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

When Michonne returned yesterday by herself, she informed us that Merle had actually let her go. There was a small exchange of heart between them both — that had Merle changed his mind about her.

I was surprised, we all were.

Merle wasn't the type to easily forgive and forget but something she said must've had him think differently. It was the reason she was with us again now.

But not everything was as good as we thought it was. A few hours later did Daryl return, eyes bloodshot red and his heart completely broken from what he discovered. I was the first to embrace him in a hug, concerned for his well being as we've never seen him in this state of mind.

When he was able to collect his thoughts, he told us how he found his brother as a walker and had to put him down.

Merle was the only blood relative that Daryl had left.

I sat on my bed while packing my duffle bag full of clothes and extra ammo for my rifle. I pulled the hand gun from its holster and checked the bullets to make sure it was fully loaded before clipping it back together and tucking it back into its holster.

I looked up from my bag and stared at the concrete walls that surrounded me. Rick's plan was to send out Hershel, Beth, Carl and Judith out into the woods near by while the rest of us prepare for the governors people to arrive.

Everyone was supposed to pack their things and get it into the car for the looks that we had left the prison.

The whole idea was to make the governor think we had left before we preform an attack by surprise, pushing them back with gun fire and walkers as bait.

He was coming to take down the prison with the urge to kill everyone here. We were just as ready to fight back.

As I turned back to my bag and closed the zipper, I heard footsteps coming in close to my cell and I immediately stood up on my feet.

The curtain was pushed back and Rick gently smiled at me. "All set?"

I nodded my head, my eyes drifting down his figure where he had his hand placed over his gun like normally. I grabbed the strap of my duffle bag and walked towards him, a frown slowly forming on my face.

"What if this doesn't work?" I barely whispered while making eye contact with Rick.

"It'll work," he reassured me before looking down at his own two feet. "Do you think im making the right call?"

The last time he was asking for someone's opinion was Lori. It was different for her, and for Rick to ask her that question, she almost felt under pressured.

I took a deep breath and adjusted the strap over my shoulder as I raised my eyebrows curiously. "You're asking for my opinion?"

Rick shifted on his feet and lifted his head to look at me. "I—I guess I am," his blue eyes poured into mine and I nodded my head.

My opinion about keeping the prison safe and as our home didn't change. "Yeah, I think you're making the right decision. You're keeping us safe — alive."

"You mean that?"

I stifled a laugh, "yeah I mean that. I wouldnt lie to you about something like this."

Rick nodded his head, his eyes shifting around the cell block until they met mine again. His reached out and his fingers lightly brushed a strand of hair off my shoulder. My breathing almost stopped when I felt his fingers brush against my neck, my eyes slowly drifting downwards as I spoke.

"Im proud of you—, you know? I can see you're always trying your hardest. It's not easy trying to be the leader and I'm sorry if I've ever made that difficult for you."

I now met his gaze with a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips while he shook his head. "You don't make it harder for me. It's easier with you." He pinched the bridge of his nose, silence surrounding us like he was mentally debating with a smile still lingering on his lips. "You know, you never fight against my ideas or make me feel awful about the choices I make. When you were angry with me about Michonne, I think I was more scared of you than I ever was of Lori."

The mention of his late wife was not something I was expecting but his smile didn't drop and I assumed he was beginning to feel better about mentioning her at times.

"Glad i'm easily intimidating," I smirked teasingly. "Comes with a lot of emotional baggage."

He chuckled. "Very funny." He stepped out of the cell and allowed me to walk out with my things.

I bit my bottom lip as I walked out into the yard, his touch still lingering against my skin and his words still swimming into my heart. When I walked up to Beth, I handed her my duffle bag with a sigh. "Here darling," I smiled lightly then rubbed her back soothingly. "It won't be long," I reassured her.

Glenn, and Maggie were dressed in the guards uniform — head to toe — for protection when they came out into the yard to meet with everyone else.

Glenn tossed me my own gear and I caught it quickly as he placed his helmet over his head. "Get dressed, making sure to get completely covered." I nodded, pulling my weapons off my body and setting them onto a table beside me where I stood.

As I started covering my body with armor starting from my legs — up, the last piece of protection was the helmet I was going to wear to shield my head and face.

Maggie and Glenn were as well ready to get into position as Beth, Hershel, and Carl got into the car. I looked over at Rick and gave him a smile which he returned before getting on the perch with Maggie while Glenn stayed on ground level.

One by one trucks rolled up into the courtyard, tires being blown as they roll over the spiked wires nailed into the field.

Guns were popping off one by one as they began to shoot at the prison. One of the men held up a rocket-launcher, shooting at each guard tower. The men on the back of the trucks shot at the walkers that managed to get into the courtyard after being left untended.

When they were down, the back of the trucks were opened and both men and women jumped out with weapons, following behind one truck that drove up the dirt path and smashed through the front gate that opened up to the prison.

The people made their way through the basketball area and made a path for the truck. A man used a claw to hook against the front cell door blocking them between the steps into cell-block C. When the truck backed up, the cell door was broken off and dragged onto the ground as a group headed inside.

Maggie and I were well hidden, clutching onto our guns and waiting for the perfect moment to jump out. Minutes upon minutes passed by until the siren from inside the prison started to sound and that was the signal we needed to bring on the fight to the fleeing people from inside the prison.

When the cell-block doors burst open, Maggie, Glenn, and I jumped out from our hiding spots and started shooting at the governors people's feet to scare them off.

Some screamed and yelped from the sudden surprise, running back to the courtyard to their cars. I kept my finger on the trigger and kept my eyes glued towards the gate, watching as they all ran like roaches being caught by daylight.

When they finally made it to their cars, they got into the back of the trucks and kept hidden as they started to pull away one by one.

Once the cars were gone, the shooting stopped and everyone came out of the prison.

The three of us ran down from the top and into the basketball court where the rest started to gather around. "We did it!" Maggie cheered, giving me a high-five before I pulled the helmet off of my face.

"We should go after them. We should finish it." Michonne, her sword in hand, standing between both Rick and Daryl.

"It's is finished. Didn't you see them hightail it out of here?" Maggie spoke, looking over at everyone.

"They could regroup." I commented, looking over at my sister. "We can't take the chance. He's not gonna stop."

Carol, now beside us, chimed in as well. "They're right. We can't keep living like this."

"So we take the fight back to Woodbury? We barely made it back last time." Maggie defended.

Daryl was shifting on his feet, holding his crossbow in hand, and shook his head. "I don't care."

Rick let out a sigh and nodded. "Yeah. Let's check on the others." He then ordered, jogging back inside the cell-block as everyone followed behind.

Hershel, Beth, and Carl with Judith finally entered the prison as I started to undress myself from the armor on my body. With an elastic, I pulled my hair back into a small pony-tail.

"We're going after them," Rick spoke up while making his way towards me, Glenn, and Maggie. "We'll get this over with."

I instantly nodded, pulling the strap of my rifle from my chest to hold it physically in my hands. "Done." Rick looked over at me and nodded before leading us outside.

Daryl was pulling up his bike as Michonne started to pack one of the cars. I opened the back door of the car and tucked my rifle in. "Rick, we're not going. We need to stay here and protect the prison in case he comes back. We'll hold him off until you guys come back." I looked over at Glenn as Maggie took a stance right beside him.

I nodded my head in understanding, pulling my sister in for a tight hug. "I'll be right back," I whispered softly to Maggie before pressing a kiss on her temple. When we pulled away, we shared a smile for one another.

"I thought you weren't about killing people?" My sister then raised an eyebrow curiously.

I thought about it for a moment — remembered everything that happened on the farm, Randall, and all the other people we've encountered since then.

I thought about Steven and Lori. How the weight of their deaths still loomed over my heart — no matter how hard I fought to keep the memories tucked away.

"I'm not about killing good people," I decided to say. "But i'm also not going to allow the bad kind of people destroy everything good that's left in the world." I shook my head, my gaze wandering towards Rick who was already watching me intently. "We can't let them get away with this. We need to put our foot down before they try walking over us again."

"There's always going to be bad people in the world, S," Maggie tilted her head.

I nodded knowingly. "So we take it day by day."

"Let's get going," Rick called out as he was getting into the driver side of the vehicle.

I turned away from my family and quickly climbed into the back seat, shutting the door behind me then sharing one last glance with my sister before Rick could pull away.