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

30 days and the group was more than strong.

Our numbers at the prison have built over the weeks with saving others and gathering pigs for food with a little bit of farming on the side.

We had carrots, corn, tomatoes, watermelon, and so much more that was keeping us alive. Small groups of people would go out hunting for animals such as deer, rabbits, boars — anything we could come across to survive longer.

It's the most we've had since the farm and all I could think was how grateful I am to feed my family finally.

Today I was going on a run with part of the group while the rest stay back at the prison; including Rick. I havent spoken or shared a single glance with him in the past few days.

He's been avoiding me like a plague but I couldnt blame him for that.

Nobody knew what went down with us but they noticed the tension when we're in the same room together. I gave him pain even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. If I could take back what I said, I would — but part of me still felt like it was the right choice. I just hope this silence doesnt last for long.

"Hi Sienna!"

"Hello there, Judith!"

I smiled wide as I carried Judith on my hip through the basketball yard, her fingers grasping on to the rubber necklace resting on my chest that was meant for babies.

It was a gorgeous day out, with the sun raised high and the spirits of others being completely lifted. It didn't take long for everyone here to start getting along and adjusting to the new ways of life in a prison. For the most part, there weren't any complaints and we were always working on improving.

"Sienna, let's go!"

I rubbed Judith's back as I glanced over at who was in the mix of packing up the car for the run. Daryl was waving me over — I rolled my eyes while adjusting the small girl on my hip. "Keep your panties on, I'm comin'!"

Carl came up beside me and reached for his sister, "here, I'll take her."

I smiled down at him and passed her over before taking off the necklace then putting it around him; in which Judith immediately grabbed with a toothless smile. "Thanks Carl," I gently rubbed his back then rushed over towards the small group and started packing up one of the trucks with supplies for our run.

"Are you going to say goodbye?"

"Nope!"

I raised an eyebrow, watching my sister Beth walk away from her current boyfriend as Daryl suddenly appeared beside me. "It's like a damn romance novel," he muttered.

Beth had a new thing where she doesnt do goodbyes because she's worried that will be the last goodbye she ever has with someone. It was depressing, but we let her do her thing. We all had different ways of coping — I was all too familiar with self sabotage.

Daryl nudged my arm, "come on, let's go."

I nodded and followed behind as he mounted his bike and I took a seat right behind him. As I settled my hands onto Daryl's shoulders, he was the first to lead the cars out of the prison court and down the rocky road into the field until he came to a stop as Rick and Michonne stood by talking.

"Well, look who's back." Daryl gave Michonne a nod as he turned off the engine to his bike.

I avoided eye contact with Rick, of course, and removed my hands from Daryls shoulders as I reached out for Michonne. She smiled at me, sticking out her hand as well and let ours touch before we pulled our hands away again.

"Didn't find him." Michonne frowned — speaking of the governor.

She's been out for nights in search for him, seeing where he would be hiding. It was a good thing that he was gone, but that didnt mean he wouldnt randomly show up again whenever he pleases.

That was our reality that we were trying to face, but also trying to avoid at the same time. We were tired of still sleeping with one eye open, but there wasn't any other chance to relax until he was truly gone.

"Glad to see you in one piece." I smiled at her.

I made the mistake of letting my eyes wander as they fell onto Rick's. He was already sharing a glance with me, making me look away immediately.

"I'm thinking of looking over near Macon. It's worth a shot." Michonne continued.

"70 miles of walkers," Daryl shrugged. "You might run into a few unneighborly types. Is it?"

Michonne fell silent, giving Daryl the chance to turn to Rick. "I'm gonna go check out the Big Spot. The one I was talking about — just seeing."

Rick nodded and placed his hands on his hips now. "Yeah, I got to go out and check the snares. I don't want to lose whatever we catch to the walkers."

"I'll go." Michonne suggested.

I furrowed my eyebrows, turning my head in her direction quickly. "You just got back." Carl pointed out, as she turned to him with a smile, "I'll be back."

Daryl started his bike again, patting Rick's chest and started riding down the rocky road as Rick quickly followed to get the front gate. My hands found their way to Daryl's shoulders again as the front gate open.

Before I could officially lose sight of Rick, I turned my head and looked over at him as he stood by. As he turned — his gaze met mine and my heart ached immediately. The longing stare and the need to say more — but I never gave him the chance.

He shared a small smile before walking away.

That was the first kind gesture he's made towards me in a month.

"Army came in and put these fences up. Made it a place for the people to go." Daryl explained to Bob once we had stopped.

There was a tall fence blocking us from getting on the other side that was filled with army trucks, supplies, and hopefully food as well. "Last week when we spotted this place, there was a bunch of walkers behind this chain-link keeping out like a bunch of guard dogs." Michonne, Glenn, Tyreese, Zach, and Sasha stood by the cut opening of the fence that was covered in blood.

"So they all just left?" Bob glanced between Daryl and I.

"Give a listen." Sasha nodded.

"You drew 'em out." Michonne looked over at Sasha as her hand rested on her hip.

Sasha smiled proudly. "Put a boom box out there three days ago."

"Hooked it up to two car batteries." Glenn added.

I looked between the group then the area behind the fence, pulling my knife from the boot and taking it out of its pocket. "Alright, let's make a sweep." Daryl spoke as he was the first to enter through the ripped fence. "Make sure it's safe. Grab what you can. We'll come back tomorrow with more people."

I stayed beside Michonne as we started walking through the camp, stepping into the big green tents for a look-out on anything useful.

"Of course there's nothing," I mumbled, kicking random objects that lay on the ground.

"As useless as a tooth-pick nowadays." Michonne snickered, tucking her sword back into its sheath that rested on her back.

The both of us walked up to Daryl as he sat on an edge in front of the window, using his elbow to hit against the glass. "Give it a minute," Daryl commented with his crossbow in hand.

"We cant just walk in?" Zach questioned.

"I raised an eyebrow and looked over at the boy. "Not unless you want to be zombie bait."

"Why not? We can make it quick." He shrugged his shoulders casually. "I doubt there's many in there."

I smiled, sarcastically at Beth's boyfriend, offering a single nod. "Yeah, and hell is just a sauna."

Zach paused his lips — mentally accepting defeat before turning to Daryl with a nod, "okay I think I got it."

Michonne raised an eyebrow, "got what?"

Zach made his way over and sat next to Daryl with his gun resting on his lap. "I've been trying to guess what Daryl did before the turn."

Daryl rolled his eyes, "he's been trying to guess for, like, six weeks." He spoke out to Michonne and I. "Yeah, im pacing myself." Michonne and I shared a glance as we chuckled.

Zach lifted his finger in the air as he looked over at Daryl. "One shot a day?" He asked.

"Alright, shoot."

The teenager smirked, "well, the way you are at the prison, you being on the council, you're able to track, you're helping people, but you're still being kind of — surly." I looked over at the boy with my eyebrows raised. "Big swing here —"
Zach paused for a moment then nodded. "Homicide cop."

Michonne broke out into a fit of laughter as my hand made its way to my face, pinching the bridge of my nose with a soft shake of my head.

"Whats so funny?" Daryl snapped.

Michonne shook her head, her arm leaning against the wall of the store as a wide smile rested on her lips. "Nothing. It makes perfect sense." She snickered.

"Actually, the mans right." Daryl defended himself. "Undercover."

Zach looked over at Daryl, shocked by his reaction. He clearly wasnt expecting to be correct. "Wait, really?" Daryl looked over at Zach, not saying a word. Zach's eyebrows furrowed as he studied Daryls reaction. "Come on, really?"

Daryl nodded, "I don't like to talk about it 'cause it was a lot of heavy shit, you know?"

Zach's face lifted but then shortly fell after a single heartbeat. "Okay. I'll just keep guessing, I guess."

Daryl nodded, "yeah, you keep doing that."

Within the next few moments, a few walkers came up to the window, scratching and growling at the glass as they watched us.

"We gonna do this, Detective?" I smirked.

Daryl nudged my arm with his elbow, playfully rolling his eyes. "Shut up." I followed behind him and Michonne, taking down the few walkers that came across us.

"Alright, we go in, stay in formation for the sweep. After that, you all know what you're supposed to look for. Any questions?" Sasha spoke, looking around the group in a proud manner as Daryl was the first to enter.

"Was there ever a time that you weren't the boss of me?" Tyreese turned to his sister.

"You had a few years before I was born." She smiled brightly at him.

I walked inside after Sasha and Tyreese, grabbing a cart and started walking down aisles. I placed batteries into the cart, a few flash-lights, rope, and some toilet paper. As I turned down a different aisle, I came to a stop when I saw pads and tampons. Without hesitation, I started grabbing boxes and bags, tossing them in the cart.

"How many do you need?" Glenn appeared beside me, bag of chips in his grasp, munching down as quietly as possible.

I turned to him, "I don't think you've noticed how many women are in the prison."

"Not when I have Maggie."

I shook my head and softly shoved him away, earning a gentle snicker from the boy. "Shut up, condom boy."

He opened his mouth wide to defend himself, giving me a quick glimpse of the chewed food in his mouth before we simultaneously turned at the sound of a loud crash.

We immediately ran towards the source and I yanked my knife out for preparation. "Is everything alright?" I panted.

Two shelving's of wine were tipped over, glass everywhere with wine covering the floor. "Help me pull this up, Bob's stuck underneath." Daryl ordered.

Myself, Glenn, Daryl, and Tyreese started to help lift up the shelving off of Bob, standing them straight up.

As we went to grab the second shelving, we came to a stop when the ceiling just above us started to cave in and a walker caught in wire hung in the air. Slowly, we each took a glance at one another as if we were thinking the same thing.

Glenn cleared his throat and nodded his head, "We should go, right now."

"Not yet. Bob is still stuck underneath." Tyreese spoke up, reaching for the second shelving until we were stopped again in our tracks.

One by one walkers fell from the ceiling, collapsing onto the floor. Hole's were forming above us as they kept on dropping.

Without hesitation I pulled out my hand gun and I shot the walker that was hanging above us in the head.

"Sienna, no!" Tyreese called out.

But I ignored his protest, spinning around and shooting down two walkers from behind. "Screw the knives!" I called out, shooting down another walker as more kept falling from the ceiling.

"Where's Bob!?" I heard Zach call out.

I looked around frantically as I kept pinning down walkers until I remembered Bob was still stuck under the shelving. "Over here, hurry!" I shouted out as Zach and Daryl came running over.

Zach, by himself, lifting the shelving up while Daryl yanked Bob out from under. The ceiling above us was caving in quickly, making me look up to see a helicopter about ready to fall in.

"Come on, let's go!" I shouted, reaching for Zach but a walker caught his leg, taking a large bite into it.

The younger boy let out a scream before falling onto the ground, the walker now climbing on top of his body and biting into his neck. "Zach!" I called out in a panic as Glenn came up and grabbed my arm forcefully pulling me back. We ran out of the place just in time as the helicopter fell through the ceiling.

So much for goodbyes.