The Walking Dead: Season 5: Episode 4: Survival

Scene 5: Stick Together

Rick walks out of the woods, and finds a lake, he sits on the stone edge and buries his face in his hands, crying. Once he lets it all out, he wipes his tears away and begins throwing rocks into the lake. He had throw about five rocks into the lake when Bob came and sat beside him. "I know exactly how you feel Rick. You need to do everything you can to survive." said Bob. "Everyday I think about it. Will this keep my group alive? How am I can going to keep my family safe? How do I keep this group safe?" Rick shakes his head, clearly stumped in thought. "You know I was an army medic before all of this?" Bob said. "Were you?" Rick asked curiously. "Yep, keeping people alive you know, it was kind of my job. Some times I could do it, sometimes I couldn't. The one I'll never forget though, it's gonna be with me forever. My baby brother, who had learned everything he knew from me, was the sweetest kid you could possibly imagine. One time we were shooting hoops, and I took a shot it bounced off the rim and hit him directly in the face." Bob laughs, reminiscing the memory.

"It was horrible, his nose started bleeding, it was everywhere. I apologized to him and you know what he did? He didn't get mad, he didn't cry, he just hugged me and said: "It's alright, Bobby, I forgive you. He just reassured me." Bob sniffles. "He didn't have a mean bone in his body. He was also the toughest son of a bitch I ever knew. One day, we were fighting in Iraq, and he got shot. His name was Billy. He had gotten shot in the stomach three times, the bullets were in there pretty deep. All I had to do was take out the bullets and stitch him up. But I left the medical pliers back at camp, I-" Bob sighs with part sadness part frustration. "I kept pressure on his wound, holding him close, telling him "It's okay Billy. You're gonna be alright, you're gonna live." But he knew that he wasn't, so he died in my arms that day, rookie comes back with the medical pliers, but it was too late. I was holding him close to me sobbing, the sweet innocent little kid I once knew, gone. You know what the last thing he said to me was? I was holding him in my arms and he said : "It's gonna be okay Bobby. Forgive yourself. I forgive you." Bob chuckles bitter sweetly tear running down his cheek. "My brother, the only thing important to me dying in my arms knowing it's because of me he is, and he still forgave me. HE may have forgave me, but I never forgave myself. My dad was a drunk, mom was a fragile slut sleeping around with men for a buck. I raised my brother by myself, fed him, bathed him, clothed him, and when he needed me the most I couldn't protect him. Shortly after his death I left the military, hit the bottle, couple of days later, shit hit the fan. I wandered for days until I found a survivor camp. They took me in. It lasted about two months, then it was overrun by walkers. I was the only one who lived, wandered by myself again for another three weeks or so, until I was found and taken in with another group. But we were attacked, this time by people. Most of them were killed, the others fled and were devoured. I was the only one who lived again, and I hit the road again."

"I wandered for about a month. That was when Daryl found me, and you guys took me in. I went in, knowing it wouldn't last. Sure enough when The Governor came up to the gates with that tank, I kept thinking to myself "Here we go again, everyone is gonna die except me." But you know what? That didn't happen. That just proved to me that there is still hope. I never realized why my brother forgave me until the prison fell. As long you're alive, there's always hope, and that's why he forgave me. The point is, you're not going to always be able to keep your people safe, people will die, but if there is still people alive, there is always hope." Bob claps Rick on the shoulder stands up and walks away. Rick sits there, deep in thought. Finally, he rises and walks back to the group.

Upon seeing him, everyone goes silent. "I'm sorry everyone." said Rick. "Rick, I said things I shouldn'tve t-" began Glenn. "But true things. You were right, I couldn't keep Lori safe. There is never any guaranteed safety. But as long as we're alive, there's always hope. And I say we should keep fighting and hold onto that hope, now Gareth may think there isn't any hope left in the world, but he's about to be in for a rude awakening. He's about to get hope served to him, not just through us, but through everyone trapped in that hellhole." Rick pulls out a shotgun out of the gun bag and begins passing it around so the others can grab a weapon. "Now, those people may not be part of our family, but we're not going to leave them to die like dogs, we're better then Gareth. Now I say we take it to Terminus, punch them in the mouth, and make them suffer. Now who's with me?" Everyone looks at him skeptically, and then steps up and begin grabbing rifles and shotguns, "I'm with you, I always will be." said Michonne. "Me too." said Carol, "You're the father of this group." Rick looks around at everyone else as they begin nodding. "Well then, I think that Gareth and his little Terminus friends are in for a nasty surprise." said Rick, cocking his shotgun.

(End of episode)