The walkers growled so loudly over one another; the noise behind them was deafening as the two of the sprinted side by side, not stopping for a second.
The weakness that resulted from her blood loss was forcing its way out of the cage that CJ had locked it in. There was no time for weakness; but that didn't mean she didn't feel it.
Her and Rick were barely a few feet ahead of the herd as they sprinted breathlessly down the seemingly endless road home. CJ's aching right arm barely held onto her bag to stop it from bouncing against her hip with every step.
A walker appeared in front of them, and CJ swung the machete to slice its head. Blood splattered onto her face as the sudden action made her stumble forwards as she pushed to keep going.
"We got this, we're almost there!" Rick encouraged.
His arm immediately wrapped around her middle from her left to pull her back up, their speed barely faltering as the herd tried to catch up to them. Looking ahead, they finally spotted the rusty blue metal of Alexandria's walls.
"OPEN THE GATE!" Rick yelled loudly over the herd's groans.
Walkers from nearby became alerted to the noise and started to emerge from their hiding spots ahead of Rick and CJ. One came out from a shed right beside them, and Rick was forced to let his grip go on CJ as he dodged its hand when it tried to grab him. She forced herself to get her strength back and managed to keep up with him.
"OPEN THE GATE NOW!"
Much to their relief, the covered chain-link fence was quickly slid open and Michonne and Maggie rushed to open the main gate as more people appeared at the entrance.
Another walker started approaching Rick and CJ, and Rick shoved it away, tripping over as he desperately tried to fight through his breathlessness.
"Come on!" CJ grabbed his arm, ignoring her own pain and pulled him to stand again.
They ducked the rest of the approaching walkers and made it through the gate just in time for Michonne to pull it closed, locking out the walkers as the entire herd pushed themselves against the gate and fences.
CJ and Rick both collapsed to the ground, completely burnt out.
CJ lay on her back; her lungs felt heavier with every breath she took. She brought her left arm across her body to hold her hand over her wound, feeling the pain of it return after the adrenaline had kept it at bay when running.
"CJ, oh my God!" Michonne gasped at the sight of her friend covered in blood as she knelt down beside her. "Is that a bite?"
"No. Gunshot," CJ winced, the words barely escaping her as she tried to sit up.
"Hey, hey. Easy." Michonne gently held CJ's good arm as she helped her up. "I'll take you to the infirmary."
"Not until one of you two tells me how this happened," Deanna interrupted shakily as she looked between CJ and Rick, who was being helped up by Maggie and Tobin. She didn't seem angry, more terrified if nothing else.
"The RV... the RV wouldn't start," Rick tried to explain, gulping as he breathed heavily. "We got attacked. By those Ws."
"The same people that came here?" Maggie questioned.
"Yeah," Rick nodded. "Then the RV got surrounded, we had to make a run for it."
"They were h-headed this way anyway," CJ added tiredly, her eyes flickering between open and close as she felt herself become drowsy. "We didn't have a choice."
CJ felt herself becoming a lot weaker and ended up leaning most of her weight on Michonne, who was still crouched beside her and holding onto her.
"We can talk about it later," Michonne said firmly to Deanna. "Someone help me get her to Denise."
"It's okay, I can walk," CJ mumbled.
"Let us help you." Maggie came over and helped Michonne to hoist CJ off the ground. "Rick, you need to come too. Your hand is hurt," she added, noticing the blood all over his left hand.
Rick didn't say anything but looked down at the ground and nodded. He spared one last glance at the masses of walkers reaching through the gaps in the gate before following the others to the infirmary.
When they got to the infirmary, Denise, Alexandria's new doctor after Pete, got CJ to lie back on the bed so that she could stich up the wound. Michonne got CJ a bottle of water and made sure she was taken care of before heading over to talk to Rick in the corner of the room.
Denise gave CJ some medication to help with the pain and the drowsiness whilst she removed the shirt tied around CJ's shoulder and her vest, seeing that she was barely bleeding anymore. She used thick gauze pads to hold over the wound as she applied pressure to make the bleeding stop altogether.
Denise cleaned the wound and started to do the stiches, taking her time. She was a med student in the old world but had very little first-hand experience. She had a textbook open on the table beside her, which she kept checking to make sure she was doing everything correctly.
She had done her best to numb the area, but the skin around it had started to bruise. So, as Denise worked, CJ winced in pain a few times.
"Sorry," Denise kept repeating every time CJ reacted.
"Stop apologising, it's okay," CJ smiled softly. "It was a lot worse when it first happened, trust me."
Denise finished with the stiches and checked over her work before nodding to herself. "Okay. Now if you sit up, I'll look at the exit wound."
CJ's eyes squinted shut and a quiet groan escaped her as she sat up and turned so, she had her back to Denise. Now she was a bit more confident, Denise fixed up the wound on CJ's back fairly easily.
As Denise finished dressing both of the wounds, CJ's eyes landed on Rick. Michonne had cleaned up his hand and left to speak to the others. CJ noticed the look on his face when he glanced up at her for a second before looking down at the ground. He had this sheepish look in his eyes, almost like guilt.
"Okay, so just come back tomorrow and I'll change the dressing for you," Denise broke CJ from her thoughts. "Try not to move around too much, or the stiches may tear. If that does happen, or it starts hurting a lot, come straight over and I'll check it."
"Got it," CJ replied. "Thanks, Doc."
Denise smiled and took the tray of medical tools away to sterilise. CJ climbed of the bed, stumbling slightly as she stood up. Pretty much every muscle in her body ached from all the running she'd done that day. She picked up the plastic bag that held her blood-covered shirt and vest, planning on cleaning them later.
She headed over to the corner by the door and sat down across from Rick, whilst he kept his gaze on the floor in front of him as though he was avoiding her. "Rick," she began softly, reaching out to hold his hand. "Rick, will you look at me?"
After a moment of no response, Rick slowly looked up to meet her eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you go out there by yourself."
CJ's eyebrows furrowed. "Nobody let me go, I just did it," she countered.
"You got hurt," he said. "None of us could reach you. Daryl wanted to circle back but I told him not to. From what I heard from Sasha and Abraham; he drove off for a while but went back to 'em."
"That's good," CJ replied, which left Rick slightly confused. "Half of the herd is outside that wall right now. If Daryl abandoned his job, the other half coulda' ended up here too."
In truth, she was terrified for Daryl. She desperately wanted to see him, or even just to talk to him; tell him she was alright, and he didn't have to worry about her. But even if the radio did work, he would be too far away now for her to reach him. She was left having to just hope for the best and believe he was okay out there.
Breaking the silence, Rick sighed and sat up in his seat. "Anythin' coulda' happened to you today because you were alone. So, from now on, when we're all out there... No matter what we're doing, what the plan is. No one goes off on their own."
"I approve of that idea," CJ chuckled, causing a faint smile to grace Rick's face. She smiled back warmly and shook her head. "This was one hell of a dry run. Can't wait to see how the real thing goes," she jested.
Rick chuckled and leant back in his chair. "Come on, we should go. The people are gonna want an explanation."
CJ nodded and the two of them stood up, pulling each other into a hug whilst Rick was being mindful of her injury. He kissed the top of her head and they both pulled apart and headed outside after thanking Denise once again.
"Dad! CJ!" they heard Carl call out as the closed the door. He came running over to them and immediately wrapped his arms around his father in a tight embrace.
"Hey, hey, we're okay," Rick whispered as he hugged Carl. He slowly pulled away from him and leant down, so they were eye level. "You're okay? You and Judith?"
"We're fine," Carl nodded quickly.
He looked up at CJ and went to hug her. She returned the hug, keeping her right arm down by her side as not to put any strain on her wound.
"When Michonne got back, she said you were missing," Carl sniffled. "I was worried that-"
"Shh, don't do that," she comforted him, letting go of him and cupping his cheek. "I'm fine." She took his hat off of his head and placed a kiss on his forehead before putting the hat back down.
After their short reunion, Carl went back to where he and everyone else was working whilst CJ and Rick quickly headed to the house to change and clean up. Before heading up to her room, CJ threw her vest and flannel straight into the wash. She swapped out her blood-covered tank top for a clean white one and shrugged on Daryl's black shirt over the top, rolling up the sleeves and tying the material in a knot across her front. Her and Rick then walked through the town back to the wall at the front, where pretty much every Alexandria resident was working on putting extra supports up against the wall.
The sounds of the herd growling and pushing themselves against the metal echoed through the streets of the town, taunting the living and reminding serving as a constant reminder that they were trapped. A lot of the Alexandrians were stood frozen in shock, fear written all over their faces as they just started at the walls and listened to the noise.
"You can hear it!" Rick began, addressing everyone. "Some of you saw it. They got back here. Half of 'em. Still enough to surround us twenty deep... Look, I know you're scared. You haven't seen anything like this. You haven't been through anything like this. But we're safe, for now. The panel the truck hit seems intact. We reinforced it just in case. Either way, the wall's gonna hold together. Can you? The others, they're gonna be back."
CJ felt her heart drop at the thought of Daryl still being out there. He was strong and he knew what he was doing, but that didn't serve as much comfort right now. After her several close calls that day, she just needed to see him.
"Daryl, Abraham, Sasha. They have vehicles," Rick continued. "They're gonna lead 'em away, just like the others. And Glenn and Nicholas are gonna walk back through that front gate after. They all know what they're doing, and we know what we need to do. We keep the noise to a minimum. Pull our blinds at night. Even better: keep the lights out. We try to make this place as quiet as a graveyard, see if they move on."
"This place is a graveyard," Frankie argued. Rick looked right at her, not having an answer for her.
That's when Aaron stepped forward and came to Rick's defence. "The quarry broke open and those walkers were heading this way. All of them. The plan Rick put into place stopped that from happening. He got half of them away." The was a short silence as the Alexandrians took in Aaron's words before he continued. "I was out there recruiting with Daryl. I wanted to try and get into a cannery and scavenge; Daryl wanted to keep looking for people. We did what I wanted... and we would up in a trap set up by those people, and I lost my pack... They must've followed our tracks. Those people, who attacked us... They found their way back here because of me."
Deanna then walked away from the group; a shellshocked expression on her face. The attack on Alexandria that day had shaken her to her core. She had never experienced the harsh realities of the world that Rick's people had tried to warn her about until that day. Tobin tried calling out to her, but she kept walking.
"There'll be more to talk about," Rick said, breaking the silence before walking away himself.
The rest of the people slowly started to disperse, making their way back to their homes as they all processed their current situation.
Despite being exhausted from the day she'd had, CJ stayed out by the fence, almost like she was waiting for something to happen. The pain in her shoulder had downgraded to a dull ache and constant throbbing. When she lifted her arm or tried to carry any weight on her right, a sharp sting would shoot from the wound down her arm.
She knew Daryl probably wouldn't be back that day considering how far he and the others were headed out, but she hated the thought of going to sleep in their room, not knowing when, or if, he would be back.
It was a horrible thought; she'd nearly lost him so many times since the very start. And it never got any better. Every time they had been separated: when the herd took the farm, when Daryl left after finding Merle, when the Governor destroyed the prison. She knew how strong he was, and she knew he was a survivor. But none of that mattered to her when he wasn't there. She just wanted him home.
What made this occasion worse, was that he was out there, having no clue where she was either. The thought of him being afraid for her, killed her inside. Just that day alone, there had been several moments where she thought she was for sure going to die. The walkers at the warehouse, the Wolves in the woods, the RV being surrounded. Daryl could have come home to the news that she was gone. And the image of that was unbearable. She promised herself in her head that she would do her best to make sure Daryl never had to lose her again.
She was still walking the perimeter when it got dark and the air cooled, making her shiver. She grabbed the ends of Daryl's shirt and pulled it tighter around her, folding her arms to try and keep the breeze off of her. She spotted up ahead, the list of names of the people Alexandria had lost that day. In the darkness, she saw to figures stood in front of it, cleaning off the names written at the bottom: Nicholas and Glenn.
Glenn still being out there only added to CJ's nervousness. The fact that there was no way of getting out of Alexandria past the herd was both terrifying and frustrating. She wanted nothing more than to go out there and find her people. Her family. But she couldn't, and that was killing her on the inside.
Approaching the wall, CJ made the two figures out to be Maggie and Aaron. As she approached them from behind, she caught the last bit of their conversation.
"When he gets back, it's worth mentioning that 'Aaron', 'Erin'... works for a boy or a girl. Depending on the spelling," Aaron said softly as Maggie smiled at him.
CJ's eyebrows raised in surprise, forgetting about her concerns for a minute. "Hey," she greeted, making the two of them turn around. She noticed Maggie's eyes widen, having not known CJ was there. "Did... did I just hear that right?"
"Uhh," Maggie smiled nervously down at the ground. "Maybe."
"Are you serious?" CJ whispered with a growing smile as she took a step forwards. "You and Glenn are having a baby?"
Maggie smiled up at CJ and nodded her head. "Yeah. We're havin' a baby."
"Oh my God!" CJ gasped excitedly. "I'm so happy for you two." She pulled Maggie into a tight hug.
"Thank you," Maggie giggled as she hugged CJ back for a few seconds before they both pulled away. "Can I ask you to keep quiet about it for now? Glenn and I wanna tell everyone together."
"Of course," CJ replied softly. "Man," she sighed. "Can't believe Asshat is gonna be a dad."
"I'm sorry. Asshat? That's what you call Glenn?" Aaron asked, amusement lacing his tone. "Why?"
"It works both ways, he calls her that too," Maggie chuckled and looked at CJ. "You know, now I think about it, I've never questioned it either."
"Well," CJ began. "Way back at the start, Glenn and I were in Atlanta on a supply run. We were hiding from walkers in the stock room of this clothes store and Glenn tripped and fell ass-first into a box of hats," she explained nonchalantly with a laugh. "Saying it out loud makes it sound stupid, but when it happened, we were bored shitless so, it seemed way funnier."
"God, no wonder he's never told me." Maggie laughed.
Aaron chuckled. "That's amazing."
"On that note, I think I'm gonna head home," Maggie smiled at the other two. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Night," CJ and Aaron replied as Maggie walked away.
Once Maggie had left and the conversation was over, CJ's mind reminded her of her worries. She went straight back to thinking about Daryl almost immediately. Her anxiety was not helped by the noise of the herd moaning and groaning on the other side of the wall.
Glancing up at Aaron, CJ noticed that he too looked nervous about something. She though back to what he had said a few hours ago in front of everyone.
"You know, what you said before..." she began, making Aaron look up at her. "About the attack happening because of you? It didn't."
Aaron sighed and shook his head. "It was. If I had just forgotten about the food trucks and kept looking for people like Daryl wanted, he and I wouldn't have got into that trap, and this wouldn't have happened."
"The trap wasn't your fault," CJ counted softly. "You can't blame yourself."
"I didn't even think," Aaron sighed as he slumped down against the wall, the herd groaning from the other side.
CJ walked over and sat down beside him. "If it was me, I'm pretty sure I would have chosen the food trucks over a stranger. You chose taking care of the people you already have; over someone you don't know and couldn't find. That doesn't make you a bad person."
"No," Aaron replied. "But that doesn't mean I don't feel guilty."
"Yeah..." CJ trailed off, staring straight ahead. "I get that."
"Are you okay?" Aaron asked softly, causing CJ to turn and face him again. "After today. I know you had a close call out there."
"More than one," CJ chuckled humourlessly. "I guess... I don't know. I guess I'm feeling guilty too."
"For what?" he asked, confused.
"Running off," she replied. "I know that in the moment, there was no other way. But I promised Daryl I would be safe and that was a lie. Because I wasn't." She felt her eyes become brimmed with tears and she tried to blink them away before any escaped. "Now, he's still out there. And I have no idea where."
"He'll be okay," Aaron said quietly. "He's strong. He'll be back."
"You don't know that," CJ whispered, a few stray tears falling down her cheeks.
"Hey, he will be back," Aaron assured her softly, taking her hand in his. "Alright, he's probably on his way back right now. He loves you, he's not just gonna disappear."
CJ looked down at where her and Aaron's hands were linked. "Loves me... You know, we've never actually said that to each other?" she mumbled as another tear ran down her cheek. "I've wanted to say it, but... I guess I'm afraid."
"You shouldn't be," Aaron replied. "Eric says that the two of you are his new favourite couple in Alexandria. Ouch for me," he joked, making CJ giggle tearfully. "My point is, you and Daryl are meant to be together. Anyone with eyes can see that. When he gets back, I don't think you'll be afraid."
CJ glanced up at Aaron, still holding his hand whilst she used her free hand to wipe her tears away. "When he gets back," she nodded with a soft smile.
"Yeah," Aaron smiled.
The two of them sat there in comfortable silence for a little while longer, but eventually they called it a night. Aaron gave CJ a comforting hug as they departed, reassuring her once again that Daryl would come home, and everything would work out.
On entering the house, she made sure she was a quiet as possible as not to wake up Judith or any of the others. She took her clothes out of the wash, relieved to see that the blood stains were practically completely gone. When she made it into her room, she went inside and shut the door, hangin up the vest and the flannel for them to dry. She unclipped her knife belt and took off her thigh holster and gun, leaving the items on top of the dresser.
She took a quick shower, being careful not to get water on the bandages on her shoulder, before changing into sweatpants and a tank top and climbing into bed. She lay awake, lying on her side and staring at the blank white wall across from her for a while, before she felt the exhaustion from the day catch up with her.
CJ was startled out of her sleep when she heard fumbling and inaudible muttering coming from the hallway of her house. Glancing at the alarm clock on the bedside cabinet, she noted the time as 2:18AM. She knew who it was, and she was just as scared as she would have been if it was a stranger.
Wearing an oversized shirt and shorts, she climbed out of bed and walked over to the bedroom door to lock it. But as she reached for the bolt, she jumped back when the door was flung open by a clearly very drunk Josh. He looked at her through his hooded eyes and a smirk grew on his lips.
"Hey, sorry I'm so late," he mumbled, taking a step further into the room as his eyes trailed up and down her body.
"Josh, it's the middle of the night," she replied, trying to keep her voice from shaking. She folded her arms across her chest when she saw the look in his eyes. "You said you wouldn't be out late, I assumed you went home."
"I'm sorry, alright? Was out with the guys from work, and I lost track of time," he explained, his voice slurred. "Let me make it up to you." He had a crooked smile on his face. But his tone contradicted his appearance. He took a few more steps forward.
"Josh, you're drunk," CJ pointed out as she started moving backwards, away from him.
"I know," he grinned.
"Sleep it off," she told him. "I-I'll get you some water and you can sleep on the couch."
"I don't wanna," he muttered quietly. "Can't leave you to have the big room all to yourself now, can I?"
His strides becoming bigger as CJ kept moving away from him. He got closer and closer to her, until her back hit the wall and he had her cornered. Josh was stood right in front of her, his face mere inches away from hers as he placed his hands on the wall either side of her head. She looked to the side when she smelt the alcohol on his breath. His nose brushed against her cheek, and she closed her eyes, realising what he was trying to do.
"Josh, I don't-"
"Shhh, come on, sweetheart," he whispered, taking one hand off the wall and placing it on her side. "Just relax."
She froze in complete shock and fear when she felt his hands begin to roam over her body, grabbing at her breasts. She cringed, squinting her eyes shut even tighter when he messily kissed her neck.
Opening her eyes for a moment, she looked over his shoulder and saw the bedroom door was still wide open. Suddenly realising she had a chance of escaping; she grabbed Josh's shoulders and brought her leg up to knee him in his crotch. He took his hands off of her body as he grunted and doubled over in pain. Taking advantage of his state, CJ pushed past him and ran for the door.
She barely made it down the hall to the front door before a hand grabbed her by her hair and she let out a cry, grabbing at Josh's wrists as he dragged her back into the room.
"Josh! Josh, just stop!" she shouted, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.
"Shut. The fuck. Up," he hissed. He threw her to the floor and kicked her in the stomach.
CJ gasped and struggled to breath as the pain from the kick made her curl up on the floor. She heard the bedroom door slam shut behind her and then heard the click of the bolt being pulled across, locking them both into the room. Her eyes were filled with tears and wide with fear, knowing that there was no chance of getting away from this man.
"Aargh! Josh, get off!" she cried as he violently grabbed her wrist and yanked her off of the carpet, pulling her close to him.
"You think you can just run from me? Huh?" he growled. "Well, you're wrong. Even if you did manage to get away, I'll find you."
He threw her onto the bed, so she was on her front, and he climbed over her as she whimpered. "Josh, please... please don't."
"I'll always find you," he whispered in her ear.
She woke up with a loud gasp, causing her to choke on the air. The sound of Josh's whisper echoed in her head as she shot out of bed and ran over to turn the key in the door, locking it in sheer panic.
That memory was one of her last experiences with Josh. As three months after that incident, Tony had come home to Savannah to visit CJ for her 28th birthday and he noticed some bruising on her wrists that she couldn't explain; she broke down and finally revealed the truth about what was happening. After that, it was weeks upon weeks of police interviews and court appearances which resulted in Josh somehow being released on bail. Not long after, the case was dropped altogether, and the last CJ had heard about him was when she was told he had moved up to Virginia to stay with his mother.
Breathing heavily as tears fell freely down her face, she turned back around to face the room, noticing that the dim light of early morning was peeking through the gaps in the curtains, barley illuminating the room.
It took her a few moments of just standing there with a shocked expression before she managed to calm herself down, reminding herself that she was safe. She wondered what Daryl would do if she had one of her nightmares whilst he was with her. Then she realised that the reason for the nightmare was probably because he wasn't there. She needed him to come home, and soon. She needed him in order to sleep; in order to feel safe. She needed him.
She remembered her conversation with Aaron. She really did love Daryl. To someone that didn't know them, it would seem way too soon to say it. But she had loved him for so many months now. She hadn't let herself say the words out loud to him because she didn't want to ruin what they had spent so long building. She knew that he didn't know much about being with someone, and honestly, she didn't either. All she really knew, was that when they were together and it was just the two of them, she was happy.
CJ still felt exhausted as she showered and got ready for the day. It was barely 5AM, but she wasn't going to even try and risk falling into another nightmare. The pain in her shoulder was aching more than it was before she went to bed; she guessed that she was probably thrashing around in her sleep, pulling on the damaged muscles.
Knowing the rule about not carrying guns within the walls had finally been abolished, she strapped on her thigh holster and tucked her gun into it. She picked up Daryl's shirt and shrugged it on; she did up a couple of the middle buttons before pulling on her vest and zipping it up, letting the loose material of the shirt flow out from the bottom. After pulling her old beige cap onto her head, she grabbed her full quiver and slung it over her head, so it rested comfortably across her body. She clipped on her knife belt and tucked the machete into it. She then tied her hair into a messy high ponytail before leaving the room and closed the door behind her.
She made sure she made minimal noise as she went downstairs and left the house. She walked down the streets and the low moans of the herd outside got louder as she got closer to the gate. Heading over to one of the watch posts, she climbed up the ladder and stood on the platform. As she looked beyond the sea of walkers that came extremely close to drowning her the previous day, she set her gaze on the horizon down the road. When Daryl or Glenn came home, that is where they'd come from.
The sky grew brighter as the minutes passed. She didn't know how long she stood there when she heard footsteps coming up the ladder to her left. She didn't have to turn around to know who it was.
"You alright?" Rick asked softly as he came to stand next to her.
"Mhmm," CJ hummed with a slight nod.
"How's your shoulder?"
"It's fine. Aches a lot. I'll go see Denise later if it gets worse."
"You know, you don't have to be up here all day," he told her.
"I'm not gonna be," she replied. "Just a couple hours."
"CJ, you've been up here since 5AM," Rick said and CJ turned to look up at him. "I heard you leave this morning."
"When the others get back, this is the way they'll be coming from," CJ muttered, trying to change the subject. "Or it... or it won't be," she added, looking down at her feet.
"They'll be back," Rick assured her.
"Yeah," CJ replied. "I just wanna wait a bit more."
"Will you at least take a break?" Rick asked. "We should start figuring out how to draw the walkers away. We have some food and water; it'll last us a while. The walls are holdin'. We can take our time. Really think this through. Do it right. Clear it, so that Daryl, Glenn, Sasha and Abraham can walk right in."
CJ slowly nodded her head and glanced up at Rick. "Come on. Let's go find Tobin and the others. We'll work somethin' out."
"Alright," Rick agreed, placing a hand on CJ's left shoulder. "Try not to worry too much. You and I made it back. Daryl and others will too."
CJ rested her hand on top of Rick's. "I know they will."
The two of them climbed down the ladder and headed off to find the others to come up with a plan. They had a brief meeting where they discussed potential ways of somehow getting out of Alexandria to maybe get to the RV, which CJ and Rick had left abandoned on the road. They decided the first thing they needed to do was check on the herd and try to work out how far around the walls they had spread out.
CJ, Rick and Tobin were walking down the road to go back to the watch post, when they heard the sound of metal scraping above the wall. The three of them stopped and looked over to the noise, to see Spencer had climbed up the watch post and was pulling himself across a metal wire, directly over the herd.
"What the hell?" Tobin questioned, both shocked and confused. CJ and Rick didn't hesitate to run for the ladder. Rick went up first, CJ followed right behind him.
"Spencer," Rick called out, but got ignored. "Hey! Spencer! Get back here!" Spencer kept shuffling across the wire, paying no attention to Rick.
"Spencer, get back over here, now!" CJ demanded, looking down at the walkers that were reaching up for him.
Continuing to ignore both of them, Spencer shuffled along again, making the rope jolt harsher. His grip on the wire faltered, and he was forced to cling on to the rope by just his hands whilst his legs dangled down above the walkers, all of which were now reaching for him, barley grabbing his feet.
"Spencer!" Rick yelled. "You gotta move!"
But before Spencer could do anything, the hook broke off completely and he ended up swinging down, crashing into the wall before falling to the ground.
As the walkers gathered around him, CJ quickly unholstered her gun and leant over the wall as far as she could without falling, as she began firing down at the ones that got close to him. "Spencer, get up!"
They watched Spencer rush to his feet and grab the wire, which was hanging down from the wall in front of CJ and Rick. CJ kept shooting at the walkers whilst Rick started to pull Spencer up whilst the herd were grabbing at his feet and trying to pull him down.
CJ's wound throbbed in pain every time she shot the gun; the recoil doing no good for the constant dull ache. After killing four more walkers, her gun clicked when she was out of ammo.
"I'm out! Spencer, you gotta move!" she shouted as she hastily holstered the gun before grabbing the rope to help Rick pull Spencer away from the herd.
Rick kept yelling down to him. "Climb up! Hurry!"
Within moments, Tobin and Morgan climbed up the ladder and came forwards to grab the rope. The four of them finally managed to get Spencer over the wall. He immediately slumped down, out of breath as the four glared at him. Meanwhile, the herd all started to gather around the space they'd just pulled Spencer from after being attracted by the gunshots.
"Lost a damn shoe," Spencer muttered, completely oblivious to the glares he was receiving. "Crap."
"What the hell was that?" CJ hissed angrily.
"I was trying to help," Spencer replied. "I wanted to get to a car, draw them away."
"You ever make a climb like that before?" Rick asked, his voice quiet with anger. Spencer didn't reply, which was answer enough for Rick. "You wanna help, don't make us come runnin' to save you. You got an idea, you come to me."
"Would you have listened to me?" Spencer asked. Rick didn't give him an answer, but if looks could kill, Spencer would've died there and then.
CJ decided to break the tense silence. She grabbed Spencer's arm and harshly pulled him up to his feet. "Go around to the other watchpoints and tell them to fire their guns a couple times. We need the walkers to spread out again."
"The wall won't come down," Spencer argued. "No matter how many are up against it."
"Do what she said," Rick snapped. "Now."
Spencer glared between the two of them, glancing over to Morgan and Tobin, who were remaining silent. Eventually, with a scoff, Spencer climbed down the ladder to follow the order. The rest of them all shared an agitated look before following Spencer down.
Later, CJ was up on another watchpoint with Maggie. The two of them spoke about Glenn and Daryl, assuring one another that they would be back along with the others. They found comfort knowing that they both had the same worries. It made it feel easier to believe that their people would be alright.
Looking around the horizon, CJ turned her head to face left and something in the distance caught her eye. "Maggie. You see that?"
Maggie followed CJ's gaze up to the light blue sky, seeing the bunch of green balloons floating away. "Oh my god," she whispered. "That has to be Glenn."
"Come on," CJ said urgently.
The two of them scrambled to strap their rifles of their shoulders and climb down the ladder. They ran around to the front of Alexandria where Rick was standing with Deanna, both of whom were also watching the balloons.
"That's Glenn!" Maggie breathed out. "It's Glenn."
The moment of hope was broken almost immediately. The sound of wood creaking made everyone's heads turn to the clock tower just outside of the wall. They all took a few steps back, as they could do nothing but watch, as the tower began tilting slowly, before it eventually came crashing down on the wall and caused the metal panels to fall with it.
The wall was down...
*****
A/N: opinions on this chapter??
I know its not the most action-packed chapter, but I really like it
Don't worry, there is plenty of action to come ;)
Also may or may not have been a few hints for whats coming up in the story soon...