Dead Man Walking

xcix.

 They lowered themselves down into the train. Once Hunter hit the ground he searched around his pockets to make sure his three pictures were still there. And they were. He took out his knife and killed the two walkers that rested on the seats on the train. Hunter turned around to see Negan dropping down.

He stared at Negan as he waited for Maggie and Daryl to come down but they didn't. All three of them were right behind him. So why was Negan here and Maggie and Daryl weren't?

"It's rusted shut," Frost says, "Safe bet that they all are."

The sounds of the walkers banging on the door were drowned out by Hunter as he stared at Negan, "Where's Maggie and Daryl?"

Negan met Hunter's intense stares, "She was...She was right behind me. And Daryl...he ran off after Dog."

Hunter clenched his jaw, he didn't know if that was the truth or not. He stalked over to Negan and shoved him out of the way, "Gabriel, boost me up."

"You go up there, you're dead," He hears Frost tell him, "She'd be pissed if you tried. She'd want us to keep moving forward."

Hunter turned his glare to Frost, "I've known Maggie for years. I have known her longer than you. I will not go back to Alexandria without her. I will not go back there and tell her son that he has to grow up without a father and a mother. I won't. I will not leave her behind."

Gabriel took a step towards Hunter, "And if you go out there, I have to go back to Alexandria and tell your family that they have to live without you. I will not tell that to Judith, RJ, Rosita and Coco. Okay? We need to get that door open. And we'll go from car to car until we hit the front of the train. Then we'll hop off...and maybe Maggie will be there. But we have to keep going."

Hunter narrows his eyes at Gabriel but his attention turns as Negan walked towards the door, "Watch out guys."

Hunter knew Negan had something to do with Maggie not being here. It was his chance to live without worrying if Maggie was going to kill him or not. It was his chance to become a leader again. And if Maggie is dead because of Negan, then Hunter was going to kill him. Now that Maggie was gone everyone was so quick to work with Negan.

But now that Maggie was gone, Hunter had every reason to kill Negan. And so he stood back and he watched as they worked together to open the train door. He could hear them working together to open it. And on the fifth try, they got it to budge.

Hunter pulled out his knife and followed behind them. But he stopped when Negan stopped, "Why don't you guys handle that one? If you get tired out, we'll take over."

Hunter charged at Negan and threw him down on one of the seats and put his knife to his throat, "You think now that Maggie's gone you're in charge? Is that what you wanted? You leave her out there so you can try to get power back, huh? If that's what you thought, you fucked up. You should've killed me too. But I know you Negan, you think you can lie to my face? What the hell did you do to Maggie?"

Negan held his hands up in surrender but he wasn't given the chance to say anything as they heard tapping. Hunter didn't remove the blade he had placed on Negan's throat.

"Is that on the roof?"

"Could be walkers," Hunter pressed the blade firmly on his throat.

"Shut up," He spat at Negan.

The tapping continued, but it was precise. It wasn't walkers. And it wasn't coming from the roof, "That's morse code. SOS. It's below us."

Hunter grabbed the crowbar from Negan and handed it to Gabriel. Hunter pulled Negan up and kept the knife against his throat. Gabriel broke the lock on the door below them and opened it up. And out came Maggie.