Sorry for the late update. It's been a ridiculous couple of weeks. This chapter is more plot-heavy. There's going to be a lot of shifting perspective – a lot more from characters who aren't Andrea or Michonne. Hopefully it works. Fingers crossed!
Rick dragged his finger through the thick layer of dust in the corner of the room, drawing a rough outline of the prison and the front gates. He pointed to the back of the prison.
"Axel you said you wanted to go here – where are you gonna lead them exactly?"
"There's an old garage back there. I figure I can light it up nice and bright with what's left there. Should be able to make an explosion of sorts, loud enough for y'all to hear too. That's how you'll know I've got 'em far enough away."
Rick caught Axel's eye – they shared a look of understanding. It would be a one-way trip.
Rick dropped his eyes back down to his makeshift map. He pointed to the front of the prison on the right-hand side.
"The North-East corner here is where I'm gonna go. My group's going to be fighting so I need people that are up to it. It's the closest we can wait near the gate without being exposed. As soon as we hear Axel's signal, we take the fight to whoever's left."
"We're all good to fight," Tyreese gestured to himself and his three remaining companions.
"Okay," Rick agreed. "Who else?"
"Me," Andrea said. Michonne pulled her aside in seconds.
"No way, not with a bullet hole in your arm," the warrior warned. "I'm going with Rick's group. You're not."
"I have to agree with your friend here, Andrea. You're in no shape to shoot right now. I'm keeping you with the second group." Rick added. They didn't have time for private conversations. The decisions had to be made quickly.
"And just what's that group?" Andrea said a little warily.
"The group that's going to the tower to wait it out until we're done. They'll stay with the supplies we have left and bring them out when we're ready." Rick said.
"There's no way we'll make it to the tower. It isn't enough time." Hershel said. Rick nodded.
"Okay… Then right here," Rick said, pointing to another spot in the opposite corner of the prison. "There's an old guard lookout in this cell block. Should give you a vantage point and a pretty secure spot in case anything goes South. And it's still pretty close to the front yard."
"Who's in that group?" Carl asked.
"You, for starters." Rick replied, bracing himself.
"No way! I'm a good shot! I should be with you!" Carl protested.
"That's why I need you with the second group. It's your job to protect whoever's too wounded to fight until my group gives an all clear." Rick squeezed his son's arm. "With you will be," Rick paused as he surveyed the survivors, "Carol and Judith, Beth, Hershel, Glen, Maggie, and Andrea."
Maggie stood from her seated position and spoke up immediately.
"I'm fine, I'm barely hurt and you need all the people fighting that can."
Rick glanced at Glen. Glen was still too fresh from torture to fight anyone. Rick was reluctant to split them up, to put either of them at risk so soon after their imprisonment.
"Maggie, you don't have to," Glen pleaded.
"Yes I do." She said firmly. "I will not risk anything happening to you again."
Glen looked into her eyes for a long moment, then finally nodded reluctantly.
"Okay then," Rick said. "Maggie, Michonne, and Tyreese's folks with me."
"What's the signal? For when we should come outside?" Carl asked. Rick almost smiled. He wished he had more time to spend relishing his pride in his son.
"We'll be checking vehicles, seein' which ones have enough fuel to last us. When we're ready, we'll start honking a couple car horns at once. And you come as quick as you can. Walkers will be drawn to all the commotion." Rick said. Carl nodded.
Michonne was standing to the side a bit with Andrea, soothing the blonde's hand in her own.
"I don't want you to go," Andrea said quietly.
"I know." Michonne said.
"I'm not ready to lose you again."
"Me neither. That's why I'm fighting to keep you." Michonne said. She brought her hand to Andrea's neck and hesitated. She was not used to having so many potential onlookers, but she pulled their foreheads together lightly anyway. "I'm not going anywhere without you. We'll clear the way and get the hell out of here. Together."
Andrea nodded gently against her head. The sound of advancing car motors made them part.
"Time to move." Rick said.
Axel was more agile than he looked, even though he hadn't run this far and this long since he was a free man. It felt oddly exhilarating.
"You fuckers are pretty slow!" He yelled over his shoulder. "That shitty town must have made you fat!"
He could hear the scattered steps behind him advancing and slowing at an even rate. When he thought they might be losing him, he'd make noise or slow up a little, just enough to let them keep the pace.
He didn't run into too many walkers until the final stretch, and even then they were too slow to grab at him for long. Instead he led his pursuers right through a patch of shambling corpses as he slipped into the garage. He heard them open fire on the undead as he made his way around the room.
This is it. He swallowed hard.
He found the gas cans easily and began to spread the liquid around the perimeter of the room. He could hear the shots were fewer and far between now; he had to work fast. He amassed a couple piles of the empty cans and the few propane tanks he could find. There wasn't as much fuel as he'd hoped. He prayed it would be enough.
He stood at the back of the room armed with nothing but a zippo lighter. He made sure he was visible from the open door.
When the invaders raced into the room, he was ready.
"Well, looks like you've run yourself into a corner," the man at the front of the group said. Blood was spattered over his blonde hair.
"Yeah, guess so," Axel said, still panting.
"Where are all your friends? We know there's more of you."
Axel just smiled as the last few stragglers stepped further into the room. There still weren't as many as he would've liked. But he'd done the best he could. Rick would deal with the rest.
He moved to take a step towards them. Six guns trained on him. He paused and put his hands up. The man in front – bloody blondie – stepped closer to Axel, squinting, with his gun still raised.
"What's in your hand?" Blondie asked.
"Oh, this?" Axel held up the lighter Oscar had left him. It seemed fitting it should end this way. It felt like a bit of vindication for his fallen fellow prisoner. "Just a little somethin' my friend lent me. Guess it's mine now since he died in your town."
"Pity." Blondie spat. "And you're gonna die here. Now where are your friends? The live ones?"
One of the other invaders, a brunette girl, probably not much older than Beth, sniffed at the air.
"Hey, Jacob." She said to blondie, her gaze flicking around the room as she connected the dots. Axel winced. All's fair in war.
Axel locked eyes with the man. He jerked his head and threw a horrified glance into the hall behind the group. It was his best bit of acting his whole life. They all turned towards the doorway simultaneously.
Axel flicked the lighter and tossed it into a puddle of gasoline. Fire swept around the room in a wave of heat, licking at the walls and cutting off the exit quickly. The room began to fill with thick, black smoke.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Blondie shouted over the roaring of the fire.
"Something right for once." Axel said quietly to himself.
Blondie shot Axel before the fire hit the propane tanks stacked in the corner. The last prisoner of the West Georgia Correctional Facility died with a smile on his face.
Rick guided his group down the hall, each of them bending slightly at the knees to muffle their movements. He motioned to them to head inside the room he'd been thinking of, a good place to hole up until they heard Axel's signal.
They waited uncomfortably behind the closed door.
"Michonne, Maggie – what can you tell me about these people?" Rick asked.
"What do you want to know?" Michonne asked.
"Numbers, capability, brutality – anything. I know they're not short on weapons. We killed maybe 3 people in town, probably wounded 10-15 others. If we were lucky." Rick said.
"A woman told us there were 75 or so of them in town, a lot of them are women and kids, and not all of the adults are trained for combat." Michonne said quickly.
"How many would you guess?" Rick asked.
"They usually take out small forces beyond the wall; but I'd say maybe 30 of the people there are any good with a weapon." Michonne said.
"But I'll bet a bunch more will be pissed off and looking for revenge. There are some angry villagers headed our way. And they aren't carrying pitchforks." Sasha added darkly. Tyreese threw her a glare. He was concerned Rick would see her as a hindrance, but Tyreese knew his sister would step up and bite her tongue when it mattered.
"I'm guessing they won't send all of them or else no one would be around to protect their walls, right? So there might not actually be that many of them. And they might not expect there to be so many of us." Rick chewed his lip distractedly as he puzzled through the possibilities. "What are they like? Are we dealing with psychos? Or just your average, holed-up survivors?" He asked.
Michonne and Maggie exchanged a look. Michonne spoke first.
"Well I wasn't captured and tortured; they treated me and Andrea pretty well. But the Governor… something is wrong with him. And I get the feeling his core group is pretty messed up too if Merle's any indication. Leading by example and all that. The rest of them are pretty tame most times." Michonne finished.
"Maggie?" Rick was watching the younger woman carefully. Her eyes had dropped to the floor and he thought he could see her shaking. "Did they? I mean, did any of them–"
Her eyes snapped up to his before he could finish that thought.
"You can't tell Glen." She said. All but she and Rick dropped their eyes to the ground, shifting uncomfortably. Rick nodded.
"The Governor didn't touch me much, just made me strip down a bit. But then he let one of his other – Cesar – he… he let him…" she trailed off and stared at the wall.
Rick put himself next to Maggie, keeping his voice low for her to hear. He felt sick.
"Maggie, you shouldn't have come with us. You're not ready." He put a hand on her arm. She shook it off and met his eyes.
"I'm fine."
"No you're–" Rick began but before he could continue, the group all turned towards the sound of an explosion as they felt the building's foundations shake. They were all on their feet in seconds.
Rick looked at Maggie again. There was no time left to get her back to the other group. He'd have to protect her somehow.
"Everyone stay close. I'm going to see if I can spot how many are out there. The explosion probably has them on alert now," Rick said as he led them out the door and down the hall towards the exit. He motioned to everyone to stay silent as he propped the door open slightly, squinting a little against the morning light. He could see a dozen or so panicked figures surrounding three vehicles – two trucks and a car.
At the centre of the group, a handful of them were arguing. Rick couldn't hear the particulars, but it sounded like a couple of them were spooked and wanted to leave. There was a concrete block in the yard, about halfway between the townspeople and Rick's exit. But getting there for cover would be a feat.
"Do we still have any smoke grenades?" Rick turned to Michonne. She unclipped one from her belt and handed it to him. "Okay, there's a barrier of sorts, something we can use to hide behind, but it's gonna be risky. Tyreese, can you and your group get there first? We'll lay down cover fire from the door. I'll throw the smoke in first to give you something to hide behind." Rick explained.
"Are you fucking kidding me? What are we, your cannon fodder?" Sasha exploded, lunging forward and looking like she was about to tackle Rick. Ben and Allen barely moved quickly enough to hold her back.
"Sasha!" Tyreese hissed, trying to keep his voice down. If she gave them away now, they could all be dead. "It ain't like that! It's safest to move first when the smoke's thickest. Rick's giving us a chance. Are you going to screw that up? Cause if you are, you can stay behind." Tyreese glared into his sister's eyes. She was breathing hard, her jaw muscles tense. She shook off Ben and Allen and let out an exasperated sigh.
"Fine."
"Sasha?" Tyreese tested.
"Yes! I'll do it! Just don't say I didn't say anything when you get us all killed." She huffed and crouched back down.
Tyreese looked to Rick.
"We're ready when you are."
Rick checked out the door one more time. The villagers were still arguing and most of them were distracted enough by the bickering that Rick figured the time was now. He discarded the grenade's pin and lobbed the grenade hard and high, hoping to whatever gods were left that it found the area in front of the group he was aiming for. It landed with a hard thunk and the invaders turned. "A little left of centre, but not bad, Grimes," Rick heard the voice of his 10th grade P.E. teacher in the split second before the smoke erupted.
"SHIT!" One of the townsfolk cried in the haze.
"GO!" Rick hissed to Tyreese.
Rick, Michonne, and Maggie began to lay down cover fire high over the heads of their counterparts as the four near-strangers made their way quickly to the barricade. The smoke was clearing too fast. Tyreese and company began shooting over the top of the concrete and Tyreese shouted back to the rest.
"Rick! Now!"
Rick corralled Michonne and Maggie and they sprinted to the rest of the group.
There was still too much confusion amidst the cloud of smoke for their attackers to do much damage. Bullets flew wildly out of the white shroud as the last of it began to blow away in the wind. They heard the sound of a car being started – apparently one of those arguing had decided it was time to retreat. Rick hoped that at least a few of them had decided to high-tail it. He watched the car speed off down the road and through the gates. He spotted walkers coming through the forest, already advancing on the jail. They weren't moving quickly of course, but it would make their escape more troublesome.
They could finally make out the vehicles clearly: one massive army truck and another smaller truck on the left and a red car off to the right. The gunfire had ceased. Rick was afraid they were going to be in some sort of standoff, each group hiding, each unwilling to relent or make a move.
"Hey, look, we can settle this without anyone getting killed! We don't want to fight you!" A voice called out from behind the furthest of the two trucks.
Rick almost laughed.
"Didn't seem that way when you took our people and tortured them." Rick shouted back. He caught sight of a wide-eyed Maggie. She was gripping her gun in both hands, her knuckles white with strain. He furrowed his brow at her.
"It's him." She said weakly. "Cesar."
Anger curled in Rick's chest.
"Let's talk about it, we can figure this out! My boss is a loose cannon, but I can be reasonable. You don't want to lose anymore of yours, do you?" Cesar's voice rang out again. He sounded absolutely reasonable. The voice was much too calm. Rick figured that was probably how they usually did this – lure the enemy out with a peaceful approach and then take them for all they had.
"Oh yeah, where is your fearless leader?" Rick called out. He heard Cesar laugh darkly.
"He didn't come along for the trip. But he could be convinced that you folks are all right. You could stay in Woodbury, be safe. We have plenty of resources for all your people." Cesar replied.
While Cesar was making his paper-thin offers, Michonne motioned to Rick. She drew his attention to the closest vehicle – the army truck. She indicated she wanted to move and sneak up on those hiding behind it. Rick shook his head. It was too risky.
"How about a show of faith?" Rick called out.
"What did you have in mind?" Cesar said.
"How about you come out here with a little white flag and we can have a real talk. Face to face." Rick said. He waited as he heard some whispered exchange from the other side.
"I'm short on little white flags, but I'll come out if you do." Cesar said.
Maggie grabbed Rick by his collar.
"What the hell are you doing?!" She hissed.
"Improvising." Rick said quietly. "You first!" He called out over the concrete. He waited until he heard a few hesitant steps on the pavement. Maggie couldn't help herself. She popped her head up enough to see over the barricade and spot the shifting form for a second before Rick yanked her back into cover.
"What the hell are you doing?" Rick said to her.
"That ain't him." Maggie said simply. "He was definitely the one talkin' but that ain't him out there."
"You sure?" Rick asked. She nodded firmly.
Rick glanced to Michonne. "When I say, you get to that truck." Michonne nodded too. Allen, the recent widower, went to Michonne's side after a brief exchange with Tyreese.
"I'll go with her." Allen said plainly.
"Okay. Get ready." Rick said.
Rick took a steadying breath. He popped up over the barricade and leveled his gun at the only visible target. It was a man with dark hair who looked remarkably like… Shane. Not again. Rick pulled the trigger. The man crumpled and a woman's voice cried out from behind one of the other trucks.
"Don't fuck with me, Cesar." Rick yelled as he dropped back down behind the barricade. There was a long silence.
"And how do you know my name?" Cesar shouted out bitterly. There was nothing calm left in his voice. Only barren anger.
"Cause you didn't kill me when you had the chance, you FUCK." Maggie yelled back. Her face was red. Her hands were shaking lightly.
Cesar's laughter rang out against the prison yard. Rick gritted his teeth.
"Open fire on the trucks." Rick said quietly to his group. "Now." He nodded to Michonne and Allen.
They stood just high enough to aim their weapons at the enemies' cover and let the sound of their bullets mask Allen and Michonne's move to the army truck. The pair made their way around to the far side.
Michonne motioned to Allen to stay put while she made a run for the next closest truck. He shook his head and furrowed his brow. She nodded to him anyway and ran while there was still enough noise to mask her footsteps.
She spotted a group of four behind the first truck. Their backs were to her and they didn't register her movement amidst the gunfire. She rounded the front of the furthest truck. There were only two people hidden behind it, and the one furthest from her was definitely Cesar.
She drew her sword just before the firing stopped, giving way to a sudden silence again. She made her move quickly, grabbing the closest figure from behind – she was a blonde woman Michonne thought she recognized from Woodbury's wall. Michonne held her tightly with her blade to the woman's neck. Cesar snapped around at the sudden sound behind him and aimed his gun at the women.
"Drop it or I kill her." Michonne said. Cesar only threw her a little side smile. In the next second, Michonne saw him prepare to fire and she threw the woman forward into him. The woman's body took the bullet for her and Michonne stepped forward with her blade, making quick work of Cesar. She didn't kill him. But she did hack off his arms at the shoulders, making him resemble one of her pets. He began screaming and writhing on the ground and she scooped up his gun and returned to the rear of the truck before anyone came to look for their cursing leader.
"Cesar!" A voice called out from behind the red car. The man only screamed intelligibly in response. Michonne caught Allen's eye. He looked scared. The four figures behind the army truck were turning around, making their way in her direction. She holstered her sword and held the gun. She held up one finger, then two, then three, and the two of them shot around the trucks at the approaching townsfolk, dropping them easily.
The commotion drew out the remaining forces from behind the car on the right. They ran from cover, firing rapidly but blindly, no longer sure where Rick's group was coming from. But those last few were outnumbered and they fell soon after. It was all over so quickly, in such a relatively short time, that Rick could barely process it. He quirked his ears, trying to get some indication of any remaining enemies, but the Woodbury force was disbanded – either dead or fleeing the prison. He sighed loudly, lowering his gun.
Maggie ran for the furthest of the two trucks and Michonne followed her. Michonne found the girl kneeling in front of Cesar's body. Cesar was in his last moments of bleeding out, a few spasms rocking through his frame. Maggie drew her knife from her belt and plunged it into his head, letting out a little cry as she did it. She drew the blade back out and plunged it in again, flicking blood over her clothes as she drew it in and out of the man. After a couple more furious stabs, Michonne came behind the girl and grabbed her arms, stilling them, forcing Maggie to drop the knife.
Michonne turned the girl around and wrapped her into her arms, soothing her as she rocked back and forth slightly. Maggie sobbed wildly into her dreadlocks.
Rick had the rest of the group move the corpses, dragging them away and damaging their brains enough to halt their transition into walkers. They didn't need any more trouble. He hesitated only once, just before sinking his own knife into the head of a teenager. The boy couldn't have been more than 16. Rick gulped and took a breath before he finished the job, trying desperately not to picture the face of his own son.
Finally, he came around the second truck and locked eyes with Michonne over Maggie's shaking shoulder. They nodded to each other, each knowing it was time to leave this place behind once and for all.
Andrea felt the explosion in the walls of the guard's overlook. She looked to Hershel briefly before standing. She began to pace. She hated the waiting around, hated feeling so utterly useless. She distractedly fished her knife out of her pocket, running her fingers over it.
She knew it made sense for her to stay back. She would only slow Rick down. But it didn't make it easier to let Michonne go. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to push the worst case scenarios out of the front of her mind. She wasn't very successful.
"She'll be okay. Rick knows what he's doing," Carol said. Andrea opened her eyes and looked at the woman, throwing her a weak smile. She wasn't really sure either of those things was true. She accepted the comfort anyway.
"Yeah, I know." Andrea said. She took a seat beside the woman. Andrea gazed down at the infant in Carol's arms. She drew her fingers lightly over the fine blonde hair on Judith's head. It was a wonder anything so pure could come out of this world anymore. Andrea glanced to check that Carl was not close enough to hear – he was standing at the door, spying out of the window in it, keeping guard.
"What happened? To Lori?" Andrea said quietly to Carol. The woman sighed softly.
"We got separated, a bunch of us. Walkers came through and we splintered off in different directions. Her and Maggie and Carl locked themselves in somewhere and she… she went in to labour. She asked Maggie to cut the baby out." Tears brimmed Carol's eyes. She still felt pangs of guilt – felt she should have been there to perform the C-section instead. She could have saved Maggie the trauma. All of that practising in the weeks before and she hadn't been around when it really mattered.
Andrea gripped one of Carol's hands and gave it a squeeze.
"She gave her life for this one. And we're going to make sure that matters. Right?" Andrea said softly. Carol smiled at her and nodded, a couple tears spilling over her cheeks.
"There's someone out there," Carl hissed, holding his ear to the door. Andrea stood and came to his side.
"How close?" She asked. She put her ear to the door too. Carl shook his head.
"Hard to say. I think there are two of them though."
"Maybe they split off from Axel's group." She listened intently for a minute. She could make out a woman's voice and a man's. It was hard to tell if they were getting closer or not. She knew they couldn't chance the pair coming down here and opening fire in the room. They had to be taken care of. She glanced back. Glen and Hershel were in no condition to fight. Carol and Beth were hardly battle-ready. She looked to Carl. Maybe the two of them could take down the stragglers, but what if there were more of them?
If there are more, I can lead them away. Draw them away from the rest. Maybe into yard. She might not make it if that was what it came to. But she couldn't let anything happen to these people, her people.
"We should go out there. See if we can kill them quietly." Carl said to her, bringing her back to the present. She was startled a little by how calmly he mentioned killing. But in his eyes she could only see protectiveness, not the kind of sick enjoyment she'd seen in Shane's eyes more than once. It comforted her somewhat and she nodded.
Glen piped up when he overheard them.
"I can go," he said, trying to hoist himself to his feet without much success.
"You can barely stand on your own there, buddy. You're staying here," Andrea teased. "Besides, you were always the most useful of us anyway. You have to stick around."
"You can't even shoot," Glen fired back with a slight smile.
"Nope, but I can still use my knife." Andrea said as she held up the gleaming blade. She turned to Carl. "How about you, kid? Are you going with the gun?" He nodded in response.
"I'd better. I don't think either of us can overtake two people hand-to-hand. You take one, I'll take the other."
Andrea slipped out the door and Carl shut it quietly behind them. They walked low to the ground, peering around corners, trying to follow the voices. As they closed in, they could make out more of the conversation.
"Well which direction do you think they went in?!" The woman said.
"I don't fucking know! And I sure as hell ain't taking a chance going in the direction of whatever the fuck just blew up! We should go back to the gates," the man replied.
"Cesar will kill us if we go back out there. Sorry, he'll call us cowards first, and then he'll kill us." The woman hissed.
Andrea peered around the corner in their direction quickly. She only looked just long enough to tell that their backs were to her. She pulled her head back in and tried to get her heart to stop beating so fast. It felt like it was jumping up into her throat. She looked at Carl and waited. She was hoping for a distraction, anything that could potentially cause the stragglers to lose attention on their surroundings for a moment. Suddenly a loud pop and the sound of gunfire came from the direction of the gates. The sound was muffled a little, but was loud enough to provide some cover.
"Still want to go out to the gates?" The woman said.
"Shit…" The man said. "Well what the fuck do we do now?"
Andrea and Carl rounded the corner quietly, their footsteps carefully placed. Carl lifted his gun and aimed steadily at the man's head. Andrea readied herself to ambush the woman with her knife and restrain her as best she could with her injured arm. Carl's foot slid on something and made a noise too loud to be missed.
"Wha-?" The man barely had time to turn around before Carl's finger squeezed the trigger. He hit the man square in the head. Andrea had her arm around the woman quickly, bringing her knife around and plunging it into the woman's chest. The woman screamed as they both fell forward. Andrea didn't waste any more time; she drove the knife into the back of the woman's head. Her whole body was shaking as she lay on top of the limp form.
Andrea was panting heavily, unable to move. She winced a little, feeling the fresh pain in her left arm. She was going to pay for that later. Carl aimed his gun down the next hall and searched a little further.
"I think they were alone. There doesn't seem to be anyone else." Carl said when he returned to Andrea's side. "Andrea?" He said after a few more moments of silence.
"Sorry kid. I haven't had to kill… a living person in a while." Andrea said. She pulled her knife out of the head and wiped it off on her pants, returning it to its sheathe. She didn't dare turn the body over to see exactly who she'd killed. From the voice she guessed it was one of the women from the makeshift clinic. Not the nurse who'd tended her, but another woman that had remained on guard. She didn't need to look into that face to make what she'd done more real.
"Me neither." Carl said quietly. The closest he'd come to that at all had been his mother. That was different. She'd already been dead. But this, this was murder, plain and simple. He suddenly felt cold.
"Let's get back to the rest of them," Andrea said. She scooped up the guns the stragglers had been carrying. "No sense waiting here. Sounds like your dad will be signalling us soon," she said jerking her chin towards the yard. The gunfire had stopped and she thought she could hear yelling back and forth. She shook her head and led Carl back the way they'd come. It wouldn't do to dissect what was going on outside.
She could tell by a few of the expressions that the rest of her group had expected one or both of them not to return. They looked relieved.
"A couple stragglers. We took care of it." Andrea said simply as she sat down, wincing as she bumped her left arm.
A few minutes later, they heard gunfire again. Andrea squeezed her hands together. If she had been a praying woman, she would have prayed for Michonne. But since she wasn't, she merely shut her eyes and waited for the fighting sounds to cease. Even when it did, she didn't feel any better. What if they didn't hear horns at all? What if the rest of the group was lost? What if Michonne hadn't survived?
Andrea's eyes shot open.
The sound of blaring horns rose from the yard.
It didn't take too long for the prison survivors to reunite. Andrea shielded her eyes against the light as they made it outside. She had Glen's arm around her shoulders, letting him lean on her a little as they walked.
Andrea's eyes darted around for signs of the rest of the group.
Rick was siphoning gas from the army truck into a gas can. Tyreese's group was collecting weapons from the dead and tossing them in the trunk of a car.
Maggie was behind the wheel of the car, her hand resting on the horn. She was no longer sounding it though, simply staring through it, her face lost in a pale daze. When Glen caught sight of her, he took off in her direction, going as fast as his injured frame could take him. He nearly toppled her into the car when he threw his arms around her.
Andrea finally found who she'd been looking for all along. Michonne stepped down from the second truck, meeting Andrea's gaze instantly, a smile overtaking her face in spite of the carnage around them. Andrea smiled broadly and felt her eyes sting.
They didn't run to each other. They walked. Slowly. As if speed would disturb the scene and all of it would be revealed to be just a dream. When they finally reached each other, Andrea let out a shuddering sigh and Michonne wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck, holding her tight.
Andrea let out a small sob of relief into Michonne's shoulder. It was good to be held. It was good to know the person she'd been so close to losing, the person who'd saved her too many times, and the woman who she wanted next to her for whatever time she had left in this world, was still alive.