The first gunshots startled all three of them awake from their light dozing. It had taken longer than Aaron had hoped and it had been a long night for all of them. He had been captured just after dusk and they had taken their time with him before bringing him to the small basement room. They hadn't spent all of that time beating him, and they hadn't asked him anything about Alexandria or the people who lived there. Most of the time was spent driving from place to place, and then parking in the dark while they talked in low voices. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but there had been an urgency in the voices and he suspected that they knew that someone was following them.
He was confident that the others had been able to keep following though and that they would lead the rescue charge at any time. It was a little disappointing when he started falling asleep before that happened. Eric still had a death grip on his hand, but it didn't hurt and he was happy to have the connection. Waking without knowing where he was or who was there with him would be worse than a little pins and needles in his fingers. When the gunshot echoed through the room that grip kept them from parting too, and they stayed low to the ground together instead of jolting awake and getting to their feet, which was a very good thing when a bullet went through some of the weak mortar between cinderblocks just above their heads.
Daryl took one look at their faces and flattened himself to the floor, "You might want to think about doing the same." He turned his face to the side so he could watch the door, and Aaron and Eric spread out on the floor behind him.
Eric's breath hitched every time they heard a shot that was close to their room, and he finally let go of Aaron's hand. Aaron turned to stare at him, but wasn't sure what to say when he saw that Eric's eyes were closed. The door was jostled a few times as they heard a scuffle outside and then it was battered in, the loud thunk against the wood making them all scramble to the back of the room.
"Well, isn't this a pretty sight." Abraham swaggered as he entered the room, taking up most of the space that was available.
"Sorry, we didn't have time to dress for your entrance." Daryl got to his feet first, offering a hand to Eric while Abe helped Aaron to stand.
"Well, maybe next time you'll remember." He passed a gun to Daryl, shrugging, "I only have one extra. Carol found a small armory upstairs though. Let's get you out of here." Abraham hoisted his machine gun against his hip and smirked, "This has been fun, but I've got places I'd rather be right now."
He turned and started leading the way down the hall, toward a set of narrow steps. "The group upstairs ran all over the place when we started shooting, so keep your heads, there might still be a few around."
Aaron exchanged a look with Daryl before ushering Eric to follow directly behind Abe and then taking the next position. Daryl took rear guard, checking the gun he had been given to see how many bullets it had. The climbed the steps quickly and quietly and Michonne was there at the top to pass knives to both Eric and Aaron, "Just in case."
Michonne had three others with her, all were residents who had been taken from their homes, and they each clutched knives as well. They looked unsure of themselves and it was obvious that none of them had ever needed to defend themselves before. They huddled close to one another, looking at the four men coming up the stairs with concern.
Abe ignored them, moving toward the closest wall and taking point as they moved toward one of the entrances. "Come on, no time to waste. If they have others out there they could get back at any time. It would be better to be gone before then." He didn't have the patience to deal with the helpless residents and he left them with Michonne as Carol rejoined them.
Carol had a large bag over her shoulder and was holding a familiar crossbow in her hands. She dropped all of it and threw herself at Daryl when she saw him though, burying her face in his shoulder. He grabbed onto her just as tightly.
"I knew you'd be okay, I just knew it but I had to see you for it to be real." She pulled away from him and picked up the crossbow again, "You need to stop losing this thing. One day I might not be there to find it for you."
He took it, shaking his head, "You will be." He tried to grab the bag too, but she took it and slung it over her shoulder again.
"I cleaned out their ammo. Every single bullet I could find in in this bag." She smirked, "Heavy, but I got it as long as we can all get out of here."
"That sounds like a good idea, if the two of you are finished making out." Abraham leered at them from the other side of Aaron, who was smirking. "Can we go?"
Daryl flipped him off, frowning, "Not stopping you."
Abraham shook his head and started toward the door again. They didn't encounter any of the attackers on the way out of the building, but there was another van sitting outside that hadn't been there when they had arrived. Michonne and Carol looked at each other and nodded, each taking a side and slowly making their way toward the van.
Rosita hissed at them from their car though, and they both stopped to head for her position instead. She waved the entire group over to her window. "They went off into the woods, after their own people who were fleeing. Didn't even look at our car." She looked down the line of her own people, doing the math. "Maybe we should steal it. I don't know how we'd all fit in this thing."
"Good idea, think they were kind enough to leave the keys?" Abraham was closest to the van and he looked inside the driver's window. "Maybe this is our lucky day. Keys are still in the ignition." He smirked at the group behind him. "I'll drive."
Daryl shook his head, "I think I'll go in the car then."
"Me too, but only to make sure you actually get back to Alexandria." Carol already had the trunk of the car open and was shoving the bag of ammo inside.
"Whatever, I'm still driving us all back so everyone had better get a seat before we have to make a run for it." Rosita hadn't left her seat in the car, and she checked all of the mirrors for movement as the others scrambled for positions in the back of the van and in the car. Michonne ushered the other kidnapped resident into the back of the van, climbing up after them, and Carol ended up sitting next to Aaron in the backseat of Rosita's car while Daryl took shotgun and Eric was on Aaron's other side.
Rosita gunned the motor, grinning, and sped off before the van had a chance to turn around to follow. She slowed down again before they got too far though, not waiting to be separated. "Does anyone else find this to be slightly anti-climactic? I thought that there would be more resistance here. What were they doing anyway?" She glanced in the rearview mirror and Aaron met her eyes briefly.
"Can we just leave it at this for the moment? I'm sure we'll hear more about what happened and why when we get back to Alexandria, and there will be plenty of work left to get everything put back to rights." Aaron sat back, wishing there was time to relax before they were thrown into trouble again.
Carol sighed, "I'm sure Rick and Deanna will have things for everyone to do when we get home. We'd better keep our eyes open on the way there though, just in case anyone is still looking for us out here. We don't know where all of those people went, but they could be back."