"And you're sure this is right?" Dawn demanded, pedaling along on her machine. It was midday, but the lighting of the windowless room made it seem more like evening.

"Positive, ma'am." Officer Tanaka replied. "They had them out there handcuffed, on their knees like they were gonna execute them."

"Alright." Dawn replied, climbing off the machine and wiping her sweaty face with a towel. She walked out of the room and down the hall.

Beth wasn't sure what she was going to do next. Dawn had the place locked down pretty tight, but she was pretty sure if she could tie enough bedsheets together…

"Beth!" Dawn shouted angrily. "Get out here!"

"Yes?" Beth asked in an innocent voice, concealing some not so innocent thoughts.

"Come with me, we need to talk." Dawn insisted, walking down the hall. Beth was confused, but she was starting to suspect Dawn may have bipolar disorder…

"What do we need to talk about?" Beth asked. She got no answer as Dawn turned and backhanded her across the face with her gun again.

…

Beth awoke in the dark, thanks to the tinted windows of the squad car. She tried to move her arms a bit, but found that she was handcuffed, and apparently Dawn found it necessary to gag her with a rag as well, since she was, frankly, gagged with a rag. The light from the front windshield was almost blinding; it was early noon, the light reflecting off the streets super brightly.

She heard a mumble next to her, and saw Carol there beside her, cuffed and gagged just like herself. Where the hell were they going though?

…

They'd been waiting for a while now. Beads of sweat were dripping down Rick's beard; the burning summer sun was roasting the back of his neck as they waited. Looking down, the two cops- Shepard and Licari- were both adjusting their positions, trying not to let their legs get burned by the hot asphalt as they kneeled with their hands cuffed. They were so close…

"Shit." Daryl muttered, adjusting the sights on his rifle, a reliable Marine Corps M82 they'd scavenged from a National Guard armory. He was on the roof of a neighboring parking garage, covering Rick's ass in case things went sour, and it sure looked like they were about to.

Down in the parking lot below, half the goddamn police department was pulling up in an intimidating V formation; seven squad cars disgorging at least twenty cops. Apparently Noah was wrong; they had a lot more than twelve guys. Out of the lead car, Daryl had Dawn Lerner firmly in his sights as two other officers manhandled Beth and Carol out of the back. His heart skipped a beat when he saw her; he was heartbroken when he last saw her.

"My name is Dawn Lerner," she began, walking with her hands on her utility belt, seeing Shepard and Licari kneeling on the ground a couple dozen feet in front of her, "and we're here to talk about you're trade off."

"We just want our people back." Rick implored as two of the officers made Beth and Carol kneel with their hands cuffed behind their backs. For some reason, they both had their mouths gagged. "We'll do this one at a time; Carol for Licari, then Beth for Shepard."

Dawn didn't seem to be listening, instead staring intently at Shepard with a wry look in her eyes. Rick looked down to see Shepard nervously avert her gaze away from Dawn.

"Shepard," Dawn inquired coldly, "did you ever find that cyanide you were looking for?"

Shepard's eyes widened, staring back in disbelief at her superior. "Ma'am?"

"Oh," Dawn scoffed, "don't think I didn't know. You and Lamson tried spiking my coffee with the stuff."

"But…"

"Don't even try; Dr. Edwards told me all about it; how you went into his office and asked how much zyklon it'd take to kill a grown woman."

"I…" Shepard stammered before looking down at the ground in half-shame, half-disbelief.

"You know what?" Dawn announced, looking back at Rick. "You can keep her. I don't even want her around if she's gonna try and stab me in the back every chance she gets."

"Fine then." Rick replied, his hand planted firmly on his Colt. This Dawn sure wasn't the Governor, but she was mighty like him. "We'll trade Licari then."

Dawn nodded, and one officer got Carol to her feet- painfully, Rick noted- and walked her forward while Tyreese brought Licari up. Tyreese and this officer- his nametag read BROWN- made eye contact for a long moment, sizing each other up while the trade went off. Brown walked Licari back to the officers, and Tyreese helped a limping Carol along.

"Now Beth." Rick demanded. So far, so good.

Dawn smirked. "Oh no, you didn't get it. See, we don't want Shepard, and you don't have anyone else from our side, so Beth's ours."

"No." Daryl muttered, his sights firmly planted on Dawn's forehead. "Rick, don't do it."

"Beth's one of ours." Rick implored. "Her sister's with us; her whole family! You can't not let us take her home!"

"Oh, I think I can." Dawn mocked, grinning. Beth just kneeled, breathing heavily as she thought out what she was going to do.

"I'll kill her!" Rick shouted, drawing his Colt and cocking it at Shepard's head. She let out a terrified whimper, trembling as the cold barrel touched her skull.

"Rick!" Carol snapped in a feeble voice. "Rick, don't. I'll go back."

"No, you're in no condition." Rick retorted, turning back to Dawn. "If you don't let Beth go, I will shoot her in the head, and you'll have no one to blame but yourself. Do you really want that on your conscience?"

Dawn's smile turned into a laugh as she drew her own gun, a Beretta. "I already told you I didn't even want her!" She callously pointed it at Beth's back and pulled the trigger.

For a moment, everything was quiet, as the gunshot rang through Atlanta's skyline. Beth's eyes widened as she fell to the ground, her clothes getting drenched in blood.

Daryl looked up from his rifle, dipping it ever so slightly as Beth fell face first, hitting the hard asphalt with a light thud.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Daryl exclaimed, opening up on the officers.