Wilted

f o u r t e e n

Carl only looked at the note for a few moment before crumpling it up and throwing it on the floor. I touched his shoulder slightly and he melted into the touch. 

"She wanted to." I tell him and he only nods. 

"I know." He replies with sorrow lacing his voice. "I just thought that maybe, we could stop her you know?" 

All of a sudden, the silence from the aftermath of the wolves attack is replaced by the groaning of walkers. In confusion, Carl and I make our way out of the house and to the front gates. 

"You can hear it!" We hear Rick's voice yelling over the walkers. "Some of you saw it. They got back here, half of them. Still enough to surround us 20 deep. Look I know you're scared. You haven't seen anything like this." 

The sound of walkers just over the walls reminds me of when we were back at the prison. Right before the second war with the governor. All the walkers that had lined up along the fence was scary and bad. But this, this was so much worse.

"You haven't been through anything like this. But we're safe, for now." Rick continues. "The panel the truck hit seems intact. We reinforced it just in case. Either way, the wall's gonna hold together." 

I know he's only telling the people what they want to hear. There's no way he can be sure of this. None of us can. But like I said, he's only telling the people what they want to hear. Because they've never been in a situation like this before.

"Can you?" He continues questioning the strength of those around us. "The others, they're gonna be back."

"They're gonna be back." Rosita agrees crossing her arms.

"Daryl, Abraham, Sasha, they have vehicles." Rick says giving a nod towards Rosita. "They're gonna lead them away just like the others, and Glenn and Nicholas are gonna walk back through the front gate after. They know what they're doing, and we know what we need to do. Keep noise to a minimum, pull our blinds at night, even better? Keep the lights out. We try to make this place as quiet as a graveyard, see if they move on."

Right across from us is Ron. I watch him as he lifts up his shirt and shows some kind of weapon underneath. He touches it lightly before putting his shirt back down. I glare at the boy silently, making sure he knows that if he uses it on one of us, he won't live much longer. 

"This place is a graveyard." A woman named Francine says speaking up as the banging and growling continue. 

"Only if we let it be." I say letting go of Carl's hand and stepping towards the center. "This is the time where everybody needs to take care of themselves and others. You follow Rick's instructions, and you listen to every damn word he says or else your actions could kill us all. So you can stop giving him your dirty looks, all of you."

"The quarry broke open," Aaron says joining Rick and I in the middle also. "and those walkers were heading this way. All of them. The plan that Rick put into place, stopped that from happening. He got half of them away. I was out there recruiting with Daryl. I wanted to try and get into a cannery and scavenge, and Daryl, he wanted to keep looking for people. We did what I wanted, and we wound up in trap set up by those people. I-, I lost my pack. They must've followed our tracks. Those people who attacked us, they found their way back here because of me."

Deanna walks away at this point. Looking at the faces staring back at me I see the disappointment and hurt lacing each of their expressions. When I look at Carl's he has a small smirk and I know he's proud. 

"There'll be more to talk about." Rick says after a short pause following Aaron's speech.

"Deanna?" Tobin asks from his place leaning against the wall. He calls her name once again but the woman doesn't listen, and continues walking away from the scene.