Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Twilight and TWD. Those rights are reserved for Stephanie Myer and Robert Kirkman. I do own the rights to the original characters created for this storyline. Please support the official release.
Writer's Notes: Double update!
"We have no way of knowing." Rick said, his arms crossed. He had led the interrogation on the man that they captured. The only thing they knew was he called himself an apostle of god. The glory of the wolves will set things right in the world post rapture. The 'W' on their forehead stood for Wolf. They had the guy for a week, and he had yet to give his name.
Bella didn't like the uncertainty that came with this group. "Keep working on him I guess." She said and looked at her watch. "I have to get going. We have to get more medicines for Bob. He's healing, but the pain is too much. We need opioids." She said with a sigh.
Rick reached for her, his hands running down her arms. "Baby, look at me." He said gently.
Bella's blue-green eyes looked up at Rick. "Don't lecture me Rick. I'm trying my best here."
"I'm not going to lecture you. I know… I know that we need these things. I wish you would let the others go without you. Did you take a test this morning?"
Bella sighed. "I did. It was negative. Rick, I might not be able to get pregnant again. I don't want to stress about it. Let it happen if it does. I'll keep taking tests each month. I promise." She said.
Rick nodded and then leaned in and kissed her softly. "Okay. Please be careful. Who's going with you?"
"Maggie, Daryl and Glenn." Bella relayed. "We're going East of DC. It's a longer trip. We'll be back tomorrow before dark." She said and then she just leaned against him. "Take care of Deanna. She's still not talking or coming out of the house. Spence said that she's just in shock right now."
Rick kissed the top of her head and hugged her tight. "I'll make sure she's okay." He said and then leaned back to look at her. "I love you."
"I love you too." She said and kissed him one more time before she pulled away from him. She left their bedroom to go and peak on Aya. She was playing in the playroom with the triplets, even if they weren't actually triplets, it was the nickname that stuck. Annalise and Sophia were in the playroom with the babies, so she smiled and just waved at them before she walked away, going downstairs. She paused when she saw Carol. "Hey, how's the freezer?"
"Looking grim." Carol relayed. "I'll go on a hunt with Jake later since Daryl is out with you guys. We'll find something… hopefully." She said with a smile.
Bella nodded. "Alright. Be careful." She said and then she headed outside in to the cold. It always took your breath away at first. It was still dim outside. The clouds were heavy with snow and it hid the sun somewhat. It was also early in the morning. She sighed, her hot breath misting the air before she walked towards the gate. Glenn was standing with Maggie and Daryl was too. Daryl was smoking a cigarette, patiently waiting for Bella to join.
"Alright. Let's get going. We're hanging to the East part of DC. There is a smaller hospital on that side and there are some clinics to scout. There's a big name pharmacy as well. We need these medicines, so let's just try our best to find them." Bella related and the others nodded their agreements. Jake opened the gate for them then the four walked outside the wall and they climbed into the Jeep and Bella drove towards DC.
[Washington, DC: East]
Bella parked as close as she could to the hospital. Walkers were scattered and there were very few roaming by themselves. They stayed quiet so they wouldn't gather attention and they slipped inside the hospital with little issue. Once inside they took out the walkers that they saw to clear the bottom floor. This hospital was smaller and only had four floors but they would search all of the floors if they had to. Bella found the hospital map and she looked it over on the wall.
"Hospital pharmacy is on this floor. Let's clear it first and then we'll go up to the second floor to pediatrics to see if there's anything we can use there." Bella said and Daryl looked at the map. "Why not split. We cleared the first floor easy. It's a smaller hospital and it doesn't seem like it's too hard to clear with two people."
Bella shook her head. "It takes longer as a group but it is safer. Let's move in the same uniform fashion and we'll clear as we go." She said and Daryl nodded. Bella took the lead towards the pharmacy. It was easy to find because of all the signs. The pharmacy wasn't locked down so it was easy to slide across the counter to the back. There was one walker wearing a lab coat and Bella quickly put him out without a second glance. She looked for IV storage since the morphine would be kept separate from the other medicines. Maggie and Glenn worked on filling up the first seabag with everything on the shelf. Daryl kept watching, making sure no walkers would surprise them while the other three worked.
Bella didn't find morphine but she found Dilaudid, which would work for pain. They cleaned the entire pharmacy out before they moved towards the stairwell to go up to the second floor. Bella prepared herself mentally but she paused at the door. "Maggie. There will be children. Dead children and I need you to stay calm."
Maggie grimaced a little but she nodded. She had come along way since the farm. She was stronger now and she had learned that this world didn't discriminate. The virus didn't care if you were a child. She followed Bella's lead and they moved into the pediatric floor. Maggie was not prepared for the images. Children's sunken bodies, their faces distorted from withering away. They were all sizes and it was horrifying. Bella shot the rapid fire crossbow and it sailed through the skull of a child and Maggie did flinch but she took a breath then she aimed her own bow.
It was probably the hardest thing Maggie had to do. Killing children. But she reminded herself that they weren't children anymore and that they died a long time ago.
When the floor was cleared enough, they found the storage room. There was some pediatric medical supplies and they started clearing the shelves of everything they found. They didn't want to leave anything behind.
It took four hours to completely clear the hospital. By the end, the four were tired. Their muscles aches from swinging their weapons. From yanking arrows out of the heads of walkers. But also carrying the seabags. Each filled seabag weighed 70 pounds. Daryl was carrying two and so was Glenn. Bella was carrying the one and so was Maggie. They went back out the entrance of the hospital and they packed the Jeep before getting back inside. The next stop was the pharmacy. There was one nearby and it was possible they would hit the jackpot there. Bella didn't waste anymore time. She reversed away from the hospital and drove the five blocks to the pharmacy. The pharmacy was a larger building and the windows were broken. This part of DC saw a lot of looting in the early stages of the virus outbreak.
Bella took the lead as always and they moved inside the pharmacy, switching on their flashlights as they entered to get better lighting. There were walkers littered throughout that they easily took care of. The shelves were a mess. Things were knocked over everywhere but the rollcage on the back wall was pulled down. This meant that the medicines in there would still be intact. Or at least they hoped. Glenn and Maggie worked on grabbing things that they saw on the shelves and threw it into another bag while Daryl and Bella moved to break into the other part of the pharmacy.
Bella kicked the side door in, splintered the wood on the frame when she did and Daryl found that impressive. There were no walkers lying in wait inside. So they moved fast. Bella's eyes danced over the prescription bottles. She found plenty of pain medicine and that made her feel relief inside. She threw everything into the bag and included all the other medications. They would need some of this stuff in the future maybe and so she didn't leave anything out. Darly grabbed the pill cutting machine and Bella raised her eyebrows.
"I don't know. Looked necessary." Daryl said with a shrug. Bella just smiled and continued working quickly.
They joined Maggie and Glenn in the first aid aisle. Their bags were getting full since they packed everything, they could find into them.
"Alright let's move on. Find the clinic and check on other equipment." Bella said and they moved out of the pharmacy and packed the Jeep. Bella fired three arrows rapidly with her crossbow, taking out walkers as they inched in too close. But again, the streets weren't filled with walkers like she thought it would be.
Bella found it suspicious. She looked around and sure enough she saw Negans truck come into view. This time it was only Negan from the looks of it. She sighed and shut the door. She looked over at Daryl who recognized the truck as well.
Negan parked the truck in front of the Jeep and he got out. A woman got out from the passenger side, her hair was twisted into dreads and the only thing not covered was her dark smooth face. She sported a sword on her back and it seemed that she was the quiet type.
"Negan." Bella said with a nod.
Negan smiled as he came to a stop in front of her. His eyes spotted the ring on her finger and that sent a pang through him. But he didn't let it reflect on his face. "Bella."
"I thought you said East." Bella said leaning against the Jeep.
"Well. We expanded." Negan said motioning with his arms.
Bella smiled a little. "I figured. What's the tax on this?"
Negan shook his head. "No tax. But I'm glad y'all rolled through." He said and then he looked serious. "I'm missing a guy. Dwight. He was with me last time we… met."
"Blonde hair? Scarred face?" Bella asked and Negan nodded. "No. I haven't seen him out my way. We have encountered a different kind of bandit." She relates.
Negan frowned. "My guys giving you a problem? You tell them-"
"Not the saviors. Wolves." Bella said. "We got ambushed a week ago. We took one of their guys captive. Rick is questioning him. Spouts off nonsense about the rapture. Something about being apostles of God." She explained.
Negan's brows furrowed together. "We haven't run into the Wolves. Are there many of them?"
"No clue." Daryl spoke up. "Y'all having problems with wildlife?"
"Problems how?" Negan asked, his eyes landing on Daryl now. He hadn't even spoke to Maggie or Glenn yet.
Daryl looked at Bella and then at Negan. "Not much of it. I know it's winter but this is prime deer season right now. Not even tracks."
Negan looked at the other woman and then back at Bella. "We have a farm compound. The Hilltop. They supply livestock. It's raised and slaughtered there. So y'all need food?"
Bella nodded. "We do. We have greenhouses with crops started. It yields decently. But we don't have room for livestock yet."
Negan went quiet a moment. "How many people do you need to feed?"
Bella looked at Maggie and Maggie spoke now.
"36." Maggie said simply.
"Lose some people?" Negan asked.
Bella nodded. "Yeah. The mayor's husband was killed last week in the ambush."
"Michonne. Get word to Hilltop. I need a cow delivered to…" Negan looked at Bella for where he should bring the cow.
Bella smiled. "Alexandria." She revealed.
Negan raised a brow. "I had suspicions that is where you were holed up."
Michonne nodded. "What about the walkers? Any notice of change?" her voice was smooth, like velvet sliding over velvet and it was lower than most women.
Bella frowned. "Other than gathering in larger herds… no."
"They don't whisper?" Michonne asked.
"Wait." Glenn interjected. "Walkers are talking?"
Negan gave a nod. "Yeah. I have reports of it across DC and surrounding areas. Started happening a few months ago."
"The walkers are evolving." Bella didn't like this. "Come with us. We need a bigger meeting. The others need to know about this."
Negan glanced at Michonne and then back at Bella. "Alright. We'll follow you back. It's getting dark. So we want to sleep before we head your way?"
"No. It's a two hour drive. Let's just get back. This is too important." Bella said and nodded over at Daryl and he got in the driver's seat of the Jeep to take over driving. "We have a cleared path to Alexandria if you follow us." She said and Negan nodded and walked back to the truck, Michonne with him and they climbed in and started the truck up before following Bella and the others back to Alexandria.