After I finished laying out the order, I put away the radio and quietly headed to the west wall gap near the train tracks to figure out our next move.
Daryl was already there when I arrived, leaning his shoulder against a rotted-looking section of the wall.
He nodded at me, and I returned the greeting with a short jerk of my chin.
Soon, Rick stepped out of the foliage, followed by Shane, and finally Merle came shuffling up behind them, wiping a smudge of dirt off his pants.
"All right," I said, keeping my voice to a whisper and dropped into a low crouch in the dry weeds. "Lookouts are down. That should get us a good amount of time before they get noticed, but getting across that open strip without half the town seeing us is still going to be tricky. How are we doing this?"
Shane squatted down next to me, dragging his finger through the dirt to make a rough map of the main street. "We breach right here at the train gap, rush the main drag, and kick the front door of his office in before anyone knows what's happening. Fast and hard."
"No, too loud," Rick said, shaking his head immediately. "Someone sees five armed guys sprinting down the middle of Main Street, they'll raise the alarm. We get pinned in the open, everyone with a weapon will surround us. We gotta be smarter than that."
"What if we take the rooftops?" Merle suggested, pointing up toward the coral building. "Hop from one roof to the next until we're sitting right on top of his place. The buildings are close enough to each other for that to work."
"And if a tin panel rattles under your big boots, every eyesight in the square goes straight up," Daryl muttered, glancing at his brother. "Plus, we don't even know if there hatches up there anyway. Even if there are some we don't know if those roof hatches are bolted from the inside."
"He's right," I said, eyeing the rusted corrugated metal sheets lining the wall right in front of us. "We don't know if the roofs are accessible or not. We can't risk getting caught—not this far in. So here's what we'll do."
I pointed to a tight gap where two old pickup trucks were jammed against a chain-link fence.
"We scale the fence right behind those trucks and drop into the alley behind the pharmacy," I explained.
"From there, we split up. Me, Rick, and Merle are going directly for the Governor in his main building through hugging the wall to keep our risk of getting discovered to a minimum. Shane and Daryl, you two stay on the outside. You set up in the shadow of the supply shed across, keep watch on anyone who approaches the building, and take care of anyone who tries to get inside or leave."
"That works," Shane said, nodding his approval. "This time, we keep the perimeter clear while you three drag the snake out of his hole."
"Just don't take all day," Daryl grunted, looking in the direction of the Governor's building. "Street's gonna be busy."
"We won't," I said. "Everyone good?"
The guys nodded. After we agreed on the plan, we quickly got to work.
We scaled the rusted fence behind the trucks, dropped quietly into the dusty alley, and separated according to the plan.
Me, Rick, and Merle went straight for the Governor's building.
We made sure to hug the walls, moving from shadow to shadow, keeping our eyes peeled for any sentries that might be watching or any citizens that might chance upon us.
The alley smelled like rotting garbage and iron, but it kept us hidden enough from the main square.
We did encounter a couple of guards patrolling the side lanes—one guy carrying a shotgun over his shoulder and another leaning against a brick wall, smoking a rolled cigarette.
Merle and I sneaked up on them and proceeded to knock them out before they even knew what was happening.
I grabbed the first guy in a chokehold, crushing his throat until his eyes rolled back, while Merle slammed his fist heavily into the second guy's temple.
They both dropped without a sound.
We dragged their bodies behind a stack of wooden pallets and kept moving.
Soon, we reached the back edge of the Governor's main building.
There were two guards posted right at the front entrance, standing on the wooden porch with rifles slung over their backs.
We waited behind the corner of the building for a solid two minutes until the main street was temporarily empty of civilian walk-ins.
The second the last woman turned the corner with her laundry basket, Merle and I sneaked up on them from behind.
I grabbed the guy on the left, hooking my arm under his chin and pulling him backward into the bushes, while Merle clobbered the second guy across the back of the head.
We knocked them out cold, stripped their weapons and radio, and dragged them out of sight behind the porch steps.
With the porch clear, Rick stepped up, slowly turned the brass knob on the front door, and we slipped inside the building to search for the Governor.
Meanwhile, outside, Shane and Daryl were keeping a sharp lookout for anyone who might try to go to the building.
They were crouched behind a stack of rusted oil drums in the shade of the supply shed, their eyes glued to the dirt lane.
A few minutes in, they spotted a guy carrying a clipboard heading straight for the front steps, likely coming to deliver a daily report.
Daryl gave Shane a quick nudge.
Before the guy could even reach the porch steps, Shane stepped out from behind the drums, grabbed him by the collar, put a hand on his mouth to prevent him from screaming, and pulled him hard into the alley.
Daryl caught him with a heavy right hook to the jaw.
The guy went limp instantly.
Then they dragged him back behind the drums, stripped his belt, tied him up out of sight, before they returned to their positions again ."
(To be continued...)