June 17, 2011
Shirewilt Estates
Gavin and his men spilled out of the sedan while Aaron, Heath, and Tobin exited a pickup truck and Daryl eased his bike to a stop before the strings of barbwire that wound their way across the opening in the brick wall before Shirewilt Estates. Two dead walkers lay stabbed in the head in front of the wires. "They ain't replaced the gate yet?" Daryl asked.
Gavin was clearly perturbed. "I assumed they'd be using this time we were gone to prepare."
Heath stepped forward, looked at the barbwire curiously, and began to reach for a string between barbs.
"Don't touch it!" came a voice from the trees. Noah's. "It's electrified now!"
Carol dismounted from behind Daryl, shaded her eyes with a hand, and looked up in the direction of the voice. Noah was hard to make out up there, in the now well-camouflaged blind. And it wasn't just him. In the tree on the other side of the street was another camouflaged blind. After some peering, Carol determined Dixon was inside. "Well, I guess they did make some preparations after all."
The caravan had to backtrack through the suburban streets and then drive on a greenway down a beaten path through a wooded area behind the housing complex. The trees were well spaced, and they could make it through, though it was tight for the truck at times. There was a gate in the back wall of the housing complex, for pedestrians, not cars. They left their vehicles outside, obscured by the trees, and entered on foot.
"Mr. Andrews used to be an electrical engineer," Noah explained. "He decided instead of us taking the time to build a new wooden gate, we'd just put extra strands of barbwire on there and electrify them. It works. A couple walkers have run into it. They get shocked and stumble back. They keep coming, but, the shock keeps them from tearing it down until we can stab them. And we figure when those assholes come, and they try plow through it, at least we'll get one of them that way."
With the help of the newly arrived soldiers, Shirewilt continued to prepare its defenses. Zach and Dixon had loaded up dozens of spare magazine with ammunition, and Tina had prepared to emergency medical kits. "Do you have any medical training?" Carol asked her.
"Not from before, but…I've been studying under the doctor in the Kingdom," she replied. "And I want to help. I know I'm not strong enough to fight…but I want to help. If it weren't for Noah getting me my medicine, I wouldn't be alive."
"Hello?" said Zach, waving a hand. "I helped bring the medicine, too."
"I know, but it's not your camp being extorted," Tina reminded him.
The newcomers were settled in for the night, spread across two houses. Carol and Daryl found themselves in Mr. Harrison's kitchen again, eating dinner with Gavin and Aaron. Tonight, the selected from the dead man's pantry vienna sausges, which they grilled on the charcoal grill outside along with some canned potatoes and whole canned tomatoes.
"When will the others arrive?" Aaron asked as they ate around the outdoor table on the cement patio.
"They should be here tomorrow," Gavin replied. "And these extortionists are expectedin four days."
"This ex-Savior you banished," Daryl asked. "What did you boot 'em for?"
"Attempted rape. Dianne was helping to guard the floor that night. She stopped him. His name is David. I'm guessing he's behind this. It follows Negan's pattern of extortion…somewhat."
"A pattern you were very much a part of," Aaron reminded him.
"We've all done things we aren't proud of in this world," Gavin replied. "Those of us who didn't always have the luxury to live behind strong gates in a green community starting in the low $850,000s anyway. I thought you were the guy who always saw the good in people."
"I am," Aaron said. "That's why I stayed on a few extra days after the rebellion to help you guard the Sanctuary. But if I saw only the good in people, I wouldn't be here planning to shoot a bunch of men on sight when they show up at the gates."
June 18
11 AM
The next morning, Jerry rolled up to the front of Shirewilt and had to be re-directed around. Several people, including Carol and Gavin, went out to meet him at the rear pedestrian gate. The only recruit he had brought with him from the Kingdom was a seventeen-year-old knight named Benjamin, who greeted Tina with a kiss on her cheek, which caused both Noah and Zach to look puzzled and Tina to smile guiltily. The young woman didn't return the kiss, and the young knight looked suspiciously from Noah to Zach, as if attempting to gauge who was his greater rival. If Dixon had not been preoccupied cleaning firearms on the Johnson family's back porch, he might have received the greater share of the knight's scrutiny, Carol thought, given that her nephew was the most handsome of the teenagers here.
Jerry reported that he had settled Shirewilt's non-fighters safely at Oceanside. "They're going to have a great beach vacation," he said with a grin. From that community, he'd brought with him a young woman named Cyndie. As they all walked from the rear gate toward the center of the neighborhood, Gavin said to her, "I didn't think anyone from your camp would fight with us. I thought you'd gone into deep hiding since moving from Hallowbrant to Oceanside."
"Well, my grandmother's not too pleased I agreed to come," Cyndie admitted. "And my little brother is worried for me. But I lost my father in the rebellion. He died to help free us, and I feel like I honor him by fighting to free others."
Zach smiled at her. "How old are you?"
Cyndie looked at him warily. "You know it's rude to ask a woman her age, right?"
"Only if she looks old," Zach insisted. "What are you? Twenty-one? I'm twenty."
"I'm eighteen," she replied.
Zach whistled. "Wow. You seem so much more mature." He glanced at the harpoon she held, which ended in a lasso of rope. "Seems more like a fishing tool than a weapon of war."
"Trust me, it'll get the job done."
"To kill one person, sure, but then you've got to recover it."
"That's what the rope is for. And when you drag your enemy back toward yourself, the barbs rip through his flesh in the other direction."
Zach slowed his walking pace and swallowed. "Have you killed a lot of men?"
"A few. Saviors, mostly. In the rebellion."
The preparations continued, but by sunset, Dianne had not arrived, and Gavin was unable to reach her by radio.
8:35 PM
Gavin was out in the backyard of Mr. Harrison's house, pacing in front of the flickering firepit. Daryl watched him through the sliding glass door. Even if Carol hadn't already told him Gavin and Dianne were fucking, Daryl probably would have figured it out by how incredibly worried the man was that she hadn't yet shown.
Daryl glanced back at the living room where Carol was immersed in conversation with Jerry and Aaron and then slid open the door. He rolled it shut behind himself and lit a cigarette over the fire. "You smoke?" he asked, extending the pack toward Gavin. It was the best way he knew to extend a bit of empathy.
"No," answered Gavin curtly and continued his pacing, this time running a hand over his mouth.
"She'll be here. Tomorrow. Probably just got tied up recruiting. Had to go to them Highwaymen and then that Hilltop, right?"
Gavin stopped. He put a hand on one hip. "I know the handheld radios have a limited reach, and she could easily just be out of range."
"Yeah."
"Except it shouldn't have taken this long to go from Mount Vernon to the Hilltop to here." He shook his head. "What if they've been watching the roads between the communities? They clearly picked up Jose at some point. And Pete and Ron Anderson vanished on their way from Alexandria to the Kingdom. Maybe they've been snagging people on the road, making them either fellow Saviors or workers. Like Negan did. And if they snagged Dianne…" He gritted his teeth. "I can guess what kind of work David would use her for."
"Dianne don't seem like a woman who lets herself be used for anything," Daryl said.
Something like a laugh huffed through Gavin's nose. He nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. But she's just one woman."
"She'll be here tomorrow." Daryl held his cigarette between his lips and reached inside his black leather vest, drew out his silver flask, and extended it to Gavin. If the man didn't smoke, then this was the second best thing Daryl had to offer.
"Don't mind if I do," Gavin said, and took the flask from him, unscrewed the cap, took a swig, and hissed with pleasure. "This is pretty damn good whisky. Old world stuff?"
"Yeah. Got it out your cabinet in the Sanctuary," Daryl admitted.
"Are you shitting me?"
"Just filled the one flask full." Daryl blew smoke to the side. "Figured you owe it to me, since I'm fighting your battle and shit."
"Carol seems to think it's your battle, too." Gavin took another swig from the flask.
"Well, I don't think so," Daryl said.
"Then why'd you agree to fight it?"
"'Cause my woman's damn stubborn. And sometimes, fighting a war is easier than winning an argument with her."
Gavin laughed. "Well, it's a lucky man who can find a strong woman in this world."
"I damn well know it."
Gavin screwed the top back on the flask and handed it over. "I'm going to go volunteer to keep watch in one of the blinds. Thanks for the drink."
"Sure," Daryl murmured and watched Gavin retreat around the side of the house. He was pretty sure Gavin would be in that blind all night long, without asking for relief, unless Dianne herself came to that barbwire mess of a gate.