⌜ chapter eleven ⌟

They have a gag in Miguel's mouth as they go back to where his friends are. They don't want him to talk to anybody when they get there. The doors open, and Daryl pushes him inside before they all follow.

Rick has the bag of guns over his shoulder, and they're all armed. Guillermo looks at him. "I see my guns, but they're not all in the bag." He says as he glances at MJ.

"That's because they aren't yours." Rick tells him. "I thought I mentioned that."

"Let's just shoot these fools right now, ese, alright?" Felipe says, and MJ then aims her gun at him. "Unload on their asses, ese."

"I don't think you fully​ appreciate the gravity of the situation." Guillermo says, looking between Rick and MJ.

"No, we're pretty clear." Rick says as he lowers his gun. He cuts the tape around Miguel's wrists and then pushes him forward. "You have your man. I want mine."

Guillermo looks at them as the others push the kid behind them. "I'm gonna chop up your boy. I'm gonna feed him to my dogs." He says. "They're the evilest, nastiest man-eating bitches you ever saw."

"I can guarantee you that's not true." MJ says, and he looks at her.

"I picked them up from Satan at a yard sale." He says,​ and she stifles a laugh. "I told you how it has to be. Are you woefully deaf?"

"No, my hearing's fine." She says as she takes a step forward. "You said come locked and loaded." She cocks her gun, and so do the men behind her. "Okay then. We're here." She aims her gun at his head. His side has their guns ready as well.

"Felipe!" An old woman calls as she makes her way forward. "Felipe!"

"Abuela, go back with the others. Now." He tells her as he holds his hand back.

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire." Daryl calls.

"Abuela, listen to your mijo, okay?" Guillermo says as he looks at her. "This is not the place for you right now."

"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing." She continues anyway, talking to Felipe, and it's obvious that English isn't her first language, she has a heavy accent. MJ lowers her gun as she looks at the woman. "He— He needs his asthma stuff. Carlito didn't find it. He needs his medicine."

"Felipe, go take care of it, okay?" Guillermo tells him. "And take your grandmother with you."

"Put your guns down." MJ tells her friends, and the woman looks at her.

"Who are you?" She asks. "Don't you hurt him. Felipe is a good boy. He have his trouble, but he pull himself together. We need him here." She tells her.

"¿Qué es este lugar?" She asks the old woman what this place is.

"La gente aquí está enferma. Nos cuidan, son buenos chicos." The people here are sick. They take care of us. They are good boys.

"¿Qué gente?" What people?

"Como yo." Like me.

MJ sighs as she looks at Guillermo. "You really are stupid, aren't you?" She shakes her head, and then looks back at the old woman. "Estamos buscando un hombre. Un chico asiático llamado Glenn." We're looking for a man. An Asian boy named Glenn.

"He's with Mr. Gilbert." She tells her. "Come, come. I show you."

"MJ?" Rick questions as she hands him her rifle.

The old woman reaches out to the younger girl with the dyed blonde hair, and she takes her hand. "It's okay." MJ tells them as she lets the woman lead her through the crowd.

"He needs his medicine." The woman says as Rick, Daryl, and T-Dog start to follow.

"Let 'em pass." Guillermo tells his men.

"You wanna tell us what's going on?" Rick asks as he moves closer to MJ. They're outside going up some stairs now.

"Glenn's fine." She says, still holding the woman's hand. "These guys are dumb, but they're not hurting anyone."

They end up in what looks like a hospital hallway, and Rick looks in one of the rooms that they pass. There's a worker helping an elderly woman.

"Abuela, por favor. Take me to him." Felipe says as he walks past them.

The woman lets go of MJ's hand and leads the way for Felipe. Rick takes off his hat as they continue down the hallway.

"They run a nursing home." MJ tells them, and he nods.

"I'm getting that." He says as he moves ahead of her.

MJ walks beside Daryl as they enter a large room. They all see Glenn standing with the group where Felipe's now helping an older black man breathe. He has an inhaler in his hand — he's holding it for Mr. Gilbert.

"Is he alright?" MJ asks, and Glenn looks at her.

"He had an asthma attack. Couldn't get his breath all of a sudden." He tells her.

"I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man." T says, and they look at him.

Glenn turns and they see three dogs in a little pink bed. They're Chihuahuas, though one looks like it might be part Pomeranian.

"Cutest little hellhounds I ever saw." MJ smiles as she walks over to them.

The white one that she thinks is part Pomeranian barks at her, but it quiets when she kneels down and slowly reaches her hand forward. It lets her pet it and then she pets the other two as well — another white one, with significantly less hair, and a black and brown one. They lay back down as she stands up straight with a smile on her face.

"Could I have a word with you?" Rick asks as he looks at Guillermo. "You're the dumbest son of a bitch I ever met. We walked in here ready to kill every last one of you."

The little black and brown Chihuahua jumps on MJ's leg, and she picks it up despite the pain in her side. She pets its head as she walks back over to her friends. "I think he likes me." She smiles.

"That makes one of us." Daryl says, and she kicks him. "Ow!" He glares at her, and she smiles back, still petting the dog.

T-Dog's shaking his head as Rick looks over at them. Glenn's trying not to laugh, he's thinking​ that living with these two is gonna be pretty entertaining.

The dog wants down, and MJ sets it back on its feet. He runs back over to his friends and lays down in the bed again. "I never got to have a dog." She says as she looks at them laying together, she wasn't really talking to anyone in particular.

Rick calls them over and they follow him and Guillermo out of the room. They all go somewhere so that they can talk privately, away from the elderly people.

"What about the rest of your crew?" Rick asks.

"The vatos trickle in to check on their parents, their grandparents." Guillermo says. "They see how things are and most decide to stay. It's a good thing too. We need the muscle. The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kind — plunderers, the kind that take by force."

"That's not who we are."

"How was I to know?" He asks. "My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage — appearances."

"Excuse me." MJ raises her eyebrows. "Daryl and I were attacked, Glenn was taken hostage. We were defending ourselves and that little punk was leverage, he was not a hostage." She corrects, and Daryl looks at her. "My side hurts like a bitch, by the way."

"Guess the world changed." T-Dog says from where he's sitting.

"No." Guillermo shakes his head. "It's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken. So we do what we can here. The vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathroom by themselves, so that's just a dream. Still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something. So we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut except for one entrance. The vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait. The people here, they all look to me now. I don't even know why."

"Because they can." Rick says before handing him the gun that he was carrying. He then gives him a few more.

"Hey, uh..." Guillermo looks at the blonde.

"MJ."

"MJ." He nods. "I'm sorry for your side, that you were hurt." He says, and she looks genuinely taken aback. She's not used to people feeling any remorse for the pain that they cause her and her family.

"It'll heal." She shakes her head as she looks away from him. Glenn and T-Dog exchange a confused look at her reaction to his apology.

—

"Admit it, you came back to Atlanta for the hat." Glenn says as they walk back toward where they left the car.

"Don't tell anybody." Rick jokes, and MJ lets out a light chuckle.

"Now we just gotta find you a razor for the scruff." She says, and he smirks as he glances over at her. He knows that she's referring to the comment she made when they were leaving after saying goodbye to Morgan and Duane.

Daryl looks at him annoyed. "You've given away half our guns and ammo."

"Not nearly half." Rick argues.

"For what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die momentarily anyhow?" He questions. "Seriously, how long you think they got?"

"How long do any of us have?" Glenn asks.

MJ stops walking. "Son of a bitch." She curses as the guys walk up behind her. They all look at the empty space where the moving truck should be.

"Oh my God."

"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl questions.

"We left it right there." Glenn says. "Who would take it?"

"Merle." Rick says, and MJ clenches her teeth.

"He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to the camp." Daryl says.

"Fan-freaking-tastic." She mutters as she starts walking again.

"We got plenty of time. You wanna tell us about your friend back there?" Daryl asks, and she keeps going, not saying a word.

"What are you talking about?" Glenn asks.

"Some guy showed up and she got into some weird argument with him about their families."

"I suggest you shut the hell up unless you want me to cut out your tongue." MJ calls over her shoulder, and they keep going.

They all keep up anything from a brisk walk to a half jog as they go. If they run, they'll wear themselves out. But if they walk, they won't make it back to camp fast enough.

It's already nightfall by the time that they make it back, but they hear gunshots before they're all the way at the camp. "Oh my God." Rick mutters.

"Jack." MJ takes off at a full on sprint, ignoring the excruciating pain shooting through her left side.

By the time they make it, the walkers have already killed a few of their people. MJ fires her rifle and kills one that's going toward the two blondes. Andrea's with her sister, who's dying on the ground. She was bitten.

"MJ!" Jack yells, and she whirls around to see a walker going after him and Jessica.

Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, and Glenn are all firing off shots behind her. She raises her gun and shoots the walker in front of Jack. It collapses, and he runs over to her. She tosses her rifle to Morales and pulls her handgun from her waistband. Jack hugs her, and she wraps one arm around him as she shoots at the walkers with her free hand. Jessica's behind her, pulling her back toward the RV.

The gunshots stop, and MJ looks around at everyone. She sees Rick with Lori and Carl, and others embracing their families. Glenn's freaking out as he looks around, his rifle still in his hand. Her eyes land on Daryl; he's looking around, making sure that there's no more of them around.

"Amy." Jess' voice is barely audible, but MJ turns her head. She sees Andrea crying over her sister's dead body. She sighs as she turns her head toward Jack's — his face is buried in her neck, and he's crying.

MJ puts her gun back in her waistband and she looks at Jessica. "Are you alright?" She asks, and the blonde beside her nods.

"Yeah." She breathes out. "I-I think so."

"I remember my dream now." Jim says, and she looks at him. "Why I dug the holes."

"Wha—" MJ shakes her head, not wanting to understand what he's talking about.

MJ's gaze lands on Daryl again, and he looks at her. She takes a deep breath as she hugs Jack a little tighter. Her free hand finds Jess', and the two girls cling to each other. MJ closes her eyes as she turns her head back toward Jack. She tries to tell him that everything's gonna be okay, but she's not sure that either of them actually believe it.

Lori follows her husband's gaze and her expression softens at the sight before them. It's something that hadn't occurred to her before. Jack — and now Jess — turn to MJ when things get tough and they need support, but MJ doesn't have that anymore — someone she can turn to. She stays strong for the people that she loves, she always has to be the strong one.

Lori had thought that there were possibly feelings there — between Rick and MJ, but now she sees the truth. MJ needs someone to turn to, and now that someone is Rick.