Shambles- The Walking Dead [Alden x Maggie] [1/2]

24- What did you do?

Alden wasn't fast enough. He couldn't stop the walker from chomping down on Ken's arm, or the horse kicking him in his chest. All he could do was drag him away from the approaching walkers and the horse to give Enid and Siddiq the space to work on him. There was blood everywhere, bright red and pumping out of the bite with each pulse of his heart. This wasn't good.

"Ah! I'm going to die!" he cried out.

"No. No, shh, you're not," Alden pleaded desperately. He was pleading as much for Ken as he was pleading for himself. His hands were smeared with blood, bright red and sticky.

Maggie and Marco were there too. Partially to calm Ken down and partially to pin him down. Alden knew he wasn't Ken's family; he was just the bum his dad happened to work with. He still cared about him, like he cared about everyone at Hilltop. And maybe a little more because Ken's family had been there for him.

"They're gonna fix it, Ken," Marco promised him, his voice shaking.

Rick and the others were fighting off the approaching walkers. They were seemingly oblivious of the horror they were dealing with.

"Enid, get the quick clot and a –and a tourniquet," Siddiq rambled as he fumbled with his own medical bag.

Ken was breathing heavily and panicked, not even Marco could distract him. Syddiq and Enid worked as fast as they could.

"Alden, tell my dad to let Marco take my place, okay?" Ken spoke through tears and choked breaths.

"You're gonna talk to your dad yourself, okay?" Alden blinked away the tears that were building up. Crying wasn't going to do any good.

"Just stay awake. Stay awake," panic rose in Siddiq's voice because he could see that Ken was fading fast. He tore Ken's shirt open to reveal a large bruise forming on his chest; he was bleeding internally too.

Marco could tell that his friend was dying right in front of him and he couldn't take it. He had to take a step back when Ken started to shiver.

"Ken," Alden pleaded, voice breaking. "Ken, just stay awake," he pleaded again as Ken was already drifting off. "Hey, look at me."

Ken closed his eyes and breathed shuddery. "Tell my mom and dad I'm – I'm coming." And with one last rattling breath he was gone.

"Ken?" his voice was nothing more than a choked whisper. Tears welled up in his eyes. He took a shaky breath and tried again, "Ken?" He wiped the boy's hair out of his face. "No, he can't –"

Maggie pulled him close to comfort him. She didn't care that half the people here didn't know about their thing because it wasn't that well known outside of Hilltop. She rubbed slow circles on his back and held his head with her other hand. "He's gone," she whispered as Siddiq closed Ken's eyes.

"I was supposed to protect him. I promised his parents. I promised Earl and Tammy" Alden sobbed into her shoulder.

The small approaching herd had been fought off by the remainder of the group. Everyone looked saddened. Maggie felt almost as much guilt as she knew Alden felt. She was the one that sent them down this route. She was the one that had the final say on Ken coming along. She gave Alden's back one last rub before she pulled back and got her knife out. She had to be the one to do it. She brought her knife to the side of Ken's head and slid her knife in as carefully as she could.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"We have to cover him up," Alden insisted as he stood up. He looked around. "Something to wrap him up in to take him back to Hilltop."

"There's a tarp in the back here," Jesus opted. He and Sasha got the tarp out and brought it up to Ken. Alden wanted to help but Sasha stopped him by pushing him back.