Danielle's POV
Justin's dead.
One of The Saviours bought him back this morning and basically dumped his body in the middle of the forest for everyone to see.....and everyone went crazy.
Right now, everyone's arguing with each other. Blaming each for his death. Blaming people who weren't even here yesterday. Blaming people because they think they can.
"Guess they're gonna execute every last one of us! Just like Justin!" Jed, a former Saviour, yells to everyone. I stand back from the scene, leaning against a tree, just watching it play out until Rick gets here.
"Not if we have guns, too." Regina tells him, like that's gonna help the situation. I see Laura and Arat look at Justin's body before they move over to the large group to try and break it up. "Hey. Hey, you guys! Come on now, you guys!" Laura calls to them as she pushes her way through.
Everyone starts going for each other including Gabriel before Alden breaks them up. "Hey! Hey! Stop this shit! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" He yells and everyone quietens. "We're gonna find out who did this and make sure it never happens to us again, alright?" He counters.
" 'us'?" Jed asks him sarcastically. "You're not one of us anymore." He snarls.
" 'Us' means all of us." Alden tells him firmly as he turns round to address everyone. Jed grabs his shoulder and turns him around before throwing a punch to his jaw. "Go shovel that horse shit to whoever killed Justin!" He goes to hit him again but Carol puts her hand on his chest to stop him as her other hand rests on her gun.
"I thought you were supposed to be our leader." Jed says sarcastically. "Enough." Carol growls. "Turn around, all of you." She orders.
"No can do, Cee." Jed nicknames her. "Why don't you go ahead and yank that roscoe, pop me right here? It's better than worrying about getting it in the back."
Carol pulls out her gun and everyone from Oceanside, The Kingdom and Alexandria follow her and get there weapons out making me smirk.
The Saviours back up and Laura steps forward. "We don't want this. Hey, we just need to protect ourselves." She tells Jed.
Daryl steps next to me, his hand comes up to rest on my back. "No guns!" He calls to everyone and they all turn to us at the sound of his voice. "That 'cause you two are the ones who took out Justin?" DJ questions us.
I chuckle. "Trust me DJ, if I took him out, I'd gladly tell you." I snarl and see him frown at my words.
"Nah." Another Saviour speaks up. "My moneys on garbage lady." He says looking at Jadis and everyone follows him. "Revenge for Simon's play for sure." My hand clenches at the mention of Simon.
I haven't thought about that dick for a long time and now this asshole brought him back up.
"No." DJ says. "It's them two. Finishing what they started." He glares at us and moves to grab an axe before the Saviour next to him does the same making me roll my eyes. Arat runs in front of him. "Hey. Hey, stop. It's gonna go too far."
"Nah. It won't." Daryl growls as he aims his crossbow at him as Hilltop and Alexandria
re-raise their weapons. Everyone moves closer to get ready to fight when a horse whinnies and Rick breaks them apart as he shows up, finally, with his python already out. "Everyone back off! Right now!" He orders them.
Arat moves over to DJ and takes the axe away from him as she glares. "All right, we are not doing this." Laura tells Jed firmly. "Let it go." She orders the former Saviours.
Jed glares at her before he turns to walk off, The Saviours following him. "Start the redirect." Rick orders. "And paid off to work the grid." Our people start moving to get ready to go back to work as me and Daryl stay glaring.
We knew this would happen....eventually.
******
Me and Daryl went back to our tent. He started sharping his hunting knife straight away but his anger was making him scrape it to hard. Half way through, I had to stop him and show him properly.
I'm re-sharping my claw when I see Rick walk around the corner to us making me sigh. This is gonna be interesting to say the least. I know he thinks me and Daryl had something to do with Justin's death even though we didn't.
"Heads up." I say lowly to Daryl who stiffens as he hears Rick footsteps. Daryl continues sharping his blade as Rick sits down on one of the logs. "Go ahead. Ask us." Daryl says calmly, but I can hear the anger in his tone.
"That wound in Justin...." Rick starts as he looks at us with wearily eyes. "Looks like a puncture. I wondered if it could be from a knife." He says, looking at me with that making me roll my eyes. "But it's small, round and clean. Smaller and cleaner than a bullet hole. Kind of looks like an arrow hit him." He says cautiously as he looks at Daryl with his famous head tilt. "Or a bolt."
Daryl nods. "Is this the kind of shit you used to do?" He ask Rick. "When I had too." Rick nods, answering him sincerely.
"You really think we did it, Rick?" I ask him, looking at him in disbelief. "No sis, I don't. But others do." He tells me, looking me dead in the eye as he says those words. "I'm just making sure."
"If we'd have killed him, we would've killed him in plain sight." Daryl says for the both of us and I nod, agreeing with him. If I did kill Justin, I wouldn't hide it because that guy was an absolute asshole. "We don't know who it, but we know why, and so do you." Daryl tells him.
"Bringing all these people together, it was always gonna happen. One way or another." I say seriously but Rick shakes his head. "No. It's the right thing to do, sis." He tells me firmly. "The future belongs to all of us now."
"Why do they get this future and Glenn don't?" Daryl asks seriously. "Or Abraham? Or Sasha? All the people The Kingdom lost? Hilltop? Oceanside? You ever think about what they want? What they'd do, if they could?" He fires question after question at him.
Rick nods. "Yeah, I do. I have. For a long time, I wanted it too, maybe more than anyone. But killing each other when the world already belongs to the dead? It's not the way, not anymore." He tells both of us, his face set.
Daryl sighs as he glances at me before he picks up his crossbow and stands up. "We should go work the grid." He says to us before he begins to walk off.
Rick stands up. "Daryl, I know you don't agree with everything we're doing here. All that I ask is that you try. Do it. Let people see it. And maybe everyone moves past what's happened to what could happen. And maybe, just maybe.....it'd be one of the best decisions you ever made." He steps closer to Daryl. "Like not killing a guy who left your brother on a rooftop to die." He gives him a small smile before he walks off, squeezing my shoulder as he walks past.
Daryl looks at me and I shrug, sheathing my claw. "Come on. We've got work baby." I squeeze his hip as I walk past him, and a few seconds later hear his footsteps behind me.
******
Daryl fires a bolt into a walker that Cynthia is struggling with. Her and Maggie had found a remote Cabin and when we got there, Maggie is killing walker after walker while Cynthia was struggling. They had radioed in what they'd found and another grid was meant to come and help check it but it was only them two when we got here.
Me, Daryl, Rick and Rosita run up into the deck to check on Maggie as Cynthia stays leaning against the end rail, breathing heavily. "You all right?" I ask her. "Yeah. Just opened it back up." She looks at her wound as she walks over to us.
"What happened to grid five?" Rosita asks Rick. "Should've been here before us." Rick gets his walkie out and holds it up to his mouth. "Grid five, what's your status?" He asks into it.
Where the hell are they?
******
We make it into the forest, where grid fivewas stationed before they were meant to come here. When we get there, Cynthia runs over to a body that's lying face down in the ground. She checks their pulse. "Bea." She calls softly. "Bea, wake up."
Beatrice groans as Daryl picks up a weapon from the ground. She holds the back of her head as she moves to sit up. "You okay?" Rick asks her. "Yeah. Yeah, I think so." She softly tells him. "What happened?" He asks.
"I don't know what happened. Arat called in the all clear, and we headed towards the road and then....I don't know. I think something hit me from behind." Beatrice explains.
"And Arat?" I ask and Beatrice looks up at me. She shakes her head. "I don't know." I frown as Cynthia helps her stand up and Daryl hands her back her weapon. "Thanks." She gives him a small smile.
Maggie walks over to us. "Whoever did this took her." She tells us as she holds up Arat's weapons and walkie. Rick frowns as he looks around but I keep my eyes on Cynthia's face and see that she doesn't seem concerned.
I tilt my head as I look at her and I have a bad feeling that Oceanside have something to do with these missing Saviours.
******
"We need to find her." Rick tells us. After we brought Beatrice back, we went to the meeting tent to discuss Arat, trying to figure out where she could off gone.
"Do The Saviours know?" Cynthia asks, but there's a bite to her tone making me more suspicious. "Not yet." Carol answers her. "They think Arat's on watch through the night. Come morning, they will."
"She could be dead already." Maggie argues. I want to find out who took her but in all honesty, I don't care what happens to her. Not after she killed Olivia for no reason.
"If we don't figure out what happened, The Sanctuary is gone." Carol tells us. I keep my face blank as again because I don't care about the goddamn Sanctuary. It feels nice to be away from it.
"If that happens, we won't finish the work before the water rises. We'll lose the bridge." Rick sighs in tiredness. I know the weight of all this is getting to him but he wanted them here so he has to deal with the consequences.
Jerry raises his hand stiffly like he's in school and I smile at him making him relax a little. "Yo." He calls everyone. "Say we nab the perp. Then what?" He asks that all important question. "Who decides what happens next? Is it- is it gonna be a 'Gregory' or a 'Negan'?"
Rick glances at Maggie who ever so subtly glares at him making me feel awkward as I'm standing in the middle of the two. No one answers his question as I think no one knows what to do.
"Well, whoever it is, when the time comes, they'll get what they deserve." Cynthia breaks the silence. Rick nods. "Pair up with someone you trust. We're out there till we find her." He tells us.
I nudge Maggie making her look at me. "Wanna stay with me and Daryl?" I ask and she gives me a soft smile and nods. I know she trusts me and Daryl the most here so she'll be comfortable with us. I couldn't imagine her going with my brother.
That would be overly awkward.
We meet up with Daryl and tell him what happened in the meeting and what the plan is. He agreed to go out with me and Maggie so we set off into the woods straight away. I saw Rick and Carol going together and I can only assume what they're gonna talk about.
"You good with this? Or you just playing nice for Rick?" Daryl breaks the silence as he asks Maggie. I walk next to Maggie as we keep on the lookout for Arat, Daryl is ever so slightly behind me. "I'm not sure." Maggie tells him.
"Yeah, me neither." Daryl says lowly. "Nelle, you good?" He asks me. "No. I don't even know why I'm out here." I say honestly and Daryl and Maggie nod agreeing with me.
"Part of me wishes I could see things his way, look forward and not back." Maggie tells us. "Every time I look at Hershel, I think about how things could've been. And I can't let that go."
"You don't have to. I haven't." Daryl tells her honestly. Maggie stops making us do the same as she looks at us. She sighs. "What Rick's doing is right for the future. It's better for Hershel." She starts walking again as faint snarling catches our attention.
We step around a tree and see a walker on the ground, it's snarling getting louder as it sees us and crawls slowly towards us. "I'll get it." I tell them before I unsheathe my claw and walk over to it. It's grows excited when I get close and I stab it's temple, stopping it's excitement.
I roll it over as Daryl and Maggie walks over to me. I sigh as I bend down and pull the stick out of it. "I know who took Arat." I tell them. They both look at me curiously as I stand up and begin to walk off.
I was right the whole time.
******
Daryl's POV
It's dark by the time we make it to an old abandoned building. The floor crunches beneath us as we cross over old road signs that had been nailed on to a gate but it got run down so it's now turned into a sort of drive way.
"So how do you know about this place?" I ask Dani as I shine my torch so we can see. "I think it's where they lived before." She tells me. Maybe Cynthia told her. "It's what I'd do." Maggie speaks up.
I shine my torch over at the doors and see cans sitting in front. "Hey." I call them, catching their attention. The cans of ethanol they didn't get delivered is sitting outside the doors of the building. "Beg." I hear Cynthia's voice coming from the round the corner.
We run around the corner and see Arat on her knees with a gun to the back of her head as Cynthia stands behind her. "Beg. Beg like you made them beg." She growls over Arat's cries.
"Drop it." I order as I aim my crossbow at them. "I knew it." Dani says lowly from next to me. Beatrice aims her spear gun at us before Cynthia stops her. "Bea. It's okay."
"You take out Justin with that thing?" I ask them. "He killed my husband." Beatrice tells us. "I thought she was gay." I hear Dani say to Maggie and I roll my eyes.
Now is not the time baby.
I drop my crossbow in understanding. "Daryl, Dani. Please." Arat begs us. "They got a reason?" I ask her.
"We've all done things." Arat says desperately but she looks at Dani with that statement. "People will find out." Maggie tells Cynthia and Beatrice.
"She's the last one. After this, it's over." Cynthia tells us sincerely. Maggie shakes her head. "Maybe for you. But it won't be. With something like this, it keeps going."
It's Cynthia's turn to shake her head. "This was our home." She tells Maggie sadly. "My mother and my grandmother found this place for the group. There were so many of us then. Men and women. Kids. My mom and I built a garden. Me and my brother used to play right here. But then The Saviours came." She sniffles. "And Simon wanted what we had. He gave us our final warning. Afterward we ran. And we tried to forget. But then, your people came and asked us to fight. We did because we couldn't forget."
Everyone nods their heads agreeing with her. "After Rick ended it, we went along because we didn't think we had a choice. Until you hung Gregory. That's when we knew. Rick's rules aren't the only rules. You showed us the way. It was time."
"You did this....because of me?" Maggie asks in disbelief. Cynthia starts crying. "They murdered my brother. They murdered my mother. She shot my brother right here." She points at Arat angrily. "And they took everything because they could."
Arat looks up from the ground and looks back at us. "Please." She begs. "It's not like that anymore, okay? I'm one of you now."
"Did you do it?" Maggie asks her. "Simon would've killed me too." She looks at Maggie with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"You asked me to beg for his life!" Cynthia screams at her. "He was crying and you smiled. I told you I loved him. I needed him!" I glance at Dani and Maggie and see they both have anger written all over their faces. "He was only eleven years old. And what did you say?" She asks.
"I don't remember." Arat sniffles as she looks down at the ground. Cynthia cries harder. "Say it!" She growls. Arat lifts her head again to look at us. "Please!" She begs more desperately.
"What did you say?" Dani asks her calmly but I can hear the anger in her tone. "Come on Arat. You've always had a big mouth, don't get quiet on us now." She growls.
Arat sniffles as she looks away from Dani's glare. "No exceptions." She says quietly. Dani looks at Cynthia and gives her a look of understanding before she turns and walks off. Maggie gives me a short look before she follows behind her. I give Cynthia one last look before I take of behind the girls.
"Dani! Daryl! Maggie!" Arat screams out for us as we walk away to let Cynthia and Beatrice to get on with it. "Dani, you can't do this! I've changed!" None of us turn around to answer her. After a few seconds of silence with the just the sound of Arat's silent cries, does a piercing noise echo through the night air.
"It was her own fault. Bitch deserved it." Dani growls as we walk back to the camp.
******
"Cyndie said I showed them the way." Maggie says as we get to the road. We had been walking back to the camp all night. Dani had kept quiet which is unusual for her so me and Maggie did the talking.
"She did the same thing for me." She says looking at me. We stop on the road and I glance at Dani seeing her deep in thought and Maggie does too. "We gave Rick's way a chance. It's time to see Negan."
"All right." I agree before we start to walk down the road. I keep Dani close to me as I keep my eye on her.
What happened back there must of got to her.