Just Keep Walking

One hundred

While everyone began to lay out the plan to take Oceanside's guns, Mary stayed with Carl, playing with a yoyo that Tara had found on the ground by the lake.
"I can't do it!" She whined to Carl, swinging the circular piece of plastic around, as she held onto the end of the string.
"You'll break it. You have to wind it back up." Carl explained, showing her how.
"It's stupid. You can have it." Mary shrugged, and Carl half laughed.
"Look, like this." Carl explained again, showing her for the second time.
"It looks like a big kid game." Mary sighed, before wondering over to sit on a rock, scribbling in her colouring book. "I wanna swim. Do you remember when we went swimming for my birthday? It's nearly my birthday again. I'll be six."
"I know." Carl smiled, then he went quiet, his eyes falling to Enid.
Her fingers brushed against the back of his hand, then she spoke up. "Do you ever think about the people you killed?" She asked shakily.
"Yeah," Carl breathed, his eyes suddenly pained, "but I... I think more about the people she killed."
"She? Mary?"
"Yeah. She's not in double digits yet. I hope she never gets there. But she's killed several people. But... I know she will."
"It's just life, Carl. She knows good people from bad. She's fine."
"I just want her to never have to hurt anyone."
"Yeah, but you can't protect her forever."
"I know." Carl mumbled, sighing sharply.
"Okay," Rick called, "everyone needs to get in place. Moo, I want you with mom. Okay?"
"Okay." Mary nodded, walking over to Michonne and taking her hand.
"We're gonna go." Michonne nodded to Rick, walking over to him.
"Hey, I'll walk you there." Rick said softly, putting a hand on the bottom of her back. "Carl," Rick called, "you stay with Gabriel."
Carl nodded, they left, Rick's hand still on Michonne's back, the other now holding Mary's hand. When they got to the tree Michonne was going to watch from, Mary hugged Rick tightly.
"Be careful." Mary ordered, squeezing Rick tighter than ever.
"I will. Have you got bunny?" Rick smiled softly.
"Yeah."
"Okay. You're gonna go up the tree, and you have to do everything mom says. Okay?"
"Okay. Bye. Love you." Mary said simply.
"Love you too." Rick smiled, kissing her forehead before lifting her up and putting her on the highest branch possible.
"Once you're up, watch for the signal." Rick insisted to Michonne, as he gave her a leg up onto a lower branch.
"What time does the clock start?"
"As soon as she's in. You good?" Ruck asked.
"I'm good enough." Michonne nodded, beginning to climb higher. Michonne helped Mary climb higher, as Rick stayed at the bottom of the tree for a few moments.
"Why did you not say bye-bye to daddy?" Mary questioner when they were sat on a large, high branch.
"Because... When you get older, it's not all about bye-byes. It's just... I know I'll see your daddy in a moment. It's not a goodbye. You save those for when they count. Or when you're not seeing someone for a while."
Mary nodded slowly, looking up at Michonne. "That's a good plan."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."

Mary was half asleep, leant against Michonne, when the shots began to fire, and she woke up so quickly she almost fell out of the tree.
"It's alright, it's almost over." Michonne explained softly, Mary nodded.
"Where's daddy?" She mumbled, holding onto Michonne's shirt.
"Look, he's coming now." Michonne pointed out, and Mary looked down into the clearing below, seeing all the people from Oceanside held at gunpoint.
"Mishy. That's... This isn't kind." Mary whispered shakily.
"It's okay, we're not going to hurt them, don't worry. It's just to get the guns. To stop Negan."
"This is what Negan did to us. He pointed their guns at us. This is like that." Mary breathed, but Michonne's answer was cut off by Rick's voice.
"Now, we made a lot of noise, we want to wrap this up quick so you can send people to redirect anything coming this way. Tara said your forests are relatively clear, but we won't take any chances. No one needs to get hurt. This is just about what you have, what we need."
"Nobody's taking anything!" The leader, Natania, shouted, walking over with a gun to Tara's head. "You need to let everyone go and leave right now!Just walk away, or this one dies."
"Yeah, we'll leave you alone. But we're taking your weapons with us. That's not gonna change. It's Natania, right? Put the gun down, and let's talk about what we can change." Rick said calmly.
"No. Leave. Right now." Natania snapped, as Michonne raised her gun to Natania's head, trying to aim it perfectly.
"Michonne, don't!" Tara shouted, noticing what Michonne was doing.
"We just wanna be left alone!"
"Yeah, we'll leave you alone. Just let go of her. Now," Rick insisted, "or we'll kill you. None of us want that."
"They want us to fight the Saviours." A woman, Cyndie, explained, a half smile on her face.
"We tried that. We lost too much," Natania insisted, "we're not gonna lose anymore. Not our guns, not our safety, not everything we've done to get here!"
"We're gonna win," Tara promised, "with your guns, with or without your help."
"Natania, put the gun down." Rick nodded. Mary began to bite her lip, and slowly pulled out her gun.
"You kill me, and you die. And my people take the guns and nothing changes." Tara hissed to Natania.
"Maybe we should try." A woman from Oceanside commented.
"Grandma, stop," Cyndie insisted, "it's over. Just talk to them, okay?"
"It's not over!" Natania shouted hysterically, "They've forgotten, you've all forgotten! Some of you actually want to fight them? After everything!? We can lose our guns, but leaving this place to fight, after everything, I have to remind you!? Yes, I am gonna do this, and them I'm gonna die, but it's that important! This is our life, all of you! Remember what it looks like. Remember what they did to us. You need to see this. Open your eyes!"
"Rick, Walkers!" Michonne shouted suddenly, seeing a herd. Seizing her chance, Cyndie hit Natalia over the head, knocking her to the floor before she could hurt Tara.
"Daddy! Lots!" Mary shouted, as the herd came into view.
Rick looked up and nodded to Mary, then turned to the women and children from Oceanside. "Everybody up! Get the children behind us! They're coming!"
"First shift, join them on the front line. Knives out. Dead only. Dead only!" A woman, Beatrice, ordered.
Rick turned to Beatrice, and whispered something inaudible to Mary, then went to the front of everyone.
"Everyone, shots within ten feet of the line. That's it. Now!" Rick ordered, and everyone began to shoot the Walkers.
"Help them. You can do it." Michonne nodded to Mary, and Mary followed her lead, killing several Walkers until they were all gone, and when they did, Michonne ruffled Mary's hair proudly, as Rick and Beatrice shook hands. But the moment of victory was ruined by Natania, who angrily stood up.
"No," she hissed, walking away, "we're not fighting them with you. So take your damn guns and go!"