.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

[RAISON D'ETRE]

1.03 || i'll just steal another one

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

"Bet you Shane will have a rod up his ass about the car alarm and the radio when we get back." Adaline says, leaning back in her seat as they drive up towards the camp.

"You think?" Glenn asks.

"I know." Adaline responds, idly drumming her fingers on her knee in time to the music as Glenn drives along the path leading to the camp.

They pull up by the other parked cars a few minutes later as Shane and several other people in the camp move towards the car as she and Glenn climb out. "Holy crap. Turn that damn thing off!" Dale calls.

"I don't know how!" Glenn responds as Adaline walks around the back of the car to avoid Shane.

"Pop the damn hood, please." Shane says as Amy walks up to the two of them saying, "My sister Andrea,"

Adaline glances between the two of them as Shane shouts, "Pop the damn hood!" impatiently and she just leans into the car to press the button as Glenn talks to Amy, who was still frantically pushing him for answers about Andrea.

"Stop being an asshole, Shane!" Adaline snaps but she stays in the driver's seat as he pushes the hood of the car up.

"Is she okay? Is she alright?" Amy pushes.

"She's okay! She's okay!" Glenn shouts.

"Is she coming back?" The blonde asks.

"Yes!" Glenn exclaims.

"Why isn't she with you? Where is she? She's okay?" Amy pushes and Adaline rolls her eyes impatiently as she tilts her head back against the headrest.

"Well, Amy, there's only so many seats in this car." Adaline snaps.

"Where is she? Is she okay?" Amy pushes in response.

"Yes. Yeah, fine. Everybody is. Well, Merle not so much." Glenn says, holding his hands out.

"Are you crazy, driving this wailing bastard up here?" Shane asks. "Are you trying to draw every walker for miles?"

"I think we're okay." Dale says.

"You call being stupid okay?" Shane retorts and Adaline tilts her head before pushing herself up out of the car.

"Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source." Dale says and Shane turns to look at him. "I'm not arguing. I'm just saying."

"You want an argument Shane. I'm right here." Adaline says and he looks at her.

"I have no doubt this is your handiwork." He remarks.

"Was that supposed to be insulting? Because I'm actually kind of proud you recognise this as my handiwork." Adaline retorts and he scoffs, shaking his head.

"It wouldn't hurt the two of you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?" Dale asks, gesturing at the two of them.

"I assure you, this was very well thought through." Adaline says.

"Ada, not helping." Glenn mutters.

"It was. It was planned. This was the plan. If we hadn't driven this wailing bastard up here, everyone else would have been left for dead. So take your smart-mouthed bullshit and shove it up your ass." Adaline says.

"Okay, you know what, Ada?" Shane says.

"What? What are you going to do to me?" She asks, stepping towards him. "What do you think you can do to me?" Shane stares at her for a moment with a clenched jaw as she raises a brow at him but the brunette just hums. "You wanna hit me, Shane, go ahead. I'd love to see you try. You hit me, I'll hit you back so hard you forget your own goddamn name." She says and he shakes his head before holding a hand up. "Yeah, thought so."

There's a brief silence as Adaline stares Shane down before Glenn breaks it saying, "Got a cool car" just as the truck approaches from the entrance of camp.

"Andrea!" Amy calls before running towards the truck and Adaline sighs, turning to look towards the truck as she leans against the car.

"You are a welcome sight." Dale says to Morales after he'd hugged his family. "Thought we had lost you folks for sure."

"How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane asks.

"New guy. He got us out." Glenn responds as Jason stops next to the car.

"New guy?" Shane asks.

"Yeah, you might know him." Adaline responds and Shane frowns at the girl.

"Crazy vato just got into town." Morales says. "Hey, helicopter boy! Come say hello." Morales calls.

"Watch Shane's face." Jason whispers to Adaline and the brunette clears her throat.

"You two are evil." Glenn mutters.

"We know." Jason responds as Rick starts walking down towards everyone.

"The guy's a cop, like you." Morales says and Adaline watches as Shane's expression shifts slightly when he sees Rick.

"And there goes the penny." Jason mutters and Glenn whacks his arm.

"What penny?" Adaline asks with a frown, glancing at him and both of them look at her.

"It's a saying, Ada." Glenn says.

"Weird saying." She grumbles.

"Dad! Dad!" Carl shouts as he runs towards Rick who catches him in a hug, dropping to the floor.

Everyone watches as he stands, hugging Carl as he makes his way towards Lori, wrapping his arms around her.

"Is it a little weird that we're all standing here watching Rick hug his son and wife?" Adaline asks, glancing at Glenn and Jason.

"A little, yeah." Jason says.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

Adaline sits on top of the RV that night with her back to everyone sitting around the fires, staring at the quarry instead. She had spent far too much time with or near people she didn't like recently, eating dinner with them all was the last thing she needed. Most of them were noisy eaters, so it was just going to piss her off and she'd snap for no reason.

She glances over her shoulder when she hears fire crackling to see Ed sitting back down and she rolls her eyes, and then again when she hears Shane's voice, "Hey, Ed, you want to rethink that log?"

"It's cold, man." Ed responds.

"The cold don't change the rules, does it?" Shane asks. "Keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?"

"I said it's cold." Ed retorts.

"If you're cold, go put on a damn jacket!" Adaline snaps without turning around.

"You pair should mind your own business for once." Ed says and Adaline rolls her eyes as she shakes her head.

She glances over at her shoulder to see Shane walking away from Ed and back towards where he'd been sitting before and turning back around to look at the quarry.

"Hey, Ada!" Glenn calls a few minutes later and she turns around. "You got an opinion on who should tell Daryl about Merle?"

"Me! He likes me!" Adaline responds and he gestures at her briefly.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

"Hey."

Adaline glances over her shoulder as Rick moves to sit down beside her, holding out a metal tin and she takes it from him as he sits down. "Thanks." She says.

"You sure you're okay telling Dixon we left his brother on that roof?" Rick asks and she glances at him.

"Yeah. I think, aside from Merle, I'm the only one to successfully hold a conversation with the guy. I had a headache by the end of it but I did." Adaline says, picking at the food and Rick nods.

"So, you could have told me Carl and Lori were here." He says and she shrugs.

"You never asked. You should have asked. You know that." Adaline says. "And Jason said not to." She adds and he nods.

"I want to go back for the bag." Rick says and she nods.

"Makes sense. It was a bag of guns. They're a valuable resource." She says.

"Will you come with me if I do?" He asks.

"Yeah." She says and he nods.

"Just as a warning, Shane's planning on coming up to take over watch soon, so I'd eat that and come down. We don't have the time or resources to fix him up because you pushed him off the RV." Rick says, gently patting the space between them before getting up and heading back towards the ladder and Adaline sighs softly, looking back down at her food.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

"Morning."

Adaline looks up from her book with a raised brow to see Glenn standing in front of her. "What do you want?" She asks.

"What makes you think I want something?" He asks.

"You do want something." Jason remarks as he walks past and Adaline hums softly, looking back at her book as she turns the page.

"They're stripping the car." Glenn says.

"Yeah, I know. They need the parts for the RV." Adaline responds.

"You know?" He asks.

"I've been up longer than everyone. I was sitting right here when they started. And I can see the car from here." Adaline says.

"But we only just stole it." Glenn says and she shrugs.

"So I'll just steal another one if you want a cool car." Adaline says without looking up from her book. "Stealing cars is easy. I could do it in my sleep."

"Speaking of, why do you know how to steal cars?" Glenn asks.

"Someone taught me. Next time I won't have to break the window. I only broke the window on that one because we needed to set the alarm off." Adaline says with a shrug. "I also know because the car I had was really shit and old. And I always locked the keys inside so I had to break into my own car all the time." She says before shrugging slightly.

"Seriously?" He asks.

"Yeah, I have all the stuff in my bag. I lived in an apartment complex with a private car park. I think my neighbours were confused the first few times but after that I think they were more concerned when they saw me use the key to get in the car. I used a screwdriver to start it most of the time. But I couldn't afford a new one, so I made do." Adaline says before they hear a car pulling up and they both look over to see Shane climb out of the car.

"Water's here, y'all. Just a reminder to boil before use." Shane says and Glenn heads over to help unload the water as Adaline looks back at her book.

Until someone screams and Adaline turns to look behind her before getting up when she hears Carl shout for Lori, pulling out her gun. She runs over, keeping up with Rick as Lori catches Carl, checking him over to make sure he is okay.

They run in the direction Jacqui pointed with other people from the camp behind them before Adaline slows to a stop. "Oh, there's only one. And it's distracted. This feels like an overreaction." She says, putting her gun away with a shrug. "Daryl's close." She says as everyone makes their way into the small area.

"How'd you know?" Rick asks.

"Crossbow bolts sticking out of the deer's ass." She responds, gesturing to them as the walker stands up, turning to face them.

Rick hits it in the face before everyone starts hitting it and Adaline stands back, folding her arms over her chest with a slightly amused frown. Mostly wondering why they were all going at it and why nobody was aiming for the head.

Before Dale finally takes off its head.

"Wow. Did that really just take all of you?" Adaline asks incredulously.

"That's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain." Dale says.

"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what." Jim says before they hear branches snap and footsteps.

"Hey, Daryl!" Adaline calls as everyone turns around, immediately on guard.

"Ada, that could be another one!" Shane says.

"It's Daryl. Walkers don't move that fast. So, put the gun down, you lunatic." Adaline says before Daryl walks into view, proving her point.

"Son of a bitch." Daryl says when he sees the deer. "Hey, Psycho Doc." He adds and Adaline flits up a hand briefly as a hello.

"That's so weird." Glenn mutters and Adaline shrugs gently.

"That's my deer!" Daryl announces.

"Said that." Adaline says.

"Look at it. All gnawed on by this," He kicks the walker, "Filthy, disease-bearing, motherless, poxy bastard." Daryl says, enunciating each word with another kick.

"Well, at least he's using his words too." Adaline says.

"Ada, not helping." Glenn says quietly.

"Calm down, son. That's not helping." Dale says.

"But I think it's making him feel a little better about the now useless deer he'd been hunting." Adaline remarks.

"What do you know about it, old man?" Daryl snaps, moving towards him and Adaline smiles in amusement. "Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to On Golden Pond?" Daryl asks and Adaline snorts in amusement. "I've been tracking this deer for miles." He says, pulling his bolts out of it. "Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison."

"I personally don't like venison but that would have been good for everyone else." Adaline says.

"You've eaten venison?" Glenn asks.

"Twice. Liked it less the second time, honestly." Adaline says.

"Yet you eat squirrels." Jason remarks.

"That's different. One's squirrel. One's deer." Adaline retorts and he shrugs.

"What do you think, Psycho Doc? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" Daryl asks.

But Shane speaks before Adaline has a chance to open her mouth. "I would not risk that." He says.

"Well, I didn't ask you." Daryl says pointedly before looking at Adaline.

"It probably isn't the safest idea. Don't know how the virus is spread." She says.

"That's a damn shame." Daryl says with a sigh and Adaline shrugs. "I got some squirrel. About a dozen or so. That'll have to do." Daryl says and Adaline nods before the walker's head moves.

"Oh, come on guys." Adaline says, gesturing at it as Amy says, "Oh, God."

"Come on, people. What the hell?" Daryl asks as Adaline slams her foot down on the head, crushing the skull.

"Oh, Ada, there were definitely better ways to do that." Rick says as the brunette wipes her boot off on the grass and she looks up.

"It did the job." She argues.

"Right, it's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?" Daryl says as she drags her foot across the ground.

"I think there's skull in the tread of my boot." Adaline mutters.

"Ada, I'm gonna need you to stop that thought now." Glenn says and she glances at him.

"Sorry." She says and he nods as Daryl walks past them. "Oh!" She says before rushing to follow him. "Daryl, wait up!" Adaline calls.

"She telling him now?" Jason asks.

"No, she's probably forgotten about that. She picked up some extra crossbow bolts when we were taking a break from everyone." Glenn says and Jason nods.

"That makes more sense." Jason says.

Adaline walks back into camp behind Daryl, slowing down slightly when he starts shouting for Merle. "Right, I was supposed to tell him about that." She mutters. "Uh, Daryl, hey." Adaline says.

"Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up." Daryl shouts, putting his crossbow down

"Daryl!" Adaline says, rushing after him. "About Merle."

"What about him?" He asks.

"There was a problem. In Atlanta." She says.

"He dead?" Daryl asks.

"Not as far as I'm aware." Adaline responds.

"Well, he either is or he ain't." Daryl says.

"He wasn't dead when we left. He was, however, handcuffed to a pipe on the roof of a building." Adaline says.

"You handcuffed my brother to a roof?" Daryl snaps incredulously.

"I didn't! He did!" Adaline says, immediately pointing at Rick.

"Ada, that was not the plan!" Glenn says.

"I'm sorry! Self-preservation really won over there." She says, holding her hands up.

"She's right." Rick says, stepping forwards.

"Who are you?" Daryl asks.

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?" Daryl asks.

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." Rick explains.

Adaline takes a step away when Daryl turns, saying, "Hold on. Let me process this." She presses her lips together as she watches, waiting for her reaction. She may be shit at reading body language but anger was one thing she could always spot. "You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?" Daryl snaps.

"Yeah." Rick says and Adaline looks at him incredulously. 'Yeah'. Just 'Yeah'. It was like he wanted to escalate the situation even further.

Then Daryl throws the squirrels at Rick, who ducks while Adaline moves to catch them as Shane slams his shoulder into Daryl's chest, knocking him over. "Seriously, Ada?" Jason asks.

"What? That's dinner!" She defends, putting them down on the log behind her as Daryl pulls out his knife before getting up.

"Watch the knife!" T-Dog calls before Daryl swings at Rick.

She watches as Rick attempts to disarm Daryl whilst Shane grabs him from behind before the latter gets Daryl into a chokehold. "You'd best let me go!" Daryl shouts.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Shane retorts.

"Choke hold's illegal." Daryl says.

"Yes, it is actually. Shane, don't be such a dick!" Adaline says.

"You can file a complaint." Shane retorts. "Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day."

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?" Rick asks.

"Hey, Merle may be an ass but he's still his brother. He has every right to be pissed off about this! Don't act like he doesn't." Adaline snaps before Shane lets go of Daryl, looking at the brunette.

"You stay out of this." Shane says, pointing at her.

"You stay out of it. I was the one handling this situation, you dick! And it was handled until you got involved." Adaline snaps before moving towards Rick. "Move." She says and Rick glances at her. "Move!" Rick sighs before stepping back away from Daryl. "Okay, look, Daryl, I don't like Merle, that's no secret, right?" She says.

"Right." Daryl says.

"But you know I'm gonna tell you the truth because I don't have a lie planned. And you know that. So, Merle was a danger to the group. He had a gun, he was threatening people. Rick handcuffed him to a roof to de-escalate the situation just while we figured out a way out of Atlanta. But while we were leaving, we were all in a rush because there were walkers breaking into the building. The key got dropped down a drain, there was nothing we could do. But the door to the roof was chained shut so no walkers could get to him, okay? I know where he is. I will go with you to get him." Adaline says.

"You'll what?" Shane asks and Adaline turns to glare at him.

"I will take Daryl into Atlanta to find Merle and bring him back here safely." Adaline says firmly and Shane scoffs incredulously.

"Okay." Daryl says and she nods.

"Then get off your ass." She says and Daryl pushes himself up with a nod.

"Ada, this is insane." Lori says.

"It's still his brother. I'd have had the same reaction if someone left Rick handcuffed to a roof somewhere in this situation." Adaline snaps impatiently.

"She's right." Rick says.

"Oh, so now you're going too, right?" Lori asks and Rick glances around for a moment before nodding.

"I'm going back. Me and Ada already were." Rick says and Lori shakes her head before climbing into the RV.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

"I can't believe you're going along with this." Lori says as Adaline packs her bag and she turns to raise a brow at her sister-in-law.

"Get over yourself, Lori. Nobody's doing this as an attack on you. Okay? The world doesn't revolve around you. Fact is, it's not just Merle out there. There's a bag of guns." Adaline says.

"We just got Rick back. Who cares about a bag of guns?" Lori says.

"Guns are a valuable resource and when more walkers make it up here to rip everyone apart, you'll be glad we went back for the guns." Adaline says.

"We don't need them as much as Carl needs Rick." Lori argues.

"Nobody's making him go. What you don't get Lori, is he's just doing what's right. What he knows is the right thing to do. And no matter how shitty a person Merle is and how much you might think we don't need the guns, we do need them and Merle is still a human being and Daryl's brother." Adaline says and Lori shakes her head. "Look, why don't you stop worrying so damn much about us going to do something we're totally capable of doing, and instead worry about how you're going to tell Rick that your preferred method of grieving is fucking his best friend?" She suggests.

"You know?" Lori asks.

"I think pretty much everyone does. Everyone except the one person who should. So back off, Lori. I mean it. And get a fucking grip." Adaline says, zipping her bag shut before walking away.

She drops her bag by Glenn and Jason and both of them glance at her. "Hey, what were you and Lori talking about?" Jason asks.

"Don't worry about it." Adaline responds, watching as Rick and Shane walk closer.

"Are you sure you want to go back?" Glenn asks and she glances at him.

"Someone's gotta be there to stop Daryl from killing Rick." Adaline responds and he nods.

"So, this bag of guns," Jason starts.

"No, there won't be a sniper rifle, J. You know what guns were in the locker at the station. We will look for one." Adaline says and he huffs impatiently.

"Why would you risk your life for a douchebag like Merle Dixon?" Shane asks as they walk closer.

"Hey, choose your words more carefully." Daryl says, gesturing at him with a handful of crossbow bolts.

"No, I did. Douchebag's what I meant. Merle Dixon. The guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst." Shane says.

"Why would he give you a glass of water? Surely it'd be a bottle." Adaline remarks and Jason and Glenn both clear their throats to mask a laugh.

"You know what I meant, Ada." Shane says, gesturing at her without looking and she frowns.

"I do?" She whispers.

"No, ignore him." Jason says.

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst. Me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being." Rick says.

"So, you, Daryl and Ada, that's your big plan?" Lori asks and Adaline looks at the woman impatiently.

She was pretty sure they'd just had this conversation.

Then Rick turns to look at Glenn where he was standing by Adaline and Jason. "Oh, come on." He says.

"You know the way. You've been there before. In and out, no problem. You said so yourself." Rick says.

"With me. If he doesn't want to come, he doesn't have to. I know the way too." Adaline says.

"I get that. And it's not fair of me to ask, I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too." Rick says and Adaline glances at Glenn.

"That's just great. Now you're gonna risk four people, huh?" Shane asks.

"Five." T-Dog says and everyone looks over at him.

"My day just gets better and better, don't it?" Daryl remarks.

"Daryl, some thoughts are okay to keep to yourself." Adaline says and Jason nudges her with his elbow.

"You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?" T-Dog asks.

"Why you?" Daryl asks.

"You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language." T-Dog says.

"That's five." Dale says.

"It's not just five. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp." Shane says.

"Oh, wait." Adaline says before unzipping her bag and pulling out a second gun, handing it to Jason.

"You had this the entire time?" Jason asks.

"I didn't take it to Atlanta with me." Adaline says.

"Why?" Glenn asks.

"I didn't need two guns." Adaline shrugs.

"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns." Rick says.

"Right, the guns." Glenn says.

"Wait. What guns?" Shane asks.

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up." Rick says.

"Ammo?" Shane asks.

"Seven hundred rounds, assorted." Rick says.

"You went through hell to find us. You just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave?" Lori asks.

"I assume you like living, Lori. And if you do, we need the guns to guarantee that." Adaline says impatiently.

"Ada," Rick says and she rolls her eyes.

"Dad, I don't want you to go." Carl says.

"To hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in." Lori says, standing up as Rick walks over to her. "Tell me. Make me understand." She says.

"Did she hear how many guns are in that bag?" Jason whispers.

"I have no idea." Adaline responds.

"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy. Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn him." Rick says.

"What's stopping you?" She asks.

"The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer." Rick explains.

"These are our walkies?" Shane asks.

"Yeah." Rick says and Adaline nods.

"Right." She says in realisation.

"So use the C.B. What's wrong with that?" Andrea asks.

"Their walkies are shit." Adaline says.

"She's right. The C.B.'s fine. It's the walkie that suck, they're crap." Shane says.

"They date back to the 70s and they don't match with any other bandwidth." Adaline says.

"Not even the scanners in our cars." Shane adds.

"Why do you know that?" Glenn whispers.

"It was kind of one of the ways Rick and I bonded when his parents took me in." Adaline whispers back.

"They had some weird bonding methods, man. They used to go to the shooting range for bonding time too." Jason says.

"I need that bag." Rick says before moving to crouch down in front of Carl.

"You got any more ammo for this?" Jason asks as Rick talks to Carl and Adaline looks at him.

"No, you get the fifteen rounds you have. Don't miss." Adaline says.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

Adaline sits in the passenger seat of the truck next to Glenn with her feet up on the dash, glancing over her shoulder as Daryl climbs into the back of the truck while Rick and T-Dog head to get some bolt cutters from Dale. "You know you really don't have to come if you don't want." Adaline says, glancing at Glenn.

"No, it's okay. Besides, if anything goes wrong, I know my way around Atlanta better than you do." Glenn says and she nods.

"Okay." She says before grabbing the crossbow bolts from her bag holding them over her shoulder towards Daryl.

"Thanks, Psycho Doc." He says, taking them from her.

"Does he know you were only a med student?" Glenn whispers.

"I don't think so." She responds as Daryl paces the back of the truck. "Would you sit down or stand still?"

Then Daryl moves forwards, using his foot to honk the horn before shouting, "Come on, let's go!"

"Jesus." Adaline mutters.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

"He better be okay. It's my only word on the matter." Daryl says.

"That was four words." Adaline mutters.

"I told you the geeks can't get at him. The only thing that's getting through that door is us." T-Dog says as Glenn parks the car.

"We walk from here." He says as Adaline pushes her door open.

"You know, I don't think we needed the bolt cutters." Adaline remarks as she walks ahead with Glenn.

"We need to get through the chain." Glenn says.

"Yeah, but he secured it with a padlock. I have a lockpicking kit in my bag." Adaline says.

"Why?" He asks.

"For picking locks. I figured that was clear." Adaline responds and he nods.

"My bad." He responds.

"And I mean, Rick knows I have one so, I don't know why he immediately jumped to bolt cutters." She says.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

Adaline steps through the opening in the fence first, pulling it open from the other side so Glenn could step through.

"Merle first or the guns?" Rick asks.

"Merle! We ain't even having this conversation." Daryl retorts.

"We are. You know the geography. It's your call." Rick says, glancing at Adaline and Glenn briefly and the two of them look at each other.

"Merle, right?" She asks and he nods.

"Merle's closest. The guns would mean doubling back. Merle first." Glenn says.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

Adaline grabs one of her knives, flipping it in her hand when she hears shuffling footsteps, moving so she could see the walker before throwing the knife as Daryl lifts his crossbow, smiling at him when it lands in the walker's head. "I had that." Daryl says quietly.

"Too slow. Try to keep up would you?" Adaline retorts as she heads to retrieve her knife, pulling it out of the walker's skull before wiping it off on a shirt on the rack beside her.

"Oh, Ada, come on." Glenn says, gesturing at it and she glances at him.

"Well, I'd wipe it off on my pants but I'm wearing light-coloured shorts." Adaline says.

The five of them run up the stairwell towards the roof, T-Dog moving forwards to cut through the chain with the bolt cutters and then Daryl kicks the door open. "Merle! Merle!" He shouts, rushing out onto the roof.

Adaline stops, next to Glenn, looking at the severed hand lying on the roof where Merle had been sitting. "Holy shit." She mutters.

"No! No!" Daryl shouts.

"Oh, that's kind of awesome." Adaline says quietly.

"Ada!" Rick and Glenn say incredulously and she shrugs as Daryl keeps shouting.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.