Dead Man Walking

liii.

"Now, we're gonna work this out right now, and it's going to go our way."

Hunter clenches his jaw, the anger coursing through his veins like wildfire. He couldn't believe what was happening. He couldn't contain the rage that was building inside of him.

"Pick that son of a bitch up," Hunter hisses and Daryl and Glenn picked the man off the ground. He raised the walkie back up, "You can see we have one of yours. We'll trade."

"I'm listening."

"I want to talk to Maggie and Carol first, make sure they're okay," Hunter waited for one of their voices to come through. But right now all he was getting was static.

"Hunter, it's Carol. I'm–I'm fine, but–"

"Hunter, it's Maggie. We're both okay. We'll figure thi–"

Hunter didn't like that their voices kept getting cut off. He was growing angrier by the second, "You have your proof. Let's talk."

"This is the deal. Let 'em go, you can have your guy back and live," Hunter spoke into the walkie.

"Two for one, that's not much of a trade."

Hunter shakes his head in disbelief, did she want him to go get her one of the dead bodies inside? "You don't have another choice or you would've done something about it already."

It was silent on the other end. Hunter took the moment to look at the rest of his group. A few had their guns pointed at the guy and the rest had their guns pointed around them. They had no idea where they were.

"I know you're talking it over. It's a fair trade. Just come out, we do this, we all walk away. Do we have a deal?"

"I'll get back to you."

Hunter dropped the walkie to the ground and grabbed the guy's shirt and pulled him towards him, "Now you listen to me. I do not have time to wait. So I am giving you the chance right now to tell me what you know."

"Go to hell."

Hunter chuckles with a shake of his head, "Wrong answer," He swung and nailed the guy in the face. He leaned in, his eyes narrowed as he glared at the man and gripped the man's face, "Maggie, the one your girl has. She's pregnant. You tell me what you know and you get to live. If you don't, well, we'll find them anyway and I kill you."

Without another word, he leaned in and spat in Hunter's face, the glob of saliva landing on his cheek with a satisfying splat. Hunter recoiled in shock, wiping the spit away with a snarl of disgust. He stood there, his chest heaving as he looked at the man with a mixture of anger and disgust.

Hunter lifted his gun in the air and swung at the man's face as hard as he could, knocking the man unconscious, "Tie him up," Hunter instructs. And Glenn and Daryl were the first to listen to him.

Michonne, Rick, and Rosita stared at Hunter. This was a new side to him they'd never seen before. He's never truly taken control of a situation like that before. Rick admired him for it. Michonne was scared that Hunter was going to start losing himself like Rick did. And Rosita didn't know what to think.

"What do we do now?" Glenn asks, directing his question to Hunter.

Hunter looks around as he tried to come up with a plan. He knew he had to act quickly before it was too late. There was a lot at stake, and he couldn't afford a mistake. He needed to be strategic, to think ahead and anticipate the moves of this woman.

He chewed on his fingernails, his mind racing as he tried to come up with the perfect solution. He couldn't afford to be reckless, but he also couldn't afford to be too cautious. He had to find the right balance. He closed his eyes, trying to clear his mind and focus. He had to be ready for whatever came his way. He took a deep breath, and opened his eyes, ready to put his plan into action.

"Okay, Aaron, Abraham, I need you guys to go back to Alexandria. Let them know what's going on. And if something happens they're gonna need more firepower," Hunter looked at the rest of them.

"What are you guys gonna do?" Abraham questions.

"Well, they're not in there we just killed everyone in there. They can't be behind us so they're ahead of us," Hunter states, "And if they had more people they would've done something but they didn't. So there's more of us. We're gonna track 'em and get Maggie and Carol back."

______

As the group walked through the dense woods, they couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and adventure. The tall trees loomed overhead, casting shadows on the forest floor, and rustling leaves filled the air.

Daryl was following a set of footprints that wound through the underbrush, leading them deeper into the forest. Daryl stopped suddenly, causing the group to stop behind him, "These footprints are fresh," He tells them, pointing to the ground, "They can't be too far ahead."

As they continued to follow the footprints, the group stayed close together, ready to react if they encountered any danger. They walked for what felt like hours, their senses heightened as they listened for any sign of movement in the brush.

"What was that back there?" Rosita asks with a hushed tone.

Hunter glances at her confused, "I don't know what you're talking about. I did what I had to do. They have Maggie and Carol. What did you want me to do? Huh? Sit back and wait? No."

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the look that you had. I've never seen it before. I just want to know if you're okay."

"I'll be better when we get Maggie and Carol back," Hunter replies with a shrug of his shoulders, "I'm sorry you didn't like the look in my eyes. But I didn't want to take a chance on them killing Carol and Maggie. I needed to get ahead of them. I was thinking fast on my feet. And the guy spit in my face, I had every right to pistol whip him."

"You said you wouldn't do anything stupid. You already did that. I just want to make sure you're thinking straight. So stop being an ass to me."

Hunter sighs as he runs his fingers through his hair, "I'm sorry. I just–I didn't think they'd listen to me like that. Most of the time Rick's calling the shots. I just want to save Maggie and Carol."

"You shouldn't be so surprised. You're just as much of a leader as Rick is. We follow both of you. I mean, I don't have to listen to you if I don't want to," Hunter chuckles lightly, "But in situations like this I would. I am."

Finally, Daryl stopped again, this time with a triumphant look on his face. "Look here," he says, pointing to a clearing the building up ahead, "I think we've found 'em."

Hunter picked up his pace and got ahead of Daryl, "Eyes sharp, weapons up. We don't know what we're walking into. Stay in formation."

The group quickly got into formation as they walked to the building. They only found one entrance and they quickly made their way in. Glenn and Rosita were in front while the rest covered their sides and back. They swept the floor and found no traces of anyone until they hit another set of doors.

And when they opened Carol and Maggie were standing on the other side with their guns raised. All guns were lowered when they saw each other, "Are you okay?" Daryl asks as soon as he sees Carol, "We got your trail."

"They're dead. They're all dead, the ones that took us," Maggies says, "They're all dead."

Hunter turned his attention to the prisoner they had, "Your friends are dead. No one's coming for you. So you might as well talk."

"Let him burn," Daryl says.

"I'm gonna ask you one last time how'd you get the bike?" Hunter questions.

"We found it."

"Like hell you did," Daryl exclaims.

"We found it."

"Was Negan in that building last night or was he here?"

The man meets Hunter's eyes and a smirk makes its way across his face, "Both. I'm Negan, shithead. There's a whole world of fun that we can talk about, so let's have a chat."

Hunter took a step back and pulled his gun on him, "I'm sorry it had to come to this," He says before pulling the trigger.