The Wolf You Feed

Chapter 80

Carl reached for Enid's hand. He moved slowly and touched her gently, being careful not to startle her. She intertwined her fingers with his and gave him half a smile. He could tell the smile was forced. But Carl remembered what Michonne told him. Going through the motions was better than not trying. Carl pulled a water bottle from his pack and offered it to her. She shook her head at first. But he persisted, pushing the bottle closer to her. Enid sighed and took the bottle, twisting the cap off with her free hand and sipping the liquid slowly as their car moved through the gates of Alexandria.

When Enid was carried out of Ron's basement, Carl had been sure that she was almost dead. But after a quick exam from Tara, it was determined that Enid was not as bad off as she looked when the Saviors found her. She had a few bad bruises, the worst of them on her hips and inner thighs. There were rope burns on her wrists that were probably going to leave a scar. But mostly she was just exhausted and dehydrated. After an extremely long shower, a large helping of leftover spaghetti courtesy of Negan, two full pots of tea, and a night of sleep, Enid was dressed and walking around the house like it was any other normal day. Carl was in awe of her. He always knew that Enid was what Daryl liked to call one tough sumbitch. But she was even stronger than he realized. Carl felt like even he would have needed longer to recover than she did if something similar happened to him.

"Who is that?," Deanna asked, pointing out the windshield of the car.

They had barely gotten past the gate. And already Rick had to stop and reach for his weapon. Two women were approaching on horses. They were dressed in padded sports gear, which Rick actually thought was smart. As they got closer, Rick realized the blonder of the two women looked vaguely familiar. One side of her face was badly scarred. Before he could figure out where he'd seen her, Carl and Enid were both leaping out of the backseat of the car to scream at the women.

"Get the hell out of here!," Enid hollered.

The woman on the horse started screaming back at Enid. And that's when Rick realized who the women were. He sighed and rolled his eyes. They were those crazy tiger women that kidnapped Daryl and Carl. His week was just getting better and better. The Saviors showed up and trashed the place looking for Rowan's dad. Who he honestly hadn't even seen. Carl beat Ron to death in the street with Negan's bat. The Saviors shot Jessie in the head. They took Eugene and Olivia. And Alexandria was running low on food. They had no guns. And almost no gas left. It must be Tuesday.

Enid advanced on the woman, yelling louder. Rick thought the girl's actions were ballsy and maybe just a little crazy. The woman on the horse was geared up for a fight. She had a rifle across her lap and a handgun on her hip. Enid was armed with only a knife. And had nothing to point at the woman except her finger, which she was using as she screamed every profane word Rick knew and a few he didn't.

When the woman swung down off her horse, Rick charged in. He pushed Enid and Carl back, grateful that Deanna was next to him. Enid would listen to her.

"What in the hell is going on?," Deanna cursed.

"That's the bitch that kidnapped Carl and Daryl," Enid shouted, reaching around Rick to point at the woman with the scarred face.

"Daryl's the one that sent me here you stupid little slut," Katie screamed back.

With that, Enid darted around Rick. She didn't get far before Michonne caught her by the arm and dragged her backwards. Michonne walked Enid back to the car and opened the door, shoving Enid forcefully back inside. Calm your fucking ass down! Michonne didn't shut the car door but she stayed where she was, using her body to block Enid from climbing back out. Tony placed his body next to Rick's and gave Carl a pointed stare. One that Carl knew meant if he made another move he was going to be dealing with Tony and not his dad.

"Daryl's alive? You've seen him?," Rick asked the woman. She nodded. "When?," he asked.

"About two days ago," she said.

Katie pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Rick. He unfolded it and smoothed it out. It was directions to Alexandria written in childish sloppy handwriting. A few of the words were spelled wrong. Rick smiled. The note was Daryl's. He had seen the man's limited writing skills a few times before.

"Your friend was with those fuckin' assholes," Katie added, "...the Saviors. He said they took his wife or some shit and he was trying to get her back. He told me to come here. He said those fuckers'd been here too and you were going to fight back."

"He give you any way for us to contact him?," Rick asked.

Katie shook her head. All Daryl told her was to come here. And she was already regretting that. These people clearly still had it out for her. Especially that little bitch in the car. And she was the one that should have it out for them. They killed her sister. Katie glanced up at her companion. Cassandra was still on her horse. And she didn't look impressed with the welcoming committee they received.

"Let's just go. This is a waste of time," Cassandra said, "...fight the Saviors my ass, they don't even have any guns."

Katie nodded at the other woman. Cassandra was right. This was a waste of time. She turned away and grabbed the reins of her horse.

"Wait," Rick urged.

He put his arm on Katie's shoulder. She smacked his hand away and reached for her gun. Rick backed off quickly and showed her his palms.

"We don't have guns but we have people that know how to fight," Rick told her, "...we can get more guns."

Rick could tell the woman was considering his words. He hadn't been at her camp very long. But from what he could remember there was a small group of women there that could kick some ass. And the rest of the place was full of Rowan's former community of pacifist hippie types. Not only did they not know how to fight, they probably didn't want to fight even if they could.

"We would need a LOT of guns," Katie said, "...where are we going to get that many?"

Katie knew the Saviors had outposts spread out over the entire area. Any place where there was a possibility of finding weapons, they had already found them. She knew because she and her girls already looked. And come up empty every time. They were short on weapons. And even shorter on bullets. She had been training people to fight. But they didn't have the manpower to take on a group the size of the saviors.

"Maybe I know a place."

Rick turned towards the sound of the familiar voice. When he saw her he was sure he had died and gone to heaven. In her usual style, Carol was just standing casually near the side of the road acting like she never left. Before Rick could even move, Tony had made a dash for her and swept Carol up into a giant bear hug. In his arms, her tiny feet were dangling at least a foot off the ground. Carol laughed and hugged him back.

Katie watched as the group crowded in around the woman with the short gray hair. She appeared to be nothing more than an average older woman. But the way the group was responding to her made Katie curious. They were looking at the woman like their personal savior had just arrived.

"Who the heck are you?," Katie asked, her eyes trained on the newcomer.

Rick turned, giving her a giant smile before he answered with a laugh.

"You're about to find out."