Fighting to Survive: The 3rd installment to Daring to Feel

Chapter 2: Hit

As we work, we talk. We meet the new members of our group Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita. "They seemed nice enough, but I was ready to go." Abraham says about arriving here, "we just got here, but, damn, it was time to go. When I told them about DC, a wink and a nod from the head asshole in charge, they pulled their guns and it was right back to our regularly scheduled shitstorm."

We talk about our family, our missing members., "before they put you in here, you didn't see Tyreese?" Sasha asks about her brother.

Michonne answers her, "No."

Daryl tells Maggie about Beth, "black car with a white cross painted on it. I tried to follow it. I tried." He says sounding defeated.

"But she's alive?" Maggie asks hopefully.

Daryl answers, "she's alive."

We work through the night, using anything we can to defend ourselves. I manage to take out the stitches from earlier, the job he did was crap anyway. I used it to tie together two zippers broken apart and sharpened, "shut up, all of you. Shut up!" We hear someone yell outside.

Daryl speaks out to us, "all right, got four of them pricks coming our way."

We all spread out, ready to attack. We went through this all night and it's now or never, "Y'all know what to do. Go for their eyes first. Then their throats." Rick reminds us all before they get to close.

A man yells out directions, "put your backs to the walls on either side of the car, now!" Silence for a moment then footsteps.

The footsteps are above us and more light enters from above. Something is dropped on the ground and we all look at it confused. Abraham yells out, "move!" and I try to run for the corner of the train car. Smoke covers everything and by the time it fades they are gone and everything is locked up tight, "who's gone, who!?" I shout out wondering.

"Dad?" Carl calls out but Rick doesn't answer.

"Glenn?" Maggie calls out to her husband but he also doesn't answer.

"Daryl and Bob, they are also gone." The women, Tara, comments the rest who are no longer here. I fall to the ground in tears knowing what that means.

Maggie comes over to me, puts her hand on my back. I look up to her with tears streaming down my face but her eyes are fierce with determination, "they will be back, don't worry. Rick, Daryl & Glenn are our strongest. They'll fight themselves back here."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" I ask her, my lip quivering.

"I have to" She says back. I nod, wiping away the tears from my eyes and stand up. She grabs a hold of my hand to help me and hugs me tightly, "it's fine Sadie, it's fine" she soothes me.

We keep working our tools, the gas they dropped too heavy for us to really see what we were doing. Not long after that though there is a gun shot, "guys? Someone's here." I comment after it goes off trying to peak out the crack of the door.

"Do you think they got away?" Rosita asks hopefully.

There's an explosion, the car shakes just a little and we stare at one another, "what the hell is going on?" Sasha shouts out confused.

"Someone hit them." She comments.

"Maybe our people got free." Tara comments, her eyes turning to me.

"Ya, maybe" I agree, wanting to believe that.

Eugene escapes from the back, pushing himself towards the door, "excuse me" he says brushing past me.

"What the hell are you doing?" I ask him.

He turns just for a moment to meet my eyes but doesn't linger long, "I might be able to use this shell to compromise the door. From the sound of things, there may not be anybody left to open it."

"Eugene, I'm sorry, but shut up." Tara growls at him.

He mumbles back, "okay" and still works with the shell of the gas can. I stare at him with no hope, knowing that is a waste of time.

"Hey." Carl says loudly grabbing everyone's attention, "my dad's gonna be back. They all are."

"They are." Maggie agrees with him, "and we need to get ready to fight our way out with them when they do." She adds on. We all go back to working on our weapons, sharpening what metal objects and wooden spikes we were able to make.

Time goes by and no one has come to get us. We hear the walkers stumble past us as they search for their next meal. Sasha breaks the silence, asking a good question, "what's the cure, Eugene?" She directs it right at the man who has the answer.

"It's classified." He says back.

"Pfft" I spit out with an eye roll. Rosita glares at me and I shrug at her glance.

"We don't know what's gonna happen." Michonne argues, wanting further answers.

Abraham steps to his defense, "you leave him be."

"We need to keep working." Maggie adds on coming over to the center of the car, trying to keep the peace.

I stand up, agreeing with Sasha, "yeah, but it's time to hear it. 'Cause we don't know what's coming next."

"What's next is we get out of this." Tara says.

Eugene looks to me, and then to Sasha, "even if I told you all, even if I provided step-by-step instructions complete with illustrations and a well-composed FAQ and I went red-ring, the cure would still die with me."

"I'm not gonna let that happen." Abraham reminds us all of his duty to bring Eugene to D.C.

"The best-case scenario, we step out into a hell storm of bullets, fire, and walkers. I'm not fleet of foot. I sure as hell can't take a dead one down with sharp buttons and hella confidence." The nerdy man comments of himself.

Michonne keeps wrapping at her weapon, "yeah, but we can and we will."

"You don't owe us anything." Sasha stands up, "not yet. But we just want to hear it."

Rosita quickly speaks up, directly to Eugene, "you don't have to."

I can see him think about it, deciding to tell us or not. He stands up and speaks quickly, "I was part of a 10-person team at the Human Genome Project to weaponize diseases to fight weaponized diseases. Pathogenic microorganisms with pathogenic microorganisms. Fire with fire. 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. I believe with a little tweaking on the terminals in DC, we can flip the script. Take out every last dead one of them. Fire with fire." He doesn't hesitate while speaking. When no one says anything in response to him, he adds on, "all things being equal, it does sound pretty bad ass."

"So let's get back to work." Maggie reminds us all.

Just as we are about to get back to it, the door to the train car rattles. We prepare for whomever it may be and as the sun peaks into the dark crate relief washes over us all when we see Rick standing behind it. He shouts out quickly, "come on! We fight to the fence!" and starts shooting rounds at the walkers.

I get out right behind Michonne and spot Daryl instantly. I run to him, jumping on to him and squeezing him tightly as he pulls a weapon out of a walker, "I love you!" I say with my head buried in his chest.

"Come on Sadie-Mae, let's get out of here" He squeezes me back quickly but peels me off of him. He meets my eyes when my feet touch the ground and hands me a machete. I nod back at him, gripping the weapon tightly and turn to attack and defend us all, "remember, flick your wrist." Daryl gets in front of me, making his way to the fence. He kicks a walker away from him, attacking another in front and I take out the one he kicked. They fall to the ground, "let's go!" He yells moving forward. I take another one out, slicing it's head off and get to the fence with the others. Abraham helps us all over, pushing us up and over and we stumble away, together, from the deadly place.