𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐒.
chapter forty-three; Jailbreak
" So, Doctor Dixon, will you be supervising treatment now? "
THE GROUP WAS making makeshift weapons out of whatever they could. Belts, watches, wood-- it didn't matter. If it was sharp or hard, it would hurt.
Zeppelin was stuck to her mom's side as they worked to saw off wood, as Vex instructed Zeppelin how to wrap her knuckles to make a punch hit harder.
Vex had hardly noticed the man approach her.
"What branch?"
Vex peered up from the makeshift weapon she was crafting out of splintered wood and her faded belt.
Abraham stood over her, his own weapon in his hand, his expression unreadable.
"Can't tell?" She questioned, breathing, "Cause the Army is written all over that mustache."
And to Glenn's surprise, Abraham actually laughed.
"Well, you sure as hell ain't Air Force."
"Navy," Vex supplied with a small smile of her own, "12 years, too many deployments to count."
"Ain't think Navy fought like this."
"SEALs do," She breathed out a laugh, accepting his hand up.
"Shit," He noted with raised brows, "Lemme guess— O3?"
"O5," Vex blew out, still grinning, "O3 is insulting."
"12 years you made O5?"
"Overachiever," She shrugged. "Y'all are goin' to D.C?"
Abraham needed no more questions to explain the details of his mission; transporting Euegene to D.C. to save the world.
Vex blew out a breath, shaking her head with a small smile.
"Once we're outta here, you should come with. Could use someone like you."
The woman raised a brow at him, thinking it over for a moment before her eyes caught onto something just behind him.
Daryl Dixon and Dean Williams, the former rolling his eyes as the latter made a poor impression of Wolverine with his belt prongs between his fingers.
"I made O5 in 12 years 'cause all I ever did was work," Vex said, meeting Abraham's gaze again, "My family's more important than a new mission. Even in a world like this."
Vex could tell quite clearly that Abraham wanted to say something, but the simple movement of Zeppelin snuggling up to her mother's side seemed to stop him in his tracks.
So all he did was nod and let them continue on as they were.
"Alright," Daryl spoke up, "Got four of them pricks coming our way."
"Y'all know what to do. Go for their eyes first, then their throats."
The group lay in wait at the door, weapons raised, holding their breaths.
But a latch opened on the ceiling, and something dropped inside, and the smoke grenade went off before anyone could think.
Vex came to with bleary eyes, attempting to push herself up as she heard the door close loudly.
"Zep?!"
"Mom--!" Zeppelin replied, stumbling towards the woman.
Vex could breathe easier, holding her daughter, but as the smoke cleared she realized who it was they had taken.
"Fuck!"
The woman cursed, grinding her teeth as the group reconvened, the smoke clearing.
"We have to get out of here--"
"Vex--"
"No, no, they took our people--"
"Vex, you have to calm down."
"How the hell do you expect me to do that?!"
Vex glared at Maggie, though it was the entire group who was staring at her.
"We don't know what the hell they're doing to them," Vex continued, "We have to--"
"Mom. . ."
Vex attempted to cool the fire of her anger, but it did very little.
"They'll come back," Zeppelin said quietly, "They'll get out of there, and they'll come back."
Vex nodded, taking a seat against the wall, tightening her grip on her shitty weapon.
She couldn't believe she had let both Dean and Daryl be taken in the blink of an eye.
The explosion rattled the train car and did little to calm the people inside of it. All at once, Abraham had the same kind of panic Vex had, and all eyes were attempting to peer outside.
"Hey," Carl said, "My dad's gonna be back. They all are."
"They are," Maggie agreed, "And we need to get ready to fight our way out with them when they do."
Vex Williams loathed laying in wait, which was somewhat funny, considering that was all she had done in her job before. It was mostly waiting, watching, and waiting, but now-- now she hated it.
Hated knowing her brother was out there. Hated that these people had separated her and Daryl mere minutes after they found one another. Hated that she and her daughter were caged in a train car without any real weapons while walkers ran rampant.
"What's the cure, Eugene?"
"It's classified."
Vex let out a snort, one that Abraham glared at.
"That doesn't exist anymore, pal," Vex sighed.
"We don't know what's gonna happen," Michonne spoke up.
"You leave him be," Abraham said.
"We need to keep working."
"Yeah, but it's time to hear it," Sasha reiterated, "Cause we don't know what's comin' next."
"What's next is we get out of this," Tara replied strongly.
"Even if I told you all, even if I provided step-by-step instructions complete with illustrations and a well-composed FAQ and I went red-ring, the cure would still die with me."
"I'm not gonna let that happen."
"The best case scenario, we step out into a hell storm of bullets, fire, and walkers. I'm not fleet of foot, and I sure can't take a dead one down with sharp buttons and hella confidence."
"Yeah," Michonne said, "But we can. And we will."
"You don't owe us anything," Sasha said, "Not yet. But we just want to hear it."
"You don't have to."
It was silent for a long moment. Honestly, Vex wasn't sure if she needed to hear it or not-- if she even wanted to. Part of her wanted to stay in the dark-- if there really was a cure, and Eugene could make it to wherever he needed to go, she'd know once the world went back to normal. Until then, it was just a strand of hope to hang onto; and that wasn't always a good thing.
"I was part of a 10-person team at the Human Genome Project to weaponize diseases to fight weaponized diseases. Pathogenic microorganisms with pathogenic microorganisms. Fire with fire," Eugene explained. "Interdepartmental drinks were had, relationships made, information shared. I am keenly aware of all the details behind fail-safe delivery systems to kill every living person on this planet. I believe with a little tweaking on the terminals in DC, we can flip the script. Take out every last dead one of them. Fire with fire. . . All things being equal, it does sound pretty badass."
To Vex, it sounded like Eugene had a hunch about some second hand information-- but she didn't know shit about science, so she didn't say anything.
"Let's get back to work."
They followed Maggie's words, but only for a moment, as Rick Grimes pulled the train car door open and ordered the group to fight to the fence.
"V, Zep, come on!"
Vex ushered Zeppelin toward Dean, who other than some blood splattered on him, seemed unharmed. The girl moved in pace with her uncle, while Vex lingered, ensuring everyone got out before she followed.
"Come on, Williams, no laggin' behind."
Vex grinned at Daryl's order-- despite the gunfire, the walkers, and the smoke.
She matched his pace, covering the rear of the group as they made their way to the fence line.
Vex hung back as the group began climbing over the fence, picking off walkers as they approached.
"Come on, let's go!"
The woman elbowed Rick, the two turning toward the fence quickly.
Vex continued shooting, only halted when Daryl's hand grabbed the back of her jacket and yanked her toward him.
"Dixon--"
"Get your ass over the fence!"
Vex knew there was no time to argue, so she allowed Daryl to help her over the fence, the man bolstering her until she hopped over the side.
She let out a sharp breath as she felt the wound on her thigh scrape the top of the fence, even through the cloth Rosita had laid down. Landing on the leg did little to help it.
Daryl hopped over after her, instantly ducking under her arm and helping her walk deeper into the forest, to where Rick had buried a bag.
"The hell are we still around here for?" Abraham asked, approaching the man as he started digging.
"Guns, some supplies," Rick said, "Go along the fences, use the rifles. Take out the rest of 'em."
"What?"
"They don't get to live."
"Rick, we got out," Glenn said, "It's over."
"It's not over, 'til they're all dead."
"The hell it isn't," Rosita argued, "That place is on fire. Full of walkers."
Quickly, one by one, each disagreed with the man's plan. No one wanted to run back in for a slaughter-- they had survived, and found each other.
Vex leaned up against a tree, ensuring Daryl for the third time she was okay to stand when she saw her.
Her brows knitted as a smile bloomed, and she shook her head in surprise.
Daryl turned to follow her gaze, instantly taking off to pull Carol into a tight embrace. Vex hobbled over just in time, greedily hugging Carol the moment Daryl took a step back.
"I missed you."
Carol smiled warmly, resting a hand on the woman's cheek.
She let Zeppelin hug her, and then Rick-- before leading them to the greatest surprise.
Tyreese stood with a child in his arms. A child previously believed dead.
Rick and Carl ran to embrace Judith, and Vex stood back, a teary smile on her face.
"You alright?"
Vex smiled up at Daryl as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"We all found each other," She said quietly, "Couldn't ask for anything else."
Daryl wrapped an arm around her, pulling the woman into his side.
She reached a hand up, covering his own, squeezing it once before starting toward the group.
But her leg buckled, the woman grimacing as she felt Daryl's hands on her waist, catching her weight.
"Dammit."
"Alright, take it easy," Daryl mumbled, "Come on, Sweetheart."
The woman clenched her jaw as Daryl guided her to a car, the woman resting her weight on the hood to relieve the pressure on her leg.
Daryl's hands released her, hovering millimeters from her skin as he dropped to a knee, looking up at the woman.
"Can I worry now?"
"Yeah," Vex gritted out.
Daryl nodded, his hands sliding down the lengths of her legs before reaching the injured thigh. He took note of what she bound it with, reminding himself to ask Vex when she had snagged one of his bandanas when her pain had subsided.
His hands were gentle but purposeful, untying the knot at the back of her thigh and peeling off the cloth, he reached into his bag with one hand, leaving the other on her thigh, pulling out a water bottle. The man unscrewed the cap with his teeth, looking up at Vex's pained expression before pouring the water on her wound. He squinted his eyes as the skin became clearer, pouring more water to see the wound better.
It was clearly healing well, considering her situation— the skin around the wound was not red or inflamed, the only thing dripping out of it was blood; she had managed to keep it clean and get it to at least start healing.
But clearly running around and fighting people had ripped open the tender new skin.
"You gotta take it slow," He noted, screwing the cap back onto the water bottle, "This thing won't close if you keep irritatin' it."
"Well, I didn't really have a ton of options," She hissed. "I recall someone very loudly ordering me to 'Get my ass over the fence', so--"
"Alright, smartass," Daryl said with a lopsided smile, "I get it."
She sighed, leaning back as he re-bandaged her wound before tying a new bandana around her thigh.
"So, Doctor Dixon, will you be supervising treatment now?"
He breathed out a laugh, shaking his head as he stood, looking down at the woman who stared up at him.
"Yeah."
"Alright," She smiled, "You enjoy this. It ain't happenin' again."
"Hm."
"What?"
"Nothin'."
"No, tell me."
"I just. . . uh, I seem to remember bein' the one holdin' your I.V. bag. . ."
She rolled her eyes, pushing herself to stand. But Daryl lurched forward, his hands hovering over her waist again.
Vex remembered then what Dean had said. That Daryl cared about her, was worried. She remembered what Glenn had said. Everyone could see it but those two.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"Just. . . For being you."
Daryl scoffed as the woman held an arm up, but he slipped under it, wrapping his own around her waist to hold half of her weight.
"All that time on the road fried your brain, Squid."
"Nah. I think it finally set it right."
WORD COUNT : 2150