Dead Man Walking

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It's been almost ten months since the snowstorm. Lydia's been living in Hunter's house. And Rosita had the baby and it was Hunter's. Hunter has never loved anything so much until his little baby girl was born. Coco Espinosa Grimes. She had Hunter's eyes. Grimes eyes. And it's been a struggle.

Lydia, Hunter, Rosita, and Eugene were teaming on all of the work that comes with a baby. But Hunter smiles every time he sets eyes on his daughter. If only Rick and Carl could see him now. They'd be proud.

He knows almost everything about raising a child. He helped raise Carl, Judith, and RJ. And it was easy with them, but maybe that was because he only had to do some of the work. But his daughter liked making things hard on him.

Hunter sat at the radio in the garage as he got a message from Michonne and Aaron about finding a mask on the beach, "The kids found it by the estuary. The river must've carried it down."

"What does it mean? Are they back?" Hunter questions.

"We don't know. But Alexandria should go on lockdown just in case."

"Hold on. We don't have evidence to justify that. My official recommendation is that everyone should stay on alert until further notice."

"Copy that, tell RJ and Judith I miss them. Over and out."

____

"5 minutes and 15 seconds. Not more, not less," Eugene says as the two of them stare at the chart they made for Coco.

Hunter chuckles, "So if I were to heat the milk up for, like, 5 minutes and 18 seconds—"

"I have rigged your kitchen timer to go off at precisely 5 and 16, so such a scenario will not come to pass. Furthermore, I've taken the liberty of charting her feedings and diaper changes. She is very regular Congratulations."

Hunter chuckles, "Why thank you."

"Eugene, she's a baby, not a science experiment," Hunter looked over his shoulder to see Rosita standing in the doorway, "You can't boil people down to charts and graphs."

Hunter hums in disagreement, "Um, actually, I'll take it. I might not use it all or any of it. But thank you."

"You know, ever since everyone got those damn radios setups, Eugene, that one's been doing nothing but talking," Rosita complains as she looks over at Hunter, "You gotta move that thing outta the house."

As soon as she mentioned that Hunter recalled the message he got from Aaron and Michonne. His smile was quick to turn into a frown, "Is everything okay?" Rosita asks.

Hunter called a council meeting and the room they usually use was now a classroom. They walked in and Hunter spotted Lydia sitting there, "Should she be here for this?" Laura asks.

"Hey, excuse me, she's family. If she wants to stay she can stay," Hunter says as he looks at Lydia with raised brows.

She was quick to shake her head, "No, it's fine. I'll go."

Hunter looks up at Gabriel, "You deal with this, I need to watch my daughter."

Hunter gave a quick kiss to Rosita before walking out of the building and back into his house. He relieved Eugene and smiles down at his daughter in the crib. He slowly lifts her up and starts rocking her.

"I'm here, my little princess," Hunter positioned her so she can look around the room, "I built all this for you. That's right. All of this is for you. Daddy loves you so much. And all these people on the wall love you too."

Hunter walked closer to the wall as Coco babbled to him, it was nonsense but just like Judith, he knows she can understand him, "Over there, that's Carl. He's your cousin, and he would've loved to meet you. And over there, that's Judith and RJ, you've met them a few times. And that right there, that's your uncle Rick. He might not be here anymore but I know that he would've loved you just as much as I do."

Hunter heard an explosion and he moved to the window to see what was going on. He noticed everyone looking up at the sky and followed their eyes. Hunter narrows his eyes, was it a meteor shower? A comet? An asteroid? He had no idea.

He turned around and flinched at Rosita standing there, "Jesus, you scared the hell out of me. Oh, my god. Why'd you do that?"

Rosita chuckles, "I didn't do anything. You're just scared of everything. Did you see that thing coming from the sky?"

Hunter nods as he holds his daughter close to him, "Yeah, looks like it's headed to Oceanside. I have to go there. Judith and RJ are there. Michonne and Daryl too. If that thing landed there, then it's gonna draw a lot of walkers. And after the discovery of the skin mask, that bitch doesn't need more in her herd."

Rosita nods eagerly, she's been all jumpy and enthusiastic recently. It was kinda freaking him out, "Yeah, okay, I'll go with you."

Hunter scoffs out a chuckle, "Yeah, no. You stay here with Coco. If you're here, I'll know she's safe. We always need to be on alert. You're one of our best fighters and if Alpha is back, I need you here."

Rosita sighs with a roll of her eyes, "Are you doing this to punish me or something? 'Cause ever since you found out I slept with Siddiq, you never want me to go anywhere with you anymore."

"I feel like you forget the whole nine months you were pregnant. I'm also thinking you're forgetting about the last time I sent you out there," Hunter replies calmly as he is holding his baby, "You almost died. I want you here not only because we have a daughter but because I want you to live. I have lost so much since all this started, I don't want to lose you. Plus you're a badass and if anything comes up to the gate you can totally kick ass."

Hunter kisses his daughter's forehead before handing her to Rosita. He steals a kiss from Rosita, "I love you both."

____

When Hunter arrived at Oceanside, the woods were on fire and the place was swarming with walkers. He pulled out his machete and started taking out the walkers. Over the years, he's lost the fear of being faced with walkers.

The biggest threat in this world wasn't the dead, and maybe it never has been. It's always been the people who lose themselves because of this world. Hunter's made it his goal to never lose himself. Despite everything he's lost he doesn't want to become the Governor, or the people from Terminus, Negan, or the Alpha.

After killing all of the walkers he could, he started pushing people back as one of the tall trees caught fire. He didn't want anyone from Oceanside or the people that came with him to die. Daryl threw his axe into the tree, causing it to crumble onto the group of walkers, setting them all on fire.

Once the tree wasn't a problem, Hunter took out the remaining walkers that surrounded them.  Hunter had no idea what came from the sky, a satellite of some sort that Eugene wanted to take apart and bring back to Alexandria.