6 | endurance

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6 | ENDURANCE

Roxanne pushed Kali's stroller back and forth to calm the fussy, now 7 month old, baby

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Roxanne pushed Kali's stroller back and forth to calm the fussy, now 7 month old, baby. Roxanne groaned, Kali was never this fussy, and it was getting annoying fast. Suddenly, some commotion erupted by the wall.

Roxanne quickly plucked Kali from her spot in the stroller and jogged over to the small gathering. "What's going on, Tara?" Roxanne shouted, for Tara was on the elevated platform. Rox kept a fair distance away from the center of the commotion by the wall, fearing that something dangerous was happening.

"Spencer's dangling from a wire over the walkers to get out of Alexandria." Tara shouted frantically down at her.

"Why the hell would he do that?" Rox knitted her brows together, pestilentially.

Tara shrugged and diverted her attention back to the hanging Spencer. Roxanne rapidly placed Kali down on the ground and climbed up another guard post, the one closest to the beginning of Spencer's wire. She eyed the way the grappling hook was secured and noticed it was loose.

Before she could spurt out any words about the hook, the wire dropped a little lower and he hung only by his hands. "Rick!" Roxanne screamed for him in terror at the sight.

Rick quickly climbed up the platform Roxanne was on, and began shouting— along with the others — Spencer's name.

"Go! Keep moving, hurry!" Rick shouted at him. Roxanne rubbed her temples, a headache was coming on.

Abruptly, Spencer's wire broke and he was flung down to the ground, amongst the walkers. "No!" Roxanne screamed, her heart dropped in fear.

Roxanne couldn't keep watching, she needed to do something. She hopped over the wall and landed forcefully in a squatting position on the ground.

"Rox, no!" She heard Rick scream from above. She quickly regained balance and pulled out her gun, shooting at the walkers in front on Spencer. Some walkers crowded around her, but she quickly riddled herself of them. Nevertheless, more walkers gathered around. Spence finally managed to escape by climbing the wire again, however, he left Roxanne behind.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Roxanne shouted, not daring to look at the people above to get distracted.

Roxanne began to run in the opposite direction, and circled around back to where the wire was hanging. "Climb up, hurry!" was the only thing she could decipher from the constant screaming. Rox grabbed onto the wire and began climbing, despite that, a quick-footed walker had caught up with her and yanked her leg down— causing her to fall to the ground.

"Shit." She cursed under her breath as she frantically reached for her knife on her belt. The walker threw itself on her, and another piled on and another. Rick and the other people above could no longer see her face, she was underneath the large pile of walkers. Rick shouted her name in distress, hoping that she would fight her way out. His blood boiled at the fact that Spencer had gotten her into this mess, however, he was too distracted to make sure Roxanne was okay at the moment. His nerves were tense and he pulled out his gun and shot multiple walkers in the head on the top of the pile, the others joining in and killing many of the walkers that were visible on the pile.

Roxanne blocked their heads with her forearm and turned her face away from their snapping mouths. Their rotting faces were too close for her liking, and that's when she thought she was going to die. Her life flashed before her eyes— but she stopped losing hope, because then she remembered Kali, and she was not going to leave Kali behind with people who dangle themselves over crowds of walkers (...Spencer.)

Roxanne screamed and her heart raced, pushing the heavy pile of walkers away from her face. She managed to grab the knife and swiftly killed the walkers nearest to her face. The walkers above those that she killed were already dead, as the people of Alexandria had killed them. Roxanne let out a huff of relief, but continued to push on. She shoved the zombies off of her body and got on her knees, breathing for fresh air.

The people of Alexandria released sounds of relief once they saw she survived the event. Roxanne looked down to the ground and relived that moment, allowing tears to run down her cheeks. She could've been dead.

Roxanne quickly wiped away her tears and climbed the thin rope, and once she planted her two small feet on the platform, she collapsed onto the ground— breaking down into tears. Her brain was still working through the trauma she had just endured. Rick was quick to wrap his arms around her, rubbing circles on her back.

"It's okay, you're safe now." Rick comforted, embracing her a little tighter. She was shaking, her entire body was still paralyzed from the stress she had suffered from.

Rick was shaking from anger when he let go of Roxanne. "You almost died for these people! What the hell, Roxanne!" He scolded her with his eyes, Roxanne continued to stare at the ground with wide eyes.

"I lost a damn shoe, crap." Spencer whined.

Roxanne broke her trance from the floor and slowly and ominously turned her head over to him. "You almost died. I almost died for you. And your complaining about losing a shoe?!" Roxanne shot up from her position on the ground and threw herself at Spencer, but Rick held her back from attacking him.

"What was that?" Rick spoke slowly, eyeing Spencer angrily, all while he still held Roxanne back from beating the shit out of him.

"I was trying to help! I wanted to get to a car and draw them away." Spencer defended himself.

"You self-entitled, spoiled, little bi—" Rox began, but was interrupted.

"You ever make a climb like that before?" Rick asked. Spencer looked away in shame, knowing that he hadn't.

"You want to help? Don't make us coming running to save you. You got an idea, you come to me." Rick spat.

* * *

Roxanne sat on the couch, blankly staring at Kali crawl around the room and tug and the curtains and furniture. Normally, Roxanne would've scolded her and directed her back to her toys, but not now. Now, she was simply enjoying the fact that she and Kali were alive— and together.

A knock on her door disrupted Roxanne's relaxed state. "Come in." She nonchalantly ordered.

It was Deanna, Roxanne could tell without even looking. Deanna came around and sat next to her. "I just wanted to say thank you, for saving my son." She smile, gratefully.

"You're welcome." Roxanne said, without any emotion expressed.

"Why'd you do it?" Deanna asked after a full silent minute.

Roxanne shrugged. "Because he's your son. And your the leader of Alexandria."

Deanna shook her head. "I don't think so."

Roxanne turned her head so that her blank eyes would meet Deanna's kind ones. "Because, if it were my daughter— I would've wanted someone to do something, even if she did something as stupid as that."

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