Playing For Brains

Chapter Twenty

A sudden crash was heard from outside the house. Followed by some shouting. I rushed out of the front door to see what was going on. As I ran over to the group of people that had gathered outside of the doctors, I began to push through to try and see what was happening. When I managed to push past the last person in the way, I saw the doctor and Rick fighting. Punch after punch it was hard to watch. To see the pain in which they were causing one another. Seeing the futile attempts of Jessie and Carl trying to get the two to stop fighting. I looked to my left towards Daryl, who was looking at the scene in front of him in disbelief. Catching my eye, he nodded his head to signal that he knew what had to be done.

The scene in front of me was more nail biting as Daryl became involved, dragging Rick of the bloody doctor. He threw a few punches at Daryl, making the redneck release him and drop him to the floor. Rick picked himself of the floor and knelt in front of the group, pulling out a gun. He shouldn't have had one on his person inside the walls, so the presence of the dangerous object caused panic to grow throughout the gathered crowd.

"Touch them again and I will kill you" Rick snarled between his teeth.

"Damn it, Rick, just stop!" it was Deanna this time who attempted to stop the rage their new officer was displaying. But her attempts were futile.

"or what? You gonna kick me out? You still don't get it. None of you do! We know what needs to be done and we do it. We are the ones who live. You, you just sit and plan and hesitate. You pretend like you know when you don't. You wish things weren't what they are. Well, you want to live? You want this place to stay standing? Your way of doing things is done. Things don't get better because you... you want them to. Starting right now, we have to live in the real world. We have to control who lives here"

My heart felt heavy in my chest as I saw the looks of the residents fall upon us all. Rick had made us sound ruthless like we would do anything to stay here, and I guess he might mean that, but it put us all in a bad place. He was acting ridiculous. He could get us all thrown out of this community and back out there. I didn't know if it was best for me here, but I knew it was safe and that is what we needed right now. A safe break from the dangers of this new world.

"That's never been more clear to me than it is right now" Deanna spat back venomously.

"Me? Me? You... you mean... you mean me? Your way is gonna destroy this place. Its gonna get people killed. Its already gotten people killed. And I'm not gonna stand by and just let it happen. If you don't fight, you die. I'm not gonna stand by..." Rick's hysterical speech was brought to an end as Daryl knocked him round the head.

Everyone was stood around waiting for Deanna's response but she just nodded towards Maggie and walked off in the direction of her house. It was agreed that Rick would be taken to one of the new houses which had not been plastered or decorated quite yet. He was laid in one of the rooms and the doors locked. It was also agreed that there would be a community meeting tonight at 7 to decide his fate and ultimately our fate. If he was exiled, it is difficult to see any situation other than us all going with him. These people aren't the type who would leave one of their own behind. They were a family. And family does anything for one another.

I decided to help Carol to keep my mind of the possibility of us leaving the community tomorrow. She helped out throughout the community by cooking meals for those who weren't able to cook for themselves. Generally, the older couples which lived her, but today she had cooked one for Pete due to him being moved to an empty house away from his wife and kids. I volunteered to take it so she could focus on cooking meals for those that needed it more. In my opinion he shouldn't be given any food, for what he did. I couldn't believe what he had done when I found out. How could anyone hurt someone they are supposed to love, I don't think I would ever be able to understand that. Poor little Sam, he was only young and the damaging effects it could have on him in the years to come.

The house was dark, but the bruises and cuts covering Pete's face were still visible. I didn't know who had looked worse. But it was clear both men were angry with one another, to cause such damage. It wasn't long before he made a snarky remark about Rick, but I was quick to shoot it down before anything could begin, but he didn't like that. Getting up in my face, he grabbed my top and shoved me against the wall, shouting at me. Calling me all names under the sun and telling me of his intentions for my new-found friends.

When he pulled away his eyes went wide and he became silent, causing me to tense up. Following his eye line, I saw my stomach with one perfectly rounded bite mark visible over my pants.

"You... You've been bitten, but it isn't fresh. You haven't turned yet, you don't have a fever. What are you?" he stuttered not taking his eyes of the wound. I was beginning to panic and could feel the fear creeping through my body. He was the first to see it, since arriving here. If everyone found out about it, I could end up in the same witch hunt that Rick was experiencing at the moment. We would both be exiled from this place.

I grabbed my knife from my belt, which I kept there for emergencies. Putting it to his throat as I exclaimed "you tell anyone what you have seen, and it will be the last thing you speak of"

I shoved him from in front of me, causing his hand to release my shirt, allowing me to make a break for the door and retreat to our new house, rattled and scared. But now was not the time to let everyone know what had happened back there. They were so preoccupied by the meeting in 20 minutes. I got changed into something a little warmer due to the night air bringing in a nippiness to your skin. Everyone was in Deanna's back yard, but I couldn't see Daryl or Glenn. I made my way over to Maggie and Beth, trying to find out where everyone was, without any helpful answers.

After waiting for Rick another ten minutes, the meeting began without him. The debate was quite one sided. The Alexandrian's kept stating how they didn't feel safe because of his behaviour and that he wasn't to be trusted due to having a gun despite the rules. It seemed settled, even when some of our people tried to persuade them otherwise. Just as everyone was about vote on their final decision, Rick decided to show. Throwing a dead walker on the floor, both it and himself covered in blood, he began another long winded speech about how he was right and they were weak. But his speech was once again cut short when Pete appeared through the archway holding a machete. Rick's red handled machete to be specific.

"Are you people really listening to this bullshit? He's a monster! He trying to steal my wife, against her will, creating some rubbish about how I didn't love her. What bullshit!" he screamed, becoming quite hysterical, but then he turned towards me, the panic from earlier filling my body once more.

"But this one. This one is here. She is the one that we should be exiling, this monster" he began to stumble towards me, with the machete raised. I slowly began to back away from him, fear filling my body more and more the closer he got. Reg tried to stop him and to calm him down, due to the obvious signs that he had consumed a large amount of alcohol. The end of the blade came in contact with the old man's throat, as a result of the struggle, causing him to fall to the floor clutching his throat tightly, the blood rushing down his arm.

"I didn't mean to do that, he shouldn't have protected her! She doesn't belong here, she isn't one of us. She is one of those" He said pointing to the dead walker at Rick's feet, but his attempts to explain his reasonings went unheard as Deanna sat cradling her husband's lifeless body and ordering Rick to kill the man responsible. The rest of the community were unsure of the situation in front of them, looking on in horror. I guess this put us in an even worse position than before, if that was even possible.