Just Keep Walking

Fifty one

"Mishy?!" Mary whined, panic in her eyes, "Mishy!"
"In the house. Now. Quick. In!" Michonne barked, pushing Mary and Bertie into the house. "Grab your bunny. Now. Quick." Michonne ordered, knowing if they needed one thing to help them survive without Alexandria, it was Mary's Carl Bunny.
"Mishy? What's happening?" Mary asked shakily, holding her bunny in one hand, a plastic car in the other.
"Okay. It's not safe right now. You've got to be a big, brave girl. Okay? No crying. You do exactly as I say. We're gonna find everyone. They'll come here. Where's your knife?"
"Here." Mary shouted, running into the kitchen and retrieving it.
"Okay, you're a big girl now. Okay?"
"Okay. It's a good job I have my dungarees on. And my asskicker bandana." Mary nodded, running her hand over her bandana in her hair, that she'd worn since the start, and not stopped wearing since.
"Mary?! Michonne!" Carl shouted, running into the porch. Michonne opened the door, and Carl, Ron, and Gabriel ran inside. "Thank God." Carl breathed, picking Mary up and hugging her tightly.
"What's going on?"
"The wall's down." Ron explained breathlessly.
"Carl, where's your dad?" Michonne asked shakily.
"He's coming. We've gotta go help him." Carl explained.
"Okay. I'll take Mary. I can carry her for longer. Easier." Michonne said firmly, putting the child on her back. Carl knew the drill, and took off his belt, wrapping it around Mary's chest, and Michonne's stomach, so Michonne didn't have to hold her.
"Okay. We run to Rick."
"What about Egbert?" Mary whined, looking at her puppy, sat nervously on the floor.
"He's staying here. We'll see him soon." Carl said firmly, and with that they left, Mary holding onto her Bunny with one hand, her knife with the other. They ran and ran until they found Rick practically carrying Deanna, the woman unable to walk.
"Daddy!" Mary screamed, her voice making Michonne's eardrums buzz.
"Rick!" Michonne called frantically.
"Good, you're safe. Come on." Rick urged, Michonne by his side, Carl on the other, the small group running, trying to find some safety, Deanna pointing out any Walkers that got too close.
Suddenly, they were surrounded. "Daddy?!" Mary whined in panic, squeezing her eyes shut, clinging onto her bunny. Then shots rang out.
"Come on, I have Judith!" Jessie shouted, stood on her porch, holding a gun, her face strong. They ran, shuttling the door firmly behind them. As soon as the door was shut, Rick hugged Mary tightly, kissing the side of her head.
"Dad?" Carl asked, motioning to Deanna, who was covered in blood and injuries.
"Put her in the couch!" Rick ordered.
"No. Upstairs! First room on the left!" Jessie barked. Rick picked Deanna up, carrying her up the stairs.
"Where?"
"This one on the right!"
"Which room?!"
"Go in there! Sam I need you to turn off the music and shut the blinds!" Jessie shouted. While Jessie spoke to Sam, Rick laid Deanna on a bed, Carl carrying Judith, trying to soothe her as she sobbed.
"Mishy? Mishy?" Mary asked shakily.
"You're okay. Everything is okay." Michonne insisted, getting Mary down.
"I'll just go down. Help down there. One second." Rick nodded, running down the stairs. Michonne tended to Deanna's wounds, cleaning them. Mary sat by the woman's bedside, holding her hand, looking into her eyes.
"You've gotten so big." Deanna said suddenly.
"I know." Mary smiled happily.
"Look at... Look at this. I brought it to give to your daddy. It was the day you got here." Deanna smiled softly, wincing through pain as she pulled a Polaroid photo out of her pocket.
"Is it... Is that me?" Mary asked slowly, looking at the photo in confusion, then nodding shakily. "That's me."
The girl in the photo had skin several shades darker, a deep tan from always being outside, and dirt. Her hair was much longer and tangled and thinner, with dark, scared, angry, hungry, sunken in eyes. Mary noticed she was wearing her dungarees, but they seemed looser on the photo, and she could see her ribs jutting out of her skin, her spine curving through her skin, as if it would burst through the thin barrier. She could see how tiny she was. How skinny she was. How fragile she was.
She looked like a different person.
"I got fatter. And prettier." Mary smiled proudly.
"Oh, baby girl, you're not fat. You're still skin and bone. Just a little less than before. You're still far too skinny." Michonne chuckled softly. "Lemmie see?"
"Here." Mary nodded, passing Michonne the picture.
Michonne's breath caught, her eyres not wanting to look at the picture of Mary once she saw it. It was inhuman that a child could even look like that. Mary looked half dead. She looked like a Walker. She hadn't realised just how much healthier Mary had gotten.
"Oh, Moo. Oh, Moo. Look at you."
"I know. I'm pretty badass." The girl shrugged nonchalantly, practically glowing. "I'm a badass asskicker."

"How is she?" Rick asked in worry as he ran up the stairs.
"No offence to Michonne, but whatever she's doing hurts like a son of a bitch." Deanna winced.
"I just finished with the leg. And that seems to be the worst of..." Michonne began, but was cut off by something worse than any cuts and bruises. A bite. Mary saw it and gasped, as everyone else went silent.
"Well, shit." Deanna sighed, closing her eyes shakily.
"Daddy?" Mary whispered, walking over to him, clinging to her bunny.
"It's okay. Take her." Deanna nodded. Rick nodded back at her, and picked Mary up, carrying her out of the room, into Jessie's room.
"Rick? What is it?"
"Deanna. She's bit." Rick whispered, both his and Jessie's hearts sinking.
"Bit? You can't... You can't do anything? Anything?"
"No. No, I'm sorry." Rick sighed.
"I thought this was the safe place. You said we'd be safe here. We'd be safe if Glenny and Uncle Daryl were here. We're not safe anymore." Mary whimpered, although she didn't permit any tears to fall.
"Hey. I'll keep you safe," Rick said firmly, making her look him in the eyes, "I always do. Nothing's gonna hurt you. Okay? I've got you safe."
"I know. I just want Glenny and Uncle Daryl."
"Yeah. Me too." Rick nodded, and Mary buried her head into his chest, ignoring the world. She let Rick carry her around around, listened to him and Deanna talking, until eventually Rick walked over to Jessie, by the covered windows. "Fever's setting in. She doesn't have long. She knows how it happens right? All of it?"
"Yeah, she knows."
"She's cracking jokes." Rick breathed shakily.
"Rick," Jessie whispered, her hand gently caressing Rick's face, "she wouldn't have run."
"We have food to last us a while. They're bound to cluster up by then, move off to one area. When they do, I'll try and get to the armoury. Draw them away."
"With guns?"
"Flares. I'll open the gate, fire them off... See if I can get them somewhere. Somewhere that's not here."

"The plans that you gave Rick... I've been looking them over. I get it. They could work." Michonne said gently to Deanna, holding Mary in her arms as the little girl napped fretfully.
"Even now?"
"Even now. The Latin in the margins, what is that?"
"It was something Reg used to say when things went really really badly. I'm lucky Michonne. Working with my family towards a better future is... It's all I ever wanted. That's what I got. I got to do what I wanted right up to the end. What do you want?"
"I want this place to work. I want... I want a future for Mary. I love her like my own. It's different with Carl and Judith. Carl's practically an adult. We're friends. Judith's just a tiny baby. I want a life for them all, of course. But Mary's... Mary is hope. I need this to work for her."
"Why?" Deanna asked pressingly.
"Because I look into her eyes and I see my son. I couldn't save him," Michonne whispered shakily, "but she's my second chance. She told the kids at school that I'm like her mom. I need this for her. I can't watch her die. I'd give my life for her."
"You truly love that girl."
"More than anything," Michonne admitted, "I'd kill for her and die for her. I met someone once who told me that that's the most dangerous combination. But it's not just that. It's not enough for her to be alive. She needs to thrive. Be happy. I saw that photo of her... She's thriving here. I need this to work."
"What do you want for you though?" Deanna quizzed.
Michonne went quiet, knowing her previous answer wasn't what Deanna wanted. "I don't know."
"You better."
But Michonne knew in her heart that all she wanted, all she needed, was Mary, Carl, and Judith to survive and thrive. She'd do anything for it, and that scared her a little.