At the Kingdom, making attempts to repair the recently burned royal garden that had gotten infested with weevils, was a black man with long dreadlocks, who was also a tiger-taming, avowed monarch that loves to smile: King Ezekiel.
Next to him was a dirty blond-haired boy named Henry, the younger brother of his deceased sibling, Benjamin. Ezekiel very much knew that he and Benjamin both respected one another. But when Benjamin got shot by Jared, Ezekiel was shocked until struck with grief when his top knight dies. After Benjamin's death, Ezekiel took it upon himself to take care of Henry on his behalf.
Ezekiel was currently leading the community as the self-proclaimed "King" of the people living here and his pet Bengal tiger named Shiva. On the one hand, his Shakespearean king routine is a little bit bizarre and goofy. But on the other hand, he is also a generous human being who desires to create the best haven for those in need of peace. The Kingdom was relatively safe, prosperous, and welcoming. And unlike Alexandria, however, its occupants are trained footsoldiers.
Sure, most of them ride around on horses for their patrols and wear padded body armor to protect themselves, but they can hold their own in a fight. They seem to have an affinity for melee weapons such as spears, but the guards can use firearms as well. Sadly, they are also at the mercy of the Saviors. Much like the Hilltop, Ezekiel must give half of everything they have to Negan, making things difficult for the community to exist.
Inside the walls, the Kingdom's residents have livestock, produce from gardens, a choir, and a local school with people living in tents on the building's grounds. They were other agricultural areas that have grown enough to maintain the community and even some electricity for the houses and theater. In a lot of ways, this is what most communities could have become with better leadership.
The Kingdom was on the right path, but it became too ill-suited for any violence, much like Alexandria, who visited him days ago. Not to mention what had happened earlier today with his meeting with Gavin and the death of one of his top knights, Richard. While Ezekiel still became reeled from the revelation of the missing cantaloupe, he should've kept a watchful eye on Richard due to his extreme hatred towards the Saviors.
Ezekiel knew Richard had been wanting this for a while but had warned him not to be hasty, that when the time was right, they would figure it out. The time seemed to have come. The path to war against the Saviors just got a whole lot quicker.
"YOUR MAJESTY! COME QUICK! CAROL HAD RETURNED, BUT SHE'S HURT!" A Kingdom guard's voice suddenly called out.
At an instant, Ezekiel jolted up to his feet with a concerned face. He merely glanced at Henry with a wave of his hand for him to stay put until he comes back. Ezekiel knew that Carol had always been just annoyed with the king and his guards visiting her, aware that she could take care of herself, but now things are a bit different. As Ezekiel soon rushes his way towards the Kingdom's main gate, where two of his noble guards open the entrance to reveal a frightened Carol, he became surprised by her hurrying up to him like she's seen a ghost.
"E-Ezekiel...! M-Morgan's in trouble...!" Carol puffed and panted as she tries to catch her breath and explain what was going on.
"What has happened with Morgan, Carol? You look so maltreated and...!" Ezekiel went to check the woman for any injuries until he found large red prints around her neck. "Oh god, who did this to you?!"
"THAT DOESN'T MATTER! Something came out and attacked us, dammit!" Carol yelled with an exhausted stare, quickly shaking her head. "It wasn't dead! And it wasn't people! It tried to kill us until Morgan gave me the chance to come back here! And these dogs came out and chased me! I was saved by...! By...!"
"By whom, Carol? Who did you see come save you to your hour of need?" Ezekiel asked as he shared a rough look, in which Carol only looked away in silence.
"I-I don't know if it was some man, but he looked like he was in bulky armor. I'm sorry, I-!" Carol tried to speak more, but Ezekiel held his hand up to try replying this time.
"You're okay now, Carol. You've made it out of there, so why don't you sit down and tell me about Morgan. Do you believe he's still alive right now?"
And just like before, only silence was the response given by Carol as she shakes her head in dismissal to answer Ezekiel's question. All she could think about right now is how the Kingdom will withstand that demonic knight, for if it proceeds over here next.
"Look, I'm going to be here now. We have to get ready to fight, Ezekiel." Carol said as she huffed out a breath from exertion.
Ezekiel was getting a headache from all of this as one of the Kingdom guards, Taylor, stepped forth. "Would you like us to check it out, your majesty-?"
"I would very much think twice about that if I were you, good sir. Why send our best men and our best horses into something that's perhaps far above our understanding? We can't risk this community to go in disarray." A middle-aged black man with glasses and a chubby chin named Zachary, one of the advisers for King Ezekiel, bluntly interrupted as he made his way over.
"You have a point, Zachary." Ezekiel sighed, stirring his adviser to review the situation. "But we're still unsure on the whereabouts of our friend, Morgan. What still happened today has concerned me. He shouldn't be alone out there-!"
"Your majesty, something is going on up ahead in the small town!" A soldier on guard duty above them informed Ezekiel, alerting everyone else.
"What do you see, Marcus, my friend? Is it Morgan?" The monarch asked as he glanced up at the soldier on the left side of the Kingdom's walls.
"It's...! It looks like a fight is going on-!"
Suddenly, there was an explosion within one of the buildings in the distance, with an abrupt crash consisting of some armored figure and a demonic knight. The two of them did not escape unscathed as they got sent tumbling out of the sky and came crashing into the urban lot. One of them smacked into multiple cars, and the other one continued onward, rebounding off the road till smashing through an abandoned store nearby.
Half the building was torn apart in the hit, weakening the structure. What Marcus was currently seeing is the Doom Slayer and the Marauder trying to ravage like wild beasts. The Slayer crawled out of the rubble, ready to face the Marauder with determination. His HUD scanned the area and noted that zombies became crushed all around, unable to avoid debris and them.
A menacing sound came through his HUD. The Marauder then landed hard, cracking the ground. In his sights stood a large truck. With the Marauder's limitations in using his powers, the bulk vehicle became a weapon for him. The Marauder kicked the cargo-like truck at the Slayer. It fell on its side and skidded towards him.
The Slayer quickly thrusts into the air to dodge it, and he landed then skidded forward as the vehicle smashed into another store left in the urban lot, blowing up in seconds. The explosion destroyed the cladding cosmetics of the building, not collapsing the structure, but the Marauder had damaged it. Distracted by the blast, the Marauder burst straight at the Slayer, delivering a punch that knocked him to his knees.
Recovering quickly, the Slayer then moved to the side, dodging the Marauder's wild punch. He moved back again, dodging another frenzied attack. Now facing the hunter head-on, the Slayer was prepared. The Marauder swung a stroke which the Slayer blocked, then another savage blow came, which the Slayer quickly prevented again.
The Slayer tried a surprise punch, but the demonic knight swiftly blocked it, then he retaliated with a blow to the Slayer's left arm, distracting him. The Marauder didn't stop there, as he grabbed the Slayer's shoulder then delivered a powerful punch to his stomach, knocking him back across the street. The Slayer slammed his fingers into the ground, tearing up the road. Creating enough friction to stop himself, the Slayer readied himself for the Marauder's next attack.
VEGA: {The Marauder here is an immeasurable powerhouse. So if you stand too close, he will use his double-barreled shotgun. And if you stand too far away, he will throw projectiles after you called Skull Bombs. When it erupts, victims can burst into a raging acidic flame, automatically suffering fire damage. I suggest you keep him at mid-range, counter his attacks when his eyes flash green; otherwise, he will block your shots with his energy shield, Slayer.}
The Slayer showed a stern look when specifying about the skull-like explosives and switched to his super shotgun. The Marauder came swinging at the Slayer, attempting to deliver a slower, more powerful stroke. The Slayer gets prepared for this, however, as he ducked under the hunter's frustrated punch, then counterattacked with a left-handed haymaker, tapping into his strength. The Marauder flew across through a few zombies and into the wall of a workshop. The Marauder fell to his knees dazed, as the Slayer knew he couldn't give him a breathing room.
Just then, a gunshot blast propelled the Marauder back through one of the large vans, crashing to the side and flipping to the ground. Marcus became shocked yet focused on the battle while Ezekiel and everyone else seemed startled by the unexpected eruption coming from the urban lot. Reacting to the sudden attack, the Marauder activated his Argent Battle-Axe and evaded the Slayer's super shotgun blasts in the last second. However, the Slayer was quick on his moves and used his thruster boots to change course in a sharp curve, going after the Marauder.
The demonic knight kept dodging from his rival's attacks, making use of the experience he gained as a former Night Sentinal and jumping on the walls and vehicles to avoid the Slayer's initiated Crucible Blade. The battle between the two warriors was almost symmetrical. Both of them were dashing all around the urban lot, dodging shots and retaliating with charges on one another.
The terrain offered them both much more maneuverability since it wasn't empty. But only that would not give either one of the warriors an easy victory. For starters, moving like so for too long would waste time and wear them out of boredom. Changing his tactics, the Slayer took impulse in a wall and jumped towards the Marauder.
The sudden change surprised the Marauder and gave the Slayer a tiny opening to attack, using his shoot style in a quick swing of his Crucible Blade. But the Marauder had the advantage in midair, managing to spin and evade the attack, believing the Slayer was charging too fast to get caught in a counterattack.
"I was expecting more from you, Slayer. Those humans and their fragile little lives have made you tainted," The Marauder seethed, his double-barreled shotgun blasting at the Slayer while he tried to find an opening. "And what were they doing with those lives anyway? How many more need to die because of your will against what can't be avoided?"
The Marauder landed, watching the Slayer jump from place to place around him, on his blind spot for a second, and then attacked. The Marauder quickly noticed and didn't come without surprises of his own and readied himself for his next move. A scarlet energy shield spawned into existence, attempting to block the Slayer's gunshots, but a shift in the Slayer's movements caught him by surprise.
Instead of gunshots coming from the side, the Slayer spun his body forward, bringing the Crucible Blade down to strike the Marauder, who became at least fast enough to block it with his energy shield. The massive blow cracked the ground where the Marauder stood. While he felt his arms would break, he grabbed the Slayer by the leg with one hand, using the other to gain speed and spin in the air, resulting in a faraway toss that sent the Slayer to a harsh meeting to the ground like a ragdoll.
The Slayer got up again, instantly, managing to focus on the fight as a Hellhound emerged to harass the Slayer. The Marauder went into another attack, this time running at the Slayer with his Argent Battle-Axe brought back. Taking the unexpected shift in stride, the Slayer weathered the counterattack before switching up his tactics.
Stowing the super shotgun, he switched to the combat shotgun and began dropping explosive shots everywhere around the Marauder's feet as well as throwing several grenades into the mix. The Marauder reacted by jumping to evade the incoming explosives as he just kept running. Being in the center, the Slayer could not escape the Marauder's attack. A near point-blank upwards explosion of the Marauder's grenade-like skull sent him and debris crashing through the Kingdom's main gate without any fair warning.
Out of surprise, Ezekiel and the others hauled themselves away with almost enough time before the collision happened. The Slayer barely rolled inside the Kingdom's grounds and stopped his inertia, whereas the Marauder surged from the smoke with his Argent Battle-Axe coming forward. It would have been a direct strike if the Slayer didn't use his Crucible Blade.
The gust of wind clashed with the powerful explosion, creating a large updraft. It subdued, and the two were already exchanging clashes and strokes again with their melee weapons. Ezekiel was on one knee as he helped Carol to both their feet, in which they froze in place for a second of watching the Slayer and the Marauder.
Speaking of observing, most of the Kingdom's civilians nearby gasped and backed away in shock and surprise at the phenomenon in front of them. Not to mention several soldiers halting from their posts, completely stunned by the battle that was continuing. Between strikes and blasts, the Marauder brought down his Argent Battle-Axe, barely missing the Slayer, and created an explosion on the ground that sent both him and the Slayer flying from each other.
The Marauder switched out to his double-barreled shotgun, and the Slayer barely had enough time to dodge before it started firing shells a second. The Slayer dashed away, and the demonic knight chased after him, firing at the Slayer with more gunshot rounds to no avail. So, the Marauder took to the air and raised his Argent Battle-Axe to smash down onto the Slayer. He then started bashing the Slayer around, trying to crack through the Praetor Suit before kicking the Slayer with a powerful blow enough to leave a skid across the ground.
The Marauder dashed forward with a barrage of gunshot blasts, stroke after stroke being deflected or avoided by the Slayer. When the Marauder got staggered by the Slayer's strong punch in his face, the Slayer proceeded to shoot him in the face with the super shotgun repeatedly, blowing chunks of armor off the demonic knight. The pale imitation of the Praetor Suit stood no chance against the Slayer's weapons.
"G͢R̴͜͠RA͡A̵̛Ģ̴͠H͘͜!̸̨͡" The Marauder roared and struggled back to his feet, pushing past the pain of having his organs shredded by buckshot.
The demonic knight managed to break the Slayer's defense for a second, and with that opening, he blasted him away with the skull bomb and sent the Slayer crashing into one of the buildings' walls, making a deformation on it. The Slayer fell from the wall, the torso of his armor nearly scraped and burnt. From the stinging sensation that got felt, it was like first-degree burns. It was hard to breathe, where his ears were ringing, and his vision was blurry, but he could see the form of the Marauder making his way around the area.
"Hear me, dwellers of Earth! Your savior has become reduced by my rank, for he is nothing but a brute that has brought destruction and allowed your world to get taken over. Surrender yourselves now and cease any useless struggle!" The Marauder commanded with his Argent Battle-Axe raised over his head as red gleamed the beady eyes of his blackened, burned-out sockets.
"YOU THERE! Why have you come to wreak havoc in our fair land?" Ezekiel's voice boomed in his best royal manner, followed alongside another of his faithful advisers and steward, Jerry.
"Answer to the King, whatever the hell you are!" The Samoan man harshly spoke, making Zachary wince a bit yet determined what the Marauder was doing here.
The Marauder could see determination and resignation in the aspects of the Kingdom and the faces of Carol and Ezekiel. "You have quite the spirit, but I wonder how long that will last for, you sham? After all, you are the sins of this planet! You've kept yourselves blind enough when you need to see things clearly for what they are. I will be sure to drill that fact into your mind." His voice spoke up, making all of the residents jump in surprise at the demonic knight.
"Don't call us such things! We're no animals!" Ezekiel bit back at the demonic knight in discomfort.
"Oh, you are everything you stand for: a sham. You're an educated man. You should know the worth a peasant has to a feudal lord." The Marauder looked at him firmly and unrelenting, making Ezekiel feel his stomach churn and tremble at the unholy statement.
Zachary's face had rage plastered all over his face. "How dare you to speak like that to the-!"
"S̕IL̵EN̷CE̶,͘ ͘H̛UMA̸N!̧" The Marauder venomously growled, where his face showed a look of hate. "You ingrates don't know that you aren't free, thinking you're protecting yourselves when all you do is pull a cloth over the eyes. You might hide behind the almighty titles of humanity, but you are only sinful weaklings. In the end, you cannot win against the strength of my legion!"
Everyone else leaned back at the Marauder's furious expression and shivered under the scrutiny of this intense stare out of glowing red eyes. It made the hairs in the back of Ezekiel's neck stand.
Grinding his teeth, Ezekiel tried to defend his decision. "I kept my people safe. I kept them happy and protected their innocence."
But one look at the Marauder's disapproving face told him he couldn't fake it until he made it. The demonic knight was calling him out on his bullshit.
"No, you didn't. You kept these fools ignorant of imminent danger until now. And ignorance is a bliss that can wipe out whole communities these days, your so-called majesty." The Marauder chastised him, where Ezekiel had to swallow at the accusation these ancient eyes laid on him.
"You dare try to spread such dread into my people!? I do detest having to use violence but do not test me, you beast. The atrocity you've committed against the Kingdom today has become loathsome and demands swift, sovereign justice. And because I am honor-bound by the laws of peace and amnesty, I am issuing one final warning to you. Leave peacefully, or die." Ezekiel finally spoke out as some of his soldiers held firearms and spears.
With that stated, and before Ezekiel could react and command several of his soldiers, the Marauder silently acted first as he stormed and crushed through various soldiers to the ground. The Marauder's eyes showed a crushing, burning, arctic cold nightmare void, with the only exception being the blazing flash of green within his crimson eyes. The next thing the soldiers witnessed was how much the demonic knight bellowed his bottomless hate at them, and the next thing after that was an armor-clad fist colliding with one of their faces.
The Marauder viciously grinned, seeing where his powerful blow had burned, a soldier's face peeling off and the blood that now flowed almost freely from any wounds. The power that flooded the Marauder's system was nearly intoxicating as he could feel every slash and blow he landed, causing him to delve deeper to draw evermore from that bottomless well of corrupt, hateful energy. The next twenty seconds were the most heinous things the residents have ever seen in their entire lives. Limbs were flying everywhere as the Marauder went through the soldiers like a hot knife through butter, their screams echoing around the vicinity of the Kingdom.
Blood and gore had sprayed, where the Marauder jumped and cleaved another soldier in halves. Terrified yet determined, some of the guards tried to shoot the demonic brute with their firearms. They missed but made up for it by almost hitting the Marauder's face, who then discharged a couple of soldiers with his double-barreled shotgun. The Marauder continued to deliver blow after blow, throwing soldiers off-balance and towards their allies as he left large trenches in his path.
One of the male soldiers came to stab the demonic knight with a spear, but the Marauder delivered a flurry of strikes that sent the soldier crashing into a wall. When the soldier started to fall off, the Marauder kicked him back into the wall and fired the double-barreled shotgun that blasted him right through it in a gory mess. Ezekiel could feel fingernails digging into his mind, heart, and soul while Carol stared at the fury of a monster that now existed in their world.
With this boost in morale, and as the Kingdom's soldier numbers began to dwindle, the Marauder's wrath only seemed to increase. For he not only killed just the men but sometimes the women and children. Ezekiel came to see the monster that this hunter was at his core. None of the soldiers became spared from his killings. The horror Ezekiel saw the Marauder commit was beyond inhuman to him, to the point where he no longer viewed the Marauder as some annoyance but as a mere demon.
"Don't try to make any sudden moves or excuses to get out of this alive, you sickening pigs!" The Marauder aimed his Argent Battle-Axe towards Ezekiel menacingly. "You're going to follow my every order, or else each of your heads will roll."
Every person in the Kingdom stood still with their weapons in each hand, shocked that the demonic knight would try to destroy absolutely any flow Ezekiel could ever have. Speaking of Ezekiel, he didn't feel sure enough of how he will take down the Marauder. Some of the remaining soldiers were trembling and hesitant, in which the corrupted hunter took note. The Marauder felt like he's the worthiest of foes, the first time anyone would fight him is a wake-up call. He'd try to speed things up and force his opponents to change their entire style to become different than what they have to do against every other enemy.
The Slayer attempted to get up, but he ended up stumbling back and leaning on the wall for support. He checked from his HUD to examine the harm produced onto his Praetor Suit, knowing that it remained almost impervious to any damage. That demonic knight nearly came this close by tearing the Slayer apart through his Praetor Suit. The helmet had exhibited cracks and blood around the visor, and the center of where his rib cage remained held multiple bladed marks. Some of the fatigues within the Slayer's armor have gotten heavily torn, exposing his stomach and leg.
On the sides of the fierce battle, all the people in the Kingdom watched, terrified overall. But just then, a single whack to the face and the Marauder was forced to shut up. Having the wind blow away from him, the Marauder didn't have a choice and stepped back a little. In front of him, holding his bo-staff firmly, Morgan had reappeared and stood on his feet as his eyes became filled with sheer anger.
"It's Morgan!" Jerry gasped broadly at where Morgan remained.
Both Carol and Ezekiel's eyes widened while sweat covered their faces. The Marauder's sharp fingers clenched into his Argent Battle-Axe's handle so tight as his whole body shook. One moment, this human was on the verge of crumbling by his hand, and on the other, he landed a strong hit like that?
"You still have that fight in you? Being brave yet suicidal is wasting your talents. You think you can defeat me with raw power?"
"Shut up...!"
Silence fell for that moment, and even the onlookers flinched at the unexpected reply from Morgan. Both he and the Marauder tensed their bodies, each holding a fighting stance. The Marauder's eyes never left Morgan, watching the human ready himself and knowing something big that was coming.
The Marauder jumped forward, cracking the ground he was standing, and flew towards Morgan at incredible speed, with his Argent Battle-Axe drawn back and all open to attacks. Morgan had his hands rolled around the bo-staff all this time, sweating a lot and accumulated a stressful amount as he backs away to either dodge or block. The Marauder lifted his Argent Battle-Axe, speedily slamming it right back down to only chop through Morgan's bo-staff until the impact was huge.
It sent debris everywhere, and the shockwave shook the ground a bit. What was more surprising is that although Morgan got sent blasted across the Kingdom's area, he was still alive with only two broken sticks in each hand. None of the spectators saw it, but if Morgan hadn't used his bo-staff to avoid that attack a second later, he would have died there, and it was pretty clear it would make quite the damage to his face.
Morgan struggled to his feet altogether, panting and all battered up. Angered by this act of defiance, the Marauder powered up again, and when he dashed to try and smite Morgan, he abruptly received a light blow of a stone at his head. And when the rock dropped to the ground, the Marauder then turned his head to see what was perhaps the most shocking thing everyone had ever seen.
Henry, who had thrown the stone at the demonic knight seconds ago, made a slow but direct effort to stand in defiance to ever kneel to the Marauder. And his courage was then followed by several residents in the Kingdom, some including the soldiers. To Ezekiel, alongside Carol and the others' surprise, the Marauder did indeed stop and stood still, perhaps in shock or trembling with so much passion on cutting down every single person in the Kingdom. Not being able to bottle up this anger any longer, the Marauder turned to stare at where Ezekiel and the rest stood at the destroyed gate.
"So even other humans can end up like this? Fools playing as heroes? As kings? Pathetic." The Marauder focused his eyes on Ezekiel most of the time and then towards Henry next. "You can try and overpower me all you want, only with the loss of nothing but your own pitiful lives. Now your fate will be the BOY!"
Hearing from the demonic knight, Morgan had enough adrenaline running through his body to rip the teeth out of a great white shark. He practically charged at the Marauder once again with just two broken sticks, only for him to receive the Marauder's harsh blow right in his torso when he got closer. The Marauder, afterward, made a beeline for where Henry remained, furious of the resistance and a complete lack of obedience from this child.
And with that, causing Ezekiel and Carol to shout out for Henry to run away, the Marauder had a few seconds to launch a finishing blow towards the young boy until the Crucible Blade shielded Henry from any harm. Right in front of the shocked Henry, the Slayer kept his grip firmly onto the Crucible Blade before pushing back the Marauder a few feet away. The demonic knight swung his Argent Battle-Axe and launched several energy waves towards the Slayer. Then he dashed forward to try and land a clean blow to the neck.
The Marauder roared again, swinging the Argent Battle-Axe to cleave nothing but air when the Slayer dodged swiftly. Several more slashes and shots at the Slayer came from the Marauder, but the Slayer ignored them while dodging such attacks. Those residents would get killed if they got too close, so the Slayer's sole priority at the moment was dealing with the treacherous swine unfit to even look upon the mark of the Night Sentinels, let alone wear it.
The Slayer was then surging with power and seething with anger. The Marauder tried to attack him again, but the Slayer was ready. He swiftly caught the Marauder's arm and pulled him in to punch him in the face, over and over again like the world's most painful game of paddleball. The Slayer soon shoves one of his frag grenades to ignite the Marauder, and as he flailed his limbs, Carol from afar shot her rifle and caught onto the demonic knight.
Ezekiel then ordered some of his soldiers to open fire onto the Marauder, who only used his energy shield to bounce off the shots fired. Not looking where he was going next, the Marauder then felt Morgan sneaking up from behind and stabbing both his broken sticks into the demonic knight's back, earning a loud painful cry. Finally, the Marauder couldn't take any more punishment. He staggered backward with most of his armor gone and the entire front of his chest ripped away by gunfire, exposing his ribs and leaking crimson.
"This isn't even close to the end. All of this is only the beginning, Slayer." The Marauder couldn't have made an angrier whisper if he tried, seeing himself encircled and weakened by the Kingdom's forces. "I'm going to make sure we get repayment for what you've caused long ago! Everything you own, every last bit of flesh and bone on your body, every last bit of strength that you have stored, is crushed under my foot."
Just as soon as the Marauder opened up a new portal with a demonic corruption inside, he summoned a couple of Hellhounds to tackle the Slayer as a diversion for his immediate escape. Seeing the orange spectral wolves pouncing onto the Slayer, Carol's rifle shot down one of the Hellhounds for the Slayer to slam the other Hellhound into the ground and then lifted it to toss its vanishing corpse aside.
VEGA: {That portal must be your only advance towards Exultia, Slayer. You will have to hurry before the portal gets closed off.}
Acknowledging VEGA's statement, the Slayer then saw Morgan run after to stop the injured Marauder from stepping into the crimson portal. The Marauder tries to push him, but Morgan doesn't relent. The Slayer mentally groaned once again at the fact that he usually works alone without anyone's help before rushing himself to tackle the Marauder, with Carol following in pursuit of killing the demonic knight.
Ezekiel glanced around to check if Henry was okay, only for him to notice that the boy was not where he should be. All of this sounded like a threat as it became shown in such a grave way that Ezekiel felt the weight of fear when he saw Henry with his bo-staff and desire to help. Not to mention that he had gotten too close to where the crimson portal held open.
Ezekiel ran more than his legs allowed him, one hand reaching to the boy. "Henry, wait-!"
However, all it secretly took was that one child to end up shifting each person inside the portal until it finally disappears from everyone's sight. They were now gone as Ezekiel tripped and fell where they were a second ago. The monarch slowly got on his knees and elbow, hitting the ground with a shaky fist.
"No...!"
Sunset was still a couple of hours away. The drive back to Hilltop was relatively rushing and somewhat near as tense as the demons had been back in Oceanside. Because right now, this visit was one of reassuring hope and to make sure everyone there is still alive, which they all so very much needed at this point. A bloodsoaked, messy-haired Rick sat at the driver's seat of the RV, occasionally glancing at Michonne's concerned look. His face was still blank from the demonic horrors that had transpired.
Behind them sat Tara, Tobin, Scott, and Francine, all staring out their respective windows at the scenery flying by. Enid was on the other side, tending to Carl's injuries while he laid his head on her lap. Riding on his motorcycle down the dirt road, Daryl scowled at the sight of bizarre-looking smoke coming from the distance. And it was headed towards where Hilltop was in the Virginia territory.
Worried about Maggie's safety, Daryl rode ahead of the group to check if nothing worse was happening there. Back in Oceanside, right after the Slayer had suddenly vanished from the group's eyes, a total of fifty-three women volunteered to fight the Saviors, as well as those legions of Hell itself. They were much more than Tara or Rick could have hoped for, and they brought most of their guns, only leaving enough behind for those who stayed to protect the children and older people.
Cyndie was welcome enough to come along on this trip to see both Hilltop and Alexandria, followed by Beatrice and Kathy, who were interested yet cynical about all this. The group was able to find and hotwire a couple of cars. Even an abandoned moving truck to travel in such an aligned group of people.
By the time they arrived just outside of Hilltop, the whole group was shocked to see what appeared to be an aftermath of a massive warzone. Daryl's fear spread down to his toes, and he stopped on a dime, glancing around rapidly to witness the demonic corpses that have soon evaporated to skeletal remains. He ensured some of his friends had already caught up to where he was until they saw everything firsthand.
Rick parked where they had the first time they'd ever come to Hilltop with all respectable vehicles. Daryl walked over on the dry, burnt grass and half-destroyed trees at what seemed throughout him was a large crater. All around Daryl, the outside danced in ash, green fires flickering here, smoldering there. A haze hung over him like an early morning mist by the time he spotted the vaporized corpse of the Tyrant nearby.
"The fuck...?" Daryl hissed in a whispering tone.
A few residents, such as Tobin, Francine, Scott, Aaron, and Eric, decided to stay behind to help watch over the vehicles and the group of women who have accompanied them. Those who followed alongside Rick and Michonne were Daryl, Carl, Enid, Tara, Jesus, and Gabriel. Not to mention Cyndie with Beatrice and Kathy following behind her. Hastily, the group hopped out of their vehicles and made their trek up the winding pathway up the hill, spotting only Kal atop the wall and turning around towards the direction of Barrington House.
"Maggie! It's Jesus! He's come back here with Rick!" He called out.
As the group reached the gate, both Rick and Michonne helped Enid with carrying Carl's damaged self, and they all waited until the wooden doors opened up with a creaking noise where they got approached, face to face, by Maggie on the other side. Hurrying forward, Daryl was the first to greet Maggie with a hug while the others followed behind him. Maggie's eyes began to regard some new faces. Cyndie, who got followed by Beatrice and Kathy, were each standing close by with determined looks.
"They're with us, Maggie. They're going to help us, and many more to come too." Gabriel said to her, earning a nod from the Hilltop's leader.
"You're okay?" Daryl asked, his voice low.
"F-For now," Maggie nearly choked a whimper before pulling back and looking him in the eye, her eyes reddened and stung, unable to tear anymore from crying too much. "The baby's fine, but...some of us didn't make it. Sasha is dead."
And just like that, most of the group froze when Sasha's death became revealed, now losing one of their most trustworthy allies forever in oblivion. Some of the Oceanside group were a bit tense that somebody in Rick's family got killed by the demons. Daryl looked at Maggie for what felt like forever. His heart pounded in dread as what happened sank in: another one of their family members is now dead.
"What?" Rick questioned, hearing this for the first time.
The group always had mutual respect and bond with Sasha, wishing they could have been here to save Sasha somehow before things were too late. Looking all around, Jesus couldn't help but wince as he observes the aftermath of such a recent battle he had no awareness of knowing.
"What happened...? D-Did those things come here too?" Enid asked, looking exhausted, and shaken, but she was also tearful.
"They did, Enid," Maggie began, nodding. "Something came out of the trees and started attacking us all. Oscar's group got back from a supply run, but Oscar was still alive when these monsters tore our friends to shreds and killed them. Many others have died too. Alexander, Justine, Cole, Wesley, Freddie, and Andy. Everything that had happened here was so horrible."
Some awful sounds drew their attention to the residents nearby, and all eyes were suddenly taking in the sight of victims here and there getting treated and checked on by each other around wooden stalls of sorts. Many female occupants, who covered themselves with blankets or towels, had torn or ripped clothes replaced with new garments. The group could see so much pain in each woman's eyes. Their faces only showed trauma and quivering mood swings, where all of the emotions that built up inside themselves flowed out of their terrified sobs. The other women stared down blankly, and their eyes shifted to anyone that approached them like they were wounded animals.
"Oh, my god. I should've been here for you and Sasha, Maggie. I-I thought she had already left and we had to...! I'm so sorry, Maggie. Sasha didn't want to put you in her conflict alongside Rosita." Jesus lowered his head in shame, clearing his throat to ease the lump in it.
"I know, Paul," Maggie sighed, eyes bright and shiny with unleashed tears. "Enid already told me what was going on, and I wouldn't be able to stop her either if it weren't for the Saviors taking Dr. Carson with them."
"But Sasha felt like she did not become needed. She helped protect Hilltop from the walkers, supported you when we lost Glenn and Abraham, trained everyone to start fighting back, and ensured everyone else's survival along the way. I wish she could've listened to me...!" Jesus spitted, clearly angry at himself for not trying hard enough.
"Paul, listen to me," Maggie looked up at Jesus, holding both his hands in reassurance. "You did your very best to try talking things out with Sasha, but she wasn't going to change her mind. Negan had already killed too many good people in our group for her to do nothing at all. A man brought her back, and she had fought till the very end of her life for this place to keep standing. That man, the Slayer, got rid of all those monsters that tried to attack and destroy our home here. Somehow or someway, he did everything that I couldn't to avenge Sasha and kill the demon responsible for this nightmare."
"Doomguy?" Tara stopped and looked at Maggie, her eyes a bit teary.
"The Slayer was here? Where did he go?" Jesus said, staring in shock and becoming ecstatic.
Maggie tried to say further until she had noticed Carl's worst condition, "He was...oh, my god! Carl, what happened to you?"
"We need to get him inside somewhere, Maggie," Michonne said, begging for a place to help tend her lover's son.
Without a word, Maggie motions the group to follow her immediately. Rick and Michonne wasted no time carrying the injured Carl forward to Jesus' trailer while everyone else followed them. They walked up the front steps and through the front door, gently placing the teenager on the couch across the room. Enid was sitting on one side for Carl's head to rest on her lap tenderly.
Enid began rubbing her hand in his lengthy hair, and Carl soon sees Maggie coming over with a first aid kit that Dr. Carson left for Hilltop to help check and clean Carl's injuries. As for Rick, he was indeed getting cleaned up after being drenched in sweat, demon blood, and covered in dirt back in Oceanside's invasion. He sat there by the sink, a dry towel in his hand as Michonne was lathering up a wet washcloth with a bar of soap.
"Turn," Michonne muttered, and Rick turned to face her.
Rick's eyes settled on a currently expressionless face as Michonne brought the washcloth up to his own and began wiping the blood from around his mouth and chin. She wiped all around and down to his neck, rinsing the rag occasionally and then repeating the process a few more times until Michonne had gotten most of the blood off his skin. And Rick just let her do it. He had two hands. He did become prepared to do it himself.
Michonne, however, seemed to feel the need to do it for him. It wasn't the first time she'd cleaned the blood off his face, and it likely wouldn't be the last time either. When she was content that Rick's face was clean enough, she rinsed the washcloth out once more and brought it down upon the front of his shirt where the blood had seeped into the light gray material and was staining. Rick studied the way Michonne pursed her lips and clenched her jaw. He had known her long enough by now to know she was upset about something other than what happened to Sasha.
"Are you mad at me about what happened?" He asked. "About what I did when I saw what those demons did to Carl?"
Michonne had gotten as much of the blood off his shirt as she could, so she rinsed the washcloth out once more before draping it over the edge of the sink and turning the faucet off. Gripping the sink's edge, Michonne shifted her weight from one foot to the other and then placed her free hand upon her hip.
Lifting her eyes to his own, Michonne shook her head and sighed. "I'm not mad at you or what you did, but I was scared. We nearly lost some of our people back in Oceanside. Even though I'm not angry at you, it doesn't mean I wasn't scared about it all."
"You didn't seem too scared back there. You, alongside everyone else, were prepared to fight and take names the same as I was doing too. The same goes for the rest of us." Rick shrugged.
"Fear's a great motivator, Rick," Michonne sighed. "I almost thought I wasn't going to make it when those monsters popped out of nowhere and attacked our friends. And before I realized you and Tara were in trouble, and when I saw that look you gave me after seeing Carl hurt, I was scared you'd get yourself killed after we saw what the demons could do to us, that you were going to die right there in front of everyone. How would I have gone home and told Judith? Or how would Carl have felt?"
Rick cast his tired eyes downward and conceded. "I'm sorry, Michonne. It's my fault. I didn't intend for things to escalate like that."
"I know you didn't. It doesn't change the fact that it still scared me, though." Michonne said with a tone that spoke as if he must be crazy to say that.
"Well, I didn't die. Not today anyway." Rick shrugged again. "Then again, the day has been long for us."
"Don't even joke," Michonne warned. "You know I can't lose you, too, so soon after…!"
Rick leaned his forehead down against her and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I know. I should've seen it. The secret Doomguy kept from us when he should've told us sooner. We didn't trust him, but he saved everyone else just as he promised. Carl would've gotten hurt worse than I could have imagined it."
"Yes, but none of this was your fault," Michonne said, unsure and afraid for Carl, but she made an effort to be optimistic so that Rick won't lose hope. "We're all sorry enough that we gave Doomguy some shit back there, but we've just been a little on edge with wanting to fight the Saviors. I still didn't like what he did, running out on us and scaring me after he nearly choked you. But I know everyone else was in a tough spot, and I'm trying to cut him some slack. I'm just as thankful for Doomguy saving Carl's life just as much as you are too. Carl is a strong and determined young man. He will get better, and we will get past this. No matter what, there will be an after. That's what Deanna said. We have to continue our struggle and make the world safe for everyone. For Judith. For Carl."
"I have no plans on leaving you alone with the kids anytime soon. I mean, I know everything that we think about and what happens always seem to be two different things, but I know we will see through no matter what. Because not dying on you is one of them." Rick said honestly.
"You promise?" Michonne asked as Rick pulled his face back, a ghost of a smile toying at the corners of her lips.
"Promise."
"So, what happens now?" Tara asked.
"I'm guessing as of now, things are starting to change, but we're still not sure what's going on with how these monsters are here. Maggie, you told us that the Slayer was here to help fight off the demons, right? Did you know where he was trying to go next? And where do you think Gregory went?" Jesus was leaning against a wall in his trailer, wondering about the Slayer's whereabouts, as well as if Gregory was still alive.
"Gregory was just gone, disappeared without a trace. I don't think he's dead since we didn't find his body anywhere else in the house." Maggie replied, turning her attention onto Cyndie, who was alongside Beatrice and Kathy. "And I'm guessing you're another one of the communities that want to help us fight the Saviors, right?"
"Yes, we are," Cyndie responded, arms folded and determined.
"We got back from Oceanside, and we've brought along a bunch of their people with us to come and live in Alexandria," Rick spoke up, pushing off from the chair he had been sitting. "A while back, Michonne and I first had a run-in with the Slayer on the road while we scavenged for guns. We brought him back to Alexandria to help us fight the Saviors, but now things are starting to get different right now. The Slayer somehow disappeared in front of us after we saved Oceanside from a demon invasion there. Do you know where he went, Maggie?"
"As soon as those monsters came to attack us, that man showed up and had a strange sword with him. He had plenty of weapons to kill every one of those things after what happened to our friends. When their leader killed Sasha, that man pulled out a bigger gun, and it killed the rest of the demons outside the walls." Maggie explained. "After he helped save us by killing the leader of those monsters, the man had some voice transmitter in his suit to help speak for him. He told me that he was going to head east from here towards where the Kingdom stays located."
"He made sure you guys were okay?" Jesus deduced.
Maggie nodded. "The man was frightening but a hero nevertheless. More of our people would've been dead or worse if he and Sasha hadn't shown up. Right now, something could be happening in the Kingdom with Ezekiel or maybe Alexandria too...!"
"Carol's still living outside of the Kingdom," Daryl piped in, handling his crossbow before making his move to the door. "I'm going out to find her."
But Rick frowned as he steps over to grasp Daryl's arm, looking aghast at his brother's idea, and leaned forward slightly. "Hold on, Daryl! We can't separate ourselves until we try and come up with a plan for all this. Yes, I get it. We all care about Carol's well-being, and we've been surviving with each other for years now, but that doesn't mean I don't care. I'm trying to keep track of a lot of things ever since Doomguy came with us."
Daryl jerked his head in Rick's direction and spoke up. "He's too unpredictable, Rick. I don't know if that's good or bad, but he couldn't save Sasha from getting herself killed by the demons. It might happen the same way again with Carol. If she's still around, I need to see her."
"But we BOTH know how capable Carol is too, right? Morgan's there too, and he's as applied as she is to the group. Doomguy may have walked off, but he's helping what we're trying to build here, something real. A real future. I believe in them that they can survive this just like we need to, Daryl."
"Rick, I..." Daryl stared at him, feeling his heart twist inside his chest.
"My son can barely walk. And my daughter is back home with only fewer of our people who don't know that those monsters are out there coming to get them." Rick stared at Daryl, mixed with emotions between desperation and determination. "How are we going make it out of things if we get overrun by those demons again, and Negan catches up to find out what we're doing? I need you."
"Rick is right, Daryl. We stand a better chance if we stay together," Michonne added in.
Daryl and Carol knew each other better than anyone else in the group. She was a smart woman, and Daryl respected her. And while Daryl may not be the most intelligent person in the group, he's one of the most adaptable and resourceful. Aside from his practical abilities, Daryl also boasts a loyal nature that made him one of the group's core survivors and someone people can lean on anytime. Whatever resolve Daryl had left crumbled as he nodded at Rick to show his understanding. Daryl was not happy about it, though he understood what the group needed to do now.
Daryl muttered. "Yeah, okay."
"I believe in Doomguy that he'll come back to us, Daryl," Tara said with a confident smile on her face, looking towards her friends all around. "We all should. If he could protect Oceanside and Hilltop, then I know for sure that he'd saved the Kingdom next right about now. You've got to admit he had one hell of a way to explain himself about who he is."
"I've seen everything the man does to protect others, despite that he's unhinged and has kept his distance. He's done so much for all of us during Oceanside's invasion, and he saved us from anything worse. It doesn't matter what he is or has done beforehand. Doomguy is still a part of our group." Gabriel nodded in agreement.
"T-Though, he's a lot more awesome now," Carl added with a weak grin that had a few of the others chuckling.
Rick rubbed his eyes, still very much trying to get a handle on this new development. "We'll find Doomguy as soon as we get back to Alexandria and make sure everyone's all right-!"
But Rick became cut off by the sound of somebody crying out in a mix of pain and pleasure outside. The group instantly jerked upwards with a start from the screaming volume reaching its peak for a moment.
"Um, what the hell was that?" Tara asked concernedly.
"I have no idea...!" Gabriel started but got cut off as the screaming continued again.
"Oh no, what now...?!" Maggie whispered as she turned to reach for the door and headed outside of Jesus' trailer.
With only fewer of everyone else following after Maggie, Rick and Michonne looked at each other in confusion about what was going on. Rick was able to raise a hand for Enid and Carl to stay put inside the trailer so that the couple stayed safe and sound. Rick and Michonne raced outside of Jesus' trailer to inspect where that noise was coming from within a dozen of mobile homes. The group had their weapons in each hand as Maggie arrived to see one of the residents, Arnold, exiting a trailer while his hand covers his mouth in a terrified and disgusted fashion. Arnold runs to the back of the trailer, miraculously making it to somewhere private before he vomited.
"Arnold, what happened?!" Maggie exclaimed, confused by the resident's sickening demeanor.
"D-Don't go in there, Maggie! Please, for your sakes, you do not want to go in there! Something's happened to Irene earlier today, and she was...! Oh, god...!" Arnold glanced back at the group with a look of subtle fear and waited to recover himself after hurling.
After a moment of silence, Daryl then asked, "What's in there?"
Arnold quickly said, "Don't open it, please!"
Rick and Michonne finally arrived and turned their heads to see Daryl cautiously opening the trailer door with his crossbow aimed forward. Behind Daryl, everybody else had their respectable weapons gripped in their hands as he soon enters the dim interior of the mobile home. Both Jesus and Maggie were already busy consoling and patting Arnold's back gently to get him to calm down.
In a matter of seconds, it was at this moment when Daryl recognized the true evil he was facing, the endless pit of hate and rage that overflowed for those demonic creatures, much like what Negan did to him. Placed in a blood-soaked bed full of gore, Daryl's widened eyes saw a dead woman, but her belly was massive, for it had a litter of unhatched demonic infants clawing their way out of the womb and eating the host parent's flesh. Dark blood and entrails splattered from the distended and exploded stomach.
Daryl even saw more eggs on the ground, slightly larger than a watermelon, after forcefully ejecting themselves from the dead woman's sex previously. Daryl stared in sheer bafflement and terror at the display, peripherally noticing several eggs strewn about the floor, hatching and sprouting out demon newborns until one began to let out a blood-curdling, bone-chilling screech.
Each demon child became born as nothing but monstrously baby-sized organisms, causing Daryl's chest to burn, his stomach to ache, and his head to feel like it was about to collapse. As Daryl began to regain control of his body, he vaguely made out the sound of someone calling his name. He glanced over just enough to see Rick and Michonne stepping in at a brisk pace towards him as though he were in danger.
Maybe he was, but there wasn't anything they could do to help him forget this petrifying sample of what the legions of Hell could do to their world. Rick and Michonne were at his side now, both of them looking rather disgusted yet horrified. Rick looked like he was waiting on a response out of Daryl as Michonne was glancing back and forth between the two.
"W-What is this?" Michonne asked, obviously showing mixed emotions in her petrified eyes.
"Jesus Christ...!" Rick's eyes widened in sheer shock, nearly covering his mouth to prevent himself from vomiting.
Silent within his thoughts, Daryl could now understand the actual lengths the Slayer had gone through in such acts of savagery previously. The devastation that became emitted around everyone over the demons destroyed everything that showed virtue and the deep hate the Slayer quickly turned to, one that matched and perhaps even surpassed Daryl's hatred for the Saviors.
Never in Daryl's life had he met someone like the Slayer who held such rage and dedication to kill like himself. It shook him to his core to feel the same fury and dread he had imposed from when Glenn and Abraham were killed and became imprisoned by the Saviors. Such overwhelming hatred within Daryl became able to stun him as he saw one of the baby Imps wobbling towards him, craving flesh and blood.
At an instant, Daryl was able to unfreeze first, using the moment to shoot an arrow through the demon infant's face.
With some demon infants turning their hungry attention to Daryl, Rick, and Michonne, they furrowed their brows intensely with weapons still in their hands. Recognizing that most of the women here had gotten tortured or violated by the demons, the trio became enraged by what they might have to face for the time being. All of this left an unnervingly deep cut within each person's psyche. They have learned of the mass murder and destruction that these demonic brutes were willing to do to their world.
And they needed to be stopped.
Later, it was dark by the time Rick and the others arrived back in Alexandria. Luckily enough, there were no demons nor monsters afar from them at sight. Jesus took up the offer of staying the night and also accepted, during the trip, to depart tomorrow morning and take Judith along with him to Hilltop. Much to Carl's displeased mood for remaining at Hilltop to stay with Judith and sit out the upcoming fight. But Rick told him he needed total bed rest for sustained injuries during Oceanside's invasion.
Enid offered to go instead, stating she had been staying at Hilltop with Maggie and would be happy to look after Judith and Carl if that's what became needed of her. Things were a lot quieter for the group after the whole ordeal with Arnold back in Hilltop, where Rick, Michonne, and Daryl had to finish off each one of those demonic infants that had killed Irene during hyper pregnancy. It was revolting enough for the rest of the others to know about it once they've figured it out from the torture Hilltop's female victims had to endure.
The RV approached the gates first, which became promptly rolled back by an awaiting Rosita, which got those present inside the RV muttering amongst themselves because they had all been made aware by Jesus and Enid that Rosita had gone off to the Hilltop previously. Everyone was also concerned for Rosita's well-being, but seeing that it was her greeting them, their hopes seemed considerably up. Once the vehicles drew themselves inside Alexandria's walls and finally parked, Aaron took the women of Oceanside to get settled in a few of the vacant houses. Meanwhile, everyone else clambered out of their respective cars and made a beeline for Rosita.
Enid was the first to approach and speak up. "Hey! Hey, are you okay?"
"Did anything bad happen here?" Jesus asked.
Rosita frowned, unlike her standard facial expression for some time now, and paused before answering. "No, but there's someone here to meet Rick. He wants to show us something."
With a nod of her head, Rosita directed those who decided to follow after her, and they did. The group made their way around to the townhouses, where Rosita led them towards the particular one that Morgan had built the cinderblock jailhouse inside.
It had previously been the empty, undeveloped sublevel floor where Morgan crafted it with bars complete with a lock, a key, and even a crappy little mattress to sleep on at night. When Rosita brought them to the jail cell, she unlocked the barred door and pushed it open. The clanging and creaking of the metal echoed off the walls.
As Rosita stepped and aside, Rick, Jesus and Tara managed the first glimpses within the room first before the others present could. As Michonne strode forward a little, Daryl came up from behind them with a clear line of sight inside of the cell, where he now sees the one person that made his breath catch.
Dwight.
The one who was responsible for Denise's death stared back at everyone and stood up. After a short moment, Daryl suddenly lunged forward, practically knocking the others out of his way to charge after Dwight. However, a force field was prompt enough to block Daryl's face, and he gets blown back, taking a few people down with him. Everybody else's eyes became wild and bewildered, staring unsurely at whatever just happened right now. Even Dwight's eyes widened but not in a panic, but with hesitation that things were going to get more unearthly after regarding that manipulated force field.
"What the hell...?" Rick muttered as he began to struggle, even with Michonne's help, to rein Daryl back with them. "Slow down, Daryl. What's going on-?"
Rick's words were interrupted when the group heard a metallic sound echo from the left side of the room. The noise gave way to a calm, mechanical voice that could only belong to the former Chairman of the UAC himself, Dr. Samuel Hayden, hooded with his singular eye glowing in the dark as he spoke, "Ah, so you must be Rick Grimes. The current leader of Alexandria Safe-Zone, correct? I apologize for projecting a force field upon one of your affiliates. I did not want Dwight to get hurt so readily during this first confrontation together."
Everyone else individually gawked at Hayden, who only had his singular eye on Rick as the man placed a hand upon Daryl's chest to keep him focused and bound. Hayden stood tall and stiff within his abnormal makeshift cloak so no one would recognize his automated features, causing the group to step back a bit.
"They're saying they want to help us," Rosita announced.
With a nod at Daryl to make sure he was relaxed and going to stay put, Rick slowly turned around and eyed both Dwight and Hayden with justified skepticism. "Is that true? Do you want to help us?"
Glancing back and forth between Hayden and Rick, Dwight nodded with a sense of conviction about him. "We do."
Rick nodded in response and began to step forward a bit. Both men tried to determine what the other was thinking or possibly just sizing each other up.
"Okay," Rick replied, removing his Colt Python revolver from its holster with his gaze deadly going towards the cloaked cyborg. "Who are you?"
Doing as he had gotten told, Hayden then held both his lanky hands up to where he pulled his hood back and revealed his singular-eyed appearance. Dwight let his gaze wander from the floor to the group whose eyes grew wider and then back to the floor.
"My name is Dr. Samuel Hayden, and I request that you, Rick Grimes, hear my proposal in helping us succeed in this struggle against the legions of Hell."
A/N: [It took me a few weeks to figure how to play out the fight scene between the Slayer and the Marauder. Especially with the Kingdom reacting to the Marauder's presence when invading the community. I've still got some harsh comments about the chapter before when the demons invaded the Hilltop Colony. But just because I'm writing things that might involve sexual violence or torture doesn't mean that I'm doing every chapter just about that. It's only there when the situations arise to hook the reader's cathartic emotions, and I try to make it as brief as I can. I will not create chapters solely for any purpose that is overall offensive and violating. To anybody reading this, don't read my story if you have no stomach for it. As for the Marauder, in this story, I'm trying to make him into a reoccurring rival character to Doomguy rather than just some regular enemy that's easy to kill. Now that Hayden has met Rick and the others back in Alexandria, we'll dive right in about what he plans to discuss with him about the demons. I'll see you all in the next chapter.]