could open it.

Oddly enough Carol didn't seem at all affected.

"The hell do you think you're doin'?" 

"The poor boy is hungry, we can spare one box." 

She smiled again, only it seemed...almost predatory.

Shane didn't know how he felt about that but...this didn't happen last time.

"Can't we?" 

"Use your damn brain woman. If we start givin' out our stuff, everyone's gonna want some." 

"Then maybe you should have packed more, and we wouldn't be in this situation."

"The hell did you just say to me?" 

Ed stepped closer, but Carol didn't move, still having that eery smile on her face.

"I'm sorry, must be your hearing." 

Ed suddenly grabbed her wrist, but even then it seemed like Carol wasn't fazed.

What was happening?

"You listen here, don't you ever smart off at me again, or-"

"Or what? You gonna slap me Ed? Beat me? Perhaps even rape me?" 

Carol laughed lowly, but it was...unsettling.

"Carl, why don't you and Sophia go over to the cruiser for a minute." 

"Ok." Carl looked between Shane and the other situation, before grabbing Sophia and moving away.

"Don't tempt me." Ed threatened.

"Well aren't you frightening." She drawled.

...

What was she doing? Carol was up to something this time, but, what?

She was waiting for something...

"Bitch I've had about enough of you." 

"At least we have a mutual understanding for once." Was the whispered reply.

The next moment was quite...unexpected.

There was the sound of a click, then a gunshot.

Which sent Ed crumbling to the ground, a bullet hole through his head.

Carol meanwhile was holding a gun, hidden under her sleeve, but visible, and visibly smoking.

She lowered her arm.

"Carol..." 

She turned to Shane, a more genuine smile on her face.

"I'm fine." She nodded.

Okay...well Shane could say he didn't feel bad for Ed, abusive bastard had it coming, but this was surprising.

At least now he only had Amy to worry about saving next month.

"You sure?" 

She chuckled.

"Aren't you polite." 

Meanwhile everyone else seemed too fearful of escaping an outbreak to care about what just happened, some looked over to acknowledge the scene, but otherwise ignored it.

After getting back over to Lori, she seemed surprised that Carol did that, just like he did.

But something was off about the woman this time around.

This wasn't that weak, fragile, frightful and shy woman.

No.

This woman seemed to have an unbreakable will, infinite resolve, a fighting spirit, and a calculative mind.

Plus she seemed more protective of Sophia.

Regardless, things went similarly after that, instead Shane and Lori spent time looking for the others in their group instead of going to watch Atlanta be bombed.

They managed to find Dale and his RV, along with Andrea and Amy.

As well as T-Dog and Glenn.

For now it seemed the rest would find them.

They managed to easily convince them all (especially Andrea and Glenn weirdly enough) to come with them.

So after a slightly difficult time, they managed to get off the highway and drive down towards the quarry.

Once again avoiding any danger as not long after leaving the highway, the screams and gunfire were quite audible.

When they reached the quarry, Morales and his family were already there camping out in a tent, so were Merle, Daryl, Jim, and Jacqui.

Which meant their core group was nearly all here.

Minus Rick.

They quickly started getting set up afterwards, with more tents, and fixing up the fire pit earlier.

The chaos died down almost entirely two weeks later.

A couple plums of smoke still rose from Atlanta, but no gunfire or anything.

Okay, checklist.

Prepare everyone, train them how to use knives, at least.

No guns yet, or it would draw unwanted attention.

Check on Merle Dixon, to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.

Weirdly enough he hasn't, which is throwing Shane off a lot, but oh well.

Next, wait for Rick to arrive.

Which was still about, maybe a week and a half away? Not too long from now.

While planning all this out and writing it down on a piece of paper in the RV, he looked up briefly to acknowledge Andrea's entry.

"Hey." He went back to planning.

The blonde sat down across from him, had he looked up he'd see her impassive expression.

"What're you doing?"

"Planning out things." 

"Oh? Do be sure to put in all that effort once someone goes missing, perhaps we could get lucky and find them alive instead." 

He suddenly looked up at her, her expression now somewhat smug.

"You..."

"No shit." 

He blinked.

"So, you remember..."

"Everything, yes. At least, everything that I knew happened, up until my death."

Shane frowned.

"How?"

Andrea stared for a moment, then sighed.

"Let's just say I now know better than to fall for a charming, one-eyed psychopath." 

Shane nodded, but didn't get it.

"Well he still had both at the time, but that's beside the point." She continued with an eyeroll.

"Okay." He didn't know what to say to that.

Her gaze landed on him again, but this time it was colder, and there was some anger there.

"Let's clear the air since we both clearly know everything."

He sighed tiredly, getting an idea of what this was about.

"Don't worry, I ain't got any intentions of...that kind, with you." 

She raised a brow, clearly skeptical.

"And, how can you assure me of this? Just know that if you start going crazy again, I'm not on your side this time. Last time I was gullible and stupid, this time, not so much. I have my sister to protect after all." 

He looked her in the eyes.

"I went insane the first time cause I was stupid and slept with Lori in the process, all because I felt that she was my only link left to...him, so to speak." He said bluntly.

"Him? You mean Rick?" 

He blinked and narrowed his eyes.

"How the hell..." 

She laughed.

"Honestly, when you two started really hating each other, the growing sexual tension was pretty obvious." 

He turned away, his face heating up slightly in embarrassment.

Wow, he knew he'd been an idiot and an asshole, but...he didn't know he was that bad.

To hear if from others like this was...both horrible, and comical.

"You don't say? Speaking of, when's that dumbass getting here?" 

They both turned to acknowledge Glenn's entry.

Huh, Shane doesn't recall him being so...mature, like this.

Though his statement proved that he remembered too.

"Well do come in." Shane face-palmed, feeling like he could really use medication right about now.

"Don't mind if I do." Glenn's tone wasn't cold exactly or unwelcoming, but it was very wary.

He couldn't blame them he guessed.

"Nothin' to worry about, I'm not gonna go batshit insane, no releasing walkers from a barn, no disregarding members of the group, no trying to put anyone in harms way. If, and I do mean if, it happens again, you both have my permission to put me out of my misery before I go too far." 

Andrea and Glenn exchanged looks, before nodding.

"Alright, maybe you're not so bad, this time." 

Shane looked to Glenn.

"Well I kinda know how Andrea went, but how'd you?"

"Got my skull caved in by a sadistic maniac with a baseball bat wrapped in barbwire." Was the dull reply.

"Oh." Shane stared, and so did Andrea.

"So, two people we gotta watch for then?" 

Andrea nodded, seeming to decide to help him in planning.

"The governor, Philip Blake. The man is quite the charmer, unfortunately he got me. He kept walker heads in tanks in his house, hosted parties where they used toothless walkers for entertainment. I actually felt bad for the walkers and not the people. Anyway, friend of mine figured him out. Long story short, after his sister got caught in the crossfire, Philip lost whatever sanity he had left, which ultimately got me killed. I'll explain it better another time, but that's the gist of it." 

He wrote down a summary for that. Okay, so this governor had to go then.

"Yeah, mine was, a year and a half later? I'm not sure really, but it was way later. We started having issues with this group called the saviors. This guy, Negan, caught us, killed a couple of our group, and after that we started planning moves against him. Eventually it started a war with him and his group, during that time I got caught, and Negan later executed me in front of Rick and the others." Glenn added.

Andrea frowned before humming.

"Starting to think the governor is simply child's play. How many people did Negan have?"

"Don't know, but it had to be hundreds." 

...

"Okay, never mind, Governor's a saint compared to him." 

"I don't think so. I mean Negan was a vile asshole, but he was honest and open about it."

"Fair point." 

Shane wrote again.

Along the lines of 'two-faced cyclops' and 'narcissistic batcestual sadist and potential pedophile'.

Glenn leaned over the table and read this, and then couldn't help but lean back and cackle.

"Batcestual?"

Shane shrugged.

"It was easy to pick up on the fact that the guy was obsessed with his bat."

"From the way you mentioned the barbed wire bat of course." Andrea grinned.

Glenn groaned in annoyance.

"I'm telling you, the guy was scary as hell, but he was even more weird as hell." 

A knock interrupted.

"Well, the officer, the rugmuncher, and the Chinaman." 

Glenn rolled his eyes as Merle decided to join them.

"I'm Korean." 

Merle waved a hand at him.

"Whatever." 

It was lacking any actual bite, and actually it seemed...purely playful.

"Damn it, I knew this was too easy." Andrea face-planted on the table.

Merle stared.

"Oh quite your bitchin' woman. Be glad I ain't hittin' on ya this time." 

"You hit on me twice actually, once on the roof of the department store, and again in Woodbury. Of course that was after you called me a whore and a rugmuncher." 

"What's a...sorry if this is offensive but uh...what's a..."

"Rugmuncher?" Shane supplied to Glenn, who grimaced a bit in disgust at the term, but nodded.

"Dixon slang for Lesbian, I'm guessing." 

"Well hallelujah, somebody done been studyin'." 

Merle shook his head and leaned against a wall.

"Plannin' then?" 

"Yeah." Shane kept writing.

"Tried to snipe the governor, got a bullet through ma chest instead."

"I don't remember that." Andrea started.

"Cause ya were already locked away by Prince charmin', blondie." 

She nodded.

Okay, so the governor killed Andrea by locking her away and...doing something, he didn't know yet, then Merle tried and failed to kill him, only to get a bullet through the chest for it, and Glenn got his skull bashed in by this Negan guy.

Okay.

No pressure.

At the very least, he had Lori, Andrea, Glenn, and even Merle.

And possibly Carl.

And again, he didn't know how to feel about that, if it was true.

In any case.

"Ok. So back to it." 

They all looked to him as he kept writing.

"To present time and the immediate future. The core group is almost all here. Now Rick should be here in a week and a half I think. Given he clearly doesn't remember like we do, the department store situation might need to go similarly, since I know he'll still go into Atlanta."

Glenn frowned.

"So...still the whole 'riding into town on a horse before getting swarmed and sent fleeing into a tank' thing?" 

Shane gave a slight nod to this.

"Ok. But my question becomes, do we act the same or similarly like the first go around?" Andrea inquired.

"Mm, you don't have to. I personally would prefer things go more...smoothly."

Andrea and Glenn glared pointedly at Merle, who snorted but nodded along.

"Shouldn't be too long after that when y'all get back." 

"Only this time, hopefully we'll get out without much of any issue." Glenn nodded, slight smile on his face.

It was honestly odd to have someone who disagreed with him in the first go around, agreeing with him now. Though this time he wasn't a selfish bastard.

"Then after." Glenn added then.

Shane leaned back in his seat, thinking on it.

"Hopefully he doesn't drop that bag of guns this time, so there'll be no need to go back to Atlanta when y'all do get back. But if so, then you know Rick."

"And there's the factor of that man and his son who Rick met before getting here." Andrea pointed out.

...

Oh right? How could he forget about that.

Merle shrugged.

"Quarry ain't hard ta find."

Glenn agreed.

"True, this place was well and widely known. Maybe this guy can keep Rick from going to Atlanta to begin with, and they'll just find their way here." 

"No guarantees yet. Lori and I have learned that certain things happen regardless, like Rick gettin' shot and him put in a coma. I wanted to just get him and get out, but Lori pointed out how that could affect things later. I mean without Rick, it's possible you'd still get stuck in the department store, but without him, y'all would've died." Shane said, staring down at the notes so far.

Yep, this seemed simple on paper, but in reality, changing the future like this was actually pretty tough because of so many different factors.

Like if they saved one person, it's possible someone else will die in their place.

Or they fail to save someone, and the rest of the group gets picked off one by one very quickly after that.

Plus you couldn't change certain events, even if you could kind of alter them.

Would Amy still die? Would Jim? Jacqui? 

Sophia? 

Oh, another thing, the Randal situation.

He still felt the same about it, but regretted his prior way of handling it. 

Though Randal still had to die. Given the same day Shane (in his insane state) murdered him last time, the kid had clearly been playing the victim, when in reality he was as bad as the men he'd been in a group with.

But that could wait, they hadn't even left the quarry yet.

"Or it's possible this guy believes those stories about the refugee center, and takes his son, and Rick with him into the city, and then they'll all die." 

Shane and Glenn looked to Andrea, Shane with a blank expression which gave away his disliking of that statement.

"What? You know as well as I that it's possible. But as you've said, no guarantees." 

Fair, but still.

"And...the night of the fish fry?" 

Shane and Andrea tense at the question from Glenn, more so Andrea given she lost her sister that time.

"Hopefully I can convince Rick not to leave. That way, we've got more manpower, and given Lori and I went and bought a lot of knives and guns before all this, we'll be prepared this time." Shane replied.

Everyone, minus Merle, nodded. No surprise, he wasn't here for that.

"Yep, and we can save everyone that we need to save." 

"Except Ed." Shane muttered.

Andrea raised a brow.

"What happened to Ed? Haven't seen him by the way."

Glenn looked between them, then settled his gaze on Shane, with faint amusement.

"Carol?" 

He decided at this point he wouldn't even question it.

"Carol." 

Glenn chuckled, running a hand through his hair.

Shane decided not to comment on that.

"Anyway, one less worry right now. First let's worry bout Rick, before we move on to everything else." 

Andrea looked as if she wanted to tease him over that, but ultimately she held it in.

"Got it." 

...

...

...

Okay.

This was normal...

This was fine...

...

...

Okay, lies, but then again nothing was normal anymore, and things were never exactly fine.

But, he could work with this group, it was a rather unusual one but...he could work with it.

For now, they just had to wait.

Chapter Text

Truthfully, Morgan was more resigned than sad.

Saddened? Yes, of course, but mostly resigned.

Despite his best efforts, having prepared for the impending apocalypse, collecting a few weapons, guns and otherwise, things still took a bad turn.

Jenny had survived for a little longer this time, as they hadn't tried going to find the refugee center in Atlanta.

But ultimately she still died.

It was one day after Atlanta was bombed, they went out on a supply run (he'd been teaching Duane in melee combat and how to use knives, as he still remembered all his own skill in close quarter fighting), a walker seemingly materialized from behind a car, and took a chunk out of Jenny's neck.

They killed the walker and got back to their safehouse, which was in the same neighborhood he met Rick in last time.

She survived the bite itself, but succumbed to the fever later.

He'd been saddened when he lost her again, even if he had a feeling that she'd die either way.

Only this time he hadn't hesitated, only five minutes after she died, he stabbed a knife through her brain, preventing her reanimation as he wasn't gonna let her turn again, he still had Duane, and to put her down likely meant saving him, so he did exactly that, no hesitation.

Then they buried her in the backyard the next morning, thankfully no walkers had been around at the time, he guessed most were still in the towns and cities, as such only a few were around the neighborhoods like this.

Regardless, it was bittersweet, he got to spend just a little more time with his wife this time, but he guessed she was one death that couldn't be prevented, though he did delay it, only by a day.

He wouldn't question if the same were true for Duane, because he couldn't, because his son was his priority, that and waiting for Rick to show up, which shouldn't be too long now.

In fact it should happen today in...maybe two hours.

He wondered if Rick remembered like he did, he hoped, because it would take some pressure off, to know he wasn't the only one.

Duane didn't, which was both bad and good (more good than bad, no child should remember their zombified mother ripping into their flesh, eating them alive).

Oh, and he'd stab that walker this time, not be stupid by using the gun.

Last time he used the gun simply because he didn't have his knife on him at the time, which was a stupid move on his part.

Right now he and Duane were looking around the neighborhood, he didn't expect survivors, hadn't been any last time, usually just dead or undead residents within most of the houses.

So when they entered a beige colored, two-story house, and heard the sound of a can hitting the floor, he tensed.

Rick?

No, no way, he wasn't even here yet.

"Daddy?" Duane quietly inquired, though somehow managing to stay calm as a cucumber despite the tension in the air.

"Stay close Duane, and stay behind me." 

His son nodded and did as told, while he slowly moved forward, gun raised and ready to fire.

The sound came from the left, from the...kitchen? Who knows, the layout for every house seemed different, mostly.

This was new, but good or bad was yet to be determined.

Another can hit the floor.

Just as Morgan was turning the corner.

And of course, he just happened to step on a stuffed animal which somehow happened to be there, and it let out a squeak of sorts.

He promptly grabbed Duane and their backs hit the wall, damn it, why? Why does this happen? In movies it's predictable and dull, now in real life it's both dangerous and utterly ridiculous.

"Who's there?" 

Morgan didn't respond, they didn't know this man, whoever he was. If he revealed them, they could die, and before Rick could get here, even worse.

"I'm a King's county sheriff's deputy. If anyone's there, I'm here to help."

Should he trust this? 

Should he say something?

Should he stay silent?

Should he just kill the man?

...

But he said Kings county, maybe...

Maybe he'd worked with Rick, maybe he was a friend from work.

...

Dear God, don't let this be the wrong choice.

He released a silent breath.

"You're a sheriff's deputy?" 

A minute of silence.

Duane was giving him a frown, not trusting this, but trusting his father in the situation.

"Yeah. I...if you need proof I'll reveal myself."

"..."

Morgan readied his gun, just in case.

"Put your weapon on the floor and kick it into the hall, then come out, hands up, back turned. I have a son, so you'll forgive me if I don't trust you." 

"That's more than agreeable." 

There was the sound of a gun hitting the floor and it came spinning into the hall.

After which, a man in a sheriff's uniform and hat came out, just as Morgan asked him to.

Morgan didn't point his gun yet, seeing as the man clearly had no other weapons.

"Alright, now turn around, slowly. And don't try anything, or I will kill you."  

In return he got a nod and the man complied.

As he turned around, nearly fully, Morgan recognized him.

"Leon Basset?" 

"You knew him?"

"Didn't think much of him. Careless and dumb..." 

Ok.

His question then becomes how the man survived this time around. Did he remember? 

Regardless, Morgan knew from that memory and description that the man wasn't a threat, not really.

"You got a name mister?" 

He already knew, but he decided he shouldn't reveal that, yet at least.

"Leon, Leon Basset." 

He nodded slowly.

"Morgan Jones, my son Duane." He gestured to his son, who gave a short nod, a gesture Basset returned.

Morgan decided to risk it.

"You know a man named Rick Grimes?"

Leon's eyes widened a bit before he regathered himself, looking a bit somber though.

"I knew him."

So he didn't remember clearly, seeing as he seemed to think Rick was dead.

He'd be surprised later then.

"He got shot over a week ago on a call, two suspects but...there was a third." 

Basset sighed.

"He took a pretty bad one to the abdomen. Last I knew of he'd been in Harrison Memorial. But with everything that's happened, and him being in a coma, I...I'm not optimistic." 

Morgan nodded, it was a valid thought process, of course everyone would assume he was dead, after all even if he survived, how does someone in that condition defend themselves from undead flesh eating corpses?

...

Well since the man clearly wasn't a threat to them, and wasn't showing any ill intent, might as well.

"Might wanna sit down, not like any of us got anywhere else to be."

"That's fair."

Soon they were in the living room, Morgan sitting on a couch with Duane to his immediate left, and Basset across from them on a sofa.

"You got any bites? Scratches?"

Basset shook his head vigorously.

"No."

"So you know about them then? The walkers?"

"That's...an understatement, they're kinda impossible not to notice with the pale or rottin' skin, lifeless eyes, and snarls and growls, and when their teeth sink into someone." Basset sounded a bit bitter.

Morgan narrowed his eyes just a bit.

"You lost someone." 

He got a dull stare in reply, until the other man nodded and started fidgeting with his hands.

"My partner, Lambert Kendell. It was a day after Rick got shot, and we were just at the station as usual. We went down to the cells to release somebody. This guy we constantly brought in on counts of possession, genuinely good guy, but cocaine kept doing him in." 

He looked at the fireplace.

"Lambert and I were talking about something, mostly just joking around and trying to lighten up the mood. I opened the cell door and the guy comes walking towards me with this empty look in his eyes, which were just grey and...lifeless. he growled and he reached for me..."

He closed his eyes and looked back at the floor.

"...but Lambert pulled me out the way, and next thing I know the guy is just...on him, taking a bite out of my partner's shoulder, then his neck and I...I was too slow." 

"..."

"By the time I got my gun, my partner was already dead on the floor, with the guy still eating him. I opened fire, mostly on his head, and soon some of the others came rushing down, saw Lambert, saw blood and chunks of flesh missin', and the guy I shot who had blood around his mouth and still had a piece of flesh between his teeth." 

...

"Then after?" 

Morgan was curious if Basset knew about the fact that anyone could turn, no matter how they died, unless severe head trauma is involved.

Basset was staring at him again, dully. 

"Wasn't bout ten minutes later when Lambert..."

Morgan gave a nod of understanding and dropped it.

Okay, so he knew then. 

Clearly Basset was more intelligent than most have him credit for. Fidgety perhaps, and jittery, but overall alright otherwise.

But it explained how he survived this time.

"You know, funny thing is I though he'd regained consciousness, that he was just badly injured, but otherwise okay. Or that maybe the man was just-"

"Waen't no damn man anymore." Duane interjected.

"The hell was that out your mouth just now?" Morgan turned to glare at his son for both his grammar and his foul language.

Duane sighed, seemingly exasperated with his dad at that.

"It wasn't a man." 

Basset snorted.

"I knew that kid. I might not be the smartest man alive, but it's hard to view someone as still being alive when they die in front of your eyes, come back 10 minutes later, and take a chunk out of someone else's arm." 

...

Damn.

Well he definitely knew that.

"And...whatever happened to Rick's partner during all this?" Morgan inquired.

To which Basset hummed.

"Well, I think he actually knew what was comin', cause he'd been going around everywhere, buying up guns and ammunition apparently. He was broken up when Rick got shot but...not as much as we'd thought he'd be, he seemed more resigned."

...

That suggested Rick's partner probably remembered, though that's difficult to know for certain, he can't prove it unless he meets and talks to the man, which he isn't sure about.

Rick did tell him a little about his partner last time, Walsh. From what little he did know, he didn't think the man was going to be very pleasant, if the fact he'd slept with Rick's wife had been of any indication. 

So no, Morgan didn't have any positive opinion of Walsh, and he doubted that would change.

Maybe he was being pessimistic about it, but that's just his viewpoint on what little he knew.

"He wasn't there when everything was going to shit, and Rick's ex-wife and their son weren't either, so I assume he took them and got the hell outta dodge." 

Wait...ex-wife?

That's...new.

As far as he knew Rick and his wife, Lori, had still been together. They weren't this time? Strange. It meant one of them had to have remembered, but Rick or Lori?

"That's all good to know, but I've got a feeling they're at the quarry, outside Atlanta." Morgan replied more so absentmindedly.

Basset shrugged.

"That's about all I know. I mean Rick and I weren't close or anything, same with Walsh and I. We had occasional conversations, but they were mostly work related, and we rarely spoke about anything else, even when I tried. Most people I worked with didn't have high opinions of me, I knew that, but I never said anything because it kept the attention off me, mostly." 

"So you just let people think you're stupid?" Duane asked, which got him a slight glare from his father, though he wasn't being rude.

"Yeah." The man nodded before sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "But truth is despite my profession, I'm not great with guns, most of the time I can't even figure out if the safety is on or not, and I'm a terrible shot." He chuckled nervously in embarrassment.

Morgan nodded.

"We can work on that later."

Might as well ask, clearly the man has no ill intentions or he would have tried something already, plus he clearly had nowhere to go.

Plus it might do at least some good for Rick to reunite with a familiar face, if he doesn't remember anything, which given everything Basset told him thus far, it's highly likely Rick doesn't, the fact he still got shot only proves it.

"We got a house cleared out nearby, some weapons, supplies. If you're interested in staying. If not, then I'll hope you have a safe journey." He offered.

Basset seemed to think on it for a few minutes.

And the answer wasn't a surprise.

"Sure. Not like I got anywhere to be anyways." 

"What about your family?" Duane asked with some curiosity.

Morgan would admit he was also curious, seeing as the man never mentioned his family.

One would think he'd be looking for them.

Basset shook his head.

"Family? Nah, mine disowned me as soon as I was old enough for my first car." 

Ah, that explained it.

"Oh...sorry." 

"Don't sweat it kid. Hell even if they were still alive, they weren't exactly the intelligent type, way worse than me if you can believe that. Plus they lived in the city, so chances are if the walkers didn't get 'em, the bombs the military dropped on the city did." 

And so, somehow Leon Basset survived this time around, and joined Morgan and Duane.

Well, at least they had one more survivor, and one who was on their side.

That's a plus.

And two hours later, Morgan wasn't surprised.

Again, after everything he'd been through in his past life, nothing here could surprise him (minus Basset's survival).

So when they came across Rick Grimes still in hospital scrubs with a bandage around his abdomen, Morgan wasn't surprised to see him.

Even if Rick clearly hadn't expected them.

Duane didn't hit him with the shovel this time, and made himself known to Rick.

The walker from before was still there, but Morgan easily shoved a knife through its skull and dealt with it.

No gunshot, no higher number of walkers tonight, lovely.

There was still the car with the damn alarm to consider.

...

Eh, similar but slightly better result than last time.

"Duane." 

"He called me Carl." 

Okay, same as before, which only solidified that Rick definitely didn't remember.

"Son you know they don't talk." 

He couldn't help it, it slipped.

He could see Duane out the corner of his eye, giving him a deadpan look as if to ask 'do I look stupid?', which he mostly ignored.

Basset was too focused on helping Rick to pay attention to that exchange.

"Rick? God man, I should've known. Stubborn as you are you would give death the middle finger and tell him to shove it."

Rick seemed surprised to see Leon, though in a good way seeing as while being helped to his feet he chuckled.

"I wouldn't put it that way." 

'Nope, Basset summed it up perfectly to me.' Morgan couldn't help but think.

Then his mind seemed to do a double-take.

"W-where are they Leon? Where...where's my family?" 

Basset sighed while wrapping one of Rick's arms around his neck to keep him stable on his feet.

"I don't know Rick. I was at the station at the time hell was breaking loose, so I just don't know." 

Morgan broke in, deciding to keep this moment somewhat the same.

"Hey Mister, what's that bandage for?" 

Granted he already knew, but it was probably best to keep it similar.

Rick's voice was mostly hoarse, clearly he hadn't had much of any water in a while.

But he replied even so.

"Gunshot wound." 

Morgan nodded.

"Basset already told me, just helps to be sure." 

Rick nodded in understanding and coughed, but said nothing further.

Duane looked around.

"Daddy, we might wanna get inside, in case more come." 

"Yeah you right Duane, let's go." 

Come nighttime, it went similarly as before, only including Basset, and not checking under Rick's bandage because they already knew.

Thankfully there were less walkers out than before, due to him not using the gun this time.

"Come, sit down, before you fall down." He said as Rick was peeking out the window.

After which, they said grace, and started eating their food, canned goods of course because there was no electricity so no cooking anything.

Which Morgan would admit, while not surprising, was disappointing.

"That man earlier..."

Morgan turned to look at Rick, knowing where this was going.

"You stabbed that man, killed him." 

Duane kept his words to himself unlike before, knowing his father would likely scold him for saying what he wanted to about that.

And Morgan replied, calm as ever.

"Friend you need glasses, that was a walker." 

Basset for his part ate, observed the conversation, and said nothing, yet at least.

"Thank God I used the knife instead of the gun, otherwise there'd be a lot more of them out there than there are right now."

Morgan stared Rick in the eyes.

And while other thoughts tried to find themselves at the forefront of his mind, he blocked them.

"And you should be glad I killed him. Cause he would've ripped into you, eaten you alive, taken some flesh at least. Only reason there are fewer of them outside is cause I went with the quiet method, otherwise they'd be all over the neighborhood." 

Rick blinked and then stared down at his plate for a minute.

Then he spoke again.

"What'd you call 'em?" 

This time Morgan let Basset speak.

"Rick, you're at least aware of the dead ones, right?" 

"Yeah I saw a lot of that. At the hospital, on the loading trucks-"

Basset interrupted that, with a shake of his head.

"No. Not the ones the military and the police put down, I mean the ones they didn't, the walkers. Like the one earlier today." 

"I...well there...there was this woman, she looked so rotten, and the lower half of her body was gone, organs hanging out." 

Basset looked like he wanted to puke at the thought of it but he was maintaining himself surprisingly well.

Then again watching a close friend getting torn into, then seeing them reanimate and attack someone else would harden anyone.

"Yeah. Well that's a crawler, but you get the idea, a mindless, flesh eating corpse that walks around. There's a good few outside now, don't know why they're especially active at night though, might be the cool air."

"But...a bite kills you?" 

Basset somewhat tenses, which is when Morgan jumps back into the conversation to explain.

"Depends. Sometimes it's the bite, but if you survive that it's the blood loss that does you in. If you survive that, well, then you don't survive long after." 

Morgan had a grim expression on his face.

"But most of the time the bites kill ya. If not, then the fever burns you out regardless. But after a while..." He gave a brief glance to Basset, giving a short nod before turning back to Rick. "You come back."

Basset suddenly found the tablecloth to be the most interesting thing to exist, but did add in something.

"Seen it happen once." 

"When?" Clearly Rick hadn't noticed how Basset tensed at the subject, and his curiosity was too much to reign in at the time.

Even so, he had to give Basset credit when he soldiered on.

Kinda.

"Kendell." 

"Kendell's dead?" 

"Was, at first." 

Rick blinked and he shifted a bit nervously. Clearly not used to seeing this side of Basset.

"So he turned?" 

"He got bit. He died from blood loss, then turned about ten minutes later." 

Rick seemed a little saddened by that, though not by much. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't know him that well but, Lambert Kendell was a great guy. Always went out every Friday and brought lunch to everybody at the station, even when no one asked, he was just kind like that." 

Basset nodded and his slight smile was mostly mournful, and said nothing further of it. 

Twenty minutes later, they were preparing to go to sleep, and a car alarm went off. Like before, but they made no moves to look outside this time.

"Sound draws 'em?"

Morgan was sitting on one makeshift bed, running his fingers through his now sleeping son's short hair, and Basset was on the couch, which was turned into a makeshift bed.

He nodded to Rick's question.

"Gunshots, loud bangs, even just a little cough or sneeze. They hear any sound, they come." 

"I'll keep that in mind then. And about the fever..." 

Morgan looked at him, his lips in a thin line as he frowned.

"Yeah. We were scavenging, and my wife...a walker came from nowhere, took a bite outta her neck." 

Rick grimaced a bit but maintained himself otherwise.

"She survived the bite and we made it back here. But that fever man, she died in that back room, on that bed in there." Morgan shook his head, keeping this moment similar as before as well. "When that fever hit, her skin gave off heat like a furnace. I...wasn't sure if I could do it, but I had to put her down man. Cause I knew that if I didn't, she'd come back, but...she wouldn't be her."

The conversation ended after that, with no walker trying to get in during the middle of the night.

The next day was similar as before, with Rick taking a bat to a walker's head, before they all gathered up some supplies in a couple vehicles, Morgan's car and Basset's cruiser, and went to Rick's house.

That conversation went kind of differently.

"They're still alive, I can tell. Some clothes are gone, plus family albums, photos, anything of sentimental importance, gone." 

Morgan laughed at that.

"My wife, same thing. I mean, there I was packing up survival gear and she's running around grabbing photo albums." 

Duane stepped forward.

"They're in Atlanta, probably." 

Though he seemed reluctant about his own statement.

Morgan shook his head.

"I get that thought son, but nah. Refugee center wasn't anything but a pipe dream. Even if there was one, either it fell very early on, or it fell when Atlanta was bombed. I doubt they'd go into the city after that whole display."

"Particularly when the military hadn't been picky about who or what was in their line of fire." Basset added with a frown.

"What do you mean?" Rick raised a brow.

"The military took out walkers, and infected, yes, but they also shot down living people, who were just trying to escape with their families. At that point though, military didn't care, all hell broke loose, and a lot of 'em were just trigger happy." 

Rick's eye twitched a little.

Though Basset was quick to ease his worries.

"Don't worry Rick, I'm sure your family and Walsh weren't among 'em. And Walsh wouldn't take them anywhere near the danger zone." 

Okay, clearly Basset and Walsh weren't on a first name basis, but were at least cordial. Rick and Basset seemed more cordial than that though, so clearly Rick treated him more positively than most of their other work colleagues.

Rick nodded and released a breath.

"You're right." 

"Was there ever a doubt?" Basset joked.

Rick gave him this unimpressed look, though there was some fondness there, which made it obvious he was actually glad Basset was still in the land of the living.

Basset noticed this look quickly, and laughed. If this were some kind of anime or shit like that he'd probably sweat drop right about now.

"I'll give ya that one, given my history."

Following that things went like before up until they got to the station. 

Only this time they agreed to stick together, and Morgan, not so subtlety, told them the quarry may be their best option right now.

And after that, Basset was quick to notice an approaching walker in a sheriff's deputy uniform, which turned out to be a zombified Kendell whom for whatever reason had never been put down.

Rick was going to do it, but Basset opted to instead, seeing as Kendell had been his closest friend, as well as kind of a mentor.

So after Basset put a bullet through the skull of Kendell, they each got into their two separate vehicles, and started for the quarry.

...

...

...

...

...

Well, this was an interesting predicament.

Morgan wondered how this was gonna go, seeing as it meant Rick wasn't going into Atlanta, which...may unintentionally complicate things.

Guess he'll just have to wait and see.

This was gonna be a wild ride.

Chapter Text

Hershel hadn't wasted time in speaking to Maggie and Beth.

He wasn't surprised that they confirmed they too remembered everything.

Suggesting they died at some point in some fashion, though he didn't ask how, feeling they would tell him that when they were ready.

But from the get go, they agreed on their plan.

Step 1: Save Annette and Shawn (if possible).

Step 2: No walkers in the barn.

Step 3: Try to shore up defenses all across the farm.

Step 4: Prepare for the arrival of Rick and his group.

Pretty simple, but it would work.

Of course he didn't know for sure if he could save his wife and stepson, but he'd try to regardless.

For the next couple of days, whenever reports came on TV of the walkers, Hershel made sure his views of it were vocalized. The people they saw stumbling around aimlessly on TV, or being shot multiple times but not going down, are not people, they are something else.

There would be no helping any 'sick' people, and no approaching them. There would only be a gunshot to the head.

Annette and Shawn clearly didn't agree, Annette didn't vocalize hers, though Shawn did, even asking why Hershel would condone murder. 

However Maggie and Beth were quick to back up their father.

Patricia seemed more inclined to side with Hershel and his judgement on it, seeing as no normal human being could survive that many bullet wounds.

Jimmy stayed out of it (though clearly sided with Hershel in part because of Beth being his girlfriend, and because he also saw what Patricia saw), while Otis sided with Shawn, which didn't ease Hershel's worry of them disobeying him and Shawn and Annette winding up dead again.

After that, Hershel said nothing, though still told them not to approach any individual who appeared 'sick'.

The next day was the moment of truth.

One of their neighbors, Hershel forgot his name...oh, Mr. Fischer, but at this point it didn't matter, showed up on their land, stumbling around, blood coating the front of his overalls.

Shawn, ignoring Hershel's warning, opted to exit and started moving over to help the 'man'.

Maggie had already rushed to a closet and gotten Hershel's shotgun.

Annette for her part, despite disagreeing with Hershel's warning, didn't make a move to go with Shawn, instead she stood out on the front porch, watching.

Otis was with Shawn this time, and Jimmy.

As Maggie was rushing to get out, it was like watching a horror movie, where you knew something bad was about to happen, but then the question arose, could you stop it?

By the time Maggie had raised the gun, Jimmy was screaming while having his neck torn into by Fischer.

Beth for her part simply stared on dully, like she'd already made peace with this. 

Though because of the fact Jimmy was in the way, Maggie couldn't get a shot at the walker.

Annette was simply staring wide eyed at the sight in front of them, and Shawn was noticeably backing away.

Maggie swiftly left the porch, running over to them, gun raised and ready to fire.

And as the zombified man pulled away allowing Jimmy to drop to the ground, and went for Otis, the trigger was pulled and the walker's head blown off.

Afterwards, things were very silent, and extremely tense.

Maggie was lowering the shotgun.

Otis was looking down between the walker and Jimmy.

Shawn was still backing away.

Beth simply stared dully.

Patricia covered her mouth with both hands in shock.

Hershel remained unwavering despite what just occurred.

And Annette was tightly grasping the porch railing.

At least, until she turned around and quickly made her way back into the house.

"My god..." 

Shawn had stopped in his tracks, which was now near the front steps.

"J-Jimmy...we...we need to call the police, the-"

"No." Hershel interrupted Patricia sternly. "This is widespread, whatever it is, meanin' they ain't gonna be able to do anything." 

Beth chimed in.

"We're on our own now, no EMS, no police, nobody, nobody but each other." 

Despite the dull stare, her voice was filled with a maturity and determination Hershel would have questioned had he not remembered, but right now he was proud.

Sad about Jimmy but...truthfully, the boy wasn't made for such a world, and he likely would've died the same this time around had Hershel not did what he did. So while horrible, in a way Jimmy dying this early was kind of a blessing disguised as a curse, because at least he wouldn't be subjected to what he was last time around.

And while not free, Hershel was going to ensure that he didn't squander this.

Jimmy was gone now, but Annette and Shawn were still alive, at least for the time being.

So not the best outcome but...he'd make the best of it, and he knew Maggie and Beth would too.

One day later, Maggie was helping Shawn getting the barn set up for when Rick's group arrived (not that Shawn knew this yet), which wouldn't be for a little while still.

It was bittersweet.

Her stepmother and Shawn were still here, but Jimmy had taken their place.

Otis would've died too had she not stepped in then.

Immediately after that ordeal yesterday, Beth discreetly slipped her a knife she took from the kitchen, and Maggie had even more discreetly stabbed it into Jimmy's brain to prevent him from turning.

Thankfully daddy remembered so that meant they didn't need to worry about the whole barn situation. Plus if not everyone agreed before, they definitely did now after yesterday.

Shawn wasn't really saying anything, he opted to help do daily tasks around the farm, and not say a word.

Then mom, well she would simply glance at Daddy, then go back to whatever she was doing, which was mostly washing the dishes, doing laundry, or going out to feed the horses.

Otis was more talkative, but mostly spoke with Patricia in hushed whispers.

Probably about having seen Jimmy have his neck ripped apart right in front of him.

Beth's reaction wasn't exactly unexpected truthfully, Maggie expected it. The Beth she grew to knew wasn't a helpless, weak girl, she was sweet yes, but strong willed and had unbreakable determination.

Which was the Beth who was here with them now.

So her dull stare as she watched Jimmy die hadn't been a surprise, seeing as they'd lost many people in the first go around.

Mom and Shawn of course, then Jimmy, Patricia, T-Dog, Lori, and many after that. 

So they were essentially mostly numb to death.

But it was still sad.

Jimmy was only 17, still had a long life ahead of him.

But it didn't matter.

This new world had proven that age did not matter, anyone could die at any moment.

One misstep and everything would tumble.

Regardless...

Eventually she got a bit fed up with the silence.

"Shawn?" 

He was continuing to move hay bails, not really paying her much mind in doing so, unusual for him, given he was normally outgoing, kind, charming, and just a gentleman all around.

She put some authority into her tone, seeing that maybe she could get him to listen then.

"Hey!" 

He slowly put down one hay bail, but didn't turn to face her.

Well, it was a start.

"Say...somethin'. anything." 

Ironically he didn't.

"Look, what you saw yesterday was-"

"I know what I saw." He suddenly interjected.

She just blinked, not recalling when his voice had ever been that cold.

Then Shawn sighed and finally turned around, brushing some pieces of straw from his clothes.

"You, Beth, and dad were right. I was wrong, trust me, I know that, known since yesterday. After all, does a sick person bite into someone else's neck?"

He stared out a nearby window.

"Why I thought what I did, I don't know. Maybe it's because there were never incidents on TV where things like what happened yesterday happened. But even so, why I needed to see...that, to be convinced, it makes me feel guilty. I should have...I should have listened to you." 

His gaze then turned to her, and there was a certain sadness in his eyes, remorse.

And yes, there was guilt, but she didn't blame him. Especially since last time around it had been him, not Jimmy.

"If I had, then...yesterday probably would've been avoided. But my stubbornness got Jimmy killed, nearly Otis too if you hadn't come over with that shotgun and blown...that thing's head off." 

Maggie raised a brow.

"You mean Mr. Fischer?" 

He snorted, but not in amusement.

"Please, we both know that wasn't Mr. Fischer anymore. I don't know what that thing was, but all I know is it wasn't human anymore."

Well, it was reassuring to know that he definitely saw the walkers for what they were. Empty, rotting, mobile corpses that ate living people.

Whoever they were before, was not what they were now.

Maggie shook her head.

"Shawn don't blame yourself for that, it wasn't your fault and it wasn't under your control." 

"A bold faced lie." He quickly replied. "If I had just seen reason, if I'd just agreed with what you tried warning me about, then I could've stopped Jimmy." 

"And then it would've been Otis." She was swift to point out, seeing that if Jimmy hadn't gone up to Fischer, then Otis would've definitely been the one to lose his life. It was a lose-lose scenario essentially, they'd simply be trading one life for another. "And there's nothin' you could've done about it either way, regardless of your views, you meant well."

"Yet here we are, havin' buried Jimmy yesterday evenin'." 

Clearly any negative emotions were directed at himself.

And while Maggie didn't blame him at all, she sympathized.

"But really Maggie, I'm sorry. I swear, I'll do better, no helping 'sick' people or going near 'em, hell I'll put a bullet in 'em myself if I have to." 

Maggie didn't know how to reply, so simply nodded with a soft smile, and they went back to work.

Rest of the day went by quickly.

Shawn was much more progressively open and talkative as the day went on, though he mostly only spoke to Maggie.

Otis still only spoke to Patricia.

Mom had finally spoken again, well to everyone. She made an announcement to everyone in the living room, saying that she'd been a blind idiot, and that had she not trusted in her husband's judgement of the situation, she likely would have joined Jimmy.

Daddy was fast to reassure her and comfort her on it, not blaming anyone for yesterday's disaster.

Clearly only she, Beth, and daddy knew about the fact that everyone already had the virus, whatever was, and that anyone turned unless there was severe head trauma.

Though that was a bomb that they'd wait to drop on the rest of the family later.

For now they still had things to do. 

Next thing on the list, spend the next indefinite period of time stocking up on supplies (they'd already been doing that, but a little more couldn't hurt), and fixing up the fences around the land, and reinforcing them.

Of course she knew the farm would still fall eventually regardless, but one could take extra precautions.

Said extra precautions may come in handy if and when that herd comes through, seeing as it would slow them down just a little more, so it would buy them a little more time to escape.

And just a little time could make all the difference.

Now she was just waiting.

Waiting for Rick's group.

Though admittedly mostly for Glenn.

She hoped he remembered, but there was no telling.

But even so, he'd be the same Glenn either way. If he remembered, then he was the Glenn she remembered, if not, then he was still the Glenn she remembered. Whether he was sweet, gullible and naive, or sweet but guarded and hardened by the new world, he was still her Glenn either way.

No doubt daddy would give them his blessing almost immediately anyway.

...

But that was diverting off topic.

Now they had to shore up defenses and prepare themselves for this cruel new world.

Maggie decided that no matter the risks, no matter the costs, she would not let things go so wrongly this time.

She would not lose her friends.

No...not friends...

Family.

She would not lose her family.

Chapter Text

Glenn was...how should he say it?

...

On edge?

Nope.

Not quite.

He came with the same group as before, being himself, Morales, Andrea, T-Dog, Jacqui, and Merle.

But there was no tension, despite Morales and T-Dog being wary of Merle, who only ever snorted about it.

Briefly he had stared at Jacqui.

She'd lost the will to live after the attack on camp. After Amy and Jim died.

If those deaths were prevented, then maybe they could prevent her from choosing to stay at the CDC.

Andrea had looked too, but looked away in a couple seconds, clearly not trying to dwell on it.

They'd gotten into Atlanta easily, and the department store.

At this point, Glenn and Andrea were just waiting for Rick.

Eventually as they were searching a lower level, they heard gunshots.

Yet...that didn't sound like Rick's gun.

Maybe he was using a different one??

"Huh?! Who the hell is poppin' off rounds?!" T-Dog hissed slightly.

Glenn remembered the times where T-Dog was the cool, calm, collected man.

Though he wasn't at that point yet.

"Tourists maybe, doin' a little sightseein'." Merle spoke up, though his suspicion was only noticed by Glenn and Andrea.

All three were thinking the same thing? Good.

Morales rolled his eyes at that remark but otherwise added his own opinion.

"Wouldn't they know by now that the cities are no go zones?" 

"Maybe not. Could be someone who wasn't  connected to the outside world before all this." Jacqui pointed out.

Glenn frowned as walkers passed by the doors, then stopped and came their way, suddenly banging and clawing at the glass, while drawing more in.

"Shit." Morales started.

Andrea shook her head and pointed at him.

"Don't panic. It's not gonna get us anywhere. Most we can do is stay away from the doors as much as possible, and try to be quiet." 

Huh.

Glenn doesn't recall her being like a leader in any way.

Curious.

Soon he was on his walkie, back on the roof of the building with everyone else.

But from what he'd seen, it hadn't been Rick, plus there wasn't a horse, but there were a couple of military guys getting feasted upon.

And a woman in the tank.

...

This...wasn't right.

"Hey you. Yeah, you in the tank, you cozy in there?" He spoke into the walkie.

The voice of the woman who replies was feminine but a bit on the deeper side, maybe as deep as Andrea's voice, but it was calm in contrast to how Rick's had been before.

"Who is this?" 

"Ah, there you are. You had me worried." 

"You can see me from where you are?" 

"Yep, and it's about as good as you'd think."

"Forgive me for my forwardness, but I'm Doctor Candace Jenner from the CDC. I was with a couple others, out trying to research things, of course...that went as well as you would expect. God I was an idiot." 

Wait.

Candace Jenner? As in Edwin Jenner's wife?

She was alive this time? Weird. She ought to be dead by now.

...

...

Unless...

"Question." He started. "Ever been to the circus?" 

Okay, stupid way to phrase his real question but, if she did remember then she'd pick up on it.

He hoped.

It was silent for a moment, but the answer relieved him somewhat.

"Yes. It wasn't a very pleasant experience, and I don't think I'll ever go back." 

he noticed Andrea looking at him with a raised brow, and Merle was masking confusion. Not shocking, he wasn't here for...all that.

He sighed as he saw only one walker, the same as before, still trying to get into the tank, the rest joined the feeding frenzy.

"Glenn Rhee. Listen, Good news is there's only one geek waiting for you, the rest have climbed down to join the feeding frenzy. With me so far?"

"Yes." 

He explained it to her similarly as he did with Rick the first time, minus the gun bag since there wasn't one.

Thank God.

But...where was Rick?

He'd have to ask that again later.

For now.

The process went like before, eventually a woman in a white lab coat with more casual wear underneath came up to him at the fence at the alley, and they escaped like he and Rick did before.

Everything played out similarly getting back to the others, minus Andrea losing her cool.

"Look, we're trying to survive here. Know what the key to that is? Tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the okay corral, got it?" Morales ranted a bit like last time.

Candace nodded, but frowned.

"I do apologize for that, but I honestly assumed that the geeks, as Mr. Rhee put it, had vacated the city for the most part. Clearly my assumptions were incorrect."

"Ya don't say." T-Dog muttered.

They avoided the doors this time though.

Candace then hummed.

"But...we did also see a helicopter fly overhead. That should be impossible, and yet..." 

T-Dog of course disagreed like before.

"Helicopter? Lady that's crap, ain't no damn helicopter."

"You were chasing hallucinations, imagining things, it happens." Jacqui supplied.

"I know what I saw. Not to mention I'm a doctor and scientist, I'm pretty sure I'd know if I was hallucinating." Candace retorted with some bite.

Jacqui looked away a bit, somewhat chastised, while T-Dog cleared his throat awkwardly.

"And what of the apparent refugee center?" Though Glenn noticed that Candace seemed aware of the answer already.

"Yeah the refugee center, they got biscuits waitin' at the oven for us." Jacqui replied sarcastically with a shake of the head.

"Hey T, that walkie?" Glenn asked, given he'd handed it off to T-Dog like before.

Who shook his head.

"Got no signal, maybe the roof..."

Thankfully there were no shots being popped off by Merle, so they got to the roof and were up there with no issues.

"Well Mrs. Jenner, welcome to the big city." 

Oh, thanks for that Morales.

"God it's like Times Square down there." Andrea said, clearly keeping some things the same.

"You say you have others? A larger group? Could we call them?" Candace inquired.

Andrea nodded but sighed.

"Yeah, but there's nothing they can do about it, not a damn thing." 

"Hey T, how's the signal?" Morales asked.

"Like my will at this very moment, weak." Was the dry reply.

"Damn." Glenn stared.

Though this moment was broken when Candace spoke again.

"Could we go under the streets to get out? Through the sewers?" 

"Oh man..." Morales looked to him, but Glenn shook his head.

"I checked, but all the manhole covers are out on the street where the geeks are." 

"May not be the only way out." Jacqui started, looking thoughtful. "Old building like this built in the seventies, they had other access hatches in case of flooding, down in the subbasements." 

"How do you know?" Morales asked, surprised.

Jacqui nodded.

"It's my job, was. I worked for the city zoning office." 

Andrea chimed back in.

"A good idea in theory, but I suspect that some people likely fled down there. So chances are there are walkers down there, and we don't know how many."

"We shouldn't risk it." Jacqui replied, which admittedly surprised them both. "So we'll have to find another way out then." 

"Wait." Candace looked out over the city, clearly zeroing in on the trucks from before, like he and Rick had done.

"Those work trucks, they always keep the keys in the ignition."

Morales looked and then nodded in approval.

"Problem is, you'd have to get through all those walkers down there."

"So, how do we do it?" Glenn asked, a knowing look on his eyes that thankfully Candace already seemed to perfectly analyze.

"Hm, can't they tell us by smell?" 

"Can't you?" Glenn questioned with a glint of humor.

"They smell dead, we don't, it's pretty distinct." Andrea supplied, though she also clearly knew where this was going.

"And other than that?" 

"Sound." T-Dog added.

"Right, like dogs. They hear a sound, they come." Glenn nodded.

"Otherwise?"

"Aside from they hear you?" Morales started. "They smell you, obviously, and see you, and if they catch you they eat you." 

Jacqui seemed to stare at the other woman, as if she were searching for something.

"So what's your plan?" 

Candace grimaced.

"Well, it's not going to be pleasant." 

It was like before, except with Glenn and Candace, not him and Rick.

He didn't panic like before though, and they somehow managed to get to the truck without incident and then sped off.

"On the bright side, most of those geeks at the door will have lost interest by now." 

Candace glanced at him and he shrugged.

"I'm a glass half full kinda guy."

"So I can see." 

For a moment he thought of how to phrase it, but...she remembered, like he did, so he felt it unnecessary in this case.

"So, where's Edwin?" 

Candace turned a corner.

"Back at the CDC. He'll be worried that I've failed to report back in yet, but I can get him later. The CDC generators still have a few days before they run out."

He nodded.

"I take it he opted out."

Not surprising that she didn't put it as a question.

It was obvious that she knew her husband had given up last time.

"You could say that."

"...and let me guess, you and your group eventually got there and he tried to lock you in and take him with you." 

...

Damn this woman was smart.

No wonder Edwin believed she could've done something about all this.

...

Maybe she could, since she's still alive now.

"He failed, but yeah." He sighed. "The black woman you met here today, Jacqui, she stayed. We lost some of our own, and she just... lost the will to continue." 

Candace nodded with a sympathetic expression.

Glenn briefly wondered her survival was going to affect things. And given Edwin would likely not lose his will to live like before, chances were that he'd join them.

This...was going to be interesting.

She said nothing though and the rest of the trip went about as one could predict.

Getting to the roll-up doors, the rest of the group was already there.

With Merle not being left behind.

...

Okay, this was good.

Not anticipated, but, it worked out better than last time.

Except one problem....

Where the hell was Rick?

...

Maybe he remembered and that's why he wasn't here??

...

Eh, who the hell knows.

Hopefully he'll show up at camp soon.

So...

Department Store run going better than before? Check.

Andrea getting that necklace for her sister like before? Check.

Getting out? With everyone this time around? Check.

Then there was Candace Jenner, who's survival might affect things in a major way, though that was yet to be determined.

Glenn was excited to see how this would alter things, but also nervous.

But now, despite his worry about Rick's apparent absence, his mind already shifted to worrying about tomorrow night's fish fry.

How to save Amy.

How to keep Jim from getting bitten, if heatstroke didn't kill him anyway that is.

Well, Andrea was no doubt already on alert there, and would definitely be staying close to her sister, so he wasn't as worried for Amy now.

Her death had saddened him a lot last time, she'd always been very nice, kind of reminded him of one of his sisters. And although he hadn't known her well, she was one of those people who you just couldn't really dislike.

Judging from what he observed before leaving camp, Lori looked as if she would be keeping a close eye on Amy herself.

And Merle set up lines of tin cans all around the perimeter of camp, along with Daryl.

Unlike last time, Shane hadn't taken them down, so they'd be alerted before the walkers came in and attacked, so another plus.

Though he, like Shane, had noticed something about Carol being off this time around. She still acted like before, minus fear and minus Ed's presence, but...something was off with her.

Not only did she give a couple wary glances at Shane, but she seemed far more protective of Sophia than before.

...

...

...

Mm...

As interesting as that was, it wasn't at the top of his list of concerns.

For now, they, along with Candace, we're heading back to camp.

And hopefully, just hopefully, they'll be ready for the inevitable attack and the losses that are still a guarantee.

After all it just proved that they weren't truly safe anywhere.

Except Alexandria, but that was still a long ways off.

First prepare for tomorrow.

After that, he can think about what's next.

As well as reuniting with the woman who was his wife.

Whether she remembered or not didn't matter, she'd still be Maggie either way.

But he was sure of one thing.

He was more than ready to reunite with all his family as time progressed.

And Rick was the next to find.