Chapter Twenty Seven
Dani gasped as she saw the many walkers descend upon the empty streets of Alexandria. This was a lot worse, she thought to herself. How are they supposed to take them all on?
She motioned for Carl, Sam, Jessie and Enid to go upstairs. Carl gave her a nod, implying that she knows she can count on him. Of course she can. He was a grown up now, not a kid like Ron. She saw Carl grab his rifle and head upstairs.
"We need to start to fight them," Carol whispered to her. "But if we draw on them now, they'll be on the door right away."
"We wait," Dani told her. "We hear gun shots out there, we'll fight them. For now, we keep this place secured."
Carol nodded to her. The both huddled underneath the large windows, hearing the low hungry growls of the walkers go by. Dani tried to look brave and confident, but inside she was scared to death.
Especially for Daryl.
But what Rick had said kept running through her mind. The walkers are stupid, but they're not. That's the advantage they have against the dead.
….
Daryl kept his rifle on the walkers lumbering down the streets. He waited for the signal Rick would give him to start to shoot. He glanced over at the house Dani was in with Carol. He knew she was safe for now. He hoped she would beat this.
He saw the upstairs window open, and Carl bringing out his rifle, pointing into the herd. But where was Dani? He hoped he would see her. He hoped she would see him.
Damn it! Why did Rick separate them?
"Daryl," he heard Michonne speak behind him. "Rick says to start. He'll radio in with Abraham's group to start as well. Separating them into groups."
Daryl nodded. That seemed like a good plan. Then, he pulled the trigger.
He heard in the distance of Abraham's group firing into the herd as well. He saw a group of walkers forming towards them, as well as a group heading towards the direction of Abraham's.
Then he saw Carl start to shoot into the dead crowd, having another group form over by his house as well.
This could work, he thought to himself. It has to.
…
"This is not working," David yelled as more walkers lurked towards them. "We're only drawing more in! We kill one, then thousands take its place."
"Just keep firing," Abraham commanded him. "We shoot at them together."
Francine kept firing into the dead crowd standing by Abraham's side. She nodded at David, ensuring the outcome would be satisfactory.
Tobin ran to the turret, and god damn that clumsy asshole, he slipped and fell into the herd!
"Fuck," David yelled as he watched helplessly as Tobin was torn apart by the walkers.
"Shit," Abraham yelled. "Everyone! Be the fuck careful! We just lost one! I'm not losing another today! I mean it!"
David kept firing into the massive rotting crowd, trying to keep his mind on the task at hand, and not on Tobin getting his guts torn out or his head pulled off.
One stupid mistake, and that's it.
…..
Carl kept firing into the crowd, helping his father and family kill as many walkers as they can. Enid stood behind him, watching as every shot he made hit their targets. She put her hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Good job."
Carl smiled to himself. Despite the circumstances, he was impressing Enid with his shooting skills. He kept firing into the massive herd, focusing on trying to thin it out.
"What the fuck's going on," he heard Ron yell. "Enid! Get over here!"
"No! Go away, Ron," Enid fired back at him. Carl stood up to face a very angry Ron holding a handgun at his side. He kept looking at that firearm as Ron yelled at Enid some more.
"I said get over here! NOW!" He raised his voice and pointed to the ground, indicating where Enid should go. She merely crossed her arms across her chest and defiantly glared at him.
"I don't have to do a God damned thing you say, Ron! I'm not your girlfriend! I never was! You don't order me around! Ever!"
Ron gave her a furious look then marched over to her, his eyes flaming with anger. Carl stopped him.
"Ron, please! This is not the time or the place! We have bigger issues to deal with, such as that walker crowd out there right now!" Ron pushed him back.
"Fuck off, Carl! We let you in! I tried to be your friend, even though you acted like you were so above everything! Like you were better than us! And your dad kills my mom, and now he's fucking her! And now….you're taking my girl away from me! Who the fuck do you think you are, you asshole?"
Enid stepped between them, staring him down. "It's you who has the problem, Ron. Your father was an evil man who beat your mom! I was here when I heard him beating her! Remember? You told me to hide, and I heard her scream! You know what an evil fuck he was!"
"DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT ABOUT MY DAD AGAIN," Ron screamed at her. "How dare you! We didn't have to take you in! We shoulda left you out there to rot! You ungrateful little bitch!"
"Hey! Don't call her that," Carl came to Enid's defense. "And I wasn't trying to take her away from you. Not at all. We're friends. That's all. Trust me."
Ron laughed sarcastically. "Trust you? After what you and your friends did? You took everything away from me!"
"No I didn't! Stop blaming me, all right? My dad had to do it! Your father was going to kill your mom and Sam!" Carl reached out to console him, knowing that Ron was going through a bad time. "You saw it! What your dad was like! My dad never did that to me or my mom! Never! He'd protect me, just like he protected your mom!"
Ron shook his head, his lips trembling, and pointed his revolver at Carl, sneering at him. "Everything was fine before you guys came along," he cried. "Look what you've done!"
….
Tara and Eugene kept firing their rounds into the massive herd. Despite the many walkers they had put down, more were coming.
And Tara feared they wouldn't have enough ammo left.
She looked over her shoulder to see the other side of the wall and felt fear grip her tightly in her throat. There were more coming. A lot more than the ones inside.
Who the hell were they kidding thinking they could take this colossal herd on?
"Keep firing, Tara," Eugene called to her. "We can try to thin them out gradually."
Tara shook her head. "Impossible, Eugene! There're more of them outside!"
She turned to face the outside walkers again, this time her eyes widened. Some of the walkers began to collapse to the ground, one by one. She looked over to the tower and saw Sasha firing rounds at the crowds of walkers brushing against the walls.
Tara smiled. Thank God they had outdoor help!
….
Dani heard the faint yelling upstairs. It sounded as though Ron and Carl were in some sort of shouting match. She rolled her eyes.
"This is not the right time now," she whispered to Carol. Carol nodded.
"Go up there and shut them up," she told Dani. "I'll stay here keeping everything fortified.
Dani ventured upstairs, where she could make out what the screaming was all about, how Ron was still angry at Carl and Rick, and how Rick stole his mother. Not this again, she thought. When was that kid going to learn?
She got up to the top floor and saw Ron holding a gun to Carl, screaming at him about how he wrecked his life. Dani's heart sank and she shook her head.
Jessie came up next to her, worried as hell with Sam hiding behind her. "Oh God," Jessie moaned. "Ron!"
Dani brought out her revolver and pointed it at Ron. "Ron! Drop the gun now," she commanded sternly. Jessie became frightened at the sight of Dani aiming her gun at her oldest son. Ron glanced behind him and scoffed.
"What are you going to do, bitch? Get your white trash boyfriend to stop me," Ron mocked her. "All of you are losers! Every one of you! Deanna should have thrown you out as soon as you got here!"
"Ron, listen to me. I'm only going to ask you once. Put the gun on the floor now," Dani intoned. Jessie wailed next to her.
"He's my son," she begged Dani. "He doesn't know what he's doing!"
"Yes he does," Dani told her. "He's threatening the lives of Carl and Enid." She approached him slowly, still keeping her gun on him. "Ron, you put down that gun very slowly now to the floor. Nice and easy. You do not want to do this, son."
Ron shook his head. "I have nothing left," he wailed, still keeping his gun on Carl. "My dad's gone, you people took over, now my girlfriend says she doesn't want to be with me…..this place….it's all gone!"
"No it isn't, Ron. It's not gone. We're fighting for it. All of us. We can take it back from the dead. But please, drop your weapon. Put it on the floor now." Ron nodded, looking scared and upset. He turned to face Carl, who gave him a stern look. Enid was standing behind Carl, giving him the same look as well. Ron knew it was hopeless.
"Put it down now. One last time," Dani warned. Ron nodded and began to kneel down.
A shot rang out. Ron's head burst with blood and he slumped to the floor, dead. Jessie screamed and ran to her son, cradling his bloody head. Carl stood back, shaking his head, while Enid hugged him tighter.
Dani looked to her left and saw Carol standing on the stairs, pointing her handgun at Ron. Dani cried out to her.
"What the fuck, Carol? He was putting down his gun!" Carol shook her head, looking at her sternly.
"He wasn't to be trusted, Dani. He pulled a gun out on one of our people, threatening them. What if we give him another chance and he tries to do it again?" Dani shook her head, sighing out loud.
"He was just a boy," she told Carol. "He was just a scared little boy!"
"No he wasn't, Dani," Carol implored. "He was turning into his father, threatening Carl and Enid."
Jessie turned to face Carol, her face soaked in tears. "He…..he's….not his father! How dare you, you goddamned bitch! You killed him!"
Then walked hurried up the stairs, grabbed Jessie and slapped her across the face. "You brought this on yourself when you wouldn't do a thing for your children," she yelled at the grieving woman. "You should have killed Pete yourself instead of having your sons watch what kind of man he really was! Ron learned from him, while Sam here was trying to get a gun to protect you!"
Dani gasped and slumped against the wall, stunned by what she had just seen. Carol continued on her rant, telling Jessie she did her sons no favors by allowing Pete to beat her.
"You act as though it was my fault! How dare you," Jessie cried.
"You could have fought back," Carol said, panting hard. "I could have fought back against Ed, when he beat me in front of our daughter." Dani's head perked up at that statement she had made. "I should have killed him!" She then walked back towards Dani, who was now standing up, facing her out of concern. "My daughter was weak because of it. Ron became weak because of his father. Sam…." Her voice trailed off. And then she composed herself and looked harshly at Jessie. "Your son would have killed Carl eventually." She then walked back down the stairs and into the hallway.
Dani shook her head, her hands shaking. Jessie still cried over the body of her child. Carl picked up his rifle and aimed it outside the window.
"We still have to kill them," he told everyone, his voice cracking. "We have to." He started to fire his rifle outside. Enid knelt with Jessie, comforting her and looking sadly on Ron.
Dani was at a loss for words. She didn't want to see a child die. But what if Carol was right? What if Ron did try something later?
And what she had said about her marriage. And her daughter? Carol had never mentioned she had a child.
She walked downstairs to Carol, who was looking outside the window, watching for any walkers coming their way. Dani remained silent, standing next to Carol, looking out that same window. What could she say to this woman after what she had done? She knew Carol would go to extremes to save her family, but killing Ron?
"I don't care if you think I didn't do the right thing, Dani," Carol spoke to her in a strong tone. "I know I did. I hate it. But it was to save Carl and Enid."
Dani nodded. "I'm not judging," she told her. "I've seen the problems in Ron too. Something was wrong with him. He was going to lower his weapon, but what if he tried it again? Could we take that chance?" She remembered what Carol had done about Lizzie, how dangerous she became and how she killed her own sister. Carol had no choice.
And Daryl. What he had done at the funeral parlor the night after they buried their beloved Beth. She didn't blame him one bit.
And what she and her brother did in Louisville. Killing all of them assholes because it was the only way they'd escape.
Carol was preventing another tragedy. Unfortunately her actions created another tragedy for his mother.
"So, now you know why I said I didn't miss Ed too much," she asked Dani. Dani merely looked at her and nodded.
"That's how you knew about Jessie in the first place," Dani told her. "You saw all the signs. Sam trying to get a gun from you, how Pete was, how Jessie was acting."
Carol nodded. "But it didn't help, did it?"
Dani didn't say anything. She didn't even want to ask about her daughter. It was clear what had happened to her.
They both stood together in silence, watching the walkers lurk by their home, hearing Carl shoot at them from above, and hearing Jessie cry in pain from the death of Ron.
After a moment of silence, Dani spoke up. "I get it," she told Carol. "It's what we have to do." She then turned her head to face her friend, who looked so determined. "But I hate it all the same."
"If we didn't hate it, what else are we," Carol asked her.
…
Maggie and Rosita continued to fire their rifles into the swarm of walkers right underneath them. But the more they shot into the rotting crowd, the more they came. This was almost pointless.
Deanna was downstairs, doing God knows what. Maggie hated the fact that she was stuck with her for now. But Glenn figured that being in the townhouse with Rosita and Deanna would be all right. It wasn't.
She kept firing with Rosita, not giving in.
And as she shot into the massive herd, she imagined she was shooting at the Governor smirking at her, the police officers at Grady laughing at her and Gareth who merely grinned.
Having this much hate will get her through.
….
Deanna watched outside her window at the thousands and thousands of walkers right outside. She didn't panic, she didn't cry. She merely looked out. She could hear the faint screams and cries of her people in the distance, being torn to pieces.
All she could think about was her failures now. Her failure to realize what was really going on, thinking these walls Reg had constructed would keep them safe. They didn't. It was all pointless.
She missed Aiden, her special boy, and how he tried to have a positive attitude despite how bad the world really was. What would he say now if he was seeing this? What would Reg say?
She already knew that Spencer hated her. And she lost her standing with her people. She could hear more gun fire, but only saw more walkers.
She walked over to her bureau and pulled out her revolver. She loaded her gun and turned off the safety. She then walked to the back of her home and opened the back door, walking to the balcony.
There, she saw those things walking towards her, snarling and growling at her.
She closed her eyes.
"Reg, Aiden, I'll be on my way," she whispered.
And then fired into the crowd.
….
Daryl looked over his shoulder towards the townhouses, and saw a large mass of the walkers forming. Panic set in. He knew Maggie was over there.
But there was nothing he could do. And warning Glenn would be stupid. What the hell could he do? No one could leave their homes. They were all trapped.
He kept firing into the hordes of walkers. It was all he could do for now.
…
Three hours later, and there was no improvement in the walker herd situation. Although the masses of the walkers outside were lessoning, it did little to uplift the community's spirits. The ammo was running out.
Rick began to worry more. This was more than he ever dealt with. He glanced over to the house where his children were, and hoped they would be all right. He now worried that it wasn't a good idea for them all to be separated the way they were. But he trusted Carol and Dani to keep his family safe.
He looked down, and for the first time, saw a small pocket forming. He smiled a bit. The walkers were starting to thin out a bit. They were starting to win.
He made the decision. He was going to get his family over to his house right away.
He ran into the other room where Daryl was and motioned for him to come talk to him. Daryl walked over to him, unsure of what was going on.
"Daryl, I'm going over to Carol's house," he told him. "I'm going to bring everyone over there back here."
Daryl shook his head. "It's too dangerous, Rick. Look at them out there."
"Pockets are forming," he told him. "I can cover myself in the walker guts and walk them over here safely. Carol did it before. So can we."
Daryl paced around a bit, thinking of Rick's solution. It was crazy, but it could work.
"We're running low on ammo, and so far I only see Carl firing into the crowds. They may have enough for us. We can do this, Daryl," Rick implored him. "I still want you here just in case."
Daryl nodded. "Bring everyone back," he told Rick. "Make sure they're safe."
"I'll make sure she's okay," Rick told him, implying that it was Dani he was talking about. He then ran down the stairs and told everyone his plan, to which they groaned and complained.
"Are you crazy, Rick? You're gonna get killed out there," Glenn shouted at him. "You remember Atlanta? How we barely got out of there?"
"Yes, Glenn. And it worked. Carol did the same thing at Terminus. We can do the same thing as well. I need to bring my family here," Rick told them. Michonne nodded.
"Just go out there and do what you need to do," she told him. "We'll take care of things here."
She opened the door and killed a walker with one slash. She pulled the corpse inside, having everyone help in locking and barricading the door again. Rick took out his hunting knife and began to cut it open while Glenn got him a bedsheet to wear.
This had to work, he told himself. He couldn't lose his family. Not after all they had been through.