meanstreak
rick grimes 𝘹 fem!𝘰𝘤
© WANDARYEN ──── 2024

The gate to Alexandria opened upon Rick's return back. People gathered around, some from the group, and others living in the neighborhood overhearing the recent news of Sienna and Rick's departure.

Maggie waited patiently beside Deanna and Michonne. Carl bouncing Judith on his hip as they all watched Rick force the car into park before jumping out with haste.

"Rick?" Deanna called out to the man as he rushed towards his family, eyes wide and bloodshot. "I—Is she here? Did she come back?"

He held his breath waiting for an answer, but everyone shared silent glances.

The pressure in his chest nearly caved in when his fist closed around the locket tightly and pressed it against his forehead. "I'm—I'm going after her. I need some weapons, I need gas, I need — " He began to pace while he spoke, "someone took her!"

Maggie stepped forward with her hands raised. "Rick? What are you talking about? What happened?"

He stopped abruptly in front of her and gestured towards the opening of the community. "I followed the instructions, whatever was on the map — a dozen dead bodies piled up around her car — there was an accident, it flipped over. I didn't see her — I called out for her. Somebody took her, they did, they — "

"Whoa," Maggie breathed, "how do you know it was her car? How do you know someone took her?"

His eyebrows furrowed slightly with frustration when he quickly shoved the neckless in front of her, the locket open and revealing the photos.

Deanna quickly looked at Maggie but Rick began walking away — his next destination being the armory.

"Rick! Wait!" Michonne ordered, jogging after him before placing herself between him and the building.

His gaze was focused on the ground. His posture shifting slightly while his hands remained clutched in tight fists by his side. "Get out of the way."

"Rick," she scolded him through clenched teeth. "You need to wait. We can gather people and go after her, but — "

"No." His gaze flickered towards hers before shouting. "I'm leaving and I'm leaving now!"

Maggie quickly appeared between Michonne and Rick, gently grabbing his arm and turning him. "Rick! Rick. We need you to calm down." She raised her eyebrows at him directly. "Just give us one minute and I'll even go with you. This is my sister — let me come with you. But I need to talk to Deanna first, let me talk to her and we'll go, okay?"

His eyebrows furrowed slightly, itching to argue that he didn't want to risk bringing her along but ultimately nodded his head. "You have by the time I grab us weapons and get to the car." He turned on his heel and walked straight towards the armory with none of the women following behind.

His jaw ticked with anger and the familiar vein appeared on his forehead. Although he was producing anger straight through his pores — his heart ached massively.

She could've walked away from the scene, that much was possible. But without the neckless she received from Carl seemed unlikely. Then there was the probability someone rescued her — or even captured her.

Then he wondered if she was dead.

Crawled far enough away from the accident before collapsing somewhere he didn't see.

His stepped faltered and his palms dove directly into his eyes, forcing the overwhelming amount of tears away before they could appear.

The sound of glass shattering in the distance caused him to slowly turn around with his eyes landing directly towards Jessie and Pete's house. He could hear muffled shouting but couldn't make out what was being said.

His head tilted to the side and suddenly his boots were carrying him down the street.

One foot after the other and he now stood on the front porch — lazily staring at the door of the front house. It was silent for just a moment before someone shouted, like two people were having a screaming match trying to talk over one another.

His hand reached for the doorknob and instantaneously appeared in the threshold of the house.

Jessie and Pete were arguing about someone but a ceramic vase fell over and crashed on the ground, which only fueled the argument further.

"Rick?" Jessie called out to the man. Confusion etching across her face while Pete stood on the kitchen, both hands on his waist and sharing the same look of concern as his wife.

Rick's eyes flickered from Jessie to Pete's — his mind growing hazy from a mixture of adrenaline and anger. But it was no longer Jessie and Pete he was seeing — as if the scene changed completely in front of him and the room morphed into the Greene house.

Steven held Sienna by the side of her neck, his thumb curling across the trachea. His other hand was raised high in a tight fist with the intention of swinging on her.

"Steven!" Siennas piercing scream echoed throughout Rick's brain — her late fiancé name rattling around his skull.

Her face was contorted with fear and pain. As if she's been taking blow after blow for hours. The sight was horrendous and it flicked something in Rick's brain like a light switch.

Before Steven could land his blow, Rick dove straight into his body and tackled him to the ground.

Sienna fell back far behind them, her cries tearing at Rick's heart once he began punching Steven in the face repeatedly. Every single hit was directed towards his nose, his jaw, the cheek — anywhere available for Rick to abuse the way Steven did to Sienna.

Hot blood pumped through his system and the warpath he was unleashing on this very soul caused several hands to try to real him backwards.

Sienna's screams turned into Jessie, and Steven's body morphed into Pete's.

Everyone in Alexandria came running to try and peel him off of Pete before he could kill him. Michonne appeared fast, purposefully using a gun to smack against the side of his head and knock him unconscious.

I stirred around on what felt like a mattress — the sleepiness finally shaking off as my body began waking up after being unconscious.

I opened my eyes after blinking several times, reaching up to hold my head as it still pounded but less than it was before. I sighed heavily before using my elbow to slowly lift myself up from the bed, my eyes traveling around the room that was partly dim from candles being lit.

"Careful," a soft voice spoke up from a chair across the room.

I turned my head towards the brunette girl resting in a chair, a large notepad resting on her lap and a pencil in between her fingers. "I couldn't keep you awake long enough getting here, but your headache should wear off soon."

I licked my dry lips and rested my back against the pillows, my tired body not giving me a chance to fight my way out of bed. "Where am I?" I immediately asked, glancing towards the windows to see it was pitch black. "Is it dark already?"

"I tried to ask where you lived when I pulled you out, but you fell asleep before you got the chance to explain." I looked over at the girl tiredly and she picked up her notepad. "I brought you back to mine, hope that's alright. You're pretty cut up from all the glass, but that's minor compared to what happened to your head. Got knocked around out there — managed to put some stitches in to close you back up."

Subconsciously I reached for the one spot that ached the most, hissing almost immediately when my finger tips lightly pressed against the tender spot. It was wrapped and secured with a medical bandage, but the severity of it still caused me pain.

I pulled my hand away to check for blood, only a very faint crimson color staring back at me. I got lucky.

"Where is actually is yours?" I raised an eyebrow, wiping my fingers along my jeans. "What happened? Where's my gun?"

The brunette girl sighed gently, her sweet eyes making their way across the room toward mine again. "Right off 95, not far from the crash. And as far as I'm aware, I didn't see a weapon. Did get the chance to look." I turned my gaze away from the girl and looked around the room. It looked much like a loft, a home with an open bedroom and kitchen. Something you'd see out of a magazine. "You're safe," she then spoke softly. "I was able to get us out of there before more came."

"I don't know what happened," I briefly shook my head then placed my hands on the mattress, adjusting my body slowly to sit up further. "I was on my way to town and then—" I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. "Someone crashed into my car."

The girl placed her things down on the table and got up from the chair. I now watched as she made her way towards me with a water bottle, holding it out in my direction.

I glanced at it carefully until she let out a gentle laugh. "If I wanted you dead, I would've left you there." She shook the bottle gently. "Come on, drink up. It's time to take your medicine." I exhaled deeply and took the water as she grabbed a bottle of pills, pouring two into her palm. "This will help with the headache."

"You a doctor?" I asked before popping the medicine into my mouth and swallowing them afterwards with a sip of water.

"Graduated as a nurse from college."

"Lawyer," I held the bottle of water up. I don't know why I suddenly felt compelled to give her my background story but she nodded in response.

She kneeled down in front of me. "I need to change your bandage, you've been out for hours. Can't let it get infected." I nodded my head knowingly and slowly sat forward, allowing her to unwrap the wasted one and replace it with a new one.

"Thank you, for saving my life." I muttered, glancing up at her as she attended to my wound.

"Don't worry about it," she spoke. "I saw what happened. I was just on my way back here until I saw the accident, I couldn't leave without checking." She took a step backwards then held out her hand, "I'm Madison."

I shook her hand with my own, "Sienna." I then pulled the blankets back and she held her hands up with caution. "What are you doing? You'll want to stay in bed for a few more hours."

I shook my head quickly and tried to reach for my shoes that were sitting off to the side. "I can't, not here. I need to get back now."

Madison stepped in front of my direction towards my shoes before sitting down on the bed beside me. "You can't leave now. Not when you're like this. You don't even have a vehicle." I looked at the brunette and raised an eyebrow. "I can take you back to your place tomorrow morning." Her own eyebrows raised, watching me closely.

"Okay," I sighed in defeat. "But I am hungry — have any granola bars?"

Madison smiled gently as she got up from the bed, "I'll get you something."

I looked away from her figure as she walked towards the kitchen, my gaze turning towards the window beside the bed. I looked down into the street and saw several walkers walking about.

The loft had to be on top of a store or at least the last floor of an apartment complex.

When I looked towards the moon, all I could think about was Rick — praying he wasn't freaking out.

"Do you have any kids?" Madison was sitting back in her chair that was now pulled beside my bed, a glass bowl in our hands while we chowed down on some chicken noodle soup.

With everything that has happened, I could swear it's the best soup I've had in months, maybe even years.

"I have two," I smiled, eating a spoonful of noodles before looking up at the girl. "A boy named Carl, and a baby named Judith. She's just a few months old."

Madison smiled gently, her eyes drifting around my figure before pointing her spoon towards me. "Besides the head injury and your lack of sleep, you look great for a woman that just gave birth."

She turned her attention back to her soup, my finger tapping against the bowl as I sat there silently for a moment.

I didn't want to correct her. Didn't want to tell an entire story that was no longer important, something that was strictly for the past.

"You'd like her, she's energetic." Madison smiled. "What about you?" I then asked. "Have anyone waiting for you? Or are you waiting for anyone?"

She her head and placed the bowl down on a small table beside her. "No, it's just me. I lost someone special awhile back, so, I don't really have a plan anymore." She tucked her hands in between her thighs as she turned on her side in the chair, her head leaning back. "I just go wherever my heart tells me to."

I took one last bite of my soup then put it off to the side before adjusting the blanket over my body. "Well, my home — it's not too far," I started explaining, "maybe you can come back with me. I don't think they'd mind one more person."

Madison looked at me and smiled. "That's sweet of you. Let's worry about your head first, okay?" She grabbed the second blanket from off the bed and started to cover herself up. "Try to get some sleep, it's a few hours before sunrise. I'll change your bandages again then and I'll take you home."

I watched her get comfortable in her seat then slowly nodded my head before adjusting my position on the bed, getting comfortable enough to rest as I pulled the blanket closer to my chin.