Chapter 2: No Turning Back

Clary

We can't even go a damn day without something happening.

When we got back to Alexandria with the remaining Avengers, Rick told us there's trouble. A shit ton of walkers west of us, held in by a truck that can go off the edge of the cliff at any given time. And that exit, it would send them east, right up to Alexandria's nice little gate. So we made plans, drew up a route that would take them away from us. We took volunteers from Alexandria, from the Avengers, and from our group. And the day everything went wrong, it was the day we did the test run.

"I know this sounds insane, but this is an insane world," Rick called out, facing the ones that have signed up to lead the walkers away. "We've got to come for them, before they come for us. It's as simple as that. This is where it all starts tomorrow. Tobin gets in the truck, open the exit, and we're off. He hops out, catches up with his team at red, staying on the west side of the road. Daryl gets on his bike—"

"Rick!" I shouted, cutting him off when I saw the truck starting to fall. "It's going!"

Rick turned, and we all watched as the cliff underneath the truck gave way, opening the exit that sends them east. "No turning back now," I said, stepping backwards towards my team.

"It's open!" Rick shouted, jumping down from his spot on top of a flatbed. "We're doin' this now! Tobin's group, get moving, go!"

"Rick! We're not ready!" Carter, an Alexandrian that's never been out before, protested.

"Sasha! Abe!" I barked.

"Damn straight!" Abraham replied as they ran to the god awful car they're driving. "We're doin' it live!"

"You meet Daryl at red! Let him take 'em through the gauntlet!"

"We meet at red!" Sasha echoed.

"Go!" I turned to Daryl, and then Bucky, who ran up beside me. "Don't do anything stupid, you hear? Come back to me. The both of you. Buck, get goin'!"

"Same goes for you!" Daryl replied, running for his bike. "Glenn!"

"Rick!" I barked, tossing Glenn, who's moved over to Daryl, his bag. "We're gonna hit the tractor place!" I backed up, turning to Heath and Pietro as Glenn rejoins us. "We've gotta take 'em out there. They'll distract the horde."

Nicholas appeared beside us, begging, "I'm here, let me help."

"No," I told him, shaking my head.

"Let me help!"

"No!"

"We don't have time for this!"

"You do everything we say, you hear me?" I looked up at Heath, who knew him from his time in Alexandria. "Don't go easy on him."

"They're coming!" Daryl called, though it was nearly drowned out when he revved the motorcycle's engine.

"Rick! This was supposed to be a dry run!" Carter cried, looking at the leader. "We haven't even gone through the whole plan!"

"You want to go back, go back!" Rick barked. "Tobin, hit it on my signal! They're headin' for home! We don't have a choice!"

"Heath! Glenn! Pietro! With me!" I barked, starting off. We were joined by Scott and Annie's team as we booked it, their group breaking off as we headed for the tractor place. As we ran, I heard Rick's voice on the walkies clipped to both Glenn's belt and mine. He said, "You all have your assignments. You know where to rendezvous. Daryl leads them out. Sasha and Abraham join them at the bottom of the hill. Glenn, you hit us when you take care of the walkers at the tractor place. That's the one thing we gotta get ahead of. Everybody, keep your heads. Just keep up."

As we neared the tractor place, I heard Sasha's voice come over the radio. "We're at red at the bottom of the hill."

"Alright, here comes the parade," Daryl replied.

Rick spoke next. "Glenn, Clary, you there yet?"

"Almost," Glenn replied. "But we'll have it handled before they get here. We'll meet you at yellow."

"Copy that," Rick said.

As we come around a turn, the tractor place came into view. I looked around at the others with me. At Pietro, who wasn't even breathing hard, who's faced worse. At Glenn, who was focused, taking on my code of not letting any emotion show when we're on a job. At Heath, who looked slightly uncomfortable, out of his element. At Nicholas, who was downright terrified. I looked back ahead we slowed down a bit, nearing the tractor place. "We're almost there. Let's take 'em out."

Bucky

"Just like the old times, huh, Buck," Steve said from where he ran beside me, Clint and Natasha behind us.

"How the hell is this like old times?" I questioned, glancing at him. "Since when we were running from the dead?"

"Well, maybe not exactly like old times."

"We're almost to yellow," Natasha called from behind us. "That's where we're supposed to meet everyone."

Over the radio, Sasha stated her position, followed by Daryl replying that he was almost there. Rick asked, "Glenn, you there yet?"

"Almost," came his reply. "But we'll have it handled before they get here. We'll meet you at yellow."

"Copy that," Rick replied. "Bucky, how's your team?"

"We're almost to yellow," I answered. "Will the walls hold?"

"They'll hold," Rick said, sure of it. "They're almost here."

Clary

"Glenn, you have to talk to me," Rick said over the radio, and I took it from my belt. "You have to hurry. The noise could distract them right off the road."

"We're here, Shot the Sheriff," I told him. "Party Poison's team, we've got this. Short Round, Skittles, Speedy, and I, we're takin' care of it."

Pietro and Glenn simply sighed at the nicknames, while Heath called, "Stop calling me Skittles!"

"You're wasting your breath, buddy," Glenn told him as he took out a walker stuck underneath a tractor. "The entire time I've known her, she's called me Short Round. You should feel honored. She gave you a nickname."

"I give a lot of people nicknames," I chimed in. "Just be glad it's flattering."

"Flattering, yeah, okay," Heath sighed.

"It sounds like there's a lot in there," Nicholas remarked as we stepped up to the window.

"We need it quiet," Glenn said.

"So what's the plan?" Pietro inquired, turning to me.

"Dude, I just make this shit up as I go along. We're gonna take 'em out, a few at a time. Glenn, you remember—nevermind, you weren't there."

"What?" Glenn inquired as they followed me around the side of the store.

"When we were clearin' the prison. Rick told Tomas to open one door, control the flow of 'em. That's what we gotta do here. Nicholas, you're on the door. Open it, let one or two out, then you close it. You keep doin' that. That's the trick. that's how we control it. Heath—"

"Wait, what if he can't close it?" Heath interrupted.

"Good question. Don't think 'bout that."

"I'll be able to," Nicholas assured us.

"We take them on if he can't," Glenn added.

"We take them on?" Pietro questioned.

"If we get into trouble, we go behind the building into the woods and we draw them away."

"Hey, you've been out on runs since he got here," Nicholas said, jumping to our defense. "They know what they're doing. Me and Aiden, we didn't."

"I don't like it," Heath sighed. "This was supposed to be a dress rehearsal."

"I'm supposed to be delivering pizzas, man," Glenn laughed.

"I'm supposed to be dead," Pietro said, bringing a darker, solemn tone to the conversation. "Or fighting Hydra with the Avengers."

"I didn't belong nowhere before," I said, drawing my knife. "But here, I've made a livin'. I wouldn't call it a livin', but it's what I do best. I belong in this world. Daryl's leadin' 'em this way. They're closin' in. If we don't want everythin' to go to shit, we gotta do this. And we gotta do it now."

"We don't have any other choice," Heath said. "I'll do it."

"We were gonna do it with or without you, either way," I told him as Glenn pulled out a crowbar, moving forward to pry open the door. Pietro stood ready to run, ready to get Glenn out of the way if the walkers all moved on him at once. Glenn counted down from three, then pried it open. Pietro was gone in a flash, moving Glenn back with us. We all stood in silence, confused when no walkers appeared. Then, I saw there was another door, one that we couldn't open, holding them in. "Shit. Looks like we need a Plan C."

"What the hell was Plan B?" Pietro cried.

"Doin' it today. Glenn, any ideas?"

"Shoot a window out front," Glenn answered. "We're gonna have to take 'em all on, but it's the only other option."

"Good enough for me," I said, leading my team to the front of the store.

"This is a bad idea!" Heath protested.

"It's the only idea!" Pietro snapped.

"I think there's something like a dozen in there," Nicholas said. I smirked at that. Walkers got him shaking in his boots, even after all this time.

"We stay back, get on opposite ends. Draw each of them to us," Glenn said, stepping to one side with Heath.

"What, try and take down two, three each?" Nicholas questioned.

"No, this is just us. You get back, and you stay back," Glenn ordered, passing his walkie over to him. "Things go south, you tell Rick, and you draw 'em away." Nicholas opened his mouth to protest. "Now, Nicholas."

"Damn, Glenn," I said, drawing my gun as Pietro drew his. "You act like we ain't took on a dozen before. Y'all ready?"

"No," Heath answered. "But since you're doing this thing anyway, let's do this."

I laughed at that. "That's the shit I like to hear!"

I raised my gun and fired, breaking the window. Three walkers stumbled out first, and we easily took them down, backing up a few steps when we realized how close we were. As it turned out, there were easily more than a dozen in there, as Glenn emptied his clip, which held seven rounds, and I counted that I fired five shots out of my fifteen round clip so far. Heath dropped his gun as a walkers neared him, throwing up his hands to hold it off. Pietro took off, taking out the walker before running back to my side. Glenn covered him while Heath retrieved his gun, nodding once to thank Pietro. We took a breath as the walkers stopped coming, then looked at one as it got to its feet. Nicholas, who had joined us, looked to Glenn for approval. He nodded once, and Nicholas moved forward, dispatching it. "Whoo, great job, guys," I sighed. "Let's go." As we took off, I took my walkie from my belt, addressing Rick. "Hey, Shot the Sheriff. This is Party Poison. We took care of the walkers. You good at orange?"

"We've got it," Rick replied. "We'll meet you at yellow. Bucky's team is already there."

"See you there."

As we continued on, I heard Heath behind me asking, "Is she okay?"

"She hit her head once, and I don't think she's been the same since," Glenn replied.

"I can hear you, you know," I said, looking over my shoulder at them with a grin. "Hey, I'm just tryin' to make the best out of a dark as hell situation." I looked ahead, seeing the yellow balloons in the distance, the sunlight reflecting off of Steve's shield and Bucky's arm. "C'mon. We're almost there!"

I whistled, getting Bucky's attention as we arrived. Scott and Annie's groups were there as well, and Rick, Michonne, and Morgan joined them right before we got there. "It's working," Carter said, watching as the walkers were drawn away by Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham. "You were right."

Carter held out a hand, which Rick shook before turning to us. "Everyone, we have to finish this," he said. "We have to keep moving and fan out down that thing, front to back. Like we said, cops at a parade." Rick turns to me. "Clary, take your team and take the back. You guys have walkies. Bucky, you take the front. The rest of us, we stay in the middle." Bucky and I nodded, waiting to be dismissed. "If it gets sloppy, we fire our weapons, pull 'em back on track. Go."

Bucky's team took off for the front, while the remaining teams fanned out in the middle. Pietro and I led the way towards the back, joined by Scott's team for a few yards. "Pietro," I said as we reached the back. "I'm giving you a different job."

Pietro nodded me on. "What is it?"

"Use your powers, run back and forth from the back to the front. Make sure everything's going okay. Report back to me."

Pietro nodded, then took off. He was back within thirty seconds, nodding once to tell me it was fine. A few minutes later, Rick said over the walkie, "They're breaking up. Tobin, get 'em back on."

"What do you want us to do?" Tobin questioned.

"Fire your guns. Get 'em back on track."

In the distance, a few seconds later, gunfire erupted. A few moments later, Rick said, "You got 'em, Tobin."

"Copy that. What was that screaming?"

"That was Carter," Rick answered. "He got bit right in the face. I stopped him."

"Rick killed Carter?" Heath questioned, looking over at me.

"He was gonna die anyway," I replied. "Better Rick put him down before—"

I was cut off as a horn blared in the distance. A way off in the east, in the direction of Alexandria. We all stopped in our tracks, looking up at the sound. "What the hell is that?" Glenn asked.

"The plan just got dicked!" I said, seeing the walkers at the back breaking off. "Pietro, you stay right beside me!" I turned and ran the way we just came, towards the horn. "With me! That horn's comin' from home!" I grabbed for the walkie at my belt. "Rick, we got trouble! Back half is breakin' off and headin' back home. They don't know what's comin'!"

"Go!" Rick barked over the walkie. "You get there! You're one of our best fighters! I'm counting on you!"

"Got it," I acknowledged. "I'm sending my team back to you!" I clipped the walkie back onto my belt, turning to Glenn as we ran. "You're in charge. Shit's goin' down back home and Rick's sendin' me. I'm takin' Pietro with me. It sounds like real bad shit, and if I don't make it, well, hell. It was nice knowin' y'all."

"Don't talk like that," Pietro said, stopping to give me time to hop on his back. "But, yeah. What she said."