Chapter 15
"You shouldn't have risked it," he says. "Goin' out there like that…It's dangerous."
I sit next to Rick on his left while Carl sits on his right, listening to him.
"I was careful," Carl says turning to Rick.
"And so was I," I say with a small smile as I wink at Carl.
"It's good that you found more food," Rick says with a nod.
"I found even more…but…Michelle and I ate it," Carl admits, causing me to grin.
"What was it?" Rick asks.
"A hundred and twelve ounces of pudding," Carl smiles.
Rick and I let out a chuckle. The three of us sit there on the floor, staring down.
"I know…we'll never get things back to the way they used to be…" Rick says.
"What?" Carl turns to him surprised, as do I.
"I would've clung to that for you…" Rick continues. "For Judith…Now it's just…gone."
I take his left hand in my right. There's a moment of silence.
"And you…" Rick says turning to Carl. "You're a man, Carl…You're a man."
I watch with a warm smile as the two of them stare at each other.
"I'm sorry," Rick continues.
Carl stares at his father in surprise.
"You don't need to be," Carl shakes his head.
Both smile.
"Now that you two have made amends…" I say as I learn forward to the can of corn in front of Rick and hold it up to him. "Eat your damn food."
Rick chuckles as he takes the can of corn and begins to eat it.
"You had us worried when you decided to take a mini-coma break!" I joke.
"Now you know how I felt when you were unconscious for a few days," Rick retorts.
I look away in defeat.
"Uh huh…don't think I've forgotten about that," Rick grins at me.
"Well, I did," I laugh sheepishly.
Carl laughs at us as we joke around. Suddenly, there's knocking on the front door. The three of us turn to the door to our left in shock, our smiles immediately disappearing. Rick turns to me and Carl, giving us the signal to get ready. We get to our feet, our guns ready in our hands, and Rick gets on the couch, leaning toward the peep hole of the door. He looks through it and scoffs. He then turns around and plops down on the couch with his Colt upward, beginning to laugh. I raise an eyebrow at him as I continue to hold my gun up.
"What?" Carl whispers to him.
"It's for you," Rick responds looking at Carl with a humorous smile.
Confused, Carl steps forward and helps Rick push the couch away from the door. I stand next to Rick as we watch him reach for the knob and open the door. To our surprise, it's Michonne.
"Michonne!" Carl exclaims in excitement.
"Hey there," she says with a warm smile.
"Come in!" Carl says.
Michonne walks in and Carl closes and locks the door after her, tying the rope around the knob again.
"You have no idea how glad I am to see you guys," Michonne says as she smiles at me and Rick.
"We're glad to see someone else made it out," I say with a smile as I give her a hug.
Rick and Carl push the couch against the door again.
"Did you see anyone else?" I ask.
"No…I couldn't find anyone else," she responds as she looks down.
"Well, at least you found us," Rick says.
"What I need now is a new shirt," she jokes as she looks down at her worn out top.
"There are some dressers in the rooms," I say to her. "If you want, you can find a new shirt."
"Thanks, I'll do just that," she says with a smile.
"When you're finished, we'll have breakfast in the kitchen," Carl says in excitement.
"Sounds good. I'll see you there," Michonne says as she heads out of the living room and down the hallway.
"Meanwhile, it's time to get your wounds better dressed," I say turning to Rick. "We gotta do something about that shirt of yours, too."
"You haven't eaten. Go eat first," Rick argues.
"Fine…" I pout with a sigh, causing Carl to laugh.
We head into the kitchen. I grab a granola bar as Rick continues to eat his can of corn. Carl grabs the half empty bag of cereal, two bowls, and takes them to the dining room.
"I'm glad Michonne is here," Rick begins to say. "She and Carl are close. I can't be his father and his best friend."
"I agree," I say as I take a bite of the granola bar. "Carl needs someone to help distract him…And I think Michonne needs someone like that, too. They get along well."
He and I quickly eat our small breakfast and open two bottles of water. After a few minutes, Michonne walks into the kitchen.
"So what's the plan?" Michonne asks. "This place…is it home or just a stop along the way?"
"Let's just stay here while we figure it out," Rick replies.
"Well, we'll need more supplies. I'll go with Carl to get some," she says as she begins to head out the door.
"We'll come too," Rick says as he stands ready to go.
"Like hell you are!" I stand in front of him. "You were unconscious yesterday."
"Well, I'm awake today," he smartly replies, causing me to scowl at him.
"We need you strong," Michonne says. "Just rest. Just one more day. You and Michelle stay here while Carl and I go out."
Rick stares down at the floor for a second and then at me. I gaze up at him with pleading eyes, a moment of silence between us. He finally nods. Michonne and Carl grab some backpacks and empty sacks. We make our way to the front door and remove the rope and couch from in front of it. Michonne and Carl walk out first with Rick and me following after them.
"How long do you think you'll be?" Rick asks as we walk out on the porch.
"Fill a couple of bags…shouldn't be too long," Michonne asks.
"It's 8:15 now…"Rick says as he pulls out his watch and glances at it.
"We'll be back by noon."
"All right, you follow her lead," Rick says to Carl as he takes his Colt out of its holster and hands it to him. "You understand?"
Carl doesn't respond and just places the gun inside his jeans behind his back.
"Hey," Rick says to him. "Everythin' okay?"
"Yeah…" Carl replies with a sigh and nod. "I'm just…hungry."
"Alright…" Rick says with a nod. "I'll see you in a couple of hours."
Rick pats Carl on the shoulder and lets him and Michonne walk down the porch stairs. Rick and I stand on the porch as we watch them walk out into the street.
"They'll be fine," I say as I rub Rick's left arm.
He nods and we turn to head inside the house, closing the door after us. I help him push the couch in front of the door again. He breathes heavily after that and sits on the armrest of the couch.
"Come on…let's get you cleaned up so you can rest some more," I say as I tap his head.
I grab the bag of medical supplies on the nearby round table as Rick follows me to the hallway. I grab him gently by the arm as we walk up the staircase. We reach the top of the stairs and find a bedroom with the biggest bed. We walk in and Rick heads over to the nightstand next to the bed and begins to empty his pockets out. He places the wristwatch on top after checking the time. I empty the bag of medical supplies on top of the dresser some feet away.
"Let's get you out of this shirt…" I say as I motion for him to walk over.
Rick lightly limps over to me in front of the large dresser. I begin to unbutton his torn shirt and my eyes scan his bruised and scratched up chest and arms. I clean the rest of his wounds on his chest, arms and face using two cotton pads. I wrap a bandage strap around his ribs and his right hand. My eyes land on his left thigh; his jeans are torn from the bullet wound he took back at the prison.
"We gotta dress the wound on your thigh," I say.
He nods and begins to unbuckle his holster, placing it on the dresser. He stands up and then unbuttons his jeans and begins to push them down. He winces and I begin to help him take them off. As soon as his jeans are down to his knees, he leans against the dresser and lets me pull them off after kicking his shoes off, leaving him now only in his boxers. I place his jeans on the dresser and grab some cotton pads and soak them in hydrogen peroxide. He straightens his left leg out as I kneel in front of him.
"This might hurt a bit…" I warn as I pat the wound on his thigh gently.
He hisses as he clenches his muscles a bit. I continue to wipe the wound clean from the dried up blood. There is pierced flesh underneath and it's leaking a bit of blood still. As soon as it's cleared up, I take a clean cotton pad, place it on the wound, and secure it by wrapping bandage tape around his thigh. Rick watches me closely as I continue to wrap the bandage tape around his thigh. His eyes land on my left shoulder at the torn sleeve, seeing that there's a blood stain around it.
"What happened to you?" he asks as he places his hand on my left shoulder.
"Nothing, it's fine…" I respond not paying attention to him.
"Doesn't look like it to me."
"It was a bullet that grazed my shoulder back at the prison," I admit as I continue to wrap the bandage tape.
"Are you all right?" he asks in worry.
"Yeah, the bullet went straight through…I'll be fine." I reassure him with a smile.
He stares down at me with some relief.
"There…feel any better now that you're cleaned up?" I ask as I stand up.
"Still hurts…but better," he lets out a small smile.
"You'll need a new shirt," I say as I hand him his jeans. "I'm sure there a some in the dresser here."
I begin to look through the drawers as Rick puts his jeans back on. In the second dresser, I find a white short-sleeve shirt.
"Just your luck," I say as I toss it to him.
"Thanks," he replies as he begins to put the shirt on.
After he's got the shirt on, we make our way to the queen sized bed and plop ourselves on it; I'm on his left. I untie my dark curls from the messy ponytail and we lean against the headboard of the bed on some pillows and sigh.
"Doesn't it feel good to rest?" I ask him with a smile as we stare out across the room.
"Yes it does," he replies with a small smile.
"Finally, you admit it," I joke.
I stretch my legs out and let out a long sigh. My mind begins to space out as I stare off across the room. Rick watches me closely, studying my pensive gaze.
"What are you thinkin' about?" Rick interrupts my thoughts.
"Hm? Oh, uh…just thinking about what we're going to do after we move on from this place…"
"And here you are telling me to just relax," he teases. "Come on…let's just clear our minds and get some sleep."
He moves himself forward to lay his head on the pillow and motions for me to come close. I fix myself the same way and lay down close to him. He pulls me closer and has me rest next to his chest. I can feel his heart beat steadily as he caresses my hair with his left hand.
"I thought you had turned…" I break the silence, surprising Rick. "Last night…I wasn't ready for that…If you had, I couldn't bring myself to shoot…I know I wouldn't be able to…not after Elena…I couldn't bring myself to go through that again…"
Rick stares up at the ceiling, listening to me.
"Now I know why you want me to rest so badly…" he says. "I'm sorry for bein' stubborn…I'm sorry."
I lift my head up to face him and plant a kiss on his lips.
"As long as you're safe and alive…it's okay," I whisper to him as I look into his eyes.
He stares back into mine and caresses my right cheek.
"I love you," he whispers.
"I love you, too," I whisper back.
He gently motions for me to lay back down against him. Feeling the warmth of his body, I soon fall asleep.
I slightly jerk awake at the sound of men's voices and movement downstairs. I lift my head up to Rick and see that he's been awaken by the sounds too. He reaches for his holster but recalls that he gave his Colt to Carl. I reach for my own gun as he grabs the wristwatch from the nightstand to his right and checks the time. We quickly and quietly get up from the bed and lurch to the doorway of the bedroom.
"Can we take'em?" I whisper as I hold my gun ready.
"No…stand down for now," he whispers as he keeps me close behind him as he peers out into the hallway. "There's got to be at least four of'em."
"I'm going to scope it out. You go hide under the bed," I say.
"You can't handle it alone," he grabs my shoulder, clearly bothered at the idea.
"I'm not going to do anything other than go hide and check things out. We can't risk fighting them off in your condition without a gun."
"I'm going with you," he argues.
"Get your ass under that bed, now!" I growl through my gritting teeth as I sternly gaze at him.
He is taken aback from my angry tone but nods. I watch him quietly head over to the bed and slide underneath it. As soon as he's hidden, I lurch my way out of the bedroom and head into a nearby room down the hall as I see a man holding a firearm walking up the staircase. Keeping my gun ready, I lean my back against the wall of the hallway and see the man enter one of the bedrooms across from the one Rick is in. I peer out from the corner and see the man walk out of the bedroom, so I dart back and head inside the room behind me again.
"Shit…" I mouth after I see the man enter the room Rick is in.
It's no doubt they're hostiles. I know that if I fire, the others downstairs will come up. I'm not sure how many there are, but it's certain that Rick and I are outnumbered. I listen carefully to the voices of the men downstairs, trying to determine how many there are.
'We have to sneak our way out of the house,' I think to myself as I glance at the wall clock in the room. 'Carl and Michonne should be back soon…We can't let them walk in on these bastards.'
I then hear footsteps coming up the stairs. I freeze up as I hear them coming down the hallway toward the room I'm in. My eyes spot the closet in the room, so I quickly make my way to it and hide inside behind some coats. I peer through the slits of the white wooden closet door at the man as he walks in and glances around the room. The firearm in his right hand makes me nervous as he walks over to the small bed and plops himself on it.
"Damn bed is too damn small…" he grunts as he sits up annoyed. "Gotta find me another one."
He gets to his feet and slowly walks out the room. I feel my heart racing as I worry about Rick. I wait a moment before I decide to sneak out of the closet, making sure that it's clear. I peer out into the hallway from the door and see that the man has walked into another bedroom across from the one Rick and the other man are in. the voices from downstairs echo through the house as I glance at the staircase. I dart my head back as I see the man exit the room rather annoyed again and heads to the one where Rick is hiding.
"Damn it…" I mutter as I grimace. 'Rick is in there without a weapon to protect himself…'
I lean my back against the doorway of the room and listen closely to what's going on in the bedroom where Rick is.
"Yo!" the man second man who's entered the bedroom calls out. "Comfy?"
My heart pounds through my chest as I watch the man stand at the room's doorway.
"You wakin' me up to see if I'm comfortable?" the other man responds annoyed.
"I wanna lie down," the man at the doorway says.
"There are two other bedrooms, bitch."
"Them kids' beds…I want this one…" the man at the doorway steps inside the bedroom.
I bite my bottom lip seeing that two hostiles are in the same room Rick is hiding in. I listen carefully to the two men's conversation, ready to head over in case Rick is in trouble.
"It's claimed…" the men continue to talk.
"I didn't hear it," the other man from the doorway says. "You gonna have to lay claimed somewhere else."
There's a brief moment of silence from the bedroom. Abruptly, the sound of the two men grunting alerts me. I hear them struggling and shuffling between themselves.
'Fighting for a damn bed?' I think to myself with a raised eyebrow. 'These guys are insane.'
Thuds of punches and grunts continue. I hear one of the men drop to the floor as they continue to fight. My grip on my gun tightens as I clench my jaw, thinking that Rick is going to get caught. One of the men coughs from taking a blow to the face and sounds like he's being choked.
"Stop!" the man who's being choked yelps out. "St-op!"
"Hell no!" the other man refuses.
After a few more seconds of them struggling, the shuffling stops. Heavy breathing ensues form the other man who's knocked the other out.
"Heh…" he exhales. "My bed now, jackoff."
I hear the bed frame creak at the sound of the man plopping himself on the bed. He lets out a relieved moan as he continues to fix himself. It's quiet after a minute.
'Rick has to get outta there,' I think. 'The man should be out in a nap in a few minutes…I'll move in to get Rick then.
I sigh as I look up at the ceiling, lowering my gun. Some of the other men downstairs continue to talk and make noise. After a few minutes have passed, I finally decide to make my way down the hallway. I lurch my way down, glancing at the staircase to make sure no one is there, and stop next to the doorway of the room where Rick is. Leaning my back against the wall and holding my gun ready, I listen to the snores coming in from the room. I slowly poke my head inside and see that one of the men is strewn on the bed asleep while another one is laying on the floor, knocked out. I creep my way in and crouch down, gazing beneath the bed. Rick turns to me from under the bed and I give him the signal to slowly crawl out. As he does that, I crouch by the doorway and keep watch of the hallway and staircase. The thud of something being bounced repeatedly on surfaces is coming from downstairs as the men continue to talk. I glance over at Rick and see that he's quietly getting up from the floor. He looks over at the man snoring on the bed, making sure he's not disturbed.
"Cody! Landon! Get your asses down here!" a man from downstairs shouts.
Rick and I quickly troop out of the bedroom, down the hallway, and into the room I was previously in. I stay at the doorway and peer out at the staircase and see a man is plodding up the stairs, throwing a tennis ball at the wall repeatedly. Rick grasps my arm and pulls me in the room, keeping me behind him. I hold my gun up and shake it at him, showing that I should be the one standing in front. He shakes his head and keeps me behind him. I roll my eyes as we listen to the man coming up the stairs.
"You hear me?" the man calls out as he continues to bounce the tennis ball on the floor.
Hearing that the man is coming closer, Rick and I stealthily make our way more into the room toward the other half through a doorway. He and I lean against the wall on the left side of the doorway, him being the closest to it. I hold my gun up ready as we listen to the man walk into the other side of the room. He kicks a toy on the floor as he continues to bounce the tennis ball. Rick and I tense up as he comes closer to the doorway where we are. He stops right at the doorway, bouncing the ball at the wall across to the wall on our side of the room. We see his hands as he throws and catches the ball a few times before stopping. I gulp quietly as I keep my gaze at the man's direction before he backs away and heads out of the room, still bouncing the ball. Rick slowly peeks out from the doorway and see that the man has walked out into the hallway. Seeing that he's gone, we quietly head over to the windows on our side of the room and attempt to open them. They're tightly shut and won't even budge.
"Hey, Landon!" one of the men shouts from downstairs.
"Shut the hell up!" we hear one of the men shout from the bedroom Rick was in. "I'm trying to sleep!"
"There's a woman's jacket up in here!" the other man says form downstairs.
'It's Michonne's…' I think to myself.
"A what?"
"Come on down!"
"Is she hot?"
"She ain't here…"
Rick and I head to the other side of the room and he grabs a small trophy from the shelf. Just as he is about to peer out into the hallway, the man with the tennis walks across, causing Rick to jerk his head back to hide.
"What the hell you hollerin' about?" one of the men shouts.
"Found a shirt," another answers. "What the-? Washed this mornin'!"
Rick pokes his head out into the hallway, sees that it's clear, and motions for me to follow him. We glance over at the staircase and see the two men heading down the stairs.
"They should be miles away by now…" one of the men says.
"What's the point of washing a shirt if she's just gonna ditch it?" another asks.
"I call first when she gets here."
"Who else knows who we got here."
Rick and I peer into the bedroom where he was hiding. One of the men's firearms is on the bed, so Rick quickly steps forward to get it.
"Hold on, let me my gun," we hear one of the men say.
Rick quickly halts and we lurch back out into the hallway into the bathroom as we see a man coming up the stairs. He closes the door after us as we see the man heading back into the bedroom for his gun on the bed. We both turn in surprise to see a man sitting on the toilet gazing up at us in confusion. Rick immediately lunges forward and swings the trophy at the man's stomach, knocking him back. He takes a hold of the man by the collar of his shirt, but the man overpowers him. I react immediately and swing my gun at the man's upper back, causing him to let go of Rick. Rick quickly wraps his arms around the man's neck from behind, trying to keep him from shouting. I stand in front of the man as he pushes Rick back into the wall and to the sides, making a bit of noise as they knock over things on the sink counter. After quickly placing my gun in its holster, I wait for rick to hold the man up steadily and reach forward. My hands grasp around one side of his head and one side of his neck. With brute force, I twist his neck, hearing the crunch as he jerks a bit in Rick's arms, now dead. Rick lets the body down on to the floor slowly as he breathes quickly. He steps over the body toward the man's firearm and takes it. I quickly turn to the window and slowly open it. Rick takes the man's jacket off and tosses it out the window to the roof.
"We'll leave the door open," Rick whispers as he leaves the bathroom door ajar. "He'll turn and give his friends a surprise."
I nod before peeking my head out of the window and climbing out first. Rick carefully follows after me and we stand on the side roof, crouching down. He places the firearm down and slips the jacket on while I keep watch. Afterward, he slowly makes his way to the ledge of the roof, peering down below to see if anyone is on the back porch.
"We'll jump down at the same time," he quietly instructs as he puts the firearms strap around his shoulders. "We won't make as much noise if we go one at a time."
I nod as we lay down on our stomachs, sticking our legs out on the ledge of the roof. We carefully jump down together, hearing the clank of the gutter as we let go. We quickly step to the wall and lean against it to hide from the view of the windows, pulling our guns out. Seeing that it's clear, we tiptoe our way down the porch steps with our bodies crouched. Rick lets me go first and we walk around the back of the house toward the front porch, carefully keeping watch. We kneel against the brick foundation of the front porch, Rick in front of me. We hear the front door creak open and the sound of the man bouncing the tennis ball. Rick steadily stands up to peek on to the porch but quickly crouches back down at the sight of the man walking toward our side. We stay quiet, listening as we hold our guns ready. The man repeatedly spits out over the porch rail into the ground below. He then begins to whistle, prompting me and Rick to raise an eyebrow. I peer up and see that the man is sitting on the porch rail, facing away from us as he eats from a can. Rick pokes his head out form the corner of the brick foundation and sees Carl and Michonne from afar, walking toward the house. Rick turns to me and signals for me to look, and I clench my jaw in worry.
"We have to do it…" I mutter to him.
He nods and slowly begins to reach up with his firearm ready. There's no choice; we have to kill this guy off on the porch to get away and lead Carl and Michonne away from the house. Rick stares at his firearm, breathing steadily for a moment, and grits his teeth as he is about to quickly get up. The yell of a man from inside the house stops him.
"Help!" a man shouts from inside.
"Son of a…" the man sitting on the porch mutters as he gets up ad heads inside the house.
More of the men begin to shout inside as we hear the snarls of a walker come from the inside. They begin to shoot and yell. Seeing that this distraction has happened, Rick and I take this chance to sprint in the direction where Michonne and Carl are coming.
"Go!" Rick and I instruct and motion for them to run back in the other direction.
We hear the sounds of more gun shots and yells from inside the house as we continue to sprint away from the residence. As soon as we reach the end of the street by the railroad tracks, we slow down.
"What happened?" Carl asks in worry.
"A group of hostiles entered the house," I explain. "Woke us up and we had to sneak our asses outta there."
"Are you both okay?" Carl asks glancing up and down at me and Rick.
"We're fine," Rick reassures him as he rubs Carl's shoulder. "Let's get going."
We begin to head down to follow the railroad tracks. Rick and I are still breathing quickly form the adrenaline rush and glance at each other. We give each other a half smile with looks of relief. He places his new firearm's straps over his shoulders and rubs my back as we look down.
"What'd you guys find?" I ask as I glance over at Carl and Michonne who are walking to Rick's right side.
"Not much, but we found some bit of food and other useful supplies," Michonne answers.
"Good enough," Rick says as he looks up ahead.
Rick and I take extra bags from Carl and Michonne and carry them. We continue to walk for minutes in silence, keeping watch of our surroundings.
"Crazy cheese?" Carl asks as he holds out a can of string cheese to Michonne.
She looks at him and doesn't answer, showing that she doesn't want any. Carl looks down in a bit of disappointment and puts the bottle away in his black gym bag. Rick and I turn our gaze to a large banner that's placed on a train cart. He places his bag on the ground as we begin to read the banner with a map that has a point circled on it. The destination is in the direction of these train tracks.
"Sanctuary for all. Community for all. Those who arrive, survive," Carl reads it.
"You think…" Michonne asks.
There's a brief moment of silence as Rick and I glance at each other and then at Carl and Michonne.
"Let's go," Rick finally says.
He begins to unwrap the bandage strap around his right hand and tosses it to the ground and picks up the bag again. We continue to walk on the train tracks. This new sanctuary is our only hope.