Of course he had known, deep down inside where he couldn't keep secrets from himself, that this was coming. Had known that they had both been breaking the rules in a way. Their questions had given them away long ago. Knowing the two of them the way he did, he was also fully aware that they had no other choice but to do exactly what each of them was doing now. Daryl was going all out fulfilling Carol's mission, and she had made it her mission to get him through it alive.
He brought up the map Daryl had sent him, sighing deeply. „I will guide you and Glenn", he conceded. „But you will do as I say. When I tell you to go back, you will go back. You will not argue, or stop, or try to get to him - you will go back. No matter how hard it might be." With a start, he realized what he had just said out loud. Acknowledged. „You … there is … something … between you, isn't there?" he asked softly.
A wave of heat came from her, so strong it nearly overwhelmed him. „I can't let him die in there, Hershel", came her whispered reply. „Not now, when we are so close to getting rid of them. Because once they're gone … when they're gone … „ He sensed her fighting for breath, trying to find words to express the emotions choking her. „We won't need the rules any longer." Her voice was barely audibe in his mind, as if she were afraid to jinx their mission just by thinking what she was.
Her longing, her love for Daryl washed over him, enveloping him, overwhelming him, carrying him, and it felt so alike to what he had been lucky enough to find twice in his life and lost to death both times that he found himself unable to breathe for a moment. When he had regained his composure he was amazed to find his cheeks wet.
How could he ever deny these two the happiness they deserved?
„We can dream, Carol", he whispered back. „We can hope."
.-.
Watching the feed from the security cameras, Andrea saw Daryl and Sandra emerging from the small building housing the Tactical Headquarters. The pockets of Daryl's jacket were no longer bulging, which meant that during their time inside the building he had gotten rid of whatever he had helped himself to while the cameras had been out for all of thirty seconds at that intersection.
He was hurrying along now after their narrow escape from the guards who had chased them, Sandra following him, and whenever another path was crossing theirs he waited for just a moment as if listening to someone or as if trying to remember something he'd known and forgotten. They stepped back into a hedge simultaneously just in time to not get spotted by a Feina strutting down the path crossing theirs. Apparently, someone from outside was feeding him with information on where to expect interference because so far they had managed to avoid all the guards and Feina that were out patrolling the premises.
She switched to another feed and watched as the guard she had replaced was coming back from checking out the fire alarm that had gone off in the remotest corner of the compound. They got false alarms quite often, mostly because equipment was overheating in tightly secured windowless rooms, and he didn't seem to have caught on to what was going down around him, or he would have raised a general alarm already. She reassured herself that he would not run into Sandra and Daryl on his way back and cut to their feed again.
.-.
Coming up on the main gate through which she had entered on the first day of their misison, firmly concentrating on herself and Glenn now, Carol contacted Hershel again. „Is he on his way back out again yet?" she asked, hoping against hope. She knew, from the look at the map that he had given her, that he would need to find five concealed boxes with explosives, hidden away in utility shafts and behind hedges, enter three buildings, plant five charges in specified locations inside them, wire the explosives and set up the timers, before he could get out again. She also knew that he hadn't been in there long enough yet to accomplish all of this. She knew Hershel's answer before she even asked.
„They're on their way to the fourth box now, but he is slowing down", Hershel answered. „Rick is keeping them out of trouble, but they lose a lot of time by avoiding the patrols. That's the main disadvantage to not having our people carry weapons - but if he had been stopped and searched on the way to the compound he'd be in a cell already."
„Maybe after tonight we won't have to worry about that any longer", she mumbled, and Glenn cast her a questioning look. Glancing at him, she shrugged. „I just wish he had a weapon to defend himself. The guards all carry weapons and are authorized to shoot on sight."
„It's been discussed again and again", Glenn pointed out. „Of course carrying a weapon while he's inside there would be safer for him, but outside … It's just too dangerous. People get randomly stopped and searched too often to risk it." He stopped and touched her forearm, gently, tentatively, clearly only in an effort to comfort her. He had picked up enough from her to know that her only interest was in the man inside the compound, and he didn't want to offend her by violating her personal space. „I'm sorry he's in danger. I know I'd hate that, too."
„Well", she sighed, pulling her arm out of his reach, „we can try to help out, can't we?" She gave him another of her brave smiles, her lips trembling, and then started walking again.
.-.
Dusk had almost turned into full night by the time Merle and Shane were on their way to the compound to take their perp into the cell that was his due. Switching off their flashing rooftop lights - they had gone without the siren as it had only been one block and there wasn't any traffic -, Merle turned around the final corner and put his foot down on the accelerator. The maglev patrol car soundlessly floated toward the main entrance of the compound, passing a couple taking a walk. Something about them seemed vaguely familiar, but he didn't stop to think about it - maybe they had passed them already on their way to the seedy hotel.
He was surprised to find Andrea manning the guard post when they passed through the gate. „Sugar mouse, what's up? Why are you here?" he asked as he handed in the ID chip of the guy in the back seat for her to scan and process. „Violent assault on a woman."
Accepting the chip and inserting it into the scanner, she deftly made some entries into her computer, taking down the date and time of incarceration and looking for a free cell in which to put this human shitstain. Next, Merle gave her the datacard containing the report of Ed's arrest, and her eyes widened as she quickly scanned it. What little she caught in the brief time the report was displayed on her screen made her skin crawl. Of course, for him to be brought here he had to be quite a piece of trash, but apparently, there were pieces of trash so depraved that not even knowing what the Feina did to violent offenders like him would hold them back. Well, he certainly deserved what he had coming.
She handed back both the ID chip and the report, then plucked a freshly coded key card from the slot of the coder and handed it to Merle as well. „Admin building, basement, cell 8. Card plus your ID will open all doors. Just put him in and close the door again." Her voice took on a vicious tone. „Make sure it locks." She briefly glanced at the rear seat of the patrol car, catching a glimpse of Ed's mean, angry face in the glare from the flurorescent lamps bathing the entrance in light. „They will do the rest."
.-.
The admin building was nearly empty at this time of day. Rick had deactivated the automatic lighting system that would have illuminated the lobby and the hallway Daryl was in the moment he set foot in it - and alerted every Feina or human on this level to his presence, and made him visible to everyone outside the glass façade.
Daryl winced in the light cast by his lamp as he crouched behind the hydrogen tank that fueled the heating and power systems of the admin building. Of course he would never have admitted it, but he was immensely relieved that he was almost done here. This was the last charge, and he had already sent Sandra out toward the exit after she had opened the door to this utility room for him. Of course she had refused, but he had stuck one of his screwdrivers into the crack near one of the door's hinges and smiled at her crookedly. „See, I'll get out. No need for your card or your fingerprint here - it'll stay open until I'm ready to go." He indicated the screwdriver with a smug grin.
„What became of her?" she asked softly, blindsiding him. He froze. His eyes found hers for just a moment, unfocusing briefly. „The woman who came here to spy on them? Why isn't she here tonight?"
„She … she would have been the one to come, but … something happened …" He fell silent, remembering Ed's face as he had stopped her in the street. And remembering the same face from that strange dream a few weeks ago as he had come into the kitchen, demanding dinner an hour early without giving advance notice that he would be home sooner than usual.
Carol's dream.
He felt his left leg giving way under his weight as he stopped concentrating on staying on his feet and put one hand out just in time to steady himself against the hydrogen tank. Noting the way his face lost all expression, she realized that he was not going to answer her - he was completely lost in wherever it was her question had sent him.
„I'll wait for you outside - we're in this together", she said quietly. Turning around to face the door, she made sure the screwdriver was firmly stuck in place before stepping out into the dark, unlit hallway.
He continued placing his last explosives package as if he were in a daze, the needle thin beam of his pen light flicking back and forth. In some remote corner of his mind he was infinitely grateful for the fact that he didn't have to do any delicate work - his hands were trembling worse than during a panic attack, and his chest felt as if steel bands were encircling it, keeping him from breathing. What seemed to be tendrils of black smoke were encoraching on the edges of his vision - he was threatening to black out, probably because his heartbeat had skyrocketed the instant he had finally understood.
There had indeed been something he hadn't seen, and now he couldn't unsee it, even if it meant his death. He seemed unable to concentrate on what he was doing, yet he needed to get finished. He had to get out of here, or he would be blown to pieces along with the building. In an effort to create a failsafe backup in case he didn't get the chance to finish and set up the central timer that would count down to the detonation, he had taken the additional time to set all the timers individually - the charges he had already placed would all detonate at the scheduled time, even if he didn't set them off with his remote which would override the individual countdowns. And if he was still here …
Dimly he heard three sets of footfalls outside, accompanied by a quiet curse because the lights didn't come on automatically. Fortuntely, if these guys should decide to investigate, the controls for the lights were in the other utility room which he'd already fitted with a C4 charge and a timer. Maybe they wouldn't find him. Sightlessly staring down at his trembling hands holding the wires that he hadn't stuck into his C4 package yet, he listened as a cell door opened, one set of feet accelerated in keeping with the person the feet belonged to getting pushed, and then the door clanged shut again.
If he ran out of luck, he would hear all of these sounds at least once again tonight.
As he listened, the two remaining sets of feet left again, one of the cops complaining once more about the light and suggesting that they take it up to the second floor right away. The other cop, sounding very familiar despite the strange echoes and muffled sound - he still couldn't bring himself to listen consciously -, pointed out that they had taken longer than they were supposed to already, what with the lights down, and needed to get out again.
He mindlessly followed their footsteps to the elevator, listened to the doors opening and the two cops getting into the cabin, the doors closing again even as one of the cops pressed the button that was going to take them up to the first floor again. Inserting the wires into the C4 package, he connected them to the timer and set it, like he had set all the others.
Plucking the remote from his backpack, he programmed it and checked the time - all of it as if functioning on autopilot. He had taken longer than he was supposed to, probably because of his fucking leg. Only fifteen minutes remained of his thirty to get out. Not even flinching at the realization that this would be a close shave, he set the central timer and crawled behind the hydrogen tank to hide it out of sight.
A groan of pain escaped him as he pushed himself to his feet again. Closing his eyes for a moment, he took a deep breath before whirling into action once more. He picked up his tools and grabbed his screwdriver. Wrenching it out of the door, he stepped out into the hallway. Without waiting for the door to close behind him he set out for the staircase. He couldn't run into the cops on the elevator - there was no telling where they had gone, and there was every chance that someone was coming down already to interrogate whoever they had thrown into that cell.
Slowly, cursing at the increasing pain and the cramps setting in in his leg, he started up the stairs.
.-.
Andrea watched the unlikely pair - a cute young Asian man and a stunning, gray-haired, middle-aged Caucasian woman - disappearing into the darkness after she had let them pass as per Rick's instructions, just as the regular guard approached her. „False alarm - fucking smoke detectors", he grumbled as he signed the watch log and slid it over to her so she could sign out.
Glancing at the chrono over the door so she'd know what time to log, she managed a smile. „Just in time", she remarked with false cheer. „Off duty - have a good night!" Putting down the e-pen with which she had signed herself out, she stepped out of the guard house and turned her back on the compound.
.-.
The lobby of the admin building was an endless expanse of abysmally slick stone, and just looking across it to the glass doors made him feel tired. He set out for the exit, but had to pause after a handful of steps because his thigh was cramping again. He reached into his jacket pocket for his pill, quickly swallowed it and started walking again. The pain was excrutiating, but he had to get out. Almost done now. Did he dare hope?
It couldn't end like this.
.-.
Looking up from the file on Ed Peletier that had been forwarded from the guard house at the gate, a human male who had assaulted a woman on the street roughly an hour ago and should be in his cell down in the basement already, Enforcer of the Peace Laris frowned at the shuffling sound from the lobby. A dark blond human of average build was on his way toward the exit, limping badly.
He couldn't remember any meetings with a human male scheduled for today, let alone at this hour.
This man was not supposed to be here.
Laris dropped the Peletier file and started to run.
.-.
Panicking at the sound of the Feina approaching him from behind, Daryl tried to run but his whole left side seized up. He collapsed not five steps from the door, hitting the shining marble floor with his left side first at full speed from what for him was a flat-out run, completely unprepared as his leg gave out under him. He could hear and feel his left forearm and wrist snapping, along with a wrenching pain in his left leg as his knee bent in ways it was not supposed to bend.
Unable to stop it, he flooded Carol, Hershel and Rick with a wave of pain.
His mind conjured up an image of a faded white and brown wallpaper as he watched a fine spray pattern of blood from his mouth and nose fan out on the ground in front of him in slow motion as his head hit the marble floor.
Tasting blood on his lips and teeth, he managed one final word before mercifully blacking out.
„Carol …"
.-.
The pain was unlike any she had ever felt. It raged through her left side, driving her to her knees. Her left arm and leg were pure agony. Gasping, she hung her head for a moment, catching her breath. Glenn leaned down, eyes wide with shock, and helped her to her feet again. When she turned to face him he felt he had never seen such fear in a human face. „They've got him", she whispered. „And he's out. We have to -„
She started to run.