All Nightmare Long

Chapter 386

Author's Note: Time to check up on other people. Can't leave Jick's alone to long, got to go check on them. Sorry this chapter took so long, I've been busy at work, and literally coming home from work exhausted. Please review.

Quinn,, Jewel, and Carol's POV:

Quinn had been passing Bruce's house when she noticed a light on. She shook her head and walked onto the porch and knocked.

Bruce opened the door and looked at her. "Quinn, what's up?" he asked.

"You have a light on," Quinn answered. "You know what Rick said, that we have to keep the lights off."

Bruce sighed. "Look maybe they know how to live as savages, but we don't. You can't expect us to sit in the dark all night. It's not fair to us, to our children."

Quinn sighed. "First, I don't want you to hear you call them savages again," she warned the man.

Carol and Jewel stopped in front of the house and looked at each other. "These savages are trying to save your life," Carol said.

Jewel walked onto the porch. "Quinn, is there a problem?"

"I was just asking Bruce to turn down the lights," Quinn answered.

"Yet the light is still on," Carol said as she crossed her arms. "So somehow the word savages came up, and I'm assuming that you aren't the one who said it."

Jewel looked at Bruce. "You did hear Rick say that the lights needs to stay off, didn't you?"

"Yes," Bruce answered.

"He just seemed to ignore it,"Carol said.

"No, of course he didn't, because us savages wouldn't know what we were talking about,"Jewel answered.

""I'm quite interested in what was said," Carol told them.

"It's not important," Bruce informed them.

"Of course you would think it's not important," Carol responded.

"Maybe we are being to childish about this, Carol. I mean I don't deny that I have done savage things to survive," Jewel admitted.

"I did burn two people at the prison to try to end the sickness," Carol admitted. "So maybe we are savages. I'm not ashamed of that, we're still alive," she said.

"Bruce, turn off the light," Quinn told him. "It's not a lot to ask, to save our lives, our children lives. It may just be tonight or it may take a week, but it is not a sacrifice to turn off the lights to stay alive," she told him.

"The walls are holding, so why is it so important to keep the lights off?" Bruce questioned.

Jewel looked at Carol then raised her gun and shot out the light. "The walls are holding, but if it breaks then any light will attract them. This is why we survive and why you need us to survive, because we think ahead, we see what needs to happen for survival. Now, unless you want me to go and shoot every lightbulb in your house out, you will keep the lights off, you will close the blinds, and you will stay away from the windows. Do you understand?"

"You're lucky she's just threatening to shoot out the lights, I'd be tempted to shoot you,"Carol said.

"Carol," Quinn warned.

"My brother, my daughter, my friends are out there, we don't know if they are alive or dead, so you can understand my deep desire to keep everyone in here safe. So the lights, stay off,"Jewel warned him.

"I'll make sure everyone keeps the lights off," Quinn assured her.

"I'll help," Carol said as she spotted Rick. "Hey Rick, I think Jewel needs to walk around the compound for a bit," she suggested.

"I'm fine," Jewel said.

Rick looked at three women and at Bruce who was still standing a little shocked. It was then he noticed Jewel was still holding a gun with a silencer to her side. "Jewel why do you have your gun out?"

Quinn looked at him then at Bruce. "She shot a lightbulb out. Bruce didn't listen about keeping the lights off, asked him to turn it off. Jewel tried to explain it to him, but he was still resisting, so she shot out the lightbulb."

Rick looked at Bruce then at Carol. "Well it was lucky that Carol or I weren't the ones who pulled out our guns, we might have shot you," he told Bruce. "Come on, Jewel, let's take a walk then go back home, and spend time with the kids," he said as he held out his hand.

Jewel nodded as she took it and put her gun back in it's holster. "You aren't going to say anything about me shooting a lightbulb out?" she asked.

Rick shook his head. "Why would I? You at least didn't shoot him, I'm not sure that I would have had that self control."

"Shouldn't we feel bad that we're actually proud that we didn't kill a person?"Jewel asked. "That we are actually proud of ourselves?"

Rick kissed her as they started walking. "I think we have been through so much that it's our first instinct is to protect ourselves, and if that means deciding between shooting.a lightbulb and a person, and we chose a lightbulb, then it's right to be proud."

"It's the small victories, right?" Jewel asked.

Rick squeezed Jewel's hand. "I'll take it. And, I am glad that Michonne and I didn't have to lock you away," he said as he kissed her.

"I'm glad of that too," Jewel said with a laugh. "Do you hear that?"Jewel asked as she heard a noise. "Walker," she said as she started running.

Rick followed her and saw Deanna battling a walker. He noticed that the woman was stabbing at the walker everywhere but the head. Both him and Jewel ran towards her, Jewel grabbing Deanna and Rick stabbing the walker in the ear.

"Are you alright?" Jewel asked Deanna.

Deanna looked at her as they were both on the ground. "Physically," she answered.

"Carol said she got one of them, but she couldn't find the body. He must have been under there," Rick said as nodded at the porch.

Deanna looked at them. "I want to live, I want this place to stay standing."

"You will live, and this place will stay standing," Jewel assured her.

"it doesn't feel like it," Deanna said.

Jewel looked at Rick then at Deanna. "It will, and everyone here will be looking at how you handle it."

"You need to lead them," Rick told her.

Deanna laughed. "They don't need me, Rick. What they need is you, you and Jewel."

"They need you," Rick said.

"They don't trust us. We want to help you, that's all we've ever wanted to do, but we need to do it together," Jewel told her.

"We'll walk you home," Rick said as he helped Deanna and Jewel up.

"We'll get through this, but the only way we are going to do this is together," Jewel said as they walked with her.

Lexi POV:

Lexi put an old sheet up over the window of the old building. "We can stay here tonight then go back to Alexandria. The herd outside should dispense by then."

"I'm not going back to Alexandria," Enid told her.

"So you would rather be alone then go back to Alexandria where people are?" Lexi asked as she sat down.

"I think I've made that pretty clear," Enid told her as she sat down on the opposite of the room.

"Your parents? They died in front of you, right? They left you alone? You survived on your own," Lexi told her.

"They died," Enid told her. "You already know that."

"I can't imagine what it felt like that to be left alone," Lexi said.

"You don't have too, you have people with you," Enid informed her. "I was out there alone, I was brought to Alexandria alone."

"But you don't have to be alone now," Lexi told her.

"I want to be alone," Enid told her.

"We can't survive alone, not anymore," Lexi told her.

"Aren't you tired of getting close to people just to lose them? It's better to just be alone without worrying about anyone but ourselves. That's how it's supposed to be," Enid informed her.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Lexi said as she opened up a can of fruit.

"You can't tell me how I think," Enid informed her.

"I didn't. I think it's the stupidest thing I've heard. I told Sasha the same thing when she alienated herself because of her losses. This world, we don't know how long we are going to be alive, how long we have to make memories," Lexi told her.

"Memories mean nothing when we're dead," Enid told her.

"Not to the people you leave behind," Lexi informed her.

"Thinking about them makes it hurt," Enid told her. "So I don't think about them. Thank you for making me remember," she said sarcastically.

"You can't pretend like they didn't exist, that's making it like they never lived, like there lives didn't matter," Lexi informed her. "You are the only one who can remember them, the only one who can remember what they liked or didn't like. You are the only one who can remember the good times, for them. If you die, then whose going to remember them?"

"I'm still not going to go back to Alexandria," Enid informed her.

"You don't have to," Lexi told her. "But I have to go back. I know you didn't ask me to follow you, but in our group, our family, we don't let others do things alone. I like you Enid, you're one of us, and I felt like you shouldn't be out here alone," she told her.

"I'm going to go to sleep," Lexi told her as she curled up against the wall.