Endure and Survive (Sequel to How We Live Now)

Chapter 5

A few minutes after the second group had taken off, there was another man in a prison uniform that came in.

"What happened while I was out?" he asked.

"Forgive me but who are you?" I asked.

He looked at me and smiled.

"My name is Axel, ma'am. And you are?" he said extending his hand out to me.

"I'm Kari," I said shaking it.

I looked to Hershel.

"He's good, honey," he said.

I nodded.

"Well, Axel. The other group left because well, we really didn't have a good explanation for...well that," I said, gesturing toward Rick who was still pacing.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Glenn said.

All we could do was wait.

It took Rick until nightfall to finally come back to his senses.

"I'll be in the guard tower," was all he said before he was out the door.

I sighed and went ahead and sat on one of the tables that was there. Carl had gone to sleep long before Rick left which I was happy about.

"What should we do?" Maggie asked.

"He's seeing Lori," I said.

Everyone remained silent to let that sink in.

"That makes sense. When she died, he was in the halls of the prison killing as many walkers as he could," Glenn said.

"He's sort of been out of it ever since," Maggie added.

"We can't blame him. Grief affects people differently," Hershel said.

"If we had Daryl around, maybe he'd be able to talk some sense into him," Carol said.

I sighed.

"What happened? Why did he just, leave?" Beth asked.

They all looked to me.

"Guys, Daryl found his brother. Rick didn't want him here with us and so Daryl decided to take off with him. I don't blame him for making that decision. Merle's his family. Simple as that," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"But you didn't know him, Kari. His brother is bad for him. He's a better man than his brother will ever be," Carol said.

"I know that. But I got to know Merle. Not much but it was enough to know that he's changed. Maybe not entirely but enough to know that he knew how he was living, wasn't the way to live at all," I said.

"With that man? The Governor?" Beth asked.

"Yeah...the Governor," I repeated.

"What happened while you were over there?" Hershel asked.

I really didn't want to get into this conversation. And I especially didn't want an audience.

"You know what? Why don't I go out there and try to talk to Rick," I said quickly getting up and heading out before I gave anyone a chance to add anything else.

As soon as I was out, I took in deep breathes. I wasn't stupid. I knew I was gonna have to have a serious talk with all of them soon enough but that didn't mean that I couldn't try to put it off for as long as I could. Looking around in the dark, the prison didn't seem like what it was. It was a safe place that my family had found. A place where Lori was able to have her baby without the fear of a horde of walkers finding them as she pushed Judith out. A place that all of us could call home. I walked down the steps and to the courtyard just overlooking the areas that I was able to see due to the moonlight. There was potential in this place. We could find a way to grow crops in the field that gave us more food. We could always go out hunting but we'd have to stay close by. Travelling farther wasn't an option. There would always be the risk of running into that asshole again. I closed my eyes and shook my head.