Just Keep Walking

Fifteen

"Mary?!" Maggie panicked as soon as she began to twitch, slowly at first, then she rapidly seized.
"Mary! Mary! What's happening!" Rick shouted in fear, grabbing her off Maggie.
"Rick. Lay her down on her side." Rosita said calmly, and Rick did as she said, everyone panicking.
"What's happening? What's happening to her!?" Rick yelled, grabbing Rosita's shoulders harshly.
"Rick. Let go." Rosita hissed firmly, "I can't help her if you don't let me." Rick let go of her, shaking uncontrollably.
"It's a seizure." Rosita explained, as she held Mary on her side.
"Why? Why?!"
"Calm down!" Rosita shouted back.
"Rick. It's okay." Glenn whispered shakily, putting a hand on his shoulder, but Rick brushed it off.
"Why is she doing it?" Carl panicked, as worried as his father.
"Her fever's too high. It can happen." Rosita explained.
"Make it stop!" Carl screamed, "Make her stop!"
"She can't!" Abraham shouted back impatiently.
"Is there a family history of it?"
"No. I don't think so." Rick replied in worry.
"Carl's had one." Maggie added.
"She's slowing down. What does that mean?" Rick questioned, grabbing hold of Mary's shaking hand.
"It's stopping." Rosita replied. Mary finally stopped, but was unconscious. Everyone was shook and afraid, Rick and Maggie shaking, Carl crying a little. The boy sat down next to his father, holding Mary's other hand.
"What... What... Is she alive?" Carl asked, his voice shaking.
"Yeah. She is." Tara nodded, seeing Mary's tiny chest expand, then shrink.
"What... Will... Is she going to be okay?" Michonne whispered.
"I don't know," Rosita replied, "not until she wakes up. I'm not a doctor."
"She can't be here, incredibly sick, when they come." Tara whispered.
"You still want to wait around?" Abraham asked Rick nonchalantly.
"Don't ask him shit like that," Glenn snapped, "not now."
"Alright, I'm just..." Abraham snapped, but Carl cut him off.
"Can you just not be a dick? My little sister is dying." Carl hissed angrily.  No one spoke after that. No one spoke, and Carl cried softly, not caring that everyone could see. After a few more minutes, Mary slowly opened her eyes, but didn't move otherwise.
"Mary? Moo, can you hear me?" Rick asked quickly. The child looked deep into his eyes, not moving at all, then moved her lips but didn't talk, then her head, slowly and stiffly.
"Are you okay? How do you feel?" Rosita questioned gently.
"B-b-bad." Mary slurred weakly.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" Carl asked, holding up four fingers, unsure if it would help or not.
"F-four." She mumbled.
"Can you lift your hand?" Rick asked, and Mary did as he said. "So she's fine?" Rick asked Rosita with a smile.
"I don't know! I don't know about seizures. I don't know about what you do afterwards, or how to know if they're okay, or what." Rosita sighed. "I mean, she's breathing normally, and can talk... Do you remember your name?"
"Mary." The child muttered in confusion.
"Where are we?"
"At church." Mary whispered, less slurred now.
"I mean, I think she'll be okay."
"Think?" Carl snapped angrily.
"She's not a doctor. She's helped you more than she had to." Abraham defended.
"Daddy." Mary whispered shakily, and Rick sat her up slowly, then held her.
"You're okay. You're okay. But don't you ever do that again, you hear me? It scared me to death."
"You're okay." Carl smiled softly, kissing the side of her head.
"Tired." Mary mumbled, her body limp and eyes closed.
"Can she sleep?" Rick asked, and Rosita nodded. "Okay. You take a nap then."
"S-stay."
"I will," Rick whispered into her ear, "I will."

"Okay. I like the plan," Tyreese nodded, "I'll stay here with the kids. Eugene, Bob, Gabriel."
"I'll stay." Rosita said, looking at Abraham's face of dislike.
"I don't want to leave her. Not in the state she's in." Rick sighed, Mary asleep on his chest.
"It's safer." Maggie insisted gently.
"I don't want to leave her."
"Dad. I won't let anything happen to her. And Rosita knows what to do if she gets worse." Carl promised.
Rick looked down at the sick child, then nodded slowly. "They think they're in control. We're in here and they could be anywhere. But we know exactly where they are."
"Plans got stones, I'll give you that." Abraham commented.
"Make our move before they do."
"That's right. They're not counting on us thinking straight." Rick nodded.
"Are we? I'm just making sure, it's a big play." Rosita challenged.
"Remember what these people are capable of. Tyreese?"
"Yeah?"
"You up for this?"
"I'm coming with you." Sasha said suddenly, coming out of Gabriel's office and into the main room.
"You should stay with Bob." Tyreese said gently.
"No. I want to be out there. I want to be a part of this!" Sasha argued, then she left, Tyreese following her. He came back not long later, and nodded to Rick.
"She's going with you." He sighed.
"Alright. Well, we should go." Rick nodded back. He gently shook Mary awake, and she groggily opened her eyes.
"Daddy?"
"Baby, I've gotta go a second. Okay?" Rick explained gently, "Carl's gonna look after you, and Tyreese."
"I wanna come." She whispered, closing her eyes.
"No, you've got to stay. You've gotta look after Judith."
"Yeah. Look after my Judy." She breathed weakly.
"Hey. I love you."
"Love you too." Mary mumbled. Rick kissed the top of her head, and passed her over to Tyreese. Mary let out a few tears, but Tyreese shushed her soothingly, stroking the back of her head, and she went quiet.
"Here. Have bunny." Rick soothed, passing her the dirty teddy. Mary simply lent on it, the soft toy pressed against her cheek and Tyreese's chest. "I love you." He said to Carl, a hand on his shoulder, and Carl nodded back at him.
"I'll keep them safe." Carl promised.
"Keep yourself safe too." Rick nodded, then he left, the majority of the group leaving.
"Come on, little lady, let's go into the other room." Tyreese whispered into Mary's hair, following Rosita and Eugene into Gabriel's office, where Bob was laid and Gabriel was praying, Carl following them. "Just go to sleep, yeah?"
"Yeah." Mary mumbled, putting her thumb in her mouth, the other hand holding her bunny, falling asleep quickly.
Not long later, the main door opened, and Carl leapt up, his gun pointed at the door.
"Well, I guess you know we're here," Gareth called out, the voice sending chills down Carl's spine, "and we know you're here. And we're armed. So there's really no point in hiding anymore. We've been watching you. We know who's here. There's Bob, unless you put him out of his misery already, and Eugene, Rosita, Martin's good friend Tyreese, Carl, Judith, and Mary, but she wasn't looking so great a few days ago. Maybe she's dead by now. Rick and the rest walked out with a lot of your guns. Listen, we don't know where you all are but this isn't a big place. So let's just stop this now before things get more painful than they need to be."
The door handle rattled, and Carl held his gun even tighter, looking at Mary, then Judith.
"Look, you're behind one of these two doors and we have more than enough firepower to take down both. Can't imagine that's what you all want. How about the priest? Father, you help us wrap this up, we'll let you walk away from this. Just open the door and you can go. You can take the baby with you. What do you say?" Gareth bargained.
Suddenly, Judith began to cry, jolting Mary awake. Carl went to get her, soothing her, and once she had stopped crying, he passed her to Gabriel so he could hold his gun again.
"I don't know, maybe we'll keep the kid. I'm starting to like this girl. It's your last chance, right now to tell us you're coming out!"
"Are we done?" A different man asked, and Mary looked up at Tyreese in worry.
"Where's daddy?" She whispered shakily.
"He'll be here soon." Tyreese replied quietly, and Mary nodded, then froze when she heard the sound of two silenced gunshots.
"Put your guns in the floor." Rick ordered, his voice loud and clear.
"Rick, we'll fire right into that office. So you lower your gun." Gareth replied, almost calmly.
"It's okay." Tyreese soothed to Mary, and another gunshot wizzed through the air, making Gareth whimper in pain.
"Put your guns on the floor and kneel."
"Do what he says. Martin, there's no choice here." Gareth said, his voice filled with pain, and Tyreese froze.
"Yeah there is." Martin insisted.
"Want to bet?" Abraham spat.
"No point in begging, right?" Gareth joked emotionlessly, and Mary let out a smile. She knew that had won.
"No."
"Still, you could have killed us when you came in. There had to be a reason for that."
"We didn't want to waste the bullets." Rick retorted.
"We used to help people. We saved people. Things changed. They came in and... After that... I know that you've been out there, but I can see it. You don't know what it is to be hungry. You don't have to do this. We can walk away. And we will never cross paths again. I promise you."
"But you'll cross someone's path. My five year old knows you don't let the bad guys get away. She killed one. You'd do this to anyone, right? Besides, I already made you a promise." Rick said calmly, then all that Mary could hear was the sounds of people screaming while being brutally beaten to death.
Tyreese opened the door, still holding Mary, and looked out, seeing bodies and blood everywhere.
"It could have been us." Rick nodded slowly.
"Yeah." Sasha whispered. Everything went quiet, and Rick gently took Mary off of Tyreese, holding her tightly. She wasn't even bothered by the massacre. It was normal.
"Daddy, look." Mary whispered, and Rick turned to where she was looking and grinned. Michonne has her katana back.
"This is the lords house." Gabriel whispered shakily.
"No," Maggie retorted, "it's just four walls and a roof."
"We should all get some sleep. Long day tomorrow." Abraham ordered, and everyone nodded.
"Angel, you okay?" Maggie said gently. Mary nodded, then shook her head, and held out her arms to Maggie. Maggie took her, holding her close, inhaling Mary's smell of sweat and orange juice and baked beans and sun cream and the forever lingering scent of baby shampoo. Slowly, Maggie sank onto the floor, Glenn beside her, and she began to cry softly, just a few tears, but enough.
"Hey. Hey, Maggie." Glenn whispered, putting a hand on her cheek.
"She can't lose us, Glenn. And we can't lose her. I can't lose her," Maggie cried softly, checking that Mary was asleep, "and we have either got to leave her, or watch her die. Because that's what's happening to her. I love her. I love her like my own. She makes me a better person. And I can't bare to lose her."
"I know. I feel exactly the same. But if we stay... Rick and Abraham will kill each other. And we are leaving for a good cause. And... And... And we'll see each other again, because they'll follow us when Daryl and Carol get back."
"It'll kill her. She lost her mother, Glenn. In her eyes she's lost her Uncle Daryl too. Her friends are all dead. Everyone she has are under this roof. And she's gonna lose us."
"No she won't. Not for forever. Okay?" Glenn promised. "Let's just go to sleep, okay? Worry about it later."
Maggie nodded, and rested her head on Glenn, closing her eyes. They fell asleep, but not before Rosita overheard the whole conversation.

After they all said goodbye to Bob, Rick stayed in talking to him with Judith, and Mary stayed with Glenn, clinging onto him. It was early morning, and the child was devastated. She was finally beginning to realise that Daryl and Carol wouldn't be back in time. That Maggie and Glenn were leaving.
"Abraham," Rosita hissed from outside, looking in at Glenn, telling made up stories to the groggy child, her fever still high, her body even weaker, "they can't come. Don't do this. Just... just tell them you've changed your mind. Tell them we don't need them."
"Why the fuck would I do that?" The man scoffed.
"Because I'm asking?"
"Rosita."
"She looks at them the same way my nephew looked at me. The love that a little kid reserves for truly special people in their lives. Abraham. She reminds me of him. Same age, same smile, same cautious approach in strangers. You know how much I loved him, so you know how much they love her. Don't do it."
"The mission, Rosita! The mission is more important than anything. More... More important than a five year old's feelings. And we both know that there's a very slim chance she's surviving."
"A kid like that? She'll survive anything." Rosita insisted. "Don't fuck her up anymore by taking away half her family."
"Rosita." He sighed in irritation.
"Abraham!"
"No. No. I need them."
"Abraham! Look at them!" Rosita begged, an unusual occurrence for her. Abraham looked into the window and saw a man with a dying little girl in his arms, telling her stories about old lives with love in his eyes. Rosita saw herself, reading bedtime stories to her beloved nephew, his begging for just one more every time she finished each one.
"No," Abraham whispered, "no."
"You're an asshole." The woman spat, before leaving.

Mary was so sick she slept through Bob's burial, safe in Glenn's arms for what she feared to be the last time.
"This is our route to DC. We'll stick to it as long as we're able. If not, well, you got our destination. Once Eugene gets to the big brains left up there. things are gonna bounce back. This group should be there for it. You should be there for it." Abraham insisted, passing Rick a map.
"They will be." Maggie nodded.
"We will." Michonne added.
Rick turned to them, stroking Mary's hair gently and nodding. "We will."
"Let's go!" Abraham shouted.
"Hey, Moo, wake up." Glenn said softly, gently shaking her shoulder.
"Hurts." Mary sobbed, her eyes opening slowly.
"I know. I know." Glenn nodded. "Moo, me and Maggie have to go now."
"No." She sobbed suddenly.
Glenn sighed and kissed the top of her head. "It's gonna be okay. I love you, Little Miss Mary Moo. Okay?"
Mary just sobbed, and Maggie came over and hugged her tightly while Glenn held her. "I love you too, okay? Be a good girl for your daddy and Carl. And I'll see you real soon." Maggie whispered into her ear.
"You can't go," Mary sobbed hysterically, "you can't! Don't go! Don't go! Please. Please! Don't go!"
"Come here. Come on, baby girl." Rick sighed, taking her off Glenn. "Come on."
"Please. Please stay." She cried into Rick's shirt.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." Maggie whispered, kissing the top of her head again.
"It's okay." Rick nodded to Maggie. He hugged the woman, then Glenn. As Mary wailed, Maggie, Glenn, Tara, Rosita, Abraham, and Eugene got into the bus. Then they left. They left, with Maggie crying softly, Glenn holding back tears, and Mary wailing, as though she'd never stop.