08; AMONGST OTHER THINGS (season nine, episodes seven & eight)
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TRUDI'S BOOTS HADN'T stepped any further than the Alexandria hunting grounds in over four years, and yet, in the past twenty-four hours, she'd spent the majority of her time hiking and fighting Walkers, building a fire in an unfamiliar camp and conversing with strangers. It felt all types of wrong - almost like she was mocking Tariq.
He couldn't do any of that anymore. He took bi-annual trips with some of the former Saviours in search of parts for a potential leg brace but he almost always came back empty-handed. Trudi hated seeing him so beat down, she especially hated Daryl Dixon for putting him into that state in the first place.
She lost an eye, quite literally survived a spear to the face and she got to resume her life - with a trusty pink eyepatch - as if no badness had ever come to her. It didn't hinder her ability to fight, if anything; it strengthened her fighting abilities because when one sense is compromised, the other four overcompensate and for Trudi that meant having ears that could hear everything and a nose that could smell a Walker from a mile away.
But Tariq's injury. . . his brain didn't send the signals it was supposed to anymore. He had one leg that moved on command and another with severely delayed motor function.
He'd been one of their strongest fighters, and Daryl had reduced him to someone incapable of walking without a cane - though, she supposed it was better than what Daryl's actions had reduced Rick to; a pile of ashes.
Over the past six years, Trudi had grown - physically and as a person, but one thing that hadn't changed was her fear of riding horseback. So, at twenty-four years old, she had her arms wound tightly around Michonne's waist, praying that the great beast beneath them would not throw them to the ground and trample them.
Michonne tugged the reins and pulled the horse to a sudden halt. "This is as far as we go."
Trudi let out a discreet sigh of relief against Michonne's shoulder. She wanted to go home.
Siddiq came to a stop beside them and Yumiko slowed the wagon to a stall.
"Look. . ." Siddiq's tone wavered as he spoke, he seemed torn on whether or not to tell them. "Maggie and Chase are gone, took Hershel with them. Jesus runs Hilltop now."
Trudi let out a dry laugh.
Michonne stayed silent - deadly so. That was the ultimate telltale sign that a storm was coming in the form of a katana-wielding force of nature that took no bullshit from anybody.
