After the devastating loss of Carol, Tara and Eugene the post Terminus group insists that Michonne stay with someone in order to keep her safe while she heals from her injuries. Rick offers to have her stay with him and Jane but Sasha and Bob feel it would be best if she stays with them so they can tend to her injuries. Michonne is very reluctant to have anyone take care of her but; she realizes that the group has been severely weakened by the acute catastrophe of the 3 members of their group and especially the demise of Carol Peletier. So she packs her clothes and her sword and goes to share a house temporarily with Bob, Sasha, Daryl and Tyreese. Daryl chooses to stay in the living room so Michonne has some place to rest properly and also because Bob and Sasha need to take care of the gash on her leg.
As Michonne lamely walks in to her new tentative home Sasha leads her upstairs to the room where she will be staying, once the two enter the room Michonne slowly limps across the room to an old wooden dresser. The dresser has a large mirror frame attached to it but the mirror has a large diagonal crack that runs from one corner to its opposite. Sasha quietly closes the door behind her to in order to speak with Michonne privately. Sasha leans on the door because she doesn't want anyone to walk in.
"O.k. Chonne' I am not here to intrude or to be nosey but we need you now more than ever. We lost three people in a about of 30 minutes early this morning. Now, I can understand that you may not want to tell me anything specific I get that but, like I said we need you back healthy and that won't happen if you don't let me check out all of your injuries. No one with the exception Rick, Daryl and Karl know specifics. Judging by your unwillingness to have me give you are full examination I can take a pretty good educated guess as to exactly what happened but that is beside the point." Sasha gradually starts to walk closer to Michonne, each step she takes makes a cricking noise on the floor, "Let. Me. Help. You," she says in short bursts.
Michonne takes her satchel and katana and gently lays it on the floor next to the old jalopy wooden dresser, take a deep sigh and shakes her head yes. "Alright let me get my stuff, while I am gone you lock the door and strip down to underwear and bra." Sasha instructs her.
Meanwhile its mid-afternoon and there is a moist breeze flowing through the tall grassy fields where Carol was fatally bit. Tyreese, Daryl and Glenn dig a grave for Carol's body neither one of the men have said word. With every stab in to the ground each of them take with their shovel they release the sorrow and heartache that flows from their bodies in to the soft earth.
After a while, Rick, Maggie, Jane, Karl, Judith, James and Jimmy arrive at the grave just before they are about to lower Carol Peletier 's body in to the ground. "Maybe someone should say a few words…" Tyreese says with anguish in his voice. He looks around at the Carol's mourners but he can see that no one wants to speak. So Daryl and Glenn lay Carol to rest in the grave and start the emotionally painful process of covering her body with the earth. Tyreese, Jane and the others somberly start to walk away leaving Rick, Daryl, and Glenn behind standing around the grave.
As the three of them look at the grave they can hardly look each other in the eye nor do they speak any words, there are no words that have to be said with regard to Carol's death. The fact that the only adults left from their first group are the three of them is simply terrifying. But neither one of them will speak of the sheer panic that they are feeling at this intensely bitter moment.
Daryl looks away from Carol's grave and glances up at the sky and he can see the sun is starting to disappear under darkening storm clouds. He feels the warmness of his tears streaming down his face as the moist breeze turns in to storm winds, with an immensely heavy sigh Daryl wipes his face and nose with his sleeve and says, "We better get moving if we wanna collect this rain water." Then the last three adult survivors from the Atlanta group walk away in separate directions wondering not if they will die but when, where and how.
Sasha closes the door to Michonne's room when she hears Bob, Tyreese and Rick talking in the living room. She comes down stairs and walks over to them, "Well how is she?" Rick asks anxiously, "Her ribs are just bruised it will take I would say 3-4 weeks for it to heal properly but, I want Bob to take a look at it too just for a second opinion. Her leg is another story. She has been trying to keep it clean but it doesn't smell like hits healing correctly and I think that's because somebody needs to really get in there clean it and stitch it up…today." Sasha tells them. "Alright let's get started," Tyreese tells her. "There's one minor detail…I don't have any pain killers all I have is Motrin and antibiotics the Motrin won't kick in fast enough before we lose the light. In order to clean that wound properly she's going to need something for the pain and..." Sasha says with some hesitance, "We are gonna need at least two strong people to hold her still in the process." Everyone gets quiet. Bob un-expectantly turns toward the stairs and says, "Hold that thought," then he runs up the stairs to their bedroom. When he comes back down stairs he has a fifth of Bacardi 151 proof in his hand.
"I picked this up on a run a few months back…just in case," Bob pauses, "…well I don't need it anymore. A combination of this and about 800mg of Motrin we may stand a chance at not getting the shit kicked out of us by her while Sasha cleans and stitches her leg." Bob tells them. "That's the plan?" Rick says looking at the three. "Hold on she may not like it but, I think Bob should take care of the cleaning and the stitches." Sasha says. Bob looks at her confused, "I mean I can do stitches but Bob has been on the front lines of war giving stitches maybe he's better suited for this type of surgery." Bob is silent at first then shakes his head, "She's right I probably would be better suited especially for someone who's going to be moving around" Bob says agreeing with her. "Let's get Abraham in here to hold her other leg down, Sasha you assist me with the surgery and pour her the 151 if she needs it." Bob tells everyone confidently. It looks like it's about to rain so we're gonna need to gather up as much water as possible boil it and get some clean dry sheets. Sasha, you go in there and let her know what needs to be done, give her the Motrin and antibiotics and give her a lot of shots. We should probably gather as many candles and spare flashlights as we can. The way it looks outside we are gonna lose the light earlier than usual today." He instructs everyone.
Bob and Tyreese start for the front door, "Shouldn't she eat something before she drinks that?" Tyreese asks while walking out the front door with Bob. "Naw, the alcohol will hit her a lot fast on an empty stomach." Bob tells him closing the front door behind them. As Tyreese and Bob walk out the front door, Rick stops Sasha before going up stairs and asks, "Sasha, give me a minute to talk with her." Sasha agrees and hands him the bottle of Bacardi and walks in to the kitchen.
Swollen storm clouds begin to set the stage for the down pour about to take place on the tiny survivor neighborhood. Michonne is leaning up against the side of the long window sill still in her underwear and bra. She watches how graceful the storms clouds move across the fading pale blue sky. The fusing of the voluminous clouds and lightening and yet no thunder gives her an eerie uneasiness of what's to come. Her wondering thoughts are disrupted by the closing of the front door down stair. She watches Bob and Tyreese as they walk next door.
Rick knocks on the bedroom door, "Michonne, it's Rick can I come in?" he asks. "It's open." She says. Rick opens the door and he spots Michonne standing by the window watching Bob and Tyreese walking next door to get Abe. He forgets himself as he eyes her dark brown toned legs and how perfectly snug her underwear caresses her bottom and hips. Rick closes his eyes so that her can clear his thoughts because he's distressed over what he has to tell her.
"Listen we have plan for your leg. Sasha said that…" Michonne cuts him off, "I heard the plan. It's fine Rick." "Oh…well that's good." He says with his long southern drawl. He pauses for a second then looks down at the bottle in his hand, "This 151 proof alcohol is pretty strong…it will probably…well, I've seen men drink a 1/5 of moonshine straight down and start hallucinating. There's no telling what you might see when this hits you…" Rick pauses again briefly then continues with, "I just don't want you to get confused with what happened a few days ago and what we are trying to do now because we're gonna have to hold your arms and legs down." Michonne turns away from the window and hobbles over to Rick and reaches for the bottle then she sympathetically touches his rugged beard, and with petite smile says with heavy sigh, "I hear you Grimes…I hear you."
Any other early evening the sun can still be seen as it disappears in to the horizon but today storm clouds seem to have shown up on queue with the events from earlier this morning and the impending events to come. Just as the last of the daylight begins to disappear Michonne watches as the window becomes saturated with raindrops. The window and window sill are old and she can feel the trickles of rain on her toes and it seeps its way inside the room. She slowly sips her second cup of luke warm Bacardi 151 when she sees James and Jimmy running down the block en route to Rick's house. Her gaze upon the brothers from her window is long as the Motrin and 151 start to quickly take effect. While she watches the brothers rush down the block in the rain she is reminded of what she saw or what she thinks she saw happen in the fields earlier that morning.
The bedroom is now setup like a makeshift O.R. There are lit candles setup all around the room, and about 7-8 flashlights hanging very low from the ceiling hovering over the bed and bowls of sterilized water on the side. Michonne takes another sip slowly when she hears Rick, Tyreese and Abe walk in to the room. Bob and Sasha are whispering to them but Michonne can't quite hear what they are mumbling due to the alcohol. Michonne closes her eyes because she can feel the Motrin and the Bacardi coming down on her harder and harder with every sip. When she opens hers eyes Jimmy and James are out of view but she can see everyone behind her through the reflection of the window. She sees everyone's face then she sees Rick staring at her from the reflection as well, but suddenly her vision begins to blur Rick's reflection. She all of the sudden stands up straight takes a deep breath and drowns the last of the Bacardi in her cup then she turns around to everyone in the room and says, "Alright, I'm ready."
As Michonne limps and staggers at the same time toward the bed holding on to the wall in the process, Sasha walks over to her to help her to the bed but Michonne pulls away from her. Sasha puts her hands up cautiously as she is doesn't want to upset her in this state; as Sasha steps back a little she glances over at the Bob. "Looks like Michonne's not feeling anything no more." Abraham chuckles, but no one else is laughing. Michonne makes her way to the bed and lies down on her back and spreads her legs apart. Everyone with the exception of Abraham can appreciate the sensitivity involved. It would appear that no one is interested in hearing Abraham's voice much less any insensitive jokes.
Tyreese moves to the top of the mattress on his knees ready to hold Michonne's arms while Abe and Rick are at the bottom ready to hold her legs. Bob quickly explains to everyone in the room what he has to do and how important it is that she is kept as still as possible. Michonne closes her eyes as she starts to feels her head spinning; she's trying to remember what Rick told her earlier about the hallucinations. "Alright Chonne, here we go." Bob says. Rick and Abe grab her smooth dark legs tightly while Tyreese grabs both of her arms tightly as well. Michonne wiggles her arms and legs a little, an automatic reaction to being held down.
Sasha pours the vinegar on the wound and Michonne lets out a blood curdling scream that shakes the room. Bob motions to Sasha to pour some more on it. She screams again, "FUUUCK! Give me another drink damn it!" Sasha gives her another shot of Bacardi. Michonne throws the shot down her throat, takes deep breathes then, looks down at Bob motioning him to start working on cleaning the wound. Michonne groans loudly as he digs deep in to the wound trying to clean it thoroughly. When Bob is finished cleaning the wound he tells Sasha to pour more vinegar on the wound. Michonne screams aloud again, "Ahhhh! You mutha fucker!"
Rick can't bear to look Michonne in the face as it's too painful for him to see her in such agony. Tyreese is look down over top of Michonne and sees that she keeps trying to lean up to look on the floor. He follows her line of sight and he sees that she is looking at her katana on the floor. "Sasha, move that sword across the room out of her site. If she somehow grabs a hold of that thing she may cut us all to pieces." Tyreese yells.
"Alright, it looks pretty clean. I'm ready to start on the stitches. It's gonna be some pretty deep stitches so hold her down tighter", Bob announces. Sasha gives her another shot. Bob looks around at everyone signaling to get ready. Bob pierces Michonne's skin with a needle and she screams out more obscenities. "Wait…" Rick says, "Sasha rip one of those pillow cases and gag her she may attract every walker within a quarter mile radius."
Michonne slips out of consciousness for a moment from the Bacardi and the pain, when she come back in to consciousness a few minutes later she realizes that she has been gagged, suddenly forgetting everything Rick said earlier and why she is there in the first place.
Michonne starts struggling trying to get up because this feels almost exactly like what happened a few days ago. "Michonne look at me, look at me! You're alright!" Sasha tells her. "Hold her down." Bob yells, and then he starts the stitching again. Michonne starts to scream with the torn pillow case wrapped around her mouth and head trying to move her legs and arms as hard as she can. She starts crying and screaming a muffled "No!" when she finally passes out from the pain and trauma of the surgery.
Bob puts a bandage on the wound and announces that he is done. Tyreese lays her limp arms by her side while Abe and Rick release her legs slowly. "I think it went well. Sasha can check it later when she wakes up," Bob tells everybody. Abe follows up with, "You mean once she sobers up." Everyone stops and looks at Abe with contempt and disgust by his malice remark. Then Tyreese looks over at and he can see Rick turn around trying to contain himself from beating Abe unconscious. "Abe let me walk you out." Tyreese says ushering him out the room.
Bob and Sasha begin cleaning up the Medical supplies while Rick turns off the dangling flashlights. As they head for the door, Sasha turns around and sees Rick sitting on the tool Bob was using for the surgery, covering Michonne up with a blanket. "It's getting dark out and it's raining like crazy out there what about Karl and Judith?" Sasha asks. "I told them I would probably be here a while so Jane's brothers are gonna stay the night." He responds. Rick goes back to staring at Michonne as if Sasha wasn't even there. Sasha gives him tiny smile and nod and closes the door slowly while watching flicking candles around the room.