The Journals of Elizabeth Green Chapter 15, a walking dead fanfic

For the disclaimer see the Authors Note at the beginning of Chapter 1

The Journals Of Elizabeth Anne Green

Chapter 15

Sunday May 6th

We started off with Sunday meeting. Carl, Judith, Carrol, Daddy, Maggie and I sat at the table in the open area in front of the cells. Merle sort of joined if you can call lurking close enough to hear while trying not to be noticeable attendance. I had the lesson today. Originally it was supposed to be about the value of work and G-ds admonition to Adam that he was to labor all his days. Instead Daddy asked me to skip ahead in Gospel Doctrine to the lesson about the value of tolerance, forgiveness and Christ like love. I think I understand why Daddy was pushing this today. All the hurt feelings and anger won't fix our situation. We need to forgive, even though its hard.

I tried to focus on how Jesus was on the cross asking G-d to forgive the people who were crucifying him because they didn't know what they were doing. I don't think Merle knew what the consequences of his actions were going to be, not right away. I know his intentions were not entirely malevolent. It was an exercise in the ends not justifying the means, and how quickly things can get out of hand. It remains that Merle is going to be here or Daryl isn't. People are going to have to sort themselves out, but it can't be forced. I just hope they can figure out how to coexist before it causes too much trouble for everyone.

After Sunday meeting Daddy blessed Judith with the name Carl and Rick had chosen, Judith Laurel Grimes. She will never know her mother and so she carries her name. Daddy blessed her with health and strength and wisdom. I hope she can live up to that.

She is going to be smart I think. She is already tracking wherever I go. She recognizes Daddy, Carl and Maggie and Carol too. She was colicky most of the day and really only stopped fussing while Daddy blessed her.

Merle is a real talker. Mama would have called it "the gift of gab". He thinks the Governor is going to come after us for getting Glenn and Maggie out like we did, and him and Daryl too. I think it frustrates him that Rick and Glenn keep dismissing his worries. I think things are going to be hard for everyone if he and Glenn keep picking and poking at each other.

I need to give Merle his letters soon. Now that they are together I can't put it off reasonably. Jim insisted that Merle get his letters as soon as possible or he, Daryl and everybody will have more difficulties than necessary. Jim wouldn't say more than that. I intend to do it in the morning.

Monday May 7th

Today was a hard day. It seems that there are two opposing sides and I've managed to get squashed between them. One side is the Merle stays side, the other is the Merle leaves side, and you can guess who wants him to leave. The problem is that Glenn and Maggie are making things hard for the rest of us. In Merles defense, he's been keeping a pretty low profile, for him. He seems willing to do whatever it takes to stay, mostly because that's what Daryl wants.

I was looking for Merle and Daryl when I saw Maggie in the yard and asked if she'd seen him. She got upset that I would be looking for him and you know how she pries. I should have seen it coming and avoided her, but, I was nervous about his reaction to me holding onto Jim's letters for as long as I had. I explained that I needed to give him something. Immediately she wanted to know, "What do you need to give him" like the act of talking to him is a betrayal or some horribly dirty act. Fortunately, when you speak of the devil, or get Maggie screaming about him, he appears.

In this instance Daryl was right there behind him running to keep, up in an attempt to stop him from doing something foolish. I don't know why he did it, but he called me Sugar and asking what it was I wanted to give him, "sooo badly." I suspect that was because maybe he isn't good with names and it was the first term of endearment that came to mind, or because he has a way of sticking innuendo into any situation with just his tone, and he was trying to see just how mad he could make Maggie. Or maybe irritating her wasn't his intent. Just a happy accident. Anyway the commotion was enough to attract everyone into the yard to see what was going on.

I just wanted it over so I just handed his bundles of papers to him, announced what they were and apologized for not handing the packets over sooner. I also let him know that Jim had written some other stuff for the both of them as well, but that it was in my Ruby Red Notebook. I made it clear that they could borrow it to read, but couldn't have it because it's mine. I think I mentioned the chaos around us, then he was all "Thanks Darlin'.", before Maggie grabbed me and dragged me over to Daddy.

Thank goodness Daddy was able to defuse her so quickly. Maggie is hurt and scared and traumatized. I was able to talk things out with her, sort of. I'm trying to be understanding, but the drama is starting to stick my nerves. Heck, she's the reason Daryl can barely look at me straight and always calls me Ma'am. At the same time, I'm trying to be sensitive. Daddy gets it. I always appreciate Daddy's ability to look at a situation and look at all the sides instead of jumping to conclusions.

Judith gave me an excuse to bow out of most of the unpleasantness. I alternated between taking care of her and taking care of the mending pile while she napped. I found catnip and mint both growing in the yard. I used them to make her some tea for her colic and it seems to have mostly worked.

That wasn't the only interesting event today, Somehow Daddy and Carl managed to talk Rick into stepping down as leader. He needs to get his head on right and seems to realize that he's really checked out for the last little while.

We are going to vote on things. It is still unclear weather I get to vote. I asked several times without anything but a "We'll see." It was the same for Merle. Carl gets to vote, I noticed.

Andrea came for a short visit at about lunch. She wants Rick and the Governor to meet and work something out. Even though Rick isn't officially our leader anymore he's in charge of negotiations. I think Daddy is more level headed, but I guess he's the only one the governor is willing to talk to. They are supposed to meet on Wednesday morning.

Merle was able to find an ally of sorts on one front and that is Michone. She agrees with him on the Governor thing and argued that we should prepare for retaliation. Andrea reinforced that the Governor would come back if negotiations go badly. Rick, Maggie and Glenn were suddenly on board with reenforcing the fences and piling up supplies. I just hope it's enough. According to Merle, the Governor has a Bradley Tank.

Merle's the one who shot Michone in the leg. I had just gotten Judith to sleep and was getting ready for bed myself, when I overheard Merle trying to apologize to Michone for shooting her. She accepted, sort of, in a wary and distrustful way. I couldn't help listening. My cell is the one on the end, and the sheets aren't walls. If he can keep his nose clean, he may be able to earn her trust. Making friends with someone, any one, would take some pressure off Daryl.

To be honest, I kind of like having him around. I can't explain it, but he just feels comfortable. Or this place is more comfortable when I know he's around. More steady and calm. Crazy right, 'cause he's the least calm or steady person I've ever been acquainted with.

Well good night.

Tuesday May 8th

Rick, Michone and Carl went on a run to find guns and ammo this morning. Something about clearing out the ammo locker at the sheriffs office in Kings County. Carrol and I did household tasks and watched Judith. That was enough to keep me pretty busy. Judith is my favorite fashion accessory. She cuddled into my chest while I did chores, stared up at me while I sang and gave me someone to talk to. While I waited for laundry to dry I got roped into helping Carrol clean guns, fill magazines and put extra ammo in zip bags so no one runs out of ammo if we get attacked. By the time we finished, the laundry had dried, so I got it folded while she stashed guns around the perimeter. After that I weeded, and made lunch.

Glen and Maggie used spiked chains from the trunks of some of the police to make a device to stop any more trucks full of walkers from smashing the gate. They rigged them to pull across the road when the chain on a reel on the left side of the gate is wound up. If you crank the one on the other side they get pulled off of the road. They made 3 sets and put tin around the spools to protect whoever is cranking the chains up. Hopefully they work. They are supposed to keep any vehicles from even getting too close. I hope it works, because clearing out the yard is dangerous and time consuming. Michone gave them the idea before she left with Rick this morning.

Daddy and the Dixons worked on the fences most of the morning. They were supposed to be making sure Daddy didn't overdo things. Shortly after lunch I saw Daddy and Merle studying the bible discussing the merits of the Song of Solomon, and how it managed to get into the Bible.

Daryl, in the meantime, was where I figured he'd be. I sat and handed him wrenches and studied until I had to go inside to change Judith's clothes, my clothes and the strip of cloth I have been tying her to my chest with. She and I took a bath together because it went everywhere. By the time we were dried and dressed her people were back. As soon as I could I hear Carl, Rick and Michone talking I turned her over.

I love her like she was mine but she's not. She only spends 2 or three hours away from me most days so she may as well be mine. I don't know what I'm going to do if she ever calls me Mama. I keep trying to refer to myself as "Bethy" to her. I don't want to step on toes. Eventually I have to have a conversation with Rick about what the long term plan is. I don't know what the rules for discipline, her education both religious and academic and activities are. I don't know when he intends to take over. When she's weaned off the bottle? potty trained? or when she lays her first ill to rest and can keep up with him?

I'm getting her back now, so good night.

Wednesday, May 9th

Rick is calming down but frustrated with the situation, he's bargaining with his hallucinations, and went to bargain with the governor in this state of mind. He took Daddy and Daryl with him, thank goodness. It didn't go very well from what I can tell but I think it might have gone worse if they hadn't been with him. I'm not sure how it could have gone worse, maybe shooting at each other instead of leaving with a very temporary truce of sorts?

They did manage to keep it non violent, which was better than we managed here. I almost shot Merle, or Glenn. I really think I was actually going to do it. Only the indecision over which one to shoot stopped me from hurting either of them. I opted for the ceiling which definitely got their attention. I couldn't break up the fight, they are both bigger than me. So there it is.

I talked to everyone individually in an attempt to figure out what I had stumbled into. It seems that the "adults" are completely incapable of acting like adults. Merle wanted to go after the governor and kill him. Glenn tried to stop him. They are completely incapable of getting along. Once again Glenn had to do things Merle perceived as getting between him and Daryl. Maggie ran her mouth and escalated things. Merle took Glenn grabbing his shirt as a physical act of offense. Carrol and Carl were scared and tried to get out of the way. Michone was content to watch and see who won. She thought Glenn's technique was pretty evenly matched with Merles size. I don't get her at all.

Maggie and Glenn are pissed that I took Merle's side. I didn't take Merles side. I'm not taking any side. They were all acting like a bunch of spoiled children. How do they think I took his side? I told them to each get in a cell and stay there and said I would shoot whoever came out before Daddy got back to sort them out. I threatened Glenn, according to Maggie. I did not threaten him. It was not a threat, I meant it. I clearly stated that I would shoot all three of them, not just Glenn. I meant it. They wouldn't stop arguing until I amended my threat by adding that they'd better shut up to so I could get Judith to go back to sleep. I then proceeded to study in the quiet since leaving them unsupervised was obviously not an option. Weeding was put on hold until I could turn them over to Daryl and Daddy.

Daddy wasn't as mad at me as Maggie thought he'd be. He actually supported my I actions. I'm surprised. He thinks trying to separate them would have only ended up with me getting hurt. He called it problem solving. I'm not grounded, he didn't tell me how disappointed he was, he was actually proud of me. He thinks Maggie will probably come around in a day or so.

Daryl wasn't mad either. He told me he doesn't blame me at all, and it's perfectly normal for him to want to shoot Merle a couple of times a day.

The negotiations didn't go very well and I can't say that I'm very surprised. As I mentioned, Rick is still in the midst of psychosis. His shen is out of balance due to grief and guilt causing weakness in his lungs and and stagnation of his spleen and kidney chi.

At any rate, the Governor wants us out and we can either leave or be removed. He said we have until Saturday to get out. They won't let us join Woodbury either. There was so much damage done when Rick and Daryl went to rescue Glen and Maggie and even more damage done when they went back to to rescue Daryl and Merle, that we have been deemed too dangerous to have as neighbors.

We have no where to go so we are going to stay and will have to fight to keep our home. The problem is that he has a whole town full of people and we have 11 if you include Judith. Carl is just a kid and I'm no fighter. He has soldiers and armored personnel carriers and way more guns, ammo and everything. I don't even know why he wants this prison.

They have walls, houses, doctors and medicine and a great setup according to what Michone, Andrea and Merle said. They have a school, a clinic, a library, running water and electricity for an hour every morning and every evening. They have almost 300 people. We are going to have to figure out a way to out smart them because we don't have the brawn they have.

We did vote on a council. I got to vote too. We wrote 3 names each on a slips of paper and whoever got the most votes are on our Council. Daddy, Glen and Daryl are it. We are going to have a meeting for everyone every Sunday evening. We can bring proposals and issues up with them during the meeting and they will discuss and vote on things. When they have an important issue everyone will be able to let them know what we think but the council will have the final say.

They are having their meeting now and will have another meeting with everyone at breakfast to report what was decided.

Thursday, May 10th

Today was a whirlwind of activity. The council decided that we should all vote on weather to leave or stay and we are staying. Only 1 person voted to leave. I didn't realize that anyone might actually consider that option.

It was normal day except for preparing to be attacked, setting booby traps and making the prison look empty and abandoned. The guys intend to lure the Governors people into the tombs and let the ill take care of them. If the ill don't manage the job, then there will still probably be less for us to have to clear out later. The Governors people will kind of be doing us a favor. On the other hand, they could just end up adding to the number of ill in the hallways. I don't like it, but Sun Tsu emphasized least effort for best return.

Merle read "The Art of War" in the Marines. He had also knows about traps used in Asia during the Korean and Vietnam wars. He had some very interesting ideas, such as putting leashes on the ill and tying them to posts just outside the fence, punji pits, and "cartridge traps". The pits we did, minus the sticks. The cartridge traps traps would be difficult to find and disable after everything is done so we didn't do that either. We made spiked deadfalls in the doorways and pieces of plywood with nails and screws that will flip down and hit anyone who comes through the doorways of the different blocks and some of the cells. We will rig them with tripwires when we leave, or make it look like we've left.

Carl, Daddy Judy and I got a car ready with supplies. We are going to the tree stand that Daryl and Merle set up in the woods while they were "reconnecting". We'll be leaving the prison early Saturday morning. The adults are worried that something will happen to us if we're at the prison iwhen the Governor and his people attack.

I found some senna leaves and am thinking about making an urn of "iced tea" minus the ice and getting Carol to help me make some cookies with poke root. We could set it on the table outside like a "welcome to your new home" offering. Maybe with a bouquet of stinging nettle, poison ivy and wild flowers, and put out paper cups and plates. That combination should be good for keeping anyone who partakes, uncomfortable and in the bushes. Of course, no one with half a brain would eat anything left out like that under these circumstances, but you never know.

Friday, May 11th

It seems that even the heavens realize that things aren't looking good for us. It started out bright but it the clouds rolled in shortly after lunch and by dinner the sky was completely overcast.

Merle and Michone went missing this morning. The Governor told Sheriff Grimes that they would leave us alone if we turned Michone over to him. Rick put Merle up to doing that early this morning and when Daryl found out he made the Sheriff go with him to stop Merle before it was too late.

They caught up to him just in time. He couldn't do it. He had let Michone go and was going to try to take out the governor on his own. The Governors men had gotten a hold of him and were working him over real good. I spent the better part of two hours applying poultices to his face arms and chest. Daddy used it as an opportunity to teach me how to do proper sutures, so it was educational. Merle should be fine to fight by tomorrow. I left him with chamomile, echinacea, dandelion and willow tea.

Carol and I made cookies for the Woodbury people's welcome. I have the senna and peppermint ready to brew tomorrow morning before I leave with Carl and Judith. She and I prepared packages of food and bottles of sweetened raspberry mint tea and water for everyone. We also made cookies, nice ones with oatmeal and crazins, walnuts and white chocolate chips. Cookies make any situation better. Well, they cheer me up.

While we were working on rations and a laxative welcome, Rick and Daryl were working on a project. First they cut and rolled up the sod in a circle around the garden. Then they dug a series of pits around the garden with the back hoe and then used bamboo frames to hold up the sod that they had cut earlier. It ended up looking really good, exactly like it had before. They were doing it to protect the gardens from being molested. They were very appreciative when I went to deliver cool sweet mint and raspberry leaf tea, sandwiches and of course cookies.

Carl, Glenn and Maggie spent most of the day reinforcing the fences and taking care of the ill. They were stacking them into a berm or wall I guess to slow the other ill down and hopefully the people from Woodbury too.

Shortly after Daddy and I patched Merle up and the tea I gave him had relieved some of the pain he was in, he asked me for a spool of thread. After a few minutes of discussion with Rick and Daryl he began rummaging around in the police cruisers by the gate. Shortly he was on his way into the tombs with a flare sticks, flash bangs and grenades and made sure everyone knew not to follow him in there till everything was over. He said he was going to make some traps and that no one should go in until he cleared the them.

Glenn talked to Daddy about asking Maggie to marry him early this morning. Daddy just didn't expect them to skip everything and go straight to married. We all learned of this after dinner when Glenn stood and got every ones attention. It went pretty much like: "Um, hi everyone, um, Maggie and I, well we're married now. Um, so, um, if nothing important happens, a, well, we're going to be honeymooning in the tower until um…" "Morning. Leave me and Glenn alone until morning. Someone better be dying if anyone bugs us before then!" Maggie dragged Glenn off and I guess thats that.

Well I'm going to finish packing up so goodnight.

Saturday, May 12th

We left early this morning, despite the drizzly weather. I could see the squirrels that Daryl had injured to attract the ill into the yard. It really did look empty. I got up early and brewed the senna tea and set out the very carefully arranged bouquet and left a letter that we were going to Alabama and not to worry about us coming back.

We then drove out to the tree stand and covered the car with branches in a way that we could uncover quickly and get away if we needed too. Then we helped daddy climb the tree stand and that's where we stayed. It was a hunting blind that was on a platform about 20 feet up wedged between 3 pine trees.

Carl and I studied and nibbled trail mix while listening for gunshots and worrying about what was going on. The only one not anxious was Jude. She spent the morning napping, eating and destroying diapers. Daddy sat and read scriptures and helped with holding and feeding the baby. She's two weeks old. She shouldn't be outside in weather like this.

At about nine thirty we heard engines approaching. At that point any pretense of calm disappeared. Carl immediately produced a set of binoculars and we took turns trying to watch what was going on. At first there wasn't much to see. A couple of army trucks and a pickup and some other cars came up the road and started shooting at everything. They set the watch towers on fire and killed the ill who had been allowed to wander into the yard. Due to the trees, we couldn't actually see beyond the garden to the prison itself. After about ten minutes they noticed that no one was there to shoot back. They looked around a bit and noticed the picnic table and a few people gathered around it. I wish we had made more cookies and tea. There wasn't enough for the size of the crowd. I wasn't expecting the poke root and berries or the senna to work immediately. That would be a surprise for later. Another ten minutes or so passed and the people gathered at the table started to move towards the prison and out of sight. We heard the occasional sound of gunfire, but had no idea what was going on beyond that for a while. Then a bunch of people ran back to the cars and thats when everyone we had left behind started to shoot back. The Woodbury people retreated very quickly.

As soon as we saw the Woodbury people leave we climbed down. While we were uncovering the car and getting ready to head back a boy who seemed to be about my age came running towards us with a rifle. He stopped when he saw Daddy and raised the barrel at him. Carl killed him, He wouldn't drop his gun. He kept holding it. I don't think he was going to put it down. His finger was in the trigger guard. Why didn't he just drop it, just open his hand, but he clung on. I understand why Carl couldn't take the chance.

Daryl, Merle, Rick, Michone and went to make sure they don't come back. It's late and they still aren't back. I'm worried. I've been praying for them to get back safely. I think they will be okay in my heart, but my head says they're out numbered. We locked the gates but I can hear ill rattling around in the tombs. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow, what with cleaning and doing what we can to repair the towers.

Sunday, May 13th

We are having our first regular Council Meeting right on schedule. I had to get a notebook or binder for meeting notes. This is not what I intended to do to my diary.

7:00 PM

Rick announced the meeting and introduced the council to everyone. Everyone now knows that the council consists of Daddy, Daryl and Glenn. Daddy proposed that we needed a secretary and suggested me. No one objected so I have an official title. They paused the meeting long enough for me to get paper and a pen which is this.