A big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and review my first ever fic! This will be the final chapter and I really hope you enjoy it. I will be writing a new piece pretty soon which will focus on Rick's and Michonne's budding relationship from the prison days up to the present. I have a lot of ideas in my head at the mo for this new story and would love feedback once it starts. Again thank you!

Unspoken Boundaries

Chapter 17

Rick stood by Deanna, both looking worryingly up at one of the safe Zone's many walls. It had come to Rick's attention that whoever had gotten in yesterday, had did so by climbing their way up and over into Alexandria without being spotted. This discovery only further infuriated Rick beyond belief. He spat his opinion at Deanna, yelling that this is why someone must be on watch all the time, 24/7.

Deanna took the abuse knowingly. She didn't have the strength to argue her point or excuse her naive behavior, she was just relived that Rick was willing to take the burden of being leader off her shoulders and onto his own.

After their conversation in the early hours of the morning, Rick had come round to Michonne's way of thinking. Finally accepting that everyone in this community mattered, not just his own. Now Rick was taking matters into his own hands and he expected everyone else to fall in line and do as they were told or they would be outcasted, it was that simple.

The first port of call for Rick was to strengthen the walls surrounding the town and he needed help to do it. He insisted that Deanna call a meeting and explain to the Alexandrians that she was stepping down as leader, that meeting hadn't gone so smoothly.

The night air was cool as people gathered outside in a courtyard opposite Deanna's house. Ron and Sam were present, the news of their mothers death had been a low blow to their already painful grief and both seemed worryingly distant, almost ghost like in appearance. They had been found separately, Sam locked away in a cupboard upstairs and Ron was found in a nearby neighbour's house, luckily unharmed from the attack. Ron stood singularly amongst the gathering. His face cold and emotionless as he waited for the meeting to end. His brother Sam stood loyally by Carol, the only person he felt any trust towards.

Deanna stood in the middle of the group. Her eyes glazed and disorientated, she seemed like a walker almost, frail and weak without feeling. Like a shell, empty and lost.

"We're here tonight for the announcement of my decision to step down as leader, the role will now be Rick's. This isn't up for debate or discussion. We will do what needs to be done to stay alive. Yesterday was a horrid day for everyone involved and we need to prepare ourselves for a second attack"

The sounds of voices could be heard in the crowd as people argued the decision, reluctant to follow any orders from Rick.

"How can we trust him!" Someone shouted. "He waved a gun around for Christ sake!"

Deanna sighed, "You all will respect this decision. Rick and his group have lived outside these walls, they understand the threats out there. We need to catch up or we will die, nothing was more telling than yesterday. We owe Rick and Carol our lives"

Rick stood beside Michonne in the crowd. Already growing tired of the Alexandrians reluctance to learn how to survive.

"You all need to be trained" Rick suddenly bellowed out into the night air. "You all need to learn how to use a gun, how to keep your families safe. Those people yesterday...they will be back, maybe more. This ends tonight. No more bullshit. Tomorrow we will start reinforcing the walls, training people up"

The people stood quiet as they listened, finally understanding the many threats outside their safe haven. Unfortunately these ideas were nothing more than a pipe dream as a nearby chapel gave way, the foundations rotten and weak, falling like the remains of everyones hopes onto a nearby wall. The town's people watched as the wall crumbled from the weight, taking down the walls aligned either side to it, rumble, wood and timber flying in all directions. The sound was like nothing Rick had ever heard, creaks and bangs as loud as ever, drawing walkers without fail.

Rick looked on horrified as people screamed in shock. "Run!" He yelled as people shot off in all directions in an attempt to shelter themselves from the remains of the chapel.

Rick grabbed onto Michoone and Carl, pulling his family under him he used his body to protect them. Judith was held in Michonne's arms and she started crying loudly. A row of walls were now down, leaving a dangerous, gapping hole exposed to the outside world and Rick could only yell in frustration.

"Fuck!" He spat.

Carol ordered Sam to stay back as he grabbed onto her for protection, watching as the dust from the damage started to lift. The atmosphere was now a hazy darkness as dust filled the air, making it difficult to see anyone or anything. Then it happened, the familiar sound of wailing and groans carried through the air like an unwelcome stench, snapping Rick into action. He freed Michonne and his children from under him, beckoning with his head to move towards the houses. "Come on!" He yelled. Ron followed as Carl pulled him in their direction, as did Deanna and her sons. The smell of decaying flesh was now heavy in the air as the walkers descended upon Alexandria. Rick looked back a few times to see the occasional face, flesh and bone exposed as the dust dissipated around the walkers, the groans growing louder with each foreboding step they took.

Rick opened the door to the first house they got to, allowing Michonne and his children in first, then Carol, Sam and Ron. Deanna and her boys were not long behind them, rushing past Rick frantically. Rick looked up to see a man fighting for his life against a walker, his face a mask of pure terror. The shock got the better of him and the walker grabbed his arm, biting ruthlessly until the man's screams echoed into the night. Suddenly Maggie and Glenn came running through the cloud of dust, grabbing the door to the house just as Rick was about to close it.

The group were now inside and Rick and Glenn wasted no time pushing what furniture they could up against the door. The curtains to the windows were then drawn as the group huddled together in the living room, the fear growing by the second.

"What are we going to do!" yelled Spencer and Rick violently grabbed his arm, pulling him downwards.

"Stay down and shut up" He quietly ordered,

"We have to be guiet or they will follow us" Spencer nodded sheepishly, taking a seat on the wooden floor.

Michonne snuck a peak out of the window, pulling the curtain to one side. She couldn't see any walkers roaming near the houses but could tell by the screams from outside that they were close by. looking on further down the street she could see rows upon rows of walkers, the biggest herd she had ever seen flooding through the wreckage unrelentingly.

"Rick you need to see this"

He moved to her side, his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness as he peered through the glass, his breathing increasing by the sheer volume of walkers now roaming the safe zone.

"Fuckin' hell" He cursed

"We need to get out of here" Michonne said, her eyes wide with fear.

"What are we going to do?" Deanna asked, panicked.

"We need to cover ourselves in walker blood...guts...anything that will disguise us" Rick said, his voice breathy and rushed.

"What?!" Spencer cried.

"It's the only way we will make it out alive" Glenn answered.

"Glenn's right" Rick added.

"But what about the guns in the armory, shouldn't we get those first?" Spencer asked.

Rick let out a patronising, sarcastic laugh. "There's too many of em, we can't risk it. This is what we're gonna do, we're gonna each get a knife from the kitchen to protect ourselves. I'll go kill off a walker and bring it back here and we're gonna cover ourselves in it's blood. Glenn and Carol will keep watch and if anything happens you go out the back door towards the wall and climb over. Do not hesitate"

Carol nodded as Rick made his way to the kitchen to find the knifes, Michonne followed after him.

"Rick...please be careful" She pleaded. He looked up into her worried face, seeing the unease in her movements, her calmness quickly disappearing. A moment passed between them as they stared intently at each other, almost communicating without words. They had faced far worse than this, their history a broken record of repeat after repeat of tragedy, loss, dispar and greif. However Michonne was starting to wonder if this was their greatest challenge yet. To slip undetected through what seemed like thousands of walkers and reach the outside, alive.

"Keep Carl and Judith safe...here" Rick reached into the back pocket of his jeans, pulling out a small hand gun which he placed into Michonne's hand, engulfing her hand with his own.

"I brought it just in case. After the attack yesterday I didn't want to take any chances"

Michonne nodded as she looked deeply into his eyes. She wished he could show her how frightened he was too, admit that this could be it for them but she knew he never would, so She stroked the stubble on his cheek, taking him by surprise.

"I love you" she whispered, tears threatening to fill her eyes.

"I love you too"

They hugged passionately, neither one wanting to let go of the other until the sound of Carl's voice disturbed them.

"Dad, what's going on?"

Rick broke free from the hug, grabbing the chef knife from the counter he readied himself for the ordeal outside.

"We will speak later, keep your sister safe"

He gave one last look to Michonne then turned towards his son.

"Make sure Michonne is safe Carl, don't let her do to much with that arm". And with that he rushed past the others in the front room and left through the back door, all they could do was wait for him to return.

Outside Rick manoeuvred along the back of the house as silently as he could, chef knife held in an iron grip. The wails and moans af walkers like a wave of sound, rising and falling in pitch with the passing wind. The noise was more than unsettling, it was death in it's purest form.

Rick peered slowly from the side of the house, trying to spot a lone walker that wasn't too far away. He noticed one roaming dangerously close, so he picked up a stone from under his boot throwing it towards the walker to draw it's attention towards the back entrance. Rick didn't want to alert the other walkers and draw them towards the house so he continued to throw stones until the creature was now in front of him, arms outstretched and clawing for Rick in desperate need. The chef knife jabbed through it's skull in one quick motion, killing the walker stone dead.

Rick then heaved the skeletal body through the back door, an arm accidentally dislocated and fell detached onto the kitchen floor, the smell was putrid. Michonne and Carl came rushing through to find Rick cutting open the walkers chest. It's bones and organs exposed.

"Get the others!"

The group gingerly left the house and positioned themselves exactly how Rick had told them too. They moved into a cluster like- ball, Michonne held Judith in the centre with Carl, Ron. Sam and Deanna. Glenn and, Maggie were at the back while Rick, Carol, Spencer and Nicholas led at the front.

Rick wanted Deanna's son's exactly where he could see him. He didn't trust the young men to be out of his sight, one false move could jeopardise everything.

The group moved slowly as Rick had instructed, the walkers oblivious to their presence as they made their way across town. There was no sign of any of the other towns people. The screams and shrieks had died down only leaving behind the continual moans of the dead, the noise a terrifying reminder of how close the group now were to fatality.

The rumble and remains of the earlier chaos from the chapel had left a tempting entrance for the walkers to enter the safe zone, however that entrance was now a dangerous exit. There was no way that the group could possibly go out the gate with this many walkers present, they would be spotted and killed instantly. So Rick continued to lead the group towards the wreckage, one agonisingly slow step at a time

Ron was in the centre staring intently at Michonne, he knew she had a hand gun and he wanted it badly. He looked towards Rick, then back towards Carl, a dark haze washing over him as the feelings of hatred towards the outsiders started to resurface once more. He had been living with so much anger and frustration towards his father's death that he was blinded by an intense eagerness to avenge him. Now his mother had died also he felt no desire to keep living. He truly didn't care what his actions could do, he was beyond gone.

It happened too quickly for anyone to stop him. He snatched the gun from Michonne's hand before she had a chance to even protest and deliberately aimed for the back of Rick's head. Carl acted quickly pushing Ron's arm away from his father's direction just as the gun fired.

The bullet hit Nicholas instead, straight through his neck, blood spurting in all directions as his body hit the hard, cold ground. Deanna screamed in horror as she rushed to her son's body and Spencer followed. Michonne wasted no time in wrestling Ron for the gun, trapping the teenager in a headlock she fought for the weapon

"No!" Ron cried into the darkness. "He has to pay for killing my dad...he has to die!"

Michonne pulled the gun from Ron's trembling fingers and pushed him outside the circle, the walkers nearby had heard the gun shot and were now turning their heads in suspicion, dangerously close to the group.

Michonne looked from left to right, her breathing coming in rapid pants, they were absolutely surrounded. Ron came at her again in an attempt to push her and Judith into the walkers, giving her no choice but to shoot him square in the head. The gun shot ringing in everyone's ears from the close proximity. Things then just went from bad to worse.

A walker attacked Deanna, biting at her neck as she screamed in shock only attracting more as Spencer tired to save her. He too was devoured and mother and son's now lay together on the blood covered ground, their eyes glazed and white. Sam was beyond traumatised by the devastation and the small boy ran from Carol's side in an attempt to make it through the exit, only his actions caused more walkers to follow and Rick saw the distraction for the walkers an opportunity to keep pushing forward.

"Keep moving!" He ordered, hacking through walkers to make way for the group. Michonne held onto Judith in the centre as Carl used the gun to pick off walkers in the distance, clearing a path towards the exit. The group were huddled in a ball as Maggie, Glenn and Carol took care of the walkers surrounding them from the back and sides, easing through the herd as quickly as possible.

The wreckage was now in close proximity and Rick breathed a sigh of relief, darting through the destroyed walls he picked up the pace, only a walker came out of nowhere, teeth and jaws exposed, hands grabbing and scratching frantically.

He pushed the thing away with force, side stepping the bite just as Glenn stepped in and killed it.

The group ran towards the forest, taking shelter behind bushes they fell exhausted to the ground and caught their breath.

Rick looked through the surbbery towards the safe zone now absolutely infested with walkers. Alexandria had served a purpose in all their lives, especially Rick's. The town had played a huge part in bringing old demons to light, the grief he had suffered was still lingering when he had first arrived, now however he seemed cleansed from the experience. The place had been so promising, yet it's appeal was unfortunately it's demise, naively selling a dream which was just that, a dream.

Rick looked towards his family and thanked God the people still here were his people, only Daryl had never made it to the meeting. He had been out recruiting new members to bring back to Alexandria and he wondered if he would ever see his brother again. That thought saddened him beyond belief and he squeezed Michonne's hand for comfort.

"What now?" Maggie asked

The day was bright and warm, the forest alive with greenery and colour. A cabin stood tucked away amongst the trees, surrounded by spikes, spears and traps.

A child came toddling from the cabin, their dark hair and olive skin a strong contrast to the pale dust of the footpath they walked along. Their mother came after them, pulling the child into a tight embrace as they giggled playfully together. They stood up to the sound of footsteps approaching, two men carrying a deer for dinner strode confidentiality up to the cabin, avoiding the traps with knowledge.

They crossed the path and the child ran to their father as he swiped them up into his arms, smiling happily.

"His startin' to look like ya now Rick" Daryl said, making his way into the cabin were Carol, Glenn and Maggie waited with Carl and Judith.

Rick carried his son across the path towards the woman that meant more to him than life itself. Michonne stood grinning widely at her boys, her face full of health and radiance.

She had finally found her family

She was finally home.

The end