𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 - 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬

3.06 - truce

"

briar had that feeling again. she hadn't experienced it for a month now, but it was there. after they had returned to.a small group that had entered through a hole in the wall, her senses were on high alert. the feeling was like a dull migraine that you knew wasn't right, but you just can't shake off. everyone knew that there would be a consequence to woodbury. but did they regret it?

not one bit.

the two days after woodbury, everyone was on edge. waiting for something horrible to happen and kill all of them. briar barely slept; saying in the guard tower 12 hours a day and continued to stay awake until she physically couldn't. everyone could see the impact it had on her. her hair was sloppily pulled into a ponytail on the back of her head, and her eyebags sunk into her once perfect face.

briar was wandering back to her cell in the middle of the day. i. need. sleep. her body called out to her. but she couldn't. her head was still haunted by the thoughts of her friends dying before her, and it felt as if she couldn't breathe. all but collapsing onto her rickety bed, her eyes screamed for rest as she tried to make herself comfortable- which was impossible to do on such a worn out mattress. so she gave up. nearly whining in pure exhaustion, she got back out of bed and walked, almost like a walker, to the cafeteria. hershel was sat there alongside judith and carl, so she found that it was okay for her to sit with them.

"you okay, briar?" carl asked sympathetically as the girl rested her face in her hands. even he could see how exhausted the woman was, and he felt awful for her. she acted like a mother figure to him, and he couldn't help but feel protective over the girl. she pulled her fingers down her face and groaned, nodding her head as her eyes fought to stay awake.

"yeah, i think i just need some, uh, fresh air." she mumbled as her tired state remained agitated and found it hard to stay still. rising from the metal chair, she shook out her limbs before walking into the open georgian air. she had thought that the fresh oxygen would wake her up, but instead it hung with loss and indecision.

she watched as rick had ran out onto the grassland, furrowing her brows in confusion. did he see someone? he barely stopped to open the gates as he bolted, briar now catching michonne watching in curiosity.

rick has been better since woodbury, but it seemed as if he had fallen into the same habits as before.

the clinking of chain link above her made her spin around, seeing axel and carol wander up to her with bright smiles, it was as if everything hadn't happened. and honestly, she preferred that to the awkward silences with all of them grieving but refusing to speak.

crossing her arms over her torso, she tilted her head as she looked at the skyline. "stress, getting to your man, rick?" axel asked briar after tapping her on the shoulder politely.

she shrugged, both her and carol knowing the truth. "can you blame him?" she replied as all three pairs of eyes landed on the man outside the fence, speaking to hershel.

"no. not at all." he agreed, a small smile of sympathy on his pale face. "in here, i've seen plenty of dudes crack. but not me. i got on better on the inside. things made more sense. there were rules. life was more simple."

tuning out of the conversation quickly, briar lost herself to exhaustion. if she couldn't sleep, that conversation sure would help.

a gunshot jolted her mind back to its fight or flight instincts, feeling a small spray of blood against her cheek. gasping, her ducked down, grabbing carols wrist and pulling her down alongside herself. she hid behind an upturned table with her hands shaking, and breath caught in her throat. she was left with her weapons on her bed.

defenseless against the governor.

~~

shots continued to barrel against her ears, forcing them to ring as she heard carols cries muffled against the sound of gunshots.

soon enough, it stopped as she stayed down, her head pounding.

maggie had ran out, forcing a gun into briars hands as she looked at carol who was covering her head. sighing deeply as she stared down at the body of the kind axel, she spun up and took a shot, hitting one of the governors soldiers in their arm.

but after a while, there was no fight left to bring.

against humans, anyway. the governor had drove a truck full of walkers right into the centre of the field. leaving them partitioned, with members of the group down in the field, and the others trapped inside the prison grounds.

~~

GRAY SPEAKSS

hihi it's been 8 months (🙀) but i wanted to show this book still has hope ! i love uuu thanks for nearly 8k reads! insane!