Clary, being close to the former Commanded of Solaris, had seen enough of Leon's plans to know which routes were better than others. Her eyes scanned the map for familiar names, one shining out at her. Immediately, she pointed to it. "Then we could do Shelton. It's a bit of a longer trip but it'll be safer."
As Clary looked up, Sasha raised an eyebrow in question as she hadn't thought of the road before. "Solaris cleared it so we'd have visibility all around when making the trek to Hilltop. Obviously I haven't used that route in a while but hopefully it'll be clear enough. They wouldn't be able to catch us off guard there." Looking at the road, Sasha nodded. "Then Shelton it is." Sasha declared as Rick approached, Sasha turning the map to be seen by both him and Abraham before pointing out the new route they had discovered. "Let's go."
Within moments, the RV roared to life before continuing on the road. Clary leaned against a counter in the RV, her vision directed through the front window, looking for signs of Saviors blocking their paths. Watching as the trees became blurs, Clary felt a presence besides her but, as a hand brushed her own, she knew immediately it was Carl. "How is she?" Clary asked, not looking to Carl for a few moments before finally turning to him. "She's still asleep but I left Aaron there to watch over her. What's the plan?" Carl asked, causing the girl to let out a sharp breath of air. "The next route we got is clearer than the others. I just hope those assholes—" she didn't get to finish what she planned to say as she heard a sigh. "Bitch nuts." Clary's focus moved away from Carl as she averted her eyes to the scene ahead of them.
The girl was surprised to see a new set of Saviors, standing either on the road or on top of cars, blocking their path. "We makin' our stand?" Sasha asked, causing Clary to rest her hand on the gun at her side while the other rested on the handle of her blade for the familiar comfort. Before Rick could say anything, she was surprised to hear Carl's voice. "Yeah, we end it." Clary looked to Carl's figure as he stood by his father, his one eye squinted as he stared down the men in front of them. Rick shook his head, speaking. "No, not now. They've been waiting. They're ready. With one of us behind the wheel, that six on sixteen. We're gonna play it our way, how we want it. Right?" Rick looked back to Carl, who nodded in agreement before the man turned to Clary. The girl nodded, "We'll find another route. We take them on now, it might be our last stand. Let's not make it that."
With her words, Rick nodded before getting Abraham to back away slowly. As they reversed, a Savior followed them before aiming his gun to the sky and firing off rounds. As they moved, Clary moved towards the more covered walkway to keep the Angel of Death out of sight. As they drove past, she looked around to see Carl's eye meeting hers. Instead of going to him, she made her way back to Maggie with muddled thoughts on the darkness she had seen in the boys face, one that was too similar to what she had seen everyday in the mirror.
•
•
•
"Those weren't the same men who blocked the road the first time. Clary?"
Clary moved forward, joining Abraham, Rick and Sasha towards the front of the RV before speaking. "I knew Negan had numbers, but not this many. He must be using everyone he's got to block the roads." Abraham shook his head. "It's just same outfit, different soldiers. Let's hope he only had the numbers for— mother dick." Clary looked out of the window to see walkers chained across the road in a twisted version of red rover. Rick shook his head as he saw the sight before them. "We can't go through it. Can't risk the RV. Abraham, stay behind the wheel just in case. Clary—" the girl sighed softly. "Hang back, out of sight, I got it. Just make it quick." Rick gave her a nod before turning towards the door and exiting.
As the others followed, Carl hung back to allow himself one look to the girl. He wouldn't admit that he had a bad feeling about what they were walking into, wanting to memorize as much as he could of her face, but she didn't let him. "Be careful," was all the girl said, causing the boy to nod. "You, too." With a nod of agreement from Clary, Carl made his way out the door to follow the others.
As the door shut, Clary made her way towards the back of the RV to kneel by Maggie's bedside. She was surprised that the woman was awake, looking to her through half-opened eyes. "What's going on?" Maggie questioned the girl, to which she shook her head before giving the woman a reassuring look. "Nothing you need to worry about, just a bump in the road." Clary grabbed a towel she had been using, dousing it in water before dabbing it along Maggie's forehead to try and cool her down.
Before Clary could continue to care for her, the woman's hand clasped around her wrist, causing her to stop. "Clary, if— if anything happens to me, I want you to know that I love you so much and—" Clary was quick to cut her off. "Nothing will happen to you. Nothing will happen to the baby. We are going to be—" Before Clary could finish assuring Maggie, gunfire rang out. Clary was quick to bring up her gun, moving from Maggie's side to the front of the RV to see hidden shooters firing down at her people.
Opening a window slightly, she stuck the gun through but kept out of sight before she shot. She was able to hit two men while the others piled in. As Sasha slid into the drivers seat, she started up the RV as Rick split up the walker red rover with his hatchet. He rushed into the RV, shutting the door before the group sped off. Clary looked at him, his gaze on his hands to which she followed to see a lock of Michonne's hair.
A pit grew in her stomach as she realized what such a thing meant. Her breath caught in her throat, forcing Rick to look up at the girl as she shook her head. "No—" Rick clenched his jaw, seeing the worry in her eyes. "All we know is that he has Michonne and Daryl. The walkers had their stuff—" Clary shook her head. "Then he has Glenn. He was with Michonne trying to find Daryl. If they don't have him then he— he's dead." Rick's eyes softened as he saw the girl take a step back, using the chair within the RV to steady herself.
It was silent for a moment as everyone watched the girl close her eyes, taking a deep breath. They grew surprised when she looked up, the fear that had consumed her face just moments ago replaced with determination. "They were firing at your feet. They blocked the road, probably to see how many people you'd take out to clear it in order to get the number of people inside. But they didn't try to stop us." The girl's eyes shot up to meet Rick's with an intensity he had never seen. "We're going exactly where they want us to."
Before anyone could say anything, a high pitched whine cut everyone's attention from the girl to the RV. Sasha's eyebrows furrowed together before she looked back. "What's that sound?" Eugene was quick to quell her worry. "Undercarriage could've caught a bullet. Or could be transmission. It could be nothing."
As Abraham took over for Sasha driving, she made her way to the map Eugene set up as Clary and Rick looked over their shoulders. As they scanned the map, Sasha pointed at an area before looking back. "Barton Road takes us north, but they gotta know we wanna go north." Eugene was quick to point out another road. "Meadows. Could take us east a piece but we can get back on track on Mayhew." Sasha looked unsure. "We're down to a third of a tank. We can top off at the next stop, but no refills after that," Sasha declared before looking back to Rick, who looked at Clary. The girl nodded as she knew it was the only way to get to where they needed to go.
"She's burning up," Aaron declared as he approached the group, causing both Rick and Clary's face to fall. The man, with everything piling on top of him, brought his hand to the bridge of his nose before pinching it. Clary could tell he was stressed, especially having been in his shoes many times with the Saviors. She brought up a hand, placing it on his arm which caused him to meet her gaze. "Go check on her, I'll take care of things up here." Rick, giving her a grateful look, nodded before turning to head towards Maggie.
However, her assurance seemed for nothing as the brakes squeaked to a stop. Abraham called out for the man, to which Rick made his way over. Hanging back, Clary looked through the front of the RV to see even more Saviors than had previously been blocking them. "Go back." Rick demanded, causing Abraham to clench his jaw. "Where?" Clary's own jaw set as she realized Abraham was right.
Every single road they had hit, the Saviors had been ready for them. It was in such an instant that she didn't feel so protected by the persona the Saviors had declared her to be. Instead, she realized that maybe she was just a girl trying to make sure she didn't lose another mother.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Thank you guys so much for 8k reads! You guys are absolutely insane for giving my work so much attention. You all absolutely amaze me every day with how much love and support you all give to myself and my story. I can never thank you guys enough!
Much love! <3
YOU ARE READING
virago|c.g.|
Fanfiction(n.) a strong, brave, or warlike woman; a woman who demonstrates exemplary and heroic qualities C⃠G⃠ - Book 1 of the Virago Series C⃠G⃠ -all rights reserved to AMC and those involved in the making of The Walking Dead. My character and her story is...
