Brother's Keeper ¹ || The walking dead

119.

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The fire crackled quietly underneath the sound of insects chirping. Madi sat in front of the fire, her arms on her knees, staring deeply into the fire, like she was in deep thought, but her ears were trained on every small noise there was.

The fear of her mother finding her kept her from sleeping. She's tired, but if she fell asleep, Riven could be dead when she woke up, along with his friends, and she'll be back with her mother.

She tore her eyes away from the fire and towards Riven, who was attending to the injury she gave to Reagan. Thankfully, Carol had some medical supplies with her.

She narrowed her eyes at Reagan as he only kept staring at Riven, admiring him with such love in his eyes. As if feeling someone was staring at him, Reagan turned his head away from Riven and towards Madi.

"What?" He asked, a little annoyed, Madi grinned at him, loving the fact that she annoys Reagan.

"Ya got beef with a kid?" Daryl questioned, sharing an amused look with Carol.

"She stabbed me. And she has beef with me." Reagan replied, looking down at his wound as Riven wrapped a bandage tightly around his wound.

"I felt threatened." Madi defended herself with a small shrug, smiling innocently at Riven when he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You were hiding behind a tree. How did I make you feel threatened?" Reagan asked, wrapping an arm around Riven's waist to keep him close.

"Everything about you screams: "I'm a threat." I bet you even killed someone just because they looked at you wrong." Madi told him, Reagan smiled at her,

"Actually, I did. Even killed someone for annoying me." The smile on Madi's face disappeared, Riven gently whacked Reagan in the chest, earning a small laugh from him.

"He's joking. Trust me, he only punches them in the face several times." Riven told her, with a small smile. He leaned a little more towards Reagan, holding back a wince as pain erupted from his shoulder. His wound hasn't stopped bleeding. It was just slow, and he wasn't really worried about it.

"What happened to your leg?" Madi questioned, Reagan's arm tightened around Riven, while Riven shrugged a little.

"I was shot." Daryl huffed a little under his breath, Carol threw him a look, but Daryl ignored the look as he looked at Madi.

"That's putting it lightly." Daryl spoke, he gestured towards Reagan, "his husband shot him in the spine, almost killed him in the progress."

Furrowing her eyes in confusion, Madi looked over at Riven, "If he shot you, then why did you marry him?"

"Cause I love him. Daryl's just mad 'cause he ain't got a love life and he's almost sixty." Riven told her, Daryl rolled his eyes.

"I ain't almost sixty, shithead. I'm in my early fifties." Daryl said, Riven chuckled, amusement in his eyes.

"You know, Bird nest," He tossed Daryl a teasing smirk, "There's a story behind dog. Daryl hasn't said how he got him, but I bet there's a girl involved."

Curiosity filled Madi as she looked at Daryl, who threw an annoyed look at Riven, who quietly laughed to himself.

As Madi started bugging Daryl about the story of how he got Daryl. Reagan leaned down to whisper in Riven's ear, "I'm sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry for." Riven replied, interlocking his hand with Reagan's. He knew what Reagan was apologizing for. Reagan's been apologizing for years for shooting him. He's never gonna stop feeling guilty for what he did to Riven.

Reagan would often find himself tracing the scar in Riven's lower back on the days Riven would get frustrated with his leg and his seizures. Riven never blamed him for it. On most days, Reagan hoped Riven would yell at him, blame him for what he did. On other days, he was grateful Riven didn't blame him. He was grateful Riven didn't yell at him.

Feeling weight on his shoulder, he looked down seeing Riven's head on his shoulder, his eyes closed. He leaned back against the tree a little more, listening to Daryl as he told Madi a story about Riven.

⭐️

"..Almost done." Melanie gripped the bedsheet underneath her, her knuckles turning white, a single tear sliding down her eye as Enid stitched up her cut. Feeling the needle piercing her skin was painful.

"And I'm done." Enid announced, placing the stitching needle down, grabbing a bandage, but Melanie held her hand up,

"No. I'll look like a mummy if you put that on my face." Melanie said, sitting up with a groan, her body aching in progress.

"Is Reagan here? Did he find Riven?" Melanie questioned, Enid shook her head,

"No, but if Reagan found Riven, they should be here any minute now." Enid told her, "You should lay down, Lanie, and rest."

Melanie shook her head, "No. Not until I know Riven is safe. I have to help." Despite how sore her legs felt, she stood up from the bed. She only took a step forward only for her to yelp and fell forward, but luckily, she was caught by Aaron , who entered the room at the same time.

Aaron helped Melanie back on the bed. Melanie glared down at her injured ankle. "God Damn it." She cursed. She looked up at Aaron, with slight hope in her eyes. "Please tell me they're here."

Aaron shook his head, "Sorry. We've been keeping an eye out. The sun's coming up soon. If they're not back yet, we'll go out and look for them."

"It's my fault." Melanie said, clenching her hands into fists, guilt settled deep inside of her, "We were out there in the first place because of me. I didn't need any materials, I wanted to figure out what was wrong with him."

She scoffed, "he could be dead because of me. I swear to god, I'm gonna find that Alpha bitch and kill her."

"He's not dead." Melanie lifted her head, and saw Carl walking into the room. "Trust me, nothing can kill a dixon but a dixon. He's alive, and he'll be here soon."

"You need to rest, keep off that ankle." Carl told her, a concern look in his eye. Over the years, his relationship with Riven improved, Riven treated him like a little brother, teasing him most of the time whenever he was around.

It kinda reminded him how Riley used to treat Riven all the time. Enid found it funny, but Carl found it amusing when Reagan started treating her like a little sister. He would always put her in a headlock whenever he was just bored.

Melanie let out a deep sighed, "I can't." There was a commotion outside, Enid rushed over to the window, a sigh of relief escaping her.

"It's them. They're here."

⭐️
1148 words

This is a short chapter,
Also, it's a boring one.
Thoughts?