COLLAPSED ᵀᵂᴰ¹ ✔

96. the satellite station

The guard took the head from Andy's hand, inspecting it for a minute that felt like it lasted hours. Until finally the guard held the head up and took it's chin, moving it so it seemed like the head was talking. And with a nasal voice he said: 'Little bitch broke my nose.'

The beanie guard burst out laughing and the sound made her wanna throw up. She mentally added disrespecting the dead to her ever growing list of reasons to hate these people. She may not like Gregory and it wasn't even his head but that didn't make any of it okay. Besides, hating these people would make it easier to do what needed to be done.

Throwing the head aside on the grass the guard took a step closer to the Hilltop resident and wiped his hands clean with Andy's shirt. 'Okay, looks like you've learned. I'll get your guy, you'll go home and you bring us more stuff next week, mmm?' He slapped Andy against the cheek before turning around and heading back for the door. The beanie guard started whistling a tune while the other one headed inside. Once the door had closed behind him, Daryl started moving. Quinn had barely gotten to her feet before he had taken out his knife and slit it across the man's throat, attacking him from behind. The guard fell to the ground and Daryl pushed his knife through his skull, killing him.

When the guard was down the group came sprinting out of their hiding place. Heath, Abraham and Aaron lifted up the dead guard and hid him in the bushes and then everyone got back to their hiding places, leaving only Andy standing there. They were just in time because the door opened once again and the other guard came walking back out, pushing a beaten up prisoner ahead of him. 'Well, well, well, look who it is,' the man teased. Before he could take another step though, Michonne pushed her blade straight through his heart, dropping him down to the ground and quickly ending it by pushing the blade through his skull. Andy reached for his friend, pulling him to safety before he would start to panic.

The group came out of their hiding places, taking up their positions by the door. Rick knelt down besides the guard and pulled the keys off of him, throwing them to Daryl so he could open the door. Quinn held up her gun, taking a deep breath to steady herself. The moment to go inside had arrived, there was no going back now. They could leave no one alive. This was it.

Before opening the door, Daryl threw a quick glare over his shoulder, his eyes finding hers. She nodded at him, her face shining with determination. He nodded back at her and she could read a thousand unspoken words written in his eyes, then his face hardened and he turned back forwards, pulling the door open.

While Tara, Gabriel, Andy and the other man from Hilltop made their way back to the car, the rest of the group made their way inside the satellite station. The hallway they entered was dark and abandoned. They pushed their way forward systematically, in groups of three, the first covering the doors, the second the exits and the third covering their partners.

'Check the doors, find the arsenal,' Rick whispered. 'We take 'em out.'

Daryl moved to a door on the right and Quinn moved into the room after him, her heart in her throat as they entered. After a quick look around they realised it was nothing but a storage room, empty of people and so they moved on further into the building, after the others. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed her brother. He may have had doubts about what they were attempting to do, but it didn't show at this very moment. His face was made of stone, his eyes unreadable and the gun steady in his hand. This was the Milo she remembered from the streets. The Milo who had survived prison, the end of the world and fought to stay alive. The sight made her shiver and she turned away quickly.

The silence was deafening, only the sound of their footsteps echoing softly through the hallways broke the ghostly stillness. Her eyes noticed Rick stopping by the first door on his right, he took his position beside it, Michonne covering the door from the other side and Daryl kneeling before her to shoot anyone who might think of taking a shot at her. Quinn moved to cover Rick, giving him a determined nod. Slowly he reached for the doorknob and as quietly as possible he pushed the door open.