Apparently I uploaded all this at once while I was drunk one night instead of breaking up into chapters hahaha. I was going to leave it but it's a mess and it's bugging me, so I've broken it up as it should be, and extended the ending! Sorry for any confusion, but I'm glad it was well-received! Hopefully this will make it easier to read :) Reviews and criticism appreciated!

Paper clips and markers lined the floor as Noah drew up a map on the linoleum of the office store they were squatting in. The hospital that held Beth and Carol was two blocks away. "There's an entrance in the back that they use that leads to a basement. It's next to a service elevator, the only elevator that actually works. Around front there's a staircase but it's hard to get to. The building next door used to be an office space. If you can get on the roof it connects directly to the hospital. Might have to jump down a few feet, but it's doable," he explained.

"Where will Carol and Beth be?" Rick asked.

"Hard to tell, but probably around here," Noah pointed to the fourth floor.

Rick surveyed over the crass outline before deliberating, "We'll split into four teams. Sasha, Rosita and Abraham I want you to go to the front, up the stairs. Spread out around the first and second floor and try to clear a path for us to get out that way. Then I want you to push up. Daryl and I will take the roof, start sweeping from the top down. Aim is to push people out towards the front so you guys can get to them. Tyreese, Glenn, Maggie and Tara I want you stationed outside—"

"No, I want to go in there," Maggie interjected.

Rick sighed, and looked around quickly before nodding, "Fine, but you go with Sasha and Abraham. Rosita, go outside with the others. Split up and cover both the back and front entrances. I need you to take out anyone that tries to escape. Michonne, you and Noah will go directly to where Carol and Beth might be. You need to find them and get them out the back entrance. If things get too tight in there we all head out the back way. We'll meet back here." He stood and glanced around the team as they nodded their affirmations.

Rick's eyes flashed to Maggie. The two groups had found each other on the Atlanta highway, each looking worse for wear. There was no time to ponder the news of Eugene's fabrication, as soon as Rick told them their own revelations since their split up Maggie had turned on her heels and marched towards the city. She had convinced herself so thoroughly that Beth was gone because she had to. Maggie would have never been able to move forward if she so much as entertained the smallest glimmer of hope—no matter how much Daryl insisted she was alive. A dark determination had cast over her and she set forth to rescue that sweet girl she had thought was lost to her so long ago.

"We'll get them back," Rick looked from Maggie to Daryl who was concentrating on Noah's diagram, "I promise."

He laid a heavy hand on Daryl's shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. He had seen Daryl withdraw before, but never had he witnessed such anguish and devastation settle inside the usually action-oriented man. The silence that seized him once they reached the city was unsettling. It was deafening. His eyes were always lingering on familiar corners like a search for the ghosts of recent memories.

"I should go with Noah; I should go and get them. I should…" the archer began to protest, but he stopped to swallow down a sob that was creeping up his throat. If he was being honest, Daryl didn't even want to go into that hospital. He wanted nothing more than to just lay himself down on the cold tile and not move, not budge, not even breathe until Carol was at his side once more.

Rick shook his head, "I need you with me, brother. We gotta make sure we get all those fuckers to the first floor, and funnel them out. Make sure they ain't got nowhere else to go. I'm not having another Terminus on our hands. When we all get out of this we're gonna make sure it's finished. Michonne will get the girls. But if Carol's with Beth they already have a hell of a chance of making it out on their own." Daryl clenched his eyes shut as Rick moved over to Carl.

The boy had at first protested being told to stay back but after his father had given him orders to protect Judith, and by extension Eugene, Carl conceded. Rick pulled his oldest into a hug, "You take care of her, and if there's any trouble you grab her and you run." He pulled back, catching the young boy's long hair in his fingers.

"I will. Just get back safe."

Rick eyes Eugene as he awkwardly held a rifle while sitting next to Judith who was cushioned inside a cardboard box. He had no trust for the man, for he was weak and sordid, yet Rick didn't think he was malicious. They had no choice but to continue to protect this man; turning him out to this world on his own would be a death sentence.

"You okay?" Michonne was next to him. He looked up at her and allowed the worry that he kept baited to surface. She put her hand to his cheek. Her hands—they could be so delicate at times, yet they carried a fierceness within them that still astonished him. For just a moment he pressed his cheek further into the softness of her palm. She allowed the smallest of smiles to pass her lips. It was enough of an answer.

Retreating she grabbed a rifle, shouldering it, and handed off a pistol to Noah. "We're wasting time," she said and headed out to the desecrated Atlanta streets, the others following closely behind.

Thanks for reading :) drop a review if you'd like!