The Archer and The Airship » 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕒𝕝𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕕𝕖𝕒𝕕 «

Chapter Twenty One

  "He was beating her," he murmured finally.

"Jessie."

  Her stomach plummeted.

"Can't have men like that in here," he continued, nodding in response to some unasked question. "People like that don't deserve to have what we work for. It's not right."

"But beating him senseless in front of his children is right?"

He flinched slightly, gripping the banister harder until his nails dug into the wood. She could see him sifting through his mind for the words, searching for some reasoning behind what he did. In the old world, above everything, Rick was a noble man, a sheriff with a sense of right and wrong. A moral code he stuck to, no matter what.

In this world, the two sides are muddied and grey.

"One day he's gonna hit her and she won't get back up. Her children will be there then. If anyone's not gettin' back up.. I choose him."

She arched her brow and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "Trust me, I'm the first one to jump at the chance to give an abuser what they deserve. What I'm saying is we should've clocked the asshole in private, if only so Ron and Sam didn't have to witness it. These kids aren't like Carl.. they're still soft." Rick looked at her then, his eyes bloodshot and hazy.

"Look, I'm on your side, Rick. Always have been, always will be." Her words were calm and measured, carefully planned. "But that's why I need you to be careful. You want to be here and you want your kids here, that alone is enough for me to stay. So don't go looking for trouble."

"We can handle any trouble these people give us, you know that. You've seen them, Z. Most of these people have never stepped foot outside these walls since it all went down, let alone had to defend themselves against it. They're willfully ignorant to what's going on around them and we will not go down with them."

A flutter of rage burned behind his eyes, and she was almost certain she could see the ghosts haunting them. The farm, the prison, Lori, Dale, T-Dog, Beth, Hershel, Andrea, Tyreese, and so many more she did not even know. All the people and places they'd lost along the way were fighting for champion of the Worst Memory Contest.

"We can take this place," he voice dropped low to a whisper, his eyes darting to the open back door. "If it doesn't work out, things go south.. we just take it."

Zepp sat up straight, gauging his expression. "What about the others?" She followed his gaze and tilted her chin towards it. She could see Maggie and Carol happily slicing bread for sandwiches through the open kitchen window, the smell of baked apples wafting towards her. "You think they'd be up for somethin' like that?"

"Glenn shoulda left Nicholas out there, come up with some story," Rick mumbled, drifting off into darkness she could not follow. "I don't think they can see it, how things really are. I don't... I don't think they can just yet."

  She hissed in a sharp breath, gritting her jaw. "So then what are we gonna do about it?"

  Rick's hazy, far away eyes only frustrated her more, rubbing the back of her neck to release the pressure there.

  "Glenn thinks we're them now, but we're not. We can't be," he grumbled, lifting his tired bones to slide onto the banister next to her.