The Walking Dead: -6
Episode Five:  No Way Out
Part 1: "Jericho"

"What are you going to do after this?" asked Spencer as he and Phillip, now both dressed, prepared to exit the PYTHON after their tryst.

Cynically Phillip replies, "You're confident there's going to be an 'after this'?"

Spencer shrugs, "Don't you?"

"Well I don't intend to die, no matter what," Phillip replied arrogantly as he tightened his black boots.

"Why is that, because you're so cool?" Spencer's voice was patronizing, but Phillip ignored this gesture. Phillip was pretty much done with Spencer. Phillip's main focus was his boots.

"No, because I don't live here, consider me a cross-over guest star. Did George or Weezy die when they costarred on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? Nope!" Phillip eyes were still lacing his boots but his attention was stolen by Spencer's next statement.

Spencer erased the space between the two , wrapping his arms around Phillip kissing his neck,"That doesn't count, that was the final episode of Fresh Prince of Bel Air. It could be considered cannon if they died in the Fresh Prince house."

Phillip usually dated men 10 to 15 years older than him so very few of them got his millennial, 90's references. So Spencer not only catching his reference but also using the term "cannon" got Phillip's attention. Phillip relaxed his body and absorbed Spencer's hug, "Maybe head cannon. Point is I don't plan to end my life in your community, I'm just visiting."

"People die on vacation all the time," replied Spencer, his voice a slight whisper.

"Mmm, that was dark," teased Phillip. "Who knew you had it in you."

Spencer tighten his grip, "You would be surprised what I have in me."

No I won't, thought Phillip. He knew Spencer was getting too attached. Hell, Phillip was getting too attached. Phillip knew Spencer was like daylilies; pretty to look at but a brief shelf life. Last thing Phillip needed was more heartache. "There isn't going to be an 'us' after this, Spencer. Even if there is an after this. I'm going to leave Alexandria, my gut is telling me something bad is coming. It hasn't arrived just yet, but it's coming."

Spencer wanted to avoid Phillip's negativity. He wanted to bask in the warmth of their connected skin. The PYTHON was sound proof, so the growls of the walkers at the gates were all muted. Spencer felt safe in this embrace, he craved security and he believed he found it with Phillip.

Spencer inhaled Phillip's skin before pivoting his focus to the windows. "Is that Holly?" Spencer asked, while peering through the almost opaque, tinted windows of the vehicle. Spencer tightened his eyes as he looked closer, "It is Holly and isn't that your friend with her, Shane?"

"Yes it is," Phillip said through gritted teeth. Phillip had just talked to Shane about parading around with Nancy's doppelganger throughout the community. But like with many things, Shane did whatever he wanted. A part of Phillip wanted to confront Shane for moving on so fast from Nancy. Phillip could hear Spencer's heart beat through his clothes and it hit him like a gong: His hypocrisy.

Phillip never thought about the human filth that he had become since arriving in Alexandria. He hadn't given himself one moment to morn his mother, son, or Austin. Here he was laying with Spencer, Phillip's skinned began to contract at the awful realization. Phillip sharply moves away from Spencer, the speed caught Monroe off guard.

"Do I smell bad or something?" asked Spencer.

"You put on cologne before you got here, you smell perfectly fine. We should probably catch up with them, if we greet them, it will minimize suspicion." Phillip quickly scanned Spencer over to make sure he was dressed appropriately.

Spencer was unsure how to feel, Phillip was again being hot and cold. However this didn't feel like a game, Phillip's body language seemed all of a sudden antsy. "You seem like you want to hide this more than I do."

"You're right, I do," replied Phillip before he quickly activated the suicide passenger door. "Hey Shane, Holly, wait up!" Phillip quickly darts towards the couple leaving Spencer in the Humvee alone, dazed.

Spencer had never grown close to any of his same-sex partner, he was usually the one breaking things off abruptly and sometimes harshly. The tables had turned and Spencer was struggling with the rejection. The rejection had a profound effect on Spencer, it motivated him.

"It's holly, right?" Phillip asked as he reached for her hand to which she gladly shook. "I'm sorry, I'm not a morning person, after I drink a ton of vodka. Sorry about the cunty introduction."

Holly's eyes expanded at the vulgarness of Phillip's tone, "You have a foul-fucking mouth; I think I like you."

Phillip inspected her east coast accent, "Philly?"

"Pittsburg, actually. Let me guess, New Jersey?" replied Holly.

"Bite your tongue!" replied Phillip, replying with a charming grin but still rather offended.

"Sorry, New York City, you do realize your accents are the same right?" Holly innocently taunted.

"Ok I was starting to like you, now we have to fight," Phillip was only half-joking. Before things could descend into complete awkwardness, Spencer arrived to the scene.

"Morning Spencer, how's the wall?" asked Holly.

Spencer shrugs, "Surrounded by those things. I mean I tried to grapple over them but it didn't end well."

"That was stupid," added Phillip. "You could have been gutted like a catfish out there. Henry told me all about it. Something about you trying shimmy across a tight rope across god knows how many walkers. Really smart."

Spencer cut his eyes at Phillip, he didn't like him diminishing him in front of Holly. Spencer and Holly once were intimate and he was embarrassed at Phillip busting his balls. "I don't believe you were there. At least I'm trying to do something for this community."

"Yeah, you're a big help," Phillip pivoted his body slightly away from Spencer and shoved his hands in his pockets.

Shane's right eyebrow rose, what the hell was that all about. Shane was very analytical, this stems from his time as an officer. Why the hell would Phillip care one way or another if Spencer, a stranger, lived or died? Phillip appeared strangely more invested than he should have been. he wasn't initially suspicious of the nature of Spencer and Phillip's meeting. However he was beginning to wonder.

"What the hell were you two doing in there?" Shane bluntly asked.

Phillip had the urge to shoot Shane in the kneecap, but held in those urges. As analytical Shane was he paled in comparison to Phillip. "This Hollister-wearing, jizz stain decided he needed to personally look over our vehicle. Something about 'his mom runs the place'. The kid comes off a total douche, for the record." Phillip released his barrage of insults as if Spencer wasn't inches from him.

Spencer didn't know how to take it, was it all for pretend? How much of what Phillip was saying was rooted in truth? Spencer had a very sensitive ego and he couldn't take anymore of what Phillip's antagonizing. Spencer pointed his finger hostilely at Phillip, "You need to learn some respect."

"From you, not bloody-likely," replied Phillip with a faux cockney accent.

"I'd put that finger away if I were you, Spencer, you're gonna lose it," Shane replied with a small chuckle. "He's tiny but fierce, like a raccoon or an alley cat."

Disgusted by the gross comparisons, Phillip said, "You can stop helping me, Shane."

"Point is, he'll break you down, Spencer," Shane said affirmatively. "Just trying to warn you."

"Oh he knows," replied Phillip. "I'm heading inside, tell Henry to walk the dog for me"

As Phillip begins to walk away from the group to which Shane said, "Wait up, there's something Henry wanted me to tell you." Shane briskly jogged to where Phillip stood with a smug smirk on his face. When Shane reached Phillip he whispers in his ear, "That was a really convincing performance, your girlfriend needs to work on his acting."

Phillip replies with a nasty scowl, refusing to validate Shane's words but not denying them. Shane inspected Phillip's reaction, he got all the confirmation he needed. "Look at you, being all sanctimonious and your fucking the first guy you come across. Austin's body isn't even cold yet."

The words cut into Phillip's gut because they were absolutely true. As soon as Phillip arrived to Alexandria he immediately went after Aaron. Granted his motivation was to find out more about Alexandria, he also enjoyed the attention Aaron showered on him. Aaron was business, Spencer was pleasure. Phillip went to his go-to coping mechanism – sex.

It had been that way since he was a teen. Shane knew this; Phillip shared some of his darkest secrets with Shane. Secrets he never shared with Austin. Shane knew Phillip's weak spots and he would not let Phillip's hypocrisy slide.

"You are lucky we are in public," replied Phillip through gritted teeth.

"I'm lucky, I will kick your ass over Austin – over disrespecting him!" Shane's voice still low but the intensity as well as a mist of saliva slammed against Phillip's ear.

"You wanna say that to me inside of the house?" challenged Phillip through a whispering smile, still hiding their conversation from Spencer and Holly who watched on. "I will wear your hillbilly-ass out."

Shane looked Phillip up and down, scoffing at him."I'll race you there, pussy!" Shane says to Phillip in an angry whisper. He then turns to Holly and Spencer and smiles and waves, "Holly, thanks for the stuff! We'll catch up later today – yeah? Spencer, catch you later, I'm sure."

Both men headed towards the house, planning on kicking the other's ass.

***

Carl!" Rick called out, approaching his son with Michonne in tow. Carl was spending a lot of time with Henry and rick was becoming more suspicious of the boy. Henry was aligned with Shane, thus he was considered a threat.

"Yeah, Dad?" replied Carl, arms folded.

"I'm going to need you to pick up your sister, she's with Jessie and I would prefer her to be with you." Rick's voice was straight to the point, trying his best to conceal his suspicion of Henry. Little did he know both Shane and Phillip were approaching.

"Yeah, Carl, why don't you go get that little gal," replied Shane. "I haven't gotten a chance to hold her, today."

Rick redirected his energy immediately to Shane, "I've already told you once, stay the hell away from my family. Do you want me to finish what I started at Herschel's farm?"

"Of course I would, Rick," Shane replied, his body tensing up preparing to brawl again with Rick. But Shane also noticed something else, more and more people appeared in the street intersection where Rick, Shane, Michonne, and co. stood. Shane wasn't sure if it was curiosity or what, but Alexandrians Shane had never met before all seemed to show up.

Well, this is interesting, thought Shane. Why were all these strangers here? Where they here for his group, had Rick gathered a lynch mob for Shane, Henry and Phillip. Phillip was also aware of the growing mob, but in classic Phillip form, he refused to allow them to see him sweat. Phillip's hazel eyes tighten when he saw Spencer arrive with Carter.

"Rick," Carter said with an announcer's flair, "today is judgment day." The crowd then revealed to be arm, each of them retrieving their handguns, some even armed with rifles all pointed at Rick, Shane, Henry, Carl, Phillip, and Michonne.

Rick cocked his head to the right, "Is that so. For who?"

"For you, Rick and anyone who stands with you! See, before your group arrived we had no problems. Sure as hell didn't have six hundred dead things at our gates."

"What is this?" Deanna asked, pushing her way through the crowd of Alexandrians until she made it to the center. Her face revealed her shock when she realized Spencer was a part of this coup. "Spencer, what the hell are you doing?"

"Picking a side, mom," replied Spencer who didn't have the guts to look into his mother's eyes after admitting to his treachery. "Rick got us in this mess, we are fighting each other over food, and we are trapped like rats in a maze because of him!"

"You done blaming me for all your problems, boy," replied Rick.

"Simple as this, Rick," began Carter confidently, "You can either take a bullet to the head or we can feed you to those creatures out there. You decide."

"Wait a fucking minute," demanded Shane, "If anyone is going to take Rick Grimes out," Shane said as he removed his pistol and quickly pointed at Rick, "It's going to be me." Rick didn't flinch, his eyes only intensified when he locked eyes with Shane. Rick knew that look, that was the same look Shane gave Rick at in the forest back near Herschel's farm. "Bad day for you, huh, Grimes."

Carter was suspicious of Shane, but he did remember being told that Rick attempted to murder Shane while he was unconscious. "Well, Rick, it looks like you make enemies everywhere you go."

"You have no idea," replied Shane to Carter, his eyes still locked with Rick and his gun still pointed at Rick as well.

"No! You can't do this, Shane," begged Carl who placed himself between Rick and Shane's gun.

"Move, Carl," demanded Rick, he didn't want his son to be potentially hit by a stray bullet.

"Did you come back for this, huh?" said Carl, tears streaming down his freckled face before shoving Shane, but his body remain still. "If what you came to do was kill my dad, then you should have stayed dead!"

The words were like a punch, but Shane did not change his posture, the gun remained pointed. Through his teeth, he replied with the same tone and cadence as Rick, "Move, Carl."

Phillip knew he would need to step in before things really went to shit, "You're a really flashy man, Carter. It is Carter, right?"

"You're Phillip, I've been told about you. You don't care for this piece of shit, Rick either."

"Oh not at all, far as I'm concerned, do whatever you need to, but just leave my people out of it."

"I don't think I can," replied Carter. "Your friend Shane looks really eager to kill Rick, I'm really eager to watch."

"I'm all for regime changes, but can we do it without getting bloody," replied Phillip. "I mean killing people is really flashy, but not the best way to keep your people in line."

Rick found Phillip's use of the word "flashy" suspicious, Carter was many things but "flashy" wasn't one of them. Rick was wondering what Phillip had up his sleeve.

"There will be none of this," demanded Deanna. "I am the leader of this community and I will be god damned if I let you or anyone tear it apart!"

A crack of a fire exploded and the bullet knocked Deanna off her feet. Carter's revolver smoked and a dark smile emerged on his face. "I think we're all done listening to you, too."

"Mother!" called out Spencer but before he could react, Carter pointed the gun to Spencer's temple.

"Do you want to die, too?" Carter voice had grown dark as he further embraced his inner villain. "Time to cut the apron string, Spencer."

Phillip had seen enough, "Flashy, flashy, man," Phillip said under his breath. Shane's eyes darted to Phillip and both men gave each other a quick but faint nod. Phillip quickly removes a flash bang grenade that he kept always hidden in his pocket. He shut his eyes as did Shane; they knew what was going to happen next. Phillip casually dropped the flash bang on the ground and the light blinded not only Carter and his group but Rick's as well. Henry was too hit by the flash of the grenade. Buster, the large mastiff whimpered and ran away from the blast.

Phillip quickly counted to three before opening his eyes to ensure he wouldn't receive any of the flash. When he opened his eyes, he immediately removed both of his Berettas from their holsters and began firing at Carter's militia. Phillip's accuracy was poor at best, but it gave Shane enough time to grab Carl and fire towards Carter as well. Phillip noticed that Henry was struggling to see, stun by the flashbang. Phillip grabs the lanky teen by his shirt and continued to fire bullets towards Carter as he led him away from the battle.

Bullets from both parties began to streak across the day sky. Phillip and Shane were lucky enough to still have their vision intact. "There!" Shane called out pointing to the white van parked in the Alexandrian road. Still holding Carl, Shane darted towards the vehicle for cover. Henry, now recovering from the flash, grabbed Deanna and with the assistance of Phillip, they joined Carl and Shane.

Rick, however, was left behind; still stun by the flash reflexively removed his gun and began to fire, backing away from the crowd. "Carl! Carl!" rick called out, blinded and desperate. Rick felt the force of some one pulling him and his natural reaction was to resist.

"It's me," replied a deep, female voice. It was Michonne.

"I gotta find Carl," replied Rick matter of factly.

"He's with Shane, I saw him and his group head towards the brownstone."

Rick quickly shoots back, "We gotta find them, we gotta stop them!"

"Right now we have Carter to worry about. It looked like Shane's group may have helped us," Michonne was reluctant to give Shane's group any credit, but she saw just as well as Rick what happened.

"We gotta find Carl, Michonne," replied Rick desperately. "It's only a matter of time before one of those bullets hit the wrong target."

"Then let's make sure our bullets hit theirs," replied Michonne. "We split up, I'm going to head to the brownstone. See if Carl double backs at Erwin's place, that is where Shane's people are holed up. But we have to go, now!"

"Then let's move!" The two seperates and Rick heads towards Shane's new residence.

***

Carl's vision returned and he realized that he along with Shane's group were taking cover behind the van. He could hear the whiz of bullet slam and pop against the pavement. "Where's my dad?!" Carl asked but the group remained quite. "Where is my dad?!" Carl's voice now more assertive.

"Shhhhhhhh" replied Phillip. "Don't you know how to not get killed?"

"They are after my dad, not us!" replied Carl. "And I don't have to listen to you."

"Oh my god, Shane will you put a sock in this kids mouth. Now is not the time for him to be an annoying teenager." Phillip didn't know much about Carl, but he knew if he kept it up, he would get them all killed. "Maybe they just wanted your dad but I'm sure I shot enough of them to merit a Death Certificate as well."

"Carl we are just taking a break. Is your sister at the house?" asked Shane. Carl was mute; he didn't trust anyone he was with, not even Shane anymore. "CARL!!!" yelled Shane.

"Yes! Why?" Carl's trust in Shane was beginning to wane.

"Because that's where we're headed," replied Shane as more bullets sped past them.

Carl noticed his father had managed to hide behind the side of a house. Rick peaked his blue eyes around the corner to assess the threat level. Rick had two things on his mind, number one: where was Carl? Number