We head back to the office where I do inventory of the guns. Daryl, T-Dog, Miguel and I all in the same room, I'm surprised Daryl didn't try to kill the kid again.
"Them guns are worth more than gold. Gold won't protect your family or put food on the table. You're gonna give that up for that kid?" Daryl argues.
"How can you even say that about your own daughter man?" T-Dog more or less yells in Daryl's face. "If I knew we'd get Glenn and Kathrine back, I might agree." T-Dog adds looking over at me. "But you think that Vato across the way is just gonna hand 'em over?"
"You calling G a liar?" Miguel questions.
"You a part of this?" Daryl yells at him. "You want to hold onto your teeth?" He says smacking the kid in the head.
"Question is do you trust that man's word?" T-Dog says looking at me.
"No, question is what are you willing to bet on it? Could be more than them guns. Could be your life. Kathrine and Glenn worth that to you?" Daryl asks me.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! That's your own flesh and blood and you aren't willing to give everything and anything to get her back?! After all she did to find you!?" I yell in his face. T-Dog pulls me back away from Daryl before we both lash out at each other m. I push him off and pace the room to calm myself. "What life I have, I owe to them." I finally answer Daryl. "I was nobody to Kathrine, just some guy in the same hospital. And Glenn, just some idiot stuck in a tank. They could have walked away, but they didn't. Neither will I."
"So you're gonna hand the guns over?" He asks.
"I didn't say that. There's nothing keeping you two here. You should get out, head back to camp."
"And tell your family what?" T-Dog asks rubbing his head.
"This is my daughter we're talkin' about." Daryl adds reaching over and grabbing a gun. "I'll burn the whole damn place down if I have to." He says cocking his gun as I hand one to T-Dog.
"So now you give a damn huh?" T-Dog huffs under his breath as he loads his gun.
"Come on, this is nuts." Miguel says getting up only to get pushed back down my Daryl. "Just do like G says." He practically begs as he puts his hands over his head as we load our guns.
***
We head back to Guillermo's building, this time the kid's mouth is tied so he can't talk and his hands tied behind his back with Daryl's gun pointed at him as he walks.
They open the doors for us and Daryl pushes Miguel inside, we follow after him keeping our eyes peeled for any surprises. There's a lot more of them than I expected. I think to myself as they form a circle around us and we are greeted by Guillermo once again.
"I see my guns but they're not all in the bag." G says putting his hands in his pockets.
"That's because they're not yours." I tell him again. "I thought I mentioned that."
"Let's just shoot these fools right now, ese." Felipe says from behind him. "All right? Unload on their asses, ese."
"I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation." Guillermo says.
"No, I'm pretty clear." I say starting to get pissed off. "You have your man." I say cutting Miguel free and pushing him forward. "I want mine."
"I'm gonna chop up your boy and girl." He says coming closer to me. "I'm gonna feed them to my dogs. They're the evilest, nastiest man-eating bitches you ever saw. I picked them up from Satan at a yard sale." He says coming right in my face. "I told you how it has to be. Are you woefully deaf?" He asks me.
"No, my hearing's fine. You said come locked and loaded." I say cocking my gun, than Daryl, then everybody else in the room. "Okay then, we here." I say pointing my gun at his head.
"Felipe! Felipe!" An elderly woman calls walking into the circle.
"Abuela, go back with the others now." Felipe calls out.
"Get that old lady out of the line of fire!" Daryl says.
"Abuela, listen to your mijo, okay? This is not the place for you right now." Guillermo turns and tells her.
"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing. He needs his asthma stuff." She says to Felipe. "Carlitos didn't find it. He needs his medicine."
"Felipe, go take care of it, okay? And take your grandmother with you." Guillermo tells Felipe.
"Abuela! Ven conmigo por favor." Felipe tells his grandmother.
"Felipe who are those men?" She asks looking at us.
"Por favor, ven conmigo." He tells her again.
"Don't you take him." She says walking up to me.
"Ma'am?" I question.
"Felipe's a good boy. He have his trouble but he pull himself together. We need him here." She tells me.
"Ma'am, I'm not here to arrest your grandson." I tell her.
"Then what do you want him for?" She asks.
"He's... Helping us find some missing persons. A couple of kids, Glenn and Kathrine."
"The Asian boy and the pretty girl? They're with Mr. Gilbert. Come. Come, I show you. He needs his medicine." She says taking my hand and leading me to Kathrine and Glenn.
"Let 'em pass." Guillermo tells his men.
Everyone else follows as the elderly woman leads me to them I take the time to take in the surroundings. They got a pretty big, fortified set up here. She leads me into what looks like a seniors center. We stop for a moment and I look into the room and I see a woman helping one of the elderly drink.
"Abuela, por favor." Felipe says to his grandmother. "Take me to him."
The woman take Felipe to Mr. Gilbert, I take my hat off as I continue to follow them down the hall. There are many elderly here. I think as I am lead into a big open room with some people gathered in a circle and near the end of it, and I spot Glenn and Kathrine apart of that group.
"All right. All right. Nice and easy. Just breathe. Just breathe. Just let it out. Just breathe. Just relax." Felipe says to the elderly man as he gives him his puffer.
"What the hell is this?" I ask looking at Glenn and Kathrine.
"An asthma attack." She answers nonchalantly.
"Couldn't get his breath all of a sudden." Glenn adds.
"I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man." T-Dog fires back as Glenn and Kathrine look back reveling little chiwawas.
"Could I have a word with you?" I say to Guillermo as we walk away from the small group. "You're the dumbest son of a bitch I ever met. We walked in there ready to kill every last one of you." I say trying not to raise my voice.
"Well, I'm glad it didn't go down that way." He answers calmly.
"If it had, that blood would be on my hands." I say.
"Mine too. We'd have fought back. Wouldn't be the first time we've had to. Protect the food, the medicine, what's left of it. These people, the old ones the staff took off, just left 'em here to die." He says as I look around the room. "Me and Felipe were the only ones who stayed."
"What are you, doctors?" I ask a little confused.
"Felipe's a nurse, a special care provider. Me, I'm the custodian."
I gathered my thing and walk out of the room, following Guillermo with the rest of my group behind me.
"What about the rest of your crew?" I ask setting my bag down and a chair.
"The Vatos trickle in to check on their parents, their grandparents. They see how things are and most decide to stay. It's a good thing too. We need the muscle. The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kind plunderers, the kind that take by force." He says nodding towards me.
"That's not who we are." I say defending us.
"How was I to know? My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage... appearances." He says.
"Guess the world changed." T-Dog says.
"No. It's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken. So we do what we can here. The Vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathroom by themselves, still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something. So we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut except for one entrance. The Vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait. The people here, they all look to me now. I don't even know why." He says.
"Because they can." I answer I say handing him my shot-gun, then unzipping my bag and taking out one of the snipers and putting it down.