Thedarkpokemaster-Yeah so far in the story all the young people have had to take control of the hardest decisions. I mean Julie has to kill her crazy Ex, Carl kills Shane and Duck kills Thomas. Luckily things are calming down after this chapter, at least for a moment.
The White Tiger-Thanks bud, glad you are liking it and hope you like this chapter.
Worker72-Moving on is tough but it will happen, Hershel is getting his closure as is Kenny and Duck. Of course with what Duck did, Kenny and him have some talking to do. But first, time to deal with Dexter and Andrew.
Smeake-Thanks as always buddy.
Don77-Duck made his choice, but it's a heavy burden to bear for a kid. And obviously it will only get darker from here.
Kevinrock8899-Oh yeah, The Governor...got a little bit to go before him but he's on the way, unfortunately for the group.
Enjoy
Chapter 11: Revolt
Otis, armed with his coach gun, walked up the few steps onto the porch at Hershel's farm. Mark was slowly walking around the area, scanning the area with his rifle, in case any walker herds were moving towards them. With spring now here and the snow gone, walkers had started to unfreeze and move around once more. Mark heard the man's heavy steps and turned towards him, "What's up man?"
"It's fuckin over," Otis replied while shaking his head, "One of those fuckers got into the pen again, the cows are gone."
"All of them?!" Mark exclaimed, Otis let out a irritated nod. "Goddamnit! How did I miss that, that was our only fucking job, just keep the cattle alive."
"I know, but no use in moaning over it." Otis replied as he walked down the steps, "Since the cattle are gone i'm gonna hook the horses up to the wagon. We can load up what we need and go down to the prison with the others."
"But Rick told us to stay here." Mark replied as little half heartedly,
"What's the fucking point? All we got is four horses left, they can easily find room for them. Besides, i'm sick of this place. It ain't safe no more." Otis shot back with a little grumble,
Mark let out a low sigh, "Yeah you're right, they'll understand when we show up." Mark finally agreed, "I'll start packing up inside." Otis let out a nod and headed to the barn to prepare the stage coach.
The two men made quick work of packing up, they stuffed the back with any remaining food, ammo and tools before hooking up the horses. An hour later, they were confident that they weren't forgetting anything and got onto the wagon, leaving the farm behind. Mark, sat next to Otis with a map helping direct him to the prison, but even with the map the trip was going to take them some time.
A few hours later, less than half a mile from the prison, two women slowly emerged from a stretch of forest. One, a shorter blonde woman, wore a simple orange hoodie and a medical mask. On her back rested a yellow climbers pick, that still had small flecks of dried blood on it. The other woman, an athletic african american woman with long dreadlocks, had herself covered under a cloak. On her back rested a long katana sword but what was more apparent was the long chains she held that lead to two walkers, each missing their arms and jaws. They wore thick metal collars and were pulled along like dogs.
The two took a moment and scanned the area, around them walkers wandered, ignoring them completely. "Nearest town is another ten miles." The blonde woman said with a sigh,
"We'll need to move quicker if we are gonna make it before nightfall." The other replied dryly,
The blonde woman let out a low sigh, "I'm getting sick of this shit, we need to find a somewhere safe. This ducking into buildings for the night is killing me."
"Relax, we'll figure something out soon enough." The black woman quickly shot back. Suddenly two shots rang out causing the woman to abruptly turn. Down the road they spotted Mark and Otis riding on the stage coach, Mark held his rifle with on hand while he kicked another walker off the side of the stage coach.
"Otis, what the fuck are you doing!" Mark shouted out in anger,
"It weren't my fault! These fuckers are everywhere!" Otis shouted back as he pulled the reigns on the horses, directing them back towards the center of the road,
Mark held onto the seat as the wagon jumped up and down, over the bodies of a few walkers, "Fuck," Mark said as the wagon smoothed out, "We need to move, these things could crowd up on us."
"Got it Mark, just keep 'em back if ya can." Otis replied before snapping the reins causing the horses to gallop down the road once more,
Both the women listened to this exchange and watched as they both rode off down the road. "Well, i'll be the first to say that looks promising." The blonde woman said lightheartedly, "So i'm following, you coming?"
"Yeah," The other woman replied simply, "Hopefully they aren't too far away from their place. We won't be able to keep up with them for long." Suddenly they heard a groan from a walker that seemed to finally notice them. The blonde woman's eyes narrowed and she quickly dropped, spinning around and sweeping out it's legs with hers. The other woman simply walked over and pulled her sword out, quickly ending the walker's life. With that the two women, turned and began to follow the road, as well as Mark and Otis.
Back at the prison, Kenny kept his eyes locked on Dexter in pure contempt as Dexter's finger seemed to twitch slightly on the shotgun's trigger. Suddenly Patricia ran over and pulled Dexter's shotgun down, so it was now aimed at the ground, "No! You said you wouldn't kill them, just make them leave!"
"That's up to them, now get your hands off me." Dexter growled back as he shoved Patricia away from him,
"Lori get the kids inside, we need to talk some sense into Dexter here." Rick quickly said while keeping his hands raised,
"Nobody fucking moves unless it's towards the front fucking gate!" Dexter quickly boomed out,
"Dexter, what the fuck are you doing man! Put the fucking gun down!" Lee quickly commanded,
"Shut the fuck up Lee." Dexter shot back while he turned his gun to Lori and Carl, "If they don't stop moving, they are fucking dead!"
"Dexter, enough. Stop threatening these people, we aren't kicking anyone out!" Lee exclaimed as he took a step towards him,
Andrew quickly aimed his pistol at Lee's chest, "No you're right, you're not kicking anyone out, cause you ain't with us Lee." Dexter growled out, "I want you gone too, I couldn't stand you in the cafeteria and I can't stand you now. So, let me give you your choices one more time. Do what I say or get shot."
"We aren't leaving, so you better put that shit down while you still can. All of you." Kenny said with an eerily calm voice,
Dexter let out a scoff, "I don't think you fucking people get it. Get back into your shitty fucking RV's and fuck off! We got a good thing going here and I ain't about to let a group of crazy redneck fuck, screw this up!" Dexter looked back to Rick and put the barrel to his chest, "I better see some forward motions towards the front gate or i'll start shooting."
"Jesus fucking Christ son, what in the hell are you doing?" Chuck asked as he, along with Axel and Tyreese approached the group,
"Listen old man, you can pick a side. You are either with us or with them, but if you're with them then you'll fucking leave with them." Andrew quickly replied, his hand trembling slightly,
"You ain't gotta do this guys." Axel quickly said, trying to plead with them, "It ain't gotta go down this way. These people are good people, you can't fault them for their mistake. They locked you up cause you were a likely suspect at the time, that's all. They just wanted to protect themselves. Please don't do this."
"You listen to him son, this can go two ways. Neither good for you." Chuck added on,
"Huh," Dexter scoffed while shaking his head, "You know what both of you, get the fuck out of here. You siding with them, you leave with them. You follow me?" Dexter continued while glaring at Axel in particular,
Kenny moved his hand slightly and tapped Rick's arm. He looked over to him, Kenny simply motioned his head behind Dexter. Rick let out a short sigh, "Where did you get the guns?"
Dexter narrowed his eyes and looked back to Rick, "What do you care? I got them, it what matters." He replied while leaning his face towards Rick,
"Where did you get the fucking guns!" Kenny shouted out sharply,
"The armory! Bet you didn't know about that, it was off my little tour. It was in A-block." Dexter replied with a smug smile,
"Heh, fucking figures." Kenny scoffed while shaking his head, His gaze now past Dexter, firmly locked behind him.
"The fuck you talking about-Mother fucker!" Dexter replied as he slowly turned his head only to see a horde of walkers flowing out of an open door to A block. Dexter, Andrew and Patricia froze, unsure of what to even do in the situation.
Rick however quickly turned to Lori, "Lori, Carol, Doug, get the kids inside! Lock the doors, send out Andrea and Carly, Glenn too if you can!"
Kenny quickly knelt down and picked up his and Rick's side arms, tossing the latter to Rick, "Everyone pick your shots fucking carefully! We ain't gotta ammo to spare!" Kenny exclaimed,
"I said no one fucking moves!" Dexter finally shouted out while aiming his shotgun to Kenny,
"What you gonna shoot us or the roamers trying to kill you?" Rick shot back, not concerned by Dexter anymore,
"Pick a fucking side, dumbass." Kenny added on as he raised his pistol to the horde and began to fire. Lee quickly reached for his side arm and took a shot at the incoming horde as well, followed right behind by Tyreese.
Just nearby Doug took a deep breath and reached out for Lori's arm, "Make sure you get Carly and Andrea out here, I have to help." Doug said as firm as he could, still his voice came off rather shaky,
"Okay," Lori said with a quick nod, "Please, be careful Doug!" She added on before sprinting inside as Doug turned around,
Axel ran over to Andrew as he and Chuck were unarmed, "Andrew toss us a fucking bone here! We ain't gonna shoot these things with our dicks!" Andrew paused, internally fighting with himself but he broke immediately as he saw the herd of dead still filling out. He reached into both his pockets, tossing both Axel and Chuck a gun.
Hershel and Billy both ran up to Rick, while pulling out their pistols as well, "Hershel, are you sure you two are ready for this?"
"We need this Rick." Hershel replied a little coldly as he took a shot into the horde,
Just then, Dale, Glenn, Andrea and Carly all ran out from inside the prison. Each of them armed but confused, "Of fucking hell, what's happening out here?!" Carly exclaimed,
"Talk later, shoot now!' Lee replied immediately. The others agreed with this statement and quickly took up positions firing into the horde. At this point even Dexter turned his attention to the immediate danger of the walkers and began to fire. As the group continued to fire wildly, they began to slowly back up and spread out. Despite the quick kills, the walkers continued to flow out, and soon the might overwhelm the group.
Just outside the prison Otis and Mark approached, "Jesus look at all of 'em." Otis said a bit frightened as he saw all the walkers at the prison fences,
"Wait, wait, do you hear that?" Mark said causing Otis to stop and listen. Both of them instantly heard the eruption of gunfire just past the fences. "What the hell is going on?" Mark said quickly standing up trying to see into the prison,
"Jesus! What the fuck are they doing?!" Otis exclaimed while jumping from the wagon, taking a shovel with him,
"Otis, no wait-" Mark tried to say only to see the man run towards the fence, clipping a Walker's head with his shovel, "God dammit." Mark whispered out before jumping from the wagon and following him, rifle in hand.
Otis ran up to the fence and while leaning his back against it, pulled out his pistol. "Y'all, It's me and Mark! Let us in!" He shouted out. Mark ran up and shoved down a few walkers as Otis turned around, "Y'all! Oh fuck." He said shocked seeing them fighting a horde of walkers inside,
"What?! Can you get their attention?!" Mark shouted back as he slammed the butt of his rifle into the face of another walker, "Oh fuck!" Mark exclaimed as he saw the group of walkers slowly surrounding them both.
"What do we do?!" Otis exclaimed while take a quick shot at a walker, "What the fuck do we do now?!"
"We gotta-we gotta get to the wagon!" Mark shouted back while take a few quick shots. Otis jammed his shovel into a head of a walker, causing it to get stuck. Yet that walker knocked a few others down, opening a path for them.
"Mark, come on!" Otis exclaimed as he ran forward, taking yet another shot. The two men pushed forward, firing wildly into the group of the dead. Soon they both heard the clicks of their empty guns. Otis in a panic tried to run only to trip over one of the many dead. While two other walkers grabbed onto Mark forcing him up against the fence. "Oh fuck." Otis whispered out as cowered in fear. The two men, waited for the dead to feed on them both.
Suddenly a sword pierced the skull of the walker looming over Otis, at the same time a pick swung under the jaw of one of the walkers grabbing at Mark. Before he could blink, the pick pulled out of that walker and swung around into the back of the other walkers skull. "C'mon glasses, get your ass in gear!" The young woman shouted before quickly turning around, kicking a walker in the face swiftly.
Mark looked at the two women in shock, as Otis quickly got to his feet, "Get to your wagon, we'll handle this." The black woman said calmly while reading her sword once more. Mark and Otis nodded and quickly took off running. As the men quickly returned to the wagon, the two women began to stab and slice their way through the horde. Yet far too quickly, they hit a problem, "Damn." She grunted out as her sword remained stuck in the skull of a walker she killed, "Damn!" She exclaimed as the dead walker fell, causing her sword to fall from her grasp.
"Huh?" The other woman quickly asked, looking back. This caused a walker the chance to reach out and grab onto her arm. She quickly kicked the walkers knee, dropping it to the ground, yet she had to jump away forcing her to leave her pick in the head of a walker she had just killed. The two women back up away from the walkers and sighed, "Well…" She said while glancing back only to see Otis's shovel, "You want it?" She asked with a smirk.
Back inside the prison, Rick shouted out to his group, "Everyone you've got to back up! Spread out, we can't let them surround us!" Everyone, quickly listened to him backing up, all but Dexter and Andrew who stood their ground firmly.
As the walkers continued to push forward, some walked past both Andrew and Dexter, of course this meant it wasn't long before one truly noticed the easy meal. As one stopped and turned back to go after Dexter, Rick quickly raised his gun and put a round through its head. Dexter felt a speckle of blood and brain matter on his back and neck, causing him to turn around. He saw the walker fall and Rick still holding his gun up, he let out a scoff, "Don't change anything. Smarter man woulda let it get me." Dexter replied as he returned to firing at the dead.
Rick narrowed his eyes as the man, staring at him intently. The others continued to fire at the dead while Rick thought things over in his head for a moment. "That's it y'all, we've almost got 'em!" Kenny shouted out seeing the herd slowly thin out. Rick suddenly raised his gun and took a shot, putting a bullet right through Dexter's head, killing him instantly. Lee peered over seeing this event take place and causing him to be a bit shocked and confused by Rick's actions.
"Dexter's been shot!" Patricia wailed out while running to his side,
As Rick walked up to Dexter's side, he muttered under his breath, "Cry me a river."
"I think that's all of them." Glenn said while peering back towards Rick and Dexter.
"Jesus Christ, what the hell happened?" Carly asked as she quickly ran over,
"Must have caught a stray bullet, I mean we were all shooting. He must have gotten hit accidently." Rick replied dryly while glaring at Dexter's body,
"Fuck man he's dead, what the hell am I gonna do now?!" Andrew screamed out through his tears,
"You can start by dropping your fucking guns." Kenny hissed out while walking towards him,
Rick raised his head and looked at Andrew, for a moment both Andrew and Rick stood silent before Andrew's hand began to tremble. "You-it was you." He whispered out. Andrew just started to lift his hands, one couldn't tell if he was going to toss the gun to the ground or aim it at Rick, and no one would ever know. For as soon as Andrew did this, Kenny raised his revolver and put a round right through Andrew's eye, sending the thin man flying to the ground. A stunned silence was shared through the ground as Kenny held the gun to Andrew's body for a moment before finally tucking it into the back of his belt.
"Kenny-" Carly exclaimed taking a small step back before steading herself, "What the fuck!?"
Kenny turned his head back and glared at her hardly, "What?" He asked coldly,
"What?! You just-you just fucking killed Andrew!" She exclaimed,
"So what," Kenny said sharply, spinning around to face her, "That fucker was about to shoot Rick, you all saw it!"
"No! No One knows what he was going to do because you fucking shot him dead before he could fucking move!" Carly shouted back,
"Bullshit!" Kenny exclaimed looking to Rick, "You fucking saw him, he was ready to shoot you down!"
Rick swallowed a bit nervously, and before he could answer Carly spoke up once more, "We just had to deal with one killer and now we have another. You heard what Rick said, You kill and you die."
"Whoa, whoa, Carly you aren't saying-" Lee quickly interjected,
"No, but-Rick are you just going to let this slide?" She quickly replied, looking at Rick expectantly,
Rick looked between the two then to Andrew's body, "No Carly, Kenny didn't do anything wrong. In fact he may have just saved my life, you didn't see how dangerous Dexter and Andrew were. They threatened to kill us and our kids if we didn't leave, after losing Dexter, Andrew was probably ready to shoot as many of us as he could. Kenny made the right call here, it wasn't murder, it was self defense."
"He's right Carly," Lee interjected, to some surprise of the others, "This wasn't some innocent guy, this was someone who was dangerous, someone who could have killed somebody."
"Lee you can't be-you're really okay with this?" Carly replied with a look of concern and confusion on her face,
"If you're asking if I like it, no, but you didn't know Andrew like I did. The guy was not stable, there's no doubt in my mind that he would have hurt someone." Lee replied firmly. Carly pursed her lips a bit and let out a low sigh, she crossed her arms and stood silently.
Rick took this as her coming to accept what just happened and now pressed on to other matters, "Alright, I want three people with loaded guns, I don't care who, to walk the yard. We need to be sure no walkers roamed off. Make sure the grounds are safe and clear!" Rick commanded, "Chuck, you and Axel get that fucking door to A-block closed!" He continued, causing the two men to quickly walk towards the door, both carefully stepping over the walkers."The rest of you, we need to get the gate open and start dragging these bodies out for burning. Let's get a move on, it'll be dark soon."
Everyone quickly began to separate, Andrea, Dale and Glenn walking the yard. Doug moved to help Chuck and Axel with the door, he figured that he could at the very least protect them from any lingering dead. Billy however ran over to Rick, "Mr Grimes, during the fight I saw a lot of stuff going on out there." He said while pointing his finger outside of the prison,
Rick turned his head, "Where are all the walkers?" Lee asked prudently, seeing as the build up was now gone,
"Do you think they could have pushed down a fence, walkers won't just wander off if they see food." Carly added on,
"Could've happened, I couldn't hear a damn thing with all the gunfire." Kenny pointed out,
"Only one way to find out, come with me." Rick said having the four follow him to the front gate.
As the five of them walked to the gate, Mark and Otis were both back at the wagon. Otis, hid around the back side, curled up in fear. Mark on the other hand, had pulled himself into the back and was tossing boxes aside, looking for the extra ammo they had brought with them. After a few minutes, Mark had found the box, loaded his rifle and turned to go help. Only, as he turned around he saw the stern african woman jam Otis's shovel into the ground, "Your shovel." She said simply, the thing dripping in blood and gunk,
"Ya-ya, saved my life! I don't even know what to say!" Otis exclaimed with a wide smile,
The woman reached down, helping the lanky ginger man to his feet, "Say you can get us into that prison."
Mark raised a brow for a moment, "I, uh, I think we can do that." Mark said a little half heartedly, he wanted to help but that wasn't his call,
"C'mon glasses, you've owe us one." The other woman replied with a little frown,
"I want to help but that's not...my...call…" Mark said stopping his sentence as he noticed to two pet walkers, "Uh, are they…"
"They stopped trying to attack us a long time ago." The blonde woman replied,
"My boyfriend and his best friend...somehow they stopped the others from noticing us." The other woman added on before turning to the gate, "C'mon, your friends are opening the gate. Whatever they were shooting must be dead."
"Or deader." The other woman added with a little snicker,
In the meantime, Rick and the others stepped past the three layered gate and paused looking at the carnage. "Jesus Christ." Lee said, holding back a little gag, the sight of the decapitated and smashed up walkers nearly caused his stomach to turn,
"Rick, Look!" Billy said smiling, while pointing up the road, "It's Otis and Mark!"
Rick let out a little smile as he saw the two riding up the road on their wagon, "Hey, guys. You do this?"
"Not us," Mark replied shaking his head, "It was them." He said motioning his head behind them,
Kenny peered past the wagon at the two women who slowly followed the wagon. His eyes narrowed a bit, as he saw the two chained walkers, "The hell?" He whispered out as he stepped forward, "Who the hell are they?"
"No clue, we went to go get your attention but you were clearly busy. Walkers almost got us at the fences but they came out of nowhere and saved us." Mark replied simply,
"All they want is a place to stay." Otis added on, "I figure we have the room, right?"
"More now." Rick replied with a little frown,
"What? Oh god did something happen? Is Patricia okay?" Otis quickly asked jumping down from the carriage,
"Yeah, she's fine. We'll explain later." Rick said calming the man,
"You two, saved their lives?" Kenny asked as the two women finally arrived, "Who the hell even are you?"
"Michonne, this is Molly." The african woman said simply,
"And why don't you show a little gratitude grandpa. If not for us, Red and Glasses would be walker chow right now." Molly quickly said with a little snarky tone,
Kenny let out a frown and glared at the woman, "Does that earn us a safe place to sleep?" Michonne interjected, looking towards Rick,
Rick looked back to the others and let out a short sigh, "If you'll let us take your weapons and don't mind being locked up at night, then yeah you can come in. But just you two, your...friends there aren't coming."
"Oh them." Michonne said before abruptly pulling out her sword and slicing off the heads of her two walkers, "We won't need them anymore."
Rick looked at her wide eyed, the ease in which she did that caught everyone off guard. She reached down, grabbed the chains before handing Rick her sword. "C'mon, you too princess." Kenny said holding out his hand to Molly,
Molly let out a little exhale but reached back for her climber pick, tossing it over to Kenny. "Here, and if you ever call me princess again, I'll shove it up your ass." Molly warned with a little hard glare to the man,
"Alright, well you can follow us inside and help us get started with the burning." Rick said simply as he turned around leading the others back in.
Billy hung back a little, he couldn't help but eye Molly for just a moment. She noticed this and walked up to him, "Burning? What's he talking about…"
"Billy." He quickly replied, "Billy Greene."
"Okay Billy, what the fuck are you burning?" Molly asked with a little smirk while crossing her arms,
"Oh, we had a little issue with some walkers. We gotta drag all of them out." He said while pointing to the pile of walkers laying in the yard,
"All of them." Molly said a little wide eyed,
"Yeah…" Billy replied while rubbing the back of his neck before grinning to her, "Still want to come in?"
Molly returned the grin and said, "You been out their recently? Fuck yeah."
"Billy, Molly, Let's go!" Lee shouted waving them in so they could close the gate.
The two of them quickly walked past the gate, letting Lee, Mark, and Carly pull the gate closed. "Hey there, I know you weren't with the group when Rick left the farm. Where'd he pick you up?" Mark asked Lee,
"He didn't really, I was already here when your people showed up." Lee replied,
"Oh really, sweet." Mark said with a little smile, "Names Mark." He added on extending his hand,
"Lee." Lee replied taking his hand, shaking it firmly,
"Nice to meet you man, so what were you like a prison guard?" He asked a bit interested,
"Uh no, I, uh, I was a prisoner actually." Lee replied a little ashamed,
"Really, wow." Mark replied a bit surprised, "What'd you do?"
"I…" Lee said glancing over to Carly,
"Relax Mark, he was just in for B and E. It was his first time actually." Carly easily lied, surprising Lee a bit,
"Huh, guess this may have been the one time getting arrested was good. It may have saved your life." Mark said with a little chuckle, "Hey, you got any prison tats?"
Lee let out a little laugh, "No, wasn't in here that long." Mark let out a shot laugh and the three began to walk back towards the yard with the others.
Hours later, once the sun had begun to set everyone had returned to the cell block. Most headed straight for bed, Rick on the other hand stood, leaning against the second floor balcony. Lee noticed this and made his way up to him, "Hey, Rick. You got a minute?" He asked as he approached the man,
"Yeah," Rick replied turning to him, "Just got the two new ones locked up, so I'm free. What's up Lee?"
"It's just…" Lee said a little hardly before leaning towards him, "Listen, I saw what you did today, with Dexter. I just wanted to know how you were coping."
Rick stared at the man for a moment, trying to get a read on him. After a moment he could tell two things, Lee was telling the truth about knowing, and he was sincerely asking if he was alright. "Yeah Lee, i'm fine."
Lee wet his lips and thought for a second before saying, "You know what, fuck him. He was an asshole who was threatening your wife and kid, anyone would have done the same. You did the right thing, the only thing you could at the time." Rick looked over to him again, surprised at the sudden outburst, "And don't worry, I'll keep this quiet. Not everyone here would understand why, and I know that."
Rick let out a slow nod, "Thank you, I appreciate that."
Lee nodded and leaned against the balcony as well, "Still, kinda changes what you said earlier today. Both you and Kenny, kinda tossed that, you kill you die rule out the window. Maybe you might want to think about rethinking, your policy."
Rick lowered his head and closed his eyes, "Yeah." He agreed with a defeated tone.
Alright everyone, we are done with the craziness for now! That's right, next chapter will be mostly, if not entirely about character and relationship building. Not to mention we got Molly, Michonne, Otis and Mark now added to the cast. It's getting a little crowded in the prison right now, so I hope you all feel I'm being fair and doing justice to each of the characters. Anyway, let me know what you think in a review and I'll see you in the next one!