We've been on the road for a day and a half now, the RV broke down and we didn't have the tools to fix it, Rick says it wouldn't matter since we were about a day away from D.C. Jamie has been getting impatient and I don't blame her one bit, Rick made the trip sound more whimsical than it actually is.
"I'm tired and my feet hurt!" Jamie squeaked angrily, I was in front of her for a few feet so I turned back to look at her. She was standing there with her arms crossed on her chest in an angry manner. Her hair stuck to her face, it was terribly hot out.
"Hon, we've got to keep walking." I told her, she stayed still, not moving. I turned my head to see if the group was still walking, they were. I went over to her to talk with her.
"Hey, we made it this far, we've only got-"
I was about to give her a pep talk when I heard rustling in the bushes by the edge of the woods. I stood up and stood in front of Jamie, my gun pointing in the direction of where the rustling occurred.
"Come out!" I hollered to whoever it was. I looked to my side quickly to see if the group was coming over but they were far enough to not hear me. I began to panic, I was about to shout over to them to take cover but the rustling grew louder and before I knew it, I saw a large animal leap from the bushes. I couldn't even tell what it was because it knocked me on my back. It was growling and trying to bite me as I held it off, I struggled to keep the rabid thing off.
"Jamie- Jamie, run to the group and make sure you tell them to bring their guns-" I order her, she was crying.
"Rick! Rick! We need help!" I heard her desperate cries of help, she wasn't moving though, and the dog was growing more and more interested in Jamie by the second. I knew it was eventually going to try and get her,
"JAMIE, GO GET THE GROUP." I shouted, she needed to get out of here. She cried louder, I thought she was going to leave but the dog started to run towards her, before it could attack her, I tackled it on the ground. It snapped and growled at me as I held it by the neck with my arms. I was trying to strangle it but I then heard a gun shot and blood splattered on my face. The dog stopped flailing. I got up and turned around to see who helped me, it was Sasha, she had her gun up, her eye looking through the scope still. She then slowly lowered the gun once she knew that I was okay. The rest of the group was there too, Rick emerged from the rest when I started walking towards them. He watched me in awe, like he was truly scared that I was hurt, and I felt a little warm knowing that he cared still. I went over to Sasha first and hugged her,
"Thank you so much..." I say while hugging her, she hugged back with no response, I couldn't blame her- she just lost Tyreese and Bob. After sincerely thanking her, I separated from her and reconnected with Sena, Derek and Luke.
"She was behind us all, even you." Sena says about Sasha. Sasha has been isolating herself lately, and her isolation saved my ass.
"Well, I'll have to bake her a cake one day." I mutter, Sena caught what I said and told me that I sucked at cooking and that I would be punishing Sasha more than thanking her. I laughed, agreeing that I was a terrible cook. But all light heartedness ended when Rick came up from behind Sena and Derek, he was holding Jamie. She was tired. All of her pent up anger towards him for hurting me vanished once he offered to carry her around. I couldn't help but smile a little, knowing that's exactly what happened.
"Hey, could I get a word with max alone?" Rick asks Sena and the boys. Sena glanced over at me to see how I felt, I gave her a look saying that I was alright. She led the guys away, leaving Rick and I alone to talk.
I admired how he slowly walked up to me, making sure not to wake Jamie who was now sleeping. His tan, muscular arms wrapped around her to keep her in place. His dirty, brown shirt needed to be replaced and his overgrown beard needed to be shaved, but we weren't a pair anymore so I couldn't tell him anything.
"Why were you so far behind us?" He asked me, it wasn't like an interrogation, just out of pure concern.
"Jamie was tired, you guys kept walking." I say
He looked at Jamie, he then took his eyes off of her and looked down as if he had something hard to say.
"I think this hateful relationship we have with each other should change..." He admits into my eyes. I didn't dare look away, I couldn't. I didn't know what he meant when he said this.
"Rick, we weren't good together." I say. Once I said those words, I regretted them and it felt like vomit when saying them. But it was too late to take them back now, so I watched as he dealt with the cards.
He sighed, tilted his head to the side and said, "we should at least pretend to like each other... For Jamie." He says. I furrowed my eyebrows at him,
"What?" He asked
"You want us to act like friends because of Jamie?" I asked, not understanding.
"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" He asks me
I huffed, I bit my tongue to prevent form lashing out on him, I wanted Jamie to stay asleep.
"We aren't her parents, Rick. We aren't divorced, we don't share custody of Jamie... Jamie belongs with me." I say to him quietly. He now furrows his eyebrows, not liking what I said.
"You said that I could help you raise her." He hissed,
"When we were together, Rick. Now that we're separated, I don't need you. Jamie doesn't need you." I explained. I was being a bit harsh but he was pissing me off, we weren't sharing Jamie like the last piece of pizza.
"You have no idea how to raise a kid, max." He gets frustrated, I then took Jamie from him,
"That's right, and I need to learn somehow." I say smartly about Jamie. I watched him as he gave me an angry look while I walked away. But little did he know that I wasn't only upset about the thing with Jamie, I was also upset that he only wanted to mend our relationship only for Jamie. Not for any other reason.