Beyond Terminus (Book Two)

Chapter 23: Operation Rescue the Girls

"Well, what's next on the agenda?" I ask.

We've gathered together and Rick is currently discussing our plan of action. Altogether, there's Tyreese, Sasha, Rick, Daryl, myself, and Noah.

"At sundown we fire a shot into the air. Get two of them out on patrol," he says. "Then once it's dark enough that the rooftop spotter won't see us, we go." He starts drawing a map out on the dusty ground floor. "We cut the locks on one of the stairways, take it to the fifth floor. I open the door, Daryl takes the guard out."

"How?" Tyreese asks.

"He slits his throat." I bite my lip, crossing my arms over my chest. The others show surprise, and Rick continues. "This is all about us doing this quiet, keeping the upper hand. They're not expecting us." He pokes a spot on the dirt. "From there, we fan out. We use only knives and silenced weapons. We need to be fast. Tyreese, Sasha, take them. Daryl, Hope, you take care of whoever is in the kitchen. I got Dawn. If they're smart, the rest of them will give up. Then it'll be five on three. Six on three once we get a weapon to Beth."

"The wards will help," Noah says.

"That's best case," Tyreese mutters.

"What's worst case?" I ask.

"All it takes is one of those cops going down the hall at the wrong time. Then it's not quiet. All hands on deck. We're talking about a lot of bullets flying around," he says.

"If that's what it takes," Sasha says, her voice deadpan.

I sigh. I get that's she's upset about Bob, but she was with him for what? A week or two?

"It's not. If we get a couple of her cops alive out here, we do an even trade. Theirs for ours. Everybody goes home," Tyreese offers.

"Yeah, I get it. And it might work. This will work," Rick insists.

"I agree with Ty," I say. They all look at me. "We've become vicious, awful people. We need to save the little shred of humanity we have left. Give these people a chance."

Daryl nods in agreement and Tyreese smiles at me.

"You say this Dawn, she's just tryin' to keep it together, right? Tryin' and doin' are two different thin's," Daryl mentions.
You take two of her cops away, what choices does she have? Everybody goes home. Like he says." He points at Tyreese.

Rick sighs, looking at his feet. We wait for his word.

"Alright. We do that."

We all head out to the truck that Daryl, Noah, and I brought back with us and get inside. Noah and Rick take the front and the rest of us take the back.

The engine starts up, and we all settle down for the ride. I lean against Daryl, closing my eyes.

I'm glad we convinced Rick to go with this other plan. I don't want to kill those people. Somehow, I think they're only trying to help Beth and Carol. They don't need to be slaughtered.

"What're you thinkin' about?" Daryl asks, his hands playing with my hair.

"We aren't good people," I say.

"What do you mean?"

"We aren't good people. Gareth and the Termites...we killed them ruthlessly. A shot through the head would've been quick and painless. We didn't need to hack them apart."

"We didn't kill them. We were gone," he says.

"But our group did," I retort. I sigh, my hand trailing to my stomach. "We're supposed to be the good guys, but are we really? How are we any different from anyone else?"

He says nothing. After a moment, he leans down and kisses my forehead, his hand touching my stomach too.

"I don't know. We've just got to keep tryin' to do some good, even when we do bad."

"Yeah..."

We fall silent, remaining in each other's embrace as the truck keeps rumbling beneath us.