Thank you so much for reading this chapter and sticking with the story. I always appreciate the comments and so forth. This is a 'setting up' chapter, bigger things are to come. I can't wait for October, not in an "I can't wait for holidays" way; I am physically incapable of waiting for the new series in October!

When you hear the guns fire, don't listen

"Are you going to miss Daryl while he's away?" Caitlin asked as she pulled her hair into a ponytail.

"No." replied Essie.

"Why not?"

"Because that's how this world works. He's got a job to do, so do I."

"How long will he be gone?"

"I don't know."

"When will he be back?"

"Your previous question negates that one. Look kid, get ready."

Essie thought about her answers as she walked the kids to the community centre. She'd been honest, she wouldn't miss him. It really wasn't how this world worked. If you went around thinking about all the people you would miss, you'd fall apart in a day. You had to expunge all sentiment; it would get you killed or drive you mad.

She saw Finn looking at something in his hand.

"You ok?" she asked. He held up the shark's tooth.

"I'm going to miss Daryl." he said.

"No offence little man but you haven't known him that long and he doesn't speak all that much. What is there to miss?" she was surprised when he looked up at her with something approaching anger.

"I'm going to miss him." he repeated.

"I'm sorry." she said, kneeling in front of him, "I'm pretty sure he's difficult to kill, he'll be back very soon." Finn nodded as if he already knew that and walked off.

Essie stood up and breathed out, this whole new life thing was going to be tougher than she thought.

She greeted Deanna and Reg and walked into the office. She stopped. Something wasn't right. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but she was sure something had changed; she poked her head out of the door.

"Deanna, have you been into the office?"

"I went in yesterday afternoon to look over the latest inventory list. Why?"

"Did you touch the contingency planning section?"

"No, I said I looked at the inventory." Deanna came into the room.

"What's wrong?"

Essie put her hands on her hips and breathed in, "I'm not sure. Something is wrong here. Something's changed."

"I can't see anything that has changed, are you sure?" Deanna looked around the room.

"No I'm not." Essie closed her eyes and opened them again. Deanna beckoned Reg into the office and they both stood in silence.

"Reg, where's your print of The Woman after the Rapture?" Essie asked quietly.

"It's where it's always been, propped against the wall on the desk…" he stopped and walked over to the desk; the print was face down as if it had been knocked over.

"When did you last look at it?" Essie asked, still quietly.

"I don't remember, I thought about putting it away when you came back but then I left it. That was about a week ago. I haven't touched it since."

"That's not the only thing that's changed." Essie moved towards the window.

"Have you changed the way anything is organized whilst I was away?"

"No, everything is the same as it's always been." Deanna answered.

"So the inventories are still in chronological order and the plans are still in situation groupings?" she was almost talking to herself. She gently leafed through the files and stopped.

"The plan for if the town is attacked from the inside is gone." she said, standing up and looking at Deanna, "someone's been in here. They also went through your desk."

"But one of us has been here all day yesterday and today." Reg said, taking his glasses off and looking concerned.

"This is a big house, your door is always open. Someone's been here." Essie repeated.

"It's probably been put somewhere else. There's no need to worry." said Deanna.

"Then you find it and prove me wrong, I will happily accept that. I'm going to speak to Rick." Essie said, staring hard at the woman.

"There's no need to tell Rick." Deanna said, dismissively. Essie moved to stand in front of her, too close.

"When you finally have to wake up, and one day you will, you will be devastated at how stupid you are right now. Until that day, you better thank your lucky stars that you have me." she whispered.

"And you're sure it's gone?" Rick asked as Essie sat back and watched him and Michonne.

"Unless Deanna is wrong and the filing system has been changed, it's gone. But it's not just the file, someone went through the desk. And…I don't know…things just didn't look right." Essie ran her hands through her hair in frustration.

"Don't take this the wrong way but are you sure you're not seeing shadows where there aren't any?" Michonne asked.

"I don't know, maybe. Shit, I hope you're right but I also hope you're wrong." Essie sighed.

"I'll check out the office and we'll keep an eye out for anything unusual but until we get something more, there's not a lot we can do." Rick said, staring at Essie who nodded unhappily.

"This plan is good."

"But how many people do you think have actually looked at it?"

"Not many. Do you know there were over 23 files for every kind of situation? It didn't look like they'd ever been read."

"Well thank fuck they're so stupid."

"Not all of them."

"They'll come around to our way of thinking or they'll be killed with the rest of them."

"I think you are underestimating them."

"They've been here too long. They're weak; they're forgetting what it's like out there. Taking this town will be easy."

"You better be right. We've got one shot at this."

"It's all we need."

Essie sat on the porch and stared into space. She knew something wasn't right, she could feel it. But she knew it was too much to ask people to put trust in a feeling. She stared across to her old house. The curtains were drawn and there was no movement. She tapped her fingers on the wooden boards. The gate opened and the scouting party came through; it looked like they had a good haul for once. She noticed Rhys in the group, laughing and joking with Noah. He spotted her, passed his rifle to Aidan and walked over to her. She felt her hackles go up, what was this man's problem?

"Hi." he said standing at the bottom of the steps and looking up at her.

"Go away before I shoot you." she said.

"Ok, well before you do that, I found something you might like." and he opened his rucksack and pulled out a full, sealed pack of 5 boxes of cigarettes and handed them to her.

"I don't want your cigarettes, I don't want to talk to you. I don't understand why you don't understand that." Essie stared him straight in the eye

"And I don't understand why you feel like that." he said, "I've been nothing but well mannered towards you."

"How did you get captured by Luka." she asked.

"What?" he gaped at her.

"How did you, a grown man who appears quite capable, get captured by a psychopath?"

"Why do you keep asking me about that?" he said with no trace of a smile.

"Why are you avoiding answering?" she said

He climbed the steps and sat next to her.

"I'm from Louisiana. I left as soon as it got bad, headed for Washington with a group of other survivors. We found an abandoned FEMA station and stayed there for the winter and most of the summer. We did pretty well until people started to get sick. We thought it was cholera but we couldn't be sure. People died very quickly and then they turned. It was…" he didn't finish but unwrapped the cellophane and opened a pack of cigarettes. She pulled her lighter out of her pocket and lit 2 of them, passing one back to him, he nodded his thanks and then continued.

"The few of us that survived left but that summer was…deadly. Most of the group died. The dead picked us off one by one until it was only me. I was heading towards a place called Terminus, there were signs all over the Georgia train tracks but before I got there…Luka's men grabbed me."

"For what?" Essie watched him take a drag from the cigarette.

"That's just it, I don't know. I never knew. I was there for months and I never knew why he took people. He would take some of the others sometimes and they would never come back and they would be replaced but he never DID anything with us. It was like we were his collection."

"Why didn't you try to escape?" she asked.

"Because, in the end, I felt safer in that cage than I did out there, " and he gestured beyond the wall.

"Jesus." she said and stubbed her cigarette out.

"And then I saw you, covered in blood, rampaging through that warehouse. God, you were more frightening than Luka. When you released us from those cages, I was petrified. But then Rick and the others started fighting…I thought I was going to die. When that place exploded it felt like that was the end, I knew I couldn't survive in the woods again. Then we came here, to this…this paradise and I felt like it might be possible to make this place work. We're all working to make sure the walls keep standing, the pantry is always stocked, there's a watch at all times. We're even making sure that there's a standing army of us ready to fight should the time come."

Essie straightened up "You know what Rhys? I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For being hard on you."

"That's ok, I can understand. But I promise you; we are going to do everything possible to make sure this town in safe from the outside world. Everything!"

"That's good. It's what we are all working towards."

"So…can I talk to you again sometime, you know you could come over for dinner, tonight maybe, it'll just be you and me, the others are busy?"

"Ummm Rhys, I…I'm glad we had this talk but I am not interested in anything other than talking with you. I'm still settling back into the town and with the kids coming here and…well I'm just not interested in you in that way." she finished.

"Oh ok, no problem. I guess I can come on a bit strong but you know this world doesn't really suit long courtships." he said smiling.

"It's not a courtship." she said definitely.

"I get it. I really do but you are a cultured woman I can tell, through all that fighting and violence. You'll get bored of him very soon and then you know where I am." and he ran his hand through his hair and smiled at her.

"Excuse me?" she gaped at him with an open mouth.

"Well you're sleeping with that guy, the one with the motorbike and the bad attitude? But from what I can tell he's barely literate. I'm not judging, no way, all I'm saying is that when it wears off, I'm across the road."

"Get the fuck off my porch you piss weasel." she almost whispered it but the venom was palpable.

"What?" he looked shocked.

"Did I fucking stutter? Get the fuck off my porch." she repeated.

"Jesus, you're a crazy bitch, you know that? You could have been a part of this but not now." and he walked away. She watched him go through narrowed eyes, picked up the box of cigarette packets and went inside.

Rick was talking to Carl in the kitchen and they both turned as she came in.

"We've got a big problem." she said.

"What is it?" Rick asked.

"They're planning to take over the town."

She waited until Carol, Michonne and the others arrived and explained the whole conversation she'd had with Rhys.

"But that doesn't explain how you know they are planning a take over." said Carol.

"He used the phrase 'standing army'. That's one of the key elements of the plan I put together against a hostile take over of the town. I argued that we needed a trained 'standing army' of residents to ensure that any danger from inside the walls could be dealt with."

"It's a fairly common phrase." said Glen.

"You're right, it is if you're talking about politics or history or defense but he was talking about all the things he and his group were doing to keep the town safe, it's too specific to be a coincidence. He's read the plan and the only way he could have done that is if he took it." Essie looked at the faces of the only people she trusted.

"I don't know Essie, I mean it's pretty vague." Rick stared at her.

"I agree but it's…I don't know…I've got a feeling that something is going to happen."

"She might not be wrong." Abraham rubbed his hand over his face, "a couple of them are working on the construction crew. They work real hard but there's something off about them. They don't mix with the others, they're always off talking in groups. I saw one of them taking notes about the strength of the wall panels the other day. Essie's right, something ain't right with them."

"What can we do?" asked Maggie.

"Strike first." said Essie.

"I agree." said Carol.

"Now hold on." said Rick, "we can't just go and deal with this, we need to talk to Deanna first. We're not trusted yet, you know that. We need to be completely sure before we do anything else. We need proof."

"How do we get proof?" Noah asked.

"We need to get into the house." Essie said, "if we find the plans then we can take them to Deanna, it's proof that they took them."

"They could just as easily say we took them." said Maggie.

"Not if we take one of the residents with us when we find them." Essie said.

"But who?" Glen asked.

"Jessie?" said Essie, reluctantly.

"No!" said Rick quickly, "it's too dangerous."

"Aaron would have been the perfect choice" said Rosita.

"They're not due back for days." Glen sighed in frustration.

"Eric?" said Essie.

"I don't know, is he trusted enough?" asked Carol.

"Probably not." Essie listed the residents in her head but couldn't think of anyone.

"How far do you think Aaron and Daryl have got?" Carol said.

"About 20, 30 miles maybe." said Abraham.

"We need to get them back, we don't know how bad this is going to get." Carol looked at Rick, who nodded.

"I'll go." Carol said, "I won't be missed as much."

"I'll come with you." said Glen.

"You'll need a car." Essie said, "How will you get one of those without being noticed?"

"Glen's taking me to visit the church where Ed and I got married. I need to see it one more time." Carol said.

"You were married?" Essie asked, looking shocked but Carol silenced her with a stare.

"Will they believe that?" asked Maggie?

"It's the best story we got." said Abraham.

"Ok, but you've got less than a day to find them. Do you know if they went east or west?" Rick looked at Maggie.

"West." she replied.

"Go and see Deanna now. Say you wanna leave first thing in the morning and we'll just hope that they're not planning anything for tonight. We'll keep watch." Rick looked at them and they nodded, "Tara, Noah you take first watch now, it'll be dusk soon."

Essie nodded and then looked out of the window.

"Shit, I've got to go and pick up Caitlin and Finn."

"Go and pick them up. Bring them straight back here. Carl, go with her."

Essie and Carl walked towards the school.

"You ok?" he asked her.

"No I'm not. But I will be." she answered.

"You know that my dad won't let this happen." he said and she smiled at him.

"Neither will I."

"You stupid fuck."

"What!?"

"Tell me exactly what you said to her."

"I told you! I didn't say anything that could give us away."

"They're smart! I'm going to sort this shitstorm out. Stay away from her!"

"They don't know anything!"

"Do as I say and stay away from her! Shit, you're so fucking stupid."

Carl pushed open the door to the community centre and Essie walked through; she searched the room for Caitlin and Finn and froze. Laura was standing talking to Jessie with Finn in her arms.

"Get Caitlin." she said to Carl and walked towards Laura.

"Hi." she said.

"Hi." replied Laura, "I hope you don't mind but I couldn't resist giving him a cuddle, he's so cute." She didn't put him down, Essie smiled.

"It's amazing that you rescued them all. This world is so dangerous for kids, they could so easily have died." Laura was staring at Essie.

"It was a group effort." Essie replied.

"They are so precious. You seem really attached to them and so quickly, at least you know you can keep them safe."

"I can" Essie said.

"As long as you don't do anything stupid like blowing up a building or taking on an army of killers." Laura laughed and so did Jessie but she looked worried.

"I never do anything stupid." Essie reached out and took Finn from Laura.

"You ok little man?" she asked and he nodded.

"Ok well I better get back. Bye Finn, see you soon." and Laura walked away.

"Jessie, listen to me and don't ask any questions. Get Sam, go home, lock your doors and don't go out tonight."

"What? Why?" Jessie looked petrified.

"Do as I say. I'll explain when I can." Carl waved at Essie from the other side of the room with Caitlin and she felt relief wash over her.

They walked back to the house and saw Carol and Maggie leaving Deanna's house, Maggie's arm was round Carol's shoulder and she was wiping tears away. Even in this situation, Essie marveled at Carol, if they got through this she was going to sit down and have a long conversation with her.

"Ok?" asked Essie as they joined them.

"All set." said Maggie.

"We leave at first light." Carol said.

"I think the warehouse people suspect something. This is going to go bad and fast. We just have to get through tonight." Essie looked down at the kids and felt her stomach twist with something like fear.