Brother's Keeper ¹ || The walking dead

74.

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Impulsive.

That was one word to describe Riven. He always made impulsive decisions. He knew he should've told Bronwyn that they should wait, but instead, he told her that he could walk.

He couldn't.

They made it out of the sanctuary, and it was dark outside, so the saviors outside didn't see them as they snuck out, especially since Bronwyn knew all the shift changes.

They snuck away from the sanctuary and towards the woods. Usually, Riven was quiet and careful as to where he stepped, but he was practically dragging his completely useless leg, and he had to use the trees as support.

They hadn't been walking long, probably a six to seven minute walk, and they could still see the sanctuary from where they were walking, but Riven felt exhausted already.

He pushed himself to keep going. He dealt with so many worse things, and his useless leg wasn't going to stop him.

"..hey, you okay?" Bronwyn quietly spoke up, keeping her voice low just in case any of the dead were near.

"I'm fine." Riven replied, and Bronwyn hummed, nodding her head.

"Oh, I'm sure you are." She sarcastically mumbled under her breath, and Riven was about to reply when he heard footsteps not far behind them.

He grabbed Bronwyn's arm and pulled her behind a tree, gesturing for her to be quiet, and Bronwyn nodded.

The footsteps got closer, and soon, a person walked past them, and Riven quietly snuck up behind them, seeing a knife glistening under the moonlight and he reached his hand out,

His palm wrapped around the handle, and he pulled it out quickly before pining the person to a tree with the knife pressed against their throat.

"Whoa! Whoa! Hey, it's just me!" It was Adan. His eyes were full of panic and slight fear as he eyed the knife that was so close to his throat.

"Just slit his throat, Ri." Bronwyn approached them. Her eyes were narrowed into a glare that was directed at Adan.

"No. No, do not slit my throat, Ri." Adan told Riven, who simply stared at him before backing up, stumbling a little with his leg.

"Is it just you?" Riven questioned, and Adan nodded, clearing his throat,

"Yes, yes, it's just me. I, um,I saw you two sneaking out and thought, why not join you. So what's the adventure?" Adan asked, a smile on his face.

Bronwyn huffed, "There is no adventure for you, Adan," she told him, turning to face Riven, "kill him."

Riven glanced at Bronwyn before looking at Adan, "Where's my jacket?"

Adan chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck in a sheepish way, "funny story actually, so I took it to clean the blood off it, then I realized it had a bullet hole in it.."

"Get to the point, Adan." Riven interrupted, with a small glare

Adan sighed, "Reagan took it. I don't know what he has done to it, but I'm pretty sure you'll never see that jacket ever again."

"Look, if I don't go with you, then I'll go back and tell Reagan what you two are doing." Adan told them, and Bronwyn scoffed, snatching the knife from Riven, but Riven grabbed her arm, stopping her from killing Adan.

"Stop. We're gonna need him." Adan smirked at Bronwyn, who snapped her head towards Riven in disbelief.

Riven sighed, looking down at Bronwyn, "Look, I lied, okay? My leg is completely useless, and my seizures are unpredictable. We're gonna need him."

Riven raised his hands to sign his next sentence, "When we arrive at Hilltop. We'll get rid of him."

Bronwyn was surprised that Riven knew sign language, but she sighed, "Alright, fine."

"You know sign language?" Adan asked as they started to walk. He followed behind them, mostly matching Riven's pace.

"Taught myself from a young age, never used it, though." Riven replied. He had taught himself how to sign when he broke his jaw.

His dad had broken his jaw once by accident when he smacked him a little too hard, and Riven fell, smacking his chin against the small table, breaking his jaw on the progress.

It hurt like hell, but Riven briefly remembered his dad taking him to the hospital as blood poured out of his mouth and into the seats of his father's old truck.

He was terrified that his father would have gotten pissed at him for that, but he was surprised when he didn't.

His father didn't hurt him again until his jaw was healed, and then he started again.

He never really used sign language since his father didn't speak to him, didn't talk to him. His brothers weren't around, and they didn't know sign language.

So he just didn't speak until his jaw was healed, but he never really spoke in his childhood, unless he did a sarastic comment or curse some kid out for pissing him off.

"..I can help you walk." Adan offered, and Riven glanced at him before he noticed Bronwyn and Oreo ahead of them.

He sighed and nodded. Adan put an arm around Riven's waist as Riven threw an arm over Adan's shoulder,

Riven let out a small low groan as he leaned his weight on his good leg and Adan, and he let out a deep breath.

"Thanks."

Adan hummed, "No problem. I like helping out my friends."

Riven frowned, "who said we were friends?"

Adan smiled at him, "I did, obviously. You are stuck with me, Riven." Adan's arm tightened around Riven's waist, but before Riven could do anything, there was a noise from behind them.

Riven spun around, throwing the knife, and it flew and impaled itself into a skull of a walker.

The body fell to the ground, and Adan let out a whistle, clapping his hands, impressed, "Whoa! That was amazing!"

"Shh, if there's one, there might be more." Riven turned to look at Bronwyn and gestured for her to come over, and she did.

"Stay close, wyn. There might be more walkers around." He told her, and she nodded, picking up Oreo.

Adan walked over to the dead walker and picked up the knife, turning to face Riven with a grin,

"Dude, you gotta teach me that.."

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1042 words

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