Deadland

Chapter 40- Kiss

"We're not leaving." Rick orders, re-loading his machine gun. "We can't stay here." Hershel says. "What if there's another sniper? A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds." Maggie points out, checking to make sure her pistol has bullets in it. 

"We can't even go outside." Beth says. "Not in the daylight." Carol adds. 

"Rick says we're not running, we're not running." Glenn asserts to everybody. 

"No, better to live like rats." Merle says from behind the cell door. We had locked him in the lounge area because nobody wants to be anywhere near him. 

"You got a better idea?" Rick sasses, turning to Merle. "Yeah, we shoulda' slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we? I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now." 

"Ew...now I feel claustrophobic." Alyssa whispers to Carl. 

"We ain't scared of that prick." Daryl rasps, walking across the aisle upstairs. 

"Y'all should be." Merle says, rolling his eyes. "That truck through the fence thing? That's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place," Merle scoffs. "Shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to." 

"Let's put 'im in the other cell block." Maggie turns to Rick, fidgeting with her hands. 

"No," Daryl says. "He's got a point." 

"This is all you. You started this!" Maggie yells to Merle. "What difference whose fault it is? What do we do?" Beth quickly asks. 

"I said we should leave. Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here." Hershel says. Rick doesn't respond, he just turns and begins walking away. 

Hershel stands up, using his crutches to support him. "Get back here!" He yells to Rick. Rick pauses but doesn't turn to anybody. Hershel begins to move to Rick, "You're slipping Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy? Now you have to own up to that." Hershel never looks away from Rick. "I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do somethin'." Hershel's voice is a little softer than it was before, a little more needy. 

Rick responds without looking at any of us, "I'm gonna go look for snipers." He says, walking away. 

Carl looks at Alyssa then at the cell door which Rick walked out of. "I'll be right back." He tells Alyssa before standing and following Rick. 

After a little over an hour, Rick comes back. "Feild's filled with Walkers. I didn't see any snipers around, Maggie's keeping watch." 

"I can get up in the guard tower." Daryl offers. "Take out half of them walkers, give these guys a chance to fix the fence." "Or use some of the cars to put the bus in place." Michonne notes. 

"We can't access the field without burning through our bullets." Hershel says. "So we're trapped in here. There's barely any food or ammo." Glenn says. "Been here before. We'll be alright." Daryl says, looking directly at me. 

"That's when it was just us. Before there was a snake in the nest." Daryl straightens up at Glenns words and turns to him. "Man, we gonna go through this again? Look, Merle's staying here. He's with us now. Get used to it." "Hey-" "All y'all." Daryl cuts Rick off before climbing up the steps. 

When Daryl is out of earshot, Glenn takes it to Rick. "Seriously, Rick, I don't think Merle living here is really gonna fly." He whispers. "I can't kick him out." Rick whispers back. "I wouldn't ask you to live with Shane after he tried to kill you." I stiffen at Glenn's words.