8:00 PM

The women crunched over sticks and branches through the growing darkness, following the marked trees by the light of the setting sun until they spilled out on the roadway by a pick-up truck.

"Mark!" Amber cried.

"Dwight!" Sherry called.

Amber and Sherry ran to their husbands and threw their arms around their necks. The men pried themselves from their hugs. "We have to go!" Mark insisted as Dwight pulled down the tail of the pick-up truck.

"Where's Gavin?" Frankie asked anxiously.

"Where we're taking you," Mark told her.

"And DJ?" Jennifer asked. DJ was her brother.

"With Gavin," Mark replied. "Or he soon will be."

At the back of the bed of the pickup were three coolers. "Is that what I think it is?" Tina asked.

"Your medicines," Dwight told her. "I stole them. Might as well at this point."

The walkie talkie crackled on Mark's hip and Regina's voice came through: "Wade, come in." Regina, Jed, and Gary were still in the Sanctuary. They'd remained since the morning meeting to recruit their squadrons and were supposed to be heading back to their outposts tomorrow morning. "Gunshots heard in the west woods beyond the gate. I repeat, gunshots heard. Let Negan know. I'm sending a unit to investigate."

"Shit! Everyone get in the bed and lay flat!" Dwight ordered. "Now!"

Sherry, Amber, Frankie, Tina, and Jennifer scrambled into the bed of the pick-up, lying flat as instructed. "Where's Tanya?" Dwight asked.

"She didn't make it," Sherry said.

Without wasting anymore time asking what had happened, Dwight shut the cover over them – a black plastic, false floor with a few holes for air. Mark got some empty cardboard boxes from the front seat of the truck and rested them on the cover to look like they were transporting supplies.

The pick-up took off at full speed, with Dwight driving, rattling over the roadway for several minutes. Her back to the hard, cool bed of the truck, and her eyes adjusting to the darkness, Frankie could hear Mark's radio crackling in the front seat as he listened to the local traffic.

"Gary!" Regina called frantically through the radio. "Gary, come in! Wade went to tell Negan about the gunshots, and Negan bit him! Negan's a walker! Negan's dead! Come in! Over."

"Dead? How? Over."

"I don't know. He wasn't shot. I mean, except by Wade, after he was bit. He wasn't stabbed. I'm looking at his walker right now and there's no marks on it! He's naked! There was no one in the room. Over."

"If he was naked," Gary replied, "he must have been with one of his wives. I'm on my way to check the harem. How's Wade? Where was he bit? Can it be amputated? Over."

"No. I put him out of his misery. Get all of the lieutenants to the council chambers after you check the harem. You, Jed, Gavin. Laura, too. We need to establish order before things get restless. Over."

The truck eased to a stop at one of the Saviors' roadblocks.

Frankie held her breath as Dwight rolled down the driver's side window. "Transporting these boxes of ammo to the Manassas battlefield outpost," he explained. "To be ready for the roll-in to the Hilltop."

"Did you hear that radio chatter a while ago?" the Savior, Reilly, asked him. "It sounds like Negan's dead! It's sound like Regina's in charge. Or Gary maybe?"

"Yeah, I heard," Dwight replied. "All the more reason to get this ammo to the outpost now. We can't be vulnerable to our enemies while we're changing horses in midstream."

There was silence while the Savior likely glanced through the back window at the cardboard boxes, then, "Barry! Evan! Move the cinderblock!"

Frankie exhaled in relief as the truck rolled on. The radio continued to crackle. Regina came on: "Roy, have you found the source of those shots? Over."

"We're in the woods now," Roy replied. "We found a walker shot and a lot of blood. We're tracking the footsteps of whoever shot it. There must be three or four or more people fleeing. Over."

"It's the wives. Gary said the harem was empty. What are you seeing out there? Over."

"Like I said, footprints, and there are X marks on the trees. We're following - AAAAARGH!" Roy's blood curdling cry was followed by two sharp gunshots.

"Come in!" came Regina's frantic voice. "Come in! Roy! Come in!"

A shaky voice came on the radio. "Uh…this is Leo. Roy's been bit. We shot the walker that bit him, and…uh…I think maybe it's one of the wives. Based on the dress she's wearing. Over."

"Keep tracking those marks," Regina ordered. "Find those women and bring them back. Over and out."

Leo came back on the radio a few minutes later to say they'd followed the marks on the trees, but the trail had ended at the roadway. "Someone must have been waiting for them in a vehicle or something. There's no sign of them. Over."

A minute later, Gary's voice came over the radio: "Reilly, come in. Don't let anyone through the west road block. Not even a Savior. Over."

"Uh…we just let Dwight and Mark through. About fifteen minutes ago. They said they were transporting ammo to the Manassas battlefield outpost. For the coming Hilltop invasion. Over."

"Shit! No one ordered that! Go after them! Bring them back here. Now! Over and out."

Frankie rolled into Amber as the pick-up truck suddenly picked up speed and turned sharply toward the left.

"They don't know where we're headed," Dwight told Mark. "And they're fifteen minutes behind. We should be fine as long as we detour through country roads. Check the map. We need to avoid all the road blocks from now on."

"Gavin! Come in!" came Regina's voice on the radio as the truck picked up speed. "Come in! Gavin!"

"This is Gavin," Gavin answered casually. "What can I do you for, Reggie? Over."

Frankie felt a sudden thrill to hear Gavin's voice and know he was safe somewhere.

"Where the hell are you?" Regina shouted through the radio. "Negan is dead. The wives are all gone. They escaped through the west woods. Someone met them and is driving them somewhere. We're meeting in the council chambers now. Over."

"Negan sent me to look for Walsh on the roads," Gavin lied. "What the hell do you mean Negan's dead? Over."

"Either someone killed him, or he died fucking one of his wives, but he's dead. And the wives are gone. Jed's interrogating that eunuch Fat Joey right now. We're guessing he let them out. He's the only one other than the lieutenants who has the keys to the harem."

"But no sign of the wives?" Gavin asked "Over."

"Just Tanya. They found her in the woods. She'd had her shoulder and throat torn up and she was turned into a walker. Over."

There was an eerie silence. Lying beneath the false floor and listening to the radio, Frankie could only guess how Gavin was taking the news of his sister's death. Finally, Gavin's voice game back on in a thin, forced, calm: "Well, that's what she gets for betraying Negan. Because we are all Negan. Isn't that right? Over."

"We are Negan," Regina agreed. "Now get your ass back here. Over."

"I'm on my way. It may be a couple hours. I'm way out beyond the Hilltop, watching the roads. Keep me posted on what's going on there in the Sanctuary. Over and out."

8:15 PM

The five-man Woodbury Council met in Milton Mamet's crowded dinning room, with Andrea present to take notes as Milton's assistant and General Ford and Lt. General Espinosa also present to consult. Carol, Daryl, and Dixon were there as representatives of Fun Kingdom. So was Michonne, who was still in Woodbury after driving the group home from Fun Kingdom. Tara and Rick were both present as well, to keep the Sheriff's Department in the loop. Some people were standing while others sat at the table beneath the artificial glow of a glass chandilier.

Rick, Carol noticed, had black bags under his eyes, either from weeping or lack of sleep. She smiled sympathetically at him, and he half nodded to her where he stood leaned wearily against the hutch.

"How do we know this woman is telling the truth?" Milton asked from the head of the table.

"We don't," Carol told him. She stood behind one of the seated councilmembers. "But she knew our names and call signs. And she sounded sincere. She sounded hurried, like she was afraid of being found out by her own people."

"And how do they know Lori's here?" Milton asked. When Rick gritted his teeth, Milton said, "Was here. Why do they think she's here?"

Carol said, "I can only guess they're coming to Woodbury because it's the only one of our communities they know by its real name."

Darylglared at Abraham. "'Cause your dumbass soldier's the only one who's ever slipped."

"Axel has been disciplined, I assure you," Abraham replied. "And he hasn't been on radio duty since it happened."

"But how do they know Lori at all?" Rick asked. "And why on earth would they be coming for her?"

Carol and Daryl exchanged a hesitant glance. "It has something to do with Shane," Carol told him reluctantly. "They want her in order to get at Shane somehow. He's there, wherever they are, rebelling against them. Against these…Saviors."

"Shane?" Milton asked, looking at Andrea. "Is that the ex-boyfriend you mentioned?"

Andrea nodded.

"Where?" Rick asked. "Where is he now?"

"Up north somewhere," Daryl told him. "The squadron comin' for Woodbury's leavin' from North Carolina in the mornin', but I reckon that ain't where they're from. Further north. Can't be much more than 600 miles, though. Would never pick up our transmission."

"Like I said," Tara told them, "a D.C. metropolitan accent's fairly neutral. I bet that's where they are."

"We need to get the children," Carol told them, "the old people, and the mothers of young children – anyone who is not going to be fighting to defend Woodbury – back to Fun Kingdom, safely behind our gates. The Saviors don't know where Egypt is, and the vulnerable will be safer with us. Daryl and Dixon and I will be their armed escort. We'll make sure they get there safely. How many can you fit in that school bus?"

"With a mix of kids and adults," Milton said. "Up to fifty people. It's big enough."

"Most of this town isn't army," Rosita said. "Can you really take in over thirty people?"

"Temporarily," Carol replied. "Until these Saviors show up and you fight them back and secure Woodbury. And you can send your people with some boxes of food."

"It won't just be the army staying behind," Tara said. "I'll stay and fight."

"Me, too," Rick agreed.

"No," Tara told him. "You need to go to Fun Kingdom with your son and your baby girl."

"You need more fighters if we're talking a squadron of forty men," Rick said.

"Tara's right, Rick," Andrea insisted. "Your priority right now needs to be protecting that baby girl, especially if they're looking for….Sorry…but especially if they're looking for the mother of Shane's child. If they'd use Lori, they'd use Judith."

Rick looked down at the ground and his nostrils flared. He ran a hand across his mouth. Then he looked around the room. "I need this. I need this fight. Carl can watch Judith. He can feed her. He's been doing it. He's been a great big brother. Maybe this…" He shook his head. "Having a mission. It'll get my head on straight."

"Let the man fight," Abraham said firmly. "Let the man have his mission."

"Fine," Rosita said. "We can use more soliders."

"I'll stay and fight also," Andrea said. "And we'll put out a call for more civilian volunteers. But you need to go, Milton. We need to protect the mayor of our town."

"No," Milton told her. "I may not be a soldier, but I might need to negotiate a surrender after the battle. And if Woodbury goes down, I go down with it."

8:45 PM

Gavin was glad to be out of that ridiculous throne room where he'd received the news of his sister's death. He was trying not to think about it now as he met with Ezekiel and his advisors – Richard, Jerry, Dianne, Benjamin, and Daniel – around a table in the school library.

He had advisors with him now, too. Earlier this afternoon, Gavin had ordered his crew to vacate the chemical outpost with him, and he'd left them up the road two miles before walking to the Kingdom on foot, but they were in the Kingdom now that Ezekiel had agreed to take them in – all except Jared. Jared was going to rat them out, and Gavin had been forced to kill him. He didn't take pleasure in it, but he didn't exactly not take pleasure in it either. He'd never wanted that man on his crew. Negan had foisted the hothead on him.

Gavin's outpost workers – many of them family members of his soldiers - were now settled in their new rooms in the Kingdom, while his men - DJ, Alden, Quan, Gomez, and Jake – flanked him where he stood at the circular table.

Gavin leaned down and circled another spot on the map. "Those are all the roadblocks I know of." He stood straight. "And that's the Hilltop – " He pointed to the H he'd written on the map. "Shane Walsh is the leader, and he's the one who coordinated the uprising. They plan to take him on the road if they can, but I'm not sure he's left the Hilltop since they opened fire on Jed's crew. He may have decided on a war of defense."

"Coach always used to tell me that the best offense is a good defense," Jerry said with a grin. "I was a wide receiver for the high school football team."

"No shit," DJ said. "Never would have guessed. I'd have had you pegged for the swim team."

Dianne chuckled.

"We need to go on the offense," Richard insisted. "Take this battle straight to the Sanctuary!" He thrust his finger down on the map where Gavin had marked the Sanctuary with an X.

Richard was loving this, Gavin thought. He'd been itching for war with the Saviors for a while now. He was Ezekiel's version of Jared, although more disciplined and more subtle. Even now that Gavin was on his side, Richard was looking at him with thinly veiled disgust.

"They don't plan to attack the communities until after Shane Walsh is apprehended?" Ezekiel asked.

"Who knows what the plan is now," Gavin replied. "It's all gone to shit. It depends who ends up in charge."

"Who will end up in charge?" Alden asked.

"Right now, from what I can tell from the radio chatter, they seem to be acting as a council," Gavin replied. "Surprisingly enough. It's only been a couple hours since Negan died, though. And when Simon gets back – if he gets back – I'm sure he'll take over. And he won't hesitate to come in like a hammer. He's our biggest threat if he turns around. But Laura was supposed to get a message to Georgia that Simon was coming. Woodbury should be ready to defend, assuming Laura got through to them. I don't know if she did. I can't risk communicating with her by radio. And I don't know if the lieutenants have contacted Simon to turn him around either. I can't pick up the ultra-long-range on my radio."

A knight, Colton, strolled into the library now with a group of people behind him – Dwight and Mark and the escapees from the Sanctuary. "They say they're with Gavin," Colton explained. "But I took their guns just in case. They only had three."

Gavin exhaled in relief to see Frankie alive. She walked hurriedly to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Sherry gave me your message," she said before she slowly kissed him.

Meanwhile, Jennifer hugged her brother DJ and Tina smiled shyly at Alden, who nodded to her and smiled back.

"I'm so sorry about Tanya," Frankie said when she pulled away from Gavin's embrace. "That creature came out of nowhere."

Gavin swallowed and nodded grimly.

"I gather these are additional family members I shall be sheltering?" Ezekiel asked. "In accordance with our agreement?"

"Yes," Gavin replied.

Dianne looked over Negan's former wives with stone-faced judgment while Benjamin smiled at them a little giddily, as if he had never seen a scantily clad real-life woman before.

"Show our newest guests to their rooms in the east wing of the high school, Colton," Ezekiel ordered.

Colton nodded and directed the group to come with him.

"Dwight, stay with me," Gavin said. "I want you in on the planning. Mark, you can go be with Amber for now."

"Yes, sir," Dwight replied and fell into place beside Gavin around the table.

When the women were gone, Dianne asked, "What the hell were they wearing? Skimpy cocktail dresses and muddy slippers?"

"They didn't want to make noise running in high heels," Dwight explained.

"They typically wear high heels?" Dianne asked.

Gavin sighed. "It's a long story." Then to Dwight. "Your wife did good back there. I heard on the radio Negan's dead. His walker took out Wade for us, too."

Dwight gritted his teeth. "I wish you hadn't asked her to do it that way."

"Dr. Carson said the poison works fast," Gavin assured him. "It probably didn't even come to that."

"He was naked when they found him."

Gavin patted Dwight's shoulder sympathetically. "Well, it's over now. He'll never touch her again. Or Frankie. Or any of them."

"Are you going back?" Dwight asked. "To the Sanctuary?"

Gavin shook his head. "Too risky. It's only a matter of time before they figure out I'm in on it. They suspect Fat Joey, but it will become clear he knew nothing about it. Like all the lieutenants, I have keys to the harem. Hell, Tanya was my sister. They'll put two and two together."

"And when they do," DJ told Dwight, "they'll probably raid the chemical plant outpost first looking for Gavin. They'll get a few surprises. We left a couple land mines outside and three booby traps inside."

"When they find the outpost empty," Gavin added, "they might guess I'm here and come after me here."

"So instead of sparing us from an attack of the Saviors," Ezekiel boomed with an irritated expression, "you shall have brought them down upon our heads!"

"The other option was I roll in here and take you and your boy Benjamin," Gavin jerked his head toward the young knight, "and Henry and bring you all back to the Sanctuary to Negan. Would you have preferred that?"

Ezekiel stood a little straighter, shifting his hands on the head of his staff.

"War was coming, your highness," Richard told him. "Sooner or later. It was inevitable. At least now we know what to expect. We'll be prepared. I say we take the fight to the Sanctuary, now, tonight, and strike while the iron is hot."

"What say you?" Ezekiel asked Dianne.

"I say no. We hold the line here. In a defensive position, we have the advantage. We have the high ground. If we leave the Kingdom undefended and take our soldiers out on the road, a group of Saviors may sweep in when our people are most vulnerable. We come at the Sanctuary, they'll shoot us from the windows and rooftops. They come here? We'll shoot them from the windows and rooftops."

"We know where the road blocks are now," Richard protested, "we know where the Sanctuary is. Negan's dead, the Saviors have no clear leader, and the Sanctuary is in turmoil and confusion. The time is ripe!"

"I agree with Dianne," Ezekiel said. "We cannot leave the Kingdom undefended."

Richard shook his head in disbelief. He jerked his chin toward Gavin. "What do you say?"

"I say we keep listening to the radio chatter for the next hour or two." Gavin tapped the walkie talkie on his hip, which was currently silent, probably because the lieutenants were in the council meeting. "We get a better handle on what's going on in the Sanctuary. Then later tonight, we send a team on foot, hiking through the night, through the woods, around the road blocks, to the back of the Hilltop. And we meet with Shane Walsh at sunrise. We coordinate with him and the communities he influences. We form a single joint invasion force with soliders from all five communities, and that will allow us to leave soldiers behind to defend each community. And then we all take the Sanctuary. Together."

"Ezekiel?" Jerry asked. "What do you think?"

"Gavin proposes a compromise between Richard's proposal and Dianne's," Ezekiel replied. "Your hand opens and closes, opens and closes. If it were always a fist, or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed."

Jerry grinned uncertainly.

"The fuck does that mean?" DJ asked.

"It's a quote from the poet Rumi," replied Gavin. Ezekiel stepped back in surprise at his recognition. "And it means he agrees with me. So let's plan our route to the Hilltop."

The co-conspirators bent their heads over the map.