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Guest — As have I! Would have loved to see the version of this where she didn't go away for two seasons. But she's back now!

Certain Doom — Part One: Friends and Enemies

"Wait!" Rhys yelled as he and Lydia raced across the hospital parking lot ahead of the horde that bore down on them from all sides. Daryl, Sasha, and Judith were just ahead, ready to slam the only door to the building that hadn't been sealed up yet behind them.

A walker grabbed Lydia's sleeve as they passed it. She yelped as Rhys sliced its head off, neither of them slowing down.

"And us!"

Rhys glanced over his shoulder to see Kelly and Carol dodging past the grabbing hands of walkers and sprinting towards the same fire escape.

They all dove in, and Daryl dragged in a walker that had gotten stuck in the door, slamming it shut as Carol pinned the walker to the stairwell wall and stabbed it through the head with her knuckle-duster knife.

"Why—" Rhys huffed as he stared at Judith, barely able to breathe. "Why were you out there?"

"Went to— to help Daryl," she said between tiny gasps of air.

"What about you?" Sasha asked, hands on her knees as she caught her breath with the rest of them.

Rhys held up the vinyl he had clutched under his arm. "Quest... quest for Luke."

"Us, too," Carol panted, exhaustedly holding up a handful of wires above her head.

Kelly stuck her thumbs up when Lydia asked if she was okay, looking like she might vomit if she spoke.

"Right," Daryl said with a heavy breath, glancing up at the four flights of stairs they needed to climb. "Ready?"

"Fuck me," Rhys groaned.

Judith glared at him. "Language."

The top floor was in disarray. Rhys just managed to dodge Dianne as she came flying around a corner, her arms full of bundles of arrows, only for her to collide with Gabriel and knock him to the floor as he sprang from a room holding blankets.

"Watch where you're—" she hissed, only to hold her hands up. "Sorry."

"Damn it... yeah," Gabriel grunted as she pulled him up.

"Are you—?" Kelly tried, only for Gabriel to shove the blankets into her arms.

"Go!" he barked. "The windows on the east side still need covering!"

Kelly dashed down the hall and out of sight, Judith chasing after her to help. To their dismay, Carol and Daryl were sent to trap the stairwell they'd just climbed. Then Lydia was asked to take the supplies they'd all gathered to Luke while he worked on their maybe fucked plan. Rhys was about to ask what he could do, but Gabriel was off again, yelling at someone when they peeled back a curtain to see the horde surrounding them.

"Rhys?"

He spun around to see RJ and Gracie, both tiny, both terrified. The two were holding hands and trembling.

"I'm scared," RJ mumbled nervously. "Carl's not back."

"Neither is my dad," Gracie squeaked.

Rhys took a second to swallow that information, then he nodded, puffed out his chest and did what he knew Carl would do. He smiled at them confidently, kneeling to their level.

"Why are you scared?" he asked remarkably cooly.

"The walkers," RJ said like a mouse.

"Pfft," Rhys snorted. "Those guys?"

Gracie frowned at him. "You're not scared?"

"We're safe up here," Rhys told them.

"B... but there's so many," Gracie stuttered. "So many more than us."

"Did RJ ever tell you the story of the Brave Man?" Rhys asked her.

Gracie shook her head no. RJ's eyes lit up. Rhys smiled at them both confidently.

"RJ's dad, the Brave Man, he destroyed a horde just like this, all on his own... can you imagine that?"

Gracie shook her head quickly, captivated. RJ smiled proudly.

"See, though," Rhys went on, "I knew the Brave Man, and before he saved all of us that day... someone else saved him."

"Who?" RJ asked.

Rhys' smile was crafty and brash as he threw a dramatic look over his shoulder to check no one was listening.

He looked back at them. "Promise not to tell?"

They both nodded quickly.

"These guys did," Rhys told them. "Sasha, Rosita, Gabriel, Daryl, Carol. The people that aren't here, too, the ones out there fighting to bring us help... Eugene, Ezekiel, Mikey, your dad, and your mom, your brother. They all saved him over and over again so that he could save them over and over..."

"Will it be enough?" Gracie asked, still sounding worried.

Rhys grinned. "Oh, you think I'm done?"

They both waited eagerly.

"There are others... people that keep us fighting more than anyone else."

RJ hopped on the spot. "Who?"

Rhys smiled at them. "The ones we fight for. Auntie Tara and Enid. Siddiq and Jesus. My brother Henry. His brother Benjamin. Two men named Abraham and Glenn. A boy called Noah. A woman named Tammy Rose and her husband Earl... their son Ken. A man called Hershel and his daughter Beth. A lady named Deanna Monroe. A man named Tyreese and a woman called Karen."

Gracie's eyes were wide. "That's a lot of people..."

"And they're all here," Rhys told her. "They're all with us today. As long as we're here, they are. We fight the dead so we can stay among the living, sure. But we also fight the dead so that we can remember the living."

Rhys hugged them both, then told them to go find Judith and stay safe.

Once they were gone, Rhys found his feet, staggering with a hand against the wall. He rushed into one of the hospital rooms that joined the hallway and splattered puke across the floor.

"Eugh," he groaned.

"All good, Rhysie?"

Hands against his knees, Rhys glanced behind him at Jenny, who stood in the doorway with her freshly taut bow.

"Carl's not back," Rhys groaned, standing up straight when he was sure there was no more vomit coming.

"He's not," she confirmed.

Rhys turned around to face her, seeing the fear on her face, swallowing his own.

"If I don't make it..." Jenny gulped. "Don't let me walk with them." She nodded down to her non-existent leg. "I'd be a shit walker."

Rhys smiled queasily. "Maybe just an interesting one?"

"Something tells me that my walker won't be able to use the prosthetic and will make me look stupid."

Rhys laughed breathily at Jenny, walking over to her and clasping her shoulder tight. "I've got you. And do the same for me, yeah? No one wants to see a walker with one ear and a missing finger."

"Our plan is the same," Gabriel told everyone after they had assembled around Luke's workstation by the elevators. "We lead the horde away, just not from Oceanside as we had planned. Once the walkers are clear, we evacuate to rendezvous point B. Luke, we ready?"

Everyone turned to Luke, who looked up from his seat at a table of savaged tech. "Yeah— yeah, I mean, technically..."

"Sounds reassuring," Jenny mumbled.

Luke gave her an apologetic frown.

"These are the final pieces," Luke said, tapping a few bits on the table. "We need them connected to the wagon. But in order for it to do the pied piper thing that we need it to do over the cliff, we gotta get from A to B, and I gotta plug and plug... then we boom Rhys' wonderful choice in music, and we should be good to go."

He mimicked plugging with his hands, and Rhys suddenly missed Eugene's language for explaining tech shit. At least he'd learned that one.

"That wagon's on the other side of the horde," Magna said what they were all thinking.

"So, someone's gotta go through it," Jerry said his eyes flickering nervously to one of the covered windows. "With the Skins in there."

Gabriel nodded. "Four groups. Two in each. One carries the cargo, one protects. It's crucial that all the equipment makes it to the wagon."

"We can make it through," Lydia said, getting up from where she'd been perched on a wooden crate beside Rhys. "I'll help."

"You don't have to," he told her.

"I want to," she said.

"We're willing," Beatrice said from the back of the room, stood with the others Oceanside had sent. "But not if Lydia goes."

"We know she's earned trust with the rest of you, but Oceanside isn't ready," Rachel added.

Lydia dropped back into her seat.

"That's fine," Gabriel told them. "As it happens, Lydia's role is in here, pointing out the Skins for our archers."

No one else offered themselves up. The whole room suddenly went quiet as it realised Gabriel was waiting for volunteers.

"Look, we're not all gonna make it through," Daryl said, standing. "But this is the only way."

"If Daryl's going, I'm going," Kelly said quickly, like it might make it less scary.

They shared a quick nod. One Rhys recognised from Daryl as a sign of respect.

Sasha got to her feet. "Me, too."

"You sure?" Daryl asked her.

She smirked, tossing him a skin mask over Luke's head, who frowned at her for it. "You're not dying without me, Dixon."

Despite Nabila's heartbreaking whimper, Jerry rose from his seat, too. "I'm with you guys."

"And me," Rhys sighed.

Gabriel shook his head. "With Sasha gone, you'll be our best shot with a rifle... we need you to be up here keeping people safe as Lydia picks out the Skins."

"We've got four bullets left in Sasha's rifle, and you're a fine enough shot," Rhys told him. "I'll be more useful out there."

Gabriel frowned at him. "I'm a great shot. Fine."

"I'll go," Magna said, stepping forward.

Rhys glanced at her, and she smiled at him with a misty guilt in her eyes that showed her heavy conscience. He opened his mouth, but...

"I do have to," she said to him from across the packed room. "Consider this me earning back my place."

Rhys nodded his appreciation, and Magna smiled tightly.

Carol raised her hand next.

Beatrice sighed, then nodded.

"Luke has to go," Jules said, sat beside him. "So I'll go, too."

"Jules—" Luke tried.

"I'll go, too," she said sterner, pecking him on the lips.

"Okay," Gabriel said. "That's more than enough. We'll blood you guys up with the walkers that were already in the building, then—"

"Him, too," Daryl grunted, pointing at Negan, who had been skulking in the back.

"Hey, now, I don't think—"

"Nah," Daryl spat. "You're comin'."

After going over the plan one last time with Daryl and Sasha, Rhys headed to the armoury, entering just as Carol was leaving with her bow. Lydia was left standing in there alone, tears in her eyes.

"Bad talk?" Rhys asked her as he picked up his spear that someone must have saved from Hilltop, putting it back down when he realised it would be much too obvious.

"Good, actually," Lydia mumbled, smiling to herself.

"Good," Rhys repeated, smiling over his shoulder at her.

"Why haven't you said sorry about my mom yet?" Lydia asked out of the blue. "Everyone else keeps doing it..."

Rhys pushed his face to one side, holding it in a restrictive frown as he put down Daryl's morning star and turned to face her. "My dad was kind of an asshole. Not like your mom was, he was an asshole in the normal way people used to be, but he was still an asshole, and when people brought it up, it just made me feel worse."

Lydia chewed her bottom lip, nodding. "What about your mom?"

Rhys clicked his tongue as he thought. "She was... I don't know, I guess absent... like, a lot."

"But she was good?"

"Yeah," Rhys said. "Yeah, she was."

"My dad was good, too."

Rhys smiled at her.

"What are we gonna do after this?" Lydia asked him then.

"I was thinking Alexandria..." Rhys smirked like he thought it might be stupid. "I don't know. Guess I figured with Michonne gone, Carl's house will be pretty empty. I suppose I could see us living there with him, RJ, and Jude... at least until we figure something else out."

"Doesn't Carol live with them?"

"I think so."

"And you could live with her?" Lydia sounded surprised. "I've heard a little about your guys' history."

Rhys shrugged since he didn't know the answer to that.

"So you meant it?" Lydia asked. "That you wouldn't make me go away?"

Rhys nodded. "I meant it, Lydia."

Lydia smiled at him. She hugged herself and swayed on the spot.

"Thanks, Rhys," she said. "I'd like that."

Downstairs was like a horror movie.

Bodies were torn open with their guts splattering across the floor.

Bowls were filled with blood soup and stinking guts. Retched fumes filled the loading bay dock.

Daryl passed Kelly a whisperer's mask from his pocket, and Rhys wasn't sure which method made him feel more ill. He watched Gabriel and Lydia gut a few extra bodies for them. Judith stood by the door clutching her katana.

Rhys held his breath as he pulled on one of the hooded jackets Rosita had found for them in a lost property and let Sasha help cover him before he did the same for her.

"You haven't argued about me going out there," Rhys noted as he rubbed a walker's lunch into her back. "I'm shocked."

"I don't think it's going to be much safer in here," Sasha told him, shuddering as he scooped another handful onto her neck and covered her hood. "At least we can keep an eye on each other this way."

When he was done covering Sasha, Rhys spotted Carol by the far wall on her own, staring at one of the opened walkers, peering into his hollow belly. Rhys headed past where Luke was smearing guts on Jules towards her.

"Get your back?" he asked, pointing with his chin, his stomach twisting at the room's smell.

Carol's eyes went a little wide, but she nodded. She turned around and waited for Rhys to scoop up what was left of the walker's inside before she said anything.

"I think people are avoiding me..."

Rhys didn't say anything as he painted her back in thick, black gore.

"I used to be able to justify it," Carol whispered straight forward, knowing he was listening. "I did the things I did for us. But I don't think I let Negan out for us. Mikey did. I don't think I did."

Rhys stopped spreading the guts to grab her shoulder in a way he hopped was reassuring.

Carol hung her head.

Rhys finished up her back then, watching Jerry check in on Magna in the closest corner of the room.

"You sure you're okay going back into the herd after everything?"

"I'm fine," Magna breathed. "You?"

Jerry winced. "Not at all."

Rhys pressed his lips together and pushed a strained breath through them. He wasn't sure if there were enough guts in the world to make him feel safe.

"Hey," Carol said as she turned to face him. "You going out so you can look for Carl and Aaron?"

Rhys nodded. He couldn't be bothered to lie right now. Not when it might be the last thing he ever did.

Carol nodded. "Good luck."

"Hey!"

Everyone jumped at Daryl's bark, turning to see Negan leaning against the stairwell wall, his eyes on them, not a drop of blood on him.

"Why are you clean?" Daryl asked him angrily.

Negan sauntered over with his hands in his pockets. Rhys wondered if he tried to look like a smug asshole or if it just happened.

"I ain't going," Negan said.

"You've done this more than any of us," Daryl hissed.

"I am on the tip-top of every Skins' kill list," Negan told him. "Especially fee-fi-fo-asshole. So if the idea is to get through without drawin' a shitload of attention... I am the last fucking person these people want standing next to them."

"That's a bunch of bullshit," Daryl grunted, pointing a bloody finger in his face. "You wanna be a part of this? You gotta put your ass on the line. Just like everybody else."

Daryl walked away, and so did Negan. Rhys didn't really care, so he just raised his hood and joined the others by the door.

"It's time," Gabriel told them as he yanked down the curtain covering a glass door — the exit — and opened it. The door led to a small room, another door at the other side leading out. Rhys thought about all the sci-fi movies Henry made him watch at the Kingdom's movie theatre when he went through his space phase. He always thought it was scary how holding your breath in space would make your lungs explode. He couldn't help but feel like they were clambering into an airlock as they funnelled inside the small room with their painted-on spacesuits, Gabriel sealing them in. Rhys prayed for no holes in his suit. Judith pressed her hand to the glass, and Daryl put his hand against it. Lydia watched Rhys from the other side of the glass, and he gave her an unsteady smile. She clutched the zipper of her hoodie and smiled back.

"Fuck," Rhys hissed as he turned to face the exit with the rest of them. "Like, fuck."

"You've done this before?" Kelly asked him as she pulled on the mask Daryl gave her.

"Yeah," Rhys gasped, checking his hands were fully covered.

"What's it like?" she asked.

Rhys looked at her grimly, trying to think up the right words.

"Like we're all in Wonderland," he said finally. "Down the rabbit hole."

"Explain," Jules said, her and Luke listening intently.

"We're all mad here," Rhys told them. "We're all fucking mad."

He only realised the nonsense he was saying when all their faces seemed to lose colour. His mouth twitched apologetically.

Jerry stood by the door with frosted glass and enough hands to block out the sun slamming up against it on the other side. The exit sign above was dead. It must have been for years, but Rhys thought it was extra appropriate today.

Daryl drew his knives.

Everyone else followed his lead.

"I'm mad, you're mad," Rhys continued to quote the Cheshire Cat to himself under his breath as he drew his knife and clutched it to his chest. "You must be... or you wouldn't have come here."

"Ready?" Jerry asked.

No one answered that.

He nodded. "Me neither."

The door opened.

Their atmosphere cracked.

The black seeped in.

Rhys held his breath anyway.

Down the rabbit hole they fell.