This time we're all in. I took the back with T; packing a shotgun and two handguns hidden in my waistband, knives in their sheaths.
When we got there, they were expecting us and the doors opened. They've probably had eyes on us since we got within a block of this place.
Daryl shoved Miguel in first before following with a shotgun to the kid's back. I followed after T-Dog being the last one inside and the doors closed behind me.
We stopped inside where -I'm guessing- G was there to greet us.
"I see my guns, but they're not all in the bag"
"That's because they're not yours. I thought I mentioned that"
I trust Rick knows how to handle an interaction such as this better than the rest of us do. He was a cop.
I just hope he wasn't a rookie.
"Let's just shoot these fools right now, ese. Alright? Unload on their asses, ese"
I trained my raised shotgun on that guy. He's one of the two who nabbed my pizza kid. If this is gonna get ugly, he's going down first. That's a promise.
"I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation."
"No, I'm pretty clear." Rick lowered his shotgun and took out a knife.
He cut the kid's bindings, shoving him forward to his people.
"You have your man. I want mine."
"I'm gonna chop up your boy. I'm gonna feed him to my dogs. Three of the evilest, nastiest, man-eating bitches you ever saw. I picked 'em up from Satan at a yard sale."
I don't hear any dogs. Either this place is bigger than I thought, or that's the worst bluff I've ever heard. What sort of gangsters are these guys?
"I told you how it has to be are you woefully deaf?"
"No my hearin's fine. You said come locked and loaded"
Rick cocked his gun and the rest of the room followed suit in less than a second.
I trained my sight on a set of boys I believe will be our biggest problem, should this turn into a firefight. The fastest reacting.
"Okay then, we're here."
Scanning over the room, I pinpointed all the places they're likely to take cover, and where we will. I'll have to drag Rick out. I glanced at Daryl and tapped my foot heel-to-toe, making two clacks.
He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and I glanced at T-Dog before eyeing the beam and stack of barrels on his other side. Following my train of thought, he nodded and I returned my eyes to Rick, waiting for the split second I'll have to grab him and get down before we both end up as swiss cheese.
"Felipe. Felipe."
An old woman came out behind G.
"Abuela, go back with the others— now"
"Get that old lady outta the line a fire." Daryl warned
"Abuela, listen to your mijo, okay?" G half turned, looking over his shoulder. "This is not the place for you right now"
"Mr. Gilbert, is having trouble breathing. He- he needs his asthma stuff. Carlito didn't find it. He needs his medicine."
G looked back at Rick, and back at his people several times. "Felipe go take care of it okay? And take your grandmother with you."
Felipe spoke to her in Spanish, trying to take her away but she noticed us and stopped him.
"Who are those people?" she asked, making her way to the middle of this standoff.
"Don' you take him." she shuffled up to Rick while everyone behind her was trying to stop her.
Rick glanced to me for answers, and all I could do was shrug. Sorry, Officer. I haven't the foggiest.
"Ma'am?"
"Felipe's a good boy. He have his trouble but he pull himself together. We need him here."
She doesn't think—...Does she think Rick's still a cop? Has she not seen what's going on out there?
"Ma'am. I'm not here to arrest your grandson." Rick played along.
"Then what do you want him for?" she glanced at me and regrettably I shifted and glanced at Daryl. Even though I know there's nothing any of us could really do— or would need to.
She— rather her presence makes me uncomfortable.
"He's...helping us find a missing person. Fella named Glenn." Rick glanced around.
"The Asian boy? He's with Mr. Gilbert." So he's alive. But who's Gilbert?
"Come. Come...I show you." she took hold of Rick's hand, pulling him forward and however reluctantly, G said "Let 'em pass" and they moved aside.
I followed Rick cautiously but stayed close to Daryl. If they try anything, I don't wanna be too far; in case I need to pull the officer out of a sticky situation. Plus I have a habit of wandering off, from what I'm told.
The old lady lead us through what looked like a sort of institute that smelled like an old people's home -full of old people go figure- until we came to a large cafeteria-like room and I spotted Glenn in a circle of people.
A tiny white puff in the corner caught my eye and 'not wandering off' slipped my mind, now that I know Glenn's safe.
I went over to the small dogs, crouching in front of them. The puffy white one stared at me like I owed it somethin' but he wasn't barking or anything. Just staring.
It's so fluffy, too fluffy. It's too small. I don't like small dogs. It looks like melting string cheese on a week old ham.
If you're gonna have a dog, make it a big dog that can run, that's trained well, and trained to attack on command. Like a police or military dog.
The dog looked behind me all of a sudden and started barking. Looking over my shoulder, I was met with everyone staring at me.
"What're you doing?" Glenn asked.
I pointed to the dog and made a scissors motion with my fingers.
He stared at me confused, until Daryl scoffed, "She wants to cut the fur off."
I nodded confirming his deduction and they stared at me strangely for a few more seconds before Rick pulled G off to the side.
When they started leaving, I stood up and followed them. The little white dog tried to follow me but I stopped abruptly, snapped my fingers, and pointed to the doggy bed. It stared at me for a second before running back and I jogged to catch up with the boys headed to a back room.
"What about the rest of your crew?" Rick started.
"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."
I wandered over to the window on the far side of the room, looking out between the boards.
Conversation has never been my strong suit. People say what they don't mean, and mean what they don't say. Lie. Say one thing, do another. Expect you to read their minds and give them what they want. Round and round, over and over.
It's easier to understand someone through body language....most of the time.
No confusion, no lies, no con-man talk. Less communication is more. You can lie all you want with your tongue but your body will always tell the truth. Plus how someone reacts to silence, says a lot about a person. More than people think, if you know what to look for.
"The people we've encountered...since things fell apart, the worst kind— plunderers. The kind that take by force."
"That's not who we are" Rick said
"How was I to know? My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage— appearances."
He does have a point there. I don't know exactly what happened, considering I was late to the party but I don't imagine we instigated the fight, unless Daryl— ...
Okay, we may be at fault here.
"Guess the world changed" T-Dog drawled
I turned, leaning my back against the boards and caught Daryl's eye for a moment before the conversation continued.
"No. It's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken." G contradicted T.
"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 so that's just a dream."
"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." Oh that's a bad idea. One way in, one way out. If that door is compromised or overtaken, you're gonna be trapped like rats.
"The vatos they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day, and we wait."
For what? Rescue? Cause that's a long wait for a train that don't come. Death? You won't have to wait long. You can get that in spades these days.
"The people here, they all look to me now. I don't even know why"
"...Because they can" Rick spun the shotgun in his hand and handed it to G.
I watched Rick take out several guns and give them to G, and just like that, we left.
I can't believe nobody died. Not one person died.
Officer Grimes, if you ever say you're not a miracle worker, I won't ever believe you.
-
The whole way back to the cube van, I've just been waiting for Daryl to pop. He's got that look on his face, and it's been there since we left the compound.
I dug through my pocket as we were almost back to our ride and pulled out the little package I was searching for.
Opening it, I offered Glenn a mini-cookie and he started laughing. "How long have you been holding onto those?"
I shrugged tossing one up and catching it in my mouth. Rick chuckled next to me, and I offered him one but he refused.
Shaking his head, Glenn held out his hand and I gave him a couple. He popped the bite sized delights into his pie-hole as I gave T-Dog a few and moved over next to Daryl to offer him some.
He scoffed at me and I smiled shaking the bag a little. Giving in, he held his hand up and I shook the bag until a few tumble out. The rest however, are mine. And the only reason I've so graciously shared this time, is because I think we all deserve a little reward.
I dumped the rest out into my hand —only 5 or 6 left— and glanced to make sure Rick wasn't watching before I put two of them back in the bag and rolled it up so it was no bigger than a credit card.
I waited about ten minutes, casually getting between Daryl and Rick before I reverse pickpocket him, stashing the small treats in the Officer's pocket.
If he doesn't want them, too bad. He can share with Carl and/or Lori.
-
"Admit it. You only came back to Atlanta for the hat." Glenn joked
"Don't tell anybody." Rick glanced at him with a slight smile.
I smiled at the banter but it was short lived; As I suspected it would be. Jokes and smiles don't tend to last long these days.
"You've given away half our guns and ammo."
Here we go. What did I say? I knew he was gonna boil over sooner or later.
"Not nearly half." Rick corrected, already annoyed.
"For what? Bunch of old farts that are gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously how long do you think they got?"
"How long do any of us?"
Damn he's good at comebacks. His tongue is so silver he could kill a werewolf with it.
Precisely why I don't trust words. If he wanted to, he could do a lot of damage. I'm just glad he's on our team.
I looked up as I came around the overturned bus and froze.
Daryl ran into my back, almost knocking me over and growled, "What the Hell? Why did ya—..."
My jaw was slack as I stared at the empty space where we'd stashed our ticket back.
"Oh my God" Glenn took the words right out of my brain.
"Where the Hell's our van?" Daryl's breath moved my hair & tickled my ear and any other time I would've moved but I couldn't.
"We left it right there. Who would take it?" Glenn began to panic.
"Merle" Rick growled.
Daryl shifted behind me.
"...He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp."
I didn't hesitate before breaking into a run; the others on my heels.