The New World 4

The next morning Daryl and Sabrina were awoken to Joe tapping on the glass saying it was time to get up and go. As he walked away Daryl and Sabrina let out their own groans, finally opening the door and getting out. While the group shuffled out, Sabrina noticed something wasn't right. Her and Daryl made it outside to see Len's dead body with an arrow through his head. Grabbing onto Daryl's hand, she quickly went down the stairs and away from the dead body before she blew chunks. The group walked through the woods silently for hours until Sabrina's stomach rumbled. Daryl stopped for a few seconds to quickly skin the second part of the rabbit then handed it to her.

"Here."

"But-"

"No buts, jus' eat."

"Fine...but we share."

Daryl nodded to his wife as she took the first bite. The two of them walked and ate the rabbit in silence. When the poor furry creature was done, Daryl dropped it's bones as the group came upon a field. Sabrina and Daryl weren't alone for long before Joe came up to walk beside them drinking from a flask, he offered it to Daryl.

"White Lighting. Easiest thing to make with the least amount of supplies. I'd start slow if I was you. Your stomach's probably emptier than you think."

Daryl took a swig then gave it back to Joe.

"You want some Sabrina?"

She shook her head, forcing a smile. "No, water's my first choice." Sabrina showed Joe the half full bottled water.

"I ain't been lit at dawn since b'fore everythin' fell apart."

"Alright." He smiled at Sabrina then made conversation with Daryl again. "Fell apart. I never looked at it like that. Seems to me like things are finally starting to fall together. At least for guys like us. Living like this, surviving. We've been doing this from the start, right?"

"Getting closer." One of the the guys said looking at a sign.

When Daryl and Sabrina made it to the sign they read it as the two of them stepped on the railroad tracks.

"Ya seen this b'fore?" Daryl asked pointing to the sign.

"Oh, yeah. I'll tell you what it is. It's a lie. Ain't no sanctuary for all. Ain't gonna welcome guys like you and me with open arms." Joe said walking past them.

"How would he know?" Sabrina whispered.

Daryl shrugged, entwining their fingers together to catch up to Joe.

"So is tha' where we're headed?"

"So now you're asking?"

"Tha's righ'." He answered Joe.

"We were in a house minding our own business and this walking piece of fecal matter was hiding in the home. Strangled our colleague Lou and left him to turn. Lou came at all of us. He lit out. We tracked him to these tracks, one of those signs, and thus we've got a destination in mind."

"Ya see his face?"

"Only Tony. That's enough for a reckoning."

Tony slowed down, looking at the ground. Daryl seen what the guy was eye balling and jumped to it.

"Claimed." He went to the radishes, pulling them out of the ground while the others went on.

Sabrina chuckled as she stood next to Daryl then blinked curiously. She saw a wrapper but never got a good look at it because Daryl grabbed her hand again leading her down the tracks again. Sabrina had to stop walking for a few to hurl her guts up, Daryl asked her if she was ok and she nodded when she was done. After that the journey down the railroad tracks became quiet. Daryl would give her a questioning look every once in a while but she reassured him that everything was fine. Soon after nightfall had came and the group went through the woods and could hear light conversations on the road. Joe and his gang went way ahead of Sabrina and Daryl, when they heard him saying something about screwed up the couple looked at each other and hurried.

"Joe!" Daryl piped up when the two of them neared the group.

Seeing the scene, Sabrina gasped slightly in surprise. It was Rick and Michonne...being held at gunpoint by Joe and the gang. Sabrina looked over to Daryl to see him with almost the same expression.

"Hol' up." He said going forward as Sabrina stayed near the truck in shock.

"You're stopping me on eight Daryl."

"Jus' hol' up."

"This is the guy that killed Lou, so we got nothing to talk about." One of the members said.

"The thing about nowadays is we got nothing but time. Say your piece Daryl."

"These people, yer gonna let 'em go. These are good people."

"Now, I think Lou would disagree with you on that. I'll, of course, have to speak for him and all 'cause your friend here strangled him in a bathroom."

Sabrina finally spoke up a she came to stand next to Daryl. "You don't even know the whole story. Maybe they were in the house before you guys went in. Maybe Lou was the first one to attack. So he had every right to defend himself."

"Sabrina, stay out of it." Daryl said quietly to her then turned back to Joe. "Ya wan' blood, I ge' it." He dropped his crossbow. "Take it from me, man. C'mon."

"What? Daryl?" Sabrina looked at him shocked.

"This man killed our friend. You say he's good people. See, now that right there is-is-is a lie. It's a lie!"

"Daryl!" Sabrina wailed when one of them sucker punched him in the stomach with their weapon.

She tried to get to him but another one held her back. "Get your disgusting hands off me!"

"Teach him fellas. Teach him all the way." Joe called out.

Sabrina went into a frenzy hearing Joe's command as she watched Daryl get beat down. The last time he said that, the next morning they found Len's dead body. Jumping, squirming, cursing, pulling, kicking and pushing was all Sabrina could do to try and break free. She could hear Carl's pleas then a gunshot. Sabrina didn't know what came over her but somewhere she got extra strength and broke free. She gave the guy a perfect right and left hook then an upper cut. He finally fell to the ground and Sabrina took that chance to get her ninja throwing knife and stab him deep in his throat. She retrieved the guy's gun gasping in horror at what she just witnessed. Joe had Rick pinned and Rick bit Joe's neck like a vicious animal, tearing a huge chunk out. Joe fell to the ground bleeding to death, everyone in Joe's group knew they were in trouble then. Michonne got a gun, shooting Tony, Sabrina took out one of the guys that was beating Daryl, Daryl took out the other one and then it was a stand off between the guy that had Carl. As Rick went to the guy, he became scared as Rick approached. What came next had Sabrina turning her head, burying it into Daryl's chest to try to block out the stabbing noises. Rick finally stopped and told Michonne and Carl to get in the truck to get some sleep. Sabrina checked Daryl over, cleaning up his wounds the best as she could while Rick went to the side of the truck, sitting there in a daze.

"Ya need ta ge' some sleep shorty."

"No."

"Tha' wasn't an option. Ya been throwin' up most of the day. Ya need ta ge' some rest. I need ta check on Rick, make sure he's a'right."

Letting out a sigh, Sabrina knew she wasn't going to win this battle with Daryl. "Fine...but if you need me, don't hesitate." She kissed him carefully due to his busted lip before climbing into the truck.

Sabrina climbed into the passenger's and was out like a light. When she finally awoke, she knew it was daylight outside. Looking into the back, Sabrina saw Michonne gently swipe strands of hair out of a sleeping Carl's face. She knew too well what was running through Carl's mind last night and Sabrina wished that it never happened to Carl. Giving Michonne a small smile, Sabrina opened the door, carefully sliding out of the truck and closing the door gently. She walked into the woods a bit while Rick and Daryl were talking to each other so she could relieve her bladder. After relieving herself, she went back to the truck, sitting down on the other side, away from Daryl and Rick to gather her thoughts.

"Shorty, ya a'right?"

Letting out a loud gasp, Sabrina turned her head quickly to Daryl's voice. "Don't scare me like that." She nodded softly. "Yeah, I'm fine." She was hoping he'd buy her lie but judging by the expression, he didn't.

Daryl knew she was lying but left it alone. "A'right. Ya 'bout ready ta hit the road again? Michonne 'nd Carl's up."

Standing up, Sabrina nodded with a small smile, she didn't want to worry Daryl. "Your lip looks a bit better. How's the rest of you feeling?"

"Had worse Shorty." He said softly, bending down to capture her lips quickly before entwining their fingers together. "Le' ge' goin'."

Walking around the truck, Sabrina and Daryl met up with Carl, Rick and Michonne. The five of them started walking down the road, getting back onto the tracks to head to Terminus. As the group headed there Rick explained why they were going there, if the others seen the sign, he knew that they'd go there too. Sabrina didn't know why but this Terminus place sounded a bit odd, there had to be some kind of catch. They decided to hike in the woods the rest of the way and hours later the group made it to Terminus. Looking through the chain linked fencing, the place was eerily quiet.

"We all spread out, watch for a while, see what we see and get ready. We all stay close."

Sabrina nodded as she headed off with Daryl while Rick asked Carl something but he declined. Sabrina pulled out her knives as her and Daryl scouted the area in silence . Once they scouted the two of them headed back to Rick to see him putting the weapon bag into a hole he dug. The couple looked at him in silence as he picked a shovel up.

"Just in case." Rick said while throwing the dirt back in the hole to cover the bag up.

Michonne and Carl came back to them while Rick was patting the dirt down. "You guys ready?"

The group nodded and followed Rick the fence. Rick went first, then Michonne, Carl, Daryl and Sabrina. Daryl had to help her a bit since she lost balance, Sabrina was never good at the whole jumping over fences thing. Once she was steady all of them had their weapons ready as they scouted more. They made it into a building with a woman inside repeating a message over and over again. Rick interrupted the woman and she took her headphones off as the rest of the group entered.

"Well, I bet Albert is on perimeter watch." A man with short dark hair that was cleanly cut. He came around what looked to be a work bench. "You here to rob us?"

"No. We wanted to see you before you saw us." Rick explained.

"Makes sense. Usually we do this where the tracks meet." The guy cleared his throat. "Welcome to Terminus. I'm Gareth. Looks like you've been on the road for a good bit."

"We have. I'm Rick. That's Carl, Daryl, Sabrina and Michonne."

The others silently looked at Gareth. "You're nervous, I get it. We were all the same way. We came here for sanctuary. That what you here for?"

"Yes." Rick said simply.

"Good. You found it." Gareth turned his head to the others. "Hey Alex." He turned to the group again. "This isn't as pretty as the front. We got nothing to hide, but the welcome wagon is a whole lot nicer. Alex will take you, ask you a few questions. Uh, but first, we need to see everyone's weapons. If you could just lay them down in front of you."

Sabrina raised her eyebrow non-believingly, from the corner of her eye she seen Daryl and Rick silently communicating to each other. Rick agreed, putting his weapon on the floor, which the group followed in doing. Sabrina reached down, unclipping her ninja throwing knife pouch and put it on the ground in front of her cautiously. Gareth spoke and Rick agreed again as the others were searched by the Alex guy. The Alex guy kept asking questions and the group responded truthfully, Joe and his crew did deserve it, every ounce of it.

"Just so you know, we aren't those kind of people, but we aren't stupid either. And you shouldn't be stupid enough to try anything stupid." Gareth said with a small smirk as the Alex guy finished up. "As long as everyone's clear on that, we shouldn't have any problems. Just solutions. Okay." He walked away as Alex was handing everyone's weapons back to them.

Sabrina gave Alex a warning look as she reached down, picking up her pouch and strapping it back on. Daryl done the same thing with his crossbow, causing Alex to hurry up. After the group had their weapons back, they followed him out of the building and to the front.

"So how long's this place been here?" Daryl asked.

"Since almost the start. When all the camps got overrun, people started finding this place. I think it was instinct, you know? Follow a path. Some folks were heading to the coast, others out west or up north, but they all wound up here." Alex spoke, leading them to a grill.

"Hi. Heard you came in the back door. Smart. You'll fit right in here." The woman said.

Sabrina put her hands on her stomach, she had a nauseating uneasy feeling. She could feel something wasn't right as her and the group looked around.

"Hey, Mary, would you fix each of these new folks a plate for me?"

"Why do you do it? Why do you let people in?" Michonne asked.

"The more people become a part of us, we get stronger. That's why we put up the signs, invite people in. It's how we survive."

Sabrina squinted in confusion and poked Daryl's arm then pointed to a woman that was sitting down eating. "That look familiar to you?" She whispered to him.

Daryl grunted in response, there was no doubt about it, that was his poncho. Looking around more, the group seen a lot of things that belonged to their group. The prison riot gear. The yellowish orange bag. Sabrina looked at Daryl and the two of them had the same look, 'That's the groups things but where are they?' Daryl and Sabrina's attention went to Rick when he pulled his gun out, taking Alex hostage, which made Sabrina, Carl, Daryl and Michonne draw their weapons.

"Where the hell did you get this watch?"

No answer.

"Where the hell did you get this watch?" Rick asked again.

"You want answers? You want anything else? You get 'em when you put down the gun."

"That's not going to happen." Sabrina said.

"I see your man on the roof with a sniper rifle. How good's his aim? Where's you get the watch?"

Silence.

"Where'd you get the watch?!"

"Don't do anything! I have this! You just put it down. Put it down!" Alex yelled and the man with the rifle lowered his weapon. "You want to listen to me. There's a lot of us."

"Where did you get the watch?"

"I got it off a dead one. I didn't think he'd need it."

"What about the riot gear? The poncho?"

"Got the riot gear off a dead cop." Gareth's voice rang out. "Found the poncho on a clothesline."

"That's a bunch of bull. I would know that poncho anywhere!" Sabrina said glaring at Gareth.

"Gareth, we can wait."

"Shut up, Alex."

"You talk to me." Rick said to Gareth.

"What's there left to say? You don't trust us anymore."

"Gareth."

"Shut up."

"Gareth, please."

"It's okay. It's okay. Rick what do you want?"

Sabrina had a bad feeling on how Gareth had his hand raised.

"Where are our people?" Rick asked.

"You didn't answer the question."

Gareth balled up his hand, making a fist and that's when the gunfire started. Rick threw Alex to the side and the group ran to get away from the gunfire. They were like mice in a trap, they went one way and the bullets blocked their way so they had to go a different way. They finally went into a building that resembled a garage, only to have the door shut on them. They finally found a door that led back to the outside and that's when the mouse maze started again. As they ran, they heard people banging and screaming for help but the group ignored it and went into another building. This building had candles lit everywhere and writing on the wall. 'Never again. Never trust. We first, always.'

"Wha' the hell is this place?"

"These people, I don't think they're trying to kill us." Michonne said.

"I don't think so either." Sabrina panted.

"No. They were aiming for our feet." He looked around seeing the open door. "There."

The group started going to it but someone closed and locked it. They found another door, went out it and the gunfire started once again. Sabrina, Daryl, Carl, Rick and Michonne had to stop, they were at a dead end, guns every which way they looked.

"What do we do?" Sabrina's hushed voice rang out to the group.

"Drop your weapons! Now!" Gareth's voice came from a rooftop.

The group looked at each other, refusing to drop them so Gareth yelled 'now' again. Finally they dropped their weapons. Sabrina unstrapped her pouch again, tossing it to the ground in defeat.

"Ringleader, go to your left. The train car, go."

Rick didn't move.

"You do what we say, the boy goes with you. Anything else, he dies and you end up in there anyway."

Rick obeyed the order and went to stand by the train car's door.

"Now the archer." Daryl glared at Gareth and went. "Next, the kunoichi.*" Sabrina rolled her eyes, going to the train car, standing behind Daryl. "Now the samurai." And Michonne stood behind Sabrina. "Stand at the door. Ringleader, archer, kunoichi, samurai, in that order." (*kunoichi means female ninja)

"My son." Rick said.

"Go, kid." Carl went to them as Gareth called out again. "Ringleader, open the door and go in."

"I'll go in with him."

"Don't make us kill him now."

Rick walked up the steps, opening the door and headed in. Then Daryl, Sabrina, Michonne and finally Carl entered the red train car. The door was closed as they stood on one side of the car together.

"Now what?" Sabrina hissed quietly then jumped when she heard a thud from the other side. "Great." She mumbled. "Why don't you come forward so we know who's in here with us." She stated with irritation.

"Rick?"

Sabrina blinked then gasped at what she saw.

"You're here. You're here." Rick said.

Sabrina's eyes were welling up in tears as they were reunited with the gang. Glenn, Maggie, Sasha, Bob. Then some others appeared, making Sabrina growl lowly at one.

"They're our friends. They helped save us." Maggie said.

"Yeah. Now they're friends of ours." Daryl said and Sabrina looked at him weird. Did he forget the dark short haired girl was with the governor?!

"For however long that'll be." The tall redheaded man said.

"No." Rick said simply. "They're going to feel pretty stupid when they find out." He said going over to the door to peek through the crack.

"Find out what?" The redhead asked.

Everyone looked at Rick curiously. "They're screwing with the wrong people."