Don't look back

Five

Mary looked up form her colouring as Rick awoke, and he looked at her in berwilderment.
"You okay, Mary?"
"Lori said let you sleep. I wanted to stay with you. They're strangers."
Rick smiled softly at her. "Okay. But they're nice people. Family. Okay?" He confirmed, and Mary nodded slowly. "You go wait outside, yeah? Let me get dressed."
Mary nodded and ran out, sitting on the grass outside the tent, waiting for Rick. She was already dressed- Morales' son, Louis, had given her a soccer shirt and pair of jean shorts he had grown out of. Even though Louis was fairly small for his age of eight (compared to his taller, older sister), the shirt swamped Mary, and the shorts were too long, so had been cut shorter, and was pinned to size with safely pins, yet the five year old still loved it.
"Come on then." Rick smiled gently to Mary, coming out of the tent in a white shirt and jeans. Mary jumped up, and grabbed his hand, as they walked through camp, Rick greeting others, Mary in silence.
"Morning." A timid lady smiled to Rick.
"Morning Carol." Rick replied cheerfully.
"They're still a little damp. The sun'll have them dry in no time." She said quickly, motioning to the sheriff uniform, tiny pair of dungarees, and pastel pink shirt.
"You washed our clothes?" Ruck asked surprised.
"Well, the best we could. Scrubbing on a washboard ain't half as good as my old Maytag back home."
"That's very kind. Thank you." Ruck smiled. He looked at Mary, and she gave Carol a shaky smile.
"How old are you, honey? Three? Four?" Carol asked gently, and Mary held up four fingers. "I bet you'll get on just fine with my girl Sophia. I'll tell her to come find you later."
"Thank you," Rick smiled yet again, "she'd love that. She's shy though."
"Ah, What can we expect? Living in this world." Carol sighed gently, looking at Marh with pitiful eyes. Rick smiled back, and walked over to Glenn.
"Look at 'em. Vultures." Glenn sighed as they pulled apart his beloved sports car. Mary sighed softly, and looked up at him in sympathy. "See, Mary gets it! It's a crime!"
"The crime was stealing it." Rick joked, and Glenn rolled his eyes.
"Sorry kid." Dale laughed, and they walked over to Lori doing laundry.
"Morning officer, morning deputy." She teased slightly.
"Hey." Rick smiled back.
"You sleep okay?" Lori asked.
"Better than in a long time."
"Well, I didn't want to wake you. I figured you could use it. Did you sleep okay, Mary?"
"Yes, thank you." Mary whispered.
"Good. Next time they go on a run, I'll ask them to get you some real clothes. And shoes." Lori smiled softly. Mary looked down, and saw her badly cut shorts, long fluffy socks, and spotty wellies, and she nodded.
Then Lori noticed Rick in deep thought. "What?" She asked him.
"I've been thinking about the man we left behind."
"You are not serious." She hissed and Mary looked up at her, slightly confused.
"Water's here!" Shane yelled, driving up to camp with a car full of it.
"You asking me or telling me?" Lori whispered irritated.
"Asking." Rick insisted.
"Well I think it's crazy. I mean, I think it's just the stupidest way to break your sons..." Lori ranted, but was cut off by screaming. Children - Carl - screaming.
"Stay here! Run to Louis and his mommy, and stay here!" Rick shouted to Mary, and him, Lori, Morales, and Shane ran in the directions of screaming.
"Come here, Mary!" Morales' wife, Miranda, shouted, and when Mary didn't come, she ran over and grabbed the child herself.
"What happened?" Mary sobbed.
"I don't know. I'm sure it's fine. They... Carl probably just saw something in the woods and got scared."
"He'll be fine." Eliza Morales smiled gently, and Mary nodded.
"Play, Mary. Come on!" Louis smiled, and he kicked a ball in her direction. Mary nodded, and kicked it back, the three children playing, utterly carefree.
Then suddenly, an unknown man ran over to the RV. "Merle!" He shouted, "Merle! Get your ass out here. Got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up."
"Daryl, slow up a bit, I need to talk to you." Shane said. Daryl. Looking for Merle. Mary quickly realised that this man was Merle Dixon's younger brother.
"About what? About Merle?" Daryl asked in confusion.
"There's a uh... There was a problem in Atlanta."
"He dead?"
"We're not sure."
"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl roared angrily, making Mary grab Eliza's hand.
"No easy way to say this so I'll just say it." Rick began, but Daryl cut him off.
"Who are you?"
"Rick Grimes."
"Well, Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?" Daryl spat.
"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."
"Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you left him there?" Daryl shouted.
"Yeah." Rick sighed guiltily. Then Daryl swung at Rick, and pulled a knife - but Rick didn't see it.
"Knife!" Mary screamed, and Rick looked at Mary, nodded, and carried on fighting the man, until Shane pulled him off and got him in choke hold.
"You best let me go!" Daryl screamed.
"Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Shane growled.
"Choke hold's illegal." Daryl snarled.
"Hey, file a complaint. Come on now, we can keep this up all day."
"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that? I said, do you think we can manage that!" Rick shouted. Mary began to sob heavily, and Lori rushed over, Carl holding her hand, and picked her up. Rick looked over, at Carl's petrified face, and Mary sobbing, and calmed down, for the sake of the children. Daryl did the same, and he heard Mary's howls, and Shane let him go.
"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others. Mary was with me. She's four. I was not letting him run free next to her after he pulled a gun out, and attacked me and T-Dog." Rick explained, and his voice has coated in not only anger, but regret also.
"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it." T-Dog admitted.
"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl snapped.
"Well, I... I dropped it in a drain." T-Dog mumbled.
"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't!"
"Maybe this will. Look, I chained the the door to the roof, so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock.
It's gotta count for something."
Daryl cried slightly, a few tears falling down his cheek. Then he angrily wiped them away. "Hell with all y'all. Just tell me where he is, so that I can go get him!" Daryl shouted.
"He'll show you," Lori sighed, "isn't that right?"
"I... I'm going back." Rick nodded shakily.
"No!" Mary screamed, and Carl began to cry.
"Mary," Rick sighed, walking over, "Carl. This is my mistake. I have to put it right. That's what a good person does. They put their wrongs right. If there's one lesson I want to teach you, it's that."
"They're right to be scared," Lori hissed, "you're doing something ridiculously stupid!"
"Lori, please. Don't make this harder. And I have a plan."
"You and Daryl, that's your big plan?" She spat.
Rick turned to Glenn, and made eye contact with him. "Come on!" Glenn sighed, exasperated.
"You know the way. You've been there before, in and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask, I know that. But I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know these three would too."
"That's just great. Now you're going to risk three men." Shane said angrily.
"Four." T-Dog added.
Daryl scoffed. "My day just gets better and better, don't it?"
"Yeah, you see anybody else stepping up to save your brothers cracker ass?"
"Why you?"
"You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language." T-Dog sighed.
"That's four." Rick nodded slowly.
"Me too." Mary whispered.
"No, no way. You stay here." Rick replied softly.
"It's not just four! You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we got. We need 'em here. We need them to protect camp!"
"Seems to me what you really need most here are more guns." Rick said.
"Right. Guns!" Glenn nodded with a half grin.
"Wait, what guns?" Shane asked.
"Six shot guns, two high power rifles, over a dozen hand guns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street waiting to be picked up." Rick persuaded.
"Ammo?"
"Seven hundred rounds assorted."
"You went through hell to find us. You just got here and you're going to turn around and leave." Lori hissed.
"Dad, I... I don't want you to go." Carl stuttered.
"To hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives even with guns thrown in. Tell me. Make me understand." Lori begged.
"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy. Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. Mary too. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap me and Mary did if I don't warn them."
"What's stopping you?"
"The walkie talkie. The one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer."
"Is it our walkies?" Shane questioned.
"Yeah."
"So use the CB, what's wrong with that?" Lori asked.
"The CB fine, it's the walkies that suck to crap. They date back to the seventies don't match any other bandwidth, not even the scanners in our cars."
"I need that bag." Rick sighed. He walked over to Carl and put his hand on his head. "Okay?" He whispered gently, and Carl nodded, a tear on his cheek. "Alright." Rick smiled sadly with a nod of his head.
"You two look after each other, yeah?" Rick asked gently.
Carl nodded. "I'll take care of her, dad. I promise."
"Good lad. Now, Carl, you listen to your mother. Mary, do as Lori and Carl say. Okay?"
"Okay." Mary sobbed.
"I'll be back soon. And safe. I promise." Rick nodded. Then he kissed the top of Carl's head, then Mary's.
"I love you." Rick whispered to Lori. Then he kissed her, and left.

"Hey, you know, I bet they'll be just fine." Lori promised the two children as they sat in the tent, Carl reading to Mary.
"I'm not worried. Are you?" Carl asked, looking up from the book.
"I am." Mary mumbled.
"Yeah, a little." Lori agreed.
"Don't be." Carl said firmly.
"Why?" Lori replied gently.
"Think about it mom. Everything that's happened to him, so far nothing's killed him yet."
"Yeah. That's a nice way of putting it." Lori smiled softly.
"Rick's brave." Mary nodded slowly.
"He is, sweetie. And he will come back. He always does."

"I'm beginning to question the division of labour here," Jacqui sighed irritably, looking at Shane splashing around in the water with Carl,  "can someone explain to me how women end up doing all the Hattie McDaniel work?"
"Who's Hattie McDaniel?" Eliza asked with a wrinkled nose, and Sophia laughed.
"I dunno? Some lady?"
"I miss my coffee maker with that dual drip philtre and build in grinder, honey." Jacqui sighed, and Sophia pretended to throw up.
"Ewww. Coffee." She joked.
"Coffee is nice!" Eliza protested.
"Come on, Mary, back me up, coffee is horrible!" Sophia laughed, then all the women began to laugh. "Did they hear us? I didn't think we were that funny." Sophia mumbled confused. Then Ed, her father, stepped forwards, and Mary noticed Sophia visibly tense up.
"What's so funny?" He asked fiercely.
"Just swapping war stories Ed." Andrea laughed slightly, then everyone carried on washing the clothes in silence, Ed looming over them like a dark shadow. "Problem, Ed?" Andrea snapped.
"None that concerns you. And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club." Ed retorted, making Andrea scoff in disgust.
"Sophy, you okay?" Eliza asked Sophia gently, and the small girl nodded shakily.
"I'm fine," she whispered, "we need to keep looking for special rocks. Come on."
The three girls continues to scramble on the floor, searching for pebbles that where shiny or a different colour.
"I've got a pink one!" Eliza grinned triumphantly, pulling a small, pearly pink rock out of the water. "I'm gonna give it to my mommy. Come on, Mary, you need to find one for Rick. And Lori. She looks mad."
Mary looked over to where Shane and Carl were, to see Carl was missing, and Lori and Shane arguing. After they had finished, Lori looked around for Mary, and when they made eye contact, she waved at her, receiving a wave back.
"You okay hun?!" Lori shouted across the quarry and Mary nodded. "Alright! You stay with the others, yeah? I'm just at camp! Okay? I'll see you later!" She shouted again, and Mary nodded, then waved goodbye.
"Lori is nice. She'll look after you." Eliza smiled gently. Mary nodded, and the little girl placed a tiny, perfectly round grey pebble. "For Rick. You can say you found it."
Mary grinned at Eliza, but her face fell as soon as she heard Andrea's angry voice.
"Ed, tell you what, you don't like how your laundry is done? You are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here." Andrea spat, throwing a damp shirt at him.
Ed threw the wet fabric at Andreas face and laughed. "Ain't my job missy."
"Andrea, don't." Amy hissed.
"What is your job, Ed? Sitting on your ass, smoking cigarettes?" Andrea challenged. Sophia's slim hand found Eliza's, and she held onto it tightly.
"Well it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart mouthed bitch. Tell you what, come on. Let's go. Now. Sophia!"
"I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed." Andrea hissed.
"And I say it's none of your business! Come on now you, heard me!"
"Please, Andrea, it doesn't matter." Carol pleaded to the other woman, but Andrea put herself between Carol and Ed.
"Hey. Don't think I won't knock you on your ass just 'cos you some college educated cooze, alright? Now, you come on now, or you're going to regret it later." Ed growled, and Sophia began to cry as she watched the scene unfold.
"So she can show show up with fresh bruises later, Ed? Yeah, we've seen them." Jacqui said, slightly quiet, but still angry.
"Com come on now. This ain't none of you folks business. You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay. Now I am done talkin'.  Come on. Sophia!"
Sophia ran over, as did Eliza and Mary behind her.
"No no. You don't have to, Carol!" Andrea pleaded.
"You don't tell me what! I tell you what!" Ed yelled, reaching out and hitting Carol. Andrea hits him in the chest as they shielded Carol, Sophia and Mary sobbing into Amy's chest.
Suddenly, Shane pulled him away and began to land punches on his face, as Carol sobbed. "Shane stop!" Andrea screamed, but he didn't, and Ed's face was covered in blood.
"You put your hands on your wife, your little girl, or anybody else in this camp one more time, I will not stop next time. Do you hear me? Do you hear me! I'll beat you to death Ed!" Shane growled, before getting up, kicking him, and walking away.
Carol ran over to Ed, and sobbed, looking over him, stroking his face, apologising.
"Why's he nasty? Why does she say sorry?" Mary whispered after Sophia had ran to her mother's side.
"Some people... In the world, there are just some nasty people."
"Him?"
"Yeah. He's a bad man. Stay away from Ed, Mary." Amy sighed, and Mary nodded. It broke Amy's heart that Mary understood exactly what she meant.