⌜ chapter seven ⌟

"Hey, MJ, can I talk to you for a minute?" Rick asks, and she looks up from where she's sitting with Jack, Jess, and Matt to eat their breakfast in the camp.

"Yeah." She gets to her feet, and they walk away from the others. "What's up?"

"There's a couple'a things you and I need to talk about."

"Just you and I?" She asks, confused.

"I don't want to dump all this on you, but I can't run this camp without you. And I know they look to the both of us to lead, not just me." He says, and she takes a deep breath.

"Uh... Okay."

"Somethin' wrong?"

"No." She shakes her head. "I've just never really seen myself as a leader before. I'm more of a soldier. I do the grunt work."

"You're a lot more than that around here." He tells her, and she nods slowly.

"That's gonna take me a minute to wrap my head around." She clears her throat. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Yesterday, while you and Daryl were out in the woods, Hershel told me that once Carl is better, and Sophia's found... Well, he expects our camp to move on. I asked him to reconsider, and he said he will as long as we follow his rules, but he's not making any promises." He tells her, and she sighs. "I need help making sure our people follow his rules. But I don't want to panic anybody."

"Yeah. No, of course." She nods. "I'll do my best on that front. Anything else?"

"Yeah, um..." He clears his throat. "Jenner told me something back at the C.D.C. It was while you had everyone leaving the big room to grab their things so we could go."

"Rick?" She takes a step forward when he looks down. "What is it?"

Matt's watching the two of them as they talk and then he nudges Jess. "What's going on over there?" He asks, and she looks over at Rick and MJ.

"I don't know. They're probably talking about leader stuff." She says as she eats her breakfast.

"Leader?" He looks back at her. "She helps lead your group?"

"Well, Rick's the leader and he looks to her a lot." She tells him. "She's pretty badass."

"Morales called her scary." Jack says.

"That's because she can be scary."

He looks at her for a second and then shakes his head. "I don't see it." The not-so-teenage teenager says, and Jess chuckles as she looks at him.

Matt's still watching MJ when she and Rick start to walk back over to them. "Morning, guys." Rick greets.

"Come on, let's get going. We've got a lot of ground to cover." MJ tells them.

They all head over to the truck, and Rick lays out the map on the hood. "Alright, everyone's​ getting new search grids today." He says. "If the girls made it as far as the farm house that Daryl and MJ found, they might've gone further east than we've been so far."

"I'd like to help." Jimmy — a teenage boy who lives on the farm — says as he walks over to their group. "I know the area pretty well and stuff."

"And stuff." MJ mutters, not sounding too convinced.

"Hershel's okay with this?" Matt questions as he looks at him.

"Yeah, yeah. He said I should ask you." He looks between MJ and Rick.

The two of them look at each other, and she shrugs. "Up to you." She tells him.

"Alright then. Thanks." Rick says.

"Nothing about what Daryl and MJ found screams Sophia to me." Shane says from where he's sitting in the truck. "Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse."

"Anyone includes them, right?" Andrea asks.

"It may not sound like Sophia, but it does sound like Ellie." MJ argues.

"Why?" Shane questions. "Because you found a headband?"

"Because I know my daughter. You don't wanna help us, don't. Nobody's got a gun to your head." She says, and he turns to look at her.

"It's a good lead." Andrea says.

"Maybe we'll pick up their trail again." Rick looks at MJ, and she nods.

"No maybe about it." Daryl says. "I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here—" He taps the map. "—take a birds-eye view of the whole grid. MJ, you comin'?"

"Yeah." She nods. "Let me just talk to Jack before we head out."

"If they're up there, we'll spot 'em."

"Jess, Matt, if you two are going out there, I want you two to stay together." MJ says as she starts walking away. "Don't split from each other. No exceptions. We clear?"

"Yes, Mom." Jess nods, and MJ narrows her eyes at her, causing her to laugh.

"Jacky!" She calls as she walks over to the tent. He walks out with a clean shirt on and looks at her.

"Yeah?"

"I want you with Lori today, but mostly I want you helping with Carl." She tells him, and he nods as he looks at her. "Kid's gotta be sore, and Lori will probably need help. This all has to be pretty stressful for her — her son getting shot and her husband going off into the woods."

"Yeah, you got it." He says, and she smiles at him.

"Thanks, kid." She kisses his cheek.

"Be careful." He calls after her.

"Always am!"

Jack sighs as he watches her walk away. She always puts herself​ last, and he hates it. He's afraid that she's gonna end up getting herself killed and she won't come back like she has in the past. There's gotta be a limit in there at some point.

MJ finds Daryl outside of the barn and looks at him as he's leading the horse out. "Just one?" She asks, and he looks at her.

"You want your own, go get one. Otherwise, shut up and get on." He says, and she chuckles.

"Someone's crabby today." She teases, and he grunts before climbing onto the horse. She gets on behind him, and they head into the woods.

They're riding for awhile when he then shoots a squirrel, and she buries her face in the back of his shoulder. "World's gone to shit, and you have a problem with this?" He questions.

"Squirrels are cute, and I prefer not to see them die." She tells him.

"I watched you throw a knife into some dude's head."

"It was an angel blade, and that's different."

"What's it called?" He asks as she lifts her head. Before she can answer, she sees a silhouette in the trees and it's not a kid.

"Son of a bitch." Her hands ball up into fists on his sides, and he turns his head.

"What?"

"Get us out of here. Now." She tells him and he makes the horse go faster.

The person she saw before spooks the horse, and it starts to freak out. The horse throws them, and they fall in different directions. MJ lands on the ground with a thud, and Daryl falls down the hill on the other side, landing in the creek below.

MJ groans as she pushes herself up, she hurt her right shoulder when she fell. She looks around and starts to panic when she doesn't see Daryl or the horse anywhere.

"Daryl!" She calls as she gets to her feet. She rushes over to the top of the hill and sees blood surrounding him in the water. "Oh my God." One of his arrows went through his side, that's why he's bleeding so much.

He looks up and sees a figure walk up behind MJ. The woman grabs her and throws her back. He hears her scream and pulls himself out of the water as quickly as he can. He then cuts his sleeves off and makes a makeshift tourniquet to tie around his torso.

Back at the top of the hill, MJ's getting kicked around by the woman. She then flips her over and presses her foot down on MJ's throat. The blonde looks up and gets a clear view of the woman's face for the first time.

"Meg."

"Did you miss me?" The brunette smiles, and then MJ grabs her leg, taking her down.

"MJ?!" Daryl calls.

"Get out of here!" She yells as she gets to her feet and then punches Meg. She and the demon keep fighting.

"Too bad you're not much when you don't have your brothers looking out for you." She says as she looks at MJ. "You're just a woman who continuously fails her children, can hardly lead a group, and isn't even looking for her brothers." She says as MJ pulls out her machete.

"Screw you."

She lunges at the demon and they go down to the ground. The women roll, and Meg ends up on top of her; she starts punching MJ, and the hunter brings her machete up. She cuts into Meg's arm, and the demon hisses in pain. The instant that MJ sees an opening, she pushes her off of her.

MJ hears Daryl fall back down the hill after making it halfway up, and she then turns in his direction. Meg quickly grabs a handful of dyed blonde hair and pulls MJ backward.

"Sorry, your new boy toy's gonna have to wait for someone else." Meg throws her back and they continue fighting, getting farther and farther away from Daryl.

MJ swings her machete, and it slices into the demon's shoulder. Meg grunts and then tackles the hunter to the ground, landing on top of her again. She throws a punch, but MJ quickly moves her head, causing Meg to hit the dirt instead.

"Why don't you just tell me where Jack is, and we can stop this whole thing right here." Meg says, and MJ flips them. She brings the machete down, but the demon keeps it from impaling her.

"Touch him, and I'll kill you." MJ tells her and the demon pushes her hips up, causing the hunter to fall to the side.

"I don't want to hurt him." She says as they both get back to their feet. "I need his help."

"Jack would never help you."

"Maybe not willingly, but I wasn't planning on asking." Meg pins her against a tree and then brings her knee up, getting MJ in the side. "That's what I need you for — his precious surrogate Mommy. Tell me, what's it like raising the devil's son?"

MJ headbutts Meg in the face, and she hears a sickening crunch — she just broke the demon's nose. Meg stumbles back, and MJ groans, her forehead hurts from the blow as well.

"Lucifer is not his father." MJ says.

"But he is."

"Biology means nothing." She argues. "Cas and I are Jack's parents. And Kelly."

"Well, I guess we'll see what happens when I use Jack to open the cage and set Lucifer free." Meg says, taking MJ by surprise.

"What?"

She kicks the hunter in the stomach, sending her flying back and then she skids across the dirt and leaves on the ground. She starts kicking MJ in the ribs, hard. A gunshot rings out, and Meg lets out a scream. MJ looks up from the ground and sees two figures, both small, though one is slightly taller than the other.

"Mommy?!" Ellie quickly runs over, and MJ looks up at her.

"Baby?" The blonde sighs in relief. "Oh, thank God."

"Mommy, I saw her eyes. They were black, just like you told me before." She says, and her mom looks at the gun in her hand.

"Where the hell did you get that?"

"Uncle Dean." The little brunette says and then she starts going through her backpack. "He gave me this too. He said it's for the monsters with the black eyes." Ellie holds up a bottle.

MJ takes it and then goes over to where the demon's trying to get up. The bullet embedded itself in her leg, so she's having a hard time putting the weight of her body on it. MJ grabs just under her chin and forces the holy water down Meg's throat. The demon chokes on it and once it's gone, MJ rushes back over to the girls.

"Come on, we have to get out of here."

"Her leg's hurt." Sophia says, and MJ looks down at Ellie.

"Something bit me." Ellie says, and MJ starts to panic.

"What?" She questions. "What bit you? Where did it bite you?"

"My leg." She pulls up her pant leg and sees two puncture marks.

MJ sighs, relieved that it's not from a walker. She picks up her daughter and grabs Sophia's hand, pulling them away from Meg. She starts back in the direction of the creek.

"Are we going back to the farm?" Ellie asks.

"Not yet, mama. We gotta get Mommy's friend first." She says and then picks up the pace as much as she can.

They get back, and MJ sets Ellie on her feet before continuing forward. Daryl's making it to the top of the hill, but he's about to fall back. MJ quickly reaches out and grabs his hand, he looks up at her, surprised that she's there. She pulls him up, and he collapses at the top of the hill as she falls to the ground.

"You found them." Daryl says, looking at the two twelve-year-olds.

"They found me." MJ tells him and then pushes herself​ into a sitting position. "Come here, mama. I need to see your leg."

Ellie limps over, and MJ cuts her pant leg so that she can see it better. She's got a lot of blood running down the side of her calf. MJ sighs as she looks at the wound.

"Looks like a snake bite. We need to get you back so that Hershel can make sure it's not venomous." MJ says, and then cuts off a strip from her shirt to tie around her daughter's leg. She needs to slow the bleeding.

"What's around your neck?" Sophia asks as she looks at Daryl.

"Nothin'." He takes it off and chucks it away from them, not wanting to scare the girls.

"Is your side okay?" MJ asks as she glances at Daryl.

"It's been better. What happened to your face?"

"Such a charmer." She says sarcastically.

"The woman with black eyes was beating her up." Sophia says, and MJ sighs as she looks at her.

"Her eyes weren't black." The blonde woman quickly lies. "They just looked black. It was a trick of your mind."

"But you hurt her with that water stuff from her uncle." She points at Ellie.

"Let's just keep that one between us. The others won't want to hear about people with black eyes." MJ tells her as she gets to her feet, and Sophia nods. "Can you walk, mama?"

"I think so." Ellie nods.

"What about you?" She looks at Daryl as she helps him stand.

"I'm alright." He tells her, and she looks down at the girls.

"Everyone's gonna be so glad to see you two." She says, and they start walking. MJ has her machete in hand as they head back.