A/N: So this is the first long chapter! I don't know if that's good news or not. I've been trying to keep them shorter but I knew I wouldn't be able to keep that up for long, so... lol The chapter song is "Patience" by Tame Impala, it's pretty chill. Super huge thank you to y'all reading and reviewing, it means a whole lot to me! Hope you enjoy!
6. Patience
"Turn, Mason, turn! They're coming in on your left!"
Tires screeched as she rounded the corner, and the truck bounced over an arm or a leg or some such carnage. Naomi screamed hoarsely in the backseat and Mason cringed.
"Sorry, sorry!"
Her eyes scanned wildly as she maneuvered the crowded street, hopping curbs and swerving between pockets of the dead. She hoped for some sign of the other Misfits, but there was none. The herd cut them off fifteen minutes back and she hadn't seen them since.
"You sure you know where the fuck you're going?" Gina grunted, coiled in the passenger seat like an angry snake.
No one had wanted her to join them on their way out of L.A. Even Mason had been reluctant to allow it; the tension from their relationship and subsequent break-up was like some kind of fucked up third wheel. But Gina had pleaded, saying that she was different now, she'd seen a therapist and gotten help. In any case, they weren't in a position to turn down anyone who might aid them, especially when Gina was so good at handling those…things.
"I grew up here, Gina," Mason said.
From the start, it was always factored into the plan that their caravan out of L.A. would make a pit stop in Kansas to find Mason's mother. Five years since leaving home, and she couldn't stop worrying about her mother. She wondered if she'd ever found it in her to leave Jeff—Mason couldn't bring herself to call him "dad"—but doubted it. If she had…wouldn't she have tried to reconnect with her daughter? Even if that daughter…even if that daughter abandoned her?
Naomi wailed again, jarring Mason from her thoughts. She caught a glimpse of Naomi's sweat-streaked face in the rearview mirror, pinched in agony.
"How's she doing back there?"
"Her contractions are two minutes apart," Will replied.
"We really need to get to the house," Nick added.
Mason gritted her teeth. She was already driving as fast as she dared through streets littered with debris and dead bodies, not to mention the ones that refused to stay dead. One wrong move and they could be stranded in the middle of the converging herd.
Luckily the old neighborhood opened up on their left; three more blocks and they were there. The same street she used to play in when her parents argued late into the night, hoping someone might look out their window and wonder at the little girl dancing alone in the middle of the road.
A pit yawned in her stomach at the sight of it. Not just the rush of memories, but…
The dead were already here. It looked as though the whole neighborhood had been ransacked. And then she spotted her house, faded and rundown, front window broken on one side, door ajar. Jeff's truck was parked in the driveway, but…
Was it possible her mother was still there? Was her mother even still alive?
There was no time for doubt. The dead continued relentlessly behind them, several hundred at least, with more emerging from broken houses and backyards at the rumble of the truck and its pursuers. Mason drove right up onto the lawn, angling the truck as best she could so the passenger side opened next to the front door.
She turned to Nick and Will. "You two get Naomi inside. Gina and I will cover you."
Quickly she retrieved her makeshift weapon from under the seat. It was an old fence post, wrapped in thistle and barbed wire, that she'd pulled from the earth on their escape out of California. It had seen so much use it was starting to crack down the center, but every place they might have stopped for weapons was overrun, so there'd been no chance to swap it for something sturdier.
She and Gina hopped out, opening both passenger doors to create a makeshift barrier as Nick and Will hoisted Naomi out of the car. The dead pressed in quickly. Mason beat them back as best she could, leaning full-force into the door with one shoulder, using it as a shield.
Once the others made it inside, however, there was no option but to retreat. She and Gina backed into the house, shoulder to shoulder, fending off their pursuers until they could slam the front door shut.
The thudding of the dead against the house became thunderous. Mason exchanged a look with Gina, whose face was locked in a vicious snarl. Anyone who didn't know Gina as well as Mason did might not have seen it, but there was fear underneath that fury. That was how Mason knew.
They were fucked.
~m~
"Are you nervous, Mason?"
Mason frowned, but found she couldn't look away from the looming wall surrounding Alexandria. "Why would you think that?"
"Because I have no circulation in my left hand."
Startled, she glanced down to see that her hand was locked in a death grip around Eugene's. She couldn't remember even grabbing it.
"Shit, I'm sorry." Hastily she let go. "I used to get really bad social anxiety before the Turn, and you would think the end of the world would make all that irrelevant, but here we are!"
Not to mention ninety percent of the people in her own community weren't particularly fond of her, but she supposed that was neither here nor there…
Eugene chuckled. "Well, you have already made your acquaintance with Alexandria's own local cryptid, and if you can handle that, I think you'll do just fine with the rest of them."
"…You mean Daryl, right?"
"Who else?"
Charlie and Ashlee greeted them at the gate, accompanied by a thickly-built man with a kind face.
"'Sup, nerds," Charlie said. "How'd it go?"
"Almost effortlessly," Eugene replied.
"Almost," Mason muttered with a glance at Eugene's arm.
"We have just come to check in with Rick and inform him of our success. By the way, Mason, this is Tyreese."
The man with the kind face smiled. "Nice to meet you," he said. "Thank you for all you're doing to help us."
"Oh. It's all good." She gave him a thumbs-up, knowing how awkward she seemed but unable to stop herself. She wasn't good at handling thank you's.
Eugene led her inside while the others stayed behind to finish their watch. And the community was…beautiful. Trees, gardens, a bridge over a small pond. In another life, the houses might've been manicured, expensive and untouchable, but here they seemed almost quaint. Like home.
A young man with a heavy limp approached them, accompanied by a pregnant woman.
"Rick's in the infirmary checking on the others," the woman said, wiping a bead of sweat from her temple. "You find what you need out there?"
"Yes, Miss Williams."
She sagged visibly with relief. "So how long until we can start manufacturing?"
Eugene handed her his rucksack. "Already have. There will be more coming down the pipe, I assure you, but for now we could only forge twelve. Make them count."
"I always do."
"Who were they?" Mason whispered as they walked away, presumably headed for the infirmary.
"That would be Noah and Sasha," Eugene replied. "Noah is in charge of architectural repair and maintenance, and was running a crew set to expand this community before the Wolves found us. Sasha is one of our finest sharpshooters, and unfortunately has not been allowed a chance to take it easy during her pregnancy."
Both of them skinny were and clearly exhausted. In fact, everyone they passed looked that way.
The picture became even clearer when they entered the infirmary. All the beds were taken up by the injured. Mason blanched; she didn't share the same gene that had motivated her mother to go into nursing, not an ounce of that unique passion and fortitude that fueled Renee every day.
"Well, look who's back from his vacation," a large man said from a nearby bed. Mason had to blink twice to confirm that he was not, in fact, her friend, Tanner, although the resemblance was uncanny. Both tall, muscular, red hair and freckles. This man was clearly older, but also clearly just as reckless as Tanner, judging by the ugly bruising on his left temple.
"Mason, this is Abraham," Eugene said. She couldn't help noticing that his voice and expression were flatter now—and had been since they'd entered the community. "I consider him a friend, and I believe he considers the same of me, but I also believe he still gets flashes of murderous rage at the sight of my face. Is that correct?"
"Yeah, but only your face. The rest of you just inspires annoyance."
Mason glanced at Eugene, who mouthed "D.C." without quite looking at her.
Ah. Right.
Rick found them then, accompanied by a young blonde woman who took one look at Eugene's arm and sternly pulled him aside.
"You found a place, then?" Rick asked.
Mason nodded. "The twelve bullets we made, Eugene gave to Sasha."
He laid a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you."
"Oh. No problem, dude."
He excused himself to talk with Eugene. Mason fidgeted nervously; she didn't particularly want to be left alone in a room full of injured strangers.
"So you're this Champion everyone's been talking about," Abraham said, examining her. "Pretty small."
Mason bristled, but he went on.
"But heavens and balls, you're a muscly little thing." He didn't say it the way most men said it, but with actual admiration.
Her lips twitched. "I could bench you."
Abraham laughed but it cut off with a wince, his hand pressed against his stomach. "Yeah, and I could toss you like a football."
"Do it. I wanna see how far you can throw me."
"I'm glad that walking calculator brought you home. I like you."
There wasn't enough time to tour the rest of the community; Rick sent them off once he'd finished his discussion with Eugene, who returned to Mason with a troubled expression.
"Everything alright?" she asked.
"Hm? O-oh, yes, ma'am, it's just…" He hesitated, peering at the sky. "One of our scouting groups has yet to return from a run. Rick was expressing his concern."
"Shit. You don't think they ran into trouble?"
He didn't answer directly. Just said, "There's always some trouble, sure as heat in a habanero. Let us just keep any and all extremities crossed that we don't run into it on our way back to the Kingdom."
~m~
"Last door on the left!"
Nick and Will half-carried, half-dragged Naomi into Mason's old bedroom, and Mason and Gina stumbled after them. At some point Gina had lost her baseball bat, but traded it out for the fire poker Mason remembered Jeff keeping in the living room but never using. Her own weapon was worse for wear, splintering with each swing she took at the dead. But she couldn't stop.
They barely made it to the room, but the dead were so thick they couldn't close the door. Mason threw her whole weight against it while Gina dispatched the ones fighting through the gap.
"Breathe with me, Nomes. Breathe through it," Will said. His voice was calm, but he gripped her knees in white knuckles that betrayed his tension.
Naomi snarled in response. Nick held her head up, brushing the sweat from her eyes.
The door groaned. Hands swiped at Mason's face, tangling in her hair.
"Nick!" she barked. "We need you!"
But before he could get there, the hinges groaned and the door swung open at the top, bursting from the pressure of so many bodies. Incredible weight bent Mason low, and her lungs seized, realizing she was about to be crushed.
~m~
"Something's wrong, isn't it?"
Eugene jumped. They weren't far from the Safe Zone, just passing the water tower on the outskirts, but the walk had been mostly silent until now.
"Well…"
Don't lie to her. Don't lie.
He sighed. "I suppose it depends on your definition of the word. It…it…"
When the hesitation continued, she elbowed him. "Hey. You can tell me, whatever it is. You already told me about the worst thing you ever did, I think we're past that now."
"It is not something that I need to tell you, but instead a question that I have been required to ask."
"Is that what you and Rick were talking about?"
"Yes."
"Then ask me."
"When you met us, and we inquired about your strange methods of corralling the dead, you said you were collecting them. For people who deserved that kind of thing. And when you were appealing to Rick as to why your community never reached out after the quarry herd, you admitted to near ruination at the hands of…unfriendlies. More than a few, I am assuming."
Mason stopped walking. Eugene resisted the urge to wring his hands.
"And…when you and I departed the Kingdom on our search, I did not fail to notice that you omitted the truth from the asshole at the gate. Not that I particularly blame you on that count—"
"What are you trying to say, Eugene?" Mason said flatly. She glared at the pavement, one toe tapping.
"Mason, I know that there is something going on under the surface here. I am a very accomplished liar, which makes me a very accomplished lie detector, and I am well aware that not all of it is my business, not even by half, but… If our communities hope to engage in future friendly dealings, we need to be aware of any hostilities lurking in the shadows."
She shook her head, face pinched. "Don't make me tell you all of it."
"I would never ask that, Mason. Not unless you wanted to."
Her eyes welled with something like desperation. "But that's just it," she said. "It's not that I don't want to. You're the first… I mean, I can't tell anyone. I vowed not to."
Eugene nodded. "Okay. So just tell me enough. The people who threatened your Kingdom—are they still around? Is it over?"
Mason dragged her toe across the faded yellow highway line. Eugene thought he already knew the answer.
"They're still around," she finally said. "It's not over."
There was silence for a moment, broken only by the soft sigh of the wind and the whirring of insects praising the heat.
"I mean, it's not, like…we're being attacked on the daily or anything. Not anymore. I guess it's sort of like the Cold War at this point. But… Only a few of us know the whole story. Me, Jerry, Ezekiel. The Misfits and a few select Knights who…" She shook her head. "Only the people that survived that first war know the truth."
It took everything in him not to bombard her with questions. It was his nature, needing to know things. Especially things that made her look so distraught, that perhaps kept her on the fringes just like him. But he wouldn't do that to her. He did not believe she was a liar in the same way he had been—selfish and indiscriminate. She didn't owe him any part of her truth that she wasn't willing to give.
"But they don't know about your people," Mason continued, eyes flashing. "At least as far as I know. And I won't let them have you. I won't."
Have them?
Before he could respond, she took the iron and shield from her back and knelt before him.
"Please don't look at me goofy," she muttered, then stuck her shield in the ground and held the poker across her heart. "I swear to you, and your people, my iron, my blood, and all the fire within me. I swear, whether my shadow fall by sunlight or moonlight, to be an ally and a friend to you. I won't let any harm befall you that I can prevent. I will protect you to my dying breath."
She bowed her head. Sunlight peeked out from under the bowl of the water tower, illuminating her in palest gold. Eugene opened his mouth but couldn't find words.
When the silence continued, she glanced up, a wry smile on her face. "Too corny? It's just a habit we got into, during the war. And…well, you've met Ezekiel. We're all about that jejune shit."
"On the contrary, Miss Champion, I thought it was…exactly corny enough."
She huffed a laugh, but when she got back to her feet her expression was earnest. "I mean it, though. All of it. Our communities are allies now, that means your people fall under my protection just the same as my own do. But you can't mention this to anyone. Tell Rick because he asked, and I get why, but my Kingdom can't know."
Is that wise?
How do they not know already?
Why are they not privy to that information?
He didn't ask any of these questions. "I give you my word, as a fellow liar and as your friend, that I will not tell a single soul aside from Rick."
He held out a hand, pinky finger extended. Mason smirked and hooked her own pinky around his.
"Thank you. I know it probably seems really sketchy, but I promise…we have good reason for keeping this under wraps."
~m~
Before the dead could trample her completely, Gina swung her out from under the door like a ragdoll.
"Get off your fucking ass."
Nick shoved Mason's old dresser against the hanging door. All of the knickknacks on top clattered to the floor, and it struck her distantly that her mother had kept her room exactly the same.
Despite Nick's efforts, about a dozen of the dead made it inside. She scrambled to her feet as they advanced, forming a line in front of Naomi with Gina and Nick.
The first familiar face sent a jolt through her. Always so unpleasant before, it was even more so now, half of his mouth torn away to reveal decaying flesh. His milky eyes flicked to her, and she felt that same rush of anxiety she used to feel whenever his attention was on her.
He groaned, clumsy arms reaching for her neck. There was no remorse in her as she swung her weapon, cracking it and his skull irreparably. Jeff collapsed on her bedroom floor, finally, mercifully silent.
She dropped the useless remains of the fence post, casting about for another weapon. One of the crystals from her dresser lay nearby, and she moved to pick it up.
The next familiar face knocked her lungs clean of air. She shuddered for breath and could find none.
One of the dead had gotten past Nick and Gina. Its cold eyes locked on Mason as it staggered forward, congealed blood and gray skin and—
No. It wasn't her, it couldn't be her.
But her mother lurched forward with a snarl and Mason's knees shook, threatening to pull her under.
~m~
Dave and Tanner waited in the throne room with Ezekiel and Jerry, talking in low voices. All four looked up when Mason and Eugene entered, and Dave's face lit up immediately.
"Mason!"
Bouncing like an excited puppy, he hopped off the stage and ran to engulf her in one of his patented bone-crushing hugs. Despite being no bigger than Mason herself, his hugs really could kill a man.
She laughed—at least as much as she could with limited lung function. "Hey—can't fucking breathe, dude."
"Sorry. How was your trip? I heard you're making bullets now. Tan and I have some shit to tell you, by the way, and it is wild."
She raised an eyebrow at Tanner. "That true?"
"Unfortunately," he grunted before picking her up and spinning her around.
"Put me down, dammit!" But the protest was half-hearted. Dave and Tanner had been gone for a week and a half on a supply run, and she never felt right unless she knew all her Misfits were safe.
"Chill, princess." When he set her down, he turned immediately to size up Eugene, who stared back with wide eyes.
"Abraham?" she mouthed and he nodded slightly. The resemblance really was uncanny.
"Who is this?" Dave asked, scooting between Tanner and Eugene. He extended a hand. "You're the bullet maker, right?"
Eugene shook his hand. "That is correct."
"Oh, so you're good with your hands—"
"Okay," Mason cut in irritably. "Eugene, this is Dave. Dave, Eugene."
"Pleasure to meet you," Eugene said.
"I sure hope so," Dave replied, grinning when Mason threw him a glare.
"Sir Alchemist," Ezekiel called. "I am most pleased to see you safely returned from your journey. Come. There are matters we must discuss with you and my lady Mason."
As they approached the stage, Mason turned to Dave and hissed, "Must you insist on being such a flirt?"
"Hey, I'm not always a flirt. Just when you bring snacks home. I mean, the hair is…something else, but he's really cute."
"Yeah, he is. Shut up about it."
Dave and Tanner gaped, but thankfully Ezekiel spoke before they could.
"Did the Fates grant you success on your quest?"
"Yes, sir," Eugene answered. "Er, your Majesty. The workshop is not far by vehicle, just east a piece. If you accompany me there, I will be able to prove my—"
But Ezekiel raised a hand. "My lady. You witnessed the alchemist fashion such armaments?"
"Yes, your Majesty."
"Then I have no need to accompany you to your workshop. I take my Champion at her word."
After her earlier discussion with Eugene, this made her flinch. What was her word worth if she was a liar?
"I offer my sincerest apologies for this tedium. A wise man makes no deals without knowledge of its materiality. But now I have my proof, and you may have what was agreed to you. I have prepared a car to take you back to your community. It is brimming with food and supplies for your people, as promised. Tanner and Dave will accompany you there, and will aid you in the continuation of your alchemy."
Mason and Eugene exchanged a glance.
"With respect, your Majesty…what about Mason?" he asked. "Will she be accompanying me, too?"
"Ah, I am afraid I need Mason to remain here," Ezekiel replied, and nodded to Dave, who took over from there.
"Yeah, okay, so, when Tan and I were out, we came across this little town or city or something. It was too small to be a real city but too big to be just a town, you know? Anyway, we were gonna scavenge it, but then we saw these weirdoes hanging around and decided against it cuz there were just so many. Like, for real, these guys were…" He shuddered.
"Some of the freaks were wearing masks," Tanner cut in. "Cut from decomp skins. Fucking straight up cut the faces off the dead like that weird dude from that Texas Chainsaw movie—"
"Leatherface," Mason murmured distantly.
"Yeah, him."
"A lot of them weren't wearing masks, though," Dave said. "But all of them had W's painted on their heads."
Eugene's expression darkened. "The Wolves."
"Yeah, that's who Ezekiel thought they probably were. But anyway, we stayed long enough to spy a little bit, and we heard them talking about attacking your place, Alexandria."
"When?" Eugene's hands trembled, but his voice was steady.
"Sometime this week," Tanner answered. "Don't know for sure. Fuckers wouldn't get more specific."
"Well, I have to go then," Mason said. "If they're gonna attack, Alexandria needs every fighter they can get."
"That is why I am sending your Misfits over as reinforcement, all except Renee and you, yourself. As my Champion and strongest Knight, I need you here, to protect and rally as the need arises. With such dangerous forces lurking beyond our gates, I can take no chances with the safety and continuity of this Kingdom."
"Ezekiel, please—"
"That is my final word on the matter," he said, in the firm voice of the King.
There was no room for argument, and no time for it, besides. Mason accompanied them to the car, which Lily had parked by the gate. Her and Renee sat on the trunk.
Dave and Tanner bid Mason farewell, glancing between her and Eugene in a way that guaranteed she wasn't off the hook for her earlier…whatever that was.
"Just be safe, okay?" she told them.
"Of course!" Dave said.
"There's no fun in that," Tanner said.
"You know we can't promise you anything but love and LARPing, sweetie," Lily said.
Mason was still scowling when Eugene approached her. "They're aging my arteries, I can feel it," she said. "I'm gonna have a heart attack at twenty-five."
His lips twitched. "Forgive me, Miss Champion, but you are hardly the person to be criticizing them for their recklessness."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, nothing." His teasing made her stomach flutter, so she grabbed his hands like that might stop the feeling. He blinked and said, "Well. I suppose this is goodbye for now."
"But we'll see each other soon," Mason insisted.
"Real soon."
She squeezed his hands. "Please be safe. I'm not done kicking your ass during training."
"And I'm not done teaching you ways to potentially blow your face off."
Lily honked the horn, making them both jump.
"Come on, you two, we gotta go!"
"Right." Mason let go. "Um. Just. Yeah."
"Yeah." Eugene grinned. "See you real soon, ma'am."
She and Renee stood back to watch as they drove away. Renee elbowed her as the gate closed.
"So. What are you and the mullet guy planning to do about that mad sexual tension you got going on?"
"Excuse me?"
Renee seemed utterly unimpressed by her outrage. "Oh, please," she said. "Look me in the eye and tell me you don't want to ride him like a pogo stick."
Mason scoffed.
And tried. She gave it her literal best effort.
"…Fuck you, Ren."
"No, no. Not me."
"Okay, so…maybe…it's crossed my mind." Admitting this filled her with anxiety, but she couldn't take it back.
"So quit the suspense and just sleep with him. You know you can't function when you're horny."
"Yes, I can. And anyway, I can't just…I mean, it's not that simple…"
Renee's jaw dropped. "Oh my god."
"What…?"
"You have a crush on that guy."
"Renee—"
"Holy shit."
"Stop. Hey. I don't…it…" Mason rubbed her arm manically, blood rushing in her ears. At this point, could she really lie to herself? "It's just a crush—"
"I fucking knew it."
"Shut up, you've known it for, like, five seconds. Besides, that's not my biggest concern right now."
And it wasn't. She was much more concerned with the fact that Eugene was going back to Alexandria without her, when they were expecting another attack. And, yeah, her Misfits could handle themselves in a fight; they were the elite Knights of the Kingdom. But she had sworn herself to Eugene, and to Alexandria, and it wasn't in her nature to sit back and wait for an outcome.
"True," Renee said. "But when all this is over, what's stopping you from taking a chance on this guy? Or anyone?"
Same thing keeping you handcuffed inside these walls.
Guilt and fear. Renee could not forgive herself for losing so many in the war. Mason could not forgive herself for losing people, too. The difference was, their losses in the war were not Renee's fault in any capacity. But Will, Nick, Naomi…Gina. That was Mason's fault.
Not to mention, on a smaller scale, her shitty…well, it wasn't really luck, was it? Her shitty handle on relationships. The absolute train wreck that was her and Gina. Every date, casual or otherwise, that she'd intentionally sabotaged. And even after the Turn, that time she'd spent locked in a bus with…
Beth.
She flinched from the name. She hadn't thought of it in months, hadn't let herself. All it did was exhume her own self-loathing. Granted, Beth was alive and well the last time she saw her. But it didn't change the fact that she was just another bullet point in a long list of reasons why she shouldn't fuck around with relationships.
"You know you have to take a chance on something sometime," Renee said.
Her teeth ground together. "I will when you stop trying to atone for shit that's out of your control."
"This is my job, Mason. I'm doing my job."
"Yeah, it's all you do. You don't give a shit about yourself anymore. You never do anything that makes you happy."
Renee snorted. "Well, I guess we're both fucked, huh?"
Mason glared at the gate. "Yeah. Guess so."
~m~
Her mother advanced crookedly. One leg was bent to the side at a hideous angle, and a shard of bone peeked through below the knee.
Mason staggered back with a whimper. In her mind, it was the night she left again, breaths muted as she packed her things, pulse thundering so loud she thought her efforts might be wasted after all. Opening her mother's door to get one last glimpse of her face; it was only ever peaceful in sleep. Crying silently the whole way down streets she used to dance down…
"Mom," she said thickly. Everything in her was congealing. Her movements were thick as clay. Distantly she registered a new sound in the chaos. A high-pitched wailing. A baby's cry.
Her mother snarled. There was no recognition in her eyes. Her jaw moved but not to say Mason's name. Not to say anything.
Mason cringed against the wall. She shouldn't have left. This was her fault, if she'd stayed she could've protected her, she was a coward and a murderer—
Someone screamed.
Mason's eyes flashed open in time to see her mother tear Will's throat open. And the hideous gurgling his screams became. And all she could see was Will with his arms around Dave, and Dave's face from one car over as the herd separated them, and what his face would look like when he found out…
She screamed, too.
Her hand closed around the crystal and swung upward, straight into her mother's temple.
~m~
When had the days become so fucking long?
After arriving back at Alexandria, there was a night spent explaining everything to the council, and another aside explaining everything Mason had told him exclusively to Rick. Rick wasn't terribly pleased, but not terribly surprised, either. He thanked Eugene and told him to get some rest, there would be work to do in the morning.
But there wasn't enough to keep his mind occupied, at least not with the right things. He passed the time collecting supplies to make more bullets, then traveling to the workshop with the Misfits to make said bullets. Nights were harder. No one asked anything more of him, and though the Misfits seemed inclined to make friends, they were always out on watch or patrol. It was like he'd forgotten how to be alone.
It wasn't just anyone's company he craved, of course, which was stupid. Mason was… Well, the idea of her ever feeling the same about him was laughable. That didn't mean they couldn't be friends. That didn't mean he wasn't allowed to miss her.
He spent a lot of his time cooking, utilizing Carol's kitchen as she hoarded the best cookware. There were meals that needed prepped, now that they had food to work with. That's what he was doing, humming one of Mason's songs under his breath, when he heard the shouts.
He paused immediately, heart leapfrogging to his throat. The shouting didn't stop, and was quickly followed by screams.
"Fuck."
He rushed to the window, peering between the curtains. His people, running for the east wall, others running for the gate. Lily, Dave and Ashlee had already taken up positions with their arrows nocked, Rosita, Carl and Gabriel standing with them. Rick, Michonne, Tanner, Daryl and Morgan disappeared through the gate.
He needed to be out there. They needed every fighter they could get.
You're not a fighter.
But he remembered that morning outside the car with Mason, sunlight turning dewdrops to gold around them, and her walking him through the basic steps. He remembered how she hadn't looked at him with pity, disdain, frustration, but like he could actually be the person he was striving for.
You're not your past unless you choose to be.
A window smashed in the back of the house and set his thoughts to spinning.
Footsteps hurrying toward the kitchen.
Water boiling on the stove.
He moved instinctively.
The person appeared in his peripheral vision, looming and grimy and wielding an axe. Eugene grabbed the pot, twisting out of the way as the axe came down, and tossed the scalding water in the man's face.
He howled, dropping his weapon and clawing at his steaming skin. Eugene brought the pot down on his head and the howling stopped.
"H-holy shit," he breathed, hands shaking so bad that the pot clattered to the floor. The man must have snuck past the others before anyone really knew what was happening.
You can't stop.
The fear was near-stifling as he bent to retrieve the axe, like trying to breathe with cotton in his lungs. Everything blurred as he hurried out of the house and toward the gate.
Sasha was there, aiming her gun through a tiny gap. Her eyes went wide when she saw him.
"Eugene. What the hell are you doing?"
"Whatever I can. With respect, Miss Williams, please let me through."
"Eugene, you can't—"
"They're my family, too!" he snapped. "Now let me through. Please."
Her eyes went frosty, and he was sure he would pay for his temper later, but thankfully she let him pass.
The others were gathered in the woods to the east, holding a cluster of Wolves at bay. Some of them had already scaled the wall, but were quickly sent back down with arrows in their hearts and eyes.
Eugene didn't give the fear a chance to freeze his limbs. He jumped right in, which was probably a miscalculation, seeing as he was immediately sent to the ground by a baseball bat. His head spun, and it took him a moment to regather his bearings.
"Eugene!"
Daryl appeared above him, grabbing his arm to pull him up.
"The fuck are you doin' here?" he demanded.
"Helping," Eugene replied dizzily.
"Yeah, gettin' your ass beat, that's real helpful…"
"Duck."
"Huh?"
"Duck!"
Daryl obeyed, narrowly avoiding a knife to the skull. The Wolf wasn't quite so lucky, as Eugene managed to bury the axe in their face.
"Shit," Daryl said. "Thanks."
On his feet again, Eugene tried to calculate the odds. He counted about twenty Wolves in the woods around them, all with varying weapons but no guns. The archers on the inside were sending Wolves down as fast they could scale the wall, so he wasn't particularly concerned there.
He was, however, a little concerned standing face to face with them on the ground.
His mind continued to race as the next opponent approached, expertly twirling a crowbar like he was auditioning for a flag team. The bar flashed but Eugene brought the axe up to meet it, tearing it from the man's grip.
"Ooh," he said, showing a crooked row of yellow teeth. "Clever little piggy."
Eugene took another swipe at him but the man dodged to the side, whacking Eugene in the stomach. He bent double, the air gusting out of him, but while he was down, he heaved the axe through one of the man's legs.
Blood splattered his face. One more strike of the axe cleaved the man's head in two.
He turned to the next nearest opponent, already winded but determined to keep going. The Wolves, however, were pausing to look behind them. Something roared through the woods in their direction. A truck. A familiar truck.
Everyone scattered as the truck bounced into their midst. It struck two Wolves, crushing one completely and rolling over another's legs. The rest of their enemies fled and the Alexandrians gave chase, taking out whoever they could. But the Wolves all scrambled in different directions and there was no way to catch them all. After a minute, Rick called everyone to a halt and they turned back for the Safe Zone.
Glenn and Beth waited for them, and the relief at having them back was palpable in the air. Rick led them inside to deliver their supplies to Denise—from the looks of it, they'd had tremendous luck at the hospital. Denise also set to work checking a set of wounds on Beth's back, which she ascertained were not life-threatening but definitely needed cleaning. Eugene took it upon himself to inventory what they'd scavenged, so he caught most of the story they recounted for Maggie and Rick.
He shuddered as they described the hospital, how it was essentially one big trap, and wondered at the fearsome potential of these Wolves.
And their leader. Someone had to be fielding these decisions, plotting these traps…
Once he had the whole story, Rick filled them in on the basics of what they'd missed—that they had a new ally, and that Eugene was making bullets in exchange for their aid—before excusing himself to check that everyone else was alright. No one had been terribly injured in this attack, and that seemed due in part to the Misfits. But Eugene knew the Wolves would be back, likely in greater number or with a more effective strategy.
"So this new ally, the…Kingdom?" Beth said and Eugene nodded. "What are they like?"
"They are…eccentric. But kind. And brave. Compassionate."
Funny. Exceptional at fighting. Beautiful.
"I have had the privilege of spending a good portion of time with one of them. Their Champion. She is…" He trailed off, but Beth raised an eyebrow, filling in the blanks on her own.
"Someone you're interested in?"
"Well…I do like her, yes."
"Eugene, that's great! So she's the Champion? What does that mean? What does she do?"
"She is essentially the core protector of the Kingdom, aside from the King himself and the King's steward. By definition she is to defend the King's claim to the throne against any who would dispute it, although that does not appear to be a bone of contention with anyone."
They want her gone instead, he thought with a frown.
"Instead I believe she acts as spear point during any attack, and the muscle to scare off potential threats. Which I believe she easily could. She is a fearsome warrior."
Beth's eyes gleamed. "Cool. So what's her name?"
"Mason."
The gleam disappeared, and Beth sat up straighter. "…Mason?" she murmured.
Eugene drew back a little, the frown frozen on his face. "Yes…"
"Describe her to me." For some reason, her serious tone tied a knot in his stomach.
"She. Um. Short. Dark hair. Muscular." He struggled to detail her now, not because he couldn't, but because suddenly he wasn't too keen on Beth knowing. "Fights with a fire poker. Always—"
"Always listenin' to music? "
Eugene swallowed. "Yes."
Beth shook her head, eyes wide with disbelief. "It's her," she breathed, so low he thought perhaps she hadn't meant for anyone else to hear it.
He knew immediately who she meant. The girl she spent that month with back in Georgia, before they lost the prison. She'd told him and Daryl about her, but only briefly. Like she didn't want to share too much of it, like there were some things she wanted to keep all to herself.
But he knew that she had loved this girl, or at least felt something for her, and now…
"I want to meet her," Beth said. "I have to see… When are you meetin' up with her next?"
Eugene looked down at his hands. "As soon as possible, now the threat we foresaw with the Wolves has passed. Most likely I'll wait another day, just to be sure I'm not needed here."
(Who would need you?)
Beth nodded, eyes lit by a new gleam. Eugene wrung his hands and turned back to his inventory, but Beth had more questions, and there was nothing else but to answer them.
~m~
Mason didn't stop screaming once her mother was dead. She scrambled back against the wall again, shaking so bad the whole room seemed to quiver, sucking in air between sobs. Her mother's blood covered her all the way to her elbows, it sat in ghastly polka dots on her face, and Will was dead, he was dead, and they were all going to die—
"Mason!"
She shook her head. They were gonna die, they were gonna die…
Someone grabbed her hair. Mason flailed, raising the crystal before realizing she must have dropped it or thrown it because it wasn't in her hand. She shrieked and kicked to free herself.
Someone slapped her, hard. Gina's face swam into view, inches from her own, wild and furious. She forced one of Mason's hands open and pressed something inside it. The fire poker.
"Fucking use this," she hissed, shaking Mason by her hair, "or I swear to god I'll kill you myself. Now get off your ass and fight!"
She whirled away before Mason could argue, hand bleeding around a large shard of glass she wielded as her new weapon. Mason stared after her a moment longer, chin trembling, half-blind by tears.
Then the baby started screaming.
Naomi had crawled to the furthest corner of the room and passed out there, too exhausted to keep her eyes open. Her arms remained cradled protectively around the baby, but it shrieked so loud there was no hope of keeping the dead away. Three of them advanced on Naomi and the child.
No.
A quiet calm settled over Mason, or maybe she was just in shock. Either way, it brought her to her feet, stamping down the part of her that wanted to sit and cry and wait for death. She moved quickly despite the numbness, swinging the poker like a baseball bat.
It felt right in her hands, like it was made for her.
The three attackers could not stand against her hushed wrath. When they were dead, she fell to her knees at Naomi's side, shaking her by the shoulder.
"Nomes, c'mon," she said. "You gotta wake up."
The baby wailed so loud Mason thought her ears might bleed.
"This isn't gonna hold much longer!" Nick shouted, and she looked back to see him and the dresser wobble precariously under the weight of the dead. Fortunately they'd dispatched all of the dead inside the room. For now.
"Fuck… Gina, help me!"
Gently, uncertainly, Mason took the baby from Naomi. She'd never held a baby before; she was surprised by how strong it felt as it wriggled in her arms.
Gina appeared at her side, still fuming with battle rage.
"Help me get Naomi on her feet," Mason said. "We can't stay here."
Gina scoffed. "Where the hell do you think we're gonna go?" But she reached for Naomi anyway.
Mason glanced out the window, unconsciously bouncing the baby, although probably too quickly to be soothing. It kept up its keening, anyway.
The dead were clustered below, of course, thirty deep on this side of the house. But an idea occurred to Mason. She tore the sheets off her bed and hurriedly rolled them up, weighting them crystals and knickknacks. Then she held one arm out to Gina.
"Cut me."
She paused with Naomi half-roused in her grip. "What?"
"Fucking cut me. I need blood."
Gina cleaned the dead residue from her glass shard and dragged it down Mason's arm, and when the blood began to flow, she held it to the sheets. She took care to soak it at regular intervals, so it was evenly dispersed.
"I'm gonna throw this down," she explained. "With any luck, it'll draw enough of them to make a gap and we can run for it."
"Ava…"
Naomi reached for Mason, who quickly realized she meant the baby. She hadn't told anyone the name she'd chosen until now.
"Let me…let me carry her."
Mason might've, except that Naomi could barely keep herself on her feet. Gina and Nick would have to carry her out the window.
They would have to leave Will there. She was trying very hard not to think of that.
"I promise I will once we're away from these fuckers," Mason said. "Okay, but you're too weak right now."
Naomi whimpered but didn't argue. Gina secured an arm around her waist and glared at Mason.
"Get on with it then."
It was difficult doing everything one-handed, but Mason managed. She cleared the rest of the broken glass from the window and leaned out, trying not to see any face too clearly as she lifted the bloody sheets and took aim.
She had only one shot, and even then it might not work.
The baby cried and tried to burrow into her chest.
Mason tossed the sheet. It sailed to the left and landed a few yards from the window, right where she'd been aiming.
Her heart leapt as the dead began clamoring for it. Not all of them, but enough that a tiny path cleared out beneath the window.
She turned back to wave at the others. "Okay, come on!"
"Go first," Naomi croaked. "Get my baby out of here."
So she did, doing everything she could to cushion her fall so that the baby wasn't jostled. The dead didn't seem too concerned with her in the moment, but the baby was still crying and her arm was still bleeding and she knew she had only seconds.
She turned back to the window, where Gina leaned through. "Come on!"
But from the room, a crash so loud it flipped Mason's heart over twice. Groaning. Screaming. Gina turned, face contorting in a snarl, and disappeared.
"No!" Mason shouted without thinking. The dead began to turn. She was out of time.
So she ran, and the baby squalled, and the world blurred with tears and terror as she left her friends behind.
~m~
"Hey, Mason? Got Charlie on the walkie just now. Alexandria's sending a group here today."
Mason perked up, abandoning the tea she was steeping. "Thanks, Jerry. Did she say anything about the Wolves?"
"She said they were attacked, but everyone's fine. And she did mention that a specific someone would be coming down with them." Jerry grinned. "You seem pretty excited. Any reason in particular?"
"Don't make me beat your ass."
"Relax, I'm just teasing you."
"Ha! Good one."
She couldn't keep from grinning like a fool as she headed for the gate. She hadn't told anyone, but she'd decided…well, she'd decided a lot of things. She'd decided that the world was dangerous, and that investing your emotions in a relationship, in a person you could lose, was incredibly stupid and reckless. She'd decided she had enough shit to worry about right now.
Most of all, she'd decided she wanted Eugene enough to take the risk. And it was possible he wouldn't feel the same. It was possible that even if he did, it wouldn't work out, or one of them could…
Well. She was well aware of what could happen.
But she had to take a chance on something sometime. And nothing had seemed quite worth it until he came around.
Her heart thundered as she paced by the gate, ignoring the confused and disapproving looks of those on watch. She couldn't remember feeling quite so jittery in her life and wondered if she might end up having a heart attack before they arrived.
"Car approaching!" Tina called from her watch post. Mason's whole body flooded with something that was either anticipation or utter panic.
She was the first one through the gate when they opened it. Rick exited the car, and then Daryl. She greeted them both, hoping she didn't appear too keyed up.
"How is everyone?" she asked. "I heard you got that attack you were expecting."
"Yeah, lucky us," Rick replied. "We're all fine. We came to discuss the deal further with your King." Likely Eugene had already told him what Mason had admitted; she wondered if that would come up, too.
"Oh, yeah, of course. He's—"
One of the back doors opened and Eugene stepped out. Mason broke into a huge grin.
"He's, um, waiting for you guys. I'll take you there in a sec."
Before she considered that maybe she should rein herself in, she started running. Eugene's face was dark with something she couldn't identify, but when he saw her, he smiled, too, like he couldn't help it.
He held his arms out and she leapt into them, hard enough that he staggered back. They spun in a small circle, laughing.
"Hi," she said.
"Howdy," he replied.
"How are you doing? You didn't get hurt in the attack, did you?"
"Minor injuries is all."
"You fought, didn't you?"
"That I did."
"Okay, I'm a little mad, but also: that's my badass scientist!"
He snorted and set her down. "And how were things here?"
Long. Boring. I missed you a lot.
"Fine. But, um, there's actually something I wanted to talk to you about."
Her heart thrummed so fast it felt like one sustained beat. Her stomach turned, and she had to remind herself that puking on someone's shoes wasn't a universally accepted courting ritual.
"Of course, ma'am. But just so you are aware, there is, um…someone here who wants to meet you."
"Oh. Yeah, okay."
The other car door opened, but Mason was still looking at Eugene, trying to get her phrasing right.
"So. Uh, yeah, so, I've been thinking… Um. Sorry, I'm a little short on words today. Ha, get it? Cuz I'm short."
Welp. Not the smoothest, but we persevere.
"Anyway, so I've been thinking…that maybe—"
But it was then that she saw who stepped out of the car, and the words dried up in her throat.
She was back in that forest in Georgia, back in that shoddy bus with the smell of smoke and elderberries. Back with the girl she'd left behind.
She took an uneven breath.
"Beth?"
A/N: Just real quick, next chapter will be the first interlude, and is also an entire flashback. Hope that doesn't bug y'all! But anyway, thanks so much for reading. Until next time xoxo