9. The End of the World as We Know It

Everyday for the past two months Rick , Michonne, Carl and Judith gathered in front of the TV to watch the news. Everyday there were reports of more cities, more states, more countries reporting massive outbreaks of the Cadere virus. They saw footage of cities slowly becoming ghost towns. Whenever Rick looked out the window of their apartel to the street below there was never traffic. He never saw anybody walking around, in fact he wouldn't have been surprised to see tumbleweed go blowing down the street.

Now at the end of their second month in quarantine Master Sargent David Wolf was calling another meeting. The mandatory meeting was being held in the convention center in the same room they'd been taken to when they'd first arrived in Calbert.

Right away Rick noticed a change in the Master Sergent's demeanor, during his first speech he seemed authoritative, cocky, and angry even. He'd given them a brief statement about their situation, dismissed them, and then had left them to stew in their own juices, but today was different. Today he seemed shaken.

Beside him Michonne sat ramrod straight and Rick could feel the tension inside of her. She had not been able to relax since they'd been quarantined. Carl was slumped down in his seat, his feelings were mercurial, no matter how hard he tried he could not get a bead on his son's feelings. Judith seemed to be coping the best out of all of them, but she was still too young to truly know what was going on. To his daughter this was all some amazing extended family vacation.

"I have just been handed down confirmation from The White House and the Centers for Disease Control that the Cadere virus has reached the global pandemic stage. Here to explain exactly what that means to all of you is Jacqui Prescott a microbiologist who works closely with the USAMRIID."

Jacqui Prescott took the podium. "The Cadere virus is a highly neurovirulent zoonotic virus. It is generally transmitted through a bite or scratch of the virus-containing saliva of an infected host. Symptoms usually appear three minutes to eight hours after a person becomes infected with the virus. Symptoms include a high fever, head and body aches, gangrene, severe sepsis, ataxia, and eventually death. Right now it has a case fatality rate of one hundred percent if left untreated, and there is no known treatment, no vaccine, no cure. The only thing public health officials can do at this time is to aggressively prevent the virus from spreading."

Rick looked over at Michonne she was growing more and more tense by the second. She looked like a rocket poised for take off. "It's going to be all right." Rick whispered in her ear. "All of us are going to be all right." He put his arm around her and squeezed her shoulder, and he could feel some of her tension drain away as she leaned up against him. She reached over and took Carl's hand and he accepted it, and Judith lie stretched across Rick's lap while her head lie in Michonne's lap. As long as they were all together Rick was convinced they could survive anything. He looked back up at the stage.

Jacqui was still talking in her calm logical way as if she were a professor lecturing students, and not a microbiologist whose grim prognosis had just damned the entire world. "In the event of the Cadere virus reaching global pandemic levels the World Health Organization began setting up designated areas across the world to act as stop-gap quarantine shelters. Q.U.A.D.s., or Quarantine. Universal. Areas. of .Detention were set up as communities where citizens , despite being under quarantine, can carry on with their lives in a relatively normal way. This convention center you are all in now is the first Q.U.A.D in the history of this operation. You should all consider yourselves extremely lucky to have been brought here"

"Is she for fucking real?" Shane, who was sitting behind Rick, asked.

Rick wished that she was joking. He wished that this was all some joke, or some really disturbing dream and tomorrow he'd wake up in his bed back at home wondering what could have made him dream such a thing.

"Try to look on the bright side Shane, Michonne said, we're not trapped in a hotel in the middle of nowhere, we're in the safety of a quarantine universal area of detention."

Shane snorted and rolled his eyes. "I'd rather take my chances on the streets". He said as they filed out of the conference room.

Rick was actually with Jacqui on this one. Outside the barbwired wall of their Q.U.A.D. there were blackouts and bread lines. Outside of these walls public schools, universities, and libraries were closing. Banks were closed, and Rick couldn't remember the last time there was trading on wall street, America's economy was in a downward spiral, and it was about to crash and burst into flames. Public transport was at a standstill and airports were too, leaving travelers stranded, angry and confused, but he and his family were safe inside of the fishbowl.

The Calbert city convention center, or the fishbowl as it was referred to by everyone who lived there, was a circular glass and steel building sixteen stories high, and was now considered an official government building. Behind the convention center was the Peach Blossom Inn. it was fourteen stories high, had four hundred eighty rooms, and housed three-hundred fifteen evacuees. For the last two months it had become Rick's, Michonne's, Carl's and Judith's entire world.

Whatever they lacked Rick always reminded himself that it didn't matter because they were all together and alive, that idea was a lot easier to embrace sometimes than others. Watching the news and seeing the horror and death that was happening to the outside world made him feel thankful, but the days of the same walls, the same fenced in outside space, not knowing if the people you loved were dead or alive, took it's mental toll. Everyday was a guessing game when social media accounts stopped being updated and cell phones went unanswered, but inside the fishbowl life went on and he had to go along with it.

Today before he went back to their apartel he was going to go register Carl for school, and then he and Michonne were going to checkout the civilian job postings on the community bulletin board.

"It's so stupid that I have to go to school, what's the point?" Carl asked.

"The point is to learn." Michonne said. "Someone is going to have to teach the surviving future generations."

"Yeah, like there's even going to be a future" Carl groused.

"I told you not to talk like that!" Rick snapped. "We'll survive because the world has always had survivors."

Carl rolled his eyes.

"I mean it, if we stick together we'll survive together." This had become Rick's mantra over the last three months it's what kept him going when he felt like giving up, and he needed his son to believe it as much as he did.

The soldiers did not come inside of the hotel, the army left the running of the hotel up to civilians, and that's where the civilian employment service boards came in. The army had compiled a list of jobs needed to successfully run the hotel and surrounding area, and was calling on civilians to take up the jobs.

"Hey look Ms. Mitchell they're starting a daycare center and they need someone to run it." Carl said.

"After all we've been through you can call me Michonne."

Carl turned around. "OK, Michonne."

Rick smiled at the smile on his son's face. He knew Carl would never say it, but it meant a lot to him to be able to call the woman he no longer saw as just his teacher by her first name.

"I think it would be a good ideal for me to run the daycare, that way Judith would always be with at least one family member." Michonne said. She took an application form and began filling out her information.

"I was thinking the same thing." Rick agreed.

The school registry was formerly a ticket agency window, Rick took Carl over to the line and waited his turn. When he was next he spoke to the woman in the ticket window. She asked for his badge and driver's license and Rick pushed them under the slot beneath the glass window. The woman behind the glass scanned his badge.

"Mr. Richard M. Grimes, 125 Honeysuckle Lane, Possum Holler Georgia, 39850. Would you like to be called Officer Grimes or Rick?" She asked.

"Rick is fine." He told her. Since the fishbowl was now officially a government building, the computers had a database of all the evacuees personal information, it was not a comforting thought, but even before the quarantine a ten year old could pull up all his personal information if they knew how.

The woman asked for Carl's badge next and scanned it, and then handed back Rick's driver's license, and both of their badges. Behind the woman a printer began spitting out forms.

"Fill these out on both sides completely, sign and then date, then bring them back to me, please." She said and slid the papers underneath the glass. Rick took the papers and found a seat in one of the chairs placed along the wall. Rick hated filling out school forms, Lori had always done it before. There was a table next to Rick's chair with pens and clipboards on it and Rick grabbed one of each.

"I turned in my application." Michonne said as she walked up to him with Judith skipping beside her. "I should hear back from them by the end of this week."

"You'll get it." Rick assured her. "You're the best person for the job."

"How could you possibly know that?" Michonne asked her arms akimbo.

"Carl, do you think Michonne should get the job?"

"Yes."

"Jude, do you want to go to play school with Mimi?"

"Yes!" Judith shouted.

"There you go." Rick said. "Best person for the job like I said."

Michonne laughed.

"Well I guess I need to get a job. Let's go see what they have to offer."

The civilian employment service boards were just a row of cork boards with a print out of jobs, their descriptions, and the hours and the qualifications of each job.

"Well they don't have an opening for a Sheriff, but they do need someone to patrol the hotel and the grounds around it." He said and picked up an application and began filling it out.

After Rick finished filling out his application the foursome headed back to their apartel. No their home, he had to start thinking of it that way if he had any chance of getting through this. He slid his key card into the metal slot and opened their front door.

"I'm going to go swimming." Carl announced.

"Take your little sister with you and keep an eye on her." Rick warned.

Carl sighed exaggeratedly, but got Jude ready for the pool anyway.

"Be back in time for lunch." Michonne called to Carl as he left.

"I mean it you keep an eye on your sister."

"I know!" Carl snapped. "I know how to watch Jude, dad. Gees"

Rick let out a deep breath after Carl left. "You OK?" He asked Michonne and put his hands on her shoulders.

"I don't know, what's happening to the world Rick?"

"I wish I could tell you, we just have to be prepared for the worst." He said and pulled her in for a hug.

"I don't even know if I want to know what the worst is. Dead people are already coming back to life dead." She shook her head. "What I said doesn't even make sense."

"None of this does." Rick replied.

"My parents, my brother and sisters are out there and I don't know what happened to them."

"Until you hear differently just assume they're safe."

"You know what they say about assuming." Michonne countered.

"I know Mimi, but if you keep thinking about it you'd be at the better end of a bottle of bourbon right now, or is that just me?"

"Oh, Rick." Michonne said and buried her head in his chest.

"We will get through this I promise. This isn't the first pandemic the world's been through and it won't be the last."

"What if I don't make it though? Whatever that virus turns you into, I don't want to become that. If I contract this virus promise me you won't let me become like that person you hit."

"I won't. I promise, but you're not going to get this virus. Lori had always told him he was stubborn as a mule and he was going to use his stubbornness to his advantage. He refused to believe that they wouldn't survive.

There was a knock on the door.

Michonne stepped away from Rick. "I'll get it"

It was Shane. "Mind if I join ya'll for lunch? I don't wanna eat alone after that meeting."

"The more the merrier." Rick told him.

"I'll even make it, ya'll like Rubens?" Shane asked and held up a box of his government issued rations.

"You make the sandwiches and I'll make French onion soup." Michonne offered.

"So what'd ya'll think about what that lady Jacqui had to say?" Shane asked.

"She's told us a lot more about this virus than anyone else has so far." Rick replied.

"Yeah, but I didn't understand most of what she was talking about. Shit man I don't speak nerd."

"Let me break it down for you." Rick said. "Virus bad. Virus have no cure. Virus kill."

"Well thank you Rick Grimes the science guy."

"So Shane did you apply for a job?" Michonne asked.

Rick smirked. Michonne was always playing the peacekeeper. It was one of the things he admired most about her.

"Yeah, signed up to be a glorified security guard."

"Really? Rick did too maybe you'll get to be partners again." Michonne said and began chopping up an onion.

"The dream team back together again, I can dig it." Shane said.

"The soup is about done, could you set the table Rick?" Michonne requested.

"Sure thing angel face." Rick took the plates from the cabinet and whistled as he set the table.

By the time the table was set and the lunch was done Carl came through the door with Jude asleep in his arms, and Duane, Keisha, and Tamekia in tow.

"Perfect timing as usual." Rick quipped. "Everything is done."

"Would you all like to stay for lunch?" Michonne asked Carl's friends.

"Hell yeah! I'm hungrier than a mug!" Duane exclaimed.

Shane smiled. "I like this kid."

"I'll put Jude down for her nap." Carl told his father.

"You must have wore her out, what did you guys do?'

"We let her splash around in the shallow end of the pool." Keisha explained. "She was so cute she kept pretending to be a dolphin. I swear I want like six kids"

"Don't let your dad hear you say that." Tamekia said.

"I don't mean now." Keisha qualified. "I mean like when I'm old you know like thirty-two."

Rick, Michonne and Shane burst into simultaneous laughter.

"You know." Carl said. "They aren't going to find a cure for this virus any time soon, so before too much longer thirty-two will be considered old."

The bit of sandwich that Rick had just swallowed lodged uncomfortably in his throat. His son seemed too calm in contrast to his friends and the fact it was the anniversary of his mother's death was not helping matters. Carl already seemed resigned about death being his fate. If he couldn't make Carl see the point in living to fight another day then once again he would fail another person he swore to protect with his life, and that scared him more than the pandemic did.

2

Carl had spent the majority of his summer doing pointless activities. He, Duane, Keisha and Tamekia had gone through the hotel's lost and found where, among the junk that time had forgotten, they had found a sled that they took turns pulling Jude up and down the hallways on. They had also found a bag full of water balloons that they filled up with water and threw off the roof of the hotel. He had spotted a mama cat with her kittens and he was trying to catch one of the kittens to surprise Michonne with. Tyreese had taught him how to play spades and as it turned out he was really good at the game, but all his freedom and folderol would end soon however with school starting in less than a week. Today there was a back to school meet and greet in the convention center. Carl did not want to go, but his father was making him. His father was still laboring under the misapprehension that a "normal" routine would make him forget that they were living in the last days, but how could he forget when the virus was cutting a wide swath of death across the globe? He knew that eventually the virus would reach them and kill them all, so what was there to be gained by going to school? What did a soon to be walking rotting corpse need with a ninth grade education anyway?

He pushed his coco puffs around in his bowl unable to eat them. He couldn't stop thinking about death. This month marked the third year anniversary of his mother's death and he still missed her as if she had died yesterday. He often wondered where she was, if there was an afterlife was she in a better place, and if she was would he get to see her if he died?

"Come on Carl it's time to go." His father informed him.

Carl got up from the table and dumped his uneaten cereal down the sink.

Someone knocked at the door and his father answered it. Tyreese stood in the doorway and a tall dark skinned woman stood beside him. She was wearing a purple maxi dress, a matching head scarf, and gold bangles on her arms, Carl thought she looked like a queen. She was Keisha's mother, Annalise. Carl had met her before because she'd been the one who dropped Keisha and Tamekia off when ever they'd met up back in Atlanta. It was clear to Carl that Keisha got her good looks from her mother, not that Tyreese was ugly, he was a good looking man, but her mother was stunning. Carl had remembered hearing that Tyreese had married a supermodel, and upon seeing Annalise it was clear that he had heard right.

"Hey Carl." Keisha greeted him.

"Hey Keisha."

Carl thought she looked beautiful. She was wearing a pair of pink shorts, a white halter top, and a pair of laced up espadrilles. She wore a matching pink begonia in her thick, massive, curly hair that fell down around her shoulders.

"You look really, really, nice." He told her. "I like the flower in your hair."

Keisha reached up and touched the begonia. "Aww, thank you Carl." She said with a smile. "You look very nice too."

Behind them Tamekia made kissing noises.

A few moments later Morgan and Duane joined them and the group took the elevator to the seventh floor. The seventh floor was where the catwalk was located, and it was the only way to access the convention center from inside the hotel. There were two soldiers outside of the doors leading into the convention center, and two soldiers outside of the doors leading into the hotel.

The meet and greet was not being held in the same room where they had their first two meetings, and for that Carl was grateful, instead it was being held in one of the ballrooms. Several tables of refreshments had been set up. Another table was set up for the teaching staff. Above the tables was a purple and gray banner hanging from the wall that read: Welcome students of Calbert High School. Home of the Mighty Magpies! Under the words was a picture of a magpie with a fierce look on it's face flexing it's muscular wings as if they were arms. It was the most absurd thing Carl had ever seen and it made him laugh. Who were they trying to fool? They didn't even need a school mascot since they weren't even going to a real school. Ever minute that passed he resented his father a little more for making him come to this stupid meet and greet.

"Let's go get something to drink.' Carl said pointing to the drink table that was on the opposite side of where their parents had congregated.

A girl with red framed glasses stood near one of the tubs of soda. She seemed unable to decide on what she wanted to drink. She kept picking up cans and nodding, and then shaking her head and putting them back in the tub of ice only to pick them back up again.

"Oh man I don't believe it." Duane said. "There go Brady and Brandon."

"Who?" Tamekia asked.

"Those twins over their by the snack table eating all the chips."

"You know them?" Carl asked. He'd never seen any one his age as huge as the twins were. They were both tall and massive their necks looked like hams and their shoulders were twice as broad as Carl's. Their hands were so huge they probably could have crushed his skull with them.

"Yeah, we go to the same school. They're on the wrestling team, and I'm in gymnastics. They be spending all their time in the weight room.

"No shit." Carl said then pounded his chest. "Twins Strong! Twins smash!"

Duane started laughing and Carl did too, until Brady and Brandon looked up simultaneously and glared at them.

Carl waved and smiled sheepishly. He wanted to make sure to stay on their good side.

"The steroid twins are gonna murk you." Tamekia sang.

"Well at least they'll spare me from dying from this virus."

"Don't say that!" The girl with the red framed glasses said and then crossed herself. "You'll speak it into life."

"What?''

"My dad says if you talk about bad things it puts it out there and you'll speak them into life."

"I don't know if you've been paying attention to the news or not, but the virus is already out there." Carl replied.

The girl stuck her lower lip out. "You're mean!"

"Sara get over here!'

"But dad."

"Now! Don't make me have to repeat myself."

"I have to go." Sarah said and went over to her father with her head hanging down.

"What was that all about?" Carl asked.

"I don't know, but she seems for a lack of a better word, sensitive, we should all be nice to her." Keisha told him.

Carl nodded. Sometimes Keisha made him feel resentful because she was so charismatic and outgoing. Everyone loved her, and even if her dad hadn't been famous he knew they would still love her. Even his father thought she was the sweetest girl. He wondered what it would be like to be adored by everyone instead of being that sulking awkward teenager that just made everyone uncomfortable. His mother had always understood that part of him better than his father had, and it made him sad to think there was a level that they would never connect on. Even now they had completely different outlooks on the Cadere virus situation. His father had turned into some warped version of Captain America who thought he could save everything and everyone he loved with a positive attitude. Perhaps that's what had bothered him so much about Sarah, she was just like his father thinking you could simply speak things into fruition. He had stopped believing in such nonsense the day his mother took her life, and took part of him with her. Fairy tales were for children. He no longer believed in fairy tales. He no longer believed in distracting himself from the cold hard truths of this world, and try as he might he didn't believe that his father could protect him.

At the front of the ballroom a tall balding man blew into a cordless mic which groaned in protest. The man gave a short laugh. "Hello everyone. I'm Principal Andrew Henderson, and now that I've got all of your attention please be seated, and I'll get things underway"

From across the room Carl's father motion for him to come sit next to Jude. Carl went over without protest as there didn't seem to be much point in resisting.

"I know this isn't exactly anyone's ideal situation to kick off a new school year, but that's no reason why we can't make this the best year ever! We have the best teachers in the whole world right here who are ready to provide you with a solid education, and smaller classes means more individual focus on your child. We promise that we're going to do everything in our power to make your transition to Calbert High as seamless as possible. Our curriculum will not only include all the things you have been learning, but will also include things to help you deal with current issues brought about because of the virus "

"See Carl." His father whispered. "Things won't be so bad after all."

He wished his father could see things his way and try and understand why it was he didn't want to spend the last days of his life stuck in a classroom. It was like his father didn't even know who he was at all sometimes. Shane had said that he'd rather take his chances on the streets, and Carl would too. It was better to be out on the streets than caged up like lab rats waiting on their inevitable death sentence.

3

Michonne lie awake thinking. Rick's arms were wrapped around her and his soft rhythmic breathing in her ear told her that he was still asleep. They had been sharing a bed for over two months now, but they still had not had sex and Michonne knew that was because of Lori. This month was the anniversary of her death, and Michonne wanted to be their for both Rick and Carl but she didn't know how. Rick didn't talk about Lori often and Michonne didn't feel it was her place to force him too, when he was ready he'd would open up about her. There were still things she hadn't told Rick, and nothing but time and getting to know him better would make her open up. He didn't know about her two best friends, Andrea and Cesar, who had been killed in the school shooting. It was just too painful to talk about.

Sometimes she worried that she would always be playing second fiddle to Lori and that always made her feel shallow and guilty. She knew that Rick and Carl would always love Lori more, or at least and a different way than her. Sometimes she couldn't help but wonder if she would be enough, or would Rick always be comparing her to his wife? It was the last thing in the world she needed to be worried about right now, but these were the thoughts that kept her up at night and not the virus. She looked over at the alarm clock it was five thirty in the morning. There was no point in going back to sleep Judith would be up soon looking for breakfast.

Her grandmother had always said that busy work was the best cure for a busy mind. She took a box of pancake mix from the cabinet and set it on the counter and then got the milk from the fridge.

"Mimi I hungry." Judith said padding into the kitchen.

Michonne smiled. Children had a way of making you set your priorities straight; in fact Carl and Judith depended on her having her priorities straight. If something were to, heaven forbid, happen to Rick his children would be looking to her to take care of them. Now more than ever she was grateful for her family who kept her grounded in the wake of impending doom. Taking care of Rick, Carl, and Judith filled an empty void in her life that had been there for quite some time.

Michonne turned around and faced Judith. "Well I'm about to make us all some pancakes, would you like to help?"

Judith nodded.

A few moments later Rick walked into the kitchen with his hair disheveled. "Morning angel face." He said kissing her on the lips. "Morning Jude." He bent down to kiss his daughter.

Judith laughed. "Daddy you beard tickles."

"I'm sorry." Rick said. "How about if I tickle you instead." He said and began tickling her all over.

Michonne grimed broadly. She loved the way Rick was trying to remain in such high spirits despite the weight of the world dragging him down, but she just hoped that he would open up to her. She did not want him to think he had to keep everything bottled up inside just to hold all of them together. They had both decided that where Judith was involved that she wouldn't have to know any more about the virus then she had too, but even when they were alone he seem to afraid to let his guard down as if he thought he had to be constantly vigilant, but she worried what that kind of sacrifice might do to him in the long run.

"They're posting the results of the civilian employment today, I thought after breakfast we go see if we've been gainfully employed or not."

"That sounds like a plan." Michonne said and flipped over a pancake on the griddle.

Carl came into the kitchen a few minutes later.

Michonne worried about him too, just like his father he was keeping what ever feelings he had about the anniversary of his mother's death inside. Getting the Grimes men to talk about their emotions was like pulling hen's teeth. They were stubborn to a fault, well she could be just as stubborn and she was going to help them through this come hell or high water. After breakfast she got Judith dressed and then herself and they took the elevator to the convention center.

Just as Rick had predicted Michonne got the job running the daycare, and he and Shane got jobs as patrolmen, and as much as Michonne cared for Rick she was extremely happy that she got the job. She didn't want to get to the place where she and Rick spent so much time together that she started to hate all those little things she found so adorable about him. Like the way he sang off key to the songs on the radio getting all the words wrong. Or the way he sounded when he called her angel face. The way his long bow legs looked in a pair of jeans, and how he didn't seem to mind that she stole all the covers, and then retaliated by stealing bacon of her plate in the morning when he thought she wasn't looking. It was all the little things that made up a relationship. It was all the little things that made it seem possible to get over the big hurdles.

Staff Sargent Deann Monroe gave Michonne a tour of the Peach Blossom daycare center which was located on the first floor of the hotel. Sargent Monroe seemed like a fair no nonsense kind of woman, and Michonne was sure there wasn't anything that got past her.

"Out of everyone that applied you were the most qualified, she informed Michonne, and you passed the background check with flying colors. We're running a tight ship here and there isn't a I we forget to dot or a T we forget to cross.

Michonne nodded Staff Sargent Monroe left room to say little else.

"The daycare runs from eight to four thirty, and most of the parents who dropped their children off should have picked them up by then, the very latest I want this place open by is six o clock. Most of the civilian jobs will have ended by that hour."

Michonne nodded again.

"You'll have about eight children in your care and I don't think I have to spend a lot of time telling you your duties as a daycare teacher, you've done this job before and I'm sure that you can do it much better than I. I'm just here to act as your supervisor and field any complaints should they arise." She handed Michonne a thick packet that had a dossier of each of the children she be looking after. "The daycare center won't be open for another week, so I expect that you'll take that home and read it until you know all the information in there forwards and backwards."

"Yes, of course I will." Michonne agreed.

"Good. You can meet me back here tomorrow at zero eight hundred hours and I'll show you everything else that you need to know."

"I'll be here right on time."

"Good, because if there is one thing I don't tolerate it's tardiness."

Michonne left the daycare center wondering if she should have taken the job in the first place. She was sure that she could handle Deann, but the question was did she want to? She had enough problems of her own to be dealing with. Then the thought of Judith being left with a total stranger crossed her mind and she knew she was doing the right thing. She would never feel completely safe here, not with all the military presence around she was still not sure if they were here to save them or not. She wanted to talk to Rick about it, but she wasn't sure if it was something that he would want to talk about or not.

"So how did it go?' Rick asked when she got back to their apartel.

"Staff Sargent Monroe seems like one tough cookie, but I suppose that is what you want in someone who's supervising the running of a daycare."

Rick took Judith from her and put her in a seat at the kitchen table. "It is."

"How about you?"

Rick grinned. "They gave us the hotel's security jeep to drive around in during our patrol."

"Just be careful Rick, I only just got you back. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'll be careful I promise and Shane will be with me. We've got each others backs. It will all work out you'll see."

Michonne hoped that Rick was right, because she wasn't sure. She wasn't sure about anything including her future with Rick after everything was said and done. They had proved that they could survive some of life's biggest crisis, but what if or when things got back to normal, would they be able to handle that? Could they just be an ordinary couple? That was another thought to keep her tossing and turning at night.

"What's wrong can't sleep?" Rick asked.

Michonne nearly jumped out of her skin because she had thought he was sleeping.

"It's nothing go back to sleep."

"How can I with you flopping like a fish over there?"

"Sorry."

"Don't be."

Too late Michonne thought.

Rick reached over and gently took Michonne by the shoulders and turned her around so that she was facing him in the darkness. "I took Lori for granted, and I don't want to do that to you Michonne. Everyday I count my blessings that you found us. Rick said. it's been hard trying to look after Carl and Judith by myself, but you've stepped right in and filled in where my wife left off, and for that Lori would be so thankful.I know that I am, and I'm going to prove it to you by keeping us all safe. I've been given a second chance at having a family and I'm not going to squander it."

Michonne closed her eyes. Maybe Rick was right despite everything that had happened the four of them were still alive and still together. The world always did have survivors, and they were pretty good at that. Perhaps they would make it out of this alive.