"You'll hear them before you see them. The head is the only way to kill them" Rick says as we walked through the tombs.
"You're teaching a killer how to kill" Tomas says
"These aren't people" I snap.
Then walkers appear. The five of them ran past us and bashed at their stomachs and the walkers kept coming. Rick, Daryl and I stood back and watched them attack. Eventually they got to their heads and the walkers fell. I scoffed and rolled my eyes before turning to Big Tiny. He had retreated against a wall, looking frightened.
"What happened? Are you okay?" I ask and he pulls down his sleeve to show scratches on his shoulder blade.
"I can keep fighting. I'm good" he says scared
"So we wait for him to turn and eat us?" Tomas fights
"We can't amputate, even if that works" I say
"We c-"
A gun shot was fired and Big Tiny fell to the ground. I turned to see Tomas with his gun still raised. He was almost numb and didn't have any reaction to killing a man, it was scary.
"Shit happens" Tomas says with a shrug
Daryl and Rick stood back while I led them. We got to a set of double doors and I waited for Rick and Daryl to come.
"What's the hold up?" Daryl asks
"There's a set of doors" I say and Rick makes his way around the prisoners.
"You," Rick points at Tomas "can open it. One door only"
Tomas proceeds to the doors and opens them both. I was at the front and walkers poured out, more than expected. Tomas killed one with an axe but then swings again, just missing my nose. I brushed it off to continue helping the group with walkers. But then a walker is thrown at me, it was more forceful than a stumbling walker, it was a push. It was strong enough to knock me to the ground and I'm left on my own.
"Daryl! Rick!" I yell out both names.
Rick kills it and pulls it off me. He puts out his hand but I get myself up.
"Hey, I'm sorry" Tomas says
"No, I get it. Shit happens" I say and run my machete through his head without thinking.
Rick and Daryl stood in shock, Andrew tries to hit me but he's stopped by Oscar. I took a deep breath and realized what I just did. I was upset but he was a threat, he tried to kill me.
"Are you ok?" Rick asks putting a hand on my shoulder.
I nod my head, no eye contact was made. Andrew runs and Daryl runs after him, Rick and I stayed behind. I looked at Tomas' bloody body and looked at the blood that was on me. I was almost in a state of shock, I couldn't speak or move. Rick raised his gun to Axel and Oscar seeing me.
"We ain't like him, man" Axel begs
Rick points the gun at Oscar.
"I ain't gonna beg you. I've never begged for anything in my life. Do what you gotta do"
"We'll leave you guys alone and you won't ever see us again" Axel says
•••
We took them to the cell block. I stood outside while they entered.
"We knew these people" Axel says "I can't sleep with their dead bodies in here"
"Burn them" Rick says coldly.
Daryl comes out and rubs my arm. He stands in front of me.
"Isabelle, are you okay?" He asks concerned
I nodded without looking at him.
"Then look at me" he tested
I couldn't.
"Let's get back to see your dad, yeah?"
He wraps an arm around me to push me forward and keep me moving. I felt so weak and pathetic. I've never killed a living breathing human, only walkers. I tried not to think about it too much. We walked in silence to our cell block, Rick walked behind us, giving some space.
When we arrived, everyone stood in and around Dads cell. He was unresponsive, still. I hadn't missed anything, luckily, I wanted to be there when he woke up. I felt myself get teary eyed looking at him like that so I turned away.
"Isabelle!" Beth whispers my name excitedly and I turn to see Dad had woken up.
A smile broke out upon my face, but it soon left. I killed a man and Dad, a man of God,
doesn't know. I bet he would be disappointed, but shit happens. I took a deep breath an turned back to look at the wall across the way.
"Hey, you ok?" Rick asked me as he stepped out the cell and stood in front of me.
I nodded but didn't make any eye contact with him.
"Wanna take a walk?" He asked
I nodded again.
Rick led us up to the catwalk. The sun was setting, the sky was a shade of pink and orange. I smiled as I felt the hot summer breeze crawl across my skin. I took a deep breath of the air and I felt better and calmer.
"I'm sorry" he says
"For what?" I finally speak and look at him, but he now wasn't looking at me.
"I'm sorry that you lost your farm and you have to stay here with me"
"Maybe it was for the better, I still have friends in your group, our group" I smile and he looks at me "we got it, Rick. We got a home and family"
"But I don't have what I really want" he said with sadness in his eyes
"What? Who? Andrea?" I asked with curiosity.
"You" he said and grabbed my face to kiss me.
I kissed back, we were alone, it was okay. I had guilt before but I just know now that it's the end of the world, what do I care? He pulled back.
"You don't like me?" I ask anxiously.
"No. I just wanted to look at you again"
"I killed a man today" I say changing the tone
"You didn't expect to make it in this world and not kill anyone, did you?"
"I just don't know if it was the right thing"
He grabbed my hands.
"He pushed a walker on you, he wanted to kill you. Daryl and I had already agreed to kill him at the next bad move he made and if you didn't do it, I would've"
"Thank you"
"For what?"
"That just made me feel better"
"The kiss or the speech?"
"Both" I said with a laugh "but I'm gonna leave now, and you need to remember Lori"
•••
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