Chapter 38

I'm was away for a while, about two weeks, so I was not be able to post more chapters for that time, sorry!

A few days later:

The whole community had gathered for the funeral of Abraham Ford at the church of Alexandria. Rick held a speech about how brave and selfless Abraham was, how he always wanted to do what was right for everyone. And how he bashed Greg's head with an riffle over a year ago at the church.

Gareth and Maggie sat closely together on a bench, holding hands, and witnessed the ceremony. Maggie saw Francine sitting a few benches in front of them. She was probably devastated by the death of the big ginger, after all there was something between them. Maggie felt sorry for both Abraham and Francine, but was fine with it being rather Abraham than Gareth who was being buried.

And Maggie and Gareth were not the only couple who were close to each other. Tara and Kaylee were close, so were Daryl and Carol, Heath and Denise as well as Rosita and Eugene, who had become a couple.

The ceremony ended and the people of Alexandria returned to their homes or work. Maggie was once again asked to the infirmary to treat Mrs. Miller, who was suffering from some sort of cancer.

"There is not much that we can do for her" said Denise to Maggie as they were looking for some IV-bags for a chemo-therapy. "She is already old and the cancer is pretty far"

"Yeah, I know. Just sucks when ya can't help someone from dying in this world" mumbled Maggie. "Quite strange that someone still would die from something like cancer there days. Ya get ripped apart or shot or hacked to death, but cancer? That's just seems so alien"

They were able to give some therapy to Mrs. Miller, even though it would probably not help much.

A few days later:

"We need more firepower" said Rick as he spoke in front of the entire community. "If there are two or three dozen of 'em, we need all the guns we can get"

Sadly that was true. The armory had gone smaller over the past year, and Eugene's bullet-project was still in progress.

"We have already explored every place around the Safe-Zone" replied Tobin. "Every gunshop, police-car, and heck even every dead soldier has been stripped clear"

"There is still one place to be checked, the national-guard-base that is about thirty miles from here" said Heath.

"Are you crazy? Me and Aiden checked the place out! It's full of roamers! It would be a suicide mission!"

"What kind of guns are there?" asked Gareth.

"A lot. M16-assault riffles, grenades, rocket launchers, ammo with no end and even machineguns that can take out a truck. And lots of gasoline and medical supplies" replied Heath.

"That sound like a solution" replied Rick. "And how many walkers are in the place?"

"The last time we were there, about 200 or 300 dead ones" replied Spencer.

"That sounds reasonable. We've cleared out similar amounts of walkers before. I'll lead the team there." Said Rick.

Gareth and Maggie both volunteered to the run. So did Tara.

"Be careful honey" said Kaylee to her wife as she kissed her goodbye.

"Don' worry, babe, I'll be back real soon" replied Tara and hugged her.

"And you two, you'll come back, too" said Kaylee to Gareth and Maggie.

Gareth, Maggie and Tara got the guns and went to the van, were the rest of the team was waiting. It was Rick, Michonne, Carl and Heath.

The van drove out of the gate and through the roads. Five miles, ten miles, fifteen miles, twenty miles, twenty-five miles. Soon they would be there. At twenty-seven miles the van stopped.

"Heath! We are not there yet! Why did you stop?" shouted Rick.

"The road is blocked!" replied the man who was driving the van.

Everyone looked out if the window and saw a large truck blocking they're way.

"It's 'em" said Rick silently.

"Fuck, not again" said Maggie silently.

That's when they heard two other trucks approaching them. The vehicles stopped to both sides of the van and they heard men stepping out if them and shouting.

"Donnie, Seth! Be ready to open the doors! Max, Saxon and Davis, you'll go in! The rest stays out here!" shouted a male voice.

The door was opened and Gareth and the others saw what they had against them: About forty to fifty men were standing outside armed with everything from an AK-47 to an chainsaw or a sledge-hammer.

Three men got inside and pointed they're guns at them. All of them were forced down. Maggie tried for her revolver but one of the strangers noticed it

"Put it away, whore, or I'll make sure that ya will suffocate on m' cock!" he kicked Maggie in the side and the woman fell next to her husband. Maggie's eyes were filled with tears and she tried to bury her face in his right shoulder.

Gareth was full of rage and was ready to kill that man, if someone else would not have interrupted them.

"Saxon! Were are ya fucking manners?" a large man stepped out of the crowd, wearing a leather jacket. The man whose name was Saxon stepped away from Gareth and Maggie, but still pointed a gun at them.

Gareth saw immediately a ghost from his past. Nate? How was he still alive? He had heard Daryl mention that the fucker died back at Terminus. Got bit and Glenn smashed his head out or mercy.

"Evening ladies and gentlemen! My name is Negan!" smiled the man. "I think our groups have met before, right? Two times. Both times ya killed some of m' people"

"Listen ya…" Rick tried, but one of the saviors kicked him for interrupting their leader.

"It's fucking rude to interrupt someone while they're talking! Now where was I? Ya group has been a pain in m' ass for a long time an' I think it's time to wipe the m' ass clean!" continued Negan. "I really want to kill ya all, but when I look closer, I see that ya are all decent people. Look for example for fucking Romeo and Julie here! I can't kill 'em just like that! They have they're entire fucking life ahead! And Julie is so hot that killing her would be like a fucking crime against humanity!"

The man clearly meant Gareth and Maggie. Maggie's face was still buried in his right shoulder and he had put an arm around her and tried to keep her calm.

"And ya two?" he pointed at Michonne and Heath. "I can't be racist, so killing ya is neither right! And this "nosy" girl?" now he was looking at Tara. "Ya are pretty cute, maybe not as hot as Julie over 'ere, but not everyone is born as a fucking super-model, and that you" Carl was next. "You are under 18, and I do have an age limitation."

Now Negan turned to the ringleader.

"And you? You're clearly they're leader! I can't kill ya and let ya be some martyr! I can't fucking decide!" Negan said. "Wait I have an idea! Heh Heh! Remember that game in which ya choose who's out? I'll use that in choosing who of ya is gonna die!"

Gareth looked at the man in horror and pulled Maggie closer to him. Anyone but her.

"Miney, maney, money, mo, cath a a tiger by the tow, choose who's in and who's out…" Negan started and pointed at the seven survivors on each word.

Gareth got tears in his eyes and closed them. He buried his head into her brown hair and kissed her, still trying to calm her down and held he tighter. Anyone but her.

"….And the one that is out is you!" finished Negan. Gareth opened his eyes and saw that the madman was not pointing at Maggie, or him. For a second he was in relief, before seeing who had been chosen to be killed….

It's gonna get dark in the next chapter! I tried to keep this scene as close to the comics as possible. Please review!