Ch. 15 Plans and Big Bros

Maggie eventually helped Michael stand up. He put his sunglasses on and was eventually able to be normal. It took a few minutes. "Thanks Maggie, I can't honestly remember the last time I cried" Michael tried to get back to his usual self but Maggie could tell that try is a strong word.

"Take your time, we aren't surrounded by walkers so your ok" Maggie tried to let Michael know that they have some breathing room.

"Oh. Maggie. Babe. You didn't just say that"

"What? What's wrong with what I said?"

"You just jinxed this entire place... damn…. and now I just remembered some things. I need to get the map in my pack"

"I jinxed us?"

"No, sorry. It's like asking for trouble? Don't worry about it. But I just remembered that the town was overrun by walkers"

"Ok?"

"No, listen. The town we thought was clear of walkers is now littered with them. They are moving. And what's stopping them from coming to the farm? We don't have any defenses against the walkers, or other humans for that matter. We need to talk to Rick. Rick can talk to Hershel afterwards"

"Alright. We should go to the 'base camp' as you call it and wait for him. The walkers won't be able to get here for a while even if they walk straight here"

They exit the house and go towards base camp by the rows of trees. Carol is sitting on a chair and the kids are actually reading books.

"Hey Carol, how'd you get them to read?"

"Michael!" "Big bro!" Paul and Briana hear Michael and run towards him. He gives them a hug. He sees that they were reading about some fantasy adventure or something.

"How are you ya little Gremlins? How you doing Carl? Feeling ok?"

""We're good"" the twins say at the same time.

"Doing good. Feeling better each day. I'm just tired of sitting still all day"

"How about the four of us go for a walk in a little bit. I'll follow while you three lead the way. That way we stay safe. Yeah?"

"Cool" Carl says. He has Ricks sheriff hat on.

The twins start talking about their day with Carol and the flowers around.

"Thank you Carol. I'm sorry you always seem to be on babysitting duty"

"She isn't babysitting us! We aren't babies!" Paul says. "Yeah, Paul's right Michael! We aren't babies anymore!"

"You munchkins will always be babies to me, alright? But fine, not baby sitting" Michael puts his hands in the air. Carol laughs at their banter.

"Alright well. Can you look after them a bit longer Carol? I need to take a look at the map and talk to Rick but he isn-". As Michael was talking a car was driving down the dirt path. "Speak of the devil"

Carl gets up and waits for the car to get closer.

The car parks and Rick, Tdog and Glenn get out. Carl goes and hugs his dad. And the other two start taking things out of the back. Seems they went for a supply run or something.

"Rick, I need to talk to you please. Soon"

Rick pats Carl on the shoulder "go hang out with the twins for a little longer bud"

"Michael said he will take me Paul and Briana for a walk later, and we get to decide where to walk!"

"Did he now? Go get ready then" Rick pushes Carl forward so he can talk with Michael.

"Rick, we need to talk about finding a safe place"

"This place IS safe Michael"

"It's safe for NOW Rick. It's gonna get cold and we can't all fit in the house. And remember all those walkers that just appeared in town? What's stopping them from swarming this farm"

"They can't and they won't"

"Do you really believe that? Rick, we need walls and we're running out of ammo as it is. We're all going crazy from the stress of being in the open. It's gotten better. Here, I have a map and I might remember a good place that could be safe"

"Michael, we don't need another place. We don't need to stretch ourselves more thin"

"Rick, do you want to be lost when the farm inevitably goes down or do you want options? Fort Bening isn't an option anymore. I think that the sooner we find a new place the better. When I was traveling with my brother and sister I had a map. I have a map. And I remember there being a prison not all that far away, well, it's actually pretty far away. But maybe that's a good thing. If this place gets overrun we don't want to be close"

"Woah woah woah. Slow down Michael. Fine, we need to find a new place incase the worst happens. I get that. Let me think for a minute. Go get the map and meet me over by the car"

Rick turns around and runs his hands through his hair. He has to seriously think about this. He knows that Michael is right and that they were getting complacent, they weren't planning for the future. He was the leader so it was time to start acting and thinking like one. He knew Michael was smart sometimes so he trusted his word.

Michael turned and Maggie had her arms crossed. "You think the farms gonna fall?"

"Maggie..." He doesn't want to tell her but knows that she is just attached to the farm. "Yes, I believe the farm will fall. Sooner rather than later. But we have time to prepare. We can use that time and take your family photos and other things with us. If we don't prepare we can lose everything. I'd rather be prepared just in case, right?"

"I hate it when you're right sometimes. Why do you have to be stupid only with me" She grabs his collar down and kisses him. The kids say eww and are grossed out. Briana and Paul say something about cooties, maybe he shouldn't have taught them that part of his childhood.

"You know you love it when I'm stupid" he kisses her back.

"Alright, care to follow me?" Michael says as he grabs her hand and leads her to his tent.

He gets in and is looking through a duffel bag where he thinks the map should be. He finds it within three minutes.

"You got a lot of stuff in here. You plan on leaving?" Maggie jokes but is slightly worried seeing the 5 bags inside.

"You know your stuck with me right? I wasn't joking about that part" Michael says. Maggie rolls her eyes but feels better after hearing Michael. "Yeah, alright" Maggie says looking away from Michael. He grabs her face and makes her look at him and kisses her. "Love you" he says. Maggie smiles and puts her hand on his thats on her face. She enjoys his touch. "Love you too".

After a moment they exited the tent with the map. Michael and Maggie went to the hood and opened the map. Michael scanned the forest for a prison. He knew it had to be relatively close on the map.

On the map is West Georgia Correctional Facility. And Michael Kane's that was the one. It was hidden and tucked away. It was a miracle they found it without the map because it was a miracle he found it on the map.

Michael shows Rick and he sees the gears start turning. It would take them over a week to get there in a straight line with a car. And that's if they know where they are going.

"Alright. We will stay here at the farm for now. I need to talk to the Hershel and the others. Thank you Michael"

And with that Rick goes off to try and convince Hershel that he will have to leave the farm. He also tells the others about the prison. They don't like the idea at first but after Rick explains that they will have walls and a better place to sleep. More food that could be inside the prison. Also weapons and ammunition galore. They were convinced pretty easily since ya know. They were currently sleeping in tents.

Daryl was willing to stick with the group but was feeling like an outsider. Even though his opinion is valued. He also is a tracker and has a set of skills that the group needs. He's just feeling complicated after Sophias discovery in the barn as a walker. Rick also wasn't doing hot after that but had a family to help him through it.

Everyone planned to get ready to leave and we're told they would be scavenging fuel and supplies heavily for the next few days before they left.

After an hour of talking the kids were pretty bored. Carl was having an attitude and got told off by Rick because he said some bad things.

Carl stormed off. "Hey Rick, I'll take them for that walk now. That alright with you?"

"Yeah, keep em safe Michael" Rick went and talked with Lori and the others for a bit longer. Maggie went to Beth so she could have some sister time.

"Carl wait up! Cmon Paul, Briana" Michael got his bo staff and pistol.

They catch up to Carl.

"I'll lead the way" Carl says and the twins are on either side of him. They start talking about kid things. Michael is focused on their surroundings. He keeps his head on a swivel and his ears open to any sounds. He isn't jumping at every bush that moves because of the wind. But he's cautious.

"Michael, how is it being a big brother?" Carl asks. He has the sherif hat on and it looks funny on him.

"It's indescribable, why do you ask?" Michael looks down at the little guy. The twins looking at Carl.

"I found out I'm gonna be 'Big Brother Carl' soon". Lori must have told him she was pregnant.

"Well, when your brother or sister arrives I'll give you some advice. You'll be even better than me Carl" Michael puts a hand on his shoulder for a second before taking it off. He was trying to make Carl feel better in this crazy world.

"He can't be better than you! He can probably be as good as you but nobody is better than you!" Paul states.

Michael shifts his sunglasses higher on his nose bridge. "Thanks bud. That means a lot"

"Now, let's keep going. Unless we want to turn around". The three kids turned around and started walking through the trees fast. Michael kept up with his long strides.

Eventually they found a walker stuck in mud. It growled and snarled as it tried to reach the kids. Carl picked up a rock and was about to throw it at the walker when Michael caught his wrist. "Let go!"

Michael to the rock and let Carl's wrist go. He crouched down to his height and looked at him in the eyes while he kept the walker in his peripherals.

"Carl. Walkers are not something to play with. You don't throw rocks at them unless you are trying to kill them"

Carl looked upset that he was being told off.

"Paul, if you were getting attacked by a walker how would you disable it"

"Attack it's ankle or knee!"

"Briana, why do I ask you to do that?"

"Because we aren't tall or strong enough to get the heads yet" Briana quietly said. She was afraid of the walker being so close.

"Now Carl. Do you understand that you don't always have to kill a walker? The most important thing is living. Sometimes there are situations you have to kill them. But it isn't the most important thing. Don't just look at the walker, look at the surroundings. Back up, it's gonna fall"

Michael moves Carl a step back just before it falls and nearly catches Carl's leg.

"I don't say this to be mean. I say this because I want to see you grow up to be big and strong. You can't be a big brother of you are dead. And to be a good big brother you have to protect and care for your brother or sister right? Don't be afraid to ask for help. It's not a sign of weakness. Only a true man knows when to ask for help. Because he knows that not asking for help will be worse in the long run"

Carl nods his head. He was trying to make sense of what he was told.

"Now, let's take care of this guy. I've had Paul and Briana take care of a walker before so they don't freeze when they have to do it for the first time"

Michael uses his heel of his boot to break the arms of the walker.

"No gun Carl. Use your own hands, here. Use this knife"

Michael holds out a strong sharp knife. Carl tried to take it but Michael doesn't let go.

"When someone hands you a knife they will hold the blade and offer you the handle. You will take the handle and say 'Thank you' to signify you have hold of the blade and that the other person can let go so you don't cut their fingers or drop the knife on somebody's toes. You don't have to say it if you are being stealthy or something. Try it"

Carl looked a little frustrated. He wanted to kill the walker. It got another lecture. "Thank you"

Michael let the blade go. "It's heavier than you though right? It's a weapon and used to kill things. It should always feel heavy. Maybe no physically after some time, but emotionally. It should carry a weight emotionally"

"It's heavy but I don't get what you mean"

"Don't worry about it for now. It'll make sense eventually. Not necessarily when you're older. It could be tomorrow or it could be when you are 30. The goal is to eventually figure out what I meant alright? Now do it"

Carl slowly approached. Michael had his staff ready to block the walkers teeth or move Carl away with force if necessary.

Carl swallowed his saliva as he looked at the walker with its torn lips. It was dirty and smelled terrible. It looked skinny and had tattered clothes. It's eyes sunken into its skull and patchy hair that doesn't look good.

He took a deep breath and stepped closer. He held the knife in both hands as he stood over the walker. He brought the dagger up and then dropped it onto the skull of the walker.

The blade hit the skull and just slid down its forehead. Carl took a few steps back, he didn't expect to miss.

"The skull is harder than you think Carl. It's what protects our brain. Do you understand why sometimes it's better to cripple the walker than kill it sometimes? Now hold the knife firmly and aim for what's beneath the walker when you stab. Don't just try and stab the skull. Try and stab through it"

Carl looked at Michael and then over to the twins who nodded at him.

"You can do it" Briana said.

"You got this man!" Paul loudly stated like it was a fact he read in the book. He actually probably read it in that book he was reading earlier.

Carl gets close to the walker again and this time tries to stab the ground beneath the walkers skull.

Carl feels the vibration in the knife as it cracks through the skull and plunged deeper into the brain.

The walkers head falls to the ground lifeless. The knife is stuck inside the skull and Carl let's it go and backs up. He's happy he did it but his hands are shaking.

"Good job Carl" Michael says nag gets the knife out. He wipes it on the tattered clothes of the walker to clean it a bit.

"Alright. Are we ready to go back?"

The kids seemed ready to walk back since they walked pretty far. They made their way back and the kids were hungry so he let them go since a lot of people were around. They knew better than to leave this area. He saw them run to Lori and knew he was about to get bitched at. Lori sends a glare his way as Carl is probably explaining what they did. He didn't regret his actions but he knows he will have to get told off.