This Night

Chapter 235

Author's Note: More chapters! Early holidays for you all! Unfortunately, I go back to work on Monday, a payroll Monday, and I'm sure I'll be drowning. So enjoy while you can! To Guest who asked how long it was until I killed Beth. Based on a poll that I put out weather I should save her, I will not be killing her. Not right now. If she doesn't become useful (Axel is finally talking to me but he may bite it) I have the right to kill her at a later time. Finally, Jes has told me that I am allowed to tell what she did before. She has unpeeled her last layer of onion! This makes sense the way she was revealing it to me. Review please.

Washington Group:

Jes glanced over at Abraham as he was still on his knees. She then turned and looked at the herd. "They haven't noticed us yet."

"That's a good thing. Right?" Axel asked.

"That's a good thing," Glenn said.

"Well, we just scraped the bottom of the water barrel," Tara told them.

"We need to get to that rive you were talking about then," David said as Maggie came over.

"Anything?" Rosita asked.

"No," Maggie told them.

"Should we get him to the church?" Glenn asked.

"Moving him could make him worse," Maggie told them.

"What will make him better?" Rosita asked.

"Waking up," Maggie told her.

"How long are we going to be able to sit around and wait?" David asked.

"As long as it takes," Maggie answered.

"What if we don't have that long? That group of rotters are bound to notice us sooner then later," David pointed out.

"Let's hope it's later," Axel told him.

"They're slow moving, as long as we don't draw attention to ourselves, they shouldn't make there way here for a while," Jes told them.

Rosita sighed and took the water bottle over to Abraham. "Come on. You haven't had anything to drink all day. Take the bottle. Seriously, my six-year-old nephew didn't pull this shit," she told him as he knocked the water bottle out of her hand.

"Son of a bitch," Jes said as she turned around.

"Don't do this, Abraham. Look at me! Don't. Look at me!" Rosita yelled at him as he stood up. Rosita stepped back.

Maggie and Jes both pointed guns on Abraham. "Sit down or I put you down," Maggie told him.

Abraham looked at both of them before sitting down.

Jes sighed as she lowered her rifle.

"So, what's next on the agenda?" Tara asked as she tried to break the tension.

"We need more water," Glenn said.

"There's a creek up the road a few miles southwest of here," Rosita told them.

"We'll need to try to catch something to eat too," Jes pointed out.

"I can try to catch a rabbit, it would be looking for water too," David pointed out.

"Or fish. Fish are in creeks right?" Axel asked.

"Yeah," Rosita answered.

"You all go, I'll stay here," Maggie told them.

"I'm staying," Jes told her. "Two of them, two of us," she pointed out.

"One of which is unconscious," Glenn pointed out.

"Still two people. Go on, day lights wasting," Maggie told them as she watched them walk away.

Maggie, Jes and Abraham's POV:

Maggie looked at Eugene then went to the back of the fire truck and climbed up.

"What are you doing?" Jes asked as she glanced at Abraham then at her.

"Eugene needs some cover, it's not good for him to be out in the open like that," Maggie answered.

Jes nodded as she started to help her. "You would have made one hell of a soldier, thinking on your feet."

"Just doing what needs to be done," Maggie told her. "There should be a blanket in here somewhere."

"I'll get it," Jes told her as she got it then helped her drape it over the ladder to cover Eugene.

Maggie went over to Abraham. "Get over yourself. You aren't the only one who lost something today. It's never going to get any better then this," she said as she walked away.

"Hey Maggie," Jes called. "Sit with Eugene, let me try to deal with Abraham."

"I don't think anyone can get through to him, he's wallowing in self pity," Maggie told her.

"I know a few things about wallowing," Jes told her as she went over to Abraham and sat down. "That shit you pulled with the water and Rosita, it can't happen again. It won't happen again," she told him. "I don't expect you to say a damn word, Ford, but you're going to listen. I don't care if the only reason you listen is because before the end of the world, you were a SGT and I was a LT. and that alone earns me the common decency of you listening because you are still a Army man, and that doesn't leave you. That's why you were doing this, trying to save the world, had a mission, it kept you focused. Now you feel lost because you think it's over and you have no purpose. But you do Ford. You're new mission is simple, it's to help us find somewhere safe. It may not be Washington, but there's somewhere out there for them," she said as she nodded toward Maggie. "The people at the church, the children. They have a better chance of finding it with us."

"Were you really going to shoot Eugene to get me to listen? That was a fucked up plan if you were," Abraham said.

"I was," Jes told him.

"Special Ops?" Abraham asked.

Jes laughed. "Worked with them a few times, but no. Military intelligence," she told him. "More precisely, did a lot of infiltrating groups. Spent a couple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, but I wound up having my cover blown. Took a lot out of my self esteem. Was transferred stateside about six months before the world went to hell. Was placed at Benning to investigate a group in the motor pool that was suspected of stealing parts and selling them. Joey and David's dad was the ring leader. Then the world went to hell, and for some damn reason I thought it still mattered. I didn't know how else to be, hell I didn't even know who the real me was. Still don't. Merle said he was going to figure it out if it was the last thing he did. Always thought there would be more time, but there wasn't."

"So I'm your new Merle?" Abe asked.

Jes laughed. "Oh Ford, you'll never be Merle, not by a long shot. You needed to hear this because you and I are alike. You need a mission to feel like your worth something. Otherwise, you feel lost. You can't afford to feel like that, not now. So the mission changed, they always do."

"There was purpose in savin' the world, endin' this crap," Abraham told her.

Jes nodded. "Yea, that was important," she agreed.

"So you can see why I'm not seeing how anything else matters," Abraham told her.

Jes nodded. "I can see that you may feel that way. But I know what matters, and they aren't some nameless, faceless people. They have names and they have faces. Rick, Jewel, Maggie, Glenn, Ronnie, Ty, Mar, Daryl, Sasha, Michonne, Mitch, Mika, Carol, Tara, Axel, David, Hope, Judith, Lexi, Summer, Carl, Rosita, Joey, Jes, Eugene and even Abraham. Maybe Gabriel, I haven't decided yet," she teased. "If you were willing to sacrifice your life to save nameless people, people who would never have known who was responsible for saving the whole world. Some people probably wouldn't have been to friendly to the world getting back to normal, with laws and all. But those people that I named, those are the people that we, you, can help. You can make a difference, even if it's not saving the whole damn planet."

"She's right," Maggie told him. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop."

Jes shook her head. "I wasn't expecting any privacy. We can do this Abraham, but we can't do it alone."

Abraham looked at them.

"It's easier to give up then keep going," Maggie said.

"We'll give you some time to think about it," Jes said as she stood up.

Author's Note: Happy Thanksgiving (for those in the States.) I know this is short but I won't be home the rest of the day or tomorrow morning. Review please.