Two Sides

Chapter 17 - Preparing to Fight

It was a little while later that suddenly Carol appeared, a bag in her hand and a determined but slightly sad expression on her face. While Henry moved on to another patch, Ezekiel stood up to face her.

"I'm sorry," she said, referring to Benjamin's death.

"Thank you," Ezekiel replied rather calmly. While it still hurt to think about what had happened, he didn't want to show weakness. She had been there when he died, that had been the last time he had seen her and while it wasn't long ago at all, it felt like a lot had changed in the meantime. Well, his opinions had, for that matter.

"I'm gonna be here now," Carol explained, letting her eyes wander over the empty patches. "We have to get ready. We have to fight."

Ezekiel kept looking at her. "We do," he agreed. "But not today."

Then he nodded towards Henry and walked over to the boy who was about to plant a new sprout. Ezekiel kneeled down next to him and helped, using his hands to spread the soil around the plant. Just a few seconds later, Carol joined them. The whole act was some kind of metaphor to Ezekiel – they had burned that which had been infected with evil and now rebuilt it with healthy new seeds and sprouts. Just like they would when fighting the Saviors, in order to form a better world.

* * *

Your POV

No one seemed surprised to see you when you walked through Alexandria. Apparently, no one else had suspected that you'd turn your back on them – unlike Rosita. However, you quickly found Rick and to your surprise, he was with Daryl.

God, how long had you been out there?

Now that you thought about it, it had been a while. Longer than you had planned, definitely, and not as successful as you had wished. You really needed to pull yourself together if you didn't want to die.

"Hey, you alright?" Rick asked immediately and scanned you up and down. "Daryl said you should have been here days ago."

You shifted. "Yea, I tried to get some more guns. Well, I did find some, not many."

"Good that you're here, now," he said then with a smile. "We actually have a plan to fight the Saviors."

"Yea, I heard Dwight was here..." you replied. "Rosita told me."

"He's helping us... We're gonna take care of Negan when they come here, take them all out," he explained. "Then we can take out the rest of them in their headquarters and outposts."

"And Dwight will dish them the lie that everything's okay so they won't know we're coming?" you concluded.

"Yea," Rick agreed. "We have guns, people."

"And they can be trusted?" you asked, hesitantly.

He sighed, running his hand over his face. "They get something, we made a deal. A good deal. They're all about the profit."

"Alright..." You swallowed hard, but it didn't sound too great to fight with complete strangers that didn't have a personal problem with Negan. But you trusted Rick and the others, they knew what they were doing. Your judgement was clouded anyway at the moment.

"When?" you asked then.

Rick looked at you, determined. "Soon."

* * *

Rick wanted you on one of the roofs near the main street – a whole lot of knives at the ready and of course a gun, just in case. You had only reluctantly agreed, actually you didn't want to fight in the second row, but Michonne was on one of the balconies, so you figured it was a sign that he trusted you. Plus, he didn't want you to be spotted by the Saviors because, apparently, they thought you were dead just like Maggie.

The waiting was annoying, you weren't scared but still not calm at all.

One the people from the other group, the Scavangers, was with you, a young and lanky guy with really short hair. You didn't really see what happened at the gate, but you noticed that the Saviors had arrived and that someone was talking. It made you nervous, soon you'd have to fight – kill actual people. And if something went wrong, they'd kill you. You tried to think of Abraham and prayed that at least some of his courage was within you, as well.

You observed the scene at the gate and immediately noticed that something seemed to be going wrong. Jadis, the leader of the Scavangers turned her gun on Rick. You inhaled sharply, looking over to the balcony where Michonne was and noticed that she wanted to help him – but the woman that was with her stopped her, pointing a gun to her head. In that moment, you felt something cold on your temple and you froze. That could only mean one thing.

The guy held you at gunpoint.

They had betrayed you.