Author's Note: Happy (belated) Valentine's. There's some mushy bits at the end as a gift. Also, this chapter finally marks the end of season seven's timeline. The next chapter, when I manage to pump it out, will pick up at the beginning of season eight, and I am not emotionally ready for this seasons midseason premiere, by the way. I case the next chapter of this story doesn't arrive before Feb. 25th, REST IN PEACE CARL GRIMES! *eternal sad face*
Smoochies! Also, R&R!
xoxo —Holly
"Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean." — Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
The junkyard where Jadis and the rest of her band of trash hipsters dwelled was pretty impressive during the day, when you were standing atop one of those large heaps of garbage and other thrown away debris. The way it spread out, so far, in every direction was almost a little imposing, to be honest. Even from down below, on the ground surrounded by it all, was something to behold; the way these odd people and their odd manner of laconic speech had made a workable home and community out of a junkyard. One person's trash had literally become someone else's treasure. Shipping containers had become passageways and tunnels in and around the junkyard, scraps of metal had been twisted and conformed into works of art, and minor things that obviously served no purpose anymore in the old world were now somehow given new life and new purpose. A child could possibly look upon the junkyard as a massive playground with unlimited possibilities.
But at night, it was a much different beast.
There was no sun beating down. The air and the earth were cooler from the lack of an all-powerful heat source, and obviously it was overwhelmingly dark. Standing inside the junkyard, with no views of the outside world, with only torches lit for light while a good two dozen of Jadis' people stood around, just staring, while the garbage loomed, was a little unsettling. A child, in this situation, would likely cower behind its parent and ask him or her to look around each and every corner or pile for whatever monsters might be lying in wait, ready to pounce and devour.
"Lots of guns," Jadis muttered, staring down at the opened storage totes containing her people's share of the weaponry. "How many?"
"More than enough," Rick replied, squinting from the firelight shining in his eyes and the heat of the torch, held by Brion, that was getting a little too close to his face than he was comfortable with. "The fight is coming to our door tomorrow, perhaps as early as daybreak. You and I came to an agreement that you would fight with us, and we would get you more guns. We've upheld our end. It's your turn now."
Jadis shrugged. "Maybe."
"There is no maybe. If you won't fight with us, we're taking these guns back."
"You are two people. We are more."
Rick and Georgie shot each other a brief and frustrated look; ignoring the sight of the dozens of trash hipsters surrounding them. Yes, obviously they had numbers on them currently. They could very well turn on Rick and Georgie, perhaps even keep them there, and what could Rick and Georgie do about it then? Nothing, honestly. They just had to hope it didn't go that way.
"And together we are many," Georgie offered up. "We want a better world. It starts with fighting together now so we can have peace afterward."
Rick nodded at this; bringing his full focus back to Jadis. "We fight together now. We can win. We will win. And after that—" he trailed, giving an aloof flick of his hand. "After that we can go our separate ways. You go on doing whatever it is you do, and we'll do the same."
"We don't fight here," Jadis declared.
"No, the fight will happen in Alexandria. Like I said, it's coming to our doorstep."
Studying Rick's stalwart expression somewhat seriously, but also with an ounce of amusement, she nodded at him, just as abruptly as the way she talked. "We fight today," she confirmed. "Strangers tomorrow." Turning her head away, she beckoned Tamiel forward and whispered something in the other woman's ear. When Tamiel nodded back at her, Tamiel slipped away to parts unknown within the junkyard; which wasn't hard, considering how dark it was, despite the multiple torches. Turning back to Rick and Georgie, she looked upon them rather contentedly. "We follow you home."
Looking at each other, Rick and Georgie seemed to share the same feeling of a weight being lifted off their shoulders. Knowing the Jadis and her people were for sure coming back to fight with them solidified that this thing with the Saviors was happening and that winning was very likely. That breath of hope that began to surge through their veins was a great feeling to have after the losses they had suffered and the general sense of hopelessness that had come along with it.
"Gather your people, gather your guns," Rick announced. "We leave now."
Overhead, the dark sky was already starting to take on more of a dark purple hue to it. Soon, it would be getting lighter once the first rays from the sun spread upward from the horizon. Dark purple would be replaced by dark blue, and then fade into a lighter blue, and before they'd know it, morning will have broken. Time was of the essence. They couldn't waste it getting home because they didn't know how much of it they would have to get ready.
Guns were handed out to the Garbage Pail Kids and shortly thereafter they were all following Rick and Georgie out through their main shipping container where they led the pair back to the RV they had arrived in. The others had three garbage trucks and multiple bicycles at their disposal, outside their so-called walls, and began the process of loading up on whatever mode of transportation of their choice. Rick and Georgie held off on heading into the RV until they got the OK from Jadis that her people were ready to move out.
Watching the last of her people mount their bikes or piling up into the backs of the garbage trucks, Jadis looked to Rick and Georgie and gave them a nod of her head. "You lead. We follow."
"Alright," Rick nodded back.
Taking a step to the side, he opened up the RV door and let Georgie inside first. He hesitated in going in himself, waiting to see Jadis make the move to walk away from him first. When she finally did, after an awkward moment involving her staring him down like he was some new toy she wanted to play with, Rick practically flung himself up into the RV and shaking off the uncomfortable feeling she gave him with her roving eyes.
Georgie turned in passenger's seat and looked up at Rick as he moved passed her and settled into his own seat at behind the wheel. "We're doing this," she muttered with a small smirk. "If you would've told me, two years ago, this is where my life was gonna lead, I would've told you you're nuts."
"If I'd known you two years ago, I think getting to this point would've been a lot easier."
It took a second for what he said to sink in, and then Georgie smiled; touched by the sentiment behind his words. "Okay. Save the mushy stuff for later."
Turning the key in the ignition, Rick shook his head. "If ever there was a time and need for mushy stuff, it'd be now."
Looking at each other, they both fell into comfortable silence as Rick shifted the RV out of park and into drive. Shifting his right foot from the brake to the gas, they lurched forward and began to move.
The main gate to Alexandria rolled open about thirty seconds before the RV even turned onto the road leading up to the community. Georgie, on a walkie-talkie, had radioed that they were arriving momentarily and to get ready to open up. Day had officially broken by that point. The sun was out and shining and there was nary a cloud in the sky. The RV came coasting up to Alexandria with several Garbage Pail Kids trailing behind on their bikes, followed by all three garbage trucks, and then more on bikes. While the RV pulled forward up the main road and came to a stop, the garbage trucks and those on bikes turned off to the right and stopped there. As the gate was rolled shut and engines were turned off, the bicyclists dismounted and the rest piled out of the garbage trucks; all with their new guns in hand as they took in the sight of the community around them.
As they began to spread out a bit, Rick and Georgie exited the RV to join Jadis, Brion and Tamiel at the base of the two roads.
Jadis seemed rather impressed by what she saw. "What you fight for."
"Not the place," Rick clarified. "The people, each other. You're a part of that now."
"We take. We don't bother—our way." She nodded, quite thoughtfully, as she looked around again. "Maybe another way." With an impish grin and rise of her eyebrows at Rick, she turned her attention to Georgie but gestured to Rick with a tip of her head. "Yours?"
Understanding what Jadis meant, Georgie shrugged and nodded. "We're together, yeah."
"I lay with him after. You care?"
Georgie just stared back; trying to grasp at what she had just heard. Rick seemed even more confused and maybe even a bit more uncomfortable than he'd felt before they'd left the junkyard. He couldn't even find words to react to such a suggestion as he looked over at Georgie.
Not knowing if Jadis was joking or not, Georgie didn't care much either way as she let hardened her expression. "We should get to work."
Still a bit at a loss over what had just transpired between the three of them, Rick just nodded and backed away slowly. "Yeah," he added lamely; essentially ending that conversation, if you could even call it that.
Breaking away to join their own people, Rick and Georgie met up with Michonne who explained that plenty had gotten underway while the couple had been gone. Daryl, Rosita and Aaron were about to head outside to the cutaway van parked in front of the burned out houses, where they would be working on getting explosives ready for rigging up. The rest began to head to the different posts and positions they would be taking, either within the community or atop the watch post platforms. Cars outside the main gate were driven onto the road to create a blockage while a good number of the trash hipsters began to patrol the area or were possibly just familiarizing themselves with these new surroundings.
Plans were being finalized, down to every last detail.
There couldn't be any room for error.
Just inside the main gate, once everything was rigged outside and everyone else returned inside, Rick was approached by Carl, Georgie and Michonne. The former, armed with an automatic rifle, smiled encouragingly up at his father before going off to join Scott and a couple of trash hipsters on the platform nearest the main one that was just inside the gate. The main platform was where Rick was heading, along with Jadis; something of which he was somewhat okay with, despite their earlier interaction. Michonne and Georgie were heading to the townhouses, to act as snipers with their own rifles, along the rooftop balconies. Before going their separate ways, though, Rick and Georgie held hands for a brief moment. When they parted, they nodded silently, just as Carl had done.
As both women walked away, leaving Rick to ascend the main platform, but only after he let Jadis go first; no really wanting her to climb up behind him. Given her suggestion to Georgie, Rick didn't really want to give Jadis an opportunity to ogle him further, especially from behind. Georgie and Michonne were joined by a blonde Garbage Pail Kid that introduced herself as Farron. Georgie separated from them, taking to head to the rooftop balcony closest to the main gate. She knew Michonne was heading up to the Monroe's rooftop balcony with Farron and was supposed to then head down and over to one of the other three balconies in between. Unable to see any of that for sure, due to the walls separating each balcony, Georgie could only assume that's what was going on while she checked her rifle and turned both her rifle and her attention toward the main gate.
And then they all waited.
From just outside the walls, a turkey call was being made and from inside several more turkey calls responded; each from members of Jadis' crew. What followed was the unmistakable rumble of trucks in the distance. They could be heard, clear as day, but even from the height and position in which Georgie was standing, she couldn't see any of them yet. From the sound she could tell which direction they were coming from but the tree tops, homes and other buildings in the vicinity of Alexandria kept any sight of the trucks hidden until they began to travel down the road leading up to Alexandria's main gate. Georgie crouched down slightly and propped the rifle up atop the balcony's edge for better aim and support. Closing her left eye, she peered through the scope with her right; focusing on the area of the road outside the main gate that was clear of tree coverage. Occasionally, she switched her gaze upon Rick and then over to Carl to see how they were doing, but would return her focus on approaching threat.
"All points are covered. Every contingency is already met."
The voice that was heard, and loudly at that due to a megaphone, was just as unmistakable as the sound of the Saviors' vehicles.
It was Eugene.
"I come armed with two barrels of the truth and I'm giving out the cheat sheet."
Georgie wasn't exactly great with decipher between specific names of vehicles, but from what she could tell, Eugene looked to be standing behind the blue cab of some sort of flatbed semi-truck, which he was leaning upon with said megaphone. There was the whole being dressed in all black like he was some sort of Johnny Cash wannabe, but the mullet took away from any of the all-black factor. Actually, the fact that it was Eugene meant there was no cool factor to begin with.
The brakes began to squeak as all of the Saviors' vehicles slowed and came to complete stops. The truck Eugene was on turned and parked parallel with the wall and in doing so Georgie no longer had a decent line of sight. She could, however, still hear him talking.
"H-hello," Eugene greeted lamely, like a child given an important task. "I come salved with the hope that it is my dropped knowledge that you heed. Options are zero to none. Compliance and fealty are your only escape. Bottom-lining it—you may thrive or you may die. I sincerely wish for the former for everyone's sake. The jig is up and in full effect. Will you comply, Rick?"
There was silence that hung in the air as everyone waited on Rick's response. Georgie shifted her scope to better glimpse Rick's face, even if all she could make out was part of his profile. Fortunately she knew him well enough to know by his posture, the way his left fist was tightening into a fist and the way his back muscles began to flex that he was none too happy with Eugene going over to the Dark Side, as it were. After all, Eugene was supposed to be family. You weren't supposed to align against your family, especially after all they had been through together.
"Where's Negan?" Rick questioned.
Georgie moved her position on the rooftop balcony a little more to the left in an attempt to see Eugene and was successful in that task. Looking through her scope at him, she watched the way he lowered the megaphone and looked almost disheartened up at Rick. She couldn't hear what he said next, but she could read his lips clear enough.
"I'm Negan."
"Fucking turncoat," Georgie grumbled to herself.
As she turned her sights to Rick again, she could see he was looking down to his right where Rosita, Daryl and a few others stood around a car with sharpened spikes that was parked parallel with the main gate. Georgie knew the plan there was for Rosita to hit a button made out of a garage opener that would set off the explosives that had been rigged outside by Rosita, Daryl and Aaron.
Half a beat later, Rick dropped down and a few others atop the lookout platforms crouched down a bit further. Everyone prepared and waited for the explosions that would commence, but none happened. Georgie couldn't tell if Rosita was trying to press the button over and over, but the unrest among her people was obvious.
The moment Rick shifted and reached for the gun tucked into the back of his pants, Jadis stood up with a gun aimed at his head at the same time the rest of her people turned their guns on the rest of the Alexandrians. The creaking of the main gate echoed as someone from outside rolled it open as Negan and Dwight exited the military grade truck parked behind the flatbed.
"Fuck," Georgie muttered. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."
She could see Negan moving toward the flatbed and she knew that if she could get him in her sights she could get a shot out and kill him, but with the trasholes having their guns aimed on her people, the ones she loved, she couldn't risk taking that kind of shot, no matter how much she wanted to. She couldn't risk one of them killing any one of her people in retaliation.
Eugene climbed down from the flatbed and Negan joined him, placing his hand upon Eugene's shoulder like they were old friends, which angered Georgie even more; making her wish she had never gone back on that initial desire of hers to kick Eugene's front teeth in months ago when they'd first met on the road from Georgia. She lost sight of the pair as they walked closer to the main gate, but was able to see Rick finally standing up, although he was unable of withdrawing his own gun without getting a single gunshot to the back of his head.
"Fuck," Georgie growled in frustration.
Their plans should've worked, but they just didn't take into account that Jadis and her people could possibly be working along with the Saviors. Turning, Georgie wished she could see Michonne and gauge her response to any of this, but the walled dividers between each individual rooftop balcony prevented that.
Georgie lowered her rifle and sneered. "Fuck," she repeated. This was turning into the kind of day where she wouldn't be able to say that word enough.
"You ever hear the one about the stupid little prick named Rick who thought he knew shit but didn't know shit and got everyone that he gave a shit about killed?" Negan's voice was also unmistakable, and he didn't need the megaphone. His voice simply carried on the breeze as easily as a dandelion seed. "It's about you."
Turning her rifle back toward the main gate, Georgie still couldn't see Negan or Eugene, with or without the scope, and because of it there was a small ounce of terror building in the pit of her stomach. It was like the fear of any abyss — deep space, an ocean, a dark basement. It was not seeing what was below that surface, or beyond that door. It was the not seeing and the not knowing which was truly scary. In any thriller or horror or drama movie, this was when the suspenseful music would be building up to that point in the story where everything would just go completely horrible. That is, as if things hadn't already just gotten completely horrible for them. Of course, they could definitely get much worse and most likely were going to.
"You're all are gonna wanna put your guns down now," Negan called out.
Rick, defiant as ever, even with a gun still pointed at his head, didn't feel like complying. "No one drops anything." Turning, he looked at Jadis, his focus not on the gun now in his face, but instead looking her in the eye with such anger and betrayal. "We had a deal."
"Tamiel came for the boat things. Followed ones who took," she replied, and shrugged. "Made a better deal."
Rick sighed and cocked his head. Frustration, anxiousness, fear, anger, betrayal and panic were a torrential mixture brewing within him as he tried to think of what his next possible move could be, but nothing was exactly coming to mind. There hadn't been a contingency plan for Jadis and her people switching sides like Eugene clearly had.
"You push me, and you push me," Negan continued. "And you push me, Rick. You just tried to blow us up, right? I mean, I get me, my people. But Eugene? He's one of yours. And after what he did — he stepped up." Negan gestured at the wall, but was referencing Alexandria as a whole. "You people are animals. Universe gives you a sign and you just shove your finger right up its ass," he added, middle finger in the air with a laugh. "Dwight, Simon — chop-chop."
Again from her perch, Georgie's attention moved toward the flatbed as Simon climbed stop it and began to pull some sort of heavy duty sheet or tarp off of would looked to be something rectangular underneath; possibly a large crate or box. She wasn't quite sure just yet, and she sure wasn't prepared to see the casket that was revealed. She watched with curiosity through her scope as Simon and Dwight lifted and rolled the casket, with the help of the wheeled dolly that was attached to the underside, and stand it upright at the center of the flatbed. When the two of them jumped down from the truck, Negan climbed up in their place, and was now in a better position for Georgie to see him.
Unfortunately, she still wasn't in a position to take him out.
"So, you don't like Eugene anymore," Negan remarked. "You guys gotta like Sasha. I do, too." He placed his hand momentarily upon his chest and then turned to tap the front of the casket twice with Lucille. "Got her right here, packaged for your convenience, alive and well."
Georgie knitted her brow together and lowered her rifle. Her attention on Negan and the casket, which — from what she could just barely hear — contained Sasha, had made her drop her focus from aiming her rifle or even bothering with the scope. She needed to view the scene from where she stood in its entirety instead of just zooming in on one small area.
"Now, I brought her so I wouldn't have to kill all of you, and not killing all of you could get complicated," Negan carried on as the Alexandrians crouched atop the platforms stood up to get a view of Negan and the casket containing Sasha as well. "See, I know there's a lot of firepower left in there, Rick. So, I'm gonna make this simple. I want all the guns you've managed to scrape up. Yup, I know about those, too. I want every last grain of lemonade you got left. I want a person of your own choosing…for Lucille."
"Suck my nuts," Georgie mumbled to herself, feeling Abraham's last words were more fitting now than ever.
"Daryl—ooh, I gotta get me my Daryl back." Negan made finger gestures between himself and Daryl through the opened main gate. "I see you." After a moment, he smiled and licked his lips. "And the pool table and all the pool cues and chalk. I want it now or Sasha dies, and then all of you. Probably." After a moment of silence, Negan prodded further. "C'mon, Rick. Just because I brought her in a casket doesn't mean she has to leave in it." With no response from Rick, Negan dropped his head in frustration. "You know what? You. Suck. Ass. Rick. You really do. I don't want to have to kill her, but that's exactly what you're gonna make me do."
Rick took a step forward, after chewing on his lips in contemplation of the situation. "Let me see her."
Negan smirked and chuckled. "Oh. Alright. Just give me a second. I might have to get her up to speed. You can't hear shit inside this thing." Turning, he faced the casket and banged twice on the front of it again with Lucille. "Sash. You're not gonna believe this crap—"
The exact moment that Negan unlatched the casket and opened it up, Sasha came stumbling out with her arms immediately outstretched.
"Holy goddamn!" Negan shouted in undeniable surprise and fear as he backed away from Sasha and the two of them fell over the edge of the flatbed.
Unsure of what she was seeing go down, and quickly at that, Georgie raised her gun back up and peered through the scope, trying to catch any sliver of action on the ground. There was no time to focus on those two, though. A succession of shots rang out from one of the platforms. Georgie shifted her focus there and saw Carl taking down a few of the trash hipsters surrounding him and the others, which was followed by gunfire all around, on both of the platforms and on the ground as the fight broke out between the Alexandrians and Garbage Pail Kids.
"Finally." Georgie, renewed with a hope that the tides had turned back in their favor, aimed at a couple of Jadis' people and took them out with a couple of shots. She still wasn't the greatest shot, which was why she was in a sniper position instead of in the throes of it on the ground. Michonne, too, wasn't known for her skill with a gun, despite having been training more and more with one in recent weeks. That's why she was also in a sniper position. And that knowledge reminded Georgie of the missing blonde bitch and Michonne's startled stance a few balconies over. "Shit."
Amidst all the gunfire going on down below, Georgie was able to hear the sound of a scuffle a few balconies over and reached over the edge of her balcony to see a rifle fall over, and knew at once there was trouble there for Michonne.
Making a quick decision to ditch her place as a sniper, Georgie put the safety back on her rifle and draped the strap over her left shoulder as she ducked back inside. She practically ran down every last flight of stairs until she reached the townhouse's front door. There were thankfully no trash hipsters in that area for her to contend with. They were around toward the main gate where real action was. It allowed Georgie to run down the front steps and up the sidewalk to the third, and middle, townhouse; crossing her fingers and toes that that's where Michonne was in the midst of her struggle.
Running up those front steps and throwing open that front door, she made a mad dash up each flight of stairs until she reached the room with the balcony entrance. She didn't need to go out onto the balcony, though. She could see from inside that Michonne wasn't there. Crouching forward and gripping her achy right thigh. The stress of running hard and fast up and down so many steps in so little time was exacerbating the pain from where she'd been shot a few weeks ago. But all she could do in this moment was bite down on her bottom lip and pray for an adrenaline rush to help her through doing it all over again.
The sound of gunfire still going on outside bothered her deeply; not knowing if Rick or Carl were okay, but thankful they had made the decision to have Judith taken away from here the night before, where she would be safe at the Hilltop with Maggie. Still, though, she wished she could know for sure what Rick's and Carl's predicaments were. So, before making the dash back downstairs again, Georgie ducked out onto the middle balcony and peered out, but was unable to make out where either Grimes was. Neither were atop their respective platforms anymore.
"Ugh, shit."
Turning away, Georgie slipped back inside and once again made her way down and out of a townhouse to continue her task of reaching Michonne. She made her way to the corner and looked up at the front door to the Monroe's former home and saw that it was wide open. That wasn't necessarily an indication that Michonne and blondie were up there, but it was enough to go on.
Releasing a sigh, Georgie gritted her teeth through the ache in her thigh and the ache in her lungs. Running normally along an even terrain was one thing, but even the most physically fit person could be easily winded from trekking up flights of stairs. Going down was easier. Going up was just torture. Georgie just kept her eyes on the prize, so to speak.
"We'll win. We'll live. We're the ones," Georgie hear Michonne struggling to say. "Us!"
As she quietly approached the balcony, Georgie saw Farron choking Michonne and bending her backwards onto the balcony's edge. Slowly, she reached for her rifle and removed the safety. As she stepped out, she lifted the rifle and began to aim the end of the barrel at the back of Farron's head.
"Move away from her," Georgie commanded in an even tone.
Farron stopped moving, but still kept her grip on Michonne's throat. Michonne craned her head as best she could to get a glimpse of Georgie behind Farron. Her left eye was too swollen to see anything but she could manage just enough with the right eye.
"Do it," she grunted.
Georgie, much like Rick when he killed Jake, didn't hesitate for a second as she pulled the trigger.
Farron's head jerked forward as blood sprayed from the open wound created by the bullet exiting through her forehead. As her body slumped down upon the edge of the balcony, Michonne twisted out from underneath and shoved her away. Georgie looked to Michonne and gave her a onceover to assess the damage she'd sustained to her person, and then she reached out and grabbed Farron's legs.
"Watch out," Georgie said to Michonne, who sank down to rest on the floor while Georgie shoved Farron's body over the edge of the balcony. "You gonna live?" she asked, trying to make light of the situation, at least for a moment.
Michonne looked up at her and nodded.
"Good. C'mon." Georgie put the safety back on her rifle and returned it to dangling off her shoulder as she slipped and arm around Michonne's back and helped her up to her feet.
"The gunfire stopped," Michonne mumbled as they walked slowly back into the house.
"I know." Georgie had noticed that as she'd been leaving the middle townhouse, but her main focus had been on reaching Michonne. "We gotta hope it's a sign we're winning."
"Yeah. I hope so."
Slow and steady, Georgie escorted Michonne down every flight of stairs until they reached the main floor and Michonne hesitated from going any further. Confused, Georgie took half a step back and looked at her.
"I can't fight like this. I'll slow you down," Michonne remarked. "Go make sure our boys are okay."
Georgie smiled and nodded back in response. "Okay." Helping the other woman down to sit upon the floor with her back against a wall, she also removed her rifle and set it down across Michonne's lap. "Keep this on you, and it goes without saying that you shouldn't hesitate to use it."
Michonne attempted to smirk, her jaw ached too much for such a gesture. Talking was annoying enough at the moment. So, she just nodded.
Standing back up, Georgie removed the handgun she'd had strapped to her left thigh and left Michonne inside the Monroe's, but made sure she shut the door behind her. As she made her way down the front steps and turned the corner to head up the road, she was just nearing the intersection of the two main roads when Kingdomers on foot and horseback came from the back gate, which was rarely ever used, that stood at the top of the road between the blue house she's shared temporarily with Jake and Tristan, and the tan house on the other corner. Some wandered straight ahead and others slipped along the backs of the houses, which included her home she shared with Rick, Carl, Judith and Michonne.
Gunfire erupted again and the sound of some sort of large animal growling was a bit alarming, but when Georgie stared straight ahead to the grassy lot at the end of the road, beside her house, and saw King Ezekiel's tiger Shiva seemed to be feasting happily upon who she hoped to be a Savior, Georgie's hope was definitely renewed. With vigor.
"End these Saviors and their accomplices! Alexandria will not fall! Not on this day!" King Ezekiel shouted, like a rallying cry.
Coming up the road from the main gate, Georgie saw the Hilltop arrive, with Maggie at the lead and flanked with the likes of Jesus and Enid. Georgie didn't have time to wonder who had Judith or if she was still safe and okay. She was just elated to see that these other two communities were finally merging for this fight. She smiled at Maggie as she approached, and both women shared a nod as they both aimed their respective guns and took shots at fleeing Saviors.
"Phalanx out, third group, now!" Maggie bellowed.
"Move up! Now we got your backs!" Daryl hollered from behind her.
Georgie slipped forward up the road in the direction of her home, surprised to see Morgan, in full Kingdom armor, killing people with a gun and not just whacking people unconscious with his staff. Carol was even there, in the same armor, with that fight back in her and that made Georgie's heart swell. Moving along she pistol whipped one of the fleeing Saviors and while they tried recovering from the blow, Georgie shot them once in the chest and secondly in the head. Once they dropped to the ground, she continued on; doing her best to be mindful of where Shiva was. She had a feeling that tiger wouldn't be able to differentiate between a "good guy" and a "bad guy" at a time like this, what with being off her very big leash and with that fresh taste of human blood in her mouth.
A flare gun was shot into the air by someone, and shortly thereafter smoke bombs were being released throughout the streets. Georgie spotted Rick and Carl moving along the backs of the house that sat across the street from theirs and darting up the road without even noticing her as they fired at Saviors and trash hipsters alike.
"Rick!" she called out.
His left shoulder jerked back as if an invisible hand had pulled at him and he tossed a look over his shoulder. Squinting through the smoke, and tensely prepared to fire a shot, he unclenched his jaw and his expression softened as both father and son spotted Georgie.
"You're okay," he stated. It wasn't a question, to make sure she was okay, but him being clearly relieved that she looked uninjured and physically okay. "We saw someone fall from the balcony—"
"Wasn't me, obviously," she smirked.
"Michonne? Is she—?" Carl began to ask, worry in his eye, as the three of them hurried to take cover around the RV.
"Hurt, badly, but she'll be okay with some recovery time," Georgie replied, wincing at the sound of a bullet striking the RV, very close to tops of their heads. Because of which, they slipped more around the vehicle and were greeted by the small group Maggie was leading.
"They're falling back," Rick stated.
Maggie turned to two of the Hilltoppers. "Eduardo, Bertie — between the houses, cover the gate." Nodding to Rick, she turned to Jesus and Enid. "Let's go."
As they slipped back around the RV, Rick, Georgie and Carl looked for where to go next and what was left of the opposition to take out.
"Now we finish this!" King Ezekiel called out, pointing in the direction of the townhouses and church beyond that. Carol was among those that followed with him, so Rick, Georgie and Carl joined them.
The sound of vehicles leaving with Saviors likely inside could be heard, followed by the sounds of gunfire ricocheting off the metal exterior of the vehicles. As everyone convened down near the main gate, a few remaining Saviors atop one of the garbage trucks that Jadis' people left behind began to open fire on the group of Alexandrians, Hilltoppers and Kingdomers down below. The merged communities ducked backward and then retaliated, but those Saviors had climbed over the edge of the walls and slipped down. The main gate had been rolled closed from the outside to contain everyone inside, and it was just such chaos, but it was clear the Saviors were on the losing side of this fight. The fact that they were all retreating as fast as they could was the obvious clue.
"Now!" Daryl shouted, gesturing to the gate.
Aaron, Morgan, Jerry from the Kingdom, and Bertie from the Hilltop ran up to the gate and gripped the chain-link. They struggled as they tried pulling the gate open but it didn't seem to want to budge. As Daryl climbed atop the garbage truck, he looked out and those on the ground below seemed to slow down as they looked around and realized the Saviors and the trash folk were gone; not including their dead they'd left behind.
"They're gone," Daryl announced.
King Ezekiel smiled. "Today's fight is over! This victory is ours!"
As the smoke cleared, both literally and metaphorically, all three communities gathered together to access the outcome of the fight, the extent of any damage done and see to any dire injuries; the latter of which wasn't as easy to do considering Alexandria no longer had a doctor and Rosita, who had been taught in the ways of first aid by Denise, was herself the victim of a gunshot and being tended to as best as possible Tara in the infirmary. Even Rick, who had been shot by Jadis, couldn't receive any proper, immediate care, but fortunately for him his gunshot was rather superficial and was able to be treated with basic first aid knowledge.
Because of how flippant he was about his own wound, Georgie chose to be the one who saw to task of fishing out the bullet, cleaning the wound, sewing him up while he bit down on a folded up dishtowel and protected the wound with a bandage, which she secured in place with gauze that she wrapped around his abdomen. Michonne was being looked after by Carol in one of the rooms around the corner, and Carl was sitting with her, holding her hand and telling her about how she missed out on seeing Shiva eat a couple of Saviors and how badass it had been.
Rick smirked, looking down at Georgie's hands and how gentle she was being with him. "Third time's a charm, I guess."
Georgie frowned. "What do you mean?"
"My third gunshot." He pointed at the bandage. "Each one seems to be not as bad as the one before it."
Georgie rolled her eyes at him. "Once was enough for me."
"Once is definitely one time too many, but as gunshots go, this one ain't so bad."
"Maybe don't talk about how your gunshot isn't so bad when we're only a few feet from Rosita who's suffering through it for the first time, okay?"
Rick grimaced and looked over his shoulder at the Latina who was writhing slightly as Tara was checking her bandage which looked to be bleeding through already. "I didn't say it loud enough for her to hear."
"Either way."
After a few moments, when Georgie removed the rubber gloves from her hands that she'd been wearing and tossed them out into a nearby garbage bin, Rick sighed and ran down his face. "Did you see Sasha?"
Georgie stopped and looked at him, just as Maggie walked into the infirmary and began to make her way over to them both. "Briefly," Georgie replied. "I saw her come out of that casket and tackle Negan, but that's it."
Rick tipped his head back, his eyes a bit teary. "She was a walker," he revealed. "Sasha was dead when she came out of that casket."
"What?" Maggie questioned, hearing this for the first time.
Rick nodded to confirm, in case there was any doubt. "Negan claimed he'd brought her to us, alive and well in a casket. When he opened it, though, she wasn't alive, and he seemed pretty damn scared as she took him down over the edge of that truck." Rick looked down at his knees, kicking his feet slightly from where he sat upon a stool at the infirmary's kitchen island. "I don't think Negan knew she'd be dead when he opened it up. I think he put her in there alive and well, just as he claimed, and she died at some point on their journey here."
"Do you think that Sasha did that herself?" Georgie wondered.
Both Rick and Maggie contemplated that question for a few moments, but it was Maggie who decided to give a definitive answer.
"I don't know how, but I know she did."
"She gave us a chance," Rick continued. Looking up at Maggie, he lightened his expression. "You did. You made the right decision to come."
Maggie smiled ruefully and shook her head. "The decision was made a long time ago, before any of us knew each other, when we were all strangers who would have just passed each other on the street before the world ended," she replied, on a deeper level.
"And now we mean everything to each other," Georgie stated.
The younger female nodded and gave them both another smile, this one a little brighter. "You were in trouble. You were trapped." She looked Rick in the eye. "Glenn didn't know you, but he helped you. He put himself in danger for you. And that started it all—from Atlanta, to my daddy's farm, to the prison, to here…to this moment now. Not as strangers, as family, because Glenn chose to be there for you that day, a long time ago. That was the decision that changed everything. It started with both of you, and it just grew, to all of us. To sacrifice for each other, to suffer and stand, to grieve, to give, to love, to live, to fight for each other." Maggie sighed and looked down. Inside her jacket pocket she was fiddling was something. "Glenn made that decision, Rick. I was just following his lead."
Rick reached his hand out and gave Maggie's a squeeze. "Well, I'm glad. We all are."
Looking down at both their hands, she released a small sigh and wiped a tear away with her other hand that was free. "So, Sasha is out there somewhere right now. I know people are out looking for any Saviors or those Scavengers that might be hanging back or hiding, just to be on the safe side of things, but we can't forget about her. What she did for us," Maggie spoke, building to a point. "I'm think I'm gonna go find her. She did what she did for us. She became what she became for us. She shouldn't have to stay that way."
"I'll go with you," Georgie offered, already taking half a step forward to head outside, but was stopped when Maggie held up her hand.
"No, that's okay. You should stay here with Rick and the others. We gotta gather everyone here up soon anyway and talk about what lies ahead."
"Well, you shouldn't go out there alone to look for her," Rick insisted. "Take someone with you."
"I will," Maggie assured. "I'll do it now, and afterward you and I will sit down with Ezekiel. We'll talk about what happens next for all our communities and this war we've started."
"I don't think we started it, necessarily," Georgie remarked with a shrug. "We'll certainly end it, though."
After a couple of hours, Maggie had returned back within the walls of Alexandria with Jesus at her side. As promised, she met with Rick and King Ezekiel; the three of them sitting down in the living room of the Monroe's house. It seemed the most fitting location to discuss the future. Georgie checked in with residents in their homes that had opted not to fight; mostly with those adults keeping children safe inside. Clean-up was also started a little, mainly in gathering up the bodies of those Alexandrians, Kingdomers and Hilltoppers they lost. Graves were being dug for everyone they'd lost, which included the other two communities, especially for Sasha. Father Gabriel said a few words during the mass funeral; speaking on the lives that were lost and how their greatest sacrifice would never be forgotten and we would honor the lives they had lived by protecting and saving each other from the darkness ahead. Afterward, Aaron walked around with a basket of apples that had been collected, passing them out to anyone who wanted one. There wasn't an abundance to share with the temporarily inflated numbers inside Alexandria, but it was enough to offer a small bite to eat so no one passed out from all the energy they'd exerted. There was also minor first aid being taken care of outside the infirmary, since inside the infirmary was the scene of more serious injuries being tended to, along with a quiet, more private place for healing. Michonne and Rosita, especially, who were moved to a private bedroom with two twin beds for their recovery.
By early evening, as the sun was starting to get a little lower in the sky, Rick called everyone to attention, asking them to join him, Maggie and King Ezekiel in the clearing at the end of the road beside his home. There, several pallets were stacked atop one another to form a sort of stage where each member of the gathering crowd would have an equal view of the trio as they talked about the road ahead for all of them, and how they would be coming together, not just as three separate communities, but like fingers on the same hand, and now every community was curling closer together, tighter and stronger, to form a fist.
At the end of the rallying speech, where each Rick, Maggie and King Ezekiel took a turn to say something, everyone clapped and cheering noises in agreement to everything that had been said. They didn't know how long it would take until the Saviors would be taking the lick their wounds and recoup their strength to retaliate, and putting their own plans into motion. There really would be no time to waste.
Rick helped Maggie down and, when she wandered over to Jesus to discuss something with him, Rick sauntered over to Georgie, who had been standing clumped together with Carol, Daryl and Carl.
Daryl smirked. "We're gonna kick some ass and take some names," he remarked, offering a fist for Rick to bump.
It wasn't a gesture either man ever really made, but it seemed the fitting in the moment. Rick looked to Carol and smiled at her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Carl slipped away and migrated over toward Enid and then Rick turned his focus to Georgie.
"What a day it's been," she said with a slight sigh of relief that held a tinge of amusement in it.
Rick nodded. "It started pretty good, and it looks to be ending pretty good, if not better."
"Yeah, it was just that pesky middle part that was a spot of bother."
A small chuckle escaped Rick's lips. He turned his body so that he was standing perpendicular with Georgie; sliding his right hand to the small of her back and curling his fingers around her hip. "It was all worth it though. And we're gonna win."
"We're gonna lose people, though," Georgie remarked, bringing realism to the conversation. "That's just a given and we gotta be prepared for that."
"Yeah." Studying the way she was watching the other people still gathered, admiring that certain contemplative sparkle in her eyes, Rick leaned in and whispered in her ear. "Come with me for a moment."
Georgie looked up and nodded as the moved to follow him. She watched as he gestured to Daryl and said the two of them would be right back, and it went unsaid for Daryl to take lead on anything in his absence. His strides, bowlegged as they were, tended to also be a bit longer than hers, so she hurried up a bit to walk more in step with him and not lag behind him. She followed him as he led her up the road, passing their home, and continuing straight passed the lake, the infirmary and even the townhouses.
"Where exactly are we going?"
"To talk," he answered vaguely.
Furrowing her brow, Georgie ended up walking with Rick up to the church. Inside they found a few residents sitting among the last few pews; clearly there for some peace, guidance and respite from all the violence. Rick paused, looking around at the backs of each head and then cleared his throat. When faces turned to look toward him, he looked down a bit sheepishly and placed his hands upon his hips.
"Sorry, folks, but would you mind if Georgie and I could have some privacy in here for a few minutes? We need to talk about some things."
No one seemed bothered to be ousted from their prayer or meditation or whatever they were in the church for. After all, it wasn't like Rick was banning them from the place. He was just requesting the use of the space and they were free to return when Georgie and him were done talking about whatever it was he wanted to talk to her about.
When the last person exited, Rick made sure the doors were closed tightly behind them and then gestured for Georgie to head closer to the front. He pointed at the front right pew and waited for her to sit down first before sitting down as well and sidling up beside her.
"Alright, so, why the church and not at home? If you wanted privacy, I'd think our room would be as private as it could get," Georgie quipped.
"Before the day's over, I gotta ask you an important question."
Georgie stared up at Rick and began to smile. "Oh, yeah. Okay. Shoot. Ask me."
"What do you miss from the old world?" Rick smiled right back at her, taking her left hand in his and resting it upon his right thigh.
"I miss…" she trailed as she thought about her answer. Georgie tilted her head to one side and touched the fingertips from her right hand to her lips as she really tried thinking about what she missed at this very moment. "I miss…I miss bowling."
"Bowling?" Rick raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yeah," she nodded. "Midnight bowling, especially, with all those colorful disco lights that would sparkle and shine. I was pretty good at it, too."
Smiling, Rick accepted this with a chuckle; tightening his grip around her hand and kissing her knuckles. "Okay. One more question."
"I don't really think I can come up with something else I miss right now."
"Nah, it's not about that."
"Then what?"
Licking his lips, he locked eyes with her and smirked. He was hesitating and could see she was getting anxious by his delay. "Be my wife?"
Georgie hesitated in response, looking between each of his eyes. The look on her face was a mix of confusion and amusement. "Are you asking or demanding?"
"I don't want you to say yes, unless you want to, so no, I'm not demanding," he assured. His face grew serious and his posture slackened. "When I saw that body fall from the balcony, I wasn't sure who it was, but I knew it was a two-thirds chance it was either you or Michonne. I didn't know which balcony you were on and with Jadis and her people turning on us, I didn't know if that blonde that went up with you and Michonne had just killed either of you. My larger fear was that it was you, and then Negan was about to kill Carl, but of course Shiva came to the rescue there, which was something to behold in itself."
"I bet."
"I thought you were gone. We'd talked about the possibility of that happening when we went off together looking for guns. I was so adamant about you being able to move on if I died. I didn't have the time to grieve because of everything going on, but I had the thought pop in my head about how I would handle finding your body on the ground and how I would move on afterward, if I survived the fight today. But then I heard you calling me, and of course I was so damn relieved. I mean, then I was wondering the same thing, and Carl was the one that asked—if Michonne was okay. And she was. And then everything fell into place and everything was gonna be okay. But all day, since the fight ended, I kept going over and over seeing that body fall and that fear that I'd lost you forever and I just…I'm a hypocrite. I told you that you could move on if I died, and I realized today that, I might be able to move on if you died, but not very well, because a part of me I felt had died when I thought you had." Rick lifted her hand up and placed it upon his chest, kissing her knuckles. "I can survive losing you, I can survive losing my children, but I will be forever broken. I would never be the same. And if I end up losing you in this fight we're heading into, or if you lose me, I don't want either of us to leave this world without being husband and wife."
With a smile, she looked at their link hands. Bringing her gaze up to his face, and seeing how his lower eyelid was reddening and tears that hadn't fallen were pooling in the corners of his eyes. Georgie leaned in toward him. "Then I'm your wife."
Pulling his head back to properly look upon her. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," she confirmed. "But let's just keep this our thing. No announcement to anyone, no rings, no nothing. At least not until all this is over for good. That is, if we both survive. But, yes, we won't go into this fight without being official. To ourselves."
"I can live with that," Rick grinned. Leaning forward, he kissed her and nuzzled the side of her face briefly. When he sat back against the pew, he let out a contented side. "If anyone asks, though, I'm telling them you're my wife. Not just my girlfriend anymore. You're my wife, you're the only mother Judith will ever know, and a mother Carl can have, too. We're a family." Releasing her hand, he switched things up by throwing his arm around her shoulder and pulling her into him. "And to answer the question about why the church—it was the most appropriate place for asking you to marry me."
"So, today was one hell of a fight, and tomorrow is the start of preparation for a war, but tonight we gotta squeeze some time in for a honeymoon," Georgie teased, turning to look at Rick's profile.
Rick shrugged. "I think I can pencil you in. I might have five minutes to spare later."
Georgie, standing up rather abruptly, wagged her finger at him. "Oh, hell, no. If we're going into this war with a strong possibility of dying, I'm getting more than a five minute honeymoon…"
Standing up along with her, Rick, took her hand back and nudged her shoulder. After a moment of staring each other down and smiling, they headed down the aisle, toward the church doors, toward a war on the horizon, as a husband and his wife.