Chapter 8
Guess it's over. Daryl thought hopping up from the table and nudging Bob. "Let's get 'em." Daryl said heading over toward Maggie and Rachel. Bob nodded and ran towards Sasha who was on top of Tina and slamming her head into the mud. Daryl pulled an infuriated Maggie away from Rachel, who had snuck in one last kick to Maggie's leg before Daryl turned Maggie in the other direction. Daryl noticed that Rachel was on her feet and tried to get another punch in on Maggie. Daryl pushed Maggie out of the way and grabbed Rachel by her arms. He gave a swift kick to the back of her legs and held her as she fell backward to the ground. Rachel looked up at Daryl as he pinned her arms down. She smirked and blew a kiss at him, her bare chest heaving up and down with air. "Quit it!" Daryl said angrily. "Put some damn clothes on." He said getting off of her, looking over at Maggie and pointing at their building. Maggie throws a malicious glance at Rachel and then starts towards the building.
One of the terminus men, Jacob, was helping Carol up, Carol yanked her arms free. "Hey! I got her." Daryl said to Jacob as he jogs towards them. Jacob put his hands up and gestured okay. He turned to help Meg to her feet. Daryl grabbed his crossbow off the table and looked at Jacob who had a bruise under one of his eyes. "Hey, can you take them back to the buildings and keep 'em there." Jacob nodded with a concerned look on his face for Meg whose eyes had already began to swell as blood streamed from her mouth down her muddy chin and neck. She looked daze and staggered as her knees buckled. Jacob got a tight grip around her waist as he took his own shirt off and wrapped it around her chest. Daryl saw how beat up she was and was glad that Jacob was so tentative of her. Jacob bent down and lifted her into his arms to carry her away.
Daryl felt a twinge of guilt for not stopping the fight when he had the chance. He looked over at Carol, who flashed him an irritated glance, and then made her way over to the building. Daryl picked up his crossbow and surveyed the area, he saw Maggie follow Ty, Bob and Sasha into the building. He saw the other women grabbing muddy garments off the ground and Tina argued with Jacob as he motioned for her to go with him, still carrying a barely conscious Meg in his arms. Another one of the terminus survivor man named Earl, held out his hand to help Tina, but she swatted at it telling him to fuck off as she got up and made her way to the building. Daryl smirked at the feisty one and slung his crossbow over his shoulder. The sun was setting and Daryl started for his building while taking note of the six armed survivors standing guard outside the gates.
Michonne stopped struggling and went limp over Rick's shoulder. He carries her into the building, looks around, and heads for the restroom on the lower floor. They are both silent as he steps into the small bathroom and closes the door behind them. When he lowers her to the ground he slides his hands up her muddy clothes and she steps away from him. Rick turns to light a candle that is on the sink. "Why'd you bring me in here, Rick?" Michonne says in a low voice leaning back against the wall and looking down at the gashes on her knuckles. Rick looks at Michonne and then her knuckles. Rick doesn't say anything he just looks into her eyes and then down at his own hands. Michonne quickly becomes annoyed with his silence and starts to walk past him. Rick put his hand on Michonne's stomach and gently pushed her back against the wall. As they stared at one another, Michonne could see the hint of worry in his face. She looked down at her Katana in his hand. Michonne lets out a loud sigh, "I wasn't going to kill her… I just wanted to cut off her hair." She said with her head down as she looks up at Rick. Rick bit the bottom of lip and lifted the katana. "You wanted to cut her hair…with your sword?" Michonne sighed again. "I wasn't going to kill her." Rick looked away and gave a slight nod. He was disappointed in what happened. He knew that Michonne, or any of the women in his group, would have engaged in a silly and potentially deadly fight without reason. Still, this didn't help an already dangerous situation. And he was angry at Michonne for losing control of herself like that. He had enough to worry about without her losing her temper and getting into fights.
Rick took a deep breath and looked over at Michonne who had dirt caked in her hair and on her shoulders. She was filthy and still managed to look sexy to him. Her scent began to fill the room, as he watched her wipe the mud from her face and lips. Rick closed his eyes and ran his free hand down his face trying to clear his thoughts as he heard the rest of the group enter the building. "Will you wait for me upstairs?" Rick asked extending Michonne her katana. "In the room?" Michonne asked, as she took the katana and slung the strap around her shoulder. Rick shook his head, "No, our other room…upstairs." He said glaring over at her as he opened the door.
Michonne knew the room he was referring to. It was the room they had spent the early hours together only two nights ago. They had not been together since. She had slept in the room with Judith, Carl, and Rick, but they had not had any kind of physical contact since that morning. Michonne didn't mention it, she knew how busy Rick was, and she had been pretty busy herself going on runs with Daryl and Abe. Was that why he wanted her to go up to the room? Rick could see the confusion on Michonne's face as he moved around the door. "We need to talk." Rick said in a low voice. Michonne considered for a moment what that meant and then nodded her head yes. "Rick." Michonne called to him as he turned to leave. Rick looked back at her as he felt the front of his pants being pulled towards her. "No one in there wanted to fight. Those …women." Michonne tried to keep from getting angry again. "They did everything they could to get us to fight. We did what was necessary." Rick stared into her eyes and then at her mouth. He hated how much he wanted to kiss her even though he was angry with her. "I'll find out what's going on with them." He said shifting his belt. "Will you be up there when I get back?" He asked again as he turned and grabbed the door knob. "Yeah." Michonne says taking a step back from Rick.
Everyone was in the common room on the first floor of the building. Rick stepped into the room and they all looked over at him. Rick walked over to the fireplace and turned to see everyone. Maggie, Carol and Sasha were all leaned against a wooden cabinet that was fixed to the floor. Daryl and Ty stood against the wall next to the door, Bob stood on the other side of the fireplace. Rick could see that the women were still upset and in defensive mode. "Is everyone okay?" Rick asked looking at each of the women and waiting for an answer. Each of them gave a nod, but said nothing. Sasha wiped her face and arms roughly with a dry towel. "Soooo…?" Rick started raising his hands in the air. "I'm sorry Rick," Sasha said throwing the towel to the ground. "They were pissed because I wouldn't let them work in the kitchen, and because they couldn't come in our building." Sasha said shaking her head. "Why can't they work in the kitchen?" Bob asked looking at Sasha and then Rick. Rick raised an eyebrow and looked over at Sasha with the same question in mind. "Because they're thieves. Every time one of them goes somewhere something comes up missing." Maggie says, wiping her nose and looking over at Rick. "And this wasn't Sasha's fault. That little one has been egging her on from the start. She doesn't like being told what to do." Rick nods his head and takes a step back. "So, that's what this was about?" "Yeah, and they kept pushing us. That Tina, shoved Sasha, and the other one pushed Carol. They wanted to fight." Maggie's voice started to get louder and angrier. Rick bit his lip and put his hands on his hip. "Then…you did the right thang." Rick said nodding at the women, who appeared a bit surprised. "We need as many people as we can get to help secure this place and keep it running, but this won't work if we don't have order. And we can't tolerate stealing." Rick said looking at the women. Sasha and Maggie nodded. Carol pushed off the cabinet and started out the room. "Hey…Carol?" Rick said walking towards her. She stopped and turned to face him. "Everything alright?" Carol looked up at Rick with an angry face. "Yeah Rick, everything is fine." She said with an annoyed voice. "Can I go now?" Rick squinted his eyes, unsure where her hostility was coming from. Carol turned and walked out of the room. Rick looked over at Daryl who picked up his bow to go after her. "I'll talk to her." Ty said stepping around Daryl, and hurrying after Carol. Daryl stood there for a moment watching Ty run up behind Carol.
Rick closed his eyes and sighed as he turn towards Maggie and Sasha. "I need you four to stay in for the night. I need to talk to these…women." Rick said turning towards Daryl and nodded toward the door. "What are you going to do?" Sasha asked, looking at Rick. Rick stopped and looked over at Sasha, a little annoyed with the question. "I'm going to find out how long it will take them to get their shit together so they can go." Rick said and started for the door after Daryl. Sasha moved quickly towards him. "Rick!" Sasha said grabbing on to his arm and letting it go. Rick stopped and rolled his eyes. "What?!" Sasha looked around trying to find the right words. "They're not…smart, not all of them anyways. They're hurt, and if you send them out there they will die." Sasha said with a pleading expression on her face. Rick sighed as he looked up at the ceiling. "We could go over and talk to 'em." Daryl said leaning against the doorway looking back at Rick. "Talk to 'em?" Rick asked looking over towards Daryl. "Yeah, talk to 'em. Sides they're still a lot of men over there who probably won't appreciate us throwing their women out, and we need the extra manpower." Daryl said trying to convince Rick. Rick ran his hand down his face. He knew they were right, but he hated having to talk…negotiate with people again. "Fine, let's go talk to 'em." Rick said forcing a smile and patting Sasha on the shoulder reassuringly.
Rick and Daryl walked with a quick pace across Terminus, as the light from the moon filled the night sky. Daryl could tell Rick was pissed, but didn't know why he was so pissed. Daryl saw it as the girls just needing to let off some steam. No one really got hurt, well except that Meg girl. They hadn't seen or heard anything from this group that Gareth had mentioned. The runs hadn't been as successful as they'd hoped, but they were okay. Things overall were going pretty well. With the exception of Carol of course. Daryl sighed thinking of her and how angry she was with him.
"Fucking stupid." Rick mumbled under his breath walking towards the building with the lit candles illuminating through a few different windows. Rick's anger was starting to get to Daryl. He ran up in front of him and put his hand up. "What's up with you, Rick? Why are you so pissed?" Daryl knew it was more than just the fight; it wasn't that big of a deal. Rick squinted his face and shook his head. "I'll talk to you about it later, let's deal with this first." Rick said somberly as they came to the steps in the building. One of the survival men, Earl, stood at the entrance of the door. Rick recognized him right away as the guy that had questioned Rick the morning their group had taken Terminus.
Earl stood a little over six foot tall, had a scruffy beard and looked to be in his early forties. He had a stocky build, but wasn't exactly muscular. Rick stopped in front of the man and shifted back on one leg. Rick glared at Earl as Daryl stopped behind Rick and put his bow over his shoulder. Rick was not in the mood for games tonight. He didn't have the patience to deal with this man in any way that would end well for Earl.
There was space to walk around him, it was a double door entrance, but Rick wanted the man to move out of his way. Rick clenched his jaw and put his hand on his holstered python as he stared up at Earl. He saw Earl's eyes dart down to Rick's colt, and Earl finally backed out of the way. "Yeeeaaah." Rick grumbled as he started pass Earl and went in the building.
The first thing Rick noticed was how dark it was in the building. He looked around and saw two men in the lobby sitting in fancy dirty chairs. Rick heard footsteps coming down the hallway and as they got closer he could see that it was Jacob who walked up to Rick and gave him a quick nod. Jacob also gave a slight wave of the hand to Daryl, who gave a slight nod back. Daryl squinted at the red puffy bruise under Jacob's eye, and wondered which of the girls planted one there. "Where are the girls?" Rick asked in an annoyed voice as he looked around. "They're back in the room, come on, I'll show you." Rick and Daryl follow Jacob back down the hallway.
They pass a couple of rooms until they reach a closed door at the end. Jacob gives two swift knocks on the door before opening it. There are four candles burning throughout the rather large room. Rick, Daryl, and Jacob walk inside. Meg was laying in the bed with a tear stained bloodied face. Debbie laid in the other bed and glared over at Rick with a swollen black eye and bandages around her chest. Rachel was sitting on the bed with Debbie, Tina was the only one standing.
Tina tilted her head. "Well, you must be Rick." She said slowly with a little sarcasm. Tina was pleasantly surprised at Rick's form. He walked like a man with a mission and no time for bullshit. On the night that they were rescued from the containers, she had heard his voice briefly, as she had tried to assess the situation for herself. She was frantically looking for her older sister Lex who had been taken out of their container earlier that day. By the time she returned to the gathering with all the survivors that Asian guy and the guy with the bow were telling everyone to listen to that bossy bitch, Sasha.
She never found Lex, she could only imagine that she was dead, which for her, was a shame. On the way back to the building she heard the tall drink of water Jacob mentioning Rick to that gross pig Earl. She looked at Rick's boots and slowly let her green eyes glide up over every inch of him until she reached his wavy black hair. How the hell did I miss him? Tina thought to herself. She liked that tight black pants that he wore which showed off his muscular bowed legs, and she could only imagine what his upper body was like under that mud stained shirt. There was something about his fixed blue eyes that seem to pierce through her. She smiled feeling her fire reignite.
Rick looked at Tina, taking note of her sizing him up. "Yeah, I'm Rick." Rick said shifting his weight to his other leg. "So, you want to tell me what the problem is?" He asked, directing his attention to the petite red head. "Problem? I have no problem with you sweet thang." Tina said as she walked over to Rick with a smirk on her face. She stopped right in front of Rick and looked up at him. Rick kept his eyes locked on hers as he leaned in with a menacing look. "You want to tell me why you started a fight with my people?" Rick said still irritated with the situation. Tina appeared speechless, he was so close to her that she could lean in and kiss him, but that wasn't what seized her. Those cold blue eyes had her and she couldn't find the words. "Your people started the fight with us." Debbie said, grabbing her injured ribs and readjusting herself on the bed. Rick's eyes darted over to Debbie who couldn't care less about his eyes, but was annoyed that Tina stood so close to him. "Is that right?" Rick asked tilting his head.
"That's not the way I saw it." Daryl said leaning against the wall. "Oh, and how did you see it?" The blonde head Rachel asked peering over at Daryl. "I saw you trying to get into our building, and when Sash asked you to leave y'all started talkin shit." Daryl said gesturing at all the women in the room. "And this one, she starts askin Michonne about your package." Daryl says looking over at Rick. Rick squints his face in disbelief as he looks back at Daryl. "Y'all was asking for a beat down over some bull shit. Just because you didn't want to wash the fuckin clothes." Daryl said in a low voice, looking scornfully at the women. "Yeah and why does she get to choose who does what…who the hell is she?" Debbie said, with rage clearly building. "She is a part of our group, she is one of the reasons why you're not being chewed on right now." Daryl said glaring at Debbie, which seemed to shut her up.
Tina's eyes darkened. "They said that when we got here we'd have sanctuary, we didn't come here for this shit." She said looking at Daryl. "Yeah well, we aren't them. We didn't put you in those box cars, and we aren't holding you hostage. You are free to leave whenever you want." Rick finally says looking at Tina and then the other women. The room fail silent. Rachel looked over at Debbie as Rick's words began to sink in. "No no no… please Tina, I don't want to go out there, please." Everyone looked over to the corner hearing the shrilling cries coming from Meg. Her words were muffled by the bruised lip and swollen jaw. When she tried to sit up Rick could see how bad off she was.
Rachel got up and went over to Meg who wrapped her arms tightly around Rachel's waist and sobbed like a child. The sound and sight of her was almost heart breaking to Rick who could now see there was something off about her. Meg was terrified and in hysterics at the idea of leaving the security of Terminus. Rick knew she would not survive outside, especially with her injuries. Rick and Daryl stared at Meg. Rachel held her in her arms and rocked her back and forth as Meg clinched her eyes shut and continued to sob softly while shaking her head no. Rick sighed and closed his eyes. He could not send these women, especially Meg, out to deal with the walkers on their own. Not right now anyway. Her child like cries and the frantic look on her battered face tugged at his heart. "What do you want?" Rick asked putting one hand up. Tina looked over at Debbie. "We don't want to be treated like slaves. We should have a say. It's not fair they get all power and all the men."
Rick rolled his eyes and covered his face with his hands. Daryl looked over at Jacob and let out a little laugh as he shook his head. "Don't you think you have bigger problems than worrying about gettin a man right now?" Daryl said raising an eyebrow. Tina smiled at Rick. "Nothin wrong with a woman havin a man to protect her, honey." She replied to Daryl while smiling at Rick.
"So, you want to have a say in what happens. That's fine, we can talk about that. But, you need to understand…" Rick said taking a step toward Tina, who took a step back, as Rick began to point at the floor. "Stealing will not be tolerated. If I catch any of you stealing anything from us or anyone else here, I'll cut your hands off and toss you over the fence myself. Do you understand?" Rick asked, as he looked at Tina, his eyes demanding an answer. Tina nodded. Rick looked around the room at the other women. Debbie and Rachel both nodded. Rick looked at Meg who was peeking at him from under Rachel's arm. "You understand?" He asked giving her a stern look. She nodded quickly and buried her face in Rachel's lap. Rick nodded at her and looked over at Daryl. Daryl raised his eyebrows and shrugged as if to say that he was satisfied with the agreement.
"Okay…" Rick said turning and looking around the room. "We'll talk about what roles will best suit you tomorrow. Come up to the F12 building, that's the building we're in, tomorrow morning." Rick said trying his best to end this as quickly as he could. He nodded and started to leave, when he felt Tina grab his bicep. He turned to look at her with a puzzled expression on his face. Tina tilted her head and smiled, "You don't have to leave, you know. We could talk for a while." She said with a seductive tone, as she ran her fingers down his arm and locked fingers with Rick. Rick looked at the wall and then back at her. "I have to get back to my family." Rick said, raising his arm and shaking his fingers free of hers. She was still smiling and the smirk on her face irritated Rick. "I already have a woman, I don't need any more." "Well, I don't need to be your woman, we could just have a bit of fun." Tina contended as she leaned in and pressed her chest against him. Rick looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. "That's not going to happen." Rick said as he stepped away from her and turned to leave. Daryl turned to leave when he caught Rachel's eye. Rachel gave a little wink at Daryl. Daryl mumbled something and left the room.
Jacob walked with Rick and Daryl as they started towards F12. "Can you keep an eye on them tonight, make sure they stay in the building." Rick asked Jacob. Jacob nodded, "Yeah, I'll take care of them, don't worry." Jacob hesitated for a moment and then asked. "Are you going to tell everyone about what we talked about earlier?" Daryl was thinking about the girl Rachel winking at him when he heard Jacob's question. Daryl wondered what Rick and Jacob had been talking about, and if it had anything to do with Rick being upset earlier. Daryl didn't say anything, he knew Rick would tell him if he needed to. Jacob patted Rick on the back as he turned to go back to his building. Rick turned and gave a strange look in Jacob's direction as he left.
Rick sighed heavily as he bent his head and lifted his hand to pinch the bridge between his eyes. Daryl was getting agitated with Rick's stressed out mood. He was about to insist that Rick talk to him when Rick turned and put a hand on Daryl's shoulder. "We have to talk, can you come upstairs with me?" Rick said in a dry and almost exhausted tone. Daryl looked confused but nodded as he patted Rick on the back. "Yeah." Daryl said as Rick turned to go into the building and Daryl walked in behind him.
