57. no sanctuary

MILO

     'THEY SEEMED NICE ENOUGH, BUT I WAS ready to go. We just got here but, damn, it was time to go. When I told them about D.C., 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,' Abraham's voice echoed through the dark trailer.

Milo listened in silence while sharpening the buckle of his belt on the hard wood floor. Everyone was busy making makeshift weapons out of everything they could get their hands on.

'Before they put you in here, you didn't see Tyreese?' Sasha questioned, looking at Michonne.

'No,' this one replied.

'Good.'

Milo threw a look over his shoulder at Quinn who was sitting in a corner with Daryl and Maggie by her side. She was removing the zipper from her jacket and sharpening the edges on the wall, turning it into a small but painful whip. While Daryl told Maggie what had happened to Beth, he could just make out the last part of his sentence. '...black car with a white cross painted on it. We tried to follow it. We tried.'

'But she's alive?' Maggie questioned.

'She's alive,' Quinn spoke firmly and she sounded like she truly believed it. Her words made a smile appear on his face. Clearly the teenage girl had awoken a flame of hope in his sister's heart. For which he could only be thankful.

Milo turned back to look at the door in front of him, leading to their freedom. Voices drifted through the walls from outside, people talking to each other on the radio.

'Alrigh',' Daryl suddenly spoke up. He had walked over from the corner of the trailer car to look through the cracks next to the door. 'There are four of 'em pricks comin' our way.'

'Ya'll know what to do,' Rick said, walking up towards the door. 'Go for their eyes first, then their throats.'

Milo stood up, taking the buckle firmly in his hand. He looked around, seeing everyone had taking a stance with their makeshift weapons firmly in their hands. The chance of them escaping was small, yet they had to try. Giving up was not something they were accustomed to.

'Put your backs to the walls at either end of the car. Now!' A male voice shouted from outside.

They all shared a glare together, not moving one inch as they focused back on the door. A small frown appeared on his face however upon hearing footsteps above them. He looked up to see someone opening a window in the roof and throwing what looked like a can inside.

'Move!' Abraham shouted instantly upon spotting it. His warning shout made everyone jump aside as the can exploded and send gas all through the trailer.

Milo coughed violently as tears stung in his eyes, he was completely blinded by the gas and in all the panic, he'd dropped his weapon. The sound of the door being opened echoed through the trailer, hands grabbed him and he desperatly tried to fight back as they dragged him outside, but the gas made him numb. A piece of cloth was put in his mouth, making it hard to breathe. The world spun around him before being suddenly enveloped in darkness. Someone had put a bag over his head and was now dragging him along the ground.

His entire body was aching by the time they came to a halt. He was forced on his knees, his feet and hands being tied together and he frowned at the loud sound of a saw buzzing. Suddenly light hit him in the face as the bag covering him was removed. Blinking rapidly he tried to get his view back, only to see he was sitting above what appeared to be a huge sink. His eyes scanned the room and widened upon noticing what the saw was being used for.

On an operation table only a few feet away lay a body, naked and cut open. Two men were standing over it, cutting pieces of flesh away with a saw. Even from this distance he could make out the human bones, forming a ribcage...

Milo's heart raced in his chest as a shiver ran down his spine and he turned his gaze away, to his right, where Bob was sitting and upon catching each other's gaze Milo could see the panic in the man's eyes. He was sure the same panic was written all over his face.

On his left sat Rick, with Daryl and Glenn next to him and a few men he didn't know sitting next to them.

The loud sound of a knife being sharpened drew his attention to his left. A man wearing an apron with blood all over it was sharpening a huge blade. Milo didn't even want to start guessing what it was going to be used for.

'All right,' the man said and the sharpening stopped as he gestured towards another guy, wearing the same aprin and holding a bat. They made their way down to the other end of the row and Milo couldn't look away.

Standing over the first man in the row, bat guy brought down the weapon against his head, making him fall unconcious into the sink and then the other guy stepped forwards, took the unconcious man by his hair and pulled his head back, before putting his knife to his throat and slicing it open, a fountain of blood raining into the sink, forming a small river as it slowly disappeared down the drain.

Breathing was suddenly impossible and he quickly turned his head away, panic flaring up inside of him like a flame. He moved around, trying to free his hands, his feet, anything.

The sound of the bat hitting against another man's head echoed through the room and he forced himself to keep looking forward, to not look at the blood that was streaming through the sink beneath him.

His eyes fell on the man he knew to be in charge, Gareth, as he came walking inside, holding a notepad and a pencil. He seemed to be totally indifferent to the slaughter going down. 'Hey guys,' he spoke to the butchers. 'What were your shot counts?'

'Thirty-eight,' one replied before hitting down another man with his bat.

Milo threw a quick glare to his right, his eyes widening when he saw Glenn was next in line. They had to do something, anything, but the ugly truth was that there was no escaping this time. They moved over to Glenn, who braced himself as the guy raised his bat.

'Hey,' Gareth called at the very last second, making a shaky breath of relief escape his lips. 'Your shot count?' He questioned, looking at the other man who still hadn't answered.

'Crap, man, I'm sorry. It's my first roundup,' the guy with the knife replied.

Milo had know idea what was going on but wanted them to keep talking as long as possible.

'After you're done here, go back to your point and count the shells,' Gareth said, sounding almost bored, 'Kaylee won't be gathering them until tomorrow.'

'Hey,' Bob suddenly yelled, his voice muffled through the cloth in his mouth, 'hey let me talk to you!'

'Four from A, five from D?' Gareth questioned, ignoring Bob as he pointed at the dead and alive men.

'Yeah,' the guy with the bat responded.

'Hey, let me talk to you for a minute!' Bob yelled again. 'Let me talk to you for a minute.'

Gareth sighed deeply before stepping forwards and removing the cloth from his mouth. 'What?'

'Don't do this, we can fix this,' Bob said.

'No you can't,' Gareth replied, stepping forwards to place the cloth back into his mouth but Bob moved his head away.

'You don't have to do this!' He shouted. 'We told you there's a way out of all of this. You just have to take a chance. We have a man who knows how to stop it. He has a cure. We just have to get him to Washington.'

Gareth didn't even seem like he was listening, writing down things on his notepad as Bob talked.

'You don't have to do this man,' Bob said again, panic at the edge of his voice. 'We can put the world back to how it was.'

'Can't go back, Bob,' Gareth said, sounding almost bored. He took a step forwards and put the cloth back in place.

'We can!' Bob kept on shouting anyway. 'You don't have to do it!'

Gareth sighed as he placed his notebook on the ground and kneeled down in front of Rick, reaching over the blood filled sink to remove his gag. 'We saw you go into the woods with a bag and come out without it. I had to pull my spotters back before we could go look for it. What was in it?'

Rick stared at the man, his eyes burning with rage as his features turned stone cold.

'You hid it right?' Gareth went on. 'In case things went bad? Smart. Still, we'll find it. But it's too dangerous out there right now.' He reached behind his belt and pulled out a knife, playing with it for just a second before suddenly taking Milo by his shoulder and forcing him down, holding his knife dangerously close to his face. Milo closed his eyes, his entire body tensed up.

'What was in it?' Gareth asked again, turning his gaze to Rick. 'I'm curious. And it was a big bag.' He sighed when Rick still didn't respond. 'Are you really gonna let me do this?'

'Well, let me take you out there,' Rick finally spoke. 'I'll show you.'

'Not gonna happen,' Gareth said before pulling Milo closer towards the knife. 'This might.' The blade was only inches away from his eyes and he bit the piece of cloth in his mouth to keep himself from damning their captor as hatred waved through him like a tidal wave.

'There's guns in it,' Rick said, pretending to be thinking real hard. 'AK-47, 44 Magnum, automatic weapons, nightscope, there's a compound bow, an axe, a belt with five ringdaggers and a machete with a red handle.' He fell silent for a second before turning his stonecold gaze back towards Gareth. 'That's what I'm gonna use to kill you.'

A chuckle escaped Gareth's mouth as he let go of Milo. He immediately leaned backwards, away from the man, his heart still pounding way too fast in his chest. Gareth put the knife back in its sheath before placing the gag back in Rick's mouth. 'Thanks,' he said, giving him a pat on the shoulder before pushing himself off the ground.

'You have two hours to get them on the dryers,' Gareth spoke, pointing towards the butchers. 'Then we go back to public face. Now's the time we can get messy, but we need to dail it all in by sundown.'

'Got it,' the butcher with the bat replied.

'Yes sir,' the other one spoke as they made themselves ready to take down Glenn.

Only that never happened as sudden gunshots came from outside, making Milo's heart jump. Gareth reached in his pocket and took out a walkie. 'Hey, Chuck?' He asked as another gunshot echoed through the building. For a second silence was all they could hear before suddenly a loud explosion made the foundations of the room tremble. Dust rained down from the ceiling as the floor shook, making them all lose their balance and fall down on the hard concrete.

Gareth jumped up first, paniced voices coming through the radio he was holding. 'You stay here,' he said, pointing at the butchers.

'Gareth, these guys aren't going-' 'Stay here until I know what's happening!' Gareth shouted back at him, running out of the room.

Milo's eyes landed on Rick, seeing he was holding a piece of wood in his hands and desperatly trying to cut the ties around his wrists.

The two butchers were arguing about what to do but Rick didn't give them a chance to finish as he jumped up, his hands and feet free, ran forwards and pushed the piece of wood into one of the men his neck. Before the other could even blink he had reached him and cut his throat.

He then turned around and came running back, kneeling down behind Glenn and untying him. Once he was free they moved on to help Daryl, Bob and Milo. He freed himself of the ropes around his feet as fast as he could, his breathing heavy.

'They got problems, we got a chance,' Rick said, helping Daryl free his hands.

'Sounded like a bomb,' Glenn said, throwing his gag on the ground.

'Sounds like a damn war,' Daryl spoke, standing up and walking over towards a table with tools littered across it.

'What the hell are these people?' Bob questioned as Milo helped him stand.

'They ain't people,' Daryl replied, taking a knife in his hand and walking over towards the dead butchters.

'Don't,' Rick said sharply, 'let them turn.' Then he gestured for them to follow him. They ran towards the back end of the hall, searching for an exit but ran into something horrible instead. It looked like a meatlocker, only with human flesh. Bodies hang from the ceiling, stripped clean of all their limbs and skin, leaving nothing but bones, flesh and a spine.

'What the hell,' Milo mumbled, his eyes falling on the many tables with piles of meat on them, human meat.

'Cross any of these people, you kill 'em,' Rick said, his voice shaking with anger. 'Don't hesitate. They won't.'

Milo walked up towards one of the tables and took a knife in his hand. Even touching it felt like he was committing a crime but he needed something to protect himself with.

Screams came from outside as Rick led them towards the door. They looked through the window, seeing a group of walkers as they were banging on a train cart which must be filled with people.

'If we run fast we can get by them,' Rick said, 'they're distracted.'

'We gotta let those people out,' Glenn interjected, looking sternly at Rick. 'That's still who we are. It's gotta be.'

Rick sighed deeply before nodding curtly and throwing the door open, sprinting towards the train cart Milo followed, the knife firmly in his hand as he reached the first walker. He raised his arm, driving it through the corpse its skull, making it fall down. The rest was taken care of by the others. Once the walkers were down Glenn ran towards the train cart. A male voice was screaming from the inside, begging for help.

Milo walked up to Glenn and helped him pull at the heavy doors, swinging them open.

A man with a wild beard came running outside, throwing himself at Glenn, screaming words Milo couldn't even make out, he was totally insane. Glenn groaned and pushed him away, making the man laugh loudly which drew the attention of a walker stumbling by. The corpse attacked the man from behind, making him scream as it feasted on his flesh.

'Come on,' Rick said, about to run away but stopping at the last second as a whole herd of walkers came stumbling by.

Hiding themselves behind the train cart, Milo held his knife tightly. Every vibe of his being wanted to sprint back towards the others but they had to be smart.

'We could double back,' Bob offered.

'It's that way,' Rick said, gesturing over his shoulder, 'we go back, we don't know where we are.'

'We don't really have a choice, do we?' Daryl mumbled.

Gunshots echoed all over the courtyard and screams came out of all directions. Soon the entire place would be overrun with walkers. They had to make a plan, fast.

'Just wait here,' Rick suddenly spoke before making a sprint towards a car that stood a few feet away.

Milo watched as he reached it, kneeling down behind it to take a better look at his surroundings. A small gasp left his lips when a walker came up behind Rick and the man wasn't noticing it. Daryl ran forwards, raising his weapon and driving it through the walker its skull. Rick looked over his shoulder, nodding at the redneck as he knelt down next to him.

The people from Terminus came walking around the corner, shooting their weapons at the approaching walkers. Rick waited until they passed him before he jumped out of his hiding place and attacked the last man, killing him quickly before taking his gun. It happened so fast, Milo had barely time to realise what Rick was about to do. He opened his mouth but before he could shout for him to stop, the man had pulled the triggger and brought all the people of Terminus down.

Screams came from out of the alley as the injured people were defenseless against the teeth of the ever hungry corpses.

Milo winced at the sounds and watched as Rick and Daryl came running back to them. 'We don't have to double back,' Rick told them and he gestured for them to follow him.

They ran through the many courtyards and alleyways. The screams of the living and the snarls of the dead formed an awfully loud mix in his head. He tightened his grip on his knife to keep himself focused as he sprinted after Rick.

Finally they reached the train car and together they pulled the door open. 'Come on. We fight to the fence!' Rick screamed before turning around and started to shoot every walker that came close.

Milo could hear Abraham screaming to protect Eugene but he was too busy cutting down a walker to respond to it.

'Milo!'

He turned around to see Quinn jumping out of the train cart. She ran up to him, pushing away a walker before reaching him and pulling him into a quick hug.

Their reunion was cut short however by Rick urging for everyone to run and the siblings didn't need to be told twice. They followed Abraham who was ahead of the others, heading towards the fence.

The snarls of the growing crowd of walkers behind them became louder and it took everything within him to keep looking ahead of himself. Next to him Quinn managed to take one down with her self-made whip, while on his other side Maggie stabbed one in the eye with a piece of wood.

Rosita was the first one to reach the fence, taking off her jacket and covering the barbed wire with it. 'Up and over!' She shouted.

'Come on people move!' Abraham screamed as Rick's gunshots echoed through his ears.

Milo threw a look over his shoulder to see if the man needed help, only to notice a walker in a blood covered apron stumbling outside the building. He gritted his teeth before turning back forwards, watching as Eugene made his way over the fence.

As quick as they could they climbed over, one by one. After he helped Quinn, he climbed up himself while Rick was still shooting down walkers behind him. Milo forced himself to keep looking forwards, his feet touching the grass on the other side. Quickly he stumbled away from the fence to make room for Daryl, Abraham and lastly Rick.

Once they were all on the other side of the fence, they turned around and left the burning building behind them, making their way to safety. Away from Terminus.