𝙍ick confronted Pete. Adalyn heard the screaming while she took down inventory numbers. She watched Jessie's window shatter into pieces as Rick, then Pete, flew out.
She and Olivia ran out to see. Adalyn watched in horror as Rick pinned Pete to the ground, hands tight around his throat. Carl came running, a girl, Adalyn knew her name to be Enid, at his side.
Jessie ran out, sobbing.
Everyone was surrounding them now, Sam clutching at Carol.
Rick's face was covered in blood.
Adalyn was shaking, screaming, watching as Pete flipped over to pin Rick, bloody hands digging into his skin. Jessie ran forward to join the fray, earning a hard smack to the face from Pete.
The impact sent her sprawling.
Carl made the next attempt as Rick twisted, pressing Pete's body sideways against the ground, hands around his throat. He jammed an elbow back, throwing his son to the ground.
Adalyn made a call.
Probably not the right one, but a call, all the same.
She ran to the inventory and grabbed the first handgun she saw.
Rick was holding fast. She could see Pete's eyes starting to droop. "Stop it! Stop it right now!" she cried in a last-ditch attempt to end this before anything more happened, but they didn't listen.
Of course they didn't.
This was what the world was now. Fighting like animals because all anyone had anymore was base instinct, anger, and fear.
Adalyn pressed the gun to Rick's head.
She felt him freeze as she said in a shaky voice, "I swear to God I will pull this trigger, don't you think I won't. I swear I will, Rick."
Rick's eyes drifted to her, wide, stunned, scared, almost, strangely enough. He opened his mouth as if to speak, and then Deanna was shouting, "Stop it! Stop it right now."
Adalyn had uttered those exact words, but it was now that Rick stopped. He tore his gaze away from Adalyn as he warned Pete, "You touch them again and I'll kill you."
"Damn it, Rick!" Deanna stated. "I said stop."
Adalyn kept the gun trained on his head even as he let go of Pete, slowing rising.
And then he drew his own gun.
It flew to her first, not lingering as she stood tall, then it moved to Nicholas, then Deanna's other son, Spencer. "Or what?" Rick demanded. "You gonna kick me out?" The gun whirled between Reg and Deanna.
Adalyn looked up at the older woman, eyes full of fear as she leveled the gun with Rick's head, waiting for a confirmation that she was terrified would come.
She cared for him so, so much, but she thought he might have just lost his mind.
"Put that gun down, Rick," Deanna said, tone gentle.
Rick shook his head. "You still don't get it," he stated. "None of you do. We know what needs to be done and we do it. We're the ones who live. You, you just sit and plan and hesitate. You pretend like you know when you don't. You wish things weren't what they are. Well, you want to live? You want this place to stay standing? Your way of doing things is done."
Deanna's eyes were drifting between Rick and Adalyn as he spoke. She couldn't decide, really. Rick just kept ranting. "Things don't get better because you- - you want them to. Starting right now, we have to live in the real world. We have to control who lives here."
"That's never been more clear to me than it is right now," Deanna replied.
Rick actually looked stunned. "Me?" he asked. "Me? You- -" he broke into quiet laughter before continuing, "You mean- - you mean me?" He stared her down, blood streaming from his forehead into his eyes. "Your way is gonna destroy this place. It's gonna get people killed. It's already gotten people killed. And I'm not gonna stand down and just let it happen. If you don't fight, you die. I'm not gonna stand by- -"
And then Michonne knocked him out.
Adalyn lowered the gun with shaking hands. She looked at Michonne, swallowing hard.
"Thanks," she managed to say.
God only knew if she would have actually been able to pull the trigger.
