Y/N sighs as she walks into medical. Glenn is with her.
They barely make it through the door before someone speaks.
"You guys look like sh*t."
Y/N's eyes widen and she looks to the side where Tara now sits up in bed, awake. The two rush to her.
Rosita, who's been taking care of her, smiles.
Tara nods slightly. "I'm okay."
Y/N feels a tear form in her eye. She leans down and gently hugs her friend.
Tara smiles and nudges Rosita. "Okay, Y/N's freaking me out. Somebody want to send Noah in here to protect me?"
Y/N pulls away. The tears fall now but she doesn't make any noise. Glenn looks at the floor. Rosita doesn't say anything.
Tara looks around at their faces.
Her smile fades.
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The next morning, Y/N finds Daryl working on a bike outside.
"Hey, stranger." She says, walking up to him.
He stands, wiping his hands with a rag. "Hey."
She motions toward the motorcycle. "Looks good."
He nods. After a moment he shifts awkwardly on his feet. "You doing okay?"
She shrugs.
He scratches his head. "I'm here. If you need sumthin."
She smiles slightly. "I know."
Rick walks out of the house that the two stand in front of.
Daryl glances at him. "So, he okay with it?"
Rick nods. "It was pretty much his idea. He gets it."
The man who was with Daryl and Aaron last night, is named Morgan.
Apparently he saved Rick back in Atlanta before he found Y/N and the group.
"He told me what happened out there with the trucks." Rick tells Daryl.
"He tell you about those guys he met? The W's?"
"Like the walker we saw, yeah."
Y/N furrows her brows. "W's?"
The two look at her briefly. They obviously don't want to tell her. She's already been through enough.
She sighs. "Okay... we need more watch points."
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Later, a meeting was called inside Deanna's home.
Heath, a man who just returned from a long run with two others, Annie and Scott, stands before them. "My team... we saw it early on, back when we were on one of those first scouts, finding out what was around here."
He takes a breath before continuing. "There was a camp at the bottom. The people, they must've blocked the exits with one of those trucks back when everything started to go bad. They didn't make it. They were all roamers. Maybe a dozen of them."
Y/N rests her head in her hands. "No one's been back since?"
He shakes his head. "DC, every town worth scavenging are all in the other direction. And I never really felt like having a picnic next to the camp that ate itself."
Michonne stands near the couch where Y/N sits with Maggie and Glenn. "So all the while the walkers have been drawn by the sound and they're making more sound and they're drawing more in."
"And here we are." Rick says.
Rick and Morgan were in the woods outside the walls. Somehow they found a hoard of walkers near an old highway exit. There are hundreds if not thousands.
Rick looks around at the others. "Now what I'm proposing, I know it sounds risky, but walkers are already slipping through the exits. One of the trucks keeping the walkers in could go off the edge any day now. Maybe after one more hard rain. That exit sends them east. All of them. Right at us."
He lets the information sink in for a moment before speaking again. "This isn't about if it gives. It's about when. It's gonna happen. That's why we have to do this soon."
Carol shakes her head. "This is... I don't even have another word for it. This is terrifying. All of it. But it doesn't sound like there's any other way."
A man speaks. "Maybe there is. I mean, couldn't we just build up the weak spots? I could draw up plans. I worked on the wall with Reg. Construction crew. We can try and make it safe."
Rick speaks. "Even if we could, the sound of those walkers is drawing more and more every day. Building up the exits won't change that."
Deanna, who hasn't said a word this whole meeting, finally speaks. "We're gonna do what Rick says, the plan he's laid out."
Rick nods. "I told you all, we're gonna have Daryl leading them away."
Sasha speaks. "Me too. I'll take a car, ride next to him. Can't just be him. I'll keep 'em coming, Daryl keeps 'em from getting sloppy."
"I'll go with her." Abe says. "It's a long way to white-knuckle it solo."
"We'll have two teams." Rick says. "One on each side of the forest helping manage this thing. We're gonna have a few people on watch from now on. Rosita, Spencer, and Holly. So they're out."
He sighs. "So who's in?"
Michonne nods. "Me."
Y/N opens her mouth but Glenn grabs her hand and looks at her. He speaks in a low whisper. "No."
"This is important." She whispers back.
He points at her stomach. "This is important."
She nods. She wants to contribute. She wants to help. She wants to fight because that's what she does best but she knows that she has to stay.
"Okay." She whispers.
He squeezes her hand. "I'm in." He tells Rick.
Gabe suddenly steps forward. "I'd like to help as well."
"No." Rick says instantly. "Who else? We need more."
The man who spoke earlier, Carter, speaks again. "There's gotta be another play. We can't control that many."
"I said it before, walkers herd up. They'll follow a path if something's drawing them. That's how we can get them all at once."
Carter scoffs. "So, what? We're just supposed to take your word for it? We're all supposed to just fall in line behind you after..."
"After what?" Rick asks.
"After you wave a gun around. Screaming, pointing it at people. After you shoot a man in the face. After you-"
Suddenly Deanna cuts him off. "Enough!"
After a moment Heath raises a hand. "I'll do it."
A woman nods. "Me too."
Tobin looks at Rick. "Whatever you need, I'm in."
Deanna speaks. "Now who else?"
A few others chime in.
Rick looks to everyone again. "We'll make this work. We'll keep this place safe. Keep our families safe. We will."
Carter speaks. "The plan. Go through it again."
Y/N rolls her eyes. "He just said it."
"Every part again. The exact plan."
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