crooked heart → the walking dead ⁵

[ 038 ] how quicky the blade becomes you.

CROOKED HEART.

chapter thirty-eight, how quicky the blade becomes you.
[ season ten, episode sixteen ]

ODESSA GRIMES KNOWS THE woods. She knows how to use the trees to her advantage. She's taught her daughter how to do the same.

But now, they don't stick to the branches above them. No. They run through the woods. The trees betray them. The lower branches smack the mother and daughter as they race through the woods in desperation to make it back to the hospital before they are surrounded by the horde. They can't risk such a thing.

When forest floor turns to concrete, they meet up with Judith and Daryl. None of them say a word. Two becomes four. They stick to the wall of the hospital. Daryl keeps the three girls in front of him as they run.

There are so many walkers. So many Whisperers.

When they get to the door that leads to the stairs, they see Kelly and Carol.

Two becomes four. Four becomes six.

"Come on!" Daryl ushers them all inside. A walker snakes it way inside. Odessa throws it against a wall, stabbing her knife into its skull.

Daryl grabs her arm. The six rush up the stairs. They meet back up with the others.

When Cori catches sight of her wife and daughter, she rushes over to them. She pulls them both into her arms. The two immediately hold her back.

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"Our plan is still the same." Gabriel speaks up. Everyone is gathered around. Besides him, no else speaks. Everyone is too anxious. "We lead the horde away, just not from Oceanside as we had planned. Once the walkers are clear, we evacuate to Rendevous Point B. Luke, you ready?"

Luke, who sits behind a tangled mess of cables and wires and speakers and radios, stands. "Uh, yeah, technically."

Odessa's eyes scan the man's face. He's okay. When she had seen him, she couldn't help the wide smile that spread across her face. Despite everything that's happening, Luke's face was a vibrant light she hadn't anticipated. She hugged him. It caught him off guard. But he had hugged her back.

"Okay. So, these are the final pieces that we need to connect to the wagon." Luke speaks up. The wagon, what they're going to use to drag the herd away. "But in order for it do the pied piper thing that we need it to do over the cliff, we gotta get from A to B, and I gotta plug and plug, and then we should be good to go."

From behind his husband, Theo sighs. He runs his hands over his face. "The damn wagon is on the other side of the horde." He grumbles.

"So, someone's gotta do through it?" Jerry pipes.

"I will." Odessa says immediately. "I'm going."

Gabriel nods. "Five groups. Two in each. One carries the cargo, one protects. It's crucial that all the equipment makes it to the wagon."

"We'll make it through. I'll help." Lydia speaks up.

"We both will." Mara nods her head.