I looked at Daryl expectantly. He locked eyes with Tara. Both of them knew something I didn't, and from Daryl's tone I could tell I wasn't going to like. Whatever it was, it seemed important. Really important. Daryl looked as though he was thinking over his words before he spoke.
"Our inside man is Dwight."
I stiffened at his words. Dwight. The same Dwight who tortured Daryl. Who tortured me. Who killed Denise. And yet he looked as though he was enjoying it. Why would Rick trust him? Why would anyone trust him after everything he's done? Yet all the information he gave us panned out. Besides the guns location. Did he plan that? Did he have the guns moved, in hopes of killing us?
"Why the hell would Rick trust him?" I stood up, even with my leg's protests.
"He didn't. I made the call." Daryl's words caught me off guard.
"Then you're delusional." I snapped.
What the fuck? Seriously, Dwight. Out of everyone I would've thought it was one of the wives. But no, Dwight. I would've preferred Simon over him.
"Daryl was right. He had the chance to kill him but he didn't. We wouldn't have gotten this far without him." Tara spoke.
I looked at her in disbelief. Out of everyone, I thought she'd be pissed. Dwight took Denise from her. Yet she brushed off our alliance with Dwight like it was nothing.
"I'm still gonna kill him, after all this. I'm gonna kill him for Denise." Tara locked eyes with me.
She wasn't okay with it, but she felt as though it was our only shot. Our only chance. She wanted to kill him herself, much like I wanted to kill Negan myself. I hoped it worked out better for her.
"Maybe it could be you, me, and (Y/n). And maybe we don't got to wait so long."
Daryl had a plan. He wanted to take down the Saviors, but didn't wanna wait. He was right. The sooner we got this done the better. I still couldn't stand on my leg very well. I'd weigh them down and yet he still wanted my help. Rick would be suspicious. They got into a fight about this. They needed cover.
"I'll cover for you guys."
Daryl and Tara nodded before heading out the door. I limped over to where Carl and Judith were. Rick left Michonne and Carl in charge, but Michonne had left a few hours ago. Carl looked up from the papers he was writing on. I made my way up the steps to his porch as I spoke.
"Tara and Daryl are going hunting." I lied and he nodded.
I sat next to Judith. She reached out to me. I pulled her onto my lap and she played with my fingers. She made a few baby noises causing a smile to play on my lips. Babies were always something I had a soft spot for. I always thought about having my own someday. Now it seems impossible in today's world. It became a distant dream at this point.
"You good?"
Carl turned to face me and gestured to my bandages. Something seemed off with him. Like he had a lot on his mind. He was still just a kid and he had all these responsibilities. The world had forced him to grow up quickly. I went through that. I learned how harsh the world could be at a young age, much like him. I smiled softly.
"Yeah, just a few scratches."
We sat in silence for a while, besides the occasional babble from Judith. After a few hours, Daryl and Michonne approached us. I quickly scanned Daryl's eyes. He was successful. Good. Negan was most likely dead now and so were the other Saviors. Whoever was still alive would surrender soon. I nodded as they got closer.
"It's time to meet up with the others and have the Saviors surrender." Michonne spoke.
I handed Judith over to her and walked with Daryl to our house to grab our things. Daryl was quiet as usual, but he seemed off. Almost as if he wanted to say something.
I went up to my room and seethed my knives. I pulled my hair back and flung my sword on my back. I went to grab my crossbow and noticed Daryl in my doorway.
"They're getting the cars ready now. We're gonna leave at nightfall."
I nodded as I pulled my crossbow over my shoulder. Daryl rang his hands as I followed him downstairs. He seemed off too. I stayed quiet. It wasn't my place to push at him anymore. I headed out on the deck. We would be leaving soon.
I pulled a cigarette from my pocket. Before lighting it I watched the flame dance on my lighter. I felt slightly free for the first time in a while. This would be over within the next few hours. Negan would be dead. I would be free. I could feel again. Breathe again. Hope. A feeling I was always cautious around. Hope was a two sided dagger and yet I felt as though I would never be let down again. That my life was going to go back to as normal as possible.
I looked up at the door to my house opening. Daryl stepped out and sent a short glance my way. His eye lingered on my cigarette for a moment before he started towards Michonne and a group of others getting ready.
What little time there was left of the day soon turned to nighttime. I started towards the others, who were waiting for Michonne's return. There was a light chatter between everyone. I leaned against the truck, to ease the pain in my leg. I pulled another cigarette from my pack and went to light it.
I paused as my gut dropped. Everyone looked towards the gate, where a loud metal banging was coming from. The sound of a megaphone's static, broke the brief silence. All hope drained from my body as I heard his voice.
"You may be wondering why the hell your lookouts didn't sound the alarm. See, we are polite. I mean, I don't know when they're gonna wake up from that kind of shot, but they should wake up." Negan's voice filled the silence. "So let's just cut 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."
I shot a quick glance at Daryl. He was supposed to kill him. Yet here he was yet again, and this time there was no escape. There were only a few of us here. All the others were out finishing up the plan.
I looked over to see Michonne and Carl running towards us. Negan whistles through the megaphone. Carl already had a plan going. The second he reached us he started to speak.
"We need to make it look like we're escaping out back. 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."
"Two minutes, people. Dig deep. I want these apologies to be memorable. Bonus points for creativity. Work up a poem, sing a song. I love that shit." Negan's voice cut Carl off.
"Get going." Carl quickly resumed. "There's people in the infirmary. They're gonna need your help."
A group of people ran towards the infirmary to do as Carl said.
"We got guns. We can fight them." Tara stepped in.
"We will, but not now. Carl's right." Rosita stepped in.
"Carl, we can't just let them have this place." Michonne seemed hesitant to run.
"We can. All we need to do is survive tonight. This is my show. You said it. This is my plan, and you're gonna do it. You're all gonna do it. So let's go."
Carl was gonna stay back and buy everyone some time to escape. He ran in one direction as the others fled towards the back gate. I stayed in my spot. I couldn't let Carl do this alone. I didn't think Negan would kill him, but still something in my gut was telling me to stay back with Carl.
"(Y/n), let's go." Michonne's voice broke my thoughts.
"I'm staying back, Carl's gonna need help." I turned to her.
She nodded. She seemed grateful that I was gonna stay back. She mouthed a thank you before following the others. I wouldn't be much help thanks to my leg, but I could sure as hell try. I pulled the small bag of painkillers from my pocket. I took a few hoping they would kick in quickly as I started towards Carl.
I reached Carl at the base of the watch tower by the front gate. He turned to face me as Negan let out his one minute warning. Carl sighed.
"You're supposed to follow the plan."
"I'm not letting you do this by yourself, kid."
Carl caved and started up the ladder. I followed as Negan started talking.
"Okeydokey. You brought this on yourself, Rick. See, I was willing to work with you. All you had to do was follow a few very simple rules. Now- well, now I see that you got to go. Scorched earth, you dick."
"He's not home." I heard Carl's voice as I was still climbing the ladder.
I heard guns click, presumably locking in on Carl. Stupid leg, I should be up there by Carl's side.
"Oh-ho-holy shit. Everybody hold your fire. It's Carl."
I pulled myself to my feet as I reached the platform. I scanned the many saviors and my eyes quickly landed on Negan. He locked eyes with me.
"And Puppet. Look at you two. Answering the door like big kids. I am so proud. Daddy's not home, huh, Carl?" A smile spread across Negan's face. "Well, I guess he's gonna get back to a big old smoky surprise."
"There's families in here. Kids. My little sister." Carl's voice was low as he spoke.
"Well, that shit just breaks my heart. There's kids at the Sanctuary. You must've seen 'em. You too, Puppet, even with how little time you were out of that cell. Even had a little baby at one of the outposts. I wonder what happened to her." Negan lowered the megaphone from his mouth and paused to look at Carl before speaking again. "None of this shit's fair, kid. Hell, you know that. You had to kill your own mom. Puppet had to kill hers too."
Images flashed through my mind. The day everything went to shit. The day Negan should've died. My mom was sick and dying in the hospital. Negan never left her side. It was one of his only redeeming qualities. He loved her, he really did. I was on my way there when I came across my first walker. I drove past it as it devoured some poor soul. Reaching the hospital, I made it inside minutes before the military arrived. I rushed to my mother's room.
I entered the room to see Negan frozen in fear, as my mother came for him. She savagely bite at him. I froze. That wasn't my mom anymore. She was gone. Negan's eyes locked with mine, begging for help. I grabbed his arm and quickly pulled him into the bathroom. I went to close the door only to have it stopped by the monster's arm. It clawed at us as it began to push its way through. Its head was now inside the bathroom. It's teeth clattered together, trying their best to find a fleshy snack.
I slammed up against the door multiple times as Negan shrunk into the back of the room. With one final jam against the door, I heard a gut wrenching squish. I watched as a pool of blood piled on the floor. I slowly opened the door. The lifeless body of what used to be my mom fell to the ground before me.
I quickly snapped back to reality, as I pushed the rest of what happened from my mind.
"That is screwed up. Ergo, we need someone in charge who's willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that shit doesn't happen." Negan laughed as he stepped back in line with his men. "Oh. Wait. That's me."
"Bad stuff does happen, but we can figure this out. We can stop this." Carl tried to reason with Negan.
"Oh, now you want to talk? See, your dad had it that I died, no matter what. He gave my people a choice. Not me. Now we're gonna need a new understanding. Apologies, punish-"
"Kill me."
My head snapped to Carl, as he cut Negan off. What did he just say? Kill me. No way, kid. Negan isn't laying a finger on you as long as I'm alive. I scanned Carl and noticed his body shaking and he was sweating bullets. Was he really that scared of death? He didn't sound scared or look scared.
"What did you say?" Negan looked up at Carl, his voice was serious.
"If you have to kill someone, if there has to be punishment, then kill me."
I looked at Carl in shock. Was this a part of his plan? Was he just trying to buy more time? Carl glanced at me slightly before turning back to Negan.
"I'm serious."
"You wanna die?"
"No, I don't. But I will. It's gonna happen." Carl looked defeated as he spoke, what the hell was up with him. "And if me dying could stop this, if it can make this different- for us, for you, for all those other kids- it'd be worth it. I mean, was this the plan? Was it supposed to be this way? Is this who you wanted to be?"
Negan looked down thinking and that's when we heard it. The sound of a crashing followed by machine gun fire. The others were out. I grabbed Carl's arm and pulled him down low. I pointed to the ladder and he nodded. He went down first and I followed as I heard Negan cursing.
Explosions started going off as I started down the ladder. I looked down to see Carl looking at the fire spread around Alexandria. I slid down the rest of the ladder, thankful that the painkillers had kicked in. I pulled my crossbow from my back as Carl began to toss smoke bombs for cover. I followed Carl, my heart skipping a beat with each explosion.
We paused for a moment as Carl looked around contemplating. I heard something land next to us. Shit. I quickly pushed Carl to the ground as an explosion went off. I rolled off of him and got to my feet as warmth spread down my side. I looked down to see blood. Damn it. I ripped my stitches.
I helped Carl to his feet as Saviors started to enter Alexandria. I pulled Carl behind me as I tried to keep us clear of the explosions. I paused for a moment beside a house and glanced around for any form of safety. My hearing quickly caught the sound of glass shattering in the house. I pulled Carl away from the house as an explosion went off inside it.
Carl seemed to weaken with each direction I pulled him. What was wrong with him? I couldn't see any blood. He looked perfectly fine besides the fact he was sweating like crazy, but there were fires everywhere, it was fucking hot. Something was wrong with Carl. I needed to get him to safety so I could help him.
I pulled Carl towards the sewer system. We could hide in there. We'd be safe and I could help Carl. As we walked my heart dropped as two Saviors noticed us.
"On the ground."
Carl quickly pulled a pin on a smoke bomb and I pulled him towards the sewer. The smoke gave us cover as I quickly opened the covering. I allowed Carl to go first and I followed, closing the manhole covering behind me.
I pulled Carl's arm around my shoulder and walked farther down the sewer in hopes of finding an area where we could sit. Reaching an opening, my hand quickly drew my gun. There was a cot on the ground and supplies. I could see footsteps leading to behind a corner. Someone was down here.
Carl placed his hand on my gun, signalling to lower it. I looked at him closely. His eyes were serious as he spoke.
"Siddiq you can come out, she won't hurt you."
A man slowly walked out from behind the corner. Carl trusted him. Probably helped house him for a while. I placed my gun back in my holster trusting Carl's judgement.
"(Y/n) this is Siddiq."
Carl's voice struggled to hide whatever pain he was in. I felt his knees starting to give out. I quickly lowered him to lay him on the cot.
"Kid, what's wrong?"
Carl's eye met mine. It was the same look my mom had the last time I saw her alive. The look that he knew he was going to die soon. He hesitated before lifting his shirt to reveal a taped down gauze on his side. He peeled a side of it up. My heart stopped seeing his wound.
No. Carl. Little 8 year old Carl I met all those years ago. He was supposed to outlive everyone. He had grown up so much since when I first met him. He had become a brother to me and here we were. Carl was going to die before me.
This was Negan's fault. If he never showed up then everyone who has died would live and know Carl was going to be added to that list. I rose to my feet only to have the pain in my body cause them to give out.
"Damn it, kid."
My voice shook. I heard Carl shift and looked up, hoping he hadn't left yet. He had sat up and was looking at me with sadness in his eyes. I pushed myself to sit next to him.
"Come on, lay down. Try to save your strength."
I patted my lap. I could remember my mom doing the same when I was sick. It was comforting in a way. I need to be strong for Carl. He'd been staring death in the eyes for god knows how long. He needed to know that he wasn't alone and that it was okay.
He rested his head on my lap as I ran my fingers through his hair. He looked absentmindedly at the wall. My eyes locked on the walker bite on his side. I heard shuffling and looked up at Siddiq. He gave me a sad smile before pointing to my side.
"You're bleeding. I was a resident before. I could help."
"It's f-" I paused seeing Carl look up at me, protesting me. "If you don't mind."
Siddiq nodded before coming to kneel beside me. Carl went to sit up and move, but I pushed him back down. He didn't have the strength to continue to protest so he gave up. Siddiq had started to stitch my side. I never stopped looking at Carl as my fingers curled his hair.
We sat in silence even after Siddiq finished with my side. Carl was getting weaker by the hour. His eyes shut as I spoke softly.
"Come on, kid. Eyes open, your dad's gonna wanna see you."
Carl hummed softly as he opened his eyes. I felt my eyes sting, but it quickly went away as I heard a manhole covering open and close. Alexandrians. We were supposed to meet down here. I looked up seeing the main group of Alexandrians enter. Many looked toward Carl and realised.
They silently sat along the walls as silence fell once more, only to be broken again by the sound of another manhole covering opening. Then it closed. I looked up to see Tara, Rosita, Daryl and Dwight. Anger surged inside me for a moment as my eyes locked with Dwight's, but it quickly subsided as I caught the other's eyes. They looked at me for an answer. I only hung my head and shook it. I saw Rosita and Tara's eyes tear up as Daryl looked away.
Silence fell once again. I looked down at Carl, who was starting to look like a ghost. Rick and Michonne needed to get here soon. Carl was going to be gone by morning. Carl's eyes met mine. He smiled softly.
I looked up at the sound of a manhole opening and closing. Two sets of footsteps started towards us. Everyone in the tunnel looked up and watched as Rick and Michonne walked down it. They hadn't noticed Carl yet. I looked down at Carl and whispered.
"It's been fun, kid."
I slowly shifted out from under him and went to sit by someone else. Carl grabbed my hand and extended a folded piece of paper to me. I softly smiled as I took it. I put it in my back pocket to read it later.
"I'll see you again someday." Carl softly spoke.
"I hope so, Carl." I rose to my feet as Michonne and Rick noticed Carl.
They picked up their pace and were quickly by Carl's side. I walked down to the end of the tunnel wanting to be away from the others as I shrunk to the ground and tears escaped my eyes.
Carl Grimes. The kid that was supposed to be untouchable. Supposed to live forever. He was dying slowly. Alexandria had fallen and now Carl was going to die. I curled my knees into my chest and rested my forehead on them.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and saw Daryl looking down at me. He sat down beside me and rested his arm on my shoulders. I could feel him shaking. At that moment, I didn't care what happened between us. All I knew was that we both were close with Carl. I rested my head on his shoulder as I heard his stifled cries.
~~Hi, Fallen_Angel here. Have a good day and be good people.~~