Malevolent. The Walking Dead

[ 033 ] no escape

033: no escape

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Joey pushed Carl away by the shoulders. He stumbled back on his feet, nearly tripping over the arsenal. She was nearly seeing red. "Who do you think you are, telling me what to do?" She spat, moving to grab a gun off the table. She stuffed bullets in her bag and stuck on the knives in her boot and sock just to be safe. Carl grabbed her wrist. "You aren't going. You have to stay here."

Joey nearly cut him with her other knife as she swiped it off the table and shoved it in her belt loop. "I can fight better than you." She wasn't sure if that was really true—but it could've been. She had seen more than he could ever imagine. Carl insisted she didn't know what it was like—but he didn't know what it was like. "Maggie is my friend. I need to be there for her—especially because Glenn isn't here." She sighed, not looking him in the eye. Bill and Finn weren't even being skeptical about her coming with them—it was almost a give-in. She couldn't understand why Carl was being so aggravating.

"I already told Enid she should stay back too—" he started, and Joey let out a laugh.

"Oh good. You should tell both your girlfriends what to do." She snapped, zipping up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. Carl was doing the same—but was blocking her way out. "Are you seriously making this about you right now?" He accused, and Joey grew red.

"You are the one who is making this about me!" She yelled, pushing him again. He grabbed her harshly by the arms and shook her slightly. "You know who is out there. The Saviors—you know what they did to Denise. To Maggie, Carol, and—and—Rosita, Glenn, Eugene. I can't let any of that happen to you, Joey, I just can't."

Joey watched him closely, his scrunched nose, the way he was gripping her arms so tightly as if he would lose her if he let go. It could've felt endearing, in any other context. But she was so angry at him for thinking he could tell her what to do, for thinking that she didn't have authority over her own life, that she saw past everything that made her care for him so deeply. "Good thing I can take care of myself then." She pushed his hands off of her, and made her way to the trailer, to which Rick was frantically carrying barrels of gas onto.

Abraham, Sasha and Eugene were all talking to Rick by the door, while Bill and Finn were jogging to catch up to them. Bill looked Joey up and down and grabbed her by the arm, as though she was running away. "If you're going, we're going." Bill muttered, making way for the others to get on the trailer. Rick placed a hand on Joey's arm. "Where's Carl?"

"Back at the armory." she snuffed. She was angry at him again—she was always angry at him.

"Hey. You good?" He asked, and Joey couldn't tell if he was talking to her or not. "Uh—yeah. I'm fine." she breathed, nodding slowly. Rick gave her a curt nod before she made her way into the trailer. Maggie was laying in the back—she was pale, with her lips and the skin around her eyes a dark shade of purple and blue. Her hair had been chopped off by her ears, and she was sweating through her clothes. She looked awful. Joey didn't really know what was wrong with her, but Enid had told her it was something with the baby. That was why they had to go to Hilltop—they also didn't have a medic in Alexandria at the moment.

Joey sat by her bed, and Maggie groaned with her eyes half shut. Joey ran her fingers over Maggie's dampened hair, brushing it away from her face. "You're going to be OK. The baby's going to be OK. I know it." Joey cooed, although she didn't really know if that was true. She didn't know what even was wrong, but she knew all Maggie needed was reassurance. When Carl got on, Joey made sure to sit far away from him.

Rick got on the trailer shortly after, and then Abraham started to drive. It was pretty packed in the trailer—Joey was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Finn. Joey was growing slightly tired, but the looming dread of what might happen to Maggie kept her awake. As well as the bumps all throughout the road. "What happened?" Finn whispered to her, and Joey shrugged. "Something with the baby."