Brother's Keeper ¹ || The walking dead

118.

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Crawling out of the fort, Riven squinted his eyes at the sunlight that burned his eyes. Letting out a small groan, he stood up, Madi walked out of her fort with a look of concern, but she was trying to play it off by having a "I don't care about you." Look on her face.

"Where are you going?" She questioned, following after him as Riven started to walk forward. The trees in this area barely had any leaves on the branches. They were mostly on the ground, and they crunched under the pressure of their shoes as they walked.

"Me?" Riven glanced at her, gesturing to himself with a small smile, "I gotta find my friend and my dog." His smile grew a little as he saw Madi perked up at the mention of Oreo.

"You have a dog? What's their name?" Madi questioned, jogging a little to catch up with Riven, walking beside him.

Riven looked down at her, "Oreo, like the cookie." His eyes found the walker face again. It looked dried, like a mask. "So, I gotta ask, what's with the walker skin?"

Madi halted her steps, a hesitant look in her eyes, Riven stopped and turned to face her. His eyes were trusting and kind, "to walk with them." She admitted, deciding to trust Riven. He didn't seem like her mother, Beta, or any of those followers. They were only nice to her because of her mother, and Beta always told her to shut up whenever she started speaking facts about insects she found.

Riven hummed, "Your moms' Alpha, right?" Madi looked surprised but nodded her head. "She's a bitch."

Madi's eyes widened at the bluntness, but in that moment, she decided she wanted to stay with Riven. She wanted to go where he went, she didn't want to stay with her mother anymore, she hated that life, she hated having to wear a dead person's face.

"I know what's its like," Madi spoke after a moment. The two of them started walking again side by side, Riven keeping an eye out for any walkers. "Wanting to die."

Madi deeply frowned, looking down at her shoes. They were dirty, worn out, just like her clothes. Riven frowned, glancing down at Madi, the young girl reminded him of his younger self. "My mom..she's nuts."

Riven lightly chuckled, that was putting it lightly. "She punishes me and my sister whenever we step out of line." Madi's eyes widened, suddenly stopping, grabbing Riven's arm, "You need to help my sister."

"If you help us, then we can go with you. I helped you, so that means - so that means you gotta help me." Madi told him, her tone a bit pleading with a slight hint of panic.

Riven crouched down to her height, "Hey, hey, deep breaths." He told her, Madi took a deep breath, "That's it, calm now?" Madi nodded, a look of embarrassment in her face.

"Good. What does she do to you?" Riven questioned, Madi hesitantly lifted her right sleeve, showing her arm. Her arm was littered in scars, most overlapping each other, old and new ones. He could practically hear the sound of whip meeting skin. He could hear the quiet whimpers in his head. He pulled himself out of those old memories before he got lost in them.

"..I failed to prove myself," Madi quietly said, pulling her sleeves down, a look of insecurity in her eyes. "I failed at what she wanted me to be."

Her expression harden a little, "She just doesn't understand. I don't want to be like her." She shook her head, sighing. "Doesn't matter. She always gets what she wants in the end."

"Not this time." Riven spoke, standing up, "You didn't fail, she did. She failed you, not the other way around." He pulled up his right sleeve, showing Madi his arm that was covered in old scars, his skin barely visible with how many scars he had on his arm. He never really showed anyone his scars besides Reagan, and even then, he was still insecure about them.

"I understand better than anyone, Madi." He lowered his sleeve down, "Come on. We gotta get goin' before it gets dark."

He started walking again, and Madi quickly followed him. "Did your mom do that?"

Riven shook his head. "No. My old man. My mom actually tried to kill me a while ago." He chuckled, "looks like we have a lot in common, kid."

Madi took that as a challenge to see what they don't have in common. "Do you have an older sister?"

"No. But I do have two older brothers, one's dead, the other is somewhere around.."

⭐️

The sun was starting to set, and Daryl, Carol, and Reagan had no luck in finding Riven. Dog was sniffing around trying to catch a whiff of Riven's scent, but he had no luck either.

"..haven't you two noticed anything weird around here?" Carol spoke, glancing between Reagan and Daryl.

Daryl was crouching down a few feet away from them, looking down at the ground to see if he could find any tracks, while Reagan kept guard, keeping an eye out for any walkers but there hasn't been any yet.

"We haven't seen a walker in hours." Carol told them. Daryl stood up, turning to face them.

"Tracks are covered." He told them, approaching them. "It's getting dark -"

"We have flashlights." Reagan interrupted him, "We'll keep going." He headed further into the woods, Dog beside him.

A sudden noise to his left caught his attention, Dog perked up, and suddenly, a small figure ran out from behind a tree, heading straight towards Reagan.

Reagan let out a small curse as pain erupted from his right thigh. "Son of bitch!" He caught a small wrist in his hand, narrowing his eyes down at the young girl who just stabbed him in the leg.

She looked around twelve years old. Her hair was a mess, tangled in knots, almost like a birds nest. "Let of go of me!" She roughly pulled her wrist back, falling back on the ground with the force.

Daryl and Carol rushed over, Daryl aiming his crossbow at the girl. Her eyes widened, "Hey! Whoa, Whoa! Daryl, she's a kid!"

Daryl's crossbow was snatched out of his hands by his baby brother. Reagan felt relieved as he saw Riven. He walked over to him, pulling him into his arms, hugging him tightly. "Don't you ever do that again."

Madi watched as Riven interacted with the man she stabbed in the thigh. The way the man held Riven like he was afraid to let him go, like if he let him go, he would disappear forever.

Reagan pulled back a little, his eyes finding the cut on Riven's neck. "I'm fine. Are you?" Riven grabbed the wrap Carol handed him, tying it around Reagan's thigh tightly.

"I'm fine, you don't look fine, Riven. You're pale. Are you bleeding?" Reagan went to remove the cloth from Riven shoulder to see the wound and how bad it was, but Riven softly swatted his hand away.

"What's with chucky over here? Who is she?" Daryl questioned, gesturing towards Madi, who glared at him. She stood up, grabbing her knife from the ground.

Riven walked over to Madi, grabbing the knife from her, "No more stabbing my husband." He told her. Madi raised an eyebrow, looking behind Riven, towards Reagan, a judging look in her eyes.

Reagan narrowed his eyes at her. What is it with kids judging him? "Her name is Madi. She saved my life. Did Melanie find you? Is she safe?"

"She's safe." Reagan replied, coming to stand next to him, needing to be close to Riven. "Thanks to you." Reagan pressed a small kiss to the side of Riven's head.

"We should get moving. we need to find somewhere for the night, then head to Hilltop in the morning." Carol spoke, eyeing Madi with a cautious look.

Riven held out Daryl's crossbow towards him. Instead of taking his crossbow, Daryl pulled Riven into a hug, surprising him. "You're an idiot."

Riven chuckled, "Yeah, maybe."

⭐️
1361 words

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