Ok so Daryl's not dead yet (phew) and I think I got over my 'thing' for Negan after he'd had a shave (definitely not as attractive). I thought Spencer's death was fantastic and I was sad about Olivia (I liked her). The whole reunion bit made my heart hurt and THANK GOD it looks like they're going to fight back. February is a very long time to wait and I'm already excited. Thank you for reading this and please let me know what you think.

Essie waited for a few hours. She listened and watched the shadows pass under the door; they were few and far between. All the time she twirled the knife between her fingers and breathed. It felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest; she hadn't realised it but not taking action had been killing her far quicker than any torture.

"I love you Carol but I'm doing it my way" she thought. After a while the corridor outside was quiet, no more shadows. Essie slipped the knife down between the crack in the door and felt it meet the lock; she hit it with the palm of her hand and the door sprang open.

"Thank you YouTube and delayed trains" she muttered and checked the hallway. Finding it empty, she crept along keeping low against the wall. There were no voices or sounds and all the other doors were locked. She came to the stairway and walked up with the knife in her hand.

Slowly opening the door, Essie saw the corridor leading to the doctor's room and the main living area, she went the other way. A woman opened a door and Essie saw she had a gun in her belt. She opened her mouth to shout but Essie punched her in the throat and then kicked her back into the room. The woman fell to the floor unconscious and Essie closed the door behind them. Kneeling next to her, Essie found the revolver was loaded with 4 rounds, she shoved it into the back of her trousers and looked around the rest of the room. It was a jumble of clothes on a camp bed, a few empty plates were on a table and half a bottle of what looked like water. Essie sniffed it to make sure and then drank it gratefully. She put her foot next to the woman's, they were about the same size. She unlaced the boots and took the woman's socks. Essie wiggled her toes in the unfamiliar boots and once again longed for her own but they were probably long gone by now, one of these bastards was probably enjoying their sturdy comfort. She also took a shirt off the bed and went through some drawers looking for more ammunition but there was nothing else. The woman on the floor groaned and coughed; Essie punched her again and threw a pile of clothes over her, it might buy her a few more minutes.

Opening the door, Essie was pleased to see the corridor was still empty. Now she was armed with a knife and a gun, she had socks and boots and she'd punched a Saviour unconscious, it was turning out to be a good day. She slipped through and continued on her way.

Further down and the corridor came to a T junction, Essie felt that left was a good option and arrived at another stairway. It was still quiet but the groaning from the walker pen could just about be heard. Good, that meant she was heading towards the outside. She got to the top and turned left again.

The corridor was dimly lit but it was quiet. She walked slowly with the knife in her hand. She passed an open doorway and a hand shot out, dragging her in. She slashed with the knife and the figure hissed and leapt back. It was too dark to see anything specific but she could hear their breathing. The figure lashed out again and she just managed to dodge but they span around and knocked her legs from under her. She landed on her back, punching the air from her lungs. She kicked out and caught them on the knee and they too fell down. Rolling up onto her knees, she rammed an elbow into their sternum and held her knife to their throat.

"Wait! Wait! Please!" the figure hissed. It was the 'please' that stopped Essie from cutting their throat. She pulled the beanie off their head and looked down.

"Please…please…my name's Jesus" they gasped.

"You're late, shouldn't you have turned up at the beginning of this shitstorm?" Essie whispered drily and he smiled.

"Are you one of them?" he gasped.

"No…are you?" she asked, still kneeling on his chest.

"No…please get off my chest." he wheezed and Essie sat up but still had the knife to his throat.

"So Jesus…why the fuck are you sneaking around here in the dark?"

"Why are you?" he asked, his eyes huge in the dim light and Essie had to admire his balls.

"I'm escaping…don't make me ask you again."

"I'm rescuing someone"

"Who?"

"Someone from a…the group I belong to" he looked down at the knife but Essie didn't move it.

"Does this person have a name?" Jesus paused and seemed reluctant to answer.

"Ok…we've only just met…I understand you not wanting to tell me. The cells are at the bottom of a set of stairs, if you go right out of this door and just keep turning right, you'll get to them. The guards make rounds about every 15 minutes but they can be late. I'm Essie by the way."

"You could come with me?" Jesus said but Essie shook her head.

"There's a few things I want to do first." She removed the knife and stood up, holding a hand out to Jesus who hauled himself up and put his hat back on. They heard footsteps and 3 voices in the corridor and went flat against the wall. The door creaked open and let more light in. A saviour entered and took about 5 seconds to see them.

"What the hell?" he shouted, Essie slashed with the knife and cut his throat to the bone but it was too late. The other 2 burst in and fired at Essie and Jesus. They dived in different directions. Jesus rolled to his feet and kicked the gun out of one saviour's hands. Essie jumped up and came face to face with a pistol, she grabbed and twisted it up before the saviour could fire, he pulled the trigger but it fired into the ceiling. Still holding the gun, Essie quickly bent back the saviour's hand and he punched himself in the face. He dropped the gun and Essie kicked him in the chest, he bent over and Essie locked her arm around his throat and hung on for dear life. Jesus had punched the other Saviour unconscious. The saviour went limp and Essie let him drop to the floor. She picked up their guns and checked the corridor.

"Someone will've heard that, we need to go" she said.

"You're just going to leave them to turn?" Jesus asked and Essie nodded.

"There're children here" he said and she sighed. She slid the knife into the skulls of the two dead saviours and moved to the third one, unconscious on the floor.

"He's not dead" Jesus whispered quickly.

"So? They tried to kill us. One less of them is a good thing" and she stabbed the saviour's temple before Jesus could say anything else. She threw him the pistol and stuck her head out again.

"Got any matches?" she asked and Jesus threw her a half empty book with the logo of a long-gone restaurant on the front.

"Thanks. Good luck Jesus" and she disappeared into the shadows.

She got to the end of the corridor and heard shouts as the bodies were found. She hoped Jesus had got away, she had a feeling he could more than look after himself. She went left again and heard noises behind her. She slid through the first door that opened and closed it behind her. She turned to see 2 saviours, a man and a woman, presumably about to have sex. The man grabbed the gun from the shelf behind the woman and fired, the bullet grazed Essie's arm. She threw the knife before the man could fire again and, more from blind luck than skill, it thudded into the man's eye socket and he fell. The woman screamed and rushed at Essie who feinted to the right, caught the woman around the back of the neck and flung her into the breeze block wall. She landed with a thud and fell onto her back. Essie saw the blood pour from the split in her skull and the life leave her eyes. It had all happened so quickly. She heard shouting and people approaching so she quickly locked the door and turned off the light. She waited as the voices got nearer, trying to calm down her breathing and hoping like hell the bodies didn't turn. She saw the door handle twist and heard a voice shout that it was locked and then move off down the corridor.

Essie breathed out and looked around the room. It looked like a store room for clothes and blankets. Metal shelves were stacked from floor to ceiling, all neatly folded. She grabbed a pile of sheets and dumped them next to the man's body. Tearing a strip off one, she wrapped it around the graze. Jesus' words echoed in her head and she appreciated the irony of that thought. Pulling the knife from the eye socket, she stabbed it through his head and did the same with the woman, just in case. She wiped the blade clean and took out the book of matches. Unlocking the door first and checking the coast was clear, she lit one and held it to the corner of a sheet; after she was sure it had taken, she threw it onto the rest of the pile and closed the door behind her.

By the time the smoke began to fill the corridor, Essie was long gone.

She turned right and then left; this place was a rat run. She saw shadows on the wall at the end and ducked into a room. 3 saviours had another man against the wall and were using him like a punching bag. They stopped and stared as she entered. Without thinking she grabbed the revolver from her waistband and shot them one after the other with a precision she didn't know she had. The beaten man crouched on the ground with his arms over his head. She quickly locked the door and listened for people approaching.

"Don't kill me" the man begged from the floor, Essie seemed to notice him for the first time.

"Why were they beating you?" she asked with her ear against the door.

"I…I couldn't pay for food for me and my son" he stuttered.

"So you let them beat you?" Essie would never understand these people. Shouts came from outside the door and they tried to batter it down. A machine gun lay on the table, Essie grabbed it and checked the magazine was full. She looked around the room but there was no other exit. She rammed the butt of the gun on the opposite wall and it made a sizeable dent.

"What's on the other side?" she demanded.

"I…I think it leads to another room that has a fire exit…" the battering was getting louder and the hinges began to bend.

"Ok…I'm going to punch you out now so you can claim ignorance." Essie said matter-of-factly and knocked the man out. She then pointed the gun at the wall and fired repeatedly until there was a circle of bullet holes. The door was nearly broken behind her so she took a run at the wall, burst through, wrenched open the fire escape door that was miraculously unlocked and sped off through the yard.

She finally stopped in the shadow of a portakabin and tried to catch her breath. Looking back at the main building she was pleased to see smoke billowing from a first-floor window. She was sweating, thirsty, bleeding and running on adrenaline but she was free. She pushed herself up again, using the gun as a prop and walked slowly to the other side of the hut. She saw a row of motorbikes and a group of cars. The body of the fat guard who had nearly shit his pants at the sight of a bit of menstrual blood was lying on the gravel with very little head left. Rifling through his pockets, she found a packet of cigarettes and a set of car keys with an electric fob. She pressed it and saw the lights of the car at the end flash on and off.

Essie stepped on the gas and drove out of the gates. She wound the windows down and lit a cigarette with one of the matches Jesus had given her. She smiled as the black smoke plumed in her rear-view mirror.

He'll come looking for you Cookie.

Oh, I fucking hope he does, I really do.