A/N: As promised, staying right on schedule with my updating. And what better way to start 2018 than with a new chapter! and on that note, happy new year! This chapter is action filled so I'm afraid we don't get as many emotional moments between Rick/Pol but we get a couple, a lot happens in this chapter and most likely the next chapter but I'll try to include developments as much as I can.
Thanks to all the support and love for this story, welcome to Kimberleejo who's just favourited and followed! And I can't forget my lovely reviewers:
Ryane: Haha unfortunately I'm not going to tell you how long you'll be waiting for because it's all part of the surprise :3 But just ignore all the agonising, torturing, fluffiness between them. this chapter doesn't have a lot of it, it was more plot focused.
JasminJW: As always your little comments are much appreciated and I agree I have much love for my queen Michonne x
Guest: Hi guest, first off I wanna say thank you for taking the time to read my story and thank you so much for the constructive criticism! Okay so I read through chapter 22 and I understand what you're saying. I see your frustration but I stand by my decision to write her in the way I did for that chapter because this is what's going through Pol's head: so Rick lost Lori and he's not in the right state of mind right now, she saw him down in the prison the way that he was unhinged killing all those walkers. she's concerned that something might set him off again and right now they need to focus on their rescue mission to get Maggie and Glenn back. As to what you said about them leaving her behind, back at the farm they didn't know she was still alive, because they saw the Walkers go down on Andrea and Pol assuming she was dead. As to her sticking up for Michonne, I hope you see in this chapter she does defend Michonne to the best of her ability when the others are not trusting of Michonne. Having said all of that I completely understand where you're coming from and I think I have been writing Pol a little too OOC in the last couple of chapters. I appreciate your review as it's help me think of it as another perspective and I hope you don't think any less of me as a fanfic writer and I hope that I've portrayed her better here. I look forward to seeing your thoughts.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead or any affiliated characters and storyline, only my OC and plotline.
-Angels and Douchebags.
The men on the perimeter gate were rotating floodlights across the ground searching for Walkers or any intruders. I was eager to get to Maggie and Glenn, the Governor seemed predatory to me and I hoped he hadn't done any horrible things to them yet. My thoughts moved back to the man I had killed just an hour ago and I felt my anxiety coming back.
No. Not now, have to keep it together for now.
I heard movement from behind me and watched as Michonne snuck off by herself.
"Hey, Hey!" Rick whispered urgently but she was already gone.
"Dammit!" He muttered frustrated.
I got up from my leaning position when I was yanked back down to the ground by a forceful arm of someone much stronger than me.
"Ow!" I looked at the culprit and saw Rick holding my arm. He flashed me an apologetic look as I glared at him. We backed off until we were fully hidden behind the car as Daryl and Oscar also bent down to the ground so we were huddled.
"Alright we need to downsize." Rick said looking at the guards. We all took our rifles out and checked them for ammunition before positioning them over the car.
"Ain't no way we can check all those buildings." Daryl said looking at the high rise towers inside the gate.
"Not with all those guards there." I emphasised.
"How'd you get out first time?" Rick asked.
"Sewers," I winced remembering how disgusting it was down there.
"How did they not see you when you came out?" Daryl asked.
"I got lucky, there weren't many guards and the ones that were, were distracted. There's no way we can use those potholes now, not with the searchlights on them." I pointed to the concrete. Suddenly the leaves rustled from behind us and we all pointed our rifles up ready to fire when Michonne came out with her hands up.
I sighed, relieved she was safe and that it wasn't someone from Woodbury or a walker. She looked at us with wide eyes and pointed towards the trees before disappearing back in. I held the rifle in one hand and shrugged following her into the woods. I looked back at Rick, Daryl and Oscar who stood there before I beckoned them forwards to follow us.
We snuck in through a crack in one of the old building walls and made our way into another building which looked familiar. This was the same building Andrea was treated in. There were jars of food and knick knacks on shelves which expanded the entire length of the room. We walked slowly across the creaky floorboards with Michonne in front.
"This is where you were held?" Rick asked her.
"Questioned." She corrected him. Daryl light on his feet, tiptoed across the room and lifted the floral curtain from the back door. Where there were flickering lights. We joined him and pulled it back seeing the flames lighting up the street and people walking across the road.
"Thought you said there was a curfew," Daryl asked Michonne suspiciously.
"No she's right, the street is packed during the day." I defended.
"Those are stragglers." Michonne stated.
"If anyone comes in here we're sitting ducks. We gotta move." Rick said firmly peeking out of the window.
"They could be in his apartment." Michonne said after a moment.
"Yeah, what if they ain't?" Daryl came up to her face.
"Then we'll look someone else." I looked between them both as nudged Daryl back. The last thing we needed was to start an argument, we needed to have our wits about us.
"You said you could help us." Rick said annoyed walking past her.
"I'm doing what I can." Michonne defended using the same annoyed tone.
"Rick cut her a break." I was starting to get pissed off with the way he was treating her, particularly after I told Rick that I trusted her with my life.
"Then where the hell are they?" Oscar asked.
"How would she know? She wasn't here when they got taken." I said to the rest of the group.
"Maybe we should split up, fan out and cover more ground." I suggested.
"We're not going our own ways." Rick said.
"I mean break off into smaller groups." I clarified.
"That might work." Daryl said after thinking for a moment. Rick, Daryl and Oscar walked towards the back of the room and I knew they were about to have a private conversation without Michonne.
"Just let me talk to these idiots." I reassured her following them.
"If this goes south, we're cutting her loose." Rick said as I crossed my arms over my chest.
"It's not going to go south. And we are not cutting her loose." I glared at him emphasising my mind.
"Look, we're splitting off into smaller groups, why don't Pol go with Michonne," Daryl said slinging the crossbow over his back.
"Yeah," I said.
"I wanna keep an eye on her." Rick said.
"Dammit Rick, she risked her life to bring the formula to us. For your daughter. It might be time to cut her slack." I said as Rick swallowed and nodded.
"Okay then you come with me and Michonne and Daryl stays with Oscar. All good?" I asked.
We heard the doorknob rattle as we ducked down behind the shelves trying to stay hidden in the darkness. The door opened as a man with a light came in and began looking around.
"I know you're in here, I saw you move through the curtain." The man in the baseball cap called out. I looked at Rick with a worried expression as he kept a finger to his lips.
"Alright now, you're not supposed to be in here, you know it." The man's voice was getting closer. I pulled out my colt and clicked the safety off quietly as Rick did the same with his gun, Daryl loaded his crossbow as he approached where we were hiding.
"Come on out no-" Rick and me pushed the man back against the wall our guns pointed up against him.
"Shut up now and get on your knees." Rick ordered as he shoved the man to the ground.
"Now hands behind your back." He intrusted forcefully as I held my gun up to his face.
"Tie him." Rick said to Daryl who quickly bound his wrists together.
"Where are our people?" He asked the man and also trained his gun on his face.
"You're holding some of our people where the hell are they?" Rick asked roughly pushing him.
"I don't know!" The man said.
I looked into his eyes and saw that he seemed like he genuinely had no idea what we were talking about. But I had been fooled before. I glanced at Rick who looked like he was thinking the same thing and stuffed a rag into the man's mouth as Daryl knocked him out with the end of his crossbow.
"Do we always have to kill people or knock them out?" I whined mostly to myself. I helped Rick move his body to the other side of the room as I stood up from bending down and straightened out my back.
"Ahh," I groaned in pain, I still had damage there, an old injury thanks to dear old dad.
"Back bothering you?" Rick asked looking at me.
"Yeah, it's an old injury." I said curtly and Rick raised an eyebrow asking me to explain.
"My dad." I whispered as Rick's jaw nodded in understanding.
"We'll have Hershel look at it when we get back." Rick said reassuringly.
"I happen to actually be good at massaging." Rick said out of nowhere making me snort and laugh. I looked back at his face to see him cracking a smile.
"I'm actually serious, after Lori's pregnancy with Carl, she used to have bad back pain and I used to get the knots and muscle cramps out of her back." Rick explained with a wistful smile.
"Oh you're actually serious," I said slightly shocked.
"Might be." Rick said smirking as I shook my head.
"I'm serious about what I said before Rick. You need to learn to trust Michonne, because if you let Merle come back to the group, then she's definitely coming back." I crossed my arms not changing stance.
"We'll see." Rick said after a while.
Suddenly there was rapid gunfire from outside the building as we all whipped our heads around towards the door. We had our rifles out as Rick opened the door to see people running around trying to get to their houses in a state of panic. He snuck out keeping close to the ground and the wall behind him, motioning us to follow him. I came out after pointing my rifle towards the street with Michonne unsheathing her katana, Oscar with his rifle and Daryl ready with his crossbow.
We walked up the street ducking down into the shadows whenever any of the guards ran past before we came into an old building the gunfire had come from. Rick snuck ahead of us quietly opening the door as the walls were dirty with grime and blood. We came to the end of the corridor and another half open door when Rick slunk against the wall as someone walked past. There was no one in the old, dimly lit room as we followed him quickly scanning the room with the rifle before ducking down behind the door of another room hearing Merle's voice ring out.
"On your feet. Move!" A man called out as Daryl tried to look through the window then bent down back to the ground.
"Come on," The man said as their footsteps echoing were getting closer to our hiding place.
"Shit!" Rick growled as we each scrambled for the tear gas in the bag and threw them across the room going back through the doors we came. We heard groaning coming from the soldiers as they dropped to the floor engulfed in the gas and allowing us to make our escape from their sight. We came back in the room as the soldiers dropped Glenn and Maggie.
Rick pulled off Glenn's hood and we saw his face covered in blood and was beaten wearing no shirt. Me and Daryl pulled Maggie along as Oscar kept his rifle out ready to cover us. We escaped from the room with the tear gas as shots were being fired towards us we ran outside. I took off Maggie's hood and Daryl undid her restraints as well as Glenn as we supported them running through the streets whilst everyone was occupied. I looked at Maggie's relieved face but could see they had gone through hell.
"I'm so happy you're okay," I squeezed her hand and she gave me a weak smile as Rick lead us along holding Glenn with one arm. We found an empty building as Glenn doubled over in pain, Maggie supported him on the other side. I opened the door quickly pointing my rifle out into the dark building but no one was there, as Daryl ran in beside me. We checked the whole room was safe as the door closed behind us. Glenn collapsed onto the floor as Maggie helped sit him up.
"Ain't no way out back here!" Daryl called out from the back room.
"Rick how did you find us?" Maggie said urgently checking over Glenn.
"How bad is he hurt?" Rick asked holding his rifle. I placed mine on the floor and sat on the other side of Glenn inspecting his face.
"Ah, I'll be fine." Glenn waved his hand dismissively.
"Shit man, what did they do to you?" I asked him gently and he said nothing I bent forward and kissed him on the cheek before hugging him.
"Where's that woman?" Maggie asked as I looked around the room realising Michonne wasn't here and froze in panic.
"She was right behind us." Rick said frustrated.
"We got to get him out of here." Rick pointed to Glenn as Maggie put a shirt on him.
"She's on her own." He said.
"Rick!" I said shocked.
"I can't leave her. She would do the same for me, she would come back for me." I said firmly.
"We gotta look out for our own, our family." Rick defended.
"She is my family too." I stood staring up at him.
"Daryl and Oscar, we're all gonna need to get Glenn and Maggie out." Rick instructed looking at me.
"Rick don't ignore me." I demanded as his force contorted in anger.
"How do you know she's not a spy for the others? How do you know she's not reporting back to the Governor right now?" Rick questioned.
"Because I know her!" I shouted fully angry.
"Where's my brother?" Daryl asked Glenn and Maggie.
"He did this. He threw a Walker at me." Glenn said hatefully and I felt an overwhelming urge to shoot Merle Dixon.
"You sayin' my brother's the governor?" Daryl asked incredulously.
"No, he's just the lieutenant or somethin'." Maggie replied.
"I'm sorry Rick, I told them where the prison was. They were going to execute." Glenn said ashamed.
"It's not your fault Glenn." I reassured him.
"It's okay, no need to apologise." Rick patted his shoulder then bent down against the window as I joined him.
"You're really bent on finding her?" Rick checked.
"Yes. She would do the same for me." I said firmly but Rick continued to say nothing making me even more annoyed at him.
"Can you walk? We got a car a few miles down." Rick called back to Glenn as he helped him stand up and Maggie supported him. Glenn nodded and breathed heavily.
"If Merle's here I gotta see him." Daryl said trying to get to the door but Rick pushed him back.
"Not now, we're in hostile territory." Rick shoved him.
"He's my brother! Maybe I can talk to him, maybe I 'an work somethin' out!" Daryl said desperately and I could see the pleading in his eyes.
"Maybe I could go with Daryl to find Michonne." I backed him up.
"You saw what happened, Glenn can barely walk, we need to get out in case the Governor finds us, or we get overrun by Walkers!" Rick said firmly. That was a good point.
"Can I count on you two?" Rick asked looking at both of us.
"Rick, I'm going to go find her, I owe her that." I said firmly.
"Yes you can count on me to help cover fire but I need to find her." I said.
"Yeah." Daryl nodded agreeing with Rick. As much as I wanted to find her right now, he was right. Glenn and Maggie were injured and we needed to get them out. I snapped back out of my thoughts and joined Rick, Glenn and Maggie behind the door as Daryl opened another bottle of the tear gas.
"On three. One. Two. Three!" Rick whisper shouted and opened the door allowing Daryl to throw out the tear gas into the street. We threw a few more as they all ignited and blocked out the view making some of the guards shout out.
"Go!" Rick said as we filtered out of the building behind him into the smoking gas. Some of the guards standing on buildings spotted us and called out to others as we began shooting our rifles up at them. There was a mix of gunfire as we took some of the sentries out posted on the buildings and the school bus. We ran across the street as Rick took out the guards in front. I looked behind and saw the guard aiming for Rick's head, shooting him before he could make a move.
"Take cover!" Rick shouted over the noise as we approached another building. Woodbury had the numbers, we needed to get somewhere safe. I tried to find an opening to look for Michonne but there was no way for me to get across the road without getting shot
"How many? I didn't see!" Rick called out over the noise as we all leaned against the wall exhausted and reloading our bullets.
"Fighters, could be more of 'em. We need to move." Daryl said calmly reloading his rifle. I checked Glenn and Maggie as they looked completely worn down by the whole ordeal.
"How am I supposed to find her?" I asked to no one in particular.
"I'm sorry." Rick said reloading his gun.
"Grenades, get ready we gotta gun em to the wall!" Rick said as we nodded looking around for any possible ambush. The gunfire closed in one us as pistol bullets ricocheted off the wall near us. Maggie poked her head round and used her gun to fire off into the distance.
"You guys go ahead I'm gonna lay down some cover fire." Daryl suggested.
"No way we stick together!" Maggie said as I shot out with her blindly into the smoke.
"It's getting too hairy, I'll be right behind ya." Daryl said looking at Rick.
"I'll be with him." I said making Rick look at me.
"No." Rick said shaking his head.
"Look I'll be fine, I got Daryl's back! And I can try to find Michonne." I looked at Daryl who nodded as we threw more smoke canisters out into the street blocking the view of the armed guards.
Rick gripped his hand on my forearm before nodding and running out into the street with Maggie, Glenn and Oscar behind him. Daryl and I came out from the archway firing the rifles out towards the metal park benches were some of the guards were trying to fire at us.
"Rick! Rick!" I heard Maggie screaming his name and edged forward desperate trying to see if he was safe. Daryl pulled me back by my collar as a bullet missed me. I looked at him gratefully as we continued shooting. The smoke cleared slightly and I saw a figure climb up on top of the bus.
"Daryl! Pol! Come!" Rick shouted as I looked at the figure standing on the bus.
"Go" Daryl said reloading his gun.
"I'm not leaving you and I gotta find her." I said standing my ground.
"You gotta go now, they're closin' in on us, I'll try to look for her." Daryl said as I looked at him and saw he was being genuine.
"Go!" he urged pushing me forward as I shot my way into the guards, I ran across the road and stopped for a brief moment seeing Oscar's dead body on the ground. Rick pulled my arm and helped me up.
"Where's Daryl?" Rick asked.
"He's still shooting! He told me to come." I shouted over the sound of the gunfire as Rick nodded, eyes darting through the smoke into the street.
"We can't wait any longer!" Rick growled in frustration as we followed Glenn and Maggie over the side of the building and then finally over the wall of Woodbury. We ran past the train carriages on the tracks beside the town as I looked back wondering if Daryl was safe, if he was still alive.
"Daryl," I said softly looking back.
"We'll come back for him." Rick said firmly and I nodded knowing he was right, we didn't have time we had to get to the car. We hid behind the car we were previously scouting the gate as Glenn went to his knees.
"Get down." Rick said looking forward at the search lights.
"Come on Daryl." Rick muttered as we looked on waiting for the archer to appear, alive and unharmed. Rick looked at the carriage and pointed his gun where Michonne crawled out and stood up, bloody and hurt.
"Where the hell were you?" He trained his gun on her as she looked alarmed.
"Turn around. Turn around." Rick growled with frustration, Maggie was also holding her gun up on Michonne. I ignored their pointed guns and went over to Michonne's side slinging her arm around my neck.
"Rick, stop it." I said angrily but Michonne shook her head indicating for me to shut up. He took the katana out of her sheath and held it in his other hand as Michonne kept her hands up indicating she meant no harm this time.
"Got what you came for?" Rick questioned her.
"Where are the rest of your people?" Michonne asked seeing the absence of Oscar and Daryl.
"Oscar got shot, Daryl's still in there. You seen them?" Maggie asked worriedly.
"If anything happens to our people-" Rick started.
"What would you do for them?" Michonne asked.
"You need help to get back to the prison, or you need to get them out of there. Either way. You need me." Michonne said genuinely seemingly tired as her eyes pleaded with Rick. Rick looked at her for a moment before gesturing for Maggie to lower her gun as he lowered his.
He nodded his head slowly and kept his gun out as I went to check Michonne over.
"You alright?" I fussed looking her over.
"I'm fine." She nodded swatting my hands away.
We walked around behind the building quickly Michonne directed us towards and found an arena set up like a gladiator ring with seats on the side and Walkers tied up around the edges. The Governor had Andrea in restraints and Merle had Daryl pinned to the floor and was strangling him whilst the crowd were cheering around them.
"Savages," I said disgusting.
"Maggie, Pol. You're up." We set our rifles up over the edge and began shooting the Walkers as people began screaming with the gunshots. Rick threw the tear gas over as we created more gunfire making the crowd scatter.
"Rick there's kids!" I shouted.
"Shoot above the crowd!" He instructed as we continued shooting. I could see the Governor with a wrapped bandage around his eye pull out his pistol smiling. Rick joined in as we shot the lights illuminating the arena, making their visibility harder. Rick shone his torchlight sending a morse code signal out in the arena.
I could make out two figures, one with a crossbow running and jumping their way through the smoke.
"I see them!"
A/N: I know this was a very action focused chapter. Hoped you guys enjoyed it! Thoughts?