The ASZ rescue group makes preparations to track down their missing people, with one rather reluctant participant.
Broken Walls
"Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control." Proverbs 25:28
"Doesn't work like that." Abraham said flatly, standing with his arms crossed in front of him, legs spread apart, firmly protesting what Rick was telling him.
"But my dad said—" Spencer started to argue, but the big man shook his head again.
"Heard what he said, but the chips in dogs ain't like a GPS in your phone or car. They're meant to ID somethin' not track it." Abraham explained, "Pass a scanner over it n' the microchip inside gives you info about the owner, not the critter's location. Range is only 15 feet at best."
"But could there be the tracking kind of chip in her pendant?" Eric asked, trying not to lose hope.
Abe looked over at Felicia, the other former military person now living in the Zone. In turn she looked back over at Spencer.
"Did he have a reader? Something to plot her location?" the heavily pregnant woman asked. In deference to her condition she was on "bed" rest, on the couch in her living room, with Claire and Carol watching her like hawks.
Only Rick, Eric, Abe and Spencer had been allowed in, the emergency meeting necessary to understand what they needed to do next to find their missing people. Glenn, Morgan and Michonne were busy preparing the vehicles, supplies and weapons they would need for the rescue mission.
Spencer nodded and pulled what looked like an I-Pad out of the messenger bag he was wearing slung over his shoulder. One of the benefits of their rechargeable solar battery system in the ASZ was that they had a few working computers and smaller data devices. He handed the reader to Felicia who immediately booted it up.
"Still need a working satellite network to plot locations." Abe said gruffly, shaking his head in disagreement. "Been almost two years with nobody giving a shit about anything down here let alone in orbit."
"As long as the chip is one of the newer silica based ones, it doesn't necessarily need satellite data." Felicia said. "We used them as sighting devices when the orbital systems went down. They have three gyroscopes and three accelerometers (one of both for each directional axis), and a highly accurate master clock...all smaller than a penny. Combined, these tools can track what direction the chip is moving and how fast, and its tiny size means it can be put on just about anything without much effect on its weight or shape.*"
"Dad was friends with all kinds of Admirals and Generals—played golf with them—they'd have hooked him up with the best stuff to protect us." Spencer said adamantly.
Felicia was staring intently at the screen, her fingers dancing across the keyboard. Suddenly she paused, frowning, and gasped.
"What is it?" Did you find them?" Spencer asked, excitedly kneeling beside the couch so he could reach for the I-Pad, but Carol put her hand on his shoulder to stop him.
Felicia started breathing slowly in and out, her brow wrinkled in concentration, seeming unable to talk.
"Was that a contraction?" Carol asked quietly, but Felicia waved her off.
"I'm fine, almost got it..." she said and then gave a little grunt of triumph as data started flowing across the screen. A few more keystrokes and the stream of numbers resolved into a GPS style map of DC and Virginia, with Alexandria plainly visible. A blue dotted line followed one of the secondary roads out of town, the dot at the end of it pulsing red to indicate the signal's present location.
"Holy dick." Abraham muttered, making everyone chuckle in relieved release.
"So as long as she's still got the pendant..." Eric said leadingly.
"You can track them with this." Felicia said, nodding happily. She let Carol take it from her and settled back onto her pillows grimacing slightly as she readjusted herself.
"Got a car charger for that thing?" Abe asked, pointing at the little computer pad.
"Yeah. But I don't know how to do what she just did—what if it needs to be recalibrated while you're out there?" Spencer fretted.
"She can't leave here." Claire said unequivocally, "You'll have to find someone else who knows tech to take with you."
"I think I know just the guy." Abe said, exchanging a raised eyebrow look and a sigh with Rick.
"I'm proud of you." Rosita said, holding out another couple of clips for the pistol the man in front of her was securing in his shoulder holster. He didn't reply nor look at her and she could see the beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead.
"I am too, Eugene." Tara added, putting her hand on his shoulder and squeezing.
Eugene turned a curious shade of green, bent forward convulsively and promptly threw up on both of their feet, somehow avoiding getting any on himself.
"Shit!" Rosita yelled, shaking her head at the now totally miserable man.
"Dude!" Tara exclaimed, jumping back, slipping and almost falling. Rosita caught her before she could go down, but it was a near thing.
"I do sincerely apologize." Eugene said, blinking away tears, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and looking at the woman with basset hound despair.
"Are you sick?" Rosita asked, ignoring the mess and putting her hand on his clammy forehead.
"No." Eugene droned. "It seems that my imminent death has my gastrointestinal system in an uproar."
Tara had gone to the shelving in the basement Armory where they were helping Eugene prepare, to find some towels to soak up the sick and clean off her shoes enough to remove them afterwards. She turned back at his statement.
"You're not going to die." Tara said firmly, handing him a large towel and a bottle of water.
"That is a hope, for which I thank you, but cannot be a statement of certainty. We all know death is the most likely outcome of this venture." Eugene said stoically, wiping at his face with the towel before dropping it to cover the mess and stepping on it.
"You'll have Rick, Abe, Michonne and Morgan with you—all great fighters—and you're good with the gun now, even Daryl said so." Rosita reminded him, unsnapping the pocket on his beige camo hunting vest and slipping the extra clips inside before refastening it.
Eugene opened the water bottle and taking a big gulp, nodded, but with a lack of conviction that was palpable.
"Eugene? Are you down there?" Olivia's voice called from the top of the stairs.
The man in question first paled and then blushed, looking towards the stairs with even more trepidation than the thought of facing certain death.
"It's okay Eugene, we'll get this—you go say the rest of your farewells." Tara urged him, taking the water back.
The budding romance between the Mullet and the Pantry lady had been on the slow burn for weeks, everyone doing their best to gently move it along, hoping it would make both of them happy and consequently less annoying for everyone around them.
Eugene going out on a dangerous mission was not something that anyone expected, but as the techiest geek they had, he was the best man for the job of monitoring the signal from Deanna's pendant.
"He'll be right up, Olivia!" Rosita yelled, looking at Eugene fondly. After all they had been through together she did care about him and was proud of him stepping up. If courage was being afraid and doing it anyway, Eugene had that in spades.
The Mullet hesitated, not wanting this to be their goodbye.
"We'll see you at the gate." Tara assured him, "Go on up."
"Wait!" Rosita said, handing him a piece of her jealously hoarded Beeman's gum. "Just in case." she winked.
"Is it true that Carol is having Daryl's baby?" Olivia asked excitedly as they started down the street towards the house nearest the gates, where he was supposed to meet up with the rest of the rescue team.
Eugene looked startled. Of all the things he'd expected her to say at this moment, that wasn't one of them. She'd already hugged him and told him to take care of himself out there and they'd been walking companionably side by side. He'd been trying to work up the balls to reach for her hand when she'd asked about the other couple.
"That would explain why a woman of her capabilities did not insist on going on this mission." Eugene mused. He'd wondered about that when he'd been told the names of the rest of the team.
"I still can't get over the fact that she's the one who rescued you all from that awful place—she's like a Sarah Connor who got to keep her Kyle after facing down the Terminator!" Olivia gushed.
"It does seem to be a case of bad ass falling for bad ass." Eugene nodded, impressed at her Sci-Fi film reference. "She and Dixon make quite the impressive pair. Their child would have a good chance of surviving and thriving in this new world."
"Just thinking about having a baby these days is frightening..." Olivia said, sounding troubled. "Just how old do you think she is anyhow?"
"Obviously not too old to conceive if she is indeed with child." Eugene shrugged. "By my observation, they have a lot of what seems to be mutually satisfying sex, which also helps in the probability of conception."
"Eugene!" Olivia said, stopping and holding her hand to her mouth, blushing.
"Not my personal observation of the act." Eugene back tracked, realizing that his previous voyeuristic activities while on the road may have reached her ears form another source. Rosita and Abraham had always seemed tolerantly amused by his watching and could've mentioned it to someone here in the Zone.
"Then how...?" Olivia asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
"I have observed that the amount of times they touch each other has increased exponentially since their relationship became general knowledge." Feeling somehow emboldened, Eugene reached out and took her hands in his.
Olivia swallowed hard and nodded for him to continue.
"They always watched each other, usually when the other didn't know it, even back when we were on the road...but now...it's like they can feel each other's eyes and are compelled to look back." Eugene said and then he looked into her eyes, something that his shyness made difficult most of the time.
"Compelled?" Olivia murmured, leaning closer.
"And whenever they part, even if it's just to leave the house and go about their days, they kiss." Eugene said softly.
"They do?" Olivia blinked up at him.
"And when he goes outside the walls—they embrace and they—" but he was interrupted as she lifted up on her toes and touched her lips to his.
Eugene was so shocked he swallowed his gum.
But then he closed his eyes, a look of absolute blissful surrender transforming his face. The bland hangdog expression he usually wore was utterly obliterated.
After a little while Olivia pulled away slightly, breaking the kiss and looking up at him, worried she'd overstepped.
"Like that?" Olivia asked softly.
"What?" Eugene blinked rapidly in confusion—of course he'd liked it!
"Do Daryl and Carol kiss goodbye like that?" Olivia asked and was dismayed when he shook his head no.
"I do believe that there is tongue." Eugene said with a little thoughtful analytic frown.
"Oh. I see." A big smile broke over Olivia's face before she leaned up to wrap her arms around his neck and give him the full Caryl goodbye kiss.
"Geez, man! Have a little self control." Abe muttered as he walked by, burdened down with three rifles and a back pack of ammo.
Continuing to kiss Olivia, Eugene very deliberately raised his middle finger in Abe's direction.
"Touché, Mullet man..." Abe chortled in a long chuckling laugh of appreciation.
"I hate this." Carol said, watching Michonne double check to make sure the clip in her 9mm was full before slapping it back into the stock.
They were the first at the rendezvous site because Carol couldn't sit still and had been making both Felicia and Claire nervous enough that they'd told her to go along with Michonne, promising to send for her if the contractions started up again. The ones she'd had earlier in the morning while working on the GPS device had subsided, and were probably Braxton-Hicks, but they weren't taking any chances.
Maggie was with them now instead. As the only one of them who had actual experience performing a caesarian, she had agreed to be at the birth, despite the pain that the memory of Judith's delivery brought her. Carol was grateful, but still wished Erin was here almost as much as she wanted Daryl back.
"I know." Michonne replied. Hanging back and letting someone else go after the people she loved wouldn't sit well with her either.
"You have the extra batteries for the tracker and the walkies? You know the owl call is the one he'll recognize best, if he can hear it..." Carol's voice trailed off, her mouth working to hold back a sob. She shook her head angrily and turned away, reining in her emotions.
"Daryl Dixon is the most stubborn, strongest son of a bitch I know." Michonne said with great dignity. "He'll be fine."
"I know." Carol sniffed, rubbing at her eyes and wiping her hands down over her cheeks and off her face before she turned back to face her friend. "It's just the damn hormones."
"It's a Dixon." Michonne chuckled, sliding the pistol into her leg holster and then gesturing to Carol's small bump, hidden under Daryl's oversize shirt. "What did you expect?"
"I never expected to be 45, pregnant and alone." Carol said quietly, her expressive eyes full. She gave Michonne a crooked helpless smile and the other woman sighed and moved in close to embrace her tightly.
"You know you're not alone. You have us, your family." Michonne admonished, adding as she released her, with a chuckle and a sly look, "And you know we'll get him back...gotta see the look on his face when you tell him about the baby."
Carol's eyes went wider and she made a funny little choking noise in her throat at that the imagined reaction Daryl would have to the news. It wasn't exactly something either of them had remotely considered.
Michonne's eyebrows came together in concern and she touched Carol's forearm, closing her fingers over it, feeling the slight trembling there. The woman had more self-control than anyone the swordswoman had ever met, but Michonne could tell this was close to breaking her.
"We'll bring him back." Michonne repeated, more seriously this time, letting her hand slide down to hold Carol's and staring her in the eyes until the other woman nodded, agreeing with a tight closed-mouthed imitation of a smile.
Morgan joined them then, another Jedi master of control, and both women acknowledged him with a nod.
"The boy was looking for you." Morgan said to Carol, standing with his staff in his right hand, a worn tan backpack over his left shoulder, at ease, but ready.
"Sam?" Michonne asked and Morgan inclined his head.
"He's with Claire. Told him we'll do our best to bring your man back." Morgan told Carol in that calm way he had. Whatever rivalry there had possibly been between him and Daryl had dissipated. He'd silently accepted the longstanding claims the hick and the housewife, (as Abe had jokingly referred to the couple one ale sodden night), had on each other. They'd broken down each other's walls and he respected that.
A quiet "Thank you..." was all Carol could think to say in return.
"Love's what we have left." Morgan shrugged.
Michonne gave a small sigh of agreement, giving Carol's hand another squeeze before releasing it to greet Abraham and Rick's arrival, taking their gear and starting to pack the car.
AN: A little levity & sweetness to leaven the sadness of the last chapter. Thanks for hanging in there with me!
Do we have a ship name for Eugene & Olivia yet?
*Tech info on similar chip technology quoted from:
Mark Prigg. "The tiny chip that can track its location WITHOUT satellites." The Daily Mail online. 12 April 2013.