Self Inflicted

42

Glenn and Nicholas left a few minutes ago and we've been preparing since. Michonne and I walk up to a heated conversation between David, Scott, Annie, and Heath. "Okay, we don't leave people behind. Not us."

"No one is leaving anyone behind," Michonne hisses. Heath tells Annie he's going to find something for her to use and he walks off, Michonne follows close behind. 

-

"The ones from down the street and in the alley, they're getting drawn by the gunfire," Michonne points out. We are both peaking into the street through a gap in the blankets covering the window. Walkers abruptly turn and drag toward the gunfire that sounds like it's coming from home. There are a lot of them walking directly in front of the doors, way too many to deal with with three healthy people and three injured.  

"Soon as they clear, we head for the feed store. Till then we sit tight, keep quiet," she hisses at us. 

Someone begins prepping a shotgun and when he snaps it shut, a few of the walkers turn toward the door. "They heard that," Heath whispers. "They know we're in here now. We can't wait them out. The herd, it's gonna be here any minute." 

"We gotta go!" I shout. We all stand by the door, Heath is helping Scott walk and Annie is on her own with a pistol. I grab my sword out and stand ready as David and Michonne swing the doors open. He fires a couple shots and she takes down a walker. 

"Go!" Michonne yells. We start running, Michonne and I lead the front and we're taking down walkers are we run past, down the sidewalk. 

"Where's the feed store?" I ask. 

"Go! The other end of town. We can try--" Michonne is cut off by Heath. 

"We can't. Glenn said we got to go. We go now." Michonne and I share a look but he's right, glancing behind us, there's just too many of them. Annie is at the back as we continue running and then there's shouting. 

"Annie!" Heath yells and Scott keeps him moving forward. Annie shoots as many as she can, but they tear into her. Her shrieks fill the street as does the horde that's following close behind. They're appearing out of the trees. 

We turn a corner to head down an alley, getting cut off by walkers in front of us. At the end of this long alley, is a few trashcans sitting in front of a tall chain-link fence. Shit. We hurry forward, I help push Scott over and they usher me over next. Heath climbs over and I help him down, glancing behind Michonne and David I see how close the walkers are getting. They're within a few yards. 

"Come on!" I'm yelling. Michonne starts climbing and slips, pulling herself back up. She almost to the top when the walkers reach, David succumbs to the walkers. They tear at his flesh and he screams, falling into the fence. A walker grabs ahold of Michonne's foot and she's kicking at it's rotten hand. Finally, it let's go and she's able to hop over and I help her down. Holding onto her shoulder for long than I should, panting. We take one long look at the fence and all continue to keep running. 

-

When we made it back to the community we looked like shit. There was a truck that had ran into the wall and it was pushed in, not fallen yet. Denise is taking care of Scott's injury, thankfully he should be fine. Right now, Michonne and I are standing outside the infirmary. Then we hear shouting. We take off running toward the noise, right outside the gates. 'Open the gate!' She throws the gate open and our jaws drop. 

Rick. Sprinting. Close behind him, the horde. He drops a shoulder into a walker, sending it flying backward. He regains his balance and runs in. We slam the gate shut as walkers start to pile against it, reaching their rotted arms through the gaps reaching for us. Snarling. Snapping their teeth at what could be a meal. That's when we close the screen so we can't see them anymore. We can just hear them banging against things and snarling, shoving against each other. 

Rick is doubled over, hands on his knees, fighting for air. His shirt is ripped part way open, covered in blood and sweat. Michonne checks to see if he's okay. Physically, he's fine. Mentally? He can't believe we are where we are right now. Neither can I. 

-

I'm heading over to talk to Maggie, maybe try to explain why Glenn is gone. I know nothing can really make this better. Daryl is out there too, with no way in because we are surrounded outside the walls. I knock on their door and she opens, with a weak smile. "Hey."

"Hey, Maggie. Can I talk to you for a second?" She nods her head at me and comes out onto her porch, we watch over the people outside walking around. 

"Where is he?" she asks and it comes off dry, like she's preparing for something bad. 

"The town was overrun. He split off with Nicholas, trying to give us a chance," I pause to look at into her green eyes. "He had this idea that if he lit a fire, it would stop the herd from coming here. Michonne tried to go instead. The fire never got lit and we had to keep going. I'm sorry, Maggie." She nods and swallows the lump in her throat. "He said if he got stuck, he would find a way to send us a signal." 

"A signal?" her country accent is thick, especially when's she's worried. 

-

Rick stands in front of the community out in the street, not far from the front gate where we saw what was happening. He's trying to address everyone. "You can hear it. Some of you saw it." I'm not sure I'll ever stop hearing them inside these walls. 

"They got back here, half of them. Still enough to surround us twenty deep," I glance at the faces of people around me. People dressed in capris and button down shirts, terrified looks smeared across their faces. "Look, I know you're scared. You haven't seen anything like this. You haven't been through anything like this. But we're safe for now." 

He gestures behind him, "The panel the truck hit seems intact. We reinforced it just in case. Either way, the wall's gonna hold together. Can you?" People shift uncomfortably, I can feel it. They're not sure if they can because he's right, they've never seen anything close to this. 

"The others, they're gonna be back. They're gonna be back. Daryl, Abraham, Sasha, they have vehicles. They're gonna lead 'em away, just like the others. And Glenn and Nicholas are gonna walk back through the front gate after." I can't help but nod along with Rick's words. I have to tell myself that Daryl is fine. 

"They know what they're doing, and we know what we need to do. We keep noise to a minimum. 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." Good analogy, Rick. 

"This place is a graveyard," someone speaks up. In the silence of that remark, you can hear the walkers banging against the walls. 

"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," Aaron steps forward. 

"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...and we wound up in a trap set by those people." He looks around to make sure he speaks to everyone.

"And I lost my pack. They must've followed our tracks. Those people who attacked us... they found their way back here because of me," Deanna walks forward when Aaron is done talking. 

"There'll be more to talk about," that's all she musters to say before she's walking off. Tobin goes walking after her.