The night was dark and two figures in black moved through it, keeping to the shadows. They were dangerous streets they traversed, so close to the Wall. In some places they came right up alongside it, and heard the muttering of soldiers on the other side, guarding the death strip, and the occasional yip of a dog. Every so often a patrol came by on their side of the Wall and they had to hide in alcoves or down alleyways.

'Is it very far, now?' Beth asked in a whisper.

Daryl stopped, listening. 'Hear that?' he asked in a gravelly voice. She listened, and heard the distant clack of trains crossing points.

A few minutes later they came to a train station, climbed over the barriers and through some hastily strung barbed wire. In the shadow cast by the platform, they waited. Daryl checked his watch.

'The train'll come through in six minutes. After that we've got eleven minutes to get down the tunnel and reach the first junction before another train comes through.'

Beth stared into the gaping black hole at the entrance to the U-Bahn. It had been nearly a week since she'd been released from Hohenschönhausen. She'd spent much of it alone, stretching her sore body while Maggie, Shawn and Daryl were working. There had been plenty of time to think. Plenty of time to be angry. In the evenings she and Daryl had met in the safe house to plan their next move. Maggie had wanted to come too but they all agreed it would be too dangerous for the sisters to be seen out together. It might look suspicious once Beth disappeared.

'I've worked out why he let me go,' Beth had said to him one evening. There was no need to say who 'he' was. Commandant Blake was like the spectre at the feast whenever they were together. She was loath to bring him up as she knew how even the mention of him affected Daryl. Maggie had told her he'd been on his way to assassinate Blake when she'd brought the news Beth was back. It made Beth shudder to think how close Daryl had got to murdering an important Stasi officer, and likely being caught and executed himself.

Daryl had given her a sharp look. 'Yeah?'

Beth had nodded. 'When I was looking for my daddy's file on his desk I found a report on two people called Isabella and Gunter. Remember how I told Blake I'd seen Ana's boyfriend Conrad with Comrade Walsh? He took me seriously, it seems, and bugged their apartment. I could tell it was them from what they'd been saying to each other.'

Daryl had thought about this a moment. 'Not somethin' Blake'd want to be common knowledge.'

'Exactly,' Beth had said. 'I didn't mean anything by it when I said to Blake, "Will it be Isabella next?" I just wanted him to think about the awful things that happened to the women he's been close to. I suppose he thought I was using the information to get myself released.'

Beth was pulled back to the present by the sound of a train approaching. It rushed out of the tunnel and stopped at the station. A minute later it was pulling out again, the roar of the engines loud in her ears and the wheels turning just a few feet from where they were hunched.

Daryl glanced around. The platform was deserted. 'Let's go.'

They darted into the tunnel. Beth was grateful as the darkness closed around them. When the light disappeared they flicked on their torches.

Daryl had given her the last edition of the U-Bahn schematics that had been printed in 1956. They were heading west at that moment, but the tunnels meandered beneath Berlin and all but two train routes from the west had been severed. Trains on those routes no longer stopped at East Berlin stations and the deserted stations on the East Berlin side were locked up and patrolled.

Daryl and Beth had entered the U-Bahn on a line that wasn't secure, but no longer connected to West Berlin. Or not officially. On foot they might find a way though, or a way to tunnel through.

…

Maggie ate quickly. It was just her and Shawn at home for dinner, for the third time that week. Shawn was looking at Beth's empty place like he was going to burn holes in it with his eyeballs.

He thumped his fist on the table. 'Is it not enough that she shames us by being arrested? Where is she?'

Maggie was beginning to loath her brother. When Beth had returned, Shawn hadn't told her he was glad she was home, or hugged her, or asked her if she was all right. Instead he'd looked at her like she was something dirty and told her she'd made a fool of him in front of his fellow border guards.

'I don't know,' Maggie said, not looking up. 'She must want fresh air after being in a cell for a fortnight.'

'Fresh air,' he scoffed, and pointed at the front door. 'It is below zero out there. She is too stupid to be a traitor but too stupid to realise she is behaving like one. What will we tell the Stasi if they show up at the door right now, looking for her?'

All the rest of my family, Maggie thought, scowling down at her plate, is scattered far and wide, perhaps lost to me forever, and I am stuck here with you.

…

Two hours later Daryl and Beth found the abandoned station. It had been closed in the 1920s when there had been changes to the line. No trains ran this way anymore, and it couldn't be reached from the surface. Daryl broke open the door to the station manager's office and they went inside.

Beth looked around. It was dusty and cobwebby, and cold, but it was dry at least. She put down her backpack and smiled at Daryl. 'It's not so bad. It will be a treat after Hohenschönhausen.'

Daryl kicked at the droppings on the floor. 'Goddamn rats.'

Beth looked too, feeling a little queasy. 'Maybe it's just mice.' He was looking at her with a stony expression. 'Daryl. Please. I know what you're going to say.'

He dumped his bag and pulled out a packet of cigarettes, and played with the wrapper while he smoked.

Beth said, 'One of us has to stay on the outside. If we both disappear then the Stasi could figure everything out. I'm already under suspicion. It's better that it's me.'

The U-Bahn network was huge. It could take weeks, months trying to figure a way through to the other side a few hours a night. But with someone living down here, exploring it constantly … It was a good plan. But when Beth had suggested that she be the one to do it Daryl refused. He'd always done his own reconnaissance.

Eventually she'd talked him round, saying she'd go over the Wall, but only if he let her do this first. And down in the U-Bahn, she'd pointed out, she'd be safe from Commandant Blake.

'I know,' he muttered. 'Don't mean I have to like leavin' you down here in the goddamn dark.'

Beth wanted to go to him, to hug him, but he'd been so prickly with her after that first night. He'd held her then, but wouldn't touch her now, and she didn't understand why.

He helped her set up a makeshift camp in the office, sweeping out the dust and the droppings, plugging up holes chewed in the skirting board and spreading a thin mattress on the floor. She had two blankets and some spare clothes in a pillow case for a pillow. Most of the weight they'd carried in was batteries and tinned food.

In not much time they were done. She looked at her watch. It was past two in the morning. 'You go,' she said. 'You need some sleep before your shift.'

He nodded but didn't move.

'I want to do this, Daryl.'

'I know. I was just thinkin' about later. After. What will you do once you're on the other side?'

Beth frowned. 'I'm not going yet, you know. There's a lot of work still to do.'

He studied her closely. 'You ain't comin' out again, Beth. Not on the east side. Not once he knows you're missin'.'

Beth looked away. She was angry with him for reminding her. She supposed he just wanted her to be sure she knew there was no going back, but it was a lousy thing to leave her with, down there in the dark. 'I know,' she said, as if she hadn't forgotten that she'd said goodbye to East Berlin forever.

Daryl turned toward the door. 'All right. See you in two days.'

…

Lori had just got home from Stasi Headquarters when there was a knock on her door. She opened it to find her ex-husband on the threshold. He was the last person she wanted to see after a long day. She was the only secretary at Commandant Blake's office right now and he had been more than usually unpleasant to work with since Beth had left them.

'What do you want?' she asked.

Rick looked uncertain. Tired. She'd seen that look a lot in the months before they'd broken up, and she'd learned to let it make her angry. It was easier than acknowledging that she didn't know how to fix it.

'Just to see you, Lori. Please?'

She should have shut the door in his face – they didn't have anything to say to each other – but instead she found herself standing back to let him in. She didn't have to pretend with Rick. Shane expected her to be cheerful and attentive. Blake expected her to enjoy the way he took his frustrations out on her, or at least not to complain. Rick just let her be.

Going to the fridge she took out a bottle of beer, opened it, and passed it to him. She got a glass of water for herself and they sat together on the couch, and she tucked her legs under herself and sighed. They were both silent for a long time, and Lori was just feeling herself begin to enjoy Rick's presence when he spoke.

'I still love you, Lori.'

She closed her eyes briefly. 'Don't, Rick.'

'I do. I think you love me too. I know you don't love Walsh or Blake.'

Lori turned to him sharply. 'Why the hell would I love Blake?' He couldn't know about that, surely. She'd never told anyone about it. Was Blake bragging to people that he was sleeping with her? He'd sworn that he never would. There'd be hell between Blake and Shane if Shane found out. The Party and the Stasi needed each other, and both were powerful in their own right.

Rick looked away and she knew he knew about her and Blake. She swore under her breath. 'Does Shane know?'

'No.'

'How the hell do you know?'

Rick stroked his thumb over the label of his beer. 'I didn't know. Not for sure. I've seen something in the commandant's eye when he looks at you. The way he is around Walsh.'

Lori thought about this. It was possible. Rick had always been perceptive, and she'd seen the looks Blake had given Walsh behind Walsh's back.

'Why do you let him, Lori?'

Lori folded her arms. 'It's not so bad, you know. People have it a lot worse in this country. Look what happened to Beth.'

He reached out to her, but she shrugged him off. 'It could have just as easily been you, you think, if you'd refused him?'

She levelled a stare at him. 'Maybe. I don't fancy finding out. If that stupid miss had just let him do what he wanted she would still have a comfy little job and I wouldn't have to put up with him pawing at me.'

Rick looked pained. 'Come back to me, and you won't have to put up with it, I promise you.'

Lori rolled her eyes. 'If Shane can't stop him, neither can you.'

'Shane doesn't know it's happening. I know. I can get you another job – get you out –'

Lori was about to say, What are you talking about? Get me out? when Rick put a hand over her mouth and said, 'Get you out of Stasi Headquarters and into a better job.'

She stared at him. There'd been a flash of fear in his eyes and she knew he hadn't meant that. He had meant out of East Berlin. He put a finger over his lips and gave her a warning look. What the hell was going on?

'I'd better go,' he said, putting his beer bottle down.

Lori looked around her apartment. Did Rick know something she didn't?

…

Lori walked him outside. As soon as they were in the street she turned on him and hissed, 'What the hell, Rick? Is my apartment bugged? And why are you talking about getting me out of East Berlin? There isn't a way to get out of East Berlin.'

Rick pulled her into a nearby doorway. He hadn't meant for it to slip out but the image of her submitting to Blake had made him forget himself. 'Yes, it's bugged.'

She pushed her hands through her hair. 'What the hell? Why bug my apartment? I haven't done anything. Has Shane –?'

Rick thought quickly, wondering what to say. He'd already said far too much. Daryl would be furious with him. They'd mended their friendship since Beth had been released and it had got Rick thinking that he and Lori might have another chance together if they were on the other side of the Wall. 'I don't know,' he lied. 'Someone must have implicated you or Shane in something. It happens all the time.'

'Don't act like it's nothing, Rick. Who implicated us?'

Rick swore under his breath. She wasn't going to let it go. 'It doesn't matter, Lori. The Stasi feed on paranoia. You probably haven't even been singled out for a good reason. Just forget about it.'

She stared at him, eyes glittering. 'Go to hell, Rick.'

Rick watched her go back upstairs, wanting to follow her but knowing it wouldn't do any good. Lori wasn't the sort of woman to stir up trouble and he could see how badly she wanted to keep the peace between Walsh and Blake. But everyone had their breaking point. Maybe Lori had just reached hers.

…

Blake put down the phone. The supervisor of the factory where Beth had been assigned to start work this week work had called. She had been expected three days earlier. She hadn't shown up yet.

He was thoughtful, tapping the blotter on his desk with a forefinger. Beth had been beaten soundly for two weeks. Perhaps the pain and a slight sense of rebellion meant she was taking her time going back to work.

He lifted the phone and called his informant in Beth's building. No, the informant hadn't seen the youngest Greene in several days.

Blake slammed the phone down. There was nowhere else she could be. The mantra was running over and over through his mind: She wouldn't dare.

He picked up the phone a third time and ordered two soldiers to go to the Greenes' flat to ascertain if she was there. He waited, hands clenched. Twenty minutes later the phone rang.

'No, Commandant Blake, there's no one home.'

Blake saw red. She had dared. She'd schemed her way out of his prison and then disappeared. Someone was going to pay for this.

'Go back to the flat and remain there until the sister comes home,' he snarled, 'and then bring her to me.'

…

Thank you to Nine Bright Shiners for her critique notes!

We're getting close to the end of They Seek Him Here now. Thank you so much for all taking a chance on such an unusual setting for a Walking Dead fic and reading it and leaving me so much encouragement! Any guesses on how it's going to turn out? :)

I have just posted the first chapter of the new story that I will be working on in earnest once this story has concluded. Please do check it out and let me know what you think! It's called Doctor Blake and Mr Hyde, and its a Bethernor (Beth/Governor) romance/drama set in Victorian England. I know, weird historical setting again! I hope you check it out and leave me a review letting me know what you think.