Safe haven | Rick Grimes

053. WE CAN'T STOP

Chapter fifty three

"We can't stop."

Sprinting through the dense woods, Rick, Scarlett, and Michonne finally caught up with Glenn's group. The piercing blast of the horn still echoed through the trees, a relentless, deafening siren.

Glenn slammed to a halt, chest heaving as he gasped for air. "Try again!" he choked out.

Rick and Scarlett pulled up right beside him. Rick yanked the walkie from his belt, jamming his thumb onto the talk button. "Tobin, it's not stopping. Light it up. You hear me?"

He released the button, but the speaker only hissed with a wall of dead static.

"Tobin!" Rick roared into the mic, letting it go again.

A lone walker snarled from the brush ahead. Without a word, Rick and Scarlett broke back into a dead run. "Michonne!" Rick called out over his shoulder.

"Got it!" Michonne yelled back. With a swift stroke of her sword, she dropped the walker, waving the terrified Alexandrians forward to keep up with the pace.

Suddenly, the walkie crackled to life. "Rick!" Daryl's gravelly voice broke through.

Rick hit the button. "I'm here."

"What's going on back there?" Daryl demanded over the roar of his motorcycle engine.

"Half of them broke off," Rick reported, his voice tight. "They're heading straight toward Alexandria."

The radio squeaked as Abraham cut in. "Toward you?"

"We ran ahead," Rick answered, pushing his legs harder. "There's a horn or something loud coming from the east. It's not stopping."

"I have an idea!" Scarlett shouted over the noise, her boots pounding the dirt right beside Rick.

Before Rick could reply, Daryl's voice cut back in. "I'll gas it up, turn back."

Rick immediately pressed the button. "We have it. You keep going."

"They're gonna need our help," Daryl argued.

"Gotta keep the front of that herd moving," Rick fired back. He released the button for a split second, cutting his eyes to his wife. "What's the idea?"

The walkie chimed again with Daryl's voice. "Not if it's all going down, we don't."

Rick keyed the mic one last time, his tone absolute. "The rest of that herd turns around, the bad back there gets worse."

The radio went silent. Rick checked the line. "Daryl?"

A heavy sigh came over the speaker. "Yeah, I heard you."

They began charging up a steep incline. Glenn ran out of breath and slowed to a stop, but Rick and Scarlett pushed right past him, running shoulder-to-shoulder as they neared the crest of the hill.

"What's the plan?" Rick shouted to her, desperate to hear her idea as they ran.

"It's risky, but I think the two of us could circle back and get to that RV," Scarlett shared, her voice cutting through the rush of the wind as they pushed up the slope. "If we can get it in front of the ones heading back home, we can put them back on track before they get there."

Rick nodded, the logic clicking instantly. They slammed to a halt at the crest of the hill, waiting a breathless second as the rest of the group scrambled up to join them.

"All right, listen up," Rick announced, his commanding tone locking everyone's attention. "Here's the new plan. Me and Scarlett are going back to get the RV. We're going to circle around the woods on Redding and cut them off. We'll get in front of them before they reach the walls and lead them away again."