Dead Man Walking

ciii.

"Take a minute. Then we're almost there," Maggie says as they were back in the woods, "About three miles out."

"You can't be serious," Negan stares at her in disbelief, "Daryl just told us to go home."

"I didn't hear that."

"Well, I think he was being subtle. He said they were armed with lookouts," Negan says and Hunter actually agrees. They couldn't fight all of the Reapers.

"And Daryl knows I would never turn back."

"How're you gonna keep going, Maggie, huh?" Negan wonders, "With what army? Come on, Gabe, Hunter, back me up here."

Hunter exhaled deeply, "Those guys are like trained ninjas. I love a good fight. But there is a hole in my leg. I'm not in any shape to fight goddamn ninjas. Especially 20 of 'em. I clearly remember Daryl saying that."

"Our people are about to starve," Gabriel argues, "I'm not going back to my family having failed."

"Oh, Jesus," Negan sighs, "At least admit what you're asking of us, walking to our deaths for what, a, a sack of beans?"

"If you're more interested in saving yourself than protecting the people back home, you can go," Maggie says, "We don't need you."

"We both know that's not true," Negan retorts, "All right, tell you what. You make me a promise, in front of the goddamn priest and I will stick around."

"Promise you what?" Maggie asks.

"I do this for you...and we're even, we are good. I don't have to keep looking over my shoulder."

"We will never be even."

Negan shrugs, "Then you are gonna be down a soldier that you desperately need. Your call."

He couldn't believe that Negan thought they'd ever be even for what he did. Hunter and Rick were innocent in all of it. They killed Negan's people. But they didn't do it lightly. They did have fun when they took away someone's life.

They didn't laugh as they did it and they sure as hell didn't do it in front of their families. They didn't make people watch. They didn't kill to make a point, they killed because they thought they had to.

Hunter glances over at Maggie who started smiling, "You'd take a promise from me? Really?"

Negan nods, "Yeah. Who wouldn't? I'm assuming you are a woman of your word. I've always been a man of mine."

Hunter looked down at Negan's outstretched hand. And he watched as Maggie shook it, "Wow, we really are walking into our deaths. This is great."

Maggie looked over Hunter's shoulder and he furrows his brows at the look on her face, "What's wrong?" He asks as he glances behind him. It was a walker. A single walker. And Maggie took care of it.

"It's his sister's best friend. Teresa. She was just a kid. We have to get them. All of them."

"Hey. Y'all know Blackbeard, too?" Negan asks pointing behind them at  another walker.

Elijah took out his weapon and went to deal with them but Maggie stopped him, "Wait."

A flash of realization washed over Hunter's face, "Oh my god. We have a goddamn army. Negan you were with Alpha, you know how she did things. We're gonna need that expertise."

Hunter shrugged off his bag and took out all the rope he had in his bag and threw it toward them. Hunter grabbed some rope and limped toward the walker. He grabbed it by the neck and pushed it against the tree. He placed the rope around it as it snarled at him.

The walker trashed against its bindings, but he had tied it securely to the tree, ensuring it couldn't escape. After they tied up the few walkers they found in the woods, they buried Teresa.

"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, even so saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labours. We say, the Lord be with you and thy Spirit."

"Amen."

Hunter glances up at Maggie, "I can't fight but I can cover your backs. This place is guarded. There has to be at least one sniper. I'll take 'em out. Snipe the bitches."

Maggie nods, "If you run into any of them on your way. You kill them."

"I will."

_____

Hunter walked through the woods, a map in hand. He was hoping once they dealt with these Reapers they would be done with this. They could go back to Alexandria with food so they wouldn't all starve.

The woods were eerily quiet, the only sound was the crunching of leaves and twigs beneath his boots. He moved as quickly as he could. He knew what he was looking for thanks to Maggie's map.

Years ago he was scared about walkers killing his family. And over the last few years, he had to worry about people killing his family. He needed to get back to Alexandria, not only because his family was there but because he needed to get this wound checked out.

Hunter spotted the building up ahead. He hid behind a tree as he reached into his bag and pulled out a pair of binoculars. He held them up to his eyes and scanned the area.

He could see two people on watch and a red truck driving by. He knew Gabriel was around here somewhere, they left at the same time but they had different missions. Hunter moved his eyes to a roof, and there was his sniper. He didn't know how he was going to make it up there. He was going to figure it out though.

He reached down for his bag but froze in his spot as he felt a gun on the back of his head, "Take your hand off the bag."

Hunter raised his hands in the air, his heart slowly beating faster. He couldn't believe he got caught. He slowly took his hands off his bag and raised them in the air, "Hey, man, you don't want to kill me."

Hunter heard the bullet enter the chamber, he focused ahead of him and felt his hands being tied behind his back, "Get up," He was roughly lifted from the ground, "Pope's gonna wanna meet you."

Pope, that was the man the reaper said before he blew himself up. Hunter was going to meet the man in charge of all of this. Hunter looked over his shoulder to get a look at this guy and his eyes widen.

"Josh?"

The reaper's face faltered as he got a good look at the guy he just captured. He couldn't believe it, "Sergeant Grimes?"