Dead Man Walking | Rick Grimes

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"June!" A familiar voice called out to me. I felt my eyes flutter, my head erupting with pain against the light around us. Slowly, I opened my eyes and focused on Carol and Maggie. They stood with two women – an older woman and a brunette, pointing guns at them. I was propped up against a tree with the man pointing my gun at my head. A groan escaped my lips as I tried to gather my bearings, which only alerted the man. He reached forward and forcibly pulled me to my feet, pushing me towards Maggie and Carol. I stumbled forward and nearly lost my footing, but they caught me before I could faceplant. Glaring at the man, I tried to pull my hands apart but realized they were tightly bound.

"What're your names?" The strawberry blonde snapped at us as she held a walkie to her lips.

"Maggie," Maggie started, her head pointing to Carol and me, "Carol and the one that just woke up is June," The strawberry blonde scowled at us and pressed the button of her walkie, speaking into it.

"You, with the Colt Python," My ears perked as she described the gun. That's Rick! "All of you, lower your weapons right now." I looked out in the distance but couldn't see anything.

"Come on out. Let's talk," Rick's voice buzzed through the walkie. I felt my heart stutter at his voice, a smile threatening to pull across my lips. Damn, I am whipped, aren't I?

"How many we got?" The brunette asked, her gun unwavering as she pointed it at Maggie's head.

"Eight in sight," The strawberry blonde answered, looking through her binoculars, "Too many,"

"No, we can take 'em. We've took on more," The man answered, his gun pressing to my sore temple.

"We're not coming out, but we will talk," The blonde spoke again, the walkie hissing as she did so, "We've got Carol, Maggie, and June. I'm thinking that's something you want to chat about. Now, we're going to work this out, and it's going to go our way." It was silent for a few moments before the walkie-talkie came to life, and Rick's harsh voice snapped through it.

"You can see we have one of yours. We'll trade,"

"I'm listening," The same woman spoke, watching the group through her binoculars.

"First, I want to speak to June, Maggie, and Carol—make sure they're alright," A walker growled from behind us, forcing me to tear my attention away from the blonde. The older woman grabbed a knife, showing it off to me before stabbing the walker in the head. That bitch took my knife!

"I'm going to put you on. You say you're fine. I'll know if you try anything else," The blonde walked towards us, pressing the button as she stopped in front of Carol.

"Rick, it's Carol. I'm—I'm fine, but," The strawberry blonde scoffed and pushed Carol back.

"Now you," Maggie leaned forward, her eyes on me.

"Rick, it's Maggie. We're—" Again, the blonde shoved her back and stopped before me. I glared at her and leaned forward, my voice coming out hard and strained as I maintained eye contact.

"We're fine," I spoke, keeping it short and straightforward. The blonde stepped away from me, her face in a permanent scowl as she turned her back.

"You have your proof. Let's talk,"

"This is the deal right here," Rick's voice buzzed, "Let 'em go. You can have you guy back and live," These assholes are going to die either way—I'll make sure of that.

"Three for one, that's not much of a trade," The woman spoke, watching the group.

"You don't have another choice, or you would've done something about it already." I pursed my lips and scolded myself. Why wasn't I paying more attention? We could've taken them all out if we were just paying attention!