A Dead World.. • G. Rhee

Chapter Twenty-Six

(Pretty much dead already..)

"Hey! We got your stuff." Maggie Hollered halfway across the farm, Glenn and I running to keep up with her.

"Maggie, hang on, please." Glenn's pleading fell on deaf ears as the angry woman marched right on up to Lori.

"Come on in here." Lori tried to usher her into the tent to which Maggie refused. "What? Nothing to hide. We got your special delivery right here."

"We got your lotion, your conditioner." Maggie listed the items as she threw them to the ground. "Your soap opera digest!"

"Maggie." I put a hand on her arm and she just pushed me away, forcefully making me stumble back and into Glenn, who put his hands on either of my forearms steadying me.

"Next time you want something, get it your damn self. We're not your errand boys." Maggie sneered at the other confused woman. I put my hands on Maggie's shoulders and started pushing her the opposite direction. "Okay, your done." I told her as she fought to get another word in.

"And here's your abortion pills!" She threw the bottle at Lori and I pushed her with more force this time.

"That was not cool." Glenn said as he caught up with us after having to apologise to Lori.

"Which part?" Maggie shrugged and continued. "The part where that bitch almost got us killed?"

"We should've gone alone." I scoffed as I shook my head, Glenn agreeing with me. "Look! if we're gonna blame anybody blame me. I didn't watch my back, it's on me." I said and Maggie just shook her head in disbelief.

"That's right, take the blame. You know, for a smart kid, you're really stupid." She turned to face me.

"Okay, backhanded compliment?" I asked, kind of confused on her wording.

"I've already lost three people I cared about in this world." She started.

"Maggie." I tried to intervene in her rant but she just shut me down.

"Shut up. You're smart, Hailie and you're brave." She listed, as I looked up at her. "You're a leader, but you don't know it. And your friends don't want to know it, Rick doesn't want to know it. Because they see you as a kid and they'd rather have you fetching peaches but they don't think twice about having you do the dirty work." I ran my tongue over my top row of teeth as Glenn stayed quite at the side.

"There's a dead guy in the well? Send Hailie down. Your walker bait. I can't stand to watch you become one of them. You remind me of me and I care about you too much." I took a deep breath as she walked away and Glenn spoke up for the first time since Maggie had started talking.

"She's right you know?"

"Don't start." I groaned not wanting to hear another person tell me I'm 'walker bait.'

"No, she is. You are brave, and strong, but you don't think of yourself as that. That's why you're always the first to volunteer for the hard stuff. You're trying to prove to Rick that you're not a kid. And Maggie is right, you can be a leader. If you stop looking for Rick's approval." He said and just like Maggie had, he walked away, leaving me to think about all that.