Shock, fear, confusion, denial.

Emotion after emotion surged through Taehyung- mixing together and blending into a pile of numbness. His thoughts gnawed at him, not allowing him to forget or shake off the information he had just found out.

Denial played a big part in this situation- prancing around the jumbled mess that was his emotions and prodding at his thoughts. He couldn't believe Rick wanted to trade him and Michonne to the Governor for the peace between the two groups. Taehyung didn't remember Rick being like this. He wondered if the new world had changed him into the person he was today, or if Rick had always been this way, and Taehyung's judgement had been clouded because Rick was the first person to treat him with kindness.

Taehyung couldn't be sure, he couldn't blame Rick either, because if he was in the leader's place, he would trade two strangers for the safety of his family too. The more Taehyung thought things through, the more he realised that he had pledged his life to Rick and allowed him to do whatever he wanted with it, because he had saved him. Taehyung only now realised how dumb his statement was, but at the time, he never thought that Rick would actually go through with it and bargain with his life.

Oh, how he wished he could take his words back.

Truthfully, Taehyung was quite numb towards the whole ordeal. The thought of sacrificing his life for a whole group of people, seemed quite pleasant. It was way better than getting bit and laying in your cell as you inhale your last breaths, or even fighting in a battle for the prison and dying among the rest of them. At least someone would remember him. The only thing that scared him was the thought of the governor torturing him and Michonne, and watching him kill her first. He was scared of the emotional and physical pain that the Governor could boast upon them, so he hoped for a quick death. Which he probably wouldn't get since the governor would take pleasure from torturing them and dragging out their deaths for as long as possible.

The soles of Taehyung's boots dragged against the hot pavement and the wires, wrapped around his wrists, swayed from side to side. His ebony coloured eyes lazily took in the houses surrounding him before finally settling on Michonne, who was walking next to him.

Michonne's hands were tied with bright red wires, while his own were a boring black. Michonne's dreadlocks swayed from side to side with each step she took, and her dark green jacket ruffled behind her. The woman's face was blank and lacked emotion as she rolled her eyes and continued to listen to Merle babble, all while giving short and vague answers.

Speaking of Merle, Taehyung was pleasantly surprised by the male's quick wit and dedication in kidnapping both of them from the prison. Merle accomplished this nearly impossible task by baiting both- Michonne and Taehyung- down to the tunnels underneath the prison by luring there a few walkers. And as they were fighting them off, Merle snuck up to them and knocked out Michonne before grabbing her and threatening Taehyung, that he'll slit her throat if he tries to attack him.

Taehyung was left with no choice, but to comply, as Merle dragged Michonne, and led him into a boiler room. He tied Michonne's wrists with some wires and placed a purple blanket around her head, and then forced Taehyung to tie his own wrists. Taehyung would've fought back and freed them both, he wanted to, but when Merle opened his mouth and informed him about what Rick wanted to do, Taehyung fell into a state of shock and allowed Merle to drag them away from the prison.

The state of shock had worn off, but Taehyung lacked the desire to fight Merle and head back to the prison. What good will it do? Rick would just take him to the governor too, and if he tried to run away, he'd just be leaving the group to die, which didn't sit well with him. So Taehyung settled on dragging himself after Merle and Michonne, and listening to the sound of Merle's voice mixing in with the soft chirps of the birds around him

"My brother, he wants to be in the prison." Merle stated quite softly, peering over his shoulder to see if Taehyung was still there and hadn't ran off. Taehyung's lips quirked into an empty smile and his tied up hands lifted in order for him to wiggle his fingers back at Merle, "This little trip..." Merle grunted and turned back around, allowing Taehyung's smile to immediately crumble and hands to fall back down against his stomach. His gaze lowered to his boots and he watched as the orange leaves crunched underneath them, "...Maybe it'll keep that place standing. If I pull it off, maybe all is forgiven." The hint of smile and hope was heard in Merle's voice, making Taehyung look up and stare into the back of his head.

"That's a whole lot of maybes." Taehyung grumbled lowly, hoping for his words to go unnoticed, but his voice was perfectly hearable among the whistling of the wind and the sound of their shoes smacking against the pavement.

Merle pursued his lips and sent Taehyung a hard look. His eyes flickered away from Taehyung and over to the two-story house with chocolate coloured walls, before he gravitate his body in it's direction and moved his legs over to it, "You got to play the hand you're dealt, I only got one." Merle murmured back at Taehyung, not sparing him a glance as he walked over the front yard of the house and approached the car in the driveway.

A perfectly shaped brow quirked underneath Taehyung's raven fringe and he shared a look with Michonne before his eyes travelled back to Merle. Taehyung's eyes followed Merle, yet his feet stayed rooted on the start of the driveway. He observed Merle carefully as he opened the car's door, earning himself a loud squeak in return. Merle poked his head into the car, only to step back a second later and slam the door shut.

Taehyung's lips stayed sealed shut and eyes glued themselves onto Michonne and Merle. He rolled his wrists around to try and loosen the pressure put on them, all while listening in on their conversation.

"You talk about the weight of what you have to do, how you can handle it." Michonne's voice was breeze-like and a bit soft. Her eyes squinted and face didn't lose the coldness as she stared back at Merle without breaking eye-contact, "A bad man, someone truly evil..they're light as a feather. They don't feel a thing." Michonne finished, tilting her head back and observing Merle's face carefully.

Merle nodded, allowing a frown to etch across his face. His hip pressed against the side of the car and hand hooked around the strap of Michonne's katana, that rested around his shoulders, "I've killed 16 men since the start of all this." Merle mumbled lowly, a hint of sadness and exhaustion dripping from his words, and guilt flashing over his eyes. He pressed his lips into a thin line and allowed a crease to form on his forehead before pushing off of the car and brushing past Michonne, "Let's go."

Obsidian coloured eyes lazily dragged after Merle until the Male slipped past him and approached the motel on the other side of the road. Taehyung's head twisted around and he made eye-contact with Michonne, he raised a questioning brow at her, only to receive a small shrug in return.

Michonne and Taehyung walked side by side, following after Merle to the motel. The motel was surrounded by woods and unkept bushes, the lawn was overgrown- working as a home for all kinds of bugs and insects. Taehyung didn't want to fall into grass like that, and risk the chance of a spider crawling into his shirt, so he opted on walking along the leaf and old newspaper scattered pavement.

"I think this is gonna be good." Merle sent them a grin, jabbing a finger into the direction of a grey car resting in front of an open motel room.

"It looks like shit." Taehyung huffed, clearly lying. The car was way better than the ones Merle had found in the past hour, which were covered in dirt, blood, and reeked of something rotten. At least you could see through the windows of this car, and if you opened the windows, Taehyung was sure it won't smell that bad either.

Merle merely shrugged off his words, while Michonne rolled her eyes. The small smirk, that tugged at Taehyung's lips, washed away as Merle grabbed the ends of the long wires, wrapped around their wrists, and tugged them towards motel.

Taehyung stumbled forwards with a grumble, glaring down at Merle as he tied the ends of the wires to two separate poles on either side of an open motel room. Taehyung's eyes followed after Merle until the man unlocked the car and climbed inside of it. He shifted his weight from foot to foot and peered into the darkness of the room behind him. His eyes bounced from the unkept bed and the box shaped tv on the other side of the bed, before he shook his head and turned to look at Michonne.

"You think dying together sounds like friendship goals?" Taehyung's lips rose along with his brow. He leaned his shoulder against the white pole he was tied to, and smirked back at Michonne.

Michonne's brown eyes rolled around in a circle and she threw her head to the side to get her dreadlocks out of her face, "You're not dying. I was the one who got us in this mess by killing someone that the governor cared about, so I'm not letting you pay for my mistakes." Michonne whispered under her breath, sparing a brief glance towards Merle.

The older Male was laying across the front seat of the car and fiddling with the wires underneath the steering-wheel, all while releasing occasional hums and grunts.

"I'm gonna try to convince him to let you go." Michonne muttered, curling her fingers around the metal part of the wire, wrapped around her wrists.

Taehyung followed Michonne's eyes towards Merle before scowling and looking back at her, "Yeah, that's not gonna happen. If we die, we die together. And what am I gonna do if he does let me go? Go back to prison? Run around all alone?" Taehyung scoffed, raising his tied up hands and wiping away a droplet of sweat that formed on his brow. He glared at the hood of the grey car, ignoring Michonne's gaze boring into the side of his face.

"Tae, you know he won't just kill us. He'll use you to make me suffer, he's gonna torture you just as much as he'll torture me, maybe even worse." Michonne trailed off, huffing at the end. Her gaze softened and lips were pulled down by the invisible string of guilt, "I'm sorry I dragged you into this." She grunted under her breath.

The glare on Taehyung's face crumbled and his head turned towards Michonne, the two made eye-contact and Taehyung offered her a small smile, "Ain't that what BFF's do?" Taehyung teased much to Michonne's amusement.

Before Michonne could open her mouth and spit something back, the sound of loud blaring cut her off. Taehyung's face scrunched up and he flinched at the piercing noise before throwing his head into the blaring car's direction. He tried to spot Merle through the window of the car, but the Male was laying down, making it hard for Taehyung to see him.

"Shit," Michonne hissed, capturing Taehyung's attention, "Merle!" She shouted, but her voice didn't cut through the loud blares.

Taehyung's eyes left the grey car and focused on the area surrounding them. Only then, Taehyung noticed the walkers stumbling out of the woods and even dragging themselves out from behind other cars in the parking lot.

Taehyung's heart pounded against his ribcage- the sound mixing in with the loud shouts of the car- and his eyes jumped from one rotten face of a walker, to another. Without looking away from the closest walker to him, which was on the other side of Michonne, Taehyung tugged at the wires around his wrists. Instead of breaking and setting him loose, the sharp edges of the wire cut into Taehyung's skin- breaking it and drawing blood.

A droplet of scarlet red blood rolled out of the small cut and dripped down on the ground, just as a growl ripped through the air. Taehyung's head swung around and he stared with raised brows as Michonne raised her leg and kicked the walker in the chest. The walker slammed into the ground, only for Michonne to raise her leg again and stomp down on it's head. The walker's growls cut off and skull cracked open, allowing its brains and blood to gush out.

Another growl immediately followed the first one, causing Taehyung's head to swing around and eyes to connect with the yellow ones of the walker. It's feet stumbled towards Taehyung and mouth parted to release a glob of drool, that rolled down its chin and dripped onto it's clothes. The walker dragged it's feet out from the motel room behind Taehyung and immediately reached out its hands to grab him.

Taehyung's eyes darted around- trying to think of what to do and how to defend himself, only to pause at the metal wire wrapped around his wrists. A small smirk flashed across Taehyung's face before he grabbed the walker by its clothes and slammed it into the white pole. Before the walker could latch onto Taehyung, the ravenette released his hold on it and quickly whirled around the pole.

The metal wire wrapped around the walker's throat- keeping it glued against the pole and causing it to dig into its rotten flesh. Taehyung grunted, tightening his hold on the wire before raising his leg and pressing his boot against the white pole. The walker struggled and trashed around, trying to pull away as Taehyung began to pull the wire towards himself, making it cut into the walker's throat and reach the soft bone.

The metal wire slid against the walker's bone just as Taehyung's boot slipped down the pole- leaving behind a brown streak of dirt and causing Taehyung to stumble a step back. The harsh tug on the metal wire made it cut through the walker's bone and quickly reach the other end of its throat. The walker's body tumbled to the ground lifelessly and head slammed into the ground a second later.

Taehyung spared an unimpressed glance towards the decapitated head, and the walker's mouth as it's teeth continued to snap, before he shook his head and turned away. The loud blaring still slammed against Taehyung's eardrums, only this time it mixed together with the sound of the walker growls. Taehyung watched as they came closer and closer- yellow eyes zeroing in on the two kidnapped humans.

Taehyung's head twisted around in Michonne's direction, allowing his raven locks to fall into his eyes and cover his sweaty forehead, only for him to see Michonne cowering away from a walker that was mere centimetres away, "Michonne!" Taehyung's deep voice echoed throughout the surrounding area and eyes immediately grew large. He tried to run towards Michonne, only for the wires, wrapped around his wrists, to tighten and rip him back.

Just as the walker was about to reach Michonne, a loud bang echoed through the air, followed by the sound of a soft thud as the walker fell to the ground lifelessly. Two breaths of reliefs mingled together with the sound of a few more shots and Merle's footsteps. Taehyung's brow cocked and hands stretched out as Merle ran towards them and sliced the wires using his knife hand.

"Come on!" Merle called out, whirling around and running to the rumbling car that finally stopped blaring.

Taehyung and Michonne didn't waste any time to scramble after Merle and towards the car. Taehyung pulled the front door open, on his way to the backseat, for Michonne, before quickly jumping into the car and slamming the door shut behind himself. Michonne was quick to slide into the car and slam the door shut just as a walker fell against the car and slammed its hands onto the glass.

"Damn." Taehyung breathed out as Merle pressed down on the gas pedal, making the walker stumble to the ground. It's hand dragged against the glass, leaving behind a bloody handprint. Taehyung turned his head around and peered through the back window to stare at the bodies of the walkers that became smaller and smaller by the passing second.

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Trees whooshed past Taehyung's window. His eyes jumped from a trunk to a trunk before pausing at the walker shuffling along the road. Obsidian coloured eyes squinted as the walker followed the sound of the car and turned around to face their direction, only for the car to whoosh past it and leave it in a cloud of dust.

Taehyung raised his hand and placed it on the edge of the window before turning his attention on Michonne and Merle, "-ings are different for your brother." Michonne cut at him, turning to look out of the front window. Her lips were pursued and eyes squinted, her slim fingers curled into loose fists and shoulders squared.

Taehyung's brow quirked and eyes bounced between them. He was a bit confused about what was going on, but he didn't care much about finding out. Taehyung was still trying to come to terms with the thought that he was being taken to the governor to be slaughtered, which, honestly, scared him.

Taehyung was never much of a believer of god, because he knew that if all religion was wiped out, along with science, science would be the same because it can prove itself, but religion would be different. Plus, he didn't want to follow a god that made all these rules in order for humans to get into heaven and to avoid hell. He didn't want to follow a god that would punish and torture you for making mistakes and enjoying the wonders of life. But despite being an atheist, Taehyung didn't know which thought was scarier- that there was something after death, or if there was nothing but an empty void.

Shaking his head side to side, Taehyung got rid of the glooming thoughts brimming in his mind, and looked back outside the window as he listened to the sound of Merles's and Michonne's voices.

"Rick says jump and he wants to know how high." Merle released a forced snicker.

Michonne shook her head with a hum, "Mmhmm, Rick needs him." She gazed at Merle with thin lips and cold eyes, "Respects him. He didn't ask him to do this job, now, did he?"

"No, 'cause he wants it done." Merle scoffed out a chuckle, readjusting his grip on the wheel and turning it to the side.

"You keep telling yourself that." Michonne's lips quirked up in a disbelief filled smile, allowing her white teeth to peek through.

Taehyung observed them carefully, all while leaning his jaw against his knuckles, and elbow against the cold window. He didn't understand the point of this conversation, he just wished they could both shut up and allow him to sink into the depressing sinkhole of death. But then again, maybe he should spend his last moments thinking about what he would've done to Jungkook if he hadn't pulled away.

Taehyung's tongue dipped out of his mouth and ran over his lower lip, he snickered and smirked at the back of Merle's seat, "Yeah." Taehyung thought, allowing the images of Jungkook's lust filled little face and his dainty waist to fill his mind, "I would love to fuck him until all he knew was my name."

But Taehyung wasn't one to mess with people who are still questioning their sexuality. He didn't want to fuck a straight boy, who wondered how it felt like to ride a dick, only to hear later that he had forced him into sex and that Jungkook didn't like it, nor want it. So until Jungkook knew for sure what he wanted and and who he was, Taehyung wouldn't touch him anymore.

Well, it wouldn't really matter anyway since Taehyung was slowly driving towards his death.

Maybe he should've kissed him, just to know how those pouty, pink lips tasted like? Nah, Taehyung shook his head with a sigh, tilting his head back and allowing it to fall against the back seat. He blinked up at the roof of the car, cringing in disgust when he saw the remains of chocolate smeared across the roof.

"Gross." Taehyung breathed out, allowing his head to fall forward and eyes, yet again, to focus on the two people sitting in the front seat.

Taehyung watched with an exhausted scowl and a blank expression as Michonne spoke to Merle, trying to get under his skin and prod at his weaknesses, "The truth is, this could've been your shot." Michonne's smile slipped away and was replaced by a serious expression. She glared into the side of Merle's face, watching the shift in him carefully in order to not cross the line, "With your skills, a whole new beginning. But you chose to stay on the outside." Michonne's tongue slipped out from her mouth to cover her lips in a fresh layer of saliva before she lowered her voice and continued, "No one's gonna mourn you, not even Daryl. He's got a new family."

Taehyung released a snort in disbelief, gliding his tongue against the roof of his mouth and pressing the tips of his fingers against the smirk on his lips. He tilted his head to the side, and this time sat up in amusement, ready to watch this conversation unfold.

"You keep trying to get under my skin, I'm gonna cut that tongue out." Taehyung's lips parted to reveal a boxy smile and to release something along the lines of it being kinky, only for Merle to continue speaking and wipe the smile off his face in a mere second, "Your buddy's trying to turn you over, 'cause he's trying to save his own ass." Merle smirked, turning to glance at Michonne before looking through the review mirror and staring right into Taehyung's glaring eyes, "You're both as much on the outside as I am."

"Maybe." Michonne swallowed down the lump in her throat, while Taehyung clenched his jaw and turned to look back outside the window, "But once the governor's done with me, at least I won't have to live with myself." Michonne spat quietly, taking a jab at Merle, causing him to fall silent.

The ride was silent for the next twenty minutes, allowing it to fill to the brim with tension, and allowing Taehyung to sink into his thoughts. His mind was a dangerous place, that he tried to escape from by always doing something or talking to someone. But now that he was about to die in a few hours or days, he figured why not allow the dark pits of his mind to resurface and see the light of day before it was too late.

"You said you killed 16 men since this thing started?"

Taehyung suppressed a groan of frustration by melting into the stiff seat and tilting his head back. He blinked up at the chocolate hovering over his head, and tried to tune out their voices, but it was too hard since they cut through his thoughts and filled his head.

"You kill anyone before?" Michonne asked, referring to his life before the apocalypse started and the dead began to roam the earth.

Merle swallows down a glob of saliva before muttering hoarsely, "No."

Taehyung sat up in his seat and leaned forward, finally deciding to join the conversation, "And how about before Woodbury?" His deep voice sliced through their conversation as he sat in the middle of the backseat and wrapped his arms around their seats.

Merle spared him a glance, eyeing him with a clenched jaw before pressing his lips together and looking away. Taehyung looked at Michonne- the two of them sharing a look before Michonne hummed and continued to speak, "So he saves your life, cleans you up, fed you a line of bullshit. Why would you kill somebody else for him?" Michonne wondered, running her eyes over Merle's face. Her face softened and lips lifted into an easy smile, "You know we can go back." She murmured- the smile on her face vanishing as Merle shook his head with a small chuckle.

"Ain't happening."

"All three of us." Michonne continued, "We can just go back." Michonne pushed, trying to appear more soft by lowering the volume of her voice and lifting her lips into a gentle smile.

Taehyung leaned forward in his seat, shoving his head between the two front seats to get a better look at Merle. He watched the battle happen right before his eyes- the tears at the corner of Merle's eyes and how he shifted uncontrollably, he watched him exhale a sharp breath and clench his jaw a few times. Taehyung realised that this situation was harder for Merle than he allowed them to think, turns out his guilt, from all the things that he's done, weighted heavy on his shoulders and he was reluctant to add more to it.

Finally Merle snapped with a small shake of the head and a tight grip on the steering wheel, "I can't...go back." He grunted out, rolling his head around to release the tension in his shoulders, "I can't." He spat, releasing another sharp breath through the corner of his parted lips.

The look on Taehyung's face grew more serious and a bit sympathetic, he leaned away from the front seat, while still being able to keep an eye on Merle, "Why?" He breathed out, creating a crease on his forehead by furrowing his brows.

Instead of giving them a verbal answer, Merle did something Taehyung never expected him to. Merle's leg lifted off of the gas pedal and pressed down on the stop pedal, causing the car to screech to a slow halt and Taehyung to nearly fly into the front seat. He curled himself around the back of Michonne's chair before straightening out and sending a nasty look towards Merle.

The older man was too busy glaring down at the wheel to notice Taehyung's own glare. His face muscles shifted and eyes momentarily teared up before he blinked them away with a scoff. Taehyung sat up straighter and leaned forward as Merle turned around to face michonne and held up his knife hand.

"Back o-"

Taehyung didn't get to finish before he was cut off by Merle lowering his hand towards the wires wrapped around Michonne's wrists. The blade slid underneath the wires and easily cut through, setting michonne free and allowing the wires to fall into her lap.

Merle then turned around towards Taehyung and Immediately looked down at his wrists. Taehyung offered him an arrogant smile at the sight of his free wrists, and pointed his finger in the direction of the wires, he escaped from, while they were talking. Merle gave him a brief nod and turned back to face the front of the car.

"You go back with them, get ready to face what's next." Merle pushed out- his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed down a lump and caressed the wheel with the tips of his fingers, "I've got something to do on my own." Merle gruntled, leaning over Michonne to grab her door handle and push open the door.

Taehyung sat tensely and moved sluggishly as he reached out for the door handle and pushed the back door open. He kept his gaze locked on Merle, who didn't spare them a glance, as they climbed out of the rumbling car. Taehyung's foot connected with the pavement, finally allowing a genuine smile to grace his face before he pushed out of the car completely and slammed the door shut behind himself.

Taehyung stumbled a few steps away from the car, placing his hands on his hips and shifting his weight from foot to foot, as he watched Merle give Michonne back her katana before slamming the door shut in her face. Michonne, too, took a step away from the vehicle, allowing Merle to press down on the gas pedal and whoosh down the road.

"What an experience." Taehyung scoffed, dropping his shoulders and taking a step towards Michonne. The duo stood side by side, following Merle's car with their eyes as he drove away.

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This chapter was shit, I'm sorry you had to read that lmao. Imma try to update another chapter today bc this one was boring and just...yeah trash, so I wanna make it up to you.

~Benikru