𝘼nother roadblock became visible through the trees as they drove. "Bitch nuts," Abraham stated, slowing the R.V. to a halt.
Rick got up, moving to look through the windshield. "We making our stand?" Sasha asked as the others moved to look out as well.
"Yeah, we end it," Carl said.
"No, not now," Rick said. "They've been waiting. They're ready. With one of us behind the wheel, that's six on sixteen. We're gonna play it our way, how we want it." He looked at Carl. "Right?" he asked.
Carl nodded. "Right," he agreed.
"All right, go slow," Rick instructed Abraham, who did as told, pulling backward, away from the blockade.
At the front of the group of men, one of them raised his gun in the air, firing off three shots.
The group aimed their guns out the windows of the R.V. as they came around a curve, making sure that none of the Saviors got them from the side. The head man was walking toward them slowly, firing another few shots into the sky.
They came fully around the curve then got moving forward again. They'd have to find yet another route.
They were speeding along now, hoping to outrun any of the blocks that were still coming. "How are we on gas?" Rick asked Abraham.
"Half a tank," Abraham answered. "I pulled some more cans before we left."
"Those weren't the same men who blocked the road the first time," Sasha noted.
"Same outfit, different soldiers," Abraham said. He looked at Rick. "They got numbers."
Rick nodded stiffly. "Yeah, we keeping driving, we get her there," he said.
"We will," Sasha said.
"We have to," Adalyn agreed, moving to lay a hand on Rick's shoulder.
Abraham nodded. "If we have to shove each and every one of them up their own asses."
The R.V. rolled to yet another stop. Adalyn shivered at the sight. "We can't go through it," Rick said. "Can't risk the R.V.," he looked at Abraham. "You stay behind the wheel, just in case. We'll clear it."
He checked his gun for bullets. Everyone got out besides Abraham, weapons ready. Strung up to the trees with chains were several walkers that growled and snarled at the sight of approaching people. "Putting together a red rover like that takes people," Eugene noted as they all moved slowly closer. "A lot of them."
The chain was beneath a layer of skin on one of the walkers, wrapping around its stomach and coming up over its shoulder so that it could tie the walker's arm to the walker beside it. "Christ," Adalyn muttered.
"Come on, let's do this," Rick said.
"Dad," Carl stated as he took note of something.
Aaron saw, too. "That's Michonne's," he said.
Two of Michonne's dreadlocks were stapled to the side of a walker's head.
Sasha made another point. "That's Daryl's."
One of his arrows was sunk into a walker's chest. Adalyn bit harshly at her lip before she said, "They have our people."
Rick pulled away the dreadlocks, about to kill the walker with his ax when the sound of gunfire burst up from the woods.
"Get back to the R.V.!" Rick shouted. "Go!"
Everyone ducked low, running back toward the vehicle. They only stopped to fire into the trees. Rick lost his ax for a moment, but he got it back, starting to hack away at the arm of one of the walkers to get the block away. He took off its other arm, and the walker lunged at him. The others were swarming. Sasha took out three of them. A shot from Adalyn's pistol took out another. Rick got one with his ax. Two were unable to get free, still caught in the chains. They fell to the side of the road, growling as the group loaded back into the R.V., speeding past.
Adalyn was shaking as she settled back into her seat. "You okay?" Carl asked again.
She laughed despite herself. "Yeah," she said, nodding hurriedly. "Yeah, I'm fine, kid."
There was a sound coming from the R.V., a high-pitched squeaking. "What's that sound?" Sasha asked.
"Undercarriage could've caught a bullet," Eugene said. "Or could be transmission. It could be nothing."
"They were firing at our feet," Rick noted. "They blocked the road, but they weren't trying to stop us. They want us in this direction."
"Barton Road takes us north, but they gotta know we wanna go north," Sasha said.
"Meadows," Eugene said. "Could take us east a piece, but we can get back on track on Mayhew."
"We're down to a third of a tank," Sasha said. "We could top off at the next stop, but no refills after that."
"All right," Rick said.
Aaron navigated to the cluster, speaking softly to Rick. "She's burning up."
Adalyn took a deep breath. She could see the anxiety, the frustration, on Rick's face. She got to her feet and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him from behind. "We'll figure this out," she said, voice weak. "I know we will."
"Rick," said Abraham from the driver's seat.
Adalyn let Rick go, allowing him to look out the windshield once more as Abraham came to a halt. Adalyn joined him and sighed.
Another block of cars. There were more men, this time, all clustered at the center of the road.
"Go back," Rick said.
"Where?" Abraham asked.
Rick didn't have an answer for that.
But Abraham went back anyway. They had to figure something out.
Rick joined Maggie in the back.
Something bad was going to happen.
