Day 389
Beth scooped at the dirt, wondering again if digging with her hands like a dog might be more effective than the broken garbage can lid she was using. The loud popping sounds of gunshots seemed to be coming from every imaginable direction. She knew if they didn't hurry up, someone from the wrong side of this battle was going to see them. Beth grasped the bottom of the fence, yanking up on it.
"Try it now," she told Carl. He dove into the dirt as she pulled up on the fence with every ounce of strength she had in her. His shirt caught, but he kept going despite the sound of the fabric ripping. His shoe caught and he had to pull his foot out of it to get loose. But he made it out through the small hole in one piece. Beth let go of the fence and Carl ripped his shoe free, stuffing his foot into it forcefully. She tossed the only knife she had been able to steal under the fence for him to snatch up. Gripping the fence with her hands, she said a silent prayer for the boy. He reached for her, one of his hands closing around one of hers, their palms touching through the fence.
"Run," she told him, "don't stop running until you see your dad." Carl said nothing, fighting the emotions that were coursing through him. He knew Beth staying here was part of the plan. But he didn't feel right running and leaving her behind to the mercy of the madman that ran this place.
"Come with me," he begged. She shook her head.
"I can't. Not without Daryl. Tell Maggie I love her," she said. Carl nodded. She could see his eyes start to fill with tears and he wiped them away with the dirty sleeve of his shirt. He squeezed her hand one more time and then he ran. He stabbed three of the fence walkers with the kitchen knife Beth stole for him and then climbed under them, pushing through the wooden posts of the second fence. Beth knew she should run back inside, pretend she was never out here. But she had to see. Had to know for sure that Carl got away safe. Once he disappeared into the woods, she turned and ran.
Most of the gunfire was coming from the front of the building. A distraction. So Carl would be able to get away. The rest of the plan would come later. If there was a later. Maybe tomorrow they would all be dead. Beth ran, boosting herself up on the ledge and climbing back in the window she had come out of. Amber grabbed her once she was halfway in, pulling her the rest of the way inside the building. Beth flopped in the floor. She pulled herself onto her feet while Amber slammed the window shut.
"He made it, he got away," Beth said, throwing her arms around the other girl. Amber hugged her back. Then she froze. Loud footsteps were coming from the hall outside the room they were in. The girls ran for the door, flattening themselves against the wall so they would be behind the door if it was opened. The door did swing open, a man's head poking inside and taking a look around. Beth felt Amber's hand tighten around hers. She didn't even have a knife. The only one she had, she had just given to Carl. The tip of a gun poked in, Beth could see it past the edge of the door. Then it disappeared and the door shut. She heard the footsteps echoing back down the hallway away from them. Beth let herself breath again.
"We need to get back downstairs now," Amber told her. Beth nodded in firm agreement. They had a little bunker where they were supposed to hide if there was ever any kind of shootout. When the other girls ran for it, Beth and Amber darted the other way and ran to let Carl out of the room where he was being held. There was so much confusion, Beth doubted anyone would notice their short absence as long as they were hiding down there with the other girls once the fighting was done.
Beth cracked the door open, making sure whoever had been walking the hallway was gone. Then she took tight hold of Amber's hand and ran for the saferoom, pulling the other girl along behind her. Tara was standing outside the door holding a very large automatic weapon. She tilted her head, giving Beth a questioning look. Beth gave her a little nod and she saw the corners of Tara's mouth turn up in a smile.
There was a very small list of people in this group that Beth could trust. She was thankful everyday that Tara was on it. Daryl said Tara came to him. Upset about what happened on the roadside that day. Neegan had been ready to let that boy get raped to prove his stupid point. Over a blow to nothing but his ego. Rape was supposed to be against the rules. First Tara thought about running away. But like everyone else here, she was scared she couldn't make in on her own. She had gone to Daryl, knowing that she could vent to him and he would never betray her trust. And now she was with them. Beth knew if they had Tara, they had Mike. It wasn't much against Neegan's entire army, but four was better than two. And Amber made five.
Tara pulled her handgun out of the holster on her hip. She handed it to Beth. "I am going up to help with the fight," she said, "you are on guard duty." Beth nodded. She knew that was code. It felt like all they did these days was speak in code. Once Tara went up, that was code to Daryl that Carl was out safe. Beth knew Daryl had an arrow that was red on the back feathery part. When he shot that out, it was to let Rick know to fall back.
Daryl had been making the collection runs to Alexandria. Since he had been bringing back a full load each time, Neegan had not seen the need to go back there himself. So Daryl had plenty of time to plot with Rick. If Tara and Mike went with him, he didn't even have to be sneaky about it. But Rick had been reluctant to trust him. He wanted Carl back before he was willing to go any further with them. Today was a practice run. The real battle was going to come later.
Daryl was watching for Tara, trying not to be too obvious about it. All around him were dead bodies. They littered the ground and the rooftop like so many crushed out cigarette butts. Not all of them were his friends. In fact, most of them were not. But they were men he had gone out on runs with, talked with and eaten with. Members of his group. And their deaths were all on him. He did not shoot them himself but he might as well have.
Tara appeared on the roof, not looking at him. She pulled out her rifle and layed down like she was really aiming, trying to kill the people that were shooting at them from the woods. Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail and a bit of light glinted off the silver baton she always had at her side. Daryl pulled an arrow from the bucket at his feet. The one with the red fletching on it. He set his sights on the tree that he had seen Rick ducking behind. Aiming for the middle of the trunk, he fired.
Like in some strange way he had been in on the plan from the beginning, Neegan appeared back out on the roof. Daryl wondered where he had gone. It was not like the big man to miss out on any fighting that might be going on. Daryl had been worried when he and Carson disappeared. They might have been heading out into the woods to circle around the back of the group. Not all of them knew what was really happening here. But if they got ahold of someone that did and made them talk, it would be bad fucking news for Daryl.
Neegan had not gone out and circled around the shooters in the woods. Instead he had gone and gotten the biggest, most ridiculous looking gun Daryl had ever seen. It was a huge machine gun. The kind that you had to strap to your back or you might not even be able to hold up the weight of it. The only place Daryl had seen a gun like that was in the movies. Being that it far too heavy to run from the roamers with, no one had ever tried to use it before.
Walking slowly from the weight of the gun, Neegan stomped over to the edge of the roof and started really letting go. Firing into the trees with the shells of bullets dropping all around him. They rained down onto the rooftop in a waterfall of clinking metal. The big man was yelling every profane word he knew at the top of his lungs, which was a long list especially since he was getting pretty creative with his insults.
"Cunt fucking ass mongers, fucking chicken shit goat faced white trash nazi twat waffles!" By this time, several people on the roof were laughing despite being in the middle of a shootout. "Fuck you, you god damned lazy slut biscuits. I will fuck every single one of your mothers!" He shot the huge gun, shouting over the noise of it and smiling that crazy ass smile he got on his face whenever he was causing someone else pain.
"You got them on the run!," a man yelled out. His name escaped Daryl at the moment, he had come in with Amber and Mark's group but he was a little older then them. The man held up his own gun, shooting into the trees. Daryl could tell just by the way he was holding the gun that it was unlikely that he would hit anyone with it. His grip was all wrong. Fuckin' idiot. Daryl loaded his bow back up, but he didn't bother shooting it again. No one was watching him.
He took another look at the dead body that was closest to him. That man had a name. Davis. He had been with them since before the caravan. They picked him up at the same camp they picked up Lauren and Jasmine. The camp run by those asshole military guys. And what had Davis died for today? So that Daryl and Beth could be together? Daryl knelt down and stabbed him through the head, making sure he wouldn't turn. Then he closed the man's eyes, grateful for the full bottle of whiskey that was waiting for him back in his room. He silently reminded himself this was about more than him and Beth. This was about Alexandria, and Hilltop, and even about all the people here that should not be forced to live under the rule of a crazy tyrant. And most of all, it was about the small fragile life growing inside Beth.
That baby deserved better than this. He closed his eyes a moment and thought about the last few nights. Beth had been sneaking down into the area where the holding cells were. She figured if she got caught down there, she could say she was talking to Carl. That was an offense, but not one that was likely to get her or Carl killed. Really she had been meeting Daryl down there. Not to fuck, though they had slipped up and done that a few times. Fast and hurried in a darkened room with only the sounds of their heavy breathing around them. It was never enough.
She had come for that, but mostly she had come so that they could have a private moment together. Talk to each other, touch hands, look at each other without having to quickly look away before someone saw them. Last night they had not fucked, he had just held her close, rubbing his hand over the small hard bump below the line of even her underpants. She wasn't showing yet, thank god, but if he pressed in gently, he could feel it there. His baby.
There was no telling if the baby would be a boy or a girl. Or what it would look like. But it made Daryl the happiest to think of it as a girl. Pretty like Beth with big blue eyes and maybe his brother's wild curls that he had always been trying to shave off or brush out straight. She was worth all this.
Once Neegan stopped shooting and screaming for long enough, the sound of cars being started and taking off down the road could be heard. Daryl knew they would stop once they were over the hill and out of sight of the factory to pick up Carl. With him gone, Beth was going to have to stay in her room at night. They were so close to the end, it would be more than stupid if they let themselves get caught now.