CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

˚THE HERD˚

"All I wanted was to break your walls. I never meant to start a war"

FOR THE REST of the day, both Rick and Reign were kept in a house, away from the rest of the Alexandrians while Deanna decided what to do with them. It was if they were in punishment, waiting to hear what the penalty would be for their crimes. They had been patched up by Denise, all their cuts and scrapes taken care of, making them look human again and less of monsters.

Despite the fact they were in trouble, Reign smiled knowing she had kicked Nicholas's ass. He had gotten what he deserved, making Reign overlook the severity of what she had done. Rick felt the same way. He had attacked Pete because he was abusing his wife, Jessie. Their son had even asked Carol and Rick for a gun so he could protect his mom. Both Rick and Reign had reasonable excuses to justify their actions, however it made them seem like the enemy.

"My brother told me that Nicholas confronted Deanna as soon as we got back yesterday. He complained to her that we weren't like them, that we were nothing but bad news," Reign said, as she fiddled with her fingers. They had been kept in the dark, concealed house for almost eight hours with nothing but water and a granola bar.

She leaned against the wall on a mattress while Rick sat across the room on his own mattress. Apparently they were supposed to stay there until Deanna came to a solution, and that might take all day and night.

"Do you think we proved his point?" Rick asked, his lips twitching with a smile.

Reign shrugged. "I don't regret what I did, and I doubt neither do you."

"No," Rick said with a laugh. "No I don't. I was going to give it to them eventually."

Reign cocked her head to the side as she listened closely. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Rick adjusted himself on the mattress, bringing his knees up to his chest. "As soon as we got here, your father, Carol and I advised a plan to hide guns, just in case things went south. We didn't want another repeat of the prison, or Terminus. They're out in the forest, a secret stash that we've been hiding and collecting for a while now, taking them from the armoury."

"You stole them?" Reign gasped with a smile. Quite honestly she felt left out, as she wished she was in on this plan. Although she really did want to give this place a try, she knew as well as Rick did that this place was too good to be true, like a ticking time bomb. Sooner or later it would all collapse because they were all so weak.

"Well Damon granted us access when he was on duty. Silly how they trusted him so easily. Then again, he probably compelled Olivia," Rick explained, but Reign had zoned him out the minute he mentioned that vampire's name.

"Wait, Damon was in on this too?" She grew serious, frustrated even.

"Yeah, he wanted to work from the inside, which is why he compelled himself a position overlooking the armoury. He compelled my position as Sheriff, and even your job at the infirmary," Rick said, like it was no big deal.

Why the hell would Damon compel something like that? It didn't make sense to Reign. Damon had lied and told Deanna she had medical experience when she had next to none. The thought made her mind twist inside out, anger pulsing through her veins.

"You knew about this?" Reign scoffed. She felt like everyone was keeping secrets from her all of a sudden.

"Reign," Rick said gently. "Dylan begged us to keep you out of it. He wanted you to have a normal start here, without any secrets. We've been working to make sure this place doesn't collapse, that it doesn't break away like all the other communities we've been to. It's just that the people living here are beginning to become a problem."

Although it made Reign's heart warm that her brother was always looking out for her, she couldn't help but be mad she had been lied to again. She hated how Dylan always treated her like a child. She always knew the people living here were too sheltered, too protected beyond fix. They couldn't be cured, meaning they were bound to die at some point, just like how Aidan had died.

"You know we could easily take this place, right? We have vampires for God's sake. Even without them we would take this place no problem!" Reign said.

"Noah saw a future for this place, and to build that there has to be people. I don't want to tear this place apart," Rick explained. He spoke as if he had carefully thought this through. With the mention of Noah, Reign couldn't argue. "If it comes to it- IF - it comes to it, yes we'll take it. We'll just have to wait and see what Deanna will decide."

"She'll throw us out to the curb. I know she's been dying to do so as soon as I stepped foot in here. Everywhere I go, I mess things up. I was just waiting for the queue to do so, and I guess this is it."

Reign stood up angrily, throwing the blanket down on the bed as she put on her leather jacket. There was no way she was staying there, just waiting to hear her fate. She wasn't a cow waiting to see if it would be used for milk or sent to the slaughter.

"Where are you going?" Rick glared up at her as she put on her boots.

"Out of here. I'm not sitting around while they sit around a grand old table and discuss all our failures. Like you said, they don't know jack shit," Reign commented numbly, all emotion extracted from her voice. She reached into the hem of her pants and pulled out her pocket knife.

"And do what? You don't even have your sword." Rick seemed unimpressed. Although, he didn't stop her. He knew there was no stopping a Dixon.

"I'll do something useful with myself and take out a few of the dead with my here knife, make the world less ugly." Maybe I should just take out myself while I'm at it, she thought, but didn't dare say aloud.

Before Rick could try to talk her out of it, she climbed out the window and snuck over the metal fence, entering the area that was filled with great danger yet felt like home.

◎ ◉ ◎

When Reign escaped, it had been the late hours of the night. Now it had turned into the early hours of the morning, the sun just beginning to rise. She had only been out and about for two hours, her eyes not even showing a sign of fatigue. All she did was walk along the road and practice her throwing skills with her knife whenever a walker passed.

She found herself on a road in the middle of no where, with nothing but forests surrounding her. There were no houses, no buildings or any form of shelter, except for the leaves of the trees. She thought about climbing up there to take a nap, but a walker emerged from the forest.

She flipped her knife in her hand and steadied herself, using her left hand to aim her knife while her right hand raised it. She closed one eye and drew in a breath, but then lowered her arms completely, choosing to just stand there as the walker approached her. She was so tired, hungry and overall defeated. The guilt had taken a toll on her. She wondered if this was what she was meant to do, if she was meant to be eaten alive just like Aidan and Noah.

Reign was a big believer in everything happens for a reason. There must have been a reason for Aidan to die, a reason Noah was taken at such a young age. Maybe it was to make Reign realize that it was her time to go too. Make the world less complicated, less ugly. She knew it sounded bizarre, but she was just so done with everything. She didn't want to die, but she felt as if she deserved it.

So she dropped her knife to the ground and laid on the pavement. She stared up at the clouds, admiring their deep orange as the sun began to rise. It wasn't a bad sight. She just laid there, listening to the walker moan as it got closer. If it was supposed to happen, it would.

But it never did.

The walker suddenly stopped moaning, and all Reign heard was the sound of a body collapsing to the ground. She laid still, unsure of what to do when suddenly a shadow came over her body, a face hovering above hers. It was Damon wearing a disappointed look.

"What the hell was that just now? Were you actually giving up?" Damon scolded. He was angry which made Reign confused.

Reign let out a literal growl, inhaling furiously as she got up. She ignored Damon, as he had done in the past, before picking up her knife and sword that Damon had flung at the oncoming walker.

"So that's it? You're not going to talk to me?" Damon said.

Reign kept a stern expression as she turned around in the direction away from Alexandria. Although she was thankful Damon had brought her sword, she wasn't about to exchange any words with him at the moment.

"Ah, the silent treatment," Damon said with a low laugh. "We'll see how long this will last."

Reign kept walking, feeling Damon's presence a few footsteps behind her but she tried to ignore it. She hated how Damon always had to be there, and she hated it more because she knew he was only looking out for her. Basically he made it hard to hate him.

Damon started whistling idly, no real tune in mind as he walked behind Reign and kicked a pebble every once in a while. He was starting to annoy the hell out of Reign, but she wasn't about to break. She was stubborn, and could hold a grudge. God knows that's what the two of them had been doing; holding a grudge about a stupid fight, all because they were afraid to admit the truth. All of a sudden Damon's whistling stopped, allowing Reign some peace. But only for a second.

"I'm sorry about Aidan," Damon said suddenly.

Reign's breath caught in her throat, and she knew Damon had probably caught that, but she kept on walking.

"Did you love him?" he asked.

"I thought you weren't talking to me," Reign spat, not daring to look at him. She felt him speed up with vamp speed in front of her, walking backwards as she marched forwards.

"Well I am now, so just answer the question," Damon said.

"Ohh, so now that Damon Salvatore has decided we can talk again it's okay? I must've missed that, because I've already moved on. I got your message, and I know you got mine at the party," Reign hissed, referring to how Damon eyed Aidan and her getting close. All of that felt like a year old memory now. Part of her even wondered if Aidan was a real person, as he had entered and left her life so abruptly, like he didn't even exist. All that remained was this heavy feeling in her chest.

"Did you love him?" Damon repeated.

Reign could only laugh as she stopped in her tracks. "Why are you here Damon? Did you come to rub his death in my face, because I know he was weak. He was weak like his mother, too happy for this world, but he was a nice man, a genuine one."

"No, of course not," Damon said quietly, a look of hurt on his face. "Dylan sent me to come get you before Deanna finds out you're gone."

"Why would he send you?" Reign snapped.

"I don't know. You tell me," Damon said, his arms crossed as they stood apart from one another.

Reign didn't want to answer that. She knew very well why Dylan would have sent Damon, but she sure as hell wasn't about to admit it.

"I'm not going back there. Deanna will take my head if I ever show my face around there again." Reign looked down at the ground, ashamed.

"I'll make sure that doesn't happen," Damon said.

"How?" Reign scoffed. "I'm responsible for her son's death!"

Damon shook his head as he stepped a foot closer, putting his hands on Reign's shoulders. She looked down at the ground, trying to hide her face as she desperately tried to hold back tears. She had cried too much lately, something that she didn't often do. It's not so much that she was blind to tears, but rather she hated the feeling it gave her, and she always got awkward as she had with every other emotion.

"You and I both know that's not true-"

"You weren't there, Damon," Reign said, lifting her head up. "It was just one walker. One walker that I could've easily taken out, but Aidan wanted to and so I let him. He was a horrible shot, and so Nicholas joined in. Then I saw the grenade strapped to its chest, and-and I tried to warn them, but Nicholas didn't listen and fired the shot!" Reign felt her eyes sting with tears. "I watched as he was eaten alive! I listened to his screams, and if I think hard enough I can still hear them. I shot him. I ended his misery."

Reign was crying now, unable to hold it back any longer. She stood there with her body shaking and her eyes red with tears. Damon couldn't just stand there and watch, so he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her while she cried.

"I didn't love him," Reign said in between sobs. "But he made me feel normal."

"He made you forget all the things that you've done," Damon said.

Reign only nodded against his chest, sniffling every few seconds as she tried to contain herself. All of her tangled emotions were falling out now like monkeys in a barrel. Now she could see them all clearly, allowing herself to organize them properly in the safety of Damon's arms.

He just held her, knowing not to pull away until she did first. She was, after all, the one who needed the hug the most. That wasn't to say however that Damon didn't need it either. He wanted Reign back, someone who had become incredibly important to him. He didn't know why, but when Reign was mad at him, it was the worst feeling in the world.

After a few minutes, Reign eventually pulled away. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket, slowing down her breathing before looking back at Damon. He wore a kind smile, his eyes bluer than she had ever seen them. As he looked at her, he couldn't help but feel guilty. 

"Listen, Reign, I'm sorry how I treated you during our argument. I really am. I was a dick and you didn't deserve that," Damon said, running a hand through his dark hair.

Damon knew he had been a dick, he really did, but he was angry. For once he wanted people to stop assuming horrible things about him, or blaming his actions on his past. Reign had accused him of killing without thinking twice, of killing like the murderous vampire he was. Although deep down that was true, the reason that hurt him so badly was because he had hoped Reign would see past that. He didn't want that to be all Reign saw him as: a bad tempered, blood thirsty vampire. He didn't want to be seen as a monster, especially not to Reign.

"I just, I'm tired of people assuming that I'm some sort of monster without knowing my reasons," he explained.

In that moment, Reign had never related to Damon so much. She realized how alike they were, part of her coming to understand why she both hated yet admired him at the same time. He was a damn dark mystery, but it was a mystery she was a part of too.

"Yeah." Reign drew in a deep breath. "Yeah, I get that."

"Hey, if we go back there right now, Deanna won't know that you're gone and everything will be figured out..." Damon continued talking, but Reign had drowned him out.

She was more focused on walkers in the distance, several of them coming up the road over the hill. The whole street and part of the forest line was filled with them, forcing Reign to check it out. Damon flailed his arms angrily to the side as she walked away from him, but followed after her none the less.

They walked a little further on the road until they reached a higher part, giving them a better view of the area. They stopped frozen, their jaws dropped, eyes wide, and stomach filling with dread.

Ahead of them was a mile long herd of walkers, heading straight towards the road to Alexandria.

"Oh my god," Reign gasped.

"We have to go back and warn them. They're still a day out from Alexandria, and if we get back in time we'll be able to do something about it," Damon said.

Reign nodded. "I guess Deanna's gonna have to face me now," she remarked.

Together Reign and Damon turned to head back home, a mix of emotions floating around them. Before they spotted the herd, they had been getting closer, friendlier, and then after they were just filled with fear. Reign couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if they didn't spot the herd, and how their conversation would've unfolded.

Then suddenly, there was a voice.

"Hey!"

Damon and Reign looked at one another, expecting to see their mouths open as the source of the sound, but neither of them had said anything. The veins under Damon's eyes lit up in a defensive way as he looked around, scanning the tree tops.

"There," Damon said, pointing to a tall tree.

Reign had to look closely, but she saw him. In the tree was a man with long amber hair and a beanie. He was smiling at the two of them, despite the fact their was a massive herd on their tail. Reign and Damon just watched as the man climbed down the tree and met them by the pavement. He had his hands held out to the side, meaning no harm before slowly approaching them.

"Who are you?" Reign asked, her sword held out in front of her.

"My name is Paul Rovia, but my friends call me Jesus," he said with a smile. Neither Reign nor Damon were amused.

"I'm from another community, and I've been following this herd for a while, making sure it doesn't get any closer. We have about-"

Before Jesus could get into more detail about his place, Damon speed over to him and knocked him on the side of his head, knocking him out cold. If this herd was coming right for Alexandria, they had no time to waste.

________________________

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[EDITED: 08/11/18]