[Finished] Living Among the Dead

21. Conquer

"Deanna's having a meeting tonight, if you want to go?" I have my head leaned against the toilet bowl as Sev talks to me.
"I don't know if I can..."
"Rick wants you there to help cover, just in case things go badly."
"Great, so I'll just puke on everyone. Get everyone sick and we can all watch everyone die just like Aaron.."
"Your dying?" The voice from behind Sev makes me instantly regret my words.
"No, I'm just a little sick is all, I'll be fine."
"You said the same thing about Aaron... you said he'd be fine..." Mason's voice trails off before he yells, "Your a liar! You lie to me about everything! At least when you die I won't have to wonder what the truth is anymore!" He runs off, and before I can stand up to chase after him, another wave of nausea rolls over me and I find myself only just making my throw up hit the toilet water.
"I'll go after him, cool him down, don't worry. But your definitely going to want to be there tonight."
I nod, whilst spewing into the toilet.

"Mason's not really mad at you, you know?" Carl says, he's sitting in the doorframe of the bathroom.
"What?" I ask, my voice hoarse.
"He's not mad. He's scared your sick, but your not, right?"
"Not what?"
"Sick. My mom, she had morning sickness, too." He stands up. "He's not mad." Carl walks away, and down the stairs.

"Carol?" I ask, walking up to her now that the nauseas subsided a bit.
"Yeah?" She asks, looking at me closely.
"I think I messed up."
"What?"
"Daryl... and... I... well, we uh-"
"You had sex, go on."
"I think I'm pregnant."
"And your not sure if it's Daryl's or your husband's?"
I shake my head, quickly. "No, it can't be my husbands. The only person it can be is Daryl's... but he doesn't strike me as the family type..."
Carol's eyes go kind, "Daryl is a good man, and he likes you. I can't promise you that he'll be happy about the news, but. He'll help you make do. He helps with Judith already."
I nod, my head swimming.
"We have to go to the meeting, come on."
I nod and follow her, almost numbly.

We are gathered by a firepit. "We're going to start," Deanna says.
"Can we wait?" Maggie asks. "There's still people coming.
Glenn, Rick."
"We're going to start," Deanna repeats. "It's already dark. We're going to talk about what happened. Not the fight. Not what precipitated it. We're dealing with that. We're going to talk about one of our constables, Rick Grimes. We're going to talk about how he had a pistol he stole from the armory, about how he pointed it at people. And we're going to talk about what he said. I was hoping he'd be here."
"She said he's coming," Michonne speaks up.
"I'm sure he'll be here," comfirms Carol. "And I'm sure we can work this all out."
"I don't know if we can," Deanna responds.
I speak up, "Rick was under a lot of stress, he broke."
"Yes, and after being out there; and then not being how you were out there. It can drive you crazy. Rick just wants his family to live. He wants all of you to live. Who he is who you're gonna be... " Michonne looks Deanna in the eyes. "If you're lucky."
"Rick Grimes saved my life over and over," Carol says. "There's terrifying people out there. And he rescued me from them. People like me, people like us need people like him. I know what happened last night was scary. And I'm sure he's sorry for that. But maybe we should listen to what he was saying."
"Rick took my family in even when we had nothing to offer, my husband had been injured, and my sons were too young to help with anything. I was the only one who could contribute, and yet he kept my family of four housed and fed. And when I was seperated from my son, he took care of him for me, kept him alive even though he didn't know I was."
After my turn, Abraham speaks up. "Simply put, there is a vast ocean of shit you people don't know shit about. Rick knows every fine grain of said shit and then some."
Maggie goes next, "My father respected Rick Grimes. Rick is a father, too. He's a man with a good heart; who feels the things he does, the things he has to do. And all of us who were together before this place, no matter when we found each other, we're family now. Rick started that. And you won't stop it. You can't. And you don't want to. This community, you people; that family, you want to be a part of it, too."
"Before we hear from anyone else," Deanna begins. "I- uh, I would like to share something in the spirit of transparency. Father Gabriel came to see me the day before yesterday and he said our new arrivals can't be trusted, that they were dangerous, that they would put themselves before this community. And not one day later, Rick seemed to demonstrate all the things Father Gabriel said. I had hoped Gabriel would be here tonight."
"I don't see him here, Deanna." Pete's wife says, sounding annoyed. "So you're just saying what someone said. Did you tape him?"
"He's not here," Maggie agrees.
"Neither is Rick," snaps back Deanna.
"Excuse me," Maggie says before walking away.
Carter speaks next, "I just want to keep my family safe. You know? And I don't even know what that means anymore, but if it means that we've got to get rid of-"
Rick walks up, covered yet again in blood and puts one of the dead down right in front of us.
"There wasn't a guard on the gate. It was open."
Spencer walks up, "I asked Gabriel to close it."
"Go," demands Deanna.
"I didn't bring it in. It got inside on its own. They always will; the dead and the living, because we're in here. And the ones out there; they'll hunt us. They'll find us. They'll try to use us. They'll try to kill us. But we'll kill them. We'll survive. I'll show you how. You know, I was thinking... I was thinking how many of you do I have to kill to save your lives? But I'm not gonna do that. You're gonna change. I'm not sorry for what I said last night. I'm sorry for not saying it sooner. You're not ready, but you have to be. Right now, you have to be. Luck runs out."
"You're not one of us. You're not one of us!" Pete comes walking up to the fire pit with Michonne's katana.
"Pete," Reg says, walking over to Pete. "You don't want to do this."
"Get the hell away from me, Reg."
"Pete, just stop."
"Get away from me."
Deanna also says her husbands name as Pete starts repeating, "Get away!"
I don't know how it happened, but all of a sudden Reg's throat is sliced, and we can all hear him gagging on his own blood and Deanna screams. She holds her now dying husband.
"This is him!" Yells Pete from the ground where Abraham has him held down.
Deanna looks at Rick and says, "Rick... do it."
Rick doesn't hesitate as he aims and fires.
The sound of a new voice saying Rick's name after that catches everyone's attention, and when I see Daryl and Aaron back with a darker skinned stranger, I stand up and throw myself at Daryl, hugging him tightly. He just barely catches himself from falling over at the brunt of my hug, I can hear him clear his throat, but can't find the will to care for his discomfort, just needing his arms around me and to know that he's alive.

[A.N.] And that's a wrap on season five! What do you guys think? Everything up to standards? I'll premiere the next chapter starting season six on Monday, so stay tuned!