Better Days

Chapter 377

Author's Note: I should introduce the Hilltop, but I'm postponing. For a chapter or two. Did you guys have a good holiday? I did and hope that you did too. Please review, let me know you are still enjoying it. Thanks

Maggie, Beth, Michonne POV:

Quinn walked in supporting Scott. She looked at Heath and Brad. "Take him to the infirmary," she instructed as she looked at the town.

"It looks like all hell broke out," Brad said.

"But they're still alive," Beth said as she closed the gate.

"Not everyone," Deanna said as she walked up with Maggie.

"Mom," Quinn said as she hugged her. "Go take Scott to the infirmary," she repeated again.

Spenser looked at them as they passed. "Where is everyone else?"

Michonne and Beth exchanged glances. "There were problems," Michonne answered.

"Glenn?" Maggie asked.

"The town was overrun, he split off with Nicholas. He had this idea that if he lit a fire, it would stop the walkers' from coming here. I tried to go instead, I wanted to. The fire never got lit, we had to keep going, I'm sorry. He said if he got stuck, he would find a way to send us a signal," Michonne said.

"A signal?" Maggie asked.

"He didn't specify, but you know Glenn, he'll come home. He always does, and he always will," Beth said.

"What about everyone else?" Spenser asked.

"Got bit, or got over run by Walkers'," Quinn answered.

"So why is it all our people who are dead?" Spenser asked.

"What are you asking?" Maggie questioned.

Quinn held up her hand. "Who survived here Spenser? Why were you outside the wall when we came in? You were scared, and you were protecting mom. which is exactly what you should have been doing. Rick's group knows how to survive, Spence, and everyone here needs to learn. It shows who knows how to survive, it's painfully obvious," she said.

"We'll teach you," Beth said.

"And you'll have to learn," Maggie answered. "Even the kids."

Quinn nodded as she turned to see Deanna walking away. "Excuse me," she said as she walked after her.

Quinn and Deanna's POV:

Quinn followed Deanna up the ladder and put her hand on Deanna's shoulder. "A lot to process in less than fourtyeight hours," she told her mother.

"You should go home," Deanna answered sadly.

"I would have been told if Gus or the kids were hurt," Quinn said. "You need me, so here I am."

"How did we get lucky for so long? Those people, no they can't be called people, those monsters', came in here killing people," Deanna answered. "They didn't say anything, they just started killing people. They didn't even have guns...but it didn't matter in the long run. If I hadn't listened to Rick and Jewel about the guns, this could have been so much worse."

"Hey, mom, you did what you thought was right all this time. You ran this town the best you could, and when you knew we needed people who had been out there, you took in Rick's group," Quinn told her.

"But I still didn't listen, not at first. And we lost Aiden and your father because of it," Deanna pointed out.

Quinn looked down at her mother. "You can't blame yourself," she said. "It's not going to do you or anyone else any good. Things happened, nothing you can do to change that, unless you have some kind of time machine that I don't know about. If you do, can you take us back to before this thing happened?" she teased. "We move forward," she stated. "We regroup, you let Rick and Jewel co lead with you. You can be in charge of the town, let them be in charge of security of the town. You need them, and they need you, especially Rick. He's got to stop thinking about the people as us and them, he needs to see that we are all together in this," Quinn says.

Deanna looked up at her. "I don't think I'm the person to convince him of that."

"His group is trying, but that's enough. You need to tell him, make him see it. You need to run Alexandria with him, it won't work any other way, mom," Quinn told her.

"I'm not the Monroe woman who needs to help him, Quinn," Deanna said.

Quinn looked at her. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you are the one who should lead with Rick and Jewel. You've always known what this town needed. If I had listened to you, Aiden would still be alive. If I hadn't closed my eyes, Pete wouldn't have been beating up on Jessie for so long, then your dad would still be here. You were right, a good leader needs to know when they need to step down," Deanna said.

"Actually, you said that," Quinn told her. "I'm not going to take over Alexandria. You were meant to lead this town, and with Rick's help, it'll be better then ever, stronger then ever," she said. Both her and Deanna turned when they heard yelling. They saw Rick and Jewel yelling and running from a large group of walkers'.

Jewel and Rick's POV:

Jewel glanced back at the walkers' and took a breath as she ran with Rick. "Something must have happened," she told her.

Rick took her hand as they ran and squeezed it. "I'm sure everyone is fine and they just got delayed somehow."

"It's not going to matter if they get into place now, if Alexandria is destroyed," Jewel pointed out.

"We're not going to let that happen," Rick told her. "Right Mrs. Grimes? We're not going to let that happen."

"Right, Mr. Grimes," Jewel answered.

"How's the shoulder?" Rick questioned as they ran.

"Hurts like hell," Jewel answered truthfully. "Your hand is bleeding again."

"It's nothing," Rick said.

"Nothing to us, but to the walkers' following us, we're big targets with us both bleeding," Jewel pointed out. "We should have covered ourselves in blood and guts," she told him. "Rick, I don't know how much more I can run."

"We can make it, we have to make it," Rick told her. "You're not going to let go of my hand," he said. "You are not going to make me tell your brother that I left another of his siblings behind somewhere. You are not going to make me tell our children that you are not coming back. I can't do this alone, not in this world," he told her.

Jewel nodded. "I wouldn't make you do it alone," she said as she kissed his hand.

"We've just got a little bit more to go," Rick assured her. "Together," he said.

"Together," Jewel replied.

Rick nodded as he picked up pace holding her hand. "The gates," he said as he started shouting. "Open the gates!"

"Open them! NOW!" Jewel yelled.

"Open them!" Rick yelled.

Alexandria:

Deanna and Quinn both climbed down the ladder as Michonne, Mar and Maggie opened the gate.

Rick pushed Jewel in front of him. "Get her inside!" he yelled as he pushed a walker out of his way, and fell to his knees.

"Rick!" Jewel yelled as Carol grabbed her and Rick followed. "What the hell happened to doing this together? We did agree to that, remember?"

Rick kissed her. "We did do it together," she said.

"Your both bleeding," Carol told them.

"I got shot by the wolves that got out," Jewel answered as she looked at Morgan.

"We need to take care of these wounds," Maggie said.

"They aren't life threatening," Spencer pointed out. "We need to figure out what to do with the dead ones outside our doors," he said.

"What I need to do right now is to see my kids," Jewel said. "We can meet at the house, have Ronnie patch both of us up there," she said. "Then we'll come back out here and discuss it."

"She's right," Quinn said. "Let's all go check on our families, see who we've lost. Ignore what is outside the gates for now," she said.

"How do we do that?" Olivia asked.

"By not standing here," Beth said.

"We'll come get everyone when we come back out. We're all in this together, and we will all manage this together," Joey said.

"Come on, back inside your houses," Quinn said as she guided Deanna away.

"Has anyone heard from Summer and Daryl?" Jewel asked.

"Not recently," Joey answered as they walked back toward the house. "Jes is out there too."

"Glenn and Nicholas are still out there too," Beth said. "As well as Emily, Nikky, Sasha, Abe, David and Axel."

"How many dead inside the walls?" Rick questioned.

"We haven't had time to count," Joey answered.

"Grab Tobin and take a count," Rick told him. "Father Gabriel too. This is going to hit everyone hard, we have to be able to reassure them. Having a priest there will make it easier."

"There's walkers' outside the gates, they are going to start to panic," Mar said as they went into the house.

"They haven't ever been near starvation before," Carol said.

"Mom! Dad!" Carl said as he ran over to them. "Are you alright?"

"We'll be fine," Jewel answered. "How is Mika? Hope? Judith? Where's Lexi?"

"I haven't seen Lexi and Enid for a bit. Lexi went after Ron," Carl said. "Mika just came back from Quinn's house. Judith and Hope are both asleep."

Jewel nodded as she kissed his cheek. "I'm sure that Lexi will be back soon."

"We lost Holly. Denise is blaming herself, but there was nothing either one of us could do," Ronnie said as she started to work on Jewel's shoulder. "I helped the best I could, but I want Denise to know how to do these things. We would have lost her anyway, even if I was working on her."

"Deanna is not in her right mind," Carol said.

"It's a lot to process, everything's happened so fast," Michonne answered.

"She's going to have to get used to it that this is the way it is now, just like we did," Rick told them.

"I'm not sure she's ready for that realization yet," Maggie said. "I'll help her, so will Quinn. But we all need to work together."

Jewel looked at Rick. "We can do that," she said as she made sure there was no room for doubt.