"No," Daryl snapped. "Hell no. Not happenin'."
"Daryl, please," Rick sighed. "I need someone I can trust."
"Ask someone else," Daryl shot back. "I ain't goin' back there."
Anna watched as Daryl paced in front of Rick. She understood his refusal. She wouldn't go back to a place like that after what he'd been through. But Rick was right. They needed someone they could trust back at the Sanctuary, keeping an eye on the Saviors and helping them get on their feet.
"We are trying for a better future here. All of us. I need you to show them the way," Rick implored.
"I'll go," Anna offered, shaking her head. "But Daryl—"
"No," Daryl said firmly. "You ain't goin' either."
Anna cocked a brow at him.
"It's not up to you," Anna said simply. "Rick is right. We need someone there. I'm going, with or without you."
Daryl glared at her.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" He growled, stepping away from the others.
Anna took a breath and followed after him until they were out of earshot.
"What the hell are you thinkin'? We can't go there," Daryl said, gesturing in the general direction of Sanctuary.
"Everyone wants a better future. This is how we get it," Anna insisted.
"What about what we want? Huh?" Daryl asked. "What about our better future?"
"Daryl—"
"You said it," Daryl interrupted. "We could go back to that house in the woods. Just you and me, huntin' and livin'. Where we could just be. That's what you said."
"And we will," Anna nodded, taking his hand. "But we can't right now. There's still so much to be done before we can say this is over."
Anna could see his jaw working as he stared down at her, his blue eyes dark and unreadable. He shook his head, pulling his hand from hers, and walked back to the others as she followed.
"All right, fine. We'll go," he finally relented.
"Thank you," Rick said, relaxing. "We'll swing by Hilltop, pick up Judith and the others and head back to Alexandria with Negan. Put him in the cell you and Morgan built," he said, gesturing to Anna.
Daryl scoffed.
"That's where he'll stay. Alive," Rick emphasized.
The group dispersed; some headed back to the rally point where they'd left the cars, and the rest remained spread out over the field. Anna watched as the people around her slowly loaded into vehicles that had been left behind by the Saviors. She saw her brother climbing into a deep red car.
"Let's catch a ride with Jessie," Anna said, gesturing for Daryl to follow her.
Emma caught up with them.
"We're all headed to the same place, right?"
The three joined Jessie in the car, and they started toward Hilltop. Daryl sat in the back with Emma, silently fuming, while Anna sat in the front with her brother. It was quiet until they hit the road and Jessie finally spoke.
"Isaac?" He asked.
The atmosphere in the car tensed.
"He's dead," Anna said, staring out her window, watching the trees speed past.
"Are you all right?" Emma asked.
"I gave him a chance," Anna said after a few seconds. "A chance to be better. Instead, he tried to kill me."
"He's lucky he's already dead," Daryl growled.
"I had hoped it wouldn't come to that," Anna said quietly.
"He was a sack of shit and he deserved to die," he grumbled.
"We don't get to decide that," she said.
Daryl made no reply.
"I wonder why he tried to kill you," Jessie mused. "I mean, he had to have known he wouldn't survive that, right?"
"Maybe he did know," Anna shrugged. "Maybe he didn't care. Maybe he just acted on instinct."
No one said anything, and Anna glanced down at her left wrist, the silver bracelet catching the light of the sun. May you live all the days of your life. She smiled.
At Hilltop, Anna and Daryl gathered what few belongings they'd accumulated during their stay. As she packed her book and journal into her satchel, Daryl let out a long sigh. She looked to him and waited for him to speak.
"Why'd you give Isaac a chance?" He asked. "After everything?"
"Everyone has to have a chance," Anna said, setting her satchel down on the desk chair.
"Everyone? Isaac didn't even take it," he said.
"That was his choice. Not mine. Not anyone else's," she said, turning to face him fully. "I gave him a chance because I needed to let him go. I was holding onto it—what he did. It was like an anchor, pulling me down. I was letting it—him—control me. I just didn't want that anymore."
"Killin' him would stop it," Daryl said. "You didn't have to give him a chance."
"I don't like killing people. I'm capable of it, but I can't be at peace with it," she explained, frowning at the floor. "Just killing him? He would have taken a part of me with him. He'd have won, and I'd never be free of him."
She looked up at him, hoping he'd understand. She could see he was thinking, his brows knitted together, and she realized why he'd asked in the first place.
"This is about Dwight, isn't it?"
Daryl looked to her as he slung his crossbow over his shoulder, but said nothing.
"I can't tell you what to do, Daryl," she said, stepping toward him. "But we know Dwight didn't betray us to Negan. That has to count for something."
Daryl seemed to ponder on that for a moment before he finally nodded and headed out of the door. Anna brushed her hair from her face and grabbed her satchel and spear. She took one last look around the room to make sure they had everything and then followed after him.
She said her goodbyes to Emma with promises of visits, and to Daryl with assurances that they would meet at Sanctuary. As they prepared to head out, Anna watched Daryl and Dwight load up in a truck and disappear through the gates. He had choices in front of him. She just hoped he could live with the one he chose.
The ride into the woods was silent. Dwight didn't resist, and he didn't bother begging for his life. Daryl parked the truck and cut the engine.
"Get out," he said before they opened their doors and stepped out of the truck.
They stood across from each other, Daryl holding his loaded crossbow and Dwight looking around at the trees.
"I know why I'm here," Dwight said, nodding. "I know what I did to Denise. To you. To other people. And it doesn't matter why," he said, holding back tears. "I knew I'd have to face it… to pay, and I should. I'm ready. I got to see Negan taken down, and that's enough."
Dwight took a deep breath, a tear rolling down his cheek.
"Me? I'm a piece of shit. There's no going back to how things were." He got to his knees, and looked up at Daryl. "I'm sorry. Look, I'm so sorry. Please, please," he cried.
"Shut up," Daryl snapped.
He knew the man was begging for forgiveness. Nothing more. Nothing less. He didn't want his life. Just redemption.
Daryl tossed the truck keys at Dwight.
"You go, and you keep going," he said. "Don't you ever come back here again. If I ever see your face around here again, I'll kill you. You go out there, and you make it right," he said, walking off. "Find Sherry," he threw over his shoulder.
They returned to Alexandria mid-evening, Anna and Jessie heading straight for home. They passed destroyed houses, still smoldering from the bombing. But not everything was gone. The siblings considered themselves lucky to have taken up residence in a house so far within the walls, as they found it undisturbed.
Anna immediately set to work on packing some clothes for her and Daryl. She stacked books into a box with her journals and, with Jessie's help, loaded everything into the back of a dirty white van.
"You don't have to go," Jessie said as they loaded the last of her and Daryl's stuff.
"I do," Anna huffed, stretching her back. "But not right now. Right now, I need a shower and a decent meal."
Jessie chuckled, shaking his head as they walked back into the house. Anna took herself a long, hot shower and changed into some comfortable clothes before she joined her brother over hot bowls of chili. As the sun began to set, Jessie turned in.
Anna took a moment to breathe as she sat at the kitchen table, knowing she wasn't ready to sleep just yet. There was still something she needed to do.
She pushed herself from the table and grabbed a light jacket, heading out the door. Walking through the streets of Alexandria, she wondered how long they'd have to stay at Sanctuary.
After a while, Anna found herself in a little alcove of burnt bushes, standing in front of a disturbed patch of Earth, a cross made of sticks marking the grave.
"I was wondering when you'd come by here."
Anna glanced over her shoulder to see Rick approaching.
"I miss him," she said as he came to stand beside her.
"Me, too."
Anna nodded, sucking in a breath to try and calm the pain in her chest. They were quiet for a long moment before Anna finally spoke again.
"How's Negan?" She asked, shoving her hands in her pockets.
"Alive. Siddiq's gonna stay for a day or two," Rick assured. "You killed Isaac?"
Anna nodded.
"I don't envy you," she said after a moment. "It's hard, putting aside all the anger and hate. At least I don't have to face scrutiny for my choice."
Rick shook his head, wiping his hand down his face.
"Carl envisioned a future where we could all live together. In peace, in fairness," Rick said. "This is what he wanted."
"What about what everyone else wants?" She asked, thinking back to Daryl and the broken look on Maggie's face.
"Do you think I made a mistake?" He asked.
Anna pursed her lips, thinking for a moment until she finally spoke.
"No."
Maggie sat at the desk, Jesus in front of her. The room was dim. She leaned forward, her elbows on the desk and her hands clasped together.
"I just wanted to say you were right," she began. "About saving the Saviors from the satellite outpost. Having them here. I don't regret what I did. But you were right. And Rick was right about not killing all the Saviors. He was right."
"He was," Jesus agreed.
"Not about Negan," Maggie went on.
"So, what does that mean, Maggie?" Jesus asked.
"We have a lot to do," she started. "We have to build this place up, make it work better than before, make it thrive for the people who live here. We need our strength, the ability to defend ourselves better," she explained. "We have to have that."
"We will," Jesus assured.
"But Rick and Michonne… Rick was wrong to do what he did. Michonne, too. So, we're gonna bide our time, wait for our moment…," she said, leaning back in her chair. "And then we're gonna show 'em."
"Yeah," Daryl said, stepping out from the shadows. "We will."
The story continues in... Adrift