ꜰᴏᴏʟ'ꜱ ᴍᴀᴛᴇ || ᴛᴡᴅ

123: ᴅÍᴀ ᴅᴇ ʟᴀ ᴍᴀᴅʀᴇ

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Sami surprisingly didn't freak out when he woke up. 

He was laying on the ground, whole body struggling to breath, but alive. He had Maggie's coat as a pillow, and a blanket under him. He was in the woods, dead leave around him, a nice silence. Walkers could be heard from inside a pen nearby. Elijah was leaning against a tree beside him, Negan and Grace by a fire nearby, and Maggie walking over. 

Everything hurt. Moreso than before. 

His right arm was wrapped up in bandages, though they were a little dirty. His left hand was wrapped, too. Something sticky was on his face, tape over his cut. 

He raised his bandaged hand, looking at the blood seeping through. most of the bandage was around his finger stump, some around his hand. He could see thin stitches holding the hole in his hand together under the bandage. And he could see the gap where his middle finger should be. 

He felt horrible. Completely drained, and like tar was running through his veins instead of blood. 

"Has he changed?" Elijah's voice spoke to Maggie as she reached them.

"We can't know that. He's helpful. He would be, as long as there's something in it for him." She looked at Negan, who watched the fire. 

Elijah looked past her at Sami, who was silently watching them, and tapped Maggie's arm, making her follow his gaze.

"You're awake." She sounded relieved, but exhausted, and grabbed a water bottle from the bag at her feet, crouching in front of him. "Drink. You've been coughing for hours."

He sat up, with her help, and leaned against a tree as Elijah crouched on his other side. He drank, slowly, since it hurt to move the skin by the slash on his face, and to move his head in general, thanks to all the punches. But he managed to drink, which made breathing a little easier. But each breath still came out shallow, hoarse. Like the final breath from a dying animal.

"What'd they do to you?" Elijah questioned. 

Sami almost chuckled. "L-look." He felt sick suddenly, among everything else. "I told them where you were. D-Daryl wanted me- me to-"

"Warned us." Maggie nodded. "It's fine. They have no leads. We're safe."

"He might not have." Sami shook his head, and felt his bloody, scabbed hair get caught on the bark of the tree behind his head. "Or-or I might've told them. I-I took a risk. I thought of - of Coco. And I . . ." He felt his face go numb as tears welled behind his eyes, but he didn't let them fall. "I could get out."

"It's okay. You did good." Maggie rubbed his shoulder, carefully, so that she didn't hurt him. "We're alive. Everyone who was. Joel's scouting."

Sami looked at the pair, then Negan and Grace. "That's . . . that's it?"

She nodded, slowly. Sami couldn't believe it. They left with so many people. They were all just dead now? Maggie, Joel and Elijah were all that was left of Meridian? 

He couldn't speak, then. It was just too much. So he went quiet. 

He watched them. Maggie went over to Negan and Grace to get some food, and she handed her two strews. 

"One for Sami, too." Sami overheard Grace say. 

Maggie glared at her, though Sami couldn't see it, since her back was to him. "One thing Sami doesn't eat."

Negan glanced at the stew he was eating. "Rabbit? Why not? It's already dead."

"He had two. Before the fall, since he was a kid." Maggie glared at Grace. "You'd know that if you paid attention."