Chapter 7: This World Will Remember Us

~Clary~

It's been one hour since I found out, five since Carl was bitten.

Test Subject 19 had thirty-two hours. Carl has twenty-seven left.

I haven't moved from his side, and I've taken off my jacket and flannel, leaving me in a tank top as I press myself against him, wanting to feel as much of his skin as possible. Carl's arms snakes around my waist, his fingers tracing the scars on my back. Carl's fingers go to one of my newest scars, the one on my shoulder from Dwight's bullet. He presses his lips to it, and I reach over, unwrapping the bandage from his head. "I want to see it," I murmur. "I want to see you."

Carl pulls back for just a moment, his hair falling in his face as he looks down at me. I brush it back, telling him, "I know I said it before, but everything I said to you… I'm so sorry. I shoulda just listened to you when you told me not to go back out."

"We don't know what would've happened if you didn't," Carl replies, leaning forward and softly kissing me. I instantly melt into his lips, into his touch and taste. God, I'm gonna miss this. "But let's not talk about the past."

"We don't have a future," I say. "You're… you're gonna die, and I… I'm gonna kill Negan. No matter what it costs me. The only way out of this… we both die."

"You'd leave Aaron?" Carl questions. "Leave Daryl?"

"I promised Eric I'd do everything to stay alive for Aaron, but… well, we both know I'm shit at keeping promises. I made them promise me before it all started that they'd stay alive, that they'd fall back if the fight got too hairy. And now Eric's gone. You know, the Saviors, they have names for us? The leaders of the coalition?"

"It's the King and something, right? I think my dad mentioned it in his letter."

"The King, the Orphan, the Widow, and Rick," I answer. "The Saviors that Maggie has at the Hilltop, they keep talking about it. Negan started callin' me the Orphan when Eric told him I was adopted. Now I am, I guess." I look down. "Now that one's dead and the other's MIA."

"I'm sorry," Carl murmurs.

"They've got all these names. Widows, orphans, but… what do you call someone that's lost a child?"

"Clary?" Carl questions, pulling back from me.

"And I know I just told Jesus that I'd stay alive for him, but I've never kept a promise I made to him."

"Clary, you're not thinking of dying."

"Maybe. I'll do what it takes."

"So you're willing to die?" Carl questions.

"If that's what it takes for us to be together," I answer, kissing him again. "I love you so much, Cowboy."

"Clary, Clary," Carl says, pulling back from me before I can kiss him again. "Hey. I don't want you to die. You've still got a life to live, even if it's gonna be without me. I can't let you die, babe. You can't die. You have to stay alive. For me, for Daryl, for Aaron. For Eric and Jesus. You gotta stay alive and beat this world. I know you can. One day, this world will remember who you were and what you did."

"No," I say softly, shaking my head. "This world will remember us."

~Dwight~

What we did. What I did. He knows what I did for them, for Clary and Rick. I'm almost positive that Eugene knows, and my suspicions are only confirmed when Eugene comes to my room. As I open the door for him, I remember what Clary told me in one of her letters when we were planning this.

Eugene, he could be a problem. He's a coward, and he's smart. That's a very dangerous combination. Be careful, Dwight. Watch your back, and don't you dare trust him.

"I'm well aware you're the fifth columner," Eugene says, walking inside with his back turned to me. "Green duffle, red paint, workers' guns." Eugene turns around to face me. "It doesn't require a turing-grade decryption to grok the truth that you're the traitor creeping and colluding with AHK."

"AHK?" I question.

"It's an acronym I've concocted. Alexandria, Hilltop, Kingdom. I considered going with KAH but it remains a hair too onomatopoeic. I've been charged by no less than Negan himself with cracking the very calamity you more than likely had a heavy hand in creating. So I need you to cease and desist all betrayals and backstabbery, fronting and Judas-ness A.S.A.P. In exchange, I offer to keep what I know from Negan and the others."

I step closer to Eugene, and he gasps in fear when I grab his collar. I force him back, pushing him down into a chair. I take a second chair, sitting in it in front of Eugene. "Clary was right about you," I say, putting my elbows on my knees and leaning forward just a bit. "She's right about a lot of things. The Saviors are finished. Negan is finished. And this place, what it's been? That's all over."

Eugene looks terrified, like he never considered a possibility where Negan wasn't the one that won.

"Food and water's running low," I continue. "Workers are angry. The Saviors, they're getting scared. And this place is gonna fall. All you have to do to be on the winning side is to stand down. All you have to do is nothing. Just wait, let it play out. Can you do that?"

Eugene's considering it, teetering on the line between the two sides of this war.

I try, "You've seen what happens here. Heard the screams." I lean forward even farther, forcing him to look at the scars covering the left side of my face. "Smelled the burning skin. You don't got blood on your hands yet, but that's coming. Once you do those things, you become those things, and there's no going back. No forgetting it."

"What cranks my shaft is being safe," Eugene says. "And here… me being safe means a whole lot of other people are safe. I think about that a great deal." I sigh, stepping back to allow Eugene to get to his feet. "Yes, I'm Negan. And it ain't perfect, but we are the Saviors. We save."

Eugene sidesteps me, starting towards my door. He pauses, turning to look back at me. "Like I said, your cloak-and-dagger on the Q.T. All I ask is that nothing you do nothing that results in harm to anyone inside these walls, and it'll stay that way."

~Daryl~

"Our people are gonna be at the Sanctuary soon, asking for their surrender," Tara notes as we stand around our truck, watching the Sanctuary through the scope of a rifle. "We're almost there."

I lower the scope from my eye, saying, "That's why we do it. We make it happen."

"So we cover you with crossfire from the upper windows," Michonne says, going over our plan. "You crash the truck into the walkers and through to the building."

"Yup, crack it open," Tara says. "Savior buffet."

"You know the workers will make it away?" Rosita questions. "Up the stairs?"

"They're on the other side of the building," I answer. "They should make it."

"You sure?"

"After we do this, their only choice is to give up."

"It's risky," Michonne notes. "They could see the truck coming."

"There weren't any more weapons at the Saviors' warehouse, right?" Tara questions. "No more rockets for the RPGs. We work with what we got."

"You got me," Morgan says, and we turn as he approaches. "Other snipers, too. Saviors see you coming, we got you covered. Whatever it takes. I want it done. I want them done."

"Good," I say. "So are we doing this or what?"

"Why don't we just wait it out like we planned?" Rosita interjects. "Michonne's right. What you're talking about is risky. Things could go bad."

"The truck with the speakers almost took all those walkers away," Tara argues. "It almost did go bad. Something else could."

"Even if it don't, we don't got the Kingdom fighters no more," I point out. "And if the Saviors wanna put up a fight, we don't got the numbers to make 'em surrender."

"That's why Rick's talking to the Scavengers," Rosita returns.

"You got shot," Tara says. "They lied to us."

"Clary's lied to us," Michonne says. "And we still trust her. You still trust her."

"But you believe the Scavengers now?"

Rosita shakes her head. "No. No, I believe in Rick Grimes."

Rosita left, unable to continue on with our mission. Tara and Michonne ride with me as I approach the Sanctuary, and the walkie sitting on the seat between us clicks. "Hey, cut that engine," Morgan says from the other side. "Any closer and you'll draw walkers from the yard."

I put the truck in park, cutting the engine. I pass the scope over to Tara after taking a look at my target, at the doors and the walkers surrounding them. "You take fire from the windows, we fire back," Morgan says.

"C'mon," Tara says, opening the door to climb out. "There's a spot for cover by the chutes."

Tara exits, but Michonne remains. I look over at her as she continues to stare ahead, asking, "You up for this?"

"I came here 'cause I wanted to see things for myself," she replies. "I wanted to know that things were gonna work. But you know what? I don't get to know that. None of us do. What I do know is that things are working now. So maybe… we just need to trust that things are gonna keep working because this, what we're about to do, it's not worth risking us."

"It is for me," I say, remembering the promise I made Clary. We'll make 'em pay. And I will. "Just is. They gotta pay for what they've done."

"I hope it works," Michonne says. "I really, really do, but I can't do it. I just can't."

Michonne looks to me, and I nod, understanding. "Then you shouldn't."

Michonne leans over, pressing a kiss to my cheek. "Be careful."

I nod, and she gets out of the truck. As she goes to close the door, I say, "Hey."

"Yeah?" she questions.

"If I don't make it out of this… tell Clary I love her?"

Michonne pauses for a moment. "She knows."

"I know, but… tell her anyway. Please."

Michonne nods, closing the door. Tara walks around to my side, looking up at me as she says, "We got Morgan and the snipers. We can do this."

"Yeah," I say with a nod. "And we will. Only way, right?"

~Rick~

I will admit that going back to Jadis was probably not my best nor brightest idea. That is coming across loud and clear as I'm forced to my knees, and Jadis emerges with another Scavenger, the Scavenger leading a walker with metal covering its head, much like the walker Clary and I fought the first time we were here.

I headbutt the Scavenger holding me on my knees, knocking him back as I get up. I knock the Scavenger leading the walker to the ground, commandeering the walker. I fight off the remaining Scavengers with the pole, the walker's head slowly becoming detached from its body. I rip it off, the dead body dropping to the ground.

I spin the pole in my hand, knocking a Savior on the ground below me unconscious. Jadis fires a shot, but she misses me. I drop the walker head as I charge her. We wrestle for the gun, and I get her on the ground. The walker snaps at her, barely a foot from her face, as I press her own gun to her head.

"I'm walking out now," I say, looking up as Scavengers surround me, all armed with guns. "And me walking out means all of you die. My people, there's a lot of them. They won't attack today, but we will attack." I look down at Jadis as she struggles to get away from the snapping teeth of the severed head. "You can play your games. You can draw your pictures, sculpt whatever shit you want—but I am leaving! And after that? Maybe you should just run."

Jadis frees her hand from my grasp, raising it and curling her hand into a fist.

The Scavengers lower their guns.

I lean down, hissing, "Are we done?"

"Yes," Jadis confirms.

I climb off of her, then offer Jadis my still-tied hands. She takes one, and I pull her to her feet.

"Join you," she says. "What then?"

"The Sanctuary is surrounded," I tell her. "Walkers. Twenty deep, at least, all around the compound. You'll 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. Do we have a deal?"

"After," Jadis begins. "Saviors things our things. Yes and yes."

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

"Half."

"A fourth."

"A fourth, and I sculpt you after. Stand for me." Jadis's eyes dart down to my boxers. "Those off."

I jerk my hands up, gesturing to the rope around them. "These off. No sculpting. My boots and my clothes. Now."

"Fourth," Jadis says quietly, then repeats, "Fourth."

I smirk. And to think, both Clary and Daryl doubted I'd be able to do it on my own. Where are they when you need to show them just how wrong they are?

~Clary~

I lie back on the bed beside Carl, and he turns on his side, wrapping his arm around my waist. "Why did we wait to get together?" Carl questions.

"You got me," I reply. "But, you know, a couple near death experiences and one greatly exaggerated rumor of my death will get us together."

Carl chuckles. "Fair enough."

"I'm gonna miss this," I suddenly whisper, looking over at him. "We're never going to be together like this."

"You mean we're never gonna sleep together again?"

"Not just that," I say, shaking my head at him. "I mean, just layin' here. Together. Just you and me. Carl, I… I'm never going to be over you. Even with Benjamin, I wasn't with him. I was pissed at you, but I never stopped loving you. No matter what I said."

Carl presses a kiss to my shoulder. "I love you."

"I love you, too," I reply. I lay back against him, closing my eyes as Carl wraps his arms around me. Carl questions, "Do you… do you remember how you told me once you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me?"

"I never thought of a future until I met you," I reply.

"How young do you think is too young?"

"Depends. Too young for what?"

"For knowing who you want to spend your life with." At that, I lift my head from Carl's chest to look at him; but he won't meet my gaze. "Because for me, it's always been you. And I'm realizing that now more than ever." Carl sighs softly. "You know, before the end of the world, I never thought I'd meet a girl quite like you. I never thought I'd find someone I'd want to marry."

I breathe, "Carl…"

"We've both dreamed of futures for us. We're never gonna have a chance to make them come true. I told myself that I'd try to find the confidence to ask you, just to say that I did… but I can't do it. I can't do that to you."

"Carl," I whisper, then clear my throat. "Carl, why are you telling me this?"

"Because I'm going to be dead soon, and you'll be alone."

"Carl, I'm a dead girl walking."

"We're both dead, then. So what do I have to lose, you know? When you're dead…"

"You can live forever," I say. "So, we've got forever. What do we do with it?"

"Forget everything I was saying," Carl replies. "For once, let's just be teens. No more wars, no more walkers, no more Saviors, no more Negan. Can't we be… Jesus, how old are we? How long have we been living this hell?"

"Sixteen?" I guess. "Seventeen? Well, I turned fifteen right near the start, and it's been two years, I think."

"So let's be seventeen. We don't have to make a difference, not anymore. We've already done enough, and our time is up. So, until the end, let's be seventeen."

~Dwight~

Of course Negan puts Eugene in charge of figuring out how to get us out of the Sanctuary. And of course Eugene had to figure out a way. I aim my gun at him, telling him, "Don't turn around."

Eugene freezes where he is. I order, "Get up. Back away from that thing." Eugene slowly stands, but he doesn't move away. "Back away from it!"

Eugene raises his hands, his voice shaking as he says, "I'm attempting to save people, Dwight. And killing me is killing a great many innocents. When this bird slips its surly bounds, it's gonna Pied Piper away their cold corpses and free this place."

"And then Negan will kill Clary and Rick and Daryl and Rosita and all your old friends."

"They're former traveling companies," he says. "Nothing more."

"Wow, and I thought I had loyalty issues. To Negan, anyway. I'm working with them. I'm working with them to keep them and the people here alive. We can get rid of Negan. Just Negan. He's the only one who has to die. And we're almost there."

Eugene shakes his head. "Negan ain't the dying type, Dwight."

I press the barrel of my gun against the back of his skull, growling, "Oh, but you are, Eugene."

"I am," he says, choking back a sob at his fear of death. "That's exactly why I've not yet stepped back, as it were. By my reckoning, I have two selects on facing my fate. One, I abort launch on this glider, don't free this place from the stranglehold of cold teeth and cold tongues, and Negan will likely execute me as what he considers to be a personal favor. Or…. Or I could go for what's behind door number two, take my chances being shot in the back by a sometime-ally, despite any injury I may have caused in the past by delivering a chomp-down on your chode."

Eugene bends down, turning on the mp3 player attached to the remote controlled airplane that he MacGyvered himself. He starts the plane, and it takes off from the rooftop. I aim my gun at him, my hand shaking.

Clary doesn't trust Eugene anymore, that's true. And she's offered me her protection after all this as long as I don't kill any of her people. So it begs the question; does she still consider Eugene one of her own? Would she let me live if I don't let Eugene?

I remember Denise, and all the other innocents I've killed in the service of Negan.

Eugene's not innocent, not by a long shot. But he is a pawn in Negan's game.

I close my eyes for a split second, making my decision. I shift my aim, firing at the plane and shooting it down. I turn before Eugene can turn around, rushing back inside, but not before I hear gunfire from the other side of the courtyard.

~Daryl~

Tara's voice comes over the walkie, a whisper so she doesn't alert the walkers. "I'm here. I'm ready."

The snipers posted at each look out sign off, waiting for the go. I pull the truck forward, and it idles as I take a deep breath. I look at the cinder block beside me, ready to take the place of my foot on the gas when the truck gets close enough to the Sanctuary. I grab the walkie off the seat next to me, announcing, "Now!"

I throw the walkie down and shift into gear, pulling the truck forward. Gunfire erupts from the upper levels of the Sanctuary, and my team opens fire in response. I speed up as I near it, taking my foot off the gas. I open the door with one hand, dropping the cinder block onto the pedal with the other.

I jump out, rolling to a stop as the truck continues on. It runs over walkers in its path, and I scramble to my feet, running for cover. I make it, ducking behind an overturned car. I watch the truck crash into the doors, opening the Sanctuary for walkers to flood in.

"Daryl, you're clear to the south," Morgan tells me over the walkie, still acting as my eyes in the sky. "You and Tara should head home."

Tara steps forward, raising her gun at the windows as I run for where she's taking cover. As soon as I'm clear, she lowers her gun, following me. "We did it," I tell her as we make our way towards a car so we can head home. "We're ending this, now."

"You seem awfully happy," Tara observes as we get in one of the parked cars, ready for the snipers to escape in should they need it. "I mean, I get being happy. We just essentially forced the Saviors to surrender. But it's something else, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," I say, not offering any further explanation.

We drive in silence for a while, until Tara questions, "What is it? What's your something else?"

"Clary," I answer after a moment. "It's Clary. I promised her we'd make 'em pay for what they did and what they took." I glance over at Tara. "And we did. We made 'em pay."