The start

Come back to me

I get up early in the morning watching the gate. The girl before me walks home as I stand by the gate. The sun wasn't even out yet as I stood there. A few hours past as Daryl and Aaron drive up to the gate. Daryl was riding the motorcycle as Aaron had the car. I walk up to Daryl and hug him tightly.

"You be safe. Come back to me." My voice muffled into his new leather jacket.

"I will. Can't leave you behind." He kisses my lips as I kiss him back. I let go of him and walk up to Aaron's car.

"You be careful. Watch him for me. Please." I tell Aaron.

"Promise." He says. I walk up to the gate and open it. The two men drive out of Alexandria as I close the gate back up. Both my hands held on to the cold metal bars as I watch the guys disappear from my sight.

A few minutes later the Run van drives up to the gates blaring the most bizarre music. I open the gate up as they drive out I close it back up. That my friends, is my job. Opening and closing a gate. Even Eugene can do something like this. With his non talented infection curing self.

"Hey Harley." Rick walks up to me.

"Hey, you need out? Cause I can not only close a gate I can open it." I smiled widely and give a thumbs up as Rick chuckles.

"Don't worry. I told Deanna you and Sasha can take shifts in the tower. You both have great aim. Deanna has the right idea set for you but doesn't know where to place you."

"So I'll be in a tower? Can I at least kill the walkers with a silencer on a sniper. I'm gonna be bored up there."

"What ever floats your boat." Rick says.

"Awesome. Hey when is Jay taking over?" I asked.

"After class. She should be done soon. I'm gonna do my rounds. See ya." Rick waves me off as he heads down a street.

"See ya." I call back as I watch the gate.

Sasha walked over to the tower climbing up. Spencer, Deanna's son was already up there with a sniper. He comes down and walks to his house. I guess Sasha scared him away.

"My turn." Jay walks up to me as I hand her over her sniper.

"What, its only been an hour." I exclaimed.

"You need sleep." She says.

"Thanks Jaybird. How was class?" I ask her as she hugs the sniper.

"God, I missed my baby. It was alright. Math. English. Science. Blah blah blah." She and I laughed.

"It'll get better. I'm head back to the house for a nap. If Rick comes by or Daryl comes back early can you let him know?"

"Will do. Later harls." I wave her off as I walk to the house and fall asleep on the couch. I needed this right here. The warm and soft cushions made my body relax.

After my short nap I went upstairs in the bathroom doing my business. I could hear a door open and close downstairs. Two men were talking sounded like Rick and another guy. After I was done with the bathroom I press my back up against the wall tip toeing downstairs. It was Pete, Jessie's husband. He was holding two beer bottles and wobbling around. He's drunk. I hate drunks. I've already met him once and he was drunk then too. Is this guy drunk 24/7? I reach over for my bag that sat on the kitchen counter and pulled out my throwing knives.

"I'm sorry. Heard you lost your wife.
You know I'm sure it looks like we haven't lost much, but we have.
We've lost things. Other things we're just fighting like hell to hold on to.
Everything you people have been through, I don't know if you see that." As if we don't understand. We've lost more than they have.

"We do." Rick says quietly.

"Bring your kids in for a checkup.
I know I offered you one, but they really should come in. They were out there a while, right?" He doesn't even know.

"Yeah. Thanks, Pete." Rick says.

"Let's be friends, man. We kind of have to be, right?" Pete walks up closer to Rick. I stand up gripping onto the knives.

Target.

"Yeah, we do. So we will." Rick nods his head.

"I'll see you, Rick." Pete walks out the door. Rick watched for him through the window as I waited.

"Coast is clear." Rick says. I walk into the living room slowly.

"He was drunk. Might cause problems. That's the second time I've been around him and he was drunk then too." I said. Rick twirls his wedding ring around his finger.

"Yeah. We'll keep an eye on him." Rick says as he walks back up stairs and shuts a door. Later the day Carol comes up to us.

"I think Pete is beating Jessie." She tells Rick and I.

"Makes sense. He is a drunk must be an angry drunk." I shake my head.

"Sam, he asked me for a gun. He wants it for his mom. To protect herself."

"Rick. I know how this is gonna go with Pete. There's only one way it can go. You're gonna have to kill him." Rick looks at her nodding his head. He opens his mouth to speak but we heard Glenn yells and screaming for help. The three of us ran out of the house up to the gate. Glenn and Eugene carry Tara out of the van. They were covered in blood.

"The hell happened?" I asked. I look at Tara unsure if she was alive or not.

"This asshole. He killed Aidan. He killed Noah. Now Tara is unconscious." Glenn points at Nicholas who was unconscious in the back of the van. Deanna started crying.

"Noah's dead?" Jay cries. My heart dropped. He was smart. I thought he would survive. I was wrong. I guess I should rethink things through now. We all can't survive this.