Terrible Truths

Carol took a shower, dressed in the clothes that she had been wearing when she was captured, and put on her wedding rings. She took a minute to look at them and appreciate how beautiful they were. She fluffed up her short curls and went to get the girls. They went back to the big bedroom and sat on the bed.

"I think that our people will come tonight or tomorrow morning. We need to be ready and do our part. You need to have your weapons ready. "Carol said making eye contact with each girl. "As soon as we know something is happening I want you to take your weapons and head down that back path around headquarters and head toward the slave barracks. Find Jo and protect her."

Ariel looked fearful and Carol touched her face. "It's alright to be afraid, but don't hesitate to act. You are using an ancient weapon in a world of modern machinery; you only have the advantage of being quiet and fast. So use it. "

Carol continued, "We all want to go home, but don't you think about that. You only think of yourself as someone who is ready to fight. You be here right now, do you understand?"

The two girls nodded and Ariel spoke, "Are you scared?"

"Yes, I am afraid but I am not terrified. When the fight comes I put everything else away and I let the training take over. I don't hold anything back when I use the weapon, things seem like they are in slow motion but everything is happening very fast."

"Make sure that you don't turn your back on the dead until you have used your weapon to destroy the brain. We have practiced this, but don't forget, the dead seem to turn fast in a battle."

"Now go get everything ready, I love you and I am proud of you."

The girls left and Carol stayed there and thought about what she might have to do. She wanted to lie there and think about being back on the mountain with Daryl but she had just warned the girls to get their mind on the battle.

Daryl had showered and dressed in black cargo pants and a black long sleeved silky shirt that Patrick had decided that they would wear. He was ready and had been for days. Patrick and Michonne were hashing out the last details and there would be a last briefing and they would be heading out so that they could be in place before dark. He went over to his dresser and put on his wedding ring after all he was going to go get his bride.

Daryl looked at the hands; he had been so enraged that Carol was living with some man at the Nazi compound that he had pounded his fists into a tree. Michonne had stood by while he beat the hell out a pine tree. Then she sat him down and asked what did he want Carol to do in that situation. He had sat there until he accepted a terrible truth. He didn't care if Carol was screwing the guy twenty times a day if that kept her alive. She knew he would come for her but she had to keep herself alive until that happened. It didn't matter what she had to do to stay alive; it only mattered that she lived and breathed and was Carol, his Carol, and nothing that she did with anyone else would change how he felt about her.

Patrick and Michonne were fighting out the last details of the operation. She was adamant that they focus on killing the Nazi/raiders. They were concentrated in one area of the town and had control of the headquarters. She seemed sure of that and she had spent days watching the camp. The meeting was held in an abandoned barn not far from the camp. She and Tyreese had been staying here for days while the others were getting the materials ready. The teams were coming in the back way for the final briefing.

Michonne had sketched the compound onto an inside wall of the barn. It was a detailed sketch of the facility and each area was clearly marked. Michonne went upstairs to the loft to get ready. Tyreese had brought up some water for her to wash in and Patrick had brought them clean clothes. She took a few minutes for meditation before she washed and dressed. She needed to cleanse her mind from this hatred she had toward the Nazi raiders; they deserved her hatred but she needed her mind clean to do what she needed to do.

The briefing went well and they were soon moving up the hill to get in place before dark. Michonne and Tyreese were heading a group that was going in to the compound over the fence close to the slave barracks. The guards put all workers inside their barracks before dark and took up positions. The first task would be to kill the guards and release the slaves. They would wait there until they got the signal that the second wave was coming in.

Patrick and Rick were in charge of the second wave. Maggie and Andrea were on sniper duty. They would be shooting from tree stands used in deer hunting; they would have a sturdy place from which to shoot and they would be too far up the tree to worry about walkers. Thankfully, Michonne and Tyreese had knocked the local walker population back some this week.

Daryl and Glenn were shooting fiery arrows toward the Nazi part of town. Dave had come up with a chemical concoction that would set their houses on fire and gave off toxic gases when lit. It had taken Daryl a while to figure how to arch the arrows toward the houses without hitting everything else. The bombs were attached to the arrow by a string and Glenn had to have it in perfect position or it didn't work. They were hoping that the burning houses would cause a distraction. Josh and Jonathan were taking out the guards at the bottom of the hill and at the entrance of the gate.

Daryl was moving toward the house that Carol was staying and securing her and the girls. The plan was not to attack the houses on that street if they had a red ribbon on the door. He figured that sooner or later they would have to get those people out but no fighting on the street that Carol was on sounded good to him. Michonne made him promise that he wouldn't be killing anybody in that house; she seemed to think that the man and boy were good people. Daryl hoped that was true.

They waited until it got dark. The electricity was usually cut off at 10:00 so they wanted to be finished by then. Daryl figured that the Nazi might cut off the power to have an advantage; but he figured he could find Carol and the girls in the dark.

Carol had Caleb to take the girls to the slave barracks before it was truly dark. She and Allen left the house and waited on the back side of the house. She had a slight inkling that the Nazis would be coming for them tonight and they needed to be hard to find. Carol and Allen moved farther from the house and toward the fence. She felt safer the closer she got to the fence and the farther from the house. Rick watched Carol come closer and closer to their position. She had a man with her but he trusted Carol enough to know that she wouldn't bring the enemy to them. She had a sword and a knife but no gun. Rick spoke to her in a low voice, "Carol, what are you doing out here?"

Carol felt the world fall off her shoulders, "Rick, we are here to fight with you. This is Allen James and he is on our side."

Rick began cutting the fence using very strong clippers. They were just making a hole big enough for them to get in. "Just wait there, I will open this up. We are ready to go."

Soon Rick joined them on their side, Patrick followed him, and the rest of his team followed. Daryl and Glenn were closer to the entrance and the fireworks were ready to start. Rick closed the hole back up with strong wire and they moved toward the Nazi section. Rick gave Carol a pistol.

They watched as the fiery arrows arched high in the sky and landed on and around the houses. Carol could smell the strong odors of the toxic gases and they watched as the houses began to burn.

The team was waiting for Daryl and Glenn to come toward them on their way to rescue Carol. Rick called for Daryl and he ran toward them. Carol stepped away from the taller men and Daryl saw her in the light from the burning houses. He ran toward her and she jumped into his arms; the sound of automatic rifle fire brought them back to reality and she pulled away from Daryl. Allen was standing there and she quickly introduced them. Daryl gave a curt nod and asked, "Where are the girls?"

Carol answered, "Caleb took them to the worker barracks a while ago. The Nazis were coming for us tonight and they may still be around there."

Allen said, "I will do whatever you want me to, but I would like to go back and see what's going on".

Daryl gave him a pistol, "Do you know how to use this?"

It had been awhile since Allen had used a hand gun but he nodded at Daryl. "Thank you, those guys have all the weapons so there hasn't been much way to practice."

Allen led the way back to their street. All the houses on the street were locked up tight, with no lights on. Carol could see red ribbons on some of the doors by the street lights. Allen's house had the front door smashed open. They had come for them, but where were they now?

Carol heard a voice from the closest house, "They left someone inside the house and the rest ran toward headquarters."

Daryl loaded his crossbow and stepped toward the house. Allen waited until Daryl was in position and moved out into the light. Daryl could see the gun barrel move into position and then he saw that Carol was opposite him on the front porch. She nodded at him and hit the wall and dropped down. The gunman shifted toward her and Daryl shot him in the back and moved quickly to stab a knife into his brain.

They regrouped with Allen and moved toward headquarters. One man came out of the house with a rifle holding it up over his head and gave it to Allen as they passed by. He grabbed the rifle and the man handed over some additional ammo. Apparently the Nazis hadn't gotten every weapon. More men joined them as they moved along, carrying whatever they could find.

Patrick and Rick had driven the enemy back toward headquarters and the workers from the barracks joined them there. Tyreese was carrying a few of Dave's bombs and Daryl and Glenn fired them toward the headquarters' building. They lit up the nighttime sky when they hit. Patrick had set up a perimeter all around the buildings; he didn't want these guys to escape and come back to terrorize them again.

Morris and King knew a way to get to the worker barracks and they headed that way. The two men wanted to jump the fence in all of this confusion and hide out in a safe house not far away. Ariel and Arya had been hiding outside the barracks with Caleb when Michonne's group came over the fence. Caleb had moved to kill the guard and Ariel and Arya killed the second one and remembering Carol's caution Ariel had stuck her knife into his brain through an eye socket. Michonne had thanked them when she got there and they had released the workers and asked them to wait until the fireworks started.

Ariel, Arya, and Jo were waiting on the road that ran toward the barracks. The headquarters' building was in flames and Ariel had moved so that it was more at her back. She realized that looking toward that bright light had hindered her ability to see. She saw two shadows moving stealthily from tree to tree and she instinctively moved to cut them off.

Arya took off after her. Ariel got behind a large storage shed and motioned for Arya to get behind her. They held their weapons at the ready position and listened. The two men had seen the girls move but figured that they were frightened and hiding from them. The older woman had fled down the road toward the fire.

Morris and King saw no one between them and the fence and they moved faster. They passed a storage shed and never saw the upraised sword curving toward them. Ariel sliced into King's neck and back. He turned around to face his attacker and she cut open his neck. Arya was struggling with Morris when Ariel joined the fight. Arya was being pushed back by Morris and Arya sliced open his back. Together they killed Morris and by then Caleb was back and he used his knife to make sure that they didn't come back.

It was a long night as every house was searched for Nazis. The plan had worked well and while there had been some injuries they hadn't lost any fighters on their side. They were using Allen's house as a meeting place and it was very crowded in there. Daryl and Carol sat on the back stoop and talked. She assured him that Allen had been a perfect gentleman and he couldn't kill him. Daryl couldn't hold her close enough and swore that he was going to chain her to the house so that she wouldn't get lost again. She hated to break the news to Daryl but it had to be done. "We need to leave at daybreak, Allen's wife and daughter are being chased in the woods close to the place where we had our Girl's Day Out. We need to get supplies together and get going as soon as we can."

Daryl looked at her, they hadn't even gotten home yet and she wanted to go chasing around in the woods looking for ghosts. She looked at him and said, " He's a good man, and I don't know what would have happened to me or the girls if he didn't step up. He risked himself and Caleb. And I have to do this".

Daryl said, "Hell, why would I want to go home when I can run around a walker infested woods? I do get to have this adventure with you right?" She assured him that they would be together on this one. He kissed her wedding rings and they got up and went back inside to get ready for the next adventure,

Ariel was sitting with her mother and Arya and Carol spoke to them both, "I know that was hard but it had to be done. We are all grateful for what you did." Ariel hugged Carol, "I love you, Carol. I can't go back to being the way I was before, can I?"

"I love you more than I can say, I am sorry I was so hard on you, but I had a flash that you would have to do what you did tonight. You had to be ready. And no you really can't go back but you will need to be strong to survive in this world."

Arya hugged her too, and Carol thought of her lost Sophia, and was glad that she had these two in her life.

Patrick and Rick were staying to get things settled down with the New Americans. Michonne and Tyreese were going to get the workers in the barracks resettled. Tomorrow morning they would begin to negotiate this out. This place had a lot going for it and maybe some of these people would stay and make it right.

Carol talked with Caleb and Allen. She had talked about her "sight" with them and they didn't really believe her until she described the woman and child in her sight. Allen had not told her that his wife was African-American and Carol described her and his daughter perfectly. He would have trusted Carol enough without the description. They were leaving at daybreak. Carol and Daryl went to sleep for a couple of hours on the bed in the spare bedroom.

It was just getting daylight when Carol, Daryl, Caleb, and Allen left the next morning. They stopped at the flagpole as the Nazi flag was taken down and they watched while an American flag with fifty stars went up the flagpole and waved with the morning breeze.