The Anti Hero ⥤ Rick Grimes

[5] Revenge and Redemption

"Now...I know some of you are upset about her leaving us, but if I can forgive her- HELL, if Cal can forgive her, so can you." He spoke with such confidence. If he had even the slightest bit of doubt, it didn't show.
"I want you all to respect her. She's mine, so if you disrespect her you're disrespecting me, understand?"
"The way this works is, she's been with me since the beginning. I DON'T CARE what she's done, she'll be with me till the end."
"Now I know what you're all thinking. How can he love her, blah blah blah. I ask myself that too- but I want you to know that this isn't about love. It's about ownership. I OWN her. She belongs to me. I'm not letting her go purely because she's mine. She will stay here until I tell her to leave, which for the record I won't."
"I also want you to know, all you whining about your babies not getting delivered and your cuts getting cleaned, yada yada...yeah, I'll put her back in the infirmary after solitude. After she learns her lesson."
"So that's all I have to say. I'm the boss, remember, so you better take every damn thing I've said into consideration. JJ is getting the punishment as promised. I hope that she can be the bearer of all sins here and teach you all one big lesson. YOU DO NOT GET TO LEAVE HERE. Not if you want to. Not if I own you. It is against the rules- and like JJ is learning the hard way...breaking my god damn rules will not go unpunished."
"Now I thank you all for attending this meeting. I'm glad that you all understand. If there are any questions, I don't feel like answering them. Goodbye, people. Go back to doing whatever you're doing."
And just like that, Tarzan left his people and went back to his lounge. He had just mesmerised a whole community of people. He had just spoon-fed everyone a story so horrifying that they had only gained MORE obedience to him.

If there was an award for leadership, Tarzan had won.

It was fight or flight. In which this case, I was gonna have to do a mixture of both.
"Let's go!" Someone from the shipping container shouts.
I breath out, following everyone into the foggy outside world.
Smoke fills my lungs as I do so.
Then, like I'm sucked into a whirlwind, the action starts.

Walkers are everywhere.

I march forward, following behind as the members of Rick's group fight their way through walkers.
I try my best to avoid running into any of them, but fail. I find myself standing in front of a thin woman, blood dribbling from her mouth. She wears tattered clothes. I wonder what kind of journey she's been on. I wonder what kind of journey I'm about to end.
I step forward, thumping my foot against her kneecap. She crunches down as her left leg snaps. As the female walker hits the ground, I stomp my foot on her head. She's an old walker, old enough that her skull collapses underneath my boot and oozes dark brown blood.

I don't take my time, running behind Rick's group and dodging walkers. They're all defending themselves with weapons that they've had time to make, and I've got my bare hands and nothing but that.

We push upwards towards the fence, Abraham standing beside it. He begins helping everyone over it, helping me after Carl.
As soon as my feet hit the other side of the fence, my heart slows down a little. I know it's not over but for now, it feels a little closer to being over.
Once everyone is on the other side of the fence, I scan all of their faces, now in full light.
So this is it. This is my new group. Or is it?

Without word, everyone follows Rick. They're all slow, catching their breaths. I'm not. I feel more fear being with people than I do being amongst walkers.

We venture into forests ahead of Terminus. The smell of the camp going up in flames fills my nostrils. The smokey scent of wood burning is so strong that I feel it inside my head, knocking around inside my body.