Silence. None of us even breath, waiting for the answer. None of them come back with a response, scared of who we are. "Where the hell did you get this watch?" Rick demands again, growing impatient.
"You want answers? You want anything else? You get 'em when you put down the gun." Alex tries to get him to let him go, to surrender.
"I see your man on the roof with a sniper rifle. How good's his aim?" He says to him. I turn my bow upwards, ready to try and take him down if I have t, pushing the little voice in my head away. "Where'd you get the watch? Where'd you get the watch?!" He keeps asking.
"Don't do anything! I have this! You just put it down. You put it down!" Alex yells up to the man on the roof. The man listens, lowering his sniper and stepping away from the ledge. "You want to listen to me. There's a lot of us.." Alex tries again.
"Where did you get the watch?" Rick tightens his grip.
"I got it off of a dead one. I didn't think he'd need it." Alex finally answers him.
"What about the riot gear? The poncho?" I yell back, shouting out the other things that belonged to our group.
"Got the riot gear off a dead cop. Found the poncho on a clothesline." Gareth is now in front of us, standing calmly.
"Gareth, we can wait." Alex says to his friend.
"Shut up, Alex. You talk to me." Rick shouts.
"What's there left to say? You don't trust us anymore." Gareth says knowingly.
"Gareth." Alex cries out.
"Shut up" Gareth holds his hand up, my bow aimed directly at his heart.
"Gareth, please." Alex pleads again.
"It's okay. It's okay. Rick, what do you want?" He asks him.
Rick spits "where are our people?"
"You didn't answer the question." Gareth responds. Rick turns his body and Alex's and a gun shot goes off. People run off screaming.
I shoot one bow towards Gareth but I can see it just grazed his arm. "Get down. Go!" Rick calls out as gunshots ring through the air. We move together, to get out. We try to run where we came from but bullets prevent us from moving that way. We try to run for an opened gate, but they close it before we can get close.
"Come on, here!" Daryl waves us over to another gate. He tries to get it up but it stays locked.
Michonne points to another door "here! come on!" She yells and we go through the door. We get back outside and more shots go off. I hear people yelling, radioing to one another. We are blocked from one direction and turn right, heading towards a building to get away from the bullets.
As we run we hear voices calling out "Help! Help!"
I keep moving, looking around for who is shouting "what the hell?" I ask as we move.
"Let us out! Help!" We hear as they bang against metal.
"Keep going." Rick demands.
We get inside. Candles are lit in this room with names written in chalk all around the floor. "What the hell is this place?" Daryl asks as we look around.
The wall is painted. 'Never Again. Never Trust. Us first, Always.' Michonne adds on "these people, I don't think they're trying to kill us."
"No, they were aiming at our feet." Rick clarifies.
"Why!?" I ask even though I don't think I want to know the answer.
"There!" Rick points to an open door. As we move closer though it slams shut and locks.
"There!" Daryl points to another door and we run.
Rick in the rear "go!" He demands. We get outside. I see the fence, and run towards it seeing Michonne and Daryl on my side. People pop up from the bushes, their guns points directly at us. We all stop, knowing we can't get pas them.
"Drop your weapons! Now! Now!" Gareth shouts to us. We all face him. "Ringleader, go to your left." He directs Rick. "The train car, go." Rick stays standing, his eyes focused on Carl "you do what we say, the boy goes with you. Anything else, he dies and you end up in there anyway." Rick moves his feet, heading to the train car keeping his eyes on Carl. "Now the archer, the man." he directs towards Daryl. Daryl and I glance at one another and he notices "Don't worry, she'll meet you in there." He says about me. His arm bleeds from where the arrow grazed him. Daryl moves towards Rick, staring at me intently as he passes. "Now the samurai." He tells Michonne. I stare at Carl who stares at me. "Stand at the door, ringleader, archer, samurai, in that order."
"My son." Rick yells. Carl's eyes finds his fathers and we wait for more direction.
Gareth answers "Go, kid." He directs and Carol starts walking towards them slowly. "Ringleader, open the door and go in."
"I'll go in with him." Rick demands to wait for his son
"Don't make us kill him now." Gareth sighs out. I can hear the train car open, the thick door thudding.
"The girl?" I hear Daryl shout out meaning me.
"Graze her" Gareth shouts and a gunshot goes off.
My left arm jerks backwards with force and I scream in pain "ahhhh!" I kneel down grabbing at it.
"Go." Gareth shouts at me. I stare at him, tears from the pain rolling from my eyes as I stand up to follow my friends, my family. I grip my arm, worried about losing too much blood and follow Carl inside slowly. I glance at my arm before losing the sunlight and there is no bullet entrance. Whoever shot me is a damn good shot and it only grazed me as he directed them to do.
As I step inside I say out loud "I'm okay" to let Daryl and the others know that I'm fine, not to worry about my injury. The train car door shuts and we stand silently.
There's a noise from the other side of the train car and we look in that direction. Shadows appear, the sunlight from the cracks allowing us to see that. As they get closer and our eyes adjust we spot an old friend "Rick?" Glenn says.
"You're here." Rick comments. "You're here." he says again. Daryl now passed me a hankerchief to put pressure on the wound. Relief doesn't cross his voice though, this location not somewhere any of us want to be.
We all look to the few people behind them, their unfamiliar faces causing some tension. "They're our friends. They helped save us." Maggie explains.
The tension is removed "yeah," Daryl comments "now they're friends of ours."
The large redheaded man in the back jokes "for however long that'll be."
"No." Rick states quickly back. He moves to the side of the train car, going to peer out of a crack. "They're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out." He says.
Michonne is next to me now, helping hold the handkerchief in place to stop the blood. "Find out what?" The redheaded man asks, stepping back into the light.
Rick turns his face towards them, his side profile stone cold "they're fuckin' with the wrong people."
The end -
Please comment on your thoughts ? of this book! And keep an eye out for the next book in this series (Fighting to Survive)! ?