There had always been a divide. In every place you looked, before the world fell in on itself there were always groups formed, people outcasted. Most of the time people feared what they couldn't understand. And people don't understand a lot.

Lorelei saw the group gathered as she approached, emerging from the dark. She had arrived a bit late, but apparently she wasn't the only one planing on making a late apperence because Rick and Glenn were still no where to be seen, apparently Deanna didn't care or have any more patience to wait.

"We're going to start." The older woman announced gaining the groups attention.

"Can we wait?" Maggie asked glancing around, "There's still people coming. Glenn, Rick."

"We're going to start." the woman repeated, more definitively this time, "It's already dark. We're going to talk about what happened. Not the fight. Not what precipitated it. We're dealing with that. We're going to talk about one of our constables, Rick Grimes. We're going to talk about how he had a pistol he stole from the armory, about how he pointed it at people. And we're going to talk about what he said. I was hoping he'd be here."

"So maybe we should take another minute." Lorelei replied, trying to reason with the woman, "He'll be here."  she didn't like the idea of people talking about Rick and him not being around to defend himself.

"And I'm sure we can work this all out." Carol said innocently putting an end to the conversation.

<><><><><>

It had been more than a minute, Rick still wasn't there. Lorelei started to get worried, Glenn hadn't showed up either and she knew neither of them would miss this on purpose. Michonne was in the middle of speaking,"And after being out there, and then not being how you were out there- it can drive you crazy. Rick just wants his family to live. He wants all of you to live. Who he is is who you're gonna be," She says turning to Deanna, "If you're lucky."

Carol was next continuing her helpless facade as she spoke, talking about how Rick saved her life and how scary the world was. Then Abraham with his interesting contribution, "Simply put, there is a vast ocean of shit you people don't know shit about. Rick knows every fine grain of said shit, and then some." That was definitely her favorite so far.

After a moment Lorelei cleared her throat getting ready to speak, she was hoping Rick would be there when her turn came but he was still no where to be seen, she had to convince herself he was fine as she carried on.

"Some of you may think my opinion is biased, but to tell you the truth, I don't really give a shit." she stated bluntly, " You people have lived here, some since the start. You hide behind these walls, protected. And that's great and it's worked so far, but there will come a day, when the walls won't be enough. Someone, or something will come and either, break down, or climb those walls, and you won't be as safe as you thought you were. When that happens, and I say when, because it will, when that happens you're gonna need someone like Rick, and his people. They're strong, they're fighters. Some of you may be too, but you don't know it. And these are the only people who can bring it out of you, who can make you strong, make you the fighters you need to be."

Maggie was the last to speak in favor of Rick, "My father respected Rick Grimes. Rick is a father, too. He's a man with a good heart who feels the things he does, the things he has to do. And all of us who were together before this place, no matter when we found each other, we're family now." She said, saying the last part while glancing at Lorelei, which made the woman smile slightly, "Rick started that. And you won't stop it. You can't. And you don't want to. This community, you people- that family, you want to be a part of it, too."

Before anyone else could speak Deanna decided to say something herself, "Before we hear from anyone else, I- I would like to share something in the spirit of transparency. Father Gabriel came to see me the day before yesterday and he said our new arrivals can't be trusted, that they were dangerous, that they would put themselves before this community. And not one day later, Rick seemed to demonstrate all the things Father Gabriel said. I had hoped Gabriel would be here tonight." Jesse interrupts.

"I don't see him here, Deanna."

"So that just means you're saying something with out proof." Lorelei added.

"He's not here." Maggie says.

"Neither is Rick." Deanna retorts.

"Excuse me." Maggie said before walking away, seeming to have finally had enough of the meeting.

After a few seconds Tobin stands up, "I just want to keep my family safe. You know? And I don't even know what that means anymore, but if it means that we've got to get rid of-"

The man suddenly paused, his eyes drawn away, while everyone curiously followed what he was now staring at.

Rick was standing there, covered in blood and holding the body of a walker, to say Lorelei was confused was an understatement. He carried the body in, dropping it on the ground, "There wasn't a guard on the gate. It was open." He said with a rough and tired voice.

Deanna immediately looked to her son Spencer, same as Lorelei did because he was who was on the shift after her.

"I asked Gabriel to close it." He said answering their silent question.

"Go." Deanna told her son sharply.

"I didn't bring it in." Rick started, "It got inside on its own. They always will- the dead and the living, because we're in here. And the ones out there- they'll hunt us. They'll find us. They'll try to use us. They'll try to kill us. But we'll kill them. We'll survive. I'll show you how. You know, I was thinking- I was thinking how many of you do I have to kill to save your lives? But I'm not gonna do that. You're gonna change. I'm not sorry for what I said last night. I'm sorry for not saying it sooner. You're not ready, but you have to be. Right now, you have to be. Luck runs out."

Footsteaps sounded behind the man, "You're not one of us." Pete said anger dripping from his tone as he held what Lorelei assumed was Michonnes katana in his hand, "You're not one of us!"

Reg moved in between the two trying his best to try and Cool down the situation, "Pete, you don't want to do this." He told the man.

"Get the hell away from me," Pete retorted, Lorelei's hand grazed the handle of her knife, seeing the hostility of the situation.

"Reg." Deanna calls cautiously.

"Pete, just stop." Reg calls again, trying to calm Pete.

"Get away." Pete yells, "Get away!"

The man angrily pushed Reg out of his way, unfortunately as he did so the sharpe end of the katana brutally cut through the flesh of Reg's neck leaving him with a slit throat as he began to choke on his blood.

The older man desperately gasped for air as he fell to the floor his wife's screams falling deaf to his ears. Abraham immediately took action tackling the guilty surgeon to the ground as everyone watched Deanna begin to sob as she held her dying husband.

"This is him! This is him!" Pete yelled in desperation trying to defend himself.

"Oh, God! Oh, my love." Deanna cried while the tears cascaded down her cheeks, the gathered crowd watching helplessly.

"It's him! This is him!" Pete continues to scream trying to justify himself.

Reg goes limp, and Deanna turns to Rick with a cold voice, "Rick... do it."

The man doesn't hesitate lifting his python and pulling the trigger putting a bullet in the surgeons brain, while women in the crowd shriek in horror.

"Rick?"

The voice came from a distance with a questioning tone, breaking through the silence and drawing attention.

A man Lorelei had never seen before stood there, beside Aaron and Daryl, and although Lorelei wanted to go welcome her friend home, she could still hear the cries of people behind her and the shocked look of the unfamiliar man in front of her.

So the only thing she was left with was questions. A few of them being who was this guy, and how did he know Rick?

<><><><><><>

VOTE AND COMMENT PLEASE <3