"Mommy!" she screamed as he tore us apart. He tied my hands behind my back as his men carried my daughter off into the woods. "Mommy!"
"Where are you taking her?" I cried, trying to fight against the man pinning me down. He had a wicked smile on his face.
"Oh, off far, far away," he laughed this hideous laugh. "All you had to do was listen. Now you get to learn who the hell I am the hard way."
I fought back tears as I stopped fighting. "Don't kill her," I begged. I promised myself right there that I would do two things before I died. Kill Negan and find my daughter.

"Blow them up, don't let anyone live," Henry reminded me as we moved in. Henry was a nobody. But in Negan's eyes he was a leader for some damn reason. So he was leading the small band inside first. We were supposed to scout before blowing each and every house to bits. Except Rick's. Negan had plans for Rick.

Alexandria. We've been taught to hate that place. Negan said this was it, this was the last fight. The Kingdom belonged to him now. Hilltop was going to stay our milk cow, producing the foods we needed so desperately. But Alexandria would burn.

"I know," I muttered. I slung my bag over my shoulder and followed the men in. We split up. We knew most of the settlement got out. It was just that kind of feeling. I didn't throw a single grenade. I wasn't out for blood. These people? These people didn't hurt me. Not personally. And Dwight had filled me in on his plan.
"Keep as many alive as you can," he begged me earlier that day. "If you can prove to them you're on their side, they'll help you."
"I just want to know which one of them found my daughter," I said tiredly. I had only been with the Saviors for about six months. In that time Negan had put my skills to use and turned me into a true solider. What he never knew was that my loyalty never lied with him.
"I am almost positive I saw her with Maggie's group," he promised. "All you've got to do is get in there and fake your death."
"That's the plan," I nodded.

I looked around. There was smoke and destruction everywhere. Then I saw him. He was down on his knees, gasping in pain. He was Rick's boy. Carl, if I recalled correctly.

"Hey kid," I said in a hushed tone, carefully coming up to him. "Don't do nothing stupid, I'm going to get you outta here."
"Why?" He groaned. He was soaked in sweat. I wasn't sure what was wrong with that kid, but I knew he was important, I knew he was worth saving. "I was bit."
"But you've got time," I said cautiously. I knew the infection spread rapidly, but not too rapidly. We've had people live for days after being bit. "Your dad'll wanna see you one more time before you turn."
"Why are you helping me?" He asked as I wrapped my arm around him and pulled him to his feet.
"I have a daughter, she's four. I think your friend Maggie might have found her. I know if the tables were turned, I'd want someone to bring my baby back to me," I said honestly. "I'm not one of the bad guys."

I could tell he wanted to fight me, but instead he leaned heavily on me as I tried to pull him away from the smoke and flames that ripped through his home.
"Sewer," he groaned, trying to take the lead. "That way," he nodded when he realized he needed me to lean on. He couldn't walk on his own.

We had to stop several times, but the smoke and flames kept us hidden. When I heard Saviors shouting, coming in our direction, I threw a grenade and smoke bomb in the direction of one of the houses. This bought us just enough time to get to the sewer.

"I can't climb," Carl said sourly. "I can't…"
"Hang on," I said softly. I sat him down and lifted the manhole cover. I looked down and tried to formulate a plan. "How far back are your people?" I asked.
"It goes a ways," he said tiredly.
"Don't you die on me, kid, I don't wanna be the one to put you down," I muttered. I looked around before settling on the stupidest plan I had ever came up with. "Lock your arms around my neck," I said.
"I'm too heavy for you," he said weakly.
"Kid, I'm a mom. I've got you," I said softly. He did as I asked and without hesitation, I was lowing myself and him down into the tunnel. Each bar of the ladder was torture, but in my eyes and heart, it was worth it. Even if I was killed on spot, at least I know I hid Rick's son from Negan and his men. At least I did one thing right.
"Why are you helping me?" Carl asked again as we hit the ground below. I wrapped my arm around his waist and started to lead him down the dark tunnel.
"I never got a choice," I said softly. "Negan had my daughter taken into the woods and that was the last I saw of her, though my heart tells me she is still alive. Negan saw my talent and said I was too good to be a worker. So he tried to turn me into his secret weapon. It didn't work. My hate for him and his group…I think I hate them more than you do. So I lied my way through these last few months. I pretended to fight. I pretended to care. All the while making sure I had a plan to get the hell out of there first chance I got. I need to know once and for all if my daughter is alive."

"Carl?" a concerned voice called. "What did she do to you?"

Before either of us could speak, a woman who I had seen before had a gun to my head.

"She saved me, Tara," Carl said weakly.

I let go of him and lowered him to the ground before taking my pistol out of my waistband, my knife out of my boot and dropped the bag.

"It's a long story," I said slowly. "But if I wanted to hurt any of you, I would have already."
"Lower the gun, Tara," another voice said softly. Tara sighed and did so, but not before hissing a very clear threat.
"One wrong move and you're dead."

Daryl, who I knew from the time Negan held him captive, watched me quietly. Rick's daughter was in his lap, tired and afraid.

"You got out," he finally said softly.
"I can't go back now," I said carefully. "We were spotted. They know I'm helping you."
"We're dead," Dwight said softly, looking up at me with sad eyes. "If Negan finds us…"
"He won't find me," I said carefully. "I have one last thing to do, then I can disappear again. We spent two years hiding. Didn't see a single person before Negan stumbled upon one of our many holes in the ground," I shook my head sadly. "I just need to know if Maggie has her in that damn camp somewhere."
"Who?" Daryl asked, giving me a suspicious look.
"My daughter," I said. I pulled my last photograph of her from my pocket. "She's about four now, but her eyes, her smile, I'd know it anywhere."
"Gregory said Paul found a girl not too long ago. That's all I heard him saying when he came to talk to dipshit," Dwight reminded me. "How many kids you know running around the woods these days?"
"Too many, unfortunately," I muttered. "Anyway, we might die. But I don't care if I need to use a human shield, I need to know," I said bitterly. I looked down at the toddler in Daryl's lap. She looked no more than three. "There's a blanket at the bottom of my bag," I motioned to Tara, who was rummaging through my bag. "Give it to the child," I said lightly before looking at Carl.

He looked awful. I could tell he was bitten within the last two days and didn't have much time left. Maybe a day, maybe more.

"It hurts," he said as I came to sit next to him. I nodded as I lifted his shirt, moving the bandage slowly. It was bad. Deep and infected.
"I can't save you, but I can help," I said softly. I reached into my coat and pulled a small bag free.

"Drop it!" Tara hissed, rushing at me.
"Tara, enough," a familiar voice echoed. We all looked up slowly to see Rick, trailed by Michonne, making their way down the tunnel. "Help with what?" He directed his question at me. I moved back so he could see what everyone was seeing.

Carl. His son, bitten and sure to die.

Rick went pale. He looked like he wanted to cry or scream or kill everyone right there. But he didn't. He knelt beside his son and nodded to me. "Help."

I pulled clean bandages out of the bag, along with a suture kit and two vials of antibiotics.

"It won't save him," I said softly, "but it will slow the infection, the actual infection, not the bite itself."

I made quick work cleaning and stitching the wound before infecting the antibiotic directly into it. I felt Carl tense but I knew he would survive the night at least. I moved away after that and stared into the darkness.

I knew I had sealed my fate by saving Carl. Dwight did too by helping Daryl and the rest. If Negan found us, we were as good as dead, if not worse. In my head, I was coming up with a plan, but on the outside, I was silent, not daring to speak or move.

One thing was certain. Negan had to die. The rest of us Saviors? Well time would only tell if we were killed too. But Negan, no Negan needed to die a slow and painful death. And then it all dawned on me, a plan so sick and twisted, no one would go for it, but if I could make it happen…if I could make it happen, Rick would get his revenge. We all would.