Make it Till You Don't

We Meet Again

"Drop your weapons! Now!" Gareth shouted from above us. "Now!"

Glancing to everyone, I sighed, placing my weapons down, along with others. Knowing there was no use in keeping my knife, for they already saw it.

"Ringleader, go to your left." Gareth instructed. "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 glanced from Gareth to Carl in front of him, giving him a subtle nod before making his way over to the train car.

"Now the archer." Gareth announced, causing me to look at Daryl. He glanced at me for a moment before following Rick. "Now the samurai." I watched as Michonne walked off. "Stand at the door, ringleader, archer, samurai, in that order."

I glanced back to Gareth with a glare, seeing he looked back towards Carl and I. "Now you." I gave Carl a reassuring look, slowly making my way to stand behind Michonne.

"My son!" Rick yelled, not wanting Carl to be left alone.

"Go kid." Gareth told him as we all watched Carl walk to us. "Ringleader, open the door and go in."

Rick nodded his head over towards Carl. "I'll go in with him."

"Don't make us kill him now." Gareth exclaimed, causing Rick to comply against his liking, the rest of us filing in behind him.

As the door closed, I stood by Daryl, wondering what the hell we were going to do now as I felt a hand being placed on my back. "You alright?" He mumbled.

I nodded with a small yes as I glanced at Rick. "What now...?"

"Rick?" We heard someone call out, causing all of us to turn, seeing Glenn.

"You're here." Rick said as we saw Maggie, Sasha, and Bob come up behind him. "You're here."

I noticed two other women and men standing with them. "Who are they?"

"They're our friends." Maggie replied, glancing at each of us assuredly. "They helped save us."

"Yeah..." Daryl spoke up. "Now they're friends of ours."

"For however long that'll be." The taller man replied.

He turned to walk back to the other side of the car when Rick shook his head. "No. They're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out." He went over to look out of a crack.

"Find out what?" The man asked, interested in what Rick had to say.

Rick looked back at the others. "They're screwing with the wrong people."

"Damn right they are." I smirked.

With that, we wasted no time in making makeshift weapons with whatever we had on us at the moment. Not having much, I followed in what Sasha was doing, sharpening the prongs on a belt to use as a weapon. "All right, got four of them pricks coming our way." Daryl spoke up.

"Y'all know what to do." Rick said as we all gathered together, taking a stance in front of the door. "Go for their eyes first. Then their throats."

"Put your backs to the walls on either side of the car now."

I heard footsteps from above us, causing me to look up. "Rick, somethings wrong-" I was cut off as a hatch opened, a can being dropped to the ground.

"Move!" The taller man, I learned was Abraham, shouted. All of us moved away as gas erupted from the can. I heard the door open as I fell to the ground, coughing. I heard shuffling before the door was slammed shut again. "Everyone alright?!"

Smoke finally cleared out, I looked around, noticing Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and Bob were missing. "They're not here..."

"They got Glenn on the others, we got to do something!" Maggie exclaimed, going back to making her weapon.

Following her lead, the newcomers stood and watched us. "It's no use, we can't possibly take them on with a chunk of our people gone." The woman, Rosita said, crossing her arms.

"No, we can still fight." I spoke up, glancing up at her. "I won't give them the satisfaction of rolling over for these bastards." I grumbled, sharpening the belt in my hand more.

"She's right." Sasha spoke up. "We can fight or die trying."

———

We heard an explosion a few moments ago, followed by gunfire and growling. Now we were sitting around, making our weapons as we waited for Rick and others to come back, when the question was brought up about this cure Eugene knew about.

Eugene looked at all of us, seeming to contemplate for a moment. "I was part of a ten person team at the Human Genome Project to weaponize diseases to fight weaponized diseases. Pathogenic microorganisms with pathogenic microorganisms. Fire with fire." I stared at him, dumbfounded. "Interdepartmental drinks were had, relationships made, information shared. I am keenly aware of all the details behind fail-safe delivery systems to kill every living person on this planet."

He glanced at everyone before continuing. "I believe with a little tweaking on the terminals in DC, we can flip the script. Take out every last dead one of them." He looked at the rest of us. "Fire with fire." No one spoke, processing the information. "All things being equal, it does sound pretty badass."

"So let's get back to work." Maggie spoke up as a bang was heard, catching all of our attention.

Rick threw open the door, gunfire ringing about. "Come on! Fight to the fence!" He told all of us before shooting at the Walkers.

I looked over at everyone, wrapping the belt around my fist. "Well, it's as good a day as any." I said, thinking back to that night on the farm as I filed out of the car, swinging my fist at the first Walker I came across. We all ran for the fence, taking down any Walkers that crossed our path.

Rick covered us from behind as we all started to climb the wall, flinching slightly when a bullet hit part of the fence I went to grab. Looking behind me, I saw it was Gareth and a few ment shooting at us. "(Y/N), come on!"

Glancing to Michonne, I nodded and started climbing the fence. Once all of us were over the fence and safe, Rick started walking. "Let's go."

———
Published: 12/13/2024