"They seemed nice enough, but I was ready to go." The fiery-haired man- Abraham, tells. "We had just got here but damn, it was time to go. When I told them about DC,"
We're all making makeshift weapons out of anything we can find. I strip my belt off and use the ground to break it and sharpen it into a weapon to use between my fingers.
Alyssa uses the claw clip in her hair and sharpens it as well, breaking it in half to use both sides.
"A wink and a nod from the head asshole in charge, they pulled their guns and it was right back to our regularly scheduled shitstorm." Abraham finishes.
"Before they put you in here, you didn't see Tyreese?" Sasha asks us.
"No." Michonne answers her.
"Good."
"Y'all didn't see Damien?" I ask Maggie and her group.
Maggie shakes her head, "No."
"Good." I nod, Alyssa knows exactly what I mean so she doesn't even have to ask.
"Did any of you see Beth?" Maggie asks urgently.
"I was with 'er. After the fall." Daryl recalls. "One night, we got swarmed by a herd, I told 'er to run and all I saw was a car drive off. A black one, with a white cross painted on it. I tried to follow it, I tried."
"But she's alive?" Maggie asks.
Daryl nods, I stand up from the ground after sharpening the wire from my bra and sticking it in my belt buckle. I break it in half so that there are three rods of sharp wire.
"She's alive." Daryl says.
Everybody continues making their weapons when we hear men speaking outside.
"Alright. Got four of them pricks comin' our way." Daryl observes through the crack of the train door.
"Y'all know what to do." Rick says, walking out of the corner of the train car and approaching the door. "Go for their eyes first. Then their throats."
Everyone stands up and stands ready, with their hand-made weapons held tightly.
I look down at a nervous Alyssa who is biting her cheeks.
"Hey," I say, slightly softly.
She looks at me, fear shines in her eyes.
"PBND." I smirk. She smirks and nods, "PBND."
I stand tense and ready with my belt between my fingers, suspense, worry, anger, and hope numb my fingers and toes.
"Put your backs to the walls on either side of the car, now!" We hear a man's voice from outside the car.
We all exchange glances, some worried, some angry, but all feeling some strong emotion that we have to hide.
Footsteps on the roof sound and we all look up, I can almost hear everyone's hearts stop.
A trap door on the ceiling opens and a can drops down, clinking on the rotten wood below our feet.
"MOVE!" Abraham screams, shoving Alyssa back just as the can explodes, thick, grey smoke clouds the train car. My lungs burn and I can hear Alyssa begin coughing and gagging, as well as everyone else.
He pulled Alyssa back before himself.
"Breath." I struggle to speak as I can barely breathe myself. "I-" Alyssa's words are cut off with more coughing and gagging. "Just br-breath." I cough through my words.
The door slides open and gas mask hissing sounds through the train car.
I hear Daryl grunting but I can't see past the smoke. "Da-" I take too deep of an inhale and a new fit of coughing rings through my throat.
Glenn, Bob, and Rick get pulled out of the train car as well before the door slams closed,
Alyssa's breath is strained and ragged as she's hunched on the floor.
She's gonna suffocate.
"'Lyss, 'Lyss." I say softly, putting my hand on her back. "Relax, you're psyching yourself out. The freaked out you are, the quicker you're going to breathe."
She inhales a shaky, aching breath and coughs again. "You're okay. You're okay." I repeat, rubbing her back. I cough silently as the smoke clears and everyone comes back into view.
Alyssa inhales another choked breath and looks at me, "You know this because-" She coughs. "Because you used to smoke so bad you have lungs blacker than-" Another few coughs. "...Everything. Your lungs are blacker than-" Cough. "Literally everything."
I scoff, "Fuck off. But yes, I know this because I smoked ...everything."
"Glenn?" Maggie chokes.
"Bob's gone." Sasha notices, panicked.
"So are Daryl and Rick." I point out, standing up.
Carl looks around, nervous. Alyssa stands up and hugs him comfortingly. "I never hugged you to say hi." She says, trying to take his mind off of his missing father.
It takes Carl a moment before hugging Alyssa back tighter. "Hi." He whispers.
I smile a downturned smile and look at Maggie, who is watching them. "Thank you." I say, quietly.
"For what?" She asks.
"Keeping 'Lyss alive. She's um..." I turn and look at Alyssa, who is still hugging Carl. "Gullible."
Maggie scoffs, "You haven't seen her recently. Practically ate Abraham up before saying 'You would like my sister'."
This catches Alyssa's attention. She jumps excitedly, "Adrian! You have to meet Abraham. He says stupid crap like you do!"
Her idea to take everyone's minds off of the missing folk worked, everyone knows we can't do anything but wait to figure out if they're alive or dead.
"Yo?" I say, throwing my hands up.
"Alright, Rapunzel. I say stupid shit with a meaning." Abraham queries, putting a hand on his heart.
"Exactly. Thank you." I respond, motioning to Abraham. "See? He gets it."
Alyssa smiles, "Called it."
I scoff, "Whatev-" A loud bang shakes the whole train car and possibly the whole world with how badly the train car shakes.
I lose my footing as the rumble shakes my whole body and I grab ahold of Abraham for support.
"What the fuck was that?" I yell, straightening up again.
Abraham bangs on the metal door angrily, "What the hell is goin' on?" He grunts through gritted teeth.
"Someone hit 'em." Michonne says.
"Maybe our people got free." Sasha thinks aloud.
The other new man- Eugene, is crouched by the door, what he's doing, I can't tell.
"What the hell are you doing?" Rosita, the other new person, asks.
"I might be able to use this shell to compromise the door. From the sound of things, there may not be anybody left to open it."
"Eugene, I'm sorry, but shut up." Tara, one of the Governor's people says.
"Hey," Carl says. Everyone turns to him. "My dad's gonna be back. They all are."
Maggie nods, "They are. And we need to get ready to fight our way out with them when they do."
I groan, "You have got to be fuck-sticking me."
"What does that mean?" Alyssa asks.
"It means 'you have got to be kidding me.'" Abraham responds, not looking away from the door.
I smirk, "See? Thank you."
He just nods in response, not looking at me.
"Literally called it." Alyssa mumbles with a smirk, trying to sharpen her claw clip even further.
I just scoff, "Us knowing what each other means does not mean we're gonna be best friends."
Alyssa looks at me like I'm insane. "Abraham, do you smoke?" She asks him without looking at him.
"Hell fuckin' yeah."
"Okay wait..."
"See?!" Alyssa squeals.
"Okay. Alyssa, I love you but shut up. Smoking and best friends are the least of our worries." Sasha says quickly.
Alyssa purses her lips and nods, looking back at her claw clip.
Walkers growl and claw at the door, symbolizing that something big did happen.
It's silent for a moment as everyone continues making their weapons, until Sasha asks, "What's the cure, Eugene?"
"It's classified."
I scoff. "We don't know what's gonna happen." Michonne says.
"You leave him be." Abraham orders.
"Oh don't be an ass." I groan.
"We need to keep working." Maggie declares.
"Yeah, but it's time to hear it." Sasha quickly says. "'Cause we don't know what's comin' next."
"What's next is we get out of this." Tara reassures us, or herself. Both.
"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 pause making a wooden knife and look at Eugene. "What?"
He just looks at me before turning back to whatever the hell he's doing.
"I'm not gonna let that happen." Abraham comforts, in the least comforting voice.
"The best-case scenario, we step out into a hellstorm, of bullets, fire, and Walkers. I am not fleet of foot. I sure as hell can't take a dead one down with sharp buttons and hella confidence."
What?
"Yeah, but we can and we will." Michonne says, rolling her eyes.
"You don't owe us anything." Sasha starts, standing up. "Not yet. But we just wanna hear it."
"You don't have to." Rosita says softly, jumping to Eugene's rescue.
It's quiet before Euegen grunts and stands up, turning to all of us.
"I was a part of a ten-person team at the Human Genome Project to weaponize diseases to fight weaponized diseases."
Everybody stands up, interested as to what Eugene has to say.
"Pathogenic microorganisms with pathogenic microorganisms. Fire with fire. 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."
What?
"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."
Nobody says anything so I decide to be the first. "What?" Alyssa giggles.
"All things being equal, it does sound pretty badass." Eugene says, smirking to himself.
"I retaliated none of what the fuck you just said." I scoff.
"So let's get back to work." Maggie orders, sharpening her chunk of wood.
Almost immedeatly, banging comes from outside the door and Rick slides it open.
Behind him, Terminus is on fire, smoke is replacing air, and Walkers are swarming the property.
"Come on!" Rick screams. "Fight to the fence!" Rick runs off of the steps and machine guns multiple Walkers to the ground.
I nod to Alyssa and everyone bolts out of the train car, leaving nothing but tension and fear- replaced with determination and endurance.
"Do not leave his side!" Abraham screams as he runs out.
Jesus, Eugene must have a small ass dick if he can't kill already dead people.
"Daryl!" I yell, running to him. He grabs my wrist in replace of a hug before releasing it and lightly shoving me forward to run.
I grunt as I stab a Walker in the forehead with my belt-weapon. Alyssa stabs two at a time with her claw clips.
Damn, the fuck did I miss? Not gullible anymore, jesus.
Everybody grunts as they kill Walkers, slicing their face open or shooting them, stabbing them, beating them, anything they can do.
My heart pounds in my ear, not worry but anticipation causes my heart to pick up its pace.
"Up and over!" Rosita yells from the fence.
Alyssa runs to the fence before looking to the left and yelling, "Wait!" She quickly runs to a few Walkers, ignoring my yell for her.
She rips a red hat off of one of them and kills them before running back to us and smiling at me. "I can't leave without this, duh." I smile a downturned smile.
"Let's go! Move!" Abraham yells, helping everybody up. I put my hand on Alyssa's back and lightly shove her towards the fence, following after her.
I shove Alyssa over the fence before climbing on the wooden pallet and gripping the top of the fence. Abraham's hands wrap around my thighs as he heaves me up. I fall onto the grass with a grunt.
"Let's go!" Rick yells, pointing to the woods behind us.
I help Alyssa stand up and we all begin running into the woods, the trees serving as protection.
Shortly after, Daryl finds where Rick hid his bag and he tosses Rick his shovel.
"The hell are we still around here for?" Abraham nitpicks.
"Guns, some supplies." Rick grunts, continuing to dig in the dirt. "Go along the fences. Use the rifles. Take out the rest of 'em."
"What?" Bob asks, stepping forward.
Rick stops and turns to Bob, "They don't get to live."
"Rick, we got out, it's over." Glenn pants.
"It's not over," Rick starts, grabbing his revolver and checking the bullets. "'Till they're all dead."
"The hell it isn't. That place is on fire. Full of Walkers." Rosita sneers.
"I'm not dickin' around with this crap." Abraham says. "We just made it out."
"The fences are down." Maggie notes. "They'll run or die."
A stick cracking catches everyone's attention.
Daryl, who is resting against a tree, turns around and makes eye contact with the figure walking towards us.
Carol.
He runs quickly to her and wraps her in his arms tightly. I smile at the sight. I almost forgot how close they were to each other.
My smile quickly fades as I see Damien and I in their place, I can tell Alyssa sees the same.
There's no way in fuck we're finding him. We need to move on.
The way Daryl refuses to let Carol go is one of the sweetest scenes I've ever seen, tears stream down both of their faces.
Daryl finally lets go and allows Rick to talk to Carol. I walk over to the crying Daryl and interlock my fingers with his, he squeezes my hand.
"Did you do that?" Rick asks.
My mouth drops open ever so slightly. Rick sighs and hugs Carol tightly as she laughs tearfully in his arms.
"Holy fuckin' shit." I whisper, amazed.
Once Rick and Carol break the hug, she eagerly says, "You have to come with me."
Without another word, we follow her through the woods.
I look at Daryl, our hands not holding each other anymore. I don't say anything, I just look at him. Admiring the way that he puts on this hard facad but really, he's a big baby.
Alyssa, who is walking on the other side of me, sniffs. I look at her and see her eyes glossy with tears.
"I should be happy that Carol's back...and I am but..."
"Damien." I whisper, nodding. "I know." My voice cracks. "I know."
If I don't find Damien by tomorrow, I'm splitting off from the group and looking for him. I can't leave him, I can't. The absence of Damien is really taking a toll on me. I can feel my mental health draining even further without him making a stupid comment or joke.
Carol leads us up an abandoned road, a small wodden shack at the end.
Tyreese stands there, holding little baby Judith.
And next to him,
"Damien." I whisper.
I immediately bolt to Damien, wrapping him tightly in my arms. Alyssa follows, sobbing. So much relief and happiness washes over me that I begin wailing. I needed him these past few weeks and I finally have him in my arms again.
"Damn, you smell like shit." Damien whispers.
I scoff tearfully, "You're one to talk."
I squeeze him tighter, it feels like I can't get close enough to him right now.
"I needed you." I whisper, "I needed you."
Damien nods in my arms, sniffing. "I'm here now." His words cause another cry to fall out of my mouth.
Alyssa cries, "Don't ever do that again!"
Damien chuckles and breaks the hug, "Do what? Leave?"
Alyssa nods with a frown on her face, "Yes!"
He scoffs, "Pinky promise." He holds out his pinkies to both of us.
Alyssa and I exchange glances before wrapping our pinkies around his.
He smiles, "You look hot as hell with blood splattered on you, Adrian."
I scoff, "Shut the fuck up, Damien."
"I don't know if the fire is still burnin'." Rick stares at the black smoke twisting and curling, making its way closer and closer to the sky.
"It is." Carol answers.
"Yeah..." Rick whispers. "We need to go."
"Yeah but where?" Daryl asks.
"Somewhere far away from there."
We all set out, walking through the opposite woods.
"So..." Damien starts. "Miss me?"
I chuckle and wipe a tear from under my eye, "No. I'm actually really fuckin' pissed you're alive." He chuckles, "I can tell."
Alyssa smiles, "You know...I'm glad I almost died in that creek."
I scoff, "I can't say I don't agree."
Damien smiles and flicks her hat, "Me too." She giggles and readjusts her hat. "When was the last time you took that hat off?"
She and I both look at each other before she smiles again and looks at Damien, "Since before you gave it to me."