▎SAFE HAVEN  ▎
»»————　act three. prison time
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE ━━ silent cries

Josie's body trembled. She couldn't show them she was weak, she wouldn't. She bit down on her tongue as she tried to break the restraints free.

She couldn't hear muffled voices from the other room. Merles voice. She squeezed her eyes shut when Merle continued to yell.

She flinched as she heard sounds of hitting. She squeezed her hands against the ties. She wanted to help Glenn, but she couldn't.

She bit back her cries, keeping her head low. She had to act brave. She had to. She wouldn't let these people think she was weak.

After a while, the sounds of hitting stopped. Josie breathed in, heavily, looking around the room she was trapped in.

Then, the door opened, making her jump. Josie took note of how bloodied Merles hands were, making her face twist with anger. "Could be a little excited to see me, Jo Jo." Merle said sarcastically as he sat down at the desk in front of Josie.

"Where is Glenn?" Josie asked, the only thing in her mind was Glenn.

"Your boy is okay-ish." Merle tilted his head as Josie narrowed her eyes, still trying to get her restraints off. "He's one tough cookie to break." He stared at Josie as Josie looked up, glare still on her face. "Ain't that your brothers." He pointed to her neck, Josie keeping her eyes on Merle.

"Yes." Josie uttered, keeping her head high. "He didn't make it." Josie said, bitting down on her tongue.

"Aww, well ain't that emotional." Merle faked sympathy. "But, where is my brother?" He asked her as Josie shrugged her shoulders.

"He's okay. But I'm not telling you shit." Josie hissed as Merle slowly nodded his head, looking around the room as he let out a deep sigh. "You think he's gonna be real happy when he finds out you've kidnapped me and Glenn?"

"I know my baby brother more than you do, Jo Jo." Merle sighed as he got up from the table, still looking down at her. "So where is he and where are your people staying?"

Josie stayed silent, narrowing her eyes as Merle sighed, nodding his head as he exited the room, slamming the door behind him.

Josie let out a deep breath, lowering her head as she continued to pull at her restraints. She needed to see if Glenn was okay. She needed to know. She didn't care what happened to her, as long as Glenn was okay.

After Merle had left, Josie had been left to stare at the walls, trying to get the restraints off. She had ripped through the a bit, but when she went to break them, the door opened, making her quickly look up.

A man she hadn't seen before walked in, closing the door behind him. He didn't say anything as he stepped forward, pulling out a knife. Josie swallowed thickly, looking at the knife in his hands as he made his way behind her.

She felt her hands free, making her bring them to her lap, pulling the tape off with a quiet sigh. The man went back around the table, pulling the chair out as he looked down at Josie. "May I?" Josie raised a brow, but slowly nodded her head. "Thank you." The man smiled as he sat across from Josie. "We'll take you back to your people and explain this was all just a misunderstanding."

Bullshit, Josie thought. She knew what kind of person Merle was. She could tell what kind of person this man was. Play nice until he gets what he wants.

"You tell us where they are, and we'll drive you there." He told her as Josie lifted her brow, bitting down on her tongue.

"I want to talk to Glenn." She spoke, her voice calm and not shaky, like she had anticipated it do be from the fact her leg was bouncing up and down.

"I can't allow that." He smiled, shaking his head. "You people are dangerous." He said as Josie bit back the urge to roll her eyes. "Handcuffed my man to a roof. Forced him to amputate his own hand."

"Merle got himself in that situation." Josie simply said, shrugging her shoulders. "If he's been working for you, you know how Merle can get."

He ignored her comment, changing the topic. "You just tell us where they are, and we'll bring them here." He repeated as Josie bit her tongue. "You'll be safe, I promise." Josie crossed her arms over her chest, looking down at the table, refusing to give up the prisons location. "No?" He tilted his head. "Let's try something else, huh?" Josie turned to look at him. "Stand up, please."

Josie frowned at his words, her brows furrowing as she looked at him. The man leaned forward in his chair, his kind face disappearing.

"Stand up." He told her.

Josie bit her tongue, pushing back her chair and standing up, narrowing her eyes at the man. She didn't understand what his game was, but she was fed up. The next words that left his mouth made Josie's heart drop.

"Take off your shirt."

"No." Josie said firmly, her face resting with anger. She didn't know what this man was capable of, and she was slightly terrified.

"Take off your shirt, or I'll bring Glenn's hand in here." He told her, pointing to her shirt as Josie squeezed her eyes shut, mustering up all the courage to pull her shirt from over her head and throwing it to the floor.

Josie felt uncomfortable and vulnerable. She felt disgusted. The man's stare made her feel sick—her blood boiling as he stared at her exposed chest. "Go on." He referred to the sports bra, the only dignity she had left.

Josie bit back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes, her body shivering as she reached behind her back, unclipping her bra and pulling it off, immediately covering her chest with her shaking hands and arms.

The man then stood up, taking off his belt with his walkie and gun inside it, placing it on the table as he walked towards Josie, who was shaking.

Josie squeezed her eyes closed, swallowing thickly as she felt the man's breath on the side of her face and neck.

Her lips trembled as he ran a hand through her hair, that wasn't braided, bringing his face close to the side of hers. Josie was terrified of what this man could do to her, and what he wanted to do with her.

She let out a yelp as he, roughly, pushed her face and body against the table, his hand on the back of her head and neck as he leaned behind her, pressing his body against hers.

"So you're gonna talk?" He asked the trembling girl, looking down at her.

Josie breathed out heavily, "Do whatever you're gonna do, then go to hell." He uttered, her voice trembling. Her people needed to be safe, her baby niece and nephew. As long as they were okay, she didn't care.

The man ran a hand over the side of her face, josie squeezing her eyes shut as her hands were pressed against the table.

The man's hands lowered to her back, keeping his hand there as he stood directly behind her before moving. Josie let out a deep breath, her body trembling as he moved away from her.

But he then grabbed her arm, even though Josie tried to fight against it, opening the door as he pulled her out of the room, looking over to Merle and another man, who were leaning against a door.

Josie felt like she had had her dignity ripped away from her, literally. She lowered her head at the stares, seeing Merle's face drop slightly ad he turned to the door, opening it.

Josie was shoved into the room by the man, her heart dropping as she looked at the bloodied and beaten Glenn.

Glenn's face twisted with anger as he went to attack the man, but Merle and the other man stopped him from doing so.

Josie's bottom lip trembled as she kept her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes staying on Glenn. "We're through with games." The man holding Josie said, pulling out his gun. "Now, one of you is gonna give up your camp." He said as he clocked his gun, pointing it at Josie, who trembled in his grip.

Then, he let go of her, moving towards Glenn and putting the gun right in front of him. And Josie broke. "The prison." Her voice broke as she stepped forward, but Merle stopped her firm moving as he held out his arm.

"The one near Nunez?" Merle asked as Josie kept her eyes on Glenn and the gun pointed to his skull, "That place is overrun."

"We took it." Josie gulped as she trembled, keeping her arms crossed over her chest.

"How many are ya?" The man asked, keeping his gun pointed at Glenn.

"Thirteen." Josie answered, clenching her jaw. "We have thirteen now. We had more." And that wasn't including her and Glenn. Josie felt guilty for telling them her home, but she couldn't let Glenn die.

"Thirteen people cleared that whole prison of biters, huh?" The man asked, keeping his eyes and gun trained on Glenn.

Josie bit her tongue, watching as the man dropped his gun and asked away from Glenn and towards her.

He stopped beside her, making her squeeze her eyes shut, ignoring the tears gathering up in her eyes.

"Hey, hey." The man ran his hand over her face, making her edge away from him, a whisper leaving her lips as she lowered her head. "Shh. It's all right." He told her as he grabbed her face, pressing his lips against her head as she quietly cried. "It's all right." He told her as he pulled her into an uncomfortable hug before pushing her in Glenn's direction.

Josie immediately wrapped her arms around him, letting out broken sobs into his shoulder as her body trembled in his comforting arms.

Glenn kept his grip around her, in a tight but comforting manner. He didn't want to let go of her, and Josie wanted to stay in his arms, where she felt safe.

He pressed a kiss to the side of her head, whispering comforting words as the three left them, closing the door behind them.

Josie had helped Glenn sit down, and Glenn had given Josie his shirt, which Josie was extremely grateful for.

Josie sat, her legs close to her chest as she rested her chin on her knees, staring blankly at the floor. She had never felt so powerless in her life. She had frozen, she didn't do anything, when she could have. She was strong, but she was weak in that moment,

"Josie..." Glenn breathed out as Josie turned to him. "Did he-"

"No." Josie quickly cut him off, shaking her head as she swallowed thickly. "No, he barely touched me." Josie uttered, looking at Glenn. She looked at his cuts and wounds and she felt sick. She just wanted to kill Merle and that man. She had never wanted to hurt anyone, ever. But she wanted to hurt them. Hurt them for what they had done to her and Glenn, especially Glenn. "We've been running from these walkers, you forget what people are capable of." Josie uttered as she rested her chin back on her knees. "I mean, look what they did to you." Her voice broke as she turned away, squeezing her eyes closed.

"Doesn't matter." Glenn shook his head as he kept his eyes on Josie. "As long as he didn't—"

"No." Josie shook her head as she licked her lips, looking up to stop the tears. "I promise." She looked back to him, her voice breaking as he pulled her into a hug.

Josie instantly hugged him back, closing her eyes as she held onto him. She didn't want to let go. Josie loved Glenn, she really did. She wanted to do everything and anything to make sure he was okay and that he was not in harms way.

"Hey." Glenn muttered as he pulled out of the hug, making Josie frown as he stood up, walking towards the dead walker on the ground.

Josie sat up, watching as Glenn pulled the walkers arm off with a grimace. And careful stood up as Glenn limped around, pulling some of the bone out of the walkers hand and handing it to Josie.

Josie grimaced, but took the sharp bone in her hand, gripping it as Glenn sent her a nod. "What's the plan?" Josie asked with her raspy voice, watching as he broke the other arm.

"When we hear them come, we attack." Glenn told her, getting a sharp bone for himself as he wiped his hands. "Okay?" Josie nodded her head, breathing out as she looked at the door.

As soon as Glenn heard people coming towards the room, himself and Josie hid against the wall, waiting for the door to open and then attacking the first person who come through the door.

Josie grabbed a hold of a man, pushing him against the wall and her eyes narrowed as she pushed the bone into the man's neck, ignoring as he choked on his blood. Then, she pulled the bone out, jumping to the side as he fired his gun.

Josie breathed out heavily, looking at her bloodied hands before crouching down and grabbing the man's gun, turning around and pointing it at Merle, who had Glenn on the ground.

"Let go of him, Merle!" Josie gritted her teeth as she pointed the gun at him. "I won't hesitate to shoot you, let go of him!" She added, her eyes narrowing as she clocked the gun. Merle lifted his hands up, nodding his head.

But Josie squeezed her eyes shut as she heard the sounds of guns cocking behind her, lowering her head in defeat. "Give me the gun." Merle hissed as he ripped the gun from her hand. "Get up!" He yelled at Glenn, who was on the floor, holding his side.

Merle roughly grabbed Glenn as someone else grabbed Josie's arm, throwing the pair back into the room and putting them on their knees.

Josie's body trembled as she hid her cries, looking up at Merle, who circled around them. "Glad we could catch up." Merle said to them, grin on his face.

Glenn squeezed Josie's hand, watching her body shake and her lip tremble. "Just keep looking at me." Glenn mumbled as Josie turned to him with teary eyes.

"I love you." Josie quietly spoke as a bag was thrown over her head. She left sick. She and Glenn were gonna die. And Josie had killed someone. A random person.

"I'm your feet." A man spoke, Josie being lifted up and dragged in the direction they came. She tried to get her restraints off, her breaths becoming heavy, like she couldn't breath with the bag over her head.

But she jumped as a loud bang went off, the person holding onto her letting go. Soon, smoke filled her lungs, making her cough out.

Then, the bag was taken off of her head, her eyes widening as she saw Rick. "Come on." He gently said, helping her as Daryl helped Glenn.

They all exited the room, josie moving to help Glenn, holding onto him as they ran past the buildings. "Inside, here." Rick told everyone as he opened the door, Josie and Glenn walking in first as everybody followed.

Josie breathed out as she helped Glenn sit down, holding onto him as he grabbed her hand. "Rick, how did you find us?" Josie asked, looking over at Rick.

"How bad are you hurt?" Rick asked Glenn, looking down at the pair.

"Ah, we'll be all right." Glenn shrugged his shoulder, a hiss leaving his lips as Josie kept a hand on him at all times.

"Where's that woman?" Josie frowned as she looked around, not seeing the dark skinned girl anywhere.

Rick turned around, walking towards the window. "She was right behind us." Rick hissed as he turned to the window, looking through the blinds.

"Maybe she was spying. Want me to go look for her?" Oscar asked, stepping forwards, but Rick shook his head.

"No, we gotta get them out of here." Rick said as he pointed to Josie and Glenn. "She's on her own." He added as he tuned back to the window.

Josie looked around for something to keep Glenn warm, a jacket or something. "Can you pass me that?" She gently asked Oscar, pointing to the blue jacket on the chair.

He nodded his head as he grabbed it, passing it to her as she muttered a 'thanks', carefully putting it around Glenn.

"Daryl, this was Merle." Glenn suddenly announced, letting josie out the jacket on him. "He was...he did this."

"You saw?" Rick asked as Josie nodded her head.

"Face to face, Rick. Prick pointed a gun at my head." Josie uttered, zipping up Glenn's jacket.

"He threw a walker at me." Glenn added as he looked at Daryl, who had frozen. "He was gonna execute us."

"My brother's this governor?" Daryl frowned, leaning to their level as josie shook her head.

"No, he's someone else." She spat, her face twisting with anger as the thought of him made her sick. "Merles like his lieutenant or something." Josie shrugged her shoulders, looking up at Daryl.

"Does he know he's still with you?" Daryl asked as Josie nodded her head.

"Yeah, he does now." Josie bit her lip as she looked up at Rick. "Rick, I'm sorry. I told them where the prison was, I couldn't hold out." Josie shook her head as Rick kneeled in front of her, squeezing her shoulder, making her jump slightly.

"It's okay, J." Rick nodded his head, noticing her reaction to his hand on her shoulder, making him take it off. "No need to apologise." Josie nodded her head, giving him a weak smile as he got up, going towards the door.

"They're gonna be looking for us." Josie also said, looking over at the door as Rick nodded his head, turning around.

"We have to get back." Rick breathed out as he moved in front of Glenn. "Can you walk? We've got a car few miles out." Rick asked as Josie looked at Glenn.

"I'm good." Glenn muttered, Josie and Rick helping him up, gently.

"Hey, if Merle's alive, I need to see him." Daryl stood in front of them, a worried look on his face.

Josie held onto Glenn, her arm around his as she looked at Daryl. "Not now, we're in hostile territory." Rick told him.

"He's my brother, I ain't gonna-"

"Look what he did!" Rick said in a hushed whisper, pointing at Glenn and Josie, Josie lowering her head. "Look, we gotta get out of here now."

"Maybe I can talk to him and work something out." Daryl suggested, eager to see his brother.

"No, you're not thinking straight." Rick mumbled as Josie helped form towards the door, not hearing what else Rick had to say.

After they had their discussion, Daryl had given Josie a gun before they went out. Rick opened the door as Daryl threw the tear gas bombs, smoke filling the air as Rick gave them his signal, the group making their way out of the building as Josie held onto Glenn, keeping him up right as they walked.

Shouts filled the air, as did bullets, josie kept her hold on Glenn, not letting go as Oscar helped them to where they needed to go, Rick and Daryl fought them.

Oscar climbed the bus as Josie pulled out the gun Daryl had given her and shot the people firing at Rick and Daryl.

Oscar helped up Glenn, careful not to injure him. But, Oscar was shot, making Josie gasp, turning to him. "No, no." Josie quickly went to Oscar's side, checking for his pulse, but he didn't have one. "Rick!" Josie's voice yelled towards Rick, who was just standing in the middle of the road. "Rick!"

"Josie!" Glenn yelled from the bus. "Josie, come on!" He called down to her as she got up, whispering a 'sorry' as she shot the man in the head, so he wouldn't turn, before climbing up the bus, Glenn helping her.

Then Rick ran toward the bus, quickly climbing up it as Josie helped him, pulling him up as he turned around. "Daryl!" Rick yelled as he looked for the man in the fog.

"I'm comin'." He yelled as they quickly climbed over the fence, Rick climbing over first as he then helped Josie and Glenn.

Rick had lead the way to where they needed to go, Josie and Glenn behind them, "Get down." Rick whispered as Josie helped Glenn down, holding onto him as she looked at the gate and the people on it. "Come on, Daryl." He muttered as the bushes shook.

The three turned around, Josie grabbing her gun as the dark skinned woman from before walked towards them, clearly beaten up.

"Where the hell were you?" Rick hissed as he pointed his gun at her, Josie doing the same as she stood behind her. "Put your hands up." Rick told her and the woman did exactly that. "Turn around." He told her as she turned around, her hands raised.

Rick took her katana and held it in his hands as he lowered his guns, the woman lowering her hands, making Josie lower her gun. "Get what you came for?" Rick asked, sarcastically.

"Where are the rest of your people?" The woman asked, looking at Josie, Glenn and Rick.

"They got Oscar." Glenn narrowed his eyes as she stood beside Josie.

"Daryl's not here. Did you see him?" Josie asked the woman, her voice full of worry, but the woman gave her a sympathetic look, shaking her head.

"If anything happens to him-"

"I brought you here to save them." The woman stated, cutting off Rick as she referred to Josie and Glenn.

"Thanks for the help." Rick said and Josie couldn't even tell if that was sarcasm or not.

"You'll need help to get them both back to the prison, or to go back in there for Daryl, either way, you need me." The woman raised a brow as she spoke to Rick. It was as if she was pleading to help, her eyes showing it all.

— Madeleine's notes

....

IM SORRY JOSIE!!

My baby :( #cried writing this

No bc it's the way she wants to kill the governor... BUT IM CURRENTLY WRITING SEASON FOUR WOOO!!!

Josephine Rhee is here ladies and gents 🎀

But josie killed her first person...

She's going through it.

Loosing Lori and having to kill her, now this, in the short span of days....

I'm sorry Josie, you deserve better baby :(

22nd April
3940 words