Rick's Ruby

Chapter 7

The lessening of tension that usually comes when a major threat has been eliminated didn't come. He couldn't relax even a little, not with Ruby so torn up in the adjoining room, Daryl out there watching for walkers, his son upstairs probably terrified out of his mind. Deciding to try and do something about it, he climbed the stairs to the second floor and made his way to Lori and Carl's room.

Knocking gently, he opened it slowly and saw Beth laying back on a cot in the corner, and Lori sitting up in the bed holding Carl close. She looked up at him and for once, she didn't seem furious. Just worried, and he took a few steps toward them, close enough to tousle Carl's hair. The boy looked back at him and put his little arms around Rick's waist.

"Walkers from the road got too close, but we stopped them." He said softly and Lori nodded, focusing her attention on the bedspread beneath her fingers.

"You think we should stay here? Even with the boarded up windows downstairs we're still pretty close to the road." She asked, looking back up at him as she finished.

He frowned, patting Carl's shoulder. "I know. I think we need to talk about it, all of us."

"You said this wasn't a democracy anymore." She countered, but her voice didn't have the same bite it had over the last week. He just took it as a sign to stop for now. Getting into it so late and after what he'd just done was less than appealing.

"Carl, you and your mom get some sleep. We'll be downstairs keeping watch, nothin's getting' in here, ok?"

"Ok, dad." Carl shifted back next to Lori, and he nodded to her and Beth as he left the room. He poked his head into the open door of Maggie and Glen's room, and saw them sitting on the bed facing each other, talking softly.

"Nothing to worry about, it's over for tonight." He said.

"Thanks, Rick." Glen said and Maggie forced a tight smile. She was worried, anyone could see it, but Rick left her to be comforted by her boyfriend and shut their door behind him before heading back down the stairs. He checked on Carol last before going to the living room and looking out through the slats next to T.

"Anything?" He asked.

"A few more walkers drawn by the shots, but Daryl took 'em down pretty fast. He's in that tree, see?" T pointed to a tall oak in the front yard next to the road they'd pulled up in. If T hadn't pointed Daryl out, Rick would have missed the hunter completely. Only a portion of his leg, swinging slightly below a branch showed, and Rick scanned the yard quickly. It would have to wait till the morning to pick up any new bodies, the important thing was to stay quiet now and avoid drawing any further attention to themselves.

"I don't want to leave him out there without backup. Get some sleep, I'll watch with him." Rick said and T sat back a little.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, man." T didn't fight it, standing and moving to his cot in the corner and flopping on it tiredly. Rick was glad the fire had died away, the candles in the room extinguished. The darkness made the moonlight drenched ground outside very easy to see, and Rick got comfortable in his perch at the window. He thought about the prison Ruby had mentioned for the hundredth time, wondering if he was making the right decision to not go for now. Lori was right though, and it was something he'd thought himself. They were too close to the road, and the events that had just transpired only served to prove that.

But the prison... probably filled with walkers or Merle Dixon types, maybe both. He found he wanted to talk to Ruby about it further. If Paul had wanted to go, and he'd obviously been smart enough to keep them alive, he wanted to know why.