Calista had just formed a rough plan and was about to say something when Daryl's voice suddenly came from the stairs above.
"Wait."
He came running down almost at full speed, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
"Something's happening!"
"What?" Calista turned toward him immediately.
Daryl took a deep breath. "I saw headlights from a second-floor window. They're coming down the main street toward us!"
"How close?" Jonathan asked quickly.
"About... seven or eight blocks away. But the roads around here are bad, so they can't move very fast." Daryl's gaze swept over the prisoners on the ground, his brow furrowing. "That's one hell of a coincidence."
Zhou looked surprised. "I deliberately circled around several times. There's no way I brought anyone back with me!"
Hearing that, Lamson grinned through his split lip, courtesy of Merle, and let out a crazed laugh.
"They're coming for us... They're here... You can't get away..."
"Shut the hell up. Nobody asked you!"
Merle kicked him in the chest and knocked him flat onto the floor.
Calista's eyes turned cold, but there wasn't a trace of panic in her voice.
"Jonathan, take two people upstairs. Use binoculars to confirm their numbers and equipment. Stay concealed.
"Carver, Merle, tie these two up tight, gag them, and stuff them into the trunk of that wrecked car.
"Daryl, Zhou, secure the routes to the front and rear entrances on the first floor. Set tripwire alarms and don't expose yourselves.
"Everyone else, check your weapons. Follow Contingency Plan Two and get ready to receive our 'guests.'"
Everyone moved immediately.
Jonathan led two men up the stairs.
Carver and Merle roughly hauled the two struggling prisoners up and stuffed them into the trunk of a wrecked car before slamming it shut with a clang.
Merle took cover beside the vehicle while Carver slipped behind a support column, his rifle aimed steadily at the ramp leading into the parking garage.
Daryl and Zhou turned and ran toward their respective positions.
The others quickly disappeared into concealed spots throughout the garage, leaving only the faint clicks of weapons being chambered in the shadows.
Calista crouched behind an SUV, one hand resting slowly on the grip of the pistol at her waist.
She listened.
The engine noise from the distant street grew louder and louder.
Finally, the vehicle stopped outside the building.
A familiar voice called out from the first-floor lobby.
"...Anyone in there? It's Maggie! I brought... allies with me! Don't shoot!"
Maggie.
But who were these "allies"?
The tension in Calista's chest eased slightly, though she didn't fully lower her guard.
Then the radio at her waist crackled to life.
Jonathan had spotted them from above.
"Four people total. Maggie's in front. Two men and one woman behind her. Two of them are armed. Only one vehicle. Maggie doesn't look like she's being forced."
Calista gave a slight nod.
"Lower the alert level, but keep them covered. I'll make contact."
She glanced at Carver.
He immediately understood.
Click.
He chambered a round and followed Calista out from behind cover as they headed up the stairs together.
Four people were standing in the first-floor lobby.
Maggie was at the front.
The moment she saw Calista, her eyes turned red.
She hurried forward and threw her arms around her, tears spilling freely.
"Calista... Glenn, Glenn was taken..."
The three behind her had their guns ready and were watching Carver warily.
But Maggie suddenly bursting into tears left both sides of the standoff momentarily at a loss.
Now that the person she trusted most had arrived, all the fear and anxiety Maggie had bottled up over the past few days came pouring out at once.
Only after Calista comforted her and helped her settle down did Maggie seem to remember the three people behind her.
She turned back toward them.
Calista followed her gaze.
Then her pupils narrowed slightly, and her heart skipped a beat.
A huge red-haired man with a thick beard.
A curvy Latina woman wearing a hat.
And behind them, a slightly overweight man whose face was full of unease and guilt.
If she wasn't mistaken...
"Calista! They're Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene. They're survivors I ran into in Atlanta. There was a misunderstanding at first. They thought I was a scout from the hospital."
So it really was them.
She had actually run into three important members of Rick's group from the middle part of the original storyline, here of all places and under these circumstances.
Since arriving in this world, Calista had changed far too much.
She had assumed some of the people from the original storyline might never cross paths the same way again.
But somehow, the post-apocalypse always seemed to find a way to push the people who were supposed to meet into each other's paths.
Either way, knowing who they were was far better than dealing with a completely unknown survivor group.
Maggie stepped aside and gestured toward Abraham and the others.
"They're not part of the Police Gang, and they're not raiders. They were originally heading to Washington."
"Originally?" Carver immediately picked up on the word, studying Abraham closely.
Abraham let out a heavy sigh and stepped forward to face Calista directly.
"Originally, yes."
He glanced at Maggie.
"This lady told us your base, Rock Fortress, has complete research facilities, specialists and equipment evacuated from the old CDC, and that you've been studying the walker virus this whole time.
"She convinced me.
"If you really have people there who might be able to figure out this mess, maybe even find a way to solve it, then that's a hundred times better than blindly heading to Washington and hoping we get lucky.
"So we changed course."
Calista understood immediately.
Rock Fortress did have laboratory equipment and research data, along with a team of specialists that could easily rank among the best of the surviving factions.
They were still a long way from developing a cure for the Wildfire virus, but the research effort was certainly a useful way to attract valuable people.
Especially someone like Abraham, who still carried a powerful sense of mission about somehow "ending the disaster."
She also noticed something else.
The moment Abraham said they had changed course, Eugene, standing behind him, visibly shuddered.
His face went pale in an instant.
His lips trembled as though he wanted to say something but was too frightened to get the words out.
Right.
Calista remembered now.
At this point, Eugene should still be maintaining Abraham and Rosita's protection by lying that he was a scientist who knew there was a cure in Washington.
Maggie's claim that Rock Fortress was conducting genuine research had struck directly at the foundation of that lie.
Of course Eugene was panicking.
If he followed them to Rock Fortress, there was a very real chance he would be exposed immediately.
"So you want to join Rock Fortress?" Calista asked evenly.
Her tone gave no indication whether she welcomed the idea or rejected it.
She wanted to see how committed they were.
And she wanted to see how Eugene would react.
"We want to contribute what we can in exchange for a chance to find out the truth," Abraham answered firmly. "Rosita and I can fight. As for him..."
He glanced back at Eugene, whose face had grown even paler.
"Eugene's a scientist. He said before that he knew there was a cure in Washington. But now, if there's a more promising direction for the research, then he... well, he should be able to make himself useful too."
Abraham's last sentence came out somewhat uncertain, as if even he wasn't completely convinced.
...
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