Since they all got back to Alexandria, it's been a constant fight. This Alpha bitch was sending parts of her herd to their gates. He could deal with walkers but it was getting tiring. Having to go out there and kill a group of walkers then go to the next gate and kill more. It was the second wave and he was already covered in blood.
"Lydia!" Hunter shouts as he spots another group of walkers. Lydia quickly came to his side, "You're my eyes. Are any of them skins?"
Lydia studied the walkers carefully, since she's been in Alexandria, Hunter's family were the only ones who treated her with respect, "No. They're just regular walkers."
Hunter exhales before pulling out his knives. Hunter runs through the gates toward the walkers. It was probably a group of ten from what he can see. And he could handle ten. But what happens when Alpha sends more? He stabbed every walker in the head, he looked around at the bodies on the ground making sure each was dead before he walked back to the gates.
But they just kept coming, hour after hour more walkers came through the woods. Every available fighter was called to help as the groups of walkers became larger. Every time he walked through the gates Eugene would tell him more were coming.
"They keep coming from the direction of the border," Aaron informs them as they regrouped, "It's just a constant wave after wave."
"This is her," Carol spoke up.
"You know your training. Lock it down," Michonne instructs and so they went back to fighting.
They went out in groups to stop parts of the herd from reaching Alexandria. Hunter wasn't scared of the Alpha. He was just annoyed by her tactics. Sending herds their way was the only thing she could do. If it was one on one, like how it was with Negan, she'd lose.
They'd had to fight in the night and by then there were walkers at their gate. They've been fighting these constant attacks for a day now. And they were all starting to get exhausted. None of them have slept yet. They were on alert. When they thought it was over and they killed all the walkers when they thought they could sleep. They were quickly called back to their posts.
But this time, they were walkers on their way from each direction. And it wasn't small groups of walkers. They were herds coming from everywhere. He's dealt with herds before. When they first got to Alexandria. He and Rick went out after Carl was shot and they killed them. But Rick wasn't here anymore and Hunter had to do this on his own.
"How long till the next wave hits?" Michonne asks as they all started clearing the walker bodies from the inside of their walls.
"One hour from the north, two from the south," Eugene responds as he stood on the tower watching over everything, "Northern wave's thicker than fleas on a farm dog, but the southern's more dispersed. By my estimation, we'll be fighting into the night again."
"Yeah, can't push them too much further," Daryl comments.
"I have eyes," Michonne snaps at him.
Hunter exhales and rests his hands on his hips, "Look, we're all tired. We're all dealing with this shit. But we can't start turning on each other. Not yet at least. We have more coming."
"I'm sorry," Michonne apologizes to Daryl. But Daryl wasn't focused on them.
"Hey, heads up," Daryl points to a skin walking over. Hunter rolls his eyes, what in the world does this woman want?
"The north border. Now."
Hunter scoffs at the demand, "Excuse me. Does it look like we have time? Call off your walkers."
"Not us."
Daryl scoffs, "Yeah, right."
"Not...us," The skin spoke again, "Go to the border, lay down your weapons, and wait."
"Wait for what?"
"Her."
Hunter looks between Michonne and Daryl as the woman walks away. There wasn't a chance that these attacks weren't the Alpha's doing.
_____
They had called a council meeting and told everyone what was going on. Everyone was arguing with each other about what they were going to do and if this was the Alpha or not.
"Alright!" Michonne shouts, silencing all the other voices before looking over at Lydia, "Is this your mother?"
"No. I don't think it is," Lydia answers.
"Why's she want to talk to us?" Daryl asks her.
Lydia hugs herself as everyone looks to her for answers, "You crossed into her land. Again. You have to answer for that."
"We don't have to do anything," Aaron spoke up, "We could just not go."
"That's a bad idea," Lydia says.
"We're already under attack," Dante spoke up. Hunter's eyes move to the doctor, and he feels a bit stupid but he has no idea who this man is.
"It isn't her. If she wanted you dead, she'd send the horde," Lydia spoke over all of them, "All of it, not just a few waves at a time."
"Maybe she's trying to wear us down first," Carol says.
"Or, as I relayed to you at the beginning of this meeting, there's reason to believe the satellite and fire—"
"I don't want to hear about the damn satellite anymore, Eugene!" A woman shouted over him, "My friends died trying to save yours and ended up with their heads on spikes. The Highwaymen want justice! So all I want to hear from you is that you're gonna take a dozen of us to meet these freaks at the border and that we're gonna take that lead bitch's head off!"
"Okay, I don't want to be an asshole or anything but can you shut up and sit down, please?" Hunter sighs at the number of people who are agreeing with this woman, "Your friends aren't the only ones who died that day. So please enough of that."
He lost Tara, Enid, and Henry. Frankie, Tammy, Addy, Rodney. Most of them were kids and part of his community. and this woman is going on about the Highwaymen losing two men. He was over that woman.
"How many walkers did you see in Alpha's horde?" Hunter asks Daryl.
"Tens of thousands."
Hunter hums and turns his attention back to Margo, "And so, what exactly is your plan to take out the horde? I didn't quite catch it," Margo stayed silent, "It wasn't a rhetorical question."
"I don't have one."
Hunter mockingly shrugs his shoulders, "Interesting. Does anybody else have a plan?" When everyone kept their mouth shut, he feels he's done his part and relaxed back in his chair.
"If she sends that horde, that's it!" Michonne exclaims, "Right now, all she wants to do is talk. And we are going to listen. Now, while we are doing that, everyone here needs to focus on what's coming in from the north and the south. We're tired. We are on edge. And it is going to get worse before it gets better. But we aren't gonna get through it all if we do not act as one."
_____
Michonne layed out a map infront of them, "Three objectives means three groups. Gabriel will take point in guarding the gate from the northern wave, while Aaron will take some toops and handle the southern wave, breaking it up before it hits the wall. That leaves us, and the border."
"Unarmed," Daryl pointed out.
"You're really going in there unarmed?" Carol asks and Hunter shrugs.
"We don't have a choice. Grab what you need. Meet at the gates in five," Hunter picks up his gun from the table before walking out.
As soon as Hunter walked out of the meeting room Lydia was bombarding him with questions, "Are you guys going? What's happening?"
"Yeah, we're going. If she's not sending the walkers than we need to deal with this herd. We have three teams. One groups taking the south, the other's taking the north. And then we're going to talk to your mom."
Hunter opened the door to his house and Lydia continued to follow him, "Who's going with you? Daryl?"
"Daryl, Michonne, Carol, Laura, a few other people, no weapons," Hunter placed his gun on the table and faces Lydia, "Do you have anymore questions or do you want to take a moment to breathe?"
Lydia sighs and nervously runs her fingers through her hair, "I'm just worried. I don't want anything to happen to you guys because of my mom."
"We're gonna be just fine, as long none of us do anything stupid. And normally I'm th eone doing stupid things and I don't plan on doing stupid shit," He grabbed his jacket and went to leave but stopped and turned to her, "A little piece of advice. Don't be seen talking to Negan. Your reputation won't improve if you're hanging around him. He's a jackass."
Lydia wraps her arms around herself and he's noticed she does that a lot, "He just understands what it's like to be the odd one out. My mom is your enemy. He was your enemy."
"Difference is, he made a choice, you had to be a part of all that walker mask shit. But now you're choosing to be here. They'll warm up to you, I know they will."
_____
In was dark when they reached the border. He hadn't been here since they removed the heads that were place upon the spikes. He still couldn't believe Tara was dead. He's known her for a long time and they were finally getting back to how they used to be. And then she was just gone.
The fog that came from the other side made the hairs stick up. It was truly creepy and he didn't want to do this at night. He tossed his machete to the ground after Daryl put down his crossbow. He was nervous, he didn't want anything to go wrong. He wouldn't even know how to win against a bitch who walks with the dead.
The wind blew through his hair as he waited for Alpha to show up. And when she did it wasn't hard to miss. She was walking with the dead. He did find it interesting that this woman could control a herd, but was also terrified. He glances to Michonne when Alpha pulled off her mask.
"That bitch is crazy," Hunter mumbled. The way Alpha carried herself was sinister. The way she walked freaked him out.
"There was one rule between our people. One law. Stay where you are," Hunter rolled his eyes as she stalked towards them like an animal, "Yet you disobey."
"That fire would've destroyed your land," Daryl spoke up.
"Fire's nature to burn. We have no conflict with nature."
Hunter nods his head, "You're right. We should've let the fire burn through your territory. I'm real sorry."
Michonne stomps on his foot, he winced but got the hint to shut up, "It could've wiped out one of our communities. We were not gonna sit back and let that happen. You can understand that. We crossed one time."
"Three times," Hunter stood a little straighter, how did she know? "During the fire, you walked my land. And during the winter storm, you walked my land. During your search along the river, you and the man with the metal arm walked my land. That's three times. We are always watching."
Alpha stalked closer to the border, "What did I tell you about crossing my border?" Her breath grew heavy and a wicked smile stretched across her face, "You have to be punished."
Hunter's eyes travelled to the skins behind her. All of them were pulling out weapons, "But...I consider context. There will be no bloodshed this time."
"So the hell you want?" Hunter questions. She brought them all the way out here for this?
Alpha's eyes met his, "Land. The creek that winds into the valley, that is your new souther border. We will mark the new border to the north."
"That'll cut off our hunting grounds," Carol says before glancing to her people, "We don't have to listen to this–"
"Carol!" Michonne shouts.
"To this...what?" Alpha stalked over to Carol and Hunter watched the two carefully.
"To this bullshit."
"That's it. Come on. We're done. Let's go," Daryl insists as he walks over to Carol.
"We're not," Hunter came to the other side of Carol but she was quick to move away from him, "Not until this one lowers her eyes to my feet," Carol stared down the Alpha. Hunter knew how she felt, he felt the same way when Carl died, "You should fear me."
"I don't. I look at you and I feel nothing at all."
"Is that right?" Alpha asks, "The blonde boy screamed your name just before we took his head."
Hunter clenched his jaw and he couldn't do anything to stop what happened next. Carol pulled out a gun and pulled the trigger but Michonne knocked Carol's hand and the bullet didn't reach the target. Daryl got in front of Carol and pushed her back while Hunter and Michonne stood before Alpha.
"I apologize for my friend. We have not slept. And you know what she lost," Michonne tries to reason with the woman.
Alpha snapped her head to Carol, the move was so fast it creeped Hunter out. The way she moved was terrifying, "I forgive you. Mother to mother. This is my land now. You better run."
"Come on, let's go."
Hunter stared at Alpha as he slowly backed away and picked up his machete. He watched as her stone cold expression turned into a smile. She was a truly wicked person.
______
"You said that bitch has to die," Hunter spoke as he walked up to her in the abandoned building they found. He heard she was taking pills and he wanted to talk to her.
"She does."
"You know, I promised Maggie that I'd kill the Governor for what he did to her. I killed him. I told Negan I'd slit his throat and I did."
"Why are you telling me this?" Carol asks.
Hunter leaned against the wall, "I liked Henry, he was a good kid. I liked Tara and Enid. They were family. You're family. Now I've kept all my promises. I promise you that crazy bitch will die. I haven't come up with how she'll die but I'm sure I'll think of something. I have you're back Carol. I want her dead."
"I thought you put away your gun. I thought you were done with all of that. Wanted to be the good guy."
Hunter bit the bottom of his lip, "I did that for Carl. I did that because Rick was always there to lead. He's not anymore. I have a daughter now. I'm not gonna let her grow up with this Alpha bitch telling us what to do."
Carol's face softened, she didn't know Hunter had a kid, "You have a daughter."
Hunter smiles and pulled out the picture of Coco, "She's 4 months old. She's everything to me. Her names Coco."
Carol takes the picture from him and her eyes brim with tears. She remembered meeting Hunter for the first time on the highway when the bombs were being dropped. She remembered how he cared for Sophia and Carl and Judith.
"She has your eyes."
"I said the same thing," Hunter chuckles as Carol hands him back the picture, "I promise you Carol, Alpha will die. And if I have to do it myself I will. But I don't want you to be taking these pills. You have no reason to listen to me but it won't help. It'll only make it worse."
_____
Carol infact didn't listen to him. She continued to take the pills and she got herself hurt because she was hallucinating. They found her in time and brought her back to Alexandria. He waited until he heard that Carol would be okay before walking back to his house. By the time they got back in was already morning.
He opened his door and bumped into Eugene, "Hey, man how's it..." He trailed off as Eugene just walked past him, "going. Nice talking to you too! The hell's wrong with Eugene?"
Rosita lifted her head off the table and she held an annoyed look on her face, "He told me that our whole friendship was him hoping we'd end up together."
Hunter's eyes widen, "Oh, wow. He finally confessed his love to you. Honestly good on him."
"This isn't funny."
Hunter chuckles, "It's kind funny. He had to tell you sooner or later. I mean the man's growing balls. This is good for him. Should we make room in this marriage for him?"
"Can we just not talk about this? Please?" Rosita asked as Hunter sat down with her at the table, "How'd it go with the crazy bitch?"
Now Hunter sighed and rested his head on his hands, "Carol pulled a gun. But crazy bitch said there will be no bloodshed. She just wants more land. But that land cuts off our hunting grounds."
"So what are you gonna do?" Rosita asked.
"The bitch walks with the dead. What the hell am I supposed to do?"
Rosita shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know. You always have something up your sleeve. You're not gonna sit here and let her tell us what we have to do."
"Obviously, I'm not gonna let the bitch run our lives. I just haven't come up with a way to stop her."
"You will."