Just Keep Walking

One hundred and three

"Baby, look, we have the walkies. We can talk to each other. And it's only for today. You can come home tomorrow."
"No!"
"Told you." Michonne mumbled, and Rick ran a hand through his hair.
"What'll make you go?"
"Can we play? Jus' for a little bit?" Mary asked, and Rick nodded. "Hide and seek. I'll have my walkie incase your get really stuck. You keep yours. Count to... Ten bazillion." Mary demanded, before running away.
She fled the house, clinging to her bunny, Glenn's coat wrapped around her tiny dress-covered body.
Within a few minutes, Mary was sat under Maggie and Glenn's bed, clinging to one of their sheets. She stayed they for ten minutes before Rick radioed her for the first time, but she ignored it for a few minutes, until his voice became truly panicked.
"Mary. Pick up, now. I'm worried. You know you're not supposed to leave the house. Where are you?"
"I'm hiding." Mary answered simply over the walkie.
"Mary. Where are you?" Rick demanded.
"If you let me stay here today, I'll tell you."
"Okay, this is really naughty. You're in big trouble, so come home, right now." Rick ordered.
"Nope," Mary answered simply, a teasing smile on her lips, "only if I get to stay here."
"Mary."
"Bye!" The child sang, dropping her walkie she was sat there for an hour before Michonne walked into the room with a sigh. Mary stayed there, motionless, hoping Michonne wouldn't find her.
"Mary, I know you're under the bed." The woman said simply, and Mary sighed. "Come on out. Me and daddy have got a plan."
Mary wriggled out from under the bed, and sat on top of it, next to Michonne. "What's the plan?" She whispered.
"You can stay. You've gotta stay in one of the basements. You have to hide. And you don't move. Okay?"
"Okay." Mary sighed.
"We have to go to the other community, to pick up the group that's gonna help us. You wanna come?" Michonne asked softly, and Mary nodded. "Come on then."
Mary got up, and held Michonne's hand as they walked out of Maggie and Glenn's house, and into their own.
"Mary Grimes..." Rick began in a warningful voice, but Michonne held up her hand.
"I've sorted it. Mary, what do you have to say?"
"I'm sorry for scaring you. I just didn't want to go. I don't like Maggie." Mary explained, and Rick nodded with a sigh.
"Are you coming with us? To get the other group?"
"Yes please."
"Go put some shoes on then." The man sighed, and Mary grinned, pulling on her cowboy boots.
"Is it a nice place?"
"It's weird." Michonne answered simply, and Mary giggled.
"Are we goin' in my RV?"
"Your RV?" Rick teased, and Mary nodded.
"We're going to go in one of the lorries, so we can help bring them here." Rick explained, and Mary nodded. They went out to the cars, and Mary sat in the front of the lorry, on Michonne's lap. As they drove, Mary coloured in a picture slowly, and on the way back she napped, uninterested by the silent, dull group.
When they got back to Alexandria, the leader, Jadis, walked over to Rick, Michonne, and Mary, looking over to Rick.
"What you fight for." She stated, nodding approvingly.
"Not the place. The people, each other. You're a part of that now." Rick explained.
"We take. We don't bother. Our way. Maybe another way." Jadis shrugged. Mary wrinkled up her nose, amused at how she was talking, then giggled as she aimed her next question at Michonne. "Yours?"
Michonne was silent for a second, the air thick with awkwardness, then she nodded, slightly confused and awkward. "Yeah, we're together."
"I lay with him after," Jadis commented nonchalantly, "you care?"
Michonne looked shocked, as pure fear rushed through Rick's face. Mary, however, laughed, rolling her eyes. "That's weird! Only me and mom lie with daddy."
"Oh my God, stop talking." Rick whispered shakily, horrified at the conversation.
"Only we lie with daddy, not even Carl. He's a big boy, he doesn't like sleeping next to any of us. He has his own bed. I do too, but I like to sleep next to daddy."
"Okay, we're gonna... We should get back to work." Michonne said firmly, shaken by what Jadis had said.
"Yeah." Rick mumbled, literally backing away in fear, his whole body awkward.
"Okay, she's fucking crazy." Rick whispered in fear to Michonne.
"Don't worry, I won't let her sleep with you." Michonne laughed softly, and Rick sighed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Why would she wanna sleep with daddy?" Mary asked in confusion, and Rick turned even redder.
"Yeah, just..." Rick mumbled in embarrassment, a hand running through his hair.
"Because she's a very strange woman." Michonne explained. 
"Okay, Miss Maria, I'm gonna get you hidden away. Say bye bye to mom."
Mary breathed in shakily, and raised her arms up to Michonne. The woman picked her up in silence, breathing in the child. She knew it could be the last time she did.
After a few minutes of them together, breathing in unison, holding each other, Michonne kissed Mary's cheek. "Okay. Okay, baby girl, you have to go now. We're all gonna be fine, okay? I promise. It's gonna be okay. I love you."
"I love you too." Mary whispered into Michonne's chest.
"Okay, Okay, go on now. It's gonna be fine. See you soon, yeah?"
"Yeah." Mary nodded. She kissed Michonne's lips briefly, then Michonne passed her over to Rick, nodding, then turning away, wiping a tear away as they left.

Mary was waiting, watching, worrying, as she sat on the basement of an empty house, able to see the walls, able to hear every word and movement from the small window next to where she was stood. Her tiny fingers were enclosed around Carl Bunny, and she kept worrying about Rick, Carl, Michonne.
Suddenly, a voice over loudspeaker rang into Mary's ears. Eugene. "All ports are covered. Every contingency is already met. I come armed with two barrels of the truth. A test is upon you and I'm giving out the cheat sheet. H-hello. I come salved with the hope that it is my dropped knowledge that you heed. Options are zero to none. Compliance and fealty are your only escape. Bottom lining it, you may thrive, or you may die. I sincerely wish for the former, for everyone's sake. The jig is up and in full effect. Will you comply, Rick?" Eugene demanded.
Mary's forehead creased, not understanding Eugene's words, and she raised her bunny to her face.
"Where's Negan?" Rick demanded after a silence.
"I'm Negan." Eugene retorted, and Mary let out a small whimper. Then suddenly, Mary watched as the Scavengers turned all of their guns onto her family, her friends.
She couldn't see Michonne, but she saw several men with guns in Carl's direction, and Jadis' gun straight on Rick's head.
Mary was free.
She's didn't, for a second, think it was a bad idea to run out of the house. Because she was free, and she could help, so she ran out of the house, because in her mind, only she could save her father.
She needed to be the hero. It's who Glenn was. It was who she would be.