ch.44

conquer

   "you met with her?" glenn questioned, watching me as i made my way around the corner to where he was, sitting on the porch.

    i tilted my head, shoving my hands in my pockets frustratedly, "yeah."

    "so what is it?" he asked, looking up to me when i made it to his side.

   "it's what we thought. maggie's gonna talk to people, she's gonna try and solve this." i started, taking a seat next to him, "i think it's best if i do behind the scene stuff, im not good with talking to people. you know that, i have a short temper."

     he nodded, letting out a little chuckle. "what?" i questioned, furrowing my eyebrows.

    he shrugged, moving his hand to my thigh,  "i love you"

     my lips tugged, sending him a small smile, "we're gonna work it out. i know it, i'll see you there."

     he sent me another smile, nodding. i stood up, bending down to place a kiss on his lips before turning to leave. ___________

     "hey" i greeted, turning to see abraham open the infirmary doors, holding a flower.

    his eyes flew to where eugene sat, right next to tara, who had been in some type of coma since the accident with aiden and noah.

    "oh, i'll come by later." he mumbled, stepping to shut the door.

    "he's asleep" rosita started, joining by my side, letting out a little chuckle from his actions, "he's asleep, sit."

    abraham hesitated, soon giving us a small nod, quietly moving to where she laid.

     rosita nudged my shoulder, motioning for me to hit the pan off the counter, in an act to try and get the two to make up.

    i smirked, carelessly swinging my hand across the table, causing a ruckus as the pan hit the ground.

    abrahams head shot back to where we stood, giving us a death glare. "whoops" rosita uttered, bending down to get the pan.

    i shrugged, moving to where the two sat, trying to sort out tara's meds.

     "good afternoon" eugene greeted, causing me to snort, throwing the meds down on the table, "okay, i'm just gonna go. see you guys later."

      rosita chuckled, shaking her head at me as she watched me exit the room, leaving her with the awkwardness of the two.

     "good luck" i snarked, before fully closing the door behind me.

     i let out a sigh, shoving my hands in my pockets as i walked towards the front gate, realizing it hadn't been shut.

    "shit" i mumbled, running to where it was open. my eyes scanned the area, seeing no one in sight.

     i paused, thinking about my options before i completely exited the wall, moving outside to make sure whoever left was okay.

     i tracked up until my lead went cold, causing me to groan in frustration.

     just as i was about to turn back, i caught a hint of yellow out of the corner of my eye, making me stop in place.

     "it wasn't your fault, you know" a girls southern accent stated, causing me to whip my head around, looking in every direction.

    "who's out there?" i asked, seeing no one insight, until a skinny blonde girl appeared out from behind a tree.

    "beth" i huffed out, tears glossing my eyes when they fell on her, "mel"

     "this isn't real, i know its not." i stated, placing my hands on my head, slowly backing away.

     she chuckled, moving to place a hand on my shoulder, "you always played jokes melanie. on me, daryl, glenn, rick..."

     "this isn't real! you're not real! i saw you get buried! i felt your cold and pulse less hand!"

      i threw my body back away from her, running in the different direction. unable to take anymore of what i was seeing.

       just as i was about to escape the woods, she appeared in-front of me, causing me to tremble.

     "no! i would've known if you were alive! you're not alive! you're dead!"

     she placed her hand on my shoulder once again. only this time she held onto me tight, almost like she wanted to dig her fingers into my skin.

    i snapped out of thought, turning to see a walkers bony hand latched onto me. my eyes widened, pushing it away from me, giving me time to take out my knife.

    i grunted, shoving the knife up through its jaw, waiting until its teeth stopped chomping to pull my knife out.

     i bent over, placing my hands on my knees to catch my breath before shoving my knife back into my holster.

     "beth. beth!" i called out, only hearing the whirling of the wind. ___________

    "you okay?" davina questioned, moving to my side the second i entered our house that we shared with glenn, rosita, abraham, eugene, tara, and daryl occasionally.

     i nodded, glancing around the living room to check for anyone, "yeah, i'm good. just a little sick."

     she knitted her brows, leading me to the couch so i could sit down, "sick? were you bit?!"

    i chuckled as she moved my body in every direction, looking for a mark. "no, just pregnant is all."

     her eyes quickly shot up to mine, jaw dropping when i nodded my head in assurance.

    "oh my god, i'm gonna be an aunt?!"

     i nodded my head, causing her to grab my body, engulfing me into a hug. "i'm so happy for you, mel. this is a good thing."

     i smiled, pulling away, "yes, it's a very good thing."

     "do you know if it's a girl or boy?" she asked, holding my hands in hers.

     i shook my head, placing a hand on my small baby bump, "no, just that the baby gives me morning sickness."

    she chuckled, glancing to her watch, soon her eyes grew big, "we need to get dressed, deannas having that meeting about rick."

     i groaned, dragging my hand down my face, "let's meet down here in a couple minutes, we can go together."

     she nodded before we departed, moving to our rooms to get changed. ___________

   "we're gonna start." deanna announced, glancing around at all the people gathered by the campfire.

    my eyes moved around the group, not seeing glenn nor rick, "can we wait? there's still people coming. glenn, rick."

    deanna ignored my pleads, continuing on with what she was saying, "we're going to talk about what happened..."

     i took a deep breath, trying to brace myself for what was going to happen and what people were going to say.

    "not the fight. not what precipitated it. we're going to talk about one of our constables, rick grimes... i was hoping he'd be here."

      "she said he's coming" michonne interrupted, earning nods from the rest of our group.

      "i'm sure he'll be here, and i'm sure we can work this all out." carol added, keeping up her little act.

deanna paused, giving us a little nod, "does anyone have anything to say?" michonne hesitated before stepping forward, looking around the group.

"after being out there and then not being how you were out there... it can drive you crazy. rick just wants his family to live. he wants all of you to live. who he is, is who you're gonna be... if you're lucky."

i nodded my head, also stepping up, "me and rick have been fighting this world together, since day one. he saved a clueless girl, who didn't know what the world had become. if he was the horrifying guy like you say he is, he wouldn't have saved me back in atlanta."

kennedy squeezed my shoulder, sending me a small smile after i said my part.

i returned back to my seat, watching so many expressions appear on everyone's face, unsure who to believe.

"simply put, there is a vast ocean of shit that you people don't know shit about." abraham started, folding his hands together as he glanced around the group, "rick knows every fine grain of said shit... and then some."

———

"...all of us, who were together before this place, no matter when we found each other. we're family now, rick started that. and you won't stop it, you can't, you don't want to. this family, you want to be apart of it too."

i smiled up at maggie, taking one of her hands in mine for reassurance as we listened to deannas next words.

"before we hear from anyone else, i would like to share something in the spirit of transparency..." deanna started, rubbing her hands together for warmth, "father gabriel came to see me the day before yesterday... and he said our new arrivals can't be trusted, that they were dangerous, that they would put themselves before this community."

my eyebrows furrowed, looking between maggie and kennedy, taken back by deannas words.

"i don't see him here, deanna. so you're just saying what someone said. did you tape him?" jesse, the girl i've been seeing rick a lot recently, questioned.

"he's not here." maggie confirmed, looking to jesse.

"neither is rick." deanna retorted, looking intensely between me and maggie.

her eyes pierced a burning hole through my soul, causing me to shift my gaze away from hers, not wanting to say something i would regret.

my eyes moved to the gate, seeing a figure with a body sling over its shoulder, getting closer.

"rick..." i mumbled, getting up from my seat as i watched him appeared through the gates, throwing the walker body to the ground.

"there wasn't a guard on the gate, it was open." rick stated, earning horrified glances from his appearance. his body was covered in blood and grime from head to toe.

"i asked gabriel to close it" spencer informed, looking to his mother, "go!"

he quickly exited, following his mother's command.

"i didn't bring it in. it got inside on its own. they always will- the dead and the living because were in here."

i nodded at ricks words, looking around the group, "you'll survive. we'll show you how."

rick sent me a grin. happy that i'd came around, and just when he was about to open his mouth, pete interrupted.

"you're not one of us. you're not one us!" pete shouted, stomping through the gates with michonnes katana in hand.

"pete, you don't want to do this." reg pleaded, stepping between pete and the group.

"get the hell away from me, reg" pete sneered, only to be ignored, "pete, stop"

in the blink of an eye, michonnes katana swiftly slid across reg's neck, slicing his throat open.

      my eyes widened, taking a step to where his body was cradled in deannas arms, only to be stopped by rick, who shook his head.

     my heart broke for deanna as she screamed and sobbed, holding her dying partner in her arms.

     "this is him! it's him!" pete yelled, causing my eyes to flickered from deanna to him, looking at him with a horrified expression.

       "rick... do it."

      in a second, rick quickly turned, firing a bullet straight into pete's head. ___________

    "tara?" i questioned, walking through the infirmary doors after the horrifying events.

     "hey, mel" she smiled, causing a smile to appear on my face as i fully entered.

     my eyes were soon pulled away from tara's when glenn and nicolas came into view from the other side, covered in dirt and blood.

     "glenn, what happened?" i asked worriedly, rushing towards him to examine his wounds.

      "we were out there. the walkers and- we're alright." he assured, earning a confused glare as i pulled his shirt collar down, seeing a bullet wound.

    "got winged by a ricochet." he added, causing my head to slightly turn towards nicolas, knowing damn well glenn wasn't telling the full story.

     "hey, i'm alright" he mumbled, grabbing my side to turn me back towards him. i gave him a wary nod, glancing back to where eugene now stood by tara.

     "thank god... nothing happened to your hair." she started, smiling up at him, "okay, eugenes freaking me out. somebody want to send noah in here to protect me?"

    her words caused us all to go silent at the mention of noah's name. her smile turned to a frown also, realizing what had happened while she was out. _____________

      i stood in front of glenns body, silently cleaning his face wounds from nicolas. glenn had told me the real story once we were alone, saying he wanted to give him another chance.

     glenn hissed from the sting of the alcohol against his open wound, breaking the silence.

     "sorry" i mumbled, trying to be more gentle, patting the cuts clean, "you okay?"

     he shrugged, looking down at all the medical supplies that laid across our kitchen counter, "as good as i'm gonna be, i just don't want you to be mad."

     i shook my head, getting out some sutures for his deep cuts, "i'm not mad at you, glenn. i just don't understand how you're so selfless towards someone like nicolas."

     glenn huffed out a smile, looking up into my blue eyes, "you make me want to be a better person, even in a world like this"

      i bit my lip, trying to hold back a smile so i could focus on stitching his face, "you're gonna make me cry, you know in hormonal right now because of the baby."

      he chuckled, causing me to smack his arm, "stop moving, you act like you have ants in your pants."

     "i wish i was in your-" before he could finish, i stuck my finger on his lips, preventing him from saying the last word.

     "don't even think about it"

      he raised his hands up in defense as i clipped the last stitch, soon moving them to my side to roll up my shirt.

     "tell mommy it's her loss" he baby talked, gently rubbing my stomach, soon moving his head down to plant a kiss on my soft skin.

      i smiled, brushing my hands through his black hair, "how did i get so lucky to have someone like you as my husband?"

      he looked up at me, getting back onto my level, pulling me into a hug, "our little bean has the best mom a baby could ask for"

     i chuckled, slowly pulling away, "is that what we're calling the baby now? bean."

     he nodded, leaning in to place a quick kiss on my lips, "yeah, i think it's cute."

     "bean it is then" i smiled, watching him slowly tilt his head at me, "i love you."

     "i love you too"

________________________________3/13/2021