All Nightmare Long
Chapter 480
Author's Note: Life has been kicking my behind. But never fear, I shall never give up on this story. It may just be slow going. Negan and the lineup is being a pain. Please review let me know what you think. It does mean a lot.
Rick, Morgan and Jewel
Rick looked back at Morgan who was sitting in the back seat and squeezed her hand. He smiled as she scooted up in her seat and kissed his cheek.
"You didn't have to come, neither one of you," Morgan said.
"We have to try, even If it's a longshot, even if it's dangerous. Tire tracks pointed East, we go East," Rick said.
"She probably knows that we aren't going to let her out there alone, no matter what she asked. She knows us to well for that," Jewel told them. "So we go East."
"Savior's compound that you and the group went to that was West, seems like she went East," Morgan said as he hesitated between his speak.
Jewel squeezed Rick's shoulder as she looked at Morgan. "What's done is done, nothing's going to change it. We have to stick together right now, no matter what your feelings are for what happened."
Morgan glanced at the rearview mirror. "I didn't say anything."
"And let's keep it that way," Jewel told him.
Rick shook his head and looked out the window. "You don't even know Carol."
"Oh I got too," Morgan said. "A little," he said as he looked at Rick.
"Why are you doing this?" Rick asked.
"What I believe, I'm not right, there is no right. It's just the wrong that doesn't pull you down," Morgan said.
"It hasn't pulled me down," Rick said.
"I think it will, cause I know you. It's pulled Jewel down," Morgan stated.
"You don't know me," Jewel said.
"You didn't go with Rick and the group when they went to the compound. You knew it was wrong," Morgan said.
"I didn't go because one of Alexandria's leaders needed to be inside the walls. Quinn and Rick were both going, so I needed to stay," Jewel told him. "Now, we're out here to find Carol, and that's what we need to do."
Morgan kept quiet as he drove, seeing the car Carol took along with another car. "There," he pointed out.
"I see it," Rick said.
Morgan, Rick and Jewel got out of the vehicle, staying close to the car. Jewel and Morgan both gathering weapons.
Jewel glanced over to the man on the ground. "He's still alive."
Rick nodded. "That's her car," he said. "See her?" he asked.
"No," Morgan answered.
"She did this, I know she did," Jewel said as Rick started walking closer to the man on the ground.
Rick grabbed the man's collar. "Hey, where is she?" He plunged the knife in the man's head as he gurgled his response.
Jewel walked up to the other bodies and made sure there weren't any weapons on them. "All clear," she said making sure they had head shots.
Rick bent down and picked up a weapon. "The savior's were getting weapon's from the Hilltop's blacksmith. These men were savior's."
Morgan and Jewel both walked ahead, Morgan seeing a walker eating one of the downed men. He knocked the walker in the head and went over to Carol's car. "There's blood here, she could have been hit."
"She could be anywhere, we need to find her," Jewel said.
"We will," Rick assured her. "I'm proud of her," he commented.
"How's that?" Morgan asked.
"She took four of them down," Rick told him. "That woman, she's a force of nature," he told him.
"She left because she can't anymore, that's what her letter said," Morgan told them.
"Mar and Maggie said she didn't want to kill back at the compound, that she was begging for one of the women to turn around," Jewel said. "But just because she can't kill, we can't leave her out here. I won't leave her out here," she said.
"We won't," Rick assured her as he kissed the top of her head. "She could because she had too, sometimes you have too," he told Morgan as he walked off with Jewel.
"There's more blood, opposite these men that leads into the field. It's a trail, could be Carol's. She could still be alive," Morgan said.
"She is, I know she is," Jewel said.
"She's not here," Morgan told them.
"Most of their guns are gone," Rick said. "She might have taken them."
"Those too," Morgan said.
"Or she could have died here, even if she isn't here," Rick said.
"She isn't dead, but if she is, we aren't leaving her like that. We can't, I can't," Jewel said.
"We aren't," both Morgan and Rick told her.
"The trail leads this way," Morgan told them as he started walking in the field.
"They were close to Alexandria," Rick said. "There's even more of them, we didn't end it," he told them as they walked.
"We knew that when Summer said Negan wasn't there. That's why she's out here somewhere, making her way to Hilltop, because she feels like she needs to keep her promise to Gregory," Jewel told them.
"What promise?" Morgan asked.
"That if she found out that he wasn't telling us everything, that if one of her family got hurt, she'd be back," Jewel said.
"No one's got hurt," Morgan said.
"Not yet," Jewel told him. "Plus Carol might be hurt."
"You started something," Morgan told them.
Jewel looked back at Rick. "We'll finish it, we always do," she assured him as they walked. She bent down and looked at the grass and touched it. "It's still wet."
Morgan looked at it then at then out in the distance. "It's not much. If it's Carol's, she's been bleeding for a while," he told them. All three of them started walking again. "So, you out here because Carol's your friend?" he asked.
"We're out here because she's our family," Rick said.
"I've talked to people back there, I found out what happened back at the prison. How you sent her away. She killed two of your people right? Burned their bodies," Morgan said.
Jewel looked between Rick and Morgan. "There's things you don't know, things you can't understand because you weren't there. Rick did what he thought was right at the time."
"You weren't part of the decision?" Morgan asked.
"I was pregnant with Hope, there was a flu, I was away from others. Summer went with him," Jewel said. "Like I said Morgan, there are things we did, we still do because of the things we faced."
"What if that happened today? Would you kill her?" Morgan asked.
"Morgan that is an unfair question. We aren't the same people we were then," Jewel told him.
"It's alright, Jewel," Rick assured her. "If it happened today, I'd thank her, or I would have killed them myself," he answered. "She was right to do it. They were sick, they were spreading a disease, they weren't gonna make it."
"Yeah, but that was back then," Morgan told Rick. "And you didn't kill her. You sent her away, Rick, and she came back. And she came back and she saved all y'all. People can come back Rick," he told him.
"That's why we are out here, Morgan, so she has that choice," Jewel said. Jewel grabbed Rick's arm as they saw a walker wearing a sweater, walking away from them.
The three of them started running toward it. Rick stopped as it turned. "It's not her."
Jewel took a breath of relief as Morgan knocked it down.
"She couldn't have been dead more than a day," Morgan said as he looked down at her.
The three of them looked toward the barn as they heard noise and ran toward it. All three of them got into a fighting pose as they saw a man wearing armor taking down a walker.
"Hey!" Rick yelled as the man went inside the barn.
"Woah, woah," the man said. "I'm not trouble, I'm not trouble."
"Just because you say it, doesn't mean we are going to believe a word of it," Jewel said.
"Come out, drop your weapons," Rick demanded.
"No," the man answered.
"We're looking for our friend, have you seen her?" Morgan questioned.
"Have you seen her?" Rick questioned in a more demanding voice.
"They're coming, just go! Just go!" the man pleaded.
The three of them walked closer to the walkers' as they approached. The man ran out.
"Stop!" Rick yelled as he shot to fire, Morgan pushing him so the bullet wouldn't hit him.
Jewel and Rick both glared at him as the walker's approached and started fighting them. After they were all done Jewel turned and looked at Morgan. "What the hell was that?"
"We didn't know who he was," Morgan answered.
"Yeah that's kind of the point at shooting at him," Jewel answered as she started collecting weapons.
Rick took out the weapon that the unknown man had killed the walker with. "It's one of the Hilltops, like the one on the road. Maybe he's one of them," he told him. "Maybe he's looking for Carol too," he said.
"Maybe the man is just looking for a horse. Maybe he is from Hilltop, maybe he's from somewhere else," Morgan told them.
"Those are a lot of maybe's you are risking the lives of my children back at Alexandria on. You're risking Jenny's life too, on a maybe he isn't a savior? He could be on his way back to them right now, and telling them we are out here. Next time you prevent Rick or me from shooting someone we don't know, you better make sure I'm dead because you sure the hell will be," Jewel hissed as she walked away.
"I don't take chances anymore," Rick said as he walked toward Jewel. "You OK?"
"I'm pissed," Jewel said as Rick kissed her. "Let's go back to looking for Carol."
"Those people…the Wolves….after they attacked, I found one of them. He had attacked me on the road before, when I was trying to find you Rick. He was one of the ones that killed Jenny's brother. I stopped him from killing Jenny and me. But I let him live," Morgan explained. "And then he was there in Alexandria, hiding in one of the brownstones, and I stopped him again. I knocked him out. And I could have killed him, but all life is precious."
"Not when that life is trying to take yours, or the ones you love," Jewel said as she crossed her arms as Rick just looked at him.
"I put him in the cell in the brownstone basement, cause I knew he could change," Morgan said. "We all can change," he said.
"You had one of them alive in the community?" Rick asked.
"Oh yeah," Morgan answered. "And when the walls came down, and the walkers broke in, Carol and Mar both found out. Carol and I fought, and that man escaped," he explained.
"He's the one that took Denise and Mitch hostage? Mar said one of the wolves had managed to stay alive, but she didn't mention your part in it," Jewel said.
"Denise came to the cell, to try to help him and he took her hostage. Mitch volunteered because you don't do things alone. Mitch, Denise and that wolf, they got swarmed, and that man, that killer, he saved her life. And then Denise was there to save Carl," Morgan explained. "It's all a circle. Everything gets a return. But the fact is the fact. I did what I did, I let him live. You two go home, you take the car, and you're needed back there. You shouldn't be out here taking any more chances."
"I'm not leaving, we're not leaving, while Carol's still out here," Rick said.
"And I will find her, somehow," Morgan said.
"What about Jenny?" Jewel asked.
"Tell her I'll be back," Morgan responded.
"We'll watch her until you come back," Rick responded.
"I know," Morgan said. "Go."
"You're coming back," Rick reiterated.
"Yeah," Morgan answered. "But if I don't, don't come looking."
Jewel gave a small laugh. "Yeah, because that works so well when someone tells us that. Plus, Jenny will be expecting you."
Rick took out a gun he got off a Savior. "Take it," he said as he held it up to Morgan.
"No, I can't," Morgan started to say.
"Take it," Rick repeated.
Morgan sighed as he took it. Jewel gave him a hug. "You're family," she said as she kissed his cheek.
Morgan turned. "Morgan?" Rick called. "Michonne did steal that protein bar."
Morgan gave a small smirk. "Oh I know," he answered as the three of them split up.
Author's Note: I hope that long chapter made up for the wait!