I was up early the next morning, but still not early enough to catch Rick, Carl and Michonne before they left on their run. I got ready quietly in my cell, Daryl still sleeping soundly, planting a kiss on his forehead. He stirred lightly his eyes barely open.
"What time is it." He slurred, shielding his eyes form the light. I smirked at him, shaking my head.
"Morning time." I teased, running a hand through my constantly tangled hair.
"Go back ta sleep." He growled, rolling over. I pouted.
"I'm not tired." I whined, crossing to the door. "I'm gonna head down for breakfast, get an early start on chores. You want anything?"
"No." Daryl replied shortly, throwing the blankets over his head. I chuckled to myself, he'd never really been a morning person, and quietly exited the cell, making my way down to the common area.
I stepped over Merle, who was still passed out on the floor, smiling at Maggie as I approached the small breakfast spread she'd sat out. Breadcrumbs and cashews, yum. I filled a bowl with them, taking some water from one of the jugs, making some form of cereal.
"Morning." She said quietly, taking another bite of her breadcrumb cereal. I sat down next to her, glancing around the cellblock again.
"Where's Glenn?" I asked. Usually they were joined at the hip, but today he wasn't here. Maggie pointed at the door with her spoon.
"Vehicles need some tuning up. He's pulling them to the auto shop to fix it." she took another bite and I swallowed my mouthful. "Mostly oil changes, might as well keep the routine while we still got it."
"Does he want help?" I took another bite and she shrugged.
"Probably not, but Carol's got laundry and Beth is better with the baby than anyone. Might as well head down there."
After breakfast, Maggie and I walked hurriedly to the auto shop. We had to be quick, since the only way to access it safely was from outside. Glenn had pulled all of our cars in, except for the green SUV, which is probably what Rick had taken for his run this morning.
Maggie waved at her lover happily, running up to him and hugging him tightly. She planted a wet kiss on his lips and he pulled away, wiping his hands on his rag.
"What are you ladies doing down here?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Maggie shrugged, walking over to her dads pick up.
"Though you could use a hand, lots of maintenance to be done." She popped the hood and Glenn shook his head.
"You don't know the first thing about an engine." He told her. Maggie narrowed her eyes at him.
"I may not know an engine, but I know this truck. I always helped daddy with it." Her argument seemed to suffice and he looked at me, waiting for my response.
"I take direction well?" I offered, smiling awkwardly. Maggie chuckled and Glenn smirked.
"Fine, but tinker on Hershel's truck. These cars still have a lot of life in them." He teased, walking back over to the sedan that Carol drove. Maggie scoffed, returning to the front of the car with a jack and a tool kit.
"This truck is a classic, historical plates an everything." She muttered, inching her way underneath the car. "Hey Beau, I just need you to hand me the tools I ask for, kay?" I licked my lips, staring at the toolbox.
"Can you describe them to me if I don't know them?" I asked quietly. I heard Glenn smirk from where he sat at the other vehicle. I glared at him and he returned to his engine.
"I think I could do that." Her words were muffled, but I smiled anyways. Maggie began to ask for tool after tool. I found most of them easily, some she had to describe 'the one with the thingy,' or 'the long skinny one.' It was boring, just sitting there, not doing anything. I now more than ever desperately wished I'd listened when my dad, drunkenly, tried to show me cars.
"We'll get some overhead lifters and four barrel quads, oh yeah." I sang quietly to myself fingering the tools.
"Keep talking, oh keep talking." I narrowed my eyes, looking under the car at Maggie. She stopped what she was wrenching, smiling at me smugly.
"Fuel injection cut offs and chrome plated rods, oh yeah?" I sang it as more of a question and Maggie returned to what she was doing.
"I'll get the money, I'd kill to get the money." She scrunched her face up, much like the actor did in the movie, nodding her head as she sang.
"With a four speed on the floor, they'll be waiting at the door."
"You know that aint no shit, we'll be getting lots of it in Greased Lightning!" Maggie finished. We shared a raucous laugh, and I nearly doubled over.
"This is not Broadway." Glenn guffawed from where he stood at his car. Maggie rolled her eyes, toiling away again under the truck.
"I coulda been somebody… I coulda been a contender!" Maggie feigned a jersey accent and I couldn't control my laughter anymore. It was side splitting and it felt good to get away from everything, the stress, the death. Glenn gave us both a dirty look and I wiped a few stray tears from my eyes, chuckling as I did.
The doors to the auto shop flew open, slamming loudly against the walls. I jumped, startled, grabbing for my rifle. Daryl and Merle bounded in, looking out of breath. I tapped Maggie's leg, standing as I did.
"What happened?" I asked. They were disheveled, sweaty. They looked like they had been running.
"Woodbury's back." Daryl said plainly, looking at me worriedly.
"What?!" Glenn shouted from back at the car.
"They're knocking on our front gate. I could only see a few of them, lightly armed, but it looks like they mean business." Daryl took a breath. "They cleared out the yard."
"Why would they do that?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. Their whole plan was to have us surrounded by walkers, to break our safety net. Daryl shrugged at me, licking his lip nervously.
Glenn, Daryl, Merle, Maggie and myself quickly made our way to front gates. Daryl was right, there was only three of them standing at the gate, while the rest of them were off in the distance, making a game of shooting the walkers in the yard.
I narrowed my eyes as we grew closer, raising my gun higher, ready to shoot them if necessary. The bigger man of the three standing at the gate held up his hand and his gun.
"Ah-ah. That's close enough." I stopped, as did the rest of our group and the man smirked at us. "If we woulda known it was this easy to get you to roll over, we would have done it earlier." None of us said anything, but a low growl sounded from Daryl's throat. The man chuckled, pointing to us. "You, Blondie. Come here. And bring Shania and Merle with you."
I hesitated, afraid of what was going to happen. The man shifted, crossing his arms and tapping his foot. I swallowed, looking at Maggie and Merle, and slowly I began to walk forward. Daryl grabbed my wrist, but I lightly pulled away from him.
"It's fine." I whispered, smiling at him. He didn't seem to believe me, but he let me go without any further arguing.
"Come on Princess, we aint got all day!" he hollered at us. I still kept my pace, officially taking point. I watched him warily, not taking my eyes off of the shitty grin he wore.
"What." I said coolly, crossing my arms and staring at him. The man smirked at me, looking at his boys, feigning shock. His eyes wandered over to Maggie and he winked at her.
"Hi Country Rose. I've been missing you-"
"Eyes on me. You will talk to me." I demanded. The man switched his gaze to me, smirking cruely. "She is not here."
"Fine. But I gotta say hi to my old buddy Merle. We laid some good beatin's down together." Merle opened his mouth to speak, but I elbowed his side, hushing him. The man started laughing, looking at me. I remained sober, not finding him charming in the least. He sighed. "Since we haven't been formally introduced, my name is Martinez." If there wasn't a fence between us I'm certain he would have held his hand out for me to take.
"I don't care." His eyes narrowed at me and his smile was wiped from his face.
"No need to be hostile. We were sent here as a sort of peace offering." I watched him quietly, tilting my head to show him I was listening. "The Governor has sent us on his behalf. He's requesting a meeting with your leader, Rick Grimes."
"A meeting? He didn't strike me as the democratic type, what with the way he shot up our prison and took our own hostage." I said sarcastically. Martinez chuckled again, looking at his boys.
"He's not, but he doesn't want the violence. There are families in Woodbury, families with kids, older folks. Not the fighting type." I felt a pang in my chest as I thought about the tiny baby we had in our ranks. I turned, looking back at Daryl and Glenn. They were on high alert, ready to run to our aide if necessary.
"So you're trying to sell me on the family man angle?" I wasn't dropping my guard, not to them.
"Na, just practical." Martinez paused, eyeing me up and down. "Tomorrow morning, There's an old mill. Head down the street, take a left. That's where you'll find him. In the back barn." I remained quiet, glaring at him and biting my lip. "Maybe you should get a pen, write it down."
"I'll remember." I spat. Martinez turned to walk away, but stopped suddenly, turning around again to speak.
"Oh, and there's a 4 person per capita. 4 amigos, understood?" He didn't have to elaborate, I knew what he meant. If we brought more than four people, we automatically lost. If we brought more than four people, we were dead.
Rick, Carl and Michonne arrived later that evening carrying in bags upon bags of loot. I watched them, wide-eyed and full of wonder as they placed each back on the cellblock table. I unzipped them hurriedly, Daryl and Glenn standing behind me, revealing guns galore. One bag alone was completely filled with ammo and grenades.
"Where did you get all of this?" I was practically salivating, afraid to look away, afraid to let go, thus it disappear. I glanced up at Rick and he grinned proudly.
"Ran into and old friend of mine. Saved my life." I looked past him, not seeing anyone other than Carl and Michonne. "He didn't come with us." Rick's voice was sad and I frowned, looking back down at the bags. I zipped them up again, Glenn and Daryl walking them off.
"You're bleeding." I said, noticing a bloodstain on the front of his shirt. He looked down at it, like he had forgotten about it, and shrugged. "Let me see it." I glanced at Hershel and he grabbed up the first aid kit, hobbling over to me. Rick sighed, unbuttoning his shirt. Carl and Michonne walked off into the cellblock
"Carl likes her." Rick said, watching me. I smiled, unzipping the first aid kit.
"She one of us now?" I asked hopefully. I liked Michonne, for some reason I trusted her, not to mention she was excellent muscle to have around.
"She's getting there. Still think she's too erratic, but…" Rick shrugged, grimacing as I pulled off the bandaid. I shook my head, he had been stabbed.
"Somebody got you with a pocket knife?" Rick chuckled.
"Yeah, he did." I widened my eyes at him, silently wiping away the old blood and dirt. It didn't look too deep, a few stitches and he would be fine. Rick shook his head and Hershel handed me the sutures that he'd prepared. "He wasn't the same man that I met a year ago." Rick's voice seemed sad and I frowned at him.
"What do you mean?"
"He had a son when I met him, and he was struggling with coming to terms that his wife was a walker." Rick paused and I showed him my needle. He nodded, and I silently I stuck him with it, beginning to sew it up. Rick winced, but continued to speak. "He couldn't kill her, and neither could his son. It cost the boy his life." I hesitated, taking a deep, sad breath, before continuing. "I wanted him to come so badly, I wanted to show him that there is hope in this world, but I couldn't bring him. He didn't believe me."
"I'm sorry." I said quietly, tying off the last knot of my suture. Daryl and Glenn had re-entered the room, walking quietly over to us. I took out a roll of gauze and some tape, placing it over his stab wound.
"Woodbury came back today." Glenn said quietly from behind me. Rick tensed and I stepped away from him, re-zipping the first aid kit and putting it away.
"What did they want?" Rick asked him. Glenn looked at me and I returned to the small group.
"They sent Martinez and a small posse. He said the Governor sent him, he wants to meet with you tomorrow morning at some old mill down the road." I sighed, looking up at Daryl and Glenn. "He said The governor wants to come to some kind of agreement, doesn't want a war." Rick scoffed, he believed that about as much as we did.
Sorry for the lightheartedness :P i just get so tired of how dark TWD is sometimes... Lol
Any DragonBall Z fans here? bc if so, go to youtube, look up the user Team Four Star and watch DragonBall Z Abridged. You WIL NOT be disappointed. i was in tears. Also does anybody have any good Vegeta/OC fics? bc obsessed.
Reviews are so awesome! I've been getting some good, constructive ones. They really keep me going!
Stay Beautiful!