Promise? »» C.G.

Chapter 58»«For You

I didn't speak to Carl for a while. Rick wanted me to go with them to get some gas for some sort of plan they had. They had asked me about the Sanctuary and I gave them as much info as I could. They were gearing up to take on, or scare, Negan. Carl took my gun before we left. I walked side-by-side Carl as we walked. We didn't speak. We didn't speak for the car ride either. Except when I told him I would drive because he had one eye. I walked ahead of Carl before I realized he fell behind because he looked in cars. Carl stopped and started to do something when we heard,

"Hi." We both jumped and turned. Carl pulled out his gun, but I had nothing. "Yeah. I-I'm okay. I mean...I'm not, but...I've been shot at. Someone threw a microwave at me." We both looked around, confused where the speaking came from. It was a man. "So I-I'm just gonna say something my mom used to say and hope for the best here. 'Whatever you have of good, spend on the traveler.'" My mom said that--that helping the traveler--." I stopped listening to him talk as I started walking to wherever he could've been. I heard Carl huff and followed me. Eventually, we found him.

"Hands up," Carl told him as he ran over. The poor guy jumped up, putting his hands up.

"Listen," he said. "I'm gone. It's cool. I just--. I just wanted some--e-even just some food." There was gunshots as Rick shot over his head and chased him off. Carl walked over to his father. I slowly walked over.

"We were supposed to meet at the intersection," Rick said. "I shot over his head. I just wanted him gone. Surprised you didn't do anything, (Y/n)."

"Your son took my gun," I told him. The two still bickered over the man. How he could've been a spy.

"Why did you take (Y/n)'s gun?" Rick asked his son.

"Because she would've killed him," Carl said. He walked by me, slightly bumping me.

"He's not wrong," I told Rick. "I probably would've killed him. But maybe that's just the Negan in me talking. Since everyone else still sees it." Rick and I turned to see a walker. Rick picked something up and handed it to me.

"You kill it," he told me. He handed me some piece of metal. I walked over and wanted to just bash it's head in like I did when I was over there. Instead, I shoved the metal in it's head. I threw it down and we left. We got back to Alexandria. Everything was ready to go. Mom walked over to me.

"I know you want to go," Mom said. "But you can't."

"Because of what Carl said?" I asked, looking away from her. "Because I said I couldn't kill Negan?"

"We need to make sure you're okay."

"No, you just don't want me to go back to him." I snapped my head to her. "I thought you were dead. At least over there, he let me help! At least he cared enough about what I thought!" I took off away from her. As I walked, Daryl grabbed my arm and made me face him.

"Don't you ever talk to your mother that way ever again," he told me. I tried pulling away from him. "I get it. You just want to help, but you can't go back there."

"He cared enough to let me help. Make decisions," I said.

"I know. I watched. You want to help? Come with me." He handed me a gun. The first person to hand me a gun since I got back. I put it in my holster before walking with him. We took off to meet Carol, Tara, and Morgan. We arrived and Tara counted down, waiting for the walkers. We thought they wouldn't show until Daryl pointed them out. We took off to the next check point. Got it all set up and waited.

"How close are we?" Carol asked.

"Close," Daryl answered. We just waited. I sat down and messed with Papa's watch. It stopped working a long time ago until Negan gave me new batteries for it.

Flashback

I walked into my room and seen Papa's watch sitting on the dresser. I walked over to it and looked at it. It had started to tick telling the current time. Or what we thought was the current time, 4:35. There was a knock at my door and it opened.

"New batteries were hard to find, but I found them," he said. "Hope you didn't mind." I shook my head.

"Uh, th-thanks," I told him. "Thank you." He just gave a nod before exiting. I smiled at my working watch.

End

Morgan stepping off our place broke me out of thought. I watched him kill a walker. We hid and they came through. The cars exploded. Daryl and I headed out.

"You're a good shot," Daryl told me. "Don't miss!"

"I won't," I called back. Daryl and I rode around and I shot the barrels. The walkers followed us. We lead them straight to the Sanctuary. Daryl and I found Rick.

"We can wait some more," Daryl said.

"We can't," Rick said. "He stopped to get me." Father Gabriel was missing.

"How's that?" Daryl asked.

"Negan," I answered. I was looking down and I looked back up at Rick. Rick nodded.

"He was on the ground," he continued. "I was trying to kill him, and Gabriel stopped to get me. We gotta start out."

"You all right?" Daryl asked him. Rick let out a chuckle.

"This isn't about me," he said. "Let's go." Daryl whistled and we all headed out. Daryl took out someone and we kept running. We all met up. Mom put her hand on my shoulder.

"I don't want to wait for it anymore," Rick said. "You don't either--Yeah, I know." Rick got off the truck he stood on. "So we don't have to wait for it. If we start tomorrow right now...with everything we've beaten, everything we've endured," Rick looked at me for a moment before everyone else. "everything we've risen above, everything we've become...if we start tomorrow right now...no matter what comes next...we've won. We've already won." Everyone cheered. Not me. We started to head out when Enid stopped me.

"(Y/n)," she had called. "You okay?" She seemed to be the only one who noticed my unbothered look. I just nodded.

"Negan used to have these talks with everyone in the Sanctuary," I told her. "I used to block them out when I got there, but then I started to listen." I looked to the ground before looking back up at her. "It still feels the same way. The proud leader talking to his people. Except I had a place there."

"You have a place here," she said, taking my hands. "You don't realize how hard we tried to get you back. Do you honestly think Negan would try just as hard to get you back? I know you remember when Carl went to get you."

"And when Carl threatened to kill Negan; I almost pulled my gun on him." She looked taken back a bit. "I almost shot that kid who showed up on my farm; the kid I fell in love with. I almost shot Carl for threatening Negan."

"But would Negan try to get you back?" I think she was trying to get it into my head Negan didn't give a shit about me, but what I could do for him.

"Negan doesn't care about you, (Y/n)," she told me. She moved her hands to my shoulders. "We care about you. We got you back and we're gonna fight like hell to keep you here."

"Doesn't that make you guys the same?" I asked her. She looked confused. "You only care about what I can do 

for you?"