MADISON'S POV.
"Now what?" Rosita huffs.
I stare at the trembling door as I think.
The loud banging from behind the door becomes the constant pounding in my head. I can hear them growling behind the door and I watch as the hinges become loose. Behind me I can hear Fangs starting to growl.
"Madison!" Kai calls me frantically.
I turn back around to them. I move over to the electric chair and think about the amount of times I've been restrained to it. Shocked by electrical currents, radiating through my bones, making me shake and almost die, for real this time.
"Vents." I murmur.
"Huh?" Rick walks over to me and puts his hand on my shoulder to turn me back towards the group.
I point to the ceiling and everyone follows my gaze.
I remember the times being strapped to the chair and through the pain I realized I didn't have many choices. I was locked down. But I had one, it wasn't much but it was enough to remind me that I wasn't completely out of control.
I could either screw my eyes shut and wait for the pain to knock me out or I could fight and keep my eyes open long enough to glare at Clover on the other side of the room. I often just looked up at the ceiling too. And as I lift my head to stare at the ceiling now, the same vent is there. It's old and covered in cobwebs. Who knows if it'll even open but it's the only shot we've got.
I take a deep breath before climbing on top of the chair. I can't quiet reach the cover of the vent so I use the tip of one of my arrows to unscrew the four bolts to the vent. It comes off easily but I'm not quite tall enough to climb up and take a look at it myself.
"Move over." Daryl grunts.
The chair is wide enough to fit both of us standing up on it.
"Hop on." He offers.
I climb onto his back and he boosts me far enough up that I can see inside the dark, metal, container.
"Flashlight?"
Somebody places one in my hand and I shine it down the vent. Cobwebs hang from each end of the metal container and they billow softly in the breeze. They look dirty and tangled and they fight to stay intact against the light breeze. Other than that, the vent is empty.
"Is it strong enough to hold us all?" Carl asks.
I shrug. "We don't really have a choice. I guess we'll have to find out." I respond.
I climb the rest of the way up and offer a hand for Rosita, then she helped Carl up, then Michonne, Kai, Rick and Daryl.
"I'm not moving until Fangs is crammed up here with us." I complain.
I hear Rick sigh.
"The dog will get us killed."
"I didn't bring him back to leave him behind again. Go get him."
Daryl grunts as he jumps down.
I listen as the dog cries once being lifted off the ground but Michonne and Rick help them both back up the rest of the way.
The vent, although it creeks a lot, seems sturdy enough for now. I lie on my stomach and look behind me to see what's going on. The vent is wide enough to fit two people next to each other but it's very low and I need to duck my head down to avoid banging it off the roof. Fangs shuffles his way up beside me, which looks almost funny and I would probably laugh if we weren't in this situation, but we are, and we're seconds away from being torn apart if this vent collapses.
Below us I hear the door finally buckle. The loud split of the door crashing to the ground sticks in my head like a shard of glass. I can hear as the walkers swarm the room, probably wondering where we disappeared to.
Fangs starts to growl again.
"Shhh." I warn him and he immediately stops. I pet behind his ears, to relax both of us I guess.
"Let's go." Michonne urges.
Slowly, I crawl forward. Each movement causes the vent to creek loudly and my heart hammers against my chest just as loudly. I begin to sweat from both nerves and the heat of all of us crammed in this small space. It makes it harder to move.
"We need to move towards Clovers Office. That's the first place the key would be." Rick grunts.
I crawl for what feels like ages. My arms start to burn from carrying all my weight. The smell of sweat, dog and smeared guts across the warm metal almost makes me gag.
"Look there's a left turn up ahead." Kai points out. I keep going even when I muscles scream at me to give up. I peek around the corner and use the flashlight again. Along the corner there are lines of vents showing the different rooms below us.
"Clear." I whisper back.
I maneuver my way around the corner and look down through each vent. The room with the bath and the electric iron, patients rooms, hallways roaming with walkers... one wrong move and we're done.
I look ahead and find that there's only a small strip of a journey ahead of us until we turn another corner. As fangs, Rosita and I start to move down the strip the whole vent begins to shake and wobble, leaving the three of us caught in the middle, in danger as the others watch us from behind.
"Madison! Go back! Go back !" Carl yells.
"I can't!" It's shaking too much." I panic.
"Rosita! Back up!" Daryl roars.
I stay perfectly still and Fangs cowers down.
"Shhhh, it's okay, it's okay." I promise him.
"We need to go back." Kai insists.
"There's nothing back there for us. We'll die." Michonne disagrees.
"Okay. I'm just gonna go for it. One of us has to go first and it might as well be me." I mumble.
I take a deep breath even though the air is thick, and not satisfactory for my lungs. I wonder how long we have to be caught up here before we run out of oxygen...
"Fangs, stay." I mutter as I crawl forward slowly. The vent creeks and shakes loudly but doesn't move as violently as before. My arms shake nervously and my back starts to sweat. My heart beats so loudly I can feel the pressure against my chest as I crawl crammed against the vent. I echoes in my ears.
The vent shudders and I freeze.
"You okay Madison?" Rick asks.
"Cool as a cucumber, Rick, cool as a cucumber."
I slide forward the rest of the way until I reach the corner. I peer around again and examine the emptiness.
I turn around.
"Come on Fangs, you've got this."
Fangs, being the lightest of us all, races across the vent at almost lightning speed. The sound of his nails on his paws scratching against the metal as he scurries to my side, echoes through the tunnel like vent.
When Fangs reaches my side he lies down and puts his head on his paws and pants loudly. He's tired.
"We're almost there, bud. Just a little longer." I promise.
"Okay, Rosita, you're next."
Just like before she makes it across while the vent shakes noisily. Then Carl crosses along with Michonne, Kai and Rick. It's starting to fill up on the other side by the small corner and Daryl is left to crawl across. He slides his crossbow down the vent and I catch it, tucking it behind me to keep me safe.
Fangs starts to whine.
"We're almost there, bud." I promise him again.
"C'mon Daryl."
He slowly crawls forward. The vent creeks unusually loudly than the other times. It echoes down the vent and sends shivers down my spine. Daryl freezes on the spot and we wait several seconds. I shimmy forward and stretch my hand out, to help him. He begins to crawl again, reaching out for my hand.
And then in the space of just a few seconds the vent gives way and I watch as Daryl falls. Time seems to freeze as I bolt forward to grab his hand as he falls. I clasp it firmly in mine but I feel the world rushing past me in a blur as my body begins to slide down with him.
I'm jolted as somebody grabs my leg in time before we're too far gone. I watch as walkers reach up for us, they're hands catch ahold of Daryl's shoes and he attempts to kick them away.
"STOP! STOP MOVING! YOU'RE SLIPPING!" I panic as our sweaty hands cause my grip to alter.
I feel my heart smashing against my ribcage at a rate that's almost painful. I feel the weight of gravity trying to pull us both down to our death. Daryl grasps my hands with such strength that I'd be worried he'd break them if I wasn't so concerned about dangling from the Ceiling over a herd of hundreds of walkers.
"Pull them up!" I hear Carl yell.
"No los dejes caer!" Kai blurts out in a language that can't contribute to this situation whatsoever. He doesn't even seem to notice that it wasn't English.
Slowly but surely, we're pulled back up by the whole group but mostly Rick's strength. I'm pulled up to safely first but I don't let go of Daryl's hand until he's back up in the vent properly. Arms wrap around me, pulling me away from the now open sip in the vent. I stare down at the herd of gathering walkers as they strain to reach us from above them. I never thought I'd be so happy to be crammed up here again.
I look back to see it's Kai with his arms around me.
"Are you okay?"
With my back crushed against his chest I can feel his heart pounding at an unhealthy rate. I can almost feel the adrenaline radiating off of him.
I shrug out of his hold. I can only think about what Carl said to me earlier.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks ." I rey coolly.
I lie down on my back once I'm free and try to regain my breath.
"Thanks." Daryl gasps over to me, trying to gain his own breath back.
"It's probably about time we all cut out the bread, huh?" I chuckle.
Rick chuckles beside me but I hear the relief behind the strained laughter.
"Let's keep going before this whole thing collapses." Rosita amends.
I nod in agreement.
We continue on and I look through each of the vent panels, into each room. I keep crawling until I become familiar with where we are.
"Aye, are we almost there ?" Kai groans.
"Yeah, I'm starting to think falling would've been the easier way out." Daryl adds.
"Shut up, we're almost there."
I crawl up to the nearest vent panel and look down through it into Clover's office. The door is wide open and three walkers move slowly around the room. Clover is nowhere to be seen.
"This is it." I whisper.
I move over to let everyone gather around and peer through the vent.
"Madison, Daryl and I will jump down first. The two of you can take out the walkers. I'll go for the door. We need it shut as quickly and as quietly as we can. Keep the noise down low. The door won't be strong enough to hold the herd back." Rick explains.
We all nod in agreement.
"Ready?" Rick asks Daryl and I.
I respond by removing the panel out of the way. The rusty metal scraping against each other creates a loud echo through the vent.
I peer down and grab my bow from behind me, loading it before positioning myself to fall through the ceiling to the floor.
I quickly turn around. "Don't forget my dog." I warn them.
I hear Rick sigh behind me before I jump.
I feel the wind tousling my hair and ruffling my clothes as gravity pulls me to the ground. I land with a stinging sensation in my feet from the impact. I move out of the way quickly and allow Daryl to do the same.
I shake the slight pain from my feet before launching an arrow at the oncoming walker. I reach back and grab another arrow and drive it through the next walkers skull. Daryl deals with the other walker while Rick closes the door quietly, pushing a chair up against it to prevent it from opening again.
Rick waves his hand, motioning the others to follow. We gather around in a circle just under the vent and help the others down. Michonne and Carl work together to get Fangs safely down without hurting him. He charges towards me and jumps and I have to grab Daryl, who stands next to me so I don't fall. Fangs' two front paws balance on my chest as he stands on his hind legs, wagging his tail.
"We made it, Buddy." I rub him and pat his back as I gently push him back down.
"Now what?" Rosita asks from behind us all.
"We have to find the key." Rick whispers.
Just as quickly as somebody blinked, we hear a loud creek and we spin around simultaneously. I raise my bow, ready to shoot but I can't aim properly as somebody jumps out from the hotbox, placed behind Clovers desk and wraps their arms around Rosita. The rusty door swings back and forth making a horrible noise, adding to the confusion and suspense.
The room stills and everyone falls silent as a sharpened hook rips across Rosita's throat, tearing out her jugular. Everything starts to move in slow motion and I start to hear things as if I'm under water. I can hear people screaming but I can barely process it.
Instead, all I can hear is the sound of my own heartbeat in my ears. Red runs down Rosita's throat as she clutches it desperately trying to make the pain go away. Her face turns different shades of colors until it finally turns blue as she chokes on her blood and begs for air.
She looks like a rag doll as she stands limp, small and frail. Her mouth makes a perfect 'O' and the vision of her throat is hauntingly unforgettable as severed vessels stick out like corrugated pipes. Her legs start to shake and give out before she finally buckles and falls to the ground, revealing her killer.
I knew who it was.
Everybody knew who it was, even before we seen her.
There, stands Clover with a bloody knife hook in her hand and a sick grin spread across her face. She smirks and lifts the knife again.
"Who's next?"