Would It Matter // Rick Grimes

Chapter 67

Me and Rick walked out of a tent when Jerry rode up on a horse.

"What's going on?" Rick asked.

"Maggie's heading to Alexandria. Jesus thought you should know pronto." Jerry said.

"How long ago?" Rick asked.

"Call just came into Hilltop." Jerry told him.

"She's going there to kill Negan." I said. "I'll start heading there and I'll meet you there Rick." I said.

"Okay. Be careful Sydney." Rick said, pecking my lips.

"Will do." I said, getting on my horse.

I rode out and I got cut off by a horde of walkers. I went a different way and I saw another horde of walkers which caused my horse to get spooked. It threw me off and I slammed my head against a pile of concrete and everything went black.

Ricks POV:

I was on the back of Daryl's bike since he was taking me to Alexandria to stop Maggie. He then went off the path.

"That was the path back there. Pull over." I said. "Pull over!" I shouted.

He stopped and we got off the bike while he threw it down.

"What is this?" I asked.

"You know exactly what this is." He said.

"I already called it in. Maggie's not making it through those gates." I said.

"Yeah, that message didn't go through." He said.

"You messed with the relay?" I asked, getting mad.

"This time, man, it's going to go the way it was supposed to." He said.

I pulled my walkie out and he hit it out of my hand and tackled me. We went rolling down a hill and into a deep hole.

"These roots...they're the only way we're getting out." I said.

"Too high up though." Daryl said.

I jumped and grabbed a root and it broke, making me fall to the ground. I hit the ground before looking at him.

"Goddamnit!" I shouted. "You set that up too?" I asked.

"You're really laying this on me?" He asked. "You're the one who had to go chasing after her. Couldn't just let things be." He said.

"You know what keeping Negan alive means to us." I said.

"I know what seeing him dead means to her." He said.

"Daryl, I get why she can't accept it, I do. Do you?" I said. "Her never going to Alexandria, her hanging Gregory the way she did? Yeah I know, I'm not blind." I said.

"Well, you sure as hell are acting like it." He said. "You're ass wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for Glenn. You wouldn't have found Sydney, you wouldn't have met your daughter, you wouldn't have found Carl and you wouldn't have found any of us." He said. "Or did forget about that?" He asked.

"Of course not. I think about it every damn day. And Maggie, I hate what I did to her, what I took from her but it's what I had to do." I said.

"She's doing what she has to do." He said.

"You're okay with that?" I asked.

"Why the hell wouldn't I be?" He asked.

"You spared Dwight. After Denise, after what he did to you." I said.

"What do you mean? Locking me in a damn closet? Parading me around so I couldn't say nothing? You got that guy sitting in a cell like a damn symbol to all them assholes who can't wait to see everything go back to the way they were!" He shouted.

"Keeping him alive is how we make sure it won't!" I shouted.

"No. Keeping him alive is giving them hope that it will." He said.

"Michonne talked to her. She came to the camp. She was coming around." I said.

"Well, she was trying. The truth is, she just couldn't live with it. Just like Oceanside." He said.

"Oceanside? You saying Oceanside killed those Saviors? Arat?" I said.

"I'm saying they got what they deserved. Truth is, I couldn't live with it either." He said.

"If this doesn't work, if she killed Negan, he becomes a martyr. The war was for nothing. Every person who died, died for nothing." I said, before choking on my tears. "Carl...Carl died for nothing." I said.

"What about the rest of us? You don't think after all the shit we've been through, we couldn't handle it?" He said. "You keep asking us to have faith in all these other people. Truth is, you don't have any faith in us." He said.

"You know that's not true." I said.

"I'd die for you. And I would've died for Carl, you know that. But you have to hear me. You're chasing after something that ain't meant to be. You just got to let him go. Let him go." He said.

We fell silent and I put my head down. We started trying to get out while walkers fell into hole. I soon got out and held onto a branch. I stuck my hand out to Daryl.

"Brother...take my hand." I said.

He finally grabbed my hand and I pulled him out. We made our way to the road. I looked to the left and saw a horde of walkers...and the horse Sydney rode out on.

"I'm gonna stay back and lead them away from camp." I said.

"No, man!" Daryl shouted.

"I'm not giving up on it yet." I said.

"The river. Take them to the bridge." He said.

"I'm not sacrificing the bridge. I'll find another way." I said.

"There ain't no other way!" He yelled.

"I'm not destroying the bridge. We need it." I said.

"Fine." He said. "Hey! Be safe!" He shouted, as I got on the horse.

"You too." I said.

I rode off and I was leading the walkers somewhere else while looking for Sydney. The longer it took, the more worried I got.