The last few days have been surprisingly kinda boring. We've all been hunkered down inside for the most part. Rick, Daryl and Glenn have been discussing the plan for when the governor attacks next. Merle keeps saying that he is more than likely going to strike soon so we have to be ready. Which is why I am currently talking to Beth about Rick's plan for the girls. I gave her the run down of the plan that he and I talked about in the library and she seems to be ok with it. Knowing that Hershel would be going with us helped her agree that it was the best choice. We were talking about what would need to be packed for when we leave when suddenly Carl comes rushing in out of breath. "DAD! ANDREA…IS…OUTSIDE!" he says out of breath. Rick and Daryl are the first to move. Rick looks over at Beth and I as he is heading toward the door that leads to the courtyard.
"Keep the girls in your cell." He says grabbing up an automatic rifle. Beth and I look at each other before quickly getting up and heading to the cell block. Getting to my cell, I lay Lily who is sleeping, down into the cot for her before turning to Beth.
"I'll be right back." I tell her before grabbing my handgun then dashing out to the courtyard just as Michonne heads out. Rick, Daryl and Merle head to the gate with their guns raised and I follow Michonne who stands behind the bleachers with her sword and a rifle as well.
"ARE YOU ALONE?" Rick yells as Andrea starts to approach the gate.
"Open the gate!" she yells.
"ARE YOU ALONE!?" Rick asks again since she didn't answer. Again, she doesn't answer as she reaches the gate. Rick tosses the keys to Daryl who unlocks it and Rick quickly grabs her and slams he to the tall fence next to the gate as it's slammed shut by Merle before the new walkers. That was a new problem we have been dealing with, the outer gate fell yesterday morning and the field has once against been overrun with walkers. As Rick starts to quickly check Andrea for any other weapons, Michonne steps out from out hiding place and I quickly follow. I lower my gun but stay alert. "Get on the ground!" Rick barks at Andrea, grabbing her arm and shoving her down to her knees roughly. "I asked if you were alone?" he growls at her.
"I am!" she finally answer with her hands in the air next to her head. Rick grabs the bag she is wearing around her chest and tosses it a few feet away from them before bending down next to her ear. Saying something to low for me to hear from where I am standing, before grabbing her arm and pulling her to her feet. Rick leads he toward the block we lived in and the rest of us following. Being one of the last to enter, I quickly slide the heavy door shut and Merle locks the door behind me. Quickly making my way across the room, I stand next to Michonne behind Rick at the entry way of the cell block as Hershel joins us.
"I can't believe this. Where's Shane?" Andrea asks after hugging Carol while looking around. When nobody answers, she looks around again. "And Lori?"
"She had a girl. Lori didn't survive." Hershel explains to her.
"Neither did T-dog." Maggie whispers loud enough for everyone to hear. I watch as Andrea look to Carl with a look of grief on her face.
"Im so sorry. Carl." Carl lowers his head to look at the ground in front of him. "Rick, I- -" she starts to take a step forward, only for him to step back away from her. I quickly step up to his left side and gently grip his bicep and squeeze, as if to tell him it's ok. He looks at me out of the corner of his eyes before nodding subtly.
"You all live here?"
"Here and in the cell block." Glenn answers from his spot near Maggie on the other side of the room.
"There?" she asks pointing toward the cell block and takes a couple steps forward. I quickly move around Rick and block her from going any further. "May I go in?" she asks looking at Rick.
"I won't allow that." He answers coming to stand behind me as to solidify my stance.
"Im not an enemy Rick."
"We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down our fence with a truck and shot us up." I watch a look of shock appear on her face at this news.
"He said you shot first."
"Well, he's lying."
"He killed an inmate who survived in here." Hershel says.
"We liked him, he was one of us." I look over at Daryl who was sat on the metal table next to us
"I didn't know anything about that." Andrea says crossing her arms and bringing a hand up to cover her mouth.
"Not to mention his stunt with the walkers almost got my daughter and myself killed." I speak up. She quickly snaps her head to me and looks shocked at what I said.
"I swear I didn't know anything about any of this. As soon as I found out, I came.
"I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot out."
"That was days ago." Glenn nearly yells.
"Like I said, I came as soon as I could." She looks around at everybody's faces before turning to look at Michonne who had moved over to the cage that was used for the weapons. "What did you tell them?" she asks her.
"Nothing." She replies.
"I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?"
"He almost killed Michonne and he would have killed us as well." Glenn said defensively.
"With his finger on the trigger. Isn't he the one who took you? Who beat out? I'm not trying to excuse what Philip has done, but I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out." Listening to her makes me wonder is she has Stockholm syndrome or something.
"Is she delusional?" I matter to myself but Daryl grunts having heard me from his spot just to my left.
"There is nothing to work out. We're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we will." Andrea quickly whips around to look at Rick with a look of disbelief.
"We can settle this." She really is getting desperate.
"There is no settling this. I don't know you but you have got to be either suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or you're just completely delusional. You think after what he has done to this group, after nearly getting a newborn killed, after torturing Glenn and Maggie, that everything can be all hunky dory? This world is messed up enough as it is and it doesn't need monsters like him." At this point I have gotten everyone's attention.
"Who are you?" she asks looking me up and down.
"Im the pissed of mother of the baby he almost killed because he has a hard on for this group." I growls stepping closer to her only to be pulled back by Rick. His arm is wrapped around my waist as he pulls me backwards away from Andrea.
"Easy killer. Can you keep Judy with you? I don't want her near her or Lily." Rick whispers in my ear. I nod my head before glaring at Andrea and turning to make my way back to my cell. Upon entering I see Beth sitting on the bed with the girls next to her and she is singing. I quickly give her a rundown of what was happening in the other room so she is caught up. Deciding that the girls need to be fed since my breasts were starting to hurt a tad, I quickly unbutton my shirt and get situated on my bed and bring them to me. As we sit on the bed in silence, we can hear the conversation with Andrea starts to get heated.
"IF YOU WANNA MAKE THIS RIGHT THEN GET US INSIDE!" Beth and I look at each other as Rick yells.
"NO!"
"Then we have nothing further to talk about."
"THERE ARE INNOCENT PEOPLE!" Andrea yells. The sound of the cell block door banging shut echoes through the small area and the sound of boots thudding against the floor draws our attention as they come closer to the cell. Rick appears in the doorway and leans against it.
"What's going on?" I asks looking up at him.
"Did you already talk to her about the plan?" he asks.
"Yes, she did." Beth answers.
"Ok, I want both of you to pack up your stuff and the girls' stuff as well. As soon as she leaves, we are going to check out the Equinox and get it packed up. Carl and Hershel will be going as well with you four. Sasha volunteered to go as well to help." He explains scratching his brow.
"Is it happening soon?" Beth asks nervously.
"I'm not sure on that. But I would rather be safe than sorry. Have the car ready in case you guys need to leave in a hurry."
"Ok, I'll go start getting my bag together. I assume my dad already knows?" she asks standing up. At Rick's nod, she quickly leaves to head to her cell. I look at Rick as he sighs and walks in, taking a seat on the stool that I had in my room.
"Carl ok with this?" I ask quietly knowing the boy wants more than anything to help as much as he can. He is in such a hurry to grow up and not be treated as a kid and it's so hard to remember sometimes that he is just a kid.
"Not really. He wants to stay and help here, but I just can't put him into that kind of danger. He is in enough danger as it is and this is something I can do to keep him safe. Told him that if we wanted to win this thing then I could be worrying about his running around here when it's happening. Said that he would be an even bigger help by protecting you guys. I explained that if anything happened to me during this, that he would have to be there for Judith. She can't lose her entire family."
"How did he react to that?" I question looking down at Lily as she hits her tiny first against my chest.
"He actually agreed to that, even though he was still mad that he was being sent away."
"What about Sasha? How'd that happen?" He chuckles lightly.
"Her and Tyreese actually cornered me yesterday asked if I planned on sending you and the girls away. They said that they wanted to help anyway they can and if that meant leaving to protect the girls, then they would do it. Both said they owed you for vouching for them."
"What about Ben and Allen? I am starting to regret vouching for Allen. Caught him arguing with Tyreese the other day until Tyreese knocked him onto his ass."
"That explains the black eye. But I agree, I'm starting to think that he is going to be more of a liability than anything. I am gonna give him the choice to stay or leave, but if he stays he's gonna help out. No more of this bitchin and moaning when someone asks for his help." I nod my head, completely agreeing with him.
"Have you told the rest of the group the plan yet?" I ask looking down at the girls only to find them asleep.
"I've mentioned some of it to Daryl, Maggie and Glenn. Think Maggie told everyone else, not really sure." He reaches out and caresses Judith's soft head as she sleeps. "Want me to take her?" he asks.
"Sure, just hold her still so I can fix my shirt. Don't be trying to sneak a peek, Officer." I smirk making him chuckle. He reaches under her and holds her so I am still covered enough to fix my bra and shirt while supporting Lily with my other hand. Once I am all fixed I give him the ok and he pulls her to his chest and rocks her gently.
"How has she been doing? I know with the formula she was getting sick a lot, has that stopped?" he asked referring to Judith.
"Well she still spits up, but that's normal. I think she is actually eating more than Lily sometimes." I laugh quietly.
"I can tell, she has gotten a little chunky. But I guess that's better than being starved and boney." He smirks looking at me. "You doing alright? Getting enough to eat to keep up with them?"
"I'm ok. I am only eating a spoon full more than everyone every two days, don't think its fair to take extras. But its ok. I am making sure to stay fed and so is Hershel." I explain. We look at each other for a couple minutes just enjoying the near silence. Seeing a sudden spark in his eye, he leans closer to me and plants a gentle kiss on the corner of my mouth before sitting back. That is the most contact we have allowed ourselves to have even though we established the fact that there is something between us. Not only is he still getting through losing Lori but I am still healing from having Lily. I have heard that most woman can take up to six weeks or longer to heal but I think I am almost there. The bleeding has slowed down to just a little spotting for the most part and I couldn't be more thankful. Besides that, neither one of us is ready to let it be known about our situation, especially since we have more things to worry about like the looming dark cloud over our heads.
"I'm gonna go ask Carol to watch Judy for a while. Give you time to get your stuff together."
"Aye, Aye captain." I tease as he rolls his eyes and turns to leave before pinching my side gently.
*A few hours later*
"I think that is pretty much all of my stuff except for a few things that I might need. I haven't gotten the girls stuff together yet, mostly because they don't have much and we might still need more of it. Think I will keep a bag close and all of the baby stuff together so I can just swipe it into the bag and go." Zipping my bag I turn to Beth and Carl who were entertaining Lily.
"That sounds like a good idea. Dad recommended just keeping everything in the bag and get it when we need it, but its more simpler to just swipe and go." Beth says smiling down at Lily as Beth pokes her belly and makes the little girl squeal.
"I am going to take this out to the car, probably grab a couple knives and handguns as well. Mind watching her?" I ask looking at Carl who shakes his head. Grabbing my bag, I head out to the common area and to the weapons cage to grab the two hand guns Rick pointed out for me to grab earlier in the day. Slipping them into my bag, I hide them under my clothes before heading out to the car we will be using when its time to go and tossing it into the trunk. I can see Daryl, Merle and Michonne standing near the fence that leads to the field, talking amongst themselves. Michonne looks over and waves and I lift mine up to wave back. As I make my way back into the cell block I damn near freeze at what I see. Carol and Andrea talking, while Andrea is holding Judith. Carol knows that Rick didn't want the little girl near Andrea, still not sure if we can fully trust her. Doing as Rick asked, I start to make my way over to them to get Judith. "Hey Carol. Think its time I take Judith." I eye Andrea closely before looking down to Judith to make sure she is ok.
"Why? She's ok with us." Andrea says moving a bit away.
"Its time for her to eat." I explain trying to keep my cool. I reach out to take her but she moves away again.
"Then we can make her a bottle. I am capable of feeding her." I can feel myself starting to get pissed at her so I bite my tongue to remind myself that she will be leaving soon anyways.
"Unless you are able to squeeze your tits and milk em, I don't see you being able to do anything for her. Now give her here." I growl glaring at her. I can tell that Carol is feeling awkward by the situation as she tries to calm the situation down.
"How about I bring her down to you in a few minutes Lacey? Let Andrea have a few more minutes."
"I cant. Rick asked me to keep Judith away from her and I said I would. Plus you know I try to feed that girls at the same time so they are on the same feeding schedule. Now, please hand her over so I can start feeding them." Trying to remain calm, I hold out my hands toward Andrea.
"You mean you breastfeed her? But she isn't yours." Wow! Didn't know we had captain obvious here with us.
"Thank you for stating the obvious and its not any of your concern about if she is breastfed or formula fed."
"Is there a problem here?" The sudden deep voice startles us and I turn to look at the bottom of the stairs to see Daryl glaring over my shoulder at Andrea.
"Nope. Its ok Daryl." Carol says. I turn to her and she her taking Judith from Andrea and handing her to me. Pulling her toward me, I swiftly turn and start to head down the stairs only stopping when I am next to Daryl.
"Thank you." He nods his head subtly and I walk to my cell with Judith smirking to myself.
Its been a couple hours since Andrea left and I could tell that everyone was happy to see her go. I managed to bathe, change, feed and get the girls to sleep while everyone did what they needed to do. Whether it be bathing, napping, organizing, securing or on watch. Once the girls were asleep, I joined the rest of the group out in the open area of the cell block where Glenn was dishing out some deer stew from the meat of the deer that Daryl and Merle caught yesterday. Just as I grab my bowl, Rick joins us and grabs everyone attention. "I know that seeing Andrea today was unexpected but I want to make sure that nobody is having second thoughts about what is inevitably going to happen." He looks around at everyone but nobody speaks. "Ok, since we are still on the same page…I want to clarify what the plan is going to be. Either tonight or tomorrow, I want everything packed up. If you don't need it, pack it up and put it in either the truck or the SUV."
"Thought we weren't leaving?" Tyreese asks confused.
"We aren't, unless we have no other choice. I want everything pack up so that way we can take it to where the others who are leaving will be. Also, there has been a change to the plan. We are going to make it look like we packed up and booked it out of here. The Governor will most likely bring his men in here to see if we are hiding but they wont find us. Tomorrow after everything is packed up, Daryl and I are going to gather some walkers into the deepest parts of the tombs. When the Governor goes down into them to look for us, they will be ambushed by the walkers. I need two people to hunker down in the boiler room and the generator room. They will have flash grenades on them and when the group goes down there, the blasts will lure the walkers to them. After that, it's a guarantee that they will try to flee. Glenn, I would like for you to be down at the loading docks waiting for when they come out. Maggie will be hiding up on the catwalk out of site. When they start to flee, I want the two of you to take out as many as you can." He explains looking at the two of them to see if they are ok with that plan. "
"We can wear the riot gear we found when we first got here. What about everyone else?" Glenn asks.
"Tyreese, Michonne, Merle, and Carol…I want you four to hide down in the halls that lead to the bathroom and library. They will more than likely split into two groups, so you four can handle the group that heads down that way. Daryl, Ben, Allen and I will be in each of the guard towers, hit them when they get into the field." The majority of the group agrees with the plan but Allen and Ben haven't said anything since Rick started talking. "But tonight, everyone will rest. There will be two people on watch on the catwalk, with a rotation every three hours. I am volunteering to take a longer shift."
"Glenn and I can take the first shift." Maggie says looking at Glenn who nods his head in agreement.
"I can take second." I volunteer. Before Rick can respond, Allen lets out a disgusting scoff, drawing everyone's attention to him.
"Got something to say?" Michonne asks him.
"I'm just shocked her majesty is volunteering to something. I don't see how she has gotten away with doing nothing while the rest of us do everything." He says angrily. "All she does is lay around and feed them damn brats."
"What the hell did you just say!?" I growl standing up from the stair I had been sitting on and stomping over to him.
"You heard me! How is it fair? Since the four of us have gotten here all I have seen you di is lay around like you are above us."
"Dad, stop." Ben whispers trying to pull him away.
"In case you forgot, she is the only reason why we are here." Sasha says glaring at the angry man.
"I didn't even want to stay here!" he yells turning to look at her.
"If you don't want to be here, then pack your shit and go. There's the door, nobody will be sad to see you go. The only reason why you have been here as long as you have was because I wanted to give you a chance and because I couldn't force Ben out there with an ignorant father who is hell bent on running. So if you want to leave, then go. But Ben, you are old enough to make your own decisions and are welcome to stay if you want. If you decide to leave with him, come back if you change your mind. Be gone by sunrise if you decide to leave." I growl at Allen before turning away and stomping toward my cell. Getting there, I feel myself fuming and try to calm myself down by pacing around the cell a couple times. I take my button up shirt off and hang it up on the top bunk before grabbing my wet wipes and clean my face, arms and chest off before slipping my boots off and laying down in bed.
I will be glad when all this shit is over and the only thing we will have to worry about are the walkers.
*I wasn't too sure about the chapter. i tried to get some drama and some Rick/Lacey stuff. i hope you all enjoy this chapter. i dont think i am feeling too confident with this story, so i might have to rush it so it can have an ending. it has a lot of reads so far but i wanna know if you think its worth continuing or not!!!! *