Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this.

Prologue: The Winter Soldier

Clary

I lifted my head as the door opened, watching as a new guy walked in. "If you're here to beat more information out of me, you can shove your expectations up your ass," I said.

The new guy chuckled, shaking his head as he made his way towards me. "I like your spirit, kid," he said. "Knew a guy from Brooklyn with spunk like that."

I studied him, knowing he looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place him. His dark hair reached his—Holy shit I could cut my hand on that jawline. No, Clary, now's not the time to be checking out the enemy, even if he is hot. He had a stocky build, standing about six feet. He knelt in front of me, and my breath caught in my throat when he extended his left arm. "It's alright," he said softly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"It's you," I whispered, looking away from the metal arm and up at him. "You're the Winter Soldier."

The Winter Soldier looked down, not meeting my eyes. "I'm not like that anymore. My name is James Buchanan Barnes. My friends call me Bucky." I flinched back as he reached forward, and he hesitated. "I swear, I won't hurt you. What's your name, doll?"

"Clary," I whispered. "'m Clary Dixon."

"Dixon, huh? No chance you related to that old son of a bitch out there?"

"You mean Merle? Sadly, he's my brother."

Bucky rested his fingers, the metal surprisingly cool despite the Georgia heat, on my chin. He gently turning my head so he could see the bruises already beginning to form. "Your brother did this?" he questioned.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"They… the Governor ordered me to come in here. 'Do whatever you need to, as long you get information. Just don't kill her.' But I'm not gonna do that. Not after I saw how young you are."

"I'm fifteen. I ain't that young."

"Are you trying to get me to beat the shit out of you?" Bucky questioned with a bit of a laugh. "I'm here to get you out."

"I ain't goin' nowhere without Glenn and Maggie. I know they're here."

"It's alright. I can get them out."

"They go first. Then you come back for me."

"Clary," Bucky started.

"No, okay? Get them out. Their lives mean more than mine." I looked down in shame. "Hell, I broke the second your Governor threatened Glenn. He knows where the prison's at. Just get 'em out. And if you can't come back, get them out of here and get to the prison. Get everyone there out. Look, I don't know you and you don't know me, and I get that. But just do that for me."

Bucky hesitated for a long minute, then reached behind him, taking a knife from his belt. I tensed as he held it up, then relaxed slightly when he cut my restraints with it. "Here," he said, pressing it into my hand. "You can fight your way out if I can't come back."

"Do what you can to get back," I whispered, the thought of being left behind in this place terrifying. "Bucky, please!"

"Shh, hey, it's alright," he shushed me, gently brushing my hair out of my face. "It's alright. I'm coming back. Don't think I won't. I'll be back for you. I swear. You're right, I don't really know you, but Merle's told me some stories. I'm gonna make you a promise that I intend to keep. I will always come back for you. I will always be there to save you when you need it."

Bucky got to his feet, backing away to the door, then stepped into the hall. I pulled my legs up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them as I waited. A good five minutes passed before the door opened again, Bucky running this time. He slammed it behind him, barking, "Clary, gotta go!"

I scrambled to my feet, running to him as he held the door against the Woodbury soldiers. "You stay close to me, you got it?" Bucky ordered, and I nodded quickly.

Bucky suddenly threw up his arm, covering my head with it, as the men on the other side fired in on us. The bullets ricocheted off, and the second they stopped firing, Bucky threw a punch through the door, knocking the soldier on the other side out. He kicked open the door, pulling me with him as he ran. We ducked around a corner, and Bucky drew his gun, aiming to fire at the group. "Bucky, no!" I cried. He didn't fire, but he didn't lower his gun, either. "They're my people!"

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Rick demanded as Bucky lowered his gun.

"They're at my place. I got 'em out," Bucky answered. "It's this way."

Bucky wrapped an arm around me, moving to tug me along, but he pressed a bit too hard on my ribs, which were bruising, at the least, from where Merle kicked the hell out of me. I cried out, causing the others to stop. "Clary!" Daryl exclaimed, then turned to Bucky. "You get away from her."

"Daryl," I said, wrapping my arm around Bucky's shoulders when he leaned down. "He's on our side. He didn't mean it."

"I'm sorry," Bucky apologized as he lifted me, despite my protests. "Stop, don't fight. You're in pain. Let's just get out of here."

Bucky led the way out of the warehouse, down the street, and into a house near the wall. "They're gonna be looking for us," Bucky said as he gently sat me down on the couch next to Glenn. "We can catch our breath for a second, figure out our next move. But we need to get gone."

Bucky

"Hey, Glenn!" I called, jogging to catch up with him before he left the cell block. "Hey!"

Glenn turned to face me, asking, "Bucky? Is something happening? Is he here?"

"No, no," I answered, shaking my head. "You know where Clary is?"

"Last I saw her, she was going in her cell. I haven't seen her since early this morning. Couldn't sleep, you know?"

"Too well," I muttered, turning for the stairs. "Thanks, Glenn."

He raised a hand, waving me goodbye before heading outside to take watch. I climbed the stairs, looking down at Judith in her makeshift crib with a small smile before stepping into Clary's cell, lingering by the door. "Clary?" I questioned.

She sat on her bed, curled up in a blanket, leaning against the wall. Her eyes were closed, and it was obvious she was still aching from the beating in Woodbury three days before. Clary didn't respond, didn't even move from her spot, so I stepped forward, kneeling in front of her. "Clary?" I asked. "Clary, hey!" She jerked awake with a start, then groaned, placing a hand over her side. "Clary! Hey! What's wrong?"

"Merle," she whispered. "I think he cracked a rib or two. And in the woods, on the bridge, at the fence… Fighting walkers made it worse. Especially when Merle pushed me into a tree."

"Don't lean against the wall, then," I said, moving to sit behind her. "And your brother's a huge asshole for all of that." I gently pulled her away from the wall, back against my stomach. "Here. I'm much softer than a cement wall."

"Please, if I wanted something soft, I'd be sitting against Daryl or Carl. You, on the other hand, are about as soft as a rock. It's all that muscle, like Jesus, man."

I chuckled softly, then started to get up, saying, "Well, alright, if that's how you feel…"

"Don't go, Buck," Clary begged, reaching after me. She retracted her arm with a whimper as she moved the wrong way.

"Clary, you gotta rest," I told her, setting back down beside her. "I'm not going anywhere, but you gotta relax. You're gonna really hurt yourself one of these days."

"You haven't even known me that long."

"Yeah, but I got a pretty good idea about you. You're a good person."

Clary looked down, not meeting my eyes. "I'm not a good person. I've done some bad things."

"Yeah, join the club," I muttered. "That doesn't mean you're not a good person. I've done too much to still be good."

"You don't know what I've done."

"Then tell me. You don't let anyone close. You don't trust anyone, do you? I haven't known you all that long, but I can see it. Yeah, you might've done some bad things. So what? Who hasn't? Who hasn't killed to survive in this world? We've all done shit. I don't blame you for not trusting anyone. I don't trust many people." I glanced away from her before muttering in Russian, "I've only trusted one man as much as I trust you."

Clary chuckled softly before sharply inhaling, then replied in the same language. "I've only trusted a handful of people in my life. I haven't known you long, but you're one of them."

"Look at that!" I said with a bit of a laugh. "You speak Russian! Anything else?"

"I'm fluent in Spanish," Clary answered. "My friend's family, there was someone from Puerto Rico. It was his great-grandmother, I think. Her kids and their kids grew up with Spanish as their first language. Sam's mom, Annalise, was the same way. She still spoke Spanish a lot. Sam and I have been friends since we were in diapers, basically, so I just learned a lot of Spanish from him and his family."

"That's such a cute story. Honestly, I'm not kidding. That's really cute. With Russian, did you learn it in school or somewhere else?"

"In school."

"Can you read it?"

Clary shrugged. "I guess. I'm not as good with Russian as I am Spanish, though."

"I mean, that's understandable. Russian is a hard language to learn." I reached into my bag, which was sitting on the floor beside her bed, and pulled out the notebook I've had with me since I escaped Hydra. I flipped open to a random page, then held it out for her. "Can you read that?"

"Mission report: December 16th, 1991," she translated. Clary read over the few paragraphs on the page, then looked up at me. "You killed Howard Stark?"

I dropped my gaze, staring down at the floor. "I've done bad things. Worse than that." I reached around her, flipping to a page I dog-eared. "Like this."

Clary looked down at the page, reading it aloud. "Dallas, November 22nd… 1963." Clary looked up at me. "You were there."

"Hydra set it up. Oswald took the blame. Two guns, right? How else could a bullet curve?"

Clary looked back down at the notebook in her hands. "What the hell is this?"

"It's a ledger. My ledger. Everything I did as the Winter Soldier."

I flipped to the front page, looking away from the words as soon as I read the first one. Clary started, "Longing, rust—"

"Don't," I whispered. "Please, Clary, never read those. It's what activates the Winter Soldier."

"Oh, shit, Buck, I'm sorry," Clary apologized, turning to face me. "I had no idea. I swear, I won't use 'em."

"No, memorize them," I ordered. "They have to be said in Russian. Memorize 'em, 'cause one day, you might need the Winter Soldier, not Bucky."

"Buck, I can't do that to you. Hydra can have you back over my dead body. I'll promise you that."

"And that's what I'm scared of," I told her. "Memorize those words. I can't let you die, especially not for me."

"Alright," Clary gave in. "But I won't use it. Ever. Not even when I'm about to die."

Clary

I swore to him I'd never use it, not even if my life depended on it.

"Dad!" I could hear Carl cry out in terror from the other side of the vehicle. "Dad!"

Not even when I was about to die.

Daryl barked, "You get away—"

We're gonna die.

My brother was cut off as a punch was thrown, knocking him to the ground.

This is it.

He threw his arms over his head to protect himself as the Claimer beating the hell out of him kicked at his head. I tried to crawl away, to get to Daryl at least, but a second Claimer grabbed my ankles, dragging me back to him. Daryl couldn't get away, Rick and Michonne were at gunpoint, Carl was in the same position as me, and Bucky was refusing to fight back.

This is the end. Of all of us.

I couldn't catch everything the Claimer hitting Bucky was saying, but I realized it wasn't English. It was Russian, and he was calling Bucky "soldier."

Oh my god, he's Hydra. He's gonna activate Bucky.

I froze at the realization, and the Claimer above me chuckled darkly. "Finally giving in, sugar?" he questioned. "Yeah, good choice."

"No!" Daryl shouted, scrambling to his feet, only to be kicked in his stomach and knocked back down. He rolled on his side with a groan, but looked up at the Claimer. "You stay the fuck away from her."

The Claimer that was beating Daryl put a gun to his head, prompting me to fight back. The bastard on me put a knife to my neck, reaching down to undo my belt. "You're not gonna fight back anymore," he growled. "You're gonna hold still, aren't you?"

Please, kill me.

"Clary!" Bucky called. "Say it!" He was blurry, and it took me a moment to realize I was crying. "Say it now!"

I never said I wouldn't do it to save them.

I turned to Bucky, not hesitating now to cry out in Russian, "Longing, rusted, seventeen! Daybreak! Furnace, nine, benign! Homecoming! One! Freight car!"

Before a second even passed, Bucky was gone and the Winter Soldier was in his place. He turned on the ex-Hydra Claimer, reaching up with both hands before he could react and snapping his neck. "Bucky!" I cried, but he didn't respond. "Soldier!" My voice rose to a shriek as the Claimer unzipped my jeans. "Help me!"

He turned at that, and the Claimer that had his gun on Daryl shifted it to Bucky, firing without aiming. The bullet ricocheted off Bucky's arm, but he remained unphased. He ripped the gun out of the Claimer's hand, putting it to his head and putting a bullet through it. The Claimer on top of me removed his knife, then pulled me to my knees, using my body as his shield and replacing his knife at my neck. I swallowed in fear, the knife's edge just brushing my neck. "Make one move, and she's dead," the Claimer growled.

Around Bucky, I could see Rick as he bit into the leader's neck, tearing out a part before spitting out the flesh and blood. My eyes widened, not knowing or even imagining that Rick was capable of something like that. The Claimer behind me let out a cry of surprise and horror, and distracted, Bucky took aim and fired. The knife nicked my neck as the Claimer fell, dead before he hit the ground. He fell backwards with the force of the bullet, and I fell forwards, landing on my forearms with a grunt. Bucky started forward, pulling me to my feet with one hand, then picking me up with his metal arm. He handed the gun to Daryl, pulling him to his feet, then handed me off to him. Daryl wrapped his arm around my waist, then held the gun out for Bucky to take. He hesitated, looking to me for permission, and I told him, "Take it, Soldier. You know what to do."

The Claimer holding Michonne at gunpoint was frozen in shock, and so was she. Neither moved throughout the thirty or so seconds that everything happened in. Bucky turned and fired, killing the Claimer beside Michonne. Carl scrambled away from the Claimer that was on top of him as Rick started forward, Michonne meeting Carl halfway and wrapping her arms around him. Rick sunk his knife into the sick son of a bitch's chest first, but not in the right place to kill him. Bucky saw this, and not knowing whose side he was on, aimed his gun. Before he could fire, I cried, "Sputnik!"

Bucky dropped to the ground, prompting a cry of concern from the others. Rick turned just to see Bucky drop to the ground, then to Daryl and me. Daryl nodded once, and Rick turned back, finishing off the remaining Claimer. Daryl tried to protest as I pulled away from him, dropping down beside Bucky. I pulled his unconscious form away from one of the dead Claimers, cradling his head in my lap. Rick, out of breath, turned to face us, and I saw his face for the first time since it all started. His eyes were wide, out of a mixture of fear and anger; and his mouth and beard were stained crimson, the blood running down his neck and onto his shirt. We were all silent, staring at each other. We all jumped at the sound of Daryl falling to his knees beside me. "I was with them," Daryl whispered. "I knew they were bad, but… I didn't know what they could do."

"Daryl," Carl said softly, and my brother turned to him. "It's not on you. It's not."

I closed my eyes against the tears leaking out of them, choking back a sob. A long moment passed before Rick asked, "Clary, what was that? That wasn't Bucky."

I opened my eyes, but I didn't look up to face them. "I activated the Winter Soldier," I whispered. "I swore to him I'd never do that. Not even when I was going to die."

A quick little note before the story continues:

Like with my previous fic, We Come For Them, I also made a trailer for this one. It can be found on YouTube at watch?v=uNqHfb4BAF4

If you can't find it by copying the link, then just go to YouTube and search "BewareTheWalkers." My channel should be the first thing that pops up.