stone cold |twd|

chapter 128

TENSIONS WERE HIGH.

Not many survived the attack of the Wolves, and not many came back from the mission to divert the massive horde from the quarry.

It didn't help that the RV stalled, and Rick ended up leading half the walkers right to their doorstep.

He ordered everyone to help reinforce the wall where the semi hit, and they all prayed the walls would hold up.

If a truck could hit and not tear it down, they were confident a could hundred walkers wouldn't do the trick.

Debbie and Liam stayed in the infirmary with Vivian, trying not to think about the surgery Denise was performing on their caretaker in the next room.

Marcie prayed that Rick wouldn't find out, not until after the walker situation was dealt with. He didn't need to know that the woman he's grown to care about might be dying only a few building away.

That's why Marcie was surprised to see Finn, his hands and shirt covered in blood, but still helping the community with the wall,

"I can't help her, but I can help us right now." He told Marcie, "This is where I need to be."

The surviving members of Alexandria were all gathered by the walls, listening to the dead banging on the metal on the outside,

"You can hear it. Some of you saw it." Rick stated loudly to the group, "They got back here, half of them. Still enough to surround us twenty deep." He looked around at all the scared faces, and began to notice the missing ones, "Look, I know you're scared. You haven't seen anything like this. You haven't been through anything like this. But we're safe for now. The panel the truck hit seems intact.We reinforced it just in case. Either way, the wall's gonna hold together. Can you?" He asked them, "The others, they're gonna be back."

Marcie nodded, crossing her arms, "They're gonna be back." She confirmed, trying to keep the hope alive,

Rick gave her a grateful nod, "Daryl, Abraham, Sasha, they have vehicles. They're gonna lead 'em 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. We keep noise to a minimum. Pull our blinds at night. Even better, keep the lights out. We'll try to make this place as quiet as a graveyard, see if they move on."

"This place is a graveyard." Francine commented, and the community went quiet.

All they could hear were the dead.

Aaron stepped forward, next to Rick, "The quarry broke open 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." With those words, those people began to look at Rick differently. 

To them, he was no longer the man who came in and murdered Pete. The man who was trying to change them for the worse.

Now he was their saviour.

"I was out there recruiting with Daryl and Marcie. I wanted to try to get into a cannery and scavenge, and they wanted to keep looking for people. We did what I wanted... and we wound up in a trap set by those people. And I lost my pack. They must've followed our tracks. Those people who attacked us... they found their way back here because of me."

Marcie's heart dropped at the sound of his words. If it weren't for them going out there, they wouldn't have lost so many people.

Vivian would be okay.

"There'll be more to talk about." Rick stated after a moment, glancing over to Morgan.

"Deanna?" Tobin's voice caught everyone's attention, and they turned to see their leader walking away, "Deanna?"

But she didn't turn back.

Everyone went their separate ways, and Finn went back to the house. He wasn't ready to see Vivian, to find her covered in a white sheet covered in blood stains.

He stopped in the kitchen, staring down at the body on the floor with the two large puddles of blood.

In a sudden fit of rage, Finn began kicking the corpse. This piece of shit broke into their community, their home, and attacked his sister. Attacked his family.

Nothing would ever be the same again.

Rick was walking past the wall where a few members were writing names. He knew what it meant, it was their memorial wall where they wrote the names of those who died.

One name caught his eye.

'VIVIAN'

Rick turned and began sprinting down the street. Marcie watched him run and turned towards the people at the wall, "Hey!" She went up to them, "What are you doing?"

"We're honouring those who-"

"Vivian isn't dead. She's with Denise right now and she's gonna be fine." Marcie crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes angrily.

"Denise isn't a doctor." The woman responded, "She's as good as dead."

"Well, until there's a grave marker with her name on it, don't fucking write her name on that wall. Get rid of it. Get rid of Glenn's name, too, just cuz he ain't back yet doesn't mean he's dead." Marcie snapped at her before walking away.

Rick ran past the body that laid in the front yard, bounding up the steps before pausing in the doorway, seeing Finn scrubbing at the floors. He knew what it was Finn was trying to clean.

"Is she..." Rick took a few steps inside, tears filling his eyes, 

He couldn't finish his sentence. He couldn't lose anyone else.

Especially her.

"She was hanging in there, last time I checked." Finn grunted, "I felt useless, couldn't just sit there and watch my sister die."

"What happened?"

Finn slammed the rag to the ground, causing soap to splatter, "You weren't here, that's what happened!" He glared up at the man, "We weren't here, leaving them all vulnerable! My sister was left to defend this place, watching after a bunch of kids, while these monsters roamed the streets, slaughtering everyone they came across! She got stabbed trying to get to your kids, yours, Rick! Why are they her responsibility, huh?" Finn stood and jabbed his finger into Rick's chest, "If she dies... it's on you, man." He spat at him before walking out the door, kicking the body in the yard as he left.