ANDREA

"You know," Negan prompted. "You know who has her."

"Yes," Andrea breathed, hands still closed around Negan's wrists.

Negan's eyelids slid shut and he rested his forehead against the side of his hand so that his brow almost tickled the corner of Andrea's mouth. "It's Merle, isn't it?"

He knew it was. Why else would she be afraid to tell him? It couldn't be anyone else, but she still wouldn't confirm it.

His head perked up and that loss of control was there again. The whites of his eyes were glossy.

"Did you help Merle escape?"

"If he hadn't gotten out on his own, I would have. You know I would have. Being here doesn't change the fact that he's still my family, no matter what he does. I'm always going to help him, even if it costs me. I saw him from the window while we were clearing the shed, but I didn't say anything, to you or Milton. Merle took Judith, you won't find her, and you won't find him. She's not coming back."

This was what she needed to make Negan release her. He backed into the couch, sank down, and put his face in his hands. Andrea moved toward the door now that her path was clear, but it opened before she could reach it and Milton stepped in.

"That's an awfully long talk you—"

She watched him put it together. Negan looking remorseful on the couch, turned away. Andrea making a mad dash to the door, shaking. The empty beer bottles. He guessed at what had happened—and he guessed incorrectly.

"Milton, no—"

All of her strength couldn't have held him back, but she still tried, taking hold of his arm and leaning back to keep him from moving forward. It was almost laughable how easily he slipped out of her grip. He was beside Negan in two strides, grabbing a fistful of Negan's nightshirt and dragging him upright. "Did you put your hands on my wife? Did you just do the very thing you swore to me you'd never let happen to her?"

In a rush of pride and love for him, Andrea realized that Milton only ever let his anger control him when it concerned her. When he knew she had been threatened, or suspected that someone had hurt her, his reason evaded him.

The power shift was just so jarring to watch. Milton manhandling Negan. Milton threatening Negan as Negan stood at a loss for words. How long would Negan stay incapacitated, though? And what would he do to Milton once he came around, if Milton acted so impulsively now?

"He didn't touch me!" Andrea shouted. "He just yelled a bit and then I explained a few things to him and he backed off. He's not taking it well. But he didn't touch me, Milton."

And what would the truth merit? If she told Milton that Negan had caressed her, but that she wasn't threatened by it because she knew he was living in a memory of his dead wife, how would Milton take that? Someone would throw a punch and then all hell would break loose.

"Don't insult my intelligence, Andrea. Whatever he did, it scared you, and I want to know what he did right now, or I swear to God—"

Negan put his hands on Milton's face in an exact copy of what he had done to Andrea. Milton kept hold of Negan's shirt. It was awkward, it was strange, and neither man let go, sizing each other up as if they had just met and didn't know the other's weaknesses yet. Only it never would have happened if Milton had been allowed to remain on his feet when he first met Negan. Milton would have stared at him somewhat defiantly, but he wouldn't have come across as the stronger of the two, the one more driven by something that tied him to the world, the one who had something to lose.

"This is what I did to your wife," said Negan. "I made her look me in the eye and dared her to lie to me about who has Judith."

It was too much to hope for that Negan would not be able to read Milton like he had read Andrea.

It meant relinquishing his power, making himself vulnerable, but Milton broke eye contact to turn his neck ever so slightly in her direction in a masterful impression of uncertainty.

"Andrea?"

He looked hurt, and that was exactly what Negan needed to see if he was going to get through this one unscathed.

Negan resealed the stare he had been fixing Milton with, but now he was searching for a clue that would tell him Milton was lying. His fingers were digging into Milton's skin and this was the type of physical contact Milton hated; next to needles, this was his biggest fear. He held on, though, waiting for Negan's judgment to pass.

"You mean Andrea didn't tell you who has Judith?"

A sharp swallow, a scrunch of his brows, the tightening of his jaw. Milton knew exactly what he was doing in playing the card of obliviousness and betrayal.

"You don't know," and now Negan had found the answer for himself. "At least, not for sure. But you've got a pretty good guess, don't you?"

"He wouldn't," said Milton. "He has nothing to gain from taking her, and if he knew…if he had known that Judith was ours—mine and Andrea's—he wouldn't do that to us—or at least, not to Andrea."

"You're givin' him more credit than he deserves. We both know he's not above hurting Andrea if it meant getting back at me, and if he knew that Judith was yours, it would've given him even more of a reason to take her. He took your daughter, Milton, and you still wanna defend him to me?"

"Would you expect anything less of me?"

Negan's arms dropped to his side and Milton released his shirt all in one go.

"No, I wouldn't. I don't know what makes you so devoted to someone who disowned you, but it's kinda admirable. Stupid, but admirable, and it's gonna get you killed if you don't watch it."

"Merle wouldn't kill him now," said Andrea. "He had his chance in the arena and Milton gave him that chance, but he walked away from it. There's no point in coming back here just to kill Milton."

"I didn't say Merle was comin' back to kill him; I said that Milton's gonna get himself killed by being noble. Merle, Woodbury, the prison, they all think you two are with me now, right? They've got every reason to believe that you've turned your backs on them and if they snap, they won't hesitate to kill both of you if you're not prepared to fire back. They're your enemies from now until the day one of you dies. They're fumin' after today; they wanna fight back, even if they've got nothin' to fight back with, and it's a waste of human life, but they'll do it just to have a chance at killing me. They're desperate and we all know what desperation makes people do. I'm just tryin' to prepare you two for the tough choices comin' your way. If any of those people raise a gun to you, are you gonna let 'em shoot, or are you gonna fire first?"

"I guess we'll find out next week, won't we?" said Milton, though it sounded like a challenge to Andrea. "I'll do what I have to, but I'm not going to kill them if I can help it. You may not be inclined to show mercy, but I am, no matter where I live, and living here doesn't change the fact that Woodbury was my home long before I met Andrea. I know those people and I won't kill them."

"Gonna leave that dirty work to me?"

"Perhaps. Either way, you're going to have to make sacrifices of your own and I'm not betting on any irrevocable loyalty on your part to save Andrea and me if it comes down to that."

Negan scrubbed at his face with his fingernails and slapped himself a few times as if trying to bring himself into alertness. "Did I seriously just hear you say that? Are you for real right now, Milton? You two infuriate me sometimes with how incredibly dumb you are for smart people. I've had every opportunity to kill you since the get-go and it's only increased as time's gone on, like today. The shed, the pond—I could have, but it never crossed my mind to. I've got two cracked ribs and a hangover on the way that says it's pretty fucking clear that I'm more than on your side. I've got your back if you've got mine, but right now, I'm not too sure you've got it."

"We have it," said Milton, answering for Andrea when she had fully intended to say that Milton's back was the only one she would be guarding. "After what you've done for us, we have it, because we owe you gratitude."

Negan waved them off, sinking back down onto his couch.

"Y'all go to bed now. It's gonna be a long week."

Milton put his hand on the small of Andrea's back to lead her out when Negan called, "And Milton, don't ever thank me. I don't deserve gratitude for the things I've done to get you here."

Andrea reached back to take Milton's hand, pulling him from Negan's room and not letting go until they had returned their own quarters where Andrea kicked off her shoes and watched Milton do the same in his methodical, unresponsive manner. Milton had just reached for the covers to lay back down when Andrea threw herself on him, burying her face above his bruised heart as shuddering sobs finally broke through her restraint. It had been a delayed reaction to seeing him die today. The emotion that should have come when he lay full of water and no air was putting in its appearance now that she had allowed her mind to catch up to her.

Bewildered and concerned, Milton settled his arms around her. "Andrea, what—"

"Just let me hold you," Andrea pleaded.

"Okay."

She remained like this, clenching him as tightly as she could without bruising him further, just to remind herself that he was still breathing. Her interaction with Negan had prodded her fears into action so that everything she should have done earlier was now making its way out of her system. About an hour had passed before Milton once again tried to breach the subject.

"Are you going to tell me what this is all about?"

"In the infirmary, after Caleb, Negan told me how you tried to carry me inside even though we both had been shot. He said that he'd never seen someone so utterly out of control before, that you scared him when you started screaming for me. He said that he had to knock you out. So when he pulled you from the pond today and all I could do was watch, I felt like I let you down because I didn't react in the same way when I thought you were gone."

"Not everyone needs to have an inclusive breakdown to process grief. You should know that I keep my emotions under wraps for the majority of the time, so when something so traumatic finally happens, I can't maintain it any longer. But you let your emotions come and go as they will and you expressed your shock by going into shock. I know what was going through your head when you saw me and I don't approve of you punishing yourself for not screaming. You shut down and I broke; two very different outward reactions, but the same internal response. You love me, Andrea, and I don't doubt that just because you couldn't cry for me in correlation with the events of the day."

"I don't want to make it a tradition in watching you die, but if we don't think of something fast, I think that's unavoidable. How are we going to get through this? I'm not going to shoot someone to save Negan, but if they already think we've given up on them—"

"You don't have to worry about that, because you're not going to go back to Woodbury," Milton stated. "Negan's going to take a large force to the town, which will leave the compound mostly unguarded. I don't foresee Simon getting out of solitaire anytime soon, but I don't trust him to be left alone with only a few soldiers to watch him, so you'll be staying here to guard him and wait for me. If I come back calmly and intact, then there's nothing to worry about, but if I come back with Woodbury at my heels, then we're running."

"We're what?" asked Andrea, positive that she hadn't heard him correctly.

"If Woodbury revolts, we have to leave. I'm not going to make the decision he wants me to make. I'm not giving him this last piece of me that tells him I'm completely on his side. If it comes down to it, I'll shoot to defend, but my aim is to maim, not to kill. If Elliot thinks you and I are Saviors now, let him think that because after today, there's no changing his mind. He knows I nearly died for him today, and if he can't piece that together with the whole picture, he doesn't deserve to know whose side we're really on. What matters most is making sure that Woodbury knows you and I don't belong to Negan, because I'm not counting on Merle to tell them that when he's not so sure himself."

"He thinks we chose this over him?" asked Andrea incredulously. "After what we did for him, he thinks that we'd rather lounge around with Negan to take care of us instead of going back to our people?"

"Not yet, but he'll think that if Negan comes to Woodbury's gates and you and I don't immediately defect, which is why you'll be here with Asher, waiting for my signal. If Merle doesn't see you with Negan, he'll know that we're planning something else."

Andrea sat up, determined to see the resolution in her husband's face. He had said they would side with Negan because they owed him, but only for as long as it took to return the favor, then they were debt free. This comfortable life he had given them wasn't worth the lives of all of those people who had to suffer for them to become Saviors. It wasn't worth the family they had built, to give it all up in thanks to Negan for his mercy.

"I need to hear you say it. Tell me what we're doing."

"If there's a fight, we leave Negan and we take out as many Saviors as we can on the way out. I'm not dying for him and I'm not dying with everyone I know thinking that I chose him over them."

"Then I'm with you. I'll follow your lead."

Milton held onto her hand, pressing his lips to her palm. "Lead with me."

/ /

MERLE

"Make this the last time you come back."

It would be the last time because there would be no need to ever return to the Savior compound if Woodbury and the prison were ready. If all went according to plan—and the pessimistic part of Merle's brain reminded him that nothing ever did—the Savior HQ would fall within the next two weeks, maybe sooner. Owen and Thomas were securing more supplies and soldiers and if Hershel and the prison group managed to retake their home, there would be just enough fighters to match Negan's full force, excluding the laborers who might possibly turn on him if they saw that he was losing the fight.

All that remained was setting the trap to bring Negan where they could get a clear shot at him. Merle was the best sniper around, probably the best sniper still alive in the world, and he could set up with the intent to kill Negan, or he could join the fight. This part of the plan was still up in the air, especially since the fact remained that Milton, Andrea, and Asher were still in Savior custody. Maybe that was too forgiving a word, though.

Merle had called Milton out on as much, berating him for getting too comfortable around Negan when Woodbury and the prison were still suffering. It had been a slap to the face for Merle to see Milton looking so healthy, happy even, but a bigger slap when Judith called out to Milton as her father. Milton thought that now was a good time to start raising a child? Maybe before, when his son might have lived, but now, now that Merle had made his intentions clear, Milton had refused to let him through, prepared to fight him for the baby.

Had Merle missed some valuable transitioning moment in Milton's life in the past month that made his friend suddenly so reluctant to help Merle put Negan in his place? Had Negan said something to Milton that made him sympathetic to the Saviors? Was Milton still willing to fight for his freedom?

A day and a half of walking did nothing to alleviate Merle's worries or answer his questions and with only Judith for company, he had no one to voice his concerns to. He was lucky to not come across any large bands of biters or scavenging Saviors, but it wasn't an easy task transporting a toddler through the woods on limited supplies and energy. Apparently she was still in the phase of transitioning between diapers and adult underwear, for she began to urinate in her panties without warning and Merle had had to quickly dislodge her from the harness to avoid getting coated in pee. At this point he had simply removed her underwear, stuffed her back into her pants, and kept walking, though she was starting to fuss now from the chafing the material caused.

For all of her whining, though, she remained mostly silent and still, occasionally messing with something on Merle's person that he'd prefer she leave alone so that with his patience wearing thin, he finally had to hold her out at arm's length and tell her that she'd better keep her hands to herself or she was going to be facing some punishment Merle had yet to think of. Punishment when he was a kid had been to strip down his pants and let his old man take a hickory switch or belt to bare backside. Some kids he'd known at school received similar treatment, though with a wooden paddle or open hand instead. And even at world's end, he knew there was bound to be someone alive in Woodbury who was opposed to any sort of negative treatment to a misbehaving child, preferring to give them a stern scolding and send them to a corner to reflect on what they'd done. The dead were walking and people slaughtered each other without hesitation and yet there were still people who frowned on a good slap to the butt to scold a child.

It was a few minutes from sundown when Merle caught sight of Woodbury's buildings. With an enormous sigh of relief, he gave a sharp whistle to let the wall guard know he was coming out and stepped onto the road, weapon held high and back turned to shield Judith in case anyone had an itchy trigger finger.

"Identify yourself!" ordered an unfamiliar voice.

"Merle Dixon!" replied Merle, pacing backward.

"Let me see your other hand!"

Dumbass, thought Merle. I only got the one. If this person didn't recognize him by name, it was someone he had never seen before, because everyone in Woodbury knew about his handicap.

"Lemme see it now!"

Merle lifted his other arm into the air so that the idiot guarding the wall would see his metal appendage.

"Y'all better quit playin' around an' lemme in. We got shit t'do."

"Open the gates, darlin'. That's Merle Dixon, all right."

As much as he knew that voice was vital to their efforts, Merle was sickened to hear it so soon after he had hoped to never hear it again. He revolved on the spot, slowly revealing Judith to the wall guard and he heard several gasps before the inner and outer gates drew open, allowing him inside. He hastened through and found himself met by both Woodburians and Celie's people who were eyeing him with a mixture of hate and appraisal. At the front of the crowd came Owen and Thomas, both looking sick to their stomachs at the sight of Judith in Merle's arms.

"God, Merle, you actually do have the baby?"

"How'd you know?"

"Negan came looking for her," said Thomas. "Two days ago. They thought one of us had taken her and Simon led the first party that barged in, demanding that Elliot hand her over, but she wasn't here, so Simon tried to take the boy, Nathan. Only, Erica wouldn't let him, so Simon killed her."

Despite the warmer weather, Merle felt as if spring had decided to skip right on over to winter again as any icy cold bucket of remorse washed over him. He listened to Owen and Thomas recount the events of that day, how Negan had arrived shortly after Simon, how Milton had come to Elliot's aid and nearly died for it, how Negan had revived him, how Negan allowed Elliot to kill Franco without repercussions, how Negan warned Woodbury that resistance would be met with severe punishment.

"We didn't know anything about the baby, or that she'd been taken from the prison," said Roger, one of the Woodburians who Merle actually recognized. "We thought it was just an excuse for Negan to send someone out here to bully us, but now…"

"What have you done, Merle?" asked Owen hopelessly. "If anything, you've started this fight prematurely. We're not ready yet and we only have five days to prepare and Elliot…he snapped. He hasn't moved from his living room floor since Negan left. He wouldn't even come to long enough to feed his daughter, so someone else had to step in and take care of her."

"I'll deal with that myself, but for now, keep goin' through with the plan. I want you two, Tate, an' any other leader or expert t'meet me in the old lab in an hour. Meanwhile, this kid's gonna need a change've underwear."

"Judith?"

The mixed crowd of Celie's people and Woodburians parted to allow Carl through as he caught sight of his sister and broke into a run to reach her. Merle removed his makeshift harness in time to hand the baby over to Carl who sank down onto the ground, weeping and cradling his sister.

"I didn't know that this would've happened," Merle told the Woodburians around him. "I only went back t'get her for the kid. I didn't know Negan was so attached t'her. If it's my fault about Erica—"

Tate shook his head and spelled out Negan's name on his hands, then pointed to Elliot's apartment to remind Merle that Woodbury needed its leader if they were going to fight back. He then pinned Merle in that giant bear hug that Merle loathed so much but had to look mildly happy about as Tate's boyish face welcomed him back.

"Merle, wait," said Carl as Merle started off toward the task he was not looking forward to completing. He stood up with Judith resting her head on his shoulder. "How did you know that she-?"

"I went back to the prison an' talked t'Hershel. He told me thatchoo was plannin' on tryin' t'get her back yourself an' that plan was destined for failure. I owed this t'you, kid, an' I need you t'unnerstand that I'm never gonna forget what your dad did for me. I'm gonna live with his death on my shoulders for the rest've my life, but I need you t'stop hatin' me an' stop tryin' t'kill me. That's all I'm askin', so can y'do that?"

Carl nodded in earnest.

With his new understanding with the boy firmly solidified, Merle turned to see Celie eyeing him over with that malicious grin of hers that suggested she still wanted to have a piece of him. He suppressed a shudder and subconsciously shifted his rifle in front of his crotch.

"You drive a hard bargain, honey, but I can't say no to the promise of walking the woods freely again."

"You let those people go yet?"

"They've been given weapons and proper clothes along with the promise that if we win, they earn their freedom, but only if their owner lives too. If not, they'll be sold again."

Merle didn't remember agreeing to those terms when he sent Owen and Thomas back to the underground bunker to barter with Celie. He had counted on Margot's friendship with the two ex-Saviors to sweeten the deal and apparently it had paid off, but Merle's demands were steep enough to make him doubt that Celie would follow through with them. In addition to their help in battling the Saviors, Celie had to release all of those individuals who had been bought and sold under her command. She would also allow the elderly, young, and wounded to hide in the bunker for the duration of the fight, which meant that the six or so individuals pushing sixty as well as Nate, Nina, Elise, and Judith would all be guaranteed safety, even if Woodbury lost. In return, Celie was promised what remained of the Savior compound and half of its supplies as well as regular established trade with Woodbury.

"And when this is over, remember that my bed's always open," said Celie with a wink.

"So's the gate t'show you out, now move," said Merle, pushing his way out of the throng. He passed the grassy patch that grew between two apartments and saw a marker sticking out of a freshly shaped grave.

Shit.

He would have willingly walked another two weeks around in the woods with Judith instead of facing Elliot in this moment, but Merle needed a strong ally and fellow leader now that all the available candidates for the position were dead or unable to fulfill their duties. When the prison group joined them, he could count on Hershel to organize the troops, but not lead, not with his artificial leg, so Bob, T-Dog, Michonne, or Tyreese would have to fill in. For Merle's plan, though, he needed seven qualified leaders and he wanted them to be people who he knew would follow him into the final round, and it was bad enough having to trust Celie as one of those people. He needed Elliot.

And he found him kneeling in front of his daughter's unoccupied playpen, knife in hand.

Merle raced in and knocked the blade away, but Elliot hardly reacted to it.

"What were y'gonna do with that?"

"Thought about cutting my wrist for a long time, but I can't because I only have one hand and nothing to hold the knife with. Tate made sure I didn't have a gun."

"They told me you just snapped, not that you'd suddenly taken a bunch've stupid pills. What's suicide gonna getcha? What's it gonna do for your lil' girl? Erica wouldn't've done that if Simon had killed you instead."

"No, she wouldn't," said Elliot monotonously. "She never needed me to survive, or Guerrero, or her husband. She didn't need anyone to give her a reason to keep going; she just did, because she was good at it. But I'm not. And Simon knew that, so when he put his knife in her, he knew he was wiping out Woodbury's leadership all at once. If he'd killed me, Erica would've led the town in revolt and not shed a tear until after every last one of those bastards was dead, but he didn't. He killed her, and he left me to face it, knowing I couldn't."

Merle took a knee at Elliot's side. "So whatchoo're tellin' me is that because your wife's dead, you ain't got no reason t'live? Because Simon killed her, it makes more sense t'you t'die an' let the rest've us sort it out? It seems fair in your head right now t'abandon your girl because you obviously loved her momma more than you love her, is that right?" He threw one of Elise's toys at Elliot, pegging him in the ear. "Wake up, dumbass! This can't be aboutchoo or any other one person here. This's about puttin' an end to the threat that's keepin' all've us from livin'. We don't get t'be selfish no more, not while Negan's alive."

"Why not? You are. You experienced what he can do firsthand and now that you're free to go where you want, you're choosing to wage war on him because of what he did to you. He picked you clean and found out exactly what he can do to hurt you and hurt those two people you'd die for. So you're making all of us fight your war for you."

"Because I'm the only one with the balls t'get this thing started. Y'all didn't have a chance in hell've shootin' spit wads at 'im before I showed you how you could rebel. I'm what you need t'win, but what I need t'win is you. You've been in this kinda fight before; you've got experience and knowledge, and you're still the person everybody looks to in this town."

"Not anymore. Negan told them all that I can't handle it when someone puts their hands on me. They all know that I was raped and I showed them exactly what I'm capable of doing when those memories come flooding back. I go to pieces, lose my head, and people end up getting hurt."

"Then hold onto your undies, boy, because I'm about t'letchoo in on a lil' secret. I been there, okay? I know the shame that comes with it an' the fear t'let anybody touchoo. You're scared've everybody an' it makes y'closed off from the rest've the world so thatchoo start cravin' human touch an' start achin' for affection. Know how I know that? My uncle tried t'rape me when I was kid. One've Negan's people molested me right after I'd been promoted. And the woman in charge've all these new people outside assaulted me in exchange for me goin' free. She's right out there on the street an' I never wanted t'see her again, but I know I need what she's got in order t'win this thing. I can still feel her on me an' I hate it. I wanna peel off my skin t'get rid've the feelin', but I can't. I gotta deal with it 'cause like it or not, I'm also somebody that people're lookin' to."

"You came back from it," said Elliot, clawing the tears from his face. "You came back stronger and everyone sees that. I didn't."

"Y'think they're judgin' you? Y'think they want someone else in charge because their leader's a rape survivor? Hell, man, they saw what the Governor did t'Milton an' Andrea an' they didn't give a damn. They accepted both've 'em back an' didn't think twice about bad-mouthin' 'em because they've been through some shit. Y'can't make excuses when y'don't even know what they're thinkin'."

Elliot wasn't convinced, but he wasn't against Merle's attempts to rehabilitate him either.

"The leaders're meetin' in an hour in the lab. Be there."

/ / /

"The prison's made contact," announced Owen once the summoned leaders had gathered in the lab. "Bob hacked into our radio channel and told us via Morse Code that they've taken the prison back. Patrick and the other Saviors are dead and they're gathering supplies before heading over here."

"Any've our casualties?" asked Merle.

"No, but Oscar—whoever that is—took a hit in the leg," said Owen. "I guess I'll meet him when he gets here, though, which should be in about five hours. And you can bet that by then, Negan will have figured out that the prison got retaken, so that may cut our prep time in half."

"Then we put crews workin' through the night on them cars an' explosives an' then I'll go out at first light with a three-man team t'plant them along the way," said Merle. "Everybody stays on the radio an' gives the signal if y'see any car that ain't mine. Even if I don't make it back in time, y'go through with the original plan that Owen and Thomas gave y'all."

Merle pulled up a roughly drawn map of Woodbury, then an additional two sketches of the road to the Savior compound, and the compound itself. "We wanna take out as many've 'em here as we can 'cause once they get back home, it'll be a long time t'smoke 'em out. Soon as Negan's outta the truck, I want somebody in the middle've the street t'catch his attention, no wall guard, nobody in sight 'cept that one person. When that person gives the word, everybody else makes themselves seen, but not exposed. We're gonna line the streets with cars an' blockades t'provide cover. Then on my go, we'll attack 'em in waves. Save the bullets for last."

"And where are you going to be while we start this massacre?" questioned Thomas.

"I'm aimin' t'take out Big Hoss himself. Once he goes down, his people are either gonna give up or scramble. An' when they double back, we make sure t'keep 'em on the path we want 'em t'take, blockin' off all other routes with road blocks an' explosives, the last've which is gonna be right in their courtyard so we can get through that biter setup they got. Now, I know we promised a certain somebody that she'd get the compound when we're done here, which I'm all too happy t'give, s'long as y'don't mind it being a little roughed up by some smoke, fire, an' gunshots," said Merle pointedly to Celie, who shrugged apathetically.

"I like things a little rough, sugar."

Ignoring her, Merle pulled up Thomas's sketch from memory of the compound. He pointed out the exits the Saviors would use to evacuate and assigned each leader a team of eleven to cover the exits while the main team, led by Merle himself, would make a sweep of the upper levels to push any remaining Saviors out of hiding.

"Leadin' up the teams besides me, I've got Michonne, Owen, Thomas, Celie, an' Elliot."

All heads flitted in Elliot's direction, for the man had remained silent, comatose to the world during the entire meeting.

"Even if Dead-Eyes there joins in, that still leaves us one leader short," Celie observed.

Tate jotted down a quick note and held it up for Merle to read. Milton, with us?

"Yeah, Milton's with us. He's my inside man, an' he's gonna be key in makin' sure the bombs're set up. Once he regroups with us—if he gets to us before they realize he's cuttin' loose—he an' Andrea are gonna lead the last team."

"Great, your boyfriend and the Walking Corpse are heading up two of the teams instead of letting some more reliable people take over, like some of my people."

"Like Corbin, or is he still recoverin' from where I cut 'im?" said Merle bitingly. "No, I want people who I've seen in action, an' if Milton don't make it, then I want Tate."

"A mute giving orders on a battlefield. That'll go over real well—"

"He's better equipped than most to lead on the battlefield," said Elliot, his voice coming across strangled and weak, but defiant in the face of Celie's accusations. "His twin brother was murdered in front of him and he kept fighting. Everyone in this town knows how to communicate with him because he leads the supply parties out weekly and he's trained everyone on how to do it without saying a word. I'd sooner have him lead all of us than you, if it came to that."

"Well, lookee here, he speaks," said Celie with a condescending flash of her teeth at Elliot.

"You up for this or no, I wanna know now an' I wanna know the honest truth. No backin' out on me," said Merle. If he couldn't rely on Elliot for this fight, he would have to send the man to the bunker because if not the promise of revenge, nothing could motivate him to fight.

"I'm in," said Elliot. "But you leave Simon to me."

"He's all yours, s'long as y'all unnerstand that Negan's mine."

No one fought him on the subject.