Chapter 36
Rick and Glenn carried Luke's body out of the prison and threw him to the walkers while Maggie and Carl cleaned up the mess of blood on the floor.
"You know" Michonne said to Rick as she followed them out for her turn at the guard tower "we should do the same to those men in there" she said pointing at the cell block that held Blake's men.
Rick looked up as she un-hooked the gate and watched them as they threw Luke out to the walkers, he shook his head "we're not killing them" he said "they are safely locked away in there."
"Eating our food" Glenn said miserably "we don't have enough to keep feeding them, as it is we're going to have to do another supply run soon."
"And what happens when winter comes?" Michonne asked "we'll have to get more blankets for them. I'm sick of getting supplies and feeding them Rick, they tried to kill us. And what they did to Andi and her family..."
Rick sighed; he knew that what they were saying was right, they couldn't keep feeding these men. Every-time they went out on supply runs they were using valuable gas and it was taking people away from the prison and putting the group as a whole, in danger.
"I know" he said finally said as the three stood under the shade of the guard tower "but how are we going to do it? Huh? We can't just line them up and shoot them."
"No" Glenn said quietly "we don't have the bullets to do that."
Michonne grinned "no, no wasting bullets" she put her hand on her katana.
"We have to remember as well" Glenn said, scratching the back of his head "Luke mentioned that there were more of them, the ones Daryl and Andi came across when they found Luke. And then there's Andi as well, she's in no fit state to really do anything and definitely not have a baby. Do you think she actually tried to kill herself before?"
"No, not kill herself" Rick sighed again "kill the baby yes, although I think she might try to kill herself after this, I just don't know. I know Daryl won't be leaving her side for now which means more work for the rest of us."
"Maybe she will want to get back out and do things again" Glenn offered, he knew that it would be tough splitting the guard between four people, even though Carl had always offered to do it there was no way the group would let a child stand guard at night.
Rick nodded his head "maybe, but we can't push it." Rick and Glenn made their way back into the prison while Michonne took her position in the guard tower and prepared for another quiet night.
Andi sat on the edge of her bunk, Herschel sitting in front of her and Daryl leaning against the cell door his arms folded across his chest.
She looked blankly and the floor, her hand clutching the necklace with her wedding bands on them.
"She's in shock" Herschel said looking up at Daryl and then back down to Andi, he felt her forehead and then tried to look her in the eyes but she moved her head away from his hand and his gaze. "You need to get washed up Andi" he said quietly "we need to get this blood off you, clean clothes and you need to eat something."
Andi just slowly shook her head "no" she whispered and looked up at Daryl "when are you doing watch next?" She sighed.
Daryl was surprised for a moment at the question and was momentarily speechless "Uhh.. tonight, I got the watch tonight" he said quietly finally stepping into the cell.
Andi nodded and looked from Herschel to Daryl "I'll keep you company, extra set of eyes will always help and we need to make sure that we don't let anyone else in here."
Daryl nodded and glanced at Herschel.
"You need to be taking it easy Andi, a woman in your condition should…." Herschel started saying but was cut off by Andi suddenly standing up and grabbing her weapons.
"I'm not an invalid Herschel" she said angrily, turning to face them both "you both know how I feel about this" she spat pointing at her belly "I don't want it and I'll not have it but I'm not going to out there again and try to kill myself in the process. Yes, at this minute in time I hate myself, I hate that I let that bastard in and I hate that I let him pull the wool over my eyes. I endangered this group, a group that has shown me nothing but kindness and compassion. Now I can fight, I know how to fortify this place so that no-one will be able to get into it and take, keep this group safe."
Herschel went to speak again but stopped as Andi held up her hand "just let me finish please, Herschel. My shoulder is healing and I'm getting more and more movement in it every-day. I just want to get on with my life, put this all behind me and try to work out a way that I can end this pregnancy. I'm not gonna just sit in here all day thinking about the past, not pulling my weight in the group" she shock her head "that's not how I'm built, I do my share."
Herschel sighed "Ok, but will you let me just say this?" Andi nodded "you have an innocent life growing inside you. It wasn't that babes fault how he or she was conceived, yes it was from a vile act of rape and has that rapist's blood but it also has your blood running through its veins. And don't forget that blood is still of the same family as your husband, a good man by the sounds of it."
Andi looked away from the two men in front of her and bit her lip, she knew that the words that Herschel was saying were true, but how can she keep this thing? Bring a child into this world?
"Andi, you won't be going through it alone, we are all here to help you through this pregnancy." Herschel moved in towards her but she backed away from him.
"I can't keep it Herschel" she whispered, moving now to walk out of the cell "I couldn't protect my daughter from the filth that is out there, I just can't go through losing someone else I loved."
She turned and walked out of the cell leaving Daryl and Herschel in silence.
"She's in denial" Daryl said looking at Rick, Herschel and Daryl had called an impromptu meeting with the leader after Andi had gone up to the watch tower to sit with Michonne. "I think she may have Rape Trauma Syndrome, she doesn't wanna to think about what happened to her so she is gonna try ta keep herself busy."
Herschel glanced at Rick and looked back at Daryl "how do you know these things Daryl?"
Daryl blushed and looked down at the table "I can read a book" he said angrily "what we gonna do about Blake's men?" He said, swiftly changing the subject.
Rick sighed "I think there are some men that might integrate ok into the group, there are some who seem to have genuine remorse for what happened and for what they did. Others though I think was will have to do something that maybe you" he said looking at Herschel "may not agree with."
Herschel now sighed, he knew exactly what Rick meant, he meant that they would have to kill the men and he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that. He understood that the men were dangerous and that letting them go would only bring heartache to another poor group that let them in, or they would come back and try to take the prison again.
"I know what needs to be done Rick, I'm just not sure ethically I can agree to it. But if you think that is what needs to be done then so be it but" he stood up from the table "I will have nothing to do with it."
Rick nodded and looked over at Daryl "Ok, if that's how ya wanna do it, I think we should start with Tyler. Bring him out at nightfall, do it then when everyone else is inside" Daryl said, Rick nodded "who are the ones you think could stay?"
"There are three" Rick took a sip of his now cold coffee "an older guy, Jim and then two younger guys, 'bout our age, Richard and Todd. I think they could be handy to have around, strong guys. Maybe not give them any weapons and never leave them alone until we are one hundred per cent certain they are safe. That leaves four others including Tyler that we will need to take care of."
Daryl nodded "we should tell Andi" he said.
Rick shook his head "I don't know if that's a good idea Daryl."
"We can't keep this from her, she needs to know that she can trust us, that nothin's changed" Daryl argued. "The last thing we should be doing lying to her and keep secrets, that might be something you can do Rick, but not me" he paused before adding "And you ain't gonna stop me."
Rich sighed and rubbed his temple "Ok, fine."
"I wasn't askin' your permission" Daryl said standing up "we better get another couple of cells ready, but I'll talk to Andi first. I think she should see the men first, how do we know they were one of the main guys that hurt her before? And if they were, they gonna be joining their friends out with the walkers."
Rick frowned and sighed "Ok, I'll tell the rest of the group, you can tell Michonne and Andi up in the tower" Rick asked.
"Right" Daryl nodded grabbing his bow, he put it over his head and walked towards the doors "let's get this done" he thought to himself without looking back at Rick.
Andi leaned against the guard railing and looked down at the walkers that were below her, she sighed. "A lot of walkers down there" she said as Michonne joined her.
"Not as many as there were before your little adventure" Michonne said looking out over the grounds.
"Does Daryl need to go on a hunt?" Andi asked suddenly.
"Not for a while I don't think, he managed to pick up a few bucks on his last hunt" Michonne eyed the woman next to her. Something wasn't right about her; she was all over the place, her mind didn't seem to be able to focus on anything for long.
"I think I might go for a walk around the grounds" she said picking up her machete and one of the semi-automatic guns. She saw the look on Michonne's face and smiled "don't worry, not in the grounds, down the walkway" she pointed to the fenced walkway down to the first set of gates "walker free, down to the front gates."
Michonne sighed, she couldn't stop her, and she could only hope that she was only going to that and not suddenly change her mind and go back into the grounds with the walkers. She watched as Andi emerged from the bottom of the tower and walked down to the start of the walkway. She stopped and looked at some of the walkers that had followed her from the tower behind the fence. Andi moved towards them and took them out easily through the fence before moving on down the walkway.
Daryl saw Andi walking down the path and looked up at Michonne who just nodded at him. He ran up the stairs two at a time and joined Michonne watching Andi from the railing.
"What's she doin'?" he asked her.
"Going for a walk" Michonne said simply "she's very scattered Daryl, jumping form topic to topic, her mind isn't settling."
"She's in denial, tryin' to keep busy, keepin' her mind off what happened" Daryl said pulling on his bow.
"She asked if you needed to go on a hunt."
Daryl cocked his head at Michonne "what d'ya say?"
"No, that you got a couple good bucks on the last one."
Daryl nodded "we gonna take care of Blake's men" he said to her "Rick thinks a couple of the guys could be ok to let stay here, the others though we're gonna take care of, starting with Tyler."
"Let them stay? With us?" Michonne was taken aback a little bit, let some of the men who tried to take the prison become members of this group? Is Rick insane? "Do you think that's a good idea?"
Daryl shrugged "I ain't the leader here, if I had it my way I'd kill the lot of them" he nodded at Michonne and sighed "I'm gonna go tell Andi the good news."
A/N: A slightly slower chapter after the excitement of the last couple :-) Please let me know your thoughts... as always thanks to Darkshadow008 for ideas. Enjoy!