ChildishAssassin: I hope this lives up to your expectations and keeps those bumps a goosin'.
KEEZ 1: As always, thank you for your review! I am very pleased you liked it.
AzureSkye21: Yeah, now that I've watched into later seasons, I'm really not too pleased with Carol, so I'm not taking away all her shine, but the only real thing she did to help them get out was blow up the tank...*shurg*
Super long chapter...sorry it took so long to write...Hit a speed bump in how I imagined Ani's stealth mission going...and also ended up writing a completely different ending to the one I'd meant to...Sorry...the story has a life of its own now...XD
Ani pushed herself to the limit to cut that day down to arriving just as the sun was beginning to set on the horizon. She'd found evidence in a tunnel that Maggie and the others had at the very least made it that far, but when she'd gotten to the giant brick building the only evidence she could find of them were their tracks leading to the front gate. Thinking about how stupid that was, she scoped the perimeter, hearing a patrol stomping around and quickly hiding from it high in the trees. The problem was, her gut didn't trust this place at all, so she killed a squirrel for the kittens and watched on. Deciding she needed to lighten her load, she left Daryl and Merle's bags as well as her Jewel tied to the branch she'd hid on. Even with just one dagger and the buck knife Daryl'd given her as her weapons there was no way she wouldn't be able to help her people. She threw as much of the fresh catnip she had in hers to keep Bobby and Catty quiet while she moved through the trees, not trusting leaving them to their own devices to play in the trees. But, if her gut feeling about this place was right, she wasn't about to risk her babies being too loud and fussy and getting her caught.
Hopping from branch to branch, she made her way as close to the fence line as she dared before stilling in her movements and waiting. She damn near shouted in elation when she caught sight of Glenn and Maggie, only to notice that Maggie was being stripped of her poncho. Dammit all, that's me poncho! Ani thought, immediately recognizing the poncho Daryl had forced her to wear for days on end. With an eagle's eye, she watched everything that was happening in the prison, even if it was far enough away to mostly just be able to make out little details. If it weren't for how well she knew that poncho and how well she knew Sasha's hair, she wouldn't have known it was them at all.
There were no less than eight dots on the roof and several more in the courtyard the group was being held at. She watched as they moved with precision, leading her people to a train car before they disappeared one by one only to be locked away. It would only be another hour or two before the sun fully set, so she perched carefully, just past the tree line so she could hide in the leaves and watch. They were smart. Keeping a team of two on outer perimeter watch, there were two teams on the inner perimeter, there were no less than twelve people spread out along the fence itself to keep a direct line of defense open. There were only two guards on the rooftops, though, staying relatively stationary as if that were their assigned posts. Activity slowly dwindled as lights went out, the people of Terminus not having a single care in the world as they readied for bed. They really think they're safe, she thought to herself as she finished her vague catalog of their behaviors and patrols.
When all outdoor activity ceased and they were down to the one outer patrol, that's when Ani made her move. Jumping from the tree to land precariously on top of the fence, she took a moment to gather her balance before swinging around as she jumped and landing on her feet using the fence as support. Although she did not know the inner workings of the building, she'd spent the last few hours skirting around the fences and had a really good idea of the outer layout. Hell, she'd even been able to catch the scent of cooking meat at one point, though the smell had her gagging as she'd only been eating raw meat for the last two days. She had three different vantage points already scoped out that weren't even hit by the rooftop patrols and the area was so large, having so few patrols in general was laughable. Even if they had people watching the fence, there was no way they could watch every inch of the building at all times.
That was what she was counting on as she slithered through the back of the building, heading towards the train car. Her first idea was to free her friends and get them out of there, but that plan was thwarted before it could even fully begin as she heard voices fast approaching. Ducking behind one of the metal shipping crates that were close to the train tracks, she damn near puked as she caught the smell of rotting flesh. Cautiously looking around, she forced herself to hold back as she held the kittens close to her chest and looked past the chain link. Piles upon piles of human entrails and bones were just lying there on the concrete. She'd thought the barbecue smell that still drifted around the building was off and now she knew why. Fuckin' cannibals, she thought to herself as she hid further against the metal as two men and a woman walked by.
"They wanna eat me friends," she whispered to the purring kittens.
Moving on slowly and silently, she made her way inside where people were in various stages of preparation for the night. Ani made her way behind a single man out in the halls and quickly stabbed him through the back and up into his heart. Finding a supply closet, she stuffed him in there and left the door closed, loosely latched so that a little banging would release the walker inside. She hid inside it for a moment as well as another internal patrol, something she hadn't counted on, walked by. Counting to thirty once the steps faded, she once again left the room, the dead body still dead, and headed down another hallway. Hearing talking in a room, she crouched down, doing her best to look through the small window without being seen.
Holy mothaload, Batman, she thought to herself as she saw piles upon piles of weapons, trinkets, bags, clothes, and shoes. This was one room she definitely wanted to get into. Her shirt had been torn a couple times by branches and her pants had been torn open by the bullet that had whizzed past her; she still wasn't sure how it'd managed to tear her pants but not her skin. She'd simply chalked it up to luck at that time and moved the fuck on. Now, it looked like she'd be able to get a whole new wardrobe with more weapons to boot.
Ducking back down, she carefully assessed her options. There were two men in the room, but both looked to have clipboards in their hands as if they were taking inventory or going over tasks. While she hadn't really thought about the guy she'd killed, it would be exceedingly troublesome if she killed the wrong person and began something before she was fully ready. One walker in a storage closet was not enough of a distraction. But some of those grenades strategically placed? That rocket launcher fired at the right spot? Those rifles would come in great hand if she wanted to take out several of the patrols. This room, if she could get into it, would be the sole reason she would be able to gain the upper-hand in this one against an army campaign of hers.
Sprinting behind a corner as the people inside came out, she had to move even faster when she ran right into a woman. Up and through the heart her dagger went, dragging the woman back and into another room and quickly, but quietly, closing the door. There was a cupboard she stuffed the body into before going back to the door and cracking it open. The hallway was clear, lights having been shut off. Taking her chance, she made her move back to the other room only to find it locked. It was a rudimentary lock, though, and you didn't need to be a genius to be able to pick it. And thankfully, her bug out bag was covered in little pins from before, and even more from after. It seemed like everyone kept a lookout for the damn things as she went from only the lip of her backpack being covered to damn near every pocket and the straps. Right now, she was thankful for every person who brought her a clip as she took one of the larger ones off along with a smaller one and got to work.
It took all but a minute to get the lock undone, quietly ducking inside and locking the door again, she spent a few minutes just staying still and watching for any kind of movement both in the hall and in the room itself. Adjusting her bag as gently as she could, she took it off and placed it on the ground near the door in case she needed a quick exit. Thankfully, Bobby and Catty were sleeping peacefully inside it and didn't make any fuss as they were jostled a bit. Staying hunched as she moved, she first went to the table with clothes, finding a shirt that would fit her as well as some new pants. If she was really lucky, she could dress in their clothes and be able to go unnoticed from a distance. Finding a ball cap as well, she thanked her lucky stars and asking the Duine Sith and all the gods of mischief she knew to assist her charade. C'mon, Loki, Eris, and Lugh. I need ya help ta pull this shite off, she prayed. Promise I'll find a way ta pay ya back. But I could use the help causin' strife and trickin' these people.
Taking her clothes off, she quickly replaced them with the apparel from Terminus, tucking her long strands into a bun at the back of her head, using the baseball cap to hold it in place. Balling up her old clothes, she carefully tucked them around and beneath her sleeping babies, making sure to wrap the entire little burrow into her vest, so that they would be well protected for the next part of the plan. Going over to the weapons table, she found a large number of knives, one of which she knew was Bob's. Grabbing it and stuffing it in an outer pocket, she also grabbed as many throwing knives as she'd seen, refilling her case she had specifically for the thin blades. She also grabbed a large number of other knives, attaching each one to her belt in order to have easy access. Ani was thankful Daryl had taught her how to throw any number of knives, not just ones meant to be thrown. Next, she went to the table that had the fire-power.
She loaded as much ammo as she could carry into her pockets, filling the pockets of her backpack too, now that the kittens were protected by her clothes. She grabbed two high-powered rifles, one a fully automatic while the other was a sniper rifle, the scope of which would be exceedingly useful if she was able to get to the spot she wanted to. For some reason, on the top of the building was a large power pole, or it might have been some form of antenna. All she knew was that the top of that pole was the best vantage point and the least guarded area. The idiots didn't even have the proper strategic locations covered to see their entire area! They just kept people on the roofs and abandoned the one position that would have made her little mission impossible truly impossible! Grabbing the rocket launcher and a few of the grenades, she readied herself to leave the room by putting her bag on her back and carefully placing the rocket launcher and rifles on either side of her bag, preferring to use her knives until she was safely tucked away in her vantage point.
Double checking the hall, she made sure the coast was clear before slowly and as silently as she could with her haul finding a stairwell. On the stairs, though, two men were coming down from above, catching Ani by surprise, which was probably why her blows were sloppy as far as control went. At the same time as she superman punched one in the throat, feeling the larynx crunch under her knuckles as the man dropped, she kicked backwards and knocked the other man into the wall, making him stumble. Jumping down beside where the man had landed, she quickly snapped his neck to keep him down rather than just out. She counted herself lucky as she stashed the bodies under the stairs and rearranged the shelving unit to make them harder to see. Slowly, she crept up the stairs, doing her best to stay silent in the echoing stairway.
Thanking the gods for her ability to see at night, she made her way to the second floor, and then the third, all the way to the tenth and up onto the roof. Creeping the door open, she almost immediately had to attack as the woman standing there went to shout. It was cut short as Ani's blade hit home in the heart, up through the rib cage, bringing the body back down into the stairwell. Thankfully, the way she'd killed these people left no blood trail, as as soon as the pericardium filled up there would be no way for the heart to pump blood and breaking bones to cause suffocation was similarly bloodless. In the first room she found, she stashed the body under a desk and moved back out onto the roof. The sun's rays were already peaking over the horizon as she stealthily made her way to the pole she planned on climbing. Thankful she'd brought her canteen, she began the arduous task of climbing the pole to get up to the cross-bars. Once there, she brought her bag back around to her front and tied herself there, deciding to get a bit of shut-eye while she could before the sun fully rose.
A few hours later, the sun shining down on her and the kittens starting to squirm brought her back to the world of the woke. "Hush now, guys. I know. Ain' no fun bein' cooped up. And I ain' got any food for any a us, but I promise ya, get through taday, and I'll start lettin' ya walk more, so long as ya stay with me. We all jus' gotta get through the day. Now, stay still, stay quiet," she told them, bringing the scope up to her eye and taking a good look around.
Loosening the ropes she'd tied herself with, she made a kind of sling to help her stay attached to the pole, but be able to use both hands for the gun while also moving around to see various sides of the property. It's literally the perfect place for defense and they left it open ta me, she smirked to herself, watching as they began their rounds and patrols. Bobby and Catty were easy enough, mewling every so often only to calm down as she began humming to them. It wasn't like she could be heard this far up. Most of the day had passed before anything of significance happened.
It started with a single gunshot that sounded like it came from a pistol before rapid fire shot out. Bringing the scope up, she began to look everywhere as the movements below became flurried. The snipers on the roof had started firing and running this way and that, Ani half tempted to begin firing on them as if they were ants and she was the magnifying glass, but if she did that, her opportune advantage would be completely taken away. She didn't even know who they were firing at as she moved the scope over to where the train car with Glenn was. The gunfire died down for a minute or two before it started back up again just as Ani saw the wings that adorned two of the backs of the people.
"Daryl," she said breathlessly, whipping her cap off and letting her hair fall loose.
As the group below were ushered inside, she hoped that letting her hair fall was enough to show them she was there. She couldn't move around too much just in case the small group beyond the fence saw her, but everyone from the prison knew her unique color of hair as well as just how long it was. If any of that group saw her, even from this distance, they would know it was her. As soon as they were in the train car, Ani redid the bun and put the cap back on. The walkers should be reanimating any time, if some of them hadn't already and just hadn't been found. She just had to wait and bide her time for her to act. Placing the sniper scope back to her eye, she watched all the movement that took place as the sun started to set on the horizon.
~x~
"They seemed nice enough, but I was ready to go," the redhead, Abraham, said, as Rick looked out the gap in the train car and up at the pole Merle had said Ani was on, and sure enough, there was someone up there; how they knew it was Ani was beyond him as he didn't see anything that indicated such. "We just got here, but, damn, it was time to go. When I told them about DC, a wink and a nod from the head asshole in charge, they pulled their guns and it was right back to our regularly scheduled shit storm."
Rick and Merle had the group making make-shift weapons out of belts, nails, wood from the train car itself, anything and everything they had available to them. Merle and Daryl had both sworn up and down that they'd seen Ani out on the poles high above the rest of Terminus, her hair shining in the sun like some sort of beacon to announce her presence. Daryl seemed to be working harder than ever as he helped Sophia and Carl make their weapons while thinking about Ania. More than once, he'd smiled and scoffed to himself, thinking about how she was just sitting out in the open and yet no one had even noticed her because they hadn't bothered to look up. They'd said very little about Ania to the newcomers, and Daryl planned on keeping it that way for as long as possible even as they began to tell each other their stories.
"Before they put you in here," Sasha cut in, "you didn't see Tyreese?"
"No," Michonne answered before Maggie asked about Beth, Daryl explaining what happened.
"Black car with a white cross painted on it," he finished. "I tried to follow it, I tried."
"She's alive?"
"She's alive."
"And you said Ani's out there, inside Terminus?" Bob asked.
"That's right," Merle told them. "Don't know anyone else who's got hair you can't rightly tell is brown or red or blonde or that falls to her ass. I swear, if she don't cut it when we're all done with this, I'm hackin' it off at night!"
"Do and I'll let Ani do to you what she did to the Claimers," Daryl warned, causing both Rick and Merle to pale.
"What'd she do?" Glenn asked.
"You don't," Rick said with a shake of his head. "You really don't want to know."
At the same time as he said that, Merle was making a cutting gesture with his fingers towards his crotch before pretending to stuff his mouth and slit his throat. All the people standing behind Glenn saw this, Eugene gagging while Rosita's mouth fell open in shock. Rick noticed their looks and shot a look over his shoulder at Merle, who quickly looked away and pretended he'd done absolutely nothing wrong.
"Wait, so you mean to tell me, we got psycho lumberjack out there choppin' off woodies off and stuffin' 'em down throats before killin' 'em, and that's our backup?" Abraham asked while giving them all a look of 'what the actual fuck?'.
"To be fair, they weren't plannin' on bein' friendly when they found her," Daryl defended.
"That's one load of crazy I don't want to get a whiff of," the man said, causing Daryl to round on him.
"Don't call her crazy! Man, you don't even know!" he growled at him. "Think you'd do somethin' different if they wanted to rape your girl and take turns with her? Think you would?" he asked Rosita to her face. When neither of them answered, he turned around and stormed back to where he'd been working on his weapon, "That's what I thought."
Everyone fell into silence as they worked once the questions had been asked, Daryl standing to take watch after a while. Merle clapped his shoulder as he passed, helping Sophia sharpen her stick as best they could given the limited amount of research. It was easy to see the pole Ania was perched on, her hair tucked away as she moved every now and then, seemingly looking at or through something. It set his mind at easy and allowed him to focus on the task at the same time as he tried to forget Abraham's reckless comments. Not long after he took up post, they could hear some of the men from Terminus chatting away, everyone pausing in their movements.
"Alright," Daryl said from his post, looking up at Ania one last time. "Got four of them pricks comin' our way."
Rick stood up and got ready, pulling his crudely made weapon with him as he said, "You all know what to do. Go for their eyes first. Then their throats."
They all got in position near the door as a man called out, "Put your backs to the walls on either side of the car now."
They were all waiting with baited breath, not seeing what Ani was as men climbed on top of the train car. Opening a latch, Ani didn't couldn't see that they'd dropped a smoke bomb into the car, only that they were waiting to go in for some reason. Inside the car, everyone started choking as the grenade went off with a large flash, blinding most of them instantly. Abraham and covered Rosita and Eugene while Merle has covered the kids. Ani couldn't tell what was happening inside the car, but she watched through the scope as Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and Bob were removed from the car, tied and gagged before they began moving away. Taking her chances, she began to climb down the pole, needing to get to the area she had picked out for a distraction.
They'd fought hard inside the car, managing to land a few punches that left Rick getting a boot to the face as soon as he'd gotten out of the car. It left him in an in and out state of consciousness, unable to tell what way they were going or even register what was happening until the sound of a saw and a muddled reflection of his own face brought him back to his senses. Daryl was chewing at his gag, the sound of the saw and the sight of a body, a fucking human body, being cut into as if it was some trophy buck causing him to become queasy and forcing him to close his eyes. He had to remind himself that Ania was outside and she wouldn't let anything happen to them if she could help it to keep from panicking at the loss of freedom being bound gave him on top of what was about to happen if she didn't hurry it the fuck up. Glenn was looking at the body as if he wanted to puke, no fight in him whatsoever as he watched them sharpen knives. For what it was worth, Bob was still trying to figure out a way out, although the only thing he could really think about was last night's dinner.
"Alright," one of the guys said as the group watched them go to the guy at the end, one Rick recognized from trying to help him with Carol.
With a sharp blow to the lower back of the head, the man was completely knocked unconscious by one man before another lifted his head and sliced his throat, letting the blood drain into the basin they were all knelt in front of. The screams that ensued put Daryl on edge. He'd finally caught sight of Ania, finally knew she was safe, and now he was about to die and there was not a damn thing he could do about it or to help his people. Fear caught up to him in that moment, true fear. The kind of terror that stopped his mind for a minute as he watched the blood from the next victim join with the first, and then the third. He refused to look as it was being done, keeping his eyes in front of him the entire time until they were behind Glenn.
It was then that Gareth walked in, "Hey guys, what were your shot counts?"
"Thirty eight," the one with the bat said as he swung it once more, knocking the man beside Glenn out.
As he slit his throat, the one with the bat moved right behind Glenn and prepared his swing.
"Hey!" Gareth called out. "Your shot count?" he asked the other man.
"Crap, man, I'm sorry," the one with the blades said. "It's my first round up."
"After you're done here, go back to your point and count your shells," Gareth said. "Kaylee won't be gathering them until tomorrow."
"Hey," Bob called out from around his gag. "Hey, let me talk to you!"
"Four from A, four from D?" Gareth asked, completely ignoring Bob.
"Yeah," one of the men said as Bob tried again.
"Hey, let me talk to you! Let me talk to you for a minute!"
He repeated it until Gareth rolled his eyes and removed Bob's gag with a short, "What?"
"We can fix this," Bob said quickly, as soon as the gag was out of his mouth, a desperate play to stall for time.
"No, you can't," Gareth said, going to put the gag back on.
"You don't have to do this!" Bob insisted. "We told you there's a way out of all of this. You just have to take the chance. We have a man who knows how to stop this. He has a cure. We just have to get him to Washington. You don't have to do this, man," he tried as Gareth continued writing in his journal before lazily looking over to him. "We can put the world back to how it was."
"We can't go back, Bob," Gareth said before replacing the gag, Bob insisting that they didn't have to. Gareth knelt in front of Rick and pulled his gag out before speaking to him directly. "We saw you go into the woods with a bag and come out without it. Had to pull my spotters back before we could go look for it. Heard a funny story about some kind of animal lurking in the trees. Most of the spotters thought it was a cat, but one swore it was a person. What do you have to say about it?" When Rick just stared at him, Daryl's eyes also falling on the asshole who at least knew Ania had been lurking, Gareth just kept talking. "Alright, maybe it was an animal. But the bag? You hid it right? In case things went bad?" He looked over at Daryl then, who just leveled a glare as the man commented, "Smart. Still, we'll find it. But it's too dangerous to go out there right now." Grabbing Bob, he unsheathed a knife and held it up to the man's face before asking Rick again, "What was in it? I'm curious. And it was a big bag," he said, continuing when Rick still refused to answer. "You really want me to do this?"
Rick contemplated for all of a second before saying, "Well, let me take you out there. I'll show you."
"Not gonna happen, but this might," he threatened, bringing the blade closer to Bob's eye.
"There's guns in it," Rick quickly replied, thinking it didn't matter much Ani was here somewhere and they would all get out. "AK-47, .44 Magnum. Automatic weapons, nightscope. There's a compound bow and a machete with a red handle. That's what I'm gonna use to kill you," he said.
Gareth chuckled as he sheathed his knife, redid Rick's gag, and stood while saying, "Thanks." To the men standing behind them, he said, "You have two hours to get them on the driers. I'm gonna go back to public face. Now's the time when we can get messy, but we need to dial it all in by sundown."
"Got it."
"Yes, sir."
Gareth looked like he was about to say something, but screams in the hall echoed at the same time as gunshots sounded from outside. Gareth took out his walkie and tried talking into it as more screams and gunshots rang out. They were all shocked when not one, but two giant explosions happened, one right after the other. The flurry of motion that occurred would be their only chance at getting out.
What they hadn't been able to see was that, on the roof, Ani had killed two more people, slitting their throats and leaving them there as she made her way towards the fuel tanks she'd chosen. There were two of them on the tracks right next to the building on the opposite side of where her people were. She knew they were in the building itself, and that it was near what had originally been her second target but was now going to be abandoned. That fuel tank was too close to where Daryl and Rick had been taken, which could cause problems with their escape, especially if they were incapacitated. So, that fuel tank was out of the question forcing her to take position at the other target, remove her bag, and aim.
"Locked and loaded," she said as pulled the trigger, launching her rocket straight to the two fuel tanks that were sitting together.
She'd expected the huge backlash of her shot. That's the whole reason she'd crouched as low to the ground and over her bag, protecting Bobby and Catty as well as giving herself a good position to hold to rather than being knocked back or toppled over. What she had not expected, however, was to, as soon as she stood from her own impact, be tripped up by the wave of a second explosion taking place at the tank she didn't want to explode. Cursing under her breath, she ran towards the nearest walkway on the roofs, trying to find a way to help her men inside the building get out. Shite, she thought to herself as she threw a door open, only to be met with the faces of three freshly turned walkers, one of which was one of the men she'd stashed in the stairwell; she didn't know the other two.
Adding them to her list, she slammed the door shut and moved on, hoping to get inside before the entire damn place went up in flames. If she couldn't, she would have to jump to lower areas of the building and possibly have to use the damn windows themselves to get out. That wasn't something she wanted to do, because she'd only be left wide open as a target and it would immediately put Bobby and Catty in danger. With those thoughts in mind, she followed a path she'd seen one of the other rooftop guards take, but kept close to where she'd seen her men taken. If they got out, they'd need someone to cover their asses from the horde coming their way from not one, but two separate explosions. As the herd came in, Ani began opening fire, not on the herd, but on those running from it. She needed to stall it long enough for her people to get back, and what better distraction than fresh food?
Inside, Daryl and Rick had both been knocked over by the force of the blast, Rick to his side while Daryl was knocked on his back. Of course, they'd both done it on purpose so they could use their makeshift weapons to work at their bindings. Gareth had also been knocked down, standing and looking irate as Glenn straightened his back from being bent over the trough.
"You, stay here," Gareth told the men behind them.
"Gareth, these guys aren't going anywhere," one of them said.
"Stay here until I know what's happening!" he shouted at them as he left the room.
"So we just sit here?" one of the men asked the other.
"Got a job to do," he said as Glenn began to struggle against his restraints, knowing Ani had been able to break the damn things once upon a time; they were just zipties after all.
Thankfully, the other guy seemed to disagree with the first guy's appraisal as he grabbed his walkie and said, "You there, Gareth?"
"He's busy," the other guy lazily said.
"You smell the smoke?" the one in the cap asked. "You hear the shots? He could be dead. The hell we doin' here? The whole place could be goin' up?"
The other guy went over to where the first guy was standing, "You went on one roundup and you blew protocol. We don't deal with security. That ain't our job," he told him. "This is. Hey, look at me," he tried as the other man got more upset and walked further away, their mistake at leaving Rick and company unattended proving fatal.
When the other man turned around and questioned the first, Rick used the pointed piece of plank to jam into his jugular, immediately dropping him. He didn't give the other man a chance to protest as he did the same to him. Glenn called out to Rick as he and the others fought against their restraints, causing the man to run back after staring at the man they'd had on the carving table. Using the piece of wood he got Glenn's wrists undone before moving onto Daryl.
"If they got problems, we got a chance," Rick told them.
"It sounded like a bomb. Was it Ani?" Glenn asked.
"Prolly, girl thinks the world is a damn action flick," Daryl growled out as soon the gag was out of his mouth. "Sounds like she's wagin' a damn war."
"What the hell are these people?!" Bob asked as he popped up and they all began looking for weapons around the room, finding more than adequate ones.
"They ain't people," Daryl told him as Bob went to damage the brain of one of the dead men.
"Don't," Rick stopped him. "Let him turn."
They walked out of the room only to find what these people were using as a meat room. A torso was hung on a hook like a slab of beef, a leg and what looked like a roast hanging on another, making all their stomachs twist. Carving tools of all shapes and sizes were laid on tables around the hanging cadavers, pieces of meat and bone separating them here and there. It was a scene right out of a horror movie and made them all stagger a moment as they entered that one.
"Cross any of these people, you kill them," Rick said as he moved on past a smoking drum and Daryl grabbed more knives. "Don't hesitate. They won't."
They all had weapons now, Daryl breaking a piece off of the smoker to use as a pipe while Bob grabbed a large blade. Walking to the only door with an outside view, they noticed that there were walkers surrounding one of the shipping crates. Whoever was inside was screaming like a madman causing the perfect distraction.
"If we run, we can get by them," Rick said. "They're distracted."
"We gotta let those people out," Glenn said, continuing his thoughts when Rick, Bob, and Daryl looked at him. "That's still who we are. It's gotta be."
Rick just looked at the man as he opened the door. Daryl, Bob, and Rick went out first, Glenn slamming the door behind him to gain the walkers' attention as he left. They ran towards the walkers with their weapons and easily took care of them before Glenn went to the shipping unit and opened the door. A tall man ran out yelling how they were the same. When the man refused to let Rick go, they weren't sure which exactly happened first. Rick pushed him away while telling him to back off only for a walker to show up out of nowhere at the same time as the man's head exploded. Looking up and around, they couldn't see anyone, but there were walkers pouring in from all sides. Glenn killed the walker before Daryl pulled him back behind cover to avoid the rest of the walkers in the area.
"We gotta double back around," Bob said, looking at the incoming horde.
"A's that way," Rick told him. "We double back, we don't know where we are."
"We don't really have a choice, do we?" Daryl asked, eyes on the horde and rooftops, hoping to spot Ania and wondering how the hell they were going to get out of this alive.
More gunfire rang out, but much closer this time, spurring Rick to look at the situation on the other side of the shipping crate. Walkers were falling, meaning someone was firing at them, and somehow he doubted that was Ani. She knew they knew how to take on droves of walkers, so she'd leave the walkers to them unless they needed help. Telling the others to stay where they, Rick made his way around to a car that was a short distance away. There, he used the broken side-mirror to see what was killing the walkers. Six of Terminus's people were shooting, very badly, at the walkers, taking body parts off before ever even managing to hit the head.
He was trying to figure out a way to kill the people and get the guns when he heard and felt a walker come up behind him. It already had it's decrepit claws on him by the time he noticed it, causing him to panic slightly. If it hadn't been for Daryl ignoring his command to stay put, he probably would have died. Daryl's makeshift weapon found it's way deep into the thing's head, ending it for good as they both crouched down low as the men and women passed by, not even holding the guns properly. Theyu were just about to make their move when rapid fire rang out from above them.
"Get the guns, ya giant lumps a chuck!" Ani's voice rang out from high above them.
Looking up at the corner of the building they were next to, they could barely make out her image. They ran to retrieve their collection, both Rick and Daryl grabbing an automatic for everyone as Ani kept the walkers at bay for them. After they'd gotten the guns, though, she stopped firing on the walkers altogether, letting them have the people she'd gunned down from Terminus. Not even their screams were enough to grant Mercy after what she'd seen them doing.
"Get down here!" Daryl yelled up to her.
"I'm tryin'. Get goin'! I'll find ya! No matta what! I'll find ya!" she yelled back her promise, and then she was gone.
Heading back to Bob and Glenn, they handed them the guns they'd collected for them before Rick said, "We're gonna have to double back around."
"Was that Ani?"
"Yeah, she's here. She'll find us," Rick said, clapping Daryl's shoulder as the man looked down and his shoulders slumped.
~x~
"What the hell is goin' on?" Abraham asked as he pounded on the door again.
"Someone hit them," Michonne said.
"Maybe our people got free?" Sasha suggested.
"Or maybe our little wild child is on the move. Ain't at her perch no more," Merle said as he stared out the gap. "Definitely blew somethin' up. Swear she thinks this world is an action flick."
"Who is this wild child? Ani, you said?" Rosita asked.
"My sister," Sophia said.
"Yours and mine both, girly," Merle said.
"Hold up, you're tellin' me that the chick who cut men's dicks off and made them eat said dicks when they turned is related to the two of you? Just how much crazy am I lookin' at here?" Abraham asked, earning a smack to the head. "Hey! Watch it!"
"Don't call her crazy," Merle said darkly. "She's braver than most men and a hell of a lot smarter than everyone. Even your scientist over there could learn a thing or two from her."
"Like what? Does she know how this thing ends?"
"She knew that we were all infected before any of us did," Sophia said. "And without anything other than observation!"
"Well ladeeda, he knows how to stop it," Abraham countered while pointing at Eugene, not believing that a little girl was standing up to him.
"If he's tellin' the truth," Merle deadpanned. "Scared little dog, that's what he is. Clingin' to whatever master will keep him safe by any means necessary. I'll believe what you got to say about him when Ani gets to talk to him."
"Oh, and how exactly will she know if he's lying or not?" Abraham demanded.
"She'll know," Merle and Sophia, along with Carl, Michonne, Bob, Maggie, and Sasha said at the same time, making the man eye them wearily.
"Now that was just some sort of next level Twilight Zone shit right there," he said before turning to look at Eugene as he barged his way past Rosita and Sasha and bent over by the door.
"What the hell are you doing?" Rosita asked
"I might be able to use the shell to compromise the door," he told them. "From the sound of things, there may not be anybody left to open it."
"Eugene, I'm sorry," Tara, the short haired girl said. "But shut up."
"Hey," Carl spoke up, walking up behind Sophia. "My dad's gonna be back. We know Ani's out there. They will be back. They all will."
"They will," Maggie agreed. "And we need to get ready to fight our way out with them when they do."
"There's walkers," Michonne smiled.
"You hear that?" Abraham asked as the sound of gunfire continued, one particular weapon firing strangely. "Someone's takin' time to shoot out there."
"Bet your bottom dollar that's Ani takin' out the Terminus folk," Merle said.
"And why the hell would she do that?"
"Who knows, but that's less of them we have to deal with," Michonne said.
They kept working on their weapons as Eugene messed with the door. Abraham was concerned about this new group. Sure, Glenn, Maggie, Sasha, and Bob had all seemed like normal people, but the way they'd talked about their group, that Ani person in particular, it was different. It was almost as if they weren't a bunch of people stuck at the end of the world, but a tight knit family with that Ani girl right at the epicenter of it all. High praises had been sung about this supposedly tiny creature with amber hair and soul-crushing eyes, as Bob had called her. A tornado in a bottle was another phrase he'd heard to describe her. Then, there was all this action flick talk by old stump hand about her and he had to admit, he was quite curious about this person helping from the shadows.
"What's all this about action flicks?" he asked Merle as they worked.
"Oh, well, we were at this prison, you see," Merle started.
"Yeah, heard that bit, just get to the juicy bits."
"Geez," Merle huffed. "Your momma must've hated tellin' you stories. She rigged up this place we were supposed to meet this Governor guy at, an old feed and seed store out on Chestlenut Rd past what used to be the town of Woodbury. Blew it all to hell and saved my ass in the process."
"Wait, are you talking about that mess with the fallen silos?" Rosita asked before turning to Abraham. "You remember, don't you? It was about three hours after we stopped to look around that place we found those two on the road. Eugene almost stepped on a wire rigged to a grenade."
"Holy shitballs," Abraham said, his face morphing into shock.
"There're still traps out there?" Merle asked.
"Not anymore," Rosita answered. "We searched the area, took what we could find. Which wasn't much. A couple grenades and a gun."
Sasha had been keeping quiet since the others had started talking, only now finding it impossible to keep her curiosity at bay. Looking at Eugene, she sat up and breathed a heavy sigh before asking, "What's the cure, Eugene?"
"It's classified," came the immediate answer, discouraging most of the people and making both Merle and Sophia even more wary of the man.
Michonne chuckled, "We don't know what's gonna happen."
"You leave him be," Abraham said.
"We need to keep workin'," Maggie said, not wanting to deal with pointless conversation.
"Yeah," Sasha agreed. "But it's time to hear it. 'Cause we don't know what's comin' next."
"What's next is we get out of this," Tara chastised.
"Even if I told you all, even if I provided step-by-step instructions complete with illustrations and a detailed FAQ and I went red-ring," Eugene said while looking over at her, "the cure would still die with me."
"Awfully convenient, ain't that?" Merle said at the same time as Abraham spoke, Carl being the only one to pay attention to him and nod his head in agreement.
"I'm not gonna let that happen," Abraham said.
"The best-case scenario, we step out into a hellstorm of bullets, fire, and walkers," Eugene said. "Now, I'm not fleet of foot and sure as hell can't take a dead one down with sharp buttons and hella confidence."
"Yeah, but we can," Michonne told him. "And we will."
"You don't owe us anything," Sasha said. "Not yet. But we just want to hear it."
"You don't have to," Rosita said.
"Well, I sure as hell ain't takin' his word on blind faith alone," Merle told the woman.
Eugene thought about it for a moment. If the girl they had on the outside was as smart as they said, she'd know it was a lie as soon as she heard it. But right now, he could see it in their eyes. It wasn't that they were actually looking for a cure so much as hope. They wanted something to hope for so that they had a reason to fight. And if they wanted a reason to fight, that made it easier for him to survive. With nothing to lose, he stood up and began to recite the story he'd been telling himself for so long even he almost believed it.
"I was a part of a ten person research team at the Human Genome Project to weaponize diseases to fight weaponized diseases. Pathogenic microorganisms with pathogenic microorganisms. Fire with fire. Interdepartmental drinks were had, relationships made, information shared. I'm keenly aware of all the details behind fail-safe delivery systems to kill every living person on this planet," he told them with his thick southern accent. "I believe with a little tweaking on the terminals in DC, we can flip the script. Take out every last dead one of them. Fight fire with fire. All things bein' equal, that does sound pretty badass."
"So let's get back to work," Maggie said before the door started being banged against, earning all of their attention.
Ani was on the roof still, starting to cough up a storm as she watched Rick open the door to the train car, being close enough to hear him shouting, "Come on! Fight to the fence!"
"You do not leave his side!" Abraham ordered several of the group in regards to Eugene.
Ani watched as they fought to the fence, taking out any and all walkers in their way. She used her gun to take out the waves coming up behind them, not letting the walkers gain any more than they already were as her people, now including a damn redhead, made it to the fence and started going over it. Running like crazy as she saw Rick aiming elsewhere, she made it to where he was aiming to see four men. Jumping down without double checking her surroundings like an idiot, she made it onto a lower roof, most likely a utility shed for generators, and immediately fell forwards and off it. Thankfully, those three men were there to break her fall. She was even more so thankful that Rick's aim was off or the gun needed cleaning badly; he'd missed her completely and nicked one of the men in the shoulder.
Scrambling to her feet, she unsheathed one of her knives and quickly swept the leg of the last standing individual out from under him. As he landed on the ground, she plunged her knife into his heart. Getting kicked in the face was not something she enjoyed, and it damn near made her fall back onto her bag with her babies, enraging her even further. In her rage, she went blind for all intents and purposes. The knife in her hand was dropped as she moved to one knee, standing and launching herself at the man with speed and precision, grabbing his larynx in what was supposed to be a Cobra Strike to his collarbone. Using the same technique she would to break his collarbone apart, she ripped out his voice box and left him in a heap. The last man simply stood before talking as one managed to run away while she was busy. She hadn't even noticed the men looking at her wide-eyed by the fence.
"So you're the one, huh?" the guy said as he started breaking down. "The one that stashed the bodies in the stairs? The one who put July in the cupboard? That was you, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, that was me," she said coldly before stepping up into a high roundhouse kick, smiling at the satisfactory crunch of his throat breaking as well.
"Ania!" she heard Daryl scream, looking back towards him as walkers closed in.
"Go! I'm right behind ya!" she said, waving her hands as she picked up her discarded knife.
"We gotta go," Rick said. "Daryl, we gotta go!"
Daryl stared as the woman stood so close to him for the first time, yet completely out of reach, "I can't..."
"Come on, boy," Merle said, pushing him to the fence. "She'll make it out and we'll get her back. Don't worry."
"Hell, I seen a lot of crazy shit before and after," Abraham stated. "But that wild child right there is by and far the craziest shit I have ever born witness to. Shits to bricks, that woman will find us whether we want her to or not. Might as well get out while we can."
That got Daryl up and over the fence, though his heart was breaking all over again. Merle grabbed him by the shoulder and offered him support when he popped over the fence, followed by Rick and lastly Abraham. Making their way through the woods, Daryl led the procession followed by Merle as they backtracked towards the fence they'd originally come in through. Daryl walked quickly, wanting to get Ania's dagger back in his hand now that he'd seen her and lost her yet again. His pace quickened still as he found the spot he was looking for.
"Hey," he said, jogging up to a tree and kneeling down, "right here."
He unearthed the small shovel and tossed it over to Rick who dropped to his own knees and started digging as Abraham walked up, "What the hell are we still around here for?"
"Guns, some supplies," Rick answered. "Go along the fences. Use the rifles. Take out the rest of 'em."
"What?" Glenn asked.
Rick turned to look at him, dead seriousness in his voice when he said, "They don't get to live."
"Rick," Glenn said, not wanting to linger around. "We got out. It's over."
"Ania's not out," Daryl growled as he took her dagger from the bag as Rick began checking the guns.
"It's not over, until they're all dead," Rick agreed.
"The hell it isn't," Rosita complained. "That place is on fire. Full of walkers. If that chica loca wants to run around in there, fine, but count me out."
"I'm not dickin' around with this crap," Abraham concurred. "We just made it out."
Maggie couldn't help but agree, "The fences are down. They'll run or die. Or Ani will do what she has to like she always does. But we leave that to her."
"The hell we do!" Daryl yelled. "Always leavin' that shit to her! Just 'cause it don't effect her like it does y'all! She's alone in there and helped us get out and you just want to leave her!"
"Daryl," Merle tried to stop his tirade as Daryl began to get riled up.
"Naw, man!" Daryl growled, twisting out of Merle's reach and hitting his hand back. "They wanna leave her! Just like they left you! They wanna cut their loss and run! I ain't doin' that! Not this time!"
"Daryl!" Merle shouted. "She's alive! She'll stay alive until she gets back to you! Now you gotta do the same, boy! We can't do that here."
"Mom?" Sophia's whispered word stopped everyone from speaking. "Mom!" she screamed as she ran to the short-haired older woman and threw her arms around her waist.
Daryl followed close behind, resting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it as he asked, "Ani?"
"I saw her, but I don't know which way she went," Carol said somewhat dejected, hugging Sophia for only a moment before pulling back. "She was heading towards the fences when I got over."
Ricked walked up to her then and asked, "Did you do that?"
"No, not even half of it. Blew up a tank right after the other one blew. I'm assuming that was Ani," she told him. "Didn't really help much, just found Daryl's bow, and this," she said, handing him back his watch. "It really was a nice watch." Rick hugged her then, happy that she was alive and helped them. "You have to come with me," she told them.
She lead them through the woods, seemingly heading no where until a cabin came into view. Rick dropped everything and went running when he saw who was standing in front of it. Carl and Sasha were close on his heels as Tyreese stood on the porch with Judith in his arms. Rick took Judith from Tyreese as he went to hug a crying Sasha, the four crying while Judith had no clue what was going on. Daryl looked on sadly as Tyreese and Rick clasped shoulders, happy that everything worked out for them, but wondering where the hell Ania was.
"Have you seen Ania?"
"No. Was she there?" Tyreese asked.
"Yeah."
"We'll wait a bit," Rick said. "See if she catches up."
After about an hour and learning from Tyreese that he had killed a member of Terminus inside the cabin, Rick began feeling restless. They were still too close to that place for his liking, and they didn't know if anyone was still there. If Ani didn't get to where they were soon, they'd have to push on. Looking over at Daryl, who had begun to pace anxiously, crossbow in hand thanks to Carol grabbing it, he wondered just how well that was going to go over with the younger Dixon. Hopefully, Merle would be able to talk some sense into him.
"I don't know if the fire's still burnin'," he said, looking back over the trees where they could still see the black smoke rolling.
"It is," Carol said.
"Yeah," Rick said while ringing his hands. "We need to go."
"Naw," Daryl said.
"Daryl, she'll find us. There's enough of us in this group to leave a trail that girl can see a mile away. I know you want her back, but we can't stay here. It's going to be gettin' dark soon. We have to go," he emphasized while pulling on his younger brother.
"Y'all go, then! I'm stayin' 'til she gets here!"
"And what if you get caught alone with survivors of that place?" Rick reasoned. "We know she's alive. She promised she would find you, right? You gotta trust her."
"I can't just leave her!"
"Mate, you ain't gonna like hearin' this, but you gotta pull your head outta your ass and put your listening ears on," Abraham said, coming to stand in front of Daryl as he became enraged. "From what I saw back there, that little hell-cat is gonna find us long before we see her coming. Now, might as well get a move on before those toe-munchin' crazies come back to finish the job."
"I ain't your fuckin' mate," Daryl growled, storming off towards the train tracks.
"What's his deal about her anyway?" Rosita asked.
"Remember how I said she's my sister?" Merle asked, getting a nod from her as Abraham watched on. "Yeah, that's my brother. She's his wife."