War Of The Damned - (Daryl & Beth) - The Walking Dead

8. A New Enemy?

8. A NEW ENEMY?

| MAGGIE |

I am lucky to be alive. I know that. I know that my father was unlucky to be on the other side of the fence that day. I know that he didn't deserve to beheaded because of a fucked up vendetta between Rick, Michonne and that bastard Brian. I know that if given the chance I would have beaten my father's killer with my bare hands. Or died trying.

Right now those are the only thoughts racing through my mind. It's all I care about besides my husband and baby sister. There was a revolting feeling in the back of my mind, though only small it was driving me insane because it was telling me that the two people I love most are dead. I know it cannot be true, even after finding the long-burnt out bus. If I've survived then that means that they have too right? Glenn was a survivor through and through and Beth....well I could only hope that she was with some one willing to protect her from anything and anyone.

I don't know what I'd do without them. If they are...then what was the point of living?

"Maggie, stop."

I ignore the voice behind me and start walking faster. My legs were screaming for me to do exactly what Bob was saying, but the adrenalin was still pumping hard through my veins. Pain was tolerable. Pain was nothing compared to not finding Glenn and Beth.

"Bob's right." Said another voice, a female voice. I ignore that too. "We need to rest Maggie. We don't even know if-"

"I know that Glenn's alive. I know that Beth's alive. And I know that I won't stop until I find them. Both of them." I retort, not bothering to look at Michonne or Bob walking a little bit behind. I was concentrating on the tracks ahead, would Glenn have travelled these same tracks, I wonder.

"Maggie!"

I don't stop.

"Maggie!"

Keep going.

"Maggie." A hand closes around my arm, pulling me back and I tear myself free to see Michonne there with a unreadable expression on her face.

I frown at her. "What the hell is your problem? If you want to leave then leave. I'll find Beth and Glenn on my own." I say angrily, though hoping a little that she wouldn't leave me. Michonne was an asset not only to me but to every one from the prison. There was no other woman I trusted more with my own life than I do Michonne. But the sheathed sword hanging off of her back brought back dark, timeless memories of my father on his knees and I turn away from her to look at the windy bend of train tracks ahead.

"If you'd have been more observant of your surroundings then you'd have seen the signs," I look at her. She points to a sign I'd missed, the contents on it too small to see from this distance. So I run forward, thinking maybe Glenn had left me a message just like we'd talked about in the event that we'd ever get separated. I read the sign carefully, not believing my eyes.

So I read it again. Aloud: "Terminus: Sanctuary for all. Community for all. Those who arrive survive."

"What do we do?" Bob asked.

I study the sign a second longer, all of the tracks lead to one place in the centre. A place called Terminus. But could we trust it to be as safe as the prison was? "Glenn might have went there looking for me looking for him."

"What about Beth?"

"I have to trust that she would have done the same."

"But-"

Right at that moment Bob is silenced by the sounds of gunfire. All three of us search for the source and Michonne wields her sword while me and Bob ready our own guns. Michonne indicates that the noise came from somewhere within the forest behind us. It wasn't even a question of should we help, we were moving before our next breath.

It could be Glenn? Or Beth? I can only desperately hope.

My legs are painfully exhausted but I push forward, dodging trees and thick bushes. Just ahead of me Michonne slices a narrow bridge through shrubs and into a small clearing where we find the source of all the noise. Walkers, maybe a dozen of them were closing in on what looked like two men and a woman.

Michonne rushes forward with her sword out, killing two walkers in one swing. Another walker dropped from Bob's gun and I start shooting too. Time slowed if not stopped in those moments of me killing walkers. My father's face was all I could see, haunting me. Did anyone go back for him?

With all the walkers at our feet, I aim my gun at the man with dark red hair and one of those square moustaches. He's dressed like a soldier in cameo pants and an equally effective top and he's holding a kalashnikov but he keeps the weapon lowered, as does the woman by his side. I aim my gun at him because he could very well be one of Brian's men. He could have helped that bastard destroy our home. It seems Bob and Michonne have the same idea and they direct their weapons at the trio, as well.

"Now, now why don't yall lower the weapons? We're not going to hurt any of you." Says Kalashnikov - which is what I've just decided to call him. Neither one of us listen to him. Why the hell should we!

"We're you apart of the group that came to the prison?" Bob demands.

This time the woman speaks, "What prison?"

Well that pretty much said it all but, "You weren't with Brian?"

"No. Now I'd appreciate it if yall lower your weapons." A little reluctantly we adhere. "My name is Sargent Abraham Ford. These are my companions, Rosita Espinosa and Doctor Eugene Porter. We were tracking a deer and ran into a herd of the ugly sons of bitches."

"Doctor?" The man looked more like a homeless dude from the 80's with his mullet and mismatched clothes. It's true and I barely stopped myself from laughing. "Do you have any clean bandages? Bob was shot two days ago."

Eugene only nods and motions for Bob to kneel in front of him as he rummaged through the backpack on Abraham's shoulders. As the "doctor" got to work, I offer a hand out to the soldier. Then to the woman.

"I'm Maggie. That's Michonne and Bob."

"Thanks for helping us out. Much appreciated... But what are yall doing out here?" Asked Abraham.

Flashes of what happened at the prison presented itself in a moment, everything came crashing back. As if it ever left. There was no point in denying it. "We used to live in a prison. It was secure. It was our home and then another group tried to kill us for it. We're looking for our people. Have you come across anyone else in the last two days?"

Abraham was frowning. Actually he seemed kind of pissed off about what I'd just told him. "When Eugene here killed our vehicle we started treading through the forest. We came across a couple of caravans there were two bodies outside, freshly killed with two bullets between the eyes."

"Was one of them Korean? He-"

"They were both women."

My heart stopped. "Blonde hair?"

"No. Both black hair, fair skin." Well that didn't sound like Beth or anyone else from the prison. I started breathing again. With Eugene finished and Bob's wound re-bandaged he stood up again and thanked him. Abraham cleared his throat. "Look I wish we could help you find your friends but we're on a mission of a special nature. We need to get Eugene to Washington. He knows exactly how to put an end to these reanimated demons."

Suddenly my heart stopped. Again.

And there was only one word on my mind.

Cure.