VPOV
He had come out of nowhere. I should have been more alert. But I was tired and starving, and to tell you the truth my shoulder had been hurting more and more ever since we'd left the prison. Zach had been right when he said I should take it slow, but it was too late now... and now, he was gone.
So here I stood, hands in the air as I looked to the man in front of me, holding Aly against him with a gun to her head.
"Vickie." Aly cried, frozen still as the man's grip tightened.
"Don't move!" he yelled at me. "I'll kill her." his southern accent was thick. Houdini growled beside me. "Shut it up." he yelled.
"Down, boy." I told Houdini, who calmed, but still snarled at the man.
"Hands on your head. Now!" doing as I was told, I put my hands on my head, watching as he gestured for me to walk into the run down cabin. "You try anything, and the girl gets a bullet. The dog too."
Giving him one last look I did as he said. I had no choice.
RPOV
"They seemed nice enough, but I was ready to go." Abraham chuckled. "We just got here, but, damn, it was time to go. When I told them about D.C., 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."
We knew the only way out of the trouble we were in was to fight. They may have the numbers and weapons, but we were resourceful and they made a big mistake putting us all together.
"Before they put you in here, you didn't see Tyreese?" Sasha asked.
"No." Michonne answered simply.
"Good."
We used Hershel's watch to cut stakes out of the wooden panels going up the wall of the cart. Shoelaces, zips, belt buckles. Anything we could find and use, we grabbed, getting ready to push through and run.
"Black car with a white cross painted on it. I tried to follow. I tried." Daryl told Maggie.
"But she's alive?"
"She's alive."
We could hear some outside, Daryl stood by the door keeping an eye out just in case they headed our way.
"A'right." he spoke up. "Got four of them pricks coming our way."
I stood up, turning to everyone. "You all know what to do. Go for their eyes first." I told them, moving towards the door. "Then their throats."
"Put your backs to the walls at either end of the car. Now!" someone ordered form outside. We stayed where we were, by the door, ready to attack.
There were footsteps on the roof. A door on the ceiling opened before a smoke bomb was thrown in.
"Move!" Abraham yelled before we all rushed to get away from the bomb.
Next thing I know, someone opened the door and started dragging some of us out while we coughed and struggled. I managed to grab the stake I'd been cutting before hands held me, pulling me out and throwing me on to the ground. I hit my head on the hard floor and looked up at the man who'd pulled me out. The last thing I saw was his foot coming down towards me...
VPOV
We had tied us up and set us in the cabin, leaving Houdini tied to a tree outside by his lead. I wasn't sure what he was going to do with us, but I was scared. I was scared for Aly, most, who was leaning against me, sobbing quietly.
Suddenly the door opened and I moved right away, blocking Aly, putting myself in front of her for protection. But Houdini came running in, rushing towards us before the guy followed, with people behind him, a gun to his head. I couldn't believe my eyes...
"Oh my, God." I smiled up at Carol and Tyresse, who was holding Judith. "Oh my, God."
"Vickie?" Carol looked to us, still keeping the gun to the guys head.
Tyreese moved quickly, setting Judith down in a box before he rushed towards us, cutting the zip-ties around our wrists and feet. Aly grabbed on to Houdini, the two of them in the corner where Judith lay in a box.
I moved past Tyreese, heading for the guy before throwing my fist back and smacking him right in the jaw. "Asshole." I spat.
VPOV
"They attacked us. We're just holding them." the guy had woken up a moment ago, and he wouldn't stop talking.
Carol and Ty told me how the others were at Terminus, being held captive. That was enough to get me going. After having a few pecans they had, I was ready to go get our family.
"We don't believe you." Carol told him as we grabbed a few things.
The two of us were going to head out. I trusted Ty would keep Aly and Judy safe. And with Houdini things should be fine.
"Who else do you have?" I asked, moving to kneel in front of him, my knife pointed at his face. "You know their names? Did they have anything special on them? A watch? A crossbow? Anything like that?"
"We just have the boy with the hat and the girl with the sword. That's it." he answered, voice shaking a little as he looked at my blade. "We're just protecting ourselves."
"Now why do I think you're lying." I shook my head. "Aly, turn away and block your ears, okay sweetie."
He shook his head. "Please, no. There's a bunch of us out there in six different directions. There was a lot of gunfire back home. We need to set off our charges all at one to confuse the dead ones away. That's good for you, too."
"Vickie." Carol's voice told me to stop. Sighing I stood backing up as she spoke to the guy. "No, it isn't. There's a heard heading towards Terminus right now. We don't want to confuse them away. We're gonna need their help." she told him, pulling a bag over her shoulder.
"It's a compound. They'll see you coming." he warned. "If you even make it that far with all the cold bodies heading over."
"Don't worry." I shrugged. "I know how to deal with that." Carol and I turned then, moving to walk out the door.
"Wait." Ty grabbed Carol's arm, looking to both of us. "How you gonna do this?"
Carol and I shared a look, both of us knowing exactly what we had to do. Looking back at Ty, she answered. "We're gonna kill people." she told him simply before we walked out.
...
Even though I'd had a few pecans, which wasn't enough to bring me back to full energy, I was pumped with adrenaline. I was ready to slaughter everyone and anyone who was keeping my family against their will.
Carol had killed a walker, both of us throwing on sheets we'd cut hole in for our heads before covering them with the blood and guts of the walker. We rubbed dirt all over our hands and faces, wherever you could see our bare skin. Once we were covered, we moved on, heading towards Terminus.
"Put your back to the walls at either end of the car. Now!" we heard someone yell as we neared a fence.
There were walkers behind us, but they hadn't taken any notice of us. We smelt like them, and as long as we moved slowly, and didn't bring attention to ourselves, they'd leave us alone.
There was a bang, causing Carol and I to pause for a moment. Once we were sure no one had spotted us, she turned to me, giving a nod before we started moving again. We got to the fence, looking down, seeing people being dragged out of a train car.
"No!" I gasped, keeping my voice low. Bob, Glenn, dad and Daryl were pushed to the ground, tied and gagged.
Carol's hand rested on my shoulder, keeping me down. "We'll help them." she told me. "We'll get them out."
Moving along the fence, I followed Carol as she looked to see what the set up of Terminus was like. When she stopped she turned to me, gesturing to a gas tank.
Setting the bag down, she pulled out her gun that had been under the sheet she was wearing. "There are people." she told me. "And a herd."
She put the gun down, setting it against the fence before putting the end of the firework in to. I handed her my gun, watching as she shot at the tank three times before we could see some kind of gas coming out of it. I pulled out a lighter from the bag, leaning forward to lit the fuse of the firework, while Carol put her gun down and turned away, blocking her ears. Once the fuse was lit I took a step back, turning and ducking, blocking my ears as well before we waited. It didn't take long.
The firework went off, flying through the air before hitting the tank, causing the gas tank to go off.
Carol nudged me, nodding. "Okay. Let's move."
RPOV
The sound of a saw buzzing had me waking up from being knocked out. I was being dragged into a large room, two men standing by a table, sawing something apart. Three metal bin were against the wall across from me, they read 'BURN', 'FEED', and 'WASH'. I was placed in front of a metal trough the saw still buzzing. Gag around my mouth, hands and feet now zip tied, I looked over as more people were placed down. Bob on my right, Daryl, Glenn and four others on my left. I looked down the line, seeing the guy from the house Carol and I had gone too... I guess he had made it after all...
"Okay, hold up." one of the man spoke before I heard the sound of blades being sharpened. "All right." he stopped sharpening the knives before the two of them moved to stand behind us, starting at the other end where the guy I recognized was kneeling.
We all watched as one of the men swung a bat before grabbing his hair and slicing the guys throat, dropping him so he leaned over the trough, his blood pouring into it, running towards us.
That's when everyone began to panic more, struggling against their restrains, screams muffled by their gags, as they realized we were all next...
One by one the men moved over the line, killing the others who were kneeling.
Using my fingers, I managed to get my stake out, hiding it while I waited. Ready to attack when the time came.
"Hey guys." Gareth walked in. "What were your shot counts?"
"Thirty eight." the guy with a bat answered before swinging and hitting the guy next to Glenn. The knife sliced the man's throat, and we knew Glenn was next.
"Hey!" Gareth called, right before the bat could be swung again. "Your shot count?" he asked the one with the knife.
"Crap, man. I'm sorry. It's my first roundup." he answered.
"After you're done here, go back to your point and count the shells." Gareth told him. "Kaylee won't be gathering them until tomorrow."
"Hey!" Bob yelled through his gag. "Hey, let me talk to you."
Ignoring him, Gareth gestured to all of us that were kneeling, dead and alive. "Four from A, four from D?"
"Yeah." the bat guy answered.
"Hey, let me talk to you for a minute." Bob wouldn't give up. "Let me talk to you for a minute. Let me talk to you for a minute."
Gareth pulled his gag down. "What?"
Breathing heavily, Bob started. "Don't do this. We can fix this."
"No, you can't." Gareth moved to gag him again.
But Bob just went on. "You don't have to do this!" he stopped him, Gareth stepping back. "We told you there's a way out of all of this." he breathed heavily. "You just have to take a chance. We have a man who know how to stop it. He has a cure. We just have to get him to Washington. You don't have to do this, man." he repeated. "We can put the world back to the way to was."
Gareth just watched him, bored. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd heard this before. People say anything to save themselves. "Can't go back, Bob." he moved forward.
"We can!" Bob yelled before the gag was over his mouth again. But he kept going, muffled. "You don't have to do it!"
Gareth moved to kneel in front of me now, taking my gag off. He sighed. "We saw you go into the woods with a bag and come out without it. I had to pull my spotters back before we could go look for it. What was in it?" I said nothing, just kept looking him right in the eyes. "You hid it, right? In case things went bad? Smart. Still, we'll find it. But it's too dangerous to go out there right now." he pulled out a knife, grabbing Bob, pulling him closer. His knife right at Bob's eye, he turned back to me. "What was in it? I'm curious. And it was a big bag." when I still didn't say anything he nodded to Bob. "You really gonna make me do this?"
"Well, let me take you out there." I offered. "I'll show you."
He shook his head. "Not gonna happen. This might." he moved the knife closer to Bob's eye.
"There's guns in it." I answered, not wanting to see my friend get hurt. "AK-47, .44 Magnum. Automatic weapons. Night scope. There's a compound bow and a machete with a red-red handle." I nodded. "That's what I'm gonna use to kill you."
He chuckled, letting Bob go and putting his knife away before putting my gag back on as he spoke. "You know, our friend out in the woods. He found a girl. Yeah... two actually, with a dog. One maybe five years old. The other though... she looks a lot like you..." he watched me carefully.
There was no doubt in my mind that he was talking about Vickie and there was no way he could just make something like that up. My heart began to race harder than it ever had before.
He nodded. "You're daughter, right? I wonder if she's got her dad's fight. Or maybe she'll be easy." he grabbed his knife, running his finger down the blood as he grinned at me. "She'll slice like butter... Taste like it too." he hummed. "Does get lonely these days though..."
Beside me Daryl struggled, breathing heavily as his anger built up. No one touched Vickie. If they did, they'd have to deal with me, Daryl and everyone else.
Ignoring Daryl he kept his eyes on me. "Thanks for telling me Rick. I'll do you a favour now. I'll keep your daughter nice a warm. Keep her company." he stood, turning to his men. "You have two hours to get them on the dryers. Then we go back to public face. Now's the time we can get messy, but we need to dial it all in by sundown."
"Got it."
"Yes, sir."
Gareth turned, about to leave, when there were gunshots outside, coming from the distance. He pulled out his walkie. "Hey, Chuck?"
In the corner of my eye I could see the guy about to swing and hit Glenn. Before he could more shots were heard. Then out of nowhere, there was a loud explosion, causing the whole place to shake.
DPOV
Everyone had fallen to the ground once there was that explosion. Now we could hear people over Gareth's radio, people obviously panicked and confused. There was gunfire in the back ground going on, things going real bad.
"You stay here." Gareth told his men.
"Gareth, these guys aren't going-" the bat guy started.
"Stay here until I know what's happening!" Gareth yelled before he walked out.
I struggled against my ties, trying to do anything to get lose. If they had Vic, and she was out there, then she was in danger. No matter what all this commotion was, she was still in danger. These people. I didn't think there was anything they wouldn't do...
"So we just sit here?" the knife guy asked.
"We got a job to do." the other one answered moving to set us all up again.
The knife guy didn't listen, grabbing his walkie. "You there, Gareth?"
"He's busy."
"You smell the smoke? You hear the shots? He could be dead. The hell we're going here? The whole place could be going up."
"You went on one roundup and you blew protocol. We don't deal with security. That ain't our job. This is." bat guy tried to explain but the other once just turned and started to walk away. "Hey, look at me."
As the other guy turned, Rick got up, having somehow gotten out of his ties. He stabbed the guy in the throat with a stake- which is what he probably used to get free- before moving to the knife guy and killing him too.
"Rick!" Glenn called, muffled by his gag.
Rick turned moving towards us where he cut our restrains and helped get us free.
CPOV
Abraham hit his fists against the door. "What the hell is going on?"
"Something hit them." Michonne noted.
"Maybe our people got free." Sasha suggested before Eugene pushed past her and Tara.
"Excuse me." he moved to the door, holding the smoke bomb. Placing it down by the crack of the door.
"What the hell are you doing?" Rosita asked him.
"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."
Tara cut him off from going on. "Eugene, I'm sorry, but shut up."
"Okay." he said simply.
"Hey." I moved forward, not wanting to hear any of them talk about the others and how they think they weren't coming back. They were. "My dad's gonna be back. They all are."
"They are." Maggie agreed. "And we need to get ready to fight our way out with them when they do."
BaMbY