"GET OFF OF me!" Maisie was fighting for her life right now; a man was sitting on top of her back while her stomach was being pushed into the ground. She was screaming for her life, she didn't care if any walkers were around.

Glenn was too busy shooting at the walkers coming for him to notice what was happening with Maisie. Rick and Hershel were also trying to get rid of more people who shot at them. None of them were paying attention to Maisie even though her screams of pain were loud.

The man was shooting the walkers coming for him and Maisie, he ended up covering the brunette's mouth which muffled her cries.

"Shut the fuck up!" He shouted.

"Fuck you!" Maisie spat. She used all of the strength she had left to turn her bruised body around and punch the man in the face.

It didn't go well for Maisie because the man used the back of his gun to hit Maisie on the side of her face. But before he could flip her back over onto her stomach, the sound of something getting stabbed into flesh was heard and blood dripped onto Maisie's face and into her hair. The body atop her fell limp with an arrow sticking out of his head. She pushed the body off of her and looked up to see Daryl who held his hand out for her to grab.

"Thanks," Maisie says, grabbing his hand while he pulls her up and onto her feet. Daryl was staring at the cut on Maisie's cheekbone while it dripped with blood.

"Don' mention it." Daryl pulls out a bandanna and lightly presses it onto Maisie's cheek causing her to grab the bandanna while he bent over to retrieve his arrow. Maisie grabbed the gun the man stole from her and put it back into her waistband.

"What even happened?" Daryl asked while he reloaded his crossbow. Maisie stared at his arms for a second, she forgot what the question was until he looked up at her with a confused look.

"Couple a' ass-"

Maisie got interrupted by a gunshot going off, almost hitting her in the head. Daryl grabbed Maisie by her wrist and dragged her behind a wall, slightly looking over his shoulder to see who shot at them.

A bunch of shouting began to happen. Maisie pushed past Daryl and looked up to the roof where a boy who looked like a teenager was. His group of friends were shouting at him to jump off. Maisie watched closely as the boy jumped off the roof and landed on a garbage. He screamed as his whole group jumped into the car and drove away.

"He took that quote "if your friends jump off a cliff, would you?" too seriously," Maisie mumbled, immediately running over to the boy who was screaming bloody murder and who also had a fence sticking out of his leg.

Maisie saw the rest of the group surrounding him while Glenn started to shoot at the walkers coming their way. Maisie stood by his side, shooting the walkers as the others tried to get the boy's leg off of the fence.

Everyone's words were a blur. The only thing Maisie heard was the boy's screams and the growling of the walkers. The gunshots were loud, but the screaming of pain was louder. Maisie was almost out of ammo, shooting every walker that even took a step. Maisie heard flesh get ripped apart and an arm grabbed her. She turned around and saw Rick rushing to the car, holding that boy they saw. He was passed out. Hershel, and Glenn ran to the car with Rick while Daryl pulled Maisie to his motorcycle.

The engine of the car and motorcycle started and as soon as Maisie jumped onto the bike and got a firm grip on Daryl, he began to drive. The wind was blowing her hair back as the car behind her was heard. The growls of the walkers were everywhere, no escape.

*

The sun was bright and shining in Maisie's eyes. They had to make a stop for the night but now they were at the farmhouse. Maisie jumped off the motorcycle and hugged Maggie after Maggie got shrugged off by Glenn.

Maisie almost cried in Maggie's arms, they were warm and comforting and made Maisie feel safe. She loved Maggie with her life, but now she needed to see Beth, Jimmy, and Patricia.

"Hey, little brother." Maisie smiled, giving Jimmy a quick hug as the boy held a smile on his face. Maisie backed away from the hug with Jimmy, seeing his face twist with confusion as he stared at the teenage boy in the car. She didn't give him an answer, just a quick shrug before hugging Patricia.

After pulling away from the hug with Patricia, Maisie got tackled by Reaper. She hugged the dog tighter than she hugged anyone else, a breath she didn't know she was holding fell from her lips. Maisie kissed Reaper's nose before she ran inside the house to see Beth.

When Maisie entered the warm bedroom, she saw Beth just staring at Hershel who was by her side. Maisie walked to the opposite side of the bed and grabbed Beth's hand, rubbing circles on her hand. Beth slowly turned her head to Maisie which caused a smile to spread to her lips. Hershel kissed Beth's forehead before standing to his feet and exiting the room, probably going to help fix Randall.

Maisie stared at Beth's face, admiring her features and her pretty hair. Maisie used to put Beth's hair in braids while she walked around with Disney princess shirts and plastic tiaras. Maisie missed those days. When it was just Beth, Maisie, Maggie, Shawn, Wyatt, and Evangeline. All of those memories came flooding in, even the bad ones.

"Sorry for bein' gone so long, I'm here now." Maisie apologized to the girl in front of her, but she didn't reply. Maisie sighed, standing up and walking into the dining room where everyone was.

Maisie walked in at the same time Hershel did. He had blood all over his hands as he swiftly wiped it away with blue rags. Maisie stood beside Maggie, her arms firmly crossed with Reaper sitting by her feet.

"I repaired his calf as best as I could, but he'll probably have nerve damage," Hershel announces as he goes to stand beside Rick who watched his every move. "He won't be on his feet for at least a week," He adds. Maisie studied his facial expression, he was worried. Not for the boy but for his family and their safety.

"When he is, we give him a canteen, take him out to the main road, and send him on his way," Rick says, deciding for everyone. Maisie looked around, some faces disagreed. Specifically Shane. Shane seemed to always disagree with Rick.

Maisie looked over to the screen door opening and saw Daryl. They made eye contact but Daryl didn't look away so Maisie did. Reaper walked over to Daryl and circled his feet before sitting back beside Maisie.

"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the walkers?" Andrea questions, and she also disagreed. It seems as if she was always agreeing with Shane now, Maisie knew something was going on between them. But she didn't really care, she cared about the fact her dog just walked away from her to sit by Daryl.

"He'll have a fighting chance."

"Another chance he'll have is finding his group and telling them about where we are." Maisie finally speaks, all eyes shifting to her.

"He's not a threat, he was blindfolded the whole way here." Rick says as he squints his eyes at Maisie.

"He almost shot 'er in the face." Daryl steps up, walking beside Maisie with Reaper right at his feet.

"I think he might be a threat, right?" Maisie turns her body to Daryl, her tone sarcastic as Daryl mumbles a 'right' causing her to turn herself back towards the others.

"Not a threat." Shane mumbles to himself, also disagreeing with Rick, "How many of 'em were there? You kill four of their men, you took one of 'em hostage, but they just ain't gonna come lookin' for 'im?"

"They left him for dead." Rick says through his teeth, "No one is looking." Rick seemed to be set in stone about keeping this kid alive, he is a good man. That's how Maisie viewed it at least.

"We should still post a guard," T-Dog speaks up, looking around Maisie saw a few people nod in agreement.

"I don't mind takin' that job." Maisie looked at Rick who shrugged his shoulders.

"He's out cold right now, and will be for hours." Hershel was speaking more towards Maisie, giving her some information before she went to watch over the kid.

"You know what? I'm gonna go get him some flowers and candy." Shane scoffs as he begins walking towards the exit of the farmhouse, "Look at this, folks- we back in fantasyland."

Hershel has been waiting to talk to Shane, so he and Maisie followed after him. Maisie was following just in case Shane wanted to say or do something that Maisie wasn't okay with. She would protect her family with her life, nothing will get in the way of that. Nothing.

"You know, we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet. Let me make this perfectly clear, once and for all- this is my farm. Now I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both- do us all a favor- keep your mouth shut." Hershel tried to be as calm as he could, and Maisie was surprised that Shane didn't reply.

Shane gave everyone a look before rubbing his head and walking out of the farmhouse. Maisie turned to Hershel and patted his back, her facial expression proud as Hershel gave her a smile and a sigh of relief.

"Look," Rick walked over to the two, "we're not gonna do anything about it today. Let's just cool off." Rick looked around at everyone, seeing if they agreed and Maisie watched as Andrea followed in Shane's footsteps. "Maisie, feel free to watch over Randall if it makes you feel safer."

"Yes, sir." Maisie nods, walking towards the room where Randall was last put as her dog finally follows after.

*

Maisie was sitting on the armchair beside Beth's bed, half asleep. She hasn't slept in a while. She's either taking watch or her mind is awake which causes her to not be able to rest. Her mind was finally slowing down, her thoughts were slowly fading away.

Then Lori loudly walked into the room.

Maisie slightly jumped, lifting her head from the chair and placing her feet on the floor instead of on her chest. She noticed Lori apologetically looking at her but Maisie smiled softly which caused Lori to let out a small breath. Lori put her hand on Maisie's shoulder before placing Beth's food down on the nightstand.

Beth started sitting up, her skin was pale and she looked sad. Maisie wished she could do something about it, but she couldn't. If only Hershel saw the dead as the dead, everything would've been fine. Not fully fine- but fine.

"Hey, Maisie. Why don't you go get somethin' to eat? Me and Maggie made extras for you." Lori offers. Maisie could tell she wanted to talk to Beth alone, so she didn't argue.

"Not that hungry." Maisie stood up before exiting the house to find her dog who was definitely with Daryl at his camp which was further away from everyone else.

The sun landed on Maisie's skin which caused her to slightly glow due to the sweat on her body. She walked towards Daryl's, she saw the outline of him in his tent with her dog beside him. He was roughly petting Reaper which caused the dog to softly bite his fingers.

The weather was making Maisie feel like she was gonna pass out. She was making everything hard on herself, not eating or sleeping. Only doing things that would hurt her even more. She felt weak.

"My dog loves you more than me." Maisie finally made it to Daryl's camp, she watched as Reaper exited the tent and sat right in front of her with a tilt of his head.

"I can see tha'," Daryl says, walking out of his tent and looking at Maisie. He noticed how exhausted she looked. Her eyes were red and slightly swollen, and she seemed more sad. It was obvious she hadn't been sleeping, he knew she was avoiding it because he hadn't been sleeping much either.

"Have ya been sleepin'?" Daryl asks after examining her face. He wanted to make sure he was reading her correctly, he didn't wanna assume she just looked bad because he knew that wasn't the case.

"That's a rude thing to say." Maisie jerked her head back as she acted offended. Whatever Daryl says would never offend her, no one could offend her. Maisie was confident at times, and she also didn't need to look good in an apocalyptic world. Some dead people looked worse than her.

Daryl scoffs, looking at the dog on the ground who was just lying down before looking back up at Maisie who was staring at her dog.

"Why did you move your camp back here? I almost died trying to walk here." Maisie says and Daryl couldn't tell if she was joking or not. It looked like she almost did, Maisie looked like she was on the verge of falling asleep. Maybe Daryl was exaggerating about how she looked, she just looked tired.

Daryl didn't get the chance to reply because Lori ran over and interrupted him, "Maisie, I need you to come with me now."

Maisie turned around, she was fully awake now. Lori's tone was full of worry and fear. No sign of tiredness in Maisie's eyes as she looked at Lori in confusion, "Why what-"

"It's about Beth." Lori didn't get to explain the full thing before Maisie immediately started running toward the farmhouse. Something had been going on with Beth, and Maisie didn't want anything to happen to her. Reaper followed Maisie, though he was way quicker than her because once Maisie started running, he was basically at the farmhouse already.

As soon as Maisie got inside the farmhouse and into the room Beth was in, Maggie was already talking to her. Beth looked careless, with not one emotion in her eye as Maggie just looked angry. Maisie didn't know what was happening, so she didn't know what to feel yet. Maisie heard the door close behind her so she turned around to see Lori closed it, but she wasn't in the room.

"Are you crazy? What if Dad finds out?" Maggie questions as she paces around the room, her voice echoing through the bedroom.

"What's he gonna do? Kill me for committing suicide?" Beth scoffs out a small laugh, a smile on her face as Maisie raises her eyebrows in shock.

Maggie freezes in her place which happened to be right beside Maisie before walking towards the bed and sitting beside Beth, "Stop bein' such a brat. He'd die. So would I. Maisie too. This isn't just about you. We all lost mom."

"We'll lose each other and I couldn't stand that," Beth speaks softly, her voice always seemed to be soft. Maisie rubbed her face in disbelief, pushing her hair behind her ears before sitting on the armchair beside the bed.

"So you give up?" Maggie asks, but then it becomes silent. Beth just stares at Maggie, her eyes shifting to Maisie for a slit second before right back to Maggie.

Beth nods her head and that's when Maggie had enough. Maggie stood up and started yelling, Beth would occasionally yell back but it was mainly just Maggie. Maisie was getting a headache from the shouting, she couldn't even think straight at the moment.

The shouting continued, Maisie would try and tell Maggie to calm down but she wouldn't. She yelled over Maisie's words as Beth tried to help Maisie, but Maggie was just angry. She had to let it out, Maisie understood. But what she didn't understand was her taking it out on Beth.

Maggie sighed, cutting herself off before she said something dumb as she sat down on the bed and leaned over. Maisie rubbed her forehead in pain as it throbbed, she couldn't do this right now. She got why Beth wanted to do it, but she couldn't. Maisie couldn't tell her to not do it, it was Beth's choice. But she just hoped Beth picked the correct one.

"Mom would be ashamed to learn she raised such a coward." Maggie leaned back, her voice soft again as she looked at Beth who also looked tired. "What about dad, Beth?"

"He's clueless. He had us waitin' for a cure." Beth replies.

"He knows he was wrong." Maggie was on the verge of tears, her eyes watering as she stared at Beth in disbelief.

"When has Dad ever admitted he was wrong? He's just tellin' Rick's group what they wanna hear." Beth says with a small shake of her head. She looked at Maisie who was just staring at her with watery eyes.

"And Jimmy?"

"We went out for three months and now I'm married to him?"

"And Maisie? Me? You could do that to us? I can't take another funeral." Maisie hated how Maggie kept bringing herself up, she was supposed to guide Beth somehow, not tell her not to kill herself because she would be sad about it.

"You can't avoid it." Beth cries, "What are we waitin' for? We should all do it." Maisie looked up from the ground and snapped her head up to look at Beth.

"What?" Maggie asks in disbelief, glancing at Maisie before turning back to Beth.

"At the same time. All three of us. It's hard to do it. No one wants to but-" Maisie didn't hear anything but Beth's words, Maggie's voice wasn't processing in Maisie's brain as Beth spoke over her, "We can do it so it's peaceful, easy. It's our choice, and then it would be over. Or we'll be forced to do it when the farm and this house are overrun. No one can protect us."

Maisie couldn't believe the words exiting Beth's mouth, but she didn't know what to think about it. She was really thinking over her words and she felt crazy for doing it.

"Who, Glenn" Beth continued, "I heard what happened. Rick will save his family, and the others too. We're alone. You, you, me, Patrica, with only dad and Jimmy against a whole world of those things. I don't wanna be gutted. I wanna go in this bed tonight with both of you beside me."

Maisie didn't know what to think. She didn't know if she wanted to stay or go. If she wanted to be alone or dead. If she wanted to see her brother or stay with a group of unknown people who probably hate her. She didn't know what to think.

"Maisie, I know you want to." Beth's words cause the brunette to look at her, "I can see it in your eyes. You haven't been sleeping or eating. You've been thinkin'. Please."

Maisie just looked at her. Nothing was on her mind anymore. Her eyes didn't have any emotion, neither did her face. She didn't realize the tears that were falling from her eyes. Maisie instead stood up and walked out of the bedroom and to the upstairs bathroom. She closed and locked the door behind her, looking in the mirror to see her reflection. She wasn't happy with the way she looked, she didn't feel as confident as she did before.

She didn't know what to think.

-not proofread... SORRY GUYS