Secrets Untold. (Maggie x fem!reader)

Chapter 18: Reunited

It took me longer to get back to the highway than I thought, by the time I had gotten close, the sun had already risen. My injury made the journey hard, but I refused to just die like that. I was making it to the highway.

I knew I was close when I heard yelling and screaming. Though the thought passed my mind that it might be a different group, I held on to hope, and walked a bit faster, as fast as I could in my current condition, anyway.

I got to the treeline and swatted a few branches out my way, one small branch dug into my bullet wound, making me wince and stumble out the trees and onto the side of the highway.

I saw the group stood in a, well, group, by the cars. Their heads snapped to me when they heard the branches move and twigs snap beneath my feet. I made it.

I stumbled over the roadside barrier, the group running over to me.
"Y/n!" Maggie called, the first to reach me.
"Y/n, you made it." Rick said relived.
I nodded my head, trying to look at them, but my vision went blury.

The bright sky caused my head to ache. The people around me turned into a mess of blured images and colours, their voices turned into muffled mumbles. My head began to spin, it was like I was on a teacup ride. I closed my eyes tight.

I felt my body fall limp to the ground. I knew something, someone, had caught me in their arms but I couldn't tell who. I tried to talk, but my mouth wouldn't move. I tried to move, but my body was exhausted.

"She's exhausted, she's shutting down!"
"She's burning up! Dad, do something!"
"She's lost a lot of blood, move her to the car, now!"
"Will y/n be alright?"
"I don't know"

I felt muffled voices surrounding me and my body moving but I couldn't do anything. Eventually my eyes closed, I couldn't keep them open anymore...

I slowly opened my eyes, letting out a groan. I was on my back, in a car, it seemed. I tried to get up, but my hands were tied. I tried to get up again, but a sharp pain shot through my stomach.
"Ugh, son of a bitch" I winced.

I heard shuffling, then the car door opposite me opened, revealing Maggie. Her eyes were teary and her face tense.

"Hey, hey, don't move. You'll open your stitches." She scolded, walking into the car and sitting besides my legs.
"Stitches?"
She nodded her head, placing her palm on my forehead.
"Your fevers gone down, that's good."
I furrowed my brows.
"Mind helping me up?"
She shook her head, brushing some hair out of my face gently.
"You need to rest. Your body almost shut down from exhaustion"
"I'm fine. I'm not tired."

Maggie scoffed and shuffled a bit closer, she choked out a sob, a mad look on her face.

"I don't care if you feel fine, you're not. You're stupid if you think I'm gonna let you get up, in the state your in, and start walking around." She scolded, frustrated. She then began to rant.

"I told you! I told you not to go, but you didn't listen! You went and got shot! You almost died! Then, then, you decided it was a great idea to run about the woods all night, walkers chasing after you. Why!? You didn't need to! Do you have any idea how worried I was!?" She yelled.

I heard some footsteps approach and saw Hershel appear behind Maggie, and place his hands on her shoulders, pulling her out the car gently.

"That's enough Maggie. Y/n needs rest. Yelling won't solve anything."
Maggie let out a frustrated sigh and walked off.
"Sorry about that, y/n. Get some rest." Hershel said softly, then closed the door and left.

I was a bit frustrated that I was tied up and stuck in a car, but decided to take Hershel's advice and get some sleep.

When I woke up again, Hershel untied me and helped me out the car. The sky was dark and everyone was huddled round a campfire. Maggie stood once she noticed me and helped me sit down beside her, wrapping a blanket over me. Carol passed me a half full can of peaches. I nodded her a thanks.

I looked up at everyone after having a mouthful of peaches. I realised a few group members were missing.

"Where's Dale? Andrea?-"
Maggie rubbed my back and shook her head.
"A lot of the group...they didn't make it" Glenn said softly.
"Dale, Andrea, Jimmy, Patricia...Sofia" Rick said, his voice breaking. When he mentioned Sofia I quickly looked to Carol, I tried getting up to hug her but she shook her head.

"Are you sure? She's tough. She wouldn't.."
Glenn shook his head.
"We couldn't find her. Dead or alive but.."
"Ain't no way a little girl is surviving that" T-Dog said.
I shook my head.
"No. I don't believe it. She's smart. She'll be okay...she's alive...somewhere..."

I tried not to cry. I really tried. But losing Dale, not knowing where Sofia was...it hurt. Dale was like an uncle to me. Sofia was like a little sister. Sofia and I went through hell together to find her group, and now she's lost afain?Tears began to fall down my face, Maggie held me tightly.

Admittedly I knew her chance of survival was slim. But I hoped. I believed she was out there somewhere. She was a smart girl. A strong girl. I taught her to take care of herself. She had a knife of her own...if it came down to it...I'm sure she lived...no, she did. They hadn't found her, that's all. She was lost before and I found her. She lived then and she can live now. Sofia...stay safe...I'll find you again. I promise.

Everyone stayed silent for the rest of the night. We all watched the fire crackle, silently grieving. What were we going to do now?...

We travelled along a road in the woods for a few days. Our cars slowly ran out of gas, so we left some behind, using their remaining gas to fuel the cars we kept. We were running out of food, water and medical supplies. People were slowly losing hope of finding a safe place to stay.

We stopped the cars to take a rest. Rick proposed he'd scout ahead, see if he could find anything. Daryl offered to go with him, to hunt food on the way. I offered to go with them but instantly got denied. The very suggestion made Maggie furious and scowl at me, so I surrendered and stayed.

However, whilst no one was looking, I snuck away in the direction that Daryl and Rick had left in. I soon found some train tracks hidden in the trees and opted to follow them, knowing the two of them would do the same. After a few minutes of walking, I found them, staring out into a clearing.

They were staring at a prison filled with walkers. If walkers weren't outside in the courtyard, I would say it looked untouched.

I walked over to the two of them, making sure to alert them.
"Hey. Nice find." I called.
They quickly turned to me, recognising my voice.
"Y/n.." Rick breathed.
"Hell you doin' out here? We told you to stay" Daryl scolded.
"You know I don't do as I'm told."
He grunted, slinging his crossbow over his shoulder.

I walked towards them and got a better look of the prison. All the fences still held up keeping walkers both in and out.

"It could be a good shelter." Ricked said.
"How? It's filled with walkers" Daryl argued.
I pointed over to the fences.
"There's walkways. If we cut our way in, we could access the watchtowers, shoot the walkers in the yard down. Open the gate to let the group in." I suggested.
The two men nodded.
"How'd we cut the fence?" Asked Daryl.
"Dale always kept a toolbox didn't he?"

On our walk back, Rick had told me about what happened on the farm and what happened after I fainted at the highway. He explained that they weren't sure if I was going to live, since they had so little medical supplies and I had pushed myself over my limit and that's why they had tied me up, in case I died and turned. He explained that I had been out for two days before I woke up and sat with them at the campfire.

"Why?" I asked them.
"Why what?" Rick asked.
"Why help me? You could have left me on the highway. I wouldn't have held it against you."
The two men paused and looked at each other.
"I owe you my life." Rick said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
Daryl nodded at me.
"Yer family. Saved our asses back there. You did us a big favor, leading that horde away" Daryl said.
I nodded and smiled.
"I have your backs."
They nodded and we began to walk again.

When we got back to the group, we told them about the prison, but not before I got scolded by Maggie and Hershel. The group wasn't too happy about the plan of clearing out a courtyard filled with walkers on an empty stomach, but still, everyone was desperate for a safe place to stay. So we went to the prison.

We all stood outside of the fence, beside our cars. We looked into the courtyard full of walkers as Glenn ran up to the fence and cut a hole into it.

Let's hope our plan works...