All Nightmare Long

Chapter 570

Author's Note: I'm just going to put this out here now, I hated the trash people and cheered when they met their demise. And Gabrielle, really didn't see a connection with Rick and Anne both being gone? I had a reader suggest that I switch Joey with Rick, and Summer with Michonne (well Jewel in our story) in season 9. I actually like that idea and giving it some hard thinking. Please review, it means a lot.

Alexandria:

Tobin approached the gate as the group came walking up. "Lose the car?" he asked.

"It's somewhere safe," Rick answered.

"We don't want Negan to be able to take the biggest vehicle we have," Jewel stated as they started walking.

"Did you find anything?" Tobin questioned.

"No. Listen, we have to get everyone ready," Rick said as him, Jewel and Tobin turned as they heard a motorcycle and a trucks approaching.

"Where are the girls?" Jewel asked Tobin.

"They're at our house," Gus said as he walked up with other members of the group. "Bri and Chloe wanted to help in some way."

"I'll go. I won't mention anything to Jenny about us seeing Morgan," Lexi said as she took off.

Jewel turned and looked as Simon got out of the trucks.

"Rick," Simon said as he extended his arms out. "Hello and hello again."

"We thought it would be longer," Rick said as he looked at Simon.

"Do you think we're here for a tribute?" Simon questioned.

"Why else would you be here?" Jewel questioned back.

"Jewel has a point, is there another reason that you'd be here?" Rick asked.

"There is," Simon stated. "We're here for Daryl."

"Negan took Daryl," Rick said.

Simon bent down at the knees and pointed at Carl. "Then your son showed up, Daryl went missing, might those two things be connected?"

Jewel looked at him. "Are you telling me that you misplaced my brother? And now you're trying to blame my son? From what I understand, Negan didn't let Carl out of his sight."

"They're not related," Rick assured him. "We didn't know he was gone until right now."

"Then this should be easy," Simon said. "Now everyone find a buddy, gonna have to follow us around. If he's here, we really need you all to see him die."

Jewel looked at him. "Do you really think my brother would be stupid to show up here? To endanger his family? Look around, but you aren't going to find him."

Simon glared at her then at Carl as they started to search Alexandria by destroying the infirmary and going through closets and cars. Simon marched with some of the group to the pantry, which had empty shelves. "Wow, these are some bare shelving units. Did you guys have a bbq or something and not invite us? Seriously, this is sad. Hopefully you aren't trying to hide stuff from us, that generally doesn't go over very well," he said with a laugh.

"We have a lot of people," Aaron said. "It's getting harder to find stuff and our focus lately has been finding things Negan may want. We're still adjusting to the new system."

"We also have babies and toddlers, growing kids. We've all been cutting back so they can have more to eat," Quinn said.

"We were going out to scavenge more today. If you'll just wait, we'll bring something back," Rick offered.

"We've got a few people out right now, but we aren't expecting them back anytime today," Jewel stated.

Simon made a face. "Relax, I'm not here for pick up. Good thing. But that day is coming, so, you best do whatever you need to. Dig deep, go the extra mile. Take some risks."

"We will," Michonne assured him.

"Well, we will appreciate that," Simon told her.

"Perhaps it would be better if we had some sort of set timeline. I mean this is your third visit in less than six days," Noel stated.

"Well two of these were unplanned, that's for sure," Simon said as he walked out. "Thank you for the corporation Rick. My apologizes for leaving the place a bit of a mess but we got a litany of other shit to attend too," he said. "So, do you, I guess. Tick Tock. Chop Chop. Wait, doesn't Daryl have a kid? Where is he? Maybe he knows where his old man is."

"He's out scavenging with a group," Jewel stated. "We thought it would be the best to distract him, I mean with the death of his friends and his father being a prisoner," she stated.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Simon said as he got in one of the vehicles. "Oh and Rick, if Daryl does show up here, two days from now, two months from now, hell two years from now, just know that there's no statue of limitations on this. Keep that hatchet handy, you're gonna need it if he turns up with you people. And it won't turn out like it did for your boy."

Jewel clinched her fist as he drove off. "That jerk is mine."

Rick and Jewel both turned after Tobin closed the gate. "What happened to the pantry?" Rick asked.

"We don't know, but we need to talk about Gabriele," Aaron said.

"Where is he?" Rick asked.

"He was supposed to be helping Mika with the girls," Jewel said.

"He was on watch, the night you all went to scavenge, I was supposed to take over for him in the morning. He wasn't at his post," Tobin said.

"The pantry was cleared out," Aaron said. "A car was gone."

"Noone's seen him since," Tobin added.

"We were going to send out some kind of search party, but without guns," Noel stated.

"That son of a bitch, he stole our shit and ran," Rosita said.

"That's what it looks like," Tobin said.

"He wouldn't do that, he wouldn't leave the girls like that," Jewel insisted.

"I don't want to believe it," Michonne said.

"I don't believe it," Rick said. "That's not Gabrielle, he wouldn't do that to us."

"I thought he changed too," Rosita told them. "But it can't be anything else."

"It can and it is," Jewel told them. "He isn't the same man he was in Atlanta."

"Yes it can be something else," Rick said agreeing with Jewel as he walked off, the group following him. Rick walked into the church seeing a bible on the ground.

"I can't believe he would take our stuff and go," Tara said. "That's not who he is."

"He saw Olivia and Spencer die, right in front of him," Michonne said.

"He knew we were planning to fight, after he saw that, and he was the one who suggested the empty grave be used to hide some of the guns," Jewel insisted.

"I know, he just found his courage you know?" Tara stated. "I want to believe he held onto it."

Rick stood up with the Bible. "Why wouldn't he have taken this with him? Why would he leave it on the floor?"

Aaron and Phoebe came around the corner with Rosita and Eric. "They're weren't tracks out there before," Aaron said. "We didn't find anything now. Maybe Daryl could have picked something up."

"You're forgetting, I was raised just like him, I can track," Jewel said.

"He left," Rosita stated. "He didn't leave a note, he obviously doesn't want to be found," she added.

"I've seen how protective he is of Judith, Hope, and Mika…I can't believe he would leave without a word to any of us about them being alone," Phoebe said.

Rick turned to the last page of the notebook with the word boat written on it. "Yes he does."

"How would he know we were out there?" Aaron questioned.

"I don't know," Rick said.