𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐒.
chapter fifty; Grady Memorial Hospital
" That sounds like the best idea anyone's had today. "

  DEAN WILLIAMS WAS a part of the group that was heading into the city to retrieve Beth and Carol. He had to go. He couldn't stomach the idea of staying knowing Beth, a girl he'd watched grow up, was being held against her will by strangers.

  And Vex Willams seemed to understand that he had to go as well. Which was why she didn't argue the idea. It was why she ensured Dean had all the gear he'd need while she announced that she'd be staying behind.

  It was why she only hugged Dean when he left. Why she told Daryl to keep an eye on him. Why Vex Williams stood holding Zeppelin's hand as the group departed.

  Vex and Michonne were taking turns trying to soothe Judith's crying. She was in a way today, and the sound of hammering boards to the front door was not helping one bit.

  But after a while, when silence engulfed the building, her crying had stopped.

  Judith was in her basket, quickly on the road to a nap, and Vex rested one arm on the back of a pew, running a finger across the baby's forehead as Zeppelin leaned into her side.

  Carl had tried to persuade Gabriel to pick a weapon to defend himself. And after a moment Gabriel chose a machete but quickly retreated into his office after Carl began describing how to use said weapon.

  So now they sat in heavy silence. Michonne checked on Gabriel. Zeppelin eventually convinced Carl to play Rummy with her. Zeppelin doted on Judith until she and Michone switched out.

  It was a game of waiting. Nothing more and nothing less. Too small of a group to spend their time going hunting or running for more supplies; Vex had already thought about these things but didn't wish to leave Michonne alone to care for three kids and a pastor.

  And it seemed it was a good choice to stay.

  Eventually, that silence was broken, hours later, by the familiar groaning of the dead, and a voice shouting for help.

  Somehow Gabriel had left the church without their knowledge and was now on the front porch, pounding on the door, begging for help.

  Michonne grabbed an axe as Vex grabbed her guns. Instructions went out quickly; Zeppelin needed to get Judith, Carl needed to stay back; then the doors were open. Gabriel rushed in, followed by a horde of walkers.

  Vex was picking them off quickly, joined by Michonne after a moment. But there were too many. Every one they killed was replaced by three more; they were losing ground faster than they could gain it.

  "The rectory! Come on!"

  The group followed quickly, heading to the room Gabriel had disappeared into hours earlier. They attempted to barricade the door, but the dead were pushing in too fast, too heavily. Gabriel leaned against it in an attempt to keep it shut, while Michonne moved a chair in front of it.

  "That's how I got out," Gabriel said, pointing to a place where the floorboards had been pried up, "Crawl under to the back. Just go. Take the little one and go."

  There was little time to waste.

  "You wait for us," Vex said as Zeppelin started down. 

  The girl nodded, pulling Judith closer to herself before ducking down. Carl followed after, and Michonne nudged Vex forward.

  She nodded only once, before ducking out after the kids.

  Once they were all out safely, including Gabriel who held a bloodied machete, the group walked around front. They took out the walkers one by one, before shutting the rest of the hoard inside the building and reattaching the boards on the outside, hammering it into place with the supplies they had on hand.

  Nothing was said as they stepped back and stared at the church. Not for a long while. Judith was now strapped to Carl's back, and Zeppelin had grabbed his hand, refusing to let go.

  But with a glance to Michonne, Vex knew it was time to deal with Gabriel.

  "Where did you go?" Michonne questioned, approaching the man.

  "The school. I had to see. I had to know."

  "Well now you do."

  Vex pursed her lips, unsure of what else to say. Gabriel's 'need to know' had exposed them to the elements. They were without a vehicle, without backup or food, standing in the middle of the forest.

  And then the groaning got louder. The boards were bending under stress; and beginning to break. One by one, hands emerged, mouths-- the walkers were going to break through.

  "Where do we go?"

  Vex opened her mouth to respond, but a firetruck approached quickly, running straight through the porch and blocking off the doorway.

  The DC group emerged and hugs were quickly exchanged.

  Zeppelin only let go of Carl to cling to Maggie after her mother hugged the woman. Vex embraced Glenn next, before glancing around and noticing Abraham's strange demeanor and the lack of Eugene.

  "You're back," Michonne spoke.

  "Eugene lied," Glenn said, "He can't stop it. Washington isn't the end."

  Vex expected to fell some kind of disappointment. But she didn't. Perhaps because she had never put much weight into the promise in the first place.

  She had been connected. And everyone was terrified, going bat-shit. There was no plan, not for something like this, except carpet-bombing high populations.

  "Where is everybody?" Glenn questioned.

  Michonne looked to Maggie, then Vex. 

  And Vex looked to Maggie, her own tender emotions rising slowly.

  "Daryl found Bethie. She's alive. In a hospital in Atlanta. Some people have her, but the others went to get her and Carol back."

  "Do we know which one?"

  "Grady Memorial."

  Maggie was in disbelief. Her own happy tears began instantly, hugging Vex before turning to embrace Glenn. 

  "Let's blow this joint and go save your sister."

  "That sounds like the best idea anyone's had today."

🗡

  Zeppelin was bouncing the entire drive there. She kept babbling, filling the air with her own plans for her and Beth; ones that she deigned to invite Maggie and Vex to as well.

  "I'm glad we'll be included," Maggie said with a smile.

  "Well, after I show Bethie the drawing I made for her," Zeppelin said honestly, "I was working a long time; I wanted it to be somethin' she'd like. She's so good at art, I wanted it to be at least nearly as good as hers."

  Vex felt her heart ache slightly. She'd been so wrapped up in surviving after the prison, she'd hardly focused on the people they'd lost.

  The people Zeppelin knew and cared about. 

  And as Zeppelin pulled out a folded piece of paper from her back pocket, opening it to show a slightly faded drawing, Vex nearly cried.

  It was a neat drawing of the Greene Family Farm; re-done a number of times only with a pencil. But it was perfect. The house, the grass, the barn, the silo; it was everything it always had been.

  "She's gonna love it," Vex said softly, pulling her daughter under her arm and kissing the top of her head.

  Zeppelin only grinned when Maggie agreed tearily.

  She kept talking for the rest of the trip. Beth would teach her more about drawing and she would teach Beth about archery. They would play Rummy now that Zeppelin was getting better at it, and maybe Beth would even help Zeppelin get better at singing.

  She couldn't wait for it all.

  And when they pulled up to the hospital, Vex had to keep an arm on Zeppelin's shoulder to keep her back.

  There were a few walkers in the parking lot, but not too many to handle. It was neat and clean with the group they'd brought, and even Vex felt her heart rise in anticipation as they approached the front. 

  Rick emerged first, and Zeppelin was walking forward.

  He split off allowing the group to see Sasha, Carol, and Tyreese.

  And just as happiness was about to peak, it all shattered.

  Because Daryl Dixion was emerging with Beth Greene. But it wasn't really Beth Greene.

  Her limp body hung in his arms, a pale blonde ponytail stained with blood told everyone what could not be said.

  Maggie's cries rang through the parking lot.

  Zeppelin buried her face in her mother's stomach as her own sobs began.

  Vex couldn't feel her hands as she caught her daughter from falling. She cradled her daughter's head to her, pulling the girl impossibly closer as she finally saw Dean Williams emerge behind Daryl.

  He looked empty. Like a shell. Splattered with blood that was not his own.

  And without saying a single word, Dean Williams approached his sister, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and hugging her, Zeppelin squished between them.

  Vex spared one of her hands to lift it to Dean, resting on the back of his neck, squeezing him as if she could pull the grief out of him and Zeppelin.

  But she couldn't. Because no matter how strong she was, Vex Williams was only a person.