Ch. 46

AN: Heyo everyone! Shameless self-plug, I wrote a book it's called THE OLD WORLD by me Edward Clyde! Please check it out on amazon! It's awesome! Also! So, I know it's been a while but I'm back. I'm gearing into Fanfiction once again! I forgot how much I loved this! So, there's a little bit of everything in this chapter but I'm sure it's good! Well, let's get on with it then!

"Miller died last night. Went quietly. We buried him this morning," Merle said somberly as Sam laid in bed. Bandages covered his hands and shoulder, light tinges of red visible through the gaze. His ears still rang slightly but Merle assured him that it would go away, but Sam wasn't so sure. He looked to Merle and shook his head, a soft curse escaping his lips. He was the only one of the men that had gone into the Savior Outpost to get out. He rubbed his eyes and sighed heavily as he considered what to do.

"Are the machine guns mounted?" Sam asked, his hands still rubbing his eyes.

"One on the roof, another getting installed on one of the trucks," Darrius reported quickly.

"Good," Sam said. "Rory, how are your prisoners?"

"Behaving," Rory said softly. "I'm having them dig trenches under guard out behind the tracks. Figure if any Walkers come around, it'll keep them away for a bit, not to mention stop Negan's trucks from hitting us in the ass."

Sam nodded and sat up, his body sore and aching. "Good. Okay, any word from the Kingdom Darrius?"

"Yes," the dark man looked unsettled and took a step forward. "Maybe we should hold off until your wounds are a bit better."

"Tell me," Sam ordered, his voice steady and eyes focused on the man in front of him.

Darrius nodded slowly and glanced around the room. "The King told me that he can't join you at the moment. After our attack two weeks ago," Darrius paused and closed his eyes before continuing, "the Saviors are cracking down. They think we came from one of the three big settlements around here. Simon, Negan's number two, he's wiped out two of the smaller settlements as a message. Gone, right off the map."

"What happened to people are a resource?" Sam asked confused.

"No one knows. Some people think Simons gone rogue, some people say that Negan's just out for blood. But a lot of people are dying." Darrius said.

"But not in the Kingdom," Sam said thoughtfully. "Right?"

"Yeah," Darrius said. "As blood thirsty as they are, Simon knows that killing anyone from the Kingdom would mean war. And Ezekiel knows that while a lot of Saviors would go down, The Kingdom wouldn't survive."

"And Rick?" Sam turned to Merle.

"Negan took away their guns. All of 'em. But that Mexican chick, Rosita, she went to Hilltop and got one from there. Tried to Kill Negan, but they stopped her."

"What happened?" Sam asked sitting up and groan as he felt a rattling in his left shoulder, most likely a loose bullet fragment.

"She popped off a shot at his bat. Then another in his arm. They shot her full of lead after that." Merle said remorsefully. "She was good, but she missed the bastards head. He had three people killed for that."

"Fuck," Sam muttered.

"Yeah. I got there a day or two after that. Ricks gearing for war now. He went to Hilltop and got them on board." Merle said. "Rick said he'd be stopping here next."

"When's he coming?" Sam asked.

"Two days. Said he needed to gather up his people first."

"Speaking of people," Rory spoke up and walked forward. "We have new recruits."

"Sorry?" Sam asked an eyebrow raised as he heard Rory.

"Like Darrius said, the Saviors wiped a few small settlements off. But some people are like Prim and me. They made it out. We've been going up and down the backroads and finding people who're running from the Saviors. Most of 'em are ready for some payback."

"Good," Sam nodded and leaned back in his bed. "Okay, Merle, go and get Abraham, have him organize some runs for Weapons, make sure you're all loaded up in case Saviors try and ambush us again. Darius, start training up the new blood, if Rick's prepping for war, we need to have everyone ready. Rory, I need you to start organizing defenses. If the Saviors are on a warpath, then we need to be ready if they find us and try to hit us."

The three men nodded and moved to get to work filling out of the room and leaving Sam alone in the dark.

His brain was wracked with thoughts of what he could do and how things might go. If the Saviors were going about and killing then Negan wanted to not be seen as weak for the attempted assassination. But then, the words he had heard before wrung out in his head. "People are a resource." So that meant that Simon might have been acting rogue.

Sam was brought out of his musings when the door to his room opened and he saw Beth enter the room. He smiled and forgot about the sourness in his body as he sat up and felt his wounds ache. He leaned back into his bed and sighed as Beth approached.

"Hey," she said softly. "You feeling any better?"

"Aye, my shoulder's a bit lose but I'll be fine."

"Your ears?"

Sam shrugged. "A bit of ringing left over but it's okay."

She smiled and looked at the ground nervously. "Good. I'm glad. So, this war. Do you think we'll win?"

Sam reached out for her and grasped her hand gently. "I know it. With us taking the guns, we've made progress. But we still got some ways to go. But now Rick and Hilltop are joining. They have the manpower, we have Eugene's Bullet machine going round the clock, we can win. We just need to put pressure on Negan and hit him. Cut the head off the snake and the body dies."

Beth nodded and looked to be deep in thought.

"Sam, do you love me?" she asked suddenly.

"Of course, I do," Sam said instantly baffled by the question. "Where's this coming fr—"

"Let's get married," Beth said quickly.

"Sorry?" Sam said thinking he might have misheard her,

"Married. Sam, I love you, and we don't know how this is going to go, and I know it seems trivial to want to do this, but I want this and—"

"Beth," Sam said cutting her off, "I want to. I mean, I've wanted to for a while. When I was on my own, well, you were what kept me going…"

"But," Beth asked as he trailed off.

"But, with everything that's happening. Do you really want to be married while we're at war? With all the blood and the horror, do you really want to know?" He asked softly as he moved to the edge of the bed.

"Of course, Sam," she cupped his cheek and laughed softly, "As long as it's you."

Sam grasped her hand in his bandaged one and chuckled. "Aye. Well, I suppose we're to be married."

Beth beamed and leaned toward him, kissing him softly. "I suppose we are Sammy."

Sam hobbled through the halls of the Foundry receiving a sharp nod of respect from everyone he passed, and even an odd clumsy salute. He made it to their motor poole and sighed as he watched a group of cars approach. Abraham stood to his right and Merle to his left, Beth was there as well, her arm wrapped around his, Sam looked to her and smiled tightly before taking a steading breath and watched as the cars approached.

As the cars neared, Sam could see traces of familiar faces from behind the windshields as they approached. He straightened himself as much as he could. The cars pulled up in front of the Foundry and Rick exited the car, Sam could see his Revolver in the holster and smiled as he saw Daryl come around the other side of the car trailing after Rick, as was everyone else from Alexandria.

"Sam," Rick said, his face was grim, creases formed around the man's eyes, but there was a spark of something in his eyes. Rick glanced around the motor poole and grinned at the reinforced trucks, the mounted fifty cal, and the armed guards. "You look like you're ready for war."

"Yeah well, some of us haven't been cowering," Sam snapped, grinning. Maggie came out from behind a vehicle as did Sasha and Father Gabriel. "Father, good to see you."

"And you Sam, though I wish it wasn't under such circumstances."

"Agreed," Sam motioned for them to follow him. "Come on, we'll take in the war room."

Sam led them through the halls of the Foundry, catching snippets of their conversations. He could hear Abraham and Sasha catching up, Beth and Maggie speaking, though from their whispers it sounded quite intense. He showed them the machinery room where Eugene was hard at work, mixing chemical compounds together to make gunpowder which would be loaded into the bullets.

Eugene smiled at them and waved quickly before diving back into his work. News of Rosita's death had hit the man hard, and he had hardly left the machinery since he had learned of the girl's demise.

Eventually, they made it into the War room, it was a dark, windowless room with maps adorning all of the walls each one marked with key locations and Saviors positions, as well as known routes. A large wooden table stood in the center of the room though there were no chairs. The room was lit by several gas and oil lamps throughout the room, which lit the room well enough but with so many shadows, it would be a bit of a test to see everything.

"Right, so Rick, you're ready for war now?" Sam asked.

"Yes. We can't live under Negan—"

"You can't," Sam corrected. "I haven't been living under him. I've been fighting him. You're the one that was living under him. How is that by the way? I heard he took your guns."

"He did," Rick sighed out. "Look, we've got the Hilltops support, and with you and the Kingdom, we could take Negan out without a problem."

"Flattery will get you nowhere Rick. Besides, the Kingdoms hunkering down. The King doesn't want to fight yet. I don't blame him too much; he and the Saviors have an unsteady peace. He doesn't want to risk a fight unless it's a sure thing that we can win." Sam sighed and pointed to one of the maps along the wall. "The Saviors are getting to work, wiped two small settlements, cracking down. Have you noticed?"

Rick nodded. "Yeah, the Saviors are demanding more, Negan gave us less time to gather up our next tribute," Rick practically spat the word and had a veil of shame drape over him. "We're gonna have to act fast, maybe hit the saviors when they come and collect."

"That's not a good plan," Sam said immediately. "When they collect from most settlements they go in force, they want to intimidate. Dealing with a force that big wouldn't work for us, it would just get us caught in a big firefight that would get a lot of our people killed."

"What do you suggest then?"

Sam sighed as he leaned over the table and glanced over the maps and notes that his scouts had taken and delivered. As his eyes drifted over and he read over some of the outpost names he smiled and looked up at Rick.

"So, tell me, why exactly did you take it upon yourself to wipe out two fucking settlements?" Negan leaned forward and held a hand to his ear as he waited for a response that he knew he wouldn't get. "What? No answer? No response? Why is that?"

Simon looked away from Negan and gritted his teeth as he tried to think of an answer. Though he knew why he had wiped out those settlements. The raiders, or resistance, or whatever it was that people called them were going around and killing their men. A whole group had simply vanished, no bodies or traces of them. The men were ghosts and killers out for Savior blood. Simon knew that they recruited from smaller settlements as they had recruited from the library. The fact that he had wiped out that settlement had made Negan angry, but he had forgiven him as Simon had been good recently and had only overstepped his orders by a bit. He was meant to kill ten of them at random, Simon had simply gotten overzealous.

But now, well now it was more than being overzealous, it was treachery, disobedience, insubordination. And that would not stand.

"I did not tell you to kill those bastards. Do you know what you've done? Things are already tense. Someone took a shot at me! Someone shot Lucille! And you think it's a great time to go out and burn a community to the ground?"

"A message needed to be sent!" Simon spoke up finally.

"It did. No fucking doubt about that. But that was the wrong message! We needed to show control! Strength but none of that dominating shit! What you did is fucking tell everyone that we're afraid, and if they think we're afraid," Negan swung Lucille down onto the metal table before him, the loud pang sending reverbs through the room and causing a few of the lieutenants to flinch. "If they think we're afraid, then they don't fear us anymore."

Negan sighed and shook his head as he gazed over the other lieutenants before him. "Fucking hell Simon. Now we gotta deal with this shit. All of you go back to your posts, be ready to mobilize. These shits have been quiet for a while, and trust me, they feel like the biggest dick in the locker room right now, and they'll want to show off soon enough."

As Negan watched the mean and women leave he glared at Simon and felt the hatred from the man he had considered one of his best. Simon had always been a complete animal, but now he was becoming something more intense. Bet Negan would need him, for now. After whatever was about to hit was over, he would have to kill the man.

Deep in the Foundry Beth organized the sorting and collecting of ammo with several others. It was tedious and mind-numbing work, but everyone had to do their part. She sighed absentmindedly as her thoughts went to Sam and the War. Everything was so tense, so final. It was as if things were already ending just as they were beginning.

"Beth," she looked up and saw Maggie entering the room. The others in the room could feel the tension between the two and they all quickly left, much to Beth's annoyance. She'd rather do anything than be with Maggie at the moment. "We need to talk."

"No," Beth said hefting a box of ammo and setting it near unloaded magazines for the next shift. "You made your point clear."

"Beth he's dangerous."

"Not to me," Beth rolled her eyes as the words left her lips and grabbed a clipboard, quickly marking what she needed to. She kept the clipboard up, however, choosing to study the words instead of looking at Maggie.

"I just think you're doing this too quickly." Maggie seethed.

"Like you and Glenn did?" Beth asked quietly.

"Glenn and I waited. We didn't rush into asking each other to marry each other. You're just being impulsive Beth, you don't know any—"

"Right you and Glenn waited for marriage, y'all just went straight into sex, right?" Beth asked a smirk forming on her lips. "wasn't the first run you two went on just a chance for the two of you to hook-up? Least Sam and I waited a few months to do that. And a few years for us to get married."

"Beth," Maggie said, her voice shaking slightly, "I just don't think Sam's right for you."

"You've made that clear. Ever since the farm, you didn't like him. Maggie, I love him. He loves me. And we're gonna get married, with or without your approval."

"What would daddy say," Maggie said, playing her last card.

"Far as I remember, daddy loved Sam. Told me as much." Beth moved away from Maggie and left the room. She had hopped when she told Maggie of her plans, she would be greeted by a joyous sister, but instead, she got the disapproving Maggie. It didn't matter though. She knew that she loved Sam and he wouldn't leave or hurt her. Despite what Maggie said.

Regina stood in her outpost command center gazing over the list of supplies that he chapter had. She seemed to have enough to last a while and smiled as she thought of the coming fights. It was on everyone's minds. The coming storm. It was enough to send shivers down her spine. It had been so long since they had dealt with a rebellious group. Sure, Rick's group had fought, but it had been a relatively short fight. Rick had killed a lot of Saviors, but then had come down on them hard, showing them that they could get them whenever they wanted.

Her excited musings were brought to an end when she heard a bell sounding and the rushing of the men and women under her command going about their business to prepare themselves. Regina growled and grabbed her own rifle, for she and everyone else knew what that bell sounded. Incoming enemies.

She ran through the halls of the outpost and come to the makeshift fortifications that the Saviors had been constructing. It was a basic wooden wall with battlements and sandbags, enough to give them high ground and cover.

Out in the darkness were men wrapped in black clothes some carrying torches, but all of them armed. The fire from the torches burned brightly in the night, the men's faces were obscured and she could see simple cloth masks hiding their identities.

"Stop!" Regina shouted raising her rifle. "Another step and we shoot asshole!"

The man all stopped except for one who walked a bit closer, his hands raised and his rifle hanging off of with a sling.

"Easy now!" the man shouted up, his voice surrounded forced and deep, "We don't want to fight. We're with you. We're Negan!"

Regina was taken aback by that and her Saviors looked around themselves.

"What the hell are you doing if you're Saviors?" Regina asked the question on her subordinate's minds.

"We're here to talk." was all the man said. "Simon sent us."

"Why?"

"Because of Negan. He's slipping. He doesn't know how to run things. Simon wants to take him down." Regina raised her rifle and took aim. "Easy now! Come on! With Negan in charge how many of us have been killed by those raiders? How many of us are getting shot at? Negan's done! Simon's the future!"

"Fuck you!" the man turned and ran before Regina opened fire and began sending lead downrange trying to kill the man. The rest of her line opened up and the men with torches dropped them and began scattering. Regina couldn't tell if their shots had hit anyone but she quickly reloaded and scanned the trees.

"You're gonna regret that!" the voice called out to her. "Simon'll win! And you'll be on the wrong side!"

"What are you doing?" Rory walked into the war room and saw Sam fiddling with a needle and thread. Some of his fingers were bloody and the band of cloth in his hands seemed to have loose strands of thread sticking out of it.

"We need something. It's been racking my brain for a while. When we're out there, how do we tell each other apart? I mean I knew your face, I knew Abrahams, Darrius', Merle's, Jacks, Marks, but in the head of the battle, how do I know who's my friend and who isn't?" Sam looked up from the band in his arm and set the needle and thread down. "We need something. A flag of sorts, so I made one."

He tossed the black armband to Rory and the boy caught it. Down in the palm of his hand was an orange square in the center of the black band, with a blue diamond containing a black spade in the center. Rory raised an eyebrow at the symbol and looked to Sam.

"What is it?"

"Our new flag. Our new uniform. I'm gonna start having people start making them tomorrow. We need to know who's our friend in a fight. That's how we do." Sam smiled and took the band from Rory and slid it up his right arm displaying it proudly.

"Looks good boss," Rory chuckled.

"Thanks." Sam laughed not removing the band. "We're going to war Rory. First steps are long gone. Are you ready for this?"

Rory stood up straight, his jaw tight and eyes determined. "I am Sam."

Sam smiled and patted the boy on the shoulder. "Good. Good Rory. Because we're gonna win. And there isn't a person alive I'd rather have then you by my side."

Rory swelled with pride and nodded at Sam's words.

Sam patted the boy's shoulder and motioned for them to leave. "Now go and find Prim. Tell her what matters to you. Because tomorrow the real work starts."

AN: Okay hope you liked it! Sorry for some mellow drama but I needed to sort of set somethings up. Also, the Symbol on Sam's armband is the new story picture. I made it using the battlefiled app, it was quite fun. Anywho, I am really excited to get this war into high gear and it's gonna be awesome! Hope you guys are ready! Please review and I'll see you next time! Review! ~Pacco1