WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND
CHAPTER TWO
Major Jackson Reese slammed the phone down and placed him palms flat on the desk, leaning his head down so he could take a few deep breaths and cool off. He was furious. US Command was ordering everyone back to east coast and they weren't listening to reason. They didn't care that he had people to protect.
Andrea was standing outside the door, about to know, when she heard the phone get slammed down. Pausing, she listened, waiting to see if he was done, before walking in.
Jackson looked up, trying to reign in his fury.
"Rough day?" Andrea asked, her eyebrows arching at him.
"Yeah." He said, exasperation dripping from his voice.
"Anything I can help with?" She asked, sitting down in the chair in front of his desk.
"I wish." He said, sitting back down in his. "What can I do for you, Andrea?"
"Well, Michonne and I have found a good spot to begin building the fence but we're gonna need barricades in order to start work on it." She explained, hoping he'd volunteer men to help them.
Jackson took a deep breath and sighed.
"That's not good." She commented, seeing the look on his face.
"I've got 100 men that aren't doing anything. I'll put Sgt. Ames on it. You just tell her what you want done." He said.
Andrea smiled. She'd been expecting bad news.
"Thank you!" She said, smiling as she got up and left.
Jackson watched her leave, wondering what he was going to do. Without their battalion, they'd go back to fighting tooth and claw for survival and that was something he couldn't live with.
"What do I do, Jen?" He whispered to the air, asking his deceased wife for help. "What do I do?"
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Rick held Judith's hands as she bounced up and down in front of him. He smiled at her, thinking how much she looked like Lori with her dark, curly hair and pale skin. Carl sat on the ground across from him, laughing at her antics.
Neither one heard Rachel and Andrea approach.
"Hey." Andrea called. "We've got the spot. The Major's gonna give us 100 men to build the barricade."
Rick stopped, laying Judith back down on the ground so she could crawl around. Standing, he walked over to the two women.
"Let's go see it." He said, smiling at them.
Rick, Michonne, Andrea, Rachel, and Daryl stood in front of the car, looking around them. It was a housing development just outside of town with a gate and wall already built in. There were undeveloped areas so they could grow crops and lots of open space. They'd already dug the well so they could get water and the Major had multiple generators that could be used to power the area.
"Good call." Rick said, nodding in approval. "Any walkers?"
"A few, but it looks like they wandered in. No one lived here. The houses were just being built." Michonne answered.
"That back area's open." Rick said, pointing to the unfinished wall of the development.
"That's what the troops are for." Andrea said, standing with her hands on her hips.
Rick nodded, taking in the area, thinking it a perfect place…if, they were to stay in Colorado.
"What's wrong?" Rachel asked, seeing the look on his face.
Rick didn't answer right away.
"We're just so far away from home." He said, thinking about all of the people they loved that were buried back in Georgia. Somehow, he felt homesick because they were there.
Rachel smiled sadly. She understood that sentiment. She'd been taken by Breed 6 months ago from Omaha. She'd been taking care of a group of people who'd been patients and survived with the help of some of the hospital staff. Then Breed came through town and it was their dumb luck that Breed found them.
He killed anyone who resisted and took her with to stick in his brothel. Right away, she'd been an intentional pain in the ass, but it became clear after a couple of brutal beatings, that he meant business. Once she'd arrived at the farm, she knew what she'd have to do to survive and decided to help the other girls as best as she could. It was either that, or die.
"Noone's saying you can't go back someday. This is just for now." Rachel said, placing a hand on Rick comfortingly.
Rick bit his lip and held back the tears that threatened to fall, nodding in agreement. Turning, he smiled at her a little before getting back into the car. The whole way back to the base, he told himself what Rachel had said to him over and over.
He could always go back.
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Rachel waited until everyone else had left the garage but she and Andrea.
"Andrea? Hold up." She called out, catching up with her.
"What happened to him…to Rick, I mean?" Rachel asked quietly.
Andrea's eyebrows lifted knowingly, turning to watch Rick walk down the hallway toward the gymnasium.
"His wife, Lori, was one of the original group." Andrea said, smiling sadly as she thought about all of the people they'd lost.
"I wasn't there when it happened, but Lori was pregnant with Judith when they were at the prison. A group of walkers got into the compound and Lori was forced to give birth in the furnace room. They…uh, had to do a C-Section without any supplies cuz they were stuck in there. Lori knew she was gonna die and…" Andrea paused, taking a deep breath, "…Maggie delivered the baby and Carl had to shoot his own mom."
Even Andrea, as tough as she was, blinked back tears at the thought.
"Rick was delivered his baby but not his wife that day." Andrea said softly before turning and walking back inside.
Rachel stood silently for a moment, letting tears fall for all the loss that was suffered in this world. As a geriatric nurse, she'd seen so many deaths that you'd think she'd be used to them, but it never got easy. Hospice nurses were unique, with equal amounts of reverence for the lives their patients lived, and the deaths that all of them faced. She had shed tears with many families and knew that withholding grief was an insult to the life that was lost, so she always allowed herself those moments.
She waited until it passed, thinking about Carl and what he must've gone through. He always seemed like such a strong little boy, but it made her wonder what he was hiding.
With that thought, she wandered inside to find him.
Looking around the gym, she searched all over but couldn't find him. Heading for the "Atlanta Tent" as everyone called it, which was now more like a tent city, she saw Carol and approached.
"Hey Rachel!" Carol called out with a friendly smile on her face. They hadn't had much time to talk, but Carol liked Rachel. There was something soulful about her, like she could just look at you and see right into your heart.
"Hi Carol!" Rachel called back. She liked Carol a lot. With her sweet spirit and kind, sincere heart. She was a rare beauty, on the inside and out.
"Have you seen Carl?" Rachel asked quietly as she got closer.
Carol stopped folding the sheets and looked at her, alarm on her face.
"No…it's nothing to worry about. I just wanted to ask him something." Rachel rushed to put Carol's mind at ease.
"Oh…okay. You scared me. Carl's never where he's supposed to be." Carol chuckled.
"What do you mean?" Rachel asked, puzzled.
"Oh, Lori'd tell him to stay…" Carol paused, not wanting to bring up her dead friend.
"It's okay. I know about Rick's wife." Rachel assured her, trying to make her more comfortable.
"Well, she used to tell him to stay in the house, so what did he do?...He'd leave the house. You'd tell him to stay in the camper and low and behold…Carl wasn't there. Used to drive her crazy." Carol chuckled at the memory. "She thought he was just going through a lot so she never made a big deal out of it but…"
"But what?" Rachel asked softly.
"I think it was more than that. There was a lot of stuff that was going on." Carol replied, not wanting to get into the sordid details of Lori and Shane's affair.
"He was just confused." Carol said, turning back to stack the folded sheets.
"Then Lori died…?" Rachel sat down, prompting Carol to talk a little more. She knew she was being nosy but she felt like she was walking on eggshells sometimes around Rick and wanted to understand. Everyone looked up to him so much and she wanted to know why.
"Then Lori died giving birth to Judith and poor Carl…it was just him and Maggie there. They didn't have a choice…and Rick…it broke him. He's never been the same." Carol brushed the tears from under her eyes.
"God. I'm so sorry." Rachel said quietly, smiling sadly at Carol as tears sprang to her eyes. She'd never been able to let someone cry alone.
Carol smiled at her.
"What about you? What's your story?" Carol asked, grabbing another sheet to fold.
Rachel stood, grabbing the other end of it to help her.
"My story's much more boring." Rachel said dismissively. She was great at hearing other people's pain, but not so good at sharing her own. That's part of what made her so good at what she did. She could listen to other people in the midst of the worst pain in their lives and they were so wrapped up in it, that no one ever thought to ask her about her own pain. It wasn't something that she'd intended to do, but somewhere in the years following her chosen profession, after many failed relationships, she'd figured it out.
"Yeah?" Carol asked, looking up while she stacked the next folded sheet.
Rachel shrugged.
"Yeah." She said, grabbing another sheet.
"If you say so." Carol said, but it was obvious that she didn't quite believe her, making Rachel smile a little.
"I'll drop it…for now." Carol said, smiling back at her.
"But I'll get it out of you yet." Carol continued, chuckling at her new friend.