Better Days
Chapter 281
Author's Note: I hated Aiden and Nicholas from the day they introduced them. Glenn, Tara and Noah were to nice to them when they handed them the pathetic guns. Who calls them biscuits? Biscuits is something I put in my mouth and eat. Ah, there's a Dixon out with them, they don't get off that easily. A clumsy Dixon, hehe. But first, Jewel and Carl are bugging me. You know the deal, read and review. Thank you.
Jewel and Carl's POV:
Jewel turned to see Carl hesitating as they got to the gate. "Rick, you and Lexi go inside. I'm going to talk to Carl for a few minutes. I didn't let him explain things, I let my anger from this morning get to me. That isn't fair to Carl," she told Rick as she kissed him.
"I can talk to him," Rick offered.
"No, it was me who didn't explain," Jewel told him. "Go on, I'll be alright, we'll be alright," she told Rick as him and Lexi went through the gate. "Carl? Are you waiting to see if Enid is still out there?" she asked as she went up to him.
"She shouldn't be out there alone," Carl told her.
"First, I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance to explain. My brain went back to Terminus today, after I heard one of the women here say that they should have taken the kids and turned us out. I took it out on a jar of peaches, it won," Jewel told him as she looked him almost in the eye. "Second of all, make me understand why you went after this girl. You knew that it wasn't safe to go outside those gates, and you knew that Lexi would follow you."
"Enid is one of us," Carl stated.
"What do you mean she's one of us? She lived here," Jewel told him.
"But she was out there, only been here for a few months. She was on her own, I don't know what happened to her family, but I can imagine. She has the same look in her eyes that I'm sure I have, that you have, that dad has, that everyone has. She's had to do things, I'm sure of it," Carl told her.
Jewel looked at him. "So you followed her because you think she's done things? That she survived out there?"
"I know she did. You and dad always said that good people still exist, you taught us that," Carl told her.
"Yes, we did Carl. But the bad out weigh the good now," Jewel told him. "Do you think these people are good?"
"I don't know. I know they are naïve, that they think they are safe in here. I also know that Enid is different then the people in here. They can say that they understand her but they can't really," Carl told her.
"That doesn't explain why you followed her without telling anyone, why you'd put yourself and Lexi in danger out there by following her," Jewel told him.
Carl looked at her. "When mom died, I still had dad, I had you. You and dad took Judith as your own, no questions asked. If something happened to both of you, you know we'd all be taken care of."
"Are you saying you want your dad and me to adopt Enid?" Jewel asked.
Carl rolled her eyes. "No, of course not. But when I saw her go over the wall, I knew she shouldn't be out there alone. People can't do things alone. Obviously no one ever thought of someone going OVER the wall anymore then someone coming in. I really wasn't thinking past the point of she shouldn't be out there on her own."
Jewel smiled as she pulled him for a hug. "You're becoming a good man, Carl just like your father. But, you've got to think smart, you know that. What would have happened if something happened to you? Do you know how that would have destroyed your father and me? What if something happened to Lexi? Sasha is barley holding it together now. I get that you were trying to do the right thing, and it's admirable, but it was foolish. I don't need you getting hurt now that we are behind walls."
"I'm sorry, but I can't promise I won't do it again," Carl told her.
Jewel nodded as she kissed his forehead. "I know you can't, because you are a good man, just like your father. Because of that, you are going to do the right thing. But, remember that you are my favorite son, and I love you, and I want you to be safe."
"Mom, I'm your only son," Carl told her with a smile.
"Yeah, and how does that make what I said any less true? You are my favorite son," Jewel said with a grin. "Come on, lets get back inside," she told him.
Summer, Tara, Glenn and Noah's POV:
Summer glanced around, listening for the familiar sounds of moaning, ready to use her crossbow. She noticed Nicholas had stopped and turned. "What?"
"You're lagging behind," Nicholas told her.
"No, I'm bringing up the rear," Summer informed him. "Oh come on, you can't tell me that you have no idea what I'm talking about. You see how Glenn, Tara and Noah are walking single file at a distance? That's so they each have room to look around, to spot things that could be missed. I'm taking the rear, being eyes and ears," she told him.
"Why don't you go join your friends? I think I'd feel better being rear as you call it, then a little girl who has no right to be out here," Nicholas told her.
"What did you just call me? Are you serious right now?" Summer told him as she stepped closer to him. "Want to say that again?"
Glenn turned around and walked to them. He put himself in the middle of them. "What's going on?"
"She has no right to be out here. Maybe she had something to prove out on the road, but she doesn't here," Nicholas told him.
"You need to back off, for your own safety," Glenn told Nicholas. "Hey, Summer, you belong here, you have nothing to prove to anyone," he told her. "Kicking his ass isn't going to do any good. Come on," Glenn told her.
Summer gave one glance back at Nicholas, giving him the patented Dixon stare as she went up with Glenn.
"You good?" Tara asked her.
"I'm good," Summer told her.
"We've been increasing our radius mile by mile, spreading in a semicircle around the town," Aiden told them.
"We've made it 53 miles out so far," Nicholas informed them.
Summer glanced back at Nicholas. "You've only made it 53 miles in two years?" she asked.
"Pretty good if you ask me," Nicholas informed her.
"We made it approximately 635 miles in less than a month, so considering you've had a safe place this whole time, 53 miles is pathetic," Summer told him.
"Do you ever keep your opinions to yourself?" Aiden asked.
"I'm a Dixon, saying what's on our mind goes with the territory," Summer answered, not sounding apologetic at all.
Aiden looked at her then shook his head. "As I was saying, we've made it 53 miles so far. We break into two groups when we step outside our vehicle. If shit hits, we fire a flare. One group gets the other," he told them.
"Good system," Noah told him.
"It is. Still, you're standing here because we lost four people last month," Aiden told them.
"What happened?" Glenn asked as the others of his group looked at him.
"We were on a run, roamers came out, they didn't follow the system," Aiden told them.
"They were good people," Nicholas added.
"They were. They were just scared. Look, I can be a hard-ass. And I know I'm a douchebag. Someone's got to call the ball around here and that someone is me," Aiden told them.
"Because the ROTC taught you so much, right?" Summer asked.
"That's right," Aiden told her. "If you're on this crew, you do exactly as I say," he added.
Glenn shot Summer a look and shook his head at her.
Summer looked at him and sighed.
"I'm sorry you lost your people," Tara told them as they walked away.
"Yeah, we got ours," Aiden told them as Nicholas gave a smirk.
Summer looked at Glenn. "I'm afraid I'm not going to like this," she whispered to him. "Did you see that smirk of Nicholas's?"
"Yeah I saw it," Glenn answered.
"Managed to snag two of the deadheads that took them down, strung them up here," Nicholas told them.
"What? Why?" Glenn asked as he was alarmed.
"Are you stupid?" Summer hissed. "Actually, don't answer that question, the answer is yes."
"You know, I think I'm going to tell my mom that you aren't ready to be out here, you have a big mouth," Aiden told her.
"And you have no brain," Summer hissed at him.
"It's not safe," Tara told them.
"We've got it handled," Nicholas answered. "We've got a little pre-game ritual," he told them.
"Get our heads on straight, remind us what we're up against," Aiden told them.
"If you made it further then 53 miles in two years, you'd know," Summer told them.
They walked and saw that both of them broke free. "Son of a bitch, help me find them," Aiden yelled. "Look at this shit," he said.
"The bloods still wet, it's nearby," Nicholas assured him.
"Yeah, you've got it handled alright," Summer hissed as the four of her group went into perimeter.
Nicholas whistled as they all turned around. "SHH!" Tara told him.
"Can I just shoot him with an arrow now?" she asked softly to Glenn.
"No. Not yet at least," Glenn answered as he went over to them. "Hey! Hey, hey- they're gone," he told them.
"They took down one of our friends. It's nearby, we're not letting it go," Aiden informed them.
Nicholas whistled and clapped as Summer loaded up her bow as one of them came out of the woods toward Nicholas.
"Hey, over here. Come on. Come on. Hey, come on. Come at me," Aiden taunted, as he tried to lead the way so Nicholas could grab him. Noah raised his gun, and Summer raised her crossbow. No, don't touch it. The rest of you, back off. Come on. Come on. Come here. Come on. Come on. Come on now. Come on!" he told the walker.
Summer glared at him as she heard growling from behind her. "The other one is here!" she told them.
"Let it be, we'll catch it after we catch this one," Aiden told her.
Summer turned her head to say something as the walker got away from Nicholas and went for Tara.
"Hold it!" Aiden yelled at them.
Summer looked alarmed as it looked like it was going to grab her, turning her attention at the last moment to the other walker who came close to her. "I've got this one," she told them.
"Don't!" Aiden yelled at her.
"I don't take orders from you! Glenn?" Summer called out.
"Do it," Glenn answered as he stabbed the other one.
Summer had to take a step back as the walker got to close, taking the shot, hitting it perfectly in the head. Just as she reached for another arrow, she stumbled over a tree root, falling and rolling as she did, the arrow in her hand catching her in the shoulder. "Son of a…." she called out.
"What the hell!" Aiden yelled at them.
"Yeah what the hell!" Tara hissed. "Summer? You alright?" she called out, not knowing that she had got wounded.
"Yeah," Summer called out.
"Noah go help her," Glenn told him. "You almost got them killed!"
"I told you all to stay back! I told you to listen to every damn thing I said. I told you that," Aiden yelled at Glenn.
"Glenn! Tara! Summer's hurt!" Noah yelled.
Glenn and Tara both turned and ran toward her. "Please tell me she isn't bit or scratched!" Tara exclaimed.
"Summer Dixon clumsiness strikes again," Summer answered as they came toward her. "Had a fight with the tree root, found the only damn small hill around and rolled, had an arrow in my hand," she explained as they bent down.
"I seem to be having déjà vu," Glenn told her. "Daryl did this at the farm," he told her.
"He was got in the side, and then Andrea took a shot at him. I'd like not to be shot," Summer told him.
"We'll take her back to Alexandria. I'm pretty sure the arrow is supposed to go in something other than yourself," Aiden told her.
Summer looked at him. "Yeah, like that walker?" she asked as she nodded. "I want that arrow back," she told Glenn.
"We've got to take this out now," Tara told them.
"It's not safe," Nicholas told them.
"It's not safe to leave it in! Let's not talk about walking back with it," Glenn told them. "You brought first aid stuff right?" he asked Summer.
"Never leave without it," Summer told him.
"We didn't tell you to bring it," Nicholas told her.
"It's called being prepared," Tara told them as she dug into Summer's bag. "This is going to hurt," she told her.
"It already does," Summer told her.
"Noah hold her, get me a stick. I'm going to try and make this as painless as possible," Glenn told her. "It didn't go all the way through, so that's a good thing," he told her as he handed her the stick. "Bite on it," he told her.
"Don't think about it," Noah told her as she bit down on the stick. "Look at me, don't think about it."
"Tara get that bandage ready to put over this as soon as I pull it out," Glenn instructed.
"We really should let Pete do this," Aiden told them.
"The walk back has the possibility of causing the arrow going further in," Tara answered. "That would be bad," she answered as Glenn pulled out the arrow and she ripped the shirt Summer was wearing at the shoulder. "Hand me that water that's in her bag," she told Noah.
"Hey you doing alright?" Glenn asked her as he took out the stick from her mouth.
"I'm not going out with these idiots again," Summer told him as Tara poured water around the wound.
"Hey, we're not the one that stuck ourselves with an arrow," Aiden told her.
"No you idiots are just the ones who thought it was good to tie up decaying corpses up to a tree so you can have some fun," Glenn told them.
"Then had the audacity to order us not to kill them," Tara added.
"The ones that distracted Summer by yelling at her," Noah said.
Summer winced as Tara poured the water on the wound. "By the way, you say you're the leader. That you were the leader when your friends were killed?" she asked as Tara bandaged the wound.
"Yeah so?" Aiden asked.
Summer let Glenn help her up then looked up at him. "Where's the guilt? Where's the taking of responsibility?" she asked.
"They were scared," Nicholas said as he defended his friend.
"Dad feels guilty for every loss, even though he's always done everything to keep us all alive. He's the leader, along with mom, and with that comes the responsibility that no matter what occurs, they are going to feel guilty because it was there job to protect us. Just like it was yours to protect them. From what I've seen, you shouldn't be leading anything," Summer told him. "Let's go," she told Glenn.
Author's Note: Long wait, but hope this long chapter was worth it. Review please.