Later on that same day, in the afternoon, Elijah yelled down from the top of the wall. "They're coming!"
They knew Lance Hornsby would show up eventually. They'd helped Riverbend and it was just a matter of time before the Commonwealth's army showed up. They still didn't know how they wanted to play it exactly. Every way they thought of brought its own risks. In the end it was up to Maggie to decide. They'd planned most things already, like Marcos staying inside one of the trailers with the kids. At least Tara and Jesus had returned.
Alden followed Maggie's promise of not splitting up and they both headed up to the plateau by the gate.
"Afternoon, Maggie." Lance greeted jovially. Aaron and Gabriel were amongst the small army at his back, both looking miserable. "Good to see you again."
"What do you want?" Maggie spat back at him with her arms crossed, eyes glaring down at him.
"There are some killers on the loose. We lost a lot of men. So, I'm hunting them down. And the property they stole. The Commonwealth's property."
"We don't know anything about that." She shrugged.
"Of course not." He yelled back up. "So you wouldn't mind if we took a quick look around, right? Rule you all out... For the paperwork."
"I gave you my answer." She kept her arms crossed. Hornsby turned back to his troopers and they whispered amongst themselves.
"This is going to be a long day." Alden whispered. He'd barely recovered from everything that had happened only yesterday.
"And a dangerous one." She whispered back.
"Marcos is with the kids. He knows where to take them if it goes wrong." Were the only words of comfort he had to offer.
A trooper stepped out of the crowd below. "Open up."
"It doesn't have to be this way." She stressed, urgently.
The trooper removed his helmet. His shabby hair gave his identity away before they even saw his face. It was Daryl. Seeing him here changed things. He would always choose family above all else, and Maggie knew she was family.
"Yeah, it does." He snapped sternly. Alden and Maggie figured his words were only a facade to please Hornsby and keep him from attacking. "Ain't nobody leaving until they look around. It'll be quick, I promise."
Daryl's words weren't enough to steady Maggie's nerves. "You expect me to trust him?"
"I ain't asking you to trust him. I'm asking you to trust me."
Those were the words she needed to hear. Daryl was on their side and would fight for them when needed. She nodded and the gate was opened. The troopers marched into Hilltop. Alden tensed up; he hated this. He didn't trust them one bit. He would watch their every move closely and climbed down. Maggie stayed on the plateau and shared a look of concern with Aaron and Gabriel as they headed inside. Only then did she climb down after Alden.
The troopers spread everywhere quickly and looked through everything. Hornsby was the one they needed to watch the closets. Alden wanted to punch that smug smile off his face, but he kept himself composed and calm.
"It's great to see you again." Hornsby greeted like he hadn't been willing to bulldoze them just a moment ago.
Maggie felt the same as Alden, she too wanted to punch his perfect teeth in. He was a spiteful man, only led by selfish ambition. He thought of himself as better than anyone else. Lydia and Elijah watched the troopers go through the trailers. They better be fast like Daryl had promised, tensions were already running high.
Hornsby headed for their truck straight away with that same smug smile on his face. Alden judged that he thought he had it all figured out. Maggie squeezed Alden's hand. She was thankful she let him go ahead with his absurd plan of basically destroying their only working motorized vehicle.
Hornsby tore the tarp of the old timer and after taking a short peak at it, he turned to Maggie. "Nice truck." He noted. He turned back around and let his hand glide across the hood. "This new?"
"We've only had it for a bit. I'm still working on converting the engine to run on the new fuel. It doesn't run." Alden replied. "I was never a car guy." He added with a shrug.
"You know, we found tire tracks at the scene." He stated; it was a threat. He reached down and touched the muddied wheels. "Seems it ran recently."
"You got something you wanna say, why don't you just say it?" Daryl spat as he took a step closer to Daryl.
"Just stating the facts." He scoffed. "Yeah. I came from a long line of gear heads." He explained to Alden alone. "Do you mind?" He didn't wait for an answer before he popped the hood and took a look at the engine. "She sure is clean for a truck that just sits here." He noted as he examined it.
"Told you, I'm working on it." Alden shrugged.
Maggie took a step back, closer to Alden. Her chest was flush against his chest and she could feel him breathe. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder.
"It'll be fine." He whispered.
"Ethanol conversion is solid." Hornsby continued. "And we left plenty of fuel last time we were here." He took another look at the engine and chuckled. "No wonder she won't work, the starter relay is disconnected. I'll just go ahead and hook that back up for you." He snapped the wires in place and closed the hood.
Alden felt Maggie's body tremble against his and wrapped his arm around her tighter. "Don't worry." He whispered.
Hornsby stepped inside the car and found the keys hidden in the vizor. He turned the ignition and nothing happened, exactly as planned. The engine was dead. Hornsby was frustrated and turned the key again, trying to force the car to come to life.
Maggie's stress faded and she pushed away from Alden gently. She crossed her arms and walked to the driver's side window. This felt better than punching him in the face. The frustration in his eyes was rewarding enough.
"You and your people have till sundown then you have to be one your way." She told him calmly, but sternly. She was in control and she wanted him to know it.
—
Maggie and Alden took a break from it all and stayed inside their trailer. They needed some privacy to discuss a couple of things.
"What'd you do to that car anyway?" You had me nervous there?" Maggie asked.
"A bunch of things. Disconnecting the starter relay was one of them." Alden replied as he picked Adam up from his crib. "Took the spark plug out and messed up the internal wiring. I figured he might catch one thing, but not all. Watching him fall flat on his face was wonderful."
She smiled, "yeah, but you gave me a minor heart attack as well."
"Sorry, I should've told you what I did, instead of keeping it to myself."
"No, it's fine." She sighed. "We should get Hershel and Hope back inside. I know letting them walk around on their own makes us look that much less suspicious, but it makes me uncomfortable. What if it still goes wrong? They'll be trapped in the middle."
"I told them to stick close and Hershel will look after his sister. He always does, even if no one asks him to." Alden said. He set Adam down on the blanket they used as a play mat. He immediately reached for the building blocks with his little hands.
She shook her head. "That doesn't make me any less nervous. I'm going to find them and bring them back here."
"I'll stick with my little buddy then." He sat down on the blanket.
Maggie left immediately and Alden leaned back against the front of the couch. With everything that had been going on Adam hadn't been getting enough attention. The same went for Hershel and Hope, but they understood what was going on. At least partly. Adam couldn't. Yet he was still the sweetest baby one could ask for.
That exact fact had gotten worrisome for the parents, Alden especially. He was reaching his milestones a lot slower than his siblings. They knew Adam was too young for them to truly worry about it, some children were just a little slower. Yet it still made Alden believe that he'd failed him.
Alden looked at his youngest with a soft smile. Adam held one of his wooden blocks out to him. He made a whiney noise when Alden didn't take it right away.
"Oh, do you want me to take it?" Alden asked. "Thank you so much." He added as he took the block from him. "Yeah, let's build a tower."
Before Alden could even start to build a tower they were interrupted by a loud commotion outside. Alden bit his lips. He couldn't leave Adam here on his own, but taking him with him could prove to be even more dangerous. He decided to leave him. He chose the lesser evil. As soon as Alden stood up Adam looked up at him pleadingly and stretched his arms out. Alden sighed, Adam had made his own choice.
"Okay, buddy, I won't leave you." He promised as he lifted him up. "I'm going to regret this." He added in a barely audible whisper. He hurried out of the trailer with the baby in his arms. Almost immediately he clocked where the commotion came from.
Elijah pinned Hornsby against the manor's wall by the collar of his shirt. He did so silently and stoically. A trooper already had his rifle trained on the back of his head. Elijah wasn't even bothered.
"Release him, or we'll shoot." The trooper commanded.
Hershel was standing right there with his old baseball cap on his head. Alden cursed silently, he hadn't seen it since yesterday in the compound. Hershel must've lost it there. The regret of taking Adam out here already hit Alden.
"Hershel, come here." He flagged him over straight away. The boy ran to him and hid himself behind him. Alden turned to the trooper next. "Lower that rifle, there's no need for violence. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding."
Instead of listening to Alden the trooper whipped around and aimed the rifle at his chest. He didn't even turn away or apologize when he noticed the baby on his arm.
"What the hell!" He yelled back to him. He turned to the side and covered Adam as best as he could with his body.
Maggie showed up with an upset Hope in tow, Daryl trailing closely behind them. The second he saw the scene he aimed his rifle at the trooper.
"That's a baby!" He growled, aggressively. "You turn that gun away, right now!"
Maggie freed her handgun and pushed Hope behind her. She aimed it at Hornsby's head just as the other troopers showed up. Things were officially going wrong.
"This man put his hands on Hershel." Elijah explained, still without moving.
Alden and Hershel moved closer to Maggie for safety. If her looks could kill, Alden was a dead man. She was mad that he'd been stupid enough to take Adam out here with him.
"He said something bad was gonna happen." Hershel told his mom as he hugged her side.
Those words angered Elijah more and his grip on Hornsby tightent. Hershel was like a little brother to him.
"Whoa! I can explain!" Hornsby pleaded, frantically.
"Back off! Now!" Daryl yelled at the other troopers.
"You know, I'm a nice guy, Maggie." He began a lot calmer. "I'll even let you back down. So no one gets hurt."
"One of your men just aimed his rifle at a baby. I'm inclined to call bullshit." Alden spat back. Maggie clicked the safety of her gun.
"I'll deal with him appropriately, I promise." Hornsby insisted.
"Plenty of others have made the mistake of threatening my family, most of them are dead now." Maggie said angrily, but composed.
"You turned this place upside down and you've found nothing. So, unless you want to die for nothing, tell them to drop the guns before something really bad happens." Daryl added with a low growl.
Hornsby was quiet for a couple of seconds. In the silence the tension grew, it was close to boiling over now. Bullets would fly once it did. Alden pulled Hope behind him and pulled Hershel towards him. He needed his kids out of here and fast.
"Hershel, I need you to take Adam." He said and handed the baby to him gently, only letting go once he was sure Hershel had him. "Take him and your sister back to the trailer. Lock the door and only open it for family."
Hershel nodded. He was the oldest now that Rose was dead. She was no longer there to protect them, that was his job now.
Alden turned to Hope next and crouched down. "Stay with your brother." He hugged her. "Listen to him. He's in charge."
"I will." She promised. He watched them go before he grabbed his own gun and aimed it at the trooper that had aimed at Adam earlier.
"Everyone lower your weapons." Hornsby commanded after another tense silence. "That's an order." He added and all the troopers lowered their rifles in unison.
Maggie was slower to lower her gun and Alden followed her example. Daryl's rifle lingered on Hornsby, even after Elijah let go of him. He waited another second before he lowered his rifle. Hornsby straightened his shirt and turned to his men.
"Pack up. We're leaving." He walked forward, towards Maggie. Three sets of eyes stayed trained on his every move, ready to attack at any given moment. "I'm sorry if there was any miscommunication." He said almost jovially. "Shame we couldn't be friends."
With everything said and done the Commonwealth finally retreated, taking Daryl, Aaron and Gabriel with them again.
"Okay, first off, why did you think it was a smart idea to take Adam out into this?" Maggie dragged her hand down her face tiredly.
"He made grabby hands." He replied, honestly.
She pinched the bridge of her nose, "that's not a reason to take your kid out into possible danger."
"I know, but everything was going better than I had expected, so when I heard something I thought it was nothing. Won't make that mistake again." He shifted his weight. "Poor kid had barely been getting any attention. I'm starting to worry about him, you know. He's lacking behind."
"He had a rough start, he'll catch up." She insisted. It was the same thing she said every time he brought it up.
"Yeah, must be it." He bit his lip and looked away.
"And you don't agree with me."
"I want to take him to a doctor, to get answers. I would take him to Alex, but I can't because he's dead."
"He had a check up with Siddiq at Alexandria. He said there was nothing to worry about." She reminded him.
"That was over six months ago." He reminded her on his turn.
"As long as Hornsby is out to kill us, I can't worry about it. He's alive, he's healthy." She rubbed her temple. "My first priority is keeping him alive."
"Mine too, Maggie. He's our son." He grumbled.
"Hornsby is going to come back and try to kill us all. Let's not do this now." She tried again. She worried about Adam as much as Alden, but she didn't have time or space to worry about it now. He was healthy, he only lagged behind siblings a bit.
"When then?" He threw his hands up in frustration. "There is always something."
"When we're safe." She replied promptly without any hesitation. "I need you with me on this one. I swear once this fight is over I'll move heaven and earth for him."
Alden nodded. "I'm with you." They needed to stick together if they wanted to win this.