Didn't See That Coming | The Walking Dead(1)

Part 95 (This is Carl's Show)

"And if it doesn't-" CJ began.

"It will," Daryl assured her, his tone going back to calm. "It will, alright?"

CJ was still mad, but she was getting nowhere. It killed her every time her and Daryl had fallouts like this. The last time they properly argued was the day she almost lost him; the day their lives changed for the worse. 

"You better be right," she mumbled before walking away.

Daryl watched her go, an underlying feeling of guilt playing in his mind for not telling her what he was doing. But not for what he did at the Sanctuary. In his mind, that needed to happen. He thought he was ending things, and he was willing to stand by his decision. 

If only he realised the mistake it truly was.

When darkness of the night overtook the clear blue skies of the day, Rick still wasn't home. The people of Alexandria were getting ready to leave for the Sanctuary to accept the surrender that Daryl and Tara seemed confident they'd get. CJ still had a bad feeling about the whole thing, and she was still mad at Daryl for going. But it was done and there was nothing anyone could do to change it now. 

Most of the stuff was loaded up when CJ went looking around for Carl. She eventually found him crouched on the ground dragging the sewer grate back over the entrance.

"Carl," she called out, and he stood up. "I've been looking for you. We're almost ready to go. What are you doing over here?"

"The guy from the gas station," he began. "The traveller, I was checking on him."

"You're keeping him in the sewer?" CJ questioned.

Carl was about to respond when a loud clang from the gates echoed around the town, and a screech of some kind of sound system starting up alerted everyone in the streets.

"You may be wondering why your lookouts didn't sound the alarm..."

Negan.

"They got out," CJ whispered to herself as her heart pounded nervously.

"See, we are elite. I mean, I don't know whether they're gonna wake up from that kinda shot, but they should wake up." Amusement and smugness laced his tone. "So, let's just cut straight through the cow shit. You lose. It's over. So, you're gonna line up in front of your little houses, and you're gonna work up some apologies. And then the person with the lamest one is gonna get killed. Then I kill Rick in front of everybody, and we move on. You have three, count 'em, three minutes to open this gate or we start bombing the shit out of you."

CJ turned around and saw Daryl and several others all gathered around down the street. It was dark, but the moonlight left the looks of shock and fear clear as day on everyone's faces. Negan's whistle echoed through the microphone speakers, sending shivers down her spine.

"CJ, come on," Carl grabbed her hand.

The pair quickly ran off to join the rest of the group; Carl seemed to already have a plan. When they got to the others, he started packing things from the trucks, working fast.

CJ noticed Daryl looking at her like he was about to say something, probably an apology, and she held her hand up to stop him. "Later. It doesn't matter now."

"We need to make it look like we're escaping out the back," Carl quickly explained as he loaded ammo from a crate into a duffel bag. "Get to the woods, halfway to the quarry and cut the lights Get enough of a lead on them, hit them and get away on foot. You know where we'll be. Just have to get the guns, get everyone else here, and we'll meet you there."