FOUND LANDS.

chapter two, the grand escape.
[ season five, episode one ]

"ODESSA?" THE VOICE IS feminine. It is familiar. It is comforting.

Odessa gasps, her eyes as wide as saucers. Odessa is in disbelief. She can't believe it. The woman standing in front of her is alive. She's here.

"Carol?" She questioned, a smile taking over her lips. "Oh, my God."

She rushes toward. She crashes into the older woman. Carol's arms go around her shoulders. "How'd you find this place?" Odessa asks when she pulls away.

"Followed the tracks," she answers.

"They have them. All of them." Odessa informs her. "Theo and I had a plan but it's going to shit. I had to—"

Carol looks at the dead man tied to the tree. "I know," Carol nodded. "We're gonna get them out, okay? First we gotta find a walker. There's a lot more coming this way."

It doesn't take long to find a walker due to the gunfire drawing them near. Carol guts it and covers her poncho and face with walker blood. Odessa cuts holes in the blanket she has in her bag. Carol covers her next.

The two grab their bags and walk back to the fence where they see five people being dragged away to the compound.

Her dad, Glenn, Daryl, Bob, and Cole.

They have to act now. Before it's too late.

The duo makes their way around the compound and stops in front. Odessa eyes the front of the building. Terminus is spelled out in big letters along the front of the building.

Carol sees the gas tank first. She nudges Odessa and nods to it. The people killing walkers through the fence begin shouting and falling back.

Odessa turns her attention to the direction they were looking and her eyes widen. A lot, a lot of walkers were making their way to Terminus.

"Carol," she whispers. "Blow it up. Blow it up now."

Carol obliges and shoves a firework in the muzzle of her rifle. Odessa's brows knit but she doesn't questions where Carol found a firework.

She nods to Odessa then and the teen takes aim at the propane tank. It only takes two shots for it to spew out. Carol then let lights the firework and covers her ears.

Odessa follows.

Half a second later, an explosion shakes the ground.

The deadly duo stands to their feet with their bags slung over their shoulders and guns hidden under their gut covered blanket and poncho.

They walk among the dead.

When walkers in front of them began dropping, they peel to the side. Carol raises her rifle while Odessa raise hers. At the same time, two men drop.

Walkers turn their attention to the two. Carol grabs Odessa's arm and pulls her back before she slams the door shut.

In the warehouse, Rick Grimes frees himself. He kills the two men and releases his people. "If they got problems, we got a chance." Rick says.

"It sounded like a bomb," Glenn rushes out.

"It sounds like a damn war," Daryl states. He grabs a knife off the ground and moves to end the two men Rick killed permanently.

"What the hell are these people?" Theo panics.

"They ain't people," Daryl replies.

"Don't. Let him turn," Rick stops Daryl.

A minute later the six were in what Theo assumes is the dryer Gareth mentioned. There are torso's hanging from chains, numerous blades and tools rest on metal tables, and chunks of meat on boards.

"You cross any of these people, you kill them. Don't hesitate," Rick glances at Theo. He knew he had trouble killing people. He had only ever killed one person and it was his own father. "They won't."

Even then it took him three tries to finally kill him.

They grab weapons off the tables. Shouting caused them to rush to a window. There, they see walkers clawing at a storage unit.

"If we run, we can get by 'em. They're distracted," Rick states.

"We gotta let those people out," Glenn says. Eyes move to him. "That's still who we are. It's gotta be.

They rush out of the building and kill the walkers. Glenn opens the door and a man comes running out. He grabs Glenn, "we're the same! We're them!"

Cole rips the man off of Glenn before he can do any serious harm and shoves him away. He has a crazed look in his eyes. But before he can do anything, walkers take him to the ground.

Odessa and Carol walk into a room with tables full of people's belongings. Odessa gapes. "They took all this stuff from people?"

Carol nods.

They look through the tables and Odessa's eyes land on a familiar axe. She snatches it up. She's right. On the handle is an engraved C.T.

This belongs to Cole. Carol grabs a watch that belongs to Rick and Daryl's crossbow. Odessa scans the room for Michonne's katana and Carl's hat but finds neither.

The two find their way to a large room. They look around. On the ground are several names. The walls have the words, 'never again', 'never trust', 'we first, always'. Candles are lit everywhere. On the ground, on stands.

"What the hell?" Odessa murmurs.

The two walk through the large room before a gun cocks behind them. Carol and Odessa stop in their tracks. Odessa's grip tightens on her gun.

"Turn around. I want to see your faces," the woman hisses. "Now!" She shouts. Carol puts down Daryl's crossbow but glances to Odessa and simply nods. Odessa understands immediately.

Odessa whirls around and fires at the woman. The woman dives to the ground and Carol rushes at her. "The door, Odessa!"

Odessa looks back at the door and sees the walkers shadows under it. She runs to it but stops when she hears Carol, "wait!"

Carol and the woman are now standing but Carol has her gun pointed at the woman's face.

"The signs," she starts, "they were real. It was a sanctuary. People came and took this place."

"Just tell us where—"

"And they raped," she says. Odessa's whole body tenses at the word. Flashbacks threaten her. She can feel Shane's hands on her body. She can feel the Governor's hand unbuttoning her jeans. Bile rose in her throat. "And they killed and they laughed over weeks. But we got out and we fought and we got it back. And we heard the message! You're the butcher or you're the cattle."

"The men they pulled from the train car, where are they? The boy with the blonde hair too?" Carol questions.

The woman stares at Carol. She drops her gun lower and shoots the woman in the leg. "Where are they!?"

She drops to the ground with a scream. "Now... point it at my head." Then she laughes. "You both could have been one of us. You could have listened to what the world was telling you."

"You lead people here and you take what they have and you kill them. Is that what this place is?" Odessa asks from beside the door.

"No, not at first. It's what it had to be. And we're still here." The woman says.

Carol lowers her gun. "You're not here. Neither are we." Carol says. "Now, Dessa." Odessa opens the door and steps away from it as Carol moves toward her.

The woman on the ground begins to scream as the walkers stumble towards her.

Odessa doesn't blink as her screams bounce around in the room. She's killed thirteen people. She's tortured two men. What was being an accomplice to one murder?

Rick Grimes rips the door open to the train car. His people file out. They begin running as soon as their feet touch the concrete. They rush to the fence.

Eugene, Carl, and Theo are first ones over. The rest follow. Theo makes his way to where his and Odessa's bag are hidden. He looks around for his best friend. She is no where within his line of sight. His stomach churns with worry.

He looks to the side when he hears the snarls. He stares at the walker tied to the tree. It face is covered in blood and it had been stabbed in the stomach over and over.

He knows.

He knows Odessa did it.

He doesn't kill the walker.

He grabs both bags before rejoining his people. As he did, he hears Abraham ask, "the hell are we still around here for?"

"Gun, some supplies. Go along the fences, use the rifles. Take out the rest of 'em." Rick states.

"What?" Theo's brows bunch.

Rick looks to him, "they don't get to live."

"Rick, we got out." Glenn steps up.

Rick grabs his colt out of the bag. "It's not over til they're all dead."

"The hell it isn't. That place is on fire." Rosita makes sure to put an emphasis on the word fire. "Full of walkers."

"I'm not dickin' around with this crap. We just made it out," Abraham states.

"The fences are down. They'll run or die." Maggie says.

Suddenly, leaves crunch behind them. Daryl turns and is the first to see them.

Rick turn his head. Then he is running, too. Odessa and her father crash into each other. Carl is there a second later. The family hold onto each other like they would slip away from one another if they let go.

Carl's hand fists Odessa's shirt. When they pull away, Rick places his hands on Odessa's face. "You're alive."

"Yeah," she laughs with tears falling down her face. "So are you. And you," she pulls Carl closer to her. He drops his head on her shoulder.

"Did you do that?" Rick glances between Carol and Odessa. Odessa nods. Rick kisses his daughter's forehead. He squeezes his eyes shut.

She's here. She is in his arms. His little girl is here and she's alive. And then he remembers. How is he going to tell her that his other one wasn't. He doesn't know how to tell her that her baby sister was dead.

Rick hugs Odessa again before he hugs Carol. Theo walks forward and grabs Odessa's blood stained arm. "You did it," he tells her.

"We did it," she corrects.

"I saw the walker," he drops his voice to a whisper. "What you did—"

"I had to," Odessa nods quickly. "I had to or he would've killed me."

When Rick and Carol pull back, she looks around. "You have to come with me."

They follow her away from Terminus and onto the road. It isn't long later they walk over a hill to see a cabin.

Tyreese Williams walks out of the cabin and in his arms is a baby. Baby Judith Grimes. The three Grimes and Sasha race towards them.

"Judy," Odessa cries when she places her hand on the back of her sister's head. More and more tears spill over. "You're okay, you're okay."

It isnMt long later the group is walking away from Terminus, away from a lie. Odessa and Daryl walk side-by-side.

"I got out with Beth," he informs her.

Her eyes snap to him. "Where is she? Why isn't she with you?"

"We were at a funeral home. Got overrun. She got taken by these people. A black car with a white cross on the back windshield." Daryl tells her.

"But she's alive?" Odessa asks, hopeful.

"She's alive."

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word count: 1,897

and we got another grimes reunion!! i love how much they love each other. it makes me so incredibly happy. but it also makes me sad because we know what happens in season eight and nine 🥹. rip future odessa's mental health.

odessa knows beth is alive now and she makes finding beth her entire being. she isn't gonna stop until she finds her girlfriend.

carol and dessa are quite literally unstoppable. she stayed true to her words and burnt the place to the ground. her and carol >>>. they're freaking terrifying.

we met gabriel next chapter. what do y'all think is gonna happen with gabriel and the three oc's?? are they gonna along?? will they hate each other?? let me know what y'all think is gonna happen and what y'all hope happens.