From the moment Glenn rescued him back in Atlanta, he had been by Rick's side. He was the first person in this group Rick had come to see as family.
If even Glenn and Maggie felt that way, what about everyone else?
A thread of panic suddenly churned in Rick's chest.
Rick grabbed helplessly at his hair. The once-confident sheriff's beautiful blue eyes were now full of vulnerability.
Had he made the wrong choice from the very beginning?
Calista had helped them so much. Her people had even taken the prison ahead of time, giving them an excellent foundation.
Back then, he should have taken the group and left with Calista. If he had, then maybe no one at the prison would have failed to survive the winter...
Rick shook his head, as if trying to fling those weak thoughts away.
With heavy steps, he walked out of the communications room.
In the courtyard, Dale and Carol were standing guard on the watchtower. Carl was practicing dagger blocks with Sophia and a few other children.
The other newcomers were all busy with their own work too. The prison was much better now than it had been last year.
Hershel was sitting on the steps not far away, repairing a small farming tool.
When he saw Rick approaching, Hershel looked up. Beneath his graying brows, those eyes, always gentle and compassionate, immediately caught the stiffness in Rick's expression.
"Maggie and the others made it?"
"They made it."
Rick sat down beside him on the concrete steps, pulled a crumpled cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag.
He rarely smoked, and the smoke made him cough hard.
"Lori's settled in. Glenn said... the conditions over there are good."
Hershel nodded and waited in silence.
He knew Rick well enough to understand that there was more behind those few simple words.
Rick took another drag, his unfocused gaze drifting toward a walker wandering beyond the barbed wire in the distance.
"Glenn said... Rock Fortress is very well organized and doing a lot of things. He suggested that we should go see it for ourselves if we get the chance."
He tried to make his tone sound casual, but the complicated bitterness still slipped through.
Hershel listened quietly. He did not speak right away, only watched Rick's smoke-veiled profile.
After a while, he slowly said, "That girl Maggie already had half her heart over there before she left. She couldn't hide it.
Leah and Calista... they saved Maggie. They saved Beth's life. They saved the farm when it was at its darkest.
That bond means something different to Maggie. Besides, those two pairs of sisters always got along well."
Rick abruptly turned to look at Hershel. His eyes carried the awkwardness of someone whose hidden thoughts had been exposed, along with confusion.
"Hershel, you... you're not worried? What if they think it's better over there and don't want to come back? Glenn, he..."
He choked on the words and could not finish, but Hershel understood.
The old man let out a soft sigh. There was too much in that sigh.
Concern for his daughter traveling far away, understanding for the choices of the young, and pity for the man before him, who carried the weight of the entire prison community on his shoulders.
"Rick," he said, his voice even gentler, "Maggie is an adult now, and so is Glenn. They have their own eyes and their own hearts. They'll see and feel things for themselves.
If that place really is as good as Glenn says, then it's a blessing for Lori and the child. And for Maggie... maybe it's also the road she wants to take."
Seeing Rick about to argue, Hershel raised a hand to stop him. "I know what you're thinking.
Responsibility. The group. Everything here.
I understand. I understand all of it.
But you can't fence in people's hearts with barbed wire.
Let them go see, let them compare. Even if they really do choose to stay, that is their life."
Hershel paused, his gaze deepening. "As for us, Rick. You, me, Dale, Andrea, T-Dog, Jacqui, Carol, Otis, Patricia...
And Oscar and the others. They didn't leave with Calista back then. They chose to stay. Remember?
And the hundred-plus people in the prison waiting to be fed and protected. This is our reality.
The prison walls need reinforcement. We still haven't stored enough fuel for this winter. The new arrivals' training is a complete mess. The water pump in the southeast corner is broken again...
None of that will disappear just because Glenn saw some better place.
We have to keep our eyes on these problems and our hands where they're needed. No matter how pretty someone else's yard is, we still have to fix our own fence first, don't we?"
Hershel did not mention Beth and Jimmy. Even he could not say for sure. After all, Beth liked Calista and Leah too. Who knew whether she might follow in her sister's footsteps?
Rick fell silent, the fingers holding the cigarette trembling slightly.
Yes. Reality.
Endless trouble from the outside, and because the people in charge were lenient and soft-hearted, the friction inside the prison was growing day by day as supplies ran short.
That was what he had to face. The true reality.
Rick ground the cigarette butt out on the ground, stood up, and patted the dust off his pants.
When he spoke again, his voice had returned to its usual weary firmness. "You're right, Hershel. We have our own battles to fight."
He glanced at Carl, who was still practicing. "I'll go check the water pump. Before dinner, have T-Dog gather the newer arrivals. I'll go over the rules with them again."
Hershel watched Rick's straight yet somehow heavy back as he walked toward the repair shed, then gently shook his head.
He could understand Rick's fear and need for control. That was the instinct a leader relied on to survive in desperate times, especially a responsible leader like Rick.
But Hershel also saw more clearly that the world was changing, and people's hearts were moving.
Maggie and Beth were like birds that had grown up and would eventually leave the nest. Perhaps Rock Fortress was the greener forest they had found.
As a father, no matter how worried he was, he could only give them his blessing and put the rest of his strength into helping Rick stabilize the prison in front of them.
...
At Blackberry Ranch, on the third evening after their arrival, Glenn and Maggie finally had a small argument.
The reason was simple: after dinner, should they go back to rest, or attend a "small discussion session" being held in the ranch's communal dining hall?
It was mainly for several newly joined ranchers, the UTK agricultural staff, Morgan, and the others who had previously been responsible for agriculture to share experience on managing overwintering crops and protecting livestock from the cold.
Howard, as a retired senior agronomy professor from UTK, had quickly become the center of the newly arrived UTK agronomy teaching assistants and related students. Under his lead, agricultural work at Blackberry Ranch was moving along with real energy.
This sharing session had also been organized by them.
Maggie was very interested. That afternoon, while helping tidy the feed warehouse, someone had warmly invited her.
"I want to go listen, Glenn. I used to go to things like this with Dad a few times, but back then, we didn't have scholars from UTK there."
Maggie combed her hair in front of the small mirror in the room, her anticipation coming naturally.
...
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