A United Front Chapter One

“When I first lost Lori and Carl, almost two years ago, I lost my sanity. I saw Lori in every woman with long dark hair. I saw Carl in every boy. I almost didn’t make it back from that.”

Michonne held up the sponge and squeezed the water from it. She leaned against Rick, feeling the water warm with their body heat. Or perhaps she was just acclimating to it.

She was acclimating to a lot, actually. In the three months since Rick, Daryl, and Beth had left Woodbury to join her and her people, a lot of changes had happened. She’d fallen hard for Rick. She’d sworn she’d never let herself love again after losing her boyfriend, son, and family to the Turn, but Rick had challenged all of that. Even before Rick had come into her life, she’d spent over eight months forging a bond with the boy who’d turned out to be his son.

“Andrea spoke of you and Shane after she came to live with us,” Michonne said, as she watched the candle burn in its glass enclosure. “Carl must have known you were alive yet he never said anything.”

“He won’t talk to me now,” Rick said. “Three months and he won’t speak a word to me unless its something hateful.”

“I can’t get him to open up either. I think he’s mad about us.”

“I don’t understand why. He calls you Mom,” Rick pointed out. “He loves you. It's me he hates.”

“He doesn’t want you here. That much is obvious,” Michonne said. “You’ve told me what you saw that day. Carol told me what she saw.”

Rick nodded. “She saw me and Shane drive away after the bus Lori and Carl took refuge in was overrun. She saw Lori throw herself to them so Carl could get away. I didn’t see that from my vantage point.”

“He must think you abandoned him.”

“I did.”

“You didn’t, Rick.”

“Just because I didn’t see him go down specifically, doesn’t mean--”

Michonne silenced his self-flagellating commentary with a long, deep kiss. “You didn’t abandon your son.”

“If Carol hadn’t risked her life to pull him off that bus and get him to safety he would have died.”

“He didn’t, though, did he? Rick, you’re going to have to take a firm hand with Carl. You’re going to have to sit him down and make him listen to you. I’ll be there with you, if you like. He listens to me. Well, as much as any fourteen-year-old will listen to anyone.”

Rick smiled. “What would I do without you?”

Michonne shrugged and repositioned herself so she could climb from the bath. The water cascaded down her firm, beautiful body, and she smiled at him. “You’d masturbate a lot. Now lets go to bed. I need more from you than just kisses in the bathtub tonight.”

*****

The next morning Rick came down to a breakfast of boiled eggs and a bowl of freshly cut peaches. Carl was at the table, studiously ignoring him, while talking to Andrea about scavenging. For her part, Andrea was rubbing her eyes trying to deal with a headache.

“I’m not a kid. I can go out with the rest of you. Tell her, Mom. ”

“It’s up to Andrea who she wants to take out on a hunt,” said Michonne. “You can’t go with her today anyway. You’re coming with me and your dad.”

“He’s not my dad,” Carl said, while staring at Rick.

“Yeah, I am, and you’re coming with me and Michonne, like it or not.”

“This blows,” he said angrily, and got up from the table, leaving his breakfast largely untouched.

“This is why I didn’t have kids,” Andrea said on a sigh. “Good luck, you two. You're gonna need it. Daryl, Beth and I are heading out in the car for a long-haul today. We'll be home around three o'clock if all goes well.”

“We’ll take the Jeep,” Michonne said. “How’s Carol this morning?”

Andrea smiled. “She was humming as she cleaned out Sophia’s room. She had a peaceful look about her today, as though she’s finally accepted what happened. She’s making progress.”

“You ready?” Daryl asked, coming into the room with Beth in tow.

“As ever,” Andrea replied, and grabbed the keys. “We’re scavenging for fuel and propane tanks. You guys need to look for food and, if you can find it, bottled water.”

Carl was out at the Jeep, sitting in the back seat, when Rick came out, without Michonne. He took the passenger seat and turned to face Carl, his feet hanging from the door.

“I didn’t see you that day,” Rick said. “Carl, if I’d seen that you were still alive I would have risked everything to save you.”

Carl looked up at Rick with hot anger in his eyes. “I saw her go down. I saw them eat Mom. Guess what else I saw? I saw you and Shane drive off. If I could see you, how come you couldn’t see me?”

“I don’t know,” Rick answered honestly. He could barely speak over the lump of emotion that came up in his throat whenever he tried to talk about that day. “Carl, I loved your Mom. I love you, more than I love anything in this world, myself included. I would have died to save you but I thought you went down with Lori. You have to believe me.”

“To hell with you. I’m staying with Carol.”

“No, you’re coming with us,” Michonne said, coming around to their end of the car. “I need you. So does your father.”

“What do you see in him, anyway?” Carl asked her. “As soon as things get rough he’ll run off and leave you to die so he can save a cat in a tree.”

Carl put his knees up and skulked, unaware of how deeply his words cut into Rick.

“I’m sorry, Carl--”

“Yeah, you said that already and it ain’t good enough. It’ll never be good enough and I’ll never forgive you for what you did. You left me and Mom when we needed you most. So did Shane. I hate you both.”

“Carl--” Michonne began, but Rick held up a hand to silence her.

“No, he’s right. I left him and Lori when they needed me most and I don’t blame him for holding it against me. I hold it against myself. I’ll never forgive myself, so why should I expect him to? Let’s roll.”

Rick looked up at one of the second floor windows to see Carol looking down at them with a light vague smile on her face. She waved goodbye and Rick waved back. It was the first time he’d seen her smile since he moved in, and for some reason it unsettled him.

*****

The good thing about late September was that it had its good days where the sun was out but the heat and humidity wasn’t up enough to make you feel as though you were being boiled alive. Rick kept a lookout for any houses that they hadn’t picked clean but saw none. They left their area and took the main road out to the neighboring town and began a search of houses there. They worked in silence not just to be careful of walkers, but to avoid another argument with Carl.

He’s lost to me, Rick thought, as he watched his son digging through the drawers of some dead family’s living room computer desk, looking for anything that could be useful. If only I hadn’t gone after that man, trying to be a hero. If only I’d put my family before others.

If only, if only. It was too late now. He couldn’t go back in time to save Lori and he couldn’t force Carl to forgive him.

“Rick?”

Michonne tapped him on the shoulder, giving him the impression she’d said his name several times already.

“Yeah?”

“You okay?”

“I’m fine. Sorry.”

He went into the kitchen with Michonne trailing behind him. Together they opened the cupboard and found who, Rick assumed, had been the missus of the house loitering inside. She reached for them with her emaciated, dead hands but Michonne’s sword put an end to her quest to feed on the living. Her cupboards offered a good haul on canned goods.

“Carl, we need your help--” Rick started, but his son was staring out the window.

“We got company,” he said. “One guy, alone. He’s coming for the door.”

“Armed with what?” asked Michonne.

“Glock, I think.”

The door opened a moment later. Rick had his weapon drawn, as did Carl. Michonne’s sword was up and ready. The newcomer was an Asian man, Korean, Rick judged, and young. He had a wide-eyed look that was usually on the face of someone who fell for a prank, like sitting on a whoopee cushion in a quiet room, and was suddenly the center of attention for all the wrong reasons.

“Uh…hi,” he said, lowering his gun. “I’m just scavenging for my group. I don’t mean anyone any harm.”

“How many in your group?” asked Rick.

“Five others,” he said. “We’re peaceful people. We don’t want any trouble.”

“Here comes a woman,” Carl said, keeping lookout by the door.

“That’s my girlfriend, Maggie. Please, don’t hurt her.”

“We’re not out to hurt anybody,” Rick said. “We just all need to remain calm.”

“Glenn? What are you--oh--”

The woman, Maggie, entered the room with her gun in hand, but lowered. “It’s okay,” Glenn told her. “I’m sure these are good people. We just all need to stay calm and nothing bad will happen.”

“Glenn and Maggie?” Carl said, frowning at them. “Maggie Greene? Your father is named Hershel?”

The newcomers looked to Carl with confused and wary expressions.

“Yeah. How do you know that?”

Carl looked over at his father and Michonne with the first smile Rick had seen since he found his son alive and in Michonne and Carol’s care.

“We know your sister, Beth,” he said.

“Beth?” Maggie asked, putting her free hand over her mouth. The sudden movement made Rick’s stomach knot for a moment. She holstered her gun and put her arms around Glenn as she began to cry.

“Beth’s alive?” Glenn asked.

Carl nodded. “She talks about her sister Maggie and her boyfriend Glenn all the time. What are the odds you’ve got their names but aren’t them? She’s fine. She’s out on a run with Daryl and Andrea now.”

“Can you take me to her?” asked Maggie.

“You can’t go off with strangers--” Glenn started, but Maggie turned away from him.

“Please, take me to her.”

“We need to think about this,” Rick said. “I’m sure you’re good people but we’re not taking you to our base only five minutes after meeting you.”

“It’s Beth’s family. You can see what a good person Beth is,” Carl said. “You really think her family would try to kill us and take our house?”

“I don’t know,” Rick said. “I’m not taking a chance.”

“I understand that,” said Glenn. “What about setting up at a meeting place of your choice?”

“There’s a gas station about three miles from here on the right side of the road. Meet us there at four o’clock.”

“I’ve gotta tell Daddy,” Maggie said. “Please, come and meet our group. We’ve had a pretty good haul out here today. We can share some food with you.”

“We’ve found a good stash of canned goods in here,” said Michonne.

“Glenn can help you move it out to your car. I assume that Jeep outside is yours,” said Maggie.

“I’d be happy to help,” Glenn offered.

Rick nodded. “Okay then. Appreciated.”

It took everything Maggie had not to run out of the house yelling for her father. She walked quickly, hurrying to find him. She couldn’t believe it. Beth. Her baby sister was alive after all. For the past year Maggie and her father had lived on the assumption that Beth had died on the farm when she had, in fact, escaped.

“Daddy!” Maggie said, beginning to weep again.

“My God. Glenn,” her father, Hershel said, seeing the tears come from her eyes. “Where is he? Is he bit somewhere I can amputate?”

She shook her head at once and threw her arms around him. “Glenn's fine. Daddy...it’s Beth. She’s alive.”

*****

“Where are you taking me?” Beth asked Michonne and Rick. She rode in the back with Daryl and Carl, holding Daryl's hand and looking confused.

“Something you need to see,” Rick said cryptically. “I promise, you’re gonna love this.”

Beth frowned but settled back in the seat. What could be so important that she and Daryl had to leave the house and the big job of unpacking their goods on Andrea and Carol alone?

Michonne slowed the jeep and turned left, driving into the parking area of an abandoned BP that had already been picked clean. There was a pickup truck and an old RV parked there. Beth noticed the truck at once, thinking it looked exactly like the one her father had owned. She found herself doing that a lot since she’d been separated from her family. She saw things that made her think of her father and sister, and Glenn, the man she’d adopted as her brother. Every time it caused her a stab of pain straight through her heart.

“You met new people?” asked Daryl, also wondering what was going on. He grabbed his crossbow and climbed out, ready for anything that may come their way next. 

Beth saw that the door to the RV was open and several shadows were inside.One of those shadows emerged from the RV and she thought she would faint from sheer disbelief.

“Oh, my God…Daddy. Daddy!”

She took off across the parking lot like a bolt from Daryl’s crossbow, heading straight and true into her father’s open arms. He was old but tall and still strong. He spun her around, openly weeping. Maggie and Glenn soon joined them, smothering Beth in hugs until she nearly disappeared. 

“Damn,” Daryl said, his eyes going moist.

“I know,” said Rick, blinking rapidly. He looked at Carl, who was already gazing up at him. For the first time since being reunited, Carl’s eyes weren’t full of anger and resentment when he looked at his father.

Then Carl looked away, and suddenly his eyes widened. “Dad,” he said, pointing.

Rick heard them before he saw them. A herd of walkers were emerging from the woods behind the gas station. They came out, crashing through the overgrowth and the kudzu, vines and leaves stuck to their skin in clumps like cancerous growths.

“Beth!” Daryl shouted, and ran toward her.

“Walkers!” Rick shouted. “Inside! Get inside!”

The group immediately started for the BP station, but rick saw two members of Hershel’s group were stuck inside the RV.

“Who’s left out there?” Michonne asked. She helped Rick push a shelf in front of the doors to keep the walkers at bay.

“Sasha and Dale,” said Hershel. He and Maggie were still holding onto Beth. They'd just gotten her back, and they had no intentions of letting her go.

Rick ran to the window and looked out at the RV. None of the walkers had circled it yet, and the door was securely shut. If Sasha and Dale were quiet, it was possible the walkers would never know they were inside.

“Drive off,” the large, muscular black man that had been introduced as Tyreese, whispered, as he looked out at the RV. “He should drive off and get Sasha out of here.”

“You’re her brother, Tyreese. You’re all the family she has left. Sasha would pitch a fit if he tried that,” Hershel said. “She’d never allow it. Not while you’re trapped in here.”

“We may as well face it,” said Glenn darkly. “We’re fucked.”



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