(A/N: Woo hoo! Another chapter down, one step closer to BRAND NEW ONES! With any luck I should be done the last re-write at some point between tonight and tomorrow afternoon :) I'm so excted to get this on the road and towards more current happenings in the show. Every new episode makes me have about a million ideas for future good stuff and it's killing me :P)
Chapter Eight: Vatos Pt. Eight
Making one trip back and forth through the city on foot was a risk at no mistake, making a second was downright stupid. After the dust up in the alley however, using the van was more or less a no go and that was a kick in the crotch if ever there was one. Using a vehicle was easier, faster, and arguably safer for the group but every advantage the van had to offer to them would only be fully realized if the streets were clear. Even then, clear was a relative term when it came down to it. Half eaten corpses and bodies left to rot were strewn right and left amongst piles of scattered debris. Worse than that, toppled and abandoned cars lined the roads in maze like fashion that made it near impossible to carve a path through without moving at a snail's pace. Taking their time and making a ruckus doing just that might have been a luxury the group could have been afforded were their surroundings still and quiet. But after the dust up in the alley stirring up a gang of walkers chomping at the bit to get their hands on some fresh meat, stealth was the only option and stealth came only by way of hoofing it.
Rick told Analeigh that the distance between the two hideaways was less than significant and even for her could be walked with little difficulty at all. Not that the promise of a short trip meant much at all to her, or calmed her nerves any. It was no secret that walkers could smell the difference between themelseves and the living quite well and on account fresh blood in the open would have been like sounding a meal bell to them. As far as Analeigh was concerned, in all likelihood she must have smelled like an all you can eat lunch buffet to any walker within thirty feet. Her wound had been thoroughly cleaned and re-bandaged of course, but whether that alone was good enough to hold them off her trail was anyone's guess.
Foolish stubbornness and her sudden wash of courage within the confines of the building waned more than just a little once they were out on the street. Anticipating what seemed like inevitable doom, Analeigh chewed herself out with a long chain of choice words and mental jabs for thinking she had any part in a rescue mission at all. With every step she took, her heart beat a little faster. Every slight skip of a pebble kicked up against the concrete made her cringe and hold her breath, and every time they rounded a corner she was downright convinced they were about to walk in to a truckload of trouble.
Luck, however, was on the group's side so it seemed. Sheer, dumb luck with a good portion of good fortune being due to the way Daryl had deftly wound them through the city seemingly knowing the best route to avoid conflict ten steps in advance. Before long, they had made it and the sprawl of a massive abandoned hospital, despite being "enemy" head quarters, was just about the most welcome sight in the world. Under even slightly different circumstances Analeigh may very well have squealed in delight but the matter at hand being what it was, excess jubilation didn't seem exactly appropriate.
Just beyond the courtyard outside of the hospital, the group drew up ranks and took cover around the bend of a broken down brick wall. Tensions ran high and not one of them dared to hazard a guess in which direction favor would sway. They had no idea what they were about to walk in to or what would happen from that point on and that made Analeigh (maybe above everyone else) more than just a little anxious.
A promise was a promise though, and she couldn't exactly turn coward and go back on her word after all her grandstanding and especially not after coming so far. Rick of course, would have no problem if she decided to turn heel and make a run for it, and in fact he probably would have preferred her to. She was nothing if not loyal and once she decided where her allegiance lay, it would be until the end no matter how bitter it may be. For the time being, her fealty was with the man who promised her a greater chance of survival and a place to call home, the man who had been the first to extend himself in kindness since her world had flat out ceased to exist. What sort of gesture of gratitude would she be showing if she turned tail and ran like the devil was after her?
Analeigh had to stay, no matter what it meant for her.
Rick's face fell tight and drawn as he stuffed a few extra rounds in his pockets and double checked everything was primed and ready for quick draw action if need be.
"Once we go in there, ain't no turnin' back." Daryl reminded him. "You better make damn sure you know what we're doin's gonna work."
"About as sure as I can be."
"Which is?"
"Not very." Rick sighed and ran over his plan of attack once again in his head.
He'd yet to feel good about admitting it any time, but Daryl was right. There wasn't any room in error in what they were about to do and even the best plan he had devised in his head didn't now seem well thought out enough by half.
"We get in there we need to keep things level…as much as we can anyway." He looked pointedly at Daryl. "Which means you let me do all the talkin'. It's best if you just keep your mouth shut if you can help it…which to be clear I'm not askin' you, I'm tellin'."
Analeigh smirked slightly, taking the opportunity to enjoy the fact that someone had finally told Daryl to shut up a head of time for a change; something by her approximation was far too long over due.
"That goes for you too, I might add." Rick muttered all knowingly over his shoulder in her direction."
"Me?" She feigned a decent amount of shock. "Why me? I didn't do nothin'."
"He knows damn well you ain't got a clue when to keep your yap shut neither." Daryl quipped.
"Anythin' more you want to contribute?"
"Believe me, I got plenty." He sneered, leaned against the wall with arms folded across his chest and looking every bit as smug as ever.
"Are we doin' this or what?" Analeigh growled impatiently. The sooner they got their little operation on the road, the sooner she wouldn't have to listen to Daryl's stupid mouth. "Standin' around all day ain't gonna do dick all and it case you hadn't noticed, sundown tends to creep up on you 'round here."
"Alright," Rick nodded his head in the direction of the hospital. "Let's make it quick. We don't go after them unless they come at us first, we can't afford to start somethin' we might not be able to finish if we can help it."
With a rough prod of his gun, Daryl urged their now bound and gagged captive to his feet and through a small opening in the wall leading to the courtyard with T-Dog following close in toe. Hanging back slightly, Rick made a grab for Analeigh's elbow and held her back a moment.
"I won't pretend I'm happy about you being here." He whispered sternly.
"Now who's starting to sound like a broken record?" Analeigh quipped. "You rather I wait out here on my own?"
"You know what I mean."
"I suppose I could head on back…also on my own." She ribbed him, perhaps indulging a little too much in the device of ridiculousness to prove her standpoint.
"Analeigh…"
"I'm just sayin' I ain't goin' anywhere."
"I know." Rick nodded. "And I appreciate that."
"But…" Analeigh prompted him, now wasn't the most opportune time to be stalling just to share gratitude unless there was more to come along with it.
"I'm just sayin' if it goes sideways in there I want you to get the hell out and get out quickly you hear me?"
"It won't."
"But if it does." Rick continued. "You turn heel and you run as fast as you can back to that tower…don't slow down…don't look back…just run."
"I…"
"This is important…you listen to me a moment." He cut her off abruptly and took her solidly by the shoulders. "The van's a couple blocks south from where we found you…now if we don't come back by night fall you wait until morning and you take that van back to wherever the hell it is you call home."
"I can't just leave ya'll…" Analeigh raised a second round of protest.
"Don't worry about us, we've been through worse and got out of it…things get sticky I want you to worry about yourself first and let us handle the rest."
It went against everything Rick had been telling anyone who would listen from day one of course. He still believed that people had to band together if they had any hope of coming out of the everything alive. But at the same time, he couldn't in good conscience expect Analeigh, badly injured and much too small in stature, to hold her own and be able to defend herself against go only knew how many angry men. Guns or no guns, there was no question the group would be badly out numbered. Rick didn't want to as much as say so but also there was no questioning whatsoever Analeigh was he weakest link in the group. She would make easy pickings for the others to nab for additional bargaining leverage, or worse for their own entertainment, and he wasn't about to let either happen. Especially not after everything she had already been forced to endure.
"Any of what I'm sayin' sinkin' in? You understand what you gotta do?"
"Yes…but…"
"Do you understand?" Rick stooped a bit and matched his eye line with hers, running out of both patience and time for back and forth or any more debate on the matter.
"I understand." Analeigh's brow furrowed as she heaved a sigh and kicked at the dirt like a scolded five year old. "Ain't nothin' gonna happen anyway though so I don't know why you're worryin'."
"I know it ain't." He lied, and motioned her onward with a nod of his head and an attempt at a reassuring smile. "But let's keep our fingers and toes crossed up anyhow…for everyone's sake."
Planning, thinking and talking about wandering into another group's domain and actually doing so were two different animals entirely. Being faced with actual action instead of words, every scrap of courage Analeigh had talked herself into having amounted to a steaming pile of garbage when all was said and done. Even in the company of three more than able bodied men who she was quite sure war cable of holding their own, everything she had instilled in herself was done a way with just as quickly as the heavy metal doors of the hospital were pulled open. Fingers tapping out an anxious little rhythm against the barrel of her gun, she forced herself forward with the others as Daryl roughly shoved the boy into the building ahead of them. A good too dozen men by her count, maybe more, and maybe even more than that just waiting out of sight in the wings as back up. There was a good two dozen men all gathered and ready for them in the hospital ambulance bay with assorted weapons in hand; each more stern and menacing than the last and none of which Analeigh was entirely thrilled to be standing in front of to say the least.
Not that it was rational, or at all realistic, for her to assume she was the focal point of their collective attention. But through all the tension, stillness, and rampant testosterone hanging heavy in the air Analeigh couldn't help but feel as though two dozen sets of eyes were searing holes clean through her. Being the lone female in the room bearing quite a bit of novelty to the situation didn't help matters much either. Each scrutinizing gaze from the hardened men, however few and far between, made her more and more uncomfortable and it the more uncomfortable she was, the harder it became to convince anyone otherwise. Eyes locked dead ahead of her and trying to keep as much focus as possible, Analeigh wished for something, anything to happen to speed the situation along. More specifically she wished for something to get their backs from against the wall, something to get them back on their way with Glenn in hand and on their way out of the city. Only then would her worsening nerves relinquish the death grip they had on her stomach, for the time being anyways.
As if on cue, a smaller one of the men pushed forward from the back of the group. Dressed head to toe in black with a silver rosary around his neck and enough swagger for a man ten times his size, he was clearly the intended leader of the pack; the one the boy had called "G." back in the office.
"I see my guns." He stepped towards Rick. "But they're not all in the bag."
"That's because they're not yours. I thought I mentioned that."
A larger man stepped forward; heavier set and holding a thick square pad of gauze to his derrière clearly having been the one to fall victim to Daryl's crossbow.
"Let's just shoot these fools right now Ese." He spurred G. on. "Unload on their asses Ese."
"I'm not sure you understand the gravity of the situation."
"No, I'm pretty clear." Rick assured him. He pulled a small blade out of his pocket and cut free the binds from around the boy's wrists before giving him a good shove in the direction of his people. "You have your man, I want mine."
G. didn't so much as make a move, unrelenting in both his end goal and his attempt to intimidate his rivals.
"I see you brought your lady." A nefarious smirk adorned his face as he shifted his attention away from towards Analeigh. " Maybe you need to sweeten the deal…maybe I want her too…"
"I ain't here to bargain."
"What makes you have the choice?"
"Because I say so."
"Well, I say we take the guns…all of them…and your lady too. Maybe I say we send you on your way with nothing." G. countered, side stepping Rick and moving towards Analeigh.
G.'s increasing interest had her rattled even more. Fingers on trembling hands pressed so tightly against her gun that her knuckles turned white and her fingernails threatened to crack right in half. Every fiber of her being was wound so tightly at that moment it was small wonder she managed to hold enough of her wits and didn't prematurely fire off around and peg one of G.'s men. Much more of that sort of tension and she was likely to break in some manner or another.
"My boys are lonely…"
Another step towards her.
"A pretty little thing like that could do us a whole world of good."
She swallowed thickly and struggled to hold herself together as a chorus of low catcalls resounded through the crowd around them.
"Maybe we could use a little entertainment." Another suggestive quip preceded another lecherous smile.
Neither Analeigh nor even Daryl himself would have ever expected that he would be the first one to act. But in one swift movement his hand slipped around her upper arm and he pulled her back a little, skirting her behind him to keep her from immediate reach. Out of reflex her fingers tentatively wound in the hem of his shirt, balling the material up in her clenched fist as though hanging on to him would make any difference at all. His attention never leaving the group of men before them, Daryl gave her arm a gentle and reassuring squeeze as he held her with him protectively.
For the second time in just about as many hours, pain in the ass that he was, Daryl had proved he was in fact capable of being a decent human being. At the very least he'd shown he did in fact have a certain degree of empathy and some range of feelings beyond distain and annoyance. Even if he did hate her guts, in one simple wordless act, it was clear he wasn't about to let any sort of harm befall her. Doubtful as Analeigh was that the sudden show of kindness would last for any solid amount of time, at the very least it was something to make her feel as though she was just as safe with him as she was with Rick. Daryl had her back, for the time being. As G. made another move towards her, that fact alone was something Analeigh was thankful for beyond all else.
"Take one more step and you won't live long enough to regret it." Rick warned through clenched teeth, mirroring G.'s movement to block his path towards Analeigh.
Refocused on the heart of the matter, G. cut to the chase. "I'm gonna chop up your boy. I'm gonna feed him to my dogs. Three of the evilest, nastiest, man-eating bitches you ever saw. I picked them up from Satan at a yard sale." He spat, seeking to bring the conflict to a head and force his hand. "I told you how it has to be, are you willfully deaf?"
"My hearing's fine…you said come locked and loaded. Okay then…we're here."
A murmur passed through the room, boiling point met as every gun in hand was cocked and found a target. If not a gun, every bat, pipe and length of chain the rest of G.'s men had in hand was readied as the standoff reached it's peak and everyone in the room was set to go out in the best way they saw fit for the good of either side. Neither was about to back down and it was all too clear at that point that Rick's request that Analeigh find a speedy escape may very well come to fruition.
Whether or not a speedy escape would come easily or not was a different matter all together. The doors through which they had entered were still being stood guard by the men who had hauled them open and each had their own guns readied and set to take fire. The handful of windows scattered about the room were all too high and also far too narrow for Analeigh to easily squeeze through. Even by some miracle she could get free by one of them, in a flurry of bullets, flying fists and weapons she wouldn't have made it more than a few feet before being taken down by something or other.
It had been stupid of her to come along, just plain stupid. Whether on account of said stupidity or perhaps rather her sheer hard headedness Analeigh had managed to weasel her way into quiet possible the worst situation she could find herself in since arriving in the city. What was worse was the fact that this time there was absolutely nothing she could do to improve odds in her favor even just a little. She was trapped I with the rest of them and forced to face whatever end there was in store for her.
All it took was one quick twist of fate, one truly an exceptionally bizarre moment in time, and the full-blown stand off was derailed just as quickly as it had commenced. From the back of the room a shrill cry cut through the tension hanging about the room, and then another. Calling for one of the men, a tiny elderly woman moved through the sea of bodies diverting weapons and inserting an whole new sense of nervousness into the situation.
Analeigh might have laughed if she wasn't as absolutely flabbergasted as the others by the scene unfolding before her. A sweet old lady seeing out her grandson (the thug who had been privileged enough to take an arrow in the ass) and rattling on frantically about something concerning an asthma attack. A sweet old lady amongst them men who had unceremoniously abducted Glenn and beaten the tar out of Daryl. The sight was about as out of place as Analeigh must have been in amidst her own respective group and yet there she was, unexpectedly having diffused a situation guaranteed to end badly for all parties involved.
Something about this hospital and all the people who had holed up within it was very obviously not exactly what it appeared to be. And what that would mean for the group was anyone's guess.