The Walking Dead - Male Reader x Hailee Steinfeld OC - Already Dead

CHAPTER 24 - NOW

Y/N was stood beside Michonne, Rosita and Maggie. Fortunately, Michonne and her group that was aiding with the herd, a minority of them made it back. Y/N was right. The noise the community made defending themselves, it took half the herd back east, towards the community. They were in big danger. And, it was just a matter of time before the herd get to Alexandria. It was a time bomb.

"The town was overrun. He split off with Nicholas. He had this idea that... if he lit a fire, it would stop the walkers from coming here. I tried to go instead. I wanted to. The fire never got lit. We had to keep going. I'm sorry. He said if he got stuck, he would find a way to send us a signal." Michonne explained.

"A signal?" Maggie asked, worry over her husband's welfare.

"I'm gonna find him." Y/N mumbled walking towards the gate.

Michonne called out, "It's too dangerous out -"

"Open the gate!" A voice shouted from outside, followed by snarls of the dead. "Open the gate!"

Y/N sprinted towards the gate and unlocked it, sliding it open. Rick was sprinting towards the community, hundreds of walkers behind him and even some were able to end up infront.

Y/N took a step outside and cleared the three walkers blocking the gate. Using his knife, one walker fell with a thud and Y/N then kicked the other two back onto the ground, stomping on their heads with two firm attacks.

Rick was only just able to make it into the community before the gate was slammed shut. Rick panted and wiped the sweat off his brow.

Hundreds of walkers filled the street for miles, the snarls and growls got the attention of even more stragglers.

It had been around twenty minutes since Rick's arrival. Walkers swarmed around the walls, slamming and wacking against the metal.

Y/N, Tyler, Tobin and Michonne fortified one of the walls with extra support beams that were laying around for the south wall that was being expanded upon. Deanna and Rick had come to the decision Y/N and Tyler were in charge of fortifying the community, taking any of the civilians to aid.

"Tobin! Lay that one flat on it's back, it'll give the bottom more stability. Morgan, help Michonne with that beam." Y/N ordered, slamming a beam into place with the help of Tyler.

People gathered by the walls, determined to help out in the community's attempt of survival, or in worry.

"You can hear it. Some of you saw it." Rick began, rubbing his stubble. "They got back here, half of them. Still enough to surround us 20 deep. Look, I know you're scared. You haven't seen anything like this. You haven't been through anything like this. But we're safe for now. The panel the truck hit seems intact. Y/N and Tyler reinforced it just in case. Either way, the wall's gonna hold together. Can you? The others, they're gonna be back. Daryl, Abraham, Sasha, Lucy, they have vehicles. They're gonna lead 'em away, just like the others. And Glenn and Nicholas are gonna walk back through the front gate after. They know what they're doing and we know what we need to do. We keep noise to a minimum. Pull our blinds at night. Even better, keep the lights out. We'll try to make this place as quiet as a graveyard, see if they move on." Rick told the crowd of people.

Aaron then stepped forward, "The quarry broke open and those walkers were heading this way. All of them. The plan that Rick put into place stopped that from happening. He got half of them away. I was out there recruiting with Daryl. I wanted to try to get into a cannery and scavenge, and Daryl wanted to keep looking for people. We did what I wanted... and we wound up in a trap set up by those people. And I lost my pack. They must've followed our tracks. Those people who attacked us... they found their way back here because of me." Aaron confessed.