officerfriendlygrimes:

_{Maggie didn’t have long, he could tell from how rapid her breathing was, how her chest heaved up and down and she gasped for breath after each word she uttered. She wheezed every now and again, most probably hoping that her next breath wouldn’t be her last. The change was too quick, it happened all too fast. She didn’t have enough time.}

_{The mention of his wife’s death almost kills him - he hates talking about her, about how she had died. The mention of Lori made his eyes glaze over with tears. He hated to think Maggie was the reason she had died, because she wasn’t.}

_{“You did what you could. She would have died giving birth either way, there was nothing you could have done,” he keeps his eyes on her, finding it difficult to breathe himself now. His son had been the one to put her down, to stop her from turning. Maggie had let that happen, she hadn’t stopped him and done it herself, she couldn’t have - she’d already killed her. “You couldn’t have-”}

_{“You gave our group hope by bringing Judith into the world.” Now she was gone too.}

;– _{“You don’t know that. She could have lived.”}

_{Everyone could have lived if it weren’t for this stupid end of the world ordeal. She could have a life, not have to worry about losing the farm, or her family.Her dad and Annette would still be around. Shawn would. Otis and Patricia. Maybe Jimmy too. She always liked the kid.}

_{When the man mentions Judith’s name, it rings in her ears for a moment. The last she saw Judith, Mika and Lizzie and another little boy from A-Block had her in her carrier.}

_{But she never saw them get on the bus.}

_{She forces herself onto her knees, her joints locking and making it feel as if her bones were made of glass. She rests a hand on Rick’s shoulder, head tilted to the side,}

_{“…where is Judy, Rick?”}

officerfriendlygrimes:

_{When she sat up slightly, he aided her, he helped her do so. Rick looked to the bite, noticed it was looking even worse than it had done when she’d first found him. He had to look twice to make sure he wasn’t seeing what he was seeing - was her skin already starting to rot?}

_{He simply lowered his head, not bothering to say anything. He knew that if he did, it might trigger her anger even more.}

_{Maggie had every right to be angry, to hate the world for what it had done to her, hate herself for being so reckless and not looking left and right every now and again. Rick raises his head when he feels her stare and gazes back into her eyes, his own look a little more gentle than hers. The smell of blood makes him feel slightly sick.}

_{“Don’t ever say that. You’re something. You did so much good. You saved my son’s life, brought my wife to us. You kept the prison safe. You brought my daughter into this world-” he stopped at that, knowing it would be the thing to change her mind - hopefully.}

;– _{”Yeah, you wanna know what else I did?“}

_{Her breaths are becoming more rapid and labored, and she knows that the fever is most likely hitting her now because she looks down at her hands and sees the skin rotting off of them. But she ignores that and instead presses the heels of her palms into her eyes.}

_{She’s trembling at this point, becoming more antsy because she knows, she just knows that the end is coming soon. She can’t just see it, or feel it, but she acknowledges it. She felt weak and tired and just so let down.}

_{”–I might’ve brought Judy into this world,“ She swallows, knowing that she might regret the next few words that slip out of her mouth, "But I killed your wife in the process,” She feels sick now, not ‘walker fever’ sick but more of 'anxiety attack’ sick, “and made sure that Carl put her down. No kid should ever have to see that–”}

_{“–but it happened anyways.”}

officerfriendlygrimes:

_{The scoff signalled that she didn’t believe his words, found them to be lies. But she had done good, she had made it a lot further than most of the population. That was something she could hold on to; she hadn’t let the world defeat her. None of them would survive to the day the world was fixed because it never would be.}

_{In the end, being told they did good was hilarious. If they had done good, they would have survived for longer.}

_{Rick didn’t want to have to tell her that they’d all die in the end, that the walkers would take out their entire species. The last thing she needed was to be worried during her last moments. “You didn’t let the world take you out straight away, you fought back. That’s got to count for something,” he attempted to comfort her, to reassure her with words.}

_{However, Maggie had every right to be angry, she’d lost the war.}

;– _{His words only invoke a sudden burst of energy in her achy body, as she sits up. She knows not to scream at him, as much as she’d like to, but she raises her voice an octave as she lifts her arm to his eye-level, an angered expression on her face.}

_{“Look at what they did to me, Rick.”}

_{She stares him dead in the eye then, tears threatening to spill over once more. But she knows that this is her last stand, she knows that there won’t be any more wild surges of energy and she’ll be totally fine. They both knew that wasn’t the case. She shakes her injured arm in his face once more–}

_{“Look at me, Rick. I don’t even stand for nothin’ at this point–}

                                _{‘cause I am nothin’.”}

officerfriendlygrimes:

_{Rick holds onto that smile, much like her father’s before he was beheaded by the Governor. Smiling before death grabbed at them seemed to run in the Greene family. It was peaceful, it made it a little easier on him, knowing that she had smiled before she had allowed the virus to defeat her. He didn’t let go of her, he refused to let himself do so, he wanted her to know that he was there, that he wasn’t going to leave until it killed her.}

_{Hearing her mention how good of a man he was made him lower his head slowly. He wasn’t a good man, not like he used to be anyway. He was trying to redeem himself, to be the man he had been before all this had started. “No, I’m not. Not anymore,” he kept his head lowered, avoiding eye contact with the infected brunette. This wasn’t what he wanted to talk about before she died, it wasn’t about him, it never had been. “We saved him because he could have been saved. All of us there did that, not just me.”}

_{Rick missed Hershel, he missed the man advising him, telling him what to do and where to go when he was lost. Rick stares up at the sky, finding it difficult to hold back the tears that wanted to form in his eyes. Of all the people to fade away, he didn’t expect Maggie to be next.}

_{“Never be sorry,” he finally looked down to her, icy blue orbs staring into her own hazel ones. “You have nothing to be sorry for. You did what you could, you kept going, you didn’t stop. You did good.”}

;– _{She scoffs– or makes a sound that resembles a scoff– when he tells her she did good. At that moment, she felt like nothing except pathetic. That’s what she truly was. For fuck’s sake, she let a walker– something that she was taught to not come anywhere near her– come close to her.}

_{If that wasn’t the definition of screwed up, she didn’t know what was.}

_{“If me doin’ good was lettin’ one of ‘em bite me, heck,” she gives a brief shake of the head, brow furrowed as she feels another wave of pane shoot up from her arm and throughout her entire body, “I could'a been the best.”}

_{She pulled through all of this crap– no, all of this shit–}

– _{to be defeated and become nothing.}

_{do not}

officerfriendlygrimes:

_{When the tears began to flow, he knew this was the end, that it was game over for her. There was no coming back from the bite, not now the virus had fully spread across her body. It was bullshit, it was complete and utter bullshit, but there was nothing they could do to put a stop to it.}

_{“I know.”}

_{Rick continued to hold on to her, he didn’t let her go even when she attempted to prove a point. He would be there for it all, he would be there until she stopped breathing. And then when she did, he would end the process and make sure she didn’t come back as one of those things.}

_{He managed to get her down anyway, knowing she wouldn’t be able to stand for much longer. He glanced around, noticing it was rather peaceful, walkers didn’t bother lurking around them, they were alone. He sat with her, eyes pinned on her, feeling sympathy towards her. She’d come this far and she’d been so brave, she’d done everything she could and fought until the very end. He didn’t need to tell her that, she already knew.}

_{There was something he needed to know, just incase he ever found Glenn. “Is there anything you want me to tell Glenn?”}

;– _{{ When the former sheriff murmurs her husband’s name, she shakes her head quickly, a distraught expression is etched into her features and her eyes are wide and doe-like. She thinks that this is the quickest reaction she had to anything all day. }}

_{“Rick– Rick you can’t… you can’t tell him. That you found me like this. Don’t even mention that you ever saw me to begin with…”}

_{{ Maggie is begging now, which is something she never truly does. But the thought of Rick having to tell Glenn– possibly Beth– or any of the others kills her inside. It would make her feel like a failure more than anything. She’d vowed to find her family– and here she was, turning into some monster that her group killed for a living. }}

_{{ What an odd turn of events. }}

_{“Rick… please… I’m begging you.”}

officerfriendlygrimes:

_{The fever had hit. He could see it in her face, noticed the pearls of sweat that rolled down her forehead, her drowsy eyes and nearly limp body. It were almost like she was fighting to stand, to seem somewhat normal and not close to death. There was nothing he could do, the virus had spread past her arm, he could see it in her veins.}

_{Rick heard her out, listened to what she had to say. To him, none of it mattered, the only thing that really mattered was the fact he would be putting a bullet in her head soon.}

_{He owed that much to Hershel, he owed that much to Maggie. He refused to let her become the thing she so desperately despised, the thing that had taken the lives of so many people she cared about. He would have wanted the same, would have wanted someone to drive a knife into his head or allow a bullet to pass.}

_{The blood she smudges across her face makes his stomach turn. There was too much bloodshed, too much red in this world.}

_{Rick doesn’t utter another word and instead wanders over to her. She’s draining all her energy, wasting it when she’ll need it in her last dying moments. He placed an arm around her waist and slowly pulls her to the ground with him, hoping she won’t fight it. She knows what happens next, everyone does.} 

;– _{{ She lets out a hysteric laugh, trying to stop the tears that were probably flowing freely down her face then. It was such… such bullcrap. She lived through all this stuff, to be taken down by a tiny bite? Maggie couldn’t believe it. She was so careful, and precise–}}

_{“This is such bullshit.”}

_{{ The profanity sounds weird coming from her, considering that even if she let the word ‘ass’ slip out around her dad, he would blow a gasket and tell her to watch her mouth. It’s just another sickening reminder that she’d probably never be lectured by him again. }}

_{{ She shakes her head, damp brown curls dancing around the nape of her neck. The Greene daughter never truly believed that this could happen to her. Desperately, she was hoping that this was a dream, that she’d wake up next to Glenn and daddy and Beth would sit with her at breakfast. But that was enough to leave to her imagination, right? What were that chances of it ever happening again? }}

_{{ Maggie doesn’t bother saying it, but all she felt like was an old hunting dog getting ready to be put down by it’s owner. }}

officerfriendlygrimes:

_{Silence. The street was silent like always, walkers never really bothered them. That’s what Rick admired about the house they had chosen, they were safe here, for the time being.}

_{He wandered into the kitchen, knowing he wouldn’t hear Carl or Michonne move about the house because they had wandered out to scavenge a nearby store. He couldn’t go out yet, not when he could barely walk, when he was still bruised and battered. He stared down at the can of beans that Michonne had left on the side, she had told him to eat it, to at least try and eat something - he wasn’t hungry.}

_{Rick grabbed at the tin, ready to scoop up some beans into his hands. He decided against it and placed the can back on to the kitchen counter.}

_{Soon, he finds himself outside, moving through the woods that happened to be close to the house. He’d be back home before the others were. He glanced around, python by his side incase anything attempted to grab at him, he wasn’t entirely weak, not yet.}

_{That’s when he notices her, that’s when he spots another survivor. “Maggie?” He seems delighted at first, joyous that she’d survived and that he’d found her. That is until he notices her bloody arm and the bite hidden beneath red.}

_{He isn’t so joyous anymore.}

;– _{{ She takes a much needed breath, trying not to seem over eager about finding him. Of course, she was ecstatic, but she was certain that he wouldn’t want to be anywhere near her– especially if she was bitten. Maggie feels as though she should explain that part, at least. }}

_{“Rick, I… I was with Bob and Sasha… I left. I saw what direction you and Carl went in, and I…”}

_{{ She brings a free hand up to her face, trying to wipe the sweat and tears off even though she is absolutely certain she probably made it worse and swiped her blood down her right cheek, trying to recollect before she begins to speak again. }}

_{“I was alone, and I got cornered in a house. Killed the one comin’ towards me, but the one that just… popped out of nowhere…”}

_{{She raises her arm once more, trying to not exaggerate so much. She didn’t even feel sorry for herself at this point. Maggie made a mistake, she acknowledged that being cocky and going off alone was stupid. This was the work of God, punishing her obviously. }}

officerfriendlygrimes:

_{“Your dad let you go?” He was curious, the man didn’t seem like he agreed with much when they’d first arrived on the farm. He seemed isolated from the rest of the world, believed in his religion quite a bit.} 

;– _{{ Maggie gives him a disbelieving look. Hershel was a man of god, and he had been as long as she could remember. } “Honestly, Rick, do you think he would let me go to a place like that?”}

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_{Hooters. He’d never actually been, but he’d heard the guys down at the station talk about. “Heard of it, never been. Couple of guys would talk about it at work. Didn’t seem like a great place for a family meal.”} 

;– _{{ She makes a ‘pfft’ noise, glancing up at Rick for a moment. } “Imagine how I felt. I’m at that place… and I’m surrounded by guys… with all those girls there…? It was bad.”}