20 months later
It was a normal morning until Mike and Lydia got awaken by screams next door.
"I'll get him." Mike said and got up.
"Remember to change your bandage." Lydia said half asleep.
"Yeah, will do." Mike said and put his eyepatch over the spot where his eye was missing.
He walked put of the bedroom, towards the bedroom of his son.
"Hey, Alex. How is my beautiful son doing?" Mike said and picked up his son.
"He looks so similar to you." Lydia said.
"Oh, I didn't notice you. But he still got his eye and ten fingers." Mike said with a sad tone.
"Hey, I know you're sad about your fingers but Carl promised to make a replacement for you." Lydia said.
"It's good that he works with Earl in Hilltop. He felt without a purpose in the last months. I wonder what he he's going to make for me." Mike said.
"Maybe a glove with metal filled there where your fingers were supposed to be." Lydia said.
"Could be, now let's get our son something to eat." Mike said.
"I will, you got patrol today." Lydia said.
"Oh right, sorry. I gotta go then." Mike said, kissed her and left the house.
"Mike, wait. You forgot your jacket." Lydia said.
"Oh right, this little guy makes me forget things." Mike said and took his jacket.
"Bye, be safe, I love you." Lydia said and closed the door.
"Morning, Mike." Rick said.
"Sitting around today?" Mike asked.
"Yeah, I'm exhausted after this bridge thing and Aarons arm." Rick answered.
"How's the bridge doing?" Mike asked.
"Very good, your idea with luring the horde into the river was great." Rick said.
"Yeah, the river is turbulent at this time and mutilated walkers at the shore are easier to kill than in a horde." Mike said.
"Indeed they are." Rick said.
"Hello, uncle Mike." Judith said as she came out the door.
"Hi, Judith." Mike said.
"Have you heard anything about Carl?" Rick asked.
"No, the last letter I got was two weeks ago." Mike answered.
"Ah, I guess you have work to do." Rick said.
"Yeah, give this to Aaron from me." Mike said and gave Rick a bottle of whiskey.
"I think Enid could use this for disinfection but I don't know if Aaron drinks, but I'm sure he will be thankfull." Rick said.
"I could take it." Judith joked.
"Hahaha, that's exactly my humor." Mike said and broke out in laugher.
"I'll go then, bye." Mike said and went towards the gate.
He walked past some newly build fields and other things that were build new after the siege of Alexandria almost two years ago.
"Morning, Enid." Mike greeted her.
"Morning, have you heard anything new about Carl?" Enid asked.
"Uh...no, not really. But I have patrol in the area around Hilltop, I can take you with me." Mike suggested.
"Good idea, let me just get a gun." Enid said.
"Don't worry, I got two machetes and two rifles in the back of my car, you don't need to bring anything with you." Mike said.
"Oh, alright. Then let's go." Enid said.
"Why didn't you go with Carl?" Mike asked.
"You mean Hilltop? He said that it's only gonna be a few months, and I like it here more than in Hilltop." Enid answered.
"I mean, he wants to be a blacksmith, why wouldn't he want to stay at Hilltop?" Mike asked.
"Rick thought of building a forge, so we also have one." Enid answered.
"I mean that's a nice idea, but Eugene still makes bullets." Mike said.
"I know, but lead will run out eventually, and spears, swords and other meele weapons won't." Enid said.
"Good point, I want to have a sword in the near future." Mike said.
"I never thought about this, but a sword suits you." Enid said.
"I think we should go to the car, or we'll talk till evening." Mike said.
"You're right." Enid said.
"From where did you learn to drive?" Enid asked and got into the car.
"From my uncle." Mike answered and got into the car.
"Rick, I'm taking Enid with me and drop her off at Hilltop, I'll be back tomorrow." Mike said through the radio.
"Alright, good luck, be safe out there." Rick said through the radio.
"Alright, let's go. If we're lucky we don't have to search cars for gas today." Mike said and started the car.
"How long will we be driving?" Enid asked.
"A few hours, we just gotta drive around Washington." Mike said.
"Alright, can I ask you something?" Enid asked.
"What's on your mind?" Mike said.
"Did you thaught Carl german?" Enid asked.
"I don't think that's your question, but yeah, the basics and a few swears." Mike answered.
"No, no, that was my question." Enid said.
"Uh-huh." Mike said.
"Alright, you got me. Do you think he'll propose to me?" Enid asked.
"Woah, I don't know." Mike answered.
"Really? I mean you're both kinda brothers." Enid said.
"We are, there's no place for the word "kinda", I mean, we didn't see eachother a while. How'd you get the idea?" Mike asked.
"I don't know, just a feeling you know. It's a stupid idea." Enid said.
"I mean, would you mind marrying him?" Mike asked.
"No, I don't. I really love him and I want to spend my life with him." Enid answered.
"Then why are you overthinking it? Just sit back a bit, be sure of your feelings, and if you want to marry him, propose yourself." Mike said
"Thanks." Enid said.
"Wait here, I'll look for some gas." Mike said and left the car.
"Benzin, wo bist du, motherfucker?" Mike asked (Gas, where are you, motherfucker?).
He looked around for a bit but didn't find anything, only a strange walker. But he decided to leave it and went back to car.
"You didn't found anything, right?" Enid asked.
"No, just this strange walker, it doesn't even want to attack me." Mike answered.
"Strange, should we go?" Enid asked.
"Yes, we should." Mike said and drove off.
"I'll get some sleep." Enid said and closed her eyes.
He drove for hours till evening until he arrived in Hilltop.
"Hey, Enid, we are there." Mike said and got out of the car.
"Thanks for driving me." Enid said.
"No problem, I'll go in with you but I gotta go soon after." Mike said and both walked up the hill.
"Good evening guys, didn't expect you here, at this time atleast." Jesus greeted them.
"I got patrol for today and tomorrow, you know the usual. I met Enid and decided to drive her to Carl." Mike said.
"Alright, I'll open the gate." Jesus said.
"You go to Carl, I'll come later." Mike said and walked towards Barrington house.
"Hi, Mike, I didn't expect you here." Maggie said.
"Just wanted to say hi, I drove Enid here and after that I got a two day patrol." Mike sighed.
"Two days, that's cruel shit." Maggie said.
"I know, but it has to be done, and Alex is sleeping longer now, so I thought I can do it." Mike said.
"How old is he again?" Maggie asked.
"One year now, about the same age as Hershel." Mike said.
"Nice, good luck on your patrol then." Maggie said.
"Thanks, I'll see you around." Mike said, left the house and walked towards the forge to see Carl and Enid kissing.
"Sorry to interupt you two." Mike said.
"Mike, it's so good to see you." Carl said and hugged him.
"I just drove her here, no need to do that." Mike said.
"Nah, I hugged you 'cause I missed your bad jokes and I got a two things for you." Carl said.
He pulled out a sword and a prosthesis for his fingers just like Lydia guessed it.
"I'll be damned, a fucking sword!" Mike said happily.
"Yeah, the metal in the gloves can be bend, meaning you can make a fist, hold thing or just leave it straight.
"How long did you work on that?" Mike said and put on the glove.
"One month, Earl helped me design the mechanism." Carl said.
"If I had known that you'd give me these things, I would've given you something in return." Mike said.
"Don't worry about it." Carl said.
"Alright, I gotta go then." Mike said.
"Bye, good luck." Carl said.
He walked down to his car, strapping his sword on his waist and throwing his machete in the car. He drove for a few minutes until he arrived at a abandoned cabin.
"Home sweet fucking home." Mike sighed and threw his things next to him.
He looked around the familiar cabin and found the comics he hid under the floor board.
"Ah, there they are." Mike said happily.
"Mike, are you there?" He heard Ricks voice through the radio.
"Yep, I am. Just arrived at the cabin, I'll go on patrol in five minutes." Mike said.
"Alright, be safe." Rick said.
"Patrol, fuuuck..." Mike muttered and left the cabin.
He walked around a bit until he found a walker, it was behaving strange, like the last one. It was walking like it was waiting for his attack, just to strike back. Instead of getting in it's range, he shot it in the leg.
"Ah! Ah! Of fuck!" It screamed, but Mike shot it in the head afterwards.
"Rick." Mike said through the radio and pulled the mask of the womans corpse, it was the same mask Lydia was wearing when he first met her.
"Yeah?" Rick asked.
"Could you get Lydia on the radio?" Mike asked.
"Sure thing, give me a minute." Rick said.
"Honey, what is it?" Lydia asked.
"Hi, you know our first meeting, right?"
"Yeah, I gave you a scar."
"I think your group isn't in New York anymore, I found a whisperer." Mike said.
"You need to leave, now!" Lydia commanded.
Mike wanted to turn around and walk back to the car but he felt a knife at his throat. And many masked people came out from different directions.
"Cut the call." The walker said.
"Will do, honey, I love you." Mike said and dropped the radio.
"What are, or who, are you?" Mike asked panicked.
"We are the whisperers, but you already know that, now I wonder, why?" The walker asked and before he could say anything, he felt a sharp pain in his back and fell unconscious.
After a while he woke up, his eye was covered, he was in great pain and seemed to be strapped to a chair or tree, again.
"Alpha, he's awake." A man said and pulled his eye cover off.
"Where the actual fuck am I?" Mike asked.
"I ask, you answer, understood?" The man said.
"And what if I don't answer?" Mike asked.
"We'll torture you." The woman said.
"Bitch, I was being tortured a whole fucking month straight, pull off my shirt if you want to see if you don't believe me." Mike said.
"Respect, the Alpha!" The man yelled and kicked him in the gut.
"Beta, that's enough, I'll talk to him, alone." Alpha said.
"As you wish, Alpha." Beta said.
"How do you know about us?" Alpha asked.
"I don't know what you mean, lucky guess, I guess." Mike said.
"You can act tough, but fact is that even if you survived one month of torture, you aren't immune against pain." Alpha said.
"Alpha, right? Should I be honest?" Mike said.
"I would hope that you are, for your wellbeing of course." Alpha said.
"I found your daughter, Lydia, two years ago. Badly wounded, stuck under a tree, wearing a mask like yours, she gave me the scar on my forehead. My community took her in. We grew closer and I guess, you're a grandma now, mother-in-law." Mike said grinning.
"You what? You slept with MY daughter?!" Alpha yelled and started to beat him up.
"Multiple times." Mike said between her hits.
She continued to beat him bloody but to her shock, he didn't cry or scream in pain, he just laughed and smiled through it.
"What's wrong with you?" Alpha asked.
"I have lost my sense of humanity and mercy a long time ago, I'm used to getting beat up, the only thing keeping me going is my son." Mike said.
"You will take us to your community, tomorrow." Alpha said and walked away.
"Let's see, no walls, they're eating small animals, a few guns, many meele weapons and they have babys and most likely doctors." Mike said to himself.
"But, why do they want to take me home, what could they want?" Mike asked himself.
"Hm, maybe they'll use me to get Lydia back, but this won't work, I don't know. Lydia, stay strong." Mike muttered.
Don't know how to write the next chapters, expect the next one to take a bit longer. I gotta rewatch the show and finish the comics first.