Just Keep Walking

Forty six

"I just wanna... I wanna... Go swimming!" Mary declared.
"I can't take you swimming." Carl chuckled, rolling his eyes.
"We could swim in the lake." The child suggested, looking up at Carl with wide eyes, Carl's hat nearly falling off her head as she did so; she loved wearing it when she was occasionally allowed.
"No. Maybe dad can take you later."
"I wanna go now." Mary whined, pouting slightly.
"Carl?" Gabriel asked out of nowhere, walking over to him.
"What?" Carl snapped in annoyance, both him and Mary turning around.
"I don't like you." Mary spat.
"You heard what I told Deanna about your group." Gabriel nodded slowly.
"What do you want?"
"It was about me," Gabriel explained, "not you or your group. I know that now. I want to help. You tried to teach me back at my church. But I'm ready to learn now."
"I think you need to tell everybody." Carl sighed.
"Yeah, I think you're right." Gabriel nodded.
"I think you're a dick." Mary mumbled.
"Language." Carl hissed, spinning her around and beginning to walk away. "Come by around three. We'll start with the machete." Carl ordered, and with that they left.
"Can I learn to do the machete?"
"No. You have your knife, and can shoot. You're fine."
"What if everything breaks and there's only a machete left in the world?"
"That's a lot of what ifs. And daddy and me know how to use one." Carl laughed, rolling his eyes. Mary sighed, but didn't argue back, just holding onto the side of the pushchair in silence.
"Can I play in the garden?" Mary asked as they got to the house.
"Yeah, sure. Carol's here too now, so just go find her if you need anything."
"Or you?"
"Or me. Go play." Carl smiled, and Mary grinned back at him, then skipped to the garden. She only had a few toys, and very few of them were suitable for the garden, but she did have a few small tennis balls, and a soccer ball. She practiced bouncing it on the floor quietly, then throwing it against the wall and catching it.
She froze when she heard someone scream.
Instinct kicked in, and Mary rushed to the door, but then remembered that it was locked shut (Judith was starting to walk and loved pushing against half open doors). She ran to the fence, and nestled into some bushes, her heart pounding, not slowing down until she heard Carl hiss down at her.
"Mary. Get in the house. Now. Walk round." He whispered, his head out of the window. Mary nodded, and walked around the house, over to the door, until she saw Enid with a bunch of keys.
"Enid?" Mary asked quietly, her forehead creased.
"What are you doing? Come in." Enid hissed, grabbing Mary's hand and pulling her into the house, Carl stood there, surprised to see Enid, a gun in his hand.
"Hi." Enid nodded, as Carl grabbed Mary a little too harshly, holding her to his chest.
"Are you okay?" He asked Mary, and she nodded, resting the side of her face on his shoulder.
"I wanted to say goodbye." Enid said suddenly, as Carl walked to the kitchen with Mary on his hip.
"Okay, watch the backdoor. Tell me if you see them coming." Carl replied nonchalantly, ignoring what she said.
"I'm not staying!"
"You're not going anywhere," Carl insisted firmly, sitting down on the floor, Enid sitting opposite, back to back, "you're helping me protect Mary and Judith. They're not getting inside this house. We're not going to let them. Did you see them?"
"They're just people. This place is too big to protect. They're are too many blind spots. That's how we were able to..."
Carl cut her off firmly. "They got in the walls but they're gonna die. All of them. Don't tell me goodbye."
"Okay," Enid whispered, "I won't."
"Where are you going?" Mary asked in confusion.
"Nowhere. She's staying here. Go get something to eat."
"From the cupboard? Whatever I want?"
"Yeah, go." Carl nodded. Mary wondered into the kitchen and grabbed a cookie, then saw her soccer ball. She unlocked the door, then went to grab it; but not before someone ran into the garden.
"Hey! Get off!" Mary screamed as he grabbed her, spinning her around.
Before anything else could happen, Carl was fighting off the man, Mary shaking, her eyes focused on the W on his forehead.
"We're setting you free!" The man laughed hysterically, now trying to pin Carl to the wall.
"Get off him!" Mary screamed, going to grab her knife, then remembering that Rick didn't let her carry it around every day.
"Run to Maggie's house!" Carl shouted, battling the man off him, Enid rushing upstairs to stand by Judith, just in case he got through. Mary nodded, and ran, her leg more painful as she put such pressure and weight onto it.
"Shit, it's a little girl!" A woman half exclaimed, half cooed, as she scooped Mary up.
"Get off! Get off! Get off! Carl! Maggie! Carol!" Mary screamed, fighting the woman.
"I'm not gonna kill you, you stupid child, why would I kill a little girl? Oh, you remind me of my little girl. She's dead now. She's free, but she's dead. Everyone is dead." The woman rambled. Mary went still, and looked around, moving her hand until it fell onto a knife hooked onto the woman's belt.
"I think you can come back with us," the woman nodded determinedly, "learn our ways. You're coming back home with us." Before she could say anything else, Mary plunged the knife into the side of the woman's chest, making her gasp and wheeze and drop Mary to the floor, then collapse beside her. Mary took a deep breath in, pulled herself up, rubber her pained hip, then stabbed the woman in the head, and kept running, and running, and running, until she banged into a hard body and tumbled to the floor.
"Mary?! What the hell are you doing?!" Carol hissed, grabbing Mary's arm and dragging her up.
"I gotta go to Maggie's house!" Mary panicked, seeing people's guts on the floor, people wielding knives, axes, machetes.
"Go. Lock the door. Now!" Carol ordered, and Mary ran to the house next to them, and slithered through the open window, her heart pounding, her hands shaking, her breaths quick and close together.
"Okay. Okay. Where do I hide?" Mary whispered to herself, looking around Maggie and Glenn's open house, even more worried when she realised Maggie wasn't home. Then a long car horn went off, causing even more adrenaline to pump around Mary's body.
She went into the kitchen, and curled up in the bottom of the pantry, closing her eyes, covering her ears, her chest a rapid drum, and she stayed there for twenty minutes, until she heard someone come into the house.
"What the... I shut this. Who's shoe... Mary?" Maggie asked in confusion. Mary wriggled out of the pantry, realising she only had one shoe on; the other must have fallen off.
"Carl said to find you. There was a bad man in our house." Mary whispered shakily, and at those words Maggie picked her up, holding her tightly, never wanting to let go.
"Oh sweetie. It's okay now. It's okay now. Let's go  and find Carl, yeah?" Maggie soothed, stroking Mary's back even though she wasn't crying.
"No! I don't wanna go outside." Mary protested.
"Hey, you've got me now. So you're super safe. I won't let anyone hurt you. Okay?"
"No." Mary whined, crossing her arms determinedly.
"Mary," Maggie asked suddenly, "who's blood is that on you? Did you hurt yourself?"
Mary looked at her bloodied hands, her white shirt now with splotches of red, flickers of blood on her skirt. "I killed a person." She replied quietly, unsure of how Maggie would react.
"Oh honey." Maggie sighed shakily, holding Mary even tighter, her heart breaking for the child. "Were they trying to hurt you?"
"They grabbed me. I think so. They had the W on their head." Mary answered, her eyes closing.
"It's okay. It's okay, I've got you now. It's all gonna be okay, Moo." Maggie soothed, and Mary let out a few tiny tears.
"It's never gonna be fully safe, is it?" Mary whispered, her voice small and shakily.
"No," Maggie replied honestly, "it won't. But nothing is ever going to be fully safe. Even before it wasn't."
"I miss daddy. Daddy wouldn't have let this happen, he'd have killed them all. When does daddy get back?" Mary cried shakily.
"Oh baby. He'll be back soon. Soon, okay? I promise."
"But he should be back by now. It's dinner time. He said he'd be home not long after lunch."
Maggie knew how Mary felt - the group were a few hours late, and Maggie knew that was never a good thing. "I know. I know you're scared. But your daddy is always fine. You know that. You don't need to worry about your daddy."
"I'm not scared. I'm anxious." Mary insisted tearfully.
"Okay," Maggie laughed softly, kissing the side of Mary's head, "That's okay. You're anxious, not scared."
"What if daddy died? Or Mishy? Or Glenny? Or Uncle Daryl?"
Maggie's stomach twisted at the mention of Glenn's name, but she pushed it aside. "They're not. Okay? They're all fine and they'll be home soon."
"What are the possum bees?" Mary mumbled into Maggie's chest.
"The what?" Maggie chuckled.
"The possum bees! The things that what might happen."
"Possibilities. You're so cute." The woman laughed, and Mary smiled back, lifting her head off Maggie's shoulder.
"I know." Mary grinned, wiping away her tears.
"Okay. Let's go tell Carl you're safe." Maggie smiled softly, kissing her forehead again. She sat down with Mary on her lap, and pushed her shoe onto her foot, forcing it a little. "These are too small."
"I know. Daddy said he'll find me some." Mary nodded.
"Okay. Okay, let's go." Maggie smiled gently, getting up and leaving the house, walking across the street to Rick's house, Mary on her hip.
"Hey, Carl?!" Maggie called, opening the door.
"Do you have Mary?" Carl shouted, running down the stairs, holding Judith tightly.
"Yeah, she's okay, don't worry." Maggie smiled, as Carl sat Judith down, then grabbed Mary, hugging her tightly.
"I was so worried. Thank you. So much."
"It's fine. Of course it's fine." Maggie smiled softly.
"No one's back yet?" Carl asked quietly as Mary buried her head into his neck.
"No." Maggie whispered, and Carl sighed. Maggie picked Judith up, and went into the kitchen, tidying away cutlery and binning wrappers, busying herself cleaning up Carl's mess in the kitchen so she didn't have to think about Glenn.
"Isn't your brother silly? Silly Carl! Leaving the mess. Look at the mess!" Maggie cooed to Judith, making the baby laugh.
"Maggie?" Carl asked awkwardly, noticing Maggie was being a little too bright, a little too happy for someone of her situation.
"I'm fine." Maggie nodded suddenly, I'm fine. It's gonna be fine. Your daddy will be back soon, Mary, so don't you worry, and so with Mishy. So no worrying. Not at all. I'm gonna go check on everyone." Maggie said firmly,  passing Judith to Carl, and leaving the boy with his two little sisters in his arms, and a timer which began beeping, their dinner ready, their father gone.

That night Maggie stayed at their house. She said that it was because she didn't want Carl left alone with the girls, and Carol should have some time to herself after looking after the three children all day, but even Mary knew that the main reason was because Maggie didn't want to spend the night alone in her large house. Maggie hadn't ever slept in a house alone.
"Okay, what's her bedtime routine? Bath, pyjamas, then what?" Maggie asked Carl as she washed Mary's hair.
"Normally I read to her," Carl answered as he battled Judith into an onesie beside Maggie, "while dad puts Jude to bed. Then she has a drink while she watches half an hour of a film or whatever with dad, and dad lays with her until she falls to sleep."
"Okay." Maggie nodded, rinsing the shampoo out of Mary's hair. She combed conditioner through it, then Mary climbed out of the bath, wrapping herself into a towel.
"We can't do the routine today. Daddy isn't here." Mary mumbled as Maggie rubbed her hair dry.
"Okay. How do you want to do it?"
"I don't know. Grown ups do that bit, so it's up to you or Carl. Carl's a grown up today because daddy isn't here. He'll be back soon though, right? Soon? Before sleep time?"
"Probably not." Maggie said gently, and Mary's face creased up in pain.
"Hey, Moo, why don't you get in your pyjamas, then you can give Judith her bottle before bed, because you're such a good big sister. Then we can watch a film. Peter Pan. Yeah?" Carl suggested, and Mary sighed, then nodded.
"Okay. Where are your pyjamas? Do you wanna go get them?" Maggie asked softly.
"Which ones? Spidey or butterflies or princesses or stripes?" Mary asked seriously.
"Spidey, definitely." Carl nodded, and Mary ran off to get changed. "She's scared." Carl announced to Maggie.
"Yeah. Yeah, she is. So are you." Maggie sighed.
"Not scared. Anxious." Carl quoted with a smile on his face, as he stood Judith up while still holding her.
"Good one." Maggie chuckled, rolling her eyes.
"Can you take her? I'll go make her a bottle." Carl asked. Maggie nodded, and took Judith, standing up and bouncing her on her hip, then going to check on Mary.
"You okay in there?"
"Yeah. Done." Mary nodded, walking out of the room to Maggie, proud of herself for dressing herself well. Maggie didn't point out that Mary had put on her shirt inside out.
They went downstairs, and Mary gave Judith her bottle, putting all of her attention into the one task, then when Carl put Judith to bed, she curled up next to Maggie, watching a film contently.
Until the night hit, and neither Mary nor Maggie slept at all, nightmares haunting Mary, making her scream all night, simply wanting her father to return.