Protection (Rick Grimes)

Chapter Forty One

I huff as I gather firewood with Rick at my side. We need wood for the fireplace and after this I'm suppose to go talk to my Aunt about me 'stepping out of line' yesterday.

"Your Aunt Judy told me about what you did." He says and lets some guy load his arms with firewood.

"Are you mad?" I ask. Rick being mad at me is something I don't want and really the last thing I need.

"Not really."

"But you're still mad." I point out.

"Look. They did leave you and Glenn behind and could have gotten y'all killed. I agree with you there. But not with holding a knife to his throat in front of a crowd."

"One: I didn't hold the knife to his throat. I simply put the tip of the knife under his chin. And two: it's not like I slit his throat or stabbed him." I defend. He sighs, and drops the subject probably seeing no point in arguing since I will stand my ground.

We walk in silence to the house and I hand the firewood off to Daryl. He gives me a questioning look in which I return with a nod. I know that he needs to talk to me every since yesterday, but I haven't really gotten around to it. So after I talk with Aunt Judy, I'll be talking to Daryl about whatever he needs to talk to me about.

"I can finish helping Rick. You go do what you need to do." Daryl offers. I smile and nod at him. I glance at Rick before walking off.

Aunt Judy knows what I think of her. She knows that I'm not too fond of her. Yeah I'm glad she's okay and yeah I was kind of happy to see her, but she's not fit to be in charge of a group of people. Never has been. Never will be.

I sigh before opening the door and walking inside. Aunt Judy and Uncle Dave are sitting on the couch with Gavin and Robert. I roll my eyes and lean against the wall. Aunt Judy looks my way and motions for me to sit down.

"I'm good." I shake my head, not wanting to sit by any of them.

"You scared people. Kids, Danielle Marie. You threatened an unarmed man. It's unacceptable."

"They left me and Glenn for dead! I understand that I shouldn't have scared those people! Those kids! But me threatening a so-called unarmed man, is something that you wouldn't understand! Me and Glenn almost died because of them!" I yell at her.

"They made the right call." She says. Uncle Dave looks at her in disbelief then at me.

"I don't know if that was the right call, Judy. They could have at least looked for them." Uncle Dave stands up for me.

"It was the right call, Dave." Aunt Judy keeps eye contact with me as she talks to her husband. She is basically glaring at me.

"The right call? So your telling me that the right call is our niece and her friend almost getting killed?"

"You know how it is. If they think it's too risky, then they move on."

"See, that's your problem." I say and push myself off of the wall and point at her. "You don't know shit. You don't know how to run a community and to keep people together." I take a step closer to her.

"How many of your people have been killed since the beginning?" I ask. She doesn't answer me. But Gavin does.

"There's been several." He mumbles with his head bowed.

"You know why they are dead? Because of your stupid mistakes and rules. That's probably the reason why my mother, your sister is dead. Because of your dumb ass rules." By now, I'm directly in front of her. I bend down so we are face to face.