Better Days

Chapter 317

Author's Note: This chapter was supposed to pick up right where the last one left off, but Jes had another idea. She wanted to get her claws (figuratively speaking, of course,) into Pete while she had her chance. I just do what they tell me to do, I'm just the fingers of this operation. Review please.

Jes's POV:

Jes watched as Pete came out of his house, going behind his house, and put out her cigarette with her foot. She kept her distance as she tracked him. It would be so easy to slit his throat, take him outside of the gates and let him die painfully. But she'd have to do it at night, during the day would be to risky. She stepped right behind him as he took a drink from a whiskey bottle. "It's Eight AM," she told him.

Pete turned around and looked at her. "What is wrong with you people? Can't any of you mind your own damn business?"

"You're going to go to the infirmary to check on one of mine, and I'd rather you be sober," she told him. She glanced at the bandage on his hand. "Shame, she should have aimed for your head."

"What the hell is it with women in your group? You all don't know your place," Pete told her.

"We don't take shit, we stand up for ourselves and others," Jes answered as she stepped closer. "You want to grab me, don't you? You want to show me whose in control don't you? But, you know that you wouldn't stand a chance. Now, you and I need to have a little talk about what you did to Summer."

"Just took her arm, she turned her back on me," Pete responded.

"You left a bruise on her arm, your fingerprints. She had every right to be turning her back on you, to go back inside her house. You, on the other hand, had no right whatsoever to do what you did. Did you think that because the rest of us aren't scared of you, you could show dominance toward her and we'd just let it slide?" Jes questioned, as she grabbed the bottle and turned it upside down and poured it out. "Oh, did that piss you off? What are you going to do about it?" she taunted him.

Pete took a step toward her. "I should…" he started.

Jes took a step toward him. "You should what? You should try to hit me? To intimidate me? But you won't," she said as she busted the glass bottle against the trashcan and held up the jagged edge and ran her finger around it. "You know that I'd fight back, that I would kill you. You know that you'd stay no chance against me. No, you like to show you're a man against the weak and helpless. Now, I really don't give a damn if your wife doesn't have a backbone to stand against you, up for herself, for her sons. She's made her decisions, and you aren't going to be happy until she's dead. These idiots around here just let you get away with it, turn a blind eye. You know that you were important, you were the only doctor. You scared the psychiatrist so you wouldn't have competition. You tried the same thing with Ronnie, because you knew that with another doctor, on that can stay sober may I add, that you aren't as valuable. It scares you that you might actually be replaceable. Then there's the fact that there's a bunch of bad ass women in my group, and you don't know what to make of us. We threaten everything you stand for, that you are. Women aren't supposed to stand up against you, against any man. We're supposed to be weak and pathetic little creatures, cowering in the corner. The fact that there's so many of us, I'm surprised you haven't pissed your pants yet. I know what you were thinking yesterday, when you saw Summer talking to your son. You thought that you finally had your chance to scare a woman in our group. You probably thought that you'd push her around, even beat her, and leave her as a sign to Rick and Jewel. First of all, you were drunk, which seems more the norm for you then not, there were people in side the house. Secondly, her last name is DIXON, she came out of the womb with an attitude and ready to fight. Thirdly, you didn't count on momma bear. You didn't think that she would let you get away with it, did you? Even if she hadn't showed up and you were able to finish what you started, do you really think that she wouldn't march into your house and kill you? I'm pretty sure that she's told you what she would do to you if you even tried anything. Dixon's don't make threats, they make promises and you're lucky to get one warning. Jewel's a momma bear, I mean full fledged, ready to claw someone's eyes out, when one of her cubs are put in danger. She showed real self restraint from not putting that knife in your head. Me on the other hand, I'm really not known for my restraint. You put your hands on MY niece, give me on damn reason that I shouldn't slice your throat right now? Give me one reason that you have the right to breath the same air as me?"

"Deanna would exile you, and your group," Pete said simply.

Jes smirked. "I wish she would," she answered. "You want to beat your family? Your wife to stupid to protect her sons from the abuse, that's on her. I'm pretty damn sure that this isn't the first time you've heard something like what I'm about ready to say. But since you're stupid, and your ears' are clogged up with so much alcohol and you have zero brain cells left, you are the one who made yourself a target. You picked on one of us, you picked on all of us. I'm going to be watching you Pete, you won't even know, because I'm that damn good," she said as she walked away.

Carl and Jewel's POV:

Jewel crossed her arms as she saw Carl and Enid come over the gates. "Carl Grimes, you better have one hell of a reason for disobeying me and your father," Jewel told him, giving him the Dixon glare.

"I…well you see," Carl explained as he started to stumble through an explanation.

Jewel glanced at Enid then at Carl. "Stop before you embarrass yourself. I have a sign out sheet for a reason, to keep track of our family. You have to understand what a surprise it was to find out my son, the son that I told under no circumstances were to go out those gates, lied and wasn't where he said he was going to be," she told him as she saw Enid start to move away. "Not so fast young lady, you and I are going to have a talk, a very detailed talk. Carl, I want you to go find your father, right now, and tell him that you lied. You are not a child anymore, you are a man and a man admits his mistakes. I know that you are a great man Carl, so that is what you are going to do. To face your father, and to tell him you were not where we thought you were," she told him. "Go," she told him as he nodded and went to find Rick. "We haven't officially met, I'm Jewel Grimes and you're Enid."

"I told Carl not to follow me, after the first time him and Lexi did. It's not my fault that he didn't listen," Enid answered before turning to walk away.

"Did I look like I was done, young lady?" Jewel told her as she turned the young woman down. "Sit," she said as she pointed to the bench.

"You're not my mother," Enid told her.

"You're right I'm not," Jewel told her. "But I am a mother, and if I was taken away from my children, I know there are people who will make sure they are alright. I'm pretty sure that your mother would want that too. As a mother, I can't just turn a blind eye to the fact that you are going outside the gate with no gun or anything, that you don't let anyone know where you are going. That's being reckless, and now you are endangering my children. I can't over look at that."

"That's the only reason you care, because Carl is following me. You don't care what happens to me. I'm not part of your group," Enid told her. "You don't understand, what it's like being in here."

Jewel went in front of her and bent down to be eye level with her. "Carl told me that you were one of us, and he has good instincts, just like his father. So, I tend to believe him when he says that's you're one of us. I understand what it's like being in here, we all do. It's a feeling of being trapped, you know that you aren't, but you just can't seem to convince yourself that it's not real. You want to break free, take out walkers' to make sure your still alive. Being in here makes you feel dull, you feel like it's making you feel to safe, to safe. You wonder if it'll make you forget what it's like out there, what the dangers are, wondering if it'll make you weak. That's something that you can't allow, because you know that those walls are bound to fall, and the walkers' are going to come inside and destroy it. You know that these people aren't ready for what's bound to come, and you know they'll die, because they'll be panic stricken, which means they'll endanger you and the ones you love. You're afraid to make friends, because you know that you or them won't be alive for much longer. It's to quiet in here, you actually miss the moans of the walkers'. You feel like you're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. You don't know when or how, but you know that this place can't stand. That this is just a day dream, the real world, what it is now, it's out there beyond the gate. You never want to be as naïve as these people, you know the truth, that no where, no one is safe. Am I anywhere close?" she questioned.

Enid started to say something but stopped herself. She stood up and turned to walk away. "I don't need anyone, I can take care of myself."

Jewel sighed. "Everyone needs somebody, Enid. No one can make it on there own."

"I did," Enid told her as she turned around.

"Yes and that makes you a very strong person, but even the strongest person, breaks sometimes. It's inevitable in this world, the strong can only take so much. I've been lucky, because those people, my family, that I came in with, are the reason that I haven't lost it yet. I do it for them and they do it for me. That's why Carl is going to follow you out there, because he knows it's going to happen and when it does he doesn't want you to be alone. Nothing his father or I can say is going to stop him, because that's what kind of person he is. You aren't alone, not anymore. And when you are ready to accept that, we'll be here. The fact still stands, it's not safe out there, not without weapons. I can't stop you from going out there, I can't stop Carl from going out there, and I can't stop Lexi from following Carl. But what I can do, and what I will do, is put my foot in your behind for not having a weapon, or not telling anyone where you are. Yes, I know, I don't have any authority over you, but that doesn't mean I don't care. I don't know how not to care about someone that doesn't have anybody. That's who I am, and I'm fierce when it comes to the ones I care about and fiercer when I love them. I don't want to have to risk my life looking for you when something happens here, and that is what I will do, because that's who I am. That means, I won't be here for my babies, because I will be out risking my life to find you. So I'd rather that not to happen, so just leave me a note, or knock on the door and nod, so I know your going outside. And if my son lies to me again because of you, I will make sure you won't sit for a week, then I'll give you a hug because you both are alright," Jewel told her as she walked away.