crooked heart → the walking dead ⁵

[ 016 ] choke point.

CROOKED HEART.

chapter sixteen, choke point.
[ season nine, episode thirteen ]

THE GROUP RACES THROUGH the woods. The dogs run ahead of the others. Odessa and Daryl take the rear, making sure to keep their eyes closely on Brielle.

Odessa can only think of what's going to happen now. The Hilltop made a deal with the Skins. They just broke the deal. Odessa isn't going to risk her family or her home. Brielle and Koda are here with her now but Cori and Flynn are back at the Hilltop. Enid, Alden, and Tara are.

That's when Henry trips.

Lydia, Mara, and Connie rush to help him up. As he props himself up on his elbow, he says, "this isn't the way back to Hilltop."

"Tara and Cori made a deal with these assholes. We just broke it." Odessa tells him. Her next words come out shakily. "We're not going back home. Not yet."

"She's right. There's too many of them. Alpha would destroy Hilltop to get us back now." Lydia states.

"And why didn't you two tell us there was that many of them?" Daryl gruffly asks.

"You kept us locked in a cage! What the hell did you expect?" Mara swiftly claps back. "I wasn't gonna betray my own people, and I sure as shit wasn't gone let you people hurt my sister!"

"Well, maybe you and your sister should go back to 'em." Daryl hisses.

"Daryl!" Odessa snaps. His blue eyes shoot over to her. "It's over, okay? They're with us now. They can't go back. They left. They're with us now, whether you like it or not. Hell, I'll take them both under my wing if I have to but they're with us now. And if they're not with us, they're with me. Got it?"

Daryl grunts.

Brielle stares at her mother. Her eyes then dart to the two sisters that kneel beside Henry, both sets of eyes wide with fear.

"You're with us now." Brielle says suddenly. Everyone looks to her. "I'm with mom. So they're with me, too. But for now? We gotta get the hell outta here."

"Don't cuss." Odessa says.

Brielle scoffs.

At the sound of her daughter's scoff, Odessa makes a face at her own words. They remind her of her father and how he would fuss over her and Carl cussing when they had much bigger problems.

Despite having bigger problems, the weight of the reminders settles over her shoulders. Tears threaten to spring in her eyes. She's thankful for the darkness hiding her eyes away from her people. They don't need to see her upset. Not right now. Not when they have problems as big as the Skins.

"She's right. We gotta go." Daryl pipes up. Henry is pulled to his feet by the sister's. "It's this way."

Connie shakes her head.

"Yeah, this way." Daryl says.

Connie motions for them to follow her. She then turns and takes off in the opposite direction Daryl was pointing in. Lydia and Henry don't hesitate to follow her. Odessa and Brielle glances
back at Daryl. "You comin'?" The oldest asks.