MADISON'S POV
The car rocks to and fro uneasily as Malia presses down hesitantly on the accelerator. I figured if I let her drive we'd have a better chance surviving from the house to the gate of Alexandria.
"Do you not know how to drive?" Malia Asks, making small talk as we drive down the narrow road.
"No, I can drive, just not well."
She shrugs and keeps her eyes forward on the road.
"What made you trust me enough to get in a car with me ?"
"Do you not see the gun in my hand? Does that scream trust to you?" I ask, waving the gun in my hand to emphasis my point.
I sit sidewards in my seat and point the gun at her incase she tries anything. Fangs sit in the back with his head stuck outside the window. His panting is obnoxiously loud.
"You can either sit in the trunk later or you can fight, but if you fight, you fight for us and if you turn on any of us I'll place an arrow in the base of your skull. Clear?"
She smirks. "Crystal."
She sighs heavily, dramatically. "Have you seen all Negan's men? We're all gonna die."
I roll my eyes. "If that sort of optimism isn't what gets a woman out of bed in the morning, I don't know what is." I mock.
"I'm serious. We'll be outnumbered. Negan has hundreds of men and all we have are a few of our best fighters from Alexandria, the hilltop and the kingdom. Rick couldn't get Oceanside on our team"
"Well, we just need to look past that. There's not much we can do about it. They may have numbers but we have fighters." I murmur.
"How do you even know where this is?" I ask.
"Carl told me."
I roll my eyes. "Of course he did."
I change the topic to a more interesting subject.
"I assume the saviors are running around like headless chickens now that our reliable food sources have cut them off?"
She shrugs. "They're scraping by but it'll catch up to them.
"I pity them." She whispers and I frown in confusion.
"Why?"
"They're not all assholes Madison. There's children there and their mothers are just looking for another day of shelter to keep them safe. It doesn't matter who provides them it or what they do, as long as their family is looked after why should they care?" She mumbles.
This is a side of Malia that I've never seen. I sit and wait for her to snicker or make a sarcastic comment but none follow. She's being serious.
"Huh, you do have a heart."
"Surprised?" She chuckles.
"Astounded." I mock.
I remember thinking similar to her when I was stuck at the sanctuary, but time has made me forget that not all the saviors are monsters, they're just survivors.
"You've forgotten that I lived there... for a while at least. They're not all savages, some are kind. Like the old lady at the last stall in the hub, she used to give me an apple when that old hag Martha wouldn't sell me anything from her stall. She had a thing against pregnancy out of wedlock. I mean, what is this the 1600's?" I roll my eyes before continuing.
"Or the red-haired once-student nurse who volunteered to help me give birth or a Mexican stranger who took a chance on a lonely pregnant girl and took care of her for absolutely nothing in return."
Malia glances away from the road and stares at me for a few long seconds before she connects the dots.
"Kai?" She asks in shock.
I nod with a smile.
"Huh, Negan never mentioned Kai."
I cock my head to the side and narrow my eyes. "Negan spoke to you?"
"Yes." Her eyes return to the road.
"Regularly?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
She shrugs. "Not sure really. He took an interest in me. He said I reminded him of someone." She glances once again in my direction.
"I guess I know who he was talking about." She murmurs.
"We're here." She pulls into the side of the road and kills the engine.
The moment the engine goes silent the loud noise is replaced with screams and uproar over the hill we're about to climb.
Fangs whimpers in the back and leans his head on the shoulder of my seat. I reach back and rub behind his ears.
"I know buddy, I know."
My breath hitches in my throat and I try to relax but my body refuses to listen.
"Hey, you know once you're up there you can't turn back." She explains.
I chuckle. "That's supposed to be my line."
She shrugs. "Bet you to it...look, I know you hate me and rightly so, but I've seen what you built in Alexandria. You guys are family. Mine is dead but maybe I could help you save yours."
"Why would you do that?" I ask suspiciously.
She just shrugs. "To show I'm trustworthy, I guess."
I sigh and click the safety onto the gun before shoving it into my holster and grabbing my bow and arrows.
The door opens with a click and I hold it open as Fangs jumps into the front and climbs out my door.
"Let's go."
CARL'S POV.
I feel the vibration of the next bullet clicking into place and the guilt as I squeeze on the trigger. A scream always follows and it doesn't get easier each time like they say it does, they say the more you kill, the less you think about it. But that's not true, not for me.
These men and women could be innocent, fighting for Negan to keep a roof over their heads and food in their children's bellies. Or maybe they're just as guilty as Negan. Either way, I'll never know. None of us will.
I'm not saying we're winning here, honestly, I don't know who is. There are screams coming from every direction and blood that slides down the hill in a wet mudflow stream. I need to watch where I place my foot in case I trip over one of the hundred of lifeless bodies.
After placing a bullet in a man's head, I back up, gaining space and scanning faces as I look for my dad. I hear him before I see him, and his screams boil my blood. If he's hurt, I swear...
Concentrate Carl!
Adrenaline pumps through my body making me feel the most alert I've been in a long time, especially from the sleepless nights looking after Kara. I concentrate and search for my dad.
Eventually, I find him wrestling with two saviors actually, a man and a woman. The man is heavily built and practically towers over dad compared to the woman who is small and frail, but both of them together are a dangerous combination. I can tell he's adamant about getting to Negan who waits for him at the peak of the hill next to a large oak tree.
I try to run to dad, desperately pushing and shoving past people to get to him. In the same second, I hear a noise whizz barely past my ear, missing me by mere inches. I freeze and spin around to where the noise came from only to find a man holding a gun, pointing it straight at my chest.
I should be dead.
I will be dead.
He's at a far distance, even if I try to move he'll shoot.
My heart properly skips a beat and realization starts to sink in.
"CARL!!" I hear dad scream in the distance. The fear in his voice is clear despite the screams that surround us.
The savior closes his eye and begins to aim. I lift my gun but it's too late. The gun goes off at the same time a blade goes straight through his chest, he hangs from it like a rag doll as blood spills off the blade and onto the grass.
I wait for pain but none comes. I look down at myself to find I'm unharmed. I look behind me and follow the direction of the stray bullet which managed to take out one of its own men.
The long blade is swiftly removed to reveal Michonne on the other side.
I run to her and she grabs my hand.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine." I promise.
She has a gash on her forehead that keeps oozing blood into her eye.
She rubs the blood away with the back of her hand and straightens up, flicking the blood off her katana and nodding.
"Good, because we have a war to win." She pulls me towards dad and we run together to help him with the saviors that have now formed a group around him. I lift my gun and pull the trigger twice watching two saviors dropping in the following seconds.
The others that have surrounded him turn to us now. Three run towards us and two gangs up on dad. Michonne slices a head straight off their shoulders and runs to help dad, leaving me with the other original two saviors. I lift my gun before she does and the impact of my bullet sends her backward onto the ground. I turn for the guy and pull the trigger, only to hear a soft click. Empty.
We both freeze.
I groan.
Of course this would happen to me, I seriously have the shittiest luck.
I glance over at dad and my heart flips. Before Michonne can reach him a man shoves dad to the ground and towers over him, shoving his foot against his chest and pulling a knife out.
A sudden impact sends me hurdling to the ground before I can see what happens next. The man took his chance while I was distracted and climbs on top of me. I struggle against him as he reaches back for his knife. I know I shouldn't but I glance at dad once more.
As the savior begins to bring his knife down on dad something large flies out of nowhere tearing him off of dad. The savior screams in pain as he's shoved to the ground and attacked viciously.
The growls erupt from a furry beast. It immediately tears into the saviors throat. A horrible ripping sound is heard from all the way over here as the beast tears out the man's throat, letting him choke on his own blood.
"Fangs?" I whisper in confusion.
Fangs turns to dad and uses his snout to lift him onto his feet in time for Michonne to help him too.
I can't watch anymore I turn my head back to my own mess just in time to dodge the knife plunging towards my head. Instead, it shoved into the grass, so close to my head that I feel the coolness of the steal against my ear.
My sudden head movement caught him off guard and his knife is now stuck and won't budge from the grass where my head was only moments ago. His eyes widen in fear and his jaw drops. I use this brief pause to free my hand and shove my palm into his nose.
I feel the crunch of his nose against my hand and the sound of the sickening snap of bone makes him groan.
The groan turns to a scream of pain and he sits back to hold his nose as it gushes blood.
His weight still holds me down and I rush to plan my next move to flip him off me until an arrow flies straight into his head, knocking him to the ground.
I look up to find a hand held out for me.
"I can't leave you alone for five minutes, can I ?" Madison teases.
"Mads? What are you-"
"Didn't anyone tell you it was rude to exclude people?" She presses.
I take her hand and she pulls me to my feet with her good arm.
She raises a brow and smiles.
I shake my head. "You're-."
"-Gorgeous, intelligent, immensely talented?" She interupts, flipping her hair for comedic affect.
I laugh. "...dangerous."
She places her hand to her heart. "Aww."
"Let's go." I pull her along.
She places another gun in my hand and shoots her arrows in front of us, clearing a path as we race to the top of the hill.
While we're running I notice Madison falling behind and then before I've turned around a grunt escapes her lips as she's pushed to the ground by a savior. I snap my gun into position and shoot the savior at the same time a knife is drove into their back. It's all over in mere seconds.
The body drops and Malia bends to pick her knife up. She offers her hand to Madison which she takes and within seconds she's back on her feet again.
"I'm not the bad guy." Malia murmurs. Madison nods once before turning back to me and continuing our sprint.
By the time we've reached the top of the hill we meet the others up there too.
Dad, Michonne, Carol, Kai, Ezekiel and shiva, Morgan, Daryl, Jenna and Maggie.
"Maggie." Madison whispers next to me. She barely seems to notice the words falling from her lips until Maggie turns around to stare at her.
Madison steps towards her.
"Maggie, I'm so-"
"Don't bother." She cuts her off before turning her back and moving away.
Madison is left standing there alone. She looks down at her feet, closed her eyes and takes a deep breath.
I move towards her and place my hand in her shoulder.
"Let's join the others."
She nods.
We get in line with the others, standing between dad and Michonne. Kai appears next to Madison too.
"How did you get here? When?"
"Long story."
"You're okay?"
"I mean, I've been better, considering..."
She points to Negan who stands only yards away.
"Oh my god... Kai!" She murmurs as we all notice at the same time the army of men and women behind Negan, waiting for us. Their guns pointed our direction, ready to take us out within seconds. He had more men all this time, not breaking a sweat, just waiting up here to take us out.
Who knows how much more men he has hidden away? They outnumber us by tens, maybe hundreds. And just to make matters worse it's Eugene who stands up front, next to Negan, just hidden enough behind men to provide him a wall of protection but also just enough out front so we can see him.
MADISON'S POV.
I can't believe my eyes, I can't believe the endless numbers of men Negan has. This is it, our number is up for sure.
I notice Eugene standing nervously next to Negan and I sigh.
Eugene practically saved my life the other night when he caught us in the woods and told us to run, we got caught anyways and both Kai and I were injured but had it not been Eugene there at that time we'd both be dead. I thought telling him about Rosita had got to him, really made him remember who he was and where he came from. But I guess not...
I watch as Negan lifts a megaphone to his lips. The sound echoes around us. He knew we were coming all along and he was ready. Setting up speakers for his megaphones and planning exactly where and how much saviors would be positioned around the hill, he's been playing us like puppets this whole time and we never knew.
I look down at Malia who fights the saviors, oblivious to my eyes throwing daggers at her. She's the only person who could've sold us out. Who could've told him our plans to attack, yet she was stuck in the cellar the whole time, wasn't she?
Negan's voice diverts my attention back to what's happening at the top of the hill.
"Well damn Rick!" Negan booms.
He laughs mockingly. "Would you look at that! I ambushed your ambush with an even bigger ambush."
"How about you step out from behind your men and face us!" Rick roars, I can hear the fury in his voice.
Even from here I can hear Negan's laugh.
"Why don't you run Rick? You all know you're never gonna make it. Look at my numbers and then look at yours. Maybe if you all scatter in different directions one or two of you might make it." He teases.
There's a long pause between us all as he scans our faces. He stops at mine and raises his hand, pointing straight at me.
"Ahh, Mads. It breaks my heart to do this to you, truly it does but you said it, not me. Remember? What were your words again? Oh yeah ...'Mercy won't help you win'. You couldn't have been more right Madison."
I ball my fists at my side and grit my teeth. He's such an asshole.
Kai places his hand on the small of my back and he leans in to whisper in my ear.
"Calm Madison. Don't let him get to you."
Kai is right. I take a deep breath and try to relax.
"Guess what else I did?" Negan booms again.
He waits for an answer which everyone knew he wasn't going to get
"Well, let me tell you. I brought you an old friend. Eugene, you might remember him? Well, he is the person who made today possible." He rubs it in.
"Let's get to it, shall we? This is how it's gonna go down. There are eleven of you over there plus a scary ass tiger. First, Rick, all my men are going to point their guns at your sons head and shoot out his other eye, then we'll take out the Mexican traitor, whoever the fuck that Barbie blonde bitch is and then... Madison. We'll kill the kids first. We'll take your other friends and torture them to death and then we'll leave you alive in a dark cell for a few more years so you can wallow in your guilt, because this, Rick, is all your fault."
My heart thumps unevenly against my chest, so hard it hurts as Negan lifts his hand and signals his men to lift their guns. Simultaneously, they aim at Carl. The sound of the bullets clicking into the chambers ring in my ears.
I step in front of Carl without thinking twice.
"No!" Carl whispers in my ear, grabbing me by the back of my arms, trying to push me out of the way. I turn to face him as quickly as I can.
"You die, I die." I take his hand in mine and turn back around to face Negan.
Then Kai shocks me by stepping in front of me.
"STOP! YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS!" Maggie screams her plea.
"No, Widow! You didn't have to do this. All you had to go was follow my orders and live happily ever after but you chose wrong. And now they will die... ironically, lining up like that, they're making it easier for us."
Jenna steps in front of us all.
I hold Carl's hand in one of my own and Kai's in the other.
I look over to Rick who stares at us in utter fear. Tears in his eyes and raspy breaths take over him as he shakes his head.
He's stuck.
He can't back down or anyone dies and this was all for nothing or he could let Negan kill his kids and the others can live and win this never ending war, making a real future of our kids, for my kid.
I make the decision for him.
"Take care of Kara." I smile.
Tears fall from his eyes and dribble down his cheek as he tries to blink them away.
I thought I'd be scared, but actually I've never been more content. This is how Im supposed to die, for my family or with my family, it's not often you get both.
Shiva roars loudly, sensing the tension and we all jump with fright, covering our ears as he ferociously charges towards the saviors. The sound of a single bullet echoes through the air and instantly Shiva slumps to the ground. The once strong tiger roars with pain, it's fierce growl turning to a soft kitten whimper as blood soaks it's coat.
"NOOO!" Ezekiel cries. Carol holds him back from running to Shiva.
"Let's wrap this up NOW!" Negan bellows.
"3..."
"NO!" Rick cries, looking for any other solution.
"2..."
Eugene suddenly steps out front and covers his ears as he takes cover on the ground.
"NOW!" He shouts.
And just like that the sound of a million gunshots echo through the air. Bullets rain down on the saviors like sharpened knives, ready to kill, piercing and blowing through anyone or anything in their way.
It takes me a minute to realize it's not us that's being shot at and that the saviors are dropping like flies as the seconds tick by. When I glance to the side, I see groups of woman at the side of the hill with machine guns in their hands, pelting bullets mercilessly down on the saviors.
"It's Oceanside." Jenna shouts in surprise.
"Eugene convinced them to help us." Carl adds.
We turn to look at each other in astonishment. I guess today isn't the day we die. We look to Rick and he lifts his gun.
"NOW!" He screams.
Together we run at the saviors and the women of Oceanside sprint along beside us. We pick the remaining few saviors off one by one, so easily, as they trip and fall over the bodies of their friends they once fought with as they try to run away, desperately.
We don't stop until all there is left is Eugene still curled up on the ground and Negan close beside him.
Negan is alone, nobody else is here to fight his war, nobody is here to save him.
"Well, Rick the moment has come." He smiles.
"And just so you know Rick, that eeny meenie, miney, moe, that was bullshit. I just didn't want to kill a kids dad in front of him. Turns out I might as well have because he's gonna have to see it anyways." He spits as he lifts Lucille up, readying her for when Rick charges at him.
"You're beat. You're people are dead." Rick shouts at him.
Negan shrugs. "I'll get out of it. I always do." Rick and Negan practically dance around the Oak tree, walking around it again and again, waiting for someone to make the first move.
Negan's smug smirk is enough to drive anyone insane and I don't realize how angry I am until Carl places his other hand on ours. "Ow, Mads." I was gripping his hand so hard it begins to turn purple.
"Sorry." I mumble and I release his hand. I didn't even realize I was still holding it in the first place.
This is a fight between Rick and Negan now and all there is left for us to do is watch. The others too, our people fighting at the bottom of the hill have now come to join us, including the newbies. I'm surprised they agreed to help fight after only living in Alexandria for a short time. Marnie smiles proudly at us as they revel in their victory.
They won, we've won. Tara smiles as she joins us and she stands by my side. Her smile fades when she looks down at Negan and Rick.
The tension is the air could be cut with a knife and my stomach is in knots watching Rick. One wrong move and he's dead.
Rick and Negan dance around the tree once more but this time Negan doesn't emerge from the other side of the tree. Instead, he waits for Rick until he's close enough to hit him in the stomach with Lucille and then tackle him to the ground.
When Rick is on the ground, reaching for the gun that fell from his hand and trying to catch his breath, Negan lifts Lucille in the air, above Ricks head.
"No!" Carl roars frantically.
I don't even see the gun in his hand until he fires.
Negan yells in pain and drops the bat. His hand is pumping blood and even from here I can see a string of blood ooze onto the grass. Rick takes this time to kick him in the leg, making him buckle to his knees. Ironic, how we're the ones to finish this, the same way he started it.
Rick reaches behind him and grabs something small from his back pocket.
We watch as the expression on Negans face changes. Maybe it finally sank in that he's about to die. His head moves to the side and my heart skips a beat when he looks at me.
"Mads...please!" He begs.
I take a second to find my words before I shake my head at him.
"Mercy won't help you win."
Rick swings his fist out but completely misses Negan. It confuses me for a second that Negan didn't make a move or even flinch or fall but then I see the blood that stains his neck. Rick wasn't trying to hit him, he slit his throat.
For a few seconds I feel funny, guilty and I look to the ground. I'm not sure what I feel most guilty about. The fact that I assisted in his death or for wanting to listen to the voice in my head that tells me to save him, even after all he's done to us.
I glance back up again and to my surprise he's still on his knees, he hasn't choked and bled out on the grass. I look more closely to find the cut is light, barely enough to choke him. Rick will have to cut him deeper if he really wants to kill him. Negan's throat is stained only a light red. I hesitate as Rick bends down to his level and whispers something in his ear.
When Rick stands back up he turns to us and to my utter shock he shouts the words that changes everything.
"Save him."