'i don't want to talk about the things we've gone through though its hurting me now it's history.' - abba

tiny raindrops fall from the sky hitting my shoulders as i stand with rick and daryl in the woods, a few others join along. we glare off into the distance, watching the two men guard the doors of a building not far from us. carefully and quietly we make our way closer and rick and daryl shoot them down. blood splatters all over the glass door and i push the man's body over with my foot as i tug on the door. "easy." i say out of breath as rick and daryl lead the rest of the group in. our guns are held high as we sweep the ground floor. continuous gunfire rings in the distance at the hands of the king's group, morgan and diane, and a few others as they take out lurking saviors. 

"you signal if they're inside already. we'll be right there." rick says to the three men tagging along. they go off to sweep the next level leaving me with rick and daryl. "come on, let's find those guns." daryl mumbles as we continue down the hall. the building has huge white archways with make it hard to see around. the linoleum tile slides underneath my muddy shoes. the building is spotless, looks like someone cleans here routinely. a dark hallway submerges us and rick pulls out a piece of paper from his pocket. he studies it for a moment then looks up from the paper. "ain't this floor." daryl says after closing a door to a room across the hall.

"only option is up." i say with a sigh. up means stairs, stairs mean more work. "high ground. good cover." rick adds. "yeah, i'd put them up there too." daryl says chiming in. "stairs." rick says pointing to a staircase around the corner. "great." i mutter, following the two of them up. they jog up the stairs like it's nothing and it takes me a moment to catch up. when i do reach the top it's dark and i see rick and daryl trying to pry open an elevator. "are you serious?" i ask looking around and noticing the blocked-off stairway. they grunt as the doors open and we are met with a long elevator shaft. "if i die i'm so gonna come back and bite you both for this." i say as i grab ahold of the small ladder nailed to the shaft. 

they both exchange looks before following me up. i reach the top and throw my gun up onto the floor so i can get up. once i get on the solid ground i lay there grateful to have concrete under my feet again. "it wasn't that bad." daryl says climbing up and then helping pull rick up. "it wasn't that good." i reply standing up with a groan. "last floor." rick says looking down the hallway to make sure it's clear. "he said they'd be here." daryl says referring to dwight's intell. "everything else he passed you is checking out." rick answers. "that guy's a piece of shit." i say and they both look at me before turning back to each other. 

"those guns get to the sanctuary, they could cut through those walkers and make an exit." rick says and daryl nods. "well go faster if we split up." daryl adds. "good idea." i say as i start to walk. "no, your comin' with me." daryl orders and i look at him. "no, he's right. i find the M2s, you find 'em, we use 'em, hit the courtyard right then and there." rick explains. "end this quick." daryl says and we split off from rick as we take the right hall and he goes left. daryl and i walk through halls and rooms, kicking in doors and throwing trash around. daryl walks up to the door at the end of the hall and kicks it in revealing a darkened office space. a light sits turned on on top of a desk and he raises his crossbow. 

i open a closet door and see a couple of boxes of bullets sitting on the ground. "daryl." i say picking them up and walking over to him. he stands quietly in front of an opened door. handcuffs stay chained to an old pipe and a half-eaten mouldy sandwich resides next to vomit stains on the cold concrete floor. "you good?" i ask quietly. he shuts the door without a word and takes the boxes of bullets from my hands and shoves them in his bag. "come on." he says roughly as we walk out of the room. gunfire quickens in the distance and we open the last door on our side. "nothing. shit." i say with less and less patience. 

"maybe rick found 'em." he says and i'm surprised he is filled with more hope than i am. i follow quietly behind him as we backtrack through the halls. "i already told you everything." he says without looking back at me. "no, you didn't." i say quietly. "what else you wanna know?" he asks. "whatever you want to tell me." i reply. he had told me bits and pieces about being locked up but he never told me the whole story. it's so clear that it bothers him. "they outnumbered me, outgunned me. negan wanted me to side with him. he tossed me in that shitty closet, fed me dog food for fuck's sake. i thought about glenn and joel, how they deserved better. i thought about merle, how he would see it all. i thought 'bout you and how you don't take bullshit from no one, especially no savior." he explains and i walk behind him listening. 

"it was messy, brutal. showed me what we're fightin' for though. humanity, you know?" he adds. "yeah." i reply as my heart aches for him. i experienced torture at the hands of just one savior so i can't begin to imagine how hard he had it in there. "you get it." he adds. "i do, yeah. i'm sorry, daryl. i shoulda helped you." i say. seeing him like that at the sanctuary made me haye negan more. i wanted to kill him, i had so many loopholes, i should've just done it. "ain't your fault. you couldn't have done nothin'." he says shrugging the conversation away.

grunting and banging catch both of our attention as we make our way further to rick's wing. daryl starts to run and i run after him. we see rick held at gunpoint by a savior and daryl shoots his crossbow straight into his head as rick yells for him not to. the body thuds on the ground and i inspect his face expecting to see someone i recognize. "you good?" daryl asks rick. "that was.." rick says with a blank expression on his face. "i know who it was. don't matter, not one little bit." daryl responds, cutting him off. he walks up to the guy's head and rips his arrow out, flinging blood onto my shoes. "you find them guns?" he asks rick. 

"they aren't here." rick answers, still eyes glued to the man's body. "what?" daryl asks agitated. "he called the saviors back from the courtyard." rick says grabbing the man's few guns he had on him. "we gotta get out before-" rick says before a loud thud of a door makes us all jump. i back up against the wall, out of view from the hallway. "they're here." rick says standing up as blood drips from his forehead. rick, daryl, and i run through the halls with our guns held high. we reach the elevator shaft and gunfire shoots up at us. men shout from down below as daryl tugs me out of the way of the bullets. "damn it." rick mumbles. i look right then left before dashing into a room across the hall. daryl, rick, and i peek our heads out and try to shoot down the men coming for us. 

bodies collapse from all angles. my gun runs out of bullets and i turn back in to reload it. the machine guns send vibrations through the whole building and i feel my pockets for my bullets to find i have one more. "hey! hey! i'm out!" daryl shouts from across the way. i look around hoping to see another case of bullets but i just see a fire extinguisher nailed to the wall. "hey!" i say sticking my head out the slightest and pointing to it hanging on the wall. i stick the bullet in the chamber and cock it. carefully, i line it up with the bottle and pull the trigger. as soon as it explodes white fog fills the room creaking an escape for us. 

"come on!" i shout as i dash towards the elevator. rick and daryl tag not far behind. the smell of the air burns my throat and i cough as i climb down the ladder to the second floor. "teams of four, sweep the offices!" we hear aaron shout from down the hall. "aaron!" rick calls out. "rick!" aaron answers and i follow the two down the hall till we are met with aaron and a few others. "lets go." rick orders and we follow the group outside. smoke lingers in the air and growls of the dead call to us. dozens of savior bodies lay in the hot sun as walkers pick over what's left of them. any walker we see we shoot it down, it's easier when they are distracted with food. rick takes the camera i had earlier and snaps a picture of the mess we left.

we end up loading our injured people in a truck and sending them on their way to hilltop as the rest of us collect the ones we lost. i set down a blanket on one of the bodies of someone we had lost from the kingdom as aaron comes back sobbing. i rush over and see him covered in blood. "he's there." he sobs and i look behind him watching eric's reanimated corpse walking into a field. "eric's there." he repeats and i grab ahold of him. "i can't.." he cries. "i can't just let him.." he adds. "aaron..that's not him." i say as he falls every which way. i sit with him down against a rock and watch him slowly calm down. his eyes are empty as he stares off into the dirt. "guns aren't here. we gotta go right now, people!" scott shouts from down the pathway. 

the sound of a baby crying makes aaron and my head turn. rick walks up to the small group holding a baby. "where?" i ask standing up and taking the baby from rick's arms. "inside. i have a stop to make and daryl's got his bike. maybe she can go back with you or scott." rick says. " i would but i'm going with daryl." i say looking down at the small girl in my arms. "she can go with me." aaron says and we all look at him. "i can take her to hilltop. she'll be safe there." aaron says sniffling. "aaron. are you sure?" i ask. "eric and i were gonna go up- we were gonna go and update maggie. so, that's what i'm gonna do. please." he asks with his voice trembling. "her name's gracie." rick says as i hand the baby over to aaron and his face softens into a smile. 

the group finishes packing up and drives off leaving rick, daryl, and i. "see you back home." rick says tossing the pictures into his car as i get on the back of daryl's motorcycle. "sure you wanna talk to those asshole garbage people alone?" daryl asks rick. "yeah. that's how it gets done." rick replies. "alright, you're gone too long, i'm gonna come lookin' for you." daryl adds. "that's the plan." rick says and some stray gunshots catch us off guard. i jump off the bike and hide behind a concrete wall as i get my knives out. "hey! you're alone. you got to be. there's not enough room for two of you behind that tree. there's a herd coming. i'm just sayin'. hey, i tell you what.. you drop your gun come on out, tell us what we need to know. you do that, you can take a car. you go. you live. how about it?" rick announces to the lone savior. 

"why should i trust you?" the man asks with his voice breaking. "'cause i'm giving you my word. there's not that much that's worth much these days, but a man's word..that's gotta mean something, right?" rick replies. "okay." the man replies. daryl, rick, and i stand up and walk closer to the tree. a man maybe a year older than me limps out from behind the tree. "what do you want to know?" he asks with his hands up in the air. "you ever have any M2 browning .50-caliber guns here?" rick answers. "we did. for a while." the man studders. "what happened to 'em?" daryl shouts. "they got sent to another outpost yesterday." the man replies. "which one?" rick asks as the man shakes in the spot. "it was gavin's- it's west of here." he answers and slowly stands straight. "can i go?" he asks alarmed. i gasp as daryl shoots his gun and the kid drops to the ground.

"which team's gavin's?" daryl asks walking back to his motorcycle. i stand there with my lips parted as i stare at the kid's body. "ezekiel's." rick answers getting back in his car. "you comin' or what?" daryl shouts to me and i turn around quietly walking back to him, hopping on the bike. daryl starts up the engine and we lead rick's car down the street. i watch as walkers approach the man's body and start pulling away at his flesh. 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・

it's almost christmas omg.