Tyreese stops Bob and Sasha on the way down the block, "Look, we can't continue to leave each other out of the loop like this. I will let Rick know that Michonne must have left sometime yesterday."
"No Ty,…" Sasha says while putting her hand on Tyreese's shoulder, "I'll tell him."
As they get down to the bottom of the block Sasha sees Rick talking with Tero, an old black man that had been living in the block long before the outbreak. Rick was listening to him closely because Tero was retired from the army corp of engineers. They were pointing down at the cracks in the ground were they were putting heavy pieces of spiked wood in the ground to slow up walkers if they tried to enter.
"What going on?" Sasha asks in an interested tone. "Hey Sasha, Tero was telling me all this rain is saturating the ground beneath the asphalt. That's why our fortifications keep slipping out of place." Rick says.
"Rick, I need to talk to you a minute", Sasha says.
Rick and Sasha move over toward a clean barrel of water. Rick dips his hands in to the water barrel and throws some water on his face, "So what's up, Chonne alright?"
Sasha takes a deep breath and says, "Rick…she left." He stops wiping the excess water off his clean shaven face. He leans in closer as if he was heard of hearing,
"What do you mean she left?" "Tyreese went in the room this morning just like we always do, to give her some food for the day while we are gone and, when he went in to the room she was gone. Her sword was gone and her bag." Sasha tells him.
Rick walks away from Sasha a little bit trying to take in the news about Michonne leaving without so much as a warning. He closes his eyes while gently rubbing his eye brows. "How long has she been gone, who saw her last?" He asks with reserve in his voice.
"The last time I saw her was yesterday morning; me, Maggie, Jane and Rosita went to talk to her yesterday about what happened and how she needs to communicate with us more." Sasha explains.
Rick looks at Sasha wanting her to continue, "What else did she say?"
Sasha goes on to say, "She said that she was feeling better and that she has been working out like crazy in the room, but how she couldn't bring herself to leave it yet. She said that she wouldn't be any good to the group unless she was able to find something that was misplaced last month."
Rick recalls the conversation they had when he found out what happened to her. About regaining or repairing what she lost.
"Rick, we wouldn't have been able to stop her even if we did see her leave." Sasha says walking over to him putting her hand on his shoulder.
He knew Sasha was right they couldn't stop her if she wanted to go, he probably couldn't either. He wanted to go after her but she has a 24 hour head start, and he has no idea what direction she went in.
"Rick, once she finds it she will be back." She says reassuringly.
But Rick knew he would be able to concentrate on anything knowing she was out there alone.
Rick turns around to Sasha, "I can't stay here I have to try and find her, Where's Daryl?" He asks anxiously.
"He left yesterday afternoon to go hunting." Sasha says with confusion.
"Rick, you have no idea which way she went you'll get end up getting lost yourself." She says trying to get him to listen to reason.
"No I won't, there's a run that's happening today right?" He asks. Rick walks over to the group of workers, "Who is supposed to meet up with Daryl later today," He asks,
"Me, I'm supposed to go meet up with him at some old rest stop on inner state 85 right outside the tourist town. It's about 15-20 miles out. Glenn was supposed to be going with me" Tero tells him.
"Alright, I'll go with you instead of Glenn", he says walking over to Glenn. Glenn looks confused so Rick waves him over as he walks quickly over toward Tyreese.
Glenn does a light jog over to the two men, "What's going on?" Rick looks at Glenn and Tyreese.
"Look, I am gonna go on this run, I want you and Tyreese to look out for the group, we don't want another incident like the one that happened last month with Chonne. Glenn, I want you and Maggie to keep Carl and Judith over your place until I get back."
"What about Jane?" Glenn asks, "She can stay with her brothers over at Abe's. Ty, keep an eye on everybody because we are coming up short on fighters, so be vigilant." Rick tells the two.
"Tero, how long before we can leave," Rick says walking over to him, "Well we can leave right now the truck is ready to go." Tero tells him. Rick starts to run back up to his house to talk to Carl but yells out, "I will meet you there in 15 I need to grab some stuff." Rick opens the front door and immediately runs upstairs to the bedroom closet.
Carl hears the front door swing wide open then he hears his father upstairs in the bedroom closet. Carl rushes from the kitchen upstairs to the bedroom closet. "Dad what's wrong what's going?"
Rick continues looking through closet without saying anything because he is apprehensive about how to tell Carl or if he should tell him that Michonne left the cul de sac.
"Dad what's wrong?!" Carl asks again but this time in an angry tone.
Rick grabs the machine gun and two full clips. He connects the machine to the gun strap and wraps it around his shoulder. Then he walks out and opens the dresser draw and pulls out his gun belt and his sheriff's pistol.
"Dad", Carl repeats.
He stops what he is doing and looks down at Carl, "Carl…Michonne left she didn't tell anyone where or why she just left. But look, I just found out and I am gonna go with Tero to find her. I will find her and I will try and bring her back, alright?" Rick goes back to strapping his gun belt on and checking his revolver making sure it's loaded then his slides it in to his holster.
"Dad...you promise you'll bring her back right?" Carl asks.
Rick puts his hand on Carl shoulder, "I'm going to do everything in my power to bring her back Carl I promise you that. Now, I want you and Judith to stay with Glenn and Maggie until I get back."
Jane come up stairs with Judith in her arms, "What's wrong, what going on?"
Rick walks back in to the closet to get his jacket then comes back out, "Michonne is gone; I'm going to look for her." He says in hurry, "Carl and Judith are going to stay with Glenn and Maggie I want you to stay with your brothers over Abe's house.
"But we can stay here; I will have my brothers' stay with us like before." Jane tells him as he rushes past her,
"I was up the block when they did that. I don't want another incident like what happened with Michonne, now please pack up some stuff Judith Maggie will be here any minute." Rick says while going back down stairs.
Rick opens the door just as Maggie is about to knock. "Rick what's wrong?" she asks,
"Michonne is gone I'm going to try and find her", he says moving past her in a rush. He turns back around, "I want you Glenn to keep Carl and Judith at your place until I get back. Tyreese is gonna watch out for the group. If problems come up let him know." Rick turns back around and runs down to Tero's SUV.
Rick and Tero are riding down the road toward the inner state 85 in silence. Rick is being a bit fidgety he keeps adjusting the gun strap on his shoulder and he keeps closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead. Tero is feeling a little uneasy because of Rick's jumpiness, "I hope Daryl was able to get something I really go for some venison."
Rick nods his head at the same time ignoring what Tero just said. As they ride along road Rick sees some walkers on the side of the road in the distance, "Hey slow down a little" he tells Tero while trying to get a good look at some of the walkers. He doesn't see her, "Alright keep going."
"Say, Rick where is that stunning samurai been at? I haven't seen her since last month sometime." Tero asks casually.
She hasn't been feeling well past few weeks." Rick says in a bothersome tone.
"Oh, that's too bad, such a pretty girl and an excellent fighter with or without the sword." He says with a smile on his face that looks somewhat mischievous to Rick.
Rick starts to move his hand slightly toward his knife thinking that Tero might have something to do with Michonne's attack. "Why do you ask? You like her or something?" he asks curiously.
Just when Rick is about to pull the knife out Tero says, "Yea…well I mean not like that. She reminds me of my wife. See my wife, Sheila, she was a fighter too. I met my wife in the service back during the Vietnam War. Sheila was tough like a..."
Rick says, "Michonne?"
"Yea Michonne. My Shelia was just like her. Once everything started going to hell Shelia was right there to have my back. She was good with gun; well she was good with anything that could be used as a weapon actually. I had her back and she had mine. Sheila was always the constant soldier but she always made room to let me be a man and she let me be her man." Tero says while reminiscing.
Rick slides the knife back down in to the holster looks over at him and with interest asks, "What happened to her?"
Tero huffs, "A few weeks before your group came to our block, she got killed by four of those things while on patrol one evening. The neighborhood heard gunfire but by the time we got to her she was already…"Tero gets choked up briefly, "…one them had bit her on the neck but she managed to put a bullet in the head of all four of those bastards. After she died I lost it for a little while then, I remebered something she told me a few nights before she died she said, 'I am not afraid of dieing. We were born to die, my biggest fear is that I sweated the small stuff too much instead of enjoying my time here you.' That was my girl, hardest women I ever met. But I guess I was lucky to have her around as long as I did given our situation." Tero laughs, "Neither one of us never knew which day would be our last so every time we…well you know it was extraordinary. You never know how much you care about someone until something threatens to take them away."
Rick was listening closely to what Tero was saying. He started to feel emptiness in his stomach. "But I am sure you already know what I am talking about, right? I mean you have managed to keep your family together your wife your kids even those two older boys, who they your brothers in laws? Tero asks.
"Well actually no, she not my wife she's more of a nannie you could say." Rick says looking out the window as he looks at the sign for inner state 85.
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry in to your business." Rick shakes his head in appreciation for the fact that Tero recognized he was being nosey. "Anyhow, that was why I was asking about Michonne." Tero takes a deep breath, "Any guy that could have a woman that strong and beautiful by his side would be pretty damn lucky."
Rick starts to think about him and Michonne back at Elysium and wondered if that was the reason it was so intense when he and Michonne are alone together. Neither one of them knew for certain if it would be the last time they would see each other. Anytime they're alone he is automatically drawn to her, always wanting to kiss her or touch her in anyway, there was always that sense of urgency with Rick when it came to being intimate with her.