I don't own Total Drama and The Walking Dead.
Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes. I'm still learning English because it's not my first language.
Darth krayt1: Duncan will definitely be saddened by Ezekiel's death. They might have not been close but they did spent some time together after the fall of the prison. I'm not sure about the laptop idea, but I'll consider it. Duncan might get a new love interest soon. I can't say the same about Izzy, though as I think she would prefer to be along right after, considering the breakdown she had in front of Noah in one of the previous chapters.
Brendan: Yup, Sanders is here. This arc seemed like the best opportunity for me to put one of the police cadets in the story. I know but I already came up with a lot of plot points for EEnE one and I would have to start from zero if I would do TD one.
The group was slowly getting ready to leave to Atlanta. They were working hard on fortifying the church, building barricades out of splintered pews and a stockade of organ pipes, making sure that the members of the group who will stay in the church when the rest will leave to Atlanta to take Beth and Carol back from the people from the Grady Memorial Hospital will be safe in it.
"It was..." Tyreese began as he handed Duncan an organ pipe, the two of them working on taking the church organs apart, "It was good you or Duncan weren't here for it."
Daryl took the organ pipe from Tyreese and looked over his shoulder at Sasha, "She hanging in there?"
Tyreese followed Daryl's example and looked at Sasha who proceeded to bring down an axe on the bench in the back of the church, breaking it apart into smaller pieces of wood. Alejandro and Heather stood next to her, waiting her to be done with this bench, "No."
Daryl nodded his head at Tyreese in understanding and split up from him, beginning to make his way towards the exit from the church with the pipes he was carrying. He walked past Sasha who didn't notice him as she was entirely focused on her work and walked out of the church. Leshawna and Bridgette were outside, working on the trap for the walkers they were going to make out of the organ pipes. The pointy end of the pipes was sticking out from the ground for the walkers to walk into the trap. Gabriel was standing next to them, but was not doing anything.
"Are you gonna take the cross, too?" Gabriel asked Daryl as soon as the Dixon exited the church, watching how Rick's group was taking his church apart in dismay as Daryl put the organ pipes on the stairs.
"If we need it." Daryl replied as he looked at Bridgette and Leshawna, exchaning a nod with the two of them, before going back into the church.
"I'm sorry about this Gabriel, but this is for the best." Bridgette tried to justify her and her group to Gabriel.
"She's right, sugar." Leshawna nodded in agreement, sticking another organ pipe into the ground, "This trap right here will keep the walkers away the entrance to the church."
Meanwhile, Rick, Michonne and Chris were working together on boarding up the windows with the wooden planks which were provided to them by Alejandro and Heather who brought the planks to them after Sasha crashed one of the benches into pieces with her axe. Dylan and Carl were a few meters on their right, working on the windows as well.
"He wants to go to Atlanta." Rick said, referring to Carl, "But I can't have that."
"Then you stay. I'll go." Michonne volunteered to go instead of him.
Rick shook his head at the suggestion, "I owe it to Carol."
"We all owe Carol, Rick." Chris pointed out as he looked over his shoulder at Rick, shifting his attention from his work to him, "If it wasn't for her and Heather, we would all be dead."
"I owe her more." Rick pointed out in return.
Duncan, Harold and Geoff were standing in front of Ezekiel and Bob's graves. Duncan was paying his respects to Ezekiel and Bob as Geoff and Harold were accompaying him. Needless to say, Duncan was shocked to hear what happened at the church when he and Daryl were gone. When he left with Carol and Daryl, Ezekiel and Bob were still alive and when they returned, he was greeted by the sight of their graves.
He and Ezekiel weren't close friends but he still felt like had to pay his respects to him, considering that they spent a lot of time with each other after they left the prison together and shared some stories of their lives before the world turned into what it is. He wouldn't call Bob a close friend of his either, but he was still a memeber of the group who still helped them to get the right medication for the people who were suffering because of the flu.
"What a damn mess." Duncan shook his head, his eyes set on the graves in front of him, "I was gone for about a day and so much had happened." He sighed, "Rick was right. We should have hunted down whoever survived from Terminus when we had the chance. Maybe all this shitshow with Gareth and Scott wouldn't have happen when I and Daryl were gone."
"Don't beat yourself over this, dude." Geoff patted his friends shoulder, "It ain't nobody fault. Nobody could have predicted that they would track us down."
"He's right, Duncan." Harold nodded his head in agreement to Geoff's words, "Believe me, I wish they both were still here with us, but unfortunely nothing we will do will change what happened when you were gone."
"How were crazy girl and bookworm doing before they, you know, left with Abraham?" Duncan wanted to know how Ezekiel's close friends reacted to his death.
"Noah was saddened by Zeke's death, but I wouldn't say that his behavior changed. He was still the same Noah we all know." Geoff replied, "Izzy is a completely different story, though. She just stayed away from all of us since we buried Zeke. She even didn't say her goodbye to us before she and the others left with Abraham, Eugene and Rosita."
"I've never seen Izzy this angry as she was when she got her hands on Scott." Harold added as he recalled the livid expression that Izzy had on her face when she stopped in front of Scott, with pure killing intention in her eyes, "Be glad you didn't see his body. She massacred him. I don't think I would be able to count all the stabwounds on his body if I tried and that's saying something."
"At least this bastard suffered in his final moments." Duncan said, "It doesn't change the fact that he still deserved something worse than getting stabbed to death. All of them did."
"Couldn't agree more, man." Geoff agreed with Duncan, "At least we don't have to worry about more people suffering because of them. What they were doing was just messed up beyond the words."
Harold turned away from the graves, "We should go. We need to get ready to head to Atlanta."
Geoff nodded in agreement and turned away from the graves too, "Yeah."
Duncan watched how his friends split up from him and how they started to head back towards the church. After a few seconds, he put his hand on top of Ezekiel's hat which on top of the wooden cross behind his grave, "I hope you will find your peace in this Heaven of yours, Zeke, if it exists."
With that being said, he turned away from the two graves and began making his way back to the church, eventually catching up to Harold and Geoff.
It wasn't long before the group consisting of Rick, Daryl, Chris, Duncan, Geoff, Harold, Alejandro, Heather, Dylan, Sasha and Tyreese left to Atlanta in the lorry that Daryl, Duncan and Dylan arrived in last night, leaving Michonne, Carl, Bridgette, Leshawna, Judith and Gabriel in the church. Leshawna and Harold shared a kiss before the latter left the church with the others, Geoff and Bridgette sharing a kiss as well.
After the group of eleven left the church and went to Atlanta, the people from the group who remained in the church wasted no time and went to work. Michonne, Carl and Leshawna started to board up more windows, Bridgette put Judith back in the cooler, trying to get her to sleep Gabriel began furiously scrubbing the floor with his hands, trying to get rid of the blood stains left by Gareth and Scott's group from the floor of his church.
Carol remained unconscious ever since she was brought into the hospital by the police officers that crashed into her yesterday. She was laying in the hospital bed, with the hospital machinery connected to her to keep her alive, the people from the hospital giving her the treatment she needed after getting hit by the car. Her clothes were changed too. Now she was wearing hospital clothes.
She was unaware someone was watching her because of her unconscious state. Beth, now with two patched up cuts on her head, slowly poked her head out of the doorway as she happened to be on the cleaning duty in the hallway where Carol's room was placed. After making sure that it was the correct room, she stepped out from her cover, watching her unconscious friend from the doorway.
"Excuse me." A male voice rang through her ears a few seconds later. She turned to the source of it and saw a familiar she became familiar with over her time in the hospital. It was Dr. Edwards, "I'm just checking on her."
He walked past Beth and made his way to Carol. He started checking on the machinery that Carol was connected to as Beth gave him a silent glare, before turning away from the room, going back to her work.
Glenn, Maggie, Chef, Trent, Gwen, Noah, Izzy, Tara, Rosita, Eugene and Abraham were still on the road where Eugene revealed himself to be a liar and admitted to not being a scientist. Eugene was still unconscious that he had gotten from Abraham and Abraham was still on his knees, staring ahead of himself with emptiness in his eyes. Izzy and Noah sat together on the ground away from everyone, leaning against the fire truck, the former smoking another cigarette.
"So..." Trent began, "What are we going to do now after, you know."
"I don't know." Gwen replied and looked at Tara, "Tara! How much water do we have left?"
As she asked Tara this question, Glenn and Chef approached the group, the former informing, "They got no clue we're here."
"That's great news for GREATM." Tara stated, having just finished pouring the water from the fire truck into the bottles. She looked over her shoulder at Gwen and added, "In less great news for GREATM, we just scraped the bottom of the water barrel."
Chef exchanged a confused look with Glenn and asked, "What's GREATM?"
"Us." Tara replied, pointing at the water bottles, "Group name. Solidarity. Band of brothers. GREATM. Thinking about getting a tattoo on my knuckles." Chef looked at her with an unamused look on his face as Glenn nodded his head at her, not knowing how else to respond, "Sorry, I'm just trying to think of something else, you know?"
Glenn gave her another nod of his head, "Yeah."
"Alright." Chef nodded in understanding as Maggie and Rosita walked over to them, the former coming back from checking on Eugene. He looked at Maggie, "Anything?"
Maggie shook her head, "No."
"Should we get him to the church?" Trent asked.
"We should tell everybody about it." Gwen agreed, "They have to know before they will leave to Washington. Otherwise they will travel all the way there for nothing."
"Moving him could make him worse." Maggie disagreed with Trent's idea, shaking her head.
"What will make him better?" Glenn wanted to know.
"Waking up." Maggie answered, "If he doesn't..."
Everyone looked at her and nodded, showing her understanding that such possibility was possible.
Izzy got up from the ground and threw the burned cigarette at the ground in front of her, before crushing it with her shoe, "We can always just leave him here."
Glenn looked at her, shocked by her cold suggestion, "Izzy. You don't mean that..."
"What if I do?" Izzy retorted, "How many people died because of him? How many people sacrificed themselves for him because he gave them a false hope of a cure? Him being left behind by the people who were willing to risk their lives for him because of his little lie seems fair enough if you ask me."
Chef shook his head at Izzy's suggestion, "We're not leaving him when he may still survive, Izzy."
Izzy shrugged her shoulders at the looks she received from the others, "I'm just voicing my mind about this matter. Do whatever you will decide."
"What about you, Noah?" Glenn asked as he looked at Izzy, hoping that his friend will say something to change Izzy's mind about Eugene.
"I don't care. Do whatever you will decided with him." Noah gave him an honest answer, "Whether he survives or not, I just don't care what happens to him."
Rick, Daryl, Chris, Duncan, Geoff, Harold, Alejandro, Heather, Dylan, Sasha and Tyreese arrived at Atlanta a while ago. The group of eleven was inside a building somewhere in Atlanta, trying to figure out a way to get Beth and Carol out from the hospital.
"Well, what's next on the agenda?" Dylan wanted to know.
"At sundown we fire a shit into the air." Everyone had their eyes on Rick as he responded to Dylan's question, crouching down in front of his group, "Get two of them out on patrol. Then once it's dark enough that the rooftop spotter won't see us, we go. We cut the locks on one of the stairways, take it to the fifth floor. I open the door, Daryl and Duncan takes the guard out."
"How?" Tyreese asked.
Duncan nodded his head at Tyreese's question, "We kill them or just knock them out?"
"You slits their throats." Rick replied as Duncan nodded in understanding, "This is all about us doing this quiet, keeping the upper hand. They're not expecting us. From there, we fan out. Knives and silenced weapons. We need to be fast." He glanced down at the floor where he had drew a minature map of the hospital and pointed at one spot at it, "Chris and Heather will keep guard outside on the roof over here." The three people in question nodded in agreement as Rick pointed at another spot, proceeding to explain his plan to his group, "Tyreese, Sasha, Alejandro and Harold take them. Daryl, you, Duncan and Geoff take care of whoever is in the kitchen. I got Dawn. If they're smart, the rest of them will give up."
"We need to keep our eyes open to Sanders." Dylan said as Rick looked up at him, "She might help us. Just like she did when I, Duncan and Daryl were getting out of Atlanta."
Rick nodded his head at him, "We'll watch out for her but I can't promise anything. It will be up to her which side she will choose. If she will remain on Dawn's side, we will have to put her down."
Dylan nodded in return, "Alright."
"That's best case." Tyreese stated, "What's worst case?" He shook his head, "All it takes is one of those cops going down the hall at the wrong time. Then it's not quiet. All hands on deck. We're talking about a lot of bullets flying around."
"I and Heather will provide you cover fire from the roof if things will go this way." Chris said as Heather nodded in agreement.
Sasha shrugged her shoulders to it, "If that's what it takes."
"It's not." Tyreese stated, "If we get a couple of her cops alive out here, we do an even trade. Theirs for ours. Everybody goes home."
Rick got up from his crouching position. "Yeah, I get it. And it might work."
"I don't know about this, Ty." Geoff looked uncertain about Tyreese's idea, "We heard from Dylan what kind of person this Dawn is. The negotation can turn sour pretty fast."
"That'll work, too." Harold agreed with Tyreese's idea as he pointed at Dylan to earn his attention, "You say this Dawn, she's just trying to keep it together, right?"
"Trying and doing are two different things." Dylan shook his head, looking to be quite uncertain of Tyreese's idea will work.
"You take two of her cops away, what choices does she have?" Harold asked, trying to convince Rick to go with Tyreese's idea.
"Everybody goes home." Daryl spoke up, "Just like Tyreese said."
Back at the church, Gabriel continued to scrub the blood off the floor. Thankfully, he didn't have to do this with his hands anymore because Bridgette provided him a proper equipment for the job after she put Judith to sleep. Carl was gathering all the weapons they had in front of him.
"Pick one." Carl said to Gabriel, pointing at the weapon in front of the priest as Gabriel shook his head, declining his offer, "You need to learn how to defend yourself. We can teach you."
Gabriel stopped scrubbing and looked up at him, "Defend myself? They said they'd go."
"They were liars and murderers." Carl pointed out what kind of people Gareth and Scott's group.
"Just like us." Gabriel pointed in return.
"Hold on a second, sugar." Leshawna said, "Are you trying to compare us to these people? I thought Izzy made pretty sure to you what kind of people they were. I admit, what our group did was to them was hard to look at, even if I just saw the bodies after the fact, but they did what they had to do to protect themselves and us."
"She's right." Carl nodded in agreement, "They wanted us dead. You're lucky your church has lasted this long. You can't stay in one place anymore. Not for too long. And once you're out there, you're gonna find trouble you can't hide from. You need to know how to fight." Gabriel stared at Carl for a second before picking up a machete, "Good choice. But you're not holding it right. You've got to be able to drive it down 'cause sometimes their skulls aren't as soft and you need to be able..."
"I'm sorry." Gabriel cut him off, looking like he was about to throw up. He got up from the floor, his eyes not leaving Carl, "I need to lie down."
Carl nodded his head at him in understanding as Gabriel walked away from him, making his way to his room.
Beth was moping the floor in one of the rooms, doing her work when she heard the conversation between a woman who she recognized as Dawn, because of her voice and some other police officer residing in the hospital. She couldn't recognize the other voice, though.
"That's your plan, huh?" She heard Dawn ask the man that she was currently speaking to.
"Look, we are doing everything we can." The unknown man replied, "Licari is out in the sedan right now. If there is a sign of Dylan, we are going to find him."
"You just told me that your plan was counting on him screwing up." Dawn pointed out and let out a humorless chuckle, "That's some active police work right there. Was there anything else?"
"Yes, actually, there was. The patient in exam room two..." The unknown man's words made Beth stop in her work, recalling this room as the one where Carol was brought into, "She was half dead when I brought her in. She's not looking so good. This ain't Pin the Tail On the Donkey. Are we really gonna keep wasting valuable resources on this lady?"
Beth turned around to look at him, angered by this man telling Dawn to turn Carol's life support off, "How much electricity does your DVD take?"
"Excuse me?" The unknown man asked, taken aback by Beth's question.
Beth stepped towards him, "We have very limited resources here. You charge it every day."
"Are you kidding me?" The unknown man looked offended by her saying something like this to him.
"Beth." Dawn said to Beth in an attempt to quiet her down.
"That woman has been here one day." Beth pointed out.
"Beth." Dawn repeated herself, but it fell deaf on Beth's ears.
Beth paid no attention to what Dawn was saying to her and continued, "What good is this place if it doesn't try to save people?"
"Turn off the machines." Dawn said, silencing Beth, "Tell Edwards to take the patient off of his rounds. If she pulls through on her own, then fine. But you're right. She's not worth the effort." The unknown man nodded his head at her and walked off, leaving Dawn alone with Beth. Dawn let out a sigh after the unknown man walked away from them, "You just killed that woman. Who do you think I have to side with?"
"Tell him." Bet said, "Tell him you changed your mind."
Dawn shook her head, "You don't know how fragile this thing is. There's nothing I can do. So you'll just have to do it. You're gonna save that woman's life." She looked around herself, making sure that there was no one near her and Beth, before pulling out a key, "This is to the drug locker. I don't even trust Edwards with this. So take it."
Beth took the key from her, "Why are you doing this?"
"I thought you were weak." Dawn replied, "You've proved me wrong."
Beth gave her a nod of her head and turned away, beginning to head down the hallway to get the medicine she needed for Carol.
"It's Shepherd." A female voice sounded in the walkie-talkie on Dawn's shoulder shorty after, "I'm on roof detail. Just heard a gunshot maybe a mile north-northeast."
Dawn clicked on the walkie-talkie and responded, "Grab Lamson and Sanders, take a car and track it down."
"Yes, ma'am." Shepherd voiced her understanding of the order.
Glenn, Rosita, Trent, Tara and Noah walked together through the field towards the nearby forest, because according to Chef who took a look at the map of the area, they should find some water in a creek in the said forest. The group being as low on water as they were right now and not planning to go anywhere at the moment because of Eugene's condition, assigned a few people to go to cheek this creek out.
"According to Chef, there's a creek up the road a few miles southwest of here." Glenn said, leading the group towards the creek.
Noah looked at Rosita, "What are your plans Ms. Washington, now that your secret mission has been compromised?"
Rosita rolled her eyes at him, "That's not funny, Noah."
"She's right, Noah." Tara agreed with Rosita.
"This isn't the time for this, man." Trent agreed with them.
"I'm not trying to be funny." Noah pointed out, "I'm merely asking you what are your plans right now after your top secret mission turned out to be a lie."
"Listen, I don't know what to do without DC anymore, but I'm not dealing with it. I'm over it." Rosita said, "I just want him to be okay."
"He kind of deserved the beating if you ask me." Noah said, "I might have seen through his bullshit as soon as I was told about it, but he still was giving people false hope in exchange for protection."
"I thought you don't care what happens with him?" Rosita asked.
"It's because I don't." Noah replied, "If I cared about what happens to him, then I wouldn't be saying that he deserved it."
"Eugene wasn't strong." Tara spoke, "He isn't fast. He doesn't know how to use a weapon. The truth hurts, but he's useless. He had one skill that kept him living. Are we supposed to be mad at him 'cause he used it?"
Beth had just arrived the door to Dr. Edwards office. She knocked on it and didn't have to wait long for the man he was looking for to answer. Dr. Edwards opened the door, looking to be quite confused by her presence.
"Can I?" Beth asked him after he opened the door.
Dr. Edwards nodded, moving to the side a bit to give her enough space, "Sure."
Beth walked past Dr. Edwards and entered his office, hearing how he closed the door after she passed the doorway. She turned around to look at him and explained the reason for her coming here, "The woman in exam room two, what medicine would you give her?"
"Dawn called it." Dr. Edwards answered.
"I know." Beth nodded, "But if you could, what would you give her?"
"She was in a car accident. She suffered internal injuries. It's just a guessing game." Dr. Edwards stated.
"So guess." Beth insisted.
"You have the key." Dr. Edwards said upon the realization to why Beth came to him in the first place, "Did you take it or did she give it to you? Because if she gave it to you, she did not do it out of the kindness of her heart."
"Don't." Beth cut him off, "Just tell me what medicine."
"I was trying to save my life." Dr. Edwards said, "I'm still wondering if I did. Epinephrine drip, five milligrams. She won't wake up right away, but it'll ease her blood pressure so she'll have a shot." Beth nodded in understanding and turned away from him, "Hey. Good luck."
Beth said nothing in response. She opened the door and walked out of Dr. Edwards office. She closed the door and started to make her way to the place where she would get the right medicine for Carol.
Shepherd, Lamson and Sanders were driving through the streets of Atlanta as they were on their way to the place from where the gunshot came from. As they got close to the place, they heard another gunshot. Upon reaching the place, they noticed Dylan running down the alley with a handgun in his hand. Sanders narrowed her eyes at him upon spotting him, remembering how she let him go with his new friends the day before.
Shepherd turned the corner as she started to give Dylan a chase. It didn't took them long to catch up to him. She stopped the vehicle in front of him, preventing him from running any further, almost hitting him in the process. Sanders, Shepherd and Lamson got out of the vehicle, all of them aiming their handguns at him.
"Put the gun down, Dylan." Shepherd ordered, aiming her handgun at him. Dylan relucantly complied and put his handgun on the ground, "Hands up." Dylan once again complied to her orders, "Turn around."
Having no other choice, Dylan turned around, his back facing them as Lamson pulled out a zip tie and began to wrap it around Dylan's hands, "You let me know if it's too tight, okay?"
"I thought you were smart, Dylan." Shepherd stated as Sanders looked at Dylan suspiciously, knowing that something was off about this entire thing, "You think we wouldn't hear you?"
Lamson looked around himself, realizing that there was not a single walker in the area, "Where are those rotters you were shooting at?"
It was when they heard a whistle behind them. They turned around to the source of it and saw Rick, Daryl, Chris, Duncan, Heather, Tyreese, Sasha, Alejandro, Harold and Geoff standing behind them. The entire group was aiming their guns at them.
"Hands." Rick ordered.
"Don't do anything stupid." Heather added.
"What do you want?" Shepherd wanted to know.
"Whatever this is, we can help." Lamson added.
"You do what we say, we don't hurt you." Rick explained to them how their situation looked like.
Sanders nodded her head at him and lowered her gun, seeing no other way right now, "Okay." Lamson and Shepherd looked at her before following her example, "We'll do as you say."
"Now turn around." Rick ordered as Sanders, Lamson and Shepherd complied, "Put your guns on the floor and kneel." Sanders, Lamson and Shepherd got themselves on their kness, doing as they were told as Rick's group surrounded them. Daryl, Duncan and Sasha zip tied their hands to make sure they won't try to do anything to attack them, "We need to talk. There's water if you need some and food."
"Mind if I ask you something?" Lamson said as Rick brought him back onto his feet, earning Rick's attention, "The way you talk... the way you carry yourself... were you a cop?" He didn't got his answer as Rick remained silent, "Believe it or not, I was, too."
"That's Lamson." Dylan introduced Lamson to Rick, "He'll be down for this. He's one of the good ones." He gestured to Sanders, "Just like Sanders over here."
"What do you mean?" Sanders asked, wanting to filled in about whatever Dylan had planned out with his new friends.
Dylan looked at her, "I'll tell you in a mo..."
His words died in his throat because it was when another car drove out from the corner, making everyone from Rick's group to hide behind the closest covers. Rick, Daryl, Duncan and Heather started shooting at it. The car stopped between next to Sanders, Lamson and Shepherd, separating them from Rick's group. The man in the drivers seat returned fire at Rick's group, causing all of them to run into the closest cover.
Sanders, Shepherd and Lamson quickly used this opportunity and got themselves into the car. The car began driving off as soon as all of them were in the vehicle as Chris, noticing this, wasted no time and rushed out of his cover. He looked through the scope of his rifle and fired a single bullet at the car, the bullet hitting the tire which slowed down the car a bit.
The group of eleven wasted no time and quickly rushed out of their covers, pushing themselves into run after the car. It didn't took them long to find it. They made their way to the other side of the building and saw it completely abandoned. Some walkers were melted into the floor of the area, making them unable to move even after spotting Rick's group.
Rick's group moved further into the area in search of the police officers, spotting a burnt trailer in the background. It was when Lamson, Shepherd and Sanders ran out of their cover behind the burnt trailer. The group immediately pushed themselves into run after them as Daryl stayed behind to check the abandoned car in search for the fourth police officer.
He took a quick look into the car, noticing that the fourth police officer was not in there. He managed to find the reason why they stopped the car in this area, though. They drove into one of the walkers on the ground and the remains of the undead blocked the car, making it unable to drive further. He moved away from the car, moving further into the area in search of the missing officer.
He made his way to the entrance to the trailer and slowly opened it before glancing inside, finding out that the fourth officer was not in there either. It was when the man he was searching for charged at him, bringing him down to the ground. Daryl's respon to this sudden attack was immediate. He kicked the officer, causing him to stumbled backwards.
Using this moment to his advantage, Daryl quickly got himself back on his feet and shoved himself at the man with his fist raised. The officer dodged his attack and wrapped his arms around him, bringing him down to the ground again. Only this time, he put Daryl between the two walkers on the ground. The officer put his hands on his neck, beginning to choke him.
Daryl tried to push himself off of him, but it was no use. Having no other options, he reached towards the walker on his right and stuck his fingers between it's eyes. He tore the walkers head off from the rest of it's body and hit the officer in the head with it. The officer stumbled to the side, freeing Daryl from his grasp. As soon as he did that, a silence shot rang through the area and the other walker was killed by Rick.
"Okay." The officer said when he saw Rick aiming his gun at him, "You win, asshole."
Rick remained silent, giving the unknown man a cold glare as the officer slowly got himself back on his feet with his hands raised.
"Rick." Daryl said as he got up from the ground, unsure of what Rick was going to do, "Four is better than three."
Rick looked at Daryl and nodded, lowering his gun.
Rick's group wasted no time and left the place where they caught Sanders, Lamson, Shepherd and the fourth police officer which they found out to be named Licari, not wanting to have another incident where someone from the hospital will appear out of nowhere and attack them. They brought the four captured police officers to the abandoned warehouse.
"Your friend, what's his name?" Shepherd asked as Sasha, Daryl, Tyreese, Duncan, Geoff and Alejandro were leading her and her fellow police officers through the building towards Rick, Dylan, Harold, Heather and Chris, "I need to talk to him. Your plan is going to get me and my friends killed."
"We're gonna make it work." Sasha replied, refusing to give Shepherd the answer she wanted.
"It would work if you had different cops to trade." Shepherd stated, "Dawn's running Grady into the ground. A bunch of us want her out and she knows it. Pretty sure she knows we want Lamson to replace her, too."
Licari looked at her, "Dawn doesn't know that."
"She might." Sander said, not entirely sure about this matter, "You're never really sure what Dawn knows and what she doesn't know. This is why we always have to keep our eyes open around her."
"Exactly." Shepherd nodded in agreement, "And she's smart. So there's a good chance you can't make this deal work and that'll leave us all dead. But if you let us go, we'll take care of Dawn ourselves and then we'll let your friends go and this is over."
"No." Lamson replied to Shepherd's idea before Rick's group could respond to that, "We're not gonna do that."
Shepherd looked at him like he was stupid, "Do you want to die?"
Lamson shook his head, "No. I just need you to shut up right now." Rick's group exchanged looks with each other, "You can make this work. But you've got to be able to talk to her."
"Dylan told us all about her." Alejandro informed him, "I'm sure it will be enough to make our plan work."
"I've known her for eight years, sir." Lamson looked at Alejandro, "I know this woman. And my only interest is peaceful resolution, not dying, and sleeping in my bed tonight. So, please, let me help you. Please."
"I can help you as well." Sanders spoke, causing everyone to look at her, "I may not know Dawn for as long as Lamson does, because I was only a cadet when it all started, but I'm willing to help you get your friends out of the hospital. For as long as Dawn leads this place, they won't be safe in it. Not for long."
Daryl looked at Duncan, exchaning a glance with him, remembering Dylan telling them about Sanders' dislike of Dawn. After a second, Daryl shifted his gaze from Duncan to Rick and whistled, earning Rick's attention, "Hey, Rick. You're gonna want to hear this."
Trent, Noah, Glenn, Tara and Rosita eventually found the creek they were looking for. It was when another problem for them appeared, though. The water in it was polluted, making it too dangerous for them to drink. Thankfully, this problem was quickly solved by Rosita. She created a water filter out of her water bottle, using a technique she learned from Eugene. Even Noah didn't hide how impressed he was by Rosita creating it in less than a minute.
Right now, the group of five continued to sit by the creek. Rosita, Glenn and Trent were standing close to the water, catching some fishes into a fishing net they had made they had made out of the clothes of the nearby walkers. Glenn spotted some fishes in the creek shorty after arriving it and the group of five decided to catch some of them, because this way they won't have to worry about going to sleep with the empty stomachs. Noah and Tara were sitting next to each other, the two of them searching through the backpack which the latter found.
"Almost..." Glenn said as he stared at the fishing net held in the creek by Trent and Rosita, making sure to be focused on his task of catching as many fishes as possible, "Almost." Trent and Rosita stared at him, waiting for the signal from him, "Now."
Trent and Rosita reacted immediately to his signal. They lifted up the fishing net from the creek, with a few fishes caught into it. Trent, Rosita and Glenn laughed, clearly rejoiced by the view.
"Hell, yes." Rosita couldn't help but smile at the view.
Trent laughed, smilling, "That's what I'm talking about."
"It worked." Glenn took the net from Trent, eyeing the fishes with a smile on his face, "Nice."
Trent shifted his gaze from the net to Rosita, "You know how to clean these things?"
Rosita nodded in response, "I know how to clean these things."
"Really?" Trent asked, "Is there something you can't do?"
Rosita shook her head at him, smilling, "You'd be suprised."
"Good, we're gonna need that." Glenn said as Rosita looked at him, "Wherever we all wind up. You in?"
Rosita smiled and nodded in response, "I'm in."
"Good." Glenn smiled back.
Trent patted Rosita's shoulder, "Welcome to the team."
"Guys." Tara exclaimed as Trent, Rosita and Glenn looked at her, "You will never believe what's in this bag."
Beth walked through the hallways of the hospital towards the drug cabinet where the right medication for Carol was kept. She walked past an older man, handing him a few strawberries. She looked at him and nodded. He nodded back. She walked away from him as the eldery man began to cought rapidly into his hand, earning the attention of each police officer in the area.
Using this to her advantage, Beth quickly made her way to the cabinet and used the key that Dawn gave her to open it. She opened it and began searching throigh the bottles with medication, searching for epinephrine. It didn't took her long to find it. She quickly put the small bottle in the pocket of her shirt and closed the locker, using the key to lock it.
She turned away from the cabinet and quickly left the scene as if she was never there, hearing how the man who just helped her told the officers around him that he was better now. A smile formed on her lips as she turned the corner, gladdened that her plan to get epinephrine worked out, without her having any problems while executing it. Now she just had to give this medication to Carol.
She made her way into Carol's room shorty after. She pulled out a drip with epinephrine she had hidden between the blankets she was carrying. She wasted no time and quickly administered it to Carol. After doing so, she grabbed Carol's hand into hers and just stared down at her unconscious friend, waiting for her to show any signs of improvement.
"Carol." She said after a moment of staying silent, not knowing if Carol was going to hear her, "It's Beth. I just wanted you to know that I was here."
Using the hole that he made in the floor by taking out a few planks from it, Gabriel lowered himself down into the crawl space. He quickly crawled his way outside and let out a deep breath, staring at the woods in front of him. He pushed himself into walk but didn'[t walk for long because collapsed on the ground shorty after as he accidentaly stepped into a nail left here by someone from Rick's group.
He cringed, putting his hand on the nail sticking out of his foot. He clenched his teeth in pain as he started pulling out from his foot, not wanting to let Carl, Michonne, Bridgette and Leshawna who had no idea that he left the church know that he was outside. He bit his lips in order to stop himself from gasping in pain as he pulled out the nail from his foot. He stared at the bloody tip of the nail for a second before throwing it aside.
He got himself back on his feet and once again pushed himself into a walk, limping into the forest all by himself and weaponless.
Rick's group was still in the warehouse, preparing themselves for the exchange. Sanders, Lamson, Shepherd and Licari were tied up to the pillars, making them unable to move just in case if one of them tried to escape. Rick and Chris were kneeling in front of Lamson, the captured police officer filling them in about everything he had to know about Dawn and her ways of doing things. A few moments earlier, Rick and Chris had the same conversation with Sanders.
"She'll tell you she won't make a deal." Lamson said, not sure if what he was saying to Chris and Rick was something new to them, because of them having the same conversation with Sanders a few moment ago, but he still made sure to let them know everything they needed to know, "She'll tell you she won't compromise. But she will. She always does. Just know who you're talking to."
Rick nodded his head at him and looked down at his watch, "Probably heading out in the next 10 minutes or so."
"Anything you need before we leave?" Chris asked Lamson if he needed anything as Alejandro, Sasha, Heather and Tyreese walked past them, carrying the supplies from the church that they brought with them to Atlanta.
"Actually, water would be great." Lamson responded.
Rick looked over his shoulders at Sasha and nodded his head at her. She nodded back as he looked back at Lamson, "Will do."
"Thanks, Sergeant Lamson." Chris said to Lamson in a grateful tone as he got up from his kneeling position, Rick doing the same, "We appreciate your help."
"My name's Bob." Lamson revealed his real name to Rick and Chris, making Sasha snap her her towards him.
Chris nodded his head at him, "Alright, Bob."
Rick looked down at Lamson, "You're still a cop."
"No." Lamson shook his head at him, "No, the real ones are all gone."
Sanders titled her head to the side and set her eyes on Duncan who was standing not too far from her. The juvie was in the middle of the coversation with Geoff and Harold. It didn't took her long to notice a medallion hanging down from his neck, "What a unique thing you have around your neck."
Duncan was suprised by her speaking up to him as he shifted his attention from Geoff and Harold to her. He pointed at his medallion and asked, "You're talking about this?"
"Yeah." Sanders confirmed to what she was referring to, "I've never seen anyone make something like this out of a wooden skull. Why did you turned it into a medallion?"
"It reminds of my someone who was important to me." Duncan paused his explanation for a brief moment, his mind flying back to Courtney, "My girlfriend Courtney. She's no longer with us."
"I see." Sanders nodded her head, a look of sympathy forming on her face, "I'm sorry. I lost someone important to me too. It wasn't a loved one, like in your case, but it was still someone important. A friend. Her name was McArthur. She died in the first few weeks of all this. She stayed behind to keep the infected away as I started to climb up the fence. When I reached the other side of the fence, it was already too late for her. Those things just ganged up on her and tore her apart and I couldn't do nothing to stop it."
Duncan nodded his head at her, offering her a look of sympathy in response. Sanders nodded her head back at him, appreciating the gesture.
"I'm sorry to hear about your friend." Harold offered her his condolences, "Losing a friend is never easy."
"You have no idea." Sanders nodded in agreement, letting a saddened sigh at the thought of her friend, "I would probably share her fate if I didn't stumble upon the hospital. It seemed like a good place at first, but I was wrong."
"This place is really that bad?" Geoff asked her.
"Do you really need to ask?" Sanders responded with a question of her own, "The reason why I'm helping you is because I hate Dawn and her leadership. The things she does are just that. No matter what is it."
"What does she do?" Geoff asked her another question, wanting to know more about the hospital.
"She set up a rescue system." Sanders answered, "We rescue people who need help and later force them into manual labor to keep the place running. It may sound normal to you, but I assure you. It's not. This debt can never be paid because they by charging them for their upkeep, including food, basically trapping them in the hospital."
"No." Duncan shook his head, "He never told us how he ended up in the hospital?"
"After our people encountered him, they intentionally left his dad behind to die, so he couldn't be a threat later." Sanders revealed.
Geoff shook his head, pitying Dylan, "Poor Dylan."
"No wonder he left the place." Harold stated, letting out a sigh, "I would do the same if they put me through the same thing."
"This isn't even the worst part." Sanders said, her tone becoming filled with disgust, "Dawn turns a blind eye to some police officers who are taking advantage of the patients. One of them, a man named Gorman was using this to force female patients into sexual slavery, in an attempt to keep them protecting the hospital and following her orders."
"That bastard." Duncan shook his head in anger and disgust upon learning this information, feeling an urge to find this Gorman and make him pay for forcing women into slavery. Harold and Geoff stayed silent, the two of them looking disgusted by it as much of Duncan, feeling the same urge as him.
"You have no idea how many times I had to stop myself from doing something to him." Sanders shook her head, agreeing with the way that Duncan called Gorman, "You have no idea how happy I was when I found out that he died."
"He's dead?" Duncan felt gladdened at the information about Gorman being dead, even though he had never met him in person. Sanders nodded her head at him, confirming it, "Good."
"At least he won't harm more women." Harold felt relieved by this information.
"Why are you staying in the place where the leader allows such things to happen?" Geoff wanted to know, "From what Dylan told us, he offered you to go with him and Beth, but you refused."
"Because what else am I supposed to do?" Sanders replied with a question of her own, "Any place is a better place to life than the road where you have to look over shoulder for 24/7 if you don't want to get killed by those things."
"It's still better than having to life in a place where you have to witness such things happen." Harold stated, "There used to be a doctor in our group. Her name was Anna Stevens."
"She was a good gal." Geoff smiled bitterly at the mention of Dr. Stevens, "Bridgette, my girlfriend, admired her. Her and Hershel. She was so grateful to both of them for sharing all the the medical information with her to make her a better doctor for our group. A shame that the flu ended up killing her."
Harold waited for Geoff say what he wanted to say before continuing, "Before she joined our group, she was a part of the community which was led by the evil man. His name was the Governor."
"The Governor?" Sanders looked confused by this name.
"This is how his own people called him. We never learned his real name." Harold explained as Sanders nodded in understanding.
"One of his most loyal people killed Courtney." Duncan added, cutting the part that this person was Alejandro's brother as Sanders looked at him, "He stabbed her and she bleed out to death. I didn't even get to say a proper goodbye to her."
Sanders looked at him in sympathy, because she just like him didn't get to say a proper goodbye to McArthur. The last thing memory she had of her friend was when she was torn apart by the walkers, screaming her to run and survive. When she returned to the place a few weeks later, she found nothing left of McArthur. Even her friends beloved hat was gone.
"Dr. Stevens had to live with her head over her shoulder." Harold continued, "Until she got the right opportunity to leave the place. She knew the risks of it and what the Governor would do to her if the escape failed, but she still tried, because she couldn't life in his community anymore. This is how she found herself in her group. She might have died, but at least she died in the group where she didn't had to worry about anyone killing her."
"What are you trying to say with that?" Sanders questioned.
"What I'm trying to say is that you, just like Dr. Stevens should leave the hospital if you feel like this place is bad for you." Harold explained, "Being out there on the road is hard, I will not try to deny it, because it's the truth, but I'm sure that there are better places out there, with good people. Places where you won't have witness such things happen right in front of you. Places where you won't be forced to turn blind eye to them."
Sanders stared at Harold, saying nothing in response. She looked away from him after a few seconds as she began to think about his words. She lowered her head, setting her eyes on the floor, Harold's words continuing to fly through her head.
Gabriel continued to limp through the forest. He froze dead in his tracks once he heard something move in the area he was in. He quickly looked around himself, trying to locate the source of the noise. He titled his head to the right, hearing another noise come from this side, thinking that whatever was making this noise was there. He unfortunely quickly found himself to be wrong.
It was when a walker shoved itself at him from behind. His reaction to this sudden attack was immediately. He turned around to the walker as the undead proceeded to move towards him with it's arms reached out for him. He grabbed it's arms, trying to keep it away from him as the walker continued to move towards him, slowly pushing itself closer and closer to him.
Gabriel managed to push the walker away from him after struggling to do for a few moments. The walker quickly shoved itself back at him as Gabriel wrapped his arms around the undead and lifted it up in the air. He threw the walker on the ground, impaling it on the nearest on a stick sticking out from the ground. The walker tried to get itself back on it's feet, but it couldn't. It was trapped.
Gabriel quickly grabbed the nearby rock and lifted it up in the air, with the intention of getting rid of the walker. He backed away from it in the last second, though. It was when he spotted a crucifix around its neck. He tearfully threw the rock aside and turned away from the walker, beginning to walk away from it.
It had been a while since Trent, Noah, Glenn, Tara and Rosita left to get the water from the creek in the forest. Gwen, Chef, Maggie, Izzy and Abraham who stayed at the road to guard the fire truck and Eugene were occupied with their own things. Gwen and Chef were keeping watch, just in case if a walker came out at them, the former standing in the front of the fire truch, the latter standing on the back of the vehicle, Maggie leaning against the fire truck, checking on his state from time to time, Abraham was still kneeling and Izzy was sitting on the ground, leaning against the fire truck, finishing another cigarette.
Izzy put the burned cigarette out from her mouth and stared it for a brief moment, realizing that it was the last one she had. She threw it aside, having no need to use it anymore after burning it and reached for her water bottle. She took a sip from it before glancing at Abraham. She sighed. She might have not known him for long but it was hard to see him like that.
Could this have have been how her group saw her after Ezekiel's death?
She let out a sigh after this thought flew through her mind as she didn't like to think about how Ezekiel met his end. She didn't like to think how any of her friends met their ends. She got up from the ground, taking her water bottle with her and walked over to Abraham, with the intention of getting him to talk with her. She put water bottle next to him as Abraham didn't acknowledge her presence.
"Hey." She said to Abraham to earn his attention as she crouched down next to him. Chef who was standing nearby watched her, hoping that she will get Abraham to talk with her. He tried to get Abraham to talk with him a few times, but never got a single answer out of him, "You're thirsty. Don't say you're not." Abraham titled his head towards her, not taking the water bottle, "How are you doing?"
"At first, I felt like I wanted to get shot by one of you after I punched Eugene." Abraham gave her an honest answer.
"Do you want still want it?" Izzy wanted to know.
"No." Abraham shook his head, "I don't want it anymore." Izzy nodded in understanding, "What about you? I heard what you said about Eugene."
"To be honest..." Izzy took a small pause to gather her thoughts about this matter, "I don't know. I felt like I wanted him to die after lying to us, but right now I feel indifferent about it. I guess I spend too much time around Noah."
Chef smiled internally, feeling relieved to see how the two people who took Eugene's reveal the worst out of all of them feel better than they did back when Eugene revealed himself to be a liar.
It was when a groan sounded on the front of the fire truck, causing everyone to shift their attention towards it. Abraham, Izzy and Chef instantly got their guns ready, thinking that it was a walker as Maggie began making her way towards the source of the groan, knowing from where or rather from who it came from.
It was when someone let out a weak, "...Hell-hello?"
"Guys! It's Eugene!" Gwen made herself present in everyone's view before Maggie could reach the source of the noise, "He's awake!"
Back at the warehouse, the group continued to get themselves ready for the exchange. Sasha was left by Rick to guard Lamson, checking on him from time to time or offering him water whenever he was feeling thirsty.
"Damn it." Lamson let out a sigh as Sasha walked over to him and held out a bottle of water to him, thinking that he was thirsty, "I'm okay. I'll be okay."
Sasha nodded her head at him, "Me, too."
"The parking lot, when you were bringing us back up here I- I saw a rotter." Lamson began to explain the reason for his sour mood to her, "I saw one of the rotters and I knew him." Sasha stared at him for a moment before grabbing the nearby stone brick. She sat down on it, putting her rifle on her knees as Lamson continued his story, "His name was Kaleb. I met him at Grady. We were both sent there when shit started going down. It took two whole days to evacuate everyone. Didn't sleep. We didn't eat. But still, it was the two best days of my life. I was supposed to drive the last van of survivors to the zone and Dawn pulled me off. She wanted someone she could really trust and she put Kaleb on it instead. These- these people were gonna all be evacuated. I was really pissed. I saw him out there. Stuck out there, melted to the asphalt. And all I could think was, "That would have been me. It would have been me. He saved my life." He's been out there the whole time. Like he's a part of the street. Some screwed up, endless joke. And there's nothing I can do about it."
"So let me help you." Sasha offered, feeling sympathetic towards Lamson as Lamson looked up at her, suprised by her offer, "Do you remember where he was?"
"Yeah." Lamson nodded in confirmation, "I- I can take you right to him."
"We're not going out there, but I'm a good shot." Sasha told him, "Show me."
"Okay." Lamson nodded, gesturing towards the place from which Sasha will see Kaleb with his head, "South side of the building. You can see him from in there."
Sasha nodded her head at him. Knowing that she will need help in finding the right window, she untied him from the pillar, but made sure to keep his hands zip-tied. She picked him up from the ground got him in front of her. Lamson pushed himself into walk, beginning to walk towards the right place as Sasha followed him, allowing him to bring her to the place from which she would be able to put his friend out from his misery.
They arrived at their destination a few moments later when Lamson took Sasha to another room in the warehouse. Sasha stopped dead in her tracks when Lamson stopped in front of the window, looking through it at the area below him.
"You see him?" Sasha wanted to know if Lamson took her to the right window.
"About 20 yards right of the sedan." Lamson nodded int response, "There's a half wall. He's leaning against it."
Lamson stepped away from the window as Sasha walked past him, making her way to the window. She looked through the scope of her rifle, looking at the walker leaning against the half wall.
"I see him." She told him, ready to pull the trigger, "Are you sure that's him?"
She didn't got the hear the answer to her question as Lamson slammed shoved himself at her. Sasha's head hit the window, knocking her down. She collapsed on the floor, bleeding and unconscious. Lamson quickly turned away from her and pushed himself into run, fleeing the building.
Hope it wasn't that bad. See you in another chapter.