Brother's Keeper ¹ || The walking dead

82.

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Spencer and Olivia were dead. Riven didn't care much about Spencer, the man tried to make Rick look bad, and take over Alexandria as the leader, but Negan had killed him by slicing his stomach open, and made a joke about guts.

Olivia was killed because Rosita tried to kill Negan by shooting him, but she shot Lucille, the bat instead, and one of Negan's saviors had picked a person to kill, and she chose Olivia

Rosita wasn't supposed to have bullets, Negan made sure of it, but apparently, Eugene knew how to make bullets, and Rick had decided to show up during the whole thing.

Riven briefly only got to see Michonne for a minute before he was being led away by Reagan as Negan announced that they were leaving.

Riven hasn't said a word throughout the ride, but it was just him and Reagan in Reagan's truck, so the silence was tolerable.

Suddenly, as they were heading back to the sanctuary, Reagan made a turn, driving away from the other cars.

Riven didn't even bother to turn his head as he continued to stare out the window, watching as the trees blur by as Reagan drove fast. He was a manic behind the wheel. "Where are we going?"

"Like I said before, I need you to find someone for me." Reagan replied, and Riven turned his head to look at him with furrowed eyes,

"Who?"

"My sister." Reagan responded, a small sighed escaping him, "she left the sanctuary a couple of weeks before Rick and his group decided to attack our outposts."

Riven hummed, "And you think I can find her?"

Riven obviously knew where Reagan's sister was. She was at Hilltop, but he wasn't about to snitch.

Reagan's sister probably had a reason to leave the sanctuary, and he wasn't about to be the one bringing her back. He could lead Reagan into a wild goose chase.

Though a part of him felt bad about it, he wanted to tell Reagan where his sister was because if it was Daryl, he would want to know.

Riven tore his gaze away from Reagan and back out the window, rolling the window down a little, taking a deep breath, letting the air fill his lungs.

"You should get some rest. It'll be a while before we get to where we are going." Reagan told him, reaching into the back and grabbing a bag from the floor and handing it to Riven.

"There's some medication in there for you. London said you should take them, so take them. Now." Reagan demanded, and Riven shook his head,

"No way. I ain't taking no pills." Riven tossed the bag back into the back, but Reagan grabbed it once more and placed it on Riven's lap.

"I'm not taking no for an answer, Riven. You look exhausted, look, I read the meditation and what's it for, it's just for the pain, alright? Just take two pills, and that's it." Reagan told him, glancing at him.

Riven sighed, "I don't want to take them, okay? I don't like pills."

"Why?" Reagan questioned, curious as to why Riven didn't like pills.

Riven didn't answer him, and Reagan deeply frowned, "How's your pain level, and don't try bullshiting me, I'll know."

Riven looked down at his lap, twisting his rubber band around, "..pass a ten." His reply was almost above a whisper, but Reagan heard him.

"Riven, just take the pills, and stop hurting yourself." Reagan reached over and pulled Riven's hand away from his rubber band that was leaving red brusing on his skin as he kept snapping the rubber band against his skin.

Reagan took the rubber band from Riven's wrist and put it in his pocket far from Riven's reach.

Riven narrowed his eyes at Reagan before looking away from him, rolling up the window to lean his head against it.

He hugged the bag to his chest but didn't bother to grab the pain medication. He had the urge to just toss all the pills in his mouth and swallow all of them.

It'll be easy way out. No more pain, no more losing people, no more being a burden. All he had to do was take the pills, just like he did before.

Last time, it didn't work because they were expired, and it just left him with a bad stomach ache and horrible headache that made him just want to bash his head in against a wall like his father always did to him.

What if it doesn't work again? What if he does just take two pills and ends up like an addict like Esme.

He didn't want to end up like her. He's trying so hard not to end up like his father, and he doesn't want to worry about ending up like Esme of all people.

"..she was an addict," Riven spoke after a moment, "Esme, my mother, she was addicted to drugs, and she was usin' drugs while she was pregnant with me,"

"At least that's what Daryl said. He said she overdosed on the day I was born, and..she practically tossed me to my old man and left me." Riven said,

"Merle, my elder brother, said I was born a drug baby, addicted to it because of her," Riven looked at Reagan,

"I don't want to end up like her." He left out the parts where he tried to kill himself with pills a few times.

If he told Reagan, Reagan would think he's useless and needed more supervision.

"You won't end up like her," Reagan spoke after a second, "and you don't have to take the pills, even though I prefer you not to be in pain, but it's your body, your decision."

Riven chuckled, "That's not what you said last time that doctor of yours injected a needle into me."

"Well, I apologize for that. Next time, I'll let you be in extreme pain." Reagan sarcastically said, earning a small laugh from Riven,

"Yeah? And who's fault was it that I was in extreme pain?" Riven questioned, and Reagan glanced at him,

"You still on that?"

"Yeah, I'm still on that.."

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1031 words

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