Ten.
"Let him turn," Michonne said, halting Carl as he crouched down with his bowie knife, "We're gonna need him."
Carl and Rosita, understanding instantly, hurriedly began to look for rope while Michonne tore a piece from Simon's shirt. She was in the middle of gagging Gregory's mouth when Rosita came back with a long length of rope she found on one of the shelves.
"It's okay, mom, there should only be four saviors left outside now," Carl said as he held down Gregory's prone form and Rosita tied his dead hands behind his back. "I got two that were sneaking around back on my way in."
Michonne beamed with pride when she looked at her boy. Carl calling her mom was a recent development, happening the first time when she was recovering from her knock down drag out fight with that traitorous trash woman who thought she could try Michonne.
"I know you're going to wake up soon and when you do… we're going to kill them all Mom" she remembered hearing him whisper to her as she floated in and out of consciousness. "I hope you don't mind… I … hope Andre doesn't mind… sharing you." As she felt the tears falling from Carl's beautiful eye, she opened her eyes fully and squeezed his hand.
"I don't." Michonne whispered back in a hoarse voice, "And … he doesn't. I don't think your brother minds sharing at all." As she tried to smile through the grogginess and dull pain she felt coursing through her body. Carl was momentarily stunned as he thought for sure Michonne would only wake at the sound of his father's voice. Rick lay nearby on the cot he had brought in so he could be near his woman. He'd been fighting the urge to run up to her bed and move Carl out of the way. He smiled instead, remaining motionless, knowing if it had to be anyone else, it would be his boy - their boy - to drive Michonne to consciousness. He wanted to respect this moment,without any interruptions from him. He'd have his time with her soon enough.
"They're not coming back though," grimaced Carl in the present "I got both of them with my knife but the last one struggled a bit. Knocked me into a shelf and made some noise. Sorry Gregory", he nudged Gregory's head with his boot. "Maybe Simon wouldn't have shot ya if I didn't make so much noise killing your other friends." Carl smirked. He didn't look the least bit sorry.
"So there's four outside waiting for these two bastards to drag Michonne out?" Rosita asked, trying to assess the situation. She turned to Michonne, who looked deep in thought.
"Ok... They don't know Carl is here yet…but they definitely know I'm not alone. So here's what we're going to do." Michonne declared. As she laid out the simple plan, Gregory's body began to stir and twitch against its tightly tied bonds. Its eyelids flew open suddenly to reveal the cloudy unfocused irises of every walker roaming this dilapidated planet. It began snarling against the gag with its nose pointed up, sniffing for its prey. Michonne, Carl and Rosita wasted no more time, each now headed for their positions. Picking Walker Greg up, both Michonne and Rosita kept ducking the stupid monster's attempt to bite each of them in turn. Rosita gave it a full hand slap, "Stop it stupido! You have a gag! No biting! If you're good I'll personally put you out of your misery soon!"
Michonne drew her sword and began to pull the walker towards the front entrance of the warehouse with Rosita following behind. As they approached they could make out the sound of voices on the other side.
"… Well when we was leavin' he was still speechifyin', talkin' bout how 'We are the Saviors' and 'Hot diggity doggin' the weak ass townie sheriff boy' so I'm still wonderin' what we're doing out here," the greasy haired Savior known as Jared questioned as he stood by the door.
"We're here because we are the Saviors, asshole. And Saviors do what we're told. Negan wants that Sheriff Boy to learn a serious lesson in humility. So why don't you shut the fuck up and for once do what you're told?" growled Gavin, clicking the clip full of bullets back into his gun. He was getting real tired of listening to Jared. He'd been especially wary of the lanky bastard after he up and shot that poor kid from the Kingdom. Gavin had been feeling tensions rise with every visit to the Kingdom for their "tribute" exchange – although he couldn't really call it an exchange because really, what were the people of the Kingdom getting in exchange for all their good produce?
A fucking watermelon! Was a fucking watermelon worth a young boy's life in a time when life was a commodity? Since that day, deep in his gut he knew that he was on the wrong side of history in this chapter of the World's Gone To Shit Chronicles and that retribution was now at hand in the form of this war they now found themselves embroiled in. All he wanted to do was keep the peace and keep on fucking surviving but this bastard with all the hubris of the school bully's sidekick went and shot an unarmed kid over a fucking watermelon.
Not too long after that, outposts started to go down one by one and no amount of speechifyin' was going to make Gavin blind to the fact that their fearless leader was beginning to show some cracks in his veneer of bravado. Why else would they be on this fool's errand? It stank of "last ditchiness" and Gavin also knew deep in his gut that pushing the sheriff boy over the edge. Taking his woman and his kids? That was not going to have the desired effect Negan hoped for. No fuckin' way. Gavin kept that to himself, though, because there was also no fuckin' way he wanted to see the business end of that damned barbed Lucille bat. He'd survived this long and he planned on doing much of the same even if it meant eating shit until the allotted time.
"How long do you think it's gonna take to get that bitch? I mean she only had that latina chick with her." Jared muttered impatiently.
Gavin rolled his eyes and sighed, "You really haven't been paying attention at all have you? If you think these people were so easy, how do you explain why we're running low on supplies and more and more Saviors turning up deader than these fucking corpses walking around here? Do you really think Simon is gonna have it easy?! To get their leader's woman… the same leader who's been fuckin' us every which way 'til Sunday! The fuck is on your mind?!"
Jared stared at him open mouthed and wide eyed for a minute before all hell broke loose as Michonne kicked open the door and succinctly severed his head from his body. Rosita ripped the gag off of Walker Gregory and kicked his back forcefully in the direction of Gavin. Taken by utter surprise, the two other Saviors standing by their bikes watching the heated exchange between Gavin and Jared hesitated a moment too , having shimmied through a window at the back, doubled back to his position behind them. Two headshots from Carl later, there was just Gavin struggling to with the slathering teeth of Gregory.
"Help me!" screamed Gavin as he struggled against the biting walker form of Gregory. "Jesus Christ help me! I'm with you! I'm with Dwight!" Gavin continued to grapple with the gnashing teeth going for his jugular, not realizing that Walker Greg was partially immobilized with it's hands tied behind it's back as it struggled to get to a piece of Gavin-meat.
Michonne swiftly turned to look at Gavin and gave a nod to Rosita, who pulled Gregory's rope like she was telling a dog to heel. The walking dead corpse of Gregory was pulled back so abruptly it fell on its back, comically reminding Carl of a turtle from memories of the old days of summers by the lake with his parents. This particular snapping "turtle" could choke as far as Carl was concerned.
He stalked towards Michonne and Rosita silently, putting his memories away and holstering his gun.
"Speak," demanded Michonne as Gavin tried to stand unsteadily while checking himself for any scratches or bites from his fight with the walker. "And make it fast. As you can see, we're not in the business of having long conversations today." Gesturing to the head of Jared that still had the look of open-mouthed look of surprise in place;his death mask.
"I'm guessin' Simon's finally dead," murmured Gavin as he rubbed at his neck, but a second later he saw the barrels of two guns pointed at him. "Whoa.. Like I said, I'm with you!" Patience was not on his side at the moment, then. They weren't bluffing. Noted. Carl and Rosita seemed resolved that he was already taking too long in his explanation. "Dwight's not the only one who's ready to fight with you! Don't you think we know Negan's way is gonna get us killed. Do you think we all want to live the way we been living?"
Michonne's gave an exasperated sigh and widened her stance, also beginning to tire of this man's ramblings. Did Negan give classes on ways to draw out a fucking sentence? Was it after his How To Lean In 90 Degree Angles 101 class she wondered bemusedly. If this man didn't get to his point in the next 5 seconds…
Gavin held his hands up and continued to speed talk, "Dwight's been recruiting. Some of us have been helping you from the inside. I'm one of them. We know something big is coming to end this and I want me and mines to survive! Preferably on the right side. The side that's not about a fuckin' point system. The side that doesn't have to terrorise other people. The side…" Gavin began to choke up, all the stress and hardship that this new world had brought him almost overwhelming him, "the side that wants to live. I swear to you. I'm on your side!" he pleaded.
Michonne contemplated the man nearly breaking down briefly and then turned to Rosita with a nod. Rosita merely nodded back to her and pulled the trigger.
"Bye Gregory," she muttered, and Walker Gregory ceased all movement.
"Ok, we need to get going. Now that we have another vehicle," said Michonne, gesturing to the Savior's pick up truck and two motorcycles, "We can load some more supplies and double time it to the Kingdom. What's your name Mr. I'm On Your Side?"
"Gavin, ma'am?" Gavin said excitedly, visibly relieved that today would not be the day he was going to die, "Tell me where you want me."
"Where I want you is in front of my son while you follow us back in to get some more ammo. Carl, I see you eyeing that bike and you already know... it's a no. When we get going I want you in the car with Gavin. Let him drive and keep your gun on him. If he blinks wrong…" Michonne didn't need to say the rest for the clearly disappointed Carl to get the jist. His hopes of impressing Enid by cruising into Hilltop on the seat of one of the Harley Davidson choppers he was staring at were immediately dashed by Michonne.
"Fine, mom," Carl grumbled displaying an unusual bit of teenaged angst before he spied something familiar on one of the dead Saviors he had shot. "Hold up for a second," he called to them as he bent down and smiled. Yep, there was Enid's knife holster and knife that was taken from her on the hip of the dead guy. The "JSS" carved on the handle made his heart skip a beat before he removed it. He gave the corpse a quick kick, and bounced up in a much better mood with a much better surprise for Enid in his hands.
Michonne gave her first grin of the day and shook her head. Like father, like son she thought quickly surmising why Carl was got so giddy over a knife and who it would be for.
"Ok, let's get this done fast and move out," she declared as they walked back into the warehouse ready to get back on her killin' schedule.
Author's Note: See! I'm not that triflin'! Double update y'all to make up for that tiny chapter 9.