Protection (Rick Grimes)

Chapter Forty Two

Chelsea's POV

I close the door behind me and turn to look at Daryl who is now sitting on the bed.

"What's wrong?" I ask him.

"Nothin'." He shrugs.

"Seriously, Daryl. You wouldn't even look at me when I got back. You wouldn't even speak. Something's wrong. Please tell me."

"Look, there's nothing wrong. Me and Dani were talking and she got upset. It's fine. Everyone's okay." He sighs. I do the same and sit down beside him.

Danielle's POV
(I am so sorry for changing the POV's so much in this update.)

I finish off the little food that Morgan gave me and look around the cabin. He doesn't have much. Just enough food for a few more days, very little water and a backpack that is sitting in the corner of the room. And of course, his stick.

"So um...why the stick? Why not something more...lethal?" I ask.

"Aikido." He simply answer. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion and wait for him to explain why he chooses Aikido.

"It's a defense-" He starts, but I cut him off.

"A Japanese art of self-defense. Where the art is 'not to kill'. You have to care about your opponents well-being along with yours." I finish for him. He gives me a surprised look. "A friend of mine knew Aikido and told me what it meant." Mark taught me what it meant. Mark basically lived his life according to Aikido.

"A friend?" He asks.

"Well...ex-boyfriend." I admit.

"Ah. Who all have you lost?" Morgan questions, trying to keep a conversation going.

"Um...my uh...brother, Merle, my son, Lyndon, and ex boyfriend, Mark. And a couple of friends. You?"

"My wife, Jenny and my son, Duane." I nod and glance out the window. It's beginning to get dark, and I know everyone will be wondering where I am.

"I should go." I mumble and stand up.

"You can stay if you like. You seem harmless enough."

"Thanks, but I have a group. I would offer you to come with, but last time I did that, they weren't real happy. But I'll be back, if that's okay?"

"I understand. And yeah, it's fine."

I nod and grab my stuff before walking out of the door. I begin jogging in the direction of the community, hoping that no one really notices how long I was gone.
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I step inside the gates and close them behind me, locking them as well. And as I near the house, I can see Carl sitting on the porch with Violet.

I walk up the steps and ruffle Carl's hair and smile at Violet.

"Where's your dad?" I ask Carl.

"In y'all's room."

I nod my head once and smile at the two kids before walking inside the house. I ignore everyone's gazes and head upstairs.

When I get to the room, Rick is standing at the window, looking out. I walk up behind him and wrap my arms around his stomach, resting my head on his back.

"You went outside the walls." He states quietly.

"I'm fine." I assure him.

"You could have gotten hurt."

"Rick, we lived outside those walls for a while. I know I have since the beginning other than the lodge, and the few places we've stayed. I don't know where y'all stayed before I met y'all and found Daryl. But we've been okay for this long, so I'm sure if I go out there, I'll be fine." I assure him.

"I know."

Something's wrong. He's not acting like his usual self. I remove my arms from him and move to where I'm standing in front of him. He looks down at me.

"What's wrong?" I try.

"Just thinking." He sighs and pushes some hair out of my face.

"About?"

Rick sighs and walks over to the bed, sitting down.

"Everything. These walls...I don't know." He mumbles. I walk over to him and stand between his legs. He rests his hands on my hips and thumbs his thumbs over the shirt fabric. I place my hands on his neck, one of my hands playing with his hair.

"Rick..." I trail with a sigh.

"I don't want us to get to comfortable here. I don't want us to let our guard down. We can't. We have to stay strong."

"And we will." I assure him. "I haven't known this group for being nothing but strong. We'll all be okay. I know we will." He only nods.

"Come on. Let's get some sleep." I tell him. He smirks and kisses me.

"How about something else." He smiles and lays down before getting on top of me. I chuckle and pull him down to me.

~●~

Stepping outside the house, I follow behind Abraham, towards the gates.

"So, what are we doing exactly?" I ask him and only glance at him.

"I think I seen a gun shop not far from here. We're almost out of ammo and low on weapons, so might as well give it a shot." He explains with a shrug. I nod my head once before unlocking the gate.

"Dani!" I hear. I turn as well as Abraham, and see Carl jogging over to me.

"Hey, kiddo." I smile at him.

"Can I go with y'all?" He asks. I look over at Abraham and he shrugs with a nod.

I turn back to Carl. "I don't see why not. Just stay close and with us and do as we say. Got it?"

"Got it." He nods with a small smile. I smile back and pat his shoulder before I pull the gate open enough for us to get out.

Closing the gate behind us, I wrap my arm around Carl's shoulders and keep him close to me.

"How far is this place?" I say Abraham.

"Shouldn't be too far of a walk." He assures me. I nod slightly and glance at Carl before looking straight ahead.
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The walk there wasn't that bad. We only encountered a few walkers, but it wasn't too many that we couldn't handle it.

With the gun shop in sight, our pace immediately quickens, eager to get inside. Carl and Abraham step up to the door, while I stand back.

Abraham goes to open the door, the the sound of a gun being loaded and the feeling of a gun barrel being pressed to my back makes me stop him.

"Abraham, stop." I demand. He turns and anger and worry spreads across his face and complete worry spreads across Carl's face.

"Let's have some fun, shall we?" A thick country accent rings through my ears and my heart rate quickens dramatically.

Shit.

---sorry it took a while for me to update. I was planning on updating on Thanksgiving, but that didn't happen. Also sorry about how short this chapter is. I felt bad about not updating. I hope y'all liked it. Let me know.---