This Night

Chapter 255

Author's Note: Sweet Kitty-it'll probably be more then two chapters til we get to Alexandria. I wish! But talkative people are inside my head. So, I've added two more pictures to my profile. One of Carl and Lexi in Alexandria and on of Michonne, Rick and Jewel in Alexandria. So, things have changed (since Beth didn't die, Daryl isn't as moody.) So, when I watched the scene with the water, I was like, well they'd need three people for this group. And, besides Rick, who would be the hardest to convince. Jes! So I decided someone needed to be stuck with her during the storm. Please review.

Daryl, Summer, Glenn, Beth and Maggie's POV:

Daryl stopped and waited for Summer to catch up. He took out his water bottle. "Here, I know you gave your last to Mika."

Summer shook her head. "I'm alright," she told her Uncle.

"Summer," Daryl said as he held up the water bottle again.

Summer sighed and took it. "A couple sips aren't going to make a difference, Uncle Daryl."

Glenn stopped with Maggie and Beth. "But it might," Glenn told her.

Summer sighed as she took a drink. "There, happy now?" she asked as she handed the water bottle back to Daryl.

"We just have to find water, we ate, and we saved some of the meat. We'll be alright," Maggie told her.

"You know, I'm not a kid! I don't need to be told everything is going to be alright, because I'm sorry, I'm beginning to think this is it, that nothing is going to ever get better," Summer told them.

"It's not, it can't be. This is the hard part, Summer. Do you remember what you told me at the farm after I tried to kill myself?" Beth asked.

Summer looked at her. "That we'd make it, that we were strong."

"You were right and we're still here," Beth said as she hugged Summer. "Neither one of us should be alive right now. I mean how many times have you been shot?" she teased.

Summer gave her a glare. "To think I missed you," she teased her friend.

Glenn squeezed Summer's shoulder. "We can make it together, but we can only make it together," he told her. "You still with me sis?"

Summer nodded. "Yeah, I'm still with you, bro," she said with a nod.

Daryl nodded as he kissed the top of her head. "Tell them I went to look for water."

"Shouldn't someone go with you?" Beth asked.

"I got it," Daryl answered.

Group POV:

Jes glanced over her shoulder. "Hold up, we got stragglers," she told the group.

"Someone has to bring up the rear, Jes," Maggie told her.

"That's what we call stragglers," Jes answered.

"Where's Daryl?" Jewel asked.

"He went to look for water, he'll catch up," Summer told her.

"Everything alright?" Jewel asked as Mar took Hope.

"Yeah, just needed a minute to catch my breath. How is she and Judith doing?" Summer asked.

"Pretty good," Carl answered as he held Judith.

Jes turned her head then went to the front of the group, the hair standing on the back of her neck.

"Jes?" Rick asked.

"Nothing," Jes responded.

"Bull shit," Abe told her.

"Jes what is it?" Joey asked.

"I just felt like someone was watching us all of a sudden," Jes answered.

"You heard something?" David asked.

Jes looked at him. "Clean the potatoes out of your ears, I said I felt like someone was watching us, not that I heard anything. It was just for a second and it's gone now," she answered.

"Keep the kids between us," Carol instructed. "Just in case."

"I'll take Hope," Lexi said as she adjusted her bag.

"Maybe I should stay in the middle too, just in case," Eugene said.

"Just in case what Eugene? If something happened to all of us, do you really think you'd be any help to them?" Tara asked.

"We'd have to take care of him," Mitch said as he took out his knife.

Jewel tried not to laugh. "Ronnie, you and Carol take either side of them, Axel and Abe behind, the rest of us will keep up front."

"You should be in the middle too," Michonne told her. "For Hope."

"She's right mom," Summer added.

"Yeah, you can stand beside Hope and Lexi. It'll be better," Mika answered.

"I'm not going to win this argument, am I?" Jewel asked.

"You really shouldn't try," Rick told her as he kissed her.

"Gabriel, up with me," Joey told him.

"I…I'm..I mean…you know I'm no good with these things. I'd only be more of a problem, then help," Gabriel nervously said.

"Who said anything about you helping? I just want someone close to push in front of me if trouble comes," Joey answered honestly.

"Joey!" Beth exclaimed. "He's a man of God."

"A man of God who let his whole congregation die because he was to much of a coward to open the door and let them in," Maggie told her.

"A man who would have opened the door and literally serve us up on a platter to save his cowardice behind," Jewel added.

"A man who still wants to believe that the Terminus people had some good in them," Mitch said.

"Hence the reason that he's coming up with me and not near them," Joey said as he motioned him up. "You might want to take out your machete just in case," he told him.

Jes had walked a little bit ahead of the group. "Rick! You got to see this," she yelled back as she stopped and looked ahead of her.

"What is it?" Rick asked as the rest of the group joined her.

Jes nodded toward bottle of waters in front of them as she adjusted her gun. "Whoever left this, can't be more then five minutes away. I'm going to go look, get ahead of this."

"You're not going alone," Summer told her.

"Better to go alone, I got a walkie talkie, I won't go far. Better for one person to go and get the jump on this, element of surprise," Jes told them.

"What if it's more then one person?" Joey asked.

Jewel shook her head. "No, only one set of tracks."

"There's no tracks," David told her.

"Yeah there are, and time's a wasting. I'll be back," Jes said as she took off.

"How could they get a jump on us? We've been on alert this whole time," Mar asked.

"If it was a big group, they could have easily overpowered us," Joey responded.

Jewel looked up as Daryl came through the forest as Rick went and handed him the note that said from a friend. Daryl immediately took off his bow and arrow.

"Jes went up ahead, one set of faint tracks. She's smart enough not to let herself get overtaken," Jewel told him.

"What else are we going to do?" Tara asked.

"Not this," Rick told them. "We don't know who left it."

"We can't take a chance, no matter how thirsty we are," Ronnie told them.

"If that's a trap, we already happen to be in it. But I, for one, would like to think it is indeed from a friend," Eugene told them.

"What if it isn't? What if they put something in it?" Carol asked.

"We're to weak to let our guard down," Mar told them.

Eugene took a step forward and grabbed a bottle of water.

"Eugene," Rosita called at him.

"What are you doing?" Tara asked.

"Eugene, put it down," Jewel told him.

Abraham stepped up and knocked it out of his hand as the rest of the group looked at them.

"We can't," Rick told him.

Jes's POV:

Jes heard the crunch of leaves ahead of her. She moved slowly to get ahead of the person and glanced around. "One person, no walkers' around," she thought to herself. She watched the dark hair woman move among the trees. "Young, no more then twenty, not wearing a radio to contact anyone," Jes concluded. "Definitely not been out in the elements, have somewhere she's staying. Clean clothes, thin but obviously has eaten," she thought to herself. "So, why would you leave strangers water? Why would you risk something like that? I know you aren't alone out here, but can't be to many of you and they obviously trust you to be able to handle yourself," she continued to think. "You aren't in any hurry to get back to anywhere. You're watching us…but you're to far away. You're listening to us….that's what you are doing," she realized. "Damn it," she thought to herself as she looked around to make sure no one else was around. She positioned herself so she would come up behind the woman and take her off guard. She approached quietly and put the gun to her head. "Stand up, nice and slowly."

Phoebe took a breath as she did what she was told. "Look, this isn't what you think."

"Throw the weapons to me then put your hands above head," Jes responded.

Phoebe did as she was told. "Look, just let me explain. You obviously got the water. I didn't think that any one of you would follow me out here. I wasn't prepared for introductions. Believe it or not, this is the first time I've been out here since I was saved. So, I'm not the one to do the whole I've got good news for you thing. I'm not going to give you the spiel Aaron would, because, well you'd shoot me. You wouldn't hesitate to shoot me, I see that. But, you really don't want to do that," she told the older woman.

Jes arched an eyebrow. "Trust me, you have no idea what I really want to do," she told her. "How many?"

"How many? How many what?" Phoebe asked.

Jes looked at her. "Don't play stupid."

"Trust me, I'm not playing stupid. This is me unprepared and nervous. All I'm trying to do is help you and your group. That's all I was trying to do," Phoebe insisted.

Jes started to say something as the thunder started and the rain poured down on her. She momentarily closed her eyes before she took out her canteen.

"It feels good, right? I mean I remember the first good rain after I had been out here for a while," Phoebe told her.

"Do you ever shut up?" Jes asked.

Phoebe shook her head. "Not when I'm nervous, no. And you caught me off guard, and took my weapons, not that I would ever cause harm to your group or anything. I'm just trying to help," she said as she looked up at the sky. "We need to get out of here, I know where we can go."

"I need to get back to my group, and you're going with me," Jes pointed out.

"Normally, I would never argue with a woman with a loaded gun, plus probably a whole lot more I don't see. But we'll never make it back to your group before this gets bad. They're smart, they are going to take cover, and we can meet up with them tomorrow. But if we don't get out of here right now, we're both not going to be alive tomorrow," Phoebe told her. "I'm not leading you into a trap. I have a nephew, he's eight, he's waiting for me back at our community. I'm the only thing he has, so the last thing I want to do is die out here in the elements," Phoebe told her.

Jes looked at her. "I'll shoot you if you try anything," she warned.

"Wouldn't think of it," Phoebe told her.

Group POV:

Rick looked at Eugene. "We can't," he repeated.

Jewel looked up at the sound of thunder. "Did you hear that?"

"It's thunder!" Mika exclaimed.

Jewel put her hand on Rick's shoulder as the rain started.

Joey took off his coat and handed it to Lexi who was holding Hope. "Cover her up in it, the blanket is going to get soaked in no time."

The group started laughing as the rain started to soak them. Summer and Sasha stood solemnly as the water came over them.

Tara laughed as she picked up Mika and both of them laid on the ground. Rosita looked at Beth and both laughed as they joined them.

"I'm sorry my Lord," Gabriel repeated.

"I think this is a thank you my Lord thing," Mar told him.

"We need to fill out our containers!" Ronnie told them.

Axel had already started grabbing bags and opening them up.

"Everybody, come on help Axel, anything you can find. Fill it up," Rick told them. "Summer come on," he told her as he made her take a water bottle.

Judith started to cry as the thunder got louder. Carl covered her with his hat. "How's Hope?" he asked Lexi.

"Not sure what to make of this, her eyes are big and she's trying to figure it out, but she knows she's safe. Ty always said…he always said that babies just need to know they are safe and loved to feel secure. Hope and Judith couldn't be more loved," Lexi said as she cast a glance backward to Sasha.

"She'll come around," Mar told her.

Lexi nodded not believing her. They all looked up as the sky got darker and the thunder started to get louder.

"Rick, Jes is out there! We've got to go get her," Joey yelled through the noise.

Rick nodded. "Let's keep moving."

Daryl bent forward. "There's a barn!"

"Where?" Rick asked.

"Not to far," Daryl told him. "Hey Joey, Jes is smart. She's not going to stay out in this weather, and she wouldn't want you to either. First thing tomorrow, we'll go out and find her. That's a promise," he told Joey.

"Dixon's don't break promises," Mitch told him.

Joey nodded. "Alright," he said as the group started moving.

TBC

So the plan was always to get Jes away from the group. I figure if Phoebe can make Jes believe in Alexandria, that's one more person to get Rick to go. Review please. Next chapter comes my favorite line of all time!