▎SAFE HAVEN ▎ 
»»————　act three. prison time
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO ━━
duck n' old friends

It was the next morning and nobody had seen Rick. Josie wanted to go see where if he was and if he was okay, but she didn't know if that was a good thing.

Josie looked at the bowl in her hands, feeding the baby in her arms. "Everybody okay?" Everybody looked up at the sound of Rick's voice.

"Yeah, we are." Maggie uttered from beside Riley, looking up at Rick as he walked in, closing the door behind him.

"What about you?" Hershel asked as Rick walked to the table, looking down at them.

"I cleared out the boiler block." He told them, his eyes moving to his daughter in Josie's arms.

"How many were there?" Tiffany asked, placing her bowl down on the table as she stood behind Josie.

"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen." Rick shrugged his shoulders at Tiffany's words. "I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl." He patted his sons back, casting his eyes away from the baby.

"Rick, we can handle talking out the bodies." Glenn stood up from beside Josie, moving towards Rick. "You don't have to."

"No, I do." Rick walked past him. "Everyone have a gun and a knife?" He asked Daryl.

"Yeah. We're running low on ammo, though." Daryl responded, placing his spoon in his bowl.

"Josie and me were planning on making a run this afternoon." Glenn added, pointing to Josie, who looked over her shoulder at Rick. She still front guilty. Rick probably hated her. "Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula."

"We cleared out the generator room." Daryl then spoke, nodding his head at Rick. "Axel's there tryin' to fix it. In case of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well."

"Good. Good." Is all Rick said as he walked away from them and towards the door, slamming the door behind him.

Josie breathed out heavily, looking down at the baby in her arms. She softly kissed the baby's forehead, handing her over to Beth, who gently took her.

Josie sat in the car, looking down at the map as she tracked where her and Glenn were going. "You take a turn here, left." She said as she looked up from the map.

Glenn nodded his head as he turned left, keeping his eyes on the road. It wasn't long until the two ended up at the shop, Josie jumping out of the car as she pulled out her sword.

She looked around the parking lot, seeing nothing. "Clear outside." Josie spoke, looking over to Glenn, who grabbed a bag.

"All right, let's take a look." Glenn said as Josie nodded her head, grabbing onto his arm and leaning up, pressing a kiss against his lips and pulling away with a smile.

"There's chains on the door." Josie looked over his shoulder, making him turn around, seeing the chains. He nodded his head as he walked over to the car, grabbing something to break the chains with and placing his flashlight in his mouth.

Once he broke the chains, he opened the door. Josie yelped as she ducked down, missing the birds that flew out of the shop. "That gave me a damn heart attack." Josie uttered as Glenn chuckled, walking into the shop as Josie looked in, pulling out her flashlight. A smile rose on her face as she looked down at the duck on the floor. "Glenn, get that duck."

Glenn turned around, frown on his face. "What?"

"Get that duck." She chuckled, pointing her light to the duck on the floor.

Glenn raised a brow, letting out a chuckle as he looked up at Josie. "Are you serious?" Glenn asked her as she nodded.

"Duh. I had a duck just like that was I was a kid." Josie smiled as he picked it up. "And a baby could use a toy whilst growing up in a prison, Glenn." She told him. "It can be her first present from her aunt and uncle." She shrugged her shoulders with a grin.

Josie waited for Glenn to finished getting everything, keeping an eye out. "We just hit the powdered formula jackpot." Glenn grinned as he walked out with the basket.

"That looks awful, but thank god." Josie chuckled, looking at the stuff inside the basket.

"I also got beans, batteries, cocktail wieners, many mustards." Glenn continued as Josie grinned, looking up at him. "And..." Glenn pulled out a packet of Oreo's, making Josie's eyes widened. "Oreo's."

"No way!" Josie grinned as she took them out of his hands. "I am not sharrin' these with anybody." Josie chuckled as she placed them in her bag.

Glenn smiled at her, finding her reaction adorable, over a packet of cookies. "It's a straight shot back to the prison from here. Probably make it in time for dinner." Glenn said as he took the rest of the food into the car.

"Sounds good. I wanna give the baby her present." Josie smiled, looking at the duck in the basket as she placed it in the car. "Shes gonna love it when we get home."

"And where is it y'all good people are calling home?" Josie quickly turned around, instinctively grabbing her sword and aiming it at the person.

Her face dropped as she realised who it was.

"Oh, damn!" Merle laughed as he looked at Glenn and Josie. "Isn't it the power duo!" He chuckled as he placed his gun down on the floor. "Wow!" Merle moved forwards.

"Merle, stop right there!" Josie warned him, keeping her sword pointed at him.

"Oh, okay, okay, Josie." Merle stopped in his tracks. "Jesus. I thought we were good friends! Breakin' my heart." Merle said as Josie breathed out, looking over at Glenn. "Thought you was supposed to be the softie of the group."

"You made it." Glenn spoke, keeping his gun aimed as he looked over at Merle.

"Can you tell me, is my brother alive?" Merle asked as Josie's eyes widened. Daryl thought his brother was dead. "Huh?"

"Yeah." Glenn nodded his head, keeping his gun raised.

"Hey, you take me to him and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta." Merle said as he kept his hand, and stub, raised. "No hard feelings. Huh?" Glenn and Josie didn't say anything, but Josie's eyes fell on his other hand, that had a knife connected to it. "Oh, you like that?" He chuckled at Josie. "Yeah. Well, I found myself a medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself." He laughed once again, "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Well tell Daryl you're here and he'll come out to meet you." Glenn suggested as Josie nodded her head, looking at Merle.

"Hold up, here. Hold up." Merle frowned at his words. "Hey, the fact that we found each other is a miracle. Come on, now. You can trust me."

"You trust us, okay?" Josie said, firmly as she kept her sword raised, pointing it at him. "You stay here."

Before Glenn or Josie knew what was happening, Merle pulled out his gun, shooting it at the car as Josie quickly ducked, missing the bullet as she hid behind the car.

But, her sword was pulled from her hands and thrown away from her, Merle pulling her into a headlock as he pointed his gun at Josie.

Josie grunted as she tried to get out of his grip, but it was no use. Glenn turned the counter, aiming his gun at Merle as she looked down at the pair with wide eyes. "Let go of her. Let go of her!" Glenn yelled at him as Josie breathed out, squeezing her eyes.

"Put that gun in the car right now." Merle told him as he placed his gun directly to Josie's skull. "Put it in the car, son." He repeated as Glenn let out a sigh, placing the gun in the car and raising his hands. "There you go. Now we're gonna go for a little drive."

"We're not going back to our camp." Glenn shook his head as he kept his eyes on Josie, who was trying to get out of Merles grip.

"No, we're going somewhere else."

— madeleines notes...

Yep....

We all know what happens next....

IM SORRY JOSIE 🥺

broski just wanted her Oreo's and her duck. And Merle ruined everything so he's a fatty 😝

Michonne will be an absolute g and grab her bag and sword bc yeah, Josie would be upset without her sword, everyone brings it with them so she doesn't loose it 🎀

School now and I genuinely wanna cry.

Acc no bc there is drama and it's funny 🎀

ALSO I GOT MY PROM DRESS EEEKK. I was like "I'm getting red, I'm set on red".....

I got a puffy lilac dress... AHAHA

18th April 2024
1487 words