Thedarkpokemaster-Glad you enjoyed the chapter, took a bit of thought on how I wanted it to work out. Also glad that the Lee and Clem relationship building was good. Hope you like this one too.
Don77-Ah good to have you along for the ride now and yeah with Chris I was thinking what was the best way to kill him off. In the end it came down to either Julie killing him or Tyreese doing it, I went with Julie since it seemed more impactful for her character.
Kylegriggs13-Thanks man, got it fixed. Sometimes the mistakes slip through so if I see them I like to fix them.
FocUs2400-So I don't see the group ever reaching Wellington as they will be following the comic line with some of the telltale events. So will people like Bonny show up, most likely but will they reach Wellington unlikely. Also, Shawn did indeed find Clementine and brought her back to the farm.
Smeake-Glad you enjoyed it, more Lee and Carly scenes to come. Every relationship I had in my last version will be improved upon so look forward to that.
FocUs24-The thought of throwing in more prisoners would be pretty cool but I gotta say that's not going to happen unfortunately. I feel I already have a large cast of characters and adding more would make this a bit too wild. Thanks for the thought though, does sound cool.
Worker72-Glad you liked it and as for your thought, it's very possible that could happen. I will say I have a lot planned out for her character already.
Enjoy
Chapter 6: The Gymnasium
In the hours following Chris's death everyone had been going through stages of shock and some greif. Tyreese handled the burning of Chris's body and the cleanup, Rick understood why he didn't want Chris buried yet what he had done to his body was haunting. Rick walked over to Tyreese just as the sun started to set. Tyreese stood watching the dying flames on Chris's body as Rick stood just behind him, "Well everyone knows that Chris is dead, I explained the situation but I chose to leave out what happened to his body." Rick said softly. Tyreese remained quiet so Rick continued, "Julie is with Ben, Hershel took the bullet out of his shoulder said he should be fine in a few days." Rick lowered his head and rubbed the back of his neck, "Look Tyreese I just want to say that I understand. If anyone tried to hurt Lori or Carl...I don't know what i'd do. Look just know I get why you did that to Chris and we can just forget that it happened."
Tyreese looked back to Rick with a odd smile, "Thanks Rick, come on let's get back inside."
Rick raised an eyebrow at Tyreese who was oddly too calm, "Tyreese, are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine Rick, let's just go get some rest." Tyreese said as he headed back into the cell block. Rick watched him for a moment then slowly followed him back inside.
Rick entered the cell block and was met with Lori who was waiting for him. She watched as Tyreese walked by and then she looked back to Rick who held a concerned look, "Is he alright?"
"I don't know." Rick admitted, "His daughter was almost killed today and hell she had to kill someone but he doesn't even seem to care. He just smiled at me Lori, it's very unsettling." Rick said quietly to her,
"I guess we just need to watch him." Lori replied softly. Rick let out a short nod, Lori lowered her head and started to walk back towards her cell.
Rick followed her up the steps up to the second floor and leaned against the railing for a few minutes, his mind was flipping through everything that had happened today. Yet one thing continued to surface time and time again, Shane. If people come back no matter how they die then what of Shane, he was only shot in the neck. If he was "alive" in his grave Rick couldn't live with it.
As he thought things over Hershel came walking over to him wiping off his hands once again from blood, "Evening Rick." He said as he stuffed the rag into his pocket,
"Hershel," Rick said with a nod, "Once again I have to thank you for all your help, how is Ben?"
"Fine, just needs some rest now." Hershel said as he moved next to Rick and leaned on the rail as well, "Look Rick I came over to thank you for-" Hershel began to say,
"Not necessary, You don't have to-" Rick said quickly only to get cut off right back,
"No let me talk. I want to thank you for bringing us here, I know things between us-I was going to shoot you Rick." Hershel said a bit hardly, "I figure you should know that I would have shot you on the farm. I was out of my mind with grief and anger. I still don't know if I'm back to normal but I haven't picked up a gun since that day and I don't plan on ever again. This place is special Rick and I just want to thank you for giving me and my kids a new beginning her." Hershel said sincerely,
"It was the right thing to do, Hershel. I couldn't leave you people out there, not knowing we had a place like this." Rick put his arm around Hershel, "C'mon, it's getting late and you're going to have a long day tomorrow with laying out the fields and figuring out what to do with your livestock."
Hershel let out a little chuckle, "Well hopefully we can bring them all here but we'll see tomorrow, gotta say it's probably a good thing Otis stayed back on the farm with Mark, I think Patricia and him are splitting up." Hershel said with a thoughtful look before heading back to his cell. Rick lowered his head and headed back into his cell, as he got into the bed he made a decision, he had to set things right with Shane.
Meanwhile in the cafeteria Lee and Carly had just finished eating dinner together, they had made some small talk throughout the meal and mostly learned about each other's lives before the apocalypse. Towards the end of their meal Carly brought up what had just happened to Chris, "God, it's hard to believe what just happened today. I mean here we are eating our meal while Chris just died." Carly said lowering her head a bit,
"Chris, he was the kid right? One with glasses or the one with that varsity jacket?" Lee asked a bit confused,
"He was the one with glasses." Carly replied, "He was only seventeen, hell I remember being seventeen all I wanted to do was start reporting. I thought that one day I'd be a news anchor...I wonder what Chris wanted to be." She said with a sullen tone,
Lee looked at her sympathetically, "When I was seventeen I just wanted to be a father." Lee said causing Carly to look up at him a bit surprised, "My dad was the coolest guy I had ever known. I was doing fine in highschool but the idea of college and getting a higher education didn't even matter, all I wanted to do was be him. Then one day while I was working the register at our shop he called me into his office." Lee's lips curled into a smile, "He said, "Lee, you can't be a cash register and raise a family. So you got two choices college or construction." Choice became pretty clear, went to UGLA for a few years and then I was teaching there. Met my wife...my ex-wife there...and you know the rest." Lee said hanging his head,
Carly watched him for a moment then asked, "Why didn't you have kids? I understand that your wife, did what she did but if you wanted to be a father so badly why didn't you have any?"
Lee looked up at her and frowned, "I don't know. I worked at the campus and she traveled for work. Her traveling always made us have fights, just never had the chance to really sit down and plan it all out." He replied somberly.
Carly reached her hand out slowly and took hold of Lee's, she felt for the man. She could understand where he was coming from, hell even she could tell that his crime was one of passion, a heat of the moment decision. Lee looked up at her and she gave him a little reassuring smile. Just then Andrea walked into the cafe and Carly quickly moved her hand away from Lee's and diverted her gaze. Andrea raised an eyebrow towards the two as Lee got up, "Look I think I'm gonna get going. It's been a long day."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm just gonna finish up my meal. See ya later Lee." Carly said quickly as she nervously avoided his eye. As Lee walked out of the cafe Andrea walked over and sat across from Carly with a little grin on her face. Carly looked up at her confused, "What?"
"You like him don't you?" She said with cheeky smile,
Carly rolled her eyes and blushed ever so slightly, "What am I in high school or something?"
"Well that wasn't a denial." Andrea said as she took a bite of her food, "But really him? He is a prisoner."
Carly let out a little scoff, "Does that really matter? Should I point out that Dale is almost like seventy." Carly said a bit defensively,
Andrea smirked and nodded, "Fair enough, but come on what about Doug I thought you two were...you know."
"God no, He's a sweet guy but we're just friends." Carly said with a little laugh, "And hold on a second, I did not say I liked Lee. All we were doing was eating some dinner."
"Uh huh, that's how it starts." Andrea said with a growing smile, "Gotta admit he doesn't waste much time, it's only been two days."
"Alright that's it, i'm going to bed. Goodnight Andrea." Carly said getting out of her seat while shaking her head. Andrea let out a laugh and went back to eating as Carly walked out of the cafe with beat red cheeks.
Early the next morning the group was spread around the prison but Rick, Lori and Kenny were heading towards the garage, "While I'm gone make sure you two keep an eye on Tyreese." Rick said much to Lori's dismay,
"Rick why the hell are you leaving?!" Lori yelled out angrily, "We need you here!"
"She's got a point, things almost fell apart the other day." Kenny said with a nod as Rick began to fill up a bike with some gas,
"There is something I just have to do, I trust that you and everyone else can handle things while i'm gone. It should only take a day or two at most." Rick said calmly,
"But Rick where are you going? Tell me." Lori asked almost with pleading in her voice,
"Look it's something I've thought a lot about and in the end you just don't need to know. Tell Carl not to worry and i'll try to be back by tomorrow." Rick said as he got on the bike and began to drive out of the prison,
Lori watched as Rick was let out of the prison sadly and felt Kenny's hand on her shoulder, "Wouldn't worry bout him, he's tough as nails." He said reassuringly,
"I know, I just don't know how far that will take him." Lori replied with a small break in her voice before walking away.
As she walked away she past Doug and Dale who each carried a tool box. They looked back at Lori a bit concerned and stopped when they reached Kenny, "What's going on?" Dale asked concerned,
"Rick just road off, said he'd be back tomorrow if he can." Kenny said with a shrug,
"He did? Where was he going?" Doug asked surprised as well as confused,
"Hell if I know, said it was better if we didn't know." Kenny said shaking his head, "What's with the tool boxes?"
"Were headed out to the outer fences, see if we can get them back in working order so we don't have to kill ourselves trying to open and close them." Dale explained,
"Well good luck." Kenny said before turning and heading back towards the group,
"Thanks." Doug said with a little smile as Kenny walked away.
Meanwhile Lori had just reached Carol and Katjaa who were watching over the kids happily, "Is he behaving?" Lori asked as she hugged herself,
"Of course." Katjaa said with a thoughtful nod,
"They get along like a house on fire." Carol said smiling as she watch the four children,
"Have you talked to him yet?" Lori asked Carol,
"Tyreese? No, I'm not sure what to say. I think I'll just give him some space right now." Carol said a bit unsure,
"I suppose that's for the best." Lori said with a nod,
Katjaa slowly shook her head, "I worry for his relationship with his daughter." She said softly,
"Why?" Carol asked concerned,
"Well this morning I went in and checked on Ben and she seemed terrified of him. I mean what he did to Chris, that must have been awful for her to see." Katjaa said shaking her head,
"He was just protecting her, Chris almost killed them and he turned. That wasn't even Chris anymore." Carol said defensively,
"He didn't have to do what he did to his body, it was mutilation." Katjaa said firmly,
"Alright calm down you two." Lori said easily, yet both Carol and Katjaa seemed to hold some angry glares at one another.
Nearby Patricia was sitting in a lawn chair reading as Thomas came walking up behind her, "Hello, I don't believe we've met." He said warmly,
"No we haven't, Patricia. Pleasure to meet you." She said with a smile,
"Patricia, if memory serves I believe you were the girlfriend of the man Otis. I think I heard that at least." Thomas said with a little smile,
"You heard right, we not fully. We broke up recently. What was your name again?" Patricia asked turning to face him,
"Thomas, Thomas Richards." He said with a easy smile,
Back in the cell block Glenn and Maggie had snuck away as usual and were looking for a private spot to spend some time together. "You know I can't believe we got stuck in a cell right next to your dad." Maggie said as he wrapped his arm around her,
"I'm sure that was his doing. I don't really blame the man, he still hardly knows me." Glenn said admittedly,
"Yeah but these rooms have open walls, he can hear everything we say among other things we'd do in there." Maggie said with a annoyed grumble,
"I don't think he'd hear everything." Glenn said with a smirk,
Maggie lowered her head for a moment and moved herself closer to Glenn as they walked, "Still, I know it is safer and smarter to live here but I miss my room and the farm in general." Maggie said a bit sadly,
"I'm still shocked that he let us share a room together. That was pretty cool of him to do." Glenn said smiling,
Maggie narrowed her eyes and shook her head, "No it's not, i'm an adult and he needs to start treating me like one." She said firmly then nervously started to look around, "Are you-are you sure that this part of the prison is clear? I mean we're pretty deep in here."
"No worries this whole part of the prison is clear, Rick tripled checked it." Glenn said confidently,
"Well then let's get to it sexy." Maggie said opening a door which led to a barber shop and pulling him inside before slamming the door shut.
Hours past as the group each found themselves an activity or chore to do, Dale and Doug had been making good progress on the outer fence, "Pass me a flat head." Dale said as he held out his hand,
Doug reached into the tool box and quickly past one over to him, "Here you go."
"Thanks." Dale said as he pressed the flat head into the hinge of the fence and began taping the end of the screwdriver with a hammer,
"Why do that?" Doug asked interested,
"Well don't know how but a lot of this got bent, once these get straight this will become a lot easier to open and close. So I'm just bending and straightening these back out." Dale explained, "Realistically we could open these gates with only one or two people once we're done."
"That sounds great. Do you expect to get the other two working today?" Doug asked curiously,
"Well I'll take a look at them but in the end I don't see why we'd need them. Sure it helps that we have three fences but I can't imagine they'd ever get past the first one." Dale said as he wiggled the screwdriver out and wiped his brow, "Here you do it, learn something." Dale said shifting over allowing Doug to move up to his position.
Meanwhile Lori, Carol, Katjaa and Andrea were all hanging up laundry to dry, "It's nice to have clean clothes again." Katjaa said with a smile,
"Yeah, now only if we could have-Would you stop thinking about it, he'll be fine." Carol said to Lori suddenly,
"He's probably just at Hershel's farm talking to Otis and Mark about something." Andrea pipped in trying to reassure her,
"No he's not. I've thought about it, Hershel's farm is only four hours both ways. It's been over six, he'd be back by now. No he said he'd be back tomorrow, he's going somewhere far." Lori said with a low voice, "I don't know why he does this. He always leaves me and Carl so he can go do god knows what. I'm getting sick of it!" Lori said furiously, "I'm-I'm getting sick of him."
She added on icily to the shock of the other three women.
On the other side of the field Chuck, Hershel, Rachel and Susie worked on marking boundaries for a new garden, "Have to say I appreciate the help Chuck but I could have handled it." Hershel said as he wiped his brow,
"It's fine, quicker it's done the quicker we get some fresh produce." Chuck said with a shrug as he finished nailing in a peg into the soil,
Hershel let out a nod and looked up to Rachel, "Rachel honey, hand me another peg please."
"Here." Rachel said handing him one,
"Why are we doing this." Susie said with a pout,
"We're marking the boundaries for our new garden. When it gets warmer we can start tilling the land, then we start planting." Hershel explained as he hammered in another peg,
"Gonna be pretty hard to till this whole thing." Chuck said as he get to his feet and moved along the outline,
"Yeah but it's gotta get done." Hershel said matter of factly. Just behind him Glenn and Maggie came walking up each with a new hair style. Glenn now had a clean shaven head and no facial hair. Maggie on the other hand cut her long straight hair into a jaggy trim cut, "Whoa, what happened to you two?" Hershel asked with a chuckle,
"We found a little barber shop while we were...exploring the prison." Maggie replied,
"I want to cut my hair!" Rachel exclaimed,
"Me too! Maggie where is the barber shop!" Susie said nearly shaking with excitement,
"Come on follow me, I'll show you where it is." Maggie said leading her sister's away,
"Go on girls me and Chuck can handle this." Hershel said before quickly adding, "Please be careful!"
A moment later Tyreese showed up behind Glenn and rested his hands on his shoulders, "Hey Glenn nice do. I figured today was as good as any to clean out that gym. I'm eager to get some weight lifting done, you know?" Tyreese said with an easy smile,
"Uh, sure man. Let me just go tell Maggie where I'll be." Glenn said a bit awkwardly,
"What about you Hershel you-" Tyreese started to ask,
"No. No guns. I gotta stake off this land." Hershel said quickly yet firmly,
"Fair enough, Chuck what about you man?" Tyreese asked glancing over,
"Afraid i'm busy, good luck though." Chuck said calmly as he began to hit another peg into the ground.
Twenty minutes later Tyreese along with Glenn, Billy, Andrea, Kenny and Carly all were gathered at the doors of the gym. "Your dad cool with you helping us?" Glenn asked Billy as he pulled out his pistol,
"What, am I supposed to just sit around doing nothing because my dad is worried about me? What he doesn't know won't hurt him." Billy said almost defensively,
"Alright cut the fucking chatter and listen up." Kenny said irritated, "Okay so here's the plan we need to go in here ready to place is packed." Kenny explained,
"I know we don't have many rounds left so stay close. If we run out we just run back out and lock the doors, understood?" Tyreese said firmly,
"Let's just get this over with." Carly said as she flicked the safety of her pistol,
"Alright, here we go." Tyreese said as he pulled open the doors and walked in.
"We should clear around the door first so none slip out behind us!" Glenn shouted out as he began taking shots,
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Andrea shouted back,
"So glad you brought that idea up before we started!" Carly yelled as she took three quick shots at the incoming horde.
To the shock and surprise of the others Tyreese let out a monstrous roar and continued to shot and slam his hammer into the incoming walkers distancing himself from the group. "Tye keep close! Tye!" Kenny shouted out angrily as he continued to press forward,
The group began to watch as Tyreese fought into the center of the gym slowly getting circled, "Tyreese what are you doing!?" Glenn exclaimed,
"We can't keep shooting we could hit him!" Carly shouted out bitterly as she lowered her pistol,
"Tyreese!" Andrea shouted out in horror as the walkers began to grab at him from all angles.
Alright everybody we have another chapter down. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as I liked having the chance to group of the survivors and just have some conversations instead of one main group like last chapter. Anyway let me know what you thought in a review! Small side note you may notice that my original version of this story is gone because I felt it really had no reason to stay up besides giving new people to the story spoilers, and a overall shitter story telling haha.