Author's Note: So, I don't think I'm emotionally prepared for the mid-season premiere on Sunday. I'm not ready to say goodbye to Carl. My baby boy! We've watched him grow up and now we have to watch him die. I feel like his parent, and parents aren't supposed to survive their children. *cries forever*
That being said, here's the chapter that focuses on this season's first episode. You know...before Carl was bit and the world was magical. So, do that thing you do — READ & REVIEW!
xoxo —Holly
"The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on." — Ulysses S. Grant
It was like electricity in the air in the days following the first fight against the Saviors. Everyone was abuzz with energy and vigor for the following fights that were soon on the horizon. The first of things that needed doing, were fortifications, and not just on the communities, but also vehicles. The latter was to be undertaken for when the fight was taken to the Sanctuary, something that was a unanimous decision between the leaders from the three communities—Rick, Maggie and King Ezekiel. That was the first thing they had discussed when they'd sat down together in the Monroe's living room. The Saviors had always come to the other communities, to take and take and take, and kill and kill and kill. But it was the Saviors' turn to see how it felt. What also needed to be done was the elimination of the outposts, and that would only be made possible by way of help from Dwight, which he was more than willing to give; although his help had to be kept on the down-low so no other Saviors suspected him of being a double agent, so to speak.
Daryl was the one that road out toward the Sanctuary, hiding in the distance and waiting for Dwight to make an appearance outside. He lucked out, that first day after the fight; finding Dwight coming outside to check on the walkers secured to the fence. Daryl shot a bolt into the shoulder of one of those walkers that Dwight was standing behind the fence of, with a note and a black pen, secured with a rubber band, which was asking for details on outposts and any other Savior lookouts. Dwight had removed the bolt quickly and then turned in the direction he determined Daryl was in, nodded and held up one finger as a sign for Daryl to give him a second. With a pair of binoculars, Daryl watched as Dwight hunched forward and scribbled something down. When he finished, he wrapped the pen and the note back around the bolt, wrapped the rubber band around it and used his own crossbow to shoot the bolt back to Daryl. The note Daryl received said to give Dwight an hour and he would provide each location.
Dwight disappeared back inside the Sanctuary after that, so, Daryl sat back, smoked a couple cigarettes, and waited.
Forty-seven minutes later, a bolt belonging to Dwight's crossbow lodged into the wooden pallet Daryl was standing behind. Removing the note curled around it, Daryl smirked at the thorough list is locations, which included descriptions of the locations and some maps drawn out with specifics. With the locations acquired, Daryl slipped away to where he'd hidden his bike and then road off to Alexandria to hand off the note to Rick.
All while Daryl had been gone, drop boxes had been set up on the routes between all three communities, so that each community didn't have to go all the way to deliver messages about what was going down—when and where and how. Routes were figured out, and which groups were going where, and what would be done at individual rendezvous locations. Several Alexandrians had headed to the Hilltop, where they were armoring up multiple vehicles with scrap pieces of metal paneling on the driver's sides. Georgie, with her welding and metalwork background, headed up a lot of that work; taking lead and working alongside the blacksmiths at Hilltop and dictating where and how the panels would fit together. The panels would protected the cars and trucks and those inside when they were driven to the Sanctuary, and they would provide further protection when those inside the cars and trucks got out and need cover when a firefight broke out—not if.
That night, when Georgie returned to Alexandria in an armored car, she was returning home with Aaron, Eric, Scott, and Judith on her lap; the child having been at the Hilltop since the night before the fight. A caravan of more vehicles that had been finished followed behind. When they came in through the main gate, they drove around the community in order to circle back toward the front, and then parked, so that they would be facing the gate when it was time for everyone to eventually move out. Rick was happy to see the progress that had been made in just a day, but even happier to see both his girls returned safely to him. Carl had joined his father and taken his sister off of Georgie's hands so that Rick, Georgie and several others could meet up in the church to discuss further developments in their plans and to decide on other factors that needed to play into it all.
The next day was going to be set aside for more reinforcements on the vehicles back at the Hilltop. Daryl and Morgan would be taking care Saviors at lookout locations while Rick was gonna take Carl to go look for gasoline. His son wouldn't be involved in the fight but Carl was insisting on being involved somehow, and this way it would give father and son some time together. Tara had brought up the idea of using that heard of walkers they'd dealt with on the highway by wrangling them up somehow. Daryl suggested explosives. The sound, the heat and the brightness would draw the herd in any direction the communities wanted if the explosives were planted along the way, from where the herd was, to where was Sanctuary was.
"Like leaving a trail of breadcrumbs," he remarked.
It would be tricky, and a delicate process in determining how long it would take to get the herd where they wanted them to go, so that it would be in time with when the fight they were bringing to the Sanctuary would go down. But, it was possible.
Morgan left that night with these new details and updates to take back with him to the Kingdom and the next day Georgie took the same information back to the Hilltop for Maggie and the others. That next night, she returned again but this time without any more armored vehicles, as those had been left behind for the Hilltop to use when the communities met up at the agreed upon rendezvous location, the day the fight would begin. Carol also arrived that same day from the Kingdom, offering to go with Tara the following day to clock the herd's time to determine how long they would need.
That same night, Rick was sitting on the floor of his and Georgie's bedroom, unbuttoning his tan-colored shirt which was soaked from sweat. He'd been wearing it the last two days and figured it was time to switch off with another shirt for the next day or two. Georgie had sauntered in with freshly washed hair, wearing a tank top and a clean pair of his boxers. When he looked up at her when she entered the room, he was smiling.
"Don't you have your own clothes?" he inquired with an impish raise of his eyebrow.
"All I have are pajama pants and it's too warm for those, and everything else is waiting to be washed," she replied, kneeling down beside him. "We haven't exactly had time to clean much."
"I managed to wash my blue shirt."
"The one you were just shot in a couple days ago?" Off his nod, she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, you've been here more the last couple of days. I haven't."
Balling up his tan shirt, Rick tossed it across the room to the base of his dresser and then laid back against their comforter that was spread out on the floor in place of an actual bed they were still without. He tucked a pillow under his head and then crossed his arms over his chest. "Each community should wear different colored arm bands so we all know who's who and don't mix our side up with any Saviors," he commented; his thought process taking a left turn.
"Sounds good. How soon do you think we'll be ready?"
"The day after tomorrow, hopefully. Daryl and Morgan managed to take care of most of the lookouts today. There's only one more, but that's on the way to where we'll all be meeting up. I can take care of that one."
Georgie nodded. "I think Daryl said he was gonna rig up those explosives tomorrow—you know, for luring the herd toward the Sanctuary. I was thinking I'd go with him, give him a hand."
"I didn't know you knew your way around explosives," he quipped, turning to look from the ceiling to up at her.
"I don't, but I'm a quick study. Plus, it will give him and me a sort of dry run for the actual day of. It'll be good to be acquainted with the exact route and the whereabouts of each explosive in advance."
Confusion setting in on his face, Rick propped himself up on his elbows and just stared at her for a solid ten seconds before saying anything. "What do you mean 'dry run'? Aren't you coming with me to the Sanctuary?"
Georgie shook her head. "There's already so many going. It'd be too many cooks in the kitchen, plus Daryl trying to set off the explosives in a timely fashion while also riding his bike, because that was his plan…to just ride by and shoot at them. It makes more sense for him to focus on driving and for me to just hang on and shoot. We'll all be meeting up afterward at that same field where the rest of you will start the day. If you're worried, my task won't be as dangerous as yours."
"I know you can handle yourself," he said, sitting up fully. He reached out, covering her hand with his. "I just like you at my side is all. You can't fault me for that."
"I don't," she insisted. "I like being at your side. I like it so much I became your wife, if you recall." With a smile, she slipped her hand out from under his and brought it up to the side of his face where she pushed a lone curl back behind his ear. "You'll have me back at your side for the job at the outpost to get those guns Dwight mentioned on one of those notes he gave Daryl. And tonight, we got tonight, at each other's side to continue our honeymoon."
"That's true. I didn't get to do everything I wanted to you the other night."
Suddenly there was a noticeable scuff of someone's feet just outside their bedroom, out in the upstairs hall. When they turned toward the noise, they found Carl standing there, scrunching up his nose at them from just outside their doorway.
"You two know doors can close, right? No one needs to hear that stuff." With a slight shudder of disgust, the teen reached forward into the room and grabbed the door knob. "Eugh. So gross," he muttered, shutting the door.
Rick and Georgie turned back toward one another, chuckling at Carl's expense.
"Well, I guess he knows about the birds and the bees if he was able to understand what we were talking about and be grossed out by it," Rick remarked with a shrug.
"You still haven't given him the talk yet?"
Rick hesitated. "No."
Georgie sighed. "Well, to be fair, you probably wouldn't have had to. Everything he knows he probably picked up just by being in a fifty foot radius of Abraham."
"Yeah, probably," Rick laughed, moving to lay back down. Once he was somewhat comfortable with the pillow back under his head, he turned and looked at Georgie again. "He and I found some gas today near this old gas station. I'd let him drop me off up the road, at this corner body shop, and then drive further up the road toward a gas station I knew was there. When I caught up to him, there was this guy there. I scared the guy off with a couple shots in the air. I mean, he could've been a spy for the Saviors and we can't risk that right now. Carl didn't seem to think so. I said that, you know, if the guy was just some random survivor out in the world, then that's good and I hope the guy survives. Carl then goes and tells me that hope won't be enough in this fight with the Saviors." Rick sighed and placed a hand on his forehead. "I think he might be a little mad at me about something. I'm hoping it's just more growing pains, though, 'cause I don't know what I did."
"You could just ask him outright instead of the both of you just dancing around the subject."
"Maybe he's just getting stressed about what's gonna happen. I mean, he's not the only one. We've all gotta deal with it however we can. We just gotta get through this, and then we can get on with living our lives. If we get through this war and survive, you and I will take the kids and hole ourselves up in this house for, like, a week, and just watch a bunch of DVDs and play board games and just be together."
Georgie smiled and laid down beside Rick. "I like how that sounds."
"You know what sounds better?" Without waiting for her response, Rick rolled onto his side, wincing a bit from the gunshot wound that was still freshly healing, and whispered in her ear.
With an abrupt snort of laughter, Georgie shoved him back with her hand and pulled herself up. "We gotta be careful though. Carl might hear us and get grossed out even more."
Rick wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Challenge accepted."
Two mornings later, at dawn, Georgie was hurrying down the front steps to her and Rick's home, with Rick following a bit more slowly behind her. Directly in front of the house, Daryl had his bike parked with his crossbow strapped to the back. With a cigarette perched between his lips, he was busy tying on a white band around his arm; the same that Rick and Georgie, and everyone else from Alexandria would was wearing. Rick was tucking in a clean grey, button down shirt into his tried and true black jeans and it amused Georgie because, no matter how much she tried, he just wouldn't get rid of those damned things. One of these days she was just going to hide them while he slept and tell them they must've gotten lost somewhere in the laundry room, which of course he would likely assume correctly that she was responsible, and yet still go on a wild goose chase to find them. Little would he know that she would've burned them and he would be stuck with a new pair of denim jeans. Alas, today was not that day, but she was determined to have it.
"You ready?" Daryl asked her, standing beside the bike and flicking away a finished cigarette.
"Are you?" Georgie retorted with a smirk.
Daryl smacked his lips and waved a hand at her. "I was born ready. Let's get this shit done."
"Be careful," Rick heeded. "Don't do anything stupid."
Turning, Georgie smiled and grabbed the sides of his shirt. "Stupid isn't in my DNA."
Leaning forward, they met each other halfway in a kiss that lingered for quite a bit. He held his hands around her back and kept her there in his arms for a few moments longer after the kiss ended. They just looked each other in the eye, as if having some sort of unspoken conversation. As soon as she began to step away, Rick emitted a deep sigh and watched as Daryl mounted his bike; scooting forward a couple more inches to give Georgie extra room as she climbed on behind him.
Rick cocked his head and knitted his brow. "You got your gun?"
Georgie looked back at him and patted her right thigh, which he couldn't really see. "Yes, daddy."
"Hey, now, keep that kinda talk for the bedroom," Daryl teased.
"You're as bad as Carl," Rick chided with a faint smile.
"Alright. No more chitchat. We got a schedule to keep." With a nod of his head toward Rick, Daryl started up the bike's engine, causing Georgie to instinctively grab onto the back of his shirt. "Good luck."
"You, too." He panned his attention from his friend to his wife—a word he was enjoying referring to her as. In private, though. For now, anyway. "Love you."
"Love you, too."
Once they got those words out, Daryl revved the bike and off they were up the road. Georgie wrapped arms around his waist as they turned right at the intersection and slowly wove through the parked, armored cars and trucks. Tobin, standing at the main gate with Scott, rolled it open for then and gave them a nod and, like that, they were zipping away from Alexandria with the wind flying through their hair.
When Daryl and Georgie rolled up to their rendezvous spot on the highway, where their part in all this would begin, they found Carol, Tara and Morgan already waiting for them. A few dead leaves on the pavement kicked up as Daryl slowed the bike down and came to a stop a few feet behind an abandoned '98 Ford Expedition. Before the engine was even off, Georgie had hopped off and sauntered over to the others. Tara, like her and Daryl, was wearing a white arm band to show she belonged to Alexandria. And while Georgie wasn't bothered by Morgan wearing an orange arm band to show he was part of the Kingdom, Georgie did feel a little sour at the fact the Carol was also wearing orange. She supposed Daryl, too, was a little sour about it. Daryl and Carol always had a strong bond since almost the very beginning, so for her to live apart from the rest of their family in Alexandria, apart from Daryl, after everything they'd been through together, it was slightly bothersome.
Nevertheless, both Georgie and Daryl each greeted Carol with a hug, and a nod to Morgan and Tara; the latter of whom was chewing on a Twizzler which was more than likely stale.
"How soon before they show?" Georgie inquired, looking way up the highway toward where it curved to the right.
"We got it timed for 7:51," Tara replied, looking down at her wristwatch.
"That's oddly specific."
The younger woman shrugged and glanced up toward the curve in the road, still chewing on that Twizzler and squinting because of the low angle of the sun. "We got it down to a science yesterday, so it better be."
They all just stood there, staring ahead, and waiting; except for Morgan who was sitting against the railing with his staff over his lap and looking rather solemn. A few minutes passed in silence. Occasionally they looked between each other or back up the road, or behind them. Once or twice a bird flying overhead offered a small distraction from the mundanity of waiting. Finally, though, Tara moved forward a bit, looking down at her wristwatch again.
"Here we go," she announced, causing Morgan to finally get up and join the rest of them. "Ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…"
Nothing happened. There was no herd approaching.
"Shit," Tara grumbled, taking the Twizzler out of her mouth.
They stood there, looking at each other and back up the road again.
"Do you think they might've—" Georgie began to say before she was cut off by Daryl.
"Nah. There," he announced, pointing up ahead.
Sure as shit, several walkers appeared from around the curve in the road, heading in their direction.
"Okay. Close enough," Tara shrugged, popping that damned Twizzler back in her mouth as if it were chew toy instead of just eating it. Then again, if it really was stale, it was probably as inedible as a chew toy.
"Alright. Let's go," Daryl rallied, gesturing for them all to move on out, but also specifically for Georgie to join him on his bike again.
"Got it?" Carol asked Morgan.
"Yeah."
While Daryl revved the engine of his bike and drove away from the Ford Expedition with Georgie, the other three began to run for the car they'd arrived in, hop in and drive off as well. About twenty to twenty-five seconds after they'd cleared the immediate area of the Ford Expedition, it exploded, sending one of its doors flying across to the other side of the road.
They didn't waste time getting to their next destination. They knew the herd would be attracted to the site of the explosion and move toward it. At the next location they needed to lure the herd toward, though, they needed to get there in order for Morgan and Daryl to rig up the trip wire that couldn't be rigged up until now. If they'd done it the day before, it could've gone off prematurely if anything or anyone happened upon it unwittingly. They couldn't take that chance, not when their supply of explosives was limited.
Once the wire was secured from one side of the road to the other, both men joined Georgie, Carol and Tara upon on a pedestrian overpass.
"How close are we?" Carol asked.
"Close," Daryl responded.
They all turned and looked left. In the distance they could see the Sanctuary standing tall.
"Rick and the rest of the Militia should be arriving there any minute now," Georgie remarked, tapping the pads of her fingers along the rusty green metal railing.
More waiting began. Tara kept checking her wristwatch, Morgan was leaning over the railing to check on the trip wire, Carol was checking the road behind them, Daryl was checking the road in front of them, and Georgie just kept her eyes on the Sanctuary in the distance. Not one of them spoke, though. They were listening for a sign that the Militia had arrived to the Sanctuary and that the assault was beginning.
With how quiet the world was these days, it wasn't hard to eventually make out the sounds of multiple guns firing a succession of four shots into the air. Nothing was heard afterward from the overpass, but it was enough to let them know the Militia made it and the war was on.
A few moments later, a lone walker wandered out into the road from between two buildings, which Tara noticed first.
"Shit, can that thing set it off?"
"I got it," Morgan assured, heading down the stairs from the overpass without hesitation. Reaching the base of the stairs, he sprinted up behind the walker and with the sharpened end of his staff, impaled the walker through the back of the head. With little effort, he was able to drag the walker back a ways from the trip wire and drop it to the ground.
The sound of engines and the sight of multiple cars approaching sent Morgan ducking for cover behind an overturned dumpster in the road. When the first car drove into the trip wire, the explosion was detonated. While the first car was sent flipping and skidding further up the road, just past where Morgan was hiding, the other two vehicles actually took the brunt of the explosion. Black smoke began to billow up into the air; the sight of which the other four on the overpass were sure could be seen from the Sanctuary. The explosion, as well, should've been able to be heard from the Sanctuary since the others could hear the gunshots from the overpass.
Drawn by the second explosion, the herd was successfully being drawn in that direction, just as planned. The others left the overpass and joined Morgan on the road where dead bodies had been ejected from the cars or lay dead inside; some just dead and some a bit more on the crispy side. One person from the first car still appeared to be alive and, not wanting to waste her bullets, Georgie tapped Morgan on the shoulder and gestured to his staff.
"Can I see this for a second?" she asked.
With a nod, he handed it to her and when she took it from him, she crouched down and lined the pointy end up with one of the eye sockets of the surviving Savior, and then jabbed it forward into the Savior's skull. Pulling the tip of the staff out, the Savior ceased any and all movement and Georgie handed the staff back as she stood up.
All five of them didn't think much on what she'd done because if it hadn't been her, one of them would've done it. Or any one of the walkers from the approaching herd would've finished that Savior off. As they doubled back toward their respective vehicles, the sound of constant gunfire coming from the direction of the Sanctuary was unmistakable.
"It's started," Carol declared, looking up ahead at the herd, which turning a corner and approaching the smoldering vehicles.
"Yeah. It was always gonna be that way," Daryl retorted, sitting down on his bike and taking a swig of water from his canteen.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Tara quipped, before heading for the driver's seat of the car she driven in with Morgan and Carol.
Morgan lowered his staff and nodded at Daryl and Georgie. "Beat 'em," he stated as he claimed shotgun.
As Daryl passed the canteen to Georgie, he got situated on his bike so that she would have room to get on as well. While she took a swig of water, Carol approached them both; moving to give Daryl a hug first.
"Be careful," Carol pleaded.
"Shit, this is gonna be fun," Daryl teased while Georgie recapped the canteen, secured it to the bike and hopped on behind him. The engine from the car started up and Tara drove a little ways around the corner, and the three still there in the road looked at the herd getting even closer to them.
"No, it isn't," Carol disagreed while giving Georgie a quick hug.
"It's better than lettin' things be, though, right?"
Carol nodded. "Yeah. It is."
"Good luck at your outposts," Georgie wished as Carol began to take her leave.
As the older woman disappeared around the corner to climb into the car waiting for her, Daryl turned and looked at Georgie. "Ready, mama?"
Georgie smirked and removed her handgun from the holster on her right leg. "I was born ready," she replied, mirroring his comment to her from earlier that morning, and switched the gun to her left hand and removed the safety.
They both turned and looked back at the front lines of the herd, which were now mere feet away. Twisting back around, Daryl started up the bike and Georgie gripped her right arm around his waist again. As they drove off, Daryl nodded his head in the direction of the box on the corner of the intersection they were passing through. Taking aim, and quickly at that, Georgie took a single shot at the box once they were clear of its immediate area and the boxed exploded instantly.
The closer they headed in the direction of the Sanctuary, where they were leading the herd to, the sounds of gunfire was getting louder. They rode further up the road, the herd on their tails, and the second explosive was just up ahead. As Daryl turned a corner, Georgie fired a shot into that second explosive and the two of them continued on to the third explosive, and subsequently closer to the Sanctuary.
The sounds of gunfire seemed to be subsiding by the time Daryl and Georgie were coming upon the third explosive.
"On your right," Daryl called back to her.
Quickly, Georgie wrapped both arms around his front but only to switch her gun from her left hand to her right. As they drove past the third explosive, she took her shot and it large ball of fire erupted from the side of the street. Another few hundred yards up, a box lay directly in the middle of the road. Daryl wove around it and Georgie turned back and fired her fourth shot. They were a bit closer than either would've liked when it exploded and they could definitely feel the heat from that one.
"I'm feeling like a badass right now," she joked, leaning into his back.
Daryl smacked his lips. "I'd say you already were."
Georgie smiled. Spotting a fifth box up ahead, she had to wrapped her arms around his front again to switch the gun back to her left hand. As they flew by, she took the shot and nailed it. She couldn't help but wear a shit-eating grin on her face because she was glad how well everything was falling into place, and she was just pleased with herself for not having missed any shots, because there wasn't any room for error.
Approaching the sixth box, Georgie switched the gun back to her right hand, and they both saw there was a walker beside the box.
"Two for the price of one," Georgie commented, and lined up her shot. Once they had slipped far enough by, she fired the gun at the box and both the box and the walker were obliterated.
"Show off," Daryl teased, as they approached the upcoming intersection.
As they did, Daryl began to veer left, giving Georgie a decent enough angle to shoot at the seventh and final box. When she did, the box exploded on the road that continued straight toward the Sanctuary. By the time they drove off and were out of sight, the herd would only have the fire and the gunshots from the Sanctuary to lead them there.
Moments later, the noise of a large explosion at the Sanctuary echoed in all directions, and that was the nail in the coffin, so to speak. Georgie and Daryl weren't there to see it happen, but they knew it meant the RV had been driven into the Sanctuary and Rick had detonated the entire vehicle as one last move to make sure the herd arrived.
"We did it," Georgie remarked, holstering her gun and leaning back slightly, while still maintaining one arm around Daryl's waist so she didn't fall off the bike.
"Yeah," Daryl agreed with a nod as they continued to ride onward toward their rendezvous point with Rick and the rest of the Alexandrian faction of the Militia.
"You were right, you know. This was fun."
Daryl chuckled. "Yeah, I know."
Daryl and Georgie were a few of the late arrivals to the rendezvous point. As soon as they rolled up, Georgie hopped off the bike and was a bit thankful her journey with him was over, simply for the fact that the rumble of the bike's engine against the inside of her legs was starting to tickle to the point of it feeling like a nonstop itching sensation. She looked around at everyone gathered and they all greeted each other with smiles and small talk while they waited to head out for the second assault which had the three communities attacking three separate outposts at the same time. The Kingdom faction, led by Ezekiel and joined by Carol, was headed to a chemical plant outpost. The Hilltop faction, which was being led by Jesus, but also joined by Alexandrian Tara, as well as Morgan and Dianne from the Kingdom, was making their way to the same satellite outpost that Rick's group had taken in the days leading up to that fateful night in the clearing. As for the faction from Alexandria, their goal was to overthrow an outpost at an office plaza, where Dwight had mentioned in his note that a huge cache of the Saviors' guns were supposed to be.
Georgie was getting a bit anxious because Rick and Gabriel were the only ones not back yet from the Sanctuary. While she had come to care about Gabriel and view him as a friend, he wasn't the one she was worried for. If he died, she would be sad about it, but she would easily get past it. Rick was the one who mattered to her. Rick was the one she would rather survive if she had to choose between him and Gabriel.
Finally, her prayers were answered when one of the armored trucks approached the wooded area they were all waiting in. Georgie saw that it was Rick behind the wheel and a huge weight lifted off her shoulders and she felt she could breathe easy. Since the driver's side of the truck had been welded shut with all the metal paneling, Rick had to slide across to the passenger's side and climb out that way. He smiled bright as Georgie approached and threw an arm around her. They embraced for a moment, shared a brief kiss and then Rick looked out upon his people that were standing outside their vehicles, equally glad to see him and sharing the same euphoria over how things had gone for them during the first assault.
"The others were saying you had hung back," Georgie remarked. "Did you get a shot in at Negan by any chance."
"No, but that didn't stop me from trying," he answered. They moved toward more tree coverage, looking between the branches in the direction Rick had come from. "Gabriel should be right behind me." He looked back at Daryl and the others gathering a bit closer to him. "We'll wait for him and then move on, but we can't wait too long for him."
Georgie nodded, watching the others opting to keep close to their vehicles so they would be ready to head on out a moment's notice on Rick's signal. Daryl and Georgie stayed put with Rick among the trees, though; waiting with him there.
"Were there any hiccups with the herd?" Rick wondered.
"Nope," Daryl responded. He then nudged Georgie's arm. "You got one hell of a shot here."
Rick stared at Georgie admiringly. "I know."
Shrugging off the compliment and Rick's warm gaze, Georgie shoved her hands into her back pockets and focused her attention on the road beyond the trees they were standing behind. "I'm getting better 'cause I've had the practice."
Turning his attention toward the road again as well, Rick sighed and then checked the time on his wristwatch.
Still, there was no Gabriel.
"We can wait some more," Daryl suggested, understanding that time was of the essence.
Rick looked over his shoulder at his friend, frowned and shook his head. "We can't. He stopped to get me."
Georgie raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Negan," Rick sighed. "He was on the ground. I was trying to kill him, and Gabriel stopped to get me." Looking between Daryl and Georgie, he turned next to eye the road once more. With a nod, he made a decision. "We gotta start out."
"You all right?" Daryl asked.
Rick chuckled. "This isn't about me." He gestured toward their caravan with a cock of his head. "Let's go."
Daryl shared a look with Georgie and then just shrugged.
"Yeah," Daryl muttered, and then let out a whistle to get everyone's attention and then gestured for everyone to load up.
When Rick opened up the passenger door to his truck, and slid in first so he could get behind the wheel, he waited, of course, for Georgie to climb in beside him. Once she shut the door, she saw Rick was pointing to the glove compartment.
"There should be a couple extra magazines for your gun in there. There's also a couple rifles for you to choose from in the back bed," he informed, gesturing over his shoulder with his thumb.
Georgie nodded. "If we're gonna be moving around office hallways, I think I'll be more comfortable with my handgun than a rifle. I feel like I have more control with a handgun anyway."
"Alright. Take those mags out then and shove 'em in your pockets."
"Yes, sir."
Rick merely smirked and started the engine up. Everyone else seemed to follow suit, and when he pulled away, heading in the direction opposite from where he'd arrived from, so did the others, like a game of follow the leader.
It was on to phase two.
