Condemned. Sequel to 'Don't Look Back'

Chapter 26

Rayne's pov

"What are we going to do?" I asked Carl after the group disbanded.

"We wait for Daryl, Sasha and Abraham, they'll drive them away."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"It will." He said with finality.

"We should go help."

I walked over to the small graveyard we had, and saw Jessie and Rick talking, probably about where the invaders' bodies will go. I crossed the street and put my hands on my hips.

"Is there anything I can help with?"

"Well, there's only one shovel, so maybe someone else needs help." Jessie said with a small smile. Rick nodded for me to follow him and so we left the graveyard.

"Is she ok? She looked pretty sad."

"She had her first kill, human." I stayed silent.

"Why did you want me to follow you?"

"I don't know, I just, I'm stressed. I have a lot on my plate right now." Rick stopped in the middle of the street and turned to me.

"I need you and Carl to step up. Do more around here for the people. You need to gain their trust again." I nodded.

"How do I start?"

"By keeping people calm. If you stay calm, they'll see a survivor staying calm, and they need that."

"Rick, I need to tell you something." I said

"What is it?"

"When these people came in, I killed seven of them. I scratched one guys eye out. How do I overcome that?"

"Overcome what? The mental picture? The fact that you scare yourself?" I slowly nodded, remembering that when we were split after the prison, Carl told me Rick bit a guy's neck out.

"It takes time. A lot of time. But you need to justify your actions, tell yourself you did it for your life, because you did. And then, you know what you're capable of, you gain confidence."

"So, I just tell myself that it was necessary?"

"Exactly. Now, there's Carl, go over there and tell him what I said."

"Ok, good work today Rick." I said, knowing he needed the reassurance.

"Hey." I called out to Carl. He stopped while I caught up.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Your dad told me that he wants us to step up, keep people calm. I need to regain their trust too. Any idea how we can do that?"

"Yeah, easy. Talk to everyone we see, take their mind off of the matter."

"Ok." I said, following his lead. We were walking the streets, stopping a couple of people coming from the pantry, telling them it will be ok. In all honesty, I don't know if it will be ok, but, like Rick said, we need to step up.

"Hey, you alright?" Carl walked over to Ron, who was stabbing the ground over and over again with a knife.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Ron defended, not looking up at us.

"Have you seen Enid?" Carl asked, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

"Last time I saw her was when she was with you." Ron sighed, and I could tell he was agitated.

"I think she went over the wall, right before the herd came in, and now she's trapped out there." Carl said. Yeah, it hurt a little talking about her, but like I said before, I don't regret a thing I did.