CHAPTER 28
Rick (with his baby daughter Judith in his arms) peaked inside Carl's cell and saw him sitting on the edge of his bed, with his battered Stetson hat lying beside him. Carl was looking down at the floor, holding an ice pack to the bruises on the left side of his face, and there was a gauze bandage under his chin covering up the cut Sora Miyaguchi put there with his katana.
I almost lost Carl today. I almost lost my son, Rick thought fearfully.
A second later Rick started to tremble.
Rick stepped back from Carl's cell; he closed his eyes and lowered his head. He thought back to a few weeks ago of Lori, dying from an emergency Caesarian section in the boiler room. Then he thought back to a year ago about when he and Shane argued over the life of their prisoner Randall.
"I don't think you can keep them safe," Shane warned.
Rick put his back against the next cell as Shane's cold words rang through his head. He felt his voice rushing up his throat and he clutched Judith tightly to his chest
There was a cry, but it wasn't Rick's voice.
Rick's eyes shot open and he saw Judith; with her own eyes shut tightly, her tiny fists clenched, and her voice crying out in pain because he was crushing her against his chest. Rick swallowed his own cry, relaxed his hold on Judith and she stopped crying. Rick looked to his left, and saw that Carl hadn't stepped out of his cell; he looked to his right, and saw that Hershel had hobbled away earlier.
I almost lost it. Like I did when I first saw Lori's spirit after she died, Rick though as sweat rolled down his forehead. I can't go there again. I can't let Carl see me like that again. I can't let the others see me like that again.
Rick took his right index finger and gently wiped the tears away from Judith's eyes; he then raised his right hand and wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his wrist.
Judith's okay, you're okay. Now go and see Carl.
Rick stepped to his left and stood in the doorway to Carl's cell. His son hadn't moved an inch since he first peeked inside. Rick moved his right hand towards the door frame.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
Carl looked to left and saw his father holding his baby sister Judith.
"Can we come in?" Rick asked as he lifted Judith in his arms slightly.
Carl smiled at the sight of his baby sister. "Sure," he answered.
Rick walked inside the cell and sat in the chair across from Carl. "How do you feel?" he asked.
Carl shrugged. "I'm fine," he answered.
"Let me see those bruises," Rick said as he pointed at the ice pack Carl held against his left cheek.
Carl hesitated for a moment, but lowered the ice pack as his father ordered. Rick winced at the sight of the large bruises on Carl's cheek, and the regret that he let his son go on this supply run burned brightly in his guts.
"Does it look bad?" Carl asked nervously.
Now, it was Rick who hesitated, but he finally said, "The swelling will go down in a few days."
Carl lowered his head. "I thought it looked bad," he muttered.
"Do any of your teeth feel loose?"
"No."
"Good. We were lucky to find Hershel, but I don't think we'd get lucky again finding a dentist."
Carl laughed at his father's joke, but the bruises on his left cheek made him wince, so he put the ice pack on his cheek again.
"What about the scratch under your chin?"
Carl leaned his head back, revealing the gauze bandage under his chin. Rick remembered Sora holding the blade of his katana underneath Carl's chin, and when the Japanese gambler flicked the sword like it was a razor, a trickle of blood ran down the blade. Rick shut his eyes tightly to drive the horrid memory away.
"Hershel said it's not permanent," Carl said as he pointed at the gauze bandage with his right hand.
Rick nodded and replied, "He assured me that it wasn't."
Carl looked at his father and said, "I guess that run didn't go too bad."
"Badly," Rick corrected. "That run didn't go too badly."
Carl chuckled and winced again. "Wow, I'm sorry. I forgot grammar was still important."
Rick looked at Carl and thought, Just how cold has my son become?
After a few moments of silence, Rick said, "We've lost three people."
"We lost three bad people, and found three good replacements," Carl retorted.
"There were three other people in that group that could've come back with us."
"But they were bad too, and now they're dead."
"John told me that nobody was going to cry over Floyd and Sam's deaths, and he was right. But Juan had Marianna, and she's taking his death hard."
"Everybody has lost somebody."
Rick lowered his head and thought, I can't believe Carl just said that.
Rick looked at Carl and replied, "That doesn't make Juan's death easier for Marianna to take."
"Juan was going to kill you, Dad."
"But he didn't."
"That's because a walker bit him."
"That walker was Sam."
"Sam was dead; just like Shane was dead when I put him down and saved your life."
A shiver ran through Rick's body. My God, he's worse off than I feared. Why didn't I do something about this when Lori warned me on the farm?
The silence inside the cell screamed in Rick's ears, until he finally said, "Carl, do you understand why I lied to Marianna about Juan's death?"
Carl nodded. "It's like the time I woke up after surgery, and I asked you if Sophia was okay, and you said she was fine."
"Yeah, I remember. What do you think they have in common?"
You…didn't want us to worry."
Rick nodded. "You'd just gone through surgery, and Marianna is much older than you are. I didn't think either of you could bear the truth."
"I know Dad, but…."
Carl hesitated, and he lowered the ice pack again and twisted it nervously with both hands.
"What is it, Carl?" Rick asked.
Carl put the ice pack down beside his Stetson hat and asked, "The day you lied to me about Sophia being fine: you came back later and you were going to tell me the truth, but mom told me already, so…are you going to tell Marianna the truth about Juan later?"
Rick blinked with surprise at Carl's question, but a moment later he smiled. That's my son. He's not completely cold! he thought.
Rick took a few moments to ponder Carl's question and he finally answered, "I don't know, Carl. I knew Juan's death would devastate Marianna, but I didn't know how she'd react to the news that he wanted to kill me. Would she have a heart attack? Would she call me a liar and accuse me of leaving Juan behind? Maybe I had good intentions, but I still lied, and it didn't ease that poor woman's suffering. Maybe if I can get to know her, make her see me as a friend instead of a leader, then I can tell her the truth about Juan."
Carl nodded in agreement and asked, "What about everyone who saw it? Michonne, Daryl, John—"
"I doubt we have to worry about Michonne and Daryl telling Marianna the truth about Juan," Rick interrupted. "And as for John, he approved of what I told Marianna, so we don't have to worry about him either."
"What about Tyreese and the El Dorado group?"
"I'll talk to them…tomorrow."
Carl's eyes widened and he leaned forward on the edge of his bed. "Dad! I just remembered: the guitar I got for—"
At that instant, Carl stopped talking and looked at his cell's open doorway. He looked back at his father and whispered. "The guitar I got for Beth. Is it—?"
"It's still in the truck, Carl," Rick interrupted with a grin.
Carl sighed with relief, "Oh, good. After everything that happened today I forgot all about it."
"It's a nice guitar, Carl. I'm sure your girlfriend will like it," Rick teased.
Carl blushed, lowered his head and grumbled in embarrassment.
A few moments later, Judith started to coo in Rick's arms. "I think someone wants a little attention," Rick said happily as he looked down at Judith and bounced her in his arms playfully.
"Is she okay?" Carl asked as he leaned forward to see Judith.
"She is," Rick answered. "I was a fool to expect a baby to be quiet for this long."
"Dad, can I hold her?" Carl asked hopefully.
Rick looked at Carl and saw his son's hands were out already with hopeful anticipation. Rick smiled at Carl and answered, "Sure."
Carl leaned forward and Rick deposited Judith into his hands gently. Carl drew Judith to his chest and sat back on the edge of his bed.
"Hi. Do you remember me?" Carl asked softly as he gently touched Judith's chin with his fingertip. "I'm your big brother Carl."
Judith cooed as she looked up at Carl. Rick sat back in his chair, folded his arms across his chest, and smiled softly as he watched his children.
•••
"Are you all right, Marianna?" Donna asked gently as she accompanied her grieving friend through Cell Block D.
"Si, I just need a little siesta," Marianna answered softly with her head down.
The two women continued walking until they came to the staircase that led to the cell block's second tier.
"Marianna, we're at the staircase. One step at a time, okay?"
Marianna nodded and said nothing.
Donna raised her foot and set it on the first step while she kept her arm around Marianna's shoulder. "Use the handrail," she said quietly.
Marianna looked up and saw the handrail; she reached up with her left hand, took hold of it, and pulled herself up onto the first step.
"Very good," Donna smiled as she raised her left foot onto the first step, and stood beside Marianna again.
The two women walked up the staircase slowly and stepped onto the second tier. "I told Juan that I wanted a cell up here because I was scared of the demons," Marianna said suddenly.
Donna stopped in her tracks; her arm was still around Marianna's shoulders, and she went stumbling backwards. Marianna looked at Donna, and when she saw the confusion on her friend's face, she smiled.
"I've seen how they walk; most can't make it up a staircase," Marianna said.
"Excuse me?" Donna asked.
"The biters; that's what Juan and I called them before we got to Woodbury," Marianna answered.
Donna appeared like she was trying to remember a detail from the past, and when it dawned on her she laughed. "Oh yes! I remember now! You scared me out of my shoes when you first called them that!"
Marianna laughed too, "Ci! I remember you made the Sign of the Cross and then you cried, "Oh, my Lord! Please save us from the dead and Satan's demons!'"
Donna and Marianna embraced and laughed for a minute and when their laughter faded away, they separated and wiped the tears away from their eyes.
"Do you think God will save us?" Donna asked.
Marianna shook her head and answered, "I don't know."
The two women resumed walking along the second tier until they came to a stop alongside an open cell. Marianna looked inside the cell she shared with her husband: the two beds bolted on the right wall had been made in the morning and the suitcases holding their extra clothes were stacked underneath the bottom bed.
"Juan and I talked about taking out those beds, and getting a big one from a store; maybe even get a dresser if it wasn't too much trouble," Marianna said sadly.
"John and I had a similar conversation," Donna admitted.
"That's funny too," Marianna smiled, "here we are at the end of the world, but privately we told our husbands that we need new furniture."
Donna smiled too; a few moments later she said, "If you've changed your mind about dinner, I'll bring you a plate—"
"Gracias, Donna, but I'm not hungry right now," Marianna interrupted as she removed her coat and put it on the top bed.
"Oh. Well, get some rest then. But if you change your mind, just call out; I'll be on the bottom tier."
Marianna stepped forward, wrapped her arms around Donna, and hugged her. "Gracias, Donna," she said.
Donna put her arms around Marianna and hugged her in return. After a few moments, they broke apart; Donna walked back to the staircase, while Marianna turned around and walked towards her bed.
Marianna sat on the edge of her bed, untied her ankle length boots, lied down, and closed her dry, red eyes. Sleep claimed Marianna quickly, and she dreamt about the night her husband returned with the Governor from their supply run.
•••
Mariana stood outside of the camp, looking in the direction Juan had driven off an hour ago with Philip and Nick; her hands were in her coat pockets, and her right hand was wrapped around the walnut grips of her Smith and Wesson Model 10 revolver.
They had heard gunshots earlier and were on alert.
At the small campire sat Penny, Milton, Alice, Nicole and her two children Patrick and Elizabeth; Merle, Drew and Taylor stood nearby armed with long rifles, but Drew and Taylor held theirs nervously. Alice, Leah and her children sat with blankets draped over their heads.
Merle cradled an M4A1 rifle in the crook of his left arm; he knelt down by the campfire and smiled at the women. "You girls okay?" he asked.
Alice glared at Merle and retorted, "I can't believe you insisted that we put these on."
"Sorry, sweetheart, but the bogeys that did all that shootin' might be out there watchin' us. Don't want to advertise that there're women and children in this camp, if you get my meanin'."
Alice's complexion turned pale as she tightened her grip on the Ruger Mini-14 rifle that lay beside her.
Merle smiled and said reassuringly, "Don't worry. You've got Milty to protect you."
Milton glanced up with surprise at Merle and went back to writing in his journal.
Penny looked over her shoulder and looked at Marianna standing alone, so she removed her blanket, stood up, and walked over to her. "Mrs. Zavala?" the little girl asked as she tugged on the women's right elbow.
Marianna looked down at the little girl and replied, "Ci, Penny?"
"Are you worried about Mr. Zavala?"
"Ci."
Penny smiled and said, "You shouldn't be. Mr. Zavala is with my daddy, and my daddy is very smart."
Marianna smiled, knelt down and kissed Penny on her temple. "Gracias, bebé," she said gratefully.
At the campfire, Merle watched Marianna and Penny and quipped, "Ya'll are goin' to make me cry, got a hanky?"
Marianna glared at Merle; then she stood up and looked out into the darkness again.
Drew took his right hand from the grip of his Winchester Model 70 bolt action rifle and saw it was covered in sweat. Drew tried to wipe his hand on his pants discretely, but Merle caught his nervous reaction.
"Aw, do you need a potty break, Drew?" Merle quipped.
Drew turned around and spat "Fuck you, Dixon!"
Merle laughed while Drew glared at him and returned to looking out into the darkness.
"Was it necessary for you to curse?" Nicole asked angrily. "My children are present."
Drew glanced over his shoulder at Nicole, and went back on sentry duty.
"Lady, your kids have other things to worry about besides pickin' up bad language," Merle said.
"What's wrong with you?" Nicole asked as she looked at Merle. "Why are you always causing trouble?"
Merle showed Nicole the stump at the end of his right arm and answered, "Sorry, Darlin'. Guess I lost my manners along with my hand."
Nicole frowned at the ghastly sight of Merle's stump and hugged her two children; Patrick, her oldest, looked wide-eyed at Merle and asked, "Hey, Merle, how did you lose your hand?"
Merle smiled and replied, "Honest injun?"
Patrick nodded.
"I cut off my own damn hand because a cop handcuffed me to a roof."
Patrick gulped like he was just told a frightening ghost story and hugged his mother tighter.
"You're a liar!" Elizabeth said angrily.
Nicole looked down at her daughter and said, "Hush, Nicole. That was rude."
"Whoa, it's okay, Mama Bear. God knows I've been called worse," Merle smiled. "So what's wrong with my story, little lady?"
"My daddy told me and Elliot that policemen are good people," Elizabeth answered proudly.
Merle frowned, and glanced down at his stump. "Not the one who cuffed me," he muttered angrily as he stood up.
The camp was quiet again, and Merle walked over to Taylor, who was holding an AR-15 rifle.
"Do you think Philip and the others are dead?" Taylor whispered nervously.
Merle looked out into the darkness and retorted, "Well, if I say "Yeah", are you gonna turn yellow like your boy Drew?"
Taylor glared at Merle and it briefly appeared that he was going to shout; instead he turned around and stomped away. Merle shook his head in amusement and walked over to Marianna and Penny.
Merle gently kicked Penny's foot with the toe of his boot, which caught the little girl's attention. "Better get back to the campfire, Strawberry Shortcake. I'll keep an eye out for your daddy."
"Okay," Penny said happily before she ran back to the campfire.
Merle took a step closer to Marianna and said, "You too, señorita. That hogleg you're carryin' won't do you much good if there are any banditos out there."
Marianna glared at Merle and retorted, "This isn't the Old West, you're not John Wayne, and I'm not moving from this spot until my husband comes back."
Merle grinned as he raised his arms and backed away. "Okay, señorita. Don't let it be said I didn't have a soft spot for your chicken noodle soup dealin' ass."
Merle returned to the campfire and Marianna continued waiting for Juan's return. A minute later she heard the sound of a distant engine growing larger, and her heart started beating faster. She looked back at the campfire and asked, "Does anyone else hear that?"
No one replied, but Merle and Alice stood up with their weapons.
Marianna looked back into the darkness, and saw two small headlights appear on the dark highway.
"Oh, gracias a Dios! Juan's back!" Marianna cried happily as she let go of revolver in her coat pocket, and clasped her hands together.
"Don't go startin' the fiesta yet!" Merle grumbled as he ran forward and pushed Marianna to the ground. "Any asshole could be in that vehicle!"
Marianna fell on her stomach and looked to her right to see Merle kneeling beside her, and fumbling to aim his M4A1 rifle with left hand while resting its weight on the stump of his right arm.
"Eres un cerdo!" Marianna shouted.
"Yeah," Merle muttered in mock agreement as he aimed down the rifle's iron sights.
The oncoming truck turned to its right and drove onto the field; bathing the camp in its headlights.
At the campfire, Nicole grabbed hold of Patrick and Elizabeth, and began crawling away. "Stay down, stay down," she whispered with the blanket now spread across her and her children's backs.
"We're gonna die. We're gonna die," Patrick repeated frightfully.
Elizabeth started crying, and Nicole pressed her daughter to her side. "Sssh," she whispered.
On the other side of the campfire, Penny wrapped her blanket over her shoulders and crawled away; so did Milton with his pen in one hand, and his journal in the other. "Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit," he muttered nervously.
Alice thumbed the safety to her Ruger Mini-14 rifle to the "off" position and ran forward. "Come on!" she shouted at Drew and Taylor.
Drew and Taylor glanced at each other across the camp, and followed Alice.
Back on the dark highway, a second pair of headlights appeared, turned left, and followed the other truck across the field.
"This guy brought some friends!" Taylor shouted as he raised his rifle up to his shoulder.
Drew looked at Merle and asked, "What do we do?"
"Ya'll don't do shit unless I tell ya'll!" Merle answered.
The two trucks came to a stop a few feet from the skirmish line; the trucks set in park; a second later they killed the engines, but their headlights were still on. Far behind the skirmish line, Penny, Milton, Nicole, Patrick and Elizabeth watched the standoff quietly and nervously.
"Come out slowly with your hands up!" Merle ordered as he aimed his rifle at the first truck's windshield.
The silence was broken by the electronic sound of the first truck's driver's side window lowering.
"I'd be happy to, Merle, if you tell everyone to take their fingers off the triggers," a voice inside the truck quipped.
Merle lowered his rifle and stood up. "Phil?" he asked with uncertainty.
The truck's driver's side door opened and a figure climbed out. "Is Penny okay?" he asked.
"Daddy!" Penny's voice shouted happily behind the skirmish line.
A blur ran past Merle and latched itself onto Philip, who chuckled, knelt down, and picked up his daughter.
"I'm sorry I'm late, sweetie," Philip said.
"That's okay," Penny replied with a smile.
Alice, Drew, and Taylor lowered their weapons and sighed with relief. Marianna stood up and brushed herself off. Nicole, her children Patrick and Elizabeth walked over to the reunited group; Milton wasn't far behind them, adjusting his glasses.
Merle slung his shoulder over his left shoulder and tapped Marianna on her shoulder. "Uh, sorry about pushin' you onto the ground," he muttered awkwardly.
"Sigues siendo un cerdo," Mariana replied.
Merle shook his head in disgust and quipped, "I'm glad we had this little hablar, señorita."
The first truck's passenger door opened and a figure climbed out and stared at Alice. "Nick?" the woman whispered.
"Hi, honey," Nick grinned with a wave of his hand.
Alice dropped her rifle, ran to her husband, and embraced him.
"We almost shot you!" Alice cried as she wept on Nick's shoulder.
"I'm glad you didn't," Nick replied as he hugged Alice tightly.
Marianna looked from the first truck to the second truck anxiously until the driver's side door to the second opened and a figure climbed out; the figure's hands were shaking. "Juan?" she whispered hopefully.
The figure looked at Mariana and his hands stopped shaking. "Bebé?" he asked.
Marianna ran towards Juan and embraced him tightly. "Oh, gracias a Dios!" she cried happily.
Juan slowly wrapped his arms around Marianna and returned the embrace. "You're here. You're alive," he whispered gratefully.
Philip turned his attention to the group, so he set Penny down and asked, "Who was it that threw up the skirmish line?"
"Him," Drew answered as he pointed at Merle.
Merle smiled at Drew and slowly raised his middle finger.
Philip ignored Merle and Drew's animosity and walked over to the one-handed veteran. "Well done," he said as he patted Merle's shoulder.
Merle blinked with surprise, but a moment later he smiled with appreciation. "Thanks," he replied sincerely.
Taylor walked over to the truck Juan had driven; he squint his eyes against the glare of the truck's headlights, but he could see the truck's bed was loaded with boxes. "Where'd the truck come from?" he asked.
The memory of Philip and Nick shooting Lance, his little brother Bryan, and his three college friends flashed through Juan's mind, and he broke his embrace with Marianna.
Marianna blinked in confusion. "What's wrong, Juan?" she asked worriedly.
"It's nothing," Juan answered quickly as he rubbed his hands together like he was washing them.
Taylor looked at Philip and said, "I thought you said you were bringing back a group of refugees."
Philip looked at the members of his group who had remained in camp and saw the confusion and fear in their eyes. "I tried to bring them back," he said.
Nicole gasped in fright; her arms were around Patrick and Elizabeth's shoulders, and she pulled her children to her sides. "What happened?" she asked fearfully.
Philip glanced down at Penny and said, "Sweetie, could you go sit down by the fire? I've got to talk to the adults."
"Okay, Daddy!" Penny shouted cheerfully before she ran towards the small campfire.
"Nicole, could you tell Patrick and Elizabeth to sit by the fire too?"
Nicole nodded and looked down at her children. "Go on kids; go keep Penny company."
"Aw, Mom. I want to hear what happened to that other group!" Patrick whined.
"Patrick, go!" Nicole ordered as she pointed at the small campfire.
Patrick lowered his head and walked to the small campfire while his sister Elizabeth ran ahead of him.
With the children out of earshot, Philip put his hands on his hips, and looked at the adults.
"I told you all that I stumbled upon a camp four of five miles away from here. I took Nick and Juan with me because I hoped the three of us could convince them to pool our numbers and resources together. If we're going to survive until the government gets things under control, we need more numbers and more resources.
"What I didn't say was their camp was on top of a mountain. That's a trivial detail, but what mattered was I found people out there, people just like us. We couldn't drive up there without alarming them and risking a violent encounter, so we left the Dodge on the side of the road and proceeded on foot.
The people in that camp were four college kids and one little boy; judging by the conversations I heard earlier their leader's name was Lance, and his little brother's name was Bryan. Those young men were sitting around a large campfire, drinking beer, eating hamburgers, and joking around like they were on a camping trip. That's why they never heard the biters coming up the other side of the mountain."
"The biters?" Milton asked nervously.
"Yes, the biters," Philip answered with a nod. "Juan, Nick, and I had barely started up the mountain when we suddenly heard the most bloodcurdling screams. We ran up the mountain as fast as we could, but by the time we reached their camp it was too late."
A sob broke the silence of Philip's audience, and they looked to their right and saw it came from Juan. Mariana put her arms around her husband and embraced him; Juan returned the embrace reluctantly.
Philip cleared his throat to get his audience's attention and resumed his story.
"We reached their camp moments after the attack ended. The biters were too occupied eating their…victims so we were able to put them down easily."
"That was the gunfire we heard earlier!" Drew shouted with astonishment.
Merle spat on the ground and said contemptuously, "Son, if your brain gets any brighter, it's goin' to look like Hiroshima around here."
Drew spun to his right to confront Merle, but Taylor and Nick rushed forward and held him back. Merle grinned and took a few steps back with his arms over his head.
"I'll beat your ass!" Drew threatened Merle as he struggled to break free from Taylor and Nick's grip.
"Shut up," Nick ordered.
"Yeah, calm down. He's not worth it," Taylor said.
"Whoa! Whoa! Did I hurt your feelings again, Drew?" Merle asked cheerfully.
Philip sighed and rubbed his eyes as he waited for his audience to settle down, when they finally did he continued his story.
"Aside from the supplies those young men had with them, there were a few gas tanks. They were dirt bike enthusiasts; must've ridden up and down those hills on the weekends before things fell apart. They had a few automatic rifles too, so we gathered them all and put them in that truck's bed. Now we've all got to break camp."
Philip's audience started talking in unison, but he raised a hand, and they quieted down.
"That gunfire is going to attract the attention of biters and other survivors—dangerous survivors. We've got to put a couple more miles between that mountain and us immediately."
"I think…I think Philip is right," Milton said timidly.
Philip's audience looked at each other worriedly, and then they nodded, turned around, and returned to camp to take down their tents and gather their possessions. Juan and Mariana held hands and followed the other adults into camp.
"Juan," Philip called out.
Juan looked over his shoulder and saw Philip was coming towards him; a second later the group's leader was walking alongside him.
This man's a killer! Juan thought frightfully.
"Are you okay?" Philip asked as he put a hand on Juan's left shoulder.
"Si," Juan answered quickly.
"That's good, because you just witnessed a traumatic event. It's okay to feel remorse, regret, and even anger. I understand. It wasn't easy for Nick when he when a similar situation occurred on his first run, but he got over it quickly."
Juan remembered how cold, quiet, and distant Nick had been tonight, and how he helped Philip shoot those young men in cold blood. Juan's complexion suddenly turned pale. Madre de Dios! I forgot about Nick! He helped Philip kill those boys!
"We'll continue on to Ft. Benning," Philip continued, "I'll lead, you and Marianna take Lance's truck and follow me, Nick and Alice will be behind you two, and Drew and Taylor will bring up the rear."
"Si," Juan nodded.
"I'm sure that you're still upset over that tragedy, so please don't panic and speed of into the night. Everyone in the group is going to be armed and ready to defend themselves. I'd hate to lose the both of you to friendly fire."
Juan's eyes widened with shock. He's threatening our lives! What have Marianna and I gotten ourselves into?!
"Do we have an understanding, Juan?" Philip asked firmly.
"Si," Juan answered meekly.
"Good," Philip smiled as he patted Juan's shoulder. "Now let's help the others pack and get on the road."
Juan was too afraid to answer so he nodded. Philp walked away and left Juan alone with a concerned Marianna.
Marianna cupped Juan's cheek and whispered, "Juan, I know Philip's lying about what happened to those boys on that mountain. Whatever it was, it's tearing you apart inside. Talk to me."
Juan looked down at Marianna's pleading eyes and whispered, "You can't tell anyone else."
Marianna nodded.
"Philip killed those boys. He was friendly, he got them to invite us into camp and share a meal, and then he killed them."
Marianna trembled and made the Sign of the Cross.
•••
Marianna's eyes shot open and she sat up on her bed gasping for breath; she looked around the odd, bare room and she realized that she was in the prison cell she shared with her husband Juan; her husband who had died today.
Marianna swung her legs over the side of the bed, sat on its edge, and put her head in her hands and started to cry.
"Why, Juan? Why did you go with Rick?" Marianna whispered as she dried her red eyes. "You told me Philip killed those boys, and his lies got us into a war against Rick's group! John's been warning us that Rick was the same as Philip, and I told you Rick would kill us all. Why did you think he was any different?"
Marianna looked across hers and Juan's cell and balled her fists in rage. "I know Rick's story about your death was a lie, but I can't prove it…yet. A lot of people came back with him from that casino; one or more must know what really happened, Juan. When I get the truth from them, everyone in this prison will know what kind of man Rick Grimes really is!"
THE END