𝔽𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕪 𝕃𝕚𝕟𝕖 -𝕋𝕎𝔻 {𝟙}

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟛𝟙: 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕊𝕠𝕣𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕗𝕦𝕝 𝕃𝕚𝕗𝕖

It's been a couple of days since Rick told Keeley that they were going to war. Everyone's been on edge, paranoid but ready for an attack.

The only person whose been sleeping with no problem was Judith.

Lucky baby

Keeley was taking inventory when Maggie's screams could be heard from the field. She dropped everything, grabbed a rifle, and ran outside. The first person she saw was her father who had on the same look of concern on his face.

"What's happening, " Keeley asked as they ran towards the field.

"I don't know, but be ready and check our surroundings." He warned.

Keeley followed him as they made their way to the fence, but he stopped and lowered his gun.

"What?" She asked looking over his shoulder but her question was answered.

Maggie and Carl were banging on pots, shouting at walkers in the field, trying to get their attention as Daryl and Glenn put down some traps while Michonne swung her sword at some walkers clearing some parts of the field in the process.

Keeley looked at Rick and he had a little smile on his face. Daryl and Michonne hopped in Glenn's pickup truck as Rick started to jog towards the gate and Keeley followed to help.

She could see Carl and Maggie making their way back to the courtyard as Glenn hopped out.

"They try to drive up again, maybe some blown tires will stop them," Glenn told them.

"That's a good idea," Rick said.

"It was Michonne's, " Daryl informed as he gave Rick a weird glance and it made Keeley a little suspicious.

"We don't have to win." She said walking up. "We just have to make they're getting at us more trouble than it's worth."

The gate closed as Maggie and Carl came towards them, "That was some screaming." Keeley told them with a smile.

"Hey," Maggie said returning the smile and the corner of my eye she could see her father turning around to look at Daryl and Keeley wouldn't have noticed it if he moved a little bit slower.

"Let's go, " Rick said as they all headed inside.

Something was going on and it appeared that only Rick and Daryl know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keeley was walking in the dining area when Hershel called her over to where he, Maggie, and Beth were sitting.

"Keeley, come pray with us." He offered.

"Thank you for the offer Hersh, but I don't believe in a "god" who'd let so many horrible things happen to good people."

He gave her a little smile before patting the seat next to him. "You don't have to believe or put your trust in "Him", you just have to have faith in the people around you."

Keeley sighed before sitting next to him and Beth held her hand out for Keeley to take. They all held each other's hands in the middle of the table and Keeley closed her eyes as Hershel recited lines from the Bible.

"Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night. Not for the arrow that flieth by day. Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness. Nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 1,000 shall fall at thy side and 10,000 at thy right hand. But it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the Fowler and from the noisome pestilence."

She peeked an eye open to see if Hershel was done but then he started to recite again and she closed her eye again.

"He shall cover thee and under His wings shalt thou trust. There shall no evil befall thee. Neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling."

Hershel stopped speaking and Keeley opened her eyes to see his face red and his eyes watering and she took that as a sign to leave.

"Hershel thank you for that," Keeley told him as she got up to give the Greene family some privacy.

She walked past her father and he seemed agitated, like he saw a ghost again...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carl, Beth, Hershel, Carol, and Keeley were sitting on a bench outside waiting for Rick's announcement.

Keeley held Judith close to her chest to keep her warm in this kinda chilly weather.

Rick finally appeared followed by a very happy Glenn and Maggie.

Rick took a moment before speaking.

"When I met the Governor, he offered me a deal. He said- he said he would leave us alone if I gave him Michonne. And I was gonna do that..."

Keeley didn't look at him as Carl avoided eye contact with their dad.

"To keep us safe."

"I changed my mind." He informed. "But now Merle took Michonne to fulfill the deal and Daryl went to stop him and I don't know if it's too late." Keeley looked up at Rick and could tell he was stressed out by Merle taking Michonne and by everything that was going on and she felt bad.

"I was wrong not to tell you. And I'm sorry. What I said last year, that first night after the farm... It can't be like that. It can't. What we do, what we're willing to do, who we are, it's not my call. It can't be. I couldn't sacrifice one of us for the greater good because we are the greater good. We're the reason we're still here, not me. This is life and death. How you live... How you die- it isn't up to me. The way you live isn't up to me. That part is on you. I'm not your Governor. We choose to go. We choose to stay. We stick together. We vote. We can stay and we can fight or we can go."

He walked away and Keeley thought about what he said. Rick was giving up his leadership, he didn't want to force them to fight, but no matter what anybody says, Keeley was willing to fight for this place.

They lost too many people trying to make this place worth something, and she wasn't going to run away because some jackass wanted their stuff, their home.

Keeley was gonna fight, but not for herself. She was gonna fight for all the people that they lost.

Lori, T-Dog, Amy, Dale, Sophia, Manny, and mom.

But most importantly, Keeley was gonna fight for Carl and Judith. They deserved a place to live, a place to thrive in and she's not gonna let anyone take that away from them if it's the last thing she does.