ch.32

no sanctuary

"drop your weapons! now!" gareth yelled from the rooftop, earning a glare as i threw down my knife and then my gun.

the others did the same, never taking their eyes off gareth. "ringleader, go to your left. the train car, go."

"you do what we say the boy goes with you. anything else, he dies and you end up in there anyway."

rick paused, moving his eyes between carl and me, giving us a small nod before moving to the train car.

     "now the archer"

     "now the samurai"

     "now the ninja" gareth smirked, referring to how i fought with my knives.

      "stand at the door, ringleader, archer, samurai, ninja, in that order."

     we all paused, looking to carl who stood alone in the center, staring back at us. "my son!"

     "go kid" gareth demanded, causing carl to slowly walk towards us. "ringleader, open the door and go in."

     rick shook his head, "i'll go in with him."

    "don't make us kill him now." gareth retorted, causing rick to hesitate before stepping up, opening the train car door.

    we all stepped in one after the other, carl joining us soon after. me and rick pulled him closer to us, happy we were back as a family.

a thud caused me and rick to look up, watching as a figure appeared out of the dark, "melanie?"

i froze in shock, seeing glenn standing in front of me. i huffed out a breath, moving away from carl and rick.

"glenn." i mumbled, rushing to where he stood, pulling his body close to mine, snaking my hands around his neck, crying from joy.

we both pulled away, getting a look at each other before i set my hands on the sides of his face, pulling him in for a kiss over and over again.

"so you're the girl glenns been going bitchnut crazy over." an unfamiliar voice stated as i pulled away, looking at some familiar faces.

"they're our friends, they helped save us." maggie assured, earning nods from the rest of us.

"yeah, now they're friends of ours"

"for however long that'll be" a man with red short hair commented, causing rick to shake his head.

"no... they're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out." rick retorted, moving to look out a crack in the train car.

"find out what?"

rick paused, turning his head to face us, "they're screwing with the wrong people." ____________

"you miss me?" tara questioned, stepping to where i was, making a weapon out of my belt.

"is that even questionable?" i smiled, pulling her into a hug, earning a couple confused looks.

"wait, you guys know each other?" glenn asked, glancing between us. i nodded, smiling back at the short haired girl.

"my sisters best friend through college, davina told me she was with you."

tara looked at me confused, "you were with davina?"

i nodded, a frown appearing on my face, "yeah. me, daryl, beth, and davina left the prison together. we got split from beth and davina on the trip."

glenn opened his mouth to talk, only to be interrupted by daryl, "all right, got four of them pricks coming our way."

     "y'all know what to do. go for their eyes first. then their throats." rick stated, as we moved around the door, ready to attack.

    "put your backs to the walls on either side of the car now." a muffled voice from outside demanded, while rick gave us a nod.

        i looked up at the sudden sound coming from the roof, everyone's eyes following too. light shined through the open square, revealing all of our bodies.

   i heard something hit the floor, causing us all to scatter, "move!" abraham ordered, grabbing and pushing people out of the way.

    glenns hand made its way to mine, pulling with with him as we backed into a corner.

   soon i felt hands tugging mine away from glenns, but we both held on tightly, not letting go of each other.

    i was finally pulled out of the train car with him, my eyes closing from the brightness of the sun. i released my grip on glenns hand, getting pulled away from him.

    once my eyes adjusted, i watched as daryl, rick, bob, and glenns bodies were thrown to the floor, all looking unconscious.

   "no!" i yelled, watching one of the men kick rick in the face. while feeling hands wrap around my body, dragging me away from them.

i forced back vomit coming up my throat as i watched, seeing two men cutting up a dead corpse as we entered the room.

the guy dragged me to the far side of the room, placing me down into a chair before zip tying my arms and legs down.

i watched, seeing them line up my group, along with some unknown guys against a stationary tub.

my eyes fell on glenn, causing my eyes to brim with tears, looking at him in such a vulnerable state.

two men came in my direction, stopping when they reached a blonde guy who was bent over the tub.

one was holding a bat, the other who was holding a knife looked at me grinning before turning back to the guy.

"this is what you'll do when you join us"

the man with the bat raised it above his head, bringing it down, knocking the blonde man unconscious.

my eyes widened in surprise and shock, whimpering when the guy with the knife slit his throat.

me and glenns eyes met and i was no longer able to hold back the tears as they streamed down my face.

the sobs becoming more uncontrollable as they moved down the line, killing one guy after the next.

"hey guys, what were your shot counts?" gareth questioned, walking inside the room with a notebook and pen in hand.

i didn't turn my head to him as i kept my eyes on glenn who was next in line. the man raised his bat, but before he continued i let out a heart wrenching scream.

"no!" a muffled yell, came from my mouth. causing everyone to stop and look at me.

the leader smiled at my reaction, holding a hand up to the guys telling them to pause what they were doing as he walked over to me.

"well if it isn't my ninja, creating another problem." he grinned, pulling the gag out of my mouth.

i looked at him, anger flooding through my body, "what do you want? i'll do anything if you don't kill them."

"i don't know-" he paused thinking, "what's you're name again, i forget?"

"melanie." i spat at him, getting frustrated watching my friends, who shook their heads no at me.

" i don't know melanie, i'd be asking for a lot." he teased, smiling at my reaction.

i rolled my eyes, "just spit it out." i demanded, earning an eyebrow raise, "okay, fine then. why don't you join my team here, and live at terminus."

"whats so special about me?" i scoffed, looking to him for an actual answer.

   "well you're hot, you know how to fight, and i wanna get laid." he grinned, causing my body to tense up.

my eyes shifted to glenns, who grunted, getting pissed. gareth must've caught on, as he looked down at my ring and then in the direction of my friends.

gareth stood up, heading in glenns direction. i closed my eyes, knowing the worst was to come.

     just as gareth took another step, a gunshot rang through the air, followed by what sounded like a explosion.

      my chair fell to the ground, causing a groan to escape my lips from the pain that shot through my body.

     gareth looked around, soon turning to the two men, "you stay here."

     "gareth, these guys aren't going anywhere."

     "stay here until i know what's happening!" gareth yelled, soon rushing out of the room.

     "so we just sit here?" one of the men asked, earning a scoff, "you could help me the fuck up."

      they sent each othering an unsure look before one shrugged, moving to where i was, pulling my chair up.

      "thanks" i mumbled, earning a nod as he went to turn, heading back to his friend.

   before he could, a quick movement tackled him, shoving a sharp piece of wood into his head.

   i jumped in shock, only to see it was rick, "thank god" i mumbled, watching him quickly untie me.

    we both rushed over to the others, helping them get untied. glenn gave me a look, making sure i was okay. i nodded, knowing we didn't have much time to spare.

   "if they got problems, we got a chance." rick stated, getting up from untying bob while me and the others rushed to find weapons.

   "it sounded like a bomb." glenn uttered, ripping off his gag from around his neck, "sounds like a damn war"

    i rushed over to a table, grabbing a sharp knife, gripping the handle as i tried to stay calm.

   "what the hell are these people?" bob stammered, picking himself off the ground. i turned around shaking my head, "they aren't people."

   we all walked into a room hoping to find an exit, but all of our eyes flickered to each others in shock.

    spines and ribs hung from the ceiling, and buckets of body parts were separated on tables.

   "cross any of these people, you kill them. don't hesitate, they won't." rick muttered, my mouth naturally dropped open in shock from my surroundings.

   glenn came up behind me, placing his hand on the small of my back, "come on" he whispered, leading me to a door where the others gathered.

   "if we run, we can get by them. they're distracted." rick stated, watching as walkers stood against another train cart, trying to get in.

   "we got to let those people out. that's still who we are, it's gotta be." glenn pleaded, causing me to nod my head in response.

   with that, rick opened the door while we followed behind him with our weapons raised. the place was now flooding with walkers.

   i watched as glenn rushed to the door of the train car, opening it. a man with long hair fled our grabbing onto him.

   "we're the same! we're them!" he shouted, getting into glenns face.

    glenn threw him in my direction, not knowing i was there. "woah" i mumbled, when he placed his hands on my waist.

   "back off!" rick sneered, pushing the man off of me. soon a walker came out of no where, tackling him to the ground.

   glenn stepping in front of me, swinging his bat at the walker and the man lying on the floor.

    i pulled him back, after admiring him for a moment thinking, damn my husband's hot. i was quickly ripped out of my thoughts as gunshots went off.

   "wait here." rick demanded, running towards where the shots were being fired.

   "i'm going." i muttered, turning away to follow rick but glenn grabbed my arm, turning me back to face him, "no"

   i gave him a dirty look, only to earn one back, "stay here, i'll back him up." daryl stated, giving me a reassuring look, leaving in the direction rick went.

   i ripped my arm away from glenns grip, "asshole" i sneered, causing bob to laugh beside us.

   we both turned to look at him, "what?" we both snapped in unison.

    "y'all fight like a married couple." he replied, still chuckling as he looked between us.

   me and glenn gave each other a questioning look before turning our heads back to bob, "we are."

   before bob could say anything rick and daryl returned, "we're gonna have to double back."

    "okay, let's go. we don't have a lot of time before this place is run over." i replied, leading the way back, everyone following from behind me.

   when we finally made it to the main ground, we watched as walkers surrounded the train cars.

"someone needs to open the door, while the rest cover." i instructed, rick nodded his head as the words left my mouth, "ill do it."

   "okay." i uttered, raising my gun, aiming for the walkers surrounding the car, as did the others.

    the rest soon appeared out of the cart, fighting to the fence causing us to follow their lead.

   glenn ran along my side, both having our knifes raised killing every walker in our way. when we finally all made it over the fence, we headed into the woods.

   "it's not over until they're dead." rick stated, digging up the bag of weapons and ammo he had buried.

   "the hell it isn't. that place is on fire. full of walkers." rosita shouted, causing my head to turn, nodding.

   "the fences are down, they'll run or die." maggie stated, looking worriedly at rick. the group paused, waiting for ricks approval.

    my head shot away from rick, hearing leaves crunch against the ground behind me, now seeing carol.

   daryl bolted to where carol was as i stood in place watching them. rick stood up, a grin appearing on his face as he looked at her.

    glenn pulled me into a hug, bringing his head closer to my ear, "we're okay, you're okay." he whispered, causing me to smile.

    i pulled my head away, still keeping my hands around his neck as i nodded, "everything's gonna be okay." i whispered back, watching a grin slowly creep onto his face.

   we both pulled away from each other, glenns hand still around my waist as we stood with everyone else.

   "did you do that?" rick questioned, earning a nod from carol, tears running down her cheeks.

   she embraced rick into a hug, squeezing him tightly before pulling away.

   "you have to come with me." she uttered, pulling away from the hug.

   rick nodded, ushering us to follow behind them. me and glenn interlocked our fingers as we walked, soon seeing a shed come into view.

   i watched rick quickly run up to tyreese who to my surprise was holding baby judith. we all watched as the grimes family reunited, along with sasha and tyreese.

      me and glenn stood with our arms around each other's waist, happy that everyone was reunited with each other.

________________________________3/6/2021