Black Sheep - Rick Grimes x Male

I Aint a Judas

"We're not leaving." Rick was finally coming to his senses, he had no choice but to. Things weren't working without him leading. "We can't stay here." Hershel persisted. They all stood around the cell block. Moon was keeping himself busy, only struggling a little to load and prepare their guns.

Rick wanted them to be ready in case of another attack. "What if there's another sniper? A wood pallet wouldn't stop one of those rounds." Maggie agreed with her father. "We can't even go outside." Beth made a point.

"Not in the daylight." Carol added on, her arms crossed over her chest. "Rick says we're not running. We're not running." Moon wasn't sure if Glenn was only saying that because he wanted a fight or because he really agreed with Rick. Both most likely.

"No, better to live like rats." Merle stood locked in a cell, observing everyone through the bars. Moon was the only one who didn't look up at him when he spoke. He hasn't looked at Merle since yesterday and that was by accident.

He wasn't scared of the man. Just seeing his face made him sick. His torturer stood across the room speaking freely, like nothing happened. He tried not to make a big deal about it, not wanting to make a scene.

Moon will live with what Merle did forever. He hated the fact Merle could just forget. But he couldn't. He wasn't sure if he was overreacting or not. What happened to him was horrible but he knew there were worse things that could have happened to him or even worse, Glenn.

What happened to Maggie was far more awful than what happened to him. She may not have scars physically but mentally. He couldn't imagine the strength she had to keep a straight face at the sound of his name.

Moon made an easy plan, don't look at Merle, don't talk to him. Most importantly don't show he got to him. Because he didn't, well not fully. He still couldn't stand to look at himself in the mirror but that didn't mean he was broken. In his eyes, he won.

"You got a better idea?" Rick asked harshly, Merle being around seemed to get under Rick's skin far worse than it should have. "Yeah, we should have slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we? I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now."

"We ain't scared of that prick." Daryl walked on the elevated walkway, joining the discussion. "Y'all should be. That truck through the fence thing, that's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to."

Merle had a better understanding, an insight they needed but would never admit to. "Let's put him in the other cell block." Maggie looked at Rick but Daryl spoke up before Rick had the chance to cooperate. "No. He's got a point." And his brother did, they just didn't want to hear it.

"This is all you. You started this." Maggie raised her voice as she stared at Merle. The Dixon smirked at her hostility. "What difference whose fault it is? What do we do?" Beth was slowly losing the hopeful mindset she once had for the situation.

"I said we should leave. Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here." Hershel didn't want to risk it, they've already lost too much. Rick started to walk away like he's been doing every time things got too complicated for him. He didn't have the mental strength to argue.

"Get back here!" Hershel's shout caused all eyes to turn to him. Hershel's only raised his voice once or twice in the time the group spent together. This showed just how frustrated he was. Rick stopped, his eyes closing in exhaustion. They wouldn't let him grieve, he never got a break.

Rick knew there would be no time for him to mourn. He was a leader and that came with its own burdens. The group seemed to have forgotten Lori was his wife, he loved her. They only saw the worst parts of their marriage. And in the end that's all their marriage seemed to be, the worst part. But that didn't mean he could just get over it.