Don't Fear The Reaper (R. Grimes & D. Dixon)

43

Michonne and t-dog showed up a couple of hours later, most of their group dead; rick had gone off to do some heroics with the RV. Glenn and Nicholas were radio silent and never lit a fire they were supposed to. Daryl's group was silent as well, his consisting of Merle, Abraham, and Sasha. "he said if he got lost, he would send us a signal," t-dog explained. 

"a signal?" Maggie asked confused

"Open the gate!" a familiar yell echoed thru the air sparking kits nerves as she bolted to the gate, hearing rick, Michonne and Maggie with her. the three women flung the blinder open, revealing rick running towards them and a shit ton of walkers right behind him. Kit unlocked it, and they pulled it open, slamming it shut right as he crossed inside. Walkers were slamming against it trying to reach them thru the bars. Kit's wide eyes turned from them to rick, wrapping her arms around him, beyond thankful to see him again. His arms were like a vice around her, offering safety despite the mass of walkers now trapping them from going anywhere or anyone getting in.

"you can hear it. some of you saw it.-" rick kissed the top of her head before releasing her to address the growing crowd around them. "- they got back here, half of them. Still enough to surround us 20 deep. Look, I know you're scared; you haven't seen anything like this. You haven't been thru anything like this. but we're safe for now."

"the panel the truck hit seems intact. we're reinforcing it just in case." t-dog said; rick nodded

"the others, they're gonna be back." Maggie grabbed kits hand, both women squeezing.

"they're gonna be back," Rosita agreed.

"Daryl, merle, Abraham, Sasha, they have vehicles. They're going to lead them away just like the others. And Glenn and Nicholas will walk back through the front gate after. They know what they're doing. We know what we need to do. We keep noise to a minimum and pull our blinds at night. Even better, keep the lights out. we'll try to make this place as quiet as a graveyard, see if they move on."

"This place is a graveyard." some lady complained. Rick and kit shared a look, both thinking back to Lori at the highway; so much had changed since then.

Aaron stepped forward "the quarry broke open, and those walkers were heading this way. all of them. the plan that rick put into place stopped that from happening. he got half of them away.-" he hesitated "- I was out there recruiting with Daryl. I wanted to try to get into a cannery and scavenge, and Daryl wanted to keep looking for people. We did what I wanted -" Aaron briefly looked at Kit, whose eyebrows were furrowed "-we wound up in a trap set by those people. I lost my pack. they must've followed our tracks. those people who attacked us, they found their way back here because of me." everyone in the community shook their heads in disappointment. It honestly pissed kit off that these people, these weak people, could judge him at all.

"they would have come even without the hints-" kit spoke up, everyone's heads snapping to her "we tried to warn you time and time again. People like that exist now. You can't ignore it anymore, and you can't hide. When we first came here, Deanna told us she wanted us to see you all as our people, our family. So you are, even if that's a hard pill to swallow. I know Rosita's been teaching lessons on how to protect yourselves. I highly suggest you put your big girl panties on and join. You're faced with the real world now, ladies and gentlemen; time to catch up." kit said loud and clear, eyeing some of them before walking off, rick right behind her. 

"were you gonna tell me about the cannery?"

"nope." he popped the P. kit honestly didn't know whether to be mad or laugh. However, she felt it wouldn't change the past. It's been done and over; Daryl came home, and now he's trapped out there.

~time skip~

kits eyes narrowed as a woman in a blue sweater painted Glenn's name on the memorial wall they were making. "don't," Theodore pleaded. she, of course, didn't listen as she marched up to the woman snatching the brush out of her hand and marking out his name. she turned back to the wide-eyed woman, narrowing her eyes dangerously. "No." she spits