This is where the story begins to actually resemble a story and not notes with quick summaries.

If you skipped ahaead to this chapter, I'll fill you in one what you missed in the previous chapters-

Bree helped Merle escape the rooftop, they almost got cannibalized by some familiar pig farmers, they then met up with our favorite one-eyed, villainous camp leader, Bree was tricked back to Sanctuary and, with the help of Merle, escaped back to the prison camp to help defeat the Governor, everyone got split up and Bree, Merle, and Eva Mae meet up with a new group called the Phantoms where Bree is reunited with her brother Alonso, she learns the camp's leader Kanem killed their mother, she and her brother and Merle get revenge by killing him at an outpost, Bree and Alonso take over the new camp.

*deep breath*

Alright, on with the story! :D

Return to Sender

When Negan does his infamous lineup (you know, the one where everyone's favorite characters are killed), Merle and Bree are with the Phantoms and aren't part of it. Negan recognizes Rick as the one that Bree was telling him about, the one who ran a camp full of wussies. Judging by all the crying they did after he bashed theose two guys' heads in, his assumptions were spot-on.

After he handles the business of ensuring they never f-ed around with Sanctuary again, Negan asks an emasculated Rick if he has a girl with him. "She's short, young, used to have these bangs that flopped over her face, but she's got sort of a boy's hairstyle now. Cute little face that'd make your heart melt. Come on, Rick, you gotta know something if she mentioned you!"

Rick glares at the murderous man. "No," he lies in a defeated whisper. "I've never met a girl like that."

"Now, I know we're not on the friendliest of terms seeing as how I just killed a f-ton of your people, and you're probably a little testy right now... but you'd be doing yourself and what's left of your little band of misfits a favor if you would be honest with me and at least let me know that she's alright."

Rick glances around at the terrified faces of his family. He doesn't want to put them through anything else. No, they'd been through eneough. Poor Maggie already looks as if she was going to pass out.

"We got separated months ago," he spits. "She's most likely dead."

"Hm," Negan taps Lucille, who is still bloodied from her killing spree, against his boot. "You know, I would be inclined to believe that, but the girl is like a Puppet herself. She'll probably turn up sooner or later."

Later, the Phantoms are sought out by Ezekiel to help them against Negan later on when Rick is starting his war. Sitting at his throne with his loyal tiger curled near his feet, King Ezekiel dramatically tells the tale of the Phantoms, the shadows from the north that roam a place called the Graveyard...

"They're a legend, a myth ... None of us are even sure they exist, but the trees tell of them being the deadliest people on Earth. Especially the Gargoyle. He is said to be able to rip men down the middle, with piercing red eyes and skin as tough as leather. Bullets ricochet from him like rubber. We will need them to win."

Carol and Rick make the trek to the north where Ezekiel claims the Phantoms are, even though Rick is beginning to think Ezekiel is a bit ... well, that he's crazy. He thinks this up until the moment he and Carol are entangled in an elaborate spring trap that has them captured in a net and slung up by the branches of an oak tree. People dressed in dark clothing with monstrous faces painted on their helms form a black pool beneath the captured duo.

"We're looking for the Gargoyle!" Rick quickly explains. "We're not here to cause problems!"

After exchanging confused looks, the Phantoms cut them down and lead them to the rich neighborhood they call the Graveyard. From there, they are led to an office in one of the bigger mansions, where another black-clad person is sitting at a desk.

"Are you the Gargoyle?" Rick cautiously asks as he squints at the person's painted helmet.

Gargoyle raises their visor. Bree smiles up in wonder at Rick and Carol.

"Hey! she beams.

"...Bree?" Carol gasps before the two women share a hug. Carol leans back and fixes Bree's hair a bit. "I knew you were okay out here, kid."

"ANd I knew you were, too," Bree says, nearly tearing up at the sight of seeing them alive. Rick approaches her in disbelief.

"I'm ... I'm glad you're alive. But ... you're the Gargoyle?" he repeats.

Sensing his disappointment, Bree explains, "Well, I'm half of it. My brother is the other half."

Bree gives her old companions a tour of her new home and explains what's happened to them since they've been separated. Merle is, of course, happy to have Officer Friendly back in his life to tease him. Teasing Carol isn't as fun as it used to be-he woulnd't admit it, but she scares him a bit now.

Bree, Merle, Rick, and Carol travel back to Alexandria. Before Bree can comment on the impressiveness of his camp, Rick shushes them and ushers them into the bushes for cover. He points a familair string of trucks coming up towards the gate-Negan and the Saviors.

The shadows of the trucks rolls past their hiding spot on their way to Alexandria. Rick curses.

"I've got to be there to talk to him, or he'll think I'm up to something."

"What, who is this Negan guy that's brave Rick walking around like a beaten housewife?" Merle teases his old adversary. "You want me to go teach this guy a lesson?"

"No," Rick and Bree both reprimand him at the same time. Rick gives Bree a meaningful look, but he doesn't press her. He and Carol hurry towards Alexandria after asking Merle and Bree to stay hidden.

Negan and the Saviors raid Alexandria. Upon spotting Daryl being paraded around as a trophy of sorts, Merle is ready to leap out of the bushes and fight, but Bree manages to hold him back by saying it would ruin everything and put everyone in danger. They have to work with Rick on this one.

Merle keeps struggling, and she warns him that one wrong move could wind up getting Daryl killed. Merle finally calms down but he's not happy about sitting this one out. He barely manages to keep his cool at the way his brother is being treated but is proud to see him handling it like a man. Bree contemplates trying to take Negan out herself. She'd been practicing with as many guns as she could get her hands on since her fight with Kanem, and she felt confident that she'd be able to hit him. But his friendship and kindness to her at the beginning of the outbreak holds her back.

Once the Saviors leave, Merle and Bree reunite with their crew. Bree and Merle meet Rosita, Tara, Gabriel, Eugene, Sasha, and all the rest. Bree is devastated to hear about what happened to Glenn and Beth. Everyone's happy that Merle and Bree are okay—but there isn't much time to celebrate besides a few hugs and handshakes. Bree says they'll have the Phantoms' help in bringing the Saviors down. She adds, much to the happiness of Merle, first things first—they'll help Alexandria and the Kingdom replace their supplies and rescue Daryl.

Afterwards, they have downtime to explore Alexandria. Merle unexpectedly finds himself popular with the ladies, and he's invited to help them fix up their homes, much to his chagrin. Bree feels a little strange without her partner at her side, but she's happy that he's no longer a pariah around Ricks group. He really had changed.

Rick takes Bree to see little Judith, who is bigger now but just as adorable. Seeming to remember her friend from the prison, who helped protect her during the fight with the Governor, Judith allows Bree to pick her up and sing and play with her. Rick smiles, happy to see his baby girl having a good time after so many hardships.

"She definitely likes you," he comments as he watches them from the doorway to Judith's playroom. "You must have been a babysitter before all of this."

Bree is quiet as she plays with the little girl's hair. "Thanks," is her reply.

After a celebration in which everyone gathers and swap stories and hopes for the future, Bree sits down with Rick at his house and tells him what she knows about Negan that night, including how powerful he is, both in numbers and in strength, his gargantuan inventory, his loyal followers who call themselves Negan, and how she became involved with his group when the outbreak began.

Rick is appreciative of her help. "He still seems to care about you. I wonder if we could use that connection against him."

Bree quickly declines and explains, "He only thinks there's a connection there because he blames me for what happened to his wife, Amber. We should focus on picking up Daryl, laying low, finding weak points in Sanctuary's base, and take back as many of your supplies as we can."

"Negan had a lot of wives when I went to visit him," Carl says, giving Bree an accusatory look. His new eyepatch reminded her of the Governor. "Were you one of them?"

"What?" Bree barely has time to register that Carl had been to Sanctuary. "No, I'm not his wife." Despite her claims, Carl's accusation casts a shadow of doubt over Bree for several Alexandrians.

After being given walkies to stay connected to one another, Merle and Bree leave for Sanctuary and scout it out, taking notes and making a rough blueprint of its foundation as they sneak from room to room in search of Daryl and supplies.

"Shoot, this guy might not be half-bad. He sure knows how to take care of his people. This looks like paradise compared to Officer Friendly's place."

"But at what cost?" Bree reminds him as they continue around the perimeter.

Merle goes into the prison area while Bree is searching a storage room. He runs into a blonde woman named Sherry.

Shoving his hand oover her mouth, he asks, "Where's Daryl? The guy they were holding here?"

Sherry gasps as he moves his hand from her mouth so she can speak. After catching her breath, she chokes out, "He's gone. He escaped last night."

Just then, several men carrying guns round the corner. Merle takes out the majority of them, but Dwight, the man with half a face, fueled with anger after seeing him roughly handle Sherry, subdues him and takes him to Negan. His hands are shackled behind him in handcuffs.

"Negan, we should kill him. He had his hands all over Sherry."

"Now calm down, Dwighty-boy. As I see it, if my men were doing their jobs, this hick would have never stepped foot in our building."

Negan and Merle get into some back and forth in which Merle tells him to screw off and Negan is entertained.

"You are one tough-looking hillbilly! How'd you like to join the Saviors?"

"I'd rather have my face look like your Batman villain of a partner here," Merle retorts with a smirk that sets Dwight off. Negan waves him out of the room. After an inital pause, Dwight complies, but there's a swiftness in his steps that isn't usually there.

Merle watches him leave the office and then turns back to face the man in the leather jacket. He scans him up and down and spits off to the side, disgusted by his inspection. "You had my brother here. That's the only reason I'm in this place."

"So ... You're from Alexandria. Well, fortune is truly favoring me today!" Negan takes notice of the walkie on Merle's hip. He snatches it off him, earning some vehement cursing from Merle.

Negan presses the button a few times, grinning like a child waiting to open a Christmas present. "This has got me on the edge of my seat! Which of those Alexandrian wussies am I gonna find here with you today?"

Back with Bree, she hears static coming from her walkie-talkie in short bursts. Afraid that someone would hear it, she pulls it from her waist and hits the talk button. "Merle, are you hitting your button on accident?"

Negan's eyes widen and he lowers the walkie-talkie from his ear. He looks at Merle in astonishment—Merle is pulling at his restraints—and then brings the walkie talkie back to his mouth.

"Well, today must be Christmas. Long time no stabbing in the back, Baby," Negan greets her jollily as he sits back in his seat.

Fear stabs through Bree at the sound of Negan's voice, a voice that she knew she wouldn't be able to forget no matter the amount of time it had been since she last heard it. She holds the walkie against her chest, fearing for Merle, fearing for herself. Negan's fingers drum against the armrest of his chair as he impatiently awaits her response.

But ... what if Rick was right? What if Negan di hold some sort of strange affection for her? Would she and Merle be in any danger if she played this situation right? After praying for Merle's safety, she takes a deep breath and says, "The number you have dialed is no longer in service... Please hang up and.."

Negan cracks up laughing while Merle grins and seems happy she doesn't seem worried.

"Alright, you've got some explaining to do. First of all, who's this big, straw-chewing sack of country I have here? Friend of yours?"

"Yes," she replies, regaining some of the strength in her voice. "We're traveling together. We needed supplies, and I figured you have plenty to spare." She is speedily stuffing her duffel bags full of canned goods from one of the stock rooms while she talks. Any ammos or weapons she can find also goes into the bag.

Negan rubs his chin. "You know, I may have been inclined to believe your little story if your friend here hadn't mentioned Daryl. Sounds like the two of you were planning on whisking my new friend away from me. Kinda sounds to me like this little mission of yours is Rick's doing."

Bree bites her lip, but tries not to hesitate when she responds with, "He only mentioned where Daryl was. He didn't know we'd do this."

Negan seems placated. "Well, don't keep me in suspense, Baby! Come on up and say hello! We have a lot of catching up to fo."

Bree starts heading out of Sanctuary. "No can do. This was strictly a business stop. But I would sincerely appreciate it if you let Merle go."

Negan casually walks behind Merle and yanks his arm back, causing him to yell in pain. He holds up the walkie by Merle's mouth with a manic grin.

"Sounds to me like 'Merle' is dying to see you, too! He probably wants to talk about Rick and what kind of stupid ish his camp has been up to lately. And we simply cannot have this conversation without you. So why don't you bring yourself to my office. Now. You know the way."

Bree stops her escape from Sanctuary. She ducks back into the main building and hides in one of the empty cells. With shaking hands, she presses the button on her walkie and is about to say something but finds she can't. She lets go of the button. Now that Negan was being serious with her again, she doesn't know how to get them out of this situation. Merle curses with Negan's inflicted pain, making Bree shut her eyes and seethe with anger.

She's about to give in when Merle shouts out, "What, you think this hurts? This is nothing! You really the great Negan that Officer Friendly there is so afraid of? You must be his weak-butt stunt double cause right now, I'm having the time of my life. Don't worry about me, gal, I'll be fine if this is all they got."

Bree smirks with relief, but it fades quickly as she decides not to play Negan's games with him. She exits Sanctuary the way they entered and finds her way to the top of a hill that gives her a clear view of the entire base. After grabbing a pilfered sniper rifle from her bag, she lays on her stomach, rifle at the ready, and aims directly at the window she knows to belong to Negan's office/bedroom.

Negan laughs excitedly in the walkie-talkie. "Oh, I knew we were gonna get along... Merle, right? Merle here is gonna get the Sanctuary special treatment, sweetheart, and he'll probably be singing a different tune after that. Unless you're here in the next five minutes, that is."

Bree can see them in the window. Merle is on her knees while Negan stands behind him, walkie in hand. She takes aim as far away from them in the room as she can and then fires.

The glass to Negan's window shatters as the bullet pierces through it and goes on to embed itself into the wall in front of Negan and Merle. Both men clamber to the ground. The walkie talkie spins on the floor by their heads. Once it's finished, Bree's voice floats out. "I'm here. Let's talk."

Negan picks up the walkie talkie and curses, even more excited at this point. "Was... Was that you? Because if it was... I'll be the first to tell you how smoking hot that ish was. You are turning me on right now!"

"Negan... Let him go."

Merle starts shimmying out of his restraints and breaks free only to have Negan draw his gun on him. Merle is about to go forward, but Dwight quickly yanks his arms behind him, having come to check on his leader, and restrains him again.

They move out of the room and Negan tells Dwight and Simon to go check the hills in the direction the gunshot came from. He warns them not to hurt her, just bring her back here. He and a few other men escort a cursing Merle to the front yard. Negan tells Bree that she's got his attention; he'll be waiting for her there.

She quickly hurries over to a new position so that she can aim at them.

"I know you're out there," Negan sings, scanning the hills for his frenemy. "Come on out and say hello; don't be shy."

"You have until the count of ten to let him go, or I'll have to start shooting," she warns him.

"You're so cute when you threaten my life like that," he swoons. "And you're so polite about it. Okay, let's see if earlier was just a bluff."

"Has this leather-wearin fool always been such a looney?" Merle spits at the walkie. "I can see why you wanted to get away from him."

Negan glares at him and motions for his guard. The guard kicks Merle in the stomach, forcing him down on his knees, and then hits him in the head with the butt of his rifle.

"Rule number one for visitors," Negan warns him. "Show some freaking respect."

Furious, Bree fires at the guard who kicked Merle. The bullet penetrates his leg, and he falls over screaming. Merle busts out laughing even on the ground as he sees the guard flailing about, and Negan joins him in laughing.

"Well, dang. I guess it wasn't a fluke." He signals to Simon where he saw her fire from by nodding his head in her direction. Simon and Dwight slowly approach her.

"Now show me you really hate my guts. Shoot me right in the head."

Bree inhales.

"What? Need a little more motivation?" He aims his gun at Merle's head and grins and motions for his men to do the same. "I bet you're fuming now," he taunts with a big smile. He adds seriously, "One more bullet flies from that gun, and your one-handed companion here is off to hillbilly heaven. If you come down here, I'll think about letting him live. And you and me, we have a lot to catch up on."

Sweating, she places Negan's head in her sights. It seems like he's staring right back at her, daring her to fire.

Merle, noticing that Bree's spot has been figured out, yells that she has company.

Bree turns, accidentally firing the gun as Simon goes to grab her. The bullet grazes Negan's ear. He yells in pain as his men quickly start firing towards Bree's area.

Bree draws her handgun and struggles against Simon, shooting him in his arm and making a run for it. He curses and tries to run after her, but the pain in his arm has him going slowly.

Negan's back on the walkie.

"You freaking dumbbutts! I freaking said NOT to hurt her and now you're firing on her like she's lined up at the firing squad." His voice is louder as he directs his face towards the walkie. "Shhhhhoot, that really stung, sweetie. So you really were going to blast my head off? All for this Alabama reject?"

"Just head back without me, I'll be fine here with these chumps," Merle calls out to her. "Buncha weaklings with a leather fetish!"

"Merle, I can't just to leave you here!" Bree replies as she scans for a way back into Sanctuary where she won't be detected.

Negan gives Merle a hard look as he presses the button and allows Merle to, after a bit of hesitation, tell his travel companion that this is one fight she's not gonna win right now. Don't worry about me."

"Merle, I—"

"What am I, chopped freaking liver? Merle this and that, you're making me sick to my stomach here." He goes over and harshly punches Merle in his stomach, and then his chin, making Bree cover her mouth in horror.

Merle lifts his head and grins nastily at him. Blood is running like little streams between his teeth and down his chin. "You're gonna regret that, man."

His men drag him away as Negan turns to look murderously out at the woods.

"Something going on between the two of you that I should know about? Cause I believe I made my intentions for us clear."

Simon pops out then and starts firing at Bree. She takes a bullet in her shoulder, screaming from the pain that explodes there, and is forced to run to her car. She can't risk being captured as she knows Rick's people desperately need the supplies she'd stolen.

As she gets in the car, Negan continues to demand to know if she's been with this "bar-brawling thug". He even has the nerve to sound upset, Bree ruefully thinks as she slams the car door behind her.

She tries to respond to him but instead winces in pain. She squeezes the walkie and breathes heavily, biting her sleeve to try and ease the pain.

"Hey, you alright?" Negan wonders as he steps out of the room where they were beating up Merle. "You're not sounding so good."

She bites out that she's fine.

"Seriously, Bree, if you need a doctor, I'll let mine take a look at you. I don't want you dying on me. Did Simon shoot you?"

She starts up the car and tells him that she'll be back for Merle. She turns off her walkie and heads to Alexandria as fast as she can.

When she gets to Alexandria, she lets them know that Merle was captured while looking for Daryl, who still hadn't shown up to the camp. But they confirmed that he had managed to escape. Everyone is relieved at the food, and Rick is especially grateful for the weapons.

"We will pay you both back for this," he tells her. She smiles and says they're family, right? You don't owe me anything. She winces and wonders if their doctor, Denise, might take a look at her shoulder. Rick notices the red soaked spot on her dark jacket and hurries with her to Denise's place.

Denise excuses everyone else from the room as Bree is laid on the examination table. She has her remove her jacket and so she can have a closer look at the wound. She tells her it doesn't look like it hit anything major, but they'll do a X-ray just to make sure. The X-ray reveals that there was no damage to the arteries or humerus. Just soft tissue, and the bullet went clean through. She says she'll have to go in and check for nerve damage and close up the wound. She gives her some pain medication and tells her to brace herself. She puts pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding, and then puts her to sleep.

After recovering for a few hours, Bree says she has to move because she knows Negan will come checking in to find her soon and will have his sights set on finding Daryl. She says Daryl can come to the Graveyard if he requires protection, she will ask her people to look out for him. She asks them to hide the new supplies well and then heads back to the Graveyard. Rick makes plans to further question her later with Carl saying they should trade her for Merle, it's what Daryl would want and he really is one of their own.

When she gets to her camp later that night, her team assesses her wounds. She lets them know about what happened to Merle and how Alexandria needs their help. Anyone who wanted to help could do so. Her brother warns that it isn't their fight, but since the people respect Bree a bit more for being the one to initiate the fight against Kanem, they decide to listen to her. Alonso isnt happy.

She sits on the edge of the bed in one of Gargoyle's bedrooms. The walkie talkie is in her hands, deadly silent. Without Merle there, she feels awfully alone, even with her brother in the next room as he still hadn't opened up to her much. She and Merle have been traveling together for nearly two years now, and she hadnt realized how much she'd grown to enjoy being around him. For the first time, she realizes she doesn't want to be alone, and she wasn't afraid of being with others anymore.

She holds the button down, takes a deep breath, wanting to say something to him, but angrily tosses the walkie on her bed, knowing he wouldn't have his on him anymore.

"Got something on your mind this beautiful night?"

It's Negan. She hears a gaggle of female voices in the background when he buzzes in. Picking up the walkie, she waits a few minutes before she presses the button and asks if Merle is okay.

"Yeah, he's probably relaxing in his five-Star hotel right now, throwing back an Addams, and playing his banjo. I'll probably go check on him in a second, see if hewants his Addams switch out to a Bud Light. But first I wanna talk about you, if you're inclined to."

"... What do you want to know?"

"First of all, how's your shoulder? Simon finally came clean and told me he accidentally shot you. You alright?"

Pssh, accidentally. "I'm fine," she answers, looking at the pinkish bandage around her shoulder. "How's your injury?"

Negan chuckles. "It was only a graze, but something tells me it was meant to be a bit more."

"I didn't want to have to shoot anyone," she explains vehemently. "We just wanted Daryl today. And the supplies you stole from my friends. But it doesn't have to be like this. We can have a happy medium where we all help each other survive, where we all have a chance to grow and prosper despite what's happening around us. The way it is right now... You have a lot of people mad at you for stopping their progress, and I don't think it's going to end well."

After a few moments pass, he replies with, "This is the only way I know how to make survival work, Baby. Looking out for me and mine."

"What you're doing isn't survival; it's just cruel and megalomaniacal, and it's going to get you killed."

"By who?"

She silently stares down at the walkie.

"What makes you want this man back so much?" he has to know.

"He's family," she explains. "We look out for each other." Out of options, she asks what she can do to get Merle back. She'd give him some of her people's supplies, keep out of any ensuing wars, whatever he wants.

He says he would very much like her to become one of his wives. She wants to immediately decline, but wonders if this is the only way to get Merle safely out. She figures there's not much of a reason to keep Merle alive to Negan, and she hopes Negan wouldn't kill her if she's the one captured instead since they have history. He may cut off something, burn her face, but at least she'd be alive. She also wonders if she could have her people take Negan out while she and Merle swap places.

Negan asks if she's still there and she replies with yeah. Then, she agrees. They decide to make the swap tomorrow morning, with Negan audibly excited at the prospect. She lets her people know to keep an eye out on her and Merle as they make the swap and he will step up as leader with her brother while she's away.

The next day, Merle sees Bree standing at the drop off point in her hiking boots, combat jacket, and dark jeans, trying to not look scared. He's shocked she's there.

She meets his eyes as the Saviors approach and nods a little before glaring at Negan.

Negan is all smiles as he saunters up to her. He gets his men to pat her down, checking for weapons.

"Just playing it safe," he tells her as she refuses to remove her eyes from him.

Merle angrily orders that he's brought back to his cell.

"I agreed to the trade, Merle," Bree tells him. "It'll be alright."

Simon cuts Merle loose from his wrist bindings. Merle and Bree meet each other in the middle of the clearing.

She puts her hands in the front of her hoodie's pocket and regards him with tears in her eyes.

"You think just cause they call you leader or any of that stupid made up ish back at the Graveyard that I'm gonna let you do something this stupid? I ain't letting him take you back to that place," his voice is low but loud enough for Bree to hear the edge in it. "We have more than enough bals between us to end this right here and now."

Bree looks him over, noting his fresh cuts and bruises, his stripped down stump, his torn clothes. She shakes her head.

"One of us has to make sure the Phantoms help Alexandria when they need us. And you need to go reunite with your brother. I'll be alright here."

"I told you, you're not my leader, little girl, I'm not following your dumb as heck orders!"

Lowering her head, she steps towards him while he's talking and hugs him. He quiets down as she hugs him by the waist.

Negan seems taken aback by this.

"Can I be the one who protects you, just this once?" she whispers. She leans back, reaches up and playfully pats his stubbly face. "I know what I'm doing... Trust your leader, okay?"

He looks down at her teary-eyed but brave expression and says that would be a lot easier to do if she weren't bawlin' like a baby all the durn time.

"I'll take care of those dang Ghosts or whatever," he lets her know as they begin to part ways.

"Phantoms, dummy," she tells him as she walks towards Negan, who is looking more and more annoyed. She and Merle share a look over their shoulders before they are standing in the spot the other stood in before. "Baby" has her wrists bound as Negan leans down and plants a long kiss on her cheek.

"Welcome home, Baby! I am so looking forward to catching up with you."

Merle starts to step towards Bree—Negan's desired reaction—but she hurriedly shakes her head, and he begrudgingly comes to a stop.

Negan glances between the two of them, a frown pulling down his normally chiseled features.

"You sure you're not ...?"

"No, we're not," she quickly informs him.

"I dunno, I don't like seeing my wife looking at another man like that...Change of plans, men! Tie that hillbilly RIGHT the freak back up and pack him into the back of someone's car cause he's coming home with us!"

He turns to Baby and winks. "That would make you happy, wouldn't it?"

Simon and Dwight and a few other men head towards Merle who puts his arms up, excited for the chance to flip the tables on his former captors.

"Merle, keep your distance!" Bree warns. Merle looks confused until a shot rings out and one of the Saviors falls down dead with a bullet wound straight through the center of his forehead.

Everyone ducks behind trees as shots fire out, providing cover for Merle.

"Go!" Bree yells at Merle as she's pushed into the car. Negan fires off a few rounds at the shooters, clipping a few—-Bree sees Casper fall down—and then climbs into the car. Merle starts towards the car but it's taken off, curses, and heads in the direction of the gunshots, although his sense of loyalty makes him want to go back for her.

The cars speed off down the makeshift road, tires squealing as they make it to pavement to escape from the onslaught of bullets.

"Who the freak were those people?!" Negan demands to know. "Baby, you tell me or so help me, I will turn this car around and shoot every last one of them."

Bree can't help but smile. "You sure you wanna do that?"

Simon goes to hit her, but Negan tells him not to touch her. He'll get her to explain it all soon.

Back at Sanctuary, Negan drags Bree to a cell and throws her in, fiercely reminding her that she was with Sanctuary first. She needs to get her loyalties straight.

Later on, after pacing about angrily, he falls back in his chair and wonders to Simon if he were to hard on her.

"Negan, she tried to kill you," Simon stated bluntly.

"Yeah, I know, but she set all that crap up her self! That's pretty impressive!"

"Sir, I... Erm, I'll let you rest."

Back at the clearing, Merle meets up with Stheno and the other Phantoms. They're carrying Casper, one of the younger members, to the ATV. He's bleeding from his eye, but they have it bandaged up.

"I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I'm going back for her," Merle declares. "I ain't ever met someone like that guy. We leave her with him, something's gonna happen."

"We wanted to get you both back, but our orders were to make sure you were safe. Gargoyle will get herself out of the situation," Stheno informs him. "We're needed elsewhere."

"You people are really gonna leave a girl alone with those lunatics?" He stumbles and coughs up some blood.

Stheno looks at him for the first time. "You're in no shape to help anyone right now. And if we risk ourselves in chasing her, we risk losing those numbers for the battle in Alexandria. We're heading back."

"Man, screw that," Merle snaps and is about to leave when Daryl comes out and tells him to calm down.

"We gotta take care of your big head first,"he jokes. The brothers regard each other warmly before Merle coughs again.

"If it ain't the little wuss who got caught in the first place," he says. "Glad you're alive at least, little brother."

"Man, you weren't there," Daryl mutters. "Negan is a scary dude. He even had Rick on his knees after he killed Glenn and Abraham."

"Did he?" Merle is genuinely shocked. He had begun to see Rick as some unbeatable superhero. "Now I'm even more excited to kick his butt."

"Come on," Daryl hops on his bike. "We'll be back for her."

Merle eyes the direction that the Saviors drove off before begrudgingly following after his group.

END OF EPISODE SONG - Visions of China