Beyond Terminus (Book Two)

Chapter 24: Hostages

We wait breathlessly as the two shots fire into the air. We can hear the cop car racing after Noah, and Rick keeps us still, his hand held out behind him as he watches carefully.

We hear the cops talking and Rick motions for us. We creep forwards, guns raised.

As we round the corner, he whistles.

"Hands," he demands.

The cops jump and put their guns up, releasing Noah.

"What do you want?" the man asks.

"Whatever this is, we can help," the woman says.

"You do what we say, we don't hurt you," Rick says, his voice quiet and deadly.

We stare at each other for a few slow seconds before the guy throws his hands up.

"Okay," he says.

"Good. Now turn around. Put your guns on the floor and kneel," Rick demands.

They listen, and Tyreese begins cutting Noah free as Daryl and I tie the cops' hands behind their backs.

"We need to talk," Rick says as we yank them to their feet.

Sasha takes the woman from me, and I go to stand near Daryl as he holds the man at bay, gun raised.

"Mind if I ask you something?" the man asks. "The way you talk the way you carry yourself were you a cop? Believe it or not, I was, too."

Rick smirks, and Noah nudges him, motioning to the man.

"That's Lamson. He'll be down for this. He's one of the good ones," he whispers.

Suddenly, a car whips around the corner, tires squealing. We open fire on the car, but the bullets ricochet off the windshield.

Daryl pulls me out of the way, putting his body between me and the car. We duck for cover just as a few bullets from the car whiz past our heads.

The two cops hop into this new car and it starts to drive away. We leap from our hiding spot and keep shooting as it retreats. There's a popping sound followed by a hiss as my bullet hits the tire.

We take off after it, Daryl staying near the back with me, seeing as I can't run as fast as everyone else.

We round a corner, seeing a wide open courtyard with growling walkers all over. However, these walkers look like they've melted into the ground, and the groan pitifully as they reach for us from the ground.

"There!" I say, pointing to the retreating backs of the runaway cops.

"Move!" Rick orders, and we take off after him.

Daryl slows to a stop as he checks the abandoned car. The remains of a melted walker can be seen imbedded under the wheels. I groan, stopping for a moment. He notices and turns to me.

"Hope? Do you need to rest?" he asks.

"Yeah, that'd be good," I say, settling myself onto the seats.

"I'm gonna check around, then we can catch up with the group." He kisses my forehead, looking into my eyes. "Ok?"

"Ok." I smile, giving him a peck on the lips as he moves with a stealthy gait towards the other side of the courtyard.

I lie back on the seat and close my eyes, running my hands up my legs. I'm still wearing bandages on the bigger cuts, but not my whole legs anymore. They still ache if I move too fast too much, but in three plus years of a zombie apocalypse, you get used to aching legs.

I hear grunting and the sounds of a struggle and my eyes fly open. I scoot to door of the car to see Daryl on the ground, wrestling with a bald cop, the one who was driving the getaway car. The cop is pushing Daryl's head closer and closer to a melting walker's jaws, and my blood runs cold.

I get up and pull my gun out, getting to them as fast as I can.

My gun clicks and the man stops, looking up at me with an amused look on his face.

"You gonna shoot me? I wouldn't do that girly."

My eyes flash to Daryl, and I can see his fingers inching closer to another walker's head. I need to give him some time.

I keep my gun raised, my palms sweaty and my body trembling. My finger hovers over the trigger, but I don't pull it.

Time to play the scared and harmless act.

"Please sir..." I say in my best weak voice. "Don't hurt him."

The cop laughs, and Daryl fingers inch closer. He struggles again, but the cop keeps him pinned.

"I'll do anything, just let him go," I beg, holstering my gun.

The cop raises an eyebrow and moves his tongue over his lips slowly.

"Anything?" he asks slowly, and my gut twists at the sick look in his eyes.

Daryl's fingers dig into the walker's eye sockets and he rips the head off, smacking the cop over the head with a sickening smack. The cop collapses and Daryl scrambles to his feet, tossing the head and spinal cord of the walker to the side.

"Keep your eyes off my wife," he growls. "Asshole."

I run forwards and embrace him tightly, only now realizing the hammering of my heart in my chest. His hand touches the back of my head, holding me close to him as I slow my breathing.

"Ssh, angel. It's ok. I'm ok," Daryl soothes, rubbing my back.

"I was prepared to shoot him, you know that?" I whisper, my voice shaking.

"Yeah, but I'm glad you didn't." He grabs my hand as we pull apart and we stare at the cop at our feet. "Nice actin'," he adds.