A/N All characters belong to the writers and creators of The Walking Dead. Except those that arose from my own twisted imagination.
Chapter 28-Getting to Normal
Tyreese sat outside by himself, stunned. He'd been sitting in the field for at least an hour, unable to move or talk to anyone after Daryl had told him that he and Michonne found Allen and Ben walking along the road just before the prison drive, both having turned. When Daryl had first told him, Tyreese thought he'd just misunderstood.
"What did you say?" Tyreese could see the sympathy in Daryl's face.
"Me and Michonne, we saw your guy Allen and his kid. They were walkers Tyreese, both of them." Daryl paused and Tyreese just stared at him. It made Daryl uncomfortable but he had to tell him. This man, after all, had become his friend. Tyreese and Sasha were part of the family. Daryl hadn't liked Allen, thought there was something off with the guy but he felt bad about the kid. Daryl crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at the ground, shuffling his feet nervously.
"Michonne saw him first. The guy, Allen, she saw him first. And then we saw the kid. I pulled over. I wasn't sure what we were gonna do but Michonne got out of the car with that sword of hers and she took them out. We didn't leave them like that, like the rest of these geeks." Daryl nodded to the fence. "We couldn't bring them back to bury them though. We had to leave them there." He looked up at Tyreese. "I'm real sorry but at least we didn't leave them the way they were. I wanted you to know that, alright?" Tyreese nodded and looked like he was blinking back tears.
"Thanks man." Tyreese looked away, blinking rapidly, chewing on his lower lip. Then he looked back at Daryl and extended his hand. "I appreciate that Daryl, I do." Daryl shook Tyreese's hand, nodded and turned to walk away.
"Hey Daryl?" Daryl turned around when Tyreese called him. "You're a good man." Daryl shrugged.
"We take care of each other. That's what we do." Daryl turned to walk back into the prison.
Now, Tyreese sat outside staring at the walkers. Allen was so stupid, running off like that. He wasn't satisfied just getting himself killed, he killed his boy too. Rick had tried to tell him that Allen was a potential problem but Tyreese just assumed that Allen was grieving his wife. Even when he and Ben had taken off, Tyreese didn't think they would turn up dead. He heard footsteps behind him and assumed it was Sasha.
"You heard about Allen and Ben?"
"Yeah," Michonne's voice startled him. "I'm the one that took them out." Tyreese whirled his head around, saw Michonne and quickly got to his feet. Michonne's face was emotionless, all business. She looked Tyreese up and down. "You doing alright?" Tyreese nodded.
"Yeah. Thanks." He brushed his pants off. "I should go find Rick, see what we can do about that fence." Michonne stopped him before he could walk off.
"It's not your fault, about Allen and the kid, so don't go blaming yourself. I've heard you talking to him before, about how he thought y'all were better than us. I'm not saying he deserved what he got but if he'd stayed here, someone would have taken him out at some point." As she turned to walk away, Tyreese couldn't keep his eyes off of her. She intrigued him, had since the day he watched her walk the perimeter fence on her own..strong, independent, stubborn and obviously smart as hell. He wondered what her life had been like before all of this. He'd have to talk to Rick about her.
Giving baby Judith a bath was a hard job now that she was squirming around more. Carol took her into the kitchen where the sink was bigger and Dani went with her. Dani helped Judith sit up in the sink while Carol washed her. Dani smiled as Judith's eyes widened as she watched her feet under the water.
"Forgive me if I'm prying," asked Carol. "But did you plan on Abigail being an only child?" Dani took the cloth and carefully wiped water from Judith's face.
"I wanted a big family, Greg didn't. He was six years older and in his second year of residency when I met him my senior year. He was always studying or at the hospital, which is why we got married right after my graduation. He wanted to wait to have kids until he had completed his residency. After three years, I finally put my foot down. I wanted to have my kids before I turned thirty. It took almost a year for me to get pregnant and Greg hated that I got fat. After Abigail was born he said he was done having kids and got a vasectomy without talking to me first. We fought constantly, but I couldn't afford to leave him. When we moved to Atlanta, I lasted for almost six months before I went to a lawyer and left the bastard. He got joint custody, I got child support and alimony. He missed nearly all of his visitations, forgot her birthday and Christmas two years in a row but ran to a judge to keep me from moving back to Louisiana claiming I was trying to violate his paternal rights." Dani's voice was shaking from barely contained anger. Carol put her hand on Dani's.
"I'm sorry Dani." Dani looked up at her.
"It's ok. Daryl told me about Ed. I guess I should feel lucky that the only abuse I got from Greg was verbal and that he never touched Abigail." Carol quickly looked back at Judith. The baby was clean so Carol lifted her out of the sink and wrapped her in a towel.
"This little one is getting so big. I can't believe the time still moves as fast as it did before all of this." Dani smiled.
"Yeah I know." Carol kissed Judith on the head.
"You know, Glenn and Maggie have talked about having a baby after this mess is done with Woodbury." Carol didn't look over at Dani but felt her tense up. "If we get more babies around here, it would seem like the world was getting back to normal." Dani could tell Carol was hinting at a question and was irritated. She understood now why Daryl got so upset at other people asking about their relationship. Living together in such close quarters, privacy was pretty much a thing of the past. Dani cleared her throat and gathered up Judith's bath supplies.
"Glenn and Maggie would make great parents, even at the end of the world." Carol glanced over at Dani, saw the warning look on her face and knew she needed to back off. Rick was right: Daryl and Dani were a lot alike.
"Bill are you sure this is a good idea? They may not want new people moving in." Alice glanced behind her at Rachel and Maddie in the backseat. Rachel was obviously scared and Maddie was still curled up in her mother's lap, her thumb in her mouth. The little girl had just turned ten but she looked and acted younger than her age.
"Alice, we can't stay in Woodbury. It's not safe there anymore. They're arming children, prepping them for war. I won't fight on the side of the man who wants children to die for his cause." He looked in the rearview mirror to make sure the SUV was still behind them. Their small convoy had left Woodbury early that morning. When Martinez and Christa left three days before, Bill decided it was time to leave. Alice had worked in the clinic with Christa and knew everything about Danielle and Abigail Robertson, the prison, Milton and the Governor's daughter. Alice told Bill and they had quietly got a group together who wanted to leave. They wanted to go to the prison and hoped by arriving in the daylight, they wouldn't get shot. Bill handed Alice the map he'd drawn from information he'd received from Abraham who had been with Merle Dixon's team that had originally scouted out the prison way back before anyone had moved in there.
"I'm pretty sure the turn is coming up here soon. Help me watch ok?" She glanced at the map and then at the road ahead. The number of biters out here made her nervous. They were deep in the heart of the red zone. Alice looked nervously at the large group of biters on the side of the road in front of them.
"Bill? I think I see the turn." He looked up ahead to his right and saw the road. Not to slow down too much, he tapped his breaks and signaled for Abraham, who was driving the SUV, to slow down and then made the turn, kicking up rocks and dirt in the process. Alice's heart was pounding in her chest. Bill glanced over, saw the fear on her face and took her hand, squeezing it.
"It'll be ok babe. Don't worry." Alice glanced back at Rachel and Maddie again and shook her head.
"I don't know Bill," she said, keeping her voice low. "I wouldn't blame these people if they shot us on sight, especially after everything that's happened to them." Bill swallowed hard.
"I know babe. We'll deal with it." They passed the sign for the prison and the damaged front gate loomed into view. There were a lot of biters but it appeared that people were at the fence taking them out. Alice squinted as she scanned the fence, trying to find Danielle, Christa, Martinez or even Rachel's son Jeremy. She saw movement in the tower as three armed individuals walked out on the catwalk, guns raised. Her fear was quickly replaced with hope when she saw one of them was Danielle.
"Keep the car steady hon." She told Bill as she rolled down the window. He turned to her, trying to keep one eye on the biters and the other on the guns trained on them.
"What the hell are you…" He trailed off as Alice climbed out the window and sat on the door, yelling Danielle's name. "Are you crazy? Get back in the car!"
"Danielle!" Alice ignored Bill and waved her arms, trying to keep her balance as the car slowed down. The biters had turned towards the noise of the oncoming cars and Alice slid back into the car, barely getting the window rolled back up as the first one pressed it's face against the glass. Their car was quickly surrounded.
"Shit!" Bill jumped as the biters climbed on the hood of the car. Rachel and Maddie were screaming in the back. Bill was trying to figure out what to do when the gate opened. Bill floored the car, the biters on the hood flying off, and they pulled into the prison yard, the SUV right behind them. They were immediately surrounded by guns. Bill raised his hands to show he wasn't armed.
"Get out of the car! Now!" The dark haired man on Bill's left had the look of a cop. Bill looked at Alice and they both got out of the car. Rachel and Maddie didn't move. The dark haired man grabbed Bill and forced him onto the hood of the car, patting him down. A younger woman was doing the same to Alice. Satisfied that Bill was unarmed, the man turned to the SUV, ordering them out as well. Bill prayed that Abraham wouldn't put up too much of a fuss. He could hear the twins crying as they got out of the car.
"Alice?" Bill relaxed when he heard Danielle's voice. "Bill? What are you guys…" He saw Danielle get stopped by the guy wielding a crossbow. She gently pulled her arm away from him and frowned.
"Daryl, I know them. They're ok." She walked over to Alice and the women hugged, both of them laughing and crying.
"Lord Dani, I was afraid you were dead!" The dark haired man walked back to the car his gun lowered.
"Dani, do you know these people?" Dani nodded and the man motioned for the others to lower their weapons. He nodded at Danielle. "I'll let you make the introductions then."
Alice and Danielle walked around the yard after everyone had settled in.
"So," Alice began. "What's it like here?" Dani smiled.
"It's nice. Good people, quiet when the Governor isn't attacking us. I mean, it isn't all Mayberry street fairs but at least we don't got some lunatic in charge of everyone." Alice nodded and looked over at the gate where Bill, Rick and Hershel were talking.
"Bill will have that gate fixed in no time you know." Alice said, pride in her voice. Dani looked at the three men and almost laughed at Bill's wild gesturing.
"I forgot he's the one that designed the wall in Woodbury. Hell, he could probably get the back fence secured for us." Alice nodded.
"Well, you don't get top paying government contracts for being the worst engineer in the country. You remember what his specialty was before all this right?" Dani shook her head. "He was hired by several big corporations to retrofit and secure their buildings to withstand a terrorist attack after 9-11. Then he got those contracts to retrofit the US Embassies in the Middle East. Spent four years over there." Dani smiled.
"I remember now." They walked quietly for a moment, enjoying the sunshine and listening to the twins, Josh and Dylan, playing near the prison door with Maddie.
"Alice, what made y'all finally decide to get out? Andrea's told me some of the stories y'all were told after I left. Why now decide it was time to jump ship?" Alice frowned, anger crossing her eyes.
"That bastard Governor was arming children. First it was the older teenagers, you know, like Jeremy. Then it was any child over thirteen. These little kids, boys and girls, who should be in school, were getting lessons on how to shoot to kill. Not to kill biters, but people Dani. A lot of the parents started to complain to each other but they were afraid of the Governor and that group of thugs he's got with him now." She nodded over to the redhead sitting in the field, staring off into the distance. "Brenda's husband lost it when there was talk about all children learning how to fight. You know they lost their baby girl right before they left Raleigh right?" Dani nodded. Brenda had been on her supply team with Rachel back in Woodbury. "Well, Marco couldn't stand it anymore and when the Governor was making his announcement, that all citizens of Woodbury old enough to hold a gun would learn how to use one and fight with him, Marco stepped forward. Marco said that this was wrong, that we needed to leave the prison alone and worry about rebuilding Woodbury, worry about keeping it safe from the biters. We'd had three wall breeches with biters since you left, lost a few people, and it had everyone scared. The Governor just stared at him, raised his gun and shot Marco right between the eyes. Then he looked at the crowd and asked if anyone else had a problem with his orders. Right after that, Bill started talking about leaving. He and Abraham got together with Mark and they all decided that we needed to get out. We didn't think about coming here, we just wanted to get away from Woodbury, but then Christa came to me a week ago and told me everything." Dani looked across the field, taking it all in.
"So the Governor's planning a war then." Dani looked at the kids playing, to Carl standing in the guard tower, looking so much older than thirteen. A child soldier, yes, but one born out of needing to survive not trained to be one for some power hungry sociopath's war. Beth was inside somewhere with baby Judith. Maggie and Glenn wanted to get married and have kids. Daryl wanted a future with Dani, what that involved they hadn't discussed but she wanted it so much, more than anything. No, the Governor was not going to destroy their world here. Her eyes narrowed and her voice grew cold.
"I want to kill the bastard." Alice nodded, looking over at the children and understood Dani's fury.
"Honey, you aren't the only one."
A/N: Sorry about not introducing you to all the new people just yet. I just figured that the prison could use some help and I think that these people are the ones who can do it!