"Now, we're gonna work this out right now, and it's going to go our way," the woman said, static hissing.

While the talk between them deepened, I tried to look away, but her voice kept creeping on. I knew who she was. Her name was Paula and she was a spunky and fearless redhead that showed little to no mercy at all with anyone.

"Hm," her hum through the talkie seemed teased. "I see that you have another person there with you. The girl with the dark hair. She looks familiar."

That's when everyone turned towards me in surprise that I had just now been spotted. Daryl quickly ran over to me and seemed to have sheltered me from being victimized.

"She's one of us," Rick told the woman through the talkie. "You don't know her."

"But we do, though," Paula claimed, countering him. "And we need her."

I gulped as I looked up at Daryl in pleading question. I don't know what she meant by that and, in all honesty, I didn't want to know, either. She's one crazy bitch that I didn't want to get mixed up in.

"You need her?" Rick asked, his voice hoarse. "What for? She is no use to you."

"Yes, she is," Paula ached on. "She's a nurse and we need one right now. I want her to come out in the woods where we'll meet her at, but nobody follows her or we'll see and we'll kill you all. Her included, after we're done with her."

As if on cue, we all gulped as I lowered my weapon and began to nearly hyperventilate. I had an idea and I'm not sure if Rick would roll with it or not. So, aloud, I announced to the woods: "I don't remember who I am! I hit my head on a rock and ended up with them weeks ago! I don't know what I did before this and I surely don't remember how to nurse somebody back to health!"

Rick turned to me and nodded, a good sign. I could easily use that excuse, that I had hit my head on a rock and they had taken me in before I could completely bleed out. Unfortunately, I had lost my memory. They can easily recognize my face, but not my mind.

"Did you hear all of that?" Rick asked the woman.

"I did," she said, which meant she was pretty close. "She's from the Hilltop. I remember." Shit... "That's where she's from and where you should take her back to. She has a brother there, too, I believe. They might be missing her."

Damn, she knew a little too much about me. Paula continued, "Before all of this, she was a nurse and she could help us. We need her. Ask her if she remembers anything about that."

I could clearly hear her as Rick turned to me, playing the game that Paula had put us in. So, to keep up the act, I shook my head and Rick immediately told her: "She doesn't remember. We found her a couple weeks back when we were out and about. She was bleeding from the head from hitting a rock. We rushed her to a place to treat her at. She survived, but her memory did not."

Good job, Rick! I wanted to say to him, but couldn't at the moment. Though, he was going along with this story so smoothly. I took a chance and he followed along nicely.

"Then, she's no use at all to us now," Paula scoffed, actually believing us. "From here, we could take her out..."

Before anything could happen, Daryl suddenly began to circle around me in a way to protect me from them. I was panting, hyperventilating, and believing that I should've just stayed behind, after all. Daryl could die protecting me today, but I wouldn't let that happen, though.

"Don't!" Rick exclaimed, nervously. "She's one of us now, despite where she had come from before." To be honest, I couldn't agree more with Rick, which made me feel welcomed now more than ever.

As Paula and Rick kept on talking, Daryl finally took a stance right in front of me with his weapon raised, ready to go. For some reason, I felt the need to touch him, so I did. I leaned forward, placing my head on his back, and wrapping my arms around his waist.

Then, before I could gather what happened next, I heard Paula say: "We can't kill her, anyway. She's D's favorite." Damn you, Dwight!

"I don't know who D is, but you can't kill her," Rick grittily told Paula. "So, why don't we make that deal now, hm?"

"Perfect," Paula agreed, seemingly on-board now. "The deal is that you give us the girl and, with time, we'll make another deal. She might not remember now, but we'll make her. Hand her over."

"No," I announced, shaking my head frantically and pushing myself off of Daryl. "I can't. I don't remember anything."

"Now, Tess," Paula's lingering voice said over the talkie. "Put down your weapon and walk directly in the woods in front of you. We're not going to hurt you."

Rick gulped, seeing how he had little to no option at all now. It was either now or never, apparently. He seemed to be struggling with the idea of it, rather to purposely shove me into harm's way or to keep me back in their safety.

"Now!"

"Don't make me do it," Rick begged, gritting his teeth. "I can't!"

"You either hand her over right now or we kill both your friends right here and now," she demanded, which put us all in a state of some kind. "Your choice."

However, before Rick could make a choice, I threw down my weapon and passed by Daryl, about to walk directly in the woods by myself. Just as I passed by Daryl, though, as he looked behind himself before he looked forward, he reached out and grabbed my wrist, yanking me back to him. "Wait!"

"No, I have to go," I tried telling him, sighing. "They're gonna kill Maggie and Carol if I don't, so I gotta. Nobody else is going to die because of me. Not anymore."

Then, in one swift motion, I yanked my arm back and began to run in the woods while Daryl chased after me. Paula, on the talkie, yelled out: "That guy stays back or everybody dies now!" So, then, Daryl suddenly stopped and sank into the woods, but not before I seen the look on his face.

👆🏻 That is the look that he had on his face, if it isn't obvious... 👆🏻

Slowly, I began to walk into the woods directly in front of me just as I gulped down a huge chunk of fear. I felt everybody's eyes on my back, watching ever muscle and step that I took forward. Most of all, I felt Daryl's soft, cold eyes haunting me. All I wanted to do was turn around and run back to him, jumping into his arms and begging him to take me back, to protect me like he's been doing since we first met.

I thought of Paul in my last moments here, if death is what I was about to experience. I thought of him, all our many years together as twins, being totally inseparable. Then, there's Izzy, who is just a child through and through. There is nothing evil about her as she is purely innocent. She'll always be a child at heart, no matter what she ever experiences and what she has so far.

I think of Glenn, how that Asian has completely turned my life around ever since I first met him a few days ago. He's so much more important than he'll ever know to me. He has saved my life and I'll always be so thankful. Then, there's Maggie, as I will soon become face to face with. She is a gentle soul, a bird waiting to chirp for the first time. She is so beautiful and perfectly pregnant, and I will defend all three of them until my dying breath.

There were so many people to think about and to thank for saving me all this time. There were all too many and I couldn't say them all in one breath. Now, however, I have come to like Tara. Really like her and that's why it was so hard to say goodbye to her earlier.

It was hard, when I was a kid, when mine and Paul's mother left us behind with our stressed-out father. Ever since she left us when we were ten, I've struggled with becoming really attached to people, just for them to leave me later. So, nowadays, I get attached so quickly and I just simply never let them go, even when they pass away.

As I finally walk into the woods and my sight is immediately taken away from me, a dark bag being tossed over my head as I'm being taken hostage. I'm being tossed around and treated horribly, being abused by their words and sudden actions that – at one point – I fall to the ground.

It wasn't until I felt a soft hand suddenly touch mine from the back and she whispered in my ear: "It's going to be alright."

And it will, Maggie. It will.

• I didn't naturally plan on updating tonight, but... As I have finally left my pathetic job as I'm now going to school (college), I have some free time on my hands for now! 🤗 Let's pray that this solar eclipse ends up being all good and we can go back to being ourselves... Which is being pretty awesome 😘 Love you guys and I will update again as soon as I can! 💚 All the love .xx •