Safe haven | Rick Grimes

040. MAMA BEAR

Chapter forty

"Mama bear."

The next morning, Scarlett held Judith tightly in her arms as she, Carol, and Tyreese neared the final stretch to Terminus.

"We're close," Scarlett shared, her voice low and guarded. "But when we get there... I can't stay. We have no idea who these people are, and I won't put Judith in danger like that."

"She's right," Carol agreed, scanning the horizon. "It's probably safer out here than in there."

The low, guttural growl of a walker cut through their conversation. The three of them spun around just as a single creature stumbled out of the woodline and onto the railroad tracks. Scarlett and Carol exchanged a brief look. Carol nodded, stepped forward, and drove her knife straight into the walker's skull. The force of the strike brought Carol down, but she quickly pushed herself back up to her feet.

Before Carol could slip her knife away, Scarlett noticed a shadow moving through the trees. Then another. Dozens of them.

"We've gotta move, now!" Scarlett whispered urgently.

She turned and sprinted down the embankment into the brush. Carol and Tyreese scrambled right behind her. Ducking low, the three of them crouched behind a steep mound of dirt, watching through the weeds as a massive herd of walkers spilled out of the forest and onto the tracks, heading straight toward their position.

They braced themselves to run, but a sudden barrage of heavy gunfire echoed from the direction of Terminus. The walkers immediately turned, drawn by the loud noise, and began marching away from the group and toward the sanctuary's perimeter.

They stayed down, waiting until the last of the herd had passed and the distant gunfire finally ceased. Once the air went quiet, they climbed out from behind the dirt mound and stepped back onto the gravel tracks.

"That gunfire... it could've been from Terminus," Tyreese shared, rubbing his neck nervously.

"Someone was attacking them. Or they were attacking someone," Carol noted grimly.

Tyreese looked down the line. "Do we even wanna find out?"

"If they're bad people, yes," Scarlett shared, her maternal instincts completely on edge.

Carol adjusted her pack, mapping out a safer approach. "There's another track due east. It'll get us there from the blind side. We'll be real careful, but we're gonna get answers."

With Carol leading the detour, the three of them quietly began heading toward the eastern tracks, ready for whatever was waiting for them at the end of the line.

Stepping off the tracks, they navigated into a dense clearing where they spotted a lone man setting up cardboard tubes of fireworks. He was entirely oblivious to their presence. The three of them crept toward him, Scarlett silently slipping her firearm from its holster.

"Alex didn't get it," the man muttered into a walkie-talkie at his hip. "See, I knew the chick with the sword was bad news. Bitch looked like a weapon with a weapon."

Hearing the description, Scarlett, Carol, and Tyreese instantly thought of Michonne. They pressed closer, Scarlett raising her firearm as they moved in.

A woman's crackling voice answered through the speaker. "He was always sloppy."

The man brought the device back to his mouth. "Yeah, well, I told Albert that I want the kid's hat when we're finished with him."

The mention of the hat struck Scarlett like lightning. She knew only one boy who wore a signature hat. Before the man could speak another syllable, Scarlett kicked him in the back, knocking him down.