Losing ourselves in the chaos

The hard cold cement floor under Carol's back and the terrible pain running through her entire body were great indicators that something went wrong during her altercation with Morgan. She didn't know how much time had passed since she was last still conscious but she felt as if she missed most of the action occurring in this tiny room. Quietly and very slowly, she tried to get back up on her feet but her body aching in pain said otherwise. She hissed as she at least attempted to sit down and look around the room. Morgan was lying beside her and she immediately got startled. What the heck is happening? But before she could even process that thought, she realized that both the Wolf and Denise were gone. Somehow, after she got knocked out, the Wolf took advantage of the situation and sent Morgan for a little sleep in order to escape this place. The reality was that he was always going to run away. It was his plan all along no matter how things turned out in here. This crazy guy could not be fixed no matter how much Morgan insisted that he could change and acknowledge what he had done to all those innocent people. This whole hostage thing was always a dumb thing to do and now, they all had to pay for it.

Tara, Rosita and Eugene made their way in the small room as they heard Carol gaining back consciousness. Rosita and Tara instantly helped Carol get up while Eugene kept looking through the door to make sure the herd was not reaching this place.

"Are you okay?" asked a concerned Tara.

"I'm…fine. Nothing to be worried about." Carol answered, still wincing at the pain.

"Are you sure? You really don't look that well." Rosita noticed.

"Give it a minute or two. I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks." Carol insisted, faking a faint smile.

Tara looked at Rosita with doubt in her eyes but knew there was nothing else they could do about it anyway. Denise was gone and she was the one with the right knowledge to help Carol heal correctly. Rosita looked down at Morgan still passed out on the floor and suddenly felt anger about this whole situation.

"Why were you both fighting in the middle of the herd attack? It was not the time for any of that! It should have waited!"

Carol was too tired to deal with this but she knew Rosita was justified in feeling angry at that moment. It's true that the timing was wrong but she felt like she had to do something about this whole Wolf hostage. Morgan should have just let her kill him so it would be done and over with.

"I tried to kill the Wolf before he would cause any more damage to this community. Morgan was keeping him locked in here while he should have died a long time ago. "Carol answered, looking at the empty mattress where the Wolf used to be.

"And why would he bother doing that? The Wolf was a bad guy! His people killed a lot of Alexandrians in the most barbaric ways! "Rosita added, completely puzzled.

"He thought it was the right thing to do because he believes that all life is precious. He believes that the Wolf could have changed somewhere down the line. But he was wrong. The Wolf took the opportunity to run away as soon as he could and he even brought Denise with him to cause more chaos around here. And he is going to keep on killing wherever he goes next."

"Well, that's stupid." Tara answered in all honesty. "But I guess I can understand where he is coming from deep down."

"So what now? What do we do?" Rosita asked, looking around the room impatiently.

"The herd is still moving at an impressive pace all around the streets although it's been approximately one hour and twelve minutes since they first arrived. It seems like they might be there for a long while. We could read a book or play a game in the meantime." Eugene proposed, still looking through the door.

"What? No way! We have to get out of here! Maybe some people need us right now! "Rosita said, pulling out her knife.

"We'll go, don't worry. We just have to figure a way out." Tara responded.

Carol looked at the whole scene unfolding before her and felt her head throbbing in pain. She knew she was really not feeling that well after all but maybe she could still go out there with them and try something?

"I'll go with all of you." Carol finally said, trying to reach her knife on the floor.

"No freakin' way. You stay here with Morgan. I may not be a genius in medicine but I know when it's better for someone to stay behind!" Tara answered, sitting Carol gently on the mattress. "You get some rest and you wait it out with Morgan until we come back and get you out of here."

Tara could sense that Carol was not happy with this decision but she couldn't care less. Denise was already gone, maybe dead for all she knew, and there was no way she would risk Carol's life out there when it was clear she was still in major pain. She was too valuable for this community to die in a foolish way and she didn't want to feel guilty for the rest of her life. Carol wanted to argue her point but she was just too tired to even try. Her eyes were slowly shutting down and the last thing she saw was Rosita opening the door with Eugene and Tara following her outside.

Daryl felt lucky that he had found this big ol' truck just in time to pick up Abraham and Sasha. If it wasn't for this discovery, he would still be out there in the woods cursing between his lips after this dude who took all his stuff without even blinking. He had a hard time to believe that this was the outcome of his brief encounter with those people. It definitely was not what he was hoping for. Hell, he was even ready to bring them back home with him. He felt like they were genuinely nice people he could count on. Well, it seems like Aaron was wrong about me after all. But it didn't matter anymore. They were gone on his bike and the probability of ever meeting them again was pretty small. He made a mistake and he won't do it again.

Now, they had to go back to Alexandria and help their people. The herd was already there and who knows how many people were dead by now. The simple thought of seeing dead Alexandrian bodies all over the place made Daryl even more desperate to go back. But most of all, he wanted to make sure Carol was safe. Since the very beginning of his mission, he was thinking about her safety all along. He was out there distracting the herd mostly to make sure she was safe back at home. And when he heard that a part of the herd had gone directly to Alexandria, he started panicking immediately. He knew he had to go back as soon as possible.

The mission was not his priority anymore because there was no point in pursuing it if Carol was in imminent danger back home. That's why he had left Abraham and Sasha earlier that day. He needed to be there for her even if she could handle the situation herself. But at some point during his travel, he realized that the only way he could really help her out at the moment was by keeping the rest of the herd far away from the community. He had to complete his mission before doing anything else. It had to be done to prevent more damage down the line. Of course, things didn't go as planned along the way but they managed to come through all of it in one piece.

There was a point where he was about to give up, though. It was back there in the woods, after some crazy assholes tried to kill them on the road. He had lost sight of both Abraham and Sasha, making it even more difficult to really grasp what was happening. He ended up crashing in the middle of a burned forest, his bike lying down beside him. Everything was ashes around him and he thought ironically of this one thing he once told Carol to cheer her up back in Atlanta. We ain't ashes. He was panting hard, trying to catch his breath after all he had been through in the last few minutes. He heard walkers slowly coming towards him and he felt like he was done.

He had no more energy for anything else right then. But somehow, he found the strength to shoot the first walker right in the head and he caught a glimpse of something he thought he might never see again: a Cherokee rose. It was growing on the back of that atrocious walker. Instantly, his mind went to Carol and he knew she was fine. He just felt it deep in him. It might have been stupid to put his hope on a random flower but it was part of their history and he wanted to believe it meant something important. And that's all he really needed to carry on despite the exhaustion and the pain. He had to find a way to go back no matter what.

"Deep in thoughts, Dixon?" Abraham chuckled as he watched Daryl staring blankly at the road while driving.

"Hmm, tired, that's all. Been a long day." Daryl answered, his voice showing just how much he needed a break.

"Gotcha. This day has been a long pain in the ass for all of us. Hopefully, they have already managed the herd back home." Abraham responded.

"I wouldn't count on it." Sasha added, being realistic as usual. "They are probably right in the middle of it right now. And when we'll arrive, we'll have to do something about it too if we want to secure the place again. "

"Damn it! And I hoped I could catch a great night of sleep after all this crap…"

"You know very well we will never catch a great night of sleep ever again. Not in this world we now live in."

"I guess you are right, sweetheart. And what was that mess all about with those bastards shooting us randomly on the road?"

"No idea. They probably thought we were another group of people that messed with them? I guess we will never really know." Sasha shrugged.

"Yeah…oh well. At least it's all over now. We're back in at least twenty minutes or so. "

As they drove back home in silence, Daryl saw something catching his eye down the road. Something he definitely did not expect right at that moment: bikers waiting patiently for their truck to stop.

"Holy shit! What is happening? "Abraham asked, clearly confused.

"Guess we're about to figure it out…" Daryl simply answered, slowing down.

The truck stopped in front of the bikers and they suddenly heard the leader of that group telling them to get out of it. As they did so, the leader went on about how their stuff was no longer belonging to them and they had to give everything up in order to survive.

"So who do they belong to now?" Sasha asked, not hiding how pissed off she was.

"It is now the property of Negan." the man simply answered.

Carol woke up again in that basement feeling a little bit better this time. She was still in pain but it was much less intense than after her first wake up. She had to admit that Tara made the right choice by leaving her here to fight another day. She was not in any shape to participate in anything right now. As she tried to move, she felt something wrapped around her hands and feet. She was tied up with wires. You've got to be kidding me! And as she sensed what was happening at that moment, she turned her head to see Morgan staring at her with the wooden stick in his hands.

"What the hell are you doing, Morgan?" Carol asked, perplexed.

"I'm protecting myself from you. You tried to kill me earlier." Morgan calmly responded.

"Yeah, because you wouldn't let me finish what had to be done! You left me no choice!" Carol continued, clearly frustrated with him. "Look, I woke up for the first time way before you did. If I really wanted to kill you right there, I would have done it without hesitation. But as you can see, I don't want you any harm as long as you don't stand between me and something I need to get rid of. "

"This decision doesn't belong to you. I did what I thought was right."

"And look how it all ended! The Wolf is gone, he kidnapped Denise and he will probably keep on killing everyone in his sight! Still think it was the right move? "

Morgan kept silent, trying to grasp everything she just said. It was true that things didn't turn out as planned.

"If you didn't show up, I'm sure it would have been fine." Morgan concluded.

"You really think I would just let this whole thing happen under my watch? That I would just accept that you let a crazy killer live because you think he has the potential to grow and evolve from this? You are totally out of your mind."

"He could have come back from this! I know he could have! He just needed time and…"

"That's bullshit and you know it. You can't make a sick twisted individual like him come back to sanity. He was too far gone."

"You…you don't know that!"

"Yes I do! I've seen it multiple times before! We just can't take chances anymore!"

"You really don't know!"

"And you think you know better?" Carol challenged.

"I do because someone took the time to make me come back to sanity!"

The truck disappeared far in the distance as the bikers were all following it. Daryl, Sasha and Abraham were left with basically nothing in the middle of the road.

"And I thought this day couldn't get any shittier." Abraham said, starting to walk.

"There is probably a connection between this group and what happened back on the road earlier today."

"But who the hell are they?! They took everything from us! Who the fuck is Negan? Why does he have to be such an asshole without even showing up?"

"They are probably part of another community or somethin' like that. They have a system of stealin' shit from people in order to survive." Daryl suggested, his facial traits getting darker from exhaustion and dehydration.

"Well, they are a bunch of fucking assholes, I'll tell you that." Abraham added, clearly pissed off.

"We could arrive home in an hour or so. We just have to keep walking without losing any more energy on this issue." Sasha said, pointing forward.

Rick had been making his way through the herd with the Andersons, Michonne, Carl and Father Gabriel for about half an hour or so. They had to be really careful not to draw attention directly to them. With all of them holding hands, they couldn't afford a simple mistake. If one got down, all of them would mostly go down too. As they were slowly approaching a more secure spot in Alexandria, Sam began talking out loud.

"Mom? Mom?" he said, not realizing that making noise was the worst single thing he could do at that exact moment.

Jessie didn't react to his pleading, too focused on moving slowly forward with the group. But Sam's panic attack was not stopping at all.

"Mom? Mom? Please!" Sam kept saying frantically.

Ron looked at Sam in disbelief and told him to shut up but he just couldn't stop. As a result, a walker grabbed Sam by the arm and pulled him out of the chain. Jessie screamed as she saw Sam getting torn apart but she couldn't let go of him as she was still in total shock. And in a quick second, she was grabbed by a walker too. Carl, who was still holding her hand, tried to remove himself from her grip before it was too late but Jessie simply wouldn't let him run away.

"Help us! Please, help us! You can't let us die here!" Jessie screamed as her neck got bitten repeatedly.

Carl looked at her in utter shock and tried even harder to get away from her but with little success. Finally understanding what was going on, Rick quickly grabbed his axe and cut Jessie's hand to release Carl from her grip. Jessie screamed even louder and fell directly into more walkers tearing her apart. Just like that, Jessie and Sam were gone. With no time to really process it, Rick urged Carl and the others to run away from the herd. Barely making it safe to another building, they all stopped to catch their breath and Ron looked furious as he saw Carl still holding Jessie's severed hand.

"You're going to pay for that! You got my entire family killed!" Ron screamed, pulling out his gun.

As Carl was about to explain himself, he realized Ron was directly pointing a gun at his dad. Rick was not expecting it at all because he just stood there motionless with his eyes wide open in disbelief. And as Ron pulled the trigger, Carl jumped right in front of him with no hesitation, taking the bullet for him. Carl then fell down on the ground, clearly hit to the face. Rick screamed in panic and Michonne pulled out her sword, killing Ron instantly. Father Gabriel looked at the whole scene with absolute fear and didn't know where to put himself at that moment. Rick went on his knees and grabbed Carl, begging him to say something. Carl's face was now disfigured at the level of his right eye, the bullet having destroyed his eye socket. And as Rick was just now realizing what he was really looking at, Carl told him: "Dad?"

Don't forget to leave me a review so I can see if you enjoy the story so far! Thank you!