Shambles- The Walking Dead [Alden x Maggie] [1/2]

42- To fail

"This is an emergency." He simply replied, his bottom lip still quivered slightly.

"We have it under control, see?" She let him look back over his shoulder. "The wall has been temporarily patched and that was the last wave of them."

She was speaking the truth. Tara, Ezekiel and Michonne picked off the last couple ones that straggled behind.

"Is everyone accounted for?" Yumiko asked as she scanned around. Most people did the same, to check and see if their friends and family were still standing after the fight.

"No." Hershel said with a little voice, renewed tears streaming down his face. "Mom, Alden. I saw him fall. I-I-I tried to help him but I don't know–"

"Where?" She asked immediately, cutting him off mid sentence.

Hershel pointed back towards where the breach in the wall had been, near the fallen tree. He wanted to walk towards where he'd last seen him, but Maggie stopped him.

"You're not going there." She said, trying her best to hide her own fear. She knew what they might find and she wouldn't let Hershel see such a thing if she could put a stop to it.

Tara and Michonne walked up to them. They were covered in blood, guts and brain matter and Tara dragged the back of her spear over the ground behind her.

"Where's Alden?" She asked. "We got split up a while ago."

"He–" Maggie began but she had to stop immediately to recollect herself. "He's missing."

Judith ran towards Michonne and the two of them shared a hug before Michonne turned herself to Hershel. " Hey, Hershel, why don't you come inside with me and Jude?" She offered kindly.

"Go." Maggie told him softly. And he followed them back inside solemnly. Maggie stood back up and straightened her back before turning herself to Tara, who still looked shocked. "Hershel said he saw him fall near the breach."

Tara dropped the spear on the ground and ran back toward where she had fought side to side with Alden, where she had last seen him. Maggie and Yumiko ran with her.

There was a small mount of walkers there and one of the walkers clearly had Alden's spear run through its head. Tara and Yumiko rolled off the walker on top of the mount that had the side of his head blown out. Lying beneath that walker was definitively Alden, judging from the short trimmed hair and slightly shabby beard. Maggie fell to her knees beside him and shook his shoulders. There was so much blood all over him that there was no way of telling whether he was wounded or not.

"Alden?" She shook him a little harsher.

His fingers twitched and he groaned softly. His entire body stirred and twitched. Maggie's breathing stocked; this couldn't be happening. His eyes shot open and eyes stared up at her.

They weren't the usual murky gray eyes all walkers shared. It was Alden's familiar brown eyes staring back at her and she collapsed right into this chest, heaving heavy sobs. One arm wrapped around her waist and the other ran up into her hair.

"Not dead." He told her. She backed up and he sat up only to be slapped. "Ow, what was that for?" He asked as he rubbed the sore spot on his upper arm.

"Scaring the crap out of Hershel and me." She said, standing up.

"Yeah, I think I saw him out here, when I fell over." He said as Tara helped him back to his feet.

"You did." Maggie nodded. "He shot that walker that was on top of you."

"How the hell did you even manage to fall over?" Tara asked.

"I tripped." He replied with a shrug. "I think I fell asleep afterwards?" He scratched the back of his head because he couldn't quite believe it himself.