19 | xscape

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19 | XSCAPE

The quiet steps that approached Roxanne's door made her hold her breath

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The quiet steps that approached Roxanne's door made her hold her breath. She had no clue as to who it could be, and she didn't like the thought of that. The small beam of light coming from the crack under the door went dark; an object had blocked the light. A faint scraping noise could be heard from the concrete floor, as if someone had pushed something under the door. Then, the thing blocking the small amount of light from past her door moved along. Roxanne instantly shot up and grabbed the thing that was slipped under her door.

It was a note. Roxanne looked at it curiously and read the text on the paper. The thick, bold, block letter carefully read: GO NOW.

Although Roxanne didn't entirely know what the instruction meant, she got the brief idea that now was her time to escape-- and if she decided to stay any longer, she may never get another chance.

At that very moment, all of the plotting Roxanne had been doing, vanished. She realized it was now or never, and that she'd have to find another way to defeat Negan rather than from the inside.

* * *

Roxanne slipped past all of the Saviors as she sneaked through the halls to the outside with Kali and Kali's baby bag in her arms. The moment she stepped outside, the bright lights blinded her for a long moment. When her eyes readjusted to the brightness, she noticed an array of motorcycles, Daryl attempting to steal a motorcycle and a sandwich-eating man spotting Daryl. "The hell?" The sandwich man cursed as she peeped Daryl.

Before the man could scream or rat either one of them out, Roxanne hurried behind him and swung her arm at his head. The man instantly fell to the ground. "Roxanne." Another voice spoke up from behind her.

Roxanne shot her head around and readied her fist while holding onto Kali with her other arm tightly. When her eyes met the recognizable blue ones she had met before, she relaxed. "Jesus, Jesus." Roxanne sighed out in relief.

"I've got the keys. Let's go." Daryl grunted at the others.

* * *

The four all made it back to the Hilltop, where they reunited with Maggie, Sasha and Enid. It only took a couple of hours before Rick and the rest of the main Alexandrians to end up at the Hilltop too.

Roxanne had been sitting in the grass with Kali when she saw the gates to the Hilltop being opened by Maggie. When they finally opened, the first person she saw was Rick, then she saw Michonne, Carl, Rosita and the others. Almost the entire clan was there and it finally felt like they were whole again.

Rick's eyes were locked onto Roxanne's when he caught first sight of her. He became teary eyed, then ran over to her. He engulfed her in a tight hug, finally feeling able to do so now that they weren't hiding around a corner. "You okay?" He instantly asked.

Roxanne smiled and nodded. "Now I am." She told.

"Good. Because we've got to get ready to fight." Rick informed.

Roxanne smiled proudly. "I knew you'd finally have enough of it."

* * *

The group went to go speak with the leader of the Hilltop in order to gain an ally in the fight against the Saviors. But, he wasn't having it. "No! No way in hell! That wasn't the deal. You people swore you could take the Saviors out, and you failed. So any arrangement we had is now done-- null and void. We aren't trade partners, we aren't friends, and we never met, hm? We don't know each other. I owe you nothing. In fact, you owe me for taking in refugees, at great personal risk." Gregory, the leader of the colony, rambled.

"Oh you were very brave staying in here while Maggie and Sasha saved this place. Your courage was inspiring." Jesus scoffed.

Gregory cocked his head. "Hey, don't you work for me? Aren't we friends?" Gregory asked Jesus.

Rick huffed and stepped up. "Gregory, we already started this. And we're gonna win." Rick explained. 

"These are killers--" Gregory began.

Roxanne took a few steps forward. "They are cowards. They're nothing but slaves for Negan. They're too afraid to defy him and leave the comfort of their accommodations to do anything against him. If we take a stand, this will all be over. There will be no more of their stealing, no more of their killing and no more of living under the fear of disappointing them!" Roxanne slammed her fists against his desk.

"Who even are you?" Gregory squinted his eyes at Roxanne.

Roxanne was getting ready to lunge at the man, but Rick yanked her back. "Would we be better off without the Saviors? Yes or no?" Rick inquired.

"Yeah. Sure. Okay." Gregory shrugged.

"So, what will you do to fix the problem?" Michonne spoke up.

Gregory snorted. "I didn't say we had a problem. You did. And what happens outside of my purview is outside of my purview." Gregory turn his back to the Alexandrians.

"What the hell, man? You're either with us or you ain't. You're sitting over there talking out of both sides of your mouth." Daryl, a usually quiet man, shouted.

"I-- I think I've made my position very clear. And I want to thank all of you for not being here today and not having this meeting with me or being seen on your way out. In other words, go out the back." Gregory spoke sarcastically.

Rick gestured for the group to leave and everyone did so, but not without giving one last dirty look to Gregory. "Yeah, well we don't need him anyway." Daryl grumbled.

"Yeah, that's right. Because we have Maggie, Sasha and Jesus here." Rick elaborated.

"...and Enid." Maggie added. As if on cue, Enid entered the hallway the group stood in to deliver some news.

"What's wrong?" Sasha questioned.

"Nothing. Just, come outside." Enid told.

The group followed her outside, and what they saw was magnificent. Almost a dozen people from the Hilltop were crowded outside. "So if you don't remember, I'm Bertie. And I owe my life to you all, twice over. A bunch of us do. Enid says that you want Gregory to get us to fight the Saviors with you. Is that true?" She asked.

"Yes." Maggie answered.

"Do you think we can win, that we really could beat them? Us?" She asked.

"I do." Maggie assured.

The woman breathed deeply. "Well, Enid says you could show us the way. I'm ready." The woman stated. A bunch of other agreeing mutters came from the crowd. The Alexandrians all looked at each other and smiled.

The group had already begun planning how they were going to win with the limited amount of people they had while they were walking out of the colony. But before they left, Jesus noted that they needed to make an alliance with another community to help them. A community ran by someone named: King Ezekiel.

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