Dead Man Walking | Rick Grimes

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The rifle slung across my back felt heavy as I hurriedly packed all our smoke flares into a pack. The whistling kept coming through the speakers, keeping the same eerie tune. Michonne scurried around, gathering everyone that could fight. I didn't look up, and my voice sounded guarded.

"You need to make it look like we're escaping out the back," I started to explain, not bothering to look up, "Get to the woods, drive halfway up to the quarry, and cut the lights," I brought my gaze up, slinging the pack across my shoulder, "Get enough of a lead on them, hit them, and get away on foot." I took in the scared faces around me, "You know where we'll be. Just have to get the guns, get everyone else here, and we'll meet you there,"

"Two minutes, people!" Negan shouted, his voice coming out annoyingly amplified, "Dig deep. I want these apologies to be memorable. Bonus points for creativity! Work up a poem, sing a song. I love that shit,"

"Get going. We have people in the infirmary. They're going to need help," Scott, Tobin, and a man named Joshua raced off in the opposite direction.

"We've got guns," Tara started, approaching me, "We can fight them." To my astonishment, Rosita came to my defense, siding with me.

"We will, but not now," She nodded, "June's right," Michonne's voice came out fearful, taking me by surprise, but there was a hint of willpower hiding beneath the fear.

"We can't just let them have this place," Michonne argued.

"We can," I placed my hands on her shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze, "We just need to survive tonight. This is the plan, and we're all going to do it," I looked at the four still near me, "Let's go!"

"One minute!" Negan shouted. Daryl gave me a look I couldn't decipher before nodding his head at me. Despite everything happening around us, I shoved away all my feelings, trying to remain as emotionless as possible. Carl and Selena are missing, our home is about to be attacked, and we don't have enough people to defend Alexandria. We just need to survive tonight. We can always rebuild. I ran towards the wall and started to climb the guard post, my heart in my ears as I climbed.

"Okeydokey," Negan boomed, "You brought this on yourselves! See, I was willing to work with you. All you had to do was follow a few very simple rules! But now—now I see that you got to go. Scorched Earth, you dick!" I pulled myself up and stood, my head poking up from behind the protection of our walls. Beneath me were men and women with their guns drawn—too many of them. There have to be at least 40 people here.

"Rick isn't home," I spoke, gaining Negan's attention.

"Oh-ho-holy shit!" Negan chuckled, his eyes on me, "Everybody, hold your fire! It's my Juney-baby! Baby daddy's not home, huh? I guess he's going to come home to a big smoky surprise."

"There are families here," I started, "Kids." Negan remained glowering at me, but his face was expressionless. His usual shit-eating grin was miles away.

"Well, that shit just breaks my heart," Negan sneered, "There's kids at Sanctuary. Even had a little baby at one of the outposts. I wonder what happened to her," Negan lowered his microphone and started walking up to the wall, his eyes never leaving me. "None of this shit's fair. Hell, Juney-baby, you know that. We need someone in charge that can figure this shit out!" Negan paced back, holding his arms out pridefully, "Oh wait! That's me!"

"Bad shit does happen," I spat back at him. I'm tired—tired of fighting with other people. I am tired of not trusting anyone. I'm going to take a page out of Carl's book and try, "We don't have to do this anymore. We can put an end to this!"

"As wonderful as that sounds, gorgeous, don't you think it's too late to talk?" Negan smirked, "What happened to the June that wanted me to die no matter what? The woman that glared at me whenever I was around, the woman that probably envisioned my death hundreds of times?" I didn't answer and continued looking down at him.