Chapter 108

Chapter 108 is the third episode of Season 9: Life Among Them of The Walking Dead.
==Plot==
During the night, Kenny is woken up by the sound of AJ crying. He gets up to go calm him down, and rocks him back to sleep. Kenny looks out the window, still in awe over New Richmond. He puts AJ back in his crib and tells him that he's going to have a good life from here on out.
In the second house next door, the girls are asleep, when Sandy is awoken by a nightmare. She goes downstairs to get a drink of water to find Paige sitting at the table. Sandy lets her presence known to Paige, so she is not to startle her, and Paige tells her that she couldn't really sleep, so she decided to stay up and just watch out the window. Paige questions her on why she's up, and Sandy tells her that she had just had a bad dream and came down to get some water. Paige questions her if it was about Ryder, and Sandy confirms it was. She goes on by saying she should have known better not to get attached to someone romantically in the world they live in now and believes herself to be an idiot for letting it happen. Paige disagrees with her statement and says life wouldn't be worth much if you couldn't find something to enjoy out of it, and that Ryder really cared a lot for her, so she shouldn't feel ashamed or blame herself for returning his feelings and choosing to be happy for once. Sandy stands there in silence and says she'll think about what she said, but still feels anguish over what happened. 
In the morning, the group head over to the administration building where Cordelia is waiting for them to gather their schedules for the day. Cordelia welcomes them and tells them she has a slight confession to make. The video recording she had made of them weren't just for the records of New Richmond, but also a way to make sure stories match up with everyone and to examine their body language, in order to make sure the people that are assessed are not dangerous to the community and she declares that all of them passed with flying colors. Leland also says the two colonial houses were built especially to house newcomers while they were processed so they could find permanent housing for them. Luke asks what that means for them, and Cordelia tells them that she's set up a few apartments for everyone in the nearby apartment complex, but they would have to decide amongst themselves who takes which unit. The ones available are a one three bedroom, one two bedroom, and four one bedroom apartments. Omid asks if they had room in the first place for them to be cleared out, and Leland says he and his two sons cleared out some of them, since they were being used for storage, but the development plans he has been working on will increase their storage limits, which will clear out some of the buildings. Cordelia also tells Omid and Mahiru that she has finally found jobs for them as well, asking for Mahiru to assist her with political duties in New Richmond. She goes on to say that her vision is to re-establish a government for the community, just like they had before the apocalypse. Mahiru is confused why she picked her for the job, and Cordelia references her interview, adding that her demeanor and overall confidence would make her a good prime public figure for New Richmond. She also tells Omid that she wants him to go and see Ethan and Amanda for more information about his new job. Cordelia smiles at Clementine and tells her that her job is a very important one; be a kid again. Clementine looks at her in confusion, asking her what she means, and Cordelia further explains that many children have been forced to grow up so fast with the apocalypse, and she wants New Richmond to become a place where children can be children once more. After everyone gets their assignments, most of the group leave the building, aside from Mahiru. 
Later, Omid eventually makes his way over to one of the gardens where Ethan is helping a woman with planting some vegetables. Ethan greets Omid, and introduces him to the woman, Melanie, who is New Richmond's therapist. Melanie sheepishly corrects him, saying that she didn't complete her tenure and is merely a grief counselor. Ethan tells her that she's as good as the real thing despite that. Omid asks Ethan about the job that Cordelia had assigned him. Ethan finishes planting and walks over to Omid, and asks him to follow him. Ethan takes Omid over to a diner where most of the cooks work to find Amanda, who is sitting at a table with her leg still in a splint. Amanda greets them and asks if they're here to eat breakfast, but Ethan informs her that Omid was asking about what his job was going to be. Amanda takes a sip of her water and gives a knowing look. Amanda tells Omid that with her leg needing some time to heal, she's going to be out of commission for a while with recruitment missions she takes with Ethan and talked with Cordelia that Omid could be her replacement. She says that Omid is like a mix between herself and Ethan, being aware of dangerous threats while being disarmingly charismatic. Omid appreciates the offer, but says that he's not sure if he could handle the job, since he's not exactly the same person he used to be, given the amount of trauma he's dealt with. Ethan tells him that he's lost a lot of friends and family and can sympathize, but believes Omid is the right person for the job. Amanda says that she isn't aware of what happened in Omid's past, but knows that he's the right choice. Amanda tells him that he doesn't have to take the job if he isn't sure and there are plenty of things he can do around New Richmond, but she asks him to at least consider it. Omid looks between Ethan and Amanda and says he'll give it a shot.
Outside the walls, Sandy, Kenny, Paige, and Javier walk into the woods towards a small abandoned shed, and Paige tells them that she had stashed one of their guns inside one of the buildings outside the gate, but when she went back to look for it, she found that it was missing. Javier questions her why she hid it there in the first place, and she explains that she wanted there to be a backup plan in case New Richmond turned out to be another Howe's Hardware. Kenny agrees that it's a smart idea and begins to think that they should start scheming to steal back the weapons that were taken from them when they arrived. Javier confides that he isn't comfortable being separated from his weapons, but he doesn't want to start something and get the group into trouble. Sandy suggests a compromise between both ideas; creating an opening to allow them to easily access their weapons without anyone noticing, also adding they could take a few of them back without alerting anyone working in the armory of the noticeable absence of weapons. The three of them agree that her idea sounds a lot better. A walker slowly creeps up on them, and Paige shoots it repeatedly with a silenced pistol. She explains to the three that she had to empty the magazine in order to back up their claim that they were "going shooting". Javier jokingly comments that the façade she's putting on is hilariously unsettling. Sandy walks over to the walker and curiously examines it. Kenny asks her what she's doing and she calls them over to look at the walker's forehead. Upon further inspection, a letter "W" is seen carved into the walker's forehead.
==Credits==
*Sandy Warren
*Clementine
*Kenny Jones
*Omid
*Luke Porter
*Paige Hilker
*Mahiru Okumura
*Javier García
*Ethan Carlucci
*Amanda Hayes
*Cordelia Fisher
*Alvin Jr.
*Edith
*Leland Fisher
*Mason
*Melanie
*Several unnamed New Richmond residents
==Deaths==
*None
==Trivia==
*First appearance of Melanie.
*More members of the group are given official jobs in New Richmond.
**Omid is made a recruiter.
**Mahiru is made a govern assistant.
*This episode marks Paige Hilker's 50th appearance.
*This episode marks Mahiru Okumura's 50th appearance.