Safe haven, Rick Grimes

098. THE THINGS WE DO TO STAY ALIVE

Chapter ninety eight

"The things we do to stay alive."

Back at Hilltop, the fighters had made it back through the gates, as Ezekiel had found the kids, he was running with them "stay with me, everybody! It's alright!" he voiced, turning around and looking at them all "it's gonna be fine!" he voiced, turning around, he realized four very important kids were missing, as he looked back "wait, wait, wait!" he voiced, as they came to a stop, smoke from the fire began to surround them, as he looked around "where are the Grimes children?" he asked, as an explosion went off.

Out in the woods, they were still running, as the fire still could be smelled behind them, dog was leading the way, as a walker appeared in front of them, Daryl didn't hesitate to shoot it, getting it right in the head, it fell to the ground with the thud, as they ran past it, but when they made it far enough from hilltop, they fell down on the ground catching their breath.

Where by daybreak, they were back up again, where this time Daryl was carrying Rick on his back, as Judith and Caroline walked beside them, Rick woke up, seeing they were on the move in the woods "what happened?" he asked "Hilltop came under fire. Literally." Caroline shared "and the second Daryl saw it he didn't hesitate to get us out of there." Judith shared "all we need to do is make sure we don't run into any skin freaks." Daryl shared, fixing his hold on Rick, as they continued walking.

Meanwhile, the others were heading to the rendezvous point, as Daryl and Rosita lead the way for their small group through the open field, Rosita looked behind them and then back ahead "Nabila's been asking about her kids. You sure Ezekiel has them?" she asked "they should be at the rendezvous." Daryl shared, thinking about the Grimes kids.

Where they made it through the field and into the woods to the small house they said they'd meet at, where a walker came out of it, Daryl ran toward's the house, as Rosita followed him, she stopped, as Dianne shot one of her arrows into it's head, Daryl headed right past it and into the house, looking to the right he didn't see Ezekiel or the kids, as he turned looking through the doorway to his left, they weren't there either, as he turned around and sighed, walking out of the house, Rosita looked at him "this is the spot, right?" she asked "yeah." Daryl told her, as he walked up to her.

"My babies? Where are my babies? Where are my babies?" Nabila asked, as Jerry began to try and calm her down, Nabila started sobbing "come on, spread out. Come on, let's go." Daryl told them, turning and walking off along with the others.

Where he then headed back toward's the Hilltop with Jerry, as the two walked through the smoke, looking at all the carnage, they saw something moving under a fallen piece of metal, as Jerry ran up and knocked it off, finding Ezekiel who stood up and stumbled, Jerry grabbed his arm to steady him, Ezekiel's eyes went wide as he looked around, he looked back at Jerry "Jerry. The kids..Earl's got the kids!" he voiced, running off, Jerry and Daryl followed him.

The three headed into the woods and toward's the building, Daryl furrowed his brows as he turned and looked at Ezekiel and Jerry, he turned around and walked toward's the door, turning back to them, Jerry grabbed the hilt of his sword, Daryl turned back to it and pulled out his knife, moving toward's the door, he pushed it open and as he did, all the kids came running out "Daryl!" one of the kids voiced "hey, hi." Daryl told them, looking at them all, none of them were the kids he wanted to find, as he walked inside "guys?" he asked, moving the blankets out of the way, he found Earl dead with his head impaled on a spike, he turned around and walked back out "where are they?" he asked, as Ezekiel just stared at him "where are my damn kids!" he voiced.

As the sun was setting, a squirrel was running through the leaves and headed up a tree but as it did an arrow got embedded into it, as Caroline walked up and pulled it off, she had a few others in her bag, as she headed off to the right, where Daryl was leaning against a tree with Rick beside him, Judith was tending to the fire, as they then skinned the squirrels and cooked them over the fire, the four of them began to eat them, and once they were done, the four of them stood up, as Judith snuffed out the fire, they walked off.

Heading through the woods, they all had their weapons at the ready, where they heard leaves crunch, as they were turned aiming their weapons, the footsteps were heavy unlike a walkers, coming towards them with a purpose, something then could be heard rolling on the ground toward's them, and as they looked down it was alpha's walker head, all of their eyes went wide and all of them thought the same thing "mommy?" Rick asked "nope." Negan said, as the four of them looked up, seeing him standing there, he smirked.