together || book 3 of 'she's a dixon'

chapter 12

"no one else knows" rick said to dad, hershel, and i after he explained the governors actual deal. he wanted michonne in trade for all of us to live.

"you gonna tell 'em?" dad asked. "not till after" rick said. i sighed. "we have to do it today. it has to be quiet" rick said.

that's when i stepped in. "rick i don't think this is a good idea. she's proved herself. she's basically one of us. and you're just gonna hand her over to death? also there ain't no way he's just gonna forget about all this shit if we hand her over. theres gotta be a catch. you said yourself that i get a say in decisions, and i don't think we should hand her over. we'll all get killed in the process" i said. rick ran his fingers through his hair. "reagan, i really dont see another choice" he said flailing his arms up into the air.

"you got a plan?" dad asked rick. i looked at dad wide eyed. "dad back me up here" i said in frustration. he ignored me.

"we tell her we need to talk. away from the others." rick said. dad looked down at me. "this just ain't us man" dad said finally backing me up. "no, no it isn't" hershel said walking off. "we do this, we avoid a fight. no one else dies. reagan stays safe." rick said. i rolled my eyes. he knew he could get my dad to agree with him if he made it seem like it's best for me.

"alright" dad said. i sighed. i'm supposed to be ricks 'decision maker', but i don't even get a say in this.

i walked off. i didn't want to take any more part in this discussion if i'm not gonna be a part of it.

while rick was talking to merle, the rest of us started making preparations for if the governor really did attack.

maggie and rick made noises from inside the fence to distract the walkers while dad, glenn, michonne, and i went out into the field to plant barbwire to car block them. i kept watch on the back of the truck while they hammered it down into the ground.

after we were done, rick let us back in. "good idea" he said when we walked over to him. "it was michonnes" i said giving him a stern face. "alright, let's go" rick said once all of us were together.

i kept to myself for most of the day. i tried to stay out of everything going on. that was until about mid-evening when i decided to stick around dad. we were out in the basketball court waiting for rick to give the last call.

"it's off, we'll take our chances" rick said quickly approaching dad and i. "good" i said quietly. "i'm not saying it was the wrong call, but this is definitely the right one" dad said.

then rick all of a sudden started acting weird. "what's wrong?" i asked rick. "i can't find merle or michonne, they're gone" rick said. "oh god" i whispered. "come on" dad said to rick and i as he started to run.

we ran right after him. dad lead us inside to a room that looked like the boiler room. "he was in here" dad said looking around the room. "said he was looking for drugs, said a lot of things actually" dad continued. don't surprise me. we all then started looking around. "like what?" rick asked. "like you were gonna change your mind" dad said.

he then quickly ran to the corner. "here we go" dad said picking up a bag that had a little bit of blood on it. "yeah, he took her here. they mixed it up." dad said. i sighed. of course merle has to take things into his own hands.

"damn it, i'm going after him" rick said storming off. "no, you can't track worth shit" dad said catching up to him. i followed behind. "then we'll both go" rick said. "no, reagan and i will" dad said looking over to me.

"i ain't going after that son of a bitch and get myself killed" i said in a smart ass tone. "fine, i'll go by myself. you need to be ready just incase they attack" dad said. dad then left without saying goodbye or anything. he was clearly upset i didn't go with him.

i stuck with rick for the rest of the evening. we ended up telling the rest of the group about the governor wanting michonne. and after we did i stayed with carl. he keeps my mind off of everything going on. we talked about random things until i heard the gates open. dad must be back.

right when he came towards me, i knew something was wrong. "hey, what's-" i said but got cut off by him hugging me. he started crying into my shoulder. "he's gone rae, he's gone" he said.