Aftermath


THE MORNING AFTER THE MASSACRE everyone was busy taking car of their own dead so they wouldn't come back as walkers. Kenzi pulled her hair into the highest ponytail she could manage, the end reaching the top of her shoulder blades. She was still in her clothes from the previous day; light colored skinny jeans with small holes in the knees, a black tank-top with her magenta flannel tied around her waist, her black combat boots, and black fingerless gloves with silver studs on the knuckles. She twirled her katana once around, the tip of the blade over the forehead of one of the fallen survivors, "Pokoysya s mirom.[1]" she muttered, jamming her sword into the head of the dead survivor. With a shuddering breath, Kenzi closed her eyes and rested her forehead on the hilt of her sword.

Kenzi wiped the sweat from her forehead, taking a seat on a boulder for a quick rest. She looked towards the RV, seeing Andrea cradle the body of her dead sister, Amy. Tears threatened to spill over as she remembered when she first met the sisters, how her and Amy formed a good friendship being around the same age with Amy only a few years older. Kenzi tore her eyes away, blinking back the tears. "Andrea still won't move?" she sniffled, looking at her feet.

"Won't even talk to us." Lori replied from across her. "She's been there all night."

"What do we do?" Kenzi asked, her ponytail draped over her shoulder. She picked the dirt from under her fingernails, biting her lip.

"Can't just leave Amy like that." Shane noted. "We need to deal with it. Same as the others."

"I'll tell her how it is." Rick volunteered, walking towards Andrea. Everyone watched as he tried to talk to the grieving blonde, only for her to pull her gun on Rick. He backed away, leaving Andrea to her grieving.

Kenzi shook her head, resting her knuckles against her forehead, tapping her foot on the ground. "I can't even imagine what she must be going through." she muttered. "But, she needs to let us help."

"What's going on?" T-Dog asked, him and Daryl joining te rest.

"Andrea's still grieving." Shane answered. "She won't let us take car of Amy."

"Y'all can't be serious. Let that girl hamstring us?" Daryl questioned. "The dead girl's a time bomb."

"What do you suggest?" Rick asked, turning to Daryl.

"Take the shot." Daryl answered bluntly. "Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

"No." Lori interjected. "For God's sakes, let her be."

Daryl scoffed, slinging the bloddied pickaxe over his shoulder. Kenzi got to her feet, reaching out to grab his arm. Their eyes locked for a brief moment before Daryl yanked his arm free, going back to clearing the bodies from the camp. Kenzi sighed, running her hands over her ponytail, shaking off the excess sweat. She grabbed her sword, cleaning the brain matter off the blade.

She blocked off everything around her for a few minutes, until Jaqui yelling "A walker got him. A walker bit Jim." snapped her out of her slight daze. Everyone's heads whipped in Jim's direction. "I'm okay." he assured, holding his hands up. "I'm okay."

"Show it to us." Daryl ordered, gripping the pickaxe.

As everyone slowly advanced, Jim took a step back. "Easy, Jim." Shane eased. Feeling threatened, Jim grabbed a shovel and held it to defend himself. T-Dog came up from behind him and Daryl lifted up his shirt, revealing a single bite mark on the side of his abdomen.

Jim sat off alone by the RV while everyone else stood in a group, discussing about how to handle the situation. "I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girl's and be done with it." Daryl voted.

"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Kenzi asked, her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it." Daryl answered, making Kenzi actually blink in shock.

"I hate to say it, I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right." Dale agreed.

"Okay, are ya'll getting heat stroke or somethin'?" Kenzi scoffed, looking between the two men she stood in between.

"Jim's not a monster, or some rabid dog." Rick agreed.

"Thank you." Kenzi sighed, her hands slapping her sides.

"He's sick." Rick went on. "A sick man."

"We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" Shane questioned.

"The line's pretty clear." Daryl stated. "Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be."

"What if we can get him help?" Rick suggested. "I heard the C.D.C. was working on a cure. What if it's still up and running?"

"Man, that is a stretch right there." Shane stated.

"Why? If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the C.D.C. at all costs, wouldn't they?" Rick questioned. "I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection."

"Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too." Shane cut off. "Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning."

"That's a hundred miles in the opposite direction." Lori noted.

Shane nodded in confirmation. "It's away from the hot zone." he added. "Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there."

Kenzi sighed, kicking the ground, "The military were on the front lines of this thing." she reminded. "They got overrun. We've all seen that."

"The C.D.C. is our best choice and Jim's only chance." Rick repeated, his voice full of desperation.

"You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do." Daryl scoffed, grabbing the pickaxe. "Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!" he spun on his heels and prepared a swing.

Kenzi ran over and grabbed his arm with both of her hands, and Rick clicked the safety off his gun, aiming it at Daryl's head. "We don't kill the living." the former sheriff stated.

"That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head." Daryl snapped back.

"We may disagree on some things, not on this." Shane said, standing next to Rick, "You put it down."

Kenzi kept one gloved hand on Daryl's wrist while the other moved to rest of his clenched fist. "Put it down." she urged in a soft voice, her eyes meeting Daryl's. She lowered his arm, never breaking eye contact until the ax hit the ground. Kenzi's lips curled into a small smile, "Come on. Sit in the shade, get some water, cool off." she led him away towards a shaded area opposite the RV, earning wide-eyed stares from the rest of the camp survivors.

After sitting with Daryl for a few minutes, making sure he was cooled off and thinking rationally, Kenzi left him alone, patting his knee as she stood up. Brandshing her sword, she twirled the blade, standing over the body of Ed Peletier, Carol's abusive husband. Kenzi held her sword high, ready to plunge it into Ed's skull, only to be halted by Carol. "I'll do it." she offered, taking the sword from Kenzi. "He's my husband."

Kenzi nodded, stepping back. She watched as Carol repeatedly stabbed Ed's skull, letting out all the years of pent up anger from his abuse, finally getting closure. Kenzi cringed with every swing, listening to Carol's light sobs. After about five swings, Carol returned the sword and walked off. Kenzi took one last look at Ed's mangled body before walking off to clean her sword. After, she helped Daryl load the bodies of the fellow survivors into the bed of his pickup truck, not caring that blood and brain matter was staining her jeans.

Without another word, she climbed into the passenger seat, propped her elbow by the window and rested her head on her knuckles. "What's your deal?" Daryl asked her.

She looked over at him, "Face it man, you could use a friend." she answered. "Everbody needs somebody."

Daryl scoffed and started the truck, driving up the mountain where Rick and Shane were digging graves for the fallen.


The rest of the group, spare Jim who was resting in the RV, followed the truck up the mountain. "I still think it's a mistake not burning these bodies." Daryl voiced, meeting Kenzi at the bed of the truck. "It's what we said we'd do, right? Burn 'em all, wasn't that the idea?"

"At first." Shane agreed, leaning against the shovel.

"The Chinaman gets all emotional-" Daryl started.

"Again he's Korean." Kenzi corrected, folding her arms across her chest.

Daryl rolled his eyes, "-says it's not the thing to do, we just follow him along? These people need to know who the hell's in charge here. What the rules are."

"There are no rules." Rick responded.

"Well, that's the problem." Lori spoke up, the rest of the camp's survivors standing off to the side. "We haven't had one minute to hold onto anything of our old selves. We need time to mourn and we need to bury our dead. It's what people do."

One by one, the bodies were buried, the last being Amy. After the funeral servies, everyone descended down the mountain. Rick and his family were at the rear of the group, Lori still on the fence about the C.D.C. Rick asked Carl to let him talk to Lori alone for a moment, to which the little boy agreed. He jogged down the trail and took Kenzi's right hand.

"It's gonna be okay buddy." Kenzi assured, squeezing his hand. She gave him and Sophia, who was holding her left hand, a reassuring smile. The two kids returned the smile and continued down the trail with the older girl.


The camp was silent, everyone off doing their own thing. Rick, Shane, and Dale sweapt the woods to make sure no more walkers were lurking around. Once they got back, everyone sat around the large fire pit. Kenzi leaned back in a seat chair that was taken from an old car, her legs crossed and her elbow propped on her knee. Glenn was in a lawn chair beside her and Daryl stood behind, everyone turning their attention to Shane.

"I've been, uh I've been thinking about Rick's plan." he announced. "Now look, there are no-" Shane took a deep breath and exhaled. "There are no guarantees either way, I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time." he glanced to Rick. "I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?"

A few nodded their heads in agreement. Glenn patted Kenzi's knee, "You in?" he asked.

Kenzi smiled and patted the top of his and nodded, "I'm in." she agreed, standing up. She retired to her tent and started packing up her belongings, only leaving out a change of clothes for the morning and her sheathed sword.


A/N: Translations

[1] "Pokoysya s mirom."= "May you rest in peace."