AUTHOR'S NOTE – Hello! Welcome to the THIRD INSTALLMENT of Many Hearts to Tread series! I repeat! This is a third installment of a series! So if you would like, you can read books 1 (Many Hearts to Tread) & 2 (Nothing Else Matters) and not get lost! Yay!
There is an 17 month gap in between books 2 & 3. And I'll say that gap starts when Kevin comes to Sanctuary. Soo that pushes the apocalypse to being… One month shy of three years.
Alright! Let's get this thing started!
There are some moments that happen in between when Chapter 16 ended with Rick's group. We'll discover why Rick and the gang have a strong hatred for the Saviors. I mean, it's not that difficult to hate them but their reasons are valid!
Chapter 1
The spring air in the morning came with a chill as fog settled upon the town of Sanctuary. Sherry could hear the birds chirping in the distance while every surface was covered from the light rain that stopped only moments before. It was quiet and serene for once. Most of the Saviors besides that guards at the gate were asleep. Sherry sat on the front porch swing that was to the right of their front door. Every so often, she would occasionally glance towards the opposite side of the porch and think of Amanda. It had almost been two years since those events transpired. Not a day went by that Sherry wasn't haunted by it. It was because of those occurrences that she became the person that she currently was.
Sherry watched as some people started leaving their homes ready to start the day with the various jobs that they had. The calm was slowly starting to drift away as she went back to reading her book. In the duration that she lived in Sanctuary, she had a lot of downtime. Most of the books in Sanctuary's library had been read by her so she had to move to the novels that Dean would highly approve of. She finally decided to read The Odyssey by Homer even though she had to read it before for a college course. Incredibly bored by the source material then, she was surprised how engrossed she became in the book when she started reading it the night before. She read on the front porch throughout the night with a flashlight in hand and bundled herself up in a giant coat with a blanket over her legs and pillow behind her back.
"Have you heard of Joseph Campbell?" She heard someone say. Sherry glanced up from her book to see Kevin walking towards her with a smile on his face. He walked with a slight limp while favoring his left side. Since she met him, he was always the kind of person that appeared untouched by their new world. The only flaw in his appearance was the tape in the middle of his glasses to hold them together. He insisted on wearing appropriate work attire for when he was at the infirmary while attending to any Saviors that had mental issues. He had a lot of patients.
She shook her head at his question as he stood on the porch. He kept a distance from her so she would feel comfortable and so he wouldn't be accused of messing with Negan's 'property.' The result of such an accusation was unpleasant. "No," she responded quietly. The voice that belonged to her years ago had not yet returned. Kevin always said how much progress she made but she didn't feel like she made any. Sherry constantly felt as if she was in a funk. A small part of her hoped that she would return. However, she was very doubtful if that day would ever come.
"Joseph Campbell wrote The Hero with a Thousand Faces," Kevin began. "Fascinating book. It explains the structure that many epic tales have used such as The Odyssey. He even makes an in-depth graph that explains the hero's journey. Care to hear?"
Sherry shrugged a reply as he knew he was already enthusiastic about the subject. Kevin leaned against the railing and thought to himself while trying to think of the order as if he memorized it by heart a long time ago. "Let's see… there's the call to adventure…the threshold…challenges and temptations…then there is abyss that involves both a death and a rebirth. The last three are transformation, atonement and return. Joseph Campbell uses clear examples from the book that you hold in your hands. You can also see that journey in many other novels and in cinema. But that journey reverberates through all of us too," Kevin explained then folded his arms. "So where do you think you are in that journey?"
Sherry shrugged again but humored him as she thought about it. "Challenges sounds accurate. Maybe that includes death…" Sherry answered with the small amount of humor that she had left.
"The abyss?" Kevin said with a smile and nodded his head as if her response was more telling than she thought it was. "Abyss isn't just death. The rebirth comes soon after. Maybe your rebirth is just around the bend."
Sherry eyed him with subtle warning. He knew very well how much Sherry felt about hoping for a better life. The odds of there being one was nonexistent therefore she didn't dwell on it too much because it caused her too much pain.
Kevin smiled to himself and stepped down on one of the porch stairs. "Just thinking out loud, I suppose." He lingered awhile longer as he looked towards the house and then to Dwight's home next door as if trying to act as if he was admiring the sky.
"Yolanda's not here," Sherry clarified knowing exactly who he was looking for. "She's at the hospital already."
He blushed slightly and gave Sherry a nod. "Brilliant. Thank you, Sherry," he said and started walking away and towards the infirmary. "I will see you later today for your session."
Sherry rolled her eyes and focused on her book once more. She started to think about what Kevin said as he recanted Joseph Campbell's book to her. She visibly shook her head and told herself that she didn't live in an storybook and that waiting for a rebirth would prove to be futile.
Noises appeared in the house as some of the girls began to wake up. Much to Sherry's dismay and confusion, he added more wives to his collection. She didn't know why she assumed the he would have stopped adding more when they began sleeping together. But the assumption she made was wrong. She supposed that he would be satisfied with the five. Then again, Negan usually did things that only made since to him.
Sherry became the leader of sorts since Negan decided polygamy was an okay thing to do. She protected and comforted them when they needed it; in more ways than they even knew. One thing Sherry kept from them was that Negan had plans to procreate with his women for children. However, he wanted Sherry to be the first one to have his firstborn. The only person who knew that her chances of having a baby in the first place was Dwight. She didn't intend to tell Negan about her condition as she was proving to be birth control for all of the women as a whole. He was hell bent on the idea and Sherry hoped that Negan would be patient about it before he gave up and moved on. The thought of any of them sharing a child with him made her visibly shudder. He didn't deserve any kind of offspring.
The door opened to the house as Megan walked outside to greet Sherry. Megan beamed towards her with freckle-covered face and folded her arms immediately. "Aren't you freezing?" She asked Sherry.
"You get used to it after a while," Sherry consoled as she folded her legs to make room on the porch swing. Megan sat beside her as the swing swayed back and forth. Sherry went back to reading as Megan appeared to be lost in thought and stared at the street while some Saviors were going about their business.
"Amber still isn't home from last night," Megan said ominously. She was speaking of Negan's newest addition who already had a boyfriend previously and also resided in Sanctuary.
Sherry drew a sharp breath then groaned at the news. "I've told her hundreds of times that she needs to be careful," Sherry grimaced.
"She thinks that she won't get caught," Megan reasoned gravely. "I think when you yelled at her the other day that it only made her want to prove a point that she is smarter than you."
"Well, when you're being stupid about something, it's easy to justify yourself," Sherry countered and thought for a moment. "I'm not her mom. If she wants to learn the hard way, then she can."
Megan raised an eyebrow with the way Sherry said it. "You sound so indifferent about it," she asserted.
Sherry placed her book down on her lap and closed it shut. She looked at the cover while trying to think of the right words. "No," Sherry started. "I don't like telling others what to do. That's all it is. I did what I can. I put up the flag of cation and like an adult, she made her own decision. She knows what will happen if Negan finds out. That's all I can do."
"Negan will find out," Megan said worriedly.
Sherry placed a hand over Megan's in comfort. "Well, if he does, I can try my best to make him go easy on her," Sherry assured.
Megan seemed satisfied with her response and looked around Sanctuary as Sherry tried to find her place in the book again. Most of Negan's army was gone on business in the surrounding areas while trying to scout or collect taxes from neighboring safe havens.
"Is Dwight gone?" Megan prodded as she tried to sound absentminded.
Sherry's breath was cut short upon hearing his name as Megan realized that she asked the wrong question. Sherry hardly spoke of Dwight and preferred it that way. It made things easier for her if she didn't think about Dwight.
"I was only wondering if Takuya was with him," Megan added shyly.
Sherry smiled and decided to get over herself while thinking about the last time she saw the duo. Takuya was almost always by Dwight's side. "I think they left Sanctuary sometime last night. Scouting for more people," Sherry revealed. Megan's crush on Takuya was more than obvious. And like Megan, Takuya reciprocated the feelings. The interest was there since the first day that they laid eyes on each other. However, with Negan in the way and what happened to Dwight and Sherry, the risk of delving into something was far too great.
"Kevin was here earlier and asked about Yolie's whereabouts," Sherry told. "I just think it's funny that two people approached me within twenty minutes time and asked where their lover was."
Megan's face reddened as she giggle quietly. "He's not my lover… He could be though," she said the last part distantly.
"Maybe," Sherry said as she admired Megan's hope that still remained for the future. She didn't wish to be the bearer of bad news and kept silent on the matter when it came to her own doubts. Perhaps there was a better life out there for them. And if it came, Sherry would welcome it with open arms. But she didn't want to anticipate it anytime soon. Instead she buried herself in her book once more as she read about Odysseus. He would find his way home. Even if she didn't, she was glad to read that at least someone would.
…
The morning sun rose higher as the fog began to subside. Dwight noticed the members of his group as they all prepared their things as quietly and covertly as possible. They were closing in on two men that Dwight had on good authority belonged to neighboring community that that Negan wanted to take control over. Dwight admired the new group of survivors. All that he knew about them was that they allied with Hilltop because the community was finally fed up with Negan's tyranny. From Dwight's understanding, Hilltop asked Alexandria to do Sanctuary's work of protecting them. Not from walkers but the Saviors themselves. Negan felt that they overstepped their boundaries as Hilltop was already claimed an ally to the Saviors and sent some of his men to threaten Alexandria. Only one Savior returned.
Negan felt that they needed some leverage to get into Alexandria for another tactic and decided to get Dwight on the job. Dwight was hoping that he would stay clear of the group and that other soldiers would be assigned to take care of them. He didn't wish to overtake the new group. However with him currently being the sole person in charge of infiltrating Alexandria, he had to think of tactics to make sure his work looked admirable to Negan. Even though he hated to impress the man, Dwight surmised there wasn't much in his life that he enjoyed anymore. He hated mostly everything.
Dwight grabbed his crossbow that hung across his shoulder and laid it in front of him while retrieving wax from his jacket pocket for the cables. He began rubbing the wax on his crossbow and looked up to Seth that stood nearby.
Seth cleared his threat and knelt by Dwight to give him the intel that he needed. "They are walking around the town. Looking for supplies, I suppose," he divulged.
"What do they look like?" Dwight asked as he took two fingers to the cables to rub the wax into them.
"One's fat with a mullet and the other is a solid ginger," Seth explained. "Looks like he could put up a good fight."
Dwight tightened his lips in a thin line knowing which one to take out and which one to keep alive for leverage. "And we know for sure that they are alone?" He questioned further.
Seth nodded. "We saw them leave Alexandria bright and early. No scouts following them for security. It was just them."
Dwight nodded as he put the wax back into his pocket and produced oil to lubricate the flight rail on his crossbow. "Okay," he muttered. "We'll leave as soon as everyone is ready."
Seth nodded again in affirmation and left to gather the Saviors in order to leave as soon as they could. Dwight was able to concentrate on preparing his bow in peace but could sense someone staring at him in the distance. He gazed around to see a group of men all staring in his direction while trying to goad the youngest one to step towards him.
Shaking his head, Dwight focused on something else while almost embarrassed by the unwanted attention that he received. He had a giant scar on the left side of his face which was supposed to symbolize a harsh punishment. Instead, it made some Saviors idolize and fear him. It wasn't just his outward appearance but also the things that he did in the name of Negan. Many men strived to be more like him when he would rather being someone else for a change.
The eighteen year old boy in the group was new to the Saviors ranks as he finally gave into peer pressure and timidly walked towards Dwight while Dwight tried not to pay attention to him. The boy then stood beside him and lingered for what Dwight considered too long.
Looking up at the kid while slightly annoyed, Dwight shrugged in exasperation as the kid took a step back while reading Dwight's evident agitation. "Do you need anything?" Dwight gruffed.
"I just…" the boy began with a shaky voice. "Some of my old group over there were told about you. They asked me to find out if any of the stories are true."
Dwight shook his head annoyed that some were talking about him. He didn't say anything as he went back to working on his crossbow while paying the boy no more heed.
"How many people have you really killed?" The boy asked with mild fascination.
Dwight grinded his teeth together. The teenager was easily getting on his nerves.
"Because they said it's in the two hundreds," the boy continued.
With his patience finally run dry, Dwight glared at him with a groan and pointed in the distance. "For fuck's sake, go do something useful with yourself and leave me the fuck alone," he said in a low threatening voice.
That did enough to scare the kid away as he practically stumbled out of sight. Dwight finished cleaning his crossbow and slung it on his back once more. He rose from his spot as all the men waited for him to give the signal to fall out. With one quick nod from Dwight, they all started walking towards the downtown area where the two men were last seen. With their weapons in hand, they were all prepared to attack that very minute if they needed to.
Dwight led the way as Seth and Takuya made their way to both sides of him. Takuya gave him a solemn gaze as Dwight knew how he felt about their job. Their stance regarding human life remained the same. Regrettably, they had to ignore it and continue with their tirade.
…
They crept towards the small hardware store where the two Alexandrian's were slowly being surrounded unbeknownst to them. Dwight stopped and signaled the men behind him then pointed his finger in a circular motion to indicate that it was time to encompass the perimeter. Dwight, Seth, and Takuya slowly made their way to a building parallel to the store while Seth quietly opened the door. Dwight and Takuya silently ran in and up the stairs to set up for when the men would come out.
They made it to the second floor as Dwight observed the setting around him. Everything was mostly disheveled in the abandoned space but was optimal for Dwight. He saw an already broken window and walked towards it. He could see the hardware store and observed that he would have proper cover to stay hidden for as long as he needed to.
Seth joined them up the stairs as Dwight glanced towards both him and Takuya. "The men know what to do once I fire, right?" Dwight questioned. He grabbed his crossbow as Takuya handed him a bolt.
Takuya nodded. "It's all ready to go," he informed. Suddenly, they heard a bell ring in the air as Dwight quickly set to take aim but used caution to stay within the shadows. The men lingered near the entrance as the red head engaged the other in a conversation. Dwight could see the somber expression on the red head's face before the man turned around to face mullet man.
It wasn't easy. Parts of killing another human being was numbed in Dwight's mind but the act still didn't sit well with him. He hoped he would always feel some sense of remorse; no matter how difficult it was to feel the guilt afterwards.
Dwight lifted his crossbow squarely to the back of the man's skull and took a deep breath. He tried to remain dispassionate for several moments to get the job done. Negan wanted to get in Alexandria. For the sake of his group members, and for Sherry, he had to do his best to follow orders.
"I'm sorry," Takuya whispered as he saw Dwight hesitate.
"Me too," Dwight answered but was already in the mode he needed to be to get the job done. He pressed down on his crossbow's trigger as the bolt shot through the air. He didn't miss.
…
"Shit, he's bolting!" Dwight stressed as he ran towards the stairs. The red head had previously fallen to the ground as the other man quickly grabbed his comrade's gun and started running away for dear life. He ran in a zigzag formation as Dwight urged Takuya to hand him another bolt but by the time he loaded it, the man was too far. In frustration, he shot out of anger and unsurprisingly didn't make contact.
The Saviors chased the man as he started running back towards Alexandria. Dwight took three stairs at a time and started sprinting after the man who was quickly becoming winded. The man didn't turn around to try and use the machine gun in his possession. Dwight wondered to himself how he survived as long as he did.
Dwight easily passed several Saviors that were gaining on the man as he gave credit to his longer legs and brief track & field experience during high school. He was closing in on the man fast.
Once he got close enough, he leapt forward and tackled the man to the ground. The gun that he carried was tossed forward five feet as he tried to scurry towards it but was soon ensnared by the enemy. He had nowhere to go. Dwight got off of him and retrieved the weapon as the man got on his knees and started to get emotional.
"He was a good man!" The man exclaimed as his lowered and bottom lip quivered. "He was my friend!"
Dwight stared at the man with brief sympathy but avoided it before his own emotions got out of hand. "Don't take this personally," he encouraged sarcastically. With that, he took the butt of the rifle and slammed it against the man's forehead. The one hit sent the man falling to the ground in one loud heap.
"Pick him up," Dwight commander the Saviors around him. "Let's drop him off at Alexandria."
…
They stopped right at the front gate of Alexandria. The man started waking up and realized where he was much to his horror as he knew the enemy was at his doorstep.
Dwight held him up by the collar and looked at him somewhat perplexed. "Where the fuck is everyone? No guards awake or anything? Is that normal?" He asked the man.
The man didn't respond and kept his head down. Dwight snapped his fingers impatiently in the man's face. "Hey! I'm talking to you? Where is everybody?" He repeated his question.
"It's early," the man replied quietly. "They probably are all still asleep."
Some of the Saviors snickered at his answer. "Lazy fucks," one of the men commented.
Dwight still had the gun in his hand and stood up straight while cocking the rifle. "Well, I'm sure they won't mind this," he mumbled and held the rifle upwards and pulled the trigger as the regular hum of bullets being extinguished sent tingles throughout his arm. The gun went off as the shells speedily flew out of the rifle.
"Wake up!" Dwight yelled towards the gate and their community. You're being a real jackass, Dwight, he thought.
He waited a bit longer as grabbed the man's collar again. When several more seconds passed, he could hear people stirring on the other side. Suddenly, the tarp was removed from the gate as he stood face to face with the Alexandrians for the first time.
There were several characters that stood out to Dwight. One in particular had a crossbow that was similar to his own. A man stood in front that looked like the leader and eyed Dwight while clearly enraged. One woman with dreadlocks carried a katana of all weapons. A couple stood in the distance while holding hands with each other while their free palms held guns. Dwight could detect from afar that these people knew how to defend themselves by any means necessary.
The man in charge glared at a man who pulled the tarp away. "You were supposed to be on watch, Spencer!" He reprimanded harshly.
The man named Spencer looked guilty but maintained some justified innocence. "I fell asleep," he admitted as a girl with dark hair shook her head in shame.
The leader walked closer to the gate and spoke up towards Dwight while focusing his anger on him once again. "Who are you and what do you want?" He shouted.
"Doesn't matter who we are," Dwight started. "Just let us in and no one gets hurt."
"Eugene?!" A darker woman yelled beside the lady with the katana. "Where's Abraham?!" The desperation in her voice made Dwight's heart constrict. He couldn't imagine knowing someone murdered Sherry. Situations like that moment made him realize that his victims were real people. It didn't make him feel better about his wrongdoings.
The man named Eugene started to sob and couldn't produce the words to express what happened to his fallen friend. The woman started to shake in disbelief while he heard others wail open hearing the news or look down gravely. Dwight felt like dirt.
"We want to be let in," Dwight relayed simply as he gestured to all the Saviors around him. "All of us."
"No way in hell we gonna let you fuckers in here," the man with the crossbow practically growled.
Their leader looked at all the Saviors with some sorrow on his face but maintained some strategy and didn't look the least bit intimidated as what could happen next. "Negan must have not gotten the message that we gave your friends," he said with mild threatening in his voice.
"Oh, he did," Dwight assured. "He just didn't take it well." Dwight then held the machine gun at Eugene's head to indicate how serious he was. "Now let us in or I will kill him."
Then Eugene did something that Dwight wasn't prepared for in the slightest. Usually when he made threats, everyone did as they were told. Instead, Eugene head butted Dwight in the crotch as Dwight groaned and doubled over with immediate internal pain. Eugene refused to let up and pushed Dwight over as he fell to the ground.
Instantly, Dwight heard gunshots from both sides. They all thought it a good opportunity to strike while some had their guards down with the distraction.
Dwight tried to recover from being racked in order to clear way of the gunfire and kicked Eugene in the face to get him away. He quickly got on his feet and ran for cover. "Shit," he breathed as he didn't expect the encounter to go like that at all. From what he heard from other Saviors, Alexandria wasn't like Hilltop or the Kingdom. From his first time meeting them, he could tell by their attitude and by their endurance that they were prepared to play hardball. Dwight also found it endearing that they mourned when their friends died. They fought when they needed to protect what was theirs. Dwight was envious of their community. Indeed, they had everything that he wanted.
He hid behind a nearby car as shots continued to fire. He saw Eugene dash towards the gate as the Alexandrians let him in quickly and took cover once more. The Saviors had a difficult time finding concealment as Dwight's team started dropping like flies. Dwight felt someone lay low next to him and turned his head somewhat to see it was Takuya then brought his attention back to the altercation.
It didn't take long for Dwight to see that their efforts were futile as more Saviors fell either dead or dying. "Shit," he mumbled to himself and started moving away from Alexandria. "Fall back!" He yelled to the surviving Saviors as they hurriedly followed his command.
They ran until they made it back to the hardware store where the body of the man named Abraham laid. Dwight could hear some growling from all directions in the distance as the noise appeared to be getting closer.
"Dwight!" Takuya yelled to him as they could visibly see the walkers close in. "The Alexandrians are following us!"
"We'll lose them in the herd," Dwight reasoned. "Let's all keep running. Don't stop until we get to the closest outpost!" With that, he turned around and started sprinting. He could the footsteps of his men trample behind him.
As Dwight ran, he felt a small personal victory. Only one man died that day by his own hand. It could have been a lot more if the Alexandrians didn't continue to challenge them. He had been waiting for a group that could contend with Negan and push his buttons.
For once, Negan wasn't the most powerful force in their new world. For once, Negan looked less bulletproof. And despite the failed mission, it was still rewarding to know that perhaps Negan could one day fall.