Author's Note: Thanks for the patience in waiting for this chapter. For those who don't follow me on Tumblr to have seen the posts I made as to why there was a delay, two weeks ago I was working a lot of day shifts, which mean going to bed earlier, and late at night is when I usually write, and then last week my aunt died, so there was no motivation to write then. But now this chapter is finished and available!

Also, I would like to point out that Rick was originally meant to be fully naked while Jadis kept him captive for those two episodes, but AMC pulled the plug on that, which was why he was merely in boxers. I, however, decided to honor the way he was "meant to be presented." *eyebrow wiggle*

You know the drill—R&R!

xoxo —Holly

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." — Unknown

Thud. Thud. Thud.

"Knock three times on the ceiling if you want me," Georgie whisper-sung; stealing a quick, impish glance at Rick as they stood there in the darkness of the shipping container.

"Twice on the pipe, if the answer is no," he answered.

As Rick turned and shared her smirk for a moment, their attention was almost immediately drawn away by the lurching metal sound of the doors being opened up. They were greeted by the presence of two heapsters, and beyond that the entirety of this junkyard commune was standing together the same way they had the first time Rick's group had been brought inside; in two circles, one within the other. Rick and Georgie were both grabbed roughly upon the arm by the two heapsters that had opened the doors and forced them to walk forward toward the center of the innermost circle. Nothing was said as they stood there, with every other face staring back at them.

Jadis stalked forward with her two lieutenants, Brion and Tamiel, at her sides. Upon her face was her usual expression that was a mix of curiosity, amusement and indifference.

"Alone?" she asked.

Rick unwaveringly held her gaze. "We are."

"I shot you."

"Grazed me."

"Why back after?"

Rick took a step forward and Tamiel matched it by half a step; already on the defensive. "For the same thing I wanted before," he replied. "A deal."

"Trust you? Shot you."

"You grazed me. I would've still been mad if you'd shot me."

Jadis was the one who took a step forward this time, growing a bit more serious. "We kill your people."

"We killed some of yours, too," Georgie countered; thinking on Farron, who she shot point blank and whose body she sent crashing several stories below to the ground.

"But we need you and you need us," Rick added.

Tamiel leaned forward. "Trick."

"It's not," he insisted, as Jadis held her hand up to silence Tamiel from speaking further. "We could've come with our people, taken this place. You know we have the numbers for that now. You saw it."

"Still? Alone, you two." Jadis raised her brow; looking contemplative. "Need us to save you."

Removing the Polaroids from his pocket, Rick started to sort through them. "Not anymore," he remarked. Holding up the photos for all to see, he began to address everyone in the community as a whole. "The Saviors are finished. We took down their outposts. Negan and his people are trapped by walkers, hundreds of them. Until they surrender or we end them. That's their choice." Handing the photos to Jadis, he added, "Now I'm giving one to you." As she began to look at the photos in detail, Rick continued. "Look I get it — you take, you don't bother. So you took Negan's deal. We're here to offer you a better one. Our people will win. Your choice is to forget Negan, switch sides again, and be a part of the next world that Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom will build together. Or…we destroy you."

"Threats and dreams. Dreams and threats," Brion taunted.

Rick ignored him, but the slight tilt of his head suggested he was still annoyed. "Now, our people know we're here. And what they do next depends on what you do right now. Yes or no? What's it gonna be?"

Jadis began to smile. "No."

Georgie let out an audible sigh and caught Rick's eye; sharing a mutual look of frustration with these people.

With a subtle nod of her head, Jadis signaled for two of her people to lead Rick and Georgie away, but held a hand up when Georgie's arm was grabbed. "Not together."

Rick looked back at Georgie, a look of curiosity and concern in his eyes. The rest of the community stood in between them, obscuring his view of her as he was taken elsewhere; leaving Georgie there before Jadis and her lackeys still. Even the rest of the community began to disperse, save for half a dozen besides that of Jadis, Tamiel and Brion.

Jadis looked after Rick's retreating form, muttering to her lackeys. "Talks too much." She then turned her attention to Georgie who was still present. "You stay."

Georgie raised an eyebrow. "Stay where?"

"With me."

Georgie stared witheringly back at Jadis. "Fantastic."

As the sun overheard fell lower in the sky, Georgie sighed and cast her gaze downward at the ground. She was digging the toe of her right boot into the dirt while sitting upon an overturned, metal filing cabinet. She couldn't help but wondering where Rick was, if he was okay, and how long the two of them would be in this junkyard. They had plans, and a timetable for said plans. In two days, the three joined communities were supposed to converge on the Sanctuary for the final conflict, and being stuck at the junkyard was a monkey wrench. She also wondered about their friends, and how they were doing; dealing with injuries and recent losses. She hoped Michonne and Rosita were taking it easy at home, and that Carl and Judith were still safe. She hoped no Saviors from the Sanctuary had gotten out and that none were coming after any of the three communities.

She had been sitting alone for a while now, despite Jadis having claimed they'd basically be stuck at each other's hip. Although, she wasn't completely alone. She had Tamiel watching her, giving her serious stank eye.

While lost in her thoughts, a few figures approached from around a heap. Georgie looked up to see that it was Jadis, wearing a pair of boots too big for her, that Georgie would know from anywhere. She knew them to belong to Rick and that made her anxious to know even more if he was okay. Standing up, she came up to Jadis, who had the advantage of a few extra inches of height on her, causing Georgie to have to look upwards a bit more. Both she and Jadis stared at each other as another heapster came up beside them with a metal chair and a pad of paper.

"Clothes off."

"Excuse me?" Georgie questioned.

"Clothes. Off."

"Um, no?"

"Yes." After a brief moment, Jadis added, "No harm. Just for looking."

Georgie knitted her brow together in confusion. "Why?"

As if it was common knowledge, the junkyard leader shrugged and replied with, "To draw."

"Why?"

"To. Draw."

Coming up behind Georgie, Tamiel gripped her shoulder and another heapster aimed a gun; looking a little too antsy with it. A trigger-happy sonofabitch in the making. Sensing the tension, Jadis held up a hand to calm the nerves of her own people and possibly that of Georgie. Taking her focus from Tamiel and the other one, Jadis returned her gaze to the redhead before her and raised her eyebrow imploringly.

"Please." Then, more seriously, "Won't ask again."

Looking at the expectant faces around her, Georgie scowled and begrudgingly began to remove her shirt up over her head. Tossing it down onto the filing cabinet, she hunched forward and removed her boots next, but then hesitated when it she came to her pants. Georgie grumbled under her breath and tried thinking about it like ripping off a Band-Aid. She undid the top button and then lowered the zipper before grabbing at the waist of her jeans and shoving them down over her hips. With a slight shimmy, she let the pants drop down around her ankles and then stepped out of them.

When she saw that Jadis was about to stop her from going any further, Georgie furrowed her brow and grimaced deeply. There she stood; in only her bra, underwear and socks. Her weapons had already been removed from her by Tamiel. She was vulnerable.

But she figured that since Jadis was clearly wearing Rick's boots, he must've been forced into the same position, and if he could do it, so could she. If Jadis and her Garbage Pail Kids needed Rick and her to be naked as the day they came crying in order to convince them to rejoin the Militia's side in this fight, then so be it.

That didn't mean she had to like it, though.

With a sigh, Georgie tried not thinking about it as she reached behind her and unclasped her bra. As her bra drooped slightly, she wrapped one of her arms around her front to cover her breasts; using her free hand to pull the straps down her arms. Out of habit, of not wanting to be seen in such a way by anyone not Rick, Georgie turned her back to Jadis and the few of her people standing there so that they wouldn't catch a glimpse of the girls before she was ready for them to while she completely removed her bra and set it down on the filing cabinet with her shirt. Turning back around, she kept an arm across her breasts and used her free hand to reach for the hem of her underwear.

But that was where Jadis stopped her; holding up a hand. "No."

Georgie was almost sure she saw kindness and embarrassment in Jadis' eyes. "No?"

Jadis nodded, but without moving her head. She conveyed it with her eyes alone and a raise of any eyebrow. "Bottoms stay. I'm a woman. Familiar with the bottom half. Just top half."

"So, my jeans could've stayed on?" Off Jadis' lack of an answer, Georgie sighed with frustration. "Why didn't you say so?"

"We don't bother," Jadis replied with a shrug and an impish grin.

The heapster with the chair and the pad of paper sat down and crossed one leg over the other. Propping the pad up on an angle, he looked expectantly up at Georgie, and then over to Jadis; as if waiting for permission to breathe. When she nodded at him, he removed a pencil from his pocket and hunched forward to begin drawing. Occasionally, he glanced up at Georgie, who seemed a bit confused by this situation.

"Tamiel," Jadis spoke; gaining the immediate attention of her female lieutenant. She cocked her head to the side and off that gesture Tamiel gestured to the other heapster with the potential trigger finger, and the pair of them walked away. Following after them with her eyes, Jadis waited until Tamiel and the other one were out of sight and then returned her gaze to Georgie. "Just us," she informed, gesturing between Georgie, the heapster artist, and herself. "Arm down."

A little thankful for being given a small bit of privacy from extra eyes, Georgie let out a slightly exasperated sigh and lowered her arm; revealing her bare chest to only Jadis and the heapster artist.

"Where's Rick?" she asked, looking toward the mound of junk to her right instead of looking at Jadis. In her head, if she couldn't see them, then she also couldn't see them looking at her.

"Not here."

"Where is 'not here'?"

"Somewhere."

"For fuck's safe," Georgie muttered, placing her hands on her hips and facing forward. "Is he alive?"

Jadis raised an eyebrow; amused by Georgie's frustration. "Yes."

"Is he okay?"

Jadis hesitated. Then, "Yes."

"Can I see him?"

"No." Looking down at her artist minion, she gestured at what was being sketched and then pointed at her own chest. "Smaller."

Georgie steeled her gaze and folded her arms; obscuring the view of her breasts. "Okay, enough of this." Turning around, she reached out for her bra and began to put it back on; somewhat surprised she wasn't being prevented from doing so. When she stepped back into her jeans, she threw a look over at Jadis and the guy with the sketch pad. She found that Jadis was simply staring thoughtfully back at her and that the artist was still drawing. "You and I need to talk."

"Rather not," Jadis responded.

"I don't care if you'd rather not. If you don't want to listen to what Rick has to say about this fight with the Saviors, you can sure as shit listen to me," she declared, zipping up and buttoning her jeans. Reaching over for her shirt, she threw another look at Jadis. "Siding with the Saviors is siding with oppressors. Whatever deal you have with them now will change. Eventually they'll want something from you and they'll take it. And if you don't have anything to give them, they'll kill one of you and make you watch." Georgie pulled her shirt over her head, and then freed her hair from the head hole. She was frustrated and flustered. "So, are you gonna talk with me about this?"

Jadis took a step forward, narrowed her eyes in thought, and then whistled. Two heapsters appeared from around the nearest mound. "No talk." With a flick of her wrist, the two heapsters moved forward and took hold of Georgie's arms. "Also talk too much."

With another flick of her wrist, the heapsters began to lead Georgie away.

Leaning down, Jadis placed her hand upon her artist. "Nice shadowing."

Leaning against the inside wall of a shipping container, Rick wiped sweat from his forehead. It was kind of a pointless thing to do because more beads of sweat seemed to materialize seconds later. His entire body was slick with a sheen of sweat, in fact. He was feeling like a POW in a hotbox. And, actually, that's exactly what he was. He was in the midst of a war, he was a prisoner in the junkyard and he was in a really large box that was sweltering on the inside. At least there were a couple of holes in the doors to get an ounce of fresh air if he tried hard enough. One of the holes happened to be level with his face from where he sat; allowing him to also see out without having to stand up, because standing up was too tiring from the heat inside the shipping container.

The only upside to being locked up was that he had been given the time to sleep, even though it was restless and uncomfortable. Most of the time was spent thinking about everything and anything since there was nothing else he could do.

Before being tossed inside, he had been stripped naked had his hands bound together. To make matters worse the last thing he'd seen was Jadis walking up and smirking at him, and then her eyes lingering south; eyeing him up like a side of beef. After a while, not knowing how much time had passed, he'd heard Georgie's voice as she cussed out somehow. Peering through one of the peepholes, he saw two of those trash people leading her the shipping container across the way, opening it up and tossing her inside.

He had called out to her, and saw that she was looking for where his voice was coming from. He took comfort in seeing that at least she was clothed, unlike him, but she was missing her boots. These heapsters seemed to only live up to half of their motto. They sure as hell took, but they were definitely bothersome.

Rick had called out to Georgie even after the doors to her shipping container had been closed, and they had tried talking back and forth to each other. All he had found out was that she was okay, and all she found out was that at least she knew where he was, and that he was also okay. He didn't mention being naked. It seemed pointless to bring up. And he wouldn't have been able to anyway. The heapsters banging on the containers and laconically telling them each to shut the hell up or else did the trick, merely for the simple fact that the banging from the outside was certainly aggravating from the inside. Not to mention, the heapsters had the weapons and could easily shove the business end of a gun inside one of the holes and start shooting. Or, just open up doors and open fire. Basically, they had the upper hand at the moment, so Rick and Georgie had to sit tight and bide their time.

And that time slowly passed.

Neither was given food to eat, and they were aware that if they had to go to the bathroom, it would have to be inside their shipping containers. Rick figured he was actually doing better in their situation, because as hot as it was inside his container, he didn't have clothes to worry about making him feel any warmer. Though, he could assume Georgie has disrobed inside her. But, then again, if she'd been bound like he'd been, it would've probably been more difficult to do. She definitely wouldn't have been able to get her shirt or bra off. But maybe she could somehow lift it up and fan herself?

Rick didn't know, but wondering about it kept his mind in the present.

When night fell, he could no longer see anything; either inside the container or outside. There was no moon in the sky, and he couldn't see stars from the angle from where he sat. Only once was there one light source and it was from a heapster walking past the containers with a torch, no doubt making rounds to see that the prisoners were still prisoners and that everything inside the dump was ship shape.

And now, it was day again.

Rick wasn't sure what time of day it was, but he knew it wasn't too early in the morning, because the sun had already been up for a little while now. He was also thankful that the sun was out, not only so that he could see, but during the night the inside of the container had gotten quite chilly. It was like being in the desert, where the days were scorchers and the nights were frigid because there was no sun to heat the surface and the air. The container was metal and the heat seemed to dissipate and Rick realized he Georgie was the lucky one in their situation after all, because she had the layers needed to keep from getting cold like he'd been in the middle of the night; curled into a ball with his arms around his legs, and shivering slightly against the chill in the air.

He preferred it that way, though. He'd rather Georgie was fine and he wasn't.

Wiping more sweat from his forehead, he turned at the sound of footsteps outside his shipping container and was looked upward as he heard the doors beginning to unlock. Pulling himself up to his feet, Rick stood up and waited for who he knew would be greeting him on the other side.

As the doors were pulled open, Rick lifted his bound hands up to shield his eyes from the blinding sunlight and squinted.

Jadis stood there, expressionless; wearing his utility belt with his Colt, and holding onto an old fashioned camera with a flashbulb attachment. Beside her was a heapster in a chair, drawing on a sketch pad. Rick was unaware that the guy in the chair was the same one who had sketched a topless Georgie the day before, as that was something Georgie hadn't shared from within her shipping container. Aside from Jadis and the sketch artist, which Rick found curious, he noted two other heapsters; one on either side of him who had been the ones that opened the doors.

Taking half a step forward, Rick lowered his hands to cover his crotch from the prying eyes. "It's not too late for you," he said to Jadis. "My offer stills stands. You can join us or you can die."

He knew it was a bold thing to say, considering Jadis still had the power in this situation and he was literally standing there with his dick in his hand, but he wasn't going to back down. He meant what he said. He was willing to have the heapsters fight alongside him and his people, to let bygones be bygones, or he would sit back and let them be killed by his people when they showed up looking for him and Georgie.

Holding up the camera, Jadis took a picture of him in response. As the bulb popped, she ejected it and replaced it with a new one from her pocket.

"Turn."

Clenching his jaw, Rick stared defiantly back at her but bit his tongue as he turned his back to her. As he stared into the inside of his shipping container, he heard another pop of a bulb and the sound of it breaking at it fell to the ground. Rick tossed a look over his shoulder and then turned fully to look back at her as she took a third picture of him.

With a nod of her head, the heapsters on either side of the container began to close the doors, but the sketch artist held up his hand, so Jadis instead signaled for the two to stop; the doors creaking as they stopped. The artist finished whatever it is he was sketching and then flipped his pad closed.

"Why? Why the pictures?" Rick wondered.

"Sculpt you. After."

The doors began to close on him again.

"After what?" he pressed.

"After," she repeated, rather ominously.

And like that, the doors closed on him; showering him in darkness again.

For Georgie, the hours passed so slowly in the shipping container she'd been placed into. It was dark, aside from a few holes in the doors that allowed a few narrow streams of light in, and allowed her to see out. She hadn't known how long she would be held there and what it would mean to the fight ahead. She didn't even know what Jadis was planning on doing with her or with Rick. She was able to take solace in the fact that Rick's shipping container was across the way a little, and hearing him call out to her, making sure she was okay. They had been able to shout out to each other in very brief conversation. At least he had sounded okay to her. It was the small things.

On the surface, she was okay about their predicament, but that façade was there to save face. Below the surface she was a ball of anxiety. She didn't like being kept like a caged animal; without her weapon, without food, without even her boots on her feet, and without Rick at her side.

Especially without Rick at her side.

It felt like this foreign concept that there was ever a time where Rick hadn't been a part of her life. In fact, the majority of her life in the apocalypse had passed without having known him. She had spent more than half a year with her first group, not long after striking out on her own to find Tristan; that group which Bob Stookey had been part of also. Those that had survived the first group had either split off and gone elsewhere or stuck by Georgie's side and made her their de facto leader. She had done her best to keep them safe, but they lost numbers, as everyone does in this world now, but they also gained stragglers here and there, too. They'd made a small home for months, then lost it and continued as nomads. And then she lost every last one of them; wandering for days till Carol found her.

Georgie hadn't even thought about her past groups in a long time. It was barely half a year ago that she'd lost the second one, which had included her friend Dana and her children. Thinking about that now, in the darkness of the shipping container, where she was had nothing but the time to think about it, it saddened her that the people that had once been so important to her had become virtually forgotten. Maybe it was seeing Morales; reminding her of that brief moment in time that their paths had crossed almost two years ago, and seeing how much he had changed and all he had lost, and comparing it to how she'd gotten to where she was. How paths could diverge, how people could become memories, how people could change, and how new people could come into your life and turn your world upside down, for either better or worse.

Befriending Carol, Meeting Rick and his children, joining his group, his family, had finally given Georgie a place in this new world. It had brought her the answers she had been seeking. Despite having lost her son and as horribly as she had lost her daughter, she was given the chance to have extra time with her son. At least she knew he had been taken care of in all that time they'd been apart. Her pain over losing her children would always be there, but it wasn't as sharp a pain anymore. The initial grieving period had passed and she was in a new headspace now. There was no place in this world to dwell on the past and things she couldn't change. There was only the present and the hope for, not only the future, but any future. One day she would be reunited in death with her children, her parents, her siblings and all the friends she had in this world and the old, which had come and gone.

Her entire world now, and until the day she took her last breath, would involve Rick, his children and their family of friends, and seeing this fight through to its end. That end, she hoped, included the death of Negan or at the very least the permanent downfall of Negan and his Saviors. Rick was the love of her life she had wished she'd met and married many a moon ago instead of Jake, and Rick's children she would love and care for, she would fight for and lay her life down for if need be. She didn't give birth to them, but Rick was her husband now and they were their children.

She felt that perhaps that was why she felt stronger and more resilient now than with the other groups since the old world fell apart. Rick's strength and resolve was this breath of fresh air. He made her stronger and more resolute, and she knew she meant so much to him. They complimented each other. When one of them was in a bad place, all the other had to do was take hold of their hand. He was her yin and she was her yang.

And that was why she needed him now.

Without him at her side, with no insight into what Jadis had in store for them, she felt lost. She knew she could survive and she could fight, but doing so would be more difficult and it wouldn't feel the same. She also just didn't like being alone. She didn't like being left in the dark with only her thoughts as company. It wasn't good company. The longer she remained in the shipping container, with only a few holes to for light and air flow, the darker her thoughts became and the more pessimistic she became. More worst case scenarios came to mind, making her feel restless, but there was only so much walking in circles and pacing the length of the shipping container she could do.

When day turned to night and she realized she'd be spending the night inside the shipping container, she knew there was nothing more to do until the sun rose again. So, she sat down, pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. Closing her eyes, she tried to clear her mind and not think of anything else so that she could get some sleep.

She wasn't sure how long it had taken, but sleep did eventually find her. She had woken to a stream of light making its way inside the shipping container from one of the holes and hitting her face at just the right angle. Opening her eyes, she had looked around and had to remember where she was, and then grimaced at how sore she felt from having slept on a hard, metal floor. She sat up and was listening for sounds outside the shipping container, and heard nothing, and then just waited as the thoughts returned to her mind. Fortunately, though, those thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of the shipping container across the way opening up, followed by Rick's voice.

Scrambling for a hole to look through, she could see Jadis was there with the same heapster with the pencil and pad of paper and they were facing Rick, who was standing within the entrance of his shipping container, hands bound like hers were. The only difference was that Rick was butt naked and doing his best to cover his front with his hands. She took pride in how he was able to virtually ignore his vulnerable predicament and still press forward to insist Jadis agree to the new deal, and how he didn't seem to waver in his stance. Even without a stitch of clothing on, he didn't even exude vulnerability.

She continued peering out through the hole even after the doors were closed on him and he had been locked away again. It gave Georgie something new to think about, and not just a glimpse of Rick's ass that gave her something to smile about. It gave her hope. If Rick could stand there and remain calm and collected, then so could see, and they stood a chance at getting past this theoretical bump in the road.

A couple hours later, spent humming to herself most of the time in between, Georgie was alerted to more action again when she heard the doors being to Rick's shipping container being opened up again. Getting to her knees, she looked out the nearest hole and couldn't see anything because two figures approaching her shipping container had blocked her view. Quickly getting up to her feet, she wince slightly at the sound of creaking metal echoing inside the container from the doors opening up and allowing some sunlight to shine in and bathe her in warmth. Not that she wasn't already warm. It had been quite hot inside the shipping container during the daylight hours. The beads of sweat along her forehead and at the back of her neck, underneath her thick locks were the telltale signs.

As the two heapsters approached, following the opening of the doors to her container, one held onto both her arms to keep her in place and the other slapped some duct tape over her mouth. She glowered at him and then was moved forward where she finally had a clear line of sight of Rick, who was being moved toward a the area in the center, covered with dusty, dirty rugs, and was still naked with his hands still bound.

His eyes went right to her and there was a look of concern when he saw her looking back at him. Neither knew what was happening or what Jadis had planned.

Was she letting them go?

Was she about to execute them?

Was she going to have her strip down so Jadis could have them both drawn naked together?

Rick was forced down to his knees facing one of the other shipping containers, and then the heapster standing behind him, gripped his shoulders to force him down even lower. A moment later the doors to that other shipping container opened from the inside and out came a walker much like Winslow. It had a metal cap welded to its head, allowing only its nostrils and growling mouth to be visible, and with metal spikes sticking out. There was a pole attached to the cap that a heapster behind the walker was using to lead it forward. Behind them was Jadis.

Georgie knitted her brow and her heartbeat began to increase. She looked from the walker and Jadis, over to Rick who had a passing expression of fear on his face. He clearly had more of an idea of what was going to happen than she did.

"Time for after," Jadis announced.

The heapster manning the walker started forward toward Rick. The nearer Winslow 2.0 got, the more Georgie began to struggle against the restraint of the heapster keeping her in place. She grunted and tried to plead to Jadis to stop whatever this was, but her pleas went unheard because of the duct tape. She switched to Abraham-level cursing which, sadly, also fell on deaf ears.

Winslow 2.0 was then forced down to Rick's level. As it made its way closer and closer on its knees toward Rick, its teeth kept chomping; awaiting its next meal which would never sate its undead appetite. Rick tensed up, steeling himself for what was about to happen and thinking on what he could do to get out of this situation.

With barely inches separating them, Rick made abrupt decision to throw his bound hands upward and strike the heapster holding him down in the face. Using that window of opportunity, Rick rolled to the side and away from Winslow 2.0 while the heapster leading the walker struggled to redirect. As he swung Winslow 2.0 around, Rick jumped up and pushed the heapster out of the way and punched him in the face with his bound fists.

"Subdue!" Jadis demanded.

Rick grabbed quickly for the pole. He used it initially to whack another heapster in the face, knocking him down, and then took command of Winslow 2.0. Rick knocked backward the heapster that he'd pushed with the pole this time. He guided the walker around, using the pole as his weapon against the heapsters that kept getting back up and coming to fight him. In between those moments, Rick tugged upward with the pole; twisting the walker's head from side to side.

Georgie could sense the heapster at her side was growing distracted, so she used the moment to throw her head backward into his nose. The moment he began to buckle, she kicked her foot backward into his knee. But just when she thought she had a real opening to rush forward and somehow help Rick, the heapster that had duct taped her mouth grabbed onto her and suddenly she felt the unmistakable touch of a blade to her throat and ceased any attempt to wrench herself free. All she could do was watch Rick.

She was also thankful that Jadis and the heapsters were so distracted by Rick besting them that they didn't think to use the knife at Georgie's neck as a way to threaten Rick to stand down and give up.

That's what Georgie would've done, anyway.

Rick continued dragging Winslow 2.0 around. He used him almost like a sort of battering ram as he pushed him headfirst into a heapster's chest. Lucky for the heapster that he was wearing protective padding otherwise he could've been fatally punctured by one of those metal spikes sticking from the metal cap. Rick refused to stop the momentum with which he was fighting. He used that pole against to knock a heapster's legs out from underneath him and then focused once more on tugging Winslow 2.0's head up with help from the pole until there could be heard that undeniable tearing of flesh sound.

In a somewhat victorious gesture, Rick was able to rip the head from the neck. The body toppled over but its mouth kept going; biting at nothing. Rick could now use the pole more freely; using the end of it to strike the heapster at his feet in the face.

Lifting her hands up to her mouth, Georgie peeled at the duct tape away when she noticed Jadis approaching Rick from behind with his Colt. "Rick!" she called out her warning.

Whipping around in time, Rick dropped the pole and Winslow 2.0 with it, and then reached for the Colt. A struggled immediately ensued. Jadis tried shooting Rick in the face, but he was able to dodge the three shots she took by shoving her hands away. Managing to overpower her, Rick got Jadis down onto the ground, on her back, and held the gun against her neck as she struggled while numerous armed heapsters began to come out of the woodwork. Rick had his grip on Jadis' face by this point and had her face inching closer to Winslow 2.0's snapping teeth.

"We're walking out now," Rick announced, tossing a look over at Georgie. "And us walking out means all of you die. Our people—and there's a lot of them—won't attack today, but we will attack." Looking down at Jadis' terrified face, he maintained his grip on it but didn't allow her to be bitten. "You can play your games, draw your pictures, sculpt whatever shit you want, but we are leaving!" After he turned his attention to everyone gathered, he glanced down at Jadis again, but then back up at the others. "After that…maybe you should just run."

Very slowly, and shaking, Jadis held up her arm. In simple gesture to her people, she closed her fist and they immediately stood down and gave Rick a wider berth.

Looking around at them all, Rick breathed an inaudible sigh of relief, gave an equally relieved Georgie a nod of his head and then lowered his face down to Jadis'. "We done?"

"Yes."

Satisfied with that answer, Rick released his grip from her face and stood up. As a show of good faith, he held out one of his bound hands to her and, when she accepted, helped her up to her feet. For a moment, they just stared at each other.

"Join you," Jadis continued. "What then?"

"The Sanctuary is surrounded. Walkers. Twenty deep around the compound. You come with me there. We'll wait till the others meet us. When they do, we'll ask the lieutenants to surrender. All of us, together. Then I kill Negan. Me alone." Tilting his head a little and getting closer into her personal space, Rick asked, "We have a deal?"

"After, Saviors' things our things. Yes and yes."

Georgie rolled her eyes and used this time to push aside the heapster that had been holding a blade to her throat until Jadis gave the order for every one of her people to stand the fuck down so she, herself, didn't meet her maker at Rick's hand. Pulling the remainder of the duct tape off of her face, she let it fall to the ground and then stepped forward, closer to both Rick and Jadis.

"It'll be all of ours," Rick declared. "You'll get a fourth."

"Half," Jadis insisted.

"A fourth," Georgie repeated. "But you gotta earn it."

Looking between the pair, Jadis smirked and took half a step forward to close the gap between her and Rick even further. "A fourth and I sculpt you after. Stand for me. Like this." She looked down between their bodies, and how very naked he still was.

"A fourth and we let you keep your hands so you can sculpt anything else but us," Georgie parried. She held up her bound hands, level with Jadis' face. "And these off."

Rick all but snarled. "My boots and my clothes now."

"A fourth." Jadis nodded, seemingly mulling these negotiations over. "Fourth." Turning toward Tamiel, she beckoned. "His clothes." As Tamiel nodded obediently, Jadis hunched forward and began to pull the boots off her feet that were actually Rick's; dropping them to the ground beside him. Then, taking hold of one of his bound hands, she withdrew a knife from her side and proceeded in cutting the rope that had been binding him. "Free," she muttered with a slight raise of her eyebrow.

Glaring at Jadis, Rick watched as she turned from him instead moved to cut free Georgie's hands as well. Modesty soon returned to him; realizing so many eyes were watching him and the fact that they could see every inch of his bare skin. The only thing he care to cover was his front, which everyone had already had an eyeful of anyway, so it really didn't matter now, in all honesty. Jadis took a few steps back and gave the couple some space.

"I'd like my boots, as well," Georgie remarked, glancing down at her feet which were only covered by socks. "Never had a chance to get them back on yesterday."

Jadis followed Georgie's gaze downward and then back up with a sigh. With a beckoning gesture of a couple fingers, one of the unnamed female heapsters stepped forward and began removing the boots on her feet she was wearing—Georgie's boots. The female heapster wore a soured expression as she tossed the boots back to their rightful owner; like a child whose punishment was to give back a new toy after misbehaving.

Georgie said nothing as she crouched down and picked up her boots and began to slide them on, one at a time. Standing back up straight, she turned to Rick and placed a hand on his arm. "That was something," she whispered.

"What was?" he whispered in response.

With a tilt of her own head, she glanced down between them very briefly and very discreetly, and then made a gesture with a twirl of her index finger. When he still seemed not quite there at what she was getting at, she muttered, "Eastern Promises."

It took a moment, but it slowly came to Rick. He recalled one of the few movie night's they had enjoyed together, mere days before their group's first meeting with Negan and the Saviors in the clearing. The memory of that particular gangster film and that awkward moment when Carl had come downstairs for a glass of water at the same time as that infamous bathhouse fight scene. When the realization came to Rick's face, it was Jadis who made the audible noise of a muffled laugh. She, too, had just gotten the reference Georgie had been trying to subtly make.

Thankfully, Tamiel reappeared with an armful of Rick's clothes and tossed them at his feet as callously as that other female heapster had done with Georgie's boots. Jadis turned to the rest of her people and gave them some sort of signal that caused them to walk away. When it was just Rick standing there with Georgie, Jadis, Tamiel and her other lackey Brion, Rick finally felt comfortable enough to bend down to pick up his clothes and get redressed.

He hesitated in doing any of it though. He just stood there, holding his clothes in front of him and glaring expectantly at Jadis. "You mind?"

She shrugged. "I don't mind at all."

When she didn't budge and simply smirked, he tilted his eye and shot daggers at her. After a moment and with one last glimpse at his bare chest, Jadis nodded and turned her back to him, so Tamiel and Brion followed suit. Georgie stood there, keeping an eye on the trio as Rick finally began to pull his clothes back on. The final piece was his utility belt and then his Colt which he picked up from the ground.

"I had a hatchet," Rick commented once he was fully dressed, boots and all. He tapped his fingers upon the handle of his Colt and waited for Jadis to turn back around and acknowledge the fact that his other weapon was missing. "Also had a knife."

"I'd like my weapons, too, thank you," Georgie added. "A knife. And a gun."

Jadis looked between the pair and then nodded at Brion who produced Georgie's weapons from the pockets of his coat, and handed them over rather begrudgingly. He then unzipped his coat, pushing it open slightly to reveal Rick's hatchet tucked into a loop of his belt. When he handed it over, Rick grabbed it back and slid it through his own belt loop.

"Thank you," he remarked politely, but with a hint of sarcasm. "Now, you ready to earn that fourth?"

Piled into one large International 4900 dump truck, Jadis and a lot more of her people, along with Rick and Georgie, made their way toward the Sanctuary. Rick had begun to give directions but stopped when he realized these people knew where it was. They had gone behind Rick's back before and made a deal with Negan. Obviously they would know how to find and get to the Sanctuary. So Rick just sat back, squished against the passenger door and Georgie, who was sandwiched in the middle with Jadis while Brion was at the wheel.

Approaching the outer reaches of the Sanctuary, the oversized vehicle came to a stop and Rick was the first out. As Georgie followed immediately after him, Jadis and Brion climbed out by way of the driver's side, along with a small handful of the heapsters from the back of the truck, while the others stayed put. Walking over to the gate in the chain-link fence they'd parked beside, Rick held up a hand for them all to wait while he opened the gate up and stepped forward first; quietly and carefully. In the distance was the sound of walkers growling and gasping for breath they no longer needed.

Rick stalked forward, reaching a water tower where a few walkers were surrounding the dead body of one of the Militia's snipers, who was hanging upside down due to his foot having been caught on the ladder after likely falling from his post. Removing his knife, Rick was quick to take out each walker before him. He didn't even wait for the bodies to drop as he went to the sniper and helped free his body of the ladder and lay him down. He had died of a gunshot to the chest, and hadn't yet turned, so Rick used the same knife to prevent the man from having to come back.

He took pause for a moment; not necessarily saying a prayer for this man and his soul, because Rick didn't consider himself religious anymore, but instead saying a silent 'sorry' that the man had died when he shouldn't have. He was also confused as to why this sniper would've died. If the plan had gone ahead as intended, there was no reason why this man for this man to have been shot dead and end up dangling from a metal ladder rung, acting as the main course in a walker feast. Removing the walkie from the man's belt, Rick stood up with it and turned it on to communicate.

"Snipers, report in." He looked over his shoulder, noticing that Georgie was standing inside the fence with Jadis beside her and Brion and the others behind them. As more static echoed from the walkie, he pressed forward. "This is Rick Grimes. Does anybody copy?" Dissatisfied with receiving no answer, Rick hooked the walkie onto his belt and looked up toward the top of the ladder.

Georgie turned and looked at Jadis. "Stay," she muttered; invoking the other woman's manner of speaking. After a moment of eyeing each other, and off Jadis' nod of agreement, Georgie jogged over to Rick as he tossed the sniper's scoped rifle around his shoulders and began to climb the initial rungs of the water tower's ladder. "What's happened here?"

"One of ours," he gestured toward the dead sniper on the ground and then looked at her with a look of befuddlement in his eyes. "Shot dead. No one is answering me on the walkie."

"What do you think happened here?"

Rick sighed and pointed up. "That's what I'm gonna go up there to figure out. I'm gonna try and get a look at the Sanctuary, see what's going on."

"Alright," she nodded, giving him a pat to his calf. "Be careful."

As Georgie took a few steps back, Rick continued to journey up to the water tower platform; making sure not to lose his grip in the process because that would be a very far drop to the bottom if he fell. It only took a solid minute of carefully scaling the ladder before reaching the top, and when he did he gripped onto the railing and tossed his right leg over and then climbed over onto the platform. Only briefly did he steal a glimpse over the edge, down toward where Georgie was and then over toward the heapsters who were still waiting patiently. Removing the rifle from his back, he held it up and peered through the scope in the direction of the Sanctuary's courtyard and immediately did not like what he saw.

He blanched and found his heartbeat was speeding up at the sight of absolutely no one in the courtyard; neither alive or dead.

The courtyard was empty.

All that was left of Alexandria's RV was nothing but a burned out frame.

There were two large rows of walkers piled up on either side of a clear path made for an exit point.

There was also a garbage truck crashed through one of the walls with a considerable mound of dead walkers behind it. And that garbage truck hadn't been there before. The garbage truck had not been part of the plan.

An empty courtyard had not been part of the plan.

An exit out of the Sanctuary had not been part of the plan.

Rick removed the scope from his eye and lowered the rifle. His breath shaking slightly, he could feel a ball of anxiety building up in his chest and tightening. Bringing the walkie back up to his mouth, he clicked it on.

"North, West, South, report."

Nothing but static was the reply he got.

Turning his anxiousness into a healthy dose of anger, Rick strapped the rifle onto his back again, hooked the walkie back onto his belt and began to careful task of climbing back over the railing and down the ladder. Upon reaching the bottom, he turned to look at an expectant Georgie.

"So? What's the what?"

He shook his head subtly. "Empty. There's no one. All the walkers are dead," he whispered. "A path was made between them and there's a garbage truck that was driven into the building." Running a hand over his face, he shrugged. "I don't know what happened."

Georgie took this information with a grain of salt and what it all meant in regard to their fight. After chewing on her bottom lip and mulling it over for a moment, she looked him in the eye and replied, deadpan, "I think you can wager a guess. I think we can both figure out what happened. We've been out of play almost twenty-four hours. I think it's safe to surmise someone took matters into their own hands and went ahead with another plan we didn't sign off on."

Rick knew what and who she was referring to. With a slight sneer and a shake of his head, he reined in his anger and all he could do was nod. "We gotta get closer and investigate. See what we can see from ground level."

"Alright."

Backtracking over to Jadis and her people, Rick gave them the basic rundown of what was going on; omitting details here and there in order to keep the Garbage Pail Kids on his and Georgie's side of the fight. With guns at the ready, Rick led them all toward the entrance to the Sanctuary courtyard.

Jadis gave a signal to her people to hold back for a moment as Rick and Georgie stepped forward a bit more. From the ground and closer to the courtyard, they could both see that plenty of the walkers in the piles were still "alive" as they were still growling and moving; but underneath the weight of those that were dead, they were pinned and unable to free themselves.

"Different from picture," Jadis commented.

As Rick turned to look at her slightly judgmental expression, machine-gun fire rang out and ricocheted off surfaces around them all. They were all forced to dive behind the nearest available barricade to protect themselves. Rick wasn't focused on Jadis and her garbage gang and their safety as he grabbed Georgie by the wrist and all but tossed her over a concrete highway barrier and jumped over the one beside hers. Leaning their heads against the concrete and slouching down, they looked at each other.

"You hit?" he shouted to her over the sound of bullets pelting the walls and concrete around them.

Georgie shook her head. "No. You?"

"No." Rolling slightly onto his side, he shouted out even louder, "Jadis! It's coming from the window! We hit it and fall…back."

As he got out that last word, Rick looked over Georgie's shoulder and saw the heapsters running away from the gunfire in retreat like cowards; betraying him for the second time. Turning her head to see what had distracted him, Georgie looked over her shoulder and frowned.

"Fool me once," she mumbled with a deep-set frown.

Turning back to look at Rick and wincing from the concrete dust kicked up from the gunfire, Georgie expressed her disappointment with the heapsters with a simple look she knew he shared. Neither had long to dwell on that, though, as the sound of a vehicle approached. Risking a look, Rick popped his head up and saw it was a silver SUV being driven by Carol and with Jerry in the passenger seat. Reaching out, he patted Georgie's elbow and gestured upward.

"Go," he ordered.

Thinking him mad for a half a second, Georgie stuck her head up over the barrier to see what he was seeing and a feeling of relief washed over her. Without wasting an unnecessary second, she all but rolled over her barrier and then crouched down as she dropped to her feet and ran forward toward the vehicle. As she was reaching for the driver's side, back passenger door, Rick was jumping over his barrier and coming up behind her. He fired off a few shots toward the window with the rifle and dove into the backseat of the SUV after Georgie had done so first.

One of the back windows was shot out, the glass shattering and whatever bullet that had done it barely missing Rick and Georgie. Carol was already putting the SUV into reverse and revving the engine when Rick bellowed for her to get going.

"They got out," he informed as Carol began to speed away. "It hasn't been long. We have to warn everyone. They're gonna hit back."

"We can get the cars near the East lookout and split up," Carol suggested.

"Might have to find other rides," Jerry remarked, looking into the backseat at Rick and Georgie. "The snipers probably used theirs to get away."

"I don't think they got away," Georgie offered up solemnly and, sharing a look with Rick, they both frowned. Looking down at her hands, she sighed. "Jadis and her people," she whispered.

Rick leaned in toward her, his left hand gripping the back of Carol's seat. "They made their choice."

"They left." She almost laughed. "They say they don't bother. They sure as hell didn't bother to stay and help fight. That's the second time they've turned their backs on us." Rubbing her temple, she realized she was bleeding, but could tell it was merely a scratch, likely caused from the glass that had broken when the window was shot out. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…"

Rick looked up toward the front seat and caught Carol's brief gaze in the rearview mirror. Placing his right hand upon Georgie's shoulder, he nodded agreement with her sentiment. "Yeah," he sighed as scenery passed them by in a blur.