Issue #29, "The Warning's Here"

"Wait! Hold up!" Michonne heard her own voice call out as she witnessed the brawl.

Of course that was only a second after the boys hit packed earth, sending up a rush of leaves and dirt into the air. Michonne thought she heard a light snap as Carl picked himself up—straddling Leroy—and threw back not one, two, but three heavy punches at Leroy.

The grunts of Carl and the kid Leroy as they wrestled to be atop one another were clearly audible.

Michonne stood there watching, shock obvious on her face. Carl was always such a small thing, only twelve years old. But to see him in front of her knocking the shit out of some much older kid was truly a shocking event.

Beside her, Rick had roused from his momentary daze and had hustled toward the two children. Biting down hard on his lower lip as he forcibly seized Carl by his shoulders and slung him aside.

Carl out of the way, Rick tightened his hand on Leroy's small shoulders and propelled him toward the trailer side. Leroy hit the wall with a look of true fear on his face.

"How are you here?" Rick asked with visible confusion, his voice was thick with anger and puzzlement, but Leroy didn't answer; he spat a clot of blood onto the ground, his chest heaving.

Michonne found herself dropping by Carl's side on her knees and angrily scolding, "That was some stupid shit you just pulled, Carl."

"True." He shook his head, lifting his hand to touch the deep scratches in his face. "But he deserved it."

She nodded and rose to her feet, approaching Rick and the kid by the trailer side.

"We should speak to him, see what he knows." Rick didn't answer, and her gaze went to Rick's incredibly tight grip on Leroy's shoulders. "Rick, let him go."

"No." Came Sonya, who Michonne had almost forgotten was there. She threw herself in between the man and the kid and Michonne. "This is the kid who infiltrated the prison with Judith. This is that cannibal who almost got us all killed—this is the kid whose parents murdered Estelle, your own sister."

Michonne struggled to find the words, but also wondered why she even attempting to defend. "But we should at least speak with him first. Yeah, he's done some shit, but he's a child."

Rick wasn't looking at her.

Sonya raised her arms warningly. "This is the only reason why I wish that little girl was still alive. That little girl had balls, Judith knew more—and was more capable than anyone here. Him being a child would not have stopped her, she wouldn't have thought twice about it."

"That may be right," said Michonne. "But that was also what made her more dangerous than us."

X

Skye felt the leaves crush beneath her sneakers and Ginny's, no words were spoken and in result she could hear the crickets as clear as ever. She looked up, seeing that the sky was a dark blanket of white specks, it sort of chilled the mood.

"Is there a reason why we're here, Ginny?" Skye scratched at the side of her face. "I was really tired, plus—"

"I like Carl, Skye." Ginny brushed a blonde curl from her shoulder and stopped walking, to turn and face Skye, the look of guilt on her face. "I still want to be with Carl."

"Still?" Skye tilted her head at her. "As in…"

Ginny looked down at her feet. "As in we used to kiss and stuff before you came back."

"It's called dating, Ginny." Skye sighed, using her hand to comb through her wildly feathered afro.

"I know." Her voice was small.

"Well," Skye looked around, trying to find the words. "I guess this means he couldn't wait for me after all."

"But he drew you, in his sketching book—or at least what passed for it. He missed you so much, it made me jealous." Ginny admitted, her blue eyes almost black.

Skye chuckled, interlocking her own hands and cracking her knuckles. "Yeah. I-I saw those drawings. He's really good."

She had a smile on her face as the thought of that went through her head, almost a bit too distracted to notice the shadows slowly approaching the girl ahead of her.

Ginny giggled. "He is. I even think that—uh…AHH!"

Skye's head quickly rose at the earsplitting wail that echoed through the entirety of the forest. Ginny's voice had gone from amiable to freaked-the-fuck-out and Skye looked around from her friend to realize that the vacant forest was now congested by a throng of roamers.

And only one who appeared very live-like had taken a chunk of skin from Ginny's throat, skin stretching among the gaps in its teeth, leaving the young girl screaming as blood jet out like the water from the fountains at an animal museum she'd once gone to with her parents.

Skye didn't have a moment to scream as she backed away, and before her own eyes, Ginny was devoured and her chilling cries died along with her.

Skye turned to run, as fast as her own feet would take her but tripped and the two shadows she found herself gazing at from above weren't roamers. They instead were the two she never thought she'd see again, it had been Mike, Michonne's fiancé and beside him, Maxine.

"Long time," began Maxine, the shadows outlining the sharp grin that materialized onto her face. "No see."

X

The door of the trailer cracked open, light spilling from the front area and out stepped Sonya, Michonne, Rick, Carl and Leroy in their orderly angry fashion.

"How are we supposed to trust you, Leroy? You can't even tell us why you're here!" Michonne articulated, balling her fist as they paused in front of the trailer.

Maybe he was just a cannibal that had gotten her sister killed, but he was still a child—and even if he did turn out to be a piece of shit—what would they do to a child?

Leroy turned to face her and he sighed. "I'm sorry, I know my Mom killed your sister, Ms. Michonne, and I know what happened to Judith and I'm sorry about that too. I liked her."

"How would you know what happened to Judith?" Rick expressed. "The only people who would know about that—"

"Is Mike and Maxine." Leroy said, his eyes wide as ever.

"Wha—?" Began Rick. "How in the holy hell would you know them?"

Leroy looked down. "My Mom and I, we were trying to find another place to live, after my Dad died we didn't want to stay at our camp anymore. We came across the Grove, and Maxine. We—"

Boom.

Michonne jumped at the sudden loud and thundering crescendo that seemed to come in from every direction. But instead of looking for the source, she looked for the result. Even down at her own stomach, which was empty of any wounds.

Michonne's worried gaze went to Rick, then Sonya, but they were okay.

So when she looked forward and down at the short child that stood ahead of her and saw that there was an opening in Leroy's chest that was pouring blood, her eyes went wide.

"So he was a sneaky liar after all. 'I have to take a leak' my ass." Spoke a voice that she recognized all too well. Mike.

It was dark, but she recognized the face of her ex-fiancé and his partner, the one-armed Grover. Maxine.

They were here. Together. Just like Leroy had said.

As Leroy had begun to slip to the ground, Michonne brought her arm around his back and dropped along with him to save the child from any more pain. She tightened her grip around his shoulders and blinked down at him in her arms.

"You were telling the truth." She croaked out.

Leroy, whose eyes had still been open, coughed up blood. "I—didn't think that th-they would come so soon." He admitted sickly.

Unintentionally, tears collected in her right eye and one plopped on his cheek, she opened her mouth but she couldn't find words.

Leroy stopped his coughing to say: "I'm sorry." He faintly smiled.

"I forgive you…okay?" Leroy's eyes were distant, faraway. He was looking at her, but not at her. "Okay? Leroy?"

No answer.

She noticed that his body had stiffened, his shoulders hunching up.

Michonne shut her eyes, burying her face into his bloody chest. No cries escaped her, but she could certainly feel a sting in her chest.

"God…" She whispered.

X

"Are you done crying, Michonne?"

The sound of Mike's voice sickened her, and Michonne didn't look up from Leroy's small body in her arms.

But the sound of leaves rustling made her raise up just as a petite white woman emerged from the forest, she stepped in beside Maxine, her hair short and incredibly dark.

The instant Michonne saw her, she recognized her. This was the woman she had seen out on the road when she was last with Estelle, the woman who had fired the shot that had took her sister from her.

This was Leroy's mother.

"Oh-oh-oh my god!" A sobbing scream tore from her throat as she released her rifle from her grip and sped toward Michonne.

She dropped onto her knees at the sight of Leroy in his state. Visible droplets of tears coursed down her face as she reached out and seized her son by his shoulders. She carried him in her arms as she quietly sobbed onto his forehead.

A moment of silence was given to her before she looked up at Michonne. "Did you do this? Was this because of Estelle?" Her voice was angry as if she no longer had another care in the world. "Am—am I next?"

Michonne cleared her throat. "I'm not the one with the gun."

Leroy's mother looked around wildly, but wasn't quick enough to see Mike with the revolver. Maxine, quick as ever, had stepped in behind her. The spark of a blade was seen briefly before Maxine had buried the knife into the top of the woman's head.

Michonne heard the sickening sound of flesh squelching as Maxine tore the jagged knife out and blood splattered onto the grass.

Maxine muttered something low under her breath and stepped back in her place beside Mike.

Michonne's mouth dropped open, but no words came out.

Slowly, Leroy's mother slumped over her own son, blood flowing down her scalp.

There were no more words for the night, no more time to be shocked. Mike and Maxine were here for blood and there were sure to get it if Michonne didn't think fast.

But she saw no way out of this.

The man from the cabin, Jonah, also stood beside them and on his side was Skye. Tears brimmed her big brown eyes, he had his fingers in her hair, a menacing look on his face.

He knelt down and picked up the gun Leroy's mother had dropped.

Mike then looked over to the two standing on his sides. "I want this entire camp cleared out. Check the trailer too. I don't want anyone here left alive."

"Come on!" She heard Rick from behind her. He reached down and tugged at Michonne's shoulder.

Michonne was on her feet, dashing around the trailer with Sonya, Rick, and Carl ahead of her. Bullets pattered heavily against the trailer as they stopped behind the vehicle.

"What are we going to do?" Michonne looked around. "They have Skye."

Before any of them could provide an answer to her query, the trailer had begun to rock.

Michonne met Rick's worried gaze.

"It's going to tip!" Carl screamed. "We have to go for the woods—it's the safest place!"

Michonne heard Rick silently agree as they dove for cover in the thick bushes of the woods.

Behind her she heard the creak of the trailer and the heavy impact it made on the ground behind it.

Only half-way there, Michonne turned in realization just as a piercing scream sounded through the air.

Sonya.

"Oh god!" Michonne heard herself say as her eyes followed the scream.

The trailer was on its side and trapped beneath it was Sonya. Her face was red and veiny, her body from the waist and lower was beneath the trailer, blood already gathering beneath her.

She bellowed again, this time with a grunt, and threw her head back in agony. "Gah!"

Michonne felt her eyes watering and turned in time to see a swarm of roamers collecting in the area.

Sonya's scream had only brought more.

She could run, but her feet wouldn't let her.

Michonne went for Sonya, only midway there when Sonya had begun shouting again:

"Go! Just go, you bitch! Just fucking go! I'm dead already!"

Michonne's bottom lip quivered as she joined Rick and Carl in the bushy opening of the forest.

Sonya's crushed figure disappeared in the mass of roamers. The sound of gunfire and screams were the only thing audible in the moment.

Everything was blurring, the noise, the area. Until something threw itself at her hip.

With fearful hazel eyes, peppery freckles and a cloudy hairdo, she recognized it as Skye. She hugged Michonne's hip, the girl's eyes were slightly red from tears.

The momentary blur cleared and Michonne dropped to her knees beside Skye. "How—how'd you get free?"

"The walkers were on them." Skye spoke breathlessly, dry tears on her face. "I-I got away unnoticed."

Michonne looked around, then back to Skye when Carl had threw himself into her embrace. She hadn't seen before but Carl's face was waterlogged with tears. He breathed heavily into Skye's hair as he struggled to let out some words.

"Have you seen Ginny? Is she in the trailer with Uncle Jeffrey?"

Skye blinked and moved her mouth to Carl's ear to whisper something. Michonne didn't know what she had said that made his shoulders sag, and a deep sob to come from him.

Skye had stopped crying though, she was just caressing Carl's head.

"I'm sorry." She whispered loud enough for Michonne to hear.

Rick brushed past the children to Michonne. "Mike's going to find us soon. I need to get into the trailer, Jeffrey and Saundra could be injured, the trailer took a damn hard fall."

"You're right. But I'll find them, you are not going out there, I need you here." She told him, looking to the side, her hardened eyes watching walkers being gunned down in a hail of bullets.

Rick tugged on her shoulders. "Michonne, what the hell are you talking about? Obviously I'm going out there with you."

"I'm saying you need to stay here," Michonne sighed. "Skye and Carl need you to get them to safety."

"I can't—"

"I am NOT about to watch another child die today. That is not happening." She snapped, the image of Leroy lamented in her arms found itself back in her head. "First Andre, then Judith, and now Leroy? I don't want Skye and Carl turning out that way and you don't either."

Rick looked at the ground behind them. "Y-you're right."

"Rick." She called and his eyes found hers again. "What's more important to you? Settling a score with Mike, or getting these children—your son and his girlfriend—to safety?"

"You know the answer." He told her.

Michonne nodded. "Good."

Despite the endlessly sorrowful moments the day had been filled with, she found a place in her heart to be gratified that he was still alive.

She smiled faintly, thinking: yeah, that's something to be thankful about.

With the thought counted, she took his stubbled face in between her hands and kissed him. Though she had to rise on the heels of her boots and blur out the sound of gunfire and screams to do so, it was worth it to her.

Her lips slid from his as her strained feet were flat on the ground again, Michonne sighed and let her arms fall to her side.

"When I get them somewhere safe, I will be back."

Michonne curled her eyebrows. "But—"

"Hey, you dice with death, I do too." He tilted his head at her. "Only fair, right?"

Michonne nodded slowly. "Right."

He could take care of himself. Always could.

She tapped his shoulder, and turned away, vanishing in a rustle of bushes.

X

She needed her sword.

That's what went through her head as she entered the field littered with the bodies of roamers, ducking behind the back of a distracted walker. The gunfire had only slightly subsided and she could no longer spot Mike or Maxine anywhere.

But she saw the trailer, and on the side underneath was the mangled corpse of Sonya. She was unrecognizable as her entre face had been fed upon, but her wavy blonde mane was still there.

Michonne blinked, and took her eyes off the woman. She approached the trailer, jumping atop to jump inside.

It was like she was entering a flipped world because everything was different. She stepped over a crushed desk and its spewing clothing and crawled through the front door.

The lights inside the fallen trailer were blinking.

Michonne ducked into the small area where she slept and groped around until she felt her hands find the textured hilt of her sword. She pulled the strap over and under her breasts then crawled out of the room.

"Saundra! Jeffrey!" She called, looking around the flickering area.

A female grunt made her turn. Michonne found herself clawing a plastic drawer out of the way, uncovering a bloody Saundra who had been trapped in the corner of a hall.

"Hey." Michonne reached for her arm. "Saundra, come on."

Saundra looked dazed and confused, a mess of blood had collected at her hairline. "M-Michonne? What is…?"

Michonne lifted Saundra's arm over her neck. "We're being attacked. The trailer was knocked over." Michonne stepped over furniture, cans and clothing until they reached the front door.

Before they went out into the dark night, Saundra gasped. "Wait—we have to get Jeffrey, a-and your friend Sidney. They're somewhere inside."

"I know." Michonne said to her. "I'll get them out. But you first, okay?"

Saundra looked reluctant but nodded anyway as Michonne stepped down into the grass and welcomed the chill night air.

But that wasn't the only thing she was welcomed with.

Because there stood Maxine, holding a single handgun with her only available hand, a knife tucked in her belt.

She had it raised toward Michonne, but Michonne ducked and shoved Saundra to the ground, Maxine fell a few feet away from them.

The bullets missed them and rained against the trailer. Michonne watched in shock as the trailer groaned deeply and began moving, sliding roughly over rocks, and now disappearing over the cliff.

There was the loudest impact against the earth below.

"NO!" Saundra's eyes watered violently. "Jeffrey!"

Maxine turned the gun on Saundra and pulled the trigger only to hear the clicking sound of an empty gun.

Maxine moaned and threw the gun aside, rapidly approaching the two women who were still sprawled out on the ground.

Michonne grabbed Saundra's wet face in her hands and focused her eyes on the woman. "Hey—hey, Saundra, listen to me. I need you to go, okay? I need you to go and find the rest of us!" Michonne looked to see Maxine still approaching and turned to Saundra.

Saundra, tear-filled and confused, still found the strength to nod. "O-okay!"

"Go!" They struggled to their feet and Saundra filed in the direction of the woods.

Michonne hauled herself into a sitting position, only to have Maxine ram into her, and she cried out at the snap she felt and heard in her left leg. They slid into the area the trailer once sat and was lived in and Maxine lifted herself up, smirking.

"Finally, Michonne, I get you alone."

X

Hands shaking, palms moist with sweat, and on high alert, Rick brushed aside a long swinging branch and ushered the two children deeper into the forest.

A droplet of water plopped onto his hand and he looked up just as a shower of rain began to slowly escape the sky.

"Here." Said Rick, blinking as rain popped against his face. He stepped past Carl and Skye to approach the thickest tree in the area. The place he recalled spending almost every day—after Judith—at. "Behind this, get behind it."

He leaned against it as the two scurried behind the tree and pulled his revolver from his belt and the knife from his pocket.

He held the gun out to Skye and the knife to Carl. "Use these. You see anyone—and I mean anyone. Kill them."

Hesitantly, Carl nodded and Skye too.

"We will." She whispered.

"Good, that's good."

Rick backed away from the tree.

Carl, worriedly, widened his eyes. "Dad, where are you going?"

Rick shook his head, looking down at his tight fist. "To settle a score."


So...I personally loved this chapter and am proud of it, tell me what you think, I'd really like to know, be honest. I cannot say thank you enough for the 74 reviews, I never expected Prison Viverly to reach that many. So thank you!-again!