The Walking Dead: Season 5: Episode 4: Survival

Scene 2: Leadership woes

"I want you gone, now." said Rick. "Where's Eugene?" Abraham asked. "Rosita and Morgan decided to escort him to D.C. without you." said Michonne. "So you separated from them?!? Why would you do something so stupid?!?" "Because we don't trust you. Especially after you held us at gunpoint, and tried to force us to go to D.C. with you." Michonne replied. "What? What did you?" Rick asked, rounding on Abraham. "The fate of humanity is in our hands! Don't you care about that?!? Do you not want to cure this?!?"

"You know, I once knew a man who believed in the idea of faith, and he thought the same thing. But you know what? He was wrong. He began to lose hope, but he didn't. He kept his faith alive through hope. He had hoped that his daughters would live on. He believed we could still have hope in this world as long as we keep our friends and families close. He believed he we could change for the greater good. He had real, solid, unrelenting, faith. He may have been wrong about there being a cure, but he was right when he said that hope comes from us. He died, still believing in that, and I'll be damned if I let him die in vain. We are going to try and keep his beliefs alive by sticking together and never giving up. Now if you want to go on your little 'mission' go ahead, but we're not going with you. And if you ever, and I mean ever try to hurt my family again, I'll kill you." said Rick.

"Where are you going to go?" Abraham scoffed. "We'll figure it out. All I know is we're going somewhere you're not." Rick replied. "Now it's your choice, you got to D.C., or I kill you." said Rick, reaching for his gun. Abraham considers him for a moment, then turns around and walks away. When he is out of sight, the group gathers around Rick. Carl hugs his father tightly, Rick hugs him back just as tightly as Carl sobs into his chest with relief. "We thought for sure you were dead." Carl sobbed. "Well, I'm not, I'm here aren't I?" Rick replied. Carl then steps back from his father, frowing at him. "Why were you with Abraham?" Carl asked.

Rick sighs. "The man who rescued me found him and brought him back, he said he didn't know what happened to you guys." "He attacked me dad." said Carl, getting closer so Rick could his nearly healed face. "I'm sorry that happened to you son. You did the right thing trying to kill him, he was a threat. " "Who is the man who saved you?" Bob asked. "His name was Heath, he seemed trustworthy, saved me, saved Beth-" "Wait, wait, Beth is alive?" Maggie asked, speaking for the first time since yesterday morning. "Seems that way, although I'm not sure anymore because I don't trust Heath anymore or Abraham for that matter." "If Beth is alive, we got to look for her." said Maggie frantically. 'We don't even know whether she's alive or not. Let Rick tell his story." said Glenn harshly.

"Anyway I guess Heath used to be like best friends with Gareth, and has resisted him ever since they found Terminus. He has a church he's gathered people there, but they're hiding something. We got there Heath said he wanted us to help in their battle against Terminus, I refused him, saying that it wasn't our fight. They pointed guns at us, forced us into a room. We barley got out." "Sounds like another bullshit safe haven to me." said Daryl. The group turns around and sees Beth and Daryl standing there. Upon seeing Beth, Maggie's expression goes from concerned to ecstatic to glee. She sprints over to Beth and hugs her and begins sobbing with joy. "Oh thank god, Beth. YOU'RE ALIVE! OH MY GOD, I WAS SO WORRIED!" Maggie releases her sister and kisses her on the head, Beth notices the red marks around Maggie's neck, and her smile fades.

"What happened to your neck?" Beth asked. "Oh they're from a walker." Maggie poorly lied. "She tried to hang herself earlier." said Glenn, visibly upset. Beth just gapes at Maggie in horror, then her facial expression becomes furious. "I thought you were dead, I-" Beth slaps Maggie across the face, hard. Maggie lets out a gasp of surprise as she feels the red mark on her cheek, shocked. Beth slaps her again and again until Maggie bursts into tears again, bruises on her face. "How dare you try and quit like that?!? After the big deal you made about me making the same decision back at the farm, what is wrong with you?!?" Beth seethed. Maggie now bows her head in shame, sobbing relentlessly. "I'm sorry, I-I-I thought you were dead so I-" "I DON'T CARE!" Beth bellowed. "AS LONG AS JUST ONE OF US IS HERE STILL BREATHING, AND FIGHTING, YOU DON'T TRY AND QUIT ON US LIKE THAT! I DON'T CARE IF EVERYONE HERE WAS DEAD EXCEPT GLENN, IF HE'S HERE, WHICH HE WAS YOU KEEP FIGHTING AND YOU DON'T GIVE UP! I LEARNED FROM THE BEST, MAYBE YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO YOUR OWN TEACHINGS!" Maggie starts sobbing more than ever, trying to take breaths. "I'm I'm- I'm- s-s-s-s-sorry." she said. "Oh you're sorry?!? How about you tell that to them?!? The ones you hurt." Daryl grabs Beth from behind seeing as she is beginning to corner Maggie. "Alright Beth, settle down." he said. "Are you listening to me? You're selfish, you're evil, you BITCH!"

Maggie stumbles off away into the woods. still sobbing uncontrollably. Beth instantly feels horrible before she even realizes what she has said. "Maggie?" she calls, but Maggie just keeps walking away. Beth attempts to follow her, but Daryl restrains her. "I think she just needs some alone time." he said. "You really want to trust her with alone time after what happened this morning?" Michonne asked. Glenn is instantly pursuing Maggie before anything else is even said, clearly worried about her.

The rest of the group stands there in silence for a long time until Carl breaks it. "Dad, I have to show you something." he said. Carl leads him about four feet away to Judith laying on a blanket. just waking up. Rick gasps with astonishment. Rick picks her up and hugs her close. He begins sobbing with relief and joy. "H-h-how?" Rick stuttered. Tyreese walks up behind Rick and claps a hand on his shoulder. "During the attack on the prison, I saw her laying in that car seat. Walkers were coming towards her, I killed them and got her out." Rick turns around holding Judith and looks at Tyreese gratefully.

"Thank you, thank you so much, I don't know how I could ever repay you." said Rick. "You don't have to, we're a family, we're supposed to take care of each other." said Tyreese. A thought quickly passed Rick's mind, and he grabbed a hold of it. "Tyreese, the person who killed Karen and David-" "I know, Carol told me. I've already forgiven her. Just so you know, I disagree with your decision to send her away. She was just trying to protect us." Rick begins nodding his head in agreement. "You're right, you're right. I forgive her for what she did too, What I did was wrong, but so was what she did. But she was just trying to protect us, and I can't hold anything against her for that. Speaking of which, where is Carol?" "She left with Sasha and Tara to go to D.C. with Rosita, Eugene, and Morgan." said Michonne.

"MORGAN?!?" said Rick, visibly shocked. "Yeah, he's with Abraham." said Bob. Rick shakes his head, "I don't believe this." he said. "It's true Dad, he pointed a gun at me." said Carl. "I'm sorry about that son. I thought Morgan was a good guy." "Just because they pointed guns at us, it doesn't make them bad people." said Tyreese. "I don't care of they are good people or not, they're dangerous." Said Rick. "Dad, I have to talk to you." Said Carl. "okay..." "ALONE." Rick looks at his son and nods. Rick gives Judith to Tyreese, and Rick follows Carl out of earshot of the group.

"Dad, you remember what you said about me being a man, and that you're proud of me?" Carl asked. "Yeah, because I am." said Rick. "Well you shouldn't be." said Carl, his voice breaking. "Carl-"  "No dad, you don't get it. I'm not a good person. I'm just like Gareth or the Governor or Joe-" "Carl no-" "I treated mom like crap, I treat you like crap. Blaming you for losing the prison, blaming you for being stuck out here, I shot that boy..." Carl is now sobbing, his chest heaving. "I'm just a bad person." he sobs. Rick grabs his son by the shoulders and sternly looks into his eyes. "Do you see this? Do you know what you're doing right now? It's called remorse. Remorse is when you feel guilty about your actions. A truly bad person doesn't feel remorse. Do you think the Governor felt any remorse when killed Hershel? Maybe there was a little bit there at first, but he didn't think there was any way he could change, that's why he broke us like that. But Carl, you feel the weight of the things you've done. There is still room for you to change. Now there are gonna things you'll have to do to survive, and  sometimes it will feel like the wrong thing, but if it keeps you alive it isn't? Do you understand?" Carl nods.

"Yes, I love you dad." "I love you too son." said Rick, hugging his son. "I miss mom." Carl sniffled. "Yeah, me too. You know you were there in her last moments, that was something I didn't get to have. You never told me what she said to you." "She told me to take care of you and Judith. She said that I'm gonna beat this world, that I'm smart, strong, and brave. She wanted me to promise that I would always do what was right, and if it felt wrong not to do it, and she said she loved me, and then she was... gone." "Your mother was right, if it feels wrong you shouldn't do it. But sometimes you have to. In this world the only thing that is important is that you're alive. And when you make these decisions, you don't hesitate. Do you think I hesitated in killing Shane? No, because it was kill or be killed. Did I feel guilty about it afterwards? Yeah, I did, I still do to this very day. But if I hadn't done what I did, I wouldn't be here right now talking to you. Do you understand everything I've said to you?" "Yes dad." "Alright, come on." said Rick, patting his son on the back. "Help!  Help!" Carol yelled. Rick and Carl turn around and see Carol running towards them covered in blood.