When I posted the first chapter, I could not for the life of me remember what I wanted to title this story. I usually like to put the title somewhere in the fiction, but instead I just created one on the fly and posted chapter one. Well, editing this chapter this morning, I found what I wanted the original title to be. Darn. See if you can find it and post what you think it is. As always, I love to read your reviews! Enjoy!
Ch 6-The Incredibly Idiotic Run and the Trial of the Century
Everything was good in the Grimes house. No, Rick and Michonne still had not consummated anythang, but they were finally officially a couple. No more almost boyfriend, almost girlfriend, mess. Rick got the supply list from Abraham and was giddy to give it to Glen who was preparing to go on the run. Glen was nervous because it was only him and the new group, Aiden, and Nicholas. He asked Tara and Rosita to tag along, Darryl went with Aaron on a recruitment mission, so he was unavailable. He did not trust the Alexandrians to have his back, Glen did not trust Alexandrians to even have their own back. Glen also decided to take Noah so that he could get some needed experience with runs and Abraham made a very nervous Carter and Brandon go along to make sure they got all the correct building supplies since they are part of the construction crew.
When they got a mile out, Carter and Brandon panicked. They had never been further out than a mile before and in a fit of fright, they both jumped out of the moving van and rolled right into a small herd of about twenty walkers. Glen drew out a breath and got on his walkie as he watched from the truck he and Noah and Aiden and Nicholas were following behind in to make room for the extra runners.
"Anybody listening?" Glen spoke into the walkie.
"I'm here," said Rick worried. "Is there a problem?"
"Yea, Carter and Brandon got scared when they realized we were going more than a mile out and jumped out the back of the van and now they are walker food. We need someone to come out and take care of these walkers. There are about twenty." Replied Glen, "Oh and I guess recover the bodies and put them down if necessary."
"Are you shitting me?" Rick asked bewildered.
"Nope, rolled right into them," Glen told Rick trying to hold back a chuckle for Aiden and Nicholas' sake.
Rick went to inform Reginald, who was standing out by the wall doing some engineering stuff, and Rick told him the small group of men with Reginald what happened and requested for a group to go kill the walkers. Of course, not one Alexandrian volunteered. Fuckers.
"Michonne, Sasha and I will go," said Rick as he rolled his eyes at the coward leader and his chicken shit followers. "Hey, where did Carter and Brandon live?" Asked Rick hoping against all hope that they had their own homes.
"They were in a relationship," said a sad Reginald, "they lived in the little blue one story at the end of Maple Mint, Why?"
"Oh, no reason in particular," grinned Rick who quickly recovered and put on a somber face to show his fake grief. Rick was rubbing his hands together like a villain hatching a plan and the group was startled at his outlandish behavior. One of the Alexandrians scoffed at the fact that Rick seemed to be plotting something in the midst of tragedy.
"If there is enough of em left, I will try to bring the bodies back for burial," said an ill-mannered Rick. The group were appalled that he would even make such a distasteful statement. Rick saw the foul looks on their faces and decided that he did not care. Noah was about to be out of his house. When he walked away, he jumped and did an old Charlie Chaplin kick in the air with his feet. His boorish behavior was not earning him any points with the Alexandrians.
Glen continued on the run and Aiden was beside himself. He was so afraid that he could not stop shaking and Nicholas was angry that Glen was not turning around to go back to the community.
"We need the supplies," Glen told them, and they continued the rest of the way in silence. When they pulled up to the center, Aiden and Nicholas refused to get out of the truck. Rosita, who never put up with or stood for bullshit pulled her pistol on them. "Get the fuck out of the truck Putas," she said calmly with her finger on the trigger. Aiden and Nicholas eased out and watched Rosita closely. Glen snorted at the scene then proceeded with the plan.
"Look," said Glen, "Nicholas, you, me, and Tara will go look for the building supplies in that home depot over there. We might even be able to put them all on one of those big dump trucks parked on the side of the building if we can find the keys. Noah, you, Aiden, and Rosita go see what you can find in the shopping center. Medical supplies are food are a priority, everything else will be a bonus. Be careful and make sure you clear the area before you enter!"
The trip unfortunately had a few more casualties.
"How are we going to explain this?" Asked Tara nervously, "All our group are returning, and all the Alexandrians are walker food!"
"You think they are going to think we killed them on purpose?" asked Noah.
"If they do, and they accuse us, then I will shoot their stupid pendejo asses right between the eyes," smiled Rosita who in that moment looked eager to shoot up some shit and do some damage to someone's body.
"We will call Rick and let him know what happened. Let him take care of it before we even get back. On the plus side, we got a shit load of supplies and food!" Animated Glen who then got on the walkie talkie to inform Rick of more causalities.
Rick was just finishing up killing walkers along with Sasha and Michonne when he got the call about Aiden and Nicholas. "How did it happen?" Asked Rick as he, Sasha and Michonne gathered around the walkie talkie to listen to what they were sure was going to be an outrageous story.
Glen explained that after they finished loading the dump truck, "oh, you got a dump truck?" asked an interested Rick. Michonne slapped his shoulder and told him to focus on the story. Rick nodded and told Glen to continue.
After they finished loading the dump truck with the building supplies, they were all ready to jump in the truck and go check on the other run crew, when they saw about twenty or thirty walkers come towards them. Rick thought, "why are there so many walkers, that made about 45 they saw just within a three-mile radius. Glen went on to say that while he, and Tara dispatched the herd, Nicholas' weak POS ass went the opposite direction and jumped on top of a big industrial garbage can. Glen did not understand why he just did not get into the dump truck. He was only three feet from it, all he had to do was step in and shut the door. The dump truck was big enough that they could just trample over the walkers as they drove off. But instead, Nicholas ran about a hundred feet to the trash and jumped on top. Nicholas running away caused half the walkers to split between him and Glen and Tara. His screams did not help either. It brought more walkers to him from the nearby area. Once Tara and Glen killed the walkers near them, they looked over at a still screaming Nicholas.
"STOP SCREAMING, YOU ARE ATTRACTING THEM TO YOU!" Screamed Tara. Her warning did no good. He just kept screaming then he started crying.
"What do we do?" Asked Tara to Glen.
"NICHOLAS, WE ARE GOING TO FIND SOMETHING TO DISTRACT THEM! THERE ARE TOO MANY FOR JUST US TO HANDLE, WE WILL BE RIGHT BACK!" Yelled Glen to a still blubbering Nicholas. The man had absolutely no clue or initiative to save himself. It was pathetic. Tara and Glen both balked that they had to waste time on him as they both drove away. They could have used the horn or some other loud distraction, but that would have made matters worse. They needed something quiet. When Glen and Tara rolled back up, they saw Nicholas, tired from standing one would assume, sit down on the trash can with his feet dangling below. Glen rolled down the window as he braked hard and yelled for him to move his feet back up. Tara was opening the door to dash over to help, but by then it was too late. The walkers had grabbed his legs and ate him alive.
Meanwhile Aiden just laid down for them. Did not even try to defend himself. Got so scared he froze when walkers came out of the store and into the revolving door. He literally stood in the door and let them enter with him. Noah was yelling, "Dude you have plenty of time to get out of the door, just walk forward and push the door. You literally have minutes!" When Noah realized that he was still not going to move, he tried to bolt in his direction to help him, but it was too late. By the time Noah got to the revolving door, he stepped in one of the spaces across from Aiden and watched him get eaten. Rosita ran and pushed the door so Noah could get out and then both stabbed the walkers in the head till they were all dead for the second and final time.
Rick pinched the bridge of his nose at the insane story. Nobody had to die. It seemed like it was almost a choice. What made it worse, one of them was the leader's son.
"Michonne," exasperated Rick, "when I informed Reginald earlier about the other two deaths, they accused me of being disrespectful and happy about it. I think you should share this news; you would do a better job."
"Why would they think you were happy?" asked Michonne.
"Well, because I kinda was. Not that they died, but it opened up a house for Noah, and I kinda celebrated in front of em." Rick articulated with a sorry face. "Glen thinks they might blame us for the deaths."
"Fine," Michonne replied, disappointed but not surprised about Rick's behavior. She even laughed at him under her breath.
When Michonne told Reginald and the community what happened, they did blame Rick's crew and demanded a murder trial. Michonne told them as the judge, she would be happy to preside over the trial and her judgment was final. The idiots agreed.
So they had a murder trial that lasted two days. Each side called their witnesses. Maggie was the lawyer for the defense and Spencer was the lawyer for the prosecution. If Michonne had to describe the prosecution, it would have to be a sesame street courtroom. It was a shitshow. If this was televised, the show would be called Alexandria, A Comedy of Errors. Spencer really thought he was doing something and would often peacock in front of Michonne, which was interesting since he was supposedly in mourning. She had to make a conscience effort to hold back her snorts and chuckles. When Rosita took the stand, she intimidated Spencer so much that he could not remember his questions. He stood there stuttering for five straight minutes before Michonne banged her gavel and released the witness after Rosita told her side of the story. Rosita mimicked a gun with her fingers as she passed Spencer and he fainted. It was thirty minutes before they could revive him enough to resume the proceedings. Next, Glen took the stand and gave every detail of what happened. Spencer thought he could trip him up and asked him what color the garbage was that Nicholas stood on, then smirked at Michonne. Michonne then asked Spencer the same question, and when he could not answer she asked him how he could possibly know if Glen was lying. The audience giggled and Spencer finished his line of questioning. The rest of witness testimony went much the same way, and when it came time for Spencer to call witnesses for the prosecution, he had none. It was finally time for the ruling, Michonne judged the defense NOT GUILTY, and most Alexandrians filed out of the court without any drama. Some even made comments praising Michonne on her impartiality. And then that was that. The drama was over.
Once the trial was completed, a committee was formed that same day to decide what to do with the two open houses. Rick eagerly volunteered to be the leader of that committee. Once they created a group to clean out the now available houses, they started on the task to decide what to do with them.
"I think we should give one to Noah, and he can share it with some of the other young men eighteen and older, which would give them some independence," Rick detailed.
Rick tried not to look took anxious and he was delighted when the committee voted and agreed to the suggestion. He was one step closer to his Michonne Goal, as he called it now. The rest of the committee wanted to keep the other clear for possible new residents, especially with Aaron and Darryl out recruiting. The committee decided that in two-weeks' time, the young bachelors would move into the first house. Then after that, they would start clearing out the second house and ready it for any new arrivals. Rick was annoyed he could not use both houses right away, but at least he had somewhere for Noah to go. That was his primary mission. Rick convinced the committee to commit to having the first house ready in one week, instead of two, under the guise of safety reasons. These people would fall for anything.
Rick checked the construction site every chance he could, sometimes three or four times a day to make sure Abraham and the construction crew were moving as fast as possible. He wanted a place to put Carol and Pete, but would just have to wait until the suites were complete, or another Alexandrian decided to stumble themselves into another walker herd. Rick had his money on the latter happening before the former. He also had another idea that he introduced to the committee.
"I would also like to suggest that we put a jail in the basement of the Constable's office," Rick informed.
"Do you think we need a jail Rick?" asked a concerned member.
"Maybe not, but just in case. You never know," replied Rick. After some discussion, they agreed and called for Reginald to come and make a final decision as leader. Reginald was so distraught over Aiden, the son that was secretly his favorite, that he was a no show to the meeting. With Aiden dead and his wife in La La Land, Reginald was inconsolable. Every time he would look at Spencer, he would roll his eyes. He knew his son was stupid and if left in charge, he would destroy the whole community within a matter of days. So Reginald made a thoughtful and necessary decision and called for Rick to meet with him at his home.
"Thanks for coming Rick," uttered a distraught Reginald. "I want to talk to you about something."
'OK," Rick replied sitting down and wondering what he could possibly want. He felt sorry for Reginald. He was a good man with great ideas on how to move the community forward. To be stuck in a situation where your wife has lost all her marbles, and your smartest son dead, leaving and son that was perhaps the stupidest and most useless man in the community as your only hope for the future was brutal. Well let's just say Rick heart grew two sizes that day.
"Rick, I am not doing well with the death of my son and the condition of my wife. And Spencer, well Spencer is Spencer. He is my son, but he cannot run a community. I need to step down, I want to focus on my wife and my other love (not Spencer), which is engineering and fortifying and expanding this community. Deanna wanted that and I want to honor her wishes. I cannot do both. I can't be both a leader and a full-time engineer. Oh, by the way, I am recruiting Noah to assist with the project. We have been meeting and he is a smart kid. I think the two of us will do great things together and I am excited to work with him. Anyway, I am going to formally step down as the leader, and I am going to name you as my successor." Reginald blew out a breath of relief that he did not even know he needed.
Rick was stunned. This was the last thing he expected and was appreciative that Reginald recognized he would be a good leader. Rick accepted with a condition, but inquired about his son first before he told Reginald what he would like to do. "What about Spencer, how will he take this?"
"Honestly, not well, but he is so bent on trying get Michonne, he won't even notice." Said Reginald.
"I hate to break it to you and to your son, but Michonne is already got," said Rick. "We're together."
"I knew it! I saw it from the first time I laid eyes on the both of you. Cherish your time with her Rick, it can be fleeting." Reginald stared off in the distance as he fondly remembered the times he shared with his wife when she was Deanna Monroe, Congresswoman. She was strong and fierce and took no shit but was also tender and loving. Now she is just a cracked shell of who she once was.
"I will and I do," replied Rick, then told Reginald his condition for being leader. "I would like to have a council to help make decisions," Rick said knocking Reginald back into the present, "I will still have final decision on everythang, but having a council to help talk through issues and come up with solutions would be helpful. Some from my group and some Alexandrians would serve. I would like Aaron to sit on the council and you can name the second Alexandrian, and from my group I would like Maggie and Michonne.
"Sure Rick, that sounds good. Maybe I will be the second person until we can get an idea of who from here would be a good fit," said Reginald.
"Great," replied Rick. "How and when will you make the announcement?"
"I will call a community meeting for tomorrow afternoon and make a formal announcement," conveyed Reginald.
Rick informed Reginald of the two agenda items from the committee and Reginald was touched that Rick would allow him to make these final two decisions. Rick could have easily waited until after the announcement to make the decision himself, and for that Reginald was pleased. He showed his thanks by agreeing with both and with that, Rick went to each committee member and informed them of both of the decisions from their soon to be former leader.