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Open the Gates

Chapter 4


WILSON

"Wilson," Carol interupted my conversation with Rick. "I'd like you to meet the rest of the council. We meet in the library and we have some things to discuss. The others want to meet you and see what you have to say."

"I'm all for it," I said.

I followed Carol down the dark halls of the prison to the library. The other members of the council were sitting, seemingly waiting for Carol and my arrival.

"Wilson," Hershel began. "It's good to see you again. I hear you're a man of the people and we're interested in recruiting you to the council, but first let me introduce you to the other members; this is my daughter, Maggie, her husband Glenn, Daryl, Tyreese, and his sister Sasha."

"It's nice to meet you all," I greeted. "I'm Wilson Stevens."

Maggie and Glenn were the young couple who were operating the gates when I arrived with my sister and daughter. Daryl was a rough looking man who had a crossbow slung over his shoulder, Tyreese was a large black man in his early thirties, and his younger sister, Sasha appeared as though she hadn't even graduated college when the apocalypse started.

"Have a seat," Hershel suggested.

I sat down next to Carol as Hershel continued speaking.

"Our first issue of the day is about the children," Hershel continued. "Rick thinks teachin' them to use knives is a bad idea."

"Rick's not in the council," I recalled.

"Yes, but Rick was our leader before," Hershel explained. "He always knows what's best for this group. I have to say I agree with Rick on this matter. The children are protected behind these walls. We should wait until they reach their teen years to educate them on these things. There's no need for it beforehand."

"What if somethin' bad happens before then," Daryl pointed out. "What if we have to leave and the kids don't know how to protect themselves."

"As long as we can keep walkers on the other side of the fences that won't be a concern," Hershel reasoned. "I don't know if it's the smartest idea to have kids at such a young age proficient in these things. They're young and they won't make the best decisions."

"Hershel's right," I agreed. "Some children are like that. You expose them to these things so abruptly before adolescence and they'll think they've got to use their weapon's all the time, not just when they have to."

The members of the council looked a little thrown off by my reasoning, unsure of where such expertise came from.

"Wilson was a psychologist," Carol explained.

"We could use your knowledge in the council," Hershel said.

"So we don't teach the children how to use weapons?" Sasha concluded.

"Not until they're teenagers," Hershel added. "And that's to be enforced by Carol and Beth, they're the ones who take care of the children."

"Let's just hope these fences last that long," Daryl muttered.

"Any other matters?" I questioned.

"The maximum amount of people who can leave the prison at once," Tyreese chimed in. "We need people here on the days with more walkers. If too many people are gone, then the fences are goin' down."

"How about ten for every fifty people?" I offered. "Let's face the facts, we're gonna loose people and gain people, considering your willingness to take people in, I think it's pretty safe to say those numbers will change."

"I think it's 'bout time for another run," Daryl said. "I didn't find much with Rick and Kodi yesterday- you should see how they act 'round each other, it like middle school kids who got crushes on each other but hate to admit it- but anyways, me and Michonne saw found a mall on our last run, but there was too many walkers, so we set up a boom box to draw them out. Who's comin'?"

"I'm in," I volunteered, still thinking about what Daryl just said about Rick and my sister.

"You really think Rick is ready to move on from Lori?" Glenn wondered. "It seems like not that long ago since Lori passed."

"I dunno," Daryl replied, "but I've never seen Rick this flirty. Reminds me of Merle almost."

I figured that Lori must have been Rick's wife and Carl's mother.

"Who else is comin'?" Daryl asked once again.

"I will," Carol said.

Tyreese, Sasha, Glenn, and Maggie agreed to come too.



"Here," Carol said, handing me a handgun and machete as I stood by a big black pick-up truck with two rows of seats.

"You're not taking a gun?" I asked as I noticed she had only a knife on her belt.

"I'm better with knives," she said. "I don't want to do anything stupid, like fire a shot."

"I agree, but I always take a gun just in case," I countered.

"Do you ever use it?"

"Barely."

"That's what I thought," she smirked.

"You really think you're goin' on a run without me?" asked a smiling African-American woman as she approached Daryl.

"Thought you just got back," Daryl replied.

"Yesterday," she said. "Who's this?"

"His name's Wilson," Daryl said. "He's a psychopath."

"Psychologist," Carol corrected.

"Thanks," I chuckled.

"I'm Michonne," she introduced.

"Nice sword," I complimented, noticing the long steel blade on her back. "Is it a katana?"

"Yep," she replied. "How'd you know?"

"That's the only kind of sword I know," I admitted with a laugh. "Just a lucky guess."

"You ready?" Daryl asked from the driver's seat.

I climbed into the back next to Carol and Michonne sat in the front with Daryl.

"So, what's your story?" I said to create conversation as we drove with Glenn, Maggie, Tyreese, and Sasha behind us.

"Well, we all have our own," Carol pointed out.

"Carol and I met at this camp near Atlanta, if that's what you're askin'," Daryl described. "And we met Michonne over a mutual enemy."

"Mutual enemy?" I repeated.

"This crazy asshole," Michonne explained. "Calls himself 'The Governor.'"

"Calls," I restated. "You said calls, not called. He's still alive, isn't he?"

"Last we knew," Carol said. "He was the leader of this town... Woodbury. There was about seventy people there, including good people, children. Being the kind of man he was, he decided to turn his whole town against us, so he created an army and made them believe we were bad people, then they attacked us, but when his people retreated he got mad and opened fire. The only survivor was Karen. We took her in along with everyone left in Woodbury, including Tyreese and Sasha. We found out that our friend, Andrea had been held captive there after she tried to leave. She was tied down and locked in a room with a walker."

"That's horrible," I sympathized. "Why was your friend in Woodbury?"

"We had gotten separated from her many months earlier," Carol began to explain. "She found Michonne and they found Woodbury. Michonne knew what it was and who The Governor was, so she left, but Andrea didn't, so she stayed. Michonne found us and Andrea fell in love with The Governor. She tried to save everyone, but that costed her her life. In her honor, we've been taking in people ever since then."

"She sounds like a good woman," I consoled.

"She was," Carol agreed, "but she had a bad taste in men."

"We're here," Daryl announced.

I heard the sound of music playing in the distant background, which I figured to be coming from the boom box Daryl said he had put out to draw roamers away. As I got out of the truck I saw a small outlet mall with many different shops on it.

"The four of us will start from this end," Daryl instructed, "Glenn and the others will start from the opposite end. Just take what ya need, we can always come back for more."

I nodded and continued forward towards the shop on the mall that was on the furthest right. I grabbed a shopping cart, as did the others and entered the shop. This shop was your average grocery store, much of the food was still on the shelves, some food had gone bad. I looked for bottled beverages and canned food, thinking that they would be the most promising. After, we were all done in this shop, we loaded everything into the back of the truck and continued to the next shop, a shoe store. I knew we could always use more shoes. They got worn out easily and needed to be replaced. Luckily, I had a pair of brown hiking boots that had lasted a long time and were still in good condition. I knew Ellie and Kodi would be happy to see new pairs of shoes. Kodi played her little game, pretended to be all tough, but she had a girly-girl within her.
We continued this pattern of looting through most shops until we were close to meeting up with Glenn and his group.

"Here that?" Daryl said as we were in the middle of looting a outdoors shop.

"What?" I questioned.

"Somethin' ain't right," Daryl observed. "Come with me."

Carol, Michonne, and I followed Daryl through the shop, our weapons raised and ready. Daryl opened the emergency exit door in the back of the shop and witnessed over thirty roamers turn their heads and notice the four survivors.

"Carol, Wilson go get Glenn and the others," Daryl commanded. "Me and Michonne will take all our stuff to the truck, but we need to get out o' here soon. Who knows how much will show up."

Carol and I picked up the pace and began running a few shops down to where Glenn's group was in a hardware store.

"Maggie," Carol began as she walked through the doors, "Find the others, we have to go. There's a herd coming."

Glenn, Sasha, and Tyreese emerged soon after from the aisles, but as we all turned to leave, roamers flooded through the front door.

"Shit," Maggie watched the undead, fear in her eyes.

Without hesitation, Tyreese lifted his trusty hammer and began destroying the brains of their attackers. The rest of us caught on with Tyreese, but soon realized there were too many.

"We have to go!" Sasha yelled. "Come on!"

We all ran to the back of the hardware store, towards the emergency exit. I held the heavy door as my companions flooded out but as I turned to leave, a roamer grabbed my left hand. I yanked it away, but my wedding ring left my hand along with the roamer.

"No!" I shouted.

"We have to go!" Tyreese yelled, grabbing me and pulling me away from the shop.

"But my wedding ring!"

"It's gone," Carol stated. "We need to go!"

I knew what had to be done. I had to leave that memory of Jennifer behind and I had to go with these people. I ran with them back to the front of the shop we got back in our cars and drove back towards the prison. I looked out the window at the mall. I would never see my precious wedding ring again.

"It's gone, Wilson," Carol reminded me. I turned to look at her. "Your wife is gone. She's dead, Wilson. Nothing can bring her back. I'm sorry, but this had to happen."

I had no words for Carol at this moment. I had no words for anyone. The only person I wanted to talk to was Jennifer, but she was the one person I couldn't talk to.

We drove back to the prison in silence.

Notes

Do you like it? Thank you to those who have rated, commented and subscribed. Please leave feedback! I'll be posting another chapter soon on my other story, Of Blood and Breath, check it out if you're interested. Who's you're favorite character out of our three characters so far? Are you team Rick or Daryl when it comes to Kodi? Do you have any predictions? Thanks for reading!

-reddeadwalker

Comments

you have a lot of talent.i love your story

you have a lot of talent.i love your story

you have a lot of talent.i love your story

Wow, i have been reading thiss all day and i rwally like the story!!! You just need to work on grammer, etc.
but anyways, great job!! Hope to read more soon.

Miss Anonymous Miss Anonymous
1/19/15

Team Daryl all the way

dombast dombast
1/12/15