Grendel stared at shriveled up corpse for a good long while, as if expecting it to miraculously jump back up and kill him with his back turned. For the longest of time he thought he was alone on this old terra, but now he had two of his people and a Mechanicus of all things, that was an in defiant positive to his dilemma.

Unfortunately the Ruinous Powers found their way to the cradle of Mankind in a very dark hour. Emperor be praised if their infectious lies don't corrupt whatever may be left of the human race, they would have to scour the whole planet just to make sure that these Warp portals are only centered in this land otherwise smoking out the cultists just became a thousand times harder.

Things for the young guardsman just took a turn for the nigh impossible, but to him it was a mission and Krieg guardsmen always complete their mission or die trying in the name of the Emperor of Man.

He watched Albert walk up to the corpse and stab it in the forehead just to make sure the heretic had in fact died. Satisfied with the results the guardsman turned to Grendel expectantly.

"Let's put him in a hole." Grendel spoke unfastening his trench spike.

Ella pulled her pickaxe off her back and started striking the ground repeatedly until the soil was soft enough for their shovels to dig; spending a good portion of their lives digging miles and miles of trench's gave the average Krieg soldier a very lean and sturdy build, the nutritious and questionable food they were given made them retain muscle mass better than the average non-guardsman, with this steady diet and routine digging holes was barely even a choir for them and in no time they had a sufficiently deep enough hole to drop the lousy bastard in.

Inside the Greene House…

Jericho stood silently watching the flesh bags bicker back and forth like the councils of some Imperial planets would, in other words like idiots, completely wasting their time when they should be preparing for whatever the feral minions of Chaos would throw at them, Omnimessiah forbid they summon a Daemon.

That would be a bitch to handle with.

Fighting daemons are always a challenge but more so when you have civilians, three Krieg guardsmen, and an old Techpriest like him. Being slaughtered like a Grox was the only outcome he could see happening if they encountered one, a lesser daemon might be handled if they played their cards right but something like a BloodThirster would be out of the question entirely.

But that was hopefully a problem that would remain in his head and never appear, ever. Hopefully.

The screams and cries of the heretic made the commotion in the room cease briefly as everybody including the two children in the room seemed to be concentrating on the horrid screams of the man burning alive.

Jericho coughed lowly in his metallic voice, "Well the Heretic problem is being solved at least."

Rick put his hand up to his eyes and sighed, he was exhausted and doubted that he'd ever be able to sleep again; as if the rotting corpses weren't enough to give him nightmares he now had the images of men in crimson armor wearing iron masks plaguing his thoughts now.

He shuttered at the memory of them laughing off twelve gauge rounds to their surprisingly thick armor, that horrid battle cry they shouted when their killing spree started… he can still hear them laughing as their melee weapons tore through the Walker's bodies like wet tissue paper.

Thank God Grendel had the good idea to take the weapons that they could carry because now they could level the playing field if and when they had to face off against any more of those monstrous men in the crimson armor.

"Is that really necessary, burning him to death?" Dale asked looking incredibly disturbed as the pained howling turned into maniacal laughter.

"Yes," Jericho said gesturing out towards the window, "the heretic would've slaughtered everyone here if he had the chance, so he cannot live, so the Kriegers purged him in the poor man's Inquisition style to destroy his tainted body."

Shane clasped his hands together and sighed, "Well okay then, but what do we do about Randall?"

"Like I said before he should be able to walk in about a week." Herschel said keeping his eyes away from the smoke that he saw rising past one of the trees in the yard.

Rick nodded, "When he is, we give him a canteen, take him out to the main road, send him on his way."

"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the Walkers?" Andrea asked.

"He'll have a fighting chance." Rick said with a heavy feeling of guilt in his chest.

Shane frowned looking annoyed with his friends decision, "Just gonna let him go? He knows where we are."

"He was blindfolded the whole way. He's not a threat." Rick countered, he was really starting to get annoyed with Shane's pessimism.

"Not a threat? How many of them were there? You killed three of their men, two took one of them hostage,-"

"Shane they're all dead, those red guys killed them all." Glen interrupted, "I think if anything we need to start worrying about them because our guns didn't do a damned thing."

"What's he talking about?" Shane stared at Rick with a growing look of annoyance, "Rick what is he talking about?"

"Our bullets bounced off of their armor," He sighed, "if it wasn't for Grendel and his friends those men would've killed us for sure." Rick finished looking Shane directly in his eyes, the experience was traumatizing but not fatal, but they would have to be more careful now.

"They will be more of a problem compared to your little tiff with those bandits, and shouldn't worry so much about Randall," Jericho added hoping to resolve their petty argument, "he's already marked for death."

"Why, how?"

Jericho chuckled metallically leaning forward on his halberd looking like a red reaper, "He shot at three Death Korps guardsmen, nobody does that and gets to live unless they are either a Commissar or if someone convinces the Kriegers not to kill them. So if you truly want Randall alive I suggest you get to him first."

Dale and Rick shared a look before they both started out the door.

Grendel cracked his neck loudly after finally completing the task of burying the charred corpse, now there was only one more pest to go-

"Grendel!" Emperor damnit what does he want now?

Rick stopped in front of the Imperial teen panting softly, "We are keeping Randall alive!"

"Why?"

"Because that's the right thing to do, times are hard and people are scared and confused. They're bound to do stupid things all I'm asking is that we keep him alive and ask him a few questions before we send him out of here, alright?" He hoped that his plea for the boy's life would be enough for Hansel to spare Randall.

"Is that an order?"

"Yes, it is Grendel."

The Krieg Grenadier stared blankly at Rick for a good minute while the former Sheriff held the stare without fault. Grendel turned his back on him to retrieve his Hellgun, "As you wish, but if he so much as tries to break from his bounds I will snap his neck off of his body."

Rick released a breathe he had been holding, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me Rick, that welp's life is meaning less and he is a threat that should be dealt with. When you figure that out come and tell me."

The trio of Kriegans pass by the former Sheriff and old fisher man with their shovels collapsed and in their proper places. The hole they dung was covered so well that unless you were really looking for it you wouldn't be able to see any evidence of activity.

Grendel was very disappointed with Rick, even after a harrowing ordeal with the members of the Bloodpact he still has this false belief that things can be handled as they used to, the poor man has yet to realize that the rules of his world has changed to suit the requirements of a world besieged by not only monsters that hunt man but the dark desires that burn within their hearts and minds.

Their true colors were being shown and shown brightly.

Darkness of Georgia's forests…

Franz was pleased with how smoothly his operation was going, Khorne would be pleased at his tactical brilliance. Not only had his landing gone unnoticed but the Plague charms were working surprisingly well, those damned Plague Zombies left them alone and acted as if his men didn't even exist when grouped together.

It was unfortunate on what happened to the scouting party, then again they were initiates but foolish in their tactics or lack thereof. Their faults that they ended up dead, at least they made themselves useful in the least by showing that there are some competent warriors still alive.

He would be greatly pleased if some pathetic corpse worshiping dogs would cross his path, he'd take great joy in killing them for believing in the lies of the False Emperor his former deity that ended up being a lie! A lie that so many of his people have died for! A corpse on a stupid throne!

Now he was just venting, damn he needed to spill some blood, any blood will do, even the rotten blood.

Just his luck a corpse using its legs walked into view; with pent up bloodlust he walked right up to the creature and tore both of its arms from its shoulders, he grabbed its head and tore it off with a snarl.

The disembodied head snapped its jaws weakly as its dead eyes stared into the corrupted guardsman's mask before his thumbs dug into the skull and with one mighty pull tore it in half.

"For Khorne." He mumbled dropping the skull fragments to the forest floor, with his small release of hate satisfied he counted leading his men, their morale high and bloodthirsty. For now they would stay in the shadows while his 'mutual partner' Philip Blake and his two lackeys return to their little hobble of a base where they and several friends and family held themselves at.

Little did Philip know he would regret his pact he's made with the Ruinious Powers…

In the lighter part of Georgia's vast forests…

"This place is truly beautiful." Alexius mentioned ducking underneath another low hanging branch.

Michonne grunted in response.

Alexius chuckled, "My husband used to respond like that, for a while at least. He also liked to stay silent." She looked back at the katana wielding woman with a smile underneath her mask, "But I got him to talk anyway."

"How did you marry someone like him? Had to be pretty hard." Michonne asked getting annoyed with Alexius's optimism.

"Not really, Krieg guardsmen while they are the most thick headed and antisocial people you can find, you can still get a very human reaction out of them. Fokker was the toughest they had in their squad, but he was a big cuddler believe it or not."

Michonne scoffed trying not to burst out laughing, "Bullshit."

Alexius nodded her head, "No, Fokker was a very passionate believer in the Imperial Creed, but he was also a big softy. We'd use to lie in bed together for hours just clinging to one another…" She bit her lip closing her eyes as painful memories of happier days collided with cold nights and empty Asmaec bottles, days of passion and love turned to nights of loneliness and tears.

Michonne stopped walking, she watched Alexius carefully as her fists started to ball up, "I just miss him is all…"

With a careful hand Michonne squeezes her shoulder, "It's okay, let's just find your boy."

"Do you have any children?"

Her breathe caught in her lungs as her hand dropped from Alexius's shoulder, "I- I used to. A little boy… he-"

"You don't have to tell if it hurts too much," Alexius chuckled, "can't have the both of us breaking down into tears now can we?"

Michonne wipes a tear from her eye with her sleeve, "Too much noise."

Alexius nods blinking away the tears that were beginning to form underneath her eyes. For many nights, nights she wish she would forget would she wake up screaming Fokker's name, nightmare after nightmare of him dying or worse Grendel dying and having his soul taken by Chaos.

Days at a time she wouldn't sleep, so many times would she beg and beg the Emperor to bring him home to say that the letter she got was wrong and that he was still alive. So many days her prayers would go unanswered, at least until now, now she had a purpose.

That purpose was to find her boy and if that was the last thing she would do, then so be it nothing on Terra will stop her from finding him.

Staying in the forest was a safer strategy then venturing into towns and cities but unfortunately supplies were needed and since neither of the women had any experience or proper weapons to use in hunting game they had no other choice but too venture into one of the smaller towns that was hit by the undead plight. It will not be easy however; every corner, every shadow, every building was a possible death trap and the worst part was the possibility of running into hostile survivors that don't take kindly to strangers.

With a great amount of caution they crept through the back of a clothing store and tied up Michonne's Walker's, "We need to be as silent as possible, those two would only make unneeded noise."

What Michonne seemed to have forgotten was that Alexius was a former Cadian Stormtrooper and one specialty she excelled at was covert operations. A simple sneak in and out was child's play at best, absolutely nothing can go wrong!

At least that's what they thought, what they failed to realize was that they were being watched

The long awaited, very patiently I may add, update for the Walking Death Korps is here! Not as long as I initially planned but here it is!