A/N: Here's the next chapter! The original idea was to make the whole ordeal with Negan one whole chapter, but I started a new semester a few weeks ago and haven't had much time. I really want to do the Negan stuff justice, so I've split it into two chapters for you guys so I can work a bit more on the next part. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.
"I can't do anything without a visual. There's no blood, so I don't think it's a miscarriage, but I can't be sure. We need to get her to Hilltop; I need that ultrasound machine." Thea urged, trying her best to keep her heart from exploding in her chest. It was beating so fast, that was a possibility at this point.
Rick nodded quickly. "Alright, guess we're making a trip to Hilltop…"
Before he could say more, Thea was speaking again. "And I'm going. If something happens out there, if she progresses for the worse, I have to be there." There was no way she was going to be convinced to stay back again.
The sheriff put a hand on her good shoulder and offered her a small smile. "Thea, I wasn't going to argue with you this time. We need you."
It only eased her the weight on her chest slightly, the worry for Maggie was too strong to really relax at the moment. She nodded slowly. "Okay, I'll get Maggie in the RV."
Getting the pregnant woman into the RV was harder than it should have been considering she only had one good arm, but she managed to get Maggie onto the bed in the back and get her comfortable on her own while everyone rushed to get ready to go, grabbing whatever they would need for the trip to Hilltop. Thea pressed the back of her hand to Maggie's forehead, immediately alarmed by the heat radiating off the woman. She glanced to where Rick was standing in the small hallway of the RV and shook her head, hoping her would realize the severity of the situation without her having to verbalize it.
The man sighed heavily and turned, making his way out of the RV, hopefully to hurry the others along.
"Any change?" Sasha's voice came from outside.
Rick replied. "She's getting worse."
"Good call on the transport." Abraham was there too.
"Well, I figured she'd be more comfortable." Rick agreed.
There was a moment before Abraham spoke again. "It also means you got room for more. They're out there, so I'm gonna be there with you. We are."
"Package deal." Sasha said before the pair boarded the RV.
Thea knew Abe was talking about the Saviors, and she couldn't help but feel nervous about the prospect of running into them. The last time they'd met, she'd been shot; almost dying wasn't something she wanted to go through again, so she only prayed that they would make it to Hilltop without any hiccups.
"Uh, what she said." Eugene's voice came from outside.
Thea hadn't realized he was there too and she didn't think this trip was something he should be making after what had happened, even if he'd only been grazed.
Rick apparently had the same thoughts. "Look, it's a long trip and you're just getting over—"
"It's a superficial graze, proteins are binding, plus we need to discuss the ammunition production and manufacture, so let's roll." Eugene interrupted.
As Abe exited the RV, he held his hands up. "I already tried. Give him an inch, he's taking a mile."
"I'm only asking for 23, give or take, depending on the route. I know I can be of some help. Now's the time and here's the place. Don't shine me. I'll be your anchorman. Yes, I damn will." Eugene rambled before getting onto the RV before Rick could make any further objections.
Thea offered Sasha a small smile as she left her with Maggie, moving to stand in the doorway of the RV. She could see Aaron standing near Rick.
"We're ready to protect this place and the Saviors know it. That's why they grabbed Eugene." Aaron was saying.
Rick moved towards the other man. "Look, it's not up for discussion."
Aaron offered him a nod. "Then you're just gonna have to punch me in the face and tie me up again. 'Cause that's what it's gonna take to stop me."
Thea stifled a laugh as Rick reluctantly nodded his head and motioned for Aaron to get into the RV. She stepped back to get out of his way as he boarded, and the two shared a smile before he ducked into the back room to do doubt check on Maggie.
When she faced Alexandria again, Carl had joined his father, a bag of guns on his back. Father Gabriel and Spencer, each sporting a rifle on their own backs were approaching.
"We have 24-hour shifts set up on each of the watch towers, each one of them fully supplied and ready. In the case that we're incurred upon, we have drivers assigned, evacuation and distraction, and the rendezvous we discussed. In the event of any emergency, my first priority is Judith. I will not fail you. Are you comfortable leaving me in charge of Alexandria's defense?" Father Gabriel spoke to their leader.
Thea had to admit that she was impressed with the way Gabriel had changed. When they'd met him, he'd been a coward who hid behind his faith and let his congregation die. He'd been someone they were reluctant to welcome into the group, but now he was proving himself to be a valuable member of the community.
Rick seemed to agree, especially considering he'd put so much faith in Gabriel's ability to protect Judith should anything happen. He chuckled and shook his head at the Father, before nodding. "Yes." He said simply, turning to join the others on the RV.
"Hey, Rick," Spencer called, gaining the sheriff's attention. "If the Saviors do show up…I don't know, I'm thinking, if it's not too late, should we try and make some kind of deal?"
Rick eyed him for a moment. "Tell them to wait for me. I got a deal for 'em."
With that, he stepped onto the RV and shut the door. "Let's go."
They hadn't been driving long. Maggie was still doing pretty badly, and Thea felt helpless sitting across from her in the back room. She couldn't do much without actually seeing what was going on inside the woman's uterus, so it was imperative that the made it to Hilltop as fast as possible.
Movement snapped her out of her thoughts and she noticed Aaron leaving the room, followed by Rick entering. He glanced Thea's way before resting his gun on the bench beside her where she was sitting. Kneeling in the floor next to the bed, he reached for Maggie's hand.
"Hey." He said softly.
Maggie was panting as if she had just finished running. "Hey." She replied in a hoarse voice.
"We're gonna get there. The doctor at the Hilltop, he's gonna make things better."
Maggie turned away from him as if she didn't believe things would be okay, which was understandable given the state she was currently in.
"Hey," Rick tried to get her attention back by brushing some of her hair back.
Maggie's voice was quiet. "How do you know?" She asked, sounding like a scared child.
Thea found herself also wondering how he seemed to know it would be okay. How he seemed to have so much faith in them getting Maggie to Hilltop in time.
"Everything we've done, we've done together. We got here together and we're still here." Rick began. "Things have happened, but it's always worked out for us 'cause it's always been all of us. That's how I know. 'Cause as long as it's all of us, we can do anything."
Thea couldn't help but think that he was wrong. All of them weren't here. Daryl had taken off after Carol, and Glenn, Michonne, and Rosita had gone after him. So, the whole gang wasn't together at the moment. Did that mean that shit would hit the fan? Or did his little theory about the group being what keeps them from failing just a theory, just bullshit he was spewing to ensure Maggie didn't freak out too much?
She just hoped that the other could find Daryl safely; she hated the idea of never seeing him again.
"What the bitch?" She heard Abraham suddenly grumble from where he was driving the RV.
Thea and Rick left Maggie in the back to move up front and see what was going on.
"What?" Rick asked as he leaned over the seats to see what Abraham was referring to.
The RV was slowing to a stop and Thea could sense that there might be trouble up ahead.
"Enemy close." Abe said, confirming her suspicions as the RV stopped completely.
She could see eight men standing in the road up ahead, three cars blocking the path behind them. A man was laying on the pavement in front of them, clearly too injured to move. Of course, the intimidation of the men, who were no doubt Saviors, standing over him probably played a factor as well.
Thea adjusted the sling on her shoulder, wondering how exactly she would be able to defend herself with one arm if it came to that.
"We doing this?" Abraham asked.
Rick studied the men for a long moment before shaking his head. "No." he said simply, before turning and moving to the door. He opened the door and stepped out, followed by Eugene, Aaron, Carl, Sasha, and Abe.
Thea stayed back on the RV with Maggie, not wanting to leave the woman alone, but also not wanting to put herself into a situation she couldn't handle with her injury. Instead, she watched from the window as her group approached the other group. Rick had his hands up to show he wasn't going to try anything, although he still carried his rifle in his right hand so the message might not have been too clear.
The man standing closest to the man laying on the ground spoke up. "He's someone who was with a whole lot of someones who didn't listen." He called out loud enough for Thea to hear inside the RV.
There was a pause.
"We can make a deal right here, right now." Rick called back.
The Savior agreed. "That's right, we can. Give us all your stuff. We'll probably have to kill one of you. That's just the way it is, but then we can start moving forward on business. All you have to do is listen."
Shit. Thea knew this trip was going to end terribly.
"Yeah…" Rick started, lowering his hands. "That deal's not gonna work for us. Fact is, I was about to ask for all of your stuff, only I'm thinking I don't have to kill any of you. Any more of you."
Probably not the best way to handle things, but Rick had always had a flare for the dramatic.
One of the other Saviors began shaking a can of spray paint he'd been holding in his hand. He stepped forward and bent down to spray an 'X' across the chest of the man in the road. Clearly marking a target.
"Sorry, my deal is the only deal. We don't negotiate." The first man told them.
Rick nodded and motioned with his finger in a circle for the others of their group to load up. "Me and my people are leaving." He announced as they all began to back up towards the RV, not wanting to turn their backs on the men.
Once everyone but Rick was back on the RV, the sheriff turned to the Saviors. "You want to make today your last day on earth?" He asked.
The Savior nodded. "No, but that is a good thing to bring up. Think about it. What if it's the last day on earth for you? For someone you love? What if that's true? Maybe you should be extra nice to those people in that RV, 'cause you never know…" he snapped his fingers. "Just like that. Be kind to each other. Like you said…like it was your last day on earth."
The ominous tone to his words had Thea's heart pounding in her chest. The man was so confident in what he was saying, it was as if he knew more than they did.
Rick wasn't as put off by the words. He nodded, shrugged his lips, and began to get onto the RV. "You do the same." He called before shutting the door.
Abraham started the engine and put it in reverse, backing slowly away from the group to find a new route to Hilltop.
Once they'd gotten a significant distance away from the group of men on the road, Abraham had parked the RV so they could take a look at the map and find a good route. Eugene was leaning over the map on the table, tapping his finger against it.
"Logrun Road's a straight shot." He informed them.
Sasha nixed it. "We want visibility."
Eugene stared at her for a moment before turning back to the map and pointing at another road. "There, you got it on Shelton. Golf course, country clubs, sloping terrain. No bum rush from the bogeymen. We'd see 'em from a good piece. It is a longer trip by a third, but we'd get the scenic safety of clear cut dingles and glens."
Sasha narrowed her eyes at him. "You're being serious, right?"
"As coronary thrombosis."
Thea rolled her eyes. She wished he could talk normally, not beat around the bush so much.
Rick approached from the front. "You got a route?" he asked.
As Sasha confirmed it, a thump came against the door of the RV, followed by several more thumps and growls. Walkers. It was time to get moving.
They'd been on Shelton for a while when the second hiccup came. Thea was placing a damp rag she'd wet with water from her bottle across Maggie's forehead when she heard Abraham let out another colorful phrase.
"Bitch nuts." The ginger-haired man growled.
She quickly left Maggie's side to see what was wrong this time. In the road there was another blockade. This time, five cars were lined up and double the amount of men as last time. This time they were all armed.
"We making our stand?" Sasha asked their fearless leader.
Carl answered for him, an eagerness to his face that came from aggravation. "Yeah, we end it." He said firmly.
"No, not now." Rick argued. "They've been waiting. They're ready. With one of us behind the wheel that's five on sixteen." He looked back at Carl for confirmation. "Right?"
Carl nodded, seeming to understand. "Right."
"All right, go slow." Rick stated, patting Abe on the shoulder.
The red-haired man slowly began to reverse the RV. As he did, one of the Saviors lifted his gun into the air and fired shots. Thea wasn't sure if they were meant as warnings for them or signals to other Saviors in the area. Either way, the uneasiness was beginning to seep into Thea's bones.
"How are we on gas?" Rick asked some time later as they found themselves on a different road.
"Half a tank. I pulled some more cans before we left." Abraham replied.
Thea was beginning to wonder how many different roads they might need to go down to get to the Hilltop, and if they'd have enough gas to get there.
Sasha was seated in the passenger's seat, looking back at Rick as she spoke. "Those weren't the same men who blocked the road the first time."
It was Abraham who answered her. "Same outfit, different soldiers. They got numbers."
They already knew that much. They'd killed a good number of Saviors the night Thea had been shot, and yet they still had plenty more to spare to block the roads. Clearly, the satellite facility had been just an outpost; there was probably a much larger community of Saviors just itching to take them down.
"Yeah, we keep driving, we get her there." Rick said in a low voice.
Sasha nodded. "We will."
"If we have to shove each and every one of them up their own asses." Abraham agreed.
Then, as if he had spoken too soon, the squeal of the brakes broke through the cabin of the RV; they were stopping again. Thea and Rick sighed at the same time, and the doctor glanced back at her ailing patient before she stood to see who was blocking the road this time.
It wasn't a who, but a what.
There were at least a dozen walkers chained together like a sick game of red rover, standing in a line from one side of the road to the other.
"We can't go through it. Can't risk the RV." Rick said. You stay behind the wheel, just in case. We'll clear it."
Abraham remained seated like he was instructed, while the others got off the bus. Maggie was still resting in the back, and Thea eyed the woman before stepping off the RV herself, trailing behind the others slowly. Unlike the others she wasn't armed, so she kept her distance from the walkers in case one broke free somehow.
"Putting together a 'red rover' like that takes people. A lot of them." Eugene was pointing out.
She couldn't help but agree. She eyed the walkers in the chain. They were all attached by the wrists, and controlling one walker, let alone a dozen, long enough to do so would take more than a few people. She trailed her eyes from one walker to the next, freezing when she spotted something familiar. One of them was wearing a dark colored jacket that she had seen before and two arrows were embedded in its shoulder, and she felt the breath leave her lungs.
"Come on, let's do this." Rick said.
Thea was stepping closer to the chain, eyes locked on the jacket.
"Dad…" Carl trailed off, though someone else seemed to pick up the same thing he had.
Aaron voiced the younger boy's thoughts. "That's Michonne's."
The name had Thea's eyes flickering over to another walker; it wore a brown vest and two strands of Michonne's braids were sticking out of a wound on its head. Her eyes went back to the jacket and she knew. Her ears were beginning to ring.
"This is Daryl's." She croaked, eyes wide and nearly brimming. Her chest heaved. All her fears were coming to reality.
As she stared, the world closing in around her, she was abruptly brought out of the haze by gunfire crackling through the air. Dirt at their feet kicked up as the bullets struck the earth and Thea jumped back to avoid being hit.
"Get back to the RV! Go!" Rick exclaimed, lifting his axe and chopping off the arm of one of the walkers in order to break the chain.
Thea wanted desperately to take Daryl's jacket off the walker, but it wouldn't be an easy task with one arm and with the Saviors firing upon them, it was too dangerous. She allowed Aaron to pull her back onto the RV and soon the RV was lurching forward as Abraham sped away from the gunfire. It wasn't until then that Thea noticed that Rick had taken Michonne's braids from the walker; he was staring down at them in his hand with a lost expression on his face.
She felt the same ringing returning to her ears but then she realized that the ringing was actually a screeching noise and it was coming from the RV.
"What's that sound?" Sasha asked.
"Undercarriage could've caught a bullet. Or it could be transmission. It could be nothing." Eugene rambled off.
Rick glanced around at the group for a moment. "They were firing at our feet. They blocked the road but they weren't trying to stop us. They want us in this direction."
Thea was leaning against the wall in the little hallway. Her eyes widened at his words, at the familiarity of the situation. "They were firing at our feet." She whispered so quietly that only she heard it. It was exactly what happened at Terminus, when Gareth and the others had been trying to get them into the train car. Her heart was racing.
No one else seemed to be privy to her distress, but there was a good reason, a good distraction.
"Barton Road takes us north, but they gotta know we wanna go north." Sasha pointed out.
Thea realized they were looking at the map again.
Eugene pointed to a road. "Meadows. Could take us east, but we can get back on track on Mayhew."
Thea wasn't sure if Maggie could handle so much backtracking. She could see the sweat pooling on the pregnant woman's pale face as shivers racked her body. She wasn't getting better, in fact she was getting worse. They needed to get her help soon.
"We're down to a third of a tank. We could top off at the next stop, but no refills after that." Sasha commented.
"All right." Rick agreed.
Thea turned back to the others. "She's burning up. I don't know if she can make the extra miles."
Rick rubbed his forehead tiredly as the RV let out another squeal.
"Rick." Abraham urged.
Thea thought perhaps he was waiting for a response from the man, but then she realized the RV was coming to a stop for a fourth time. She closed her eyes with a long sigh, already tired of this game the Saviors were playing. She stepped forward to take a look, and this time the barricade was bigger. There were multiple cars, this time there were at least thirty guys, some of them standing on top of the cars.
"Go back." Rick ordered.
This was going nowhere. Maggie wouldn't make it if they had to go back. And there was no guarantee that the other routes weren't already blocked.
"Where?" Abraham asked, seeming to feel the same as Thea.
She could feel her stomach turning in knots; they were being herded again. Unlike Terminus, however, she was certain this time would end in bloodshed.
Rick didn't answer, instead he turned and disappeared into the back room where Maggie was resting uncomfortably as Abraham turned the RV around once more.
Rick was still talking with Maggie when the RV stopped for the fifth time. Thea's shoulder had begun to throb and she knew she should take something for it, but couldn't bring herself to do so. She just wanted to get to Hilltop, just wanted all this drama to stop. She wanted to see Daryl again, but instead she was left worrying about what the Saviors had done to him.
Was he dead? Or had they taken him prisoner and put his jacket on the walker to let them know they had him? And Michonne, too? What had happened to her? And if they had Daryl and Michonne, surely that meant they had Glenn and Rosita, too. Four of their own, taken or killed. Would they ever find out the truth, or would they be forced to wonder what had become of them forever?
The RV was stopping again, though, so Thea had other things to worry about. She looked to see what could be in the way this time and was surprised by what she found. The Saviors had managed to stack long logs, nearly twenty feet long each. They were stacked up fifteen feet high, blocking the road completely. Climbing over them would be doable if every one of their group was in perfect health. Maggie couldn't make it. Hell, Thea couldn't do it one handed, and Eugene couldn't do it with the wound to his side. This type of blockade had to have taken a while to put up…which meant that the Saviors had knew about this route for longer than they had.
"Fuck." Thea muttered, feeling utterly defeated.
As they got out of the RV, all except Maggie, Thea was able to make out tire tracks from the type of machinery one could find on a construction site, obviously what they'd used to move the logs.
"These tracks…" Eugene observed. "They would indicate they not only have people, but some big-ass toys and capabilities."
Perhaps the Saviors were better off than they had anticipated when they'd told Hilltop they could take them out for them.
"What it indicates is we are neck deep up shit creek with our mouths wide open." Abraham complained colorfully.
A scream rang out from behind them, and they all whipped around to find the source. For a moment, Thea feared it was Maggie, but instead she was met with the man from the first blockade with the 'X' spray painted onto his shirt. Saviors tossed him over the edge of the overpass the RV had been parked under, a chain around his neck. He gasped and gagged as the chain constricted his airflow, clawed at the links as if he would be able to get it off.
"Don't." Abraham told Aaron, who had lifted his gun.
Aaron's face was contorted into a mixture of confusion and grief. "I can try and break the chain." He countered.
"It won't work."
"I can try."
Rick shook his head. "It won't work." He agreed with Abraham. The man was still gagging above them. "And we need the bullets."
Although the uneasy feeling in her stomach felt differently, Thea agreed. They would need to be able to defend themselves when it came to it. With no other options, they were forced to stand and watch the man slowly hang to death.
When he had stopped moving completely, a soft crackling sound came from behind them. Turning, this time they found the log pile on fire. So much for climbing over it.
"You're treating your people good, right?" The Savior from the first blockade called from the other side of the flaming pile. "Like it was your last day on earth? Or maybe one of theirs? You better go. It's gonna get hot. You go get where you're going."
He was smug, condescending, like he knew they wouldn't reach their destination. Thea could sense that they had something planned, something big. There was no way they would put so much effort into simply annoying them; they had an endgame here.
Rick ushered them all back onto the RV quickly, glancing around nervously as if he was waiting for another attack to happen. Thea could sense that this wasn't the spot they'd do anything. There was somewhere else they were waiting.
Abraham backed up until he was able to turn around, and then they took off again as if there was any hope of finding a better path to take. They didn't drive long before they found themselves parked on the side of the road again, map spread out on the table as they searched for a flicker of hope.
"So, what's the play?" Abraham asked.
Thea was wetting the rag for Maggie's forehead again, feeling like she was doing absolutely nothing to actually help the woman.
"She needs a doctor." Rick said, his voice thick with worry for the woman who only seemed to be suffering more and more.
Sasha, who had been silently studying the map for a while now, looked up. "There are two more routes north from here."
"They're probably waiting for us right now." Aaron voiced defeatedly.
Thea couldn't help but nod in agreement, rubbing her hand across her forehead in exhaustion.
"So, they're ahead of us, probably behind us. But they're not waiting on us, per se, they're waiting on this rust bucket. And they don't know the moment-to-moment occupancy of said rust bucket. And the sun sets soon." Eugene stated matter-of-factly.
For once, the mullet-haired man mad sense. Thea stood and walked down the little hallway, nodding slowly. "You're right." She said. "Going on foot…it maybe be our only option at this point."
Rick eyed her for a moment, seeming a little surprised that she was agreeing with Eugene considering their history. "Do you think she can take it?" he asked her.
She glanced back at the woman in question, hating how pale she had grown. Her eyes were surrounded by dark circles, her face sunken in and haunted looking. She was curled into the fetal position, arms hugged around her lower abdomen. Thea could only guess what was going on inside her body at the moment. If it was too late, they wouldn't know until they were able to get to the ultrasound machine at Hilltop.
"She'll have to." She stated. "We can fashion a gurney, carry her the whole way. It'll be rough and it will take a hell of a lot longer, but I think it's a good idea. Probably our best shot."
The sheriff nodded slowly, mulling it over. Finally, he shrugged. "All right. So, who stays behind? Who drives the RV?"
The sun had finally set. They had managed to make a gurney out of the mattress of the bed Maggie had been resting on, the wooden door of the hallway closet making a backboard. Somehow Eugene had gained balls that Thea didn't know he had, and had volunteered to stay behind in the RV while the rest of them continued on foot with Maggie. Rick, Aaron, Sasha, and Abraham would carry Maggie while Thea and Carl took point, both armed with guns to fight off either walkers or Saviors.
Thea shoved a hunting knife into her sling, just in case.
"Thank you." Maggie said weakly to Eugene. The man simply nodded in return, and then they were off.
They walked for a little while, maybe thirty or forty minutes. Thea's shoulder was killing her, but she figured Maggie was in worse pain so she didn't bother to make it known to the others. She gritted her teeth together and powered through. Since she was down an arm, and using guns was really a last resort, Carl took out the walkers that approached them as they moved.
"Aaron, please. Just let me walk it." Maggie was urging as the foursome carried her along. As if that was an option.
Aaron offered her a reassuring smile. "Relax. Just a few more miles." It was a lie, but he was just trying to comfort her.
Carl turned to his father. "I heard what you told her, when we were leaving. We can do anything, 'cause we'll do anything we need to do. We have…and we will. What happened to Denise, I'm not gonna let anybody die like that again."
Bold words, but Thea didn't doubt for a second that Carl was capable of the things he was talking about. He'd been through hell, he'd aged more mentally than he had physically.
"Son…" Rick began.
Carl interrupted. "What?" he asked.
Then, before any other words could be spoken, whistling began to echo through the trees. Thea's heart dropped into her stomach as she began to see figures around them. The Saviors had found them.
"Go! Go!" Rick exclaimed, urging them forward.
The group took off, running as best they could while carrying Maggie on the gurney. The whistling continued to ricochet off the trees around them as they moved. There didn't seem to be a way away from them, the whistling made it seem like they were everywhere. Running jostled Thea's shoulder considerably, but it wasn't something she wanted to focus on at the moment.
There was a clearing up ahead and as they ran into it, floodlights turned on and blinded them. They skidded to a halt and the whistling grew so incredibly loud that it was deafening, massive. As Thea's eyes adjusted to the lights, she saw that they were completely surrounded by the Saviors who had blocked them before. There was no way out of this. They were trapped.
The RV was parked at the head of the clearing, and Eugene was on his knees not far from it, a gun to the back of his head.
Shit.
The whistling came to a stop suddenly, though for a moment it felt like the ringing was still in her ears.
"Good. You made it. Welcome to where you're going." The Savior from before spoke with his arms spread wide as if he was motioning around to show them the clearing. "We'll take your weapons." He pulled his gun out and pointed it at Carl. "Now."
Rick protested. "We can talk about it—"
"We're done talking. Time to listen."
He holstered his gun and reached for Carl's weapon as a few others came forward to do the same with the rest of them. Thea pressed her gun into the hand of a grimy looking man, but she didn't move to take the knife from her sling. The man didn't think to check it, either. Amateur.
As the man took Carl's gun off him, he eyed the boy. "That's yours, right? Yeah, it's yours." He flicked the brim of Carl's hat before facing the group. "Okay. Let's get her down and get you all on your knees. Lots to cover."
Thea felt herself grow mad at the single tear that slipped down her cheek. It was like her body knew they were defeated, but her brain was still trying to fight it off.
A few Saviors stepped forward to get Maggie off the cot, but Abraham stopped them. "Hold up. We got it." He told them.
"Sure, sure." The main Savior said, very condescendingly.
As they got Maggie down off the gurney, Rick and Abraham each took her arm and led her over to where the Savior had indicated for them to kneel in a line. The brunette woman fell weakly to her knees, and Thea moved to kneel beside her on her right. She wanted to be next to her in case she keeled over.
Rick stood on the left of Maggie, eyeing Eugene. The Savior who appeared to be in charge approached him. "Gonna need you on your knees." He told him.
The sheriff glanced around slowly before abiding, sinking to his knees beside Maggie. The others did the same. Abraham kneeled on Thea's right, and in order they were lined up as such: Abraham, Thea, Maggie, Rick, Sasha, Aaron, Carl, and Eugene.
It felt like the lineup they'd die in.
"Let's get the other ones, right now." The man said. "Dwight!"
Thea's head snapped up and she turned to find the blond man from the woods, the one who had taken her and Daryl hostage. The one who had killed Denise, though had apparently been aiming for Daryl. She could see that half of his face was covered in ghastly burn scars now. Perhaps a punishment for running away?
"Yeah?" Dwight asked, not looking at the Alexandrians kneeling in the dirt.
"Chop, chop."
Dwight opened the back of a black van that was parked to the right of the kneeling group. "Come on. You got people to meet." He told whoever was inside.
The first person he pulled from the van was Daryl. Thea's heart swelled with relief at the sight of him, knowing he was alive lifting a terrible weight off her chest. There was a tan blanket wrapped around his shoulders, and she could see blood covering his right shoulder and the side of his neck. He looked a little worse for wear, and Thea's relief was short lived.
Dwight forced him down to his knees in the dirt, and then pulled Michonne, Rosita, and Glenn from the van as well, putting them on their knees as well. Michonne was beside Abraham, then Daryl, then Rosita, and then Glenn.
As Glenn fell to his knees, his eyes spotted Maggie and widened. "Maggie…?" He asked in surprise, eyeing his wife with worry. It was clear she wasn't doing well, even he could see that from where he was kneeling.
Thea craned her neck to look at Daryl better, trying to figure out where the blood was coming from. His head was bowed, but his eyes met hers and they watched each other for a long moment before the Savior spoke up again and drew their attention away from one another.
"All right! We got a full boat. Let's meet the man." He announced as he stepped forward and knocked on the RV door. He stepped away without waiting for the door to open, moving behind the group on their knees as if he were dying to watch the show like the rest of them.
Thea could sense there was something big coming. Something was happening here, something major. She flashed back to the Hilltop, the story they had heard about the Saviors lining them up and killing a teenager to prove a point. She could feel this was the moment the same would happen to them.
The RV door swung open and a tall figure stepped out. As his face came into view, Thea felt recognition sink into her and she stared in shock. The man was wearing a leather jacket with a red scarf tucked into the collar, a baseball bat was resting casually on his shoulder. A grin spread across his face.
"Pissing our pants yet?" he asked in a jovial voice. He stepped forward and the lights finally illuminated his face, confirming what Thea had hoped was just a trick of the shadows. "Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close."
He moved to stand in front of Eugene, slowly making his way down the line of kneeling survivors and studying each one of them. Thea wanted to shrink into herself, was praying he wouldn't recognize her.
"Yep, it's gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon." He chuckled darkly. He stopped in front of Sasha and Thea was grateful. "Which one of you pricks is the leader?"
The Savior who had instructed Dwight to pull the others out of the van answered from behind them. "It's this one. He's the guy."
Thea kept her head down as he approached Rick. Her heart was pounding. If he recognized her, would he say anything? What would the others think if he said he knew her? What would it mean for her?
"Hi. You're Rick, right? I'm Negan." He introduced himself with a sigh. "And I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people, you killed more of my people. Not cool. Not cool. You have no idea how not cool that shit is."
Thea could feel herself rolling her eyes inwardly. He sure was a talker, of course she'd thought that was charming at one point; now it was both annoying and terrifying.
"But I think you're gonna be up to speed shortly. Yeah. You are so gonna regret crossing me in a few minutes."
He paused and Thea feared that he might have spotted her. She kept her head down, but turned her eyes upward to see if he was looking at her. He wasn't, but a large grin had spread across his face. She recognized it from the airport. Of course, it'd had a different effect on her then.
"Yes, you are. You see, Rick, whatever you do, no matter what, you don't mess with the new world order. And the new world order is this, and it's really very simple. So, even if you're stupid, which you very may well be, you can understand it. You ready? Here goes. Pay attention." He lowered his bat off his shoulder, face growing serious as he switched it to his right hand and pointed it at Rick. "Give me your shit…or I will kill you."
The large grin was back and he straightened up. "Today was career day." He began as he moved down the line again. "We invested a lot so you would know who I am and what I can do." He pointed to Rick again with the bat, which Thea realized had barbed wire wrapped around the end. "You work for me now. You have shit, you give it to me. That's your job. Now, I know that is a mighty big, nasty pill to swallow, but swallow it you most certainly will. You ruled the roost. You built something. You thought you were safe. I get it. But the word is out. You are not safe. Not even close. In fact, you are pegged, more pegged if you don't do what I want.
"And what I want is half your shit. And if that's too much, you can make, find, or steal more, and it'll even out sooner or later. This is your way of life now. The more you fight back, the harder it will be. So, if someone knocks on your door…" He stopped in front of Daryl and chuckled. "…you let us in. We own that door. You try to stop us and we will knock it down."
He turned to Rick. "You understand?"
Rick didn't respond, almost as if he wasn't sure he was supposed to. Maybe he thought it was a rhetorical question.
Negan cupped his hand over his ear and leaned to the side as if listening for an answer. "What, no answer?" He straightened and rubbed his hand over his mouth. "You don't really think that you were gonna get through this without being punished, now, did you? I don't want to kill you people. Just want to make that clear from the get-go. I want you to work for me. You can't do that if you're dead, now, can you?"
He licked his lips, shaking his head as he eyeballed Rick for a moment. Thea thought for a second that his eyes flickered to her, but when he didn't say anything to her or look as if he'd recognized her, she couldn't be sure.
"I'm not growing a garden. But you killed my people, a whole damn lot of them. More than I'm comfortable with. And for that, for that you gotta pay."
He stopped in front of Daryl and stared down at him. "So, now…I'm gonna beat the holy hell outta one of you."
Thea felt her heart lurch up into her throat. She didn't like the way he was looking at Daryl, and accompanied by those words…she felt fear creeping up her spine. She didn't want to kneel in the dirt and watch any of her friends be killed, but potentially seeing it happen to Daryl frightened her more than she cared to admit.
Negan lifted his bat, but instead of swinging he simply held it up to present it to them. "This—This is Lucille, and she is awesome."
The way he looked at the bat…Thea wouldn't be surprised if he put it in bed with him at night.
"All this, all this is just so we can pick out which one of you gets the honor." He said, stepping in front of Abraham and staring him down.
Abraham rose up on his knees, his torso straight as if he were standing tall and at attention. His face didn't show a lick of fear as he looked Negan right in the eye.
Negan cocked an eyebrow. "Huh." He said simply, as if he hadn't expected that reaction. He rubbed a hand over his facial hair as he studied Abraham's. "Ugh, I gotta shave this shit." He said casually, as if the conversation hadn't just been about killing one of them.
He turned and walked down the line again, this time stopping in front of Carl. "You got one of our guns." He said, crouching down in front of the teenager as one of the Saviors handed him the gun they'd taken off Carl. "Woah. Yeah. You got a lot of our guns."
Carl was glaring at him as hard as he could, the expression on his face so similar to one Thea had seen on Rick's face a million times before.
"Shit, kid, lighten up. At least cry a little." Negan glanced down the line at Rick and chuckled, standing up and shoving the handgun into the front of his pants, covering it with his jacket.
He walked back up the line as if he was moving to Rick, but that was when Thea realized he hadn't looked at Rick at all. He'd glanced her way before, and though he didn't show on his face that he'd recognized her, he must have. She ducked her head again as he approached, hoping he'd pass over her, but she couldn't be so lucky.
Negan's boots stopped right in front of her and when he didn't say anything right away, she reluctantly lifted her head to look at him. His eyes were on her, that large grin on his face. When their eyes met, she felt the color drain from her face.
"Oh, come on, darlin'," He said slowly, his voice changing just slightly as if he were talking to an old friend. "You didn't think I'd forget a pretty face like yours, did you?"
A/N: Negan recognized Thea! Though, honestly, did we expect him not to? I'm excited to finally reach this point in the story, I'm sure you guys are too. Let me know what you think about this chapter and any theories you might have for the next one. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!