Chapter 67: Camouflage
RPOV
~Early that same day~
"Dad?" I heard Carl's voice calling to me, pulling me away from leaving to go find Ron, to teach him how to hold the gun. After he willingly took some lessons with me on how to hold the gun from a high point, I needed to show him more.
He wanted to learn more from me. "Yeah?" I called back to him. Having taken a few things with me, I was going to give Ron a gun I had taken from the armoury earlier.
Slowly, I heard footsteps approach me. When he approached, he sighed and leaned against whatever he could. "While you were away...Gabriel," he started. "He came up to me," he began telling me what happened with the priest. "He asked me to teach him, that he was sorry about what he did and he was going to learn this time. He wants to fight."
Hearing that Gabriel had gone to Carl, to ask for help, was something I had wanted to believe but I couldn't. "I'll believe it when I see it," I said after a short grumble.
Nodding to myself, I had wished I could of believed him but I didn't. I couldn't. Not after everything he had done to us. How he had lied to Deanna to get us kicked out. All because we knew the truth. "Dad, I'm being serious. I taught him a few moves with a machete and it wasn't like the last time," Carl tried to get me to listen.
"He listened. And I think he wants to redeem himself for what he did to us at the meeting," he was defending the priest, who knew nothing of how to defend himself, had he not asked Carl to teach him.
Still not willing to accept him, to accept what happened, I was angered. "It takes more than words and a single lesson to convince me," I had been betrayed and I didn't forgive so easily. I tried to forgive Shane but I couldn't. "But I'll try to trust him again. I just need time," I tried to reassure Carl that I would try.
If my son was willing to stand up for Gabriel, I had to trust my son's judgement from time to time. "Where are you going?" Carl asked me as I packed up two guns. Two for Ron to get a feel for, to see which he might have favoured more.
"I'm going to teach Ron how to use a gun," I was being honest with Carl, not needing to lie to him about something as small as this.
Silence fell on us for only a few moments. "Can I come?" he asked me if he could join me.
Glancing up at him, I knew Ron was his friend and having Carl around, would probably build Ron's confidence up a little. "Sure," I accepted Carl's request to join me. "Let's go," I stored the gun away and lead him out the door with me. As we made our way to meet with Ron and finally start the lesson with him.
PRESENT DAY...RPOV
Hearing the rubble clattering, the walkers were snarling and we had all ducked or jumped out of the way when the tower finally collapsed down on us. Everyone was either getting up, like I was or they were just staring in horror at the cloud of dust that was hiding the walkers fast approaching.
"Everyone, get back! Get into your houses, go!" I was yelling out my commands as I got to my feet and began running to the others, walkers were fast approaching, filling the space where our solar panels were.
Shooting at walkers that got too close, I had kept an eye out for how many were getting far too close to me. "Rick!" I had heard Deanna yell to me.
She had run up to me, trying to reach to me. Perhaps she was looking for guidance or was trying to finally take a stand. "You need to get back," I barked at her.
I wanted to keep her safe. She was someone I admired and was someone I didn't really want to lose. Not with how her way to see the world was. It reminded me of Kat and I couldn't afford losing her for this place. "We need to get back!" she yelled and began shooting at walkers too. I had heard her fire shots but no walkers fell down.
Running after me, I had done my best to get somewhere safe, to get as far from the walkers as possible. "Back! Get back!" she yelled, possibly at those we were crossing on the way to safety.
Seeing her push a walker away from me as we shot a path, clearing us of any walkers. She had grabbed hold of a walker and shoved it away from me, even if it was taking her down with it. Luckily, before she fell on her back, she shot it on its head but another was grabbing hold of her.
She had grunted with pain, which was when I noticed she had fallen on-top of a saw blade that we had been using to cut the wooden planks. Which had all been for nothing in the end. "Deanna, you all right?" I asked lifting her up when she took my hand that I offered her.
"Oh, God. Oh, my God," was the only thing she mumbled, possibly in agony because of the slice she felt during our attempt to run away, especially after she had pierced her leg with the saw blade.
MPOV
Seeing Rick supporting Deanna, he was carrying her, blood was seeping from her leg and from her waist. I had seen she fell but by the looks of it, it was a stab and not a bite. "Rick!" I yelled as I caught up to him, killing walkers the best I could.
Normally, I could always fight better when I was under pressure. "Good, you're safe. Come on," I heard Rick encourage us as Carl, Ron and Gabriel soon joined up with us.
Running to safety, Deanna would tell us where the walkers were coming from, the ones that were getting far too close, Rick would point to them and between myself, Carl and Gabriel, we were killing walkers where we could. Deanna began to panic when she saw the walkers beginning to surround her, all while in pain from the damage she did to her leg.
Suddenly, shots were being fired as slowly, the sight in front of us was being cleared. Showing us, Jessie holding the gun and putting bullets into walkers that got too close to us. "Come on, I have Judith!" she yelled, leading us inside. Helping Rick, we did our best to get Deanna inside and blocked off the entrances with whatever we found.
KPOV
Feeling my heart race, I was beginning to find it hard to breathe. It was like an urgency to get home, to get to Carl, to dad and the others. I needed to be there. "We need to get in there..." I was finding it difficult to peel my eyes away from the scene. "They're in trouble. Carl, Judith, dad, Michonne, Daryl...Maggie. All of them," I listed all those that mattered most to us.
The list, it was one I felt dread at the thought of. "We have to help them," I couldn't look away, trying to catch my breath, I was panting, trying hard to keep myself together.
Something in my gut just knew something was wrong. "Let me think," Glenn pleaded of me, as he didn't want me to panic. "The walkers are flooding into the east wall. That means that the west wall will be the first to clear up. That's-that's how we get in," he figured out once staring at the walls from where we were.
Enid didn't want to move while I was muttering my agreement with everything he said, just a filter of 'uh-huh's before he stopped and we both had. Looking back to Enid, she was terrified. "Just because the tower's down doesn't mean that..." he drifted, trying to find the words but she wasn't listening. "Listen, people are still alive in there."
Glenn had moved in front of her, trying to get her to look at him. Glancing between them and between the walls, I was worrying that maybe, I was too late. "This is how it happens. And it always happens, Glenn," Enid was being depressed about this, like she knew more than we did about this.
We had survived this, twice and truthfully, I didn't want to survive it for a fourth time. A third for me, was more than enough. "We're still here. Our friends are in there, people who care about you," Glenn was trying to get Enid to focus.
His next words though, had struck me like a slap to my face. "My pregnant wife," he revealed to me for the first time. I was left speechless, my eyes glued to Glenn as my eyes were widened with shock.
Briefly, our eyes exchanged glances and I was worried for Maggie now. More than I was before. "You just want to run away, be afraid, forget about this? Just go," Glenn wasn't going to hold her back anymore. "But that's how you lose people. Even after they're gone," but he was going to try and convince her to do the opposite of what he'd said prior.
Watching him leave, he left me and Enid, struck by his news. At the news he blurted out in a moment of high tension. "Maggie's pregnant...I should have known," it made sense to me now. That's why he didn't want her to come with us to the quarry. "Glenn," I called after him as I chased after him. Regardless, I was sticking beside him through it all and if we had to find Maggie first, I would support him on this.
CPOV
Running into the house, we ran up the stairs and I went searching for Judith. I assumed she had been upstairs. "Put her on the couch," dad yelled as he tried to guide Deanna somewhere that she could rest on. Somewhere they could get to work on her for her wound.
"Upstairs!" Jessie yelled at us. "First room on the left. Come on," she was guiding us up to a room where we could take Deanna.
Everything was happening so fast. Everyone was panicking and I could hear music from upstairs. "Where?" dad asked, both of them shouting over Deanna's cries of pain, over the music and over the snarling walkers growling outside.
"This one on the left," she screamed over.
Dad was so disoriented with how Deanna began collapsing. Her legs giving out from under her. My father had to lift her. "Which room?" he asked, carrying her bridal style up the first flight of stairs.
Jessie went to open the door and then open the door to her son's room. "Go in there!" she repeated again while dad placed Deanna on a small bed. Running to Judith's cries, I picked her up and bounced her, trying to sooth her.
"Hey Judith...shh," I tried to shush her but nothing was working so far. She was too afraid and disturbed by the noise all around her. "If Kat were here, she'd sing to you, wouldn't she?" I asked her but I didn't know how to sing.
Bouncing her, I went to go down the hall, away from all the screaming, to give Judith another view that wasn't her alone in her cot. Dad came running to us once he laid Deanna down to be with Michonne while Michonne cleaned her up.
"Hey..." dad tried to soothe Judith like I had, touching her back gently and following after me. I needed to calm her down. I began singing a song that my mom used to sing to me and Kat when we were kids. Hoping it would relax her. Dad had eventually left me alone with her.
MPOV
Panting, a freaking out Rick appeared at our door once he finally let Carl settle Judith on his own. Truthfully, I was glad Rick was letting Carl step up and be the big brother that he was. "How is she?" he asked me as he glanced at Deanna.
Already, I had cleaned the wound on her leg and stitched it up, using a needle and thread Jessie had in the house. "No offence to Michonne, but whatever she's doing hurts like a son of a bitch," Deanna commented on my needle work.
Luckily, she didn't have the worst of it. Andrea had worse needlework done to her by my hand. The neatest at stitching, was Kat out of the three of us. "I just finished with the leg. And that seems to be the worst of-" I thought that would be the worst of it as I lifted her shirt to clean it.
It had appeared not to be a deep gash, no guts were spilling out but as I kept wiping away at the blood, the clearer the bite mark became. Deanna had then inspected it too, glancing at Rick, he was already staring at the mark. He knew what this meant. There was no way out for her now, it was either death before the turn or she was going to turn.
How her eyes met with ours, how she'd glanced at us, I should of known she was hurt from a bite, her fever was kicking in a little but I had thought it had just been from the pain, or the run here, or from a possible infection. Instantly, it was like Deanna knew what this meant as she processed it slowly. "Well...shit," she grumbled while she tried to lay more comfortably on the bed.
RPOV
After witnessing Deanna's bite, I instantly felt guilt flood me. I had let her down. I didn't protect her when I should have and now, she was going to die. Jessie had been covering the windows, so walkers couldn't see us in here while we were waiting it out. "Fever's setting in. She doesn't have long," I informed Jessie of what was happening to our leader.
I was curious, as to if she knew how a bite worked, of how we came to die in this world, what it could do to us once we died regardless how long we lasted. Natural or bite, we became walkers. "She knows how it happens, right? All of it?" I asked Jessie, wondering if Deanna knew of the process in death by bite or not by bite.
Already, Jessie was nodding her head. "Yeah, she knows," she assured me that Deanna wasn't completely oblivious to what happened.
Letting out a little laugh, I couldn't help it. Even in a time of sadness, a time where she knows death was coming for her, she still could laugh and smile about it. "She's cracking jokes," I told Jessie that regardless of her knowing what was going to happen to her, she was still laughing about it.
Looking away, I sighed. I couldn't think about the fact I failed her. The fact she was dying because she was trying to save me. "Rick..." Jessie's hand went up to caress my cheek. "She wouldn't have run," she made me look at her with this gentle touch.
Somehow, Jessie knew the right things to say in a moment like this. But it didn't change the facts. We were surrounded and there was no way out. "We have food to last us a while. They're bound to cluster up by then, move off to one area," this was all we could do for now. "When they do, I'll try and get to the armoury...draw them away."
The plan I had, didn't seem to appease Jessie after she let me go. My smirk had been enough to convince her to let me go. "With guns?" she was a little hesitant to ask me this.
Guns would only draw attention to me and I didn't have a death wish. Not today. I still have Carl, Judith and Kat to live for. "Flares," I answered her. "I'll open the gate, fire them off...see if I can get them somewhere...somewhere that's not here," this was my only hope, to draw them away from home.
MPOV
Sitting with Deanna, I didn't want to leave her alone. Not while Judith was napping in the room with us too. Somehow, Carl had calmed her just enough with his singing that she was ready to nap for a few hours or so. "The plans that you gave Rick...I've been looking them over. I get it. They could work," I wanted to give her something peaceful to think about.
This woman had worked hard all her life, even during the mess this world became and never looked at life negatively. She only saw a future she wanted to build. To keep building it while the world was doing its best to make the worst out of anything positive. "Even now?" Deanna croaked.
The fever was kicking in a little harder as she'd fall in and out of resting her eyes for a few seconds. "Even now," I assured her that her plans, they'd benefit us in the future. That we could make it become a reality. "The Latin in the margins, what was that?" I asked her.
Deanna let out a soft chuckle. "It was something Reg used to say when things went really, really badly," she told me with a grin on her face, remembering her lovely husband that wanted us to stay.
Her hand clutched mine, I didn't want to leave her side, not when she was like this. She needed someone beside her during her final moments. "I'm lucky, Michonne. Working with my family towards a better future is-it's all I ever wanted. That's what I got," she said with pure joy lighting up her face.
The fact that not even death, was going to be having her frown, was a nice sight for me to see. Showed me just how strong she really was and she hardly even knew it. "I got to do what I wanted...right up to the end," she was reflecting on her life and it was making me want to cry for her but tears of joy.
Her words were an inspiration. Ones I wish I could live up to the time I would die. "What do you want?" she averted all the attention away from herself and onto me.
The fact she threw this into my face, made me wonder just how she was getting into my head this way. Am I doing what I wanted? I'm not sure. "I want this place to work," was all I did know for certain.
I wanted this place to work for me, for all of us. This answer somehow amused Deanna. "Yes, but what does that mean for you? What do you want for you?" she questioned, making me wonder just what I wanted.
The more I thought about it, the less I knew what I really wanted. In my gut, it was like I knew what I wanted but I didn't know if I could have it. I didn't know how to pin point it. "I don't know," I whispered a little shakily.
"You better," was Deanna's words of encouragement as her fingers gave mine a tight little squeeze.
CPOV
Finally, I had got Judith to calm down. My singing might not have been as good as Kat's or Michonne's, but it was good enough to soothe Judith and make her fall asleep. All the cuddles and kisses I gave her, it relaxed her. Putting her in her cot with Deanna and Michonne in the room with her, I knew she would be safe.
Leaving to do nothing and check on the walkers outside, I heard footsteps downstairs and when I noticed who it was, I saw Ron leave for the garage. "Ron?" I called after him as I followed him inside the garage. "Hey. You all right, man?" I asked, seeing him in the corner of the room, head bowed and body curled over a work bench.
Shutting the door behind us, I wanted to help him, to comfort him if he was feeling troubled from the walkers surrounding us outside. "Enid's dead. We're all dead," he mumbled like he was crying.
"Look, my dad's gonna figure something out. He always does," I tried to reassure him we'd be fine, taking a few steps closer, I was trying to get his mind off of it. I couldn't make a promise but I didn't have a doubt my father wasn't thinking of something there and then.
Ron on the other hand, didn't believe me. "That's bullshit," his tone angry, no longer sad. "Your dad's just gonna get more people killed. 'Cause that's what he does," he said as he walked closer to me, so we were face to face. "That's who he is," I had seen a tear roll down his cheek.
I was wondering just why he became so emotionless but so full of sadness at the same time. He was cold towards me, towards my dad and neither of us were at fault for all of this. He was putting all the blame on us. "Your dad's a killer," he talked like he knew anything about what he was talking about.
Beginning to think he was starting to lose it, I didn't know how else to respond to him but I knew my response would shut him up. "So was yours," I pointed out that neither of our fathers were perfect. "We need to work this out."
Ron didn't want to listen to me, didn't care for what I was going to say to him. "I'm dead, Carl. My mom is dead. My brother is," he was listing all those he cared about dying. He was so terrified of something he couldn't control.
We all were eventually going to die but it wasn't going to be today. "No, they're not. We're gonna make it," I tried to calm him down, this negative thinking wasn't going to help anyone.
He couldn't predict the future. "Your dad-you're dead, too," the way he was talking as he passed me, was making me more and more concerned. "We're all dead," he told me, hearing a key lock a door, when I saw him reach for the gun, I knew what he was going to do.
Leaping at him, I shoved him against the door and made him hit the door with his back. His gun didn't touch my head, as he yelled and shoved me back, forcing us to crash against a shelf. Seeing a shovel fall, I quickly got to my feet, leaving my hat on the floor, I scrambled to my feet and saw him trying to attack me with the shovel.
Dodging the shovel, glass had shattered and walkers were now being drawn to the noise. Trying to escape him all the while, we were fighting around the room and struggling. He had pinned me to the door he just shattered, the shovel against my neck.
Forcing my hands against him, I struggled to force the shovel off of me. Until I kicked him and pushed back against the shovel on my neck. Watching as he fell to the ground and stared at me. I could hear my father and Jessie trying to call to us but between the walkers, Ron yelling and us knocking into things. It was almost impossible to hear what they were saying.
RPOV
Hearing a crash, then boys grunting like they were in a struggle, I ran down the stairs and went to find out what was going on. I could hear what I knew was Carl and Ron both struggling. By my judgement, it sounded like they were fighting each other. Trying to get inside, it was locked and neither of the boys were letting us in.
Jessie began banging on the door with me but neither of them were letting us in. It was unlike Carl. He would do everything he could to get out of there, he would fight the door if he had to. The fact nothing happened, made me think they were fighting each other. Telling Jessie to move back, I used my hatchet to break the lock and the handle.
Jessie all the while pleading for the boys to let her in. Neither did anything and I kept working on busting the lock. Sounds of walkers were only recent and when I finally bust through, I saw that Ron had been recovering from his seated position on the ground.
CPOV
Seeing walkers approach, I had began shoving a shelf against the door while they reached for me, trying to get in. I had been fighting back and all Ron had done, was sit himself on the ground and even as I pleaded him to help, he did nothing. Just when I heard the door open, Ron got to his feet, grabbed the gun and ran inside.
Dad had called us to come in, as I rushed behind him, dropping the shelf on them as they broke through the glass and into the garage. Picking up my hat, I got back inside and helped by forcing the door closed with dad. Ron can't keep that gun. I won't let him.
RPOV
Finding a couch with Gabriel, we began forcing the door shut with the weight of the couch against it. The boys had taken over in forcing the door shut with Jessie. When Jessie saw me coming with the couch, she warned the boys to move. "We need more, and we need to be quiet," I told Gabriel as I tried to get the others to get more things to help us survive, so they didn't come in.
More importantly, we needed to be quiet, otherwise, the walkers were going to get in and find us. Walkers would keep filling the house, until all of them were drawn to being here too. "I'll see what I can find," Michonne offered to hunt for more things to keep the door from opening.
"Me, too," Gabriel eventually went in search with Michonne as they both looked around the house together.
Carl had been forcing the door shut with me but when Gabriel left, it left us a little vulnerable. "Help," Carl pleaded for someone to take over.
Jessie was the one quick to offer herself up to help us. "I got it," she took over where Gabriel stood, forcing the couch against the door as we fought for the walkers to not come in.
Remembering what I heard, it made me wonder just what happened between the boys. Even if I knew, I wanted to hear the truth. "Hey, hey, what happened in there?" I asked Carl as I tried to get his attention.
When Carl's eyes met mine, he looked directly into them. "We were looking for tools and knocked over a shelf," he said, lying to me as he kept pushing against the couch. It wasn't Carl who started the fight. It was Ron.
Grunting, I hadn't believed Carl but I assumed he only lied, as to cover Ron's back and to make sure Jessie didn't scold him here, right now. I can't talk to him like that. He can't be touched by me. I remembered Jessie telling me a while ago. "We heard yelling," Jessie didn't believe it either.
Keeping up with the lie, Carl had chanced a glance over at Jessie. "Yeah, Ron saw them break through the gates. We had to move. That's what happened," Carl was trying his best to keep up with his lie. To convince us it was true.
I didn't hear any walkers growling, or hear them fighting walkers. I heard a fight between them, I saw Ron had been sat there while Carl tried to fend off the walkers. The look on Ron's completely dazed face proved it more to me than Carl's unconvincing lies. "Carl, there's nightstands in my mom's room. We can brace the couch with them," Ron offered for the boys to go alone.
Something in my gut told me it was mostly so the two could talk things over about what just happened. "What?" Ron asked of Jessie as she was trying to tug on him, trying to get him to look at her.
"Hey, it sounded like you were fighting," Jessie wasn't convinced either that the boys were saying what they claimed what they were saying.
Neither of them needed to lock the doors to do what they said they would. Looking for tools, Carl had said. "Yeah, but we were fighting them," Ron went with Carl's lie but I could see through it. Neither of them looked either of us in the eyes.
Not needing to let him know that I knew, I had a feeling I could do it subtly. "Carl?" I called after my son as he turned his back on me. "It's okay?" I was hoping that the two of them together wouldn't break into another fight.
When his eyes met mine, I knew he understood what I meant by that. "It's okay," he assured me all was going to be fine between them now.
CPOV
Following Ron into the room he wanted me to go in with him, I closed the door behind us and took out my gun. I wasn't going to have another stand off with him. He didn't help. He lost his mind and attacked me. I'm not letting him hold onto a loaded gun. "Listen, I, uh-" he went to say.
Lifting up my gun, I aimed it at him and took a few steps closer to him. I wasn't playing around anymore. He put me in danger. He put both of us in danger and it was all for nothing. "Hand me the gun, grip first," I ordered.
My hand steady, learning the trick from my dad and keeping a stance similar to his. "Carl, I'm sorry," Ron apologised as he slowly turned around and saw me with the gun.
Regardless of how dumb and emotional he had been, how he fought me for nothing. I knew he was sorry but I wasn't willing to forgive him just yet. First, we needed to survive this before I could forgive him. "Yeah, I know. Now give me the gun," I ordered and slowly, he gave me what I asked for.
As soon as he gave it me, I began putting my gun back into my holster and then the other one into my pants behind my back. "Look, man...I get it. My dad killed your dad," I began to sympathise with him. "But you need to know something. Your dad was an asshole," I gave him the facts he might not want to have believed.
Ron took my words with an angry look in his eyes. His jaw hard. He hurt him. Hurt his brother. His mother. And he was worried about my dad because he killed the asshole who was hurting him? There were bigger problems than overcooked beef.
MPOV
Glancing outside the door we had boarded up, we had hoped that nothing would come in as we gazed out into the street. Many were beginning to surround the house, to stand on the porch. A huge metal clang could be heard. "They knocked the sculpture over," Jessie said.
I knew she must of possibly had been talking about the huge, weird metal owl she'd created out on the front porch. "All that noise, it's drawing more," I warned the others of what we were going to be facing. Of what was happening in front of my very eyes.
The sounded of Judith crying alerted us all. "I'll get her," Rick offered and bolted up the steps. He was going to look after his child while I looked out for the rest of us. Taking a few steps back, I had a hand on my sword, ready to fight if they got in.
RPOV
Going up to check on Judith, I had heard that Sam was still listening to his music. He hadn't paid attention to his mother's instructions earlier, as to keep the volume down. The music only made the moment creepier as I saw that Deanna was no longer on the couch. It was only the blood stain she had left there.
Approaching Judith's room, I had seen Judith was in the cot but Deanna's body was reaching to grab her. Taking my hatchet out, I was ready to end walker Deanna before she could eat Judith. "No, it's still me!" she yelled when she heard me run and grab her arm.
Panting, she was afraid I would of killed her. I was afraid I was having to kill her. I was just relieved she had stopped me before I could kill her. "I'm so-I'm sorry. I-I'm sorry," I apologised, having no thought to it. At this point, everything was instinct.
Although, the signs should have been clear. If she was going to have been a walker, she would of also been banging on Sam's door. "I-I wanted to see her one last time," she explained why she was here. "I thought I could make it. My legs had other plans," she had also explained why she was on the floor.
Putting my hatchet away, I guided Deanna to rest on the bed. "Come here. Easy, easy," I had guided her to her feet before carrying her. Even if I felt pain in my hand, I knew the pain she must have been feeling was far worse than mine. "You and plans," I teased her.
It caused Deanna to chuckle, which was a nice sound. "They're yours now," she joked, handing me the baton before I could properly accept it.
Glancing at Judith, she seemed to be soothed after having Deanna there with her. "From now on...someone needs to be with you," I had to break the news to her. But her being there, alone, it wasn't safe for any of us. If she died on our watch, we could lose someone else the next time we checked on her. She stuttered her agreement to me.
Needing to lighten the mood, it felt sad to see her laid there, clutching to the last few hours or minutes left of life she had. "It can't be her," I wanted to make the mood in the room a little light as I glanced at Judith.
She was far too vulnerable and young to be looking after someone like Deanna. "Yep," she had forced herself to agree. She had seen the truth, the logic in all of this. Even if she hated admitting it.
Sighing, I got to my feet and moved away from being beside Deanna. "I'll find someplace else to put her," I went to take Judith out of her cot, away from Deanna and into another room. Judith wasn't safe there with her.
Before I could pick her up, I heard my name being called. "Rick," it had been Deanna. "I, uh-I wrote something...for Spencer, for Kat, for Maggie," she held up a few pieces of paper, their names on separate sheets, signalling to me which ones I had to give them to.
The fact she'd thought of my daughter, being alive out there still, her words rang in my ears. That if she was anything like me, she would survive. And I sure hoped she had and still was out there, surviving still. "I'll make sure they get them," I assured her as I took them from her and put them somewhere safe.
Her hand reached out to hold onto my wrist. "Will you look out for him?" Deanna asked me, referring to her son, Spencer.
Hating the fact I'd have to break the news to him, it was a pain I knew I'd have to endure as I explained what happened. How it happened. "I will," I promised her I would keep an eye on her son, to look after him when this was over.
That was, if he survived the herd coming in and taking over Alexandria. "Will you look out for him like you look out for your people?" her next question caught me a little off guard and I didn't know how to answer her.
I went to open my mouth, shocked she'd asked me such a question. It was as though she knew how to tap into my head. These weren't my people. Even if I wanted them to be, they didn't know how to survive like we did. "Guess what," she had stopped me from saying anything else. "They're all your people, Rick. They are," she told me.
Her attempt to convince me wasn't working. "We haven't had a chance to make it that," even if I wanted it to be true, they weren't on our level and they weren't at our confidence yet either.
A small smile was forming on her face, even as she was dying right in front of me. "But that's how it is," she rose her voice a little more. "I didn't run over to help you out there because I like you...or because I think you're a good man, a good father...or that you can grow one hell of a beard," she teased.
Even after everything we had been through, she still had faith in me. She still believed in me. She was convinced that I was the perfect leader for this place. "I ran over to help because you are one of us," she told me, giving me words that admired her undying honesty and everlasting faith in me.
"That's the right answer," she was referring to the conversation we were having before the tower collapsed. Hearing her words made me tense up and relax. I want them to be my people...for her. For my children. I have to make it a reality.
A sudden yell made me go back into panic mode. "Rick!" Jessie yelled. Taking Judith, I ran down stairs and left Deanna alone while I dealt with what was going on downstairs.
MPOV
Walkers were trying to get in as we all were doing our best to keep the weak spots closed. Jessie had called Rick, as she was whimpering and trying to keep the house from breaking apart. "There's just too many of them," Gabriel told Rick as he went to help us.
Suddenly, the walkers pushed through and got inside the house. "Everybody get upstairs now!" I yelled out my order, taking my sword out and fighting the walkers that had been slowly making their way into the house and to us.
Rick had slowly began letting the others go firs. "Back off! Back off!" he yelled at them to go. To not get stuck there when the walkers were coming. Slicing at any that came too close, I did my best to protect the others. "Come on! Come on!" he yelled at me as we backed up.
Doing our best to cover enough space so nothing got through us, we kept pushing back and tried to come up with something. "The couch! Let's block the stairs," he told me as we both took the couch and dragged it to block the stairs from the walkers getting in.
Panting, when we finally felt sure that the walkers couldn't get in securely at all, we tried to catch our breath and watched on as walkers clawed for us. "I got this one, you get the one behind it. We're gonna need at least two," I could already tell what Rick's plan was going to be just by his choice of words.
RPOV
Dragging the last walker up the stairs, Michonne had prepared the first one as it laid down in the same room Deanna was first laid out in. "You stay here. You see anyone squeezing through, you get me," I informed the boys as I entered the room, panting from the dead weight the walker was.
As I aligned the walker corpse beside the other, I was getting ready to gut them open and smear their organs on our bodies. "We're gonna need bed sheets, enough for everyone," I told Jessie as she followed me.
Ignoring me, Ron joined his mother and left Carl to look out for walkers slipping past the cracks. "Bed sheets for what?" Jessie was confused as to why I would need this in the first place.
To me it was obvious but I remembered that these guys knew nothing of the kind of survival we knew of. "We all go to the armoury," I stated the plan. As long as we got there, got stuff and weapons, we'd be safe.
"How?" Jessie was really starting to question everything I said.
Getting to my knees, I was wiping at my nose with the back of my hand and already getting my knife out for what I was about to do. "We're gonna gut these things. Cover ourselves with the insides. It'll mask our smell, make them think we're like them," I explained the plan.
Ron looked horrified and Jessie seemed a little scared about this plan I had't made up. "I've done it before," I assured them it could be done. "We stay calm, we don't draw attention, we can move right through them," I gave away my secrets on how we could slip right by them.
Neither of them looked happy to hear this plan. Gabriel appeared to only be trying hard not to gag. He was trying hard to stay strong, to not be phased by this thing we could do. "They're in the house, they're making noise. More are coming," Michonne backed me up.
Grunting with each stab I gave the walker, I was cutting into their bodies. Digging to cut the perfect pieces as Michonne used her sword to cut "Anyone who stays here is gonna die," I warned them of what would happen if they weren't on board with this. There was only one way to survive this. It was by coating each other in their guts.
"What about Deanna?" Gabriel avoided my gaze, until it occurred to me, he was right. We couldn't forget about Deanna.
MPOV
A heavy silence invaded the room at the thought of Deanna. We had continued to get the guts out but when it was time to start rubbing it over the bed-sheets, I went inside the room to talk to Deanna, to check to see if she was still alive. "What's happening out there?" she asked when she felt me take her had.
It startled her, waking her up abruptly from the slow slumber. "They're getting in," I informed her of what was happening. "The rest of us...we're gonna have to go. If you want me to, I'll-" I had offered to end her suffering for her.
She didn't have to turn and I didn't really want to think about her suffering that way. "No," she cut me off. "Not ready. Not yet. I will be. Soon," she assured me she'd had more time. "And when I am...I'll do it myself," she informed me she would end her own life. "It's my life. Start to finish," she had decided what she'd do, she had control of her life and she'd go out her own way.
Showing me her gun, I knew that if the time came, she would end her own life and end it before she could turn. When she was ready. I had to respect it. "Dolor hic tibi proderit olim," she said the Latin words she had wrote on her plans.
The words had made her smile at the memory of her late husband. "What does it mean?" I asked her, wanting to know its meaning before she passed.
A soft sigh left her as she thought about it and looked at me slowly. "'Someday this pain will be useful to you,'" she explained what the Latin words had meant. Her hand went to touch my face, caressing it, which made my throat tense, my lip quiver and my eyes water.
I finally understood what those words meant. More so on a deeper level, now that she had given me its translation. "Go. They need you," she encouraged me to leave. Her hand clutching onto mine as I went to hold it.
Letting her hand rest, I tried to focus on my breathing. I didn't want to say goodbye to her. "Thank you," were the only words I could say with a steady voice. Getting to my feet as I looked down at her smiling face.
To tell her goodbye, it was already wrecking me from the inside and out. She had been a wonderful woman, who believed in us, trusted us and let us in to form a future with her. For all of us. "For what?" she was still questioning our words, our ways of thinking.
"For believing," I told her. For believing in a better future. For believing in us. For believing there was more to life than just surviving.
Her eyes fell to almost shut themselves before they darted back up to look at me. "I still believe," she was sure of this, her eyes were soft but they were honest. "I cocked it all up..." she laughed softly to herself. "But I figured it out," she had somehow come up with the plans for the future, even if she wasn't going to be in it herself.
Her hand reached up to take mine. Not denying it her, I took her hand and held it tightly. "What do you want?" she asked me slowly but I still had no answer for it. "Now you figure it out," she encouraged me to go out there. She encouraged me to finally figure out what I wanted for myself, for my life.
"I will," I promised her that I would eventually figure out what I wanted.
Her face hardened, with determination and with a look that only a leader could give. It was courage and strength, even if she was slowly dying. "Good. Give 'em hell," she encouraged me to go out there, to keep fighting and to make this world mine.
CPOV
Helping Michonne cover her with blood, guts and other gunk from the walkers, it was then my turn to get coated with the stuff too. We were working fast and Gabriel was kind of confused what to do with a piece of an intestine from one of the walkers they had cut open.
"We need to move. You, then me," dad was telling Jessie as he offered her some more guts he'd found.
Ron looked a little disgusted, confused and scared about this all. Jessie was slowly becoming numb to it as she knew she had to face up to it. "I'll do it," she assured dad as she crouched down beside him.
Pulling out the guts, they were smearing it all over their bodies. The music had stopped, the sound of the door opening made us all look over to Sam, who had been in his room this entire time. "Mom?" his little voice was shocked to see everyone in a room, covered in blood, in guts with sheets to keep us from staining our clothes.
Moving away from dad, Jessie went to talk to her son. "You need to listen to me, okay?" she said once she was down to his level. "We aren't safe here anymore. Okay, we need to do this so that we can be safe out there. We need to look like the monsters," she was trying to convince him that this was necessary.
This is necessary. He needs to leave with us, or he'll die here. None of us would permit his life from leaving us but what we couldn't risk, was him crying like he was and getting us all killed because of him drawing attention to us. "No, please, no," he pleaded with his mother.
The boy was afraid, reminding me of a version of myself I had finally grown out of years ago. I'm not that same kid anymore. "Yes, honey, we have to go, okay?" she was holding him, trying to get him to see the seriousness of this situation.
"We have to, Sam. Honey, just-just pretend you're brave. Okay? Just make it all pretend. Okay, none of this is real and you're somebody who isn't afraid. Okay?" how she was talking so softly, trying to make him believe in something, it made me wonder how we were going to survive this.
All through this, Sam had been whimpering, tears falling down his face. Nodding, Sam tried to listen to his mother. "Okay," Sam was going to play along with it, because he had to.
RPOV
Once Michonne was ready, her and Carl had gone to take watch in turns. Whispering to me, Michonne had been keeping a close eye on the walkers inside the house. "We have to go," she told me, alerting me that now was our chance.
Looking down, I had seen that the walkers were slowly settling, thinning out but the longer we took, the less time we had left to get out undetected. Blood once it was completely dry, hardly smelt the same as it did when it was fresh. "We're ready," Jessie assured us. "Ron?" Jessie had been holding onto Sam's shoulders as they were finally all coated like the rest of us in blood, in guts and all kinds of gunk.
"Yeah," Ron mumbled an agreement, his head bowed and eyes glued to the ground.
Stepping closer to Jessie, I went to pass her. "I'll get Judith," I went to go get my daughter. Until I felt a hand grip onto me and pull me back.
Looking to the hand that grabbed me, I saw it had been Gabriel. "Rick," he called to me. "I'm not gonna give up out there. I will not turn back, no matter what happens," he assured me he wasn't going to be a coward any longer.
Thinking back to the words I had said to Kat, I knew he was telling the truth. On our way to the house, he had helped us fight against the walkers, he had helped block all the entrances. Don't trust him until he gives you a reason to. Those were the words I had said to Kat in regards to Nicholas.
Looking into Gabriel's eyes, I nodded and saw that he was finally fighting back, finally following our example. He was no longer afraid. "Yeah, I know," I believed him. He had proven himself today.
Going to get Judith, I carried her over to Carl, who had been helped by Jessie to lift his bed-sheet up. Giving him easier access to take Judith into his arms and carry her out of this place. Jessie had her gun and was ready to fight if we needed to.
Making our way down, I had pushed the couch out a little and slipped between it first, the walkers only had to take one sniff of me and continued wandering around. Carl behind me, we slowly began forming a line as we pushed out. So far...so good.
KPOV
Having tried climbing the wall, Glenn couldn't risk the walls breaking anymore by the weight of us scaling it. Instead, we had used it for support as we began climbing a tree. The sun still high above us, as I had been given a boost first. Standing atop the small 'V', the leaves were hitting my face, covering me from the sight of Maggie.
She had been up on a watch point, which had no way down with walkers surrounding her. Enid under me, Glenn was a little off to the side, as we all stared at the sight of Maggie on her hands and knees. She wasn't moving, she couldn't move and the walkers were surrounding her. Like they were hoping to get her down somehow.
"We'll get her out of there. I promise," I assured Glenn, who clenched his jaw and could only stare at his wife who was in trouble. When Glenn glanced over at me, I saw the small church a little far off in the distance but close enough to home where we could come up with a plan.
Perhaps, they even had something hidden in there. It was so close to home, I would of thought someone could of stashed something in a place like a church. "There's a church, let's go there and come up with a plan on how to help Maggie," I was finally taking the lead, because Glenn needed someone to take charge while he worried for his wife.
"Come on," I shuffled a little, getting ready to climb back down as I moved the leaves back to where they were. No longer needing to look at Maggie struggling to find a way down. Glenn nodded and began slowly helping Enid back down the tree as we all got back onto solid ground.
CPOV
The sun was still high above us, as we got out onto the porch and stayed still. All of us waiting for the strength to keep walking. To get ourselves out of the street, surrounded by walkers as far as our eyes could see. We were flooded with them. Holding Judith, dad took hold of me, guiding me through by holding my arm gently. My free hand went to hold Jessie's, until eventually, we all had created a chain.
Strolling down the stairs, being careful, I heard Sam's little voice calling for Jessie. Already, I had a strange feeling in my gut. I wanted to pass it off as nerves. Underneath it all, I feared that someone like Sam, was going to cost us our lives. He was too afraid, he didn't know how to respond to something like this. He never lived something like this.
I had a strange feeling...that Sam was going to get us all killed.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. This was chapter 6 out of the 7 part series of chapters being thrown out for Halloween. This chapter was a little intense but hopefully, it didn't bore you and next chapter will hopefully be better than this one. I enjoyed writing the tension. Instead of so much thinking, this was far more about living in the moment, not about the future or the past all the time. It was instincts kicking in instead of thought processing everything.
Anyway, questions to answer this time:
1) What did you think of this chapter?
2) What do you imagine will happen in the next chapter?
3) What are you hoping to see happening soon in this story?
4) Are you still watching the walking dead today? After everything that happened?
5) Have you followed or checked up on me on Instagram? I have found it to be useful to keep you guys updated for this story. Go check it out. Details are all in my bio.
Much love,
HeroJustInTime90
