Too much to cover in one chapter, so I am splitting the battle into two chapters...
Anna had remained behind as she promised, with Hunter, Judith, Beth, Carl, and Carrie. Carl had shown his ass when his father had informed him that he would not be participating in the events that were unfolding tonight. Carl was full of anger and rage, and it broke her heart to see someone so young robbed of his youth.
As the nervousness of waiting on the group to return began to wear heavily on Anna she decided that she would try to engage Carl in conversation.
"So Carl, can I talk to you?" She asked simply
"It's a free country, talk all you want." He said. Venom filled his voice. Carrie picked up on his hostility immediately.
"Why do you hate me Carl? You haven't even made an effort to get to know me. Even the first time I met you, you wouldn't give me the time of day. I just want to know why. We are going to co-exist in this community together, and if I did something to piss you off, please let me know." She said to him sincerely, but trying to see why he felt the way he did towards her.
"I'm not having this discussion with you." He said blankly.
"Yes, I think you need too. Tell me why you don't like me." She insisted again.
"Fine, you waltzed into our group, the damsel in distress, and you took Daryl from us. Without Daryl we were weak. Hershel died, and we all were starving, until he came back and saved us again. You're just fucking with him, and you are using him."
"Whoa, wait a minute. First of all, you hated me before Daryl left with me. You hated me the minute you first saw me, and that had nothing to do with Daryl. Secondly, I love Daryl with every breath I have in my body. I was not some "piece of Ass" that was trying to hook him into taking care of Hunter or me. My family is here and I would have made my way here eventually, and just so you know, they ARE fully capable of surviving without Daryl. But Daryl is a good man that they have all come to love, so neither WE nor I are using him. Put that thought out of your mind NOW." The anger and frustration in Anna's voice was evident.
She then spoke again. "So are you going to answer my question truthfully now, or are you going to give me some bullshit story about me taking Daryl from you?"
"Fine, I saw you there pregnant, and all I could think of was my mom. How it wasn't fair that she died having Judith, and you were there, alive. I mean how stupid were you to even let yourself get into that situation? Women having babies don't survive, and my mom sacrificed herself so Judith could live. And here you are, up in your pretty palace playing house with Daryl." Carl's anger suddenly gave way to tears.
Anna couldn't help it; she pulled the emotional teen to her in a loving embrace. Carl didn't like her just because she reminded him that his mother had died. That is why he refused to give her a chance upon their first meeting, and if he grew attached, she could die in the same circumstances his mother did, and if she survived, then it wasn't fair that his mom passed and she survived. It wasn't her he was angry with, but it was the situation he had been left with that made him angry.
The emotional interlude between the two was interrupted by the sounds of explosions far off in the distance. Anna could feel her heart hit her stomach. It had begun now, and the outcome was now in God's hands. Would good win out over evil, or would the six of them that were left behind be all that was left to carry on.
Daryl, Michonne, and Thomas had loaded into the plane and prepared for take off. Daryl's adrenaline was running high, and he was eager to get this over with so he could return back to his beloved Anna. He glanced over at Michonne, and she looked to be concentrating deeply. They both knew what they had to do, pull the pins quickly, drop the grenades, and not get shot.
The night vision goggles were going to allow them to see their targets in the dark. There wasn't any doubt that the plane could be heard before it would be seen. Thomas had disabled the lights, so it would be difficult to pinpoint their actual location, especially because the terrain in the area would cause the sounds to bounce around in valley, making it difficult to tell which directions the sounds were coming.
It would only take ten minutes from take-off for them to be directly over Laurel Springs. They had received radio confirmation that all four teams were in place, and once Daryl and Michonne begin to drop the grenades, everyone would be moving in. Daryl could see the men on the ground as they approached Laurel Springs. They heard the plane and the men in Laurel Springs was scrambling, trying to react to the foreign sound of the plane that told them that they were being encroached upon.
Thomas dropped the plane low and Michonne and Daryl crowded into the open doorway preparing to quickly drop of the grenades on their targets. As they spotted the tanks, Michonne and Daryl began pulling the pins and dropping the grenades rapidly. Two made a direct hit on the two outer tanks, and four more hit close enough that they sent men running in all directions.
Thomas circled the plane back around, and Daryl and Michonne repeated the same actions as before. They had hoped to drop eight total grenades, but were fast enough to drop twelve in total. They had successfully disabled all of the tanks, and taken out about fifteen men in the wake of the explosions. Unfortunately, on the second pass, some of the men began to fire directly onto the plane.
Daryl heard and felt the bullets whizzing by him. One hit the doorframe just a few inches from his left cheek. Michonne grabbed the automatic rifles and handed one to Daryl and they began to fire on the men on the ground. Thomas began making a series of low passes, allowing Michonne and Daryl to get off some good shots on each pass.
The West Side of the town was suddenly mass chaos. The disorganized bikers were running in all directions, firing at anything that moved. Flames were now engulfing the buildings in the area of the campground, and fires were breaking out everywhere. Bill Mocksley and his boys were quite effectively handling the western threat.
Isabella now found herself alone with Carol in the room she was being held in. When the first explosions began, Damian had run out of the room to investigate what was happening. He trusted Carol to handle Isabella and get the information that he was seeking. They wanted the location of all the families that had survived in the area, and they wanted access to the Blevin's compound. It had been dark when Carol had first arrived on the plane a few days earlier, and she was unable to recall the exact location of the home. She needed Isabella to divulge the information so that they could take control of the plane.
Carol moved over towards Isabella, and began talking calmly, "You know, I don't have to kill you, but I will if you don't get me the information I need to give to Damian."
Isabella responded, "Why are you helping that bastard? Do you realize what he is doing with the women in this place? There are young girls here too, Carol, for the love of God, just let me go, and we can get out of here."
"Huh", Carol laughed out, "Just like that, "We" can get out of here. And why would I want to leave? I have nothing left. Your niece took everything I had left from me. Daryl and I had a good thing going, he was my best friend, and we were growing closer, until Anna showed up and took him from me. Do you know how bad it hurts to lose someone like that?"
Isabella lost her temper at Carol's response, "Listen to me Carol, I appreciate that Daryl and you were close friends, but did it ever cross your mind that he was not interested in anything more than friendship with you? If he was, then why didn't he pursue you in that manner? You were with him for close to three years, and nothing developed, don't you think that says a lot?"
"You don't know anything you fucking bitch. I had class, and I didn't throw myself at Daryl like that whore of a niece you have did. She poisoned his mind and seduced him. She KNEW she had that baby and that he wouldn't be able to abandon her in that condition. If Rick hadn't gone and fucked things up and threw her out, I would have been able to control the situation, and it would be me wearing that wedding ring, not her." Carol was starting to pace angrily.
"Carol, let me go, Now. Do you hear those explosions? Daryl and the others are here to get everyone out and to kill Damian and his men."
Carol lunged at Isabella in a fit of rage, her knife making contact with Isabella's upper arm. The force of the impact sent Isabella to the floor in the chair, with her arms still tied behind her back. When the chair fell back, Isabella heard a loud crack, and realized the right arm of the chair had fractured upon impact, and she was able to free one of her arms. The pain in her other arm was almost undetectable with the amount of adrenaline flowing through her body.
Isabella then wrapped her legs around Carol and caused her to lose her balance, falling to the floor practically on top of Isabella. With her free arm, she managed to grab the knife Carol had temporarily dropped and cut the bindings on the other arm. Carol rebounded up off the floor and grabbed the bat she had brought with her and took a run at Isabella.
Isabella, now completely free, moved out of the way just before the bat would have crashed into her skull. Carol's rage was causing her to make poor decisions, and Isabella took full advantage of Carol's disorientation. As Isabella gained her feet, she threw all her weight and crashed into the much smaller Carol. She quickly wrestled the bat from her, leaving the frail woman defenseless. Then simply pulled her arm back and punched Carol directly in the head, knocking her out completely.
Isabella got herself up and spoke to Carol's unconscious body on the floor, "I told you no one fucks with my family, and you are no exception you stupid bitch."
As Isabella got herself together, she realized she needed to get the women in the motel out and towards the eastern slope. The team should be making there way down the old hiking trail and if Isabella could get the women out, then it would make it a much easier for them to all safely retreat back up to the overlook. Heavily armed men were running around shouting commands and warnings to each other. Isabella managed to leave the room she had just been in with Carol and make her way to another room across the hall undetected.
When she closed the door in the dimly lit room, she was overwhelmed with the scent of filth. She could make out five women huddled together in the corner, looks of sheer terror on their faces. They were dirty, bloody, and dressed in rags. Isabella spoke quickly and directly, "Ladies, we are here to get you out, grab anything you can possibly use as a weapon, and stab, shoot, or beat the shit out of anything that comes at you. Head towards the eastern slope, we have a group that are here to rescue you."
The women nodded and began to grab any blunt items that they could to help their defense. They moved out into the hallways and started heading towards the back door of the motel. Isabella began making her way down into the rooms, finding clusters of women huddled together. All of the women were battered and emaciated looking. No doubt that they were being starved and beaten regularly, on top of other unimaginable atrocities. Isabella couldn't let herself think about it. She gave the same directions to each of the women she found, and they all were making their way down the halls towards the back door of the motel.
Rick and his team had made it down the eastern slope just as the women were making their way out of the back of the hotel. Gunshots were being fired in several different directions and Rick saw some of the women drop as the ensuing bullets hit them. He began to yell at the women to get their attention, and Viv, Maggie, and some of the others left the safety of the wooded area to go and help the women now caught in the open and in the line of fire.
Finally, Isabella was running out of the building following a group of about fifteen young girls. She had managed to find the children and get them out. She spotted Rick and Viv and shouted to them to come help get the girls. Rick and Viv immediately followed her commands and made their way to the children, leading them up towards the slope as they continued to duck random gunshots being fired upon them.
A huge explosion that rocked the town suddenly startled all of them. The sky lit up like daylight and Rick realized they no longer could hear the plane. One of Rick's worse fears had come true, that the plane had been hit and apparently had crashed on the North side of town. Viv screamed, "No No No No, not Daryl."
Uh oh folks...sorry for the cliff hanger on this one, but it seemed like a good place to split the chapter.
Be sure to leave me lots of reviews, they are incredible, especially since I have had so many favorable ones. You all give me joy!
So we have a few unanswered questions, where is Damian, is Daryl dead, what about Marty and Joe and their teams? And Carol...what is going to happen with her and all her craziness...
See y'all tomorrow-
Thanks-
Missy
XXOO
