FLASHBACK: VA - Fort Belvoir (Day 40-142)

[Ariel]

"Let's get back to business, I say."

Something lit up behind Ingrid's smile that hadn't been there in a long time. Hope...perhaps accompanied by  little friend called adrenaline, with the thrilling unknown that awaited for them at the hospital. But hope that they would find Nora again, and hope that they can break free from their personal cages that they had been living comfortably in. Ingrid was ready to jump the gun with her brother in law, find their weapons and kick operation save Nora into gear. Yet, before another muscle could be moved in that direction, Ingrid grew startled suddenly by banging on the front door.

"Hey, Negan!" "You home?"

"Dwight?" Looking at Negan, Ingrid's face wrinkled in puzzlement before bolting out of the room and down to the front door. Propping herself onto the toes of her sneakers, Ingrid aligned her eyeball up with the peep hole in the door for confirmation of whether the voice at the door was of a friend or foe. She only needed to take a momentary look to recognize that the slightly frantic, long haired man on their doorstep was indeed a friend.

"I think our backup has arrived," Ingrid smized confidently as she stepped away from the door, allowing Negan to be the one to greet the cavalry that had come to them in the nick of time.

[DarkSideCookie]

"Hey, Negan!" "You home?"

"Dwight?"

Negan answered Ingrid's questioning look with a slight grin. It seemed like they just got some assistance. Dwight might not be his favorite type of company in general, although Negan would probably start to miss him, or rather, to tease him once it would be only the trio again, but he was a good fighter. Not like the rest of pee-pee pants city, thinking they were safe behind these walls, yet standing no chance outside.

"I think our backup has arrived,", Ingrid said to Negan as soon as he had reached her at the door downstairs.

"Then let's give him a hello." With a slight grin, Negan opened the door. "Hey D, what's it?" One of the best things being him was being taller than practically everyone, which was a nice side effect while staring somebody down, not only in the figurative sense.

[Kristi Lynne]

DWIGHT

"Hey D, what's it?"

"Hey, Negan, Ingrid," Dwight greeted his neighbors tersely, as if he wanted to push past the pleasantries and just get to business. "Sorry to interrupt. Do you mind if I come in?" It was merely a polite question as he proceeded through the doorway and past Negan. "So, uh, Sherry's worried about Tina," he explained. "We took her to that hospital 'bout three days ago. Doc said she had the flu. We haven't heard anything since. They won't let Sherry see her. You guys had to take Nora there the other day, right? Have you talked to her?" he asked.

[Ariel]

"So, uh, Sherry's worried about Tina,"  "We took her to that hospital 'bout three days ago. Doc said she had the flu. We haven't heard anything since. They won't let Sherry see her. You guys had to take Nora there the other day, right? Have you talked to her?"

Shit. So one of Dwight's own family members got hit with the flu too. Their stories sounded practically identical, and Ingrid wondered just how many more families had loved ones kept in the hospital that they haven't heard a word about. Something wasn't right. Ingrid's heart sank as she looked to Negan with a silent spoken concern before turning her gaze over to Dwight.

"No, we haven't," Ingrid answered with slight anxiety attached. Yet, she held herself together with hope in their mission and only hoped that Dwight would agree to join their ranks, "I'm sorry to hear about Tina, Dwight. Something's going down at that hospital. Something they're not telling us. Isn't that right, Negan?" Ingrid turned her attention to Negan who had taken the backseat for a moment while Ingrid had spoken up.

[DarkSideCookie]

"So, uh, Sherry's worried about Tina,""We took her to that hospital 'bout three days ago. Doc said she had the flu. We haven't heard anything since. They won't let Sherry see her. You guys had to take Nora there the other day, right? Have you talked to her?"

The mocking grin on Negan's face vanished immediately. These were bad news. Negan and Ingrid already had been like ninety-eight percent sure that something was going on, but with their practically identical stories, there was not the slightest doubt anymore. Ingrid's eyes met with his for a moment before she turned her attention back to Dwight. Negan surely wasn't the right person to offer any kind of condolence, so he just kept silent for the time being. The tightening around his jawline, though, gave away that he was, however, concerned about both their situations.

"No, we haven't,""I'm sorry to hear about Tina, Dwight. Something's going down at that hospital. Something they're not telling us. Isn't that right, Negan?"

He looked up at them again, particularly at Dwight. "We're gonna pay them a visit. Are you with us?"

[Kristi Lynne]

DWIGHT (temp-play by Kristi Lynne)

"No, we haven't. I'm sorry to hear about Tina, Dwight. Something's going down at that hospital. Something they're not telling us. Isn't that right, Negan?"

"We're gonna pay them a visit. Are you with us?"

Dwight rubbed at the stubble on his chin as he considered. Sure, he thought something was wrong; maybe he was hoping his neighbors would talk him out of it, ease his fears somehow. But they were in agreement. "Security's tight at the hospital," he said, more from thinking out loud as he was sure Negan already knew this. "You're not gonna' get anywhere walkin' through the front door."

He exhaled a lungful of air, his hands on his hips as he weighed the options. If they did this, if they made a move against the hospital, more importantly against the officers, there would be no going back. This place would not be safe for them anymore. But it was turning out to be unsafe now. Was he really willing to sign an eviction notice for him and Sherry? 

"I, uh, I can get you into the motor pool," Dwight finally offered, seemingly having made his decision. "Armory's gonna' be tougher. Lotta' uniforms around. Maybe we can tell 'em we're goin' to scope out those strip malls outside of Springfield."

[Kristi Lynne]

Nora wasn't sure how long she'd been at the window, and she had no way of knowing if anyone was getting her signal. The people on the ground below just seemed to keep moving in the same direction, carrying on about their business. When she heard a rattling of the doorknob, she turned quickly and hid the glass shard behind her back.

Dr. Shaw entered the room, closing the door behind him. She noted that he had the decency to look sad about her current circumstances. “I’m sorry," he said softly. "I can’t imagine how you must feel.”

“How 'bout angry?" Nora shot back. "Betrayed? Homicidal?”

“Maybe I should come back later.”

“No, maybe you should tell me right now what the hell is going on,” she insisted.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

She gave him an empty laugh. "I've seen a lot of crazy shit, and that was long before the world ended. So why don't you help me understand?” Despite the anger and fear she felt right now, she believed that Shaw was a good man. That he would do the right thing if she could make him see that this was wrong.

He pinched at the bridge of his nose and then ran his hand through his hair, as if giving himself time to summon up the memories. “We were as surprised as anyone at the outbreak, and we weren't prepared. We had no idea how to deal with the ones who came back. And we lost so many doctors, nurses, people unfortunate enough to share the same room as someone who turned. There was no way to process all those deaths. A mass grave would have raised questions, and placing them outside the fort would have created more problems for us down the line." 

He stepped further into the room, finally joining her at the window. She kept the glass shard concealed as he pointed toward a part of the building that ran perpendicular to where they were, what looked like a loading dock. "You see those tractor trailers parked alongside the building? They’re full of the dead,” he informed her. "That was Lutrell's solution. Out of sight, out of mind."

She stared at him, her eyes wide with shock. “Their families don’t know that they passed?”

Shaw shook his head. “No. Though they’ll have guessed by now.”

“What about the patients here on this floor?”

“When Ecksley and his team arrived from the NIH, we figured they knew more about diseases than any of us. He convinced the Colonel that he could study them, learn from them. Maybe even find a way to cure it.”

"And how's that going?" Nora asked bitterly.

"It's not. Everybody comes back, Nora. No matter how you die, whether you get bitten or not, you come back. We can't stop it, we can't slow it --"

"But you can give them peace," she offered. "Being kept here as a lab rat, that is wrong. And I know you know that. Let me go, Shaw. Let me go back to Negan and Ingrid, we'll leave and we won't say anything."

"It's not that simple."

"It can be. Shaw..." She looked at him with pleading eyes. "if we were ever friends, if me always saving you the red Jell-o meant anything, just let me go back to my family. Please."

For a moment, it appeared he was considering her offer. But then the pager on his hip began beeping. He looked downward to read it, then hurried to the door. "I have to go. I -- I'm sorry. I'm just...I'm sorry." He gave her one last regretful look before disappearing out of the room. 

[Ariel]

"I, uh, I can get you into the motor pool," "Armory's gonna' be tougher. Lotta' uniforms around. Maybe we can tell 'em we're goin' to scope out those strip malls outside of Springfield."

Ingrid nodded along as Dwight spoke a plan into motion, starting with getting their weapons back. Ingrid was well aware that Negan loved making his entrances more than anything, but she knew Dwight was right and that with all the quarantine protocols in place that they couldn't just waltz through the front doors of the hospital without getting tackled or worse. "It's a good start, better than nothing," Ingrid agreed with Dwight as she felt she was about to spring into motion, "But Dwight, this place isn't the safe place we once knew. It's changing, and things are going to get sour real fast if we don't do something to save ourselves," Ingrid explained to Dwight as he appeared to have grown hesitant to answer whether he would be joining them or not, "You helped me out once. Let us return the favor and help you get Tina back." Ingrid propositioned. If they took a stand, then perhaps there would be others that would come out of their comfortable, safe holes and stand with them too. But first, someone had to lead in example. Someone to lead this revolution to a better life.

[DarkSideCookie]

"Security's tight at the hospital,""You're not gonna' get anywhere walkin' through the front door."

Negan figured this was just loud thinking, so he didn't comment on that. Instead, he silently watched their guest pondering over the options they had. That was, at least, what Negan thought to see on his face. He had been doing the same thing only moments ago, probably came to the same conclusion in the end. There would be no going back. For his part, though, staying here for the rest of how much more time they might still have, never really had been an option. He had avoided speaking that out loud, yet assumed that Ingrid and Nora were right with him there. Soon, they all would be finding themselves faced with the question of how to go on. They might remember the vision he had shared with them once, back at a time where it was only the three of them. Hell, he would get his place. His sanctuary.

"I, uh, I can get you into the motor pool,"

Dwight's sudden voice brought Negan back into the here and now. He seemed to have made his decision. Good. The more, the merrier.

"Armory's gonna' be tougher. Lotta' uniforms around. Maybe we can tell 'em we're goin' to scope out those strip malls outside of Springfield."

"It's a good start, better than nothing,"

Not his favorite option, but yes, better than nothing. Probably better than his first thought.

"But Dwight, this place isn't the safe place we once knew. It's changing, and things are going to get sour real fast if we don't do something to save ourselves,""You helped me out once. Let us return the favor and help you get Tina back."

"The problem with this place is that they made people think it ever was," Negan eventually chimed in with a comment to her former statement about it once been a safe place. "So these people let their guard down, no more ready for the real world outside. If I was in charge, I'd promise people safety based on solidarity, but not on walls or a handful of weapons barely anybody can wield. Every wall can fall, and every weapon can break. People are the true resource. Well, nevermind," he suddenly closed once he realized that he had gotten carried away. "Right now, we gotta save their asses, so let's not waste time with thoughts about what will be coming after that."

[Kristi Lynne]

DWIGHT (Temp-play by Kristi Lynne)

"But Dwight, this place isn't the safe place we once knew. It's changing, and things are going to get sour real fast if we don't do something to save ourselves. You helped me out once. Let us return the favor and help you get Tina back."

"The problem with this place is that they made people think it ever was. ...Well, nevermind. Right now, we gotta save their asses, so let's not waste time with thoughts about what will be coming after that."

Dwight nodded in agreement. Words were cheap, things were going downhill quickly, and they needed to take action. He was grateful for both Ingrid's empathy and Negan's willingness to take charge. "Me and Sherry been on the road before. It'll be good to have someone to watch our backs, though," he said, holding his hand out to Ingrid in an effort to seal their deal of mutual understanding. "I'll tell Sherry to pack up our stuff, and then I'll meet you out front. Thank you, both. We'll get our people back." Saying with more certainty than he actually felt, Dwight slapped Negan brusquely on the shoulder and then headed back out the door.

[Kristi Lynne]

Nora was ready to give up on the signaling plan. It was clear no one was coming to her rescue, and likely no one would even be coming to this room again. Except maybe Ecksley to make sure she had been a good girl and died quietly. She looked at every corner of the room -- once, twice, ten times -- and still couldn't formulate a plan of escape. But this was not her tomb. No way was she going to die here. Not after all she'd been through so far, and not without seeing the people she loved one more time.

Hearing the faint ding of the elevator made Nora hasten to alertness. She couldn't see much through the small window in the door, but she could make out a female silhouette as the elevator doors opened and closed. Possibly a duty nurse just making the rounds. Nora struggled with whether she should even make her presence known, since anyone working this floor was likely an ally of Ecksley and his fellow mad scientists. She glanced down at the glass shard still clutched in her hand and began to formulate a plan.

Nora began knocking on the door, keeping herself out of sight, hoping that the nurse would feel the need to investigate. She could hear the squeaking footfalls as they hurried down the hallway, closer to the door. Finally a key rustled in the lock, the handle turned, and the door was tentatively opened. Nora moved with quickness from her hiding place beside the door, clapping a hand over the woman's mouth and placing a sharp edge of the broken glass near her throat. 

"I'm not gonna' hurt you, okay? I just need your clothes, and your keys," Nora informed her, to which the stunned woman could only meekly nod.

*****

Nora checked her appearance in the bathroom mirror one last time. Now clad in the nurse's uniform but still pale and worn from the illness that had prompted her visit in the first place. It would be convincing enough; it had to be. She secured the badge and set of keys that she'd obtained from her hostage, tied back her long blond hair with the floral scrunchie she had also obtained, and took a deep breath. Muttering a quick thanks, she stepped over the nurse who was now tied up on the bathroom floor.

The door opened out onto a still quiet and dark hallway. Well, quiet if you couldn't hear the rasping, growling sounds of the dead on the other side of the locked doors. Nora could, only too well, but tried to block it out as she walked toward the elevator. She pushed the round "Down" button, watched it light up, then waited for the carriage's arrival. Once inside, she debated her next destination. Ground floor, slip through the crowd, walk out the front doors and don't stop until she got to her front door? No, she had unfinished business. So she hit the button for the first floor and the ICU.

The doors opened on what looked like controlled chaos. Voices and machine sounds and the swirling movement of people. Perfect cover. She picked up a chart from the nearest bed to add to her camouflage. Three bays down was where she finally saw Ecksley. She made a beeline for him, sidestepping other personnel as they rushed to and fro, until she found her path blocked by a man in a white coat.

"Nora, what are you doing here?" Dr. Shaw demanded.

It took her a moment to register that she'd been recognized and her progress averted. "I'm dealing with a situation," she told him and tried to take a step around him, her eyes still fully focused on her target.

"What situation?"

She shifted her attention to be fully on him. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Shaw followed her gaze, putting two and two together. "Nora, I know what you want to do, but it's not gonna' help anyone," he urged. "Look, I'll take you back home, and then you can leave --"

"Too late for that. Now get out of my way." Her expression must have made it clear that this was not up for negotiation, so he backed off and stepped aside. She regretted leaving things like that, having considered him a friend, but in the end he had made the decision to betray her trust. And he would have to live with that.

Nora kept walking until she was finally standing behind the tall, balding man. She cleared her throat and declared, "Dr. Ecksley, you're needed on the fifth floor." 

He turned to face her with a practiced smile that immediately faltered. But it was back again soon enough, in case anyone else was looking. "Ah, it's good to see you up and about, Miss --"

"Cut the bullshit. You come with me quietly," Nora instructed, "or I start announcing over the intercom exactly what you've been doing." 

"Well, how could I resist such a warm invitation?" 

She motioned for Ecksley to walk ahead of her as they both proceeded to the elevator, and she jabbed the "Up" button.

[Ariel]

"I'll tell Sherry to pack up our stuff, and then I'll meet you out front. Thank you, both. We'll get our people back."

Ingrid nodded wordlessly at Dwight as he made his swift exit, leaving Ingrid and Negan alone in the middle of the den. Their time in this place would soon feel like nothing more than a bizarre fever dream. Ingrid felt deep down for a while now that anything as good as this was bound to end. And she was okay with that, so long as she had her dysfunctional, protective loyal family to call home. Ingrid let out an audible chuckle before turning her head to look at Negan with a slight smirk on her face.

"Who would've thought that we would be a pair of rebels in the apocalypse, fighting for the greater good," Ingrid remarked lightly as she began to walk towards Negan. She stopped just as she came up beside his shoulder and brought his expression into view, "And if the greater good means a new world where you're in charge...I'll be the first to follow you." His small speech on solidarity really spoke to Ingrid. If she were to put her life into the hands of a capable leader, she would only want it to be Negan. He didn't just see people for what they were, he truly understood them on a special level that many leaders are too blinded by their selfish agendas to see.  Nodding her head in Negan's direction, Ingrid pressed onward past him and back upstairs where she would pack hers and Nora's things for the last time in their temporary home in Fort Belvoir.

[DarkSideCookie]

"Me and Sherry been on the road before. It'll be good to have someone to watch our backs, though,"

If this wasn't about saving a friend and the time against them, Negan might have come up with a comment such as It will be a pleasure to watch your wife's back, but, probably fortunately for everyone involved, it was about just that. They had no time for joking. It might bore mentioning, though, that he, for once, was seeing it that way, since, usually, Negan didn't mind so much an inappropriate joke at the worst timing. Maybe because this was not only about saving a friend but about saving Nora. Of course, he wouldn't admit that this was making a difference, not even to himself, but fact was, it did.

"I'll tell Sherry to pack up our stuff, and then I'll meet you out front. Thank you, both. We'll get our people back."

Maybe no remark, still, Negan couldn't help but send a silent grin of slight amusement after Dwight as he left. Surprisingly, it was Ingrid who met him with an audible chuckle first, yet certainly for other reasons. Negan gave her a look as if asking What's so funny?, still a smirk around his lips himself.

"Who would've thought that we would be a pair of rebels in the apocalypse, fighting for the greater good,"

Now it was Negan who had to chuckle as she walked closer towards him and eventually stopped beside his shoulder.

"And if the greater good means a new world where you're in charge...I'll be the first to follow you."

He still said nothing, yet the smile that was forming around his lips spoke volumes. Of the visions he had, same as of the gratitude he felt towards Ingrid right this moment. After all this time, she was still by his side, believing in him. That realization felt better than he would admit. Maybe this was a family thing? Staying with him, no matter how much of an asshole he could be? He smirked again.

Negan stood in place for some more moments, silently watching his sister-in-law heading upstairs before he would follow her lead and getting himself prepared for their last day in this home to come. He just hoped they wouldn't come too late to Nora's rescue, whatever it was that was going on in the hospital. Either way, if anyone there had caused just the slightest harm to her, Negan will let... them... pay.


***

[Kristi Lynne]

The elevator ride proceeded in silence for a few minutes. Nora thought Ecksley might try something since they were alone in tight quarters, and he obviously had the advantage of height, weight, and not being deathly ill for the past week. But she had years of practice subduing drunk rednecks and amped-up meth addicts. So when he tried to place an arm around her throat in a chokehold, she ducked his grasp and thrust the metal clipboard she was still holding upward into his throat. The wind was knocked out of him so as he staggered back, she delivered a second strike to the back of his knee that sent him crashing to the floor, hard.

As he sat on the floor wheezing and nearly crippled, she stood back up and smoothed her hair. “You should know that when I was a cadet, I was constantly being written up for using excessive force. Only on the people who deserved it, though." The elevator reached its destination, and the doors opened with their cheerful ding. Nora pulled Ecksley up by the arm and pushed him out ahead of her. "Wife and child beaters, rapists, animal abusers. The ones who took advantage of others that couldn’t fight back. Kinda’ like what you’re doing here.”

"You don't know what you're talking about," Ecksley hissed through clenched teeth as he continued to writhe on the floor in pain. 

"No, I do," Nora asserted. She walked over to the wall where a fire axe sat in its enclosed case. Using the hammer attached to it with a chain, she broke the glass, knocked the shards aside and removed it. A hint of nostalgia hit her as she remembered her and Negan fighting to get out of a hospital much like this one. How long ago had that even been? She took hold of the handle with both hands and tried a practice swing. Heavier than she would like, but the only weapon at her disposal right now.

"The research that we're doing --"

"--Is pointless! Isn't it? Shaw told me. This virus, or whatever this is, it's coming for all of us. Even with all your degrees and your fancy titles, you can't stop it." 

"Neither can you, Deputy Carico," he shot back. His voice was now cold and controlled, and it sent a shiver through Nora. "The Colonel showed our team the assessments of every new arrival. You came here unmarried and childless, which means you couldn't save your own family."

"Stop talking," she cautioned him.

"Same for that biker gang reject and Junior Miss Virginia that accompanied you. So eager for the safety of these walls. You all come here and you go to neighborhood barbecues and little Susie's piano recital, and you pretend that everyone here gets a happy ending. When the only thing that awaits us, is dying. Alone."   

His monologue done, Ecksley went limp with a resigned sigh. “If you want to kill me, just get it over with.”

Nora scoffed. “I’m not gonna’ kill you. No, Doc, I want you to be here to see the end of your little experiment. These are people." She gestured toward one of the hash mark-covered doors with the axe blade. "Well, they were. They're not lab rats. Their families deserve to mourn them.”

She unlocked the first door to her right and hesitantly approached the gruesome figure lying in the bed. Its only instinct seemed to be to grasp and claw and gnash its teeth at her. She mumbled a soft “I’m sorry” before thrusting the sharp axe blade into its head. It stopped moving almost instantly. One down, many more to go, she thought as she exhaled. She retracted the blade and tried to ignore the flesh, bone, and brain matter now attached to it.

Nora didn't feel like this initial step of her plan had taken very long but unfortunately, it had been long enough for the nurse who’d been tied up in Nora’s room to escape her restraints. They both froze as their eyes met, but the real nurse moved more quickly than the fake one. She pulled down the fire alarm on a nearby wall, sending the whole place into a chaos of blaring sirens and flashing lights.

Ecksley saw his opportunity and barreled into Nora, knocking her to the floor. The set of door keys fell with a jangle, and the axe left her grasp and went skidding across the tile. His large hands were quickly around her throat, squeezing tighter and tighter as she tried to pry them off.

[Kristi Lynne]

DWIGHT (Temp-play by Kristi Lynne)

True to his word, Dwight had gotten them into the motor pool where they had secured a black Chevy Suburban and (inexplicably) a rusty old white truck. Dwight shrugged and assumed Negan had his reasons. The soldiers at the Armory had also bought his excuse about making a run to augment their dwindling medical supplies. He stocked up on guns and ammo, walkie-talkies, lanterns, and batteries, while Ingrid and Negan went their separate ways. They returned armed with a bow and a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. He again shrugged and figured he didn't need to know the details.

They packed up the vehicles and headed toward the hospital, talking strategy as they drove. Dwight was alone in the Suburban, driving ahead of Negan and Ingrid in the truck. "There's a loading dock around the back of the hospital," he said into the walkie. "Probably be less people there. Could take a while for us to search the building, though. You got at least six floors full of patients and personnel."

As they approached the building, it became clear that something had already transpired to cause a change of plans. People were spilling out into the parking lot and the entrance road, looking panicked and confused. "Negan, you seein' this?" Dwight asked over the walkie.

[Ariel]

The moment Ingrid set out with Negan and Dwight into the Fort, everything seemed to have happened so fast. It always seems as if it's the days you anticipate and prepare for the most that seem to just throw you into a whirlwind and take you for a spin. With trustworthy titles and positions on their side, obtaining vehicles and their weapons was easy and they lucked out as the situation could have been more of a difficult task if things were different - and if the personnel knew what they were really up to. Sitting in the passenger seat, Ingrid looked over to Negan with his game face on as they drove to the hospital. Bouncing in their seats as they went over bumps and curbs, a tinge of nostalgia hit Ingrid as she never thought she'd be back in Nora's rusty, white truck again. 

"There's a loading dock around the back of the hospital," "Probably be less people there. Could take a while for us to search the building, though. You got at least six floors full of patients and personnel."

Nodding, Ingrid held a walkie talkie in one hand between her and Negan as they could discuss strategy with Dwight, who was driving in a separate vehicle heading towards the hospital. Her other hand hugged her reunited bow to her side so tightly, that she was afraid of ever letting it go again, "And we'll be ready for 'em." The more of their freedom and life they gained back, the more Ingrid started to feel as if missing fragments were beginning to resurface. She was beginning to feel like her old self again with her bow, old rusty, Negan - and now they just needed to find Nora to feel complete.

Adrenaline with a dash of excitement rose within Ingrid as the hospital building came into view. She felt the truck turning as Negan was getting ready to enter into the parking lot. However, as they got closer they noticed a stir of panic ensuing as people began running out of the hospital.

"Negan, you seein' this?"

Dwight's static coated voice came through the walkie, however Ingrid and Negan were completely stunned and couldn't stop staring as they tried to figure out what was going on. Wasn't this supposed to be the safest place in the Fort? She felt betrayed as she couldn't stop thinking about Nora and whether she was alive or something worse.

Bewilderment crossed Ingrid's features as she contemplated a million different scenarios that were unknowingly going on from inside the hospital before turning her gaze to Negan, "What do you think's happening in there?"

[DarkSideCookie]

"There's a loading dock around the back of the hospital," "Probably be less people there. Could take a while for us to search the building, though. You got at least six floors full of patients and personnel.", came Dwight's voice through the walkie talkie, as they neared the hospital in good old rusty. Negan hoped that Nora would appreciate his insistence on getting this boy out as well, even though they might have had a much fancier variety to choose from. But then again, Negan was a lover of retro. No fancy new tec could outdo the nostalgia feeling that came with the tried and trusted. If it weren't for Nora's nostalgia feelings, then it would be for his own. For the memories they shared.

"And we'll be ready for 'em."

Negan said nothing, pretending to concentrate on the road while, in fact, his mind went back to times when it had been only his old self, thirsty Lucille, old rusty, and the two people he would stake his life on. The hint of a little smile was breaking through his game face when the hospital building finally came into view. They would get Nora out of there and then leave this place for good to do things their own way again.

Negan was just turning the truck to enter in the parking lot when suddenly this upcoming hope and excitement would be choked in an instant. They all seemed to notice the turmoil simultaneously. Shit.

"Negan, you seein' this?"

And yet again, Negan didn't react to Dwight's question. Instead, Ingrid and he both were staring at all those people running out of the hospital building in terror. This wasn't good. Anything but good. And as composed as Negan usually was, he could swear to hear his own heart beating heavily in his chest. Nora.

"What do you think's happening in there?"

"We find out," Negan replied, his jawline tightening. Then, after all, he spoke to Dwight through the walkie talkie. "I know you've come up with all this tactic shit, so here's a little heads-up: You got five fucking seconds before I'll park the car, rush out and just battle through." Negan was very serious about this, his heart still beating as if they just had participated in a marathon race. He wasn't going to waste any more time on talking and lurking.

[Kristi Lynne]

DWIGHT

As they got closer to the building, Dwight could hear the distinct screeching of alarms above the panicked crowd. Apparently it was a fire drill, but not a drill. Though he couldn't see any smoke or flames. Was this an accident, or on purpose? And since the first responders were housed close to the hospital, it wasn't long before the sirens joined the already noisy air and he could see the flashing red and white lights approaching in the rearview mirror. His mind quickly grabbed onto an idea.

"I know you've come up with all this tactic shit, so here's a little heads-up: You got five fucking seconds before I'll park the car, rush out and just battle through."

"Eh, just hold your horses, boss," Dwight consoled through the walkie. "We're about to get a police escort.... Well, flashing lights and loud noises, same thing." By now, he figured Negan and Ingrid had also noticed the company coming up fast behind them. "We let the firetruck go ahead of us, part the waters, and then draft in behind 'em to get to the front of the pack. Just like the Intimidator down at Daytona." He hoped his partners in crime could sense the grin on his face over the radio.

So he slowed the Suburban and veered to the right, allowing the two firetrucks to pass. The crowd in their confusion still had the sense to clear a path for the emergency vehicles, which meant their two vehicles now had a clear path to the entrance of the hospital. Dwight hit the gas again and clung to the rear bumper of the fire engine until it came to a stop. In all the confusion, they'd never notice the three of them weren't wearing any firefighting gear. He threw the car into park and killed the engine, opening the door and getting out as quickly as he could. He checked his weapons, then ran back to join Negan and Ingrid. So far, so good.

[Kristi Lynne]

Spots were starting to appear before Nora's eyes and she knew if she lost consciousness, she might as well be dead. She didn't have the strength or frame of mind to try some fancy jujitsu move out of his grip, so it was going to have to be brute force. She was able to remove a pen from the pocket on his lab coat, somehow manage to hold it steady by the side of his head, and then thrust it into his ear with all her strength. 

Ecksley screamed in pain and retracted his hands from her neck, as blood stained his white coat. She wriggled free just enough to plant a heel forcefully in his stomach and then scramble away. Nora coughed and gasped for air as she crawled toward where the axe had landed, her already labored breathing not getting any easier. Once she'd finally reached it, she held onto it for dear life as she sat up and leaned back against the wall.

She was aware just enough to see that the nurse was now heading for the stairwell. "Where are you going?" Nora called after her.

"A fire alarm overrides the door locks," she said. "You don't want to be here when that happens."

"What?!" Nora cried, but the woman was already gone. Great, from one man trying to kill her to dozens. The commotion in the hallway must have awoken the undead patients, because the clamoring against the doors steadily grew. She tried the elevator at first, but the fire alarm must have shut it down, too. The buttons wouldn't even light up. If this were only about her safety, she would be rushing down the stairs. But now she had a wounded man to look after. One who needed to face justice. 

With nearly the same gentleness as she'd brought Ecksley up here, she pulled him up off the floor and retrieved the keys that lay nearby. The only room that was safe for certain was the one in which she'd already killed its resident, so Nora pushed him inside. She followed and closed the door behind her, locked it, and used her remaining strength to push a cabinet in front of the door. 

She stepped back and exhaled, her grip tightening on the axe as she stood taking in the gravity of her situation. "Well, Doc, you hear that?" Nora prompted. "That is the sound of being well and truly f--" 

[Ariel]

"We let the firetruck go ahead of us, part the waters, and then draft in behind 'em to get to the front of the pack. Just like the Intimidator down at Daytona."

As Dwight's cooperative input sounded fairly reasonable, Ingrid's attention shifted from the walkie that she held up in her hand to Negan. Giving a nod of silent agreement with what Dwight was suggesting, Ingrid hastily pushed the talk button as she raised the walkie to the side of her chin, "Roger that." Ingrid allowed the walkie to fall into her dark wash denim lap as the glaring red, blue and white lights of the emergency vehicles passing them by bounced around the interior of the truck momentarily.

Pointing her gaze out the window of the truck as Negan drove them closer, her eyes glazed with worry peered through the strands of her parted bags that hung over scraggily her eyes at the confused and frightened civilians that flooded the parking lot. No sign or signal of Nora whatsoever. They had to get in there, they had to find her.

Wait...was it?

Ingrid's heart skipped a beat as she spotted blonde ponytail bobbing through the crowd just as Negan brought the truck to a screeching halt. Ingrid couldn't make out the face - but she was done taking chances. Her hands were clammy of sweat from the nerves that made her entire body shake from top to bottom, yet her hands didn't miss a beat as she grabbed her bow and swung it onto her back. Looking back up through the window of the stopped truck she expected the blonde ponytail to be sitting in the same place that it had been in literally five seconds ago. It was gone.

"No!" Ingrid gasped breathlessly as she irrationally threw her body out of the truck as if this was that do or die moment. Her eyes widened in horror as she peered around at everyone in the crowd. She moved her gaze around the heads of the men and women surrounding them with questionable expressions on their faces. Nothing else mattered, only finding Nora. A feeling of guilt rose within her, she waited too long and now she had lost her. Then suddenly, as she was turning around to retreat back to join Negan, she caught the glimmer of golden strands of a ponytail from the corner of her eye of a woman standing near her. "Nora?!" Ingrid reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder - yet when the blonde turned herself around to face Ingrid, her chest sank. "Have you seen my husband?! I think he's still in there!" This stranger was not Nora, to Ingrid's disappointment. Ingrid moved her head to look at where this woman had her arm stretched out past Ingrid to point at the entrance to the hospital. There was still people left inside...Nora could still be in there.

"We'll get them out," Ingrid nodded confidently at the woman, giving her a shred of reassurance, "All of them." 

Ingrid jogged away from the woman and joined up with Negan again who was now with Dwight. "Sorry, I'm sorry. I thought I saw...nevermind," She felt bad for thinking on her impulses suddenly, she just wanted Nora back. Yet, she had to get a handle on herself because this was it. They were plunging into the hospital head first, and they would swim back up to the surface with Nora all in one piece, "No more running off, I promise. We're in this together." Ingrid assured the group as she unloaded her bow from her backside.

[DarkSideCookie]

"Eh, just hold your horses, boss,""We're about to get a police escort.... Well, flashing lights and loud noises, same thing."

It was only then that Negan noticed the nearing trucks following right behind. Goddammit. What the hell was going on in there? And yet, he knew Nora good enough to guess that if she was involved in what led to this chaos, she'd be on the side with the lighter in her hand instead of the one that was set on fire. Or so he hoped at least. No, she was badass. After all, she'd been a cop. You surely need some big nuts for that job, and Nora had herself a pair of beach-ball-sized lady nuts.

"We let the firetruck go ahead of us, part the waters, and then draft in behind 'em to get to the front of the pack. Just like the Intimidator down at Daytona."

"Roger that."

"Fine. We'll be doing it your way then," Negan let out with a quiet huff before Ingrid took her finger off the talk button. Dwight's way of thinking was clever and smart, beyond all question, but what he didn't like was that his own wasn't, at least not right now. He was way too much involved with feelings. That was not good. Anyways, Negan could appreciate an analytic mind when he came across one, and Dwight had proved to be of that sort not only once.

Without any more words, Negan joined in Dwight's plan to provide themselves with a clear path to the hospital entrance by getting into line with the fire trucks. He just hoped nobody would recognize them, especially since they weren't wearing any firefighting gear. While Ingrid looked out of the car's window, Negan threw a look over at the firefighters leaving the first truck that had reached the entrance, thinking about gear again.

"No!" Ingrid suddenly shouted out as she grabbed her bow from the backseat, obviously ready to just rush out.

"Hey!" Getting equipped himself, Negan followed her out of the car, yet then just watched as she was doing a solo run through the crowd. Wordlessly, he threw a look over at Dwight, who had left his car as well. He saw Ingrid talking to a blonde woman, yet it didn't take Negan long to know that it wasn't Nora, and only a moment later for Ingrid to do as well.

"Sorry, I'm sorry. I thought I saw...nevermind," Ingrid apologized once she had rejoined the team. And yet again, Negan met eyes with Dwight in silence while, at the same time, with a small team of passing firefighters. "No more running off, I promise. We're in this together."

He turned his attention back to Ingrid. "But you do know that we're no fucking heroes, right? Better not give promises that you might not be able to keep." Negan hadn't been able to hear what she said to that woman, but he could guess that Ingrid had been giving her words of reassurance to ease her panic. "After all, we're here to save our people." Negan had already left the train of seeing themselves to be part of the townspeople. Maybe he never really had. "So, let's get Nora and Tina out of there and then leave this place for good."

Before Ingrid or Dwight could have said anything to that, Negan suddenly turned his attention completely away from both of them and instead gave the last man of the passing firefighter group a nutshot, completely out of nowhere. Granted, a hit in the nuts was not the nicest way to knock a man out, but the most unremarkable when finding yourself in the middle of a crowd of panicked people. The man squirmed with almost inaudible pain - respect! - when Negan turned his head back around to his companions for a little moment, giving them a toneless smirk with the tip of his tongue playing around his teeth, in amusement about their faces of surprise. Then he turned back to the man who just seemed to recover from the hit. "Sorry, this is nothing personal," Negan said as he let his elbow dash down against the back of the man's head to finally send him into unconsciousness. The crowd around was too busy being panicked anyway, so Negan just went on with his actions, releasing the man from his firefighter uniform, throwing it on himself.

[Kristi Lynne]

DWIGHT

"But you do know that we're no fucking heroes, right? Better not give promises that you might not be able to keep. After all, we're here to save our people. So, let's get Nora and Tina out of there and then leave this place for good."

Dwight could sympathize with Ingrid; the girl just wanted to help everyone, even as she was making plans to ditch them. But he could understand Negan's narrow focus, too. Dwight needed to get Tina, get back to Sherry, and put this place in the rearview as quickly as possible. When he saw Negan take out one of the firefighters, he swore he could feel the man's pain as well. Then Negan had swiftly relieved the man of his uniform coat and started toward the hospital doors.

Just like with the firetrucks, the crowd seemed to part ahead of Negan as they assumed he was with the first responders. Yet they were still moving upstream and now that they were inside, the alarm was deafening. "How do we find what room Tina's in?" Dwight asked Ingrid, struggling to be heard above the fray. Before she could attempt an answer, he heard someone calling Ingrid's name from down the hallway. He looked toward the source. "Idn't that Dr. Shaw?"

"Ingrid!" Dr. Shaw yelled, fighting through fleeing people to get closer to them. "Ingrid, it's Nora. She's in trouble--"

[Ariel]

"But you do know that we're no fucking heroes, right? Better not give promises that you might not be able to keep. After all, we're here to save our people. So, let's get Nora and Tina out of there and then leave this place for good."

Ingrid stopped dead in her tracks as her heart sank from her chest, all the way down into her stomach. Reality had struck her almost as hard as she had struck Negan out of anger and hurt the first time she had seen him enter into her life. As much of an asshole he had been and might come off to others, to Ingrid she knew that he was keeping it real. And trying to keep her grounded so that she wouldn't die trying to do the impossible. He was right, they weren't here to save everyone. Only the ones they loved. She had been so blinded by her savior complex, that for a moment she had forgotten that most of the people in this Fort might not even do the same for her. That this new world was a tough one to swallow. That people would die today. But that wouldn't be her fault, or Dwight's or even Negan's. It simply was just the way things were now. Their main focus was grabbing Tina and Nora, and then getting the hell out of this crumbling place before it smothered the life out of them.

Negan didn't allow Ingrid to stew in this drab of a pity party before surprising both her and Dwight by turning around and nailing a passing firefighter right between the legs with a swift kick of his boot. Her jaw unhinged slightly as she drew in a barely audible gasp, though did anything that Negan did truly shock her at this point? Ingrid watched as Negan quickly threw on the man's uniform, wondering if this truly had been necessary. Maybe not, though Negan appeared to have fun with the moment and Ingrid kept her lips sealed as they began to head through the hospital doors.

"How do we find what room Tina's in?"

"A daysheet from one of the nursing stations, maybe? Let me think...," Looking up at the alarm on the wall, Ingrid groaned slightly as she rolled her eyes. She might have a better time getting her head in the game if the alarm hadn't been ringing for all of eternity as they jaunted through the hallways. Ingrid tried to catch a good glimpse of their surroundings as they hastily looked around doorframes of patient rooms and the occupants of the hallway that appeared to part like the red sea as they saw Negan in his firefighter uniform. Yet, things seemed a little bit hazy as the ceiling lights above her flickered slightly, casting momentary shadows over the frightened faces of the people that were panicking up and down the hallway around them. Peering down the hallway, Ingrid swore she had seen a glimpse the exact same room that Lucille had stayed in. This all felt too familiar, as if Ingrid had been transported back in time to the day her sister died. The day that all hell broke loose on earth. "This isn't real," Ingrid's voice quivered as she whispered to herself, trying to bring herself back to reality.

"Idn't that Dr. Shaw?"


Dwight's comment brought Ingrid back to the present. She pulled everything she had back into her center as her mind became clear. The old hospital dissolved into the walls of the new hospital she had been in this whole time, and Nora's doctor was quickly approaching as sheer panic glazed over his eyes. Ingrid took a few steps toward him before he fully arrived in front of them.


"Ingrid!" "Ingrid, it's Nora. She's in trouble--"

"Where is she?! What's going on in this place?!" Ingrid let out a rapid fire of questions, and she had a million more for the doctor. However their main objective was to get Nora and Tina safely out of this chaos, and she was going to be smart this time to not go at saving people alone, "Negan! It's Dr. Shaw...Nora...," Was all she could call out to Negan to grab his attention as her wildest nightmares took a hold of her and shook her to her core, wondering what on earth could possibly have happened to Nora.

[DarkSideCookie]

Negan would be lying if he said that he wasn't experiencing a feeling kind of a frenzy as they fought their way against the tide, like a rush of pure adrenaline through his veins after a long while of not have gotten a shot. While they were headed straight towards end zone, close to scoring a touchdown, some people, however, were - thanks to his fancy new uniform - clearing the way for them. Never let it be said that his ideas were only made of a reason to show off. Maybe to around sixty percent, but the rest... that came deep from his guts.

Every now and then, Negan caught a glimpse of the many faces that were showing panic and a deep fear for losing what they thought to be a life, locking themselves up behind the walls they built. There once had been a time that he'd been able to stay in just like them. Spending days and weeks with only Lucille around as they were snuggled up together in one blanket, listening to their favorite song and the soothing crackling from the fireside, while both reading in their own material. Hers would be a great tome with adventurous stories, or probably her how-many-times-soever read of The Neverending Story, while his would be a magazine about motorbikes and stuff. As much as Negan was missing those times, he knew that, no matter how much they tried, it would be nothing like that nowadays. Fact was, pretending the world around to be still intact was a misconception, same as it was that those taken in by that were practically doomed to die. Would that be a big loss, though? Negan didn't guess so. He had decided to go on, back at the day he had given up a house for a life - for three lives to be exact. And yet, not a single day had passed on which he regretted to have set fire to his past. That had burnt down long before already.

As soon as Negan, Dwight, and Ingrid made it through the entrance door, the number of people running towards them was at least lessening. Each sinking ship ran out of its leaving rats at some point. Now it was time to head for the leak that caused this ship to go down. Unfortunately, that usually meant to enter the deep water.

While Dwight and Ingrid fell a little behind, not having the advantage of being spared from getting run over, Negan tried to remember if this doctor had been telling them where they took in Nora, at least the floor number. Nothing. All he saw right now was red, especially with this ongoing alarm in the background like hammer blows right into his head. Not helpful. Suddenly the flickering of lights above was tearing him out even the try to concentrate his mind. Just great, not only would a power blackout make this even harder, but it also sent the rats around them into sheer panic. Negan was just going to divert his gaze from everyone around when, suddenly, one face amidst the crowd had him freeze right where he stood. "Lucille...," he whispered with his features softening on the instant. No, she can't be here. He watched again, realizing that it hadn't been real. Well, it couldn't. Fuck. If there was one thing they really couldn't use right now, then it was them going nuts.

"Negan!

His heart seriously made a jump when a female voice, one that in this very moment sounded a lot like Lucille's indeed, even if only in his stressed head, called out for him. Negan turned in the direction the call had come from, finding Ingrid looking up at him with panic on her face. And when he saw, next to her, a familiar-looking man, wearing medical scrubs, he needed no more words to know what this was about.

"It's Dr. Shaw...Nora...,"

"Where is she?" Negan stressed, directly speaking to Dr. Shaw, as he fought himself a path towards them, now a lot more imperatively than before. His lips wouldn't form a question about her wellbeing, for, being alive, was a basic premise to him, a state beyond exception. He simply wouldn't accept anything different.

[Kristi Lynne]

Dr. Shaw

(tempplay by Kristi)

"Where is she?"

It took a moment for Shaw to realize the man in the firefighter's coat was not actually a firefighter. But then his eyes widened at the intensity with which Negan was approaching him through the crowd. He felt a bit like a wounded gazelle in the crosshairs of a lion. He decided it would be easier, and probably safer for him, to try to appeal to Ingrid first. "Look, she's okay," Shaw insisted. "At least, she was five minutes ago. Follow me."

The doctor led them to the nearest stairwell, and held the door open for Dwight, Ingrid, and Negan to pass through. Once he'd closed it, they were in the relative quiet of the ground floor landing, dimly lit by emergency lights. "The last time I saw Nora, she was headed for the fifth floor. But it's not safe to go up there unarmed," Shaw explained, as he took the time to look around at them. "And now I see that all of you are armed. Why...why are you armed?"

"Why do we need to be?" Dwight demanded. "What's up there?"

Shaw shifted uncomfortably, knowing that the news would get out but highly reluctant to be the one to deliver it. "The fifth floor is where we keep the Resurrected," he replied. "The Colonel wanted Ecksley and his people from the NIH to study the ones who come back, to learn about the progression of the virus, its incubation period, its transmissibility. Nora found out what they were doing, and she --" 

[Ariel]

"The fifth floor is where we keep the Resurrected,"  "The Colonel wanted Ecksley and his people from the NIH to study the ones who come back, to learn about the progression of the virus, its incubation period, its transmissibility. Nora found out what they were doing, and she --"

"-- Is up there - unarmed and alone?!" Ingrid completely burst and freaked out on the doctor, backing him into the wall, "And YOU let her go up there?!" She was shaking, her blood was boiling in her face as it turned red from the stress that Dr. Shaw had just caused. Her hands balled into fists by her hips, yet she refrained from using them as a weapon. They didn't pile into the stairwell to get into a fight. Time was running out, and they needed to find Nora. Reaching behind her, Ingrid loaded the arrow into her bow string. She gave a weary glance up at the dimly lit stairway that traveled up into the building then back over her shoulder at Dr. Shaw, "Nora better be up there - and alive. And if she isn't...," Every word Ingrid uttered was another second farther away from saving her family. She left Dr. Shaw with a glare of resenting disgust before looking to Negan and Dwight, "Let's go." At this point Ingrid was beginning to grow numb. She had no idea if Nora would be alive or the living dead once they came face to face. All she wanted was nothing more than to be optimistic, but at this rate they had experienced so much loss that it was difficult to be hopeful. But they had to keep going. Until the very end.

We're coming Nora...

[DarkSideCookie]

"The fifth floor is where we keep the Resurrected,"

That line alone would have been enough already to bring back on that expression of wrath to his face, assurance of Nora being okay or not. This place was not only an illusion but also a fucking freak show, as it seemed. However, what caused really pissing him off was the doctor's next.

"The Colonel wanted Ecksley and his people from the NIH to study the ones who come back, to learn about the progression of the virus, its incubation period, its transmissibility. Nora found out what they were doing, and she --"

For a moment, Negan would have liked nothing better than going straight for this man's throat, but Ingrid was even faster as for that, maybe only because she was closer, though. Probably for the best since his first impulse had been to bash the doctor's head against that wall instead of just backing him into it.

"-- Is up there - unarmed and alone?!""And YOU let her go up there?!""Nora better be up there - and alive. And if she isn't...,"

Still, Negan wasn't sparing with glares of hatred and a promise in his eyes that this would have consequences.

"Let's go."

While Ingrid, at some point, diverted her gaze from Dr. Shaw, Negan's remained there, silently staring him down. But she was right. It was more important to save Nora first. With a strong emphasis on the word first.

"The asshole comes with us," Negan suddenly spoke up, after all, getting a firm grip on the doctor to give him to understand that this hadn't been a request. He didn't trust this man and surely wouldn't risk getting decoyed into a trap to make them their lab rats as well while he was getting away with that. Also, if they would be finding obstacles in their way up there, like maybe restricted areas only the hospital staff had access to, they better had one of them with them. Sure, his ID would have been sufficient, but no way would he spare this fucker from his punishment in case Nora didn't make it out alive.

"Start movin'!" He gave the man a heavy push forward before, after all, releasing him from his grip at least.

[Kristi Lynne]

Dr. Shaw
(tempplay by Kristi)

"-- Is up there - unarmed and alone?! And YOU let her go up there?! ... Nora better be up there - and alive. And if she isn't... Let's go."

"The asshole comes with us. Start movin'!"

"Fair enough -- ow," Shaw protested, finding himself in Negan's vice-like grip before being shoved up the stairs. Though Ingrid's accusations hurt almost as much. He knew this situation was of his own making. He had wanted so badly to believe the science could save them. But everyday that flame of hope became a little more dim. And now it might have cost the life of a woman he considered a friend. Someone who had more courage than him to do the right thing. If ... No, when they found Nora, he would do whatever it took to earn back her trust. He spent the rest of the climb in tense silence, knowing better than to risk a glance at the man behind him.

"Feelin' a little deja vu," Dwight remarked to Ingrid. "You and me in a stairwell, runnin' from the dead." Though it had been a short time since that frantic evacuation from an earlier hospital, they had both changed greatly. Hardened, colder, but more equipped to meet the dangers ahead. "I like our chances a lot better now," he said, with a sincere smile that he hoped conveyed how impressed he was with her. He may have thrown in his lot with her and Negan on a whim, but he was convinced he'd made the right choice.  

[Ariel]

Hard pressed on all sides, Ingrid was like a stone wall. Unmoved and still standing sturdy as the arrow in her bow pointed up the stairwell and guarded them as it guided them slowly up the staircase. It would take a wrecking ball to tear Ingrid down at this point, and she was dying inside not knowing what would await for them on the fifth floor. She wavered slightly at this thought, but did not begin to crumble just yet. She had to stay strong for once. For Nora. For Lucille. The shuffling of their feet echoed deep into the stairwell as they climbed higher and higher. With Negan handling Dr. Shaw, no glances were spared over Ingrid's shoulder as she kept her sight fixated on only moving and no more distractions. 

"Feelin' a little deja vu," "You and me in a stairwell, runnin' from the dead." 

Ingrid felt that Dwight was close behind as his words sliced through the air dense with terror. The deja vu had felt all too real ever since they had stepped foot into the hospital. The burning stench of chemicals, beeping of the machines. The fright in people's eyes, not knowing if they were going to live or die. The drip drop of the mildew in the stairwell. It was all hitting close to home. Yet, this time surely was different. They were still the same people they were before, just a little smarter in the streets and harder in the hearts. But they were survivors, and that had to count for something.

"I like our chances a lot better now,"

"Me too." As they passed between the fourth and fifth floor, Ingrid spared a half hearted grin over her shoulder at Dwight. If it wasn't for him, she wouldn't be here today. She was incredibly grateful for this man who, thanks to the stars aligning, had now become like family to her and she would forever owe him her life. Ingrid came to a halt as her feet landed in front of the fifth floor door. This was it. Her heart beat wildly against her chest as her arrow was armed in the bow and ready for action. "So, who's gonna be the lucky one to find out what's behind door number three?" Eyes glued to the door, Ingrid kept her weapon up as she took a few steps backward to allow one of the men behind her to come forward, "My hopes for the shiny new car are riding pretty damn low." Ingrid chuckled grimly through her nerves as she attempted to lighten the situation, which didn't help much.

[Kristi Lynne]

From the window, Nora had seen the approaching firetrucks. All those men and women would run toward the danger, having no idea what awaited them on this floor. And she had no way to warn them. It was now a waiting game of who would get to them first.

The dead still clawed and clamored at the door. She sighed and fell back against the wall, eventually sliding to the floor and looking across at the man who was now playing the waiting game with her. She had patched up Ecksley's bleeding ear with linens stored in the cabinet. it didn't really change the fact that each of them wanted the other dead.

"You were right, you know," Nora said, finally breaking the tense silence.

"About what?"

"That I came here alone because I'd lost my family," she explained. "Mom died a long time ago. No husband, no kids. And my dad ... he was gone before I could get to him. I couldn't save him and honestly, I was ready to die that day. But Negan, he saved me. That 'Grease reject' wouldn't let me give up. He still won't -- stubborn ass," she declared with a wry smile.

"He and Ingrid are the only family I have left. They're the reason that I get up in the morning. That I clean tables and arrange chairs and hand out bowls of soup on cafeteria trays. I thought I had brought them somewhere normal and safe. But it was all a lie."

"Oh, please. You got exactly what you wanted from this place," he countered. "To play house and pretend the monsters aren't out there."

"Well, not anymore, because you geniuses brought them in here."

Ecksley gave a mirthless laugh. "You want me to apologize? Say I'm sorry?" he scoffed. "I'm trying to save society. We're fighting a war here. If you and your little friends are the small sacrifices made for the greater good, well, I guess that's just the price of preserving humanity."

Nora shook her head and looked away, staring at the door as it banged against the cabinet and edged open a little further each time.   

"What?" he asked sharply.

"Just wondering if I could push you out that door and manage to slip out while they're busy eating you," Nora replied. "Small sacrifice, but I guess that's just the price of preserving humanity."