Between the Thorns

Chapter 45

Jean motioned for the girls to stay back as she crept forward and peeked out the window. Her eyes widened and her body went stiff with fear. It was inevitable that the Sanctuary would come under attack. But Jean was still slightly shocked that it was actually happening. There was a good sized group outside too, hiding behind cars that they'd modified with metal panels to serve as shields against the savior's bullets. It was a smart idea. She wondered if they were Daryl's people.

Since all the men outside were doing at the moment was talking, Jean leaned closer to the window. She could see Negan and the rest of his lieutenants outside on the platform. Craning her neck, Jean breathed a small sigh of relief when she confirmed that Daryl wasn't out there with them. He went to the meeting. But he must have either left it before the caravan showed up. Or elected not to leave the building once they did. And his instructions bounced around in Jean's mind. He told her explicitly that if there was any trouble, she was to wait for him at their apartment. And that he would come for her.

"We better get back to the apartment right now," Jean hissed. Grabbing Lily by the hand she started rushing through the winding hallways until they arrived back at the small space they called home. Jean ushered the girls inside, pulling the door shut behind them. She gasped when she felt herself being grabbed roughly by the arm. Daryl spun her around, grasping her arms with both hands.

"I told ya to stay here!," he said, screaming almost directly into her face. His grip on her arms was tighter than necessary. It hurt where his fingers were digging in. Jean winced as she tried to pull away from him. Just as suddenly as Daryl grabbed her by the arms, he released his grip. Wrapping his arms around her, crushed her against his chest and buried his face into the crook of her neck. Jean returned his desperate embrace. After just losing someone close to him in a horrible way, she could only imagine how he felt when he arrived at the apartment to find her and the girls missing.

"It's okay," Jean soothed. "We're okay. I would have stayed. But I wasn't even sure what was happening." Daryl pressed his lips down on hers, kissing her hard on the mouth. One more tight squeeze and he released her, letting the girls crowd in and wrap their skinny arms around him.

"The emergency bags I had ya pack?," Daryl asked. "...are they ready?" Jean nodded, pointing the girls into their room to retrieve their bags while she rushed into the bedroom and got the ones she packed for herself and Daryl.

"What's happening?," Jean asked, setting her bag down on the table.

"The brigade outside is just fer show. They can't storm the building. They're leading a herd in. To surround the place. They're gonna starve us out and try to force a surrender." Daryl paused, making sure Jean understood what he'd explained to her before he added, "...I don't wanna be here when these people start running out of food and water."

Jean's eyes widened and she moved closer to Daryl, wanting the comfort that came with being held in his strong arms.

"I'm scared," Lily whimpered. Daryl lifted one arm off Jean, letting Lily snuggle in next to her. While the two of them looked terrified, Rose looked ready. She already had her knife strapped to her belt and her bow on her back.

"S'gonna be alright," Daryl promised. He glanced down at Jean. "Can you ride?," he asked. She nodded, assuming he meant a motorcycle. It had been years. But she used to ride dirt bikes with her cousins. Motorcycles were a little heavier. But not much different to ride than the smaller motorbikes. Daryl gave her and Lily one more squeeze before he strode across the room. Gripping the back of the couch, he pulled until the large piece of furniture toppled over. Jean was confused about what he was doing at first. But once the couch was upside down, Daryl reached into the bowels of it and pulled out several handguns and lots of extra ammunition. A whole arsenal that Jean had no idea was hidden inside her apartment.

Once they all had handguns strapped to their sides and extra bullets in their pockets, Daryl darted into the girls bedroom and pulled both the top sheets off their beds. Balling them up, he handed them to Jean. Then he motioned for her and the girls to follow him out the door. Once they stepped outside her apartment, Jean could hear the heavy gunfire. And the sound of glass breaking. Lily reached for her, clinging to her hand with wide fearful eyes. Since almost everyone in the place was in the front of the building to help with the battle, the winding hallways they were rushing through were unoccupied. Jean wasn't surprised when they entered the large garage bay. It would be the quickest way out besides the front door of the place.

Jean heard a small crash and she turned towards the noise, her hand moving to rest on the gun she had strapped to her hip. She relaxed slightly when she realized the noise had come from the portly man that worked in the commissary. He wasn't a threat. He was probably just hiding from the fight. But as he took in her appearance, looking at the pack on her back and the gun on her belt, his eyes widened.

"Running away is against the rules," he stuttered. His head snapped to the left, where he noticed Daryl edging towards him. Jean wasn't sure what Daryl was going to do. Tie him up and gag him so he couldn't sound the alarm on them was her guess. But either way, when Joey saw him coming he turned and started to run, knocking over a workbench and sending the metal tools on top of it clattering to the cement floor. A gunshot echoed through the place. And Jean watched Joey fall to the ground, a pool of blood rapidly spreading out under him. She turned towards Daryl, assuming that he was the one that shot the man. But he had his bow in his hands. Not a gun.

"Sorry mom," Rose said, tucking her gun back into the holster on her waist. "He was gonna squeal on us." Jean took a deep breath, deciding quickly that she was going to deal with the fact that her daughter just murdered someone at a later time. When they were somewhere safe. Far away from this place. Daryl didn't seem to share Jean's horror over the situation.

"Good shot," he told the girl, giving her a pat on the back. Jean took a deep breath and tried not to look at the man her daughter just shot.

Like Daryl said, the shooting outside quickly gave way to the moaning and shuffling of walkers. Their bodies were bumping and clanging against the metal garage bay doors. The sound of them made Jean's skin crawl. And she was starting to get worried about how Daryl intended to get them out of this place through such a large herd.

Daryl pulled two lighter weight motorcycles over near the side door, sticking the keys in the ignitions. Then he used his knife and cut a hole in the center of the two top sheets he'd taken from the girls' beds. He approached the door, motioning for Jean and Lily to get around behind him. Rose positioned herself a few feet from the door with her bow up.

"I'm only lettin' one in," he explained. "You got it?," he asked. Rose nodded. Jean gripped her younger daughter's hand, pulling her other hand on her gun. Daryl jerked the door open, gripping the closest walker and hauling it inside before the others could react. Rose dropped it with an arrow as Daryl bolted the door shut again. He grabbed two pairs of gloves, handing one to Rose and taking the other for himself. Then he called Jean and Lily forward and put a bedsheet down over each of them. Even when he gutted the rotting walker longways, Jean still wasn't sure what he meant to do. And she began to gag and retch when Daryl began scooping up the rotting insides of the creature and dumping them down over the sheet that was covering her. She gagged and had to lean forward as the few bites of breakfast she'd choked down made their reappearance.

"Breath through yer mouth," Daryl suggested, layering on another load of filthy stinking guts and congealed blood. When he decided that they were sufficiently camouflaged, he ducked under the sheet with Lily and warned her to stay quiet. Rose darted under Jean's sheet, hugging her mother around the waist.

"Walk as slow as you can and don't make a sound," Daryl instructed. Jean nodded, taking another deep breath in through her mouth. Then Jean and Daryl each took hold of a motorcycle. When they were ready, Daryl reached forward and opened the door.

Letting the dead get close to her was even more sickening than listening to them on the other side of the door. Jean had never been this close to so many of them before. Under the other sheet, Lily had her face buried in Daryl's chest, her eyes squeezed shut. The dead slowly shuffled in through the open door, heading for Joey's bleeding corpse. When the steady stream of them finally slowed to a trickle, Daryl began to wheel his bike slowly towards the door. He had to bump a walker out of his way. But he made it. Jean didn't waste time. She stayed right behind Daryl, following his example. The herd was thicker outside. But none of them seemed to be paying their small convoy any attention. As they neared the driveway, the herd slowly thinned. They walked the bikes until the high fences of the Sanctuary were behind them and they were able to strip off the gore covered bed sheets.

"We're out," Jean whispered, hugging Rose against her. "We made it."