Chapter 6: Oatmeal and Walkers for Breakfast

Rick walks in to the kitchen entrance and watches Michonne take out a few bowls and the same canister of oatmeal from yesterday morning. "Ah… wait", He says while walking toward her, "Let me open that for you."

Michonne hands the canister to Rick then grabs a pot out of the dish drain and she pours two bottles of water in to the pot, As Michonne lights the burner Karl asks, "How are you feeling?" "Tired…but alright I guess", she answered.

Rick sits down at card table in the kitchen, "Michonne that gash on your leg needs stitches and as soon as possible. Your leg won't heal right."

She looks at the bowl as she fills one with dry oatmeal, "Do want some oatmeal?" she asks.

"Yea, I could eat," Rick answers.

"I was asking Karl" Michonne says while smiling at Karl, "But I can make some for you too."

The three of them sit down at the card table and begin to eat in silence. The room feels bizarre because this is the first time Rick, Michonne and Karl are sitting together eating breakfast…like a family.

Out of the awkward silence Rick announces, "So we are gonna start going out in teams to kill walkers on the perimeter of the neighborhood to avoid them gathering in herds. If we go at them like that, we stand a chance at protecting the neighborhood." Rick looks at the both them with a bit of confusion because neither one says anything.

Michonne and Karl glance at each other with raised brows by Rick's announcement then they continue eating. Rick didn't know that the last thing They talked about in the mornings was the outside world.

She breaks the quiet by saying, "O.k. Karl whatcha got for me today? I got good one for you." Rick grins then looks at Karl a curiously.

Karl smiles then says, "Alright, amusement parks."

"Hmmm, yea I kinda miss them a lot too," she says in agreement, "But mine's is still better."

Rick smiles at Michonne while waiting to see what she misses from the old world.

"Saturday morning cartoons", She annouces with triumph.

"Aww come on…" Karl laughs in a defeated tone,"…Yea yours is better." He tells her.

"See, I told you." She teases then she smiles at Rick, "What about you, something that you miss from the old world?"

"Who me…" Rick says surprised that they want him to play the game too. "Well now let me see…"

"And it has to be something that everyone in this room can enjoy. You know, it can't be something like beer or something only grown-ups can do", Karl chimes in.

"Oh o.k." Rick laughs. "How about…sports. Particularly football, but I would say sports. Baseball, basketball the Olympics…all of it," He tells them.

As Rick leans back in the chair waiting to see if his answer will beat Michonne's. She looks at Rick with squinted eyes and wrinkles her nose a bit then she looks over at Karl who starts smiling and shaking his head now in agreement with his father.

Michonne pouts her lips to the side, "Yea, o.k. that one is better." Rick nodes his head in agreement then does a hi-five with Karl. "Yea, I do miss the Olympics. I had a chance to be in the 1996 Olympics." She says.

Rick and Karl sit up in their chairs eagerly waiting for more details. "Doing what?" Karl asks.

"Fencing".

"Really, what happened?" Rick asks with eagerness.

Now, Michonne leans back in her chair, "Well, I was on the fencing team in college and I was chosen to compete for a spot on the Olympic team. I made it on to the Olympic team…but my husband, well my fiancé' at the time didn't believe women knew anything about sports and that women shouldn't even be in the Olympics. So after he told me that it would be too embarrassing for him to have a fiancé' on the Olympic fencing team I…I quit."

Rick and Karl just stare at her. They could believe that she would allow anyone especially a man dictate what she could and couldn't do.

Michonne shrugs her shoulders, looks down at the table and sighs, "I was a different person back then."

Karl is still curious about Michonne's past so he asks, "Did you marry him?"

She begins to push away from the table and says, "Yea, we did. But we ended up getting a divorce later when I wanted to finish getting my law degree, She pauses a moment, "When I look back on it he didn't like the fact that I had a…strong spirit. He didn't want a wife...he wanted a subordinate."

Rick is quiet while Michonne tells this story from her past, for some reason her story gave Rick a better understanding of why she was a loner. She was strong-willed and clearly she was too strong-willed for some men. However, for the current reality that they were all in that type of strength in a woman was a necessity if she wanted to survive.

Michonne gets up from the table and collects everyone's bowl and walks over to the kitchen sink.

Rick decides to change the subject, "So Karl did everything go alright last night?"

Karl looks away from Michonne and looks at his father and says, "Yea, I guess. Jane's brother stopped by after Judith and I went to sleep. But it was a little weird though…because they kept whispering…"

As Michonne looks out of the kitchen window she sees a 15-20 walkers coming toward the chicken and barb wire lined along the small backyard. The chicken wire had old chicken soup cans tied to it so it can wake people at night in case walkers come around.

"Walkers!" she says out loud.

Rick quickly jumps up and looks out the window, "Shit! Once they hit that chicken wire they are gonna alert walkers from every."

Rick and Karl run to the front door then he tells Karl, "Look get over to the house and tell Jane to take Judith and hide in the bedroom. Once you do that round up everybody that can kill walkers at close range we need to kill them with as little noise as possible."

Karl shakes his head in agreement and says, "What about Michonne?"

Rick says in a hurry, "She will be alright if she stays in the house. Now go hurry up."

Michonne comes out of the kitchen and says to Rick, "I'm coming, let me get my sword!"

Rick is instantly an irritated that she would even think to come out while still recovering from her attach earlier in the week.

He stands in the front doorway and says, "Please Michonne don't do this, now. I know you're strong but you can't fight right now. Please stay in the house and let us handle this one."

"What? I'm coming out there to help you." She says loudly.

"No you're not! If you come out there I'll be distracted with if you are alright instead of killing walkers. Please do this for me...stay in the house please?" Rick begs while quickly grabbing the machete behind the front door then he closes it leaving Michonne standing in shock.

She knew that he was right, she couldn't fight right now. In order to use a sword she would have to use every part of body that was actually injured. So she resentfully moves the couch against the front door then she starts hearing the tin can alarm coming from the chicken wire.

Karl starts running across the street toward the house and yells out, "Walkers, walkers!" Daryl was waiting for the next team to take over the watch of the neighborhood entrance when he heard Karl yelling.

"Where," Daryl yelled.

"Coming toward Michonne's backyard", Karl yells back. My Dad wants everyone that can kill them at close range so there isn't a lot of noise that will attract more of them.

Jane opens the door holding Judith hand about to come out of the house. "Jane go back in the house there are walkers coming toward Michonne's backyard! Go upstairs and lock yourself in the bedroom." Karl yells out. Jane shakes her and quickly closes the door while Karl starts running up the block to round up some more people to help with walkers when he hears the noise of the clanging tins cans coming from down the block.