EAT THE RICH [TWD]

༻24༺

JIHYUN POV

Daryl slams Hornsby against the wall.

I look down at Sebastian. The walker growls and snaps his teeth at my ankle. His hands were chained, though.

"Do it," Carol urges. "I know you've wanted to for awhile."

I send her a look but take out my knife. I stand over the walker and huff to myself before stabbing him in the head.

"Prick," I mutter under my breath.

I head over to Daryl and Carol. Lance spews some shit about knowing where the people would have taken ours when Carol is the one threatening him.

"Ready to run?" Daryl asks.

"No," I admit.

"Awesome. Let's go."

I look to Lance. He glares at Sebastian's body with a furious fire in his eyes.

"Would they have brought Brooklyn wherever they're taking our people, too?" I ask.

"What?" Lance asks.

"Brooklyn. Would Pamela have sent her away, too."

"We ain't got time," Daryl reminds.

"Brooklyn.. Brooklyn would have been either killed or.. in one of these other cells."

My heart drops to my stomach.

"Jihyun," Carol calls. "We'll figure it out. We need to go, now."

Brooklyn clouds my thoughts. My common sense is replaced with panic.

"I have to find her," I voice. "If she's still here.. I need to-"

"We need to find our people," Daryl cuts me off.

"She is my people now, Daryl," I argue. "She's.. my person. Okay? I need to find her."

Daryl and Carol trade a look.

"The safest bet right now is to hope she's with Connie. Or, she's with our kids," Carol urges.

"What's the smartest bet, then?"

Lance steps to my side. "If I may.. Brooklyn is valuable to Pamela. The status, relationship with Sebastian, and Brooklyn's knowledge on the Commonwealth is too valuable to the Miltons and this city. I'm sure she is safe."

My mind traces back to Max and Eugene.

Eugene gave himself over to ensure that Max would be kept out of trouble and harm.

Was I willing to do that for Brooklyn?

"I have to find her," I repeat.

Maggie's words echo in my head, followed by Glenn's last words.

"Jihyun," Carol sighs.

"Connie is still out there. Yumiko, Eugene.. maybe some of our other friends got away like we did."

"So, what? You want to disguise yourself and keep some kind of guard over this place?" Daryl asks.

I scratch the back of my neck nervously. "Yeah..?"

Daryl ushers me to the side with two fingers. I follow behind him and we pause at the doors. His voice drops to a whisper.

"We can't do this. Not now, man."

"If Brooklyn is in danger, I have to help her."

"Look, Ji.. I get it. I do. I was there-"

"Brooklyn is nothing like Leah," I cut him off.

Daryl's eyes go back to that normal-unreadable haze.

"Brooklyn has been faking it to make it for a decade now. She's finally starting to become her own person. We can't leave her here. I can't."

"Okay," he gives in. "But, she's not a fighter. It's best to let her stay back and then we'll figure something out to get her back."

"'Get her back'?" I repeat.

"Like a trade," Daryl answers.

"Right," I scoff. "Because trades always work out in the end."

"Unless you're gonna pull a Maggie on me and shoot people behind their backs-"

"You know good and well I'm not talking about Maggie," I cut his sentence short.

Daryl's eyes flash to hurt. He knew I was talking about Beth.

"Brooklyn is a part of 'my people' now. Maggie told me to find her, so that's what I'm gonna do. I'll link back up with the rest of you once I find her and we get out."

"You going on your own?" he asks.

I look back to Carol. She gives me a reassuring nod of support.

"I am. For the first time, yeah," I tell Daryl.

I'd never been away from the group. Ever since they saved me from the CDC, I felt indebted to them. I never faltered in trying to protect them. I threw myself between them and the line of fire. But.. Brooklyn was special to me. I had to put her first. Not because I had to put her before the group, I could never do that. I just need to put Brooklyn before myself. If I die protecting her, at least she'd be alive. If I let her go, I couldn't live with myself.

"All right," Daryl finally says.

I pat his shoulder and take off running into the halls.