Chapter 44 - Crossed

I hold the plank of wood in place as Carl hammers the nails through into the church below. We've been doing this for a couple of hours, fortifying the church and making it strong. Daryl explained everything to us that happened in Atlanta. How he and Carol went after the car that took Beth, how they had a close call, how Carol was hit and taken by the people to get healed.

Then Noah, the boy Daryl brought back, explained to us everything that goes on in the place. How the people are treated, how things are run. This instilled in us all a passion to get Carol and Beth back. I just wish that he had returned sooner so that the others could be here to help get them back. But it's too late and now it's just us. Last night I laid with Daryl and he explained everything to me, how he feels responsible and how he will stop at nothing to get them back.

So now we are fortifying the church to make it strong for Michonne, Carl, Judith and Gabriel who are staying behind while the rest of us go to Atlanta. We're going to get them back and then we are going to go after Abraham and the others and help them get Eugene to Washington. And then maybe, just maybe, we may have the chance of regaining a somewhat normal life.

Carl finishes hammering and I step back as Noah hobbles past us. I give him a curt nod, still mad at him for what he did to Daryl and Carol in the city. I know that he was just trying to survive, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. I grab the next plank of wood and hold it up while Carl hammers it in again. Soon enough are finished and we make our way around to the front of the church where Daryl places in the last pipe from the organ into the ground, finishing off the fortification on the outside.

We all make our way up the steps inside and I take a look around, seeing the destruction and chaos that has been left behind. Two days ago things seemed to be looking up and in the space of a few short hours things went to hell. I guess it just goes to show that in this new world, you can't let your guard down.

The ones of us who are going quickly grab our things and get ready to leave. I walk over to Judith in the box and run my fingers through her tuft of hair before placing a sweet kiss on her head. I step back and see Rick eyeing me as he walks over and he gives me a nod. I return it before making my way over to Carl and Michonne, giving them both hugs.

"Take care of yourself." Michonne says.

I smile at her and nod my head, "Yeah, you too."

I turn and see Tyreese and Daryl standing there, watching the exchange. Daryl's eyes look at me and we exchange a look of understanding. We both turn and begin to make our way down the stairs towards the truck that we're going to take to Atlanta. I toss my back into the back of the truck and Daryl does the same, "You ready for this?" He asks.

I push the bags back before facing him, "It's going to be a tough fight, but to get Beth and Carol back? Yeah, I'm ready. What about you?" I ask, looking up into his face.

He stares at me for a long moment before nodding his head, "Yeah, I'm ready."

I look at him for a moment before leaning up on my toes and placing my hands on either side of his face before leaning in and giving him a long, sweet kiss. His hands grip at my waist before I pull back and put my feet flat on the floor.

"We're getting them back."

He nods his head, "Yeah, we are."

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We are held up in an abandoned building located not too far away from Grady memorial. We all stand around and look down at the dirt diagram of the hospital that Noah drew for us. Rick kneels down on the ground and explains the plan to us, "At sundown we fire a shot into the air, we keep two of them out on patrol. Once it's dark enough that the rooftop spotter won't spot us, we go. 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, speaking up from his spot.

"He slits his throat." Rick states simply, looking at Tyreese before his eyes go over us once more, "This all about doing this quiet, keeping the upper hand. They're not expecting us. From there we fan out, knives and silent weapons. We need to be fast." He says, looking back down at the diagram.

He begins to draw it out as he explains, "Tyreese and Sasha take them, Daryl and Bree, you take care of whoever's in the kitchen, I got Dawn. If they're smart, the rest of them will give up then. It's five on three, six on three once we get a weapon to Beth."

"Twelve on three. The wards will help." Noah says determinedly.

"That's best case, what's worse case? 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." Tyreese argues and I bite my tongue, knowing that he is still afraid to kill people after what happened with the girls.

"If that's what it takes." Sasha replies.

"It's not, we get a couple of hurt cops. Alive, out here. We do an even trade, their's for ours. We do an even trade, everyone goes home." Tyreese suggests.

Rick gets up from the floor, "Yeah, I get it. And it might work, this will work." He says, gesturing to the plan below.

"Nah, that'll work too." Daryl pipes up and I turn me head to look at him, "You said this Dawn, she's just trying to keep it together right?" He asks Noah.

"Trying and doing it are two different things." Noah states.

"You take two of her cops away, what choices does she have? Everybody goes home, like he says." Daryl says, pointing to Tyreese.

I look at Rick and see him think for a moment, his eyes scrunched in focus. He looks over to me and I give a small nod. He sighs before nodding his head, "Okay, we'll do it your way."

Tyreese breathes a sigh of relief and smiles widely, "Thank you."

Rick shakes his head and kneels down again, wiping away the diagram, "Alright, this is how it goes."

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We all wait in our positions behind the dumpster and wait for the plan to be set in motion. I grip my gun tightly in my hand and stare at the ground, waiting. All of a sudden I hear the gunshots coming from Noah's gun and I straighten up and get ready. We wait until we hear the car driving towards us until we hear it come to a screeching holt metres away from us.

"Put it down Noah!" A woman commands as we hear car doors open and guns being pulled out.

"Put the gun down!" A man instructs and I keep my breathing steady.

Both of the police officers are quiet for a moment before the woman speaks, "Hands up, turn around."

I faintly hear footsteps and the sound of someone moving when the man speaks once again, "Let me know if it's too tight, okay?"

"I thought you were supposed to be smart Noah, you thought we wouldn't hear you?" The woman asks.

"Where's those rotters you were shooting at?" The man asks, confusion in his voice.

Rick whistle's and the rest of us walk out, our guns aimed at the cops. They turn and look at us, their eyes wide and their guns raised as they realise they are outnumbered.

"Hands." Rick commands, eyeing them down.

"What do you want?" The woman asks, still aiming her gun and he man pipes up from beside her, "Whatever this is, we can help." The man states, doing the same.

"You do what we say, we don't hurt you." Rick says, moving forward.

The man looks over us before he holds his hands up in surrender, "Okay." The woman following closely behind.

"Good, now turn around. Put your guns on the ground, kneel." Rick instructs as we begin to surround them from all angles.

They kneel down and place their guns on the ground as Daryl and Sasha walk over to them and retrieve their guns before zip tie their hands together. I take their weapons off of them as Tyreese releases Noah from the zip tie they put on him.

"We need to talk, there's water if you need some and food." Rick explains.

"Mind if I ask you something?" The guy asks as they are pulled to their feet, "The way you talk, the way you carry yourself. Are you a cop?" He asks after a moment.

Rick glares at him as the man continues speaking, "Believe it or not I was too."

Noah walks over to Rick, "That's Lamson, was looking out for us. He's one of the good ones." He says, eyeing the man.

The screeching of a tires draws our attention as a cop car speeds around the corner all of a sudden. I draw my gun and begin firing at the vehicle as it races it's way towards our direction. I rush out of way as it comes to a holt I front of us and the cops make a run for the car. I continue to fire at the car as the cops slide into the back seat, the guy in the front firing back at us.

Once they are in, the car begins to drive away and the rest of us continue to fire. Sasha shoots the wheel of the car and we chase after it as it begins to slow down. We round the corner and Rick holds his hand up, signalling for us to stop. The car is pulled off to the side, the ground covered in bodies. The smell is awful as we take in the walkers that are melted to the ground, moving aimlessly around though unable to leave.

We all begin to approach with caution, the walkers reach for us but it's useless due to their state. Ahead, I see the two cops from before run away around a corner.

"Two, on me." Rick commands.

I follow after Rick with the others behind me as we run off after them. I push my legs as fast as I can go and I begin to gain ground of them. The woman is within reaching distance and I dive forward and tackle her to the ground, the both of us having the wind knocked out of us. She begins to struggle from underneath me but I pin her down. Tyreese and Sasha quickly take down the guy and proceed to zip tie him as well.

"Why are you doing this?" The man grunts as they restrain him.

"You have two of our friends, a girl named Beth and woman named Carol." Sasha states as I begin to pull the woman to her feet.

"You know Beth?" The woman asks.

"She was a part of our group till your people took her." I state, glaring at her.

The man shakes his head, "No, you've got it wrong. We found her unconscious in the middle of the road, surrounded by walkers. We saved her."

"Sure you did. It doesn't matter, we're getting them back." I say.

"How do you expect to do that? By taking us hostage?" The woman asks.

"No, we trade. You two for them." Tyreese explains.

The two cops exchange a look before the man turns to us, "That is a very bad idea."

"I don't care, move it." I say, pushing the woman forward to walk.

We make our way back the way we came and soon I see Daryl standing there with the cop, his gun aimed at him. I look around confused, "Where's Rick?"

"Went back with Noah. Come on, we need to get back." He says and nod, the group of us making our way towards our hideout.

It isn't too much later and we are walking through the warehouse where Rick and Noah talk up ahead.

"Your friend, what's his name?" The woman asks, looking towards Daryl who walks on ahead.

I look back and glare at her as she keeps speaking, "I need to talk to him, he's going to get me and my friends killed."

"We'll make it work." Sasha says blandly.

"It would work if you had different cops to trade." She states.

We all turn and look at her as she looks back at us, her eyes pleading, "Dawn's running that place into the ground. A bunch of us want her out and she knows it, pretty sure she knows we want Lamson to replace her too."

"Dawn doesn't know that." The bigger man argues.

"She might, she's smart. So there's a good chance you can't make this deal work and that'll leave us all dead. But if you let us go, we'll take care of Dawn ourselves. Then we'll let your friends go and this is all over." The woman promises.

"No, we're not going to do that." Lamson states.

"Do you want to die?" The woman asks outraged.

"No, I just need you to shut up right now." He says, staring her down.

She turns her head and clenches her jaw as he speaks to us, "You can make this work, but you gotta be able to talk to her."

"Noah told us all about her." Sasha explains.

"I've known her for eight years. I know this woman and my only interest is peaceful resolution. Not dying and sleeping in my bed tonight. So please, let me help you. Please." He says, looking at all of us.

"Hey Rick! You're gonna wanna hear this!" Daryl calls out.

Rick looks up from whatever he's doing and after a moment he walks over to us, looking at us all.

"This guy thinks he can help us." I say, nodding to Lamson.

Rick scoffs and places his hands on his hips, looking him down, "Tell me how you think this'll work." Rick says.

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I sit on a crate and refill the clip when I feel someone come over and kneel down in front of me. I look up into the eyes of my man and see the worry and concern in them.

"Hey, you know the plans gonna work right?" I say, laying the gun down on the ground and leaning towards him.

He nods his head, "Yeah."

"Then what's the look for?" I ask, tilting my head to the side.

He doesn't say anything and I lick my lips before leaning forward further and looking him in the eye, "I know that you feel responsible, for the both of them. But you were doing everything you could to protect them Dare." I say, reaching up and placing my hand on his cheek, "You can't take the blame for what happened, it's going to tear you apart. They don't blame you, so don't blame yourself."

He looks at me for a long moment before giving a small nod and I wind my fingers into his hair and pull him forward, his arms wrapping around my waist. I cradle his head against my chest and hold him for awhile, missing the feeling of just being in his arms like we used to be back at the prison. After awhile he pulls back and I move the hair from his eyes with my fingertips before leaning down and placing a sweet kiss on his forehead.

"I love you." I whisper.

"I love you too."

We hear footsteps coming towards us and I see Rick and Tyreese making their way over, Noah coming along behind them. We pull apart and Rick looks around at our small group, "We're going to head off in five minutes, so make sure you've got everything." We all nod our heads and I get to my feet, holding my hand out for Daryl.

He takes it and I pull him up,my hand lingering in his for a moment. I gently give his hand a reassuring squeeze before pulling away and grabbing my gun, making my way over to my back pack. I begin to pack the last of our supplies away into my bag, the others doing the same with Tyreese keeping an eye on the other cops. As we are packing I suddenly hear the sound of glass breaking and we all turn to see Lamson running away down the stairs.

"Shit!" I hiss.

"You all stay here and keep an eye on them! I got him!" Rick yells, running after the cop.

I get to my feet and I turn to Tyreese, "Go check on Sasha. I'll keep an eye on them."

He nods and jogs over the room where the man ran from and I grab my gun and keep my eyes on the two cops sitting on the chairs. The other man has a smirk in his face and I glare at him, wanting nothing more than to wipe it off of his face. I know that Rick will catch Lamson and then hopefully we won't have anymore setbacks. We've been through enough and lost enough for this to finally work in our favour. I just really hope that that's how this all works out.