Leah was the first to react.
As if the spell holding her in place had finally broken, she rushed over without a word, threw her arms around Calista, and hugged her with all her strength.
Leah's body was trembling slightly.
"You're okay. You're okay! I knew it. I knew you wouldn't..." Leah choked out, her words tumbling over each other.
The calm, decisive mercenary captain was gone. All that remained was a sister overwhelmed with relief after getting back someone she thought she had lost.
The fierce hug made Calista sway a little. When it brushed the wound on her left hand, she sucked in a sharp breath from the pain.
But she did not push Leah away. Instead, she gently hugged her back with her still-working right arm and whispered, "Leah, I'm fine. I told you I'd come back."
Carver let out a long, deep breath, as if he had finally emptied the weight from his chest, and his familiar smile returned.
He stepped forward without saying much. After Leah let go, he hugged Calista with reddened eyes, his voice hoarse. "Don't scare us like that again."
It was the first time Carver had ever hugged her so openly.
Calista hugged him back just as emotionally and patted his shoulder.
Mike, Turner, and the others also crowded around, each of them looking like they were on the verge of tears.
Daryl lowered his crossbow. He looked at Calista, his gaze lingering for a moment on her injured hand.
Shane looked at Calista with a complicated expression.
He had seen the resolve with which she lured the monsters away. In that moment, he had thought it was over.
Was the team he had only just chosen going to disappear too?
Now, he also saw the grit it took for her to come back alone.
Shane had to admit that Calista possessed the strongest will to survive and the greatest presence as a leader he had ever seen.
At some point, Michonne had also walked over. She said nothing, only silently took a relatively clean, neatly folded strip of cloth from a small pouch she carried and handed it to Calista.
Calista accepted the cloth and said softly, "Thank you."
Michonne gave a slight nod and smiled faintly.
Calista looked around at the team gathered around her again, and a warm current pushed back the cold and pain in her body.
She had survived, and the team had survived too.
After being tempered by betrayal and blood, this team's unity had reached a level it never had before.
"I found something that may be important," Calista said, patting the inner pocket of her tactical vest without explaining further. "We have the key data. We can't stay here. We need to take whatever equipment we can carry and leave Sentinel Station immediately."
Her gaze sharpened again. "The objective hasn't changed. We go home."
The B5 equipment transfer zone was only one floor away from the core laboratory area on B6, but they moved with extreme caution.
The remaining mutated walkers were all on B6 and B7. The passage door between the two levels had been smashed open by the mutated walkers.
They needed to find a way to separate B7 from B6, and deal with the walkers on B6.
"We can't be hauling equipment with a pack of death chasing us from behind," Calista said, turning around. "At the very least, we need to keep them from interfering with us for a while."
"How do we deal with them?" Daryl crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. "There are still plenty left, and they're tough as hell."
The structural map of Sentinel Station flashed through Calista's mind, along with everything they had passed on the way here.
"Lure them away, or lock them up," she said in a low voice. "The cryogenic sample storage area on Level B7 is solidly built. If we can close and lock the airtight doors again, it becomes a ready-made cage. Or we find another sealed area."
"That's too risky," Leah objected at once. "Go back to Level B7? That place is a monster nest now!"
"We may not have to go back," Bossie cut in, taking out the map tablet he had recorded earlier.
"Look here. On the east side of Level B6, there's a large autoclave chamber. It's just as sturdy, and it only has two doors. If we can lure them inside..."
"Then blow the entrance shut, or trigger some kind of sterilization cycle inside and wipe them all out at once?" Turner's eyes lit up.
"Good idea, but hard to pull off." Carver shook his head. "How do we lure them?"
The group began talking all at once.
Calista's gaze swept over their exhausted faces before finally settling on some fixed point in the air.
After a brief silence, she raised her bandaged left hand, which was still faintly throbbing.
"The threat outside has to be dealt with." Calista spoke as if stating a fact, not making a suggestion.
Leah understood what she meant instantly, and her face changed. "Calista! No! Absolutely not! We already took that risk once!"
Carver also straightened abruptly, his eyes full of objection, but after opening his mouth, he still could not bring himself to speak.
He knew that as a subordinate, he could not openly question his leader's decision, especially one that concerned whether they lived or died. But still...
Calista did not look at Leah.
"When I was running earlier, my blood seemed to have a special pull on those mutated walkers. Right now, it's the most effective way we know to lure them.
"We need to draw them into a trap we set ahead of time, somewhere like the structurally reinforced autoclave chamber or the waste disposal area on the east side."
She paused, her gray-blue eyes flickering as she continued laying out the plan.
"This time, we don't need to run far. We only need to lure them into the trap. Our people will be waiting there in advance, then close both gates or trigger the mechanism as quickly as possible."
"Bossie, Danny, head east immediately and scout it out. Confirm the best trap location and how to activate it."
"Mike, Carver, Shane, the moment the trap closes, we'll need your speed and strength to make sure the gates are secured without fail."
"Leah, Turner, you're responsible for setting up a field of fire along the lure route and around the outside of the trap. Drive them in and suppress them if necessary."
"Michonne, Daryl, you two go close the passage between Levels B6 and B7. Don't let any more walkers come up from B7."
Calista's arrangements were clear and precise. Only then did she look at Leah's pale face. Her tone softened, but her resolve did not waver.
"Leah, this is the best way. Trust me. I'll lead those monsters into their grave, and I'll come back alive."
Leah looked at her, lips trembling. In the end, all her objections and worry turned into one heavy sigh.
She knew her sister. Once Calista made a decision, no one could change it.
Carver took a deep breath and forced all his emotions back down, then answered in a low voice, "Understood, Calista. Leave this side to us."
His eyes were complicated, filled with worry, but even more with a loyalty and admiration that had been completely won over.
Under Calista's lead, the plan quickly took shape.
No one objected again. The team immediately split up and moved out.
Calista stood at the entrance of the equipment transfer zone, giving her gear one final check. The wound on her left hand had been rebandaged even more tightly.
"Bossie, report," she whispered into the communicator.