The meeting took place in the church. Rick made his speech to the group. Telling them that not everyone had to go. I looked over at Tara. She had been shifting uncomfortably during Rick's sermon. I remembered the Governor and how similar his words must of been to Rick's. Surprisingly she volunteered. I swore to myself I would make sure she came home to Denise.
After everyone volunteered who was going to, Rick admitted that someone of us made very well die and offered a chance to reconsider. No one did. I chuckled to myself quietly. This was my church. Offering even less absolutes then the ones before the disaster causing us to all be sick to only end in a deathless death.
Rick continued to speak,
"Alright, of course since we are infected, we are walking dead. But, we still walk and talk and eat and protect what is ours. This group is worth protecting. This life is worth living no matter the pain. We may be starved. We may be sick. We may look like we have nothing, but we have us. Never had we had nothing."
Faith and hope rallied behind the people's eyes. They may be starving but they are so faithful bring back the feelings of church and religion. Having hope in the darkest of times. Unfortunately the feeling passed right through me. I didn't have what mattered making every day more and more bleak.
People set of to do whatever they needed to before tonight. About half of us were going while the other half stayed back to watch over camp. Carl asked me to watch Judith as he helped his father with last minute details. I nodded my head and he took off. I picked her up and she started to play with my face like she did with everyone. "Hey lil' asskicker, how are you?" I said in a mock baby tone. She responded with some weird baby sound that must of meant something as she continued to play with my face. As I held her I thought of how much Beth loved Judith. And wanted a baby of her own. She would of loved Judith playing with her face. She's funny like that.
I heard footsteps coming back and knew it was Carl's. I kissed her forehead. "I'm gonna bring your dad back to ya alright? You don't have to worry," I told her. When Carl came back I gave her to him and headed out to the vehicles. I got in the RV with Rick and a couple others ready for whatever Negan could muster.