Just Keep Walking

Forty three

"Can I come with you today?" Mary asked Rick as she ate her cereal the next morning.
"Well... I don't know, it's out of the walls and I just don't see why I should risk it..."
"Dad," Carl scoffed, "everyone's gonna be there. She'll be fine. She's better at killing Walkers than half the people here."
"Yeah. Yeah, okay, you can come, but you have to stay with either me, Michonne, Maggie, Glenn, Carol, or Daryl, okay?"
"You."
"Maybe not all the time."
"Okay." Mary sighed. Rick went behind her, and did her hair as she ate, brushing it out, then pulling it into a ponytail.
"Are you done? Yeah? Okay, go on upstairs and get dressed. Dungarees and a shirt. And some leggings, it's still a little cold."
"Okay." Mary nodded, getting up and heading up the stairs.
"Clean underwear!" Rick reminded, being answered by Mary's door swinging shut.
"D'you think it's gonna work?" Carl asked suddenly.
"Yeah. Yeah, I do. I'm gonna go drop Judith off with the Millers." Rick nodded. He picked Judith up, babbling nonsense to the baby, and took her to the Millers house. When he came back everyone was ready to go, Mary bouncing a ball against the wall, Carl reading a comic, Michonne sharpening a knife.
"Alright. Let's get goin'." Rick nodded. They went into the car Deanna had gave them, and drove to the gate, other people following their lead. Once they were outside the gate, Rick turned around whilst driving.
"Mary. I want you to have your knife back. Okay?" Rick asked softly.
"Yeah." The child nodded, taking it off Rick.
"But you still have to stay with me. Okay? Just because you have a knife doesn't mean you're indestructible, okay?"
"Okay." Mary laughed nonchalantly. Rick let out a shaky sigh, then ruffled her hair and turned back around.
"Daddy, why are you stressing? We used to live outside."
"I know. I just want you safe. I'd sooner you stay at home. But I'd also sooner you stay with me."
"I'm fine, daddy! I'm a big girl now. I've nearly died loads of times!"
"Alright. Okay." Rick sighed, rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand.
"I'm a badass." Mary smiled happily.
"Yeah. You sure are. Do you want bunny?" Carl chuckled.
"Yeah." Mary nodded, taking the bunny from Carl, then getting out of her seat and sliding over to his lap. "I'm a dumbass badass."

"Look, fill these little bags like this, with the dirt, see? And it'll make a path, so the Walkers have gotta stay walking here, where we tell them to."
"Because we're bossy." Mary giggled, and Rick laughed back.
"Yeah, sure." Rick chuckled. Mary sat on the dirt floor, and shovelled at the dirt as she was told to, however she built castles instead of filling sacks.
"That's good." Rick smiled gently.
"Thanks! It's a house for Carl Bunny. For while we're here."
"Good plan."
"Carl Bunny likes it here."
"Good."
"Uncle Daryl's comin'." Mary said softly, and she was right; Daryl was walking over with a wheelbarrow full of dirt.
"Hey," He began, looking at Rick, "what you said before, about us needing to take care of ourselves? Going out, finding more people, that is taking care of ourselves. Your call though." Daryl shrugged, before emptying his wheelbarrow and walking away.
"What does Daryl mean?" Mary asked innocently, looking up at Rick with wide brown eyes.
"Nothing. Thanks." Rick smiled softly to Carol as she gave him a cup of water. She passed Mary one, making her smile softly at the woman.
"You know, I can come with all of you. You and Daryl have been teaching me how to shoot."
Rick sighed, and let out a teasing grin, going along with the joke. "I think you got the hang of it. You should stay back, get a feel for how people feel now. We still got a long way to go with them."
"We'll get there. She's in charge but you're in charge now." Carol pointed out, before leaving.
"What does Carol mean?" Mary questioned, her face wrinkled up in confusion.
"Nothing. Just a joke." Rick chuckled, taking a drink. Mary followed his lead, gulping the lukewarm water quickly, as though she was scared someone would take it from her. "Okay. You gonna help now?"
"I am helping." Mary insisted, flicking dirt at Rick.
"Okay, smelly, time to be serious. You've gotta help, or you sit in the car with bunny, because if you're not helping then I want you somewhere safe."
"I'm helping!" Mary whined, getting up and shovelling dirt into the sacks.
"Alright." Rick laughed, ruffling her hair playfully. "Oh, look at you," Rick sighed, tipping her chin up, "you've got sunburnt. We gotta get you a hat."
"I've got my bandana on!" Mary insisted, pointing to the headband.
"Yeah, but that doesn't stop sunburn. Hey, Carl?!"
"Yeah?!" Carl shouted, heading over.
"Can Mary borrow your hat? She's all sunburnt on her face."
"Sure." Carl nodded, taking off his hat and dropping it onto Mary's head. "Do you want me to take her?"
"Nah, she's fine." Rick shrugged.
"Okay. I'm gonna go then."
"You can stay, if you want. Why don't you stay?"
"Nah, I'm gonna go help Glenn."
"I wanna help Glenny!" Mary said suddenly.
"No, I want you with me for now. Just until we're more used to the surroundings."
"Bye." Carl smiled softly, walking away to help Glenn. Mary carried on filling the bags, Carl's hat protecting her from the sun. She began to hum under her breath, then mumble the story of Peter Pan.
"Is that your favourite now? Peter Pan?" Rick asked softly.
"Yeah. I really really like it."
"Even more than Little Mermaid?" Rick mock gasped.
"Maybe." Mary shrugged.
"Alright. Come on, let's go check up on everyone." Rick effortlessly lifted Mary onto his shoulders, then began to walk around, each person greeting him, some of them happy and admiring, a few of them polite yet short, more of them awkward, slightly scared. Rick pretended he didn't notice the latter few peoples reactions, and walked over to Deanna.
"I haven't had a chance to say it yet, but I'm sorry about Reg. He was smart and kind. He was a good man. It was the right call. We need this."
"He was nice." Mary added quietly.
"What else do we need? You need to tell me." Deanna prompted.
"People need to be armed inside the walls. They need to be trained, everyone." As though on queue, a twig snapped, the sound painfully loud. "Stop," Rick ordered, seeing Walkers approach them, other Alexandrians coming over, "here they come. Carter, heads up! Use your shovels, the guns will draw more."
"Help us!" Carter hissed.
"You can do this, you need to, all of you." Rick ordered, but Carter and the two men around him just pushed the Walkers away, not attempting to fight them.
"Why aren't we helping?" Mary asked quietly.
"If we do it, they'll never learn. Go to Carl." Rick explained, getting Mary down. Mary nodded, and ran over to Carl, who held her hand tightly.
"Morgan, don't!" Rick shouted as Morgan went to help, but the man ignored him. Rick sighed irritably, but went to help. Before Carl could pull her back, Mary had ran away, and pushed a Walker over, then stabbed it in the forehead. When another came close, too close, she stabbed it in the stomach, then stomped on it's head twice when it fell in defeat.
"Mary!" A man hissed, and Mary looked up at him under Carl's hat, seeing Glenn glaring at her in frustration. She looked more like the Mary he know when he was holding a knife and covered in dirt and blood. "You should have stayed back." He sighed simply, picking her up and taking away her knife.
Mary didn't even realised all eyes were on here.
"What?! At least she didn't stand there doing nothing!" Carl shouted suddenly, and slowly people looked away. Carl picked up the bunny she'd abandoned in her killing spree, then sighed.
"Can you take her home? Just... J-just take her home. Now, please?" Rick asked Glenn with a sigh, and he nodded. Mary didn't understand anything about reputations, but she knew she had just ruined Rick's even more.