All Nightmare Long

Chapter 470

Author's Note: I am hearing rumors about Andrew Lincoln leaving after season 9. First of all, since when do 'rumors' come out about anyone leaving? We were shocked by several deaths and I truly believe if this was true, AMC would not have let it slip. Secondly, if it is true, and if they do kill him off, I will not be killing him in this story. Jewel and Rick will have there happy ending, even if I have to 'retire' them. I may focus on Daryl and Mar, I may focus on Jes, I may focus on Summer and Joey. I don't know yet. But if Rick dies or leaves, Jewel and Rick will 'fade' into the background. He may pop up at home, spending time with family but someone else will take up the story. I can not imagine ever ending this story until the show ends. But I refuse to kill Rick. Him and Jewel can step back and live happily ever after. Review please.

Jes POV:

Jes leaned against the wall and looked at Garza. What?" she questioned.

"You've changed," Garza told her.

Jes laughed. "It's been a long time, Garza. Plus the world isn't the same, the dead wants to eat us. I think that will make anyone change, for the better or worse."

"You think of those kids as your own, the Jes Sanchez I knew wouldn't have let anyone get that close," Garza said. "You didn't let me get that close."

Jes arched an eyebrow. "The dead stayed dead back then. Look we were both going to different bases, and we were in two different places in our lives. You wanted a house, kids, and a wife. I was no where near that place in my life. Yeah, I didn't let people get close, and I'm not going to apologize for that, can't change the past. I don't know if I'd want to if I could. No reason to apologize for something I can't change," she said as she glanced at Shaw. "So you stayed with that dickhead after the fall huh?"

Garza laughed. "He isn't that bad, he did what he needed to do, kept us alive, kept us safe. He's just weary of civilians," Garza said.

"No one's civilian's anymore, Garza. We're all part of the same war, the war against walker's," Jes told him.

"Walker's huh?That's a new one. Where did you come up with that one?" Garza asked.

"I didn't, it's the name that the group I'm with had for them, so I started calling them that. Better than what I heard before," Jes said.

"You can stay you know?You'd be welcome," Garza told her.

Jes laughed. "Yeah, I seriously doubt that. Plus I have a group, a family, already. They need me more than you guys do," she told him.

"A family huh? Thought you didn't need a family, didn't need people," Garza said.

Jes shrugged. "Can't survive out there alone, not anymore," she told him. "Joey, Summer, let's get on the move, I don't want to risk the wrath of Jewel Grimes any more than I need too," she said as she stood up.

Shaw turned and looked at her. "You said you'd tell me about this threat that you were warning about," he told her.

"You said that you'd give us our guns and one of those pups," Jes answered.

"I could order you," Shaw told her.

"And I would laugh in your face," Jes said. "These two , they aren't my soldiers, they are my family. The people back home, they are my family, so I would do anything to keep them safe, so if that means dropping your name and location to bad guys to save them, you better believe that I would."

"You can have your guns, we don't need them. Right, boss?" Lawson said.

"Get them there weapons," Shaw ordered. "Now tell me about this threat," he said.

"Summer," Jes said as she nodded to her.

"He has a lot of men, we don't know exactly how many," Summer told him.

"How do you not know how many men he has?" Palmer questioned.

"We were told 20-30, we killed over 60. We were told of one base, we know of at least another one, and since they had people coming from somewhere else, we know they must have another one somewhere," Joey told him.

"You saw what he looks like?" Shaw asked Jes.

"Summer is the only one from our group that has," Jes answered.

"Well?" Shaw questioned as he crossed his arms.

"He carries a baseball bat bound with barb wire he calls Lucille. I saw him beat someone's head in and smiled the whole time he was doing it. Then he came over and acted like nothing happened and hit on me, all while smiling. He takes half of what you have, from what I understand, monthly. That I don't have any dealing with," Summer explained.

"So why did you kill these people?" Garza asked.

"We made a deal with another community," Jes explained.

"We didn't know the full extent of how many people he actually had," Joey said.

"Other people of our group, they ran into people on the road, they threatened them," Summer said. "I'm going to tell you what I tried to tell my family, don't go looking for him. We came here to hide guns," Summer explained.

"Why?" Shaw explained.

"Because I don't want all the guns we took put in one place and in inventory. It's easier to do this, than to argue with the person who takes care of the inventory," Jes explained.

"It's a smart play," Garza complimented.

"There's no reason that we can't let some of the weapons stay here, is there?" Pan asked.

Shaw glanced down at the woman.

"We'll find other places," Jes said as she took her bag. "Let's go," she told Joey and Summer.

Shaw sighed. "We owe you a dog, but you need training," he said.

"We can come back, but we need to go," Summer said as the three of them walked out.

"I'll know if someone is following us," Jes told them as they walked out.

Jewel, Beth, Daryl and Rosita POV:

Daryl walked in with Rosita, Denise came in with Beth and Jewel behind her. Denise gagged at the smell.

"We gonna find out what you had for breakfast?" Daryl asked her.

"Daryl," Jewel scolded him.

"Oatmeal, just so you know," Denise informed him.

Beth grinned. "She told you," she teased.

"Hey," Rosita said as she shined the flashlight on a the sign that says pharmacy.

"Do you want me to hold your bags or yeah," Denise said as Daryl lifted up the garage type door. "If you set them on the counter, I can tell you which..." Denise said.

"Nah, we're gonna take them all," Daryl said.

"Are you sure because?" Denise started to say.

"No, it's fine," Rosita said as she went over the counter.

"It's better to take them all then leave them and have to come back," Jewel told her.

Beth turned at the sound of a walker in the other room.

"Sounds like it's stuck," Daryl said.

"Sounds like there's only one, better to leave it," Jewel said as she went to stand by the door.

Denise started to walk to the door.

"Hey, Denise, what are you doing?" Beth asked.

"We can't leave it like that," Denise said.

Beth looked back toward Jewel and sighed. "Denise," she said softly.

Jewel sighed and looked at them. "Go with her," she told her.

"What are you doing?" Daryl asked Jewel.

"You know my rule about taking care of walkers if possible," Jewel said. "Beth is with her," she assured him.

Denise walked into the room, and saw the walker on the floor with a cast on the it's foot and the woods hush hush written on the walls. She took a breath and walked past the walker before continuing to look around the room. She took a breath when she saw a baby shoe and turned and ran out.

Beth closed her eyes before taking out the walker and the baby walker.

Jewel looked at Beth as she came out of the room. "There was a baby," Beth simply said.

Jewel nodded and went outside. "Hey, Denise, let's take a walk and wait for them alright?"

Denise wiped her eyes. "You don't have to try to make me feel better," she said.

Jewel sat down beside her. "I still cry every time I see a child that is a walker. I may wait until I'm alone or with Rick, but I still do it. When Summer was missing those few days, every blond walker I saw, I started crying."

"Why are you telling me this?" Denise questioned.

"I know that you are out here to trying to prove something to yourself, to us, but it's OK to be upset about something like that, it makes you human," Jewel told her.

Rosita came out and looked at her. "What the hell were you doing?" she questioned.

"Rosita," Jewel warned.

"It's OK," Denise said as she stood up. "I wasn't doing anything, I wasn't thinking," she said.

"Hey you did good finding this place," Daryl told her.

"Tried to tell you weren't ready, we both did," Rosita informed her.

"I know," Denise told her.

"Rosita, that's enough, alright?" Jewel said.

"No, she's right, I wasn't ready," Denise said.

"Maybe you weren't but, you aren't going to learn anything by staying inside Alexandria," Beth said. "Rosita you wouldn't understand, but I do. When Jewel and Daryl met me, they probably didn't think that I would make it this far. And the same with Axel. But we proved ourselves, and Denise just needs to prove herself, to herself and to us. But she doesn't not to me," she assured Denise. "We should start heading back," she said as she started walking.

Denise gave a small smile. "Thank you," she told Beth.

"It's the truth," Beth said.

Daryl walked with them. "So was he older or younger?" he asked Denise.

"Older by six minutes. My parents came up with the Dennis and Denise thing on one of there benders. Hilarious right? Nothing scared him, he was brave, angry too. Kind of a dangerous combination," Denise said.

Jewel and Daryl exchanged glances. "Sounds like we had the same brother," Daryl told her.

"Do you know what happened to him?" Jewel questioned.

"We weren't together when all this happened," Denise answered. "Yours?"

"He was killed a couple months before we got to Alexandria," Jewel answered.

"He died saving Jewel," Darl added.

Rosita looked at Daryl as he started walking the train tracks. "Hey," she called out.

"This ways faster right?" Daryl asked as Denise and Jewel exchanged small smiles.

TBC