You're Gonna Need Someone on Your Side

The group as a whole walked out to the common area of our cell, Rick leading us to these so-called 'guests.' They were all seated around one of the tables, a man and a woman who looked like siblings and another man with his teenage son. They stood immediately as we entered the room, waiting for Rick to finally show up.

"I'm Tyrese," the burly man in the tanktop reached out his hand to shake Rick's. He wore a ripped-up beanie and his general hygiene looked to be worse than our own, his beard scruffy and tangled. They had been on the outside for quite some time. Rick refused the gesture, staring him up and down trying to read him.

"Sasha, Allan, Ben," Herschel introduced the rest of them, due to Rick's lack of response.

Rick seemed agitated, "How'd you get in?" He questioned Tyrese.

"Fire damage to the administrative part of the prison. The wall's down," he explained.

"Well, that side is completely overrun with walkers. How'd you get this far?"

I stared at the young boy, he looked nervous as anything, cracking his knuckles every so often. He wasn't able to make eye contact with anyone. He was scared.

"We didn't, we lost our friend Donna," said Tyrese. He stood tall, with impeccable posture it was like he was trying his very hardest to make a good impression on Rick. He was prepared to answer any question Rick had to ask.

"They were lost in the gyms," Carl spoke up.

"You brought them here?" Rick whipped around, questioning Carl. He wasn't pleased.

"He had no other choice," Herschel defended him.

Rick nodded his head, calming down. Although, I know that if Rick had been here he would have left them in those tunnels for the walkers. With everything that has happened to us, he was slowly losing his trust in anyone outside of our group.

"I'm sorry 'bout your friend. We know what that's like."

"Herschel said you could use some extra hands. We're no strangers to hard work. We'll go out and get our own food, stay out of your hair. You got a problem with another group, we'll help with that, too," Tyrese pleaded in his case, "Anything to contribute."

Rick stared at him for a long while, sorting out in his head what he wanted to do with these people. "No," he finally answered.

I dropped my head, sighing. To me, these looked like good people and at the moment we could really use more people on our side. The Governor was inevitably coming for us and the more people we had, the better.

"Please. It's just us now," Sasha finally said something, speaking softly to Rick.

"No," Rick stated once again.

"Let's talk about this," Herschel called to Rick. He was his only voice of reason, "We can't just keep--"

"We've been through this. With Tomas, Andrew. Look what happened."

"Axel and Oscar weren't like them," Carol spoke up, defending the inmates that remained loyal to us.

"And where is Oscar now," Rick immediately snapped back. Everyone looked around at each other, not wanting to question Rick. Part of me understood where he was coming from, the majority of the people we crossed paths with were a danger to us. There were few people left on this earth that you could count your life on, but not giving anybody a chance would also leave us outnumbered to those who were a threat. Rick turned back to look at Tyrese, "I can't be responsible."

"You turn us out, you are responsible."

"Rick," Herschel called him over to talk. "You've done so much for us. I appreciate that, we all do. We owe you our lives. We've done everything you asked without question. And I'm telling you you're wrong on this. You've got to start giving people a chance."

Rick was facing us now, I could see his facial expressions. He nodded his head in agreement, scanning his eyes down all the people he's kept alive. His eyes then trailed up to the railings above us, focusing his vision on something. I looked up to see what he was studying so hard, but nothing was there. "No, no, no," he whispered under his breath, rubbing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. He then brushed past Herschel walking closer to the railing and looking up, "Why are you here? What do you want from me?" He asked thin air.

"Dad?" Carl called him, confused.

"Why are you-- no," he stumbled backwards like whatever he saw scared him. He then turned to the group of newcomers, "I can't help you! Get out!" He screamed, but you couldn't tell exactly who or what he was shouting at.

"Woah, Woah, Woah. Hey, come on. It's all good," Tyrese attempted to calm him.

"Hey, easy Rick. There's no need to--" I said before Rick started wailing once again. I jumped back from him.

"You don't belong here! Get out! Please!" He whipped out his pistol, swinging it around. I had never seen Rick like this before. I grabbed Carl by the shoulders, yanking him out of Rick's way. He was delusional, the lack of sleep and trauma of the last couple of days all hitting him at once. He raised his pistol to the railing, right where he was previously staring at. "Get out! Get out!" He now cried, begging.

"Relax, brother. Relax. We'll leave. We're going." Tyrese said, frantically. "Okay, ain't nobody gotta get shot here."

"What are you doing here?!"

"Okay, just go! Go, go!" Glenn then ushered the group out of our cell block, not entirely sure what the hell Rick was doing. All we knew was that we had to get these people out before Rick did anything stupid.

I looked around at people's expressions, everyone looked worried for Rick, but for the first time also scared of him. Once the group had left Rick finally quiet down, every so often glancing back at the same spot on the railings. What he had seen seemed to have left now as he broke down crying. We were in trouble.

-----

It was a new day, a fresh start. Lincoln and Mark were settling in well even after the outburst they had witnessed from Rick. Michonne on the other hand still seemed to be on the outskirts. Rick wanted her gone once Herschel had patched up her wounds, but due to Rick's lack of awareness, we allowed her to stay. We needed the numbers and I am only grateful for her for leading Rick to Woodbury.

At the moment we had no idea where Rick had gone, he spent most of the day outside the fences. As for the rest of us, we stood in the common area while Glenn drew a map of the prison on the floor with a stick of chalk.

"You said you found Tyrese's group here? We secured this." Glenn asked Carl who knelt on the floor in front of him.

"Yeah, he thought he came through here," Carl pointed to the front entrance of the prison.

"Means there's another breach," he sighed.

"That means the whole front of the prison is not secure. If walkers just strolled in, then it means it's gonna be cake for the Governor's men," Mark stated.

"Why are we even so sure he's gonna attack?" Beth asked. "Maybe you scared him off.

"He had fish tanks full of heads. Walkers and humans, trophies. He's coming," Michonne said. I looked at Lincoln to see if it was true. He looked down at me, just as shocked as I was. It was clear the Governor had secrets behind those walls, a true psychopath. He'd be coming for revenge.

"We should hit him now. He won't be expecting it," Glenn now got a surge of energy, like that was such a great idea. "We'll sneak back in and put a bullet in his head."

"We're not assassins," I said, rejecting the idea. Glenn ignored me, walking up to Michonne.

"You know where his apartment is, you and I can end this tonight," he said like he was determined to get his justice. Michonne sighed, thinking about it. "I'll do it myself," he tried to convince her. She stared at him for a moment before nodding her head in agreement.

"Hey, hey, I know we're new here and don't have much say in what goes on, but that there is a suicide mission," Lincoln spoke up, trying to bring Glenn back down to reality.

"He's right. He didn't know you were coming last time and look what happened," Herschel agreed. "You were almost killed. Daryl was captured. And you three almost got executed."

"You can't stop me," Glenn challenged him. He was thinking out of anger, not logic.

"Rick would never allow this," I said.

"You really think he's in any position to make that choice?" Glenn looked over at me, his eyes were dark as he stared.

"Think this through clearly. T-Dog lost his life here, Lori's, too. The men that were here. It isn't worth anymore killing. What are we waiting for? If he's really on his way, we should be out of here by now," Herschel explained.

"And go where?"

"We lived on the road all winter."

"Back when you had two legs and we didn't have a baby crying for walkers every four hours," Glenn stood his ground. He was right, we were stuck, which also made us sitting ducks for the Governor.

"We can't stay here," Herschel shook his head.

"We can't leave," Glenn settled it.