A Hard Lesson to Learn

Chapter 19

         

Dark clouds moved into the area the evening before. The gusty wind came along with the clouds. A mid-spring storm was prepared to roll through the area. Lightening cracked and thunder rolled all throughout the night. Rain poured heavily from the roofs of the houses in Alexandria.

When the morning came around, the world outside was normal. The storm long moved out of the area and the sun was shining brightly. There was a pleasant breeze flowing through the area. Kali left her house that morning with the intention of joining people in the garden to help get the land ready for crops once they found enough seeds for the communities.

Rick met her about halfway between her house and the garden. "Are you free today?"

Kali looked at him from under the brim on the baseball cap on her head. "I was about to head to the garden. You need me to do something else?"

"Was wondering if you wanted to go out to look at the damage from the storm with me. Check to see if there are any herds or anything coming this way."

Kali nodded her head. "Yeah, that's fine. I can do that."

That's how she found herself walking down the road miles away from Alexandria with Rick Grimes by her side. They had not seen anything that caught their attention. There were a few walkers that stumbled across their path, but Rick put them down effortlessly.

The pair continued down the road for a while. "You hear that," Kali asked breaking the silence between them.

"Yeah," Rick replied shortly.

They didn't have to go much farther before they found the source of the noise. The river had flooded during the storm and wiped the bridge out. The water was gushed down the stream. The currents were white capping from the gusts of wind that blew through the night before.

"This bridge could cut the travel time between Hilltop, Kingdom, and Alexandria. Easier routes for the horses. Quicker in general," Rick said walking towards the collapsed bridge. "Shouldn't be too hard with enough people."

Kali scoffed. "You want everyone to get along to build a bridge? Like this whole thing is just literal water under the bridge. Good luck with that."

"You don't think we can do," Rick asked turning to look at her a questioning look on his face. "All the manpower at the hilltop from the saviors that went there. The kingdom has people. Alexandria would help. It won't be easy, but we could do it."

At the mention of the former saviors, a chill went down Kali's spine. "Where do you plan on getting the supplies?"

"Well, we have trees all around us. Hilltop has a blacksmith that could manufacture the nails. We aren't that far from the capitol. The museums have to have something we could use."

"The museums would have some good stuff if they weren't ransacked already. Most of the equipment works with a little bit of tinkering on it. There might be some seeds for the communities too."

Rick nods along as Kali talks. "We need to get everyone together and talk about. I'm sure they'd be willing to help out."

"We expect different things from the same people Rick. Only one of us can be right and I hope it's you. If it's me then this is a just a massive waste of time."

"Why can't you see the good in people," Rick snapped. "I took a chance on you and so far, you haven't let me down. So why can't you give someone else a chance," he continued, his voice getting louder as he stepped closer to her. "We're here to create a new beginning. To start fresh. Give people a chance," Rick came to a stop just in front of her.