Author's Note: I have to say, I'm fairly proud of myself for being able to update this story, once a week, on Fridays. Of course, that will change once the current season goes on hiatus until October. That being said, I am also proud of this chapter, with the original content I added in, despite it not being as long as the previous one. So, anywho, do that thing you do—Read & Review!
Heh. I rhymed, like, three times in that sentence.
xoxo —Holly
"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success." — Henry Ford
"Listen, I'm not saying I condone what he did, I'm just saying we can't afford to sit him down and talk about how that could've gone better, and how we can all do better next time. This ain't the old world, and we aren't Human Resources. There's no black and white, it's all grey, and right now we just gotta keep moving forward and afterward, if possible, then yeah—we'll hash any issues out."
Georgie looked at Rick, watching the way he held onto the wheel of the Jeep with his left hand and used his right to gesture around as he spoke. The wind created from the speed they were traveling at had swooped up and over the front of the car and was circling all around them, causing their respective curls to flap wildly around them. For Georgie, it was more of a nuisance since her hair was about ten times longer than his, which is why she had been forced to tuck it into the back of her shirt for the simple fact that she had no hair tie to contain her long wild tresses. Even if she did, the damn tie would probably just snap anyway. The last time she could recall wearing a hair tie was when she had gone off with Rick and Daryl to look for supplies, the day they first met Jesus. The tie, then, had broken and since then she hadn't bothered. And here she was again, traveling with Rick and Daryl. Only, this time, it was just Rick and her in a Jeep together while Daryl rode ahead slightly on his bike as they drove toward the chemical plant outpost that, according to Dwight's notes, was headed up by the Savior named Gavin and was where the Kingdom faction of the Militia had been headed to.
That's where the guns had been taken to so that's where they were going to join up and offer their assistance.
"I wasn't saying I think you condone what Daryl did. I was saying we should've said something. We didn't need to have a big ol' discussion. A simple 'hey, killing that kid was unnecessary and uncool, dude' would've sufficed," she replied to Rick, turning to watch as their friend wove from one side of the road to the other with ease; casually, like he was out for a Sunday drive, but also with purpose and determination, as judged by the speed with which he was traveling. "The kid wasn't armed. He had given up. He wasn't trying to fight back. And Daryl still killed him in cold blood."
"I know." Rick's expression was firm, and a little pensive. "A discussion will be had. Just not now."
"Yeah. I know. I know we have more pressing matters, but that's the beauty of traveling together from points A to B, and so on, so forth. It gives you and me the time to discuss the shit we gotta discuss later."
Rick tossed her a look of half exasperation and half amusement. "If you say so." The corners of his mouth turned upward, ever so slightly, as did one of his eyebrows.
"Don't give me that look, Mr. Grimes."
Rick's smirk became more obvious and she narrowed her gaze at him. "I'll look at you however I want, Mrs. Grimes."
When he wasn't looking at the road, to make sure he wasn't about to run them into a ditch or about to catch up too quickly to Daryl and run him down, Rick was throwing more looks at Georgie, and each one was more mischievous than the last.
"Rick."
"What? I can't help it. Yeah, we've suffered some losses, some minor setbacks so far today, but I think all and all it's still a good day. I know what Daryl did was kinda shitty, but I also know we're the ones who are still standing right now. And that's what I'm definitely okay with. So, I'm gonna look at you and I'm gonna smile at you, despite any losses and setbacks, because we're still winning and we're still alive, and you're my wife, and I like that you're my wife, and any chance I can get to allude to the fact that you're my wife until we get the chance to let others know—that's a good day."
"Rick."
"Actually, I'd say it borders on being a great day."
"Rick."
"Okay, fine, I'll—"
"No. Rick."
Rick took a moment to pay attention to what Georgie was starting to gesture at. Way up ahead, turning onto the road they were currently traveling on, a military-style Humvee swerved to stay on pavement. It had just peeled away out from the road lying perpendicular to their current road, which happened to be where Rick, Georgie and Daryl had been planning to turn off onto. The Humvee had clearly come from the chemical plant outpost, and was fleeing it fast with a lumpy tarp in the back likely filled with the weapons Rick's group had been after.
Daryl turned around slightly on his bike to give Rick and Georgie a quick look and a signal as he slowed his bike's pace so that he was riding parallel along Rick's side. "You bring up the rear," he called over. "Catch up on 'em, then we'll tag team 'em."
Rick nodded, and watched as Daryl revved his engine and up. Pressing his foot down a little more on the gas pedal, Rick began to increase their speed. "You ready, Eddie?" he asked Georgie.
With a brief sigh, she nodded. "You bet, Chet."
Coming up more quickly upon the Humvee, Daryl began to ride its ass. From behind, Rick and Georgie maintained a close distance; watching as Daryl whipped out his handgun and started shooting at the Savior behind the wheel. He only got in a few shots, though, when the tarp on the back of the Humvee was tossed aside to reveal a second Savior that had been hiding underneath and had an artillery gun aimed at them. The second that the artillery gun opened fire, Daryl swerved out of the way, but did so too hard, causing his bike to skid off to the side of the road, and rollover a couple of times; tossing him from it.
Rick and Georgie threw glances back as they drove past; making sure that Daryl was alright. There was little time to see that he was as Rick picked up speed to gain on the Humvee. They couldn't risk letting it get away and return to the Sanctuary with those weapons. Rick shifted the gears and got right up on the rear of the Humvee, swerving from one side of the road to the other as the Savior continued to fire upon them with that damn artillery gun. It was hard for Rick to duck, since he was the one driving the Jeep, but Georgie could, when necessary. Up ahead, there were walkers in the road, and sensing the driver of the Humvee was paying a little more attention outrunning the vehicle behind him and his buddy than on the road ahead, Rick backed off slightly to let the undead work their magic, so to speak.
As Rick suspected but hadn't verbalized to Georgie, who was quietly wondering why he was slowing down, the Humvee was forced to make a few hard turns to avoid hitting the walkers in its way. Because of that, the Savior manning the artillery gun was tossed around in the back of the Humvee like a party favor; giving Rick the chance to change gears again and take his turn in riding the Humvee's ass. As he was in the process, though, the Savior at the artillery gun popped back up and opened fire yet again. This time he was lucky and struck right at the front of the Jeep. Smoke began to billow out from the front grill. He might've though he had just gotten the upper hand and deterred Rick and Georgie, but he was not expecting the fact that Daryl had since gotten back up on his bike and caught up.
Rick made a hard left with the Jeep, revealing Daryl, who fired off a few shots; striking the Savior in the back of the Humvee in the head on the fourth try. As the body slumped over, Rick sped up again; trying to come up alongside the other vehicle, but the surviving Savior kept swerving to and fro to prevent Rick's attempts. Slamming his foot down upon the gas pedal when he finally got his opening, Rick brought the Jeep parallel with the Humvee.
"Take the wheel," he demanded of Georgie.
He gave her little time to react when he jumped from the distance from the Jeep's driver's seat to the Humvee's passenger seat. Georgie practically tossed her body behind the wheel; letting out a yelp of surprise and frustration as she lost control of the vehicle long enough for it to careen off the road and strike the beginning section of a metal guardrail. Slamming on the brake, she brought the Jeep to an abrupt stop as her entire body lurched forward for a moment and made her feel like she might be tossed over the windshield and onto the hood.
With her foot still on the brake, she looked up and saw the Humvee swerving around as the body of the surviving Savior tumbled out onto the road. The Humvee, either under Rick's control or not, continued forward and barreled right into the guardrail; plowing it down and rolling right down the hill. Tossing the gear into park and turning the engine off, Georgie jumped out of the driver's seat of the Jeep and hit the ground running as Daryl soon zipped right past her on his bike. By the time she had caught up to where Rick had gone down the embankment, Daryl had already jumped off his bike and was straining to see where Rick was.
At the bottom of the embankment, the Humvee was lying on its side; the wheels still spinning and smoke coming from the front of the undercarriage where the engine was. There was no sign of Rick, though; of where he would've been tossed or if he had survived the fall.
"Oh God," Georgie muttered, trying to catch her breath. Her heart had leapt into her throat as she feared the worst.
She imagined he had been thrown from the vehicle and that he had snapped his neck and died instantly. Or maybe he was somehow pinned underneath the complete weight of the Humvee. If so, he was likely crushed and, if not dead already, then definitely going to die. Or maybe he had been tossed from the Humvee and hit his head on one of those trees below and was merely concussed.
"Rick!" she called out but received no answer.
Daryl, scanning the bottom, seemed less concerned when the tall grass along the embankment began to rustle with obvious movement of something coming near the two of them standing at the top.
"Hey."
It was Rick.
Georgie gave an audible sigh of relief and she watched Rick appear, crawling up the hill. As he got nearer, Daryl reached forward to give him a hand. Rick took a moment, nodded thanks to Daryl, and went about catching his breath as the three of them looked from each other and back down toward the overturned Humvee.
"We got the guns," Rick announced lamely.
"You look like shit," Daryl grunted.
Looking down at himself and shrugging it off, Rick focused on more pressing matters. "Let's go see if this asshole's still alive."
Turning around, both men moved to head across to the other side of the road, while Georgie took a moment to just thank their lucky stars that Rick had once again thwarted possible death. As she turned to join them, Rick had his Colt drawn and aimed at the Savior on the ground who was struggling to crawl away from the injuries he'd sustained from Rick and then after being tossed from the Humvee.
"Your people back at the chemical plant," Rick began. "Did you win?"
Georgie looked at Rick; frowning at what his question meant.
Groaning, and with shuddered breath, the Savior rolled onto his back as he looked up at the trio standing there. "No one did," he replied.
"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Daryl demanded.
The Savior coughed, spitting up a little bit of blood. When he failed to answer in a timely enough fashion for Daryl, Daryl proceeded to give the Savior a kick to the gut and then hovered over him with a gun in his face.
"The hell's that supposed to mean?" he repeated.
Coughing again, but more weakly this time, the Savior seemed to know he was at his end. There was no point to pretense. "Everyone's dead."
Those words hung heavy in the air.
"Bullshit," Daryl countered.
"There's no one else? You're the only one?" Rick questioned.
"Me," the Savior replied, choking a bit on blood in his throat. "The King. The Axe Man. And a short-haired psycho lady."
Georgie's shoulders slumped. The heaviness of worry lifted from them as the trio had been well aware that Carol had gone to be part of Ezekiel's team this morning after the first assault had begun. Ezekiel was the King, obviously, and it wasn't certain to them who the supposed Axe Man was, but there was no doubting Carol had to be the short-haired psycho lady. Of course, they knew she wasn't psycho, but for an outsider, like this Savior, it was easy to mistake someone as badass and resourceful as Carol as being psycho. To an extent.
Losing Ezekiel could've been a terrible blow to their cause, and this fight, but losing Carol would've been worse, on the personal level. She was their friend; one of their best friends. She was family, even now when she preferred living away from Alexandria and cleaving to another community for whatever her reasons. Losing family was the worst part in a war like this. They knew it was likely to happen, and were thankful this wasn't one of those times.
"You did this," the Savior continued amidst ragged breathing. "My people…your people…they're all gone."
As nice as it was to hear Carol, Ezekiel and one other were fine, hearing that the rest from the Kingdom team was dead was still a hard blow and a heavy pill to swallow. That meant about a dozen, dozen and a half, give or take, men and women had just lost their lives and wouldn't be returning home to their family and friends back at the Kingdom. It was a devastating loss not just for the Kingdom, but for the Militia, which had apparently just lost almost a third of its fighters.
"Damn," As Daryl walked away, the Savior groaned. His breaths were few and far between. "And now…me, too."
Rick and Georgie remained; side by side, as they watched as the Savior's bloody hand slipped from the bloody wound Rick was responsible for. The Savior's head rolled to the side and he took his last breath; staring blankly ahead with a look of mild disappointment and unseeing eyes that had begun to glaze over from death.
Removing a knife from his utility belt, Rick crouched down and showed the dead Savior a small kindness by shoving the blade into his skull so he wouldn't come back. Georgie turned and walked away first, to join Daryl back on the other side of the road, with Rick following shortly after.
Daryl went first, moving down the embankment toward the overturned Humvee to go claim the weapons it had been transporting. Georgie threw a look over her shoulder at Rick and then followed after Daryl; grabbing onto the tall grass and overgrown weeds here and there in case she slipped in a muddy spot and lost her footing. By the time she had made her way to the bottom, Daryl had already slipped around to the other side of the vehicle and Rick was more than halfway down the embankment. As he came up alongside her, they both took note of the gasoline spilling from the Humvee and then walked around to join Daryl, who was struggling to free a wooden crate from the vehicle's cache of weaponry.
"Hey. Gimme a hand with this."
Rick stepped forward; both men grunting as they wrenched the crate free. "Yep."
"Got it?"
"Yeah."
As they set it down on the ground, Rick removed the lid. Inside the crate were a few sticks of dynamite and some C-4. Grabbing a backpack from the Humvee, Daryl began to place the explosives inside while Rick merely looked up at him with curiosity.
"We can use these now," Daryl remarked; sensing the questioning tone in Rick's expression.
"What?"
"Well, think about it. There ain't no Kingdom no more."
"Yeah," Rick replied, apprehensively.
"We know what we gotta do?"
"And what's that exactly?" Georgie wondered, raising an eyebrow at Daryl.
"We blow open the Sanctuary, let the walkers flood in. They'll surrender. It'll be done. Hell, we could end this by sundown."
Rick looked down at the ground, and then up at Georgie before standing back up. The two of them shared the same thought process as he turned his attention back upon Daryl. "They have workers in there, right? Families, too." Off Daryl's hesitation, he prodded, "Are there?"
Daryl took pause, mulling it over. "We'll hit the south side of the main building," he amended. "The workers live in the north side. They'll be up the stairs before the walkers even get in."
"What if they don't?" Georgie questioned. "There are people in there who aren't fighters."
Rick nodded. "Doing this could change that. Make them pick up guns and stand by the Saviors. And if the Saviors don't surrender, maybe everyone fights us. And we don't have the Kingdom anymore." Rick shook his head; shooting down Daryl's plans. "We're not doing this."
Both men stared at each other for a solid moment; almost like a Mexican standoff.
"No," Daryl shrugged it off, reaching out and giving Rick a shove to the shoulder. "You ain't doing this."
As he began to walk away, Rick was fast to close the gap between them and grabbed at Daryl's shoulder; yanking him back. Daryl jerked out of Rick's grasp and the tension between them began to quickly mount.
"There's a plan, and everyone's sticking to it," Rick insisted.
"Not everyone. There's a lot of our people that are dead, Rick," Daryl parried. "Things change, man." He moved to walk off again, but turned back to face Rick a second later. "And Negan and that other group? This is on them. If people die, it's their fault, not ours."
"Daryl, we can't do this."
"And we got our own people to look after."
When Daryl turned away again and began to stalk off, Rick stalked off right after him. "We're not doing this," Rick asserted. When Daryl gave no hint that he was going to stop, Rick got angry. "Hey. I'm not letting you do this."
The second he grabbed for Daryl's shoulder again, Daryl spun around and punched him in the face. Caught off guard by the force of the hit, Rick dropped to the ground.
"This ain't your choice," Daryl grunted down at him.
Georgie, like a protective mama bear, reacted with the same force as she ran at Daryl and gave him a hard shove to the chest. When he stumbled back a couple of steps and caught her eye, she slapped him. "And this isn't a choice you get to make. This decision will affect all of us if you fuck up and we can't risk that."
Touching a hand to his lip, Rick sneered as he watched Daryl step back from Georgie and continue to once again walk off with the backpack of explosives in hand. Jumping up to his feet, Rick threw himself at Daryl and tackled him to the ground. Dropping the backpack for the moment, Daryl rolled and found himself on top; pinning Rick to the ground. As he hauled off to punch Rick again, Rick was quick to move his head in time and then toss Daryl off him with the thud.
Georgie stood there, placing both hands to her face in frustration. Pushing her hair out of her face, she hurried forward and grabbed at Daryl's shoulders to pull him away from Rick. "Stop it. Both of you," she demanded. "We don't have time for this shit."
Unsuccessful in her grasp for Daryl, she instead reached for the backpack he was going for again and tossed it over by the Humvee, which pissed him off. Glaring at her, he was caught off guard for a moment as Rick grabbed at him again, but Daryl got the upper hand. He turned his focus back to his friend; slipping an arm around Rick's neck and getting him in a chokehold. As they dropped down to the ground, with Daryl in a partial kneeling position, and Rick struggling in the grasp, Georgie jumped onto Daryl's back to attempt to peel him away.
"Fucking stop," she grunted.
With Rick's short and dirty, but somehow sharp, nails digging into his arm and Georgie clinging to his back, Daryl's slackened his grip on Rick, but only slightly as he rolled to the side and pinned Georgie onto her back underneath him. Rick threw his hands up and pulled at Daryl's hair when he noticed flames erupting from the Humvee.
"Daryl!" Rick shouted, trying to get him to see what he was seeing.
"Get up!" Daryl shouted right back, releasing Rick from his grasp.
As Rick stumbled forward, Daryl gave Georgie a hand and practically yanked her arm out of her socket to force her forward and as far away from the Humvee as they could all get as quickly as possible. As the three of them darted forward, the sudden blast from the vehicle exploding propelled their bodies forward a few feet like a bunch of rag dolls. The each landed unceremoniously to the ground with pained grunts and groans. After a moment of getting their bearings, they brought themselves to sit up a little as they stared ahead at the vehicle, which was engulfed in an inferno of flames and a succession of minor explosions following.
With dejected huffs, the trio sat further upright.
With the explosion of the Humvee went Daryl's plans to attack the Sanctuary again. It also meant they'd lost the cache of weapons they'd been trying to get their hands on.
Sitting there, stewing in soured moods wasn't going to change anything. They still had things to do, next phases to prepare for, and none of it would get done sitting on their asses. They had to shake it off and do what needed doing and not dwell on the loss of weapons. They might not have been successful in acquiring them, but that also meant the Saviors would no longer have them either, and that was definitely a silver lining.
So, picking their asses up off the ground, they exchanged looks with each other and slowly began to make their way back up the hill to the road. In silence, Rick began walking ahead toward the Jeep where Georgie had slammed into the guardrail. She was a few feet behind him, wiping sweat from her brow as she looked over at Daryl, who was wandering over to his bike and picking it up from the guardrail he'd been leaning it against. As soon as Rick had reached the Jeep, he'd hopped into the driver's seat and turned the key in the ignition, but the engine was struggling to turn over. He tried a few more times, growling in frustration under his breath while Georgie waited there on the side of the road, watching Daryl up ahead as he revved the engine of his bike and turned it around.
Giving up on the Jeep, Rick climbed out of it, but not without grabbing the Polaroids out from the glove compartment. A moment later, Daryl approached and came to a stop in the road; neither men looking directly at each other. The fight had left their manly pride bruised. Georgie grabbed Rick's rifle from the back of the Jeep, handing it to him, and watched as Rick wandered into the road and just stood there, facing the opposite direction as Daryl.
"There's a plan," Rick spoke. "We gotta see it through."
"We gotta win," Daryl countered.
"Yeah. We gotta." After a few moments of further silence between them both, Rick added, "Chokehold's illegal, asshole."
"Mm-hmm. Yes, it is."
"Can you give Georgie a lift back home?"
Daryl hesitated, and then nodded. "Yeah."
"Georgie isn't going home yet. Georgie is sticking to the plan," she muttered, referring to herself in third person, since both men seemed to be talking about her as if she weren't there.
Rick turned and glanced at her. With a sigh, he nodded, and it seemed to be a nod that held a sense of gratitude to it; that he was happy she was still at his side and also on his side. "Looks like we're walking then."
"Yep," Daryl acknowledged; still keeping his eyes forward and refusing to look toward either Rick or Georgie.
Rick, however, looked at Daryl; though, only for a moment. "We'll meet you when we're done with the last play."
"You sure about doing it?"
"Yeah, I am." Rick glanced at Georgie and gestured forward with a tilt of his head.
Without a word further toward Daryl, the couple began to walk off up the road. Daryl didn't bother to look back at them as he started up his bike, and especially not as he rode off in the direction they had all originally come from.
As Rick walked, carrying his rifle in his arms and the Polaroids tucked into the back pockets of his faded black jeans, he limped slightly from the fall he'd taken upon jumping from the Humvee before it fell down the embankment. Being no spring chicken anymore meant jumps and falls like those were no longer as easy as they once were. It took a lot longer to bounce back, but pride being what it was for him, refused to make a scene of it when he was hurting. He opted to suck it up and deal with it quietly and by himself. Though, these days, with Georgie at his side, and in his bed—or, well, lack of a bed, as it were, since the Saviors had taken their mattresses—there wasn't too much he could keep hidden anymore. She could see through the bravado, the tough exterior and walls he built up. And, frankly, he was glad of it. It was tiring to be the strong one all the time. He was glad he had someone he could be vulnerable around and that she insisted he was still strong even when he wasn't really feeling it.
And that's why he was glad she opted to stick with him right now and not go back to Alexandria, even though he had asked Daryl to take her with him. It wasn't a test or anything like that. He was just giving her the chance to go home because, as usual, he felt the need to be the strong one. Even if Daryl wasn't one hundred percent on board with continuing with the plan they had all agreed upon, Rick was, and would've been fine if Georgie wanted to call it a day and not go any further at the moment.
But there she was, at his side.
Neither Rick nor Georgie spoke about anything of real importance for the better part of an hour. They had wandered along that main road about fifteen minutes and then began to cut through some woods, heading in the direction of their next intended stop; the last for the day. After that, they could make their way home, and hopefully it wouldn't have to be on foot. Hopefully they could find a vehicle they could hotwire, or that had the keys still in it, with enough gas to get them home, or almost home at the very least.
One thing was for certain: even with all the things that would be racing through their heads to keep them awake, they would easily sleep like babies tonight.
After a little while longer, they cut through a thinner patch of tree coverage and came out onto a narrow, country road, scattered with so many dead leaves that it almost looked like there was no road there at all. The songs of cicadas in the air and the occasional chirping of birds overhead were the typical sounds that had long since become background noise. The silence between the pair wasn't on purpose. It had nothing to do with that altercation with Daryl by the Humvee. It was simply because they were comfortable with the silence and they could easily pass the time together without having to fill that silence with deep conversation or even small talk. Sometimes saying nothing said more than enough.
Actually, it was just kind of peaceful. It gave them time to clear their minds while keeping each other company.
The noise they heard next, however, wasn't something that could ever be misconstrued as background noise. Maybe in the old world, but not now.
Not in this world.
In this world it seemed impossible.
While it was a sound neither had heard in a long time, it was unmistakable.
Stopping in their tracks, they looked skyward and, after a moment, an actual helicopter flew by.
"We didn't just hallucinate that, did we?" Georgie wondered, as it disappeared from sight over the treetops.
"No. That was real."
Both looked down and at each other.
"Where do you think it was headed?"
Rick shrugged. "I think I'm more interested in where it was coming from."
Georgie nodded. "Do you think it was the Saviors? Dwight never mentioned them having a damn helicopter."
"Nah. I don't think it was the Saviors." Rick tilted his head a little. "I mean, if Negan had a helicopter at his disposal, I'm pretty sure he's the type that would definitely show it off. He'd fly that thing right into Alexandria and brag about it for twenty minutes, and fifteen of those minutes would just be so he could hear himself talk."
"Good point," Georgie agreed with a slight laugh at Rick's commentary about Negan. "Well, whoever it was, let's hope the Saviors don't get their hands on it. The last thing we need is Saviors fighting us from the ground and sky."
Rick glanced in the direction the helicopter had been headed and looked a little contemplative. "I think I know where it was headed."
"Yeah?"
Rick brought his gaze back to her. When she locked eyes with him, he exchanged a simple look with her that seemed to pass along his thoughts with it. Georgie furrowed her brow and considered what he was trying to get at; turning to look in the direction the helicopter had gone off in and then back to Rick for confirmation. He nodded in silent response to her silent question.
"Seriously?"
"I think it's a possibility."
"That's…interesting." Georgie frowned. "And it rises so many more questions that I don't know if I want the answers to."
Rick snickered and nodded up the road, where it curved in toward the same direction the helicopter had gone. "C'mon. Let's keep moving."
About forty minutes later, the narrow country road intersected with a more average two-lane road. The other side of the country road, across the intersection, was a wheelbarrow full of junk, which included a strategically placed microwave, put there a couple days before by members of the Militia. It was one of the drop boxes. Crossing the intersection, Rick reached the microwave first and pressed the door button and the door popped open, revealing two letters waiting inside. His letter for Hilltop had been passed along to Aaron earlier, and would be for Maggie to read. The letter for the Kingdom had been passed along to Tobin, who would leave it in a drop box for someone from the Kingdom to retrieve. At some point, not too long ago, someone from the Hilltop and the Kingdom had been to this particular drop box and left their letters which recounted each team's exploits after the first phase had been completed. There was been a third letter that Rick had written, and that had been given to Scott, who would take it home to Alexandria, so everyone there knew how things were going as well.
Rick held onto one of the letters and passed the other to Georgie. "You read one, I'll read one."
"You go first."
Rick nodded and unfolded the paper, silently suggesting they read and walk at the same time. "This one's from Hilltop," he began. "It says, 'We beat them, but things got complicated. Jesus took prisoners, brought them back home. We're holding them outside our gates for now, till we decide what to do. Until I decide.'" Rick sighed and rolled his eyes. "Prisoners. Jesus took prisoners?"
Georgie shrugged. "Maybe they surrendered. And Jesus isn't Daryl. I doubt he'd shoot dead anyone who was unarmed and surrendering."
Rick stopped walking and looked at her with a slightly frustrated expression as he recalled that all too recent incident with that kid back at the office plaza outpost. "Yeah," was the only thing he managed to mutter in response to that. "What's the letter from the Kingdom say?"
Georgie, too, had stopped walking. She looked from him, and down to the opened up sheet of paper in her hands. "It's from Carol. 'We took the outpost bit by bit. We thought we'd won. We were gathered up in the open and they ambushed us. It was over in seconds.'" Georgie looked up and over at Rick, who shared the same solemn expression upon his face that she was wearing. Looking back down after a moment, she continued reading aloud, "'Ezekiel, Jerry, and me…we're the only ones who made it back.' Well, now we know who the Axe Man is."
It took a moment, but Rick realized what she was talking about. The Savior from the Humvee had referred to three people from the Kingdom surviving the chemical plant outpost: Ezekiel, Carol and 'the Axe Man.' Carol's letter confirmed Jerry as the Axe Man.
Folding the letters back up, they crumpled them up and tossed them away. The messages were received and there was no need to hang on to them any longer. So, with the information about the gains and losses from the other two communities stored away in their minds, Rick and Georgie opted to keep moving forward instead of lingering any longer. Daylight was wasting and they wanted to get the next step over and done with as quick as possible so they could be home by nightfall.
They passed an abandoned car up ahead on the side of the road and cut through the woods just behind the car. Up to this point they hadn't crossed paths with any walkers, which was a nice change of pace, but they kept their blades at the ready, just in case; Rick with his hatchet, and Georgie with a knife.
They walked along in further silence, weaving along a path between the trees that was rife with the signs of old and new footprints in the ground of the people who had come from and gone along this particular direction. At the edge of the tree line, a familiar sight appeared before them, but neither Rick nor Georgie went any further just yet.
Several tens of yards away, was a massive walled heap of garbage with the back half of a green shipping container sticking out. Garbage trucks were parked one behind the other, and at least a dozen bicycles were either propped up by way of kickstands or simply set down on their sides.
"I wish we didn't need to go any further," Georgie remarked, sheathing her knife as Rick did the same with his hatchet. "I wish we didn't need them."
"I know," he agreed. "But without the Kingdom now, unfortunately we do."
"And if they don't help us?"
Rick looked at her, studying her profile for a moment, before looking back at the heaps of junk. "I don't know. I say we just hope for the best."
"I guess I can manage that."
"But, seriously though, if they won't fight with us, they better prepare themselves to go down with the Saviors." Looking back at her, he waited until she sensed he was looking and turned to meet his eye. "Do we agree on that?"
With a small sigh, Georgie nodded. "Let's not kill them if they choose not to fight. Let's only cross that bridge if they choose to fight against us. If they choose to keep to themselves and refuse to pick a side, even after what happened with them a few days ago, let's just leave them be. No harm, no foul." Raising her brow expectantly at him, she subtly goaded him for his response. "Can we agree on that?"
Rick hesitated; mulling it over. After a few moments, he shrugged and gave a curt nod of his head. "I suppose we can." To be sure they were clear on what they were discussing, he continued, "They don't have to stand with us, just not against us."
"Yeah. If they choose to be Switzerland, I say let them be Switzerland."
"I'd rather they fought with us, but I can live with Switzerland."
Georgie smirked and looked around at the immediate area outside the entrance into Jadis' junkyard. "Do you think there's a spare vehicle around here we can boost?"
"Boost?" Rick looked at Georgie with amusement. "Who are you? Angelina Jolie in Gone In Sixty Seconds?"
Georgie chuckled quietly. "Wow. Random film reference. Good for you."
Rick shrugged. "I watched the DVD with Carl a couple of months ago. I guess it's still fresh in my memory."
Turning her attention back toward the junkyard, she returned focus on their main task ahead. "I don't see any scouts or snipers anywhere. Safe to say they aren't worried about anyone showing up. I think they'll be a little surprised we're here."
"Just a little."
"Okay, then. Shall we?"
Rick nodded. "Yeah."
Stepping out first from between the trees, he led Georgie in the direction of the green shipping container. They walked in tandem, keeping their eyes peeled for any stragglers of either the living or undead variety, as they reached the outer doors. Pulling the doors open as quietly as possible, Rick signaled for Georgie to keep quiet by placing a single finger to his lips. As they slipped inside the shipping container, they had the light from outside shining in enough to give them a sense of the distance they had to walk, which was only forty feet; the average length of a shipping container such as this one.
As they came to the inner doors, knowing the bowels of the junkyard and all its inhabitants existed on the other side, Rick looked to Georgie, squared his shoulders and knocked three times.
And then they waited.