Changing To Adapt ➵ TWD

➵ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜰɪꜰᴛʏ ꜰᴏᴜʀ

"Lucas!" Carl's eyes latch onto the first person through the gates, "What happened?"

Debating whether or not to give him the run down, Lucas decides he's too tired to even try. "A lot, kid." He pats him on the head as he passes by, almost toppling the hat over. Carl doesn't think too much about it when he sees his dad, and is off within seconds to meet him down the hill. They hug.

Not far behind, Beth looks from person to person with a smile that starts to sink. There's a gap in their ranks.

With pursed lips and a sad look in her eyes, Beth takes his arm and starts walking with him to the courtyard, side by side.

They meet the car there, Glenn and Maggie climbing out. Beth is quick to sprint over to her sister, and Hershel hobbles down the stairs to join them in a hug.

Lucas feels happy, but he can't bring himself to smile.

Beth hugs Rick too, when the man enters the courtyard with Carl behind him. He seems in shock by it, but the sharp edge to his eyes disappears for a moment.

When Lucas pushes through the gate to leave them be, he finds himself greeted immediately by four strangers sitting in their common room. It isn't exactly something he was planning on dealing with, so he stares at them, silently. They watch him, just as awkward.

He drags a palm over his eyes, and decides to keep walking, successfully avoiding Hershel and making it to his cell without further hassle.

There, he finally has the privacy to stop and think. Or maybe he doesn't want to think at all. 

Dual thumps reverberate against the wall.

One thing he does know is that he desperately needs a curtain to shield himself from spectators.

Lucas groans, turning over, "What do you-?"

It's Carol.

He blinks, cautiously. Is he seeing shit again? But then she smiles, and he shoots up to his feet. No tough guy act strong enough to be built, he barrels into Carol and squeezes her until she makes a noise of protest.

"Where- what-?"

"T-Dog, he saved me." She shudders through a breath, hands curled into the back of his shirt. "I hid, and I was so tired. But Daryl found me."

Lucas's back is tense with the effort of holding himself together, but with that, he releases a sob. Carol is alive. She's alive. But T-Dog's gone. Lori's gone. Now Daryl is gone, too. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Her voice wobbles, and she holds onto him tighter. "Please."

Lucas's body shudders as he calms, a mix of relief and grief. "We tried getting Daryl to stay." He clears his throat, "But he saw his brother and that was it."

He's not mad because they've lost their only hunter. 

He's mad because Daryl left the same dysfunctional group that he had every part making. Lucas can't go around telling people where they belong, that ain't his choice, but he can say with confidence that Daryl fits in better than anybody.

From a distance, Lucas still attends the meeting Rick called. Just with less presence, and more. . . listening in from his doorway. Rick isn't very happy that Carl brought strangers in while they were out, but he allows them to introduce themselves despite it.

If Lucas is being honest, they sound like good people.

"We're no stranger to hard work." The man, Tyreese, leads most of the conversation, "We'll go out and get our own food, stay out of your hair. You got a problem with another group, we'll help with that, too. Anything to contribute."

Their workload has only grown more and more as the days pass. It'd be nice to have a few extra hands without feeling any sort of attachment or obligation to them.

But Rick says no.

And Lucas doesn't feel bad about it, either. Not entirely. His current level of trust is running extremely low after what happened at Woodbury.

It's when the shouting starts that he makes his way downstairs. Cautiously at first. He loses the hesitance as soon as he hears his own group yelling back and runs right into the tabled room, eyes flitting around the circle of bodies to find the disturbance.

Rick has his gun out, yelling unintelligible words between every hysterical "get out!" But he's not staring at the newcomers, who Glenn is frantically ushering out to the exit, no, he's staring up at the railing.

That look on Rick's face, it's deadly familiar to Lucas. The ex-cop isn't in the cell block right now, he's somewhere else, dazed and mad with rage. 

Taking a few slow steps backward, Lucas doesn't stay long enough to find out what else Rick would do.

He lets his impulsiveness run rampant, and heads to the tombs in place of hiding in his cell. If Carl was right, Tyreese and his group came through from outside. If they can get in, then so can walkers.

Daryl wanted proof that Lucas was loyal, and despite his departure, Lucas was going to give it to him.

It just means finding the breach that could cause them the prison, and their lives.

Because what the hell else is Lucas supposed to do? He can't help Rick. He can't help Glenn and Maggie. They can't even look at eachother without turning away.

He brings his machete, some riot gear, and stops by Carl before he leaves, lest people panic when they don't know his whereabouts.

Lucas has to convince the kid that no, you can not come, and yes, he would be fine alone. Manages to get through the cell block, all the way past the boiler room and outside to the tombs. That's when he's forced back by the line-up of hungry walkers.

At least they know where.

He relays the information back to Glenn, who quickly finds his place at the top of the hierarchy - with Rick and Daryl gone, he really is their best bet.

Now the only question is whether to leave the safety of their prison, or go. 

Because Rick isn't in his right mind to make the decision for them.

They didn't clear out the field and the cell block for nothing. Lori didn't die for nothing. They didn't spend seven months trying to find somewhere to hunker down, only to leave it.

So yeah, safe to say Lucas is leaning far toward staying.

And they know. They know Judith wouldn't survive out there, her every cry drawing walkers in for miles.

Lucas can't go back to that life of silence, always on edge, always tired.

It's not happening.

They're staying.

0o0

Sorry guys, bit of a filler ;-;