CHAPTER FORTY NINE » KNIVES
"Fight to the fence!"

♔

"Can't see shit through here," I stated, taking a step back from the small crack in the wall. I turned back to the others, who were still gathered round in a circle, after Abraham, the man in the military uniform, had told us the story of how they had arrived here.

"We need weapons," Rick spoke up, his eyes sweeping around the group. "We'll use whatever materials have to make them."

Olivia caught my eye, raising her eyebrows. Nodding, I began to undo the top button of my shirt, reaching through to pull out the small, but valuable, knife that I'd had clipped onto my bra. I let out a cough to grab the others' attention, holding it up in the air with a small, triumphant smile. "Think this might help?"

Rick's eyebrows drew together. "How'd you manage that?"

"Planned in advance," I replied, catching Olivia's eye. "Had a bad feeling. It was a good job I trusted my instincts," I said. "Anyway, dude was too polite to go near my boobs when he was patting me down."

Abraham looked at me, a wide grin growing on his lips. "Hell yeah, girl. Glenn said you were a survivor."

I found my lips pulling at his words, turning my head to cast a glance over at my boyfriend, who was looking down at me with a small smile. I brushed my hand against Glenn's, turning my attention back to Rick, who'd stepped into the middle of the small circle we'd unintentionally made.

"All right," he began. "Everyone check your pockets, see if you got anything else on you that could be useful."

Everyone began to comply, their hands falling to their trouser and jacket pockets. Only then did I remember what I'd kept in mine. "Hey," I started, stepping in front of Glenn to grab his attention. "I've got something for you."

He frowned, looking at me slightly unsurely. "For me?" I reached into my pocket, my fingers wrapping around the cool metal of the pocket watch. I smiled as I brought it out, watching as Glenn's eyes lit up. "How'd you get this?" He questioned, looking at it in surprise as he took it into his hands.

"That dick Alex had it," I replied, casting my mind back to the whole scenario. "Almost shot him for it," I grinned. "Almost."

"Blaire," I felt a hand on my shoulder, turning around to meet my mother.

"Hey," I greeted, swallowing thickly. "How are you doing?"

I don't know what I expected, but I definitely didn't expect her to pull me into a hug, no words even being spoken. I stiffened for a moment, still in surprise, eventually giving in and wrapping my arms around her.

After a few moments, she pulled away, running her hand through my hair, which, by this point, was practically falling out of my ponytail. I really needed to get it cut.

"He's a good one, your Glenn," she told me quietly. "Might not have made it without him."

I bit my lip, unable to fight the huge smile that was forming on my face. "I know he is."

"Keep hold of him," she said, clasping her hand on my shoulder briefly, before giving Glenn a nod, and then heading back over to the others.

Glenn had a smug look on his face, and I rolled my eyes, knowing exactly what he was happy about. "I've got your mother's approval."

"It seems so," I teased, as he reached for my hand, pulling me closer towards him.

Despite the fact we were in a pretty damn shitty situation right now, being reunited with Glenn somewhat made everything feel not so disastrous.

~

The group had got to work on making weapons, sharpening wooden sticks, and even using shoelaces, an idea courtesy of Tara Chambler. I'd taken a liking to her the most out of the newcomers. She seemed the friendliest. Albeit, a little quiet at first, but as I got talking to her I found we got along nicely.

Along with Abraham and Tara, there other two people; a Latina woman called Rosita, who I thought was far too gorgeous to even be real at first, and also Eugene, a polite man who had been looking a little nervous the duration of the time we were here.

As I sat sharpening a piece of wood beside Jade, muffled voices from outside caught my attention. I paused, straining to listen more carefully.

"There's people out there," Olivia stated quietly, obviously picking up on the sounds i'd just heard. Her and Daryl leaned closer to the crack in the wall, stepping away again moments later.

I rose to my feet, handing my half finished wooden stake to Jade and pulling out my knife instead. "Get ready," Rick warned, moving over to Daryl's side. I tensed, tightening my grip around the handle of my knife. The doors would be opening at any second.

"Put your backs to the walls on either sides of the car now!"

Nobody moved, standing strong and ignoring the orders that came from outside. Things seemed to go quiet for a moment until I heard footsteps from above the train cart. I looked up, suddenly being stunned by sunlight as the door slid open and something dropped to our feet.

I attempted to shield eyes slightly with my hand, trying to block out the sun as I stared up in confusion. I took a step forwards, looking down to try and pinpoint the object that had been dropped, until a sudden shout sounded from Abraham.

"Move!"

Almost immediately, a small explosion followed, knocking me down to the ground. I kept my head down, and my eyes closed shut, for a few moments, before reopening them again, only to be met with blindingly white light.

The smell of smoke began to creep into my nostrils, the taste also residing on my tongue. I inhaled, the action suddenly causing me to feel choked. I began to cough, my vision becoming slightly hazy.

Heavy coughs began to sound out from everyone, and I started to reach my hand out, trying to say Glenn's name. My eyelids felt heavy, a drowsiness taking over me. There were sounds of a struggle, but every time I tried to get a look at what was going on, my eyelids began to droop closed again.

~

I felt a light shake on my shoulder, the action startling me slightly. I let out a groan, opening my eyes to be met with the concerned face of Michonne, who was crouching over me. "You okay?"

I nodded slowly, pulling myself up into a sitting position. "What happened?" I questioned, glancing around to check the others were okay. Only then did I realise that we were missing people. "Glenn," I shot up, unsteadily rising to my feet. "Where's Glenn?"

"They took him," Olivia answered. "Glenn, Rick, Daryl and Bob. They took them all."

I swallowed thickly, casting a look over to Carl who was sat with his head down. My knife was beside my feet, and I reached down to pick it up, turning it over in my hands. "We have to do something."

"Got a plan?" Olivia asked, looking over at me with raised eyebrows. Silently cursing her for putting me on the spot like that, I glanced around quickly, trying to spot something that could give us a quick escape. Nothing.

Unexpectedly, the train cart began to shake, the rumble of an explosion sounding, knocking us all to the ground.

I was thrown forwards, accidentally slamming my knee against the floor of the cart. I stopped for a moment, moving onto my hands and knees as I listened to the gunshots ringing out from outside, followed by yells and screams of terror.

Everybody began getting to their feet, me included. Abraham stormed over to the door, slamming his fists against it. "What the hell is going on?"

"Someone hit them," Michonne replied, her voice steady.

Sasha stepped forwards. "Maybe our people got free."

"Excuse me," I glanced to my left, moving aside as Eugene headed past me, kneeling down at the front of the cart.

Rosita sighed exasperatedly. "What the hell are you doing?"

Eugene began to fiddle with something at the bottom of the door, causing us all to exchange confused glances. "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 snapped, breathing heavily as she looked around the train cart with wide eyes.

"Okay."

"Hey, my dad's gonna be back," Carl stated firmly. "They all are."

"He's right, they are," Maggie added on. "And we need to get ready to fight our way out with them when they do."

I glanced down at the knife in my hand, and then to the unfinished weapons on the floor. "Better get to work then."

~

I started sharpening the wooden stakes again, finding some kind of solace within it. It was an easy way to get my pent up frustrations out about the situation we were in. Although the same couldn't quite be said for the others, who had begun to interrogate Eugene about his job. I left them to it.

"Think I've done a pretty good job on this," Olivia stated, pulling me away from the heated debate going on with the others. I looked up, seeing her brandishing an incredibly sharp looking stake knife.

"Yeah, looks like we're sorted if we come across a group of blood thirsty vampires," I responded, causing Michonne to let out a laugh. I looked up at her with a grin.

"Think they'll come in useful for slitting those Terminus people's throats though too," Liv replied.

"Better still," I started, placing my own finished knife on the floor. "We could shove one up that Gareth's ass."

Olivia let out a breathy laugh, and I glanced up at her, finding myself grinning along with her. Michonne was watching us both in amusement, her arms crossed over her chest as she chuckled lightly.

After our laughter died down, Liv shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm down if you are."

I smiled in response, my lips only faltering when I heard raised voices coming from the others. I rose to my feet along with Liv, making my way over to the group.

"I'm not gonna let that happen!" Abraham snapped, standing in front of Eugene almost protectively.

"The best-case scenario, we step out into a hellstorm of bullets, fire, and walkers," Eugene said, his eyes focused on the door. "I'm not fleet of foot. I sure as hell can't take a dead one down with sharp buttons and hella confidence."

"Yeah, but we can and we will," Michonne, who had also rejoined the group, stated.

"You don't owe us anything," Sasha added. "Not yet. But we just want to hear it."

Rosita moved beside Eugene, lowering her voice. "You don't have to."

"I was part of a 10-person team at the Human Genome Project to weaponize diseases to fight weaponized diseases," he began to explain. "Pathogenic microorganisms with pathogenic microorganisms," he said, glancing down at Carl as if he needed to clarify it to him in simpler terms. But hell, I was the one that needed it in simpler terms. "Fire with fire." Oh.

"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 said, looking over at all of us. "All things being equal, it does sound pretty badass."

I didn't understand much of that, but I put it down to missing half the conversation. It didn't seem important to me, at least not at this very moment, so I had no idea why everyone had gotten so stressed about it.

Maggie, who looked as if she was also fed up with it, nodded firmly. "So let's get back to work."

Just as I went to turn back to my wooden stake knives, the door was suddenly thrown open, the force of it startling me, and causing the cart to start wobbling. "Come on!" Rick shouted inside, instinctively reaching for Carl. Glancing behind him I noticed Glenn, Daryl and Bob fighting off a herd of walkers. "Fight to the fence!"

I grinned to myself. Fuck yeah.

I snatched my knife from the floor, following Michonne out from the train cart. I moved down the steps quickly, jamming the knife into a few walkers that got in my way.

"Hey!" I called out, coming to Glenn's side as he shot down a few walkers with the pistol in his hands.

"Hey!" He shouted back, looking over at me briefly before turning back to the walkers in front of him. "Back pocket!"

I frowned for a moment, a little confused until I glanced round, noticing the gun situated in the back pocket of his trousers.

I love this man.

I reached for it quickly, folding my trusty knife back up to save for another time, switching to the gun instead.

"Let's go!" Daryl called over the gunfire, waving his hand to motion us forwards. I moved alongside Glenn, the two of us shooting down the walkers in front of us as we pushed forwards. I worked quickly, noticing how fast they were gaining on us.

Abraham and Rosita reached the fence first. "Up and over!" Abraham called out, helping Maggie up.

I stood back, firing bullets repeatedly at the herd of walkers that continued to close in on us. Gareth and his people were still shooting at us from the roof, but were soon becoming no match for Rick, who was continuously firing bullets back at them.

The others began to climb over the fence one by one until only a few of us were left. "Let's go!" Abraham called, snapping me back to reality.

Michonne jumped, flinging herself over the fence, whilst Abraham and I boosted Carl up. I gripped the wires next, ready to pull myself up until I felt hands on my waist, giving me a gentle lift. I jumped over, trying to regain my balance as Glenn soon landed beside me.

Daryl, Rick and Abraham all followed seconds after, and the five of us quickly backed away from the fence, where walkers had already began to gather, slamming against it .

"Come on," I said, feeling breathless from the whole ordeal. "Let's get out of here."

Nobody needed to be told twice. Without a moments hesitation, we all turned our backs to Terminus as it went up in flames.

❃

Words: 2472
Published: 4th February 2018

Gotta love an action packed penultimate chapter.