Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. Dust you are and dust you shall return. The two men lowered the shrouded little body into the ground as the chaplain proclaimed those final words. She looked back at a tent. Terry had already expired. Mike was standing at her side burning up from a relentless fever. He could barely stand. There was a young CNA who tended to the people who survived the walker blitz on the camp. The nineteen year old was the only medical personnel left. The nursing assistant urged Mike to rest but he made it clear that he would be there for his son to the end. "If you had been there in the first place Andre would still be here." She hissed. Mike reached out to her. She pulled away causing him to stumble to the ground. The chaplain helped him up. The small band of survivors gathered around her and escorted her away from the make-shift burial site. "Well we can't go to the CDC. When we got there it was a big fireball." She overheard through her emotional stupor." "D.C.?" Came another voice. "Fuck that. I have family in South Carolina. That's where me and the wife are headed." "You are a fool! We have to stick together!" Cried a female voice. "So what do we do then?" "In South Carolina, my family has a plantation. There's room for all of us. We have to try." The voices had become indistinguishable to her. She pushed away. "I'm staying here. With my baby boy." "But he's...he's- "Michonne you're in shock. It's completely understandable after all you've had to endure. But you need to come with us. We'll take care of you." "And that's why my baby is dead. I should have been here to take care of him." "There's nothing left here. No food, no water, no protection. You won't last a day! We've got to stick together." "Listen to them, Michonne. I want to be able to die in peace knowing that you are ok." Mike pleaded. "Die in peace? Did Andre die in peace? You selfish coward!" She pushed Mike onto the ground and drew her sword. She held it high as she towered over Mike. There were gasps from the small band of survivors. "I'm sorry Michonne. I'm so sorry." Mike pleaded in a raspy voice. Then she heard the screams. People scurried out of a medical tent. Moments later, Terry's reanimated body sauntered out of the same tent. She was so overcome with rage that the world around her faded to black. Her breath became shallow. She couldn't breathe! Despite her disorientation, she managed to summon some strength. With that strength she raised her sword higher. Everyone saw what was happening. No one stopped her. The group figured that maybe this would be best for Mike. This way, instead of the man being tortured though a slow, agonizing death, it would all be over in a matter of seconds. In one powerful swoop she hurl her sword towards Mike's body.
"Michonne are you ok?" Asked A woman whose name she couldn't remember. The blonde woman grabbed her hand and rubbed it.
"I'll put on a pot of coffee." Heath announced.
"Don't bother. We're out of coffee, milk, eggs, toilet paper. The list goes on." A man named Brian replied appearing next to Heath.
"That's impossible. When Michonne and I went on the run a few days ago we brought back a truckload of stuff." Heath offered incredulously.
"I told you what was going on but you still don't want to believe it." The woman shot back.
"Believe what?" Michonne asked.
"Douglas is hoarding stuff for himself and his family."
"Come on Jana do you really believe that!" Heath snapped back.
"Did you not have to leave the truck and the cargo at his house when you came back from your run? Douglas claims that this is for protocol." The woman explained, putting her fingers up I quotes.
Michonne rubbed her eyes. She was also disheartened over this new information that she had learned. It was apparent where this was heading. Exhausted she shook her head in the affirmative, answering Jana's question.
"I told you! Heath open your eyes. We've been telling you this for a while!"
"Jana what do you want me to do? It's not like we have a lot of options!" Health roared.
"Guys let's talk about this in the morning. Michonne doesn't need to hear about this." Brian said sternly.
Michonne yawned. "No, it's good. I'm a part of this community now so I'm just as concerned. Besides, I have an idea. Have you guys even talked to Douglas about this?"
There were murmurs but no response.
She smirked. "I see. I'm going to talk some of the other members of the community and see where they are at with this. I'm going to mention it casually so we don't tip Douglas off."
Jana turned to Michonne. "What about your husband? You gonna tell him?"
"No!" Heath shouted.
Michonne waved him off.
"Why not? This has nothing to do with her and Rick. Brian said.
"Heath's right. It's not a good idea to involve him just yet." Michonne informed, fully aware of the tension between Douglas and Rick. One snarky comment from the congressman and she was sure Rick would break his nose.
Jana punched her fist into her hand. "So now what? That snug bastard sits in his house acting like he's running shit. He does absolutely nothing."
Michonne shook her head. "I've got a plan. Eventually it's going to lead to a confrontation. I'm just not sure how big yet."
After talking for several more minutes, everyone retired back to their rooms. Michonne took her book and went downstairs. It was three in the morning but she wanted to sit outside on the veranda. She longed for her family. Knowing Rick, Carl, and Judith were sleeping peacefully, without having to be vigilant over every tear she shed or every emotional break that came to the surface should have been enough to soothe her aching heart.
XxX
"You're going on patrol at 3:30am?"
"Carl this is just for the time being, until I finish training the volunteers." Rick informed.
"If they didn't think enough of themselves to patrol their own town before we got here, then why should you?"
Rick bucked his gun belt around his waist. He put on the police jacket given to him by Douglas. The jacket was navy blue and on its back spelled out the word 'police' in all capital yellow letters.
"It's not about that. I want to make sure that this place is safe for you and your sister. The rest of our family needs to be safe. Michonne-
"Bring her back, Dad!"
Rick rubbed his eyes. The pain he heard in Carl's voice made him realize how powerless he was over their situation. There were no easy answers. Unfortunately there were no answers in the first place. Michonne had none. That's why she had run away from her family.
"She's coming back home."
"Dad, quit your lying! You don't even believe that yourself!"
"Michonne has to come back when she's ready." Rick answered, trying to be brave.
"She didn't do anything wrong. She's not going to hurt Judith."
"Let's talk about this when I get back."
"It just doesn't feel right anymore. It's not home without her."
"I know, son. I know."
Rick hugged his son. Carl held on a bit longer than he expected.
"Put the couch against the door. Push the table against the patio door."
Carl groaned. "Yeah I know the routine."
"I'll see you in a few hours."
"Dad?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think it would be ok if Judith and I saw Michonne?"
Rick paused. "We need to give her some space. Let's honor that."
Dejected, Carl nodded. He moved the couch into position as Rick walked out of the house and shut the door.
Xxx
Waiting in a black jeep outside of Rick's home was Ivelisse, one of the volunteers he was training for the police force. At twenty-three years old she had finished officer's candidacy school for the Marine Corps when the outbreak happened. Her police jacket matched Rick's. She was adjusting her camouflaged cap that covered her jet black bobbed cut.
"You ok, Deputy Grimes?" She asked when Rick settled into the passenger seat of the jeep.
"Is it that obvious?" He answered with a cackle.
"Remember, I was going to be an intelligence officer before all of this."
"Then maybe I should be answering to you. You should be in charge of getting all of this off of the ground." Rick stated with a sense of pride in his trainee.
"Bullshit Deputy Grimes. I know what you can do. I've been around your people. They speak very highly of you. I see how you interact with the community. You have this cold demeanor but anyone with a brain knows you have a giant heart. It's a defense mechanism."
Rick laughed again. "Are you psychoanalyzing me?"
"Not really, but I will say this. I know that you miss her very much, sir."
Rick abruptly turned his head to meet Ivelisse's gaze but she was eying the road."
"She misses you too, sir."
"You know where Michonne is?" Rick questioned almost coming out of his seat.
"I know everything." Ivelisse answered cockily.
"Is she ok? Where is she?"
The young marine slowed the jeep down. She turned off the headlights and drove onto a very small access road. She pointed towards a house where a figure was lounging on a swing sofa on the veranda. Reaching into the backseat, Ivelisse produced a pair of binoculars and handed them to Rick.
"She's been having nightmares. She's not sleeping well. It's classic PTSD. She hasn't forgiven herself, sir." Ivelisse continued thoroughly as Rick observed Michonne.
He lowered the binoculars and gave his partner a look.
"Deputy Grimes, I'm sorry. I can get really carried away. I'm so sorry. I know that it's none of my business."
"Naw it's ok. You did good. I bet you did very well in OCS."
"Top of my class." Ivelisse bragged.
The pair then witnessed a male joining Michonne on the veranda. The man draped a blanket over her legs. Rick wanted to spit! He couldn't handle this. He should be the one comforting her under the moonlight. That was his job! Rick rolled his eyes at this random tending to Michonne.
"That's Heath. He's cool. He brings back a lot of the supplies we get here in the community."
"What supplies?" Rick sarcastically jested, trying to hide his jealousy from Ivelisse.
"You mean you didn't get your roll of toilet paper last week, sir?"
Rick laughed then opened the passenger door and got out. "Check the fences and the walls around town. I'm going to walk a bit and check things out."
"Sir, don't do anything stupid!" Ivelisse jabbed trying to keep her voice from rising.
"I'm not. Just check the perimeter." Rick answered as they both looked back towards Heath and Michonne.
Ivelisse put the jeep in drive and pointed her finger. "Keep your cool sir."
"I'll keep that in mind ma'am." Rick replied patting the top of the vehicle. The marine drove off. Rick put the binoculars back up to his eyes.
"Boy that didn't take long." Douglas Monroe gleefully proclaimed, approaching from behind. The congressman patted Rick on the back. "I was going to give it two or three months, but she left you after only three and a half weeks?"
Rick checked his watch. He fought hard to ignore the man's baiting.
"It's just the way things are. At least your son and daughter didn't get too close to Michonne."
Rick balled up his fist.
"It's nature, you know. It's natural to stick to our own kind. Almost how you don't see a lion trying to mate with a cheetah."
Rick grinded his teeth. "I indulged your ignorance the first time because I was in your home. Now I don't have too."
Douglas watched him move on.
"That's right, ignore him!" He could almost hear Michonne saying to him in his head.
"Why are you out at this hour? "Are you following me?" Rick asked unable to help himself. He noticed Douglas dressed in a robe and pajamas.
The congressman laughed. "I'll let you change the subject this time."
Rick gave the older man a dismissive look and planted his eyes on Michonne. She seemed to be crying. Heath wrapped his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. Rick walked on. If he kept watching, he knew he would do something idiotic.
"Rick, you're doing an excellent job with the group you've assembled. The training you've given is first rate. Your organization is impeccable. It's not what I would have expected from-
"I know. Some Barney Fife, country bumpkin, small town cop, right? That's what you wanted to say!"
"Don't act like you haven't prejudged me, Grimes."
"You're an arrogant, bigoted fool. That's what you are. Has nothing to do with your color."
"Don't talk to me about bigotry, young man! You gallop up in here with your jeans, cowboy boots, and shiny gun, flashing Michonne on your arm. I bet before the Turn you had some mousey, white housewife following behind you and catering to your ego. Probably thought you hit the jackpot when you married her too. You would have never looked at Michonne twice with all of her qualities. She would have been beneath you, right? The reality is, you're beneath her. She's a jewel, Grimes. The fact of the matter is in my community we had plenty of jewels but black skin was always the disqualifier wasn't it? 'Ol boy, I'm just not impressed by this whole personal you've conjured up for yourself. I see you. No one's afraid of you. I know I'm not."
"Who cares." Rick responded as he continued to walk. Douglas' words stung.
XxXxX
Twenty minutes later he met up with Ivelisse on the outskirts.
"You drive this time." She said, getting out of the driver's seat and handing Rick the keys.
They swept the perimeter once more. Ivelisse grabbed onto her armrest as Rick made sharp, abrupt turns onto the streets. He was clenching his jaw. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel.
"Chief, I really hope that you didn't start any trouble at Heath's" Ivelisse prodded.
Rick didn't answer.
"Michonne's in good hands."
Rick winced.
"Ok, bad choice of words. What I was suggesting was that Michonne is safe where she is. They are very good people. Heath was a chemical dependency therapist, Jana was personal trainer, and Brian was a martial arts instructor."
"She can take care of herself."
"I'll stop talking, Chief. I'll just listen if you need to talk."
After a few minutes in silence Rick felt guilty.
"While you were driving around Douglas Monroe confronted me."
"Oh that guy." Ivelisse said flippantly.
"He doesn't like Michonne and I together."
"I don't see how that's any of his business."
"Yeah how about that. But then he went on this rant saying that I would have never looked at Michonne before the walkers came."
The woman thought for a second. "Even if that's true, does that make you a horrible person?"
Rick smiled. He loved Ivelisse and her candor. "It's not that I would have never considered being with a woman like Michonne but she would have been out of my league back in the day. God knows sometimes I wonder how she puts up with me. I guess I just did what was expected of me. Never thought twice about it. Kind of like being programmed like a robot."
"That's how it works. "It's never going to go away is it, sir?"
"When this all started, I thought that it didn't matter anymore." Rick confessed. Suddenly he had a dark epiphany. He thought about what it must have been like for Ivelisse, as a Puerto Rican woman to graduate from college and finish at the top of her class in OCS in the Marine Corps. Rick knew it had to have been hell and it made him angry. He was sure Michonne went through some of the same adversities. He recalled all of the racist garbage some family members, coworkers and acquaintances would spew back in Kings County. It was the main reason Rick felt so drawn to Shane. His dead friend was an asshole yet he hated racism as much as he did. Rick thought it to be an interesting dichotomy.
"It's always going to be with us." Ivelisse repeated.
"Race?"
"Yeah."
Rick sighed. "I know that now."
"Just like the walkers are always going to be with us."
"Interesting comparison-but appropriate. Both have sharp teeth and can destroy lives."
"But I see how you love Michonne. She's stunning. I really hope that I can find someone who looks at me the way that you look at her."
"Stop." Rick laughed turning red.
"Congressman Monroe is an educated fool. He's just like those guys I went ROTC with at school. Maybe when the herd comes, some walker will take him out."
Tickled, Rick slapped the dashboard and laughed again. "That's not nice, you know."
"Yeah whatever."
"But I couldn't help but to pick up on what you said. When the herd comes?" Rick questioned catching Ivelisse's phrasing
"Sooner or later we're going to get attacked, aren't we?"
Rick hesitated before he answered. "Yeah"
"It always does."
"I'm hoping that's it's later. The people here have a lot to learn."
"They have a good teacher."
"I guess."
"Chief, I'd join you in a foxhole any day. It would be an honor, sir."
"Thanks. And what's with the chief stuff?"
"You assembled our band of merry men. You lead wherever you go. As far as I'm concerned you are now the chief of police of Alexandria. People listen to you. You put them before yourself without a second thought. Like I said, I can't think of a better man I'd fight with. You would have made one hell of a marine."
Rick's heart fluttered. "You finished OCS, right?"
Ivelisse looked puzzled. "Right?"
"Well it's only fair that if you call me chief, I get to call you lieutenant."
The marine smiled.
Rick nodded.
After a few more rounds, Rick dropped off Ivelisse at her home. Bob had expressed interest in training as an officer and Rick was going to pick him up for the next shift.
"Thanks."
Ivelisse was dumbfounded but quickly understood why Rick was expressing gratitude.
"Everything will be ok. I believe in you Rick Grimes."
His protégé ran from the jeep and into her home. Rick sat alone attempting to collect himself before the next shift.