Daryls Sister {Book One}

127

We soon got back to Alexandria and came to a stop.

"Get Olivia. She should inventory what we have. We'll meet her at the pantry." Rick said. I quickly got out and saw Aaron walking away.

"Wait up! I'll go with you Aaron." I said, running up to him. We started walking and he kept looking at me.

"What happened to your nose Maddie?" He asked.

"I got in a fight with this woman." I told him. "She broke my nose, now it's not as pretty as before." I said.

"Maddie, I thought I taught you better." Aaron said.

"You did but I just didn't listen." I said, making him laugh.

"What did the woman do?" He asked.

"She punched Rick so I tackled her and punched her then she punched me twice. Which by the way wasn't fair, I only punched her one time." I said.

"I didn't know you were the fighting type." He said.

"I didn't know either until that happened." I said, when we found Olivia.

We all were soon at the church and Rick was talking. I was sitting beside Daryl.

"And we can work with the Hilltop. Maggie hammered out a deal. We're getting food-eggs butter, fresh vegetables. But they're not just giving it away. These Saviors, they almost killed Sasha, Daryl and Abraham on the road. Now sooner or later, they would've found us just like those Wolves did, just like Jesus did. They would've killed someone or some of us. And then they would try to own us and we would try to stop them. But by then, in that kind of fight, low on food, we could lose. This is the only way to be sure, as sure as we can get, that we win." Rick told everyone. "And we have to win. We do this for the Hilltop, it's how we keep this place. It's how we feed this place. This needs to be a group discussion." He said. "If anybody objects, here's your chance to say your piece." He added.

Everyone was quiet until we heard someone standing up. We looked back and saw that Morgan stood up.

"You're sure we can do it? We can beat them?" He asked.

"What this group has done, what we've learned, what we've become, all of us-yes I'm sure." Rick said.

"Then all we have to do is just tell them that." Morgan said.

I get he doesn't want a war but we have to keep our end of the deal. If we don't, we won't know what would happen.

"They don't compromise." Rick said.

"This isn't a compromise. It's a choice you give them. It's a way out, for them and for us." Morgan said.

"If we try to talk to the Saviors, we give up our advantage and our safety. We have to come for them before they come for us. We can't leave them alive." Rick said.

"Where there's life, there's a possibility." Morgan said.

"Of them hitting us." Rick said, starting to get mad.

"We're not trapped in this. None of you are trapped in this." Morgan said. I sighed looking down then back up.

"Morgan...they always come back." Rick said.

"Come back when they're dead too." Morgan replied.

"Yeah and we'll stop them. We have before." Rick said.

"I'm not talking about the walkers." Morgan said.

"Morgan wants to talk to first. I think that would be a mistake but it's not up to me. I'll talk to the people still at home. I'll discuss it with the people that's on guard now too. But who else wants to approach the Saviors, talk to them first?" Rick said.

"What happened here, we won't let that happen again. I won't." Aaron said. I stood up and spoke.

"I'm sorry Morgan but I'm with Rick on this. They might not even want to talk from what we know about them right now. They sound like they aren't the kind to talk or the kind that gives anyone a chance. Like Rick said, we have to come for them before they come for us because they're bound to find out about us." I said. I looked at Rick and he smiled at me and I smiled back then sat down.

"Looks like it's settled. We know exactly what this is. We don't shy from it, we live. We kill them all. We don't all have to kill but if people are going to stay here they do have to accept it." Rick said, walking away. I got up and followed him outside.

We walked then stopped in the street. Rick turned to me and pulled me into a hug.

"Thanks for being on my side Maddie." He said.

"What you said is right. We can't just try to talk to them because we don't know if they'll kill us. We have to do something before they do, if we all want to stay alive." I said, wrapping my arms around. "To be completely honest, I am pretty scared about what will happen but I can't let my fear control me." I added.

It was soon dark out and I was putting Liam in his crib for his bedtime.

"Goodnight Liam. I'll see you in the morning, alright?" I said, before kissing his forehead.

I heard someone walking into the room and I turned my head and saw Rick. He walked over and wrapped his arms around me from behind and started swaying back and forth.

"You're a great mother Maddie." He said.

"I hope I am." I said, putting the back of my head against his shoulder.

"Don't worry, you are. Everyone thinks so." He said.

I turned my and head and smiled at him in which he smiled back at me. He leaned down and placed a gently kiss on my lips, trying not to hit my nose.

"What you did when that woman punched me, was pretty hot. My wife protecting me." He said, smiling at me.

"I did what I had to do to defend my good-looking husband." I said, smiling again.

"We better get to bed because it's getting late." He said, letting me go which made me pout at him. "I'll cuddle you in bed Maddie. Don't pout at me." He said.

We walked out after tucking Judith and Liam in and shut the light off. We walked into our room and changed our clothes into our pajamas then laid down after turning the light off. I laid on my side, facing away from him and he got closer to me and wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me as close as we can get.

"Goodnight Rick." I said.

"Goodnight Maddie." He said. We both then fell asleep.