FALLEN ANGELS.

chapter twenty-two, a place without an exit.
[ season four, episode four ]

COLE TANNER UNDERSTOOD TYREESE'S anger. His girlfriend had been killed just as Cole's mother had been. He understood.

But when Tyreese didn't let go of a walker that nearly killed him, Cole looked him in the eyes and asked, "why the fuck didn't you let go?"

Tyreese's eyes moved to the ground in front of him. He stared at the cement. He was in his own world full of rage and vengeance.

Cole knew that place well. It took him three months to come out of it fully. And even now, he still went back into that scary place whenever he thought about the Governor raising his gun and firing a bullet into his mother's skull.

He knew anger would get him killed one day. But he was able to turn it off. And Tyreese would learn how to control his anger as time went on

Michonne, Tyreese, and Cole stayed outside with the van they'd found to cut the vines off of it. Cole brought his axe down on the greenery. Michonne looked to Tyreese and spoke, "you should've let it go."

Tyreese stepped closer to the woman and Cole was an guard immediately. "The hell you know about it, huh? You a damn expert?"

"No. I just don't wanna see you die," she replied. "Is that what you're tryin' to do? Do you even know what you're tryin' to do? I know you're pissed. And you have every reason to be. But anger makes you stupid. Stupid gets you killed."

"Aren't you still angry about the Governor?" Tyreese looked between the two of them. "What he did?"

Cole's brows furrowed. "If he stood in front of me right now, I'd make sure he felt pain." He said. "Then I'd kill him. I'm still angry about it yeah, but I'm not gonna get myself killed for it."

"I'm not angry. I was," Michonne then said.

"Then why're you still goin' out lookin' for him?" Tyreese asked.

Michonne didn't reply at first so Cole did. "Because he's still out there and he's gotta die."

When they were done cutting away the vines, Cole grimaced. "I hate mini vans."

Both Tyreese and Michonne looked to him. "Why?" The woman asked.

"When I was little my friend's mom took a group of us to a water park and on the way back Tommy threw up everywhere. I'm talkin' chunks of pizza and pineapple. The poor woman was trying to calm down six screaming eight year olds covered in puke. Ever since I've hated them." Cole explained.

Michonne laughed at his story while Tyreese barely lifted his lips.

Not long later, the group is in the van and traveling to West Peachtree Tech.

They soon reached and the group of five cautiously entered the building. They walked into a classroom. "Alright, let's make this quick." Daryl gruffly said to them.

They left the classroom and entered another room with several cabinets full of medicine. Bob, Michonne, and Cole stayed in the room to look for the medicine while Daryl and Tyreese went to find the other stuff Hershel requested. Bob examined the medicine cabinets and said, "anything ending with -cillin or -cin, C-I-N, grab it. We'll dissolved the pills in the IVs,  put 'em right into the blood stream. Dosage will be tricky but considering the time we lost..."

Tyreese and Daryl, who went to scavenge other rooms, returned. "How'd you do?" Bob questioned.

"Bags, tubes, clamps, connectors. Everything on the list." Tyreese listed off.

"How 'bout y'all?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah, we got it all," Bob replied.

"Yeah, we're good." Michonne said after she checked the cabinets one last time.

"Alright, let's role." Cole said to the group.

With all of their bags full of the needed medicine and medical supplies, they started to leave the college with Daryl and Cole in the lead.

Suddenly, Daryl came to a stop. Cole's brows knitted as he peaked over a wooden beam. "Oh, shit!" He whisper-shouted when he saw the walkers.

They rushed down the hall and into a different room. Bob ran to the door at the end of the hallway and examined, "door's busted."

"Ah, fuck." Cole breathed out as he ran his hands through his hair.

Michonne then spotted the stairwell sign but that was a no-zone as walker hands burst through the double doors.

The door the group had came in was pushed open by the walkers they ran from. "We can take 'em!" Tyreese exclaimed.

"No!" Bob cried, "they're infected. Same as at the prison. We fire at 'em, get their blood on us, breathe it in. We didn't come all this way to get sick."

Tyreese nodded to the stairwell. "How do we know the one's in there aren't any different?"

"We don't."

"Well, it's gotta change sometime." Daryl said. He then broke the chains holding the stairwell doors shut. Bob fired at one walker while Michonne quickly took out the other two.

Then they were jumping up the steps two at a time. Once they reached the next level, more walkers came around the corner, leaving them in a place without an exit.

Cole glanced back at the walkers with blood trailing down their faces. "We still don't have an exit," Michonne said.

"So we make one," Daryl grunted. Tyreese threw a fire extinguisher at the window. The glass shattered. "Come on, let's go!"

Michonne was the first one to jump onto the walkway, then Cole, Daryl, Tyreese, Bob. When Bob jumped, he stumbled. His bag fell over the ledge and the walkers below began to grasp for the bag.

The four rushed to him and all told him to let the bag go but he didn't listen. He then slung it onto the walkway and inside glass clinked.

Cole's brows dipped and he crouched by the bag. He pulled out the bottle of whiskey. Daryl approached and grabbed it from Cole. The two shared a look before looking at Bob.

Daryl, in the most terrifying calm voice asked, "you got no meds in your bag? Just this?"

Bob didn't say anything.

"You should've kept walk-in' that day," Daryl growled before he moved to the throw the bottle.

"Don't," Bob said. The sound of his holster coming undo caused Cole's eyes to move. Bob's hand rested on his gun.

Daryl got in Bob's face. He reached into Bob's holster and grabbed his gun. Then he bunched his shirt up in his fist.

Shockingly, Tyreese was the one to say something. "Just let it go, Daryl. The man's made his choice. Nothin' you can do about it. Just gotta let it go."

"I didn't wanna hurt nobody. It was just for when things got quiet." Bob explained.

Daryl shoved the bottle into Bob's chest and spoke, "take one sip before the those meds get into our people, I will beat your ass into the ground? You hear me?"

Daryl let the bottle go and turned away from the man. Cole stared at Bob for a moment longer.

"He's not lyin'. He will beat the shit out of you if you drink any of that before we get back." Cole nodded, "then I'll put a bullet in your knee."

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word count: 1,212

and here's cole's chapter!! let me just say i hate this chapter. it's so choppy and just ugh. i dislike it very very much.

michonne, cole, and daryl >>> any other trio. ugh i love them sm. #revengedrivenbesties.

anyway i'm sorry i haven't updated in a few days guys. softball has literally taken over my life as it always does this time of year. we've had game after game after game. like we have a game every day next week monday-friday and three of them are over an hour away.

what'd y'all think of cole's minivan story?? poor thing 😭. i can just imagine little cole screaming bloody murder while covered in vomit with pepperoni and pineapple chunks. talk about gross.