A/N: My two-day Carnaval holiday without Carnaval resulted in this short update. I hope you enjoy it 😊


Carl heard what sounded like a car approaching and his mind started to work. There was nowhere to hide, so, if anyone decided to come in, he would have to fight them. He took Beth by the hand and moved her to the corner where she would be behind him as he positioned himself to both cover the door and peek out the window.

It was indeed a car and it parked close to the shack before a man got out from behind the wheel and went to retrieve a bag from the other side. He pulled out a tube thingy and set it on the floor as he spoke into a walkie-talkie, but Carl couldn't hear what he was saying. Just as the guy finished placing another of the tubes on the ground, Michonne jumped out from behind a tree and touched her blade to the back of the guy's neck, looking very angry, but also, Carl thought, a bit scared. That was weird.

As Carl watched them talk, he debated whether he should go out and help Michonne. She didn't look like she needed any help, and he was afraid of causing a distraction, which might give the guy a chance to overpower her, so he decided to stay put but ready to move at any sign of trouble.

Not long after he had made his decision, he saw Michonne notice something to her right and the guy take the opportunity to try and take her down. 'Stupid move,' he thought as he rushed out the door.


"We're close," Carol said as she and Tyreese walked along train tracks towards Terminus, Judith in her arms. "I'm gonna get you both there; make sure you're safe. But I'm not gonna stay."

They had just walked up to another sign for their destination. Tyreese looked at it, then at Carol, then at the ground. They started moving again but stopped and turned around when they heard something. As expected, it was a walker, a woman with handcuffs hanging from one of her wrists. She made for them and Judith started crying. Tyreese reached for the baby as he said, "I can't. Not yet."

Carol passed him the baby, gave him a look, and said, "you're gonna have to be able to," before darting to stab the walker in the head, falling to the ground with it from inertia.

When she looked up, she saw a small herd coming their way from the woods, so she whispered "more" to Tyreese and they quickly took cover behind the trees on the opposite side of the tracks, Judith having thankfully stopped crying. Since the herd kept advancing towards them, they started to move deeper into the vegetation, but everyone, dead and alive, stopped short by the sound of gunfire. Attracted by the noise, the walkers changed their course, so Carol and Tyreese waited for all of them to clear the area and resumed their trek.

"That gunfire. Could have been from Terminus," Tyreese said.

"Someone was attacking them," Carol said. "Or they were attacking someone."

"Do we even wanna find out?" Tyreese asked.

They looked at each other for a couple of seconds before Carol nodded and said, "yeah." She motioned with her head and added, "there's another track due east, it will get us there. We'll be real careful; we're gonna get answers."

With that they veered into the woods. After a while they heard more shots and exchanged a look of concern before quickening their pace, soon hearing voices. Carol signaled for Tyreese to stay behind with Judith and went to investigate. She came to the edge of a clearing and was surprised by the sight of Michonne with her katana against some guy's neck. Michonne looked up at her, sporting an expression of even more shock than she was feeling, and the guy took the opportunity to try and take down Michonne, failing miserably.

Carol dashed to Michonne's side and pointed her gun at the man's face. The guy was so intimidated by the two of them he didn't even think of trying anything when two seconds later both women were again distracted, this time by Carl going over to add his revolver to the growing collection of weapons surrounding their newly acquired prisoner.

"Carol!" Carl and Michonne said together in happy voices, but nobody lowered their weapons.

"How did you get here?" Carl asked.

"I went back to the prison. It -"

"But it was destroyed," Carl interrupted.

"Yeah, I saw it. Governor?" Carol asked Michonne.

"Yeah."

Martin couldn't believe he was kneeling on the ground with two guns and a sword pointed at him while these people chatted away.

"So, how did you end up here?" Carl asked.

"I found Ty close to the prison and we saw the signs for a place called Terminus, figured others might have seen them too," Carol answered.

"You found Ty? Where is he?" Carl enquired.

"You two put your weapons away, I've got him," Carol said. When they hesitated, she insisted, "go ahead." Once Carl and Michonne had done what she'd asked, she continued, "Ty's just a few yards down that way," she indicated the direction with her head. "Carl," she added to get his attention, "I'm going to say something, but I want you to try and stay calm, so you don't alarm Ty too much when you go get him."

"Oookaaay," Carl said slowly, his brow furrowed.

"He's got Judith with him."

"What?!" Carl exclaimed. He was filled with so many emotions all at once that he felt like he was going to burst. His sister was alive! He sprinted into the woods, forgetting everything Carol had said, and sped up when he spotted Ty.

Luckily, Ty wasn't holding any weapons and, before he was able to retrieve his knife, he recognized Carl's hat. In another few seconds he was handing Judith to her brother, who hugged her so tightly she started to cry. Carl loosened his arms, apologizing to his sister, and kissed her head as tears ran down his cheeks.

"Thank you," Carl said to Ty, who responded with a smile before steering the teenager back the way he'd come from.

When they got to the clearing, Ty saw Michonne at the door to a shack, keeping an eye at something just inside, and Carol pointing a gun at some guy's head, who was kneeling on the ground with his wrists tied behind his back. Michonne gave another look inside the structure and walked up to Carl and Judith, running a hand over the baby's head as she gave an affectionate squeeze to her friend's shoulder. She then went over to Tyreese and gave him a hug as they said how glad they were to see each other.

"Ty, would you mind keeping an eye on him?" Carol asked, indicating their captive and offering the gun.

"Sure," Ty responded.

Carol looked at Michonne and motioned with her head for the other woman to follow her. They walked away just a little before Carol started speaking in a low voice.

"I'm going to look for Daryl, Rick, and any more of our people who might be there."

"I was thinking the same thing," Michonne said. "Ty and Carl will be able to watch over Beth and Judith."

"Why hasn't Beth come out? Is she hurt?" Carol asked.

Michonne sighed, looking troubled, before saying, "not physically."

When no more information was offered, Carol said, "OK, that's settled then, the four of them wait here. I also think we'd better get some information before going in." She looked over at Martin before turning back to Michonne to continue, "I don't want to waste any time, so…," she trailed off. "Maybe you want to go inside for a little while?"

"No, I'll stay," Michonne responded. "It'll probably be more effective with the two of us."

"Ty," Carol started when they were back by his side, "Beth is inside, she needs watching over. Would you mind taking Carl and Judith and going to stay with her? Michonne and I are gonna get some information about Terminus before going to get our people back."

When Ty furrowed his brow and gave her a preoccupied look, she added, "please?"

"OK," he responded, not sounding very pleased. He did, nonetheless, usher Carl inside.

Once Carol was sure Ty and Carl were out of earshot, she brought her face level with Martin's and asked, "did you use to watch a TV show called '24'?"

"What?" he asked, sounding confused.

Michonne was also looking puzzled by the seemingly purposeless question.

"Did – you – use – to – watch – a – T – V – show – called – 'twenty – four'? Carol repeated, sounding out each word.

"Um, yes."

"Me too," Carol said. "We're gonna ask you questions about your place and you're gonna answer them fast. If you don't start speaking immediately after each question, you're going to find out everything I learned from watching 24, and my husband really liked that damned show, so I learned a lot."

Martin could tell the woman was serious, it was written all over her eyes. He looked from her to the one holding a fucking sword, gulped, and nodded.

"Good," Carol said. "Let's talk."


A/N: Let me know what you think, comments are always appreciated!