Chapter 98 Discussion

John woke up about 5 hours later. John felt Demmy's smooth skin pressed against him, he looked at the sleeping beauty and then kissed her lips gently. It seems that Demmy was already awake because as soon as she felt John's lips, she moved even closer to John. They kissed for a couple minutes before they separated, John looked at his watch and saw that it was around 6 in the evening.

John looked out the window and saw that the sun had started to set, and it would soon be dark out. John and Demmy sat up together, Demmy sitting within John's cozy embrace. They stayed like this for a couple minutes in silence before John said, "I want to go check on Jess."

Demmy said, "You care for her, don't you?"

Demmy stared into John's eye and waited for his response. John leaned down and pecked her lips before he said, "Yes I do."

Demmy stared into his eyes for a second before she kissed him, then she said, "I thought so. I saw the way you reacted when Pete hurt her."

John said, "But I care for you and if you don't want me--"

Demmy cut him off and said, "It's fine, after all, you already told me about your family. I knew that I could never have you all to myself."

John said, "You have me all to yourself right now." Demmy smiled and kissed him one more time before she stood up.

Demmy said, "Let's get dressed and go see Jess. We also have to go to that discussion later." John nodded before he stood up slowly. John walked over to the closet, Demmy walked over and helped him after seeing him struggle. They walked over to the closet and Demmy picked out clothes for him, Demmy picked out a white long sleeve shirt and black jeans.

Demmy then helped John to put on his clothes with care, John fully clothed leaned against the wall. He watched as Demmy covered her beautiful curves, she put on a pink summer dress, pink leggings and a pink jacket as it was starting to get cold for her. Demmy walked over to John and helped him as they walked out of the room slowly, John used the railing and Demmy's support to get down the stairs.

Then they walked to the front door, in front of the front door was a rack that had all of their shoes on it. John put on some black shoes and Demmy put on some white slippers. They then walked out of the house and down the street. They walked straight towards Deanna's house, when they arrived, they walked up the front steps and knocked on the front door.

The door was opened after about a minute, it was Deanna who answered. Deanna asked, "Are you here to see Jessie?"

John nodded and said, "Yes." Deanna then let them in and led them to a room on the first floor. She opened the door for them, and they walked inside before she closed the door for them. John and Demmy sat down on some chairs next to the bed. John held Jess's hand, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb.

Demmy looked at this show of affection and hugged onto John's other arm. They sat in silence for about 30 minutes before Jess's eyes began to open slowly. She tried to move her head, but John stopped her by saying, "Don't move your head, your neck is severely injured."

As if she remembered something her, she burst into tears. Jess said in a strained voice, "Sam and Ron are gone, aren't they?"

John said, "I'm so sorry, I couldn't react quickly enough."

Jess said sadly as tears continued to pour out of her eyes, "It's not your fault, Pete did it." John smiled slightly and stood up before he hugged her gently, Jess wrapped her arms around him as well.

Jess's eyes were blurry still from waking up, but when John leaned next to her, she was able to see him. She looked at John's face, then she said, "Are you okay?"

John smiled and said, "Yeah, but I will have a new scar."

Jess said, "Well, I guess we both will."

John smiled and said, "Yeah."

Jess asked, "What happened with Sam and Ron?"

John said, "I buried them both in the cemetery. When you get better, I will bring you over there and show you."

Jess nodded and said, "Thank you... I just can't believe what happened."

John said, "Yeah... You will get through this though. In time and I will help you."

Demmy said, "We will help you, Jess."

John nodded and said, "Right, we will help you."

Jess smiled for the first time and said, "Thank you, John, Demmy." Jess then started to close her eyes; they had felt heavy for quite a while. She had been fighting to stay awake all this time.

John and Demmy stayed with Jess for a while before Deanna opened the door and told them it was time for the discussion about John's actions yesterday. Hearing this, Demmy stood up then she helped John stand up. They then made their way out of the room, Deanna then led them out of the house and to the meeting area.

The meeting area was only a couple minutes away, Reg had gone there a while earlier and set up chairs. When they arrived, they saw a campfire in the middle of many chairs, there was a brick wall surrounding them and some bushes and trees were within the area.

The night sky was vibrant, with many stars shining brightly in the sky. The moon was visible, and it brought some light to the area. Demmy helped John over to one of the chairs in the middle and sat down beside him. The area was completely empty of people, as they have yet to arrive yet.

People started to arrive after a couple minutes and continued to arrive for about 20 minutes before no one else came. Seeing as many people have already gathered and were starting to get impatient, Deanna walked into the center next to the fire and said, "We're going to start as it is already quite dark."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Deanna then said, "We are going to talk about what happened earlier today. About how Pete killed his kids and almost killed Jessie, also how John had handled the situation."

A woman stood up and said, "I don't feel comfortable living here knowing that a killer is living a couple houses away." Many people made noises of agreement.

Demmy said, "John did what he did because of what Pete did to his family."

The same woman says, "He didn't have to kill Pete though, did he?" A couple of people nodded when they heard this.

Demmy said, "Pete killed both of his children, almost killed Jessie and also stabbed John through the stomach. I say John handled the situation very well." Many people agreed with Demmy as John had helped many of them with minor tasks.

The same woman says, "Who's to say he won't kill anyone else?"

Demmy said, "He won't. He only did what he did because it was necessary."

The woman says, "Since when is killing another human a necessary thing?"

Demmy says, "You have no idea what John has experienced while he was outside."

The woman says, "What has poor John had to deal with?"

Demmy says angrily, "John has saved multiple women from being raped. He has fought against cannibals on multiple occasions. He has dealt with people who worshiped walkers and sacrificed hundreds of men, women, and children. He has freed people from corrupt military groups. He has also fought against multiple hostile groups."

Enid continued after Demmy stopped. Enid said, "That's right, you people have no idea what it is like out there." Everyone was shocked by what they heard, the women who was acting all high and mighty was completely humbled. This silence was then drowned out by multiple exclamations, "RAPE" "CANNIBALS" "MILITARY" "HOSTILE GROUPS".

Deanna seeing all of this chaos raised her voice and said, "Everyone, calm down, calm down!"

When everyone was quiet, Demmy said, "John just wants everyone to live. He wants everyone to be safe. And he wants to protect you all from the horrors he has seen outside of these walls. Who John is-- is who you will become, if you're lucky." This swayed many people.

Old man Jenkins stood up and said, "Sonny is a good man. I respect him and I understand why he had to do what he did today. He has a good heart, and he cares for people. He has helped me multiple times and he has only been here for a short while. I have seen him help many of you as well." The old man then sits down, as many people start to support John's actions today.

Reg said, "I don't like what John did today, but I understand why. I also think that John is a fine young man."

Deanna says, "I don't like what John did and I can only partly understand why John did what he did. But I know that John is a good man, he helped Aiden even though they fought the day before. Even when Nicholas left them behind, he still did his best to bring Aiden back, because of him Aiden is still alive today."

After this comment, all the people that have come to the gathering were in support of John's actions. Seeing this John stood up slowly, this caused everyone to look at him in anticipation. John said, "I'm not sorry for what I did. What happened today was necessary. People are more dangerous than walkers, as seen earlier today. All it takes is one strong push for someone to crack from the pressure. Even the gentlest soul could become the cruelest and evilest abomination."

"Both the living and the dead have one thing in common though, they want to be in here because we're in here. The people out there will hunt us. They will find us; try to take what we have. It is only a matter of time and the way you are now. You won't survive the fight, but with my help, you'll learn to survive. You're gonna change. Luck runs out, eventually."