AN: I'd like to preface this chapter by saying that I'm not 100% satisfied with it, but I've been messing with it for a bit and it is what it is. If I were a professional and this were my livelihood and not simply a pastime, I would spend more time ironing out the details and filing away the rough edges. That is not the case, though, so I've decided that this will simply be a chapter that's not my favorite of all the ones that I've written.
From here we'll be moving on and exploring more aspects of our story. I hope you enjoy it and again I apologize that it is not the stellar chapter I would like for it to be, but I really feel that I had to just let it go out there into the universe so that I could get past a few of these small hurdles and continue moving forward instead of simply staying put because I wasn't quite thrilled with this one little section.
I hope it's not too bad.
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The new house for headquarters, much like any of the other houses in the community, looked the same as the old one, except for the fact that the furniture was different, and of course the location had changed. Daryl sat at the new table that had been moved in and ate his dinner in silence with the rest of the group members gathered there.
In the past couple of days since the attack, Daryl had noticed a marked change fall over the community. The jovial attitudes and the lightness that had once been a part of every gathering was missing. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for the next shoe to fall, waiting for the next piece in the puzzle of destruction.
They had cleaned up the Walkers and physically everything in the community had been returned to normal, except of course the scorched ground and burnt remains of what had once been their headquarters. They hadn't quite gotten that cleaned up and it stood as a sort of monument to their false security. Nothing was safe and nothing was sacred.
Grieving was taking place, this time, in conjunction with work. Everyone had been busy trying to restore order, trying to figure out what needed to be done. There hadn't been time for anyone to wallow, really in their sadness, except for Maggie. She had secluded herself, pulling away from everyone. She only allowed Glenn into her presence, and from time to time Stella or Junior. Daryl hoped that in time she would over the shock of losing Beth, but he wasn't going to even pretend that he thought it would be something that would happen quickly.
Earlier that day, Carol had been awake for a few minutes, and Tyreese looked markedly less heavy. He was eating with group while Mark stayed with her. No one but Mark and Tyreese had been in to see her yet, but Daryl was glad to hear that she had at least been awake and responding. Judith was pleased too, since it meant that Tyreese had come out of hiding. She was sitting in his lap now, eating dinner with him, and looking as though she might fall asleep simply on the principle of having him put her to bed.
Daryl knew that now that they'd had a couple of days to try to get their community back in order, they had to address the situation. They had to figure out who had attacked them and why, and they needed some kind of plan. He hadn't pressed the issue yet, but he also didn't want to wait too long to bring it up. It needed to be addressed before they were attacked again. As he looked around the table, he decided that he would wait until morning. Maybe everyone, knowing that much of the work was done, would go home and actually rest. Perhaps the next day would bring them all about and they'd be able to throw out ideas about what should actually be done.
Daryl knew that he, for one, would welcome a little rest. His body was tired from the day's work and his mind was exhausted from turning scenarios over and over. He glanced at Michonne and could tell that she was much the same. She was eating, but not with any enthusiasm, and she looked exhausted every time that Hope so much as reached for her from the seat next to her.
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"Can I do somethin' for ya?" Daryl asked Michonne when he finally realized that he was never going to get to fall asleep.
"What?" Michonne asked. "I thought you were asleep."
"I was tryin' to be, 'Chonne, but you 'bout got me sea sick from all that floppin' around ya been doin'," Daryl said.
"I can't help it," Michonne said. "The baby won't get still at all tonight."
Daryl sat up and put his hand over her belly, feeling the baby move under it. He leaned over Michonne's back and rested his head against her.
"OK, kid, ya gotta go to sleep now or ya Mama's gonnna be ill as a snake tomorrow and don't none of us want to deal with that," Daryl said. Michonne snickered at him. "I know you're probably excited 'cause there's been a lot going on around here, but right now ain't the time to be dancin' around. You gonna have plenty of time for that tomorrow."
Daryl lie back down and rested his hand on Michonne's belly, rubbing circles on it, snuggling against the wall of pillows that she'd built up. He knew the baby wasn't going to just go to sleep because he asked it to, but he hoped that if he could get Michonne to relax, which he knew she hadn't much in the past few days, he might be able to get her to go to sleep and then they wouldn't both be miserable.
"Just try to relax, 'Chonne, baby might go to sleep if you do," Daryl said.
"I'm sorry I didn't think of that," Michonne said. Daryl chuckled a little.
"OK, you got me there, but you need to sleep an' so do I," Daryl responded.
Michonne was still for a few minutes and Daryl continued rubbing circles, trying to either successfully soothe his wife or his child, at this point not caring which the first to succumb was.
"Daryl, do you think we're going to figure out who attacked us?" Michonne asked after a moment.
"I don't know, 'Chonne, but we're gonna do our best," Daryl said.
"Do you think that those men were alone, or are we just waiting for more of them to come?" Michonne asked.
Daryl knew that Michonne didn't really believe that he had any sort of answer for her questions. She was simply asking them to pass the time until she managed to fall asleep.
"Don't know that neither," Daryl said. "If they weren't the only ones, though, then we're gonna find the group they was with before they come back. Tomorrow I'm gonna try to get everyone together. See if we can't come up with some kind of plan. We ain't gonna spend all winter worryin' 'bout some other group that didn't have the foresight to prepare like we did."
Daryl felt Michonne rest her hand over his. It stilled the circles he was tracing, but he also felt her relax a little. He hoped he wasn't lying to her and that they were able to figure out what to do to keep their community from suffering any more than it had.
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"We know that realistically it wasn't just three men that attacked us," Rick said. "They knew enough to cut the chains on our gates and they had to be watching enough to know when Josh and Brenda were making rounds instead of sitting in waiting to stop them. This wasn't a spur of the moment attack. This was something that they planned."
"So what'cha think we oughta do?" Daryl asked Rick.
Everyone who wanted to be present had been invited to come to the new headquarters and join in on a discussion about how to proceed with the possible threat of other groups in the area. The turnout hadn't been quite what Daryl had expected, but the group was going through a lot.
Maggie had denied the invitation, choosing rather to stay with Brenda. Tyreese had stayed with Carol who swam in and out of consciousness. Jimmy was keeping a tight watch near the gates, suspecting that if whoever attacked them was to return, they would likely try to achieve access the same way they had before. The rest of the parameter being much harder to breach. Rachel had excused herself from the meeting by declaring that she would rather keep busy trying to stay on top of the day to day tasks that were overwhelming them without Carol keeping everything organized and running smoothly.
The rest of the group had gathered for the meeting, though most people seemed to be there to listen more than to contribute. Everyone wanted answers, but no one seemed to have any.
"We're going to have to try to find them," Rick said, "but I feel like it's going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack."
"We oughta start where we seen them people," Beau said. "I reckon if they still there then they just as likely ta be the ones that did this as anybody else."
"I agree with that," Daryl said. "Whoever done it has gotta be close enough it weren't no trouble for 'em ta see what was happenin' 'round here."
"On the same note," Rick said, squeezing his temple, "we haven't exactly been low key. Especially with those two," he pointed at Beau and Libby who were sitting side by side, "traipsing around the countryside. There's no telling how much attention we've drawn to ourselves simply by not paying attention to the fact that there were others around."
Sadie, reading from her customary position over Michonne's shoulder, waved her hand to get Daryl's attention.
"What do we do with the other group?" She asked. She looked around and shrugged. "Do we just walk up to their camp, say hello to them, and ask them if they're the ones who paid us a visit in the middle of the night? What about the Walkers? Did they bring them with them or was it their lucky night that a herd was passing through?"
"I think she's suggesting that we're probably going back to war," Junior said from his position. "If they attacked us, then we can't just go and make nice with them. Especially if they brought the Walkers."
"So what do we do?" Mark asked. "Do we just decide to attack them back? What if it wasn't them? Are we just going to open fire on a group that we don't even know is violent just because they're in close proximity to us at the same time that we happen to have been attacked?"
"I don't think we can just go in there guns blazing like we did with that last group," Rick said. "It could be that we made a bad call there. Hell, it could be that they made a bad call the other night by coming after us the way they did. Maybe if we could open up some kind of line of communication, then maybe we could come to some sort of peaceful agreement."
"Buncha crazy asses killed ya people an' burnt down part a' ya home an' ya wanna bake 'em a cake?" Libby spat suddenly. "That ain't tha way they work, apparently. They let all them damn slobberin' assholes in here an' they woulda killed every damn one a' us!"
"Just settle down!" Daryl snapped. Beau put a hand on Libby's shoulder as though to calm the girl. "We ain't makin' no snap decisions here, but everybody's got a right to say what they got on their mind, it don't mean we gotta go yellin' at one another. We already lost four people, we don't need to be naggin' amongst ourselves."
"I think everyone has a point so far," Michonne said. "On the one hand, if the group was the group that attacked us, we're not exactly going to be able to play nice with them. I think there are far too many feelings involved for that to go well. On the other, we don't know that it was them. We haven't got a clue how many people are out there or how many people might want what we have here. We need some sort of way of making contact with them."
"It boils down to this," Rick said, "we have two choices. We either stay here or we move on. If we stay here we're like sitting ducks. We're stationary and we're open to attack. If we move on, we're out in the open dealing with Walkers like we did before. Neither option is a completely safe option. We've got to decide, as a group, which is the better one, though."
"We ain't movin' on right now," Daryl said. "We done worked too damn hard ta make this place what the hell it is an' we got a good thing here. If we didn't, wouldn't no damn body else want it. I say we stand our ground here an' we don't even talk about movin' on 'til at least the spring."
"I've got to say," Glenn said, "that I agree with Daryl. Moving on just isn't a reasonable thing to do right now. We've got food, we've got supplies. They burned out some of our supplies, yes, but they didn't get most of it. We can hold here for a good while. If we move we're more vulnerable than we are here."
"So we're back to square one," Rick said. "We stay here, fine. We've still got to figure out what we do about other groups. Winter's coming, and everyone knows that. If the other groups in the area are stationary groups then they're trying to stock up as well. That could be why they attacked us. If they're afraid of being starved out, then they'll do what they have to do in order to survive. We're running on basic human instinct here."
"We need an ambassador," Sadie said suddenly. "Someone who can speak for the group. Someone who can talk to them, talk to others that we might encounter. Find out who we're dealing with."
"So someone who could figure out if we can handle things peacefully or even work together?" Mark asked.
"She coulda died too," Libby said. "Sadie, ya wanta work with tha same damn people that woulda killed ya?"
Sadie read what Michonne wrote and shrugged.
"Nothing is going to be easy, but our other plan didn't work. We killed another group and we were still attacked. We do need numbers," Sadie said.
"Wait," Daryl said, "now you talkin' 'bout askin' this group to join us? That weren't what we was talkin' 'bout."
"I don't think Sadie was talking about just inviting them to move in with us, and neither was I," Mark said. "We're all throwing out a lot of ideas here. We need every possible solution on the table if we're going to pick one that's good for the group. If we had an ambassador of sorts, then they could at least go in neutrally and try to find out about the other group…or anyone we come across for that matter."
"OK," Daryl said, "so we pick someone to speak for our group. That's fine, but they ain't goin' in there or anywhere without backup. That'd be just stupid."
"True," Michonne said, "but just because they have backup doesn't mean that it has to be visible backup. Beau is damn near invisible but the kid can hit a moving target from about four miles away with a rock."
Beau chuckled.
"I ain't that good," Beau said. "But I would go in as backup if'n we was sendin' someone out ta talk to 'em."
"OK, we have a backup plan and apparently we're going to try to talk to this group," Daryl said. "Who does the talking?"
"Who's the least intimidating of the group?" Mark asked. "Whoever goes has got to be someone who demands enough respect that they won't immediately be discredited, but they've got to approachable enough that the group won't freak out just from seeing them."
"Well it was Sadie's idea," Daryl said.
Rick eyed Daryl and then turned to Michonne.
"Don't write this down, Michonne," Rick said. "Daryl, do you really think we need to send Sadie out to communicate with people? It's going to take her ten minutes to explain to the group how they have to talk to her."
"Rick's right," Sadie said, reading over Michonne's shoulder.
"I told you not to write that," Rick said.
Michonne shrugged at him.
"Don't say it if you don't mean it," Michonne said. "Besides, Sadie isn't under any illusions about herself."
"I'll do it," Glenn said.
Everyone turned their attention to him. He ran his hand through his hair and somewhat shrugged.
"I'll talk to them," he said. "I'm not some scary guy, so I won't freak them out, but I am a guy so if we come up on some kind of he-man woman hating group it's not like they won't talk to me based on my gender. No offense, ladies, but the fact remains that we're learning a whole bunch about human nature here and I wouldn't be surprised at all if we don't encounter a group somewhere down the line that doesn't exactly treat women with the same respect as men."
"No, I think Glenn's right," Michonne said. "It needs to be a man. I'm fine with it being Glenn, but on the same token it might be better if it were Mark or Rick. Just like people may have issues with women, they could very likely prefer to deal with a white man."
"I'll do it," Rick said. "I was a police officer…I've had training in dealing with people." He looked around and chuckled a little. "I know…I know that I haven't been exactly the ideal representative in the past, but I'm better now, and I want us to figure this out. I really don't want to move on before we have to either."
"OK, so what's the plan, then?" Daryl asked.
"We find the group," Rick said. "The first thing we do is try to figure out what we're dealing with. How big are they? What kind of society do they have? The details that we can figure out from a distance. Then we figure out the best way to approach them. I'll go with Beau, maybe someone else for backup, and I'll approach them and try to talk to them. Once we've got more information then we'll know how to proceed from there."
"Fine," Daryl said. "Then tomorrow morning we'll go out, just as the sun's coming up. You an' me. We'll get Beau an' Libby to show us where they seen this other group. We don't do nothin' but get a good look at 'em 'fore we discuss it."
"Sounds fair," Rick said.
"What if they're not the ones who attacked us?" Glenn asked.
"Then we gotta figure out who the fuck they was," Daryl said. "We stay on guard no matter what. We shouldn't have gotten as comfortable as we did an' we got burned for it."
"We need a better battle strategy," Sadie said. "If we're going to fight, and we probably are at some point, we need a better battle plan than a free for all."
"What do you mean?" Rick asked.
"Right now, what's our plan? We're attacked and everyone starts fighting…but we'll kill each other that way," Sadie said. "Yes, we all have to fight, and yes you have to fight if you're under attack, but we need some sort of organization in place if it's a situation where we can do things in a more orderly fashion."
"Well go ahead, Mars," Rick said with a chuckle. "What do we do?"
Sadie made a face at Rick when she'd read his commentary.
"Some people could use some training," she said. "We've got Walkers to practice on. We start training them in the down time. Some of us are rusty, it wouldn't hurt any of us. After that, we organize. Don't send in your best fighters to the fight first."
"What do we do?" Daryl asked. "Send in the weakest ones to get slaughtered?"
Sadie nodded.
"Yes…sort of. When a fight starts, everyone is stronger. We have more stamina. Send in the weaker ones then. If they live, great, if they don't then they've worn out the other side some. The stronger fighters can finish the job."
"That sounds like you're designating people to die, honestly," Mark said.
Sadie shrugged.
"If it's a fight to death, people are going to die. If weak fighters die and strong people live, then the strong people rebuild and withstand others. If the strong people die first, the weak ones will die anyway. Animal instinct," Sadie said.
"So who's gonna tell people they the weak ones that's gotta sacrifice themselves?" Daryl asked. "You gonna do that since ya so keen on it?"
"I will do better than tell them," Sadie said. "If we start working on a battle plan, I'll lead the first wave. I go in with them. If we've got to fight, and we know we're going to die, I'll be the first out there. It doesn't hurt my feelings."
"You're not some weak fighter, though," Rick said.
"I am," Sadie said. "I have to fight with my eyes. If it's dark, I'm weaker. People can take me from behind. I lose my sight, and I'm not much help to anyone."
"So this is what the hell we've come to?" Daryl asked. "Now we dividin' our group into those we can afford to let die an' those we can't?"
"It's always been that way," Sadie said, "I'm just pointing it out. We're weak and we're a small group. We need more people too. If any of the people we encounter can be trusted, we need to take them in."
"I can agree with that," Rick said. "We do need numbers. I think more than dividing our people into lambs to be slaughtered and lions, we'd do better if we had more numbers. We'd be a larger force to be reckoned with and they'd have a harder time picking us off."
"But more numbers means more mouths to feed, and that means more supplies," Junior said. "It means we might move more often."
"If they butcher us while we sleepin' then we don't need no supplies," Beau said. "I done been out there on my own once, an' I could do it again, but it ain't no great life. Ya get awful damn lonely when ya done lost everyone ya had."
Libby nodded her agreement with Beau, and Sadie and Mark also enthusiastically nodded.
"Fine," Daryl said. "If we can find people worth addin' ta the group, then we add 'em, but we ain't just bringin' in people without checkin' 'em out first."
"Even if we don't add them to the group, per se," Mark offered, "we could build a type of alliance with other groups. It's worked, at least somewhat, for governments. We help protect them, they help protect us. An agreement of sorts. We could maybe sweeten the deal by discussing trade. Working together on supplies might help the strain for everyone. Just because we work with them doesn't mean we have to sleep with them."
"First thing's first," Rick said. "Before we get ahead of ourselves we've got to see what we're dealing with. I'm all for preparing in case there's a battle, and I think Sadie's right in that we need to keep up with some kind of training regimen. We need to stay on our toes and not get caught sleeping on a possible threat again. We don't have to solve all the problems in a day, though."
"So tomorrow we go out," Daryl said. "We check out this other group and any other damn signs of life we run into on the way. Sadie, since ya so ready ta get us some kinda army assembled, ya can start trainin' people as ya see fit. We'll figure out what we gonna do about other groups as soon as we know what the hell we dealin' with. Any problems?"
Daryl waited a bit but no one brought anything else up. Slowly people started trickling out of the meeting to go back to their day to day. Daryl knew this wasn't going to be the last they spoke of this. In fact, he had a strange feeling that this was only the beginning. Perhaps their lives were likely to be very different than they'd ever imagined they would be. The only thing he could hope for at this time, though, was that they found the group they were looking for and figured out a way to handle the situation that would leave them able to sleep a little better at night without the constant threat that they would wake to a herd of Walkers prepared to devour them in their sleep.