Ch. 49
Sam walked calmly as he observed the area around him. The Armory outpost surrounded by the Kingdom and Foundrymen. The Saviors within boxed in by the metal reinforced trucks of the Kindomers and the Foundrymen. Sam felt a wave of relief fill him as he realized that trying to take the area would have been near impossible if the Saviors still had the fifty-caliber machine guns. But luckily, they were in Sam's possession. One mounted on the Foundry, and one supporting the current group he was leading.
"Paddy!" Merle called out running over to him with a radio. "It's Abraham!"
Sam took the radio and thanked the man. "Abraham, how is it there?"
"We got the Plaza surrounded. They're peppering us with bullets but they aren't hitting us." There was gunfire over the radio and Sam nodded at the transmission, satisfied with the progress they had made.
"Okay Abraham, good job. I'll check in with the scouts and gather up the reserves to figure out where to hit next." Sam handed the radio back to Merle and made his way to his car. "Merle while I'm gone, you're in charge, keep them organized and keep the pressure on the Saviors."
"You got it, Paddy. If you don't mind I'm gonna move some of my guys over and make a picket line on the south road. Keep any Saviors from sneaking up and fucking us in the ass."
Sam nodded and started the car. "Do it. But you don't let any saviors out unless it's for a surrender."
Sam sped away and felt the eagerness of war spreading through his body. The remaining Savior outposts were now surrounded and Negan would have to make his move soon enough. Sam thumped his fingers on the steering wheel as his mind pondered what would happen after the war. About the new life that would come about and the joy that would follow the post-war world that was soon to come.
Sam's radio sounded to life and screaming and gunfire blared through the speaker. Sam winced at the volume and moved to turn it down just as a voice spoke through the radio.
"IF anyone can hear this, this is the Hilltop Colony! Negan is here! He's got us under siege! We need help!" Sam's heart sank and he slammed on the breaks before picking up the radio.
"This is Conall, did you say Negan?" Sam asked.
"Roger! Negan's outside the gates he's hitting us with a fuckload of firepower! We need help!"
And just like that, the plan died.
As Sam pulled up to Ricks staging area he was met by a group of armed men blocking his way. He was quick getting out of the car and approaching them.
"Hey, where's Rick and Maggie?" The men remained silent and Sam caught the look of disdain that they shot at him. When they didn't answer Sam moved to brush past them but one of them reached out to stop Sam. They younger boy tossed the hand aside and shoved the guard only to have the other reach out and grab him. "Get the fuck off me!"
"Sam!" the small scuffle seemed to stop and Sam turned his head seeing Rick and Maggie approaching him. "What are you doing here?"
Sam got out of the guards hold and turned to face Rick and Maggie. "Didn't you guys hear?"
"What do you think we're doing? We're planning for an attack to liberate Hilltop." Maggie said.
"No that's suicide," Sam said. "Negan must have found out what we were planning. On the drive over, I found two of the outposts were wiped out. Maybe your inside man turned his cloak again. Or we got someone in our own ranks, but Negan hit our scouts and I guarantee you that he's gonna be waiting for you to show up. You'll need more men than what you've got here."
"So, we'll peel men off the sieges," Maggie said.
"We need them there! IF we move men then we weaken the siege's and open up opportunities for the Saviors to break them without Negan. From there they go and help Negan when you try to break Hilltops encirclement. I don't know how many we'll lose there, but we can't fucking afford it. We need to be smart here, all of our settlements are prepared for counter attacks, we need to let them ride it out. Rick, come on back me up." Sam looked to Rick hoping to find an ally to tapper Maggie's brash anger that had been consuming her ever since Glenn had died, but he was disappointed.
"No, we need to liberate them now. Hilltop provides most of the food for us, knowing Negan he'll take what he wants and burn the rest, we have to go and secure Hilltop before he takes it." Rick told him.
"No, if we do that then we lose our strangle Negan. Look, give us a few hours, we'll apply pressure to the outposts and try to force a surrender."
"No," Maggie insisted, she rested her hands on her hips and her thumb stroked the hammer of her revolver. "We're doing this our way. Hell, if we had then Negan never would have gotten out."
"Just give me time—"
"No!" Maggie nearly screamed. "We tried it your way and Negan blew our scouting stations apart, laid siege to my settlement, and now you want to ignore that? Sam, we're doing this my way now. Either get on board or get out of my way."
Maggie turned and went to her gathering soldiers while Rick stood there glancing at the woman as she left.
"She's right Sam. We should have trapped Negan and hit the outposts like we planned. Letting him leave left too much up to chance."
"And this plan doesn't?" Sam rolled his eyes and made his way to the car. "This'll end badly Rick. I'm sorry."
Merle was shocked to see Sam return so quickly, especially blaring his horn and stopping at the picket lines. The man rushed out of his car leaving it running and making a dash for merle.
"Paddy what's—"
"No time Merle!" Sam said quickly rushing the man. He grasped Merle by the arm and pulled him away from the troops and began talking in a hushed whisper. "Look how many Hilltop and Alexandrian men are here? On the pickett?"
Merle shrugged and looked over the men. "I don't know, five six of 'em? Most of the men are on the line with the outpost. We're just here covering the road incase Saviors come knocking."
Sam looked over the picket line and nodded. Indeed, the line was not much, a handful of twenty men at most, but even six Alexandrians and Hilltop troops could mess up what he was thinking.
"Send them back on the line. Bring up men from the Foundry. Don't let anyone leave the siege." Sam said, his voice cold and trembling slightly.
"Paddy, what's going on?" Merle asked.
"Don't let anyone, Hilltop, Alexandria, Foundry or Kingdom, near that siege. We can't afford it."
"Paddy," Merle insisted.
"It's rick, and Maggie," Sam said softly. "They wanna pull men off the siege, go to the Hilltop and try to hit Negan there. But if they take men off the siege here and at the Plaza, then I feel like—I feel like the Saviors will break the siege and form up with Negan. We need to keep them divided, keep them confused. If they link up—"
"Game over," Merle said softly. "Okay, I'll move the troops around. Keep Maggie and the others from collecting their guys. But Sam. What if they try to get past us? I mean, we can't exactly shoot them."
Sam paused as he thought of an answer. He looked down the road to where the men would be besieging the Armory, and then down thee long road Rick and the others would most likely try and come through. He felt his gut churn and looked to Merle and shrugged.
"I don't know. I mean, you're right, we can't shoot 'em, but they won't shoot us. Though, I'm not so sure about Maggie," Sam half joked. "Stall them. Do everything you can. I'm gonna go and get the reserves from the foundry, leave maybe ten guys to watch the prisoners. Until then, keep the pressure on and don't let the Saviors out. If Gavin's the man Ezekiel and I think, he'll give up to save his men. But Merle, don't let anyone in. No matter what."
Merle nodded solemnly, and Sam left to warn the next Siege.
Justin grunted as his shovel cleared more dirt from the ground and another foot of dirt was added to the trench behind thee foundry. The men around him were all sweating and cursing themselves as they continued to dig. Ever since being captured, the Saviors had been forced to do manual labor under guard. It was a long, hot, grueling work, but it kept them alive.
Justin looked up to the top of the trench and saw several guards milling about. Their guns were lowered and they seemed to be simply talking amongst themselves not paying attention to Justin or the other prisoners. Justin smiled as he shoved the shovel into the ground and dug up another clump of dirt.
As the sun reached midday and the length of the defensive trench grew deeper and wider. Justin wiped the sweat from his brow and watched as the guards told them to stop and move to get some water. The Saviors put down their tools and made their way to the ledge where they began to pull themselves out of the trench. The guards were careful to keep their distance and soon the Saviors were marching slowly toward the water coolers that the Foundry soldiers had set up, just like they had done for weeks.
Justin felt a warm metal tool slip into his hands and smiled as he gripped it in his hands. He looked at the man in front of him and leaned forward whispering into his ear.
"Sorry man, but not everyone's getting out," Justin thrusted his arm forward and the metal shank pierced the man. He was quick to pull his arm back and hide the shiv in his sleeve. As Guards heard the man scream Justin smiled as they came to investigate.
Abraham had been harder to convince than Merle, but he had understood what needed to be done. So, though he didn't like it, he was willing to work with Sam.
As he navigated through the woods he felt a sense of dread take over as he imagined Rick and Maggie's response to his orders. He doubted that there would be any bloodshed, but there would defiantly be a lot of backlash, at the most they would try and get him to give up command of the Foundry.
Sam grabbed a radio as he neared a The Kingdom, hoping to get an audience with the King so he could explain his action to the man and gain his support.
"Foundry you copy?" Sam said receiving static. "Foundry do you copy?"
"Hello?" a voice called over the radio, garbled by the distance it was impossible to know who was speaking.
"Foundry it's Sam is Rory there?"
"Oh, it's Sam! Hey Sam. Nice place you got here." Sam's eyebrow furrowed as he heard the comment. "Gonna be honest, I never thought that I would ever get to see the inside of this place. You know, with me working out in the trenches and everything."
Sam's stomach dropped as he heard that and he swallowed nervously before pressing the transmit button. "Who is this?"
"You know who it is Sam. It's your labor force, and we're here to collect our paychecks." There was cackling on the other side of the radio before it cut out. Sam pulled the car to the side of the road and then leaned his head outside of the window as he felt bile begin to rise out of his throat as he imagined what those men could do to those still in The Foundry. "Don't worry. We didn't kill everyone. Just a couple of dumbass guards that tried stopping us. Everyone else is our prisoner. Unless you give us what we want."
Sam hesitated as the transmission cut. His first instinct was to grab his radio and yell into it that he would give them anything as long as they did not hurt anyone and let those that were alive live. His mind flashed to Beth, trapped in The Foundry with the Prisoners. What those depraved men would try and do to her. Anger began to rise in his body as his mind conjured up images of what he would do to those men if a single hair on her head was harmed.
He raised the radio and pressed the transmit button and then softly spoke. "So, what's the plan? What you hold my people hostage, and then what? What's the plan here?"
There was a period of silence and Sam began to calm a bit. He started his car again and began speeding to the Foundry. The trees around him became a blur and the walkers he passed were nothing more than shadows that passed by the windows.
"Tell me, Sam," the voice came over the window. "I have a girl here, pretty little thing, and she's put up a hell of a fight, killed one of us with a knife. I was gonna have my boys kill her, but then she said the craziest shit."
Sam tried to ignore the voice as he began to near one of the Foundry's outer defenses, the men there waving him down as he approached. They had wounds, bloodstained parts of their clothes and they seemed scared.
"What happened?" Sam asked getting out of the car and clipping his radio to his belt.
"It's strange. Blondie was ferocious one second, and when I had a gun pointed at her she was shaking another." Sam knew they had to be talking about Beth, and if the man was taunting him with Beth, then that had to mean that she was still breathing.
"Saviors broke free. We don't know how, but all we know is that they started fighting and some of the reserve troops got pushed back to here." A young Foundry soldier reported.
"How many of 'em are alive?" Sam demanded.
"I don't know, about twenty of 'em? It was hard to tell, they just took us by surprise."
"You wanna know what she told me?" The radio asked. "Hey darling, wanna tell him?"
There was a brief pause and a sniffle could be heard before a shaky breath. "I told him," Sam could hear Beth's voice say over the radio, "I told him, that I was pregnant."
AN: Heyo! I'm back with another installment. It's a tad bit short but the next one is gonna be long, and the Savior War should be done in about two more chapters. I hope you guys are liking it and I can't wait for you guys to see what I have planned. Also, please leave a review! I love them! ~Pacco1