Okay ya'll, I am so, so, SO sorry for taking this long to update but after spending the weekend moving and the entirety of the last two weeks working on a friggen 25-page paper for one of my history classes, I've understandably had little time to focus on my own original writings. So, after much anxiety, I thank you guys for being so patient for this chapter. :)
This chapter is REALLY different from the others in the fact that it has absolutely NO Tessa or Daryl in it - they are only referred to in passing. The first part is strictly Sam and Maggie, then Glenn and Tara and the ending, I'll leave as a surprise. It was definitely challenging but overall, I did enjoy it. There is also some using of Army lingo in this chapter as well, so you might wanna go on Google later and use a chart or something to figure out the lingo :)
HaloHunter89: Thanks - that means a lot to me, and TELL me about it! Jesus Christ, with everything that's been going on with Beth in the show, AMC is REALLY making me jump through hurdles this season. I'm definitely wracking my brain trying to figure out ways to keep Daryl and Tessa reasonably together. Although, I must say, this Daryl is pretty fun to write. And writing the others reacting to him, is pretty fun too. So while I am tearing my hair out trying to figure things out, at least its fun to write LOL. And you'll get more Maggie/Sam in this chapter too :)
Thanks for being so patient - I love you all bunches!
So read, review and enjoy!
- Nagiana
"Hey, you alright out here?"
Maggie sniffed and hurriedly wiped away her tears before turning around to face Sam standing behind her, one hand on a tree and a slightly apprehensive look on his face, as if he was unsure whether or not he needed to inquire as to how she was doing.
"I-I'm fine – thank you. What about you?" Sam nodded.
"Good as can be, I guess. Bob was shot, but . . ." He trailed off and gave a shrug before glancing over his shoulder through the trees at the two people huddled around their meager campfire. "I don't know what they're doing about it."
Maggie arched an eyebrow. "You left them alone?"
Sam gave her a small smile. "Well, see, I didn't feel comfortable knowing that you were out here alone, probably bawling your eyes out. Figured the buddy system was the way to go for now. And since I think Sasha's a tad full of herself and Bob just plain gets on my nerves -"
"Wow!" Maggie interrupted him with a playfully shocked look on her face. "Do you and Daryl actually have a common thread that does not in any kind of way include Tess?"
Sam gave a laugh and shrugged. "I don't know . . . possibly? Anyway, like I said, I figured we shouldn't be alone in unfamiliar territory; again, the buddy system seems like a pretty safe way to do it."
Maggie simpered. "Oh, aren't you just my Knight-in-Shining-Armor!"
Sam chuckled and gingerly rubbed the back of his neck. "Make that a Wannabe-Knight-in-Rusty -Armor. I mean, haven't you been paying attention all these months? I ain't been anyone's Knight-In-Shining-Armor in a long damn time."
Maggie smiled and opened her mouth to say something but abruptly closed it, her eyes growing wide when she saw his arm. "Oh my God, Sam – you've been shot!" She gasped out as she darted over to him, where her hands latched out and grasped ahold of his forearm. She squinted to see it in the gloom and was relieved when she saw he hadn't actually been shot, but merely grazed. He let out an interested sound.
"Oh, well would ya look at that?" He spoke as he turned his eyes down to the gash on his forearm, and Maggie immediately shot him a look of firm reprimanding.
"Now is not the time to have a flippant attitude, Sam Moon! You've been shot!"
Sam arched an amused brow. "As you've already told me . . ." He replied and she let out an exasperated sound before punching him on the arm. He grinned and laughed, ignoring the shoots of pain that ran up and down his limb from the graze in his forearm. "You gonna kiss it and make it better?" He continued to grin and Maggie shot him a look, but one tinged in amusement, nonetheless.
"Well it'd help if I had some light. Come on back to the fire . . ." She told him as she grabbed ahold of his hand and pulled him towards the fire and the two people Sam left at it. They looked up at their approach and Maggie gave them a weak look as she forced Sam to take a seat. "Sam got grazed by a bullet earlier. You still got any water?" Maggie asked them, her tone no-nonsense and brooking no argument and Sasha's eyes widened. She nodded and wisely deigned to say nothing, as she handed Maggie the bucket of water that she had used to clean the dried blood away from Bob's bullet wound.
Her touch was as gentle as she could make it, as she cleaned around the smooth edges and Sam tried his best not to flinch or show just how much it stung. In truth, tending to him kept Maggie busy – kept her mind off of how badly things had gone down the shitter in the last twenty-four hours – how she had lost almost lost everything in her life . . . how she could have lost everything in her life.
"Hey, we're, uh . . . gonna go get some firewood, okay?" Bob spoke up as him and Sasha got to their feet. Maggie looked up in alarm but nodded nonetheless.
"Okay, but don't wander that far off, okay?" She told them and they silently nodded before turning around and heading off into the woods. Sam and she descended into silence then, with Sam occasionally letting out hisses of pain when it stung too badly.
Eventually, Maggie couldn't help but allow the gravity of that afternoon to settle over her again – her father's death, the separation and potential deaths of Beth, Glenn and of Tessa, Daryl, Ethan, the twins and the others. She sniffed back tears as she blew a lock of hair out of her eyes before shaking her head.
"I keep praying they're alive – that everyone is alive, but . . ." She trailed off and shook her head again. "I can't help but feel that everything is not alright – that it never will be alright again."
Sam stayed silent for a moment before reaching his unwounded arm forward, where he grasped her shoulder with a firm, but comforting grip. "Look, Maggie, everyone is alright, you understand? We'll find them – all of them!"
Maggie let out a laugh and shook her head before turning her eyes onto him. "How can you promise me something like that?"
Sam shook his head. "I didn't promise you."
"But would you promise me something like that?"
Sam gazed at her silently for a moment before nodding. "Yeah . . . yeah, I would. Not just because I'm confident we'll find all of them safe and healthy, but because you need some hope right now."
Maggie shook her head again. "Sam, I just watched as my father's head was cut from his body with a sword today. Not-to-mention my sister, my husband and my best friend and her family, are gone with no sign from any of them in sight." She turned a slightly anger glare up to him "I'd say I'm all out of hope for today. Check with me in the morning, okay?"
It was at that moment that Maggie looked particularly defeated and at the look of her, Sam wanted nothing more but to hold her and assure her that things were going to be all right and in the process, chase all her worries and fears away.
But Maggie had a husband – she had Glenn. And Sam liked Glenn – he didn't know a person in the group who didn't! But if Maggie started crying again, like he knew she had been in the woods when he went to check on her . . . he didn't know if his friendship with Glenn could keep him back from wiping the tears away.
Or kissing . . .
Maggie giving a firm nod was what brought Sam out of his thoughts and back into reality, and he turned his eyes onto her when she spoke: "Okay, you're done. Hopefully it'll stay clean and won't get infected."
"Are you going to be okay?" He asked and she gazed at him for a moment, a little startled at such concern he was showing her, before hesitatingly shaking her head.
"No . . . not until we find them."
"Maggie, that's not way to live right now -!"
"Then tell me how I'm supposed to, Sam!" She interrupted him with an angry snap and Sam had to admit – he'd rather her be angry than sad and melancholy. "My husband could be dead – Hell, if me, Glenn and Tess hadn't been captured by Merle that day and taken to Woodbury – if Glenn hadn't ratted out the location of the prison to the Governor, then everyone might still be alive at this moment – maybe this never would have happened!"
Sam shook his head, his voice and gaze gentle. "Maggie, you don't know that!"
Maggie nodded in agreement as she furiously kept her tears back. "Your right – I don't. But that still doesn't keep me from wondering 'What if?"
She fell into silence then as she gazed at him – watching as the firelight flickered off of his blue eyes and dirty blonde hair and slight beard. She saw the streaks of gray that were interwoven with the locks and before she could stop herself, she blurted out:
"How old are you?"
Sam turned an amused look onto her at her words, and Maggie immediately felt her cheeks burn with blush. "Don't you know to never ask for someone's age, Maggie?"
Maggie gave a weak shrug. "I'm sorry, but I just . . . I didn't mean . . ."
She wanted to say that he wasn't a bad-looking man. Not as good-looking as Daryl or even Rick once they showered off the blood, sweat and walker guts from their tall, lean frames, but still – he wasn't exactly bad-looking either.
Sam chuckled. "Don't worry about it; I was just teasing you. I'm two years older than Tess and since she's . . . thirty-eight now, her and Daryl, then that makes me forty."
Maggie smiled. "You're an old man, aren't you?" She asked and Sam grinned and chuckled.
"Yeah, I suppose you could say that. But I mean, ever since she split with Daryl way back when, Tessa's had a thing for older guys. Jeremy was fuckin' five-years-older than her and yeah, granted, that's not that much older, but still!"
Maggie's eyebrows furrowed in confusion then. "Who's Jeremy?" She asked and Sam gazed at her wordlessly for a moment before shaking his head.
"He was, uh . . ." He trailed off and thought for a moment before shrugging. "Look, tell ya what – when we find Tess and the others, ask her to tell you about him. Even though I can, it ain't my place to talk about that man."
Maggie nodded, content to take that answer, and glanced over her shoulder at the direction of the woods that Sasha and Bob had disappeared into. "What's taking them so long?" She asked and Sam gave a laugh as he made himself more comfortable against the log he was sitting in front of.
"I don't know about you, but unless we hear screams or gunshots, I ain't gonna worry about it." He told her and Maggie turned to face him, a small smile appearing on her face as her eyebrows arched in amusement.
"Does this have anything to do with Sasha being full of herself and Bob just being annoying?" She asked and Sam grinned and nodded.
"Oh, so you think so too now?"
Maggie rolled her eyes and laughed. "Oh shut up!" She laughed as she reached forward to slap him on the chest. Before he could stop himself, though, he reached out and upon grabbing ahold of her wrist, pulled her towards him. She fell onto him and ended up straddling him as their lips connected in a hard kiss that Maggie almost immediately pulled away from. Her eyes widened in shock as she slapped her hand to her mouth. "Sam, I -!"
"Your right – I'm sorry!" Sam quickly interrupted her, his eyes avoiding hers and they sat there awkwardly for a moment before placing her hand on his shoulders, leaning in and pressing her lips to his. It was only for the briefest of moments and it was nothing more but the pressing of flesh against flesh but when she back away and he finally met her eyes again, she gave him a nervous look and bit down on her bottom lip.
"I, uh . . . I can keep a secret if you can . . ." She told him and Sam's eyes flickered to the woods behind them, making sure they were still safe from being accidentally walked in on by Sasha and Bob, before he returned them to her.
"Just sex?" He asked and Maggie nodded, firmly.
"Just sex."
"And you won't tell Glenn?" She shook her head this time.
"I won't – believe me! This is just . . . just to release steam." She replied with a firm nod, and it took Sam a moment to psyche himself up before nodding himself.
"Okay . . . let's be quick then, okay?" He asked and he felt the corners of his mouth quirk upwards in a grin when he saw the one that immediately spread across Maggie's face.
"I will if you can."
Sam was right in the middle of taking off his shirt when he stopped and blinked at her. "I don't . . . is that an insult?" Maggie continued to grin as she leaned forward and kissed him again – slower, deeper, hotter. When she broke apart, her grin turned down to a smile.
"That, you'll never know."
Glenn didn't know how long they had been walking and/or running from the walkers. All he knew was that it had been for seemingly miles and with each stride he took with Tara huffing and puffing behind him as she stayed hot on his heels, he had no idea if they were taking him further and further away from Maggie or closer.
Maggie . . . he hoped to God she was safe!
Hell, he hoped everyone was safe!
He had woken up to find himself alone and lying on a slab of concrete suspended over nothing but a sea of snarling and grappling walkers. He hardly remembered anything that had happened until he gazed out across the smoking ruin of the prison and allowed his eyes to take in the carnage that had happened: the ruined fence, the smoking tank, the crumbling prison and the half-eaten people from the Governor's group that had eventually joined the sea of walkers beneath them.
And Maggie was nowhere in sight.
No one was anywhere in sight.
He didn't know why he had called out her name, because he knew he wouldn't receive an answer. He was bloody and hurt everywhere but eventually, he made his way back to the cellblock that he and Maggie had occupied with a few of the others.
Even the cellblock was empty – completely devoid of both people and the undead.
He dressed himself in the prison riot gear he kept underneath his and Maggie's bed and after loading a couple of duffels with everything he needed or thought he needed, grabbed the bottle of Bob's liquor and headed for the door to the outside world.
He was determined to find Maggie – to find everyone – even if it killed him.
He hadn't expected to find Tara in the chainlink enclosure that once upon a long time ago, Hershel and Beth had sought sanctuary the day Andrew had let in the walkers and they lost Lori but gained Judith. But as soon as his eyes landed on her, he knew he would need her. Maggie could be anywhere and he would need help finding her. He wasn't exactly thrilled that she had been part of the group that had attacked the prison – that had killed Hershel and possibly tens of others, but he figured he couldn't exactly be picky at that moment.
With her help, they had fought their way through the walkers milling around the prison yard and eventually to where they were now: in the forest, running from them as Glenn desperately racked his brain for a game plan.
"Did you see if any of my people got out?" He asked her, and Tara gave a weak shrug.
"I did it for him . . . I trusted him – we all did!" She replied, ignoring his question, as she continued down the highway they found themselves on, and Glenn followed her, a slightly incredulous look on his face as he continued: "And then he just killed that old man -!"
"Hershel?" Glenn interrupted her in bewilderment as he came to a stop, and Tara stopped alongside him, where she turned her eyes onto him. They filled with tears when she saw the bewildered look in his eyes and he shook his head. "W-was his name Hershel?"
"I'm sorry . . ." She murmured, her voice as full of tears as her eyes were and immediately, Glenn felt like he had been socked in the chest. He took a few steps back, his brain reeling with the information he had just been handed. Hershel was dead? Maggie's father was dead? Now he knew he had to get to her – he could only imagine how she was feeling at that moment!
But . . . as he stood there and thought about it, he started wondering who else had died – if anyone. Did Beth make it out – Rick, Michonne and Carl? What about Daryl and Tessa and Ethan and the twins? Beth was his sister-in-law, Ethan his best friend, although they didn't really have the time they used to have to just hang out and shoot the breeze – Hell, did anyone make it out?
"Brian, he . . . he told us you guys were bad people," Tara continued, her voice bringing him ever-so-slightly out of his thoughts. "I know it's not true – I can see it's not – so what we did – what I did . . .!" She trailed off for a moment before giving a wry laugh. "I mean, I'm a piece of shit – I get it! Why would you ever want me help?" She asked as she turned around, intending to walk away from him, but his firm voice kept her back.
"I don't want it – I need it!" He called after her and when she turned back around to gaze at him, he continued: "I have to find everyone. I have to find Rick and Daryl and Tess and my best friend. But most of all, I have to find Maggie."
"Is she your wife?" Tara asked and Glenn nodded. "You got separated?" He nodded again.
"I was on the bus but then got off to help and she didn't see me."
"How do you know she made it, then?" Tara asked, taking a few steps closer to him as she spoke. "How do you know anyone of those people you named, made it out?"
Glenn gave a shrug and shook his head. "I don't know, okay? Hell, I'll be the first to say that. But Hershel, Maggie's father, was a great man – one of the best! And he told me all I have to do is believe. So that's what I'm gonna do." He shook his head. "Neither one of us should be alive right now. And she got out – they all did – so your gonna help me find them." He told her, his voice turning firm as he hefted one of the duffel bags higher up on his shoulder before walking down the road around her. Tara followed him.
"You know, I want to believe that – I really do!" She called after him and he stopped and turned around to listen to her. "I really, really want to -"
Her voice had come close to trailing off, but a walker's snarl interrupted her before she could. Immediately, their eyes snapped onto the treeline across the street and they watched as walkers started lumbering out. Glenn immediately dropped his helmet and the duffel bags before reaching for his knife.
"You have to." He told her with a wayward glance as he made his way for the walker, where he slid the knife cleanly into the walker's skull. Tara gazed at him for a moment before taking out her own knife and moving towards the group of walkers as well.
Glenn felt his lungs start to gasp for air, right around the time he was done with the third and last walker. He started gasping for breath as he hit the pavement on his knees and heard the slap of Tara's boots on the asphalt and her frightened voice yelling his name as he fell backwards, his world going blank a few quick seconds later.
"And I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you . . ."
The Man looked towards the girl sitting beside him, her eyes trained on him in a very, 'Are-You-Serious-Right-Now?' look. He grinned as he continued singing: "I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you – come on, baby, sing with me!"
The girl with the honey blonde hair rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Sorry dad, but, uh – no!" She replied with a grin and he grinned as well before shaking his head.
"Come on, for me? I mean, the dude who owned this Jeep had some pretty damn good taste in music, so it's none of that . . . Justin Beaver shit -!"
"It's Justin Bieber, dad!"
"Fuck - whatever! There's none of that shit, so it's not like you're gonna be embarrassed by your old man suddenly breaking out into a chorus of: "Baby, baby, baby – oooooohhh -!"
"Dad!" She interrupted him with a scandalized look on her face before rearing back and punching him as hard as she could in the arm. He grinned and laughed, secretly proud that she had made his arm go numb for a moment before shaking his head. "You don't do anything with me anymore, I swear! What I wouldn't give to have my little girl back . . .!"
She rolled her eyes again. "In case you haven't noticed, dad, but that little girl has done grown up. Instead of pretty pink dresses and ballet flats, that little girl now wears camo and combat boots. Instead of having a normal teenage life, she's a professional Charlie killer and instead of talking like a normal person does, her fuckin' military dad and his douchebag friend, had taught her all kinds of military slang that has infected her vocabulary!"
He grinned. "You'll thank me someday. And come on – he's not that bad!" He told her quietly, and she gave him a look.
"He's pretty stupid, dad - just sayin'!" She laughed before allowing a look of nervousness to appear on her face. She then bit down on her bottom lip.
"It's been years since this whole thing started. Do you . . . do you think we'll ever find them?" She asked and as always when she brought up Them, her father's eyes grew soft and somewhat pained. He shrugged his massive shoulders and sighed as his eyes fell onto the picture he always carried with him and which was now stuck in front of the glass behind the steering wheel – of the woman he never forgot and he never stopped loving, even when her separation from him dissipated from a roaring need, to a dull, painful ache in his chest.
"I hope so, baby, I really do. They weren't in Atlanta, as far as I could tell and if they were smart, they'd make their way to DC but I doubt that's what actually happened. We wouldn't be that lucky." He spoke before giving her a smile. "But, you know, if the ass would actually get out of the way . . .!"
He trailed off and the girl furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "But dad . . . it's not armored." She told him and grinned.
"I was talking about the guy driving it, baby. I mean, you can say whatever you like about it, but I swear to God, he's a fucking ASVAB waverer!" He replied and she gave a bark of a laugh as the truck in front of them came to a screeching stop. The man furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he slammed on the brakes as well and before putting the Jeep into neutral. He slid up the emergency brake and hung his head out the window, trying to see what the holdup was. "What the Hell is this about?" He muttered, and his daughter shrugged her shoulders as the three people filed out of the truck in front of them. The redheaded man turned and motioned for him to join them and He nodded before cutting off the Jeep. They both stepped out and came around the side of the truck to join the three people they were convoying with. The woman turned to glance at them over her shoulder and she gave the girl a small smile as they turned their eyes onto the beaten and battered looking woman holding an automatic rifle and gazing at them, eyes wide with fear. There was a Charlie lying beside her, head smashed into bits and behind her, surrounded by three more Charlie's, was some guy wearing what looked like black prison riot gear, either passed out or dead behind her.
"Hope you fucktards enjoyed the show!" The woman snapped at them and the man standing beside him, smiled as he hefted his rifle up. The Man rolled his eyes - always had to be one for dramatics, Abraham.
"That was pretty impressive, wasn't it Jeremy?" He asked him and Jeremy Roth gazed at him for a moment before pursing his lips and giving a shrug. He glanced at his daughter standing beside him and then the woman standing beside her. Their eyes stayed connected for a moment and she smiled, one he didn't return, before he returned his gaze to Abraham, acting like nothing had happened. His daughter was right - Abraham wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed but he could still pack one Hell of a resounding punch. So needless to say, Jeremy didn't exactly want to get into a fight and put his tenuous friendship on the line because Rosita fucked up and gave themselves away for going all goo-goo eyes on him.
"It's just survival, Abe . . . nothin' special." He eventually answered him, and Abraham scowled slightly before turning back to the woman.
"So, what else you got?"
