Chapter Three: Unwanted Plan

By the time we get the RV unloaded the sun was lower in the sky than Rick wanted us to be back by. So Rick sends everyone home, getting the word out that everyone was to meet in the church in the morning for a town meeting. I spent time after most left in the pantry taking inventory, a job I split with Oliva, and I asked Morgan to hang back with me while Rick was talking with Daryl. I didn't want to be obvious with my plan to get some people on my side to circumvent Rick's plan to take on this random groups' issues as our own.

Morgan was so different now, almost at peace in some ways. He didn't talk about what all he went through since the last time we saw him, but with how different he is I can only imagine what it might have been. Once the last person left, I set the last basket on the shelf and as I pulled out the food and started putting them where they went, taking note of how much we had. This trip was nice for our pantry, but I didn't want this choice to effect more than just our food numbers.

"Rick is taking us to war, and I need help trying to talk him out of it." I say as I set the clipboard on the shelf.

"The tit for this tat?" he gestures towards the now fuller shelves.

"Yeah, remember that group of bikers Daryl, Abraham and Sasha ran into? Apparently, they are a part of a bigger group. This group has the Hilltop under its thumb. Rick wants to trade us taking this group out for Hilltop's goods."

"You don't think we can take on this group?"

"The Saviors, Jesus says they're called the Saviors. In all honesty I'm sure we could, but I don't think we need to get involved. Morgan, back in Georgia we got involved with this mad man who called himself the Governor and we thought we could beat him, thought that we did beat him, and he cost us everything. We went to Terminus thinking it was something we could handle and it was the most dangerous place I think I've ever been. We keep sticking our noses into things that we have no need to and things we know nothing about and it always bites back. I'm sick of it. Why risk it? Why bring that attention to us?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Rick respects you, and you have a way of talking to him, to others, maybe you can see a way around this situation that I can't. All I want to do is stay away from this. But there is a chance that if we go back on our word to the Hilltop that Gregory will send the Saviors our way. Then we end up in the same boat. God, I swear sometimes Rick just doesn't think!" I say as I kick at one of the baskets that came from the Hilltop, my frustration at the whole situation bubbling over.

"I'll do what I can, but you know better than I do that once Rick has his mind made up about something that it is very hard to change it."

"I know, I just hope that he takes everything into consideration before he sends us all after this group we know nothing about. Thanks Morgan."

"Get some rest, I don't think tomorrow will be a day for it."

"I have a few more things to inventory then I have to secure everything, you go on."

Morgan leaves and I pick my clipboard back up, combing over the shelves and double checking to make sure everything was as it should be. We had less vegetables than I liked and I would need to look in my books about plants that had more vitamins in them. All in all, the haul from the Hilltop was making the numbers look pretty good, ration it out right and we could spread this out for several weeks on top of what we already had and the stuff that we normally bring in.

I turn around when I hear the door open and send Daryl a smile when he walks through it. "Hey, I'm almost done here. Like ten minutes if you want to go home."

"I can wait, what were you and Morgan talking about?"

"I don't agree with the deal that was cut with the Hilltop. Rick has his meeting tomorrow and he'll ask the towns opinion on it."

"So, you're going behind his back and recruiting Morgan to do what exactly?"

"I'm not going behind anyone's back. I was talking to a friend who I happen to trust and respect his opinion on things. I don't want to get involved in this Daryl; you know that. Rick won't listen to me on this so maybe he will listen to Morgan."

"This guy ain't shit Kelly, hell we took out a whole group of them with just three of us-."

"And a rocket launcher." I say as I hang the clipboard up on the nail on the wall and cross my arms. "Sasha actually gives details when she gives her reports. Your little group was seven well-armed men that didn't seem like they were too worried about killing all three of you. Plus, Jesus said they brutally killed a freaking kid right inside their gates. And that's the group you want to get us all screwed up with? Forgive me if I don't feel like pulling up roots again."

"You don't think we can beat this guy?"

"I'm saying why should we get mixed up in something that isn't our problem?"

"Kelly, we got this. We saw that group weeks ago, if we were going to face some kind of retaliation for that I think it would have happened already, it sounds like this group doesn't have the manpower, just a good front."

"Sometimes that all it takes, the Governor ringing a bell? He put on a good front too, a weak and dead front and look what he took from us."

"That what this is about?" Daryl walks closer to me and wraps his arms around me. "This is different, we stumbled across him, we weren't prepared. This time we're making the first move, they won't know what hit them and by the time they do it will be too late. It'll be okay."

Daryl pulls me against his chest into a tight hug and I squeeze him back, I was frustrated, he wasn't understanding where I was coming from. I knew that after the church meeting tomorrow we would probably be in the middle of another fight so I just closed my eyes and let out a breath as he held me. "I love you Kelly, more than you know."

I pull back enough and look up at him before pushing up on my toes a little and pressing a kiss to his lips. He was prickly as always, lips chapped and breath had that cigarette flavor I wasn't all that fond of, but I never really minded too much if it was him. The kiss deepened as we walked us back towards the wall the braced me against it. I laugh as my back presses against the cold wall. "You're serious about doing it in as many places as we can aren't you?"

"We need to check the pantry off the list."

*/*/*/*/*/*

The following morning Daryl and I stayed in bed longer than the rest of the house did. Rick and Michonne were up and moving fairly early, the kids not too far behind them, but Daryl and I stayed tucked away in our little corner of the house.

"You know there are plenty of open houses, right? We don't have to stay in this one." Daryl grumps as he buries his head into his pillow.

"I know, but I like being this close to the kids, and you love being able to be Uncle Daryl to Judith all the time."

"I can still be Uncle Daryl if we lived in our own house. And we could be as loud as we want."

"Daryl." I say rolling over to face him, pulling the sheet closer to my throat. "You know why I need to stay close to Rick."

"Yes, I know why you needed to stay close to Rick, but Kelly, so much time has passed, he's fine now. He said he hasn't seen anything for a long time, Carl is back up to speed, and now with him having Michonne-."

"They just started having sex, don't you think it's a little early to be putting her in charge of my brother's mental health?"

"She's been helping with that for a long time, don't be that way just because you're uncomfortable with your brother moving on."

"I'm not uncomfortable with it. I told you and him that I didn't care who he slept with, but I'm not going to be pushed aside just because he isn't sleeping alone anymore."

"Kelly, no one is pushing you aside, let alone Michonne. Is that what this is all about? You think Rick and the kids won't need you around?" Daryl rolls over to face me as well and wraps an arm around my middle and rubs up and down my back. "They're always going to need you, and just because we move down the block and Michonne moves in here doesn't mean that you're going to lose them."

"Daryl, if I don't side with Rick on this mess, if I speak out against it at the meeting, will we be okay?" I say wanting to shift the conversation away from the personal mess that was slowly pressing into my homelife. This Savior mess would engulf all of Alexandria and, in many ways, would be easier to deal with than my personal feelings when it came to my brother and leaving this house like Daryl had been wanting us too for several weeks now.

"Wouldn't be the first time we didn't agree on something like this. But you need to except that when we go fight the Saviors that I'm going to go too."

"I know." I say with a sigh as I curl closer to his bare chest. We would have to get up in a few minuets and join the rest of the town in the church, but for now, just like last night, I could close my eyes and let out a breath.

*/*/*/*/*/*

The church was fairly crowded, but it was obvious that not every person from the town was here, the main bulk of our scavengers, guards, and runners mainly, a few of the regular people were in attendance but it was obvious that most families had sent one or two people to represent their votes. I knew Morgan wouldn't have a chance to speak with anyone about what we talked about since last night, but I hoped he at least came up with something else to offer in place of all-out war.

Rick came in the back doors and all the mingling stopped as everyone found a seat. Morgan sat towards the back and I smiled at him as I sat with Daryl towards the front of the building, Daryl was Rick's right hand man after all. I held Daryl's hand as Rick went to the front and started explaining where all the new food came from, about the Hilltop and all that we had seen there, then he went into the reason for the meeting.

"-and we can work with the Hilltop. Maggie hammered out a deal. We're getting food- eggs, butter, fresh vegetables. But they're not just giving it away. These Saviors, they almost killed Sasha, Daryl, and Abraham on the road." I shook my head at Rick, he was going to use fear to get this group to vote in his favor. "Now, sooner or later, they would've found us, just like those Wolves did, just like Jesus did. They woulda killed someone or some of us. And then they would try to own us. And we would try to stop them. But by then, in that kind of fight, low on food, we could lose. This is the only way to be sure, as sure as we can get, that we win. And we have to win. We do this for the Hilltop, it's how we keep this place. It's how we feed this place. This needs to be a group decision" I bit my lip and let go of Daryl's hand, aggravated at my brother's extremely obvious manipulation.

Most Alexandrian's were still terrified of the whole situation with the Wolves, it had been the last push that Rick had needed to seal his control over the group, even if Deanna hadn't died Rick would have been in charge when the dust settled. Alexandria wasn't full of old tax preparers and office workers anymore who were content to hide behind their tall walls, they were learning how to fight walkers and people alike, but most were still content to hide behind the taller and more enforced walls with Rick leading the way. Rick knew just how to spin this in his favor.

"You're sure we can do it?" Morgan speaks up from behind us and I take a deep breath, this was it. "We can beat them?"

"What this group has done, what we've learned, what we've become, all of us- yes, I'm sure."

"Then all we have to do is just tell them that."

"Well, they don't compromise."

"This isn't a compromise. It's a choice you give them. It's a way out, for them and for us." I turned around and looked at him, this wasn't exactly what I meant when I asked him to come up with a solution besides going to war, but Morgan did seem to have a strong opinion about this course of action.

"We try and talk to the Saviors, we give up our advantage, our safety. No, we have to come for them before they come for us. We can't leave them alive."

"Where there's life, there's possibility."

"Of them hitting us."

"We're not trapped in this. None of you are trapped in this."

"Morgan... they always come back."

"Come back when they're dead, too."

"Yeah, we'll stop them. We have before."

"I'm not talking about the walkers."

"Morgan wants to talk to them first. I think that would be a mistake, but it's not up to me. I'll talk to the people still at home. I'll discuss it with the people on guard now, too, but who else wants to approach the Saviors, talk to them first?" I gave Daryl a small smile before I stood up and looked at my brother.

"This is a bad idea, I don't agree with Morgan in that we should talk to his group, but I don't think we need to go charging into this either. We don't know anything about this group. All we know is what a few people have said. We have no way of knowing what is waiting for us if we hit them."

"We do know what is waiting if we don't. They will find us, one way or another. We go back on our word to the Hilltop, what is to stop them from pointing the Saviors in our direction?" Rick says looking at me with his hard eyes, he was obviously not too happy with me standing up to him right now.

"Then you should have thought about that before you took their supplies, promising something that was a community decision before talking to the community. Morgan is right, we are not trapped in this. We don't have to sacrifice our people, our supplies on this. The Hilltop points the Saviors in our direction then we kill them at our gate, where we have protection, the supplies. If the Saviors are as vulnerable as you think they are why risk knocking on their front door and giving them a reason to become desperate in their fight back?"

"We have to come for them before they come for us. If they get lucky and slip past our gates then we have to deal with them in our streets, in our homes, or are you forgetting what happened with the Wolves. No. What happened here, we won't let that happen again. I won't. Looks like it's settled. We know exactly what this is. We don't shy from it, we live. We kill them all. We don't all have to kill. But if people are gonna stay here... they do have to accept it."

Rick walked away as he said the last part, and even though it was probably more directed at Morgan then me it still stung and watching Daryl follow him out of the church, leaving me behind hurt more. Soon it was just Morgan and I left and I sighed and sat back down on the pew. "Well, that went fantastic."

"We both knew it was a long shot."

"He was manipulating them. Bring up the Wolves, half these people still have nightmares about that. Like it's the worst thing that could ever happen to a person." I say as I cross my arms and let out a sigh.

"We all have experienced different paths that keep us up at night and I don't think any of us want to take a road that will bring us back to that."

"I'd rather deal with the Wolves a thousand times over than start a war with a stranger we know nothing about. Rick knows these people are scared, that they won't go against him if he pushed the right buttons."

"We did what we could, as much as I don't think Rick is making the correct decision, he won't just go in there guns blazing without a plan. Fight or no fight you all must be ready for it. If they go to fight, will you sit on the side lines or will you stand by them because you love them?"

"I don't know if Daryl will want me there, I'm not the best with a gun of any sort, more of a liability really." I say as I stand up. "Thank you, Morgan, for being on my side of this."

"That house on the outline of town, the one that isn't fully constructed yet, I would like to do some work on it, do you think it would be a problem?"

"No, I think so. We haven't done anything with it, mainly using it for spare materials if we have a roof or something that is leaking."

*/*/*/*/*/*

Kelly stepped out of the church and found Daryl standing on the porch with his arms crossed, I walk over to him and stand beside him, crossing my arms and mirroring his stance. "So, what is on your agenda for today?"

"Gonna make a plan to hit the place. Go from there."

"Do you want me to do anything?"

"I just need to know that you're not going to take this and turn it into something it aint."

"Just because I don't think we need to do something doesn't mean that I will cause problems. I know when I get out voted."

"Last time something like this happened you caused issues at the last minute. This time we can't have a last-minute interruption."

"I'm assuming you are talking about the whole Randal thing that was years ago? For the record, there is a huge difference in killing one teenager in cold blood than hitting a complex full of people that are at least an established threat."

"I just want to make sure that you don't let your personal feelings get in the way of this. We made the deal, it's done."

"Thank you for all your confidence, Daryl, really, it means a lot." I say as I push off the building and walk away from him, no real destination in mind other than getting some space away from him. Tensions were still a little high from the meeting and he did have a point, but I didn't appreciate him laying all the blame at my feet. I was an adult and the decision of the group, regardless of how skewed it may be, was still the decision of the group and I would respect it.

I go to the pantry and spend a few minutes making sure that everything was still in order, then I went to the shelf that held all my plant and herb materials and I started working on the labels for the herbs that I had brought in the day before the trip to the Hilltop. They were drying nicely and I had to find some kind of airtight container to keep them in so they would still be usable in the coming months. The door behind me opens and a quick glance over my shoulder and I see Rick walking in and over towards me.

"When did you get these?" He asks as he leans against the wall beside where I was working.

"Went out with Merle when you and Daryl found Jesus."

"Find some good ones?"

"Supposedly, I would be a bit more confident if we were back home, but the book was credible and the ones I ate like a month ago didn't kill me. We have some stuff for the winter."

"You were eating plants that you didn't know were poisonous or not?"

"Poison was not the issue; it was more of a would these make us sick or not situation."

"Kelly, talk to me. What is going on with you?"

"Nothing, I disagree on going after another group we know nothing about, it was a group decision and the floor was open to opinions. I gave mine. That's it."

"We've delt with worse than this group before, they sound small, if doing this one thing means that we can generate trade with a group that already have farms up and going I think it's a small price to pay."

"And I don't. But I lost, I was out voted. So, I'm going to be upset about it for a day, but I'll get over it."

"Do you really think I would go into this without a plan? A good plan? I'm not going to put us at unnecessary risk on a whim. We'll talk it over and make sure we can pull it off, if not, we'll go back to the drawing board and start over. We told the Hilltop we'd help, but now when. We do this on our terms."

"You can sugar coat this all you want; I still think it's a bad idea."

"Maggie is planning on helping, I think it would help if you were there with her."

"You're taking Maggie on a hit? Really?"

"No, she won't be involved in the main attack, just on perimeter watch, I think it would be good if you were there."

"So how long have you and Michonne been hooking up?" I ask, putting the herbs down and looking at him, ready to move the conversation away from this thing.

"Just the other day. We were just friends before, maybe there was some tension between us, but it just happened."

"And Carl is okay with it? Like him and her have a pretty close relationship, you don't think that this is going to effect that?"

"Carl said he was fine, it's not like I went out of my way for this, it just happened."

"You keep saying that. I just want to make sure that you are thinking everything through before it gets too serious between you two."

"Lori has been gone for a long time Kelly, am I never supposed to be with anyone again?"

"Jesse hasn't been gone that long, you're over her pretty fast."

"That is two completely different situations and you know it. Jesse and I weren't good for each other, I wasn't in a good place when we first came here. Look, I don't know what it going to happen with Michonne, we're just taking this one day at a time."

"Just be careful, you screw this up with Michonne things will get very sticky around here."

Kelly leaves the pantry and goes to the graveyard and sits on the ground by Shayla's spot and cleaned the debris off the site before pulling her knees to her chin and letting out a sigh. "Mommy doesn't know what to do baby girl. I feel like so much has happened so fast that I can't process anything."

It was early afternoon when Kelly left the graveyard, Alexandria was back to the normal day-to-day with some going on runs, others with weapons training by the pond being taught by Abraham and Rosita, guards were on the walls, the few kids that made it through the attack were playing on the playground, everything was eerily normal and it made Kelly uneasy. She walked towards the house that she knew they would be making the plans and even if she didn't agree with them, she wanted to know where her family was going to be and how they were planning on pulling this mess off.

The group that assembled was the usual suspects, even Merle was there. "-They, uh got some fight in them." The man that Rick brought back from the Hilltop said over a rolled bit of paper that had been taken from the school area that Kelly spent the majority of her time.

"Describe it." Rick started off from what I could hear from my spot just outside of the room where they were gathered.

"Rectangular building, big satellites on it."

"Any windows?" That was Merle

"I don't remember any. I think they made it so there's only one way in."

"Guards outside?" Rick again

"Yeah, two of them, at least."

"And you don't know how many people they have?" Michonne sounded as serious as always.

"No. I saw a place where they stored food. It wasn't that big, so –"

"You've been inside?" Rick again

"Yeah. They had us load in supplies one time.

"What do you remember?" Glenn this time.

There was some silence that was broken only by someone pacing and the marker scratching on the paper as the man drew the map of the place that they were planning on hitting.

"And you didn't see any other rooms?" Maggie

"No, it's a big place. This is the hallway I saw. There is more."

"And every time, they had you bring things into here?" Back to Michonne

"We brought a couple spears for them. Two of the Saviors took them down this hallway. Now, they must've done something with them because they didn't come back with them."

"Maybe a weapons locker, an armory." Another short pause before Glenn starts speaking again. "We get in there, secure the armory, that's how we end it."

"But we don't know if they have an armory or where it even is."

"Well, we've got a lot of good guesses. We've done more with less." Daryl finally speaks up and I cross my arms. Of course they are all okay with going into this with even less information, while Daryl did have a point, most of the "more with less" he was talking about was based on desperation or a rescue of some sort, this was just nuts.

"We go in at night while they're sleeping." Rick

"The guards won't be sleeping. Like I said, I think there's only one way in and there's no way to bust through that door without waking up the rest of them."

"We don't need to. They're going to open it for us, let us walk right in. They want Gregory's head, right? We're gonna give it to them." Rick says and I can almost hear the cogs in his head turning.

They soon gather up what they had and Rick asks Maggie to go get a few more people to meet at the gate in half an hour. I step back from the doorway as most of them file past me, talking amongst themselves as they do. Soon it's just Rick and Daryl in the room.

"What do you think?" Rick asks with a sigh.

"We can do this. Hell, if these guys are anything like the bikers on the road, they are all talk, in the end everything dies anyways."

"Sounds like a small enough place, if we go in fast and quiet there shouldn't be any problems."

"So, what's the plan to get us in the doors?"

"Find a walker that looks like Gregory, take the head to the guards. It'll be dark, they shouldn't be able to tell a huge difference, especially if we bloody it up some."

"Going on a walker hunt?" I say as I step around the corner and look at my family.

"Yeah, gonna take everyone out this afternoon." Rick says as he turns to look at me.

"I'll come too, need some more practice with weapons if you're starting another war."

"If you want, you're getting pretty good the with machete."

"See you by the gate. Daryl, can we talk?"

Daryl and I walk out of the house and head over to a secluded part of the main wall. "I'm sorry." I say as I wrap my arms around his middle. "I know that we've talked about the whole me walking off during a fight thing, but I was upset, and in some ways I'm still upset. But I meant what I said, it was a group vote, they decided this was the best course of action. So, I'm going to help in any way that I can."

Daryl gives me a small squeeze and kisses the top of my head. "We can do this Kelly; our group is strong and we know what we're doing."

*/*/*/*/*/*

Soon there was a small group gathered at the gate, we all piled into a few vehicles and headed out the gates of Alexandria. Every time a group went out on a run they always reported if there was a walker heard in the area and about a month ago one had swept through about ten miles to the west, and that was the general direction it looked like Rick was taking us to. Going after the slow stragglers would give us more of a variety of walkers to choose from when it came to the head we were looking for.

We stopped by a burnt-out car that was used as a marker for our people when they went on runs, we all climbed out of the vehicles and gathered around, waiting for Rick to give the word as a few people honked the horns to get some walkers attention.

"Aaron, Rosita. You start here. We'll peel off every quarter mile, meet back here in a couple of hours. See what we got." Rick says when all the horns fall silent, we all split up into groups and head out into the woods, I went with Daryl and Merle went with Gabriel, who I still cannot believe how far he has come these last few months. The trackers basically went with the non-trackers for the most part. Maggie was staying by the vehicles, getting the supplies ready that she brought with her to do any hair trims on the heads we brought back.

It doesn't take Daryl and I long to find some walkers, but the first few we find wouldn't work, a woman, an older man, and a few different ethnicities weren't going to work. After killing them, I once again remember that even though I'm good with a knife my best option would always been to run from the danger as Daryl has to help me pull my knife free from the odd angle I had it wedged in.

"Remember that winter before the farm when we were stuck between the herds and we all went out every few days to count them?" I ask as we continue on our way.

"I remember it was cold as shit for Georgia and being bested in tree climbing by you."

"Just the two of us tromping thought he woods, looking for walkers. Who would have thought that we would be looking for one to give a haircut to?"

"Not me, hell I didn't think I'd ever get out of Georgia."

"Do you regret it? Following Rick all the way up here?"

"Nah, we have a great set up now, better than the prison, better than all the places we stayed as really."

"We probably could have found a subdivision to set up if we had thought about it. Called it something cooler than Alexandria."

"With you as the first lady?"

"That title goes to whoever is married to the leader, so there wouldn't really be one, besides, Maggie is way better at that crap than I am. I'm not a leader, heck I'm barley a follower. I just like to be left to my own devices."

"And yet you always seem to be involved in some way or another when it comes to decision making, pretty sure you pushed your way into running the pantry."

"Denise helps, she made the labels."

"And you designated where they went. You're better at that stuff than you think, you just have a short fuse."

"No arguments from me, but someone in this relationship has to be the emotional one."

"Can't be the same in a relationship, that would be boring. Your little temper flares are the highlight of my day as long as they are not directed at me."

We walk about fifteen more minutes before we find a walker that sort of looked like Gregory, Daryl stabbed it and I had the fun job of cutting its head off. I wasn't strong enough to take it off in one blow and ended up going after it a few times before the head rolled across the ground.

By the time we made it back there were about three heads waiting on Maggie to spruce up, so we waited around for all the groups to get back, some heads were rejected by Rick, others by Maggie and while she worked Rick gave one of his pep / this is what we're gonna to talks to the group.

"We're gonna take a look around, try to get a feel for how many people are in there. We like how it looks, we go in. A couple of hours before dawn. The guards outside'll be tired. Everyone inside'll be sleeping." When Rick got tired his southern drawl came out a little stronger than normal. "We don't like what we see, we head back, make a new plan. They don't know who we are. We'll keep Jesus in the shadows. This is how we eat. We roll out at midnight."

*/*/*/*/*/*

Hello, chapter three is finally here.

Some life advice to all, if you are taking lights off your house, please have someone with you. I fell off my roof and broke my arm in a few places and just kinda ruined my life for about 2 months. But I'm free of the cast and splints and good to go.

Note on the story: I will be skipping The Same Boat, Carol is not around anymore in my story, I really hate her character and the show and I basically skip all of her parts when I rewatch the show. So, the next chapter will cover Twice as Far, East, and Last Day on Earth. Negan will be popping up faster than I meant for him too, but we all knew he was just around the corner.

I always enjoy comments, helpful criticism, and tolerance for all the typos in this.

Thank you all for reading!

Maxy