Ch. 36
Six bikes sped down the highway. Their riders coats billowed in the wind and their goggles blocked out the heavy rain from the early fall rainstorm.
Sam kept the plastic wrapped and bloodstained map in front of him as he led his small band. From the clear areas on the map he tried to get to a location known as the Library. Based on where the Kingdom was on the map it was about forty miles away. Sam and company had been sure to stay at least fifty miles out from the Kingdom in order to prevent the Saviors from thinking that they were coming from there.
But after making out what he could from the map, Sam realized that there were more communities out there. Everyone in the Kingdom knew about the Hilltop, but other than that, they assumed that the only places left were the Saviors outposts. But with more communities, well that only meant more people that could fight against the Saviors when the time came.
So that was why Sam and the others were barreling down the road in scavenged Savior gear, which was just like regular clothes, except traveling groups of Saviors seemed to be more uniform. That being said, all six men wore long coats, black boots, and were even moving in a tight formation. Sam rode at the front with Allen and Ethan trailing him, then Alvarez and Jacob next and then Darrius moving in the back.
The engines were loud meaning that their approach would be heard from a decent distance away. Traveling Saviors often rode bikes and so Sam was sure that the Library group would be ready to receive them
As they got closer Sam began to feel a knot form in his stomach as he began to over think. What if the group decided that they would try to rebel? What if they didn't believe he was a Savior and turned him away? What if the Saviors were already there? Is grip on the handle bars tightened and he looked back down at the map. Even if the Saviors were there, Sam and company were already to close and would have been heard by then.
As they were pulling up to the doors of the Library a man came out, looking spooked but still smiled, if a bit forced, and held out his hand for Sam to shake.
"H-Hello! I haven't actually seen you before! Um, welcome to the Library, we've hosted a few Travelers before; we'll have a few rooms set up."
"Stop," Sam said as he took a look at the library. It was smaller than he expected. It stood at two stories and could have passed for a small mansion instead of a library. "Lead me in, and then gather your people. I have an announcement."
The man nodded and ten quickly led them into the library. The library itself had a high ceiling and the front had two hallways, one had the words Children written above in a curly and brightly colored font while the other had Adult written in clear neat letters.
A second later the man came running back his face red and sweaty. Sam could see several people behind him their heads bowed and they quickly moved to the children's section of the library. Some who did look up and caught his eye quickly averted their eyes and began waking faster.
"Jesus," Allen said as the people scurried off. "They're really scared of them."
"Professional killers," Sam muttered, "they're right to be scared of 'em."
"They're gathering, could I get you anything? Water? Food?"
"Just get show me to the meeting place."
They walked through the short bookshelves that the children used. He was surprised that the library seemed relatively untouched. Besides a few bloodstains and the like, no major damage. Though the blood stains were hard to look at, especially in the children's sections.
There were about forty people, about an equal mix of women and men with a few children scattered around in a children's reading area where the library most likely held story time. Most avoided Sam's gaze while some met his eyes with barely contained hatred.
"Listen, so it's no secret that the Saviors are a bunch of airseholes." A few of the children gasped at the language and Sam cringed. "Uh, the kids can go, so can their parents."
The people seemed a bit shocked and hesitated moving. But Sam didn't speak and simply looked at the children. He didn't want them to hear what he was going to say, plus being interrupted by then gasping at every swear was not something he had the patience for.
Eventually a mother stood up and lifted her child and they quickly moved out of the space rushing past him and his men. The other children and their parents moved as well and soon Sam was ready to continue.
"Look, the Saviors aren't the best, if fact they're some of the worst people I've seen. They make you all produce for them, make you give them half you're shite. If you don't they kill one of you." The people collectively tensed.
"Was our last drop light?" One of them asked.
"It must be a mistake!"
"Please take what you want please!"
"No!" Sam shouted. "Listen, I'm not a Savior. None of us are. If fact, we fight those airseholes." The group paused and those that Sam had seen look at him with nothing but contempt lean forward. "We kill them. For the last two months we've been moving place to place killing the shites. There's only six of us though. What we need are more men. We've barely put a scratch in their numbers. I need people who aren't afraid to kill, to take the fight to them."
"How do we know this isn't a trick?" A woman from the back shouted.
"Would Saviors cared about the kids hearing the swearing? Would the Saviors of done any of this? No, they would've killed one of you and then told you to get back to work." Sam unholstered his pistol and several people gasped and tried to move back.
"Sam," Allen said taking a step forward but Ethan held him back.
Sam put the pistol on the ground and then kicked it over to the crowd.
"You don't believe me, take it then. We'll take you back with us, and we'll teach you how to use it, how to fight the Saviors, how to kill the fuckers."
"Why do you fight 'em?" A man shouted.
"Because I've done bad shite. I do bad shite. But I'm a bad man, and I do it to bad men now. They're bad people, and they hurt innocent people. So I kill 'em." Sam couldn't exactly tell them he was waging war for the Kingdom. If there were spies, or sympathizers then the entire thing would be blown and the Kingdom would be the Saviors first target. "I came here to ask you to join up with me. To kill the bastards that treat you like slaves. I came here for soldiers."
They all began to glance around at one another. Sam could see that many were scared at what he was suggesting. Fighting, going to war. They had been relatively safe in their library among the books and "protection" of the Saviors. But what life was it when the Saviors would simply kill one of them if a shipment was light or late.
Fear and confusion were soon replaced with anger and a sense of responsibility. A responsibility to protect each other, to fight their oppressors. And an anger for all the people that had been killed and taken at the whim of Negan.
A man stood up. "I'll go. I'll fight the bastards."
Sam nodded and then a woman stood up. Then slowly and surely more stood and said they would join. And Sam smiled, for he was getting the army he needed.
Two cars followed Sam and his men. Sam was sure to wind them up through the back roads and highways in case any of them were spies that they would be so turned around that they wouldn't know which way was east. Though even then it wouldn't matter much, Sam forbade the group from making camp at the same place once or the same area too often.
They finally came to a stop at an old ranger station that sat by itself in the woods. It had at least two years worth of apocalypse dust in the windows and there was a Walker hanging from the ceiling fan still. There was enough room in the small office for the entirety of the new group of Guerrillas and soon enough they were loading supplies for the night.
Sam could see from their fresh clean faces that most had probably been in that library since the beginning though there were a few that looked to be actual soldiers. Either way the lot of them would begin training the next day. The Saviors would get a break from attacks for a bit until the new group was up to scratch. However long it would take.
In total there were ten people that had joined making the splitting of the groups rather easy. At the moment there were two groups of five stalking through the hills of Virginia, each armed with rifles stolen off of the Saviors but with only one round in each magazine. They were instructed not to fire off a shot and if they encountered a Walker, to simply use a knife.
Sam and the others stood at the highest point in the hills looking down and observing the groups as they moved. Overall he had to say, they were complete and utter shit.
"Why does the lead of that group keep looking at his shoes?" Darrius asked as he looked through his binoculars.
"One guy keeps changing the shoulder he uses for the rifle," Ethan laughed.
"Fuck me not even Boots were this fuckin' bad," Alvarez said.
"Any good comments?" Sam asked the group.
"They're going in the right direction." Allen deadpanned.
Yeah, Sam had to give them that. If they weren't going in the right direction then Sam would have probably let them wander off until they died. So Allen was right, they did have that going for them.
When the groups got closer Sam shouted for them to circle up which they took their goddamn time to do. When they finally did circle up Sam could see them holding their guns loosely and that some of the barrels were even pointed at others. Fuck it, if they shoot each other then let 'em.
"Alright, Ned, Jane, Rory, Damien, and Prim take a knee. Alright, everyone else, why are they on their knees?" There was a small silence and the ones standing up looked at each other uneasily.
"Dead?" Rory asked. Rory was a slim and brown haired boy that was a bit small for his age. He had been a bit older than Carl when the whole thing had started and was the second youngest person in the new batch of the Guerrillas.
"Exactly! Thank you!" Sam smiled. "They're dead. Remember guys if we lose even one of you, it is hard to replace. The Saviors have dozens and dozens of men. The Saviors see you, they'll kill you, the Saviors catch you they'll kill you."
They all paled a bit and Sam looked to Alvarez and nodded.
"Right, did you see our position when you came over the crest of that hill? No, you didn't. Because while you were all out there marching up the hill you were looking at your shoes trying to keep them clean. You weren't looking up at the ridge where the Saviors would have been hiding. But look at the bright side, there'd be clean shoes on your corpse."
"Listen we're just trying to keep you all alive," Allen said stepping up to the group. "Sam wanna show 'em?"
He nodded and unslung his rifle. "Here take it." He said handing a box of matches to Rory. "You see that rock covered in bird shite? Put it over there."
The rock he was talking about was more of a small boulder. Rory ran off into the distance and set the box down. Sam aimed down at the rock where Rory had set the match box and lined up the shot.
His hand wrapped around the grip of his rifle and he slid his finger up and down the trigger. He could feel the eyes of the newbees on him and tried to block out the tension and anticipation that they excluded. With a gentle squeeze a crack was heard in the air and a bullet went flying toward the match box setting it ablaze when it hit.
"You got it!" Rory shouted from below and Sam smiled slowly getting up from his shooting stance.
Sam stepped up again. "That's what you need to do, every time you aim downrange. We're fighting Guerrilla style lads, we get the first shot, always make it count. Understood?"
"Yes sir!"
It was foggy, the grey air moved silently through the woods, proving to be both a danger and a blessing. The Walkers were easily concealed but it was the perfect time for an ambush, as well as breaking in the newbees. A larger group of Saviors were camped out in the fog, their campfire a beacon in the fog.
Jacob had stumbled across them when he had seen their cars pull up as he was on his way back from a run.
So Sam and the others decided that they should use the opportunity as the perfect training exercise. Sam and the others would hold back, keep the recruits covered unless they were in dire need for them to step in and handle the rest of the Saviors.
Sam was currently perched in a tree his scope looking toward the fire that the Saviors had lit. "Report." He whispered into his radio.
"Ethan here."
"Darrius, copy."
"This is Alvarez, solid copy."
"Go for Allen."
"Heyo! It's Jacob!"
"Alright, remember let them handle it, line up your shots and be ready."
The recruits were moving in and Sam nodded with approval with their U formation as well as all their weapons being up and ready. As they closed in one of the Saviors stood up and went towards a tree to piss, at least based on his stance of one hand on the tree and the other on his manhood that was what Sam assumed he was doing.
That was just as the group entered the point in the fog where the Saviors could see.
"What they? Shit!" a gun went off and the Savior dropped. Sam kept his eye in the scope and traced the man he had in his sights. He reached for a gun but then a bullet tore into his head and he dropped down. There were a few quick bursts of gunfire and soon enough the Saviors were driven into cover. Need to work on their aim.
There were three Saviors that were in cover. Sam could hear them shouting at each other trying to find out what they were going to do. The fog hid their shadows from him so the newbees would be on their own to deal with it.
"Hey! You the shits that've been hitting Negan's routes?"
"Maybe!" Sam recognized Rory's voice. "Who're you?"
The Savior laughed. "Didn't you hear? I'm Negan!"
"Yeah, I've heard there's a few of you."
"Listen kid, I get it. You think war's some grand adventure, Hell you're probably from one of the outposts, am I right?" Rory didn't say anything. "Listen, we're going to surrender, that alright?"
No. "Toss your guns out. Then come out slowly."
"The fuck?" Sam began to climb out of the tree and jogged his way over. The Saviors had tossed their guns and were walking toward Rory and the rest of the newbees when Sam had arrived.
"Sam we-" He ignored Rory and raised his rifle shooting the three Saviors that were standing before him. "What the Fuck?"
"No prisoners. They get loose they kill us, run back to the real Negan. Plus more mouths, more time wasted watching them."
"Sam you didn't have to-"
"Yes I did. These shits aren't worth the air they breathe. Want to know what capturing get us? Nothing."
"We- you didn't need to do that!"
"Rory, no, all of you listen up. This is war; this is what we are doing here and now! The Saviors are the enemy, we kill the enemy! It is that simple. Anything else is a waste of resources."
That night, while everyone slept in the trees Sam stood watch. The darkness that surrounded the trees was a good cover and the Walkers seemed to have stopped roaming solo opting to travel in larger groups. Saviors seemed to never go out at night since Sam's roads had begun. Watch at that point was simply a formality.
"Sam." Though there were still a few night owls it seemed.
"Yes, Rory?"
"The men you killed."
"Rory, it is war." He looked over and saw the red eyes that boy was sporting and his mind went back.
Sam was standing over a lake. Blood stained his face and hair. His hand dips into the water and splashed the cool liquid on his face.
"I know its war, but. Does it get easier?"
"Yes." Sam said his thoughts still on the boy he had seen in the lake water. "It hurts at the beginning. But I got used to it, because it's jus' something that needs doing. It's war, and it's necessary."
"But, did you really need to kill them? They were surrendering."
"Tell me Rory. What's better; killing a wolf instantly, or wounding the wolf bringing it back with you? Because one day the wolf 'll be healed, and when you aren't looking, it'll sink its teeth into your neck."
"What if you try and bring the wolf to your side?"
Sam smiled at that the boy must've thought was a good question. "Training the dog involves beating it. Could you do that?"
AN: I'm tired so I didn't even attempt to try and look though for typos very hard. I'll try and post one more by next week. Do you guys think I should bring the group back already or do you guys want the group to stay away for a bit? I'm not sure myself. Let me know my friends! I'll see you next time. Review! ~Pacco1