Author's note: And here we have it folks, the END OF SEASON ONE! It 's a long ride, doubtful at times, but we made it through! I look forward to see to seeing you all next season, and look even more forward to see how Mara deals with her and Rick's strained relationship-as well as her and Daryl's growing one. And so the question remains who will Mara choose? Lol I'm having fun writing this if you can't tell. :D
Question one: Thinking about writing that small deleted scene of them going back to the vatos. It would be really really short, so I am slightly hesitant. What do you guys think?
Question two: How was the ending ? It was literally the only part I struggled with.
~Cassandra
Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead. How many times am I going to have to say it?
It's funny how quick people are to believe you, when your locked in a building about to erupt. Mara bit her lip trying to force back the 'I-told-you-so,' she so desperately wanted to tell everyone. Doing so would only make matters worse. Even if it was well deserved. She sighed watching as Daryl and Shane hacked away at the locked door. The axes wouldn't do anything and Mara knew it. Behind her, Lori and Carol held their sniffling children tightly to their chest. Mara felt her chest give a hard squeeze at the sight. Slowly she crouched down next to Jenner, looking him in the eye. "I know you think you're doing everyone a favor, but you're not." Mara said.
She glanced towards Lori and Carol. Carol had a near helpless look on her face, while Lori had a fierce protective one. These women were willing to do anything for their children to survive, just like true mothers were suppose to. And why not? The world may have gone to shit, but there was always hope wasn't there? "You need to open these doors, Jenner. What you are doing is not right." Mara urged softly.
Jenner shook his head. "You should have left well enough alone. It would have been so much easier."
"Easier for who?!" Lori snapped.
"All of you, you know what's out there-a short brutal life and an agonizing death. Your-your sister, what was her name?" Jenner asked Andrea.
"Amy." Andrea answered.
"Amy ….You know what this does. You've seen it." He turned towards Rick. " Is that really what you want for your wife and son?"
Anger flashed on Rick's face. He leaned dangerously close to Jenner, looking about ready to kill the man. "I don't want this."
The sound of an axe hitting the doors again was heard. Rick turned towards it, walking over to where Shane tiredly leaned against a computer. He shook his head looking at Rick. "Can't make a dent."
"Those doors are designed to with stand a rocket launcher." Jenner informed emotionlessly.
"Well your head ain't!"Daryl snarled coming in axe swinging. Luckily for Jenner, the men swooped in just in time to stop him. Though truthfully Mara was beginning to think that busting Jenner's head in wasn't such a bad idea after all. However Mara knew her putting a bullet in Jenner's skull wouldn't helping anything. Not when she already knew he'd eventually give in and release them all. They just needed to figure out what it was that made him change his mind.
"You do want this." Jenner annunciated. He looked at Rick with a desperate yet knowing look. Mara felt bile rise in her throat at his next words. "Last night you said-you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."
Lori gasped as everyone else grew silent. Rick looked fearfully and ashamed towards his wife. She was now breathing hard as if having a panic attack. He opened his mouth trying to come up with the right words, but Shane spoke before he could. "What?" Shane asked, "Did you really say that? After all your big talk?"
"It doesn't matter whether he said it or not." Mara snapped, surprising herself along with everyone else. It seemed that even when pissed off at Rick, she refused to let him be blamed for everything. Her eyes hardened as she gave everyone an intimidating look. "He was pissed drunk last night-the majority of us were. And if there's one thing we all should know it's that people say and do shit, they don't mean when drunk."
Rick stared at the dark haired woman watching the fury radiate from her. It would be a lie to say he didn't find comfort in her loyalty. Even when he turned his back on her, Mara refused to do the same. He swallowed hard forcing his frustration back, but not before spiting the words 'I had to keep hope alive, didn't I' at Lori. Jenner shook his head. "There is no hope. There never was-"
"Bullshit. There's always hope, you just need to find it." Mara retorted.
"She's right." Rick agreed, "There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere-"
"What part of 'everything's gone' do you not understand?" Andrea questioned from where she was sitting.
"The part where you give up." Mara answered, "Life isn't easy, it never was meant to be. Shit happens, whether it be saber tooth tigers, bubonic plague or the fucking pogroms-nothing in life is easy. The real question though is what you do when it happens. Cause in reality nothing else matters other than those decisions."
"Not everyone was in the army, Mara." Andrea muttered.
"Neither was I." Mara admitted. "That's just something I've learned being alive."
"You should listen to her. She understands." Jenner advised Mara. "This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."
"It may be yours doctor but I refuse it to be mine." Mara muttered as silence fell. Rick placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as if fearful she'd do something erratic. She pushed it away. While Mara agreed to stay, that didn't mean she had fully forgiven everyone. Actually she really hadn't even begun to forgive anyone. Especially since Mara wasn't sure if that whole explosion scene at the end was just for effects or God's way of saying she was going to die.
"This isn't right." Carol finally spoke. "You can't just keep us here."
Jenner eyed the poor crying woman who clung tightly to her child. For second Mara swore she saw a flash of compassion, but the hope quickly vanished as Jenner leaned in towards Carol. "One tiny moment-a millisecond. No pain-"
"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!" Carol protested, her face full of pain. Dale reached out taking Sophia from Carol's arms as she moved to get up. Mara felt her fury grow. If they didn't get out soon, Mara just might reconsider the bullet thing.
"Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Jenner questioned.
Mara folded her arms about to retort when the sound of a gun cocking was heard. Her attention quickly diverted to an equally furious Shane rushing in armed. Rick and Dale quickly rushed towards him trying to stop him. Shane easily pushed them out of the way. With a sigh Mara stepped in front of Jenner. As much as she wanted to see the Doctor's head blown off, it would do no one any good. "Get out of the way, Mara!" Shane roared.
"You really think blowing his head off is going to solve this?" Mara said coolly.
"Move out of the way, Mara. Or I'll blow your head off along with his." Shane threatened.
From behind Rick and Daryl tensed up at his words. Both of them knew that Shane wasn't one to make idle threats. Moreover Mara wasn't one to give up easily, especially when it was someone else's life on the line. It was a battle between two stubborn mules and if no one stopped it, Mara would definitely end up being the loser. Forcing his panic and anger down, Rick leaned close to Shane. "Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We'll never get out of here." Rick hissed.
"Shane, you listen to him." Lori piped from the back.
"It's too late-"Shane muttered.
Rick intervened. "They die. We all-"
A roar ripped through Shane's throat. His battle cry as her Drill Sergeant would say. The man was backed into a corner by death and Mara had no doubt he would do anything to fight it. Unfortunately for Shane, Mara wasn't scared of him-let alone death. Shane pushed the gun closer to Mara's face, his finger on the trigger. She stared at the end of the barrel ready to die when Rick shoved his arm away. Instead of shooting at Mara like Shane wanted, he ended up firing at some of the computers. Mara reached out ready to try and disarm the man, when someone pulled her away was pulled away-when Daryl pulled her away. "Yer a real idiot, ya know that woman?" Daryl muttered, as Rick disarmed Shane. "Gonna get yerself killed one of these days."
"Story of my life." Mara replied with a smile.
Daryl smacked her on the head causing an soft 'ow' to escape her. Though in reality there was no pain. She looked up to see Rick glancing at her with worried look. Around them, everyone else was eyeing him was eyeing him as if he were a monster. Despite the fact that Shane nearly killed everyone. Mara gave him a small nod telling him she was fine. With one last glance at her, Rick turned to Jenner. "I think you're lying." Rick accused.
Jenner looked up from where he was sitting. A look of disbelief evident on his face. "What?" he asked.
"You're lying about no hope." Rick stated. "If that were true you would have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"
"It doesn't matter." Jenner said shaking his head.
"It does matter. It always matters." Rick replied stepping closer to the Doctor. His voice filled with urgency. He wasn't just trying to convince the others, Mara realized, Rick was also trying to convince himself. "You stayed when the others ran. Why?"
Jenner gave him a harsh stare. "Not because I wanted too. I made a promise…to her." He pointed at the screen. "My wife-"
His wife. How could she have missed that?
Finally Mara could take it no more. She pushed herself in front of the camera. "You're a doctor for Pete's sakes! It's your job to help people. Not to let them die like this-it's not right! It's not what-"
Daryl grabbed her, dragging her away in time with Shane's grabbing Rick. Mara fought against him clawing and crying alongside Rick. Her head started to ache once again and suddenly she lost control of her own voice. "It's not what your wife would want!"
Mara blinked placing a hand on her head as the flashback left her. She had yelled that uncontrollably last night when trying to get in. That small crazy yet important piece of information Mara had ninety-nine point nine percent sure her brothers never mentioned. So how the hell could she forget about that? "Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asked mournfully.
"She begged me to keep going as long as I could." Jenner replied flopping his arms in frustration. "How could I say no?"
The loud clanging noise of an axe hitting the door was heard. Mara looked behind her to see that Daryl had gone back to trying to escape. He wasn't a man of sentiment. Especially not when it was a danger to survival. She moved forward towards T-Dog. While Mara had half the mind to help the redneck…as she said before an axe would get them nowhere. But maybe talking would. "It should have been me on that table." Jenner said, angrily pointing at the screen. "I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just…Edwin Jenner. She could have done something about this. Not me."
"Your wife didn't have a choice." Rick said softly. " You do that's-that's all we want-a choice, a chance."
"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori spoke up. Her eyes silently pleading him.
Jenner stared at them before turning to Rick shaking his head. "I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those-"
"Don't worry about those, we'll get through them somehow." Mara assured. Everyone turned to look at her. A mixture of hope and expectancy evident in their faces. It made Mara's face heat up in embarrassment. "Don't look at me like that. We've already established the fact that I sometimes just know things."
Jenner walking down to a strange device set on one of the desk below. Silently he toyed with it. Mara felt her heart race as the door opened suddenly. Daryl stopped mid-swing, his face lightening up. If they weren't still in danger, Mara would found his expression adorable. Instead she felt herself beginning to hyperventilate. Her vision-the only one she ever had where she visually saw everything…the only one where she was actually involved in it…involved her being consumed by flames.
Slowly in a dazed like manner Mara picked her ruck, before lackadaisically walking over to grab the black duffle she brought with. To the side of her, Jenner leaned in to whisper something into Rick's ear. Not too far behind her, Andrea sat unmoving. This was it. She was going to die. "What the hell are you doing lil'bit?! Hurry the fuck up!" Daryl snapped, just in time with Glen warning everyone about the countdown.
He stared at her watching as a numb expression washed over her face. Daryl swore as he left his spot upfront to where the idiot stood motionless. For the life of him, Daryl couldn't think of any reason for her to shut down so suddenly. But he would be damn if that woman decided to kill her after he swore to keep her alive. Something which was rather ironic seeing how Daryl hated quitters more than anything else. Mara though…Mara wasn't a quitter. An idiot who may let her feelings cloud her survival judgments-but not someone who quits just because life got tough. He snatched the black duffle bag from her shoulder, throwing it over his shoulder with a small grunt. It was awfully heavy for someone who supposedly had a bad back. "Come on lil'bit, we don't have time for any of this bullshit." Daryl snapped, grabbing on to her wrist.
Mercilessly he dragged her along with the others. It wasn't until they made to the front room did Daryl finally let go of her wrists. He unhooked the spare hatchet from his belt loop. "Stay." He ordered moving to help the others.
"No." Mara muttered, seconds later. She blinked taking in the chaos surrounding her. The men were doing everything in their power to escape. While the woman huddled close in fear. It took Mara a second to regain her composure. Daryl had taken her out of the big room. She was supposed to die there. Now…Mara wasn't sure what would happen to her, but she knew one thing. There no way in hell she was going to give up like that again.
She ran to where Daryl was prepared to rip the duffle off his shoulders. Perhaps a bullet from an M-16 would break this baby down. Doubtful, but anything was worth the shot. "Dog! Get down!" Shane yelled as he shot at the glass.
The bullets didn't even leave a scratch on it. Mara swore, there went her bullet theory. "Rick, I have something that might help." Carol called, digging in her purse.
"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane snarked.
Carol ignored him. "You and Mara's first morning at camp, when I washed Mara's jacket-I found this in one of her pockets." Carol explained.
Mara's eyes lit up at a familiar greenish-gray object in Carol's hands. "My grenade!"
Rick looked at Mara with a slight smile. "You know how to use one?"
Mara smirked grabbing the grenade from Carol's hand. She walked confidently yet hurriedly towards the glass. While she may have failed shooting, she amazingly passed grenade throwing. "You might want to move for this awesomeness. " Mara joked, winking.
"Look out!" Shane yelled as everyone scurried.
It was only until Mara sure that everyone was a good safe distance, did she pull the two safeties. Then with mad skills that would make her brothers proud, she threw it-ducking straight afterwards in the position her Drill Sergeants taught. "Frag out!" She cried.
A loud deafening pop was heard as the glass burst. Wisely Mara had distance herself far enough away not to be exploded along with it. Vaguely she remember her brothers complaining about Rick using the grenade, saying that in reality he would've died. "Ladies and gentleman, let's get the fuck out of here!" Mara grinned, jumping out the window.
Not long after she met ground did Shane jump out besides her. Quickly they helped the rest not moving until everyone evacuated the building. Shane ran ahead of the moving group taking out a few zombies. Meanwhile Mara kept to the back ushering the two mothers and children along. Mara gasped slightly as she felt something grabbed the back of her collar pulling it. Her elbow went flying about to smash in the walker's nose only to pause in mid-air. "Just me, ya idiot." Daryl huffed, continuing to pull her alongside him.
"Jesus Daryl, ya scared the shit out of me!" Mara yelled. She couldn't help but smile slightly as he grunted. Gently Mara shrugged him off as she leaped into the passenger's side of his truck. Daryl turned the key in the ignition about ready to drive off, when the RV started to honk. Mara's eyes widened as she noticed what it was honking at. Climbing out of the window were Andrea and Dale!
She was about to point it out to Daryl, when he suddenly tugged her to him. Which was lucky for her, cause just milliseconds after her head hit his chest, the CDC exploded into a fiery hell. It wasn't until a full five minutes passed did Daryl let go. "I swear to God, lil'bit, it's like yer trying to get yerself killed or something." Daryl muttered.
Mara smiled placing a small kiss on his cheek. "I thought I was going to die. I saw myself dying. That's why I froze-I was afraid." She admitted.
Daryl eyed her, trying to make sense of her words. He had no idea how to respond to that. As he said a million times, comfort wasn't his area. So he just said what naturally came to mind. Little did he know it was exactly what Mara needed to hear.
"Not while I'm around lil'bit."
Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter. Your reviews keep me going. Thanks to Latona2, Hard To Scare , mcmannusdixon, Shike93, ScornedxRose, guest 22 and…
Hell's-funny home: I have heard of Love Actually, I just haven't seen it yet. But hearing you describe it makes me want to watch it. I don't know what's going to happen between Rick and Mara truthfully, their relationship is a little frayed right now, hopefully they can figure things out though. P.S I hope this was Daryl-centric enough for you. I'm a little surprised at how involved he was this chapter truthfully. Originally I was planning on keeping him in the background like in the episode, but Mara and danger seemed to kick him into gear.
Shika93: Thank so much for reading an reviewing to almost every chapter I wrote it made my day.
Tigerlily xoxo: I want to thank you for being such an awesome fan. I never had anyone read so many of my fics before. So thanks As for her brothers, well I have plans for them. If they do show up, it'll definitely be one at a time. *hint, hint* I'll leaving the guessing as to who's first for you to decide. lol
GypsyWitchBaby: Trust me, when I say Mara is not one to let things go so easily. She is going to be pissed for a while. As for whether or not she'll tell Daryl the truth behind why she ran from the kiss or not, the jury's still in on that one.
Guest 22: I won't lie that is one of many ideas I am considering for the ending but it's still not even fifty percent sure.
Elex Black: I honestly haven't thought about making her visions more dangerous-but that's a thought. As for Mara and danger, well those two go hand in hand really. So I am sure Rick will get his chance to freak about her safety sooner or later, I promse.