fourty three.

We all stood up, recovering from the smoke inhalation we just endured. Everyone's ears seemed to perk up when the growler from biters began to crescendo from around the train car. I stumbled over to the peephole, limping past Sasha and Michonne.

"They're everywhere," I said, flabbergasted. A decent amount of biters roamed the grounds around us, oblivious to the fact there were several people trapped inside this humid, sticky car. "How the hell did they get over the fence? Those bastards can't climb."

"Someone must've let them in. Maybe someone's taunting us," Tara worried. A huge sudden explosion rocked the car. I held myself up against the wall to balance myself, afraid I'd fall over and be unable to get up. Everyone exchanged anxious looks with each other, their eyes widening while they quickly grabbed their weapons just in case someone came for us or the biters tried to surround the door. I gripped the switchblade that Tara gave me tightly, white-knuckling the handle a bit. Various screams erupted in the distance as some of the biter growls were stifled briefly. I could only assume they'd found some victims. 

"What the hell is going on out there," the red-haired guy growled, banging his fist on the door with defeat in being trapped in the unknown. Danger could just be right around the corner and we were left in anxious waiting. 

"Maybe our people got free," Sasha thought aloud hopefully, cradling her weapon. A guy with a tangled, greasy mullet ran up to the sliding door and dropped on his knees. He tried to shove something into the small crack beneath it.

"I might be able to use this shell to compromise the door," he mumbled in a frantic tone. "From the sound of things, there may not be anyone left to open it but us."

"Eugene, shut up," a girl wearing a khaki military hat and loose pigtails hissed at him. She shifted back and forth in her spot, her aura radiating tenseness yet a slight vulnerability. 

"Hey," Carl yelled out confidently, catching everyone's attetion. "My dad will come back. They all will. They've got outta this type of stuff before."

"Carl's right," Maggie agreed with him, stepping in front of him to put herself in the forefront. "And we need to get ready to fight our way out with them when they do. The more people to stand behind them armed, the better." She made her way over to the corner where the piece of wood Rick was sawing at was located. She pulled something out of her pocket and started to saw away. Everyone took that as their cue to go back to preparing themselves and their weapons for battle, nervous glances being thrown in the direction at the door from time to time.

 Michonne made her way over to the peephole. She gazed out of it to gauge the situation that seemed to quiet in a way as time passed. She leaned in closely to get a better look at the damage, a pair of biter fingers suddenly thrusting their way through the hole. Michonne was left unscathed. She backed away calmly, glaring at the rotten fingers. The dead've found us.

"What's the cure, Eugene," Sasha asked, pausing from her work.

"It's classified," he answered in a monotone voice, still trying to shove that damn shell under the door. I admired his unrelenting effort, but shook my head at the fact he wasn't fashioning a weapon. I went back to trying to sharpen the switchblade as the screams, and now gunshots, began to crescendo again.

"You don't know what's going to happen," Michonne scoffed in a testing tone. It sounded like she pitied him in a way.

"Leave him be," the muscular redhead scolded her, walking to the other end of the train car. You could tell the two men had known each other for a while by the way he defended Eugene. Eugene finally took a break and sat back on his heels.

"Even if I told you all, the cure would still die with me," he admitted.

"I'm not gonna let that happen," his friend declared, his face serious and focused on the door which then flew open with force. Everyone scrambled to their feet, their weapons ready to go and in their hands. I gripped my switchblade tightly as I stared into the chilling hell we were in the middle of: biters roaming everywhere, the people of Terminus being eaten all over now dark red concrete. Everybody who had a gun was shooting at almost everything in all directions, many of the objects in the area on fire from what I'm assuming was the explosion from earlier. "Go, go, go," the redhead's voice boomed from behind us with urgency. We spilled out of the car, killing biters left and right as we searched for an exit.

One stumbled over to me, blood oozing everywhere from it already being stabbed in various places. I stabbed it in the head to end its retched life just as another approached. I quickly flicked my wrist in the direction of its head, the switchblade slicing its forehead open. I moved in a pack with the others as we made our way to the fence. As we made it there, we began to climb over one by one as fast as we could to escape the threat. I made it over without being hurt, Daryl engulfing me in his arms right after my feet touched the ground. I was calmed by his warmth. My body began to ache again from all the running causing me to quietly groan. Daryl heard this and pulled away, grabbing onto my hand instead and running his thumb over the top of it.

Rick shot back at the roof of Terminus, hitting Gareth who was perched  on top. The biters ambushed the fence upon hearing the gunshot, clawing and hoping to get a piece of us. Daryl led me away from the scene and through the woods, followed by the rest of the group. He dropped to his knees and started digging out the weapons Rick buried before we entered the complex for the first time.

"Go along the fences, use the riffles. Take out the rest of them," Rick instructed us. I scrunched my brow in confusion at his orders. Shouldn't we be trying to get as far away from this place as humanly possible right now? "They don't get to live."

"We got out," Glenn stated, annoyed. "It's over. It's not worth it." Daryl stood up and leaned against a tree.

"It's not over till they're all dead."

"The hell it isn't," the girl with pigtails snapped at him. "That place is on fire, full of walkers."

"The fences are down. They'll run or die," Maggie spoke up. The sound of small, crunching footsteps arose from behind the group. Daryl gazed behind him to see what was headed our way. He took off running towards it. I snapped my head up and saw Daryl and Carol in a tight embrace. My jaw almost dropped with pure surprise. I ran to her and wrapped my arms around her as tight as I could, my heart racing with happiness. I didn't think I'd see her again. She handed me back my sword and Daryl his crossbow.

"Did you do that," Rick asked her. She nodded, her eyes filled with happy tears. Rick pulled her into a thankful, forgiving hug.

"You have to come with me," Carol smiled when she pulled away from Rick, her voice and smile promising. We followed her through the woods for a bit until we came upon a small cabin. Tyreese emerged through the door with Judith causing Rick to take off, Carl not too far behind him. Sasha made her way over to Tyreese and hugged him, letting out a cry of relief. Rick kissed Judith on the top of her head as he weeped with thankfulness. The rest of the group stood back, holding each other close while admiring the sweet scene. I leaned my head on Daryl's shoulder, sighing with a grin on my face. When the four of them recollected themselves and finished their tearful greetings, they made their way back over to us to regroup.

"I don't know if the forest will burn," Rick observed, staring at the cloud of black smoke rising up in the sky. "But we should go."

"Where," Daryl asked, holding my hand. It's almost like we've all run out of options of where we'll try to find peace next. 

"Somewhere far away from here," he smirked in response. Definitely. Fuck this place. We started one of our many journeys again, walking on the train tracks like we did before on our way to Terminus. We curved back into the woods to get away from that hellhole as far as we could, hoping that we'd stay safe for at least a little while more.