Dead Man Walking

xxiii

Hunter stood there in disbelief after hearing what Rick wanted to do. After everything Michonne has done for them he just wanted to give her away. He wasn't okay with that. But Hershel and Daryl seemed like they might be. If it stops the war from happening.

Hunter knew this whole thing would be a trap. Philip didn't seem like the type of person to keep their word. If they go back there and hand Michonne over Philip would kill them all on sight. Over the time Michonne has been at the prison he's grown closer to her.

She's like his sister now, she's been teaching him how to use her katana. She even told him a little about her life before. She didn't talk much about her past but it was just the simple fact that she opened up to him. She trusts him and he didn't want to just feed her to the wolves it wasn't right.

They have the guns now, they have the ammo. Hunter realized they didn't need to have more people they just needed to be smarter than the enemy. If they could fortify the prison and fixed with traps as Morgan did. They have so many options, giving up motion shouldn't be one of them.

"It's the only way. No one else knows."

"You gonna tell 'em?" Daryl wonders.

"Not till after," Rick answers, "We have to do it today. It has to be quiet."

"You got a plan?" Daryl asks.

"We tell her we need to talk. Away from the others."

Daryl looks over at Hunter and Hershel, both looking down at the ground, "Just ain't us, man."

"No. No, it isn't," Hershel says his piece before leaving the three of them there.

"We do this, we avoid a fight. No one else dies."

"Alright."

Hunter scoffs and shakes his head. He couldn't believe Daryl was agreeing to this, "You know what, Rick? If you really believe this piece of shit is just gonna let us walk, you're an idiot. He's gonna try to kill us with or without Michonne."

_____

Hunter and Daryl pulled out the wires from the truck and started nailing them into the ground. They were pacing booby traps around the field. It was Michonne's idea. She was thinking smart, she was thinking better than the enemy.

If they could come up with more ideas they could have this whole place defended. Make it harder for them to come in. They'd have the higher ground with the guard towers.

Hunter hopped into the back of the truck as they waited for Michonne to get in. Carol drove them back through the gates. Hunter jumped out with Glenn and Daryl.

"They try to drive up to the gate again, maybe some blown tires will stop them," Glenn says.

"That's a good idea."

"It was Michonne's," Hunter tells his brother bitterly. Rick glances over at his brother. He didn't want to give Michonne up but he didn't have a choice.

"We don't have to win," Michonne says, "We just have to make their getting at us more trouble than it's worth."

Hunter smiles at Michonne before turning his attention to Maggie who was walking over to them with Carl, "Hi, Maggie."

"Hey."

"Let's go."

____

"Hunter," Rick calls out, Hunter sees him walking over to him and starts walking the other way, "Hunter!"

Hunter sighs, "What? Are you ready to go give Michonne up now?"

Rick shakes his head, "No. We're not doing that anymore. Follow me."

Hunter raises his brows, he wasn't expecting Rick to say that. He turns on his feet and follows his brother. They walked through the courtyard until they found Daryl. Hunter wondered what made Rick change his mind.

"It's off," Rick tells Daryl, "We'll take our chances."

Daryl nods, "I'm not saying it was the wrong call, but this is definitely the right one. What's wrong?"

"I can't find Merle or Michonne. They've gone."

Hunter groaned. Rick never should've told Merle about the plan to turn Michonne in. Daryl turn on his feet and started running. Hunter and Rick followed behind him as they made their way back into the prison and down to the generator room.

"He was in here," Daryl says. "Said he was looking for drugs. Said a lot of things, actually."

Hunter starts searching around the room, looking for anything of Merle's or Michonne's. They were either down in the tunnels or Merle kidnapped Michonne and is taking her to the barn.

"Like what?" Hunter asks.

"Said that you were gonna change your mind. Here we go," Daryl picks up a rag from the ground, "Yeah, he took her here. They mixed it up."

"Damn it!" Hunter exclaims, "I'm going after him."

"You can't track for shit," Daryl points out.

"Then come with us," Hunter replies.

"No, just me," Daryl says moving to stand in front of Hunter and Rick, blocking their path, "I said I'd go and I'll go. Plus they're gonna come back here. You need to be ready. Your family, too."

Rick and Hunter watched as Daryl walked out of the door. Hunter wanted to go with him but Daryl was right. They needed to be here in Philip decided to attack them. Hunter just hoped that Michonne wasn't at the barn right now.

The two walked out of the generator room and made their way back outside to the rest of their group, "You gonna tell them all the truth?" Hunter asks his brother.

Rick nods, "Yeah, I am."

"Good, 'cause if you didn't I was going to."

Then made their way through the yard and found them all sitting on the benches. They made their way over to them. Hunter looked around all of them before his eyes landed on Maggie and Glenn. A smile crosses his face when he sees the ring on Maggie's finger.

"When we met with the Governor, he offered us a deal," Rick informs them, "He said–he said he would leave us alone if we gave up Michonne. And I was gonna do that...to keep us safe. I changed my mind. But now Merle took Michonne to fulfill the deal and Daryl went to stop him and I don't know if it's too late. I was wrong not to tell you. And I'm sorry."

Hunter was thinking about how he and Rick were always making the rules. It shouldn't be like that. They should make them together. They've been going about this all wrong. From the start. And today that was gonna change.

"What I said last year, that first night after the farm it can't be like that," Hunter says, "What we do, what we're willing to do, who we are, it's not our call. It can't be. I couldn't sacrifice one of us for the greater good because we are the greater good. We're the reason we're still here, not me or Rick. This is life and death. How you live, how you die—It's not up to us. We're not your Governor. We choose to go. We choose to stay. We stick together. We vote. We can stay and we can fight or we can go."